Nidhogg stared in horror at the sky, where a crimson fireball resembling a second sun loomed. Could this truly be the energy possessed by a new generation apprentice sorcerer? Is this... Sun's Child!? Her mental power must have reached 30 by now!

Boom!

All Nidhogg saw was a flash of red light before he was engulfed by endless flames. His surroundings were nothing but rolling waves of fire. Although the shield maintained by his mask was still holding, the magical energy within his body was depleting at an alarming rate. In just this brief moment of distraction, Nidhogg had already consumed a fifth of his energy!

"Escape!"

Nidhogg thought no more of anything else; surrounded entirely by crimson flames, he picked a random direction and started to run. Yet, to his despair, he felt as if he had stepped into an endless world of fire, with no end in sight.

In the sky, Sun's Child's mostly bare skin emitted waves of heat, distorting the surrounding air. Her cold, cruel yet beautiful face bore eyes alight with blazing fire, locked onto Nidhogg below, who desperately tried to escape her "Blazing Flame Realm" by continually moving.

With a cold, subtle smile, Sun's Child's fiery red hair stood on end without wind. Between her hands, a flame column like a giant sword pierced the earth. Wherever the flaming giant blade swept, trees and vegetation were reduced to ashes, and even stones softened, turning into molten lava.

Sun's Child slowly adjusted the direction of her hands, and the flame column followed suit, leaving Nidhogg on the ground nowhere to escape from its fiery coverage.

Atop a distant giant tree, Ghoul Thief leaned comfortably against the trunk, chewing on an unknown red fruit. He watched the spectacle in the sky, where Sun's Child wielded her flame sword with magnificent awe, as Nidhogg scurried below like an ant facing doomsday, struggling with every fiber of his being.

Ghoul Thief wore a look of fascination: "What a beautiful scene... Even seeing Sun's Child display her prowess for the third time, her terrifying talent remains stunning—an art of flames."

Moments later, the flame column dissipated, leaving the earth marked with a deep blackened scar, as if slashed by a giant fiery sword. Flames continued to rage, spreading outwards in an apocalyptic scene.

Yet, Sun's Child's expression changed!

"Damn! Still not dead?"

Unable to sustain the massive magic consumption needed to maintain her Blazing Flame Realm, she blinked her slightly weary eyes, showing surprise.

Suddenly, sensing familiar energy fluctuations behind her, Sun's Child didn't need to look to know who it was. With a fierce flash in her fiery eyes, she unhesitatingly produced a fist-sized light orb and hurled it at Nidhogg.

On the ground, Nidhogg was so weak that he could barely stand, his mask hiding a face drained of color and filled with despair as he looked up at the majestic, intimidating figure in the sky.

As an apprentice sorcerer, could there really be such a disparity due to so-called talent? This gap felt like utter annihilation. The energy radiating from Sun's Child shouldn't belong to someone who's only practiced sorcery for three years!

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In that moment, Nidhogg even began to doubt the fairness of fate.

"Damn it, Nidhogg! Move!"

A loud shout snapped Nidhogg back to reality, prompting a reflexive reaction to the Flame Fusion Orb hurtling towards him from the sky.

With a flash of its wings, the giant Meng bug moved in front of Nidhogg.

A blinding light filled Nidhogg's vision, and the world went silent as death.

Boom!

Suddenly, an ear-splitting explosion transformed into tangible shock waves, sweeping over a radius of hundreds of meters. A towering wall of fire instantly engulfed everything within 20 meters of the blast center, with flames spreading out another 40 to 50 meters.

The giant Meng bug before Nidhogg let out countless despairing cries from its short-lived minions, which turned to ash with a poof.

Brilliant rays pierced through the three-meter-long giant Meng, destroying tens of thousands of tiny Meng bugs, including the bug mother, under the catastrophic firestorm, leaving no trace behind.

Nearly depleted of magical power, Nidhogg desperately clutched the Leaf of Life given to him by Nina between his lips, as the last bit of stored magic from his left-hand ring flowed into him, straining to maintain his shield.

His body scorched and blistered, Nidhogg knew he had truly reached his limit—this was a moment between life and death!

Suddenly, a familiar twisted spatial power enveloped him, lifting the pressure as he exited the blast zone of the Flame Fusion Orb, with the Leaf of Life’s energy beginning to heal his burns and blisters.

"Hmph, I finally got here. Although that crazy woman beat me to it, at least I saved you."

Yunli said to Nidhogg, still perched with his little white mouse unconcerned on his shoulder.

"Ah... Twisted!" Sun's Child roared in rage from the sky, her flaming eyes wishing to incinerate both him and Nidhogg.

Yunli's pale, gaunt face showed no change. He merely curled his lip, muttering, "The madwoman's about to go berserk; I'll get you to a safe spot to recover your magic. We might need you later."

With that, space twisted again, and they vanished.

A hundred meters away, they reappeared, with Nidhogg pulling out a mid-level magic stone to recover his energy.

When Yunli saw Nidhogg using a mid-level stone, his eyes widened, as did the eyes of the mouse on his shoulder!

Was this guy's teacher spoiling him too much?

Not only was he given the top-tier apprentice sorcerer mask, but even a mid-level magic stone to boot?

Regardless of Yunli's thoughts, on the other side of the sky, Bibilionia and Sun's Child faced off like mortal enemies, their eyes burning with anger.

With little talk, Bibilionia's golden hair stood on end under a surge of violent magic, a golden iris opening on her forehead to glare at Sun's Child from afar.

Sun's Child let out an ear-piercing scream, cloaking herself in roaring flames, and laughed maniacally, “Just a rare water element rune talent, daring to defile my ablaze body, hahaha...”

It was clear that Sun’s Child’s arrogant laughter masked a struggle far more serious than she let on.

Bibilionia sneered, “Keep laughing, with your magic energy, let’s see how long you’ll last.”

“Minna, we meet again.”

Solum unfurled black wings like those of a giant crow, tendrils of eerie black smoke curling around him without dispersing.

Solum’s form became indistinct, icy blue eyes flickering with a soul-stirring, eerie aura.

A sense of ominous foreboding filled the air, reminiscent of the faceless mask figure on the ship.

This must be a transformation from some otherworldly bloodline sorcery.

“Solum! Hmph, your immortality—it seems I’ve figured it out. If I’m right, you’re just a poor thing symbiotically linked to some creature, and without high-level sealing sorcery, you’re no better than an ordinary sorcerer apprentice! If only my sister…”

Sun's Child shouted with a supreme arrogance radiating from her.

This self-centered, peerless arrogance was far more insane than Nina’s, almost reaching a pathological extreme.

Solum remained unmoved, with tendrils of black turning into sharp arrows shooting toward the blazing sun in the sky. Waves of fire and darkness rolled endlessly, the intense aura blocking the center of the battle.

Bibilionia maintained her golden iris, while suddenly spitting into the air, a blue column briefly flaring. A sharp, enraged cry came from the firestorm, pure hatred directed at her.

As the sky battle continued briefly, Nidhogg finally managed to restore enough magic to protect himself, while Yunli gazed upward, sighing softly, “That madwoman, like Solum, is already a monster, not a practitioner of true human sorcery.”

Squeak squeak...

The little white mouse on Yunli’s shoulder seemed to agree as well.