It felt so good to be close to the witch!

Without hesitation, he took out another forbidden item from his spatial ring—a doll woven from weeds, with exaggerated eyes and a comical mouth painted with mottled, dark red paint on its head.

"Thorn-"

The chief of divine punishment used his fingers to form a sword and pierced the heart of the puppet in his hand.

"Pfft!"

He bled from all seven orifices, his face turned extremely pale, and his appearance aged visibly, with wrinkles appearing everywhere. His hair, which was originally only partially gray, was now completely white as snow.

On the other side, the border duke's expression changed drastically, and countless blood flowers exploded all over his body. A large hole was torn open in his left chest, and his heart was nowhere to be found.

The other two Temple Knights seemed to have been prepared. Taking advantage of the moment when the Border Duke was seriously injured, they approached him from the front and back, each holding a forbidden weapon that looked different but emitted strange fluctuations. One was aimed at the Border Duke's forehead, and the other at the back of his head.

In order to kill the border duke, the temple used four of the rare A-grade forbidden artifacts in this battle!

With danger looming, the border duke roared, "Ha!"

A blinding golden light burst forth from his body.

That's the strongest specialization of the third tier of the "Warrior" class—Invincibility.

It can move without any hindrance, ignoring control and the stiffness after being injured.

Using the time granted by the "Overlord's Body," the Border Duke's soul fire suddenly erupted. The extremely hot soul flames forced the two Divine Punishment Knights, who had plunged their forbidden objects into the Border Duke's skull, to fly backward.

At this moment, the light emanating from the unicorn necklace in the Border Duke's hand reached its peak, tearing a narrow slit in the dark sky.

Without hesitation, the border duke slipped away.

"Damn it!"

The two Divine Punishment Knights cursed under their breath and had no choice but to close the dark sky curtain together with the extremely weak Chief of Divine Punishment. However, in less than 0.1 seconds, when they left the dark sky curtain, the border duke was nowhere to be seen on the messy white jade square.

Looking at the empty surroundings and sensing the vanished aura, the Chief of Divine Punishment let out an angry roar, and then fainted due to his weakness.

"Lord Octius!"

Upon seeing this, the two Divine Punishment Knights rushed forward immediately and carried the Chief of Divine Punishment into the Cathedral of the Privy.

"box--!"

After the three entered, the protective shield on the surface of the Confucian Cathedral rippled with layers of golden light, prohibiting anyone from stepping inside.

……

Blackstone Territory, the lord's residence.

As the spatial ripples suddenly appeared, two figures tumbled out from them.

"Pfft!"

As soon as he landed, the Border Duke spat out a mouthful of blood. The wounds on his forehead and the back of his head, which had been attacked by the forbidden A-grade weapon, showed no signs of healing. Instead, they began to gradually erode the surrounding intact flesh. Even more serious than these two wounds was the gaping hole in his left chest.

The shattering of his heart caused the border duke's vital signs to plummet to an extremely low level.

"Whoosh...whoosh..."

Roy and Fuma, the strongest of the group, arrived at the scene immediately. Upon seeing the heavily injured border duke and the pale-faced Space Witch Latie, their expressions changed.

"Father!" Fuma cried out in anguish as she rushed to the border duke's side and raised her hand to channel her own battle aura into his body.

The shared use of Flame Breathing, coupled with the connection between their bloodlines, prevents their fighting spirits from clashing, thus providing a certain degree of healing.

However, no matter how hard Fuma tried, the border duke's injuries showed no signs of improvement.

"Ms. Latti, what happened?"

Roy came to Latie's side and asked urgently.

"Huff..." Lati took a deep breath. Taking people on a long-distance spatial teleportation was a considerable burden for her at the moment.

"It's a long story. Let's find a way to stop Breton's injury first."

At this moment, the other witches who had noticed the commotion also rushed over.

"Shanika, try to treat the border duke." Seeing Fuma's anxious but helpless expression, Roy quickly said to Shanika who had arrived.

The situation was urgent. Shanika simply nodded and walked behind the border duke. When Fuma saw Shanika, she seemed to see a "savior" and quickly made way for her.

Pale blue, vibrant magic surged from Shanika's palm, completely enveloping the Border Duke.

As everyone could see, thanks to Shanica's "healing" talent, the wounds on the border duke's forehead and the back of his head stopped eroding, and even the bloody hole in his heart gradually began to grow granulation tissue.

The treatment lasted for nearly half an hour, only ending when Shanika's magic was nearly exhausted.

At this moment, the border duke's wounds on his forehead, the back of his head, and his left chest had all healed, but he was still unconscious with his eyes closed.

"Huh...huh..."

Roy reached out and grasped Shanika's soft hand, his energy transforming into magic to replenish Shanika's depleted magic. With Roy's support, Shanika's breathing gradually calmed down.

Looking at Fuma's anxious eyes, Shanika said softly:

“Your Highness Fuma, the border duke’s external injuries have healed, but his heart has been destroyed by some unknown attack.”

"The knight's heart is the source of his life. Although I used life magic to reshape a heart for the border duke, it still needs continuous nourishment to adapt to his body."

"It's fortunate that the border duke has an incomparably strong vitality; if it were anyone else, they would probably be dead by now."

"..." Fuma nodded silently; Shanika's words reassured her somewhat.

Her hunch was right.

During this trip to the capital, Father suffered a potentially fatal injury.

In fact, if it weren't for the rescue by the Space Witch Latie, and Shanika's timely treatment, Father would have already died in this crisis.

At that moment, Fuma felt incredibly fortunate.

I'm so glad I met Roy.

It was because she met Roy that her destined death was broken.

It was precisely because of Roy that the Space Witch Latie was able to provide assistance, and that Miss Shanika was able to intervene and heal her.

"Really, thank you so much..."

Lord Roy…

Fuma's voice became choked with emotion.

-

(Thanks to the generous donors "I just want to read books", "Bai Han Qian Xin", "koli0412", "Lan Yan" and others for their generous donations!)

Chapter 183 Can you explain why little Fuma is with you?

Should we be together? (A long chapter of 6,000 words)

The return of the border dukes has put the entire Blackrock Territory on high alert.

On the surface, the province of Lafa remained as peaceful as ever. As the eldest son of the Duke, who was currently in charge of the Duke's mansion and was also Fuma's brother, he only knew that his father, the border Duke, had returned seriously injured through Fuma's magical artifact, but he did not know exactly where he was recuperating.

The Duke's mansion and Blackstone Territory, one in the open and one in the shadows, hindered others' investigations and bought precious time for the border duke's recovery.

However, to everyone's surprise, for four consecutive days, until the last day of winter, no enemy appeared. This relieved Roy, but also left him somewhat puzzled.

If he were the enemy of the border duke, after fighting to this extent, he would definitely want to eliminate them completely. What considerations led the temple to choose to cease hostilities?

Are they so wary that they dare not act rashly? Or is there something more important?

A few days is enough time for the Duke's intelligence system to gather some information about the earth-shattering battle between the border duke and the temple in front of the St. Foye Cathedral in the royal capital.

Of course, this is only the surface information; the true details of the battle are probably unknown to anyone except those directly involved.

But even this superficial information greatly surprised Roy.

Within a radius of one kilometer, everything except the Privy Cathedral was reduced to dust. Within a radius of one to three thousand meters, everything was shattered. In fact, if it weren't for the strong forces blocking the way, the spread of the battle's aftershocks would have been even greater.

Such exaggerated destructive power, except for the absence of nuclear radiation, is comparable to the epicenter of a small-yield nuclear explosion!

This gave Roy a direct and clear understanding of the legendary Ultra Riders' strength.

This is practically a human-shaped walking nuclear weapon!

No wonder the border dukes guarded the imperial borders, and for decades the Kolei Empire had been unable to breach them.

The temple was located in the center of the capital, and the Privy Cathedral was completely closed after the battle, with no one allowed to enter.

But in any case, having no enemies is a good thing.

After several days of recuperation, the Border Duke's adaptation to his new heart is nearing completion. According to Shanica's estimate, the Border Duke will awaken from his slumber later today, or at the latest tomorrow.

This put everyone at ease.

During this period, perhaps due to the sense of urgency brought about by the tense situation, Roy made remarkable progress in the research of the fourth-tier exclusive feat of "Starlight Paladin", reaching 50%. The secret technique "Burning Heart" of the Flame Breath [Explosive Flame] trait was also pushed to the level of "Burning Heart - Extreme".

Compared to the "Burning Heart Secret" at the Gold rank, the "Burning Heart Extreme" effect is further enhanced, granting the legendary knight nearly double the boost to fighting spirit, speed, and strength.

Of course, the consumption will also increase accordingly.

The consumption of "Burning Heart - Extreme" is even higher than the recovery of a legendary battle qi body. Once the secret technique is activated, there is a possibility that the battle qi will be exhausted.

However, compared to the increase in combat power it brings, this consumption is not a big problem.

The "Destruction State," composed of "Burning Heart - Extreme" and "Rage State," will undoubtedly grant Roy even greater explosive power.

Of course, the state of destruction is harmful to both oneself and others, so Roy will not use it unless absolutely necessary. Rather, he hopes he will never have to use it.

At dusk in late winter, the month-long heavy snow suddenly stopped, as if the outlet for the pouring snow had been suddenly blocked.

The crimson sunset cast a golden-red glow upon the snow-covered earth.

With the heavy snow gone, the people who had spent the entire winter indoors eagerly emerged from their homes and began preparations for early spring.

Inside the courtyard, Roy let out a long breath. Within a ten-meter radius of him, there wasn't a single snowflake.

"The Brilliant Light Ultimate is almost finished..."

"The saturation from absorbing top-grade magic crystals has finally completely disappeared today, and I can continue to absorb the next one."

Roy sighed.

The cultivation speed of top-tier magic crystals is far slower than he imagined.

It takes about five days to absorb one piece before the next piece can be absorbed.