Anfey sighed in relief after seeing that Bruzuryano had the advantage. He frowned as he turned to the ghost dragon. His eyes widened when he saw a black crescent shaped creature appearing in midair. It floated towards the ghost dragon slowly but steadily. He frowned and did not understand why he did not sense it before. It was no surprise that he did not feel its presence, however, since even the ghost dragon did not feel it. It was still focused on Suzanna.
"Dimensional slash," Slanbrea whispered under his breath. "Thank god. He’s finally here." He sighed then turned to Suzanna. "Fight for your honor," he called. "Fight for your beliefs, Agent of Light."
Suzanna’s body shook when she heard Slanbrea’s call, and the golden wings behind her became even brighter. Then she flew upwards like a ball of light and launched herself towards the ghost dragon. The ghost dragon was enraged by Suzanna’s sudden movement, and flapped its bony wings, releasing a wave of powerful magical surge. It flew towards Suzanna.
Just as the ghost dragon reached Suzanna, the dark crescent reached the dragon and passed through it.
The dimensional slash was among the most powerful magic in the world. There was no known defense against it. Even the legendary heroes who had reached the sacred state could not defend themselves against it, let along normal combat power and magic shields. The only thing one should do when facing a dimensional slash was to run. The slash could forcibly transform a certain area into an alternate universe. When the spell come into contact with an organism’s body, it could cause irreversible damage and loss of limbs.
When a person stepped through a dimensional gate, his body existed in both planes. If there was another gate set up near the original gate, most people assumed that the person crossing over between the worlds would simply cross again and step into the next dimension. The reality, however, was much different. Crossing two gates in such a short time span could cause body dislocation and loss of body parts. Crossing between two dimensions was already pushing magic’s limit. Crossing between three was impossible.
The ghost dragon did not realize what was happening until the dimensional slash actually passed through it. Its dying roars could shatter a man’s eardrum, but it did no good. Its strong tail was sliced off by the slash, and its wings lost their power to carry it. The large dragon plummeted to the ground. Perhaps because the dragon knew it was dying, it dove towards Suzanna, its large teeth glistening.
Suzanna did not turn away from the dragon’s attack. Instead, she dashed towards the dragon, her sword held out in front of her. Her raw strength might have gotten stronger, but the way she fought was as if she had lost all her skills as a swordsman. She looked more like a berserk person than a controlled swordsman.
Slanbrea frowned. He reached out, as if he wanted to grab Suzanna and drag her away from the dragon. However, there was no magic that would allow him to grab Suzanna.
Anfey frowned. He relaxed his right hand, and his large blade was transformed into a longbow. He shot the bow swiftly and released a large arrow. The arrow quickly caught up to Suzanna’s speed, then struck the dragon’s neck.
The arrow disappeared with a loud crack after it crashed into the dragon. The condensed elements exploded and swept across the air. The dragon’s head was thrown back, and Suzanna’s sword struck it on its defenseless jaw. The dragon lost its momentum and fell to the ground, spiraling. It slammed into the ground and caused a puff of dust to raise up. However, it was still alive. As Suzanna landed on the ground, it lifted its head and roared at her.
Anfey lowered his arm back to his side. His right hand was shaking, blood dripped down his finger. He did not know how much that dragon weighed, and he did not know if his arrow could knock it off of its course, but he did not have the time to think. This time, he had used all of his strength to pull the bow, but the bow was resisting him. Even though he had managed to pull the bow to its fullest, he had paid a price. He did not need to look at his wound. He knew it must be deep.
Christian turned and saw his bleeding hand. "You alright?" he asked.
Anfey nodded but did not say anything.
Christian frowned when he saw Anfey’s bow. The bow was once black, but now the string was red, as if soaked in blood. Anfey, however, did not care about the changes in his bow. He returned the bow to his dimensional ring and kept staring at Suzanna.
Suzanna had landed and dashed towards the dragon again without any hesitation. "Stop," Slanbrea called. Suzanna froze and did not proceed. The dragon was hoping that Suzanna would try to finish it off, and now that she wasn’t dashing towards it, the dragon began crawling towards her. Black smoke pour out of the gash on its body, and its bones slowly turned into a stark grey.
Christian looked at Suzanna as well. "That’s divine punishment, I think," he said quietly. Christian saw the shock on Anfey’s face, and he knew very well what he was thinking.
"Divine punishment?"
"When the world is corrupted by dark magic, the God of Light will send angels and possess his believers to cleanse the world."
"What about the consequences?" Anfey asked. That was the only thing he cared about. Suzanna was acting strangely, and he did not know what he would do if Suzanna became someone he could not recognize.
"I don’t know," Christian said, shrugging. "I have no interest in priesthood."
Anfey fell silent and his frown deepened. He was good at hiding his emotions, but he had a limit as well. Loss can often cause the strongest emotions and leave deep wounds. Anfey was very scared of losing anyone. Ever since he lost his parents, he swore that he would never lose anyone ever again, even though he knew that he could never control his own destiny. What will happen will always happen, and he could not change anything.
"Don’t worry," Christian said. "The dimensional slash means that…" Christian paused. He knew that Saul must be near when he saw the dimension slash, but he felt that Anfey did not want to see Saul. He did not want to cause Anfey any unnecessary emotional strain. "I know that it’s a hard spell to use," he said, changing the topic. "Whoever the spell is used on must be voluntary and completely comply. This is very hard."
"Then Suzanna…"
"Slanbrea mentioned the spell, and Suzanna volunteered to do it," Christian said. "She said it was the only way to save everyone," Christian sighed.
"Hopefully she recovers," Anfey said. He glanced at Slanbrea and narrowed his eyes. He could not accept Slanbrea sacrificing Suzanna, but he understood. Unless Suzanna never recovered. If that happened, he would never forgive Slanbrea.
"You’re overthinking," Christian said, "again. Slanbrea knows better than you about his own magic." Christian was worried, but he wasn’t as attached to Suzanna as Anfey was.
The ghost dragon let out a last roar and crumbled. It had lost too much energy, and its bones became brittle. It had only crawled twenty feet when its collapsed into a pile of broken bones. Its large head fell onto the ground with a loud thud.
"Suzanna!" Anfey called and walked over.
Suzanna stood next to Slanbrea, still holding her sword, but did not turn to look at Anfey.
"My lord," Anfey said, "what is it?" He still respected towards Slanbrea, but his voice was cold.
"You were not here to see," Slanbrea said. "We were all in danger of dying just then. I had no other choice."
Anfey frowned. If nothing was wrong, Slanbrea would say something comforting to calm Anfey’s nerve. Now, however, he was emphasizing the dangerous situation they were just in. Anfey’s hand shook. Slanbrea might as well be confirming Anfey’s fear. "What about it?" Anfey asked, his voice shaking.