Chapter 1787: Max’s One Attack!
Chapter 1787: Max’s One Attack!
Morgana understood that better than anyone.
The violet charms around her body began spinning wildly, and her hands moved so quickly that they left trails of purple afterimages in the air. One defensive spell after another appeared around her, forming layers so densely packed that the space between her and Max became a fortress of witchcraft.
A curtain of starlight unfolded first, then a circular barrier made of thirteen witch runes appeared inside it. After that came a veil of purple mist, a mirror formed from cursed moonlight, a cage of black roots summoned from the Witch God Tree, a shield made from condensed fate threads, and finally a strange starry doll that floated before her like a substitute body.
She was desperate.
Everyone could see it.
Morgana Starveil, one of the strongest geniuses of Stellar Templar, the witch who had made so many people wary simply by appearing at the battlefield, was now using every defensive method she could gather in the short moment before Max attacked. She did not even bother pretending to be calm anymore.
Her pride had been pushed aside by survival instinct. Her fingers trembled as she formed seals, and her purple eyes remained locked on Dragonheart as if the sword in Max’s hand was no longer a weapon, but the edge of death itself.
"Stellar Witchcraft, Thirteen Star Sanctuary."
A barrier of thirteen rotating stars appeared around her.
"Mirror Curse, False Body Reflection."
Three illusory Morganas stepped out from her body and stood around her.
"Fate Veil, Life-Thread Reversal."
Countless thin purple threads wrapped around her true body, trying to redirect any fatal attack toward the false reflections.
"Witch Root Coffin, Guardian Form."
The roots of the Witch God Tree rose again, this time not to bind Max, but to protect Morgana in a thick, twisting wall of cursed wood.
She was fast.
She was skilled.
She was indeed worthy of being one of Stellar Templar’s strongest geniuses. In only a few breaths, she had created more defensive layers than most geniuses could break through with their strongest attack.
Each layer carried different properties. Some blocked physical strikes, some resisted energy, some twisted curses, some redirected fate, some concealed her true body, and some tried to confuse the enemy’s senses. Against any ordinary opponent, this defense would have been enough to make them hesitate, waste strength, or fall into another hidden trap.
But Max did not hesitate.
The seven-colored lightning around him faded completely.
The draconic pressure around his golden-black scales also became quiet.
Even the air around him seemed to lose its movement.
Then the Emotion Severing Path descended.
It did not arrive like thunder.
It did not spread like fire.
It did not roar like a dragon.
It fell upon the battlefield in absolute silence.
The moment Max activated the Emotion Severing Path, the atmosphere at the base of the Witch God Tree changed in a way that made every observer feel a chill sink into their bones.
The anger, fear, excitement, hatred, and killing intent filling the battlefield all seemed to dim at once, as if an invisible blade had passed through the hearts of everyone present and cut away the emotions feeding their thoughts.
Rosaline’s pupils contracted. Kaiden Voidmere’s expression finally changed. Orion Starfall stopped smiling. Caroline clenched her hands tightly. Seraphine and Fin trembled instinctively, because they had already felt this terrifying path once before.
Morgana felt it most clearly.
Her fear did not vanish.
It was severed.
Her panic did not calm.
It was cut away.
The desperation that had been driving her hands suddenly broke apart, and for a fraction of a second, her mind became frighteningly blank. That blankness was more terrifying than fear itself, because it meant Max’s sword had not even moved yet, but his Pseudo Cosmic Path had already reached into the foundation of her battle will.
Max took one step forward.
Dragonheart rose.
"One sword," he said calmly.
Morgana’s eyes widened.
She bit the tip of her tongue and forcefully awakened herself from that terrible stillness. Blood flowed from the corner of her mouth as she poured everything she had into her defenses. The thirteen stars spun faster.
The false bodies shifted positions. The fate threads tightened. The cursed root coffin thickened. The mirror curse glowed. The moonlight shield brightened. Every layer of protection around her reached its strongest state.
Max swung Dragonheart.
There was no grand explosion.
There was no dazzling light.
There was only a thin, silent sword line.
The sword line moved forward.
The curtain of starlight was severed first, not shattered by force but cut away from the power that sustained it. The thirteen-star sanctuary split cleanly, each star losing its connection to the others before falling apart like dead embers.
The false bodies vanished without even being struck directly, because the illusionary link connecting them to Morgana had been severed. The fate threads tried to redirect the attack, but the sword line cut the fate itself, making the reversal meaningless.
The cursed moonlight mirror cracked down the center. The purple mist parted. The Witch God Tree roots that had once caught Max off guard were sliced open as if their will to bind and protect had been removed before the blade touched them.
Layer after layer fell.
Morgana watched the sword line approach.
Her lips parted, and for the first time, there was no mockery in her voice.
"Impossible..."
The final starry doll floated in front of her, trying to take the attack in her place.
The sword line passed through it.
The doll did not explode. It simply split in half and lost all meaning as a substitute.
Then the sword reached Morgana.
Dragonheart passed through her from head to waist in one smooth motion.
For a moment, Morgana stood perfectly still.
Her purple eyes stared at Max with disbelief, fear, regret, and hatred, but even those emotions were fading, because the sword that had cut her body had also severed the threads of emotion clinging to her existence.
She had prepared three killing moves. She had used countless defensive layers. She had relied on Stellar Templar’s witchcraft, fate manipulation, curse arts, false bodies, root protection, and star barriers. Yet in front of Max’s Emotion Severing Path, all of it had been useless.
A thin line appeared down the center of her body.
Then Morgana Starveil split in half.
Her body dissolved into fragments of violet starlight and Killing Points before the two halves could even fall to the ground. The witch charms around her shattered one after another, releasing faint ringing sounds that quickly faded into silence.
The roots she had controlled collapsed limply against the ground, and the remaining curse symbols around the battlefield vanished like smoke under the wind.
Morgana was gone.
The strongest genius of Stellar Templar who had sneak-attacked Max from the shadows, mocked him with the excuse of the battle royale, and used three prepared moves against him had been cut down by one sword.
The battlefield remained silent.
Rosaline stared at Max, her eyes filled with shock that she could no longer hide. She had finally seen the sword aura that had drawn her here, but seeing it from afar and witnessing it sever through one of Stellar Templar’s strongest witches were two completely different things.
Kaiden Voidmere’s gaze became deeply solemn. Orion Starfall’s excitement was still there, but now it was mixed with genuine wariness. The second faction elves had become deathly quiet, and Seraphine and Fin looked as if the nightmare they had feared had returned before their eyes.
Caroline slowly exhaled.
Jessica stared at Max with trembling eyes.
Nancy’s expression was complicated, but there was also a strange certainty in her gaze now.
Max lowered Dragonheart.
The Emotion Severing Path slowly faded, but the chilling silence it left behind still lingered over the battlefield. The small cursed eye on his left shoulder blinked once, its red-black pupil staring at the place where Morgana had disappeared.
Max did not look pleased.
He did not look angry either.
He simply turned his gaze toward the remaining geniuses and spoke in a calm voice.
"Anyone else?"