When the plot-skips players into the game world

Diomedes didn't give Karl any time to adjust.

Just as Karl was stunned, time around him suddenly began to slow down.

The light gathered again, and everything became dim. The flames, which had been devouring everything around them, gradually slowed down, almost freezing.

And at the instant when the flow of time around him was slowed, a bright golden glow simultaneously sparkled in Oswald's eyes.

It was like the dawn, with a very faint crimson glow within the platinum light.

——Advanced Divine Art: Acceleration of the Hourglass!

The power of the Hourglass descended upon him without any invocation.

In Diomedes's realm, his speed was not only unaffected by the slow, but it was actually further increased.

Oswald instantly appeared in front of the Flame Demon and stopped.

His fingertips were wrapped with light threads very similar to those of Diomedes. However, their colors were slightly different—Oswald's were white, while Diomedes's were closer to dim yellow, like the light emitted from two light bulbs with different color temperatures.

His body shone with light once again.

——Advanced Divine Art: Threads of Gray!

The threads, empowered by the Grey Celestial Marshal, turned into sharp blades.

Oswald's right hand rose sharply, and the sharp light threads tore General Karl's body apart!

They were like blades of glass, or claws of a wild beast.

The spreading attack even sliced open the wall behind General Karl!

Karl was gravely injured in just an instant.

But no blood splattered from his body. Accompanied by dazzling incandescent brilliance, a great deal of gold and crimson sparks, like from welding, sprayed outward—

General Karl was not the least bit panicked. He grunted, and flames blazed in his pupils as his torn body was glued together by fire, only leaving behind a deeper scar.

Shafiya remained silent, shaking her staff in hand.

The silver-white triangle emitted a rainbow radiance. Accompanied by the clinking of metal collisions, countless silver-white chains emerged from the void, binding General Karl's body tightly!

Karl barely lifted his right hand when he was trapped in place, unable to move an inch. Yet, he showed no panic at all.

He stood motionless, while the scars on the front of his body turned into eyes filled with malice.

——Ritual Magic, Eyes of Malice!

If you gaze directly into them, you will be intimidated by the intense malice and frozen in place, unable to move.

The next moment, fierce flames burst forth!

It was like a volcanic eruption, as golden-red magma mixed with curse-infused purplish-red flames automatically counterattacked in the direction Oswald had attacked before!

The automatic counterattacking lava cannon instantly blasted a hole in the Hall of Silver and Tin, which had been reinforced by the Preservation Arts!

The wall couldn't hold out even for an instant and was shattered by the automatic counterattacking flames.

Additional sparks of fire fell outside—some landed on the grass, igniting poisonous purple-red flames. These flames, twisting like thorns or snakes, spread rapidly, emitting black smoke.

More flames fell into the lake churning with sandy yellow mud. Immediately, billows of light yellow acrid steam rose, creating a sizzling uproar.

This was entirely different from the power of fire Karl actively used.

The flames he manipulated were drawn from the Flame Demon shell within his body, controlled by reason.

——But when he was attacked and bled, it was the "Rage" brand that provoked the unrestrained fire of the Flame Demon!

Aiwass, with his rich experience in capability construction, immediately determined—General Karl must be particularly adept at the type specialized in automatic counterattacks.

Unlike the Succubus Emma, Karl didn't trust the demon inside him as much. His inner demon was heavily sealed and suppressed, only allowing a manageable amount of strength to be harnessed.

When a certain condition was met, he could unleash full power under controlled circumstances.

Clearly, Karl had set "being injured and bleeding" as the condition.

He and the Flame Demon were not the same entity, which is why the Flame Demon inside him could constantly heal him. Thanks to the strong life force bestowed by the contract with the Flame Demon... perhaps there were other Strength-enhancing Path characteristics as well.

That's why he had the confidence to impose group Silence.

Because he himself relied on "passive abilities" to fight, and the only condition to trigger the passive effects was to be hit!

However, his overwhelmingly powerful counterblast missed its mark.

Because just as he was attacked and freed from stasis, he was once again subjected to the slowing effect by Diomedes.

Oswald's speed was so fast that it was impossible to follow with the naked eye.

The moment those Eyes of Malice opened, Oswald had already flashed behind General Karl.

He didn't even glance at Karl, and his back was turned to him.

Yet, at some unknown time, General Karl's body had been tightly wrapped by five white threads. The ends of the threads were held in Oswald's clenched hands.

A red glow reignited at the bottom of Oswald's pupils.

— Advanced Divine Art: Dawnfire!

As the counterattack cannon fired, the sacred flames of the Dawn Celestial Marshal ignited from within Oswald, forming an invisible barrier of flame around him. The holy flames spread from his palm and, in the blink of an eye, set General Karl ablaze.

The sacred flames enveloped him, sizzling as they scorched his body—

For General Karl, with his high-level affinity for flames, this was not a fatal wound.

It was at this moment, Oswald suddenly turned around.

Within one second, three Advanced Divine Arts took effect.

He raised his hand, with bright yellow, grey, and golden-red points of light emerging. They connected to form a triangle and condensed into a white light screen in the middle.

His right hand extended forward, with the index finger precisely touching the newly formed light screen.

Like a projectile shot out, the triangle of light instantly expanded and flew forward, passing through General Karl, who was again slowed and whose body was burning with nearly static flames.

The moment the triangle of light pierced through General Karl, the flames on his body suddenly intensified. An invisible storm swept through, extinguishing all the Flame Demon's fire.

From the burning body of Karl, an endless white radiance burst forth, piercing through the dark domain summoned by Diomedes in an instant.

The surrounding slowed speed returned to normal in a flash.

But the next moment, the entire world turned into nothingness, leaving only a pure and clean realm of pure white.

Oswald's abnormally swift speed suddenly returned to normal.

All the enhancements cast on oneself and all the debuffs applied to the enemy disappeared within this realm of pure white, returning to zero. These imbalanced forces were all transformed into the pure force of Balance, concentrating in the next strike.

Oswald then delivered a plain, unembellished karate chop.

That hand, capable of easily tearing through steel and stone, did not actually touch Karl's body. No threads of light emerged from his fingertips—perhaps there weren't any. After all, in this world of pure white, the "threads" could not be seen.

Yet even so, that world of pure white was perfectly bisected by the motion.

The pure white realm, once cleaved, left General Karl with no power to resist and he was cleanly split in two!

— This was indeed the powerful strike that was sure to hit, once Oswald had locked on!

And the cold force of Balance directly destroyed the seals inside his body, preventing any healing from taking place.

This rendered General Karl like the yolk of a soft-boiled egg that had been sliced open—with the "egg white" around him cut open, his entire body burst into clumps of gelatinous flames. The "scars" on his body twisted and spread, gradually crumbling and nearly melting into a pool of golden magma on the ground.

Either of these old men, taken alone, might not be able to defeat a half-step from death Fifth Power Level like the Bone Sculptor. But together, even an elite like Karl stood almost no chance against their combined might.

Though Shafiya, having been silenced, couldn't use any strong Law Magic besides "Spell Counter" and "Mandatory Binding."

And binding spells were of little use against General Karl, whose main strength was counterattacking. It was almost as if only the two Guardian Spirits were attacking Karl in tacit understanding.

Not only was General Karl cut asunder, but even the red barrier above the sky shattered along with him.

But at that moment, a stronger sense of danger emerged simultaneously in everyone present.

"Run!"

Shafiya was the first to react.

Having regained her spellcasting abilities, she decisively placed her staff against the wall. With her other hand, she reached into the void in front of her.

As if she had located a node.

In the next moment, a blue-and-white runic gateway materialized.

"Run, Aiwass!"

She maintained the portal and urged loudly.

Oswald had just unleashed his full-force strike and was still suffering the backlash of the overloading Balance power. Aiwass gave Diomedes a push, signaling him to quickly take the stunned Oswald and escape.

Meanwhile, Aiwass also picked up the still unconscious Sherlock and leaped into the portal.

Shafiya was the last to go and saw Karl's remains beginning to twist and burn.

A torrential "rage" desire, along with a howling high temperature, gathered relentlessly.

Without hesitation, she deactivated the teleportation array. An instant before the portal distorted and vanished, she propelled herself forward at full speed, crashing into it.

Afterwards, the flames burst forth with a roar.

Rising from the ashes, a Flame Demon stood tall—