Kismet stood behind Herbert, watching the two great third-rank wizards of the Borderland fight each other.
"Herbert is getting anxious." He stood in the flames, but they didn't burn his body.
The Black Tide clearly hadn't fully erupted yet, but Herbert had made his move and been discovered by the Wind Sprite.
Originally, Herbert's plan was to pretend to lose control and mutate when the Black Tide appeared, then prevent others from sealing the Storm Eye, and finally steal the anchor points when the Black Tide fully erupted.
Although the anchor points hidden within Storm Eyes would bring tremendous disaster and massive death, they were double-edged.
Their enormous value in magical research made the two great wizard factions covet them.
If not for the leaders of the two wizard factions still having some conscience, they probably wouldn't want to seal Storm Eyes at all, but would hope for as many Storm Eyes to appear as possible!
Herbert had chosen to be selfish at this moment, trading everyone's lives for one anchor point!
Unfortunately, plans couldn't keep up with changes.
Saul hadn't obediently become the Storm Eye's sacrifice, and Pei'er had actually noticed his little schemes.
Kismet knew Herbert now wanted to kill the Wind Sprite so no one else present would be his match.
Even himself, who had a cooperation agreement with Herbert, had probably long been on his kill list.
However, Kismet had never worried about his situation.
Even though he now stood in Herbert's protective flames, as if already having his throat grasped.
Just as he was boredly waiting for the two to decide the outcome, the sound of a snapping string suddenly came from within his body.
"Twang!"
The sound was so sharp and piercing that both Pei'er and Herbert glanced at Kismet.
"Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!"
More sounds followed from within Kismet's body.
As if an explosion had occurred inside him.
The expression Kismet had always worn—that of an outsider watching a show—suddenly changed!
He spread his hands, looking down at his chest and abdomen, listening to those terrifying sounds, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably rising.
"Hahahaha... he succeeded! Haha... I succeeded!"
Kismet's nearly manic expression made both Pei'er and Herbert's hearts clench simultaneously.
"This guy, he couldn't have mutated under this level of pollution, could he?"
Just as the two watched Kismet warily, another person suddenly appeared beside him!
Very suddenly.
As if the previous second that space was empty, and the next second—Saul suddenly stood to Kismet's left.
"Teleportation?!"
After seeing this scene, Herbert actually abandoned Pei'er and launched magic at Saul.
A chain-like flame tongue suddenly rose from underground, seemingly wanting to strangle the suddenly appearing person.
Pei'er was startled. Although Saul could now independently complete door-opening, he could only barely be considered to have entered third-rank—how could he be Herbert's match?
However, just as Pei'er was about to drain the air around Saul, his body disappeared again just as the flame tongue was about to surround him.
Then he appeared beside Byron.
"Saul?"
Byron had been worrying about Saul flying to high altitude, but this guy had suddenly appeared in front of him.
Several consciousness bodies happily wanted to surround him, but heard Saul say, "Senior, I'll explain to you all when we get back."
Saul looked down at his left hand, his figure disappearing again.
This time, he appeared beside Pei'er.
"Mm, I've pretty much grasped the pattern."
Only then did Saul lower his hand and look up at Herbert.
"You want to kill me?"
Herbert emerged from the flames. "Sealing the Storm Eye—"
His words stopped abruptly mid-sentence.
"You... the Storm Eye... actually?"
Saul completed it for him. "The Storm Eye has already been sealed by me."
Yes, from the moment Saul suddenly appeared beside Kismet, the black raindrops falling from the sky had disappeared.
Even the twisting power that had leaked from the Storm Eye and polluted everyone was gone.
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like the Storm Eye had already been sealed.
But how could one person accomplish this?
Pei'er no longer thought about how to protect Saul.
What did a wizard who could directly accomplish spatial teleportation through his own power without relying on magical formations or magical tools mean?
It meant that from this moment on, Saul's probability of advancing to fourth-rank had already far exceeded Pei'er's.
Pei'er bit her lower lip, her eyes following Saul, her gaze unclear whether it was envy or relief.
"Congratulations, you've already obtained the first key to entering fourth-rank."
Saul's heart stirred. Just as he was about to turn around and ask more, he noticed in his peripheral vision that Herbert's flame body had instantly become four massive fire chains, attacking Saul, Pei'er, and Kismet standing at the back.
Pei'er immediately leaped up while an air barrier surrounded Saul—she still habitually protected Saul, treating him as second-rank.
The massive fire chain barely grazed past Pei'er's shoe sole, striking the transparent barrier.
The air wall in front of Saul shook, making the outside scenery tremble with it.
Kismet had somehow restrained his manic laughter and run behind Saul, perfectly covered by Pei'er's air wall.
Pei'er outside the air wall faced the frantically attacking Herbert alone.
A duel between fire and wind.
If the wind wasn't strong enough, it would only become fuel for flames.
If fire wasn't strong enough, it would be extinguished by wind.
The two third-ranks fought back and forth outside.
Saul turned back to glare at Kismet.
Today's events were definitely connected to him.
Thinking of those preview endings in the golden book pages, and Senior Morden who had ultimately chosen to sacrifice himself to seal the Storm Eye, Saul truly had killing intent toward Kismet now.
Kismet raised an eyebrow, seeming to see Saul's thoughts. He raised both hands with an innocent expression, "Master, I'm just a puppet too—I had no choice."
"Twang!"
Suddenly, a sound came from within Kismet's body.
"What's that noise?"
Kismet quickly showed an excited, pleased smile with a hint of showing off.
"Lines, the sound of breaking."
Lines?
Could it be fate lines?
Saul narrowed his eyes, looking at Kismet. He found that the lines extending from the other to his front hadn't broken.
Then what lines were they?
Or rather, whose lines?
Saul snorted coldly and turned away.
It wasn't that he wanted to spare Kismet, but dealing with Herbert was more important now.
When Saul had landed beside Kismet, he saw Herbert and Pei'er were fighting.
Nine times out of ten, Herbert's plan to sacrifice everyone here for the anchor points in the Storm Eye had been exposed.
The other party's sudden attempt to kill Saul was obviously like in the golden book page previews—he had long known the Storm Eye was inside Saul.
But he still wasn't sure if Saul had truly completely sealed the Storm Eye.
Still holding onto hope, he thought that as long as Saul was severely injured, the Storm Eye in his body might be reactivated.
Pei'er protecting Saul also had such concerns.
After all, everyone had just discovered that the polluting twisting power was emanating from within Saul's body.
Saul stared intently at the battle between Pei'er and Herbert.
Having just become third-rank, he wasn't confident he could defeat Herbert yet.
However, taking this opportunity to test his newly controlled ability wouldn't be bad.
(End of Chapter)