Two days later.

  On a hillside somewhere in the wilderness, Pierce and his squad slowly descended to the ground.

  "This is the place."

  Yuna took out a magical map, glanced at it, and her expression turned slightly solemn.

  "Lucian Pierce and his group are heading this way. They should pass by here in about half an hour."

  Pierce raised an eyebrow, glancing at the magical map in Yuna's hand, a faint realization dawning on him.

  It seemed someone had tampered with Lucian's magical map; his movements had been firmly within the grasp of the Wizard-Hunter Force from the very beginning.

  "Everyone, prepare yourselves. The moment the targets arrive, we strike immediately," Lord Gideon said in a deep voice.

  As his words fell, he raised a hand and cast Invisibility Sphere, enveloping everyone within it.

  The entire squad vanished into thin air.

  Yuna took out several vials of potion and handed one to everyone.

  "This is a Mind-Concealing Potion. Drinking it will temporarily dampen your mental fluctuations, making it much harder for other Wizards to detect you."

  Pierce took the potion, examined it for a few seconds, popped the cork, and downed it in one gulp.

  The Mind-Concealing Potion was a Tier 2 potion. Its effect was singular, but incredibly practical.

  It was typically used by Wizards during ambush operations.

  A single vial was enough to suppress the mental fluctuations of any Wizard below Rank 4 to an almost imperceptible level.

  Unless the target was a Rank 4 Wizard, it would be extremely difficult for them to notice anything amiss.

  Combined with Invisibility Sphere, it rendered them virtually undetectable.

  After drinking the potions, the squad waited patiently.

  About half an hour later, several figures indeed appeared on the distant horizon.

  Everyone present possessed the Physique of at least a Legendary Knight, granting them exceptional eyesight. They instantly recognized the approaching figures.

  "It's Lucian Pierce and his group!" Yuna whispered. "They're short two people compared to our intelligence. They must have lost them during their mission."

  Lord Gideon nodded slightly, signaling everyone to get ready.

  To avoid premature detection, they had to wait until the targets were within a certain range before casting their spells. Furthermore, they only had one chance at a surprise attack; they had to ensure this initial volley weakened the enemy's combat strength as much as possible.

  The hillside instantly fell silent as everyone subconsciously lightened their breathing.

  Pierce kept his gaze locked onto the distant figures, the fingers of his right hand slightly splayed, ready to launch his attack at a moment's notice.

  As the distance closed, everyone's expressions grew increasingly solemn, their bodies secretly tensing up.

  However, when they were still about a kilometer away from the ambush site, Lucian suddenly halted his steps, looking around with a hesitant, suspicious expression.

  Following that, his eyes suddenly flared with a deep blue light as he slowly scanned his surroundings.

  "True Seeing!"

  The expressions of Yuna and the others changed slightly.

  True Seeing was a 6th-Circle spell capable of piercing through the vast majority of illusions and falsehoods—which naturally included Invisibility Sphere.

  Gideon made a prompt decision and shouted in a low voice, "Strike!"

  The moment his voice fell, a dull yellow light had already surfaced at his fingertips, shooting toward Lucian's group like an arrow loosed from a bow.

  The rest of the squad immediately followed suit, unleashing a torrential downpour of spells.

  Pierce made a vicious grasping motion toward the void. Silver liquid metal rapidly converged into a spear, which was instantly wreathed in crackling lightning. In the blink of an eye, a Lightning Spear had fully formed, tearing through the air toward the distance with a piercing screech.

  Without any prior coordination, everyone had chosen the other five Wizards as their initial targets.

  Because they all knew very well that at this distance, even with a surprise attack, it was almost impossible to instantly kill a Rank 3 Wizard.

  It was far better to seize the opportunity to eliminate the other targets and reduce the pressure for the ensuing battle.

  Although the Wizards of House Pierce following behind had managed to raise their guard slightly due to Lucian's sudden halt, they never expected to be ambushed by other Wizards. Caught entirely off guard, they instantly suffered catastrophic casualties.

  A Rank 2 Wizard was struck by the yellow light shot from Gideon's fingertips. His body instantly stiffened. Starting from the point of impact, large swathes of his skin rapidly turned to stone. In the blink of an eye, the entire person was transformed into a stone statue that plummeted to the ground and shattered into pieces.

  Screech!

  Accompanied by an ear-piercing sonic boom, the Lightning Spear tore through the void, ruthlessly piercing through the chest of another Rank 2 Wizard. The blazing lightning violently erupted, instantly turning him into a charred husk.

  In the span of a single breath, two Rank 2 Wizards were killed almost simultaneously.

  The remaining few were thrown into chaos by the sudden barrage of spells, cutting incredibly sorry figures.

  "Wizards?!"

  Lucian's face instantly turned incredibly ugly. He immediately released a transparent energy forcefield, enveloping himself and his three surviving subordinates.

  At the same time, his deep blue eyes locked onto the direction the spells had come from, quickly spotting Gideon and the others hidden beneath the Invisibility Sphere.

  "Gideon!"

  Recognizing the leader, Lucian's pupils contracted sharply. When he noticed that Yuna and Pierce were actually among the attackers, an ominous premonition instantly gripped his heart.

  "Has your House Sterling gone mad?! To actually dare attack us—are you trying to spark a factional war?!"

  "Save your probing, Lucian," Gideon sneered. "I'll tell you the truth. House Pierce's secret research and cultivation of evil entities has been exposed. The Astral Alliance Council has issued a decree to purge your family. After today, House Pierce will be nothing more than history."

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  Hearing this, the expressions of Lucian and his group changed drastically.

  "Bullshit! You're spitting venom! How could our family ever involve ourselves with evil entities..."

  One of the House Pierce Wizards couldn't help but curse out loud. However, as he spoke, he caught sight of Lucian's incredibly dark, sinking expression out of the corner of his eye. His voice gradually trailed off, replaced by a look of sheer disbelief.

  The other two Wizards also stared at Lucian with wide, horrified eyes.

  Lucian remained silent, his face ashen.

  He didn't understand. The family's secret research into evil entities had always been hidden exceptionally well. Aside from a very small handful of high-ranking family members and the Wizards directly participating in the research, absolutely no one knew about it. Even many Wizards within their own family were entirely ignorant of the truth. How could this secret have leaked?

  Inexplicably, a person's face suddenly flashed through Lucian's mind.

  Yorick Pierce!

  Back then, Yorick had claimed he was going to assassinate Pierce, and then nothing was ever heard from him again.

  He had simply assumed Yorick failed and perished, paying the matter no further mind.

  Thinking back on it now, it was highly likely that was when the problem occurred.

  Lucian didn't care whether Yorick lived or died; he only remembered that Zachary Pierce had also died around that same time. Red Maple City's official explanation was that he had died while executing a mission, but looking at the situation now, it was highly probable that Zachary had fallen into the hands of the Elemental Faction!

  And Zachary was precisely one of the Wizards participating in the evil entity research!

  Nine times out of ten, the Elemental Faction had found their breakthrough from him!

  Having figured this out, Lucian's heart plummeted to the absolute bottom.

  Now that even the Astral Alliance Council had personally intervened, the situation was completely irreversible. House Pierce truly seemed to have reached its end.

  But the next second, a look of vicious brutality flashed through Lucian's eyes.

  The entire reason they researched evil entities was because they were unwilling to be chained by their bloodline limits for their entire lives; they wanted to shatter the fate forced upon them!

  Since things had come to this, how could he possibly just surrender without a fight?

  So what if they were being purged?

  As long as he killed these bastards in front of him and escaped the Turin Plane, the Multiverse was vast—where couldn't he go?

  He could find a place to lay low until he fully mastered the power of the evil entity, and then, one day, he would return and slaughter them all!

  In the span of a few rapid thoughts, Lucian made his decision, overwhelming killing intent erupting in his eyes.

  Seeing this, Gideon's heart instantly tightened. Without hesitation, he struck first, throwing a golden bead the size of a dragon's eye.

  Crack!

  The golden bead shattered in mid-air, and an invisible, bizarre fluctuation abruptly expanded outward.

  The next instant, both Gideon and Lucian vanished simultaneously.

  "That was a Dimensional Pearl. It can temporarily carve out a demiplane to be used as a battlefield. However, given the combat intensity of Rank 3 Wizards, it will only hold for five minutes at most. During this time, we need to eliminate Lucian's helpers," Yuna whispered rapidly.

  Pierce nodded in understanding. He glanced at the three panicked House Pierce Wizards, a dark glint flashing in his eyes.

  "It won't take five minutes."

  As he spoke, Silver Star had already spread across his entire body, transforming him into a blindingly brilliant silver figure.

  The three House Pierce Wizards finally recovered from their shock. Exchanging glances, they gritted their teeth in unison and charged at Pierce and Yuna's group.

  The blood of House Pierce flowed through their veins, and they had enjoyed the family's resources for years; they were fundamentally inseparable from the family.

  Even if they wanted to detach themselves from the family now, it was impossible.

  Their only chance at survival was to fight with everything they had.

  However, the moment Pierce made his move, this sliver of hope was utterly obliterated.

  Blinding lightning tore through the void, leaving a blue-and-white trajectory in its wake as it arrived in front of one of the House Pierce Wizards in the blink of an eye.

  The Wizard's expression changed drastically. Without hesitation, he activated every defensive magical item on his person, while simultaneously thrusting his palm forward to release a Lightning Bolt.

  But the moment it made contact, the Lightning Bolt was instantly shredded and annihilated by the blazing lightning spear. The spear drove straight through, violently exploding with blinding electrical energy the moment it struck the Wizard, tearing his multiple layers of defense to shreds!

  The House Pierce Wizard stared with wide, horrified eyes, completely submerged by the lightning with a face full of sheer terror and despair!

  RUMBLE!

  When the lightning dissipated, only a charred, blackened scorch mark remained on the ground.

  Seeing their comrade obliterated without even leaving a corpse behind, the remaining two House Pierce Wizards turned deathly pale. Any thoughts of fighting desperately vanished completely. Without hesitation, they split up and fled in opposite directions.

  "I leave that one to you."

  Tossing out a single sentence, Pierce shot after the remaining Rank 2 Wizard like a bolt of lightning.

  Yuna and the others snapped out of their daze, acknowledged his words, and immediately gave chase to the other House Pierce Wizard.

  "Pierce's strength is getting more and more terrifying. Now, even Rank 2 Wizards can't last a single exchange against him," the female Wizard whispered, her face full of awe.

  "Didn't Lord Gideon say his power is likely already approaching the Rank 3 tier?" another Wizard chimed in.

  "I honestly thought Lord Gideon was exaggerating before, but now I see it was just my own lack of experience."

  "A genius is a genius. They are simply far beyond the likes of ordinary people like us."

  The squad marveled continuously.

  While anyone capable of advancing to a formal Wizard undeniably possessed outstanding talent and would be considered a genius by ordinary people...

  ...Even among geniuses, there were vast differences in caliber.

  Compared to a monstrous genius like Pierce, they were essentially no different from ordinary people.

  Hearing her squadmates praise Pierce, the corners of Yuna's lips curled up, a trace of amusement flashing in her eyes.

  The group appeared quite relaxed.

  After all, the vast majority of the enemies had been dealt with by Gideon and Pierce. They were only left with a single Rank 1 Wizard; if they couldn't even handle that, they wouldn't be worthy of being elites of the Wizard-Hunter Force.

  And indeed, after catching up to their fleeing target, the group joined forces and easily finished him off in just two or three exchanges.

  By the time they returned to the original spot, Pierce had already eliminated his target and was waiting for them.

  Seeing Pierce staring solemnly at the location where the Dimensional Pearl had vanished, Yuna walked over and whispered, "Don't worry. Lord Gideon is a Rank 3 Wizard at the Crystalline Phase, and a renowned combat specialist within the Wizard-Hunter Force. With his strength, killing Lucian definitely won't be a problem."

  "That's good," Pierce nodded slightly.

  However, in reality, he had a faint premonition that things wouldn't go that smoothly.

  During the ambush earlier, despite still being a considerable distance away, Lucian had sensed something was wrong in advance.

  It was highly likely his true strength was far greater than what the Wizard-Hunter Force had estimated.

  If that were the case, this operation might experience unexpected complications.

  Yuna glanced at Pierce, about to say more, when her expression suddenly changed. Before she could react, her wrist tightened, and Pierce violently yanked her backward.

  "Watch out!"

  The invisible, bizarre fluctuation surfaced once more.

  The void abruptly collapsed and twisted, followed by a violent explosion that expanded outward. A rift slowly appeared and rapidly widened.

  A tall figure stepped out from within.

  It was a humanoid creature completely wreathed in dense, billowing black mist.

  The utterly profound, pitch-black mist formed a semi-transparent, phantom scale-armor over its body, tightly wrapping its nearly three-meter-tall torso and limbs. It only exposed a hideous head that was a grotesque mix between a human and a snake, yet still vaguely resembled Lucian.

  This sudden mutation instantly stunned everyone.

  When Yuna and the others clearly saw what Lucian was holding in his hand, their faces drained of color.

  "Lord Gideon!"

  The previously imposing and aggressive Gideon was now covered in blood, dangling limply from Lucian's grasp.

  If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, everyone would have thought he was already dead.

  Thud!

  Lucian casually tossed Gideon aside and sneered, "What a pity. I've disappointed you all."

  "Look! This is the power the evil entity brings! Even a higher-ranked combat specialist from the Wizard-Hunter Force is absolutely no match for me!"

  A fanatical light gleamed in Lucian's eyes, which had now transformed into the vertical slits of a serpent. He looked down at his hands, which were wreathed in black mist.

  "With this power, the Yugoloth Serpent bloodline is no longer a shackle to me. Sooner or later, I will be able to fuse the two together and break through to an even higher realm! Hahaha..."

  A low, guttural laugh tumbled from Lucian's mouth.

  But then, a calm voice rang out, instantly cutting off his laughter.

  "By the time that happens, you won't even be yourself anymore. You'll just be a puppet controlled by the evil entity."

  Lucian's laughter ceased abruptly. He snapped his head up, meeting Pierce's calm gaze. Within those eyes, he saw only pity and mockery.

  "To lose yourself in the pursuit of power... no matter how immense that power is, what use is it?"

  "You arrogant little brat! What could you possibly understand?!"

  As if heavily stimulated by Pierce's words, dense blood vessels instantly surfaced in Lucian's eyes. His gaze, saturated with killing intent, pierced toward Pierce like a sword.

  Pierce's expression remained calm as he stated, "At the very least, I understand the principle of equivalence—that every gain comes with a cost."

  "You Bloodline Families revel in the benefits brought by the bloodlines of ancient creatures, yet simultaneously complain about the unfairness of fate. How incredibly ironic."

  As if feeling he hadn't provoked Lucian enough, Pierce raised an eyebrow and added:

  "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. I was the one who killed Yorick and Zachary, and I was the one who handed the evil entity over to my Mentor. Come to think of it, I've contributed quite a bit to your family ending up in this state."

  Lucian's face instantly twisted into an expression of sheer, utter madness, and he lunged viciously toward Pierce.

  "YOU LITTLE BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"