Aris led Sanya deeper into the ruined city, and since the others didn't want to be left behind, they had no choice but to follow. The debris that was scattered on the ground was a sign of a great or even a terrifying battle between powerful beings, and one of them was Aris and Illidan.
"This architecture is from 20 generations ago when magic hasn't been developed yet," Novia said as she looked at the old buildings. "So this place hasn't been touched by living beings for at least 400 years..." she pointed out.
Nobody said anything and only listened to Novia's observation because everyone was still shocked by what had just happened. Everyone was drained from that short fight with Aris both mentally and physically even though they only clashed with her once.
Novia noticed everyone was being too quiet, and she knew that nobody would answer her questions in her head. She decided to stay quiet because everyone was on the edge, especially her mentor, Lenin, who had been keeping an eye on Aris the whole time.
When they reached the crossroads, they finally saw the answer to the destruction of the city. They saw hundreds of dead Corrupted scattered on the ground, roofs, and balconies. They could see more of them in the distance in each direction. In total, there might be at least a thousand of them, scattered in the city.
Aris stopped and pointed at a small pile of dead bodies near the old fountain. The bodies wore black robes with rope belts at their waists. Their faces were hidden beneath a black wooden mask with an eerie motive on it.
"The Dark Priests. How many were they?" Sanya asked as she approached the pile.
"Dozens of them, and each of them brought at least a hundred strong Corrupted," Aris answered as she stabbed her sword into the ground. "But they weren't the ones who took Illidan. They were similar to the Dark Priests but they were a lot stronger," she watched as Sanya removed the mask of a Dark Priest, a decayed face that almost half of it had turned into a skull.
"So you both were busy killing these things and Illidan got taken away..." Sanya understood the situation. "Thankfully it was her and not you, Aris," she stood up and turned around to look at Aris.
Suddenly, the sound of fire that filled the atmosphere was silenced. The sea of fire that swallowed the whole city suddenly got extinguished. The bright red view disappeared and was replaced by the red moonlight as red as blood.
The heat from the flames was replaced by bone-chilling cold followed by the thick mist that crawled into the city. Everything happened in less than a minute and the night became eerily quiet.
Lenin who had experienced the danger of the mist immediately created a magic circle and released a strong gust of wind to send the mist away. The mist was pushed out of the city, but it came back and regained its position in a mere second as if the mist was a supernatural phenomenon.
"It's too late to leave now," Aris said as she crossed her arms and stared menacingly at something in front of her. "They were the ones who took Illidan," she pointed her finger at the distance in front of her.
Sanya stared in the same direction as Aris because she also felt the presence that had just entered the city. She was disturbed by the unfamiliar aura that those presences had, and the fact that they were powerful beings that could be on par with her power.
Everyone watched a total of 13 silhouettes behind the mist walk toward them. They readied their stances with the spare Mana ring in their fingers, ready to confront whatever was going to happen.
The beings walked out of the mist and stood still as they stared at the group with their glowing red eyes. Those beings wore either red, white, or gold hooded robes with gold engravings on them with a lot of ornaments. They all wore the same white porcelain mask with eerie gold engravings.
Those beings slowly moved to the sides and revealed the black-haired woman in an all-black dress and a hood to hide her messy hair. The woman stared at them with her glowing red eyes and pale face. She menacingly stared at the group as her hands reached out to her cheeks and scratched them with her long black nails.
"That's Ermaine, that's the missing girl," Moriganne pointed out since she remembered the description of the missing girl. "She's the third Saint, the false prophet," she was confident with her guess.
"Then if we kill her, we will prevent the end of the world," Callistor held the sword tightly as he coated it with Aura.
Aris scoffed as she glanced at the group behind her with a mocking smile on her snow-white skin, "It's a lot easier to look behind your eyes than kill her." "You have no idea what kind of situation you're in," she stared at Ermaine as she grabbed her sword and then pulled it out.
Lenin created 4 magic circles simultaneously and pointed her right hand at the sky. The moment she clenched her fist, the 4th shattered and dark clouds slowly formed. The 3rd circle shattered and created a hurricane that blew the mist around the group. The 2nd circle shattered and balls of flame appeared in the sky, circling and following the hurricane. The last circle shattered and the balls of fire exploded, turning into a massive fire tornado that grew bigger as the air fed the flames.
The fire tornado destroyed and melted everything it touched. Everyone witnessed the power of the Great Sage that could destroy a city with a single spell.
The masked beings and Ermaine didn't take any action, only staring at the fire tornado that Lenin had made. Suddenly one of them, a being in a red robe pointed its right hand at the tornado that was approaching. The being swung its hand to the right and made the fire tornado disappear in an instant.
Lenin didn't have time to be surprised by what had just happened and immediately created 12 magic circles. When she was about to release the spell, all the magic circles were destroyed. This time she couldn't help but be shocked by what she witnessed.
"They manipulate Mana..." Lenin was in disbelief as she looked at her hand.
As soon as Lenin said that, one of the masked beings walked to the front with its hand pointed at the group. The being clenched its hand and suddenly the Mana rings that everyone wore exploded into pieces, releasing the Mana and turning it to waste.
At that moment the group realized they were in the presence of the most dangerous opponent they had ever encountered.
"What did I tell you? It's easier to look the back of your eyes than killing that woman," Aris said without bothering to look back at the group. "Don't be too surprised because that's not the only thing they could do," she clenched her sword and swung it around, releasing a gust of wind on each swing.
Ermaine looked at the dead Corrupted that were scattered in the city. She slowly pressed her hands together like she was going to pray. A bright divine light appeared behind her back and blinded the group. The moment the light disappeared, there was a dark purple smoke descending from the sky. The smoke sipped into the bodies of the Corrupted, and all the corpses began to twitch and open their eyes.
The being in a gold robe spread its arms and suddenly the city was isolated by a black barrier like a dome. Lenin looked at the amount of Mana in the air, they were decreasing and turning into demonic energy. That process made the Corrupted in the city grow stronger.
"That's impossible..." Astrea's eyes were shaken when Ermaine could use divine power. Not only that, Ermaine could bring back the dead with it. "God, please protect us all from evil," her voice trembled in fear as she closed her eyes.
"Your God has forsaken this place. I don't believe your God can help you at all because we are nowhere near the grace of your God," Sanya said as she watched the Corrupted rise from the dead and glared at them.
Everyone looked around and there was nowhere for them to run because the Corrupted had surrounded them.