Miasma waved her sword, and in the next instant small blue birds started to form around her. These blue birds were tiny like sparrows.

They fluttered in quickly and chirped loudly as they spread out, hundreds and then thousands of them filling the entire room and covering every corner with their small, fluttering wings.

"Domain manifestation," Miasma muttered, staring at the blue birds.

Her lips curved into a wicked grin. As the blue birds surrounded the whole room, small time-path runes started to appear across her body.

These time-path runes glowed with a bright, steady light as Miasma spoke next.

"Endless possibilities of time!!" she finished.

Her eyes glowed with bright power as she maneuvered the birds toward Julius and Rosalina.

"Domain manifestation!!!" Julius’s eyes widened as he moved.

Rosalina reacted the same way as she exchanged a wary glance with Julius.

Domain manifestation was the main skill a spell caster would gain once they reached the void core stage.

Once you reached the void core of Bodily Ascension, you went through the five heavenly trials, and with each trial your domain grew stronger and more powerful.

’And... she has this many runes of time path?’ Julius’s heart sank even deeper, a heavy weight pressing down on his chest.

He couldn’t feel her cultivation at all, yet she was definitely at the void core stage.

Earlier, when she had been at the peak of the conversion stage of soul ascension, he had sensed it clearly, but now nothing came through.

That could only mean she had truly stepped into the void core.

As for her runes and domain, she had already passed her five heavenly trials long ago.

Even after her cultivation had fallen, the runes still marked her body, and now that she had recovered some of her strength, she could still call on her full domain.

"Fuck it!!" Julius cursed under his breath, feeling the clear gap in strength between them.

It was obvious just how powerful she had become, especially now with those birds surrounding them on all sides. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

These birds were not normal. He could feel the terrifying aura rolling off them in heavy waves.

Meanwhile, from the side, Rosalina caught the worried look on his face as she moved closer to him.

"It would have been better if I had severed her throat..." she spoke, her voice full of regret.

If she had sliced the throat clean off instead of just stabbing it, none of this would have happened.

But who could have known the Lone King had something like the time-rewinding purple wolf’ ability?

"But," she cut off her thoughts and looked serious.

"It isn’t over yet. The dean has entered the tower, and it has been quite some time. If we just hold out..." She didn’t finish the sentence, but her message was clear.

Julius understood it right away. He nodded firmly and gripped his hammer hard, his fingers tightening around the handle.

"Alright..." Julius nodded, raising his hammer high.

Miasma let out an evil chuckle. "Bold of you to attack when I have already released my domain!" she said. She raised her hands like a musician leading a band with a baton.

She waved her hands, and from both sides the birds moved in, surrounding Julius and Rosalina in a swirling mass.

But Julius didn’t stop his charge. He pushed forward toward Miasma like a rocket, muscles tensed and eyes locked on her.

Rosalina was the one who made her move. She spoke softly, "Black rose petal bloom!"

The moment the words left her lips, all kinds of matter, whether sand, paper, rock, or debris, lifted slightly from the floor and transformed into black petals around her.

These petals swirled and surrounded both Julius and Rosalina, forming a thick wall of black petals that shielded them tightly.

Meanwhile, Julius wasn’t calm either. He cast spell after spell. "Magic arsenal: shield!"

A round shield appeared around him, covering and shielding both of them with precision.

The blue birds slammed into the shield one after another, exploding on impact and leaving deep, loud booming sounds that echoed through the entire room.

Infinite Cast!" Julius shouted again. With his shout, the ground started to tremble under a deep rumbling force.

With each heavy rumble, the floor creaked loudly, and from those fresh cracks, chains made of glowing lava burst upward.

They were long and thick, each one ending in a sharp arrowhead.

One, two, three, and four, four of these chains rose from the ground.

Another tried to push out but couldn’t, sinking back inside with a disappointed groan.

’Four... is the limit...’ Julius thought bitterly.

His face had turned pale the moment the fourth chain appeared.

His core throbbed with pressure, sending sharp waves of pain through his body.

A core was like a heart, pumping mana nonstop, constantly refining wild mana into compressed, usable power.

But ever since they entered this place, he and Rosalina had pushed their cores without rest.

The strain was now clear on both of them.

However, this wasn’t the time to dwell on it. Julius pushed the thought aside and drove the chains forward.

These were Hellbound Chains, his father had created them back when he was engaged to his mother.

Though the spell had been made for a completely different reason tied to his father’s feelings, his mother saw it differently.

She viewed the chains as a symbol of love and freedom. So she made sure Julius, their offspring, learned the spell.

And even though it had been shaped by his father’s thoughts of Elizabeth’s possessive nature, it remained one of the strongest spells in his arsenal.

Julius threw the chains forward. They shot toward Miasma with blazing speed.

She was still maneuvering the birds when she spotted the incoming chains.

A low chuckle escaped her lips as she studied the spell. "Not bad," she complimented, her tone almost casual.

"However..." She raised her hand. "It’s simply not enough."

The blue birds swarmed toward her and slammed into the chains.

"Boom!!" The explosion was far from normal.

It carried the mixed forces of different paths, fire oath, water path, wind path, and more, ripping through the air with chaotic power.

"If you think this is enough to stop me, then..." As she spoke, Julius suddenly appeared right in front of her.

His golden eyes glowed with fierce intensity as his war hammer shifted and transformed into a spiky mace.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" Julius roared and smashed the mace down toward her head.

But before the mace could reach her, a single bird shot out and crashed into it.

"Whoosh!"

The mace vanished instantly from his grip, as if someone had teleported it away.

Miasma’s face turned haughty. Seeing Julius’s dumbfounded gaze, she smirked from ear to ear. "Your ancestors would bow before... me..."

As she continued, a sharp slice of air whistled straight toward her neck, fast, almost too fast for even her to react.

"Didn’t my hubby say shut the fuck up?!"