From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 658 Rainbow Judgment
The golden dragon's jets of light and flame seemed to be painted with a decisive brushstroke, erasing a large portion of the demons that swirled in the sky above Juanze City, which resembled specks of ink.

These demons left no trace of their wails, nor even their corpses.

The moment the flames engulfed them, most of the demons' limbs were burned to ashes. The remaining parts, trailing shimmering shadows, fell in parabolic arcs toward the ground under the influence of gravity and inertia. However, before they could even touch the ground, the last traces of these demons vanished completely.

The Crusaders, who had already begun battling demons appearing throughout the city, were overjoyed at this sight. However, given their overwhelming numerical superiority, the Crusaders who had stormed into the city were still at a significant disadvantage. They needed a turning point in the battle, and that turning point would be brought about by the golden dragon that was swooping down from below.

Due to the influence of the Mythical Golden Dragon's Path ability [Flawless Body], all of Ivy's innate weapons are considered +5 magical weapons, meaning they possess the equivalent hardness and durability of adamantite.

For any dragon, being deprived of the ability to fly while in its dragon form would be an extremely difficult predicament.

For Ivy, however, the likelihood of such a predicament was greatly reduced, because his wings were also considered a natural weapon. Not only could he strike enemies around him by flapping his wings, but he could also use the immense power to support his massive body to create storms, throwing a wide range of enemies into a state of imbalance. For this reason, his pair of broad wings also possessed durability comparable to adamantite.

Ordinary weapons simply cannot disable the source of mobility for these golden dragons by inflicting extensive damage.

Why would Ivy be distracted by this in the midst of the chaos of the battlefield?

That was, of course, because the demons of Juanze City made targeted preparations immediately upon seeing him appear. Several portals opened one after another, and the gray-skinned giant, whose body was covered with deep red magma patterns, raised his javelin high, aiming at the enormous wings of the target behind Ivy.

These Ash Giant Throwers made no attempt to avoid their aerial allies, viciously hurling one thick, chained spear after another, trying to completely block the Golden Dragon's escape route.

This was a targeted ambush. Although demons don't know how to defend themselves, nor do they bother to defend against human attacks, choosing a pre-selected battlefield and setting up an ambush is still a tactic these chaotic creatures are capable of.

Not to mention that these demons from the abyss don't care about so-called companions and followers, so they have no psychological burden at all about using them as bait.

This is also one of the most important reasons why the Crusaders rushed in. The judgments and decisions made by both sides regarding the course of the war are based on unequal information.

The demons had not expected that humans would be so determined to reclaim the city of Favor, nor had the Crusaders expected that the demons would set up bait and traps within the city.

New figures appeared on the third city wall of Juanze City: a blonde Litumo wearing a red dress and a dwarf undead wearing dark iron armor and with hideous wounds on his face.

The demon possessing the dwarf Staunton's body sneered as it watched the golden dragon dodging the giant's spears in the air: "It's him! It was that giant lizard who killed my beloved Staunton! He also stole Staunton's soul! I want to watch him be torn to pieces and become our watchdog like poor Trentilifer!"

More and more Ash Giant Throwers emerged from the portal, leaving the Golden Dragon with fewer and fewer angles to dodge in the air. Finally, the javelin, accompanied by a whistling wind, struck its target, but was deflected by the dwarves and Litumon on the city walls, much to their delight.

The golden dragon, its lips gleaming with faint flames, curled into a mocking smile. Then, it unleashed a terrifying whirlwind that hurtled towards the two demons standing atop the city wall.

[Powerful Dive] + [Powerful Charge] + [Ferocious Charge]

This Dragon Charge feat was enough to allow a golden dragon, a master of aerial combat, to launch a devastating attack; even the walls of the city of Favored City, designed and built by the dwarven master craftsmen a hundred years ago, could not withstand it.

The towering city gates crumbled and collapsed like building blocks, burying all the demons pouring out of the gate below. The long tails that followed swept across the area, hurling small stones and other small demons into the air, turning them into pools of flesh in the inner city square filled with shouts of battle.

A thunderous roar suddenly echoed across the battlefield: "Poor Mingna Gu, it seems you are the 'worthy opponent' she mentioned. Is that right, the golden lizard?"

"I am Daranzand, the demon commander of the City of Favor. I will cut off your head and hang it on the walls of this city! I will slaughter you all before Aponavis's reinforcements arrive!"

While the demon's declaration was enough to boost the demons' morale, Ivy, who had launched a dive attack from the air, had long since shed her glorious golden dragon body and returned to her light and agile human form. She then used a simple teleportation spell to return to the Crusader's circular formation.

"You've prepared the magic circle and casting materials in advance, very good." After briefly expressing his appreciation, Ivy immediately began preparing the war spell. "Stand opposite me, Kun."

The magic circle, pre-set by Planeswalkers from Strathaiven, is a neat circle divided into twelve equal parts. Each part has a special geometric pattern, resembling the hour mark on a clock, and within these patterns are glowing magical runes.

The polygon at Ivy's feet looks like a sun radiating light, while the pattern at the feet of the little elephant standing opposite him is a crescent moon.

"Ashius!" Ivy called to the leader of the Dawnblade Knights, who was guarding the magic circle and the spell materials. "Send ten of your most steadfast paladins and priests to stand on the pattern! This spell needs your help."

This had already been discussed at the pre-war military conference: "The Knights of Dawnblade need to provide assistance for this spell," but Ashus never expected it to take this form.

"But... Lord Doom... we are followers of Shane, and we really don't have much experience in casting magic... Won't this cause problems?" As a pure-hearted paladin, Ashius never thought he would have any close contact with magic. Being hit in the face by a fireball spell full of surging flame power was the safest distance he could imagine. But letting magical knowledge enter his mind would definitely cause big problems.

Moreover, in his view, although both divine magic and arcane magic can be called magic after the spell is cast, their different sources of spellcasting make these two methods seem like parallel lines that will never intersect. Who knows if mixing them together will cause an explosion first?

“Don’t worry. It will be safe.” Numerous runes shimmering with blue magical light emerged around Ivy, and the mithril staff in his hand glowed faintly as it orbited him like a satellite. The magical ritual had begun, but he still had the energy to speak. “You just need to choose a pattern that looks good and stand inside it, then pray to the Morning Bloom Goddess for divine power. You can leave the rest to me. If my description is inaccurate, just think about how you used her divine power to invoke the sun’s radiance.”

The members of the Dawnblade Knights exchanged glances, but the magical ritual allowed no hesitation. The little elephant standing opposite Ivy was also lifted up by a force emitting a pale blue glow, its heavy robes billowing without wind. "Do as Lord Doom says!" Ashius took the lead, standing on a pattern that looked like a spiral or a hurricane, gripping the holy emblem and silently beginning to pray. This was his daily morning ritual. In an instant, the shouts of battle and the clashing of weapons around him vanished. He was no longer on a brutal battlefield between demons and the Crusaders, but in his hometown chapel, offering his respects to the goddess Shane in the first rays of dawn.

Stallma, the angel who served Shane, descended from the sky and stood atop a pattern without warning, leaning on a large cleaver and praying with her eyes closed. Soon, her back was stained with demon blood, and her wings, which had appeared to be covered in tangled feathers, regained their former whiteness and smoothness, then began to glow with a faint golden light.

Upon witnessing this scene, the other paladins and priests no longer hesitated and entered the reserved positions within the magic circle, beginning their devout prayers.

The twelve spellcasters took their places in turn, and the pile of pure river sand between them, which resembled a small mountain, began to hum softly, drawn by an invisible arcane force, and started to float and flow.

Immediately afterwards, Ivy chanted loudly: "Dust forges bones, sunlight solidifies the soul!"

The mithril staff stopped behind him, emitting a pure golden light that completely ignited tons of river sand.

Surrounding the incandescent, molten liquid, Shane's followers, as if summoned, followed Ivy's rhythm, repeating his prayer: "Dust forges bones, sunlight solidifies souls..."

Responding to the prayers of the crowd, the crystalline liquid radiating high temperatures rose rapidly and began to condense and take shape again. In just the time it takes for one heartbeat, a crystal-clear, multifaceted sphere that refracted infinite light appeared above everyone's heads.

That's right. Ivy's magic works on a simple principle: it uses magic to melt and purify the silicon dioxide in a large amount of river sand, then turns it into a lens. In layman's terms, it's like making glass.

Manufacturing glass is never a simple process. On Earth, sand must be heated to over 1700 degrees Celsius before it begins to melt. Even with mature processes using fluxes, a high-temperature environment of 1500 degrees Celsius is still required. Moreover, after the molten glass is properly shaped, it needs to be annealed slowly and precisely to ensure the stability of the finished product. Otherwise, the different shrinkage rates caused by the temperature difference between the inside and outside will very likely turn the finished product into an extremely fragile failure.

However, Ivy wasn't using industrial methods to manufacture glass; rather, she was using magic with extremely strong black-box characteristics. Raw materials were input, results were obtained, and the intermediate processes were magically omitted. Similar situations exist in many spells, and the fourth-circle transmutation spell "Masterpiece" that Ivy greatly favored is the culmination of this black-box process.

The ability to transform raw materials directly into finished products, bypassing processing, is precisely the magical charm of magic. And the war magic that Ivy is currently casting draws inspiration from some of these ingenious spell models.

The translucent glass polyhedron in the air is complete, and Ivy's magic is about to move on to the next stage.

But this was, after all, a battlefield where demons flew. Whether it was the yet-to-be-seen Balo Demon Daranzand or any other demon with a modicum of sense, they could all feel the threat emanating from this enormous glass sphere that rose high above.

Without any additional orders, many flying demons immediately set their sights on this elaborate and conspicuous magical creation.

Unfortunately, before the demon's attack could hit the suspended glass ball, Ivy's war spell moved to the next stage.

A towering golden beam of light shot out from the sun, transforming the glass sphere suspended above Juanze City into another sun that released boundless heat and radiance.

The demons that tried to get close didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were vaporized into a cloud of gas and disappeared into the air.

Upon witnessing this scene, the flying demons slammed on the brakes, wishing their mothers hadn't given them two more pairs of wings, and used every ounce of their strength to get away from the miniature sun.

That golden pillar of light was the power of Shane, and perhaps she was taking this opportunity to vent her anger. After all, the believer had been tortured for three days in the healing spring she had bestowed, and then devoured by other innocent people. Even a good-tempered goddess would consider it a great disgrace.

However, the power of the Morning Flower Goddess did not last long; the golden pillar of light that stretched across the heavens and earth gradually thinned and then disappeared. Yet the second sun hanging above the City of Favor continued to shine brightly.

The war spell, guided by Ivy, quickly reached its third stage. The abundant golden light began to refract through the varying degrees of tilt within the glass facets, revealing multicolored rainbows. This transformed the sun revolving above the city of Juanze into a dazzling ball of light, the multicolored glow adding a comical atmosphere to the brutal battlefield.

Not only had the demons from the abyss never seen such a spectacle, but even the members of the Dawnblade Knights who had personally participated in the magic had not expected such a wondrous change to occur.

This is the final form of Ivy's war spell, Rainbow Judgment.

The light shining on the faces of both sides on the battlefield was no longer an ambiguous and psychedelic color, but a simple and condensed beam of seven colors.

The rotating glass polyhedron began to refract brilliant rainbow beams of light, which accurately struck the demons on the battlefield according to their colors, causing them different kinds of damage.

【Rainbow Judgment】 has an exceptionally wide capture range and will shoot up to seven different colored beams of light at any target within it. It is a terrifying spell that attacks targets in a range one by one.

As the key to the rainbow beam's ability to accurately target enemies, Ivy's guidance has become increasingly proficient. The beams, which initially only killed demons one by one, have become denser, resembling a machine gun that sprays rainbows, and a super weapon that fires simultaneously in different directions.

Demons struck by red light were riddled with holes; those struck by orange light were immediately corroded by strong acid; those struck by yellow light were struck by thunder powerful enough to shatter flesh; green light brought a bone-chilling poison; blue light brought an icy chill; and cyan light turned demons flying in mid-air into stone statues before crashing to the ground into a pile of rubble. Only the nightmares struck by purple light were the luckiest, as they would be banished back to the abyss of their original plane.

The rainbow light emanating from the shimmering orb quickly thinned out. The demons and cultists who had surrounded the Crusaders were soon wiped out by this powerful spell, and there was no way they could hide. The red force field beams were enough to penetrate most cover, and the remaining colored light could finish them off.

"What have you done! Where is my army!" Balomo Daranzand stumbled out from behind the third wall of the city of Jueze, his back bearing deep knife wounds. Gofuli, Ilinica, and a dwarf who had never appeared before were besieging the commander of Jueze.

(End of this chapter)