At the rear of the battlefield, Ravenna smiled as she faced both Yeon and Aluria.
With the Chaos Dolls standing at her side, she had no fear of being outnumbered. Nor did she fear being outmatched.
One was the Ocean Goddess, sovereign of the endless seas.
The other was Yeon, a mage who had risen from obscurity to beco one of the greatest archmages of the current age.
Yet Ravenna remained as calm as ever, her smile never wavering.
Yeon’s eyes narrowed beneath her mask. Slowly, she reached up and removed it. The mont her face was exposed, mories she had buried deep within her heart resurfaced.
The underground laboratory. The endless experints. The cold operating tables that were stained with blood.
The burning pain as Ravenna scarred her face.
The countless thods the Apostle of Grief had devised to shatter her body, her will, and her spirit. Every nightmare began and ended with that woman.
"Ravenna..." Yeon’s voice trembled with suppressed fury. "You will pay for what you did."
"Pay?" Ravenna tilted her head before laughing softly. "You were an excellent specin. Honestly, losing you was quite unfortunate. If you’d stayed, my Chaos Dolls would have beco far more powerful."
"..."
Yeon bit the tip of her tongue until she tasted blood, using the pain to suppress the rage threatening to consu her. At her side, Aluria’s gentle voice echoed within her mind.
"Yeon, calm yourself."
"I know."
"Do you know anything we can use against her?"
"Yes." The answer ca without hesitation. "Ravenna is an extraordinary mage. Perhaps one of the greatest to ever live. But physically, she’s weak. If we can get a Knight close enough to her, she can be killed instantly."
"Knights, huh..."
Aluria nodded before calling out.
A mont later, two figures rushed over. Lucas and Arthur. Two of the strongest Knights currently fighting on the battlefield.
"Aluria," Lucas asked. "You need us?"
"Yes. We’re going to bring down the Apostle of Grief."
She pointed toward the distant figure. Ravenna was casually strolling across the frozen ocean as though taking a leisurely walk. Every step she took spread erald frost across the sea. Massive glaciers of poisonous green ice rose into the heavens before crashing down like falling stars.
Above her, countless ravens circled through the sky. Demonic mana poured endlessly from her body, spreading into a sinister domain that twisted the surrounding world.
The air itself seed toxic.
Even Arthur—a Paladin capable of purifying corruption—felt a chill crawl down his spine as he gazed into that sea of poisonous mist.
"You want us to charge into that?"
"We’ll create an opening," Aluria replied. "Yeon, tell them about her magic."
Yeon’s gaze never left Ravenna.
"She was once known as the Witch of Winter."
The title alone caused Arthur’s eyes to widen.
"The Witch of Winter?" he repeated.
"She controls poison and ice. And..." Yeon paused briefly. "...she is the greatest ice mage in history."
"What?!"
Arthur’s expression changed instantly. "
You know her?" Aluria asked.
"Of course I do." Arthur stared at the woman in the distance with disbelief.
"The Witch of Winter was an archmage who lived over a century ago. She stood at the absolute pinnacle of ice magic. Even the great Amaris House tried to recruit her."
His voice grew heavier.
"But she was a recluse. She never accepted disciples. Never joined any faction. Never even left her frozen sanctuary."
Arthur swallowed.
"I always assud she died of old age."
His eyes returned to Ravenna’s youthful appearance. Now, the truth was obvious. The Demon Cult had preserved her life. Perhaps even enhanced it.
"If she’s truly the Witch of Winter, then..."
"Yes." Yeon clenched her fists. "My ice magic cos from her."
A painful silence followed. The mories returned once more. Ravenna had abducted her for a single purpose. To create a vessel capable of inheriting the Witch of Winter’s power.
The Apostle of Grief had dread of mass-producing ice demonic mages.
An army forged from Ravenna’s own essence.
Unfortunately for her, very few bodies could survive the process.
Most subjects died. Others went insane. Yeon was one of the few who endured.
For years, she had remained imprisoned beneath the earth. Experint after experint. Failure after failure. Endless suffering within a world of ice and darkness. Every day had been a struggle against despair.
And yet, she survived.
In return, she inherited a fragnt of the Witch of Winter’s terrifying power and rose to beco one of the world’s strongest ice mages.
But power did not erase pain. Nor did it forgive the torture.
"I’ll restrain her," Yeon said coldly. "No one understands her magic better than I do."
"Good." Aluria nodded before her expression turned serious. "Anything else?"
Yeon’s eyes shifted toward the figure standing beside Ravenna. The man remained cloaked in darkness, his features impossible to discern. Yet despite standing quietly in the background, he drew her attention far more than the Apostle of Grief.
"My only concern is him."
The others followed her gaze.
"Even after years inside the Demon Cult, I’ve never seen that person before."
A grim look appeared on her face.
"Which ans he’s either a Demon Noble... or soone even higher in the hierarchy."
She narrowed her eyes.
"And he’s dangerous."
Lucas and Arthur silently agreed.
Ravenna’s mana was overwhelming. Terrifying, even. Yet the man beside her evoked a deeper sense of dread. Like staring into a bottomless abyss. A threat hidden beneath calm waters. An unknown variable. And unknown variables were often the deadliest.
"Leave him to us."
Arthur stepped forward and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. As more and more Paladins sought refuge within Solfea, he could no longer remain a spectator. Not while darkness threatened the world.
"We’ll test his strength and lure him away from the Apostle."
"Good."
Aluria turned toward Lucas. Her husband had already unsheathed his sword. The blade glead beneath the frozen sky.
"I know." Lucas raised the weapon onto his shoulder, his gaze fixed firmly on Ravenna. A killing intent sharper than steel flickered in his eyes.
"When the opening appears..." His grip tightened. "...I will be the sword that drives through the Apostle’s heart."
"Now!"
The mont the plan was decided, Yeon moved.
CRACK!
The frozen sea beneath her feet exploded as she shot forward like a silver cot, leaving a trail of frost in her wake.
Ravenna’s smile widened.
"There you are."
Without warning, thousands of ice needles materialised around her. With a casual wave of her hand, they scread through the air. The sky darkened beneath the barrage. Each needle possessed enough force to pierce enchanted steel and skewer high-ranking Knights.
Yet Yeon never slowed.
Instead, she raised a single hand.
The world froze.
A vast frozen sanctuary unfolded around her, expanding across both sea and sky.
Endless glaciers erged from thin air while countless ice spears condensed overhead.
The mont the domain was established, every projectile shot towards Ravenna with reckless abandon.
The heavens beca a storm of destruction.
Ravenna rely chuckled.
A frost domain spread from beneath her feet.
The incoming glaciers, each large enough to flatten a fortress, suddenly halted before her as though ti itself had frozen.
Ravenna reached out and gently tapped one of them.
The massive glacier instantly disintegrated into harmless snowflakes.
"You’ve grown stronger," Ravenna admitted. "Far stronger than I expected."
The Apostle’s smile sharpened.
"But it’s still not enough, Yeon."
Yeon’s lips curled upward.
"Made you look."
"Hmmm?"
For the first ti, Ravenna’s expression changed.
Ice had silently spread beneath her feet. Chains erupted from the frozen ocean.
One. Ten. Hundreds.
The colossal chains resembled the tentacles of an ancient Kraken rising from the depths, twisting through the air as they sought to bind Ravenna and drag her beneath the sea. However, the Apostle of Grief showed no panic.
"Chaos Dolls."
The dolls moved instantly.
Like loyal guardians protecting their queen, they intercepted the chains and tore through them before they could reach their target.
At the sa mont, two figures burst forward.
Arthur and Lucas.
Arthur charged toward the hooded man standing behind Ravenna, intent on preventing him from interfering.
Lucas, anwhile, beca a streak of silver light as he lunged directly for Ravenna’s heart. The battlefield erupted into motion. Yet Ravenna and the hooded man reacted simultaneously.
"Absolute Dominion."
"Mist Domain."
An erald sphere of crystalline ice expanded from Ravenna’s body.
Within monts, a domain of absolute frost and lethal poison consud the surrounding area. Lucas instantly felt his body slowing. Frost crept across his armour while a corrosive poison invaded his bloodstream.
His instincts scread.
Without hesitation, he abandoned the charge and retreated.
Fortunately, Aluria was already waiting. Oceanic divine energy flowed into his body, purging the poison before it could reach his heart.
Elsewhere, Arthur found himself swallowed by an endless sea of mist. The world around him vanished. Direction. Distance. Even sound beca distorted.
The Mist Warlock calmly guided the battlefield away from Ravenna while trapping Arthur within his labyrinth of fog.
Fortunately, Zuphil showed no intention of assisting Ravenna directly.
For now. He rely observed from within the mist, like a scholar studying an experint.
The battlefield had beco a contest between supre magicians.
True to their legendary titles, Ravenna and Zuphil demonstrated why the world feared great mages more than armies.
A single spell could reshape an entire battlefield.
A single domain could determine the outco of a war.
But before either of them could establish complete control, Yeon stepped forward.
A chilling aura erupted from her body.
"Frost Dominion."
A brilliant azure domain exploded outward.
The frozen sanctuary expanded violently, crashing against Ravenna’s erald world.
BOOOOOOM!
Blue and green collided.
Ice and poison.
The very fabric of reality trembled as the two domains fought for supremacy.
Shockwaves swept across the ocean. Mountains of ice rose and shattered. The sea froze and lted repeatedly beneath the overwhelming clash of magical authority. And as the two worlds collided... It beca painfully clear to everyone watching.
Yeon was no longer inferior.
She was no longer the frightened experint imprisoned beneath the earth. She was no longer Ravenna’s failed specin.
She stood as an equal.
Ravenna’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hoh?"
Yeon stepped forward, her hair dancing amidst the raging blizzard. Above her palm, an orb of flawless azure ice floated.
It was beautiful. Pure. Untainted. A crystallisation of everything she had learned and everything she had suffered.
The ultimate expression of her path.
The surrounding frost trembled in resonance with its existence.
"You aren’t the only Archmage of Ice anymore..."
Yeon’s voice echoed throughout both domains.
Cold. Steady. Unyielding.
"...Ravenna."
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