"Are they dead? We can't just wait around like this!"

Gwen was getting impatient. We were trapped by the window with no way to escape. It was a big waste of time.

"To be safe, let's stab one more time!"

Whether they were playing dead or not, it was better to be cautious. Without hesitation, I summoned another pillar of light. But due to the exhaustion, I couldn't keep floating in the air. I fell straight down along the wall and crashed onto the ground.

"Huh, what happened to you?"

Juliet and Gwen quickly descended and landed beside me.

"Could it be you've run out of light elements in your body?"

Norma, who was a bit more knowledgeable, roughly figured out what the reason was.

"High-level magic takes up too much power. If not for this, I would have blasted it ten more times!"

I sat on the ground slowly catching my breath. The light elements in the air were now insufficient to quickly restore my condition. After all, we weren't actually in Edenmere right now, so there was no unlimited light source.

"There's no need to go to such lengths. Those creatures seem to have reverted to their original forms."

Gwen looked up at the vampire triplets again after the double blast. She hesitated before reminding us.

"Really?"

Only then did I notice that under the hole in the roof, there were only the bodies of three bats left. It looked like that extra stab was the right choice after all.

"They should be dead now, right?"

Juliet finally relaxed. She walked up and started kicking and stomping the three bat corpses.

"That's for acting all arrogant! Trying to suck my blood! Got anything else disgusting to try..."

Sis! I know you're frustrated but there's no need to desecrate their bodies, please stop randomly firing holy light bullets...

But at least there was no immediate danger for now.

"So the power of 'Lost Paradise Shockwave' is this great, only needing two shots to take out three fifth-tier monsters."

"Of course! Although I can't use it myself, I'm very familiar with the reputation of 'Lost Paradise Shockwave'. It's said no creature can withstand a third hit."

Norma explained while standing beside me.

"Of course, it also has many weaknesses, like high consumption, long incantations leading to slow casting speed, etc. That's why few angels are willing to spend effort learning it, and it's hard to master..."

Saying that she couldn't help glancing at me.

"But I see you cast it pretty fast, so it's practical."

"Naturally! I practiced it for a long time, being able to use it means the effort wasn't wasted!"

To be honest, my mood was incredibly good right now. After many days of hardship, there was finally a reward. At least by taking out these three vampires, I had a feat to boast about for life. I must remember to exaggerate the story when I meet Adrian and Nicola again.

Just then, a large group of people holding torches entered from the direction of the main entrance, immediately bringing some light into the spacious, gloomy royal hall.

"Is everything okay here?"

The one leading them was an eight-winged angel I hadn't seen before. Seeing the bat corpses on the floor, she rushed in and asked Juliet directly.

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"And Norma and the rest?"

"Rae! Over here!"

Norma beside me quickly responded, then walked to below the hole in the center of the hall.

Even with the torches, their brightness was insufficient to illuminate us few hiding in the corner of the spacious royal hall.

"We're fine. Just now three vampires charged in but we took them out promptly. How about your team that went out to search, did you meet any invading creatures? And why do I see a lot more people than before?"

It looked like Norma and this lead eight-winged angel Rae knew each other. Meeting up, they immediately started sharing intel.

"Our team got lucky. After finding a fire source in a restaurant on the shopping street, we retreated right away without directly encountering creatures. But we took in some angels and light elves hiding along the way, which is why there are so many more people."

Rae explained the situation while holding up her torch. I saw that the number of people following her was indeed not small, at least several dozen. Their faces were mostly obscured by shadows so I couldn't see clearly.

I noticed most of them didn't have wings on their backs. Not sure if they were light elves or just not having their wings manifested.

"Being able to gather so many survivors is of course good news. Now that we have lighting, we should head to the inner palace. There's an underground shelter inside we can take refuge in. Though it hasn't been used for thousands of years, hopefully, we can still enter..."

Norma spoke while beckoning me and Gwen to move immediately.

I knew why she wanted to re-enter the palace interior, probably also to look for Cyra. We still hadn't seen her until now, and with the worsening situation outside, we were very worried.

But just as she reached to take a torch from the crowd, Norma's actions suddenly halted.

"Cyra? Why are you hiding back there, why didn't you say anything to us?"

"Cyra?"

Hearing Norma say this, I also went to take a look. I was just worried about her safety and didn't expect her to show up so quickly.

Indeed, in the back of the crowd, Cyra had appeared among them. Due to the distance from the light source, and obstruction by others, we could only roughly make out her face in the torchlight.

"You all..."

She made a soft sound of surprise. Then her eyes darted around, even more shocked when she saw me.

"Feliciana? How can it be you? What are you doing in this place!"

"Stupid question, where else would I be if not here? You were just chased all over the place by nightmares, and didn't contact me after escaping."

I rolled my eyes. She was still playing hide and seek at a time like this, how silly. But good thing she didn't meet any creatures outside.

"Alright, as long as you're fine! The situation outside the palace is so dangerous, I was really worried something might have happened to you."

Norma pushed through the crowd, went over and grabbed her left hand, speaking seriously.

"Promise me you won't run around recklessly anymore, okay?"

"I see, so that's why Feliciana is here at this time... makes sense I was discovered..."

Her reaction was somewhat unexpected. She didn't answer Norma's question but was still wondering how we found her.

"Huh? No, you are..."

Smelling something off, Norma rubbed her eyes as if realizing something. She cried out in shock.

What happened next was extremely sudden. The surrounding crowd abruptly screamed shrilly, then scattered in all directions at once.

I saw a flaming translucent red sword tip stab out from Norma's back, even trailing fiery flames that quickly spread through her body.

"Norma!"

Seeing this, I was completely stunned. Not just me, Juliet, Gwen and the other angels also cried out.

"You... you aren't Cyra... who are you?"

Norma used all her strength to say painfully. But there was no answer from the other side. Amidst the raging fire, her head drooped down.

Next, her entire body suddenly shone brightly and started becoming translucent. Very soon she dissipated into specks of white radiance that completely vanished in the air. Only her pierced clothes draped limply on the sword.

"This..."

I really couldn't believe my eyes. Although I had heard about it many times before, this was still the first time I saw an angel's death and disappearance with my own eyes. I never expected it to happen to Norma.

"I'm certainly not Cyra, though I am quite curious why you all kept calling me by that name..."

With Norma's death and disappearance, only a flaming longsword remained stabbed into the ground - the familiar Condensation Sword! The red-haired swordswoman's hair shone glaringly in the fiery light, her face increasingly twisted and sinister.

"Mi-chelle!"

I shouted through gritted teeth. I can't believe my eyes. But the facts were right before me - she had escaped the heavy encirclement by some method, and infiltrated this far with the monsters.

So these anomalous events were most likely planned and led by her.

"It's been so long, I've finally waited for this day..."

Michelle's face revealed a nostalgic expression. But she didn't have her wings out now. Her hand held the Hephaestus Sword with the flaming blade, yet her body still gave off the aura of an angel's light element.

Was she an angel or not? I was thrown into confusion. Just what was the deal with this monster leader?

If she was a dark creature I could understand, just blast her with "Lost Paradise Shockwave" and be done with it. If one shot is not enough then two shots, two shots not enough then three... Okay, I still can't do three continuous shots now.

But if she was an angel, that would be extremely tricky. Most magic is useless against angels. The only way to hurt Michelle would be physical attacks, but my swordsmanship wasn't powerful. I didn't even have a sword now...

"Feliciana, she's not Cyra, right? That hair color and she killed Norma..."

Juliet asked me with a trembling voice. As for Gwen, she had long ago been scared to hide behind the counter again.