However, Hayden actually had no other choice.
He picked up the bronze scepter, used his remaining magic to quickly draw a magic circle on the ground, then stood inside it, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth.
In the presence of the devil and the Mithras gods, he began to chant:
"You are a bird that has turned your back on the sky, and has fallen to the ground to walk with people."
“You once said that people can live without relying on the legacy of their ancestors. Destiny should be in the hands of one’s own actions.”
“I am one who has walked with you, one who knows what you have done. I praise the flowers and dreams you have given to people. For you treat all people equally, whether they are poor or rich.”
"Brave and proud Lord of Flowers, there is no sin in flying itself. Whether in the sky or on the earth, I will walk with you. Please accept my praise, please grant me radiant wings, so that I may fly alongside you!"
This is the spell Hayden hastily came up with—a spell to temporarily elevate humans to the status of gods!
097: Yet, golden lotuses can grow in fire.
It is said that drowning people will grab onto anything that can float, no matter what.
Hayden had always thought it was just a way of putting it. Just a metaphor, right?
He now realizes how wrong he was.
Hayden was utterly exhausted today; his magical energy was completely depleted, not even enough to boil an egg. But he had to conjure up energy; he had to find enough magic as a catalyst to complete the magic circle and finish the sorcery.
So Hayden searched his own heart.
Magical energy originates from life, from the mind. This is why that high-ranking demon in the distance doesn't use dark magic—because these demons, once defeated by the new gods, are now doing rather poorly. Magic and knowledge are monopolized; every ray of sunlight and air has its price, so they can only use the most readily available negative magic: the energy produced from fear, anger, and resentment.
In contrast, Hayden... basically doesn't use such things.
It's not that he didn't know how to use it, but Hayden was actually quite a man of moral principles.
So now he has to conjure up some other kind of magic. He has to draw energy from those deeper, purer sources.
He needs, and can only, find strength within himself, energy from the things he trusts and loves. Not for himself, but for those he wants to protect, seeking strength from his desire to give to his friends.
Deep within these desires, Hayden touched upon something subtle, something he himself was unaware existed. Even after nearly a decade of numb, solitary mercenary life, some warm thoughts still lingered in Hayden's heart.
Perhaps it was because Angela came into his life and he had a happy year that these warm feelings of happiness remained in Hayden's heart like a flame of hope.
Perhaps it was seeing Karen's passion and indignation over the past few months, and her drive to change the world, that ignited these sparks, transforming them into the raging fire we see today.
It is this very flame that has brought Hayden to this land today to fight the devil.
He channeled this energy into the magic circle, completing the entire sorcery.
The magic circle immediately began to brighten, emitting a sky-blue light in the night sky, forming a huge ring centered on Hayden, with semi-transparent patterns resembling words or symbols appearing. These patterns constantly changed, their shapes different every second, and they continuously scattered like stardust into the surrounding grass and flowerbeds.
Hayden extracted all the remaining magic power within him, gathering and amplifying it within the magic circle. He used this as a medium to cast a spell, calling out to Karen.
"Please accept my praise, grant me wings of radiance, so that I may fly alongside you!"
He cried out.
Therefore, a response was issued.
A cyan halo emerged from behind him, as brilliant as a peacock spreading its tail, or like a flowing, colorful feather robe draped over Hayden's body, releasing astonishing divine power and carrying him into the air!
Magnificent and graceful, solemn yet agile, riding the clouds, soaring through the sky, detached from the world and independent!
The proud daughter of the peacock! Her divine power has been summoned to this land!
What will the executives at Mitra Group think?
How does the antlered demon in front of us view this?
At least it didn't feel fear.
The Peacock King's retinue? Indeed, that's rather frightening. Long, long ago, the Peacock King had already slaughtered countless demons. He was a war god who specialized in slaying evil gods. Even the demons of today tremble at the sight of his tail. They are truly afraid of him.
But I wasn't so scared that I lost my mind.
The antlered demon was very calm.
The male sorcerer before them had only invoked a portion of the Peacock Daughter's power; his energy was ultimately limited.
On the other hand, it itself is a genuine high-level demon. Moreover, the negative magic power that has been gathered over several minutes of casting is not fake. The spell has already taken shape, transforming into an evil green flame in the antlered demon's raised right hand; to be burned by it is to taste the torments of hell.
Could this wizard possibly devour its spell?
Rather, if we let it cast for another ten seconds to complete the spell, everyone here would be dead!
Hayden, of course, understood this principle as well.
The eyes, consciousness, and insight of the gods are beyond the reach of mortals. Now that Hayden has invoked Kallen's divine power and bestowed it upon himself, he has naturally gained Kallen's eyes and her battle consciousness.
But don't forget, Kallen's genes were designed to a certain extent according to the standards of the War God race...
Therefore, Hayden can now easily see at a glance how many flaws this high-level demon has, how many ways it can counter its spells, and how many ways it can help him achieve victory!
Without wasting time, he flapped his azure wings and swiftly formed a hand seal in the air. Hayden interlaced his thumbs, spreading them out like wings, and aimed them at the antlered demon below, uttering the seed syllable of the eighty-four thousand secret teachings: "Om!"
Using "hand seals" to reveal the true nature of deities and bodhisattvas, visualizing with consciousness, and summoning divine power with mantras—this is the secret practice of the Mithra Group. However, Hayden has now summoned the echo of Karen's will; simply put, he himself is now Karen's "idol."
God is always with you; there's no need for long, tedious incantations. One word is enough!
As the seed syllable was uttered, immense power descended from the wings. A ribbon of azure light, like a rainbow or a sword, struck directly at the heart of the Deer Antler Demon, attacking precisely where it would be vulnerable!
Hayden, interrupt its loading screen!
Yet what demon wouldn't understand that Hayden had no other choice? So it remained completely still, letting Hayden bombard its heart with the azure divine light. Its right hand continued to grip the black fire of curses and negative energy, while it loudly spewed out more resentment and curses, pouring them all into the deepest part of the spell!
Even with the help of Karen's divine power, Hayden's magic failed to kill the high-ranking demon in one blow.
The chilling, dark fire is complete. Now, even the wounds and pain inflicted by this attack will be transformed into energy by the demon to obliterate the wizard and the land he guards to ashes!
"Slay the mortal servants of the new gods!"
This was the first time since its appearance that the antlered demon had spoken human language, and in fact, it spoke fluently in a common language, grinning coldly.
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!"
In an instant, it leaped high into the air and hurled the enormous, black cursed fireball that had expanded in its hand toward the ground!
The spirit of the earth let out a dying wail, and the little fairies screamed in terror. For they knew they were about to die!
This is the end, this is the vengeful curse that the demons of the old gods cast upon their former brethren who sided with the rebels!
Namo San! What kind of obsession and resentment is this! Even if Hayden summoned the power of the Peacock Daughter from Kallen, he wouldn't have enough energy to directly break such a curse! Putting aside the "quality," the difference in "quantity" is already too great!
In contrast, Hayden actually folded his wings and landed on the ground! Had he run out of energy from Karen? Was Hayden too exhausted to even fly?
Is he going to be burned to ashes along with this land, the mercenaries, and the goblins by the devil's black fire?
No.
Dark demonic fire descended from the sky, but Hayden didn't even raise his head. Azure divine wings folded and draped over his shoulders like a robe. He sat cross-legged on the ground, his left hand resting on his left foot, his right hand naturally placed in front of his right knee, his fingers lightly touching the ground.
By the time the antlered demon realized what trick the wizard was up to, it had already hurled down the demonic fire in its hand.
Hayden, however, gently tapped the ground with his right index finger and began to speak:
"O earth where a hundred flowers bloom! Your master has blessed you, healing your bitterness and shattering your chains! I bear witness to her virtue, and no one can deny it! Now come, for her sake and for your own, rise up and fight, and subdue the evil!"
This is precisely the hand seal for touching the earth to subdue demons.
When did Hayden start using this tactic?
He couldn't have used such magic before; he had never learned such secret techniques. But now he could, and he used it with effortless skill.
Therefore, this was a technique he was able to perform because he found it in Kallen's divine power and consciousness.
The earth opened its mouth as soon as the words were spoken.
Under the watchful eyes of both the demons and the gods, it swallowed the falling black demonic fire whole!
Instantly, the earth trembled, and mountains and rivers shook. The sound was as vast as ten thousand bells ringing in unison, emitting a profound and piercing tone that seemed to shatter the clouds and break the sun. Not only the demons, but even the gods observing the scene from the void were stunned. The high-ranking demon had spent ten minutes condensing a demonic fire the size of a building—a fire even the battle gods wouldn't attempt to withstand head-on—and this sorcerer, using the divine power of the Peacock Daughter to manipulate the earth, inhaled it whole, as if swallowing a date whole—the scene was utterly astonishing!
In fact, even Hayden himself was astonished by this miracle!
Without any particularly complicated rituals or very long incantations, Hayden has now mastered such astonishing power—and without losing control!
He had only used a little bit of the earth's energy and almost turned himself into an animal; but now, by borrowing Kallen's power and consciousness, he can control it so precisely!
The power of the Peacock Daughter… no, the power of Kallen… no, the power of friendship, is it really that perfect?
Even more frightening is that this is only the beginning.
Hayden's spell was not over yet.
Every cause has its effect. What kind of seeds you plant in the earth will determine what kind of fruit you reap.
Good deeds bring good results! Evil deeds bring evil results! The retribution of a sharp blade will surely return to oneself; those who take another's life will ultimately have their own life taken away!
Hayden no longer touched the ground with his right hand, but instead made an angry mudra with his index finger, like an iron hook, pointing it at the antlered demon frozen in mid-air, and loudly chanted the incantation for the second stage.
"Evil deeds will inevitably be punished!!"
Flowers bloomed on the ground.
It was a gigantic blue lotus, like a throne, growing out of thin air from the ground. Clean and crisp, bright and pure, it was filled with immaculate and pure, vast divine power.
In the Mithra Group's culture, the lotus holds many meanings; different colored lotuses symbolize different concepts and all represent powerful divine authority. Seeing this, even the most foolish antler demon knew the situation was dire and immediately tried to teleport away—
Then it discovered that it was firmly locked in space.
"karma!"
Hayden changed his hand gesture for the third and final time. He sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands forming vajra fists in front of his chest, and roared loudly:
"【Azure Lotus Karmic Fire】!"
The blue lotus bloomed, spewing forth raging flames. No matter what spells the demon used, they were utterly useless against these azure, sky-burning flames—this was perfectly reasonable. The demonic fire it had just unleashed after a ten-minute incantation—how could it possibly be neutralized by itself in such a short time?
And it doesn't have a second ten minutes to load the message.
This is the law of cause and effect.
When an enemy attacks, it absorbs and transforms the energy of the attack, extracting the poison and malice within, and then reflects it back onto the original enemy.
Because it is reflected through strong cause and effect, that is, through sympathetic connection, it is neither something that can be resisted nor escaped; it is a karmic fire that can only be willingly endured.
This is the divine spell that Hayden was able to cast through Karen's divine power and consciousness, and it is also full of Karen's own characteristics: alchemical transformation and refinement, her bond with the natural land, and her pure, dream-like nature.
What is the fire of karma? Evil deeds harm the body like fire. Whatever karma you create, you will reap the corresponding result, and that result is the flame. The attack you launch will inevitably be reflected back at you in kind. It is equal and just, without the slightest error.
Self-inflicted reward. This is indeed the most suitable spell for Kallen.
The antlered demon's death was sealed the moment it cast its resentful curse upon the land.
The karmic fire of the blue lotus burned away its very marrow.
This is the end of tonight's battle.
--------------------------
If this were a storyline, the demons attacking the camp should have collapsed by now... Unfortunately, the demons are not so fragile that their morale would be completely lost and their battle lines would collapse just because their general was defeated.
The mid-level demons outside the camp fence continued to put up a stubborn resistance. Thanks to Eric wielding his thunder hammer and leading his werewolf mercenaries in a desperate fight, and also thanks to the life force granted to them by Angela, the demons finally decided to retreat after more than ten minutes of fierce fighting.
This wasn't a rout, just a retreat. They simply realized they couldn't win anyway, and their superiors had ordered them to retreat. The demons doing the dirty work for the gods weren't endless. The outcome was decided; there was no need to waste time.
The Mitra Group executives who had been observing the battle from the void earlier have all left, just as they arrived. There's nothing more to see.
Most of them were thinking, "The Peacock King has a very powerful daughter!"
In their eyes, everything that happened tonight was neither entirely new material nor some entirely unique new technology. They saw it simply as the Peacock King having specially cultivated a very powerful daughter. This daughter, by lending power to her subordinates, could freely utilize the energy of this land to easily obliterate high-ranking demons.
She's strong, that's all. So the gods have begun to consider how this will affect the delicate power balance within the Mithra Group.
Almost no god considered absurd ideas like, "Could this be some new technology developed by the daughter of the Peacock King?" Everyone believed it was simply a common, normal, and powerful daughter enhanced by the Peacock King himself.
almost none.
In other words, there is absolutely nothing besides Peacock King himself.
...After all, he always knew that he had never given his daughter so much strength.
Ever since Karen ran away from home, the Peacock King had been closely monitoring his daughter's whereabouts and changes in condition. He recorded all the strange things that happened to her as potentially important events. He had pondered why those strange things, if they did indeed occur, would happen.
He had been watching the battle unfold all night. And when a mortal wizard used his daughter's name to cast a spell, drawing upon the power of the earth to deflect a high-ranking demon's powerful curse and kill it in one blow—even by the standards of the Peacock King, this seemed rather strange.
And then again, what's the deal with that wizard brat?