"Elizabeth Sobel!" Walken's trembling voice echoed through the half-empty room. His usually narrow eyes bulge out of their sockets. How could she be here?Walken felt his plans crumble with each new discovery. No mage can teleport to the tower without using the tuning key, let alone the size limit of entering another mage's pocket. Why was this Void Mage able to overcome so many limitations?

The judges' deliberations painfully readjusted. The dramatic change in circumstantial evidence proves beyond a shadow of a shadow of a doubt that, contrary to his assumptions, Gwen Song and Elizabeth Sobel were not master and apprentice.

Pressing questions require knowledge that he does not possess.

Why were youkai dispelled?

Is Henry Kilroy dead?

How did the Void Mage not be diverted by the collapse of the Pocket Dimension? Many mysteries haunted his mind, each one a painful seed of self-doubt.

Walken's gaze fell on Deborah, the young void mage Gwen Song imprisoned in a sand prison. Jones was the one who came to him, and she said she testified about Kilroy's confession of harboring and abetting a conspiracy of invalid mages. He then secretly collaborated with Deborah, even promising to give her an apprenticeship in exchange for any memories he extracted from her. With so much evidence at hand, he was convinced that Gwen Song and Henry Kilroy were plotting to sabotage the interests of the tower.

Now, however, Walken noticed a change in Deborah's demeanor, and he realized that he had seen this nervous look before, the expression of a dog waiting for his master's admonition.

Walken's chest was filled with unease! He wanted nothing more than to be alone with Deborah for an hour, in an isolated room, strapped to a chair, a magic of compulsive truth robbing her mind. Perhaps, Walken thought regretfully. Perhaps, that should be the first stop for her first time approaching him.

"Eric," a message spell sounded in his ears. It turned out to be Erin Ferris, who he thought was Erin Ferris and Kilroy sleeping together. "No matter what happens, we have to survive. Even if both Kilroy and De Botton are gone, we can't let the tower fall into the hands of this woman. At worst, I'd rather see the tower burned down than see it usurped. ”

Walken's reaction is interrupted by Deborah, who has been passive in front of Elizabeth Sobel.

Deborah moved, dangerously followed by the steely gaze that had gathered together. She fell to her knees on one knee and pleaded before the Void Mage, bowing her head as if she were exalting a god.

"Eric!" he was hesitant, and Ferris's voice was one of despair and urgency. "Henry is gone, we're on the same side now! There's a conspiracy, you've been tricked. Erik, please. Don't go down this path any further, do what's best for you and the tower, and do it for the faction!"

Ferris's words hit Walken at the core, instantly draining his power. Now he knew that the master soothsayer was right, and that his feud with De Botton and Kilroy had blinded his better judgment.

The moment Grote disappeared, the "immortal" Henry died, sending his familiar man back to the place where he had found her. With the death of his old enemy, Walken's scheme vanished like the hostility of an abandoned acquaintance. He's pretty sure Kilroy's kind are to blame for this crisis, but now it turns out he's been the middle monkey for the entire damn time.

Eric Walken, one of the ten, smiled wryly.

He discovers what a shit world it is.

With a silent tapping, one of his gems was activated.

"Mags Fiore - turn off the jamming engine, remove the quarantine. "Walken pauses, it's a moment of self-preservation, fighting against the need to act to inform the paladin that the master of Schultzta is dead and we need his help... Once our enemy confesses, I will obey him. ”

"Yes, my master," replied swiftly and without question.

"Have you been in touch with the Tower of Melbourne?" Ferris cautiously chased Walken.

"Yes. Both are on the way. ”

"When?"

"Hopefully soon. When you stop. I'm also procrastinating. ”

Ferris looked at Elizabeth's figure, where she stood so casually and confidently, as if they were transparent. Either the woman is crazy, or she has nothing to fear. Ferris's hunch told her that in this case, it was the latter that applied.

All they can do now is wait and hope. Hopefully, with Gunther on the horizon, the three of them will be enough to hold out and teleport in to the other towers.

Gwen gasped.

With each new struggle, the battlefield prison seemed to restrain her in novel ways. Whether it's the compulsion of magic or Deborah's will, every time she tries to summon the energy of lightning or the void, it causes excruciating pain and destroys her mana channel.

Under her nose, Deborah walked up to Elizabeth Sobel. With every inch of the deformer closing, Gwen felt a filament of fear wrap around her guts like a razor scraping her abdomen.

Is she about to experience what it's like to be devoured now? Her scalp is wriggling. Gwen had eaten others before, at least Kaliban. Even the prospect of second-hand powerful predictions haunted her dreams.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gwen could tell that Deborah was bent at the knee. The proud girl bows her head and makes a shameful plea, which gives the impression of a child begging for forgiveness.

Henry's wife doesn't seem to have any interest in Deborah. Instead, she turned her horrific attention to Gwen, causing a bout of nausea that drained the blood from her face.

"You are such a lovely person. Elizabeth had a hint of clove in her tone. Gwen felt goosebumps tingle her skin, and her eyes followed Elizabeth's course, sweeping across her soft body, down the curve of her waist to her fair thighs. Satisfied with her observation, Elizabeth placed a pale, delicate hand on Gwen's forehead. To Gwen, it was as if five icicles had pierced her skull.

"It's so potential. "What a waste," said Elizabeth in a whisper, "what does Henry see in you?"

Gwen wanted to retort, to fight back against her mocking insults. Although the words came easily, she found that her tongue was knotted. Her master died. What else is there to say?

"Master," a voice came from below them. It was Deborah, her head touching the floor. "You promised. ”

Elizabeth laughed, a trembling trilling sound echoing through the room like a silver bell.

"Of course, my child. She spoke in a kind and generous tone, and this time you really surpassed yourself. If I could not give me even such a simple favor, what kind of master would I be?"

Gwen groaned, breathing in the flames was a luxury compared to the painful sensation of Elizabeth's cold fingers.

"Maybe it's a little bit of privacy, right?" Elizabeth sang.

Deborah didn't say anything, just silently pressed her temples to the floor.

"Alright then, I hope you'll bring me something good when you come back. ”

Elizabeth seemed satisfied with Deborah's plea and expertly recited a spell.

"Portal. ”

Gwen felt another screaming premonition, freezing the shivering strips down her spine. She watched helplessly as a sphere appeared next to her head, rapidly expanding into the body that enveloped her. As the pitch-black darkness touched her skin, she felt herself surrounded by something sticky and swollen, like putting her feet in a bucket of oil.

When darkness finally came down on her face, she opened her mouth and shouted, but in the darkness of the Bible, who would hear her scream?

When Gwen and Deborah are surrounded by a lightless orb darker than black, Walken and Ferris flinch. When it shrank rapidly with a "bang", the two disappeared, leaving a smooth concave surface on the stone carving that looked like it had been carved by a master stonemason.

Then Elizabeth turned her attention to them, her blue eyes reserved and calm.

"Well, have you seen enough?" Elizabeth's charming, youthful face revealed her aura, and a disgusting wave of violence and carnage tore through her like a tidal wave. "Are you ready to meet your Creator?"

"Come back, demon!" Walken ignored Elizabeth's instigation. Instead, he forces his breathing to the optimal meditative rhythm in order to maintain mana.

Void bitch is right about one thing. Walken is ready.

"Mages, fire at will!"

"Smash!"

"Water plug!"

"Rocket!"

"Scorching light!"

"Amazing missile!"

Despite the impressive number of air-filled spells, the vast majority of cover firepower is created by junior mages with low-level spells. The few volleys come from mages, each of whom exhibits the most aggressive and destructive spells.

"Fireball!"

"Little Meteor!"

"Stone knock!"

"Flaming Arrow!"

"Air explosion!"

Elizabeth didn't even back down.

A dark egg surrounded her, the surface of her Void shield absorbing every spell, their effects causing no effect, but ripples as the magic greedily devoured the devastating attack.

Under the cover of pyrotechnic displays, Walken made a miniature maze of Mitril models with a single tap. He began to draw an incredibly complex containment spell. It took nearly 10 seconds for the complex magic to manifest, and the effort made Walken's face glow with sweat.

With a roar of victory, Walken executed his trump card.

"Matz!"

Walken's hands pressed tightly against the model forged by Mithriel, and he felt the parts crumple into silver dust as the spell manifested. Roy Kild is looking forward to a safe end to his charges. When his magic manifests, an invisible portal surrounds the black egg, placing it in the space of a half-meter plane used to trap difficult enemies.

Once Elizabeth is in captivity, Walken can keep her imprisoned for days until she finds a way to escape the spell, or until he loses his mana. By then, with any luck, their allies will arrive. No matter how powerful Elizabeth looks, she can't stand up to the Tower's Paladin Gunther, the Grey Faction's only battle mage, Rin, and the warring faction's Battle Master Uther.

"It works!" Ferris was visibly relieved. She's ready for an action to cast her most powerful spell - it seems that her intervention is no longer necessary.

"No, she's rebelling against me!" Walken grunted in horror. "She's somehow exhausted her magical powers!How is this possible?!Mages!Stop attacking now!"

Ferris curses and redoubles her focus, forcing her spell to manifest again.

"Crack!"

A chasm tore through the invisible air, tearing apart time and space. When the labyrinth spell collapsed, a void of mana poured out of the black egg. A sticky soft mud began to drip down its surface and tick to the floor, forming hundreds of obsidian swirling lampreys.

"! That's what it does!" Walken realized it was too late. "A spell-eating man!"

Within a second of their anomalous birth, the creatures seemed to sense a group of mages firing at them, and began jumping, crawling, and sliding towards them like a dark, ominous tide.

"!"

", what's that?"

"Oh God!"

"Ahh

"Kill it!"

"Burning hands!"

"Blizzard!"

Panic overturned the better judgment of the tower mage. Most of them were retinues who had not been tested by the horrors of desperate combat. When the tide of darkness approached, mages and veterans instinctively instructed the young men to retreat.

Ferris's eyes were filled with disgust and fear. She has always held a power word for pain, but Elizabeth is hiding in her eggs, and there is nothing she can do in this situation.

"Magma Wall!"

It was Julia, her disciple from Rossbey, who was the first to act, and with a wave of her hand, covered her companion and Judge Ferris. Walls of blazing fire and molten stone slice in half the torrent of dark crawling worms, scorched as they blindly search for passages.

"Well done, Julia!"

"Judge, we need to retreat!"

"Walken! what's the plan?"

Walken weighed their miserable situation with a haggard look.

"Retreat, regroup, detach the platform, don't let those things touch you!"

The mages set up barriers and shields as they retreated. Even so, some of them were so slow that the tide now covered the floors and ceilings, a swaying darkness that contrasted morbidly with the barren white walls.

A zealous confessor, who had been protecting his fellow arousers, was suffocated by a cloud of black bugs falling from the ceiling. His look of disgust quickly turned into undisguised fear. Like a gutted pig, the man screamed, bugs digging through his flesh, soaking wet and sliding around his skin.

"Ariel Guy!"

The cries that came out were inhumane. In a terrible few seconds, the confessor collapsed to the ground, and black worms burst out of his eye sockets and were reborn from his shriveled, wilted flesh.

Another mage, a shapeshifter who found himself engulfed, howled in horror when the bugs entered him.

"No, master, help me!"

Walken let out a puff of unstable air, and the squire's head exploded like a crushed melon.

"Go to the platform!" he commanded the survivors, "Jump! Feathers will fall if you must!"

He cursed the Wizard Tower for being too safe. To protect its inhabitants, the tower was built to make teleportation within it impossible. Instead, the transfer is done through a conveyor ring, forming an internal network within the tower's infrastructure. Similarly, although levitation and feather fall are unrestricted, flying and other modes of air movement are strictly restricted within the airspace of the tower, both inside and outside.

Where they were, Henry's grotto sits on a tube that extends to the highest battlement at the top of the tower. It is accessed by a slow-moving suspended platform to ensure that there are no "accidents" waiting for the judge in the event of an invasion. Normally, the magician teleports and teleports the tower through a circle located at the base station of the platform. Now, they're sitting ducks.

Slowly, the disc descends.

Even so, hundreds of lampreys fell from the platform, and they did not fade or dissipate. Greasy particles of mana emanating from these creatures, Walken sadly admits that these must be Elizabeth's "familiarity".

While this is rare, it is very rare for a hive. It's a matter of affinity, as the concentration and mana required for this summoning are impossible, except for the most gifted magicians.

To Walken's horror, this void woman could form a near-invulnerable shield of confession while collectively manifesting thousands of lampreys. How could they defeat such an enemy?

Walken gave up, evoked, juggled, prayed that these schools were all Elizabeth had mastered, because they had surpassed and surpassed them in rank. Isn't it explicitly stated in the manuscript that the empty casters are glass cannons, and their vitality is severely limited?Why is this Elizabeth disturbed by the effects of negative energy consumption?

"Sir, the platform is overloaded!"

The Floating Disc is not designed to hold 36 mages at once. Its magic groaned and crackled, and terrified casters gathered on the metal platform, forcing it to tilt dangerously.

"Sir, be careful!" called one of the attendants.

Walken's dodge ring activated, helping him infiltrate the disk from the edge of the platform, narrowly avoiding a mass of worms trying to satisfy their insatiable hunger.

"Kouyat!"

A bright silver mana flashed a three-meter-tall winged serpent, almost filling the room from the ceiling to the descending levitating platform. Its wings are colorful, colorful, and resplendent. Its ferocious head opened its belly, revealing a row of sharp teeth, like a row of glittering daggers.

"Lightning-fast breath!"

The heavenly pseudo-dragon opened its jaw and unleashed a wire that expanded in the darkness, clearing a wilting path through the swarm until it struck Elizabeth's black egg.

To his surprise, the wire did not consume all the energy-hungry ripples, as expected, but hit the hollow shield like a solid object, and its fragile shell cracked when the blast energy destroyed its surface.

"Lightning! it's easy to be struck by lightning!" Vulken shouted cheerfully to the others. They need a lightning mage!, his mind held high until it landed on Gwen's song, and Walken cursed under his breath. That's why the Empty Woman stole Gwen Song, and Walken came up with another bizarre idea. Did Henry Kilroy raise Gwen Song not because of her ethereal abilities, but because of her lightning?Did the old man foresee this day and know the importance of having elemental lightning?

Walken's epiphany was interrupted by a wave of malice emanating from the now broken egg, a patch of darkness that shot out of the shadows, too fast, invisible to his eyes.

Before Walken could react, his chest exploded. The pain he felt from the familiar consumed him. Walken forced himself to concentrate, his eyes seeing his horrific scene, nailing a three-meter-long black sword to the white wall. Soon, the Wopal sword had easily penetrated the pseudo-dragon's armor, cutting a black wound from its navel to its chest. Dark, harsh blood smeared the surrounding stones, sprinkled on the mages below in a crimson rain.

"Ella!" Walken urges his acquaintances to dematerialize. Unexpectedly, he suddenly felt fatigued, preventing his commands from reaching his summoned companions. He suddenly felt dizzy and tired, which showed that he was exhausted. In desperation, Walken redoubled his efforts to shrink his shrinking beast back into its safe pocket.

After a painful eternity, the Kuiats finally relented and dissipated into mercury-like magic.

"We don't have Lightning's assistants," Ferris painfully announced that Gwen Song was the only one after a quick count of the numbers. Prince's and Riverview have some, but I suspect they'll lend the kids to us on a suicide mission. Most likely, they have been evacuated inland. ”

Walken felt that he was already intellectually exhausted.

"Master!" shouted a group of people in panic.

Walken and Ferris looked up from the platform and saw a dark tide coming towards them. The bugs swarmed, reached critical mass, and were now a flowing, unstoppable expanse that poured down on them like an oil spill. Behind the swarm, the lamprey with its barbed tongue was being whipped backwards, her fair skin covered with swollen leech-like creatures imbued with evil energy. She had an expression that suggested that she was curious about what they would do, like a cat watching a mouse play.

Walken's face turned pale. However, his voice has a more stern tenor tone.

"I'm going to use gravity to stop them," he prophesied, closing the platform, freefalling, finding Gunther and notifying the others. Tell them. Tell them I was wrong. ”

"Eric..."

"Hey, I'm not going to die here. "Walken flashed an emergency ring on her finger, you don't think she's going to kill me in an instant, do you?"

Wow - shhh

Before the Capricorns could react, a bright ray of light pierced the walls of the levitating passage, bright enough to burn a white shadow within their incredible retina. With a deafening scream, the lamprey creatures burned, hissing until they withered into hollow dust, turned into harmless specks, and soon disappeared into nothingness.

Out of a still smoking passage came a radiant figure, his aura filling the space now.

Gunther Schultz's robes were torn and his face was covered in mud and blood, but none of this seemed to detract from his demigod presence.

"Eric Walken, this is not where you die," the paladin announced grimly, his resonant voice like Metatron's. "You must survive, because when the murderer of the master is buried, you will have to face me. ”

Ferris was overjoyed to see the Paladin, and she seemed ready to burst into cheers. The surviving mages let out a rough cheer and shouted Gunther's name as the dark tide receded to the top of the platform, not daring to come any closer. From below, they could see Elizabeth's shadow, well-defined, looking at them coldly from her vantage point, her pale-skinned fair skin juxtaposed with a sea of churning shadows that enveloped every surface.

Walken himself was plagued by various emotions.

"As you wish, paladin," he said with a wry smile on his lips, as long as the tower is safe and I am yours, I can do it as you see fit. ”

Gwen welcomes cold, hard, rocky gravel.

She landed awkwardly and didn't identify her feet until she had already fallen.

Her travels in the vacuum of nothingness have taught her to cherish every grain of light. Like Jonny Mitchell sings, that person doesn't know what he has until it's gone. She began to understand why Caleban longed to manifest in the material realm. The void is a place of nothingness, no sound, no light, no existence; Because for a minute and a second in that horrible place, Gwen felt weakened, shrunk, shrunk.

As she tried to stand up, the sand prison that bound her made her twitch again. The pain reminded her of the urgency of her recent memories.

Her master!her mentor!her savior!the shriveled old wizard just wanted to repent and go in search of the goodness that his wife had taken away from him long ago, and he told Gwen that she was his salvation!

And Alexia.

And Xiaoyue.

And Elvia.

Even the Rittal.

Gwen couldn't believe they just... Let's go.

With a strong sense of self-abandonment, she tugged at her restraints, feeling the sand dig into her skin, cutting through her muscles, grinding and biting at her pale flesh as she thumped. The pain that had previously paralyzed her did not prevent her from wanting to hit herself and break free from her restraints in order to get terrible revenge on Deborah.

"Gwen, you're going to hurt yourself. A worried voice sang hoarsely beside her.

Her messy face, half obscured by her messy, bloodshot hair, looked up to see the object of her anger standing less than a few meters away!

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Gwen shouted, her voice hoarse. Her beautiful face is a distorted mask of rage, and her eyes are two swirling dark glowing orbs. Empty matter flowed through her body, nourishing her emotions.

"Caliban!"

The Nether Serpent crept up to Gwen, its serpentine body getting thicker and more muscular, as it greedily fed Gwen's life force.

"it!" Gwen ordered, forcing herself to overcome the sand prison. "Tear her apart!"

"Shah, Shah!" Caliban grew rapidly. It coiled around its body and lunged at Deborah, its mouth covered in gray globular saliva.

"Banishment!"

With a singular spell from Deborah, Caliban vanished, sleeping in the space of his pocket. Gwen staggered and could barely breathe.

"Don't call Kaliban anymore," Deborah said to Gwen with a concerned look on her face, the look that annoyed her even more that you were already hurt. ”

Gwen jerked, pushed back, and landed on her ass, the sand reshaping itself to restrain her. As Caliban snatched a pound of flesh from her already weakened life force, she felt she could no longer withstand the pull of quicksand. After a moment, she stared down at Deborah's clear amber eyes, face up, with the same expression she had on that night in the desert, when Gwen had given her the soul that now imprisoned her.

"Deborah," Gwen said, holding back her voice, half choked with anger, half blinded by the anger that stinged her teeth.

This is not a question of desperation or resentment. It's a real question as to why someone Gwen thinks that a friend and an ally, a confidant with whom she has spent almost a year, would betray her so viciously for no reason.

Was it because she rejected Deborah's marriage proposal? That's ridiculous. Gwen didn't even think about that possibility. If so, then why did Deborah betray them? Is it as Walken said, that Deborah wants to win his favor and become his apprentice? Isn't Deborah fascinating?Is she still dominant in the forest, during field expeditions? That's another unfounded conjecture, no spell lasts that long, and even if it did, how could it have escaped Henry, Alesia, Gunther, and the countless probing spells that moved inside the tower?

Deborah no longer had the servile look she had when she stood in front of Elizabeth. Her face was now filled with emotion, unrecognizable, changing with each second, alternating between suffering and triumph.

"Why?" said Deborah in a hoarse voice because I need you, Gwen. ”

This ridiculous answer forced Gwen to unfortunately pull her restraints. However, the collar around her neck was loose and she could speak. Gwen turned around and seized the opportunity to enjoy her surroundings.

A distant building looms. A cathedral is now dilapidated, and the precious stained glass has been shattered by the pressure of the battle. Did the other Rosebay girls flee to safety? Are they still hiding in the catacombs? If the conditions had been better, Gwen's Samaritan thoughts would have haunted the poor girls with an uncertain future. Still, the crisis before her appears in the image of the psychopath Deborah Jones.

"Don't be ridiculous, Deborah," Gwen said with a hint of coldness. Now that she had been taken away from the Tower, away from the pressures of the all-powerful beings vying for dominance, she had heard her thoughts once more. She just needs one chance and she can turn things around. "If you love me so much, then why would you betray me?"

"It's the only way to save you," Deborah replied.

Gwen swallowed. The two girls exchanged a measured look, Deborah's eyes were patient, and Gwen alternated between doubt, annoyance, and anger.

"No, I want the truth, Deborah. If you're going to kill me, at least tell me the truth. ”

"I don't want to kill you, Gwen. I want you to live well. ”

"What does that mean!?" Gwen said dejectedly, who are you, Deborah Jones, what the hell do you want to do?"

"I just want you, Gwen. Nothing else. ”

"Shut up!" Gwen cried, Deborah's foolery boiling her already boiling blood. She blushed, blushing to death. "Don't play tricks on me! Do you really want me to believe that you're doing this because of jealousy?!"

Deborah didn't understand, but Gwen didn't care.

"Tell me the truth! If you want to do the worst, at least give me the mercy of knowledge. I want to know why I died. ”

"The truth?"

"The truth," Gwen said breathlessly.

"All right," Deborah replied, telling the truth. ”

Deborah's flesh began to change, and her demeanor became blurred, like an indeterminate color between two colors. A distinct vortex of void mana flowed across her skin like black ink.

Gwen looked at her with pathetic fear, her once pale face now dazed and excited. Deborah is gone, replaced by a hermaphroditic, fair-skinned, ugly "face" with pale sunken cheeks that resemble a weather-blown fourteenth-century statue.

He, she, or it - has a long, asymmetrical face, small, pointed structure, high cheekbones and large oval eyes, giving her an ethereal, otherworldly impression. The nose is particularly short, squatting, semi-formed. Deborah has a muscular and plump figure, while the creature is anorexic and has sunken cheeks. Deborah's enchanted earthen robe slowly resized and tightened until it enveloped her new image.

"What do you do?"

"My mom called me a shameless person," replied with a blank face, and his tone didn't change at all. Gwen couldn't tell what gender it was, and it wasn't that circumstances forced her to ask such a trivial question. As it stands, the shameless person is Deborah, so it's a girl, and that should be enough.

"Your mother?" Gwen asked, though she was a little confused about who the creature's ancestors might be.

"Yes, the woman you call Elizabeth. ”

"This means..."

"Yes. The faceless man smiled weakly, revealing broken, twisted teeth, dirty and yellow, my mother had just taken my father's life. ”

"That'...... No way," Gwen said, shocked and even stopped struggling. "Henry said Elizabeth had a miscarriage. ”

"She did," Ruth affirmed. Her gray pupils are two milky white cataracts. "When you sell consumer elements, your body is no longer capable of bearing life. ”

Gwen felt her breath run through her throat. The meaning of what Ruth had just told her was like a bolt from the blue. It wasn't something she had considered before, even in her previous life, but this opportunity had always been something she took for granted.

"So how are you......"

"I'd love to tell you," Ruth replied, "but first, I'd like to give you an offer." ”

Gwen stared at the "unrecognizable" deformed demeanor, and despite the confusion of her mind, a glimmer of clarity dodged the crisis. Now that the frenzied anger had passed, she felt the calmness of reason permeate her mind again. She may be trapped and helpless, but it's clear that Facebook wants something from her that she needs to work with.

Her mind was in a mess. When there is no choice now, the only option is to stagnate, because opportunities will only disappear when people no longer have hope.