Chapter 407: The Elite vs The Ultras (1)

Positioned at the rear of the Ultra forces encircling the Elite Class...

Maria exhaled slowly, finally feeling her wounds begin to mend after her grueling battle against Daemon and Dawn.

Her power was formidable .. but it came with a troublesome weakness. As an Empyrean, Maria was now unable to continue fighting, which was why she had fallen behind the vanguard.

The final battle was about to erupt at any moment, and when it did, the last surviving students of the Elite Class—the most gifted generation in imperial history—would be slaughtered.

Their deaths would be a devastating blow to the enemy, as these young talents had demonstrated frightening potential.

And yet, Maria felt nothing. If anything, the whole situation struck her as profoundly tragic.

How far humanity had fallen... to the point where humans were forced to kill humans, over and over again.

"You look like hell, dear Maria."

A familiar voice pulled her from her thoughts, slurred with that same drunkard’s grin she remembered too well.

"Lord Mergo..."

She said his name unconsciously, eyes widening in shock at the sight before her.

The Lord of the Dark Hive... Mergo .. stood before her barefoot, his frail body battered and bruised, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword and the other clutching the severed head of Lawrence.

"What happened to you?!"

Maria stared in disbelief at the elder’s wounds, dried blood crusted around gashes that looked fresh, as if carved by a cursed blade.

"Why haven’t you healed yourself?"

She asked, baffled. Someone of his infernal power should’ve been able to recover easily. But Mergo merely shook his head.

"It’s not that I don’t want to... I simply can’t."

Clutching his fractured chest, Mergo let out a crooked smile as he recalled the fierce battle.

"The wounds that sword left on me refuse to heal. It’s like he cursed me with every slash. All I can do now is stop them from getting worse."

Maria frowned instinctively. It was hard to imagine someone as powerful as Mergo suffering like this at the hands of a single opponent.

"Who did this to you?"

As soon as she asked, his face came to Mergo’s mind.

"A monster with inhuman strength. A fighter like none I’ve ever seen. Heh... His power kept climbing, until I had no choice but to flee in thr end."

Still carrying Lawrence’s head, Mergo began walking alongside the Ultra army, Maria at his side.

"You’re telling me one of the Elite students did this to you?!"

It made no sense... and yet it was the truth.

"Maybe we were wrong, Maria."

Mergo muttered, eyes locked on the distant battlefield where the climax was about to unfold.

"Maybe what we’re looking for lies on the other side."

His words were cryptic, but Maria found herself following in silence, frowning deeply.

"Do you truly believe that?"

Drawing his blade, Mergo gave her a confident smirk.

"The next battle will give us the answer."

The elder sighed as he raised Lawrence’s severed head.

"Now then, what should I do with this troublesome brat?"

"Is he dead?"

"Of course not. Cutting off his head won’t kill him. But it’ll stop him from regenerating so easily..."

With a wave of his hand, Mergo opened a dimensional rift and tossed Lawrence’s head inside.

"I’ll deal with him later. But for now..."

At that moment, the Ultras army stopped advancing .. they had reached the center.

Everyone braced themselves for the final act.

It was time to end it.

...

...

...

The Ultras forces had reached the center at last, encircling the Elite Class from all directions.

Within the ranks of their main force stood several prominent figures...

Gavid Lindman marched at the front. Lords of the Ultras, like the furious Godfrey—still enraged from his last fight against Phoenix—followed closely behind.

Others, like Gvardiol, and even the Hollow Evelyn ..who had yet to reappear .. were also present.

One could say that nearly every major fighter of the Ultras continent was gathered here. The empire’s chances of survival were practically zero.

"We ended up playing that stupid witch’s game," Gavid Lindman growled, his voice bitter with rage. "When we should’ve done this from the start."

He had never wanted to waste time on Beatrice’s twisted "game." His plan had always been simple: crush Frey and his allies with overwhelming force.

But Beatrice had promised to surrender willingly if they participated in her game.

And so... they played along.

The one-on-one duels were over.

Now came the time for mass slaughter.

"This is going to be fun,"

Gvardiol chuckled, folding his hands as he stared toward the distant gate.

After secretly planting a demon seed inside one of them...

The Empyrean was curious to see how far those young fighters ..barely old enough to be called warriors ..could go.

Especially in a battle like the one about to begin.

All of the Ultras forces stood ready, their armies amassed and waiting.

But the first move didn’t come from them ..

It came from the enemy.

Before their very eyes, a blazing pillar of fire rose to the sky, piercing the darkness of night as it ignited the battlefield with overwhelming power.

The flames swelled and surged, taking the form of a colossal phoenix with wings ablaze, screeching madly as it dove toward the Ultras.

Harnessing an astonishing amount of fire aura, Phoenix ignited the skies above, launching the flaming beast without warning straight into one of the weaker flanks of the Ultras army.

He was clever—targeting the vulnerable first.

And in seconds, the giant phoenix swelled in their vision, threatening to incinerate them alive.

"Holy hell."

Gvardiol burst into laughter at the sheer spectacle.

Then, without warning ..

The phoenix exploded.

A violent eruption swallowed a terrifying number of Ultras soldiers, burning them to ashes.

After unleashing one of his most powerful long-range techniques, Phoenix immediately charged in, a blazing inferno wrapped around him, determined to tear through their lines.

Gavid Lindman was the first to respond, drawing his aether blade and lunging toward the young lord of the Sunlight family.

He would not allow him to rampage unchecked.

But just as he moved ..

An earth-shattering explosion erupted behind him.

Gavid spun around instantly, eyes widening at the pillar of violet-black aura shooting into the heavens, ripping through the battlefield with devastating force.

The blast engulfed another wave of Ultras forces.

Startled, Gavid tried to speak ..

Only for another explosion to erupt, this time from a completely different direction.

This one was pure, radiant light.

Matching the first in every way.

Gavid was stunned. He didn’t understand it—he knew nothing of Frey’s Ignition, nor of Snow’s Grand Cosmic Formation.

But it didn’t matter.

The battle had begun.

Swords were drawn, spears unleashed, and the warriors of the Ultras surged forward, roaring in fury, charging toward the sources of the explosions.

Snow and Frey stood side by side—then split apart, cutting into the enemy ranks with a terrifying synergy.

From above, Phoenix turned the battlefield into a living hell, raining fire relentlessly.

Behind him, Daemon followed, supporting his assault from the rear.

Together, Frey and his allies carved through the enemy lines, slaying dozens, even hundreds—but they had only touched the edge of the vast army surrounding them.

They had to draw attention. They had to survive.

It was the only way Phoenix could open a path for the others to escape.

Survival meant staying alive for as long as possible.

Tearing through corpses, Frey and Snow fought like madmen, obliterating anyone who got close.

"Kill with one strike, Snow! If they survive to the second, we’ll be overwhelmed!"

Frey shouted, wild and relentless.

"I already know that!"

Snow shouted back, the two of them standing back to back before launching in opposite directions—one cloaked in pitch-black aura, the other in radiant light.

They moved like lightning, cutting down enemies one after another.

And as Frey’s blades ripped through bodies, something inside him snapped into place .. he entered that same focused state he’d experienced during the battle against the army of a thousand.

Everything else—his grief, his pain—disappeared.

All that remained was the battlefield.

He fought like a demon, slaughtering his foes one by one, driven by fury and an unquenchable thirst for blood.

With his endless aura reserves and a body that defied injury, Frey became a walking catastrophe.

On the other side, Snow Lionheart matched him blow for blow, unleashing his full Warlord Form, commanding all six elemental forces to destroy everything in his path.

Despite being outnumbered, the Elite Class launched a devastating first strike.

"I could do this all day!"

Frey roared, blades flashing, aura howling around him.

Just like before—just like when he endured a thousand enemies...

He was ready to do the same .. stand against the enemy hordes without hesitation.

But the elite’s brief advantage didn’t last long.

Within seconds, Frey’s blade collided with a sword that not only blocked his strike .. but overwhelmed it.

Standing face to face with him ..

Gavid Lindman appeared, his cold gaze burning with murderous intent.