There was nothing to worry about after this, victory was certain!

Angels' bodies are abundantly supplied with light elemental resources. Whether punching or kicking, Cysper could almost infinitely enhance his limb strength by infusing light elements. Though the principle sounded simple, I could clearly sense how Cysper maneuvered the light elements to rapidly circulate within his body and the whole fusion process into his muscles.

If it were me, I would need repeated practice over years to barely accomplish it. There's no way I could achieve such seamless control and free release in a short time, but Cysper handled it with masterful ease, showing how much effort he devoted to this technique.

Having lost his right arm, no matter how wildly the red-haired demon counterattacked through the pain, the Radiant Dawn Strike could always reverse the situation, dominating with absolute advantage. Each of Cysper's strikes came with a brilliant radiance, dealing the enemy double elemental and physical blows.

"Damn it! How can you, with just two wings, unleash such formidable power?!"

Unfortunately, the gap in their ranks was too vast for the red-haired demon to be definitively defeated even after persisting until now. His arrogant attitude from the start showed impressive skills and insight. He quickly noticed the trick behind Cysper's strikes and tried to avoid direct clashes.

It was useless! When it became a contest of techniques, their gap only widened. Martial arts had always been Cysper's forte - his millennia of combat experience paid off. With the opponent down one arm, Cysper's fist soon struck the red-haired demon's chest again.

"Hurry up, finish him off!"

Seeing the enemy knocked onto the temple roof, I urgently called out to Cysper. Because at that moment, an intensely bright red light was swiftly approaching us from the southern city, and judging by its speed, it would arrive on the scene very soon.

Unlike the red-haired demon's initial sneak attack, this newcomer advanced openly without any stealth, clearly intending to provide backup. But one thing was very strange - I couldn't sense any corresponding dark elemental aura approaching us. I didn't know if it was due to the distance or if this one simply wasn't a demon.

Don't tell me Michelle is back again? That pest is relentless. The thought made me even more anxious.

"I'm already trying my best!"

Cysper had noticed the newcomer's presence too. Just as he intended to descend and finish the enemy off, an unexpected incident occurred - a ground-shaking, earth-shattering earthquake struck Parristol without any warning!

It was an extremely terrifying, massive earthquake. Luckily I was airborne with my wings, so I remained unaffected, but that didn't prevent me from perceiving its tremendous intensity.

Clouds of dust suddenly billowed up from the ground. The temple beneath my feet began swaying, the shaking growing more and more violent until it reached unimaginable extremes. Even the gigantic temple itself rocked back and forth before crumbling like the surrounding dwellings into countless crumbled stones that buried the red-haired demon.

The rebel soldiers previously gathered on the ground couldn't keep their footing, tumbling onto the ground one after another. Soon after, numerous gaping fissures tore through the earth, spreading outwards from the city center. Some people couldn't escape in time, haplessly swallowed into the bottomless chasms before they could even react.

Fortunately, this earthquake only lasted a few dozen seconds before subsiding. Surveying the countless cracks in the ground and rebel troops fleeing outwards, almost all of Parristol lay in ruins except for the intact central Chromos Tower - the damage was catastrophic.

However, I didn't let my guard down. Taking advantage of our stunned state during the quake, that crimson light had charged right up to us from afar. The newcomer showed no signs of slowing down, catching the distracted Cysper with a sweeping kick that sent him crashing into a distant pile of rubble without a sound.

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"No way!"

Seeing this, I hurriedly gripped my longsword defensively, but the newcomer made no further moves against me, only laughing towards the ruined temple below.

"Arick, you look pathetic! Actually getting beaten to this state by a measly two-winged angel. I warned you not to act on your own. If Lady Michelle finds out, she might just expel you from the Dark Council!"

She wasn't Michelle, but some other monster! With long horns and demon-like wings, I initially mistook her for another demon. But upon closer inspection, her wings were much broader than typical demons', and her arms and legs were covered in fine scales.

"A dragon?"

The word instantly flashed across my mind - she was a draconic in humanoid form!

As far as I knew, dragons were always considered a neutral race on the Eldorian Continent, rarely getting involved in human affairs. Their numbers were quite few too. The first time I learned about dragons was on the Adventurer's Guild registration form, but I had never seen a live one until this unexpected encounter with the demonic faction.

But are dragons considered monsters?

We usually only use the narrow term "monster" to refer to creatures deeply influenced by dark elements originating from the Dark Continent. However, dark elements exist everywhere - the difference between the Eldorian Continent and Dark Continent is just their concentration levels.

Generally, plants and animals subjected to prolonged exposure from minor dark elements combined with the four prime elements of earth, fire, water and wind also have a minuscule chance of evolving into monsters - this broader definition includes the likes of phoenixes, dragons, forest tree spirits and more. They can technically be classified as such "monsters", just not necessarily tied to the Dark Continent's origins or dark elements.

Hence, for beings like dragons, humans tend to refer to them directly by their race name instead of grouping them with monsters.

But now it was completely different. Regardless of the typical human perspective on dragons, this dragon had undoubtedly sided with the demonic forces. Though I didn't know which specific draconic form her true body took, I could sense an immense threat.

For her to kick aside even a formidable expert like Cysper who decimated the red-haired demon, the element of surprise notwithstanding, proved just how incredibly powerful she was.

"Please don't tell Lady Michelle! Big Sis Mirium, I simply couldn't adapt to that weirdo's strange techniques! Just give me a bit more time and I'll definitely be able to kill him!"

Hearing this dragon called Mirium, the red-haired demon Arick immediately flew out from the rubble, using his remaining right hand to clutch his wounds as he pleaded with a battered face, showing her far more respect than his earlier arrogance.

It seemed Cysper hadn't finished him off when he had the chance to inflict fatal damage. But judging from Arick's deferential attitude towards Mirium, in stark contrast to his previous overbearing persona, it confirmed my suspicion - this dragon was no simple foe. I estimated she was likely out of my league...

"I don't care about all that. Since Lady Michelle is occupied and unable to come personally, whether she finds out what happened here depends on your fortunes! The southern seal has been lifted, so you must hurry back to guard the target. The next phase of our plan will commence soon. Are your preparations on your end complete...?"

Seeing them idly conversing in midair, not even regarding my six-winged self, I turned and cautiously flew towards the rubble pile where Cysper had crashed down.

Discretion was advisable! I didn't dare rashly attack her. But the opponent had only kicked him, so Cysper couldn't have suffered too much harm, right? Yet he still hadn't emerged from the rubble after so long, leaving me rather worried. I didn't know if we could defeat a dragon and demon together.

Extremely fortunately, they were too engrossed in their chat to impede me. When I dug Cysper out from the debris, I found him actually unconscious!

Strange! There were no obvious external wounds. Could Mirium's kick have been too powerful, inflicting internal injuries?

"Wake up, wake up! Are you okay?"

"Ugh..."

After my frantic shaking and splashing water, this guy finally came to. Blinking his drowsy eyes at me for a while, he then stretched lazily and asked,

"Feliciana? You're back. How did your scouting go? Doesn't seem like dawn yet. Hey, why am I rolled out of the tent?"

"......"

I expressionlessly pushed her back down to the ground, then turned and picked up a large rock, raising it over my head.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?"

Seeing my actions, Cyra instantly became fully alert, scrambling up from the ground to point at me and shout loudly.

"You're not Feliciana! What kind of disguise magic did you use? How could I not notice at all?"

"Stay still, don't squirm! An angel's head is pretty hard, this brick shouldn't outright kill you, just hurt a little!"

I gently advised, but this guy was completely unreasonable! If I didn't quickly switch Cysper's soul back, the two of us might end up dead right here today.

"You brazen liar! You're an angel yourself, why don't you hit your own head and try it!"

Abruptly leaping back dozens of meters, Cyra cursed at me. Only then did she finally realize she wasn't at their original campsite, but in the middle of a huge area of ruins.

"Wait, where is this place? What exactly happened?"