Just as the spear lunged toward Li Wen, she hastily summoned the Final Canon and began casting spells in rapid succession.
The chains binding her didn’t interfere with her spellcasting.
Several shimmering images flashed above her head: first, a brightly dressed traveler; then, a lightning-struck tower; and finally—what she had been hoping for—a white-robed angel holding golden chalices in both hands.
The Blessing of Temperance!
This ability could dispel all positive and negative effects alike.
The chains that restrained her were magical in nature and thus subject to purification.
And not only the chains—Paradise’s Hymn’s own effects were erased as well: the Fool’s Benediction and the Tower’s Collapse vanished, and even the levitation effect granted by the Emerald Star Cloak was completely cleansed.
While Paradise’s Hymn was described as excluding the caster from its effects, descriptions were, after all, just descriptions.
This was the real world—and the one who cast the spell determined whom it affected.
Just like Invocation magic had different effects for allies and enemies, it was not some game AI like Sophia or an unseen force that judged the difference—it was the caster’s will.
The exclusion of the caster in the skill description was merely the default.
With her intent, Li Wen could force the hymn to affect herself.
Under the power of Temperance, the ethereal chains shattered.
Li Wen adjusted her fall and landed softly in her witch form.
But the demon, Tilrogzach, was also within Temperance’s radius—his magical shield dissolved in an instant.
His face turned pale and stiff, his mood particularly foul.
An attack he had deemed a sure kill had been defused so effortlessly.
He quickly chanted to recall the Death Curse Spear, but under the lingering effects of Temperance, the weapon refused his call.
With no will to guide it, it clattered helplessly to the ground, embedding itself in the dirt.
Li Wen wasn’t about to give him a second chance to reclaim his weapon.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she surged forward, dagger in hand.
Tilrogzach tried to block her with his ram’s horn while chanting curses at the cost of his own vitality.
Curse of Agony!
Curse of Bloodletting!
Both curses landed.
Li Wen grunted, black blood trailing from her nose and mouth. But her momentum didn’t falter.
She weaved around the horn’s defense and plunged the bone-gnawing dagger into his side, immediately following up with an incantation-less Arclight Slash.
Caught off guard, Tilrogzach tried to shift from defense to offense, jabbing the ram’s horn toward her forehead.
It looked like a mere tap—but the impact felt like a sledgehammer to her skull.
Li Wen was thrown backward, her head ringing violently.
Her Arclight Slash missed entirely, and her corruption level surged past 30%, rapidly approaching 40%.
She had thought trading wounds would be to her advantage.
Instead, she was completely overpowered.
The demon didn’t waste the opportunity.
He shattered the ram’s horn and scattered its powder over her body.
A crimson, inverted pentagram flared to life beneath her feet.
Within its bounds, she could no longer cast spells.
Confirming that she could no longer resist, the demon summoned the spear once more and activated the Death Curse again.
Ethereal chains coiled around Li Wen, and the cursed spear’s ominous, gleaming tip aimed at her heart.
“This time… I win,” Tilrogzach declared coldly.
The spear flew forward, piercing Li Wen’s chest and nailing her body to the burning wall of the ruined cathedral behind her.
Her dusk corruption surged upward, stopping just short of 75%.
Li Wen gritted her teeth against the pain, struggling to wrench the spear free—but even touching it made her flinch.
The glowing runes carved into its shaft sent searing pain and waves of fire through her flesh.
Still alive?
Tilrogzach was stunned.
Forget the lethal power of the Death Curse Spear—even his earlier barrage of curses would’ve been enough to kill any transcendent of her tier.
He found himself wondering—who was the real infernal demon with monstrous vitality here?
“If one Death Curse isn’t enough… then let’s try two!”
His eyes turned vicious.
He bit into his own arm, tearing out a chunk of flesh, and offered it as a sacrifice to empower the spear once more.
The black chains wrapped around the spear cracked apart, revealing something even more terrifying—crimson thorns, brighter than fresh blood.
These scarlet barbs burrowed into Li Wen’s body, threading through her veins and devouring her blood.
They grew rapidly, until a towering thorn tree, the height of the cathedral itself, sprouted from her very body.
And still—she did not die.
Her corruption level soared to 95%, continuing to climb ever so slowly.
The Death Curse’s thorns now ravaged her organs, brain, and nerves.
Her only remaining strength was spent watching the corruption percentage rise.
96%…
97%…
98%…
99%…
Just as it was about to reach 100%, Li Wen activated the final ability of the Emerald Star Cloak.
When she first obtained the cloak, she had guessed that the ability it hid must be powerful—judging by the mana cost alone.
But now, she realized… it wasn’t just powerful. It was godlike.
Dusk’s End: Consume 50% of your maximum mana to reset the corruption of dusk back to 0%.
A surge of mana rushed into the cloak.
The corruption that had nearly reached its peak plummeted instantly to zero.
So this… is a true witch?
She tore her thorn-wrapped hands free and grasped the cursed spear embedded in her chest.
The pain and burning were now meaningless to her. Inch by inch, she pulled it out.
Finally, the Death Curse Spear was fully removed.
Deprived of its anchor, the blood-red thorn tree crumbled to ash and scattered into the flames.
Under the cloak’s power—imbued with the eternal strength of dusk—every wound and tear on both Li Wen and the cloak vanished without a trace.
She looked reborn.
Holding the cursed spear in her hand, she turned toward the demon—who now stood in stunned, speechless horror—and murmured,
“Even this level of damage couldn’t instantly kill me in witch form. Even the Path of Flesh, known for its vitality, likely couldn’t endure more.”
Her test of the witch form’s limits was complete.
Now, it was time to end this farce once and for all.
Tilrogzach couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
A lower-tier transcendent surviving a double-cursed Death Spear?
That wasn’t something sheer vitality could explain.
He had a sinking feeling: if he didn’t kill her now, she would become a nightmare not just for the Deep-Dark Dawn, but even for Seisviel itself.
But he could barely gather enough strength to cast another spell.
It had been over five minutes since Li Wen had invoked her Radiant Desire.
His status effects had now reached their second stage.
He could no longer look at the shadows in the corners or the darkness beyond the ruined cathedral.
The mere sight of it made him anxious and panicked.
More than the foe standing before him, it was the firelight that now held his full attention.
As long as there was light… he couldn’t look away.