Sigrid ignored Askesan, focusing only on ensuring Lanqi was safe behind her. Her purple eyes locked onto Askesan like a predator eyeing its prey.

The brief, cold stare between the two Cardinals was the calm before the storm, the silence before thunder roared across the sky. Another clash of the strongest was about to erupt in this northern city-state.

An invisible magical connection had already been established between Lanqi in the distance and Sigrid.

This was Sigrid's eighth-tier purple rare spell, Life Link, used to protect him. It allowed her to share life status with the target, only breaking at a great distance, and even granted a small bonus to the linked party's physical and mental attributes.

The price was that when the linked person was injured, the caster would suffer the same damage.

In addition, an eighth-tier summoned creature, Nenqi Puppet, was left beside Lanqi.

Although this humanoid puppet, entirely composed of silver light, had no face, its figure, identical to Sigrid, radiated extremely powerful pressure.

Even without identifying its effects, Lanqi could guess that this puppet replicated most of Sigrid's attributes. Even without Sigrid's equipment effects and spells, it was nearly equivalent to a clone of Sigrid.

After all, she was a Cardinal who fought with the strongest physical abilities. Even a normal punch had the power to shatter city walls.

The maximum carrying capacity of magical cards that any living being could soul-bind was their own tier multiplied by ten.

Sigrid, an eighth-tier, had a total magical card tier value not exceeding eighty. Using two eighth-tier cards to protect Lanqi would, to some extent, impair her direct combat power.

Lightning once again illuminated the falling snowflakes and the ground. Behind the magical barrier, Askesan opened his palm, and a dark vortex formed in the center. Godlike, terrifying magic gathered around him, endlessly compressed, gradually emitting black electric cocoons that cut off all light in the surroundings.

If this eighth-tier or higher damage-type sealing magic were to hit, even the largest imperial army would probably be reduced to nothingness.

The magical storm alone made Lanqi's skin and cheeks tingle. At the same time, the silver puppet grabbed Lanqi and, following Sigrid's usual behavior pattern, rapidly moved him away from the battlefield.

Lanqi could only see Sigrid, facing Askesan, not retreating in the face of this lethal ultimate magic.

The clear light around her remained, like the Moon Goddess or a War God, calmly able to break through all obstacles with her boundless fist!

The silver puppet protected Lanqi, preventing him from being affected by the aftermath, and avoided the center of the battlefield amid the collapse of the upper levels of Bandera City.

Even so, Lanqi's vision became blurred due to the smoke and air currents, accompanied by the huge roar echoing across the northern snowfields, almost being blown away along with the silver puppet.

It wasn't until he barely managed to stabilize himself that he looked into the distance again.

The two Cardinals were like the reappearance of gods.

A cataclysmic collision between Cardinals unfolded above the tottering Bandera City!

In an instant, the entire upper layer of Bandera City near the city gates became a battlefield. The shockwaves constantly impacted every building, causing those originally sturdy structures and towers to be ravaged by beasts made of smoke and ash, leaving behind a wasteland.

The battle intensified, and the entire city-state was shrouded in thick smoke. Fire, explosions, and thunder intertwined in the sky. The storm clouds gathered and swirled in the sky, and nature itself seemed to be shocked by this sudden outbreak of battle, with the air pressure in the high altitude intensifying.

Each collision illuminated the vast clouds from the ground.

Ordinary experts, not to mention approaching their battlefield, could not even raise their heads to clearly see the deathmatch of eighth-tier Cardinals.

And in the center of this battlefield, even though neither of the two Cardinals was in full condition, Askesan, who was more severely injured at the start, gradually fell into a disadvantage. Clearly, Sigrid did not give him a chance to recover!

Sigrid had an unprecedented chance to determine the outcome against Askesan this time.

But she did not linger in battle.

She knew very well that she had to severely injure Askesan here before she could escape this bizarre city-state with the Holy Son.

Being pursued by Askesan was the worst thing that could happen. He had countless ways to stage a home-field advantage, making it impossible to shake him off. The long road south would be very difficult, and even she was unwilling to fight a chase battle with Askesan, especially while protecting the Holy Son.

However, once she brought the situation in Bandera City, the northern border province, back to the imperial capital, Helrom, the conspiracy behind the Nihility Cardinal would be completely ruined!

"Sigrid, do you think your only opponent is me?"

Askesan's smile was frighteningly calm.

Even though he was temporarily at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Sigrid, he was just smiling as if an adult was playing a game with a child.

"..."

Sigrid had no weapons in her hands. No matter what tier the magical equipment was, it was not as strong as her body. Every step she took was as shocking as thunder, taking away large swaths of air, forming wind pressure. Her eyes were cold, scattering purple light, wanting only to single-mindedly force Askesan into a desperate situation.

Nihility, as Overlord's old opponent, also appeared organized and methodical. Every time he snapped his fingers, he released powerful sealing incantations, forming patches of dark gray restricted areas, meeting Sigrid in the space ahead.

The distance between the two was sometimes near and sometimes far, but no matter when, it seemed like two apocalyptic disasters were fighting. Every strike from the Overlord Cardinal was as fierce as a waterfall, trying to crush the Nihility Cardinal, while the Nihility Cardinal was like a nimble dancer, appearing and disappearing in the net of traps he had laid, while releasing seals, trying to lock and weaken Sigrid!

Although Askesan's delay did not excessively slow Sigrid's approach, his more complex術式(jutsu-shiki)was fully prepared. The entire space began to twist, and deep gray vines rose from the ground, and gray eyes fell from the sky, about to swallow Sigrid in an instant.

It was also at this time that Sigrid's figure emitted an almost translucent, dazzling light and shadow, and even her pupils turned silver, as if entering a selfless new state, throwing an unprecedented punch. In the air, the silver light collided with the dark gray spells, forming a huge energy explosion with a clear dividing line.

After a long time, Askesan, who flew backward until he fell, was clearly at a disadvantage in this confrontation. He was not suitable for a direct head-on confrontation with Sigrid, but the corners of his mouth still had a smile, as if he was playing with Sigrid.

Finally.

When the battle between the Overlord Cardinal and the Nihility Cardinal entered a fever pitch, suddenly the sky was obscured by a huge shadow, and a cold wind swept across, smoothing the sand and gravel on the ground.

The temperature drop visibly froze the dew on the ground, and this unknown feeling made Sigrid's hair stand on end in an instant.

"..."

A figure came from nowhere and appeared at some unknown time. He landed quietly, wearing a black robe that even lightning could not illuminate his face.

Although his existence was like a complete unknown.

But Sigrid could still feel the danger from him, even far exceeding Askesan.

"You've finally come."

After seeing this black-robed man, Askesan's eyes revealed joy and relief, and at the moment the black-robed man made his move, a black magic chain pulled Askesan away from Sigrid's attack range. Almost at the same time, another black chain attacked Sigrid.

Sigrid was experienced in combat, but this mysterious black chain did not seem like magic. Before it even touched her, it produced an irresistible repulsive force, slamming her heavily into the ground. As the city-state began to collapse, Sigrid, coughing blood, fell into the lower levels of Bandera City.

She tried her best to adjust her breathing, trying to stay alert.

She knew that she was confident in facing Askesan.

If this black-robed figure was added, everything would be difficult to say.

What was even more troublesome was that the true identity of the black-robed man had already made the entire situation in the Protos Empire more complicated.

Sigrid stood up in the ruins of the lower level of Bandera City, her long hair fluttering in the wind, her eyes like torches, confronting the two powerful enemies who were slowly hovering in the air, her aura still resolute and tough.

"Overlord Cardinal..."

The black-robed man's voice was full of illusory distortion and a hint of metallic sound. He seemed to be thinking about something, such as why the Overlord Cardinal would appear here, violating the prophet's divination results.

Of course, the prophet's divination was not always accurate. It was normal to have some deviations, but it was rare for such serious deviations to occur.

In addition, if there were multiple powerful people with precognitive abilities in the world who were divining and then planning based on the divination results, they would interfere with each other, evolving into a situation where no one's calculations were accurate.

"Could it be that Hereti, the Marquis of the Blood Clan on the Southern Continent, interfered with us on the Northern Continent..."

The black-robed man finally murmured to himself in a faint voice.

Askesan ignored the black-robed man's state and just stared at Sigrid in the distance.

"Apostle, don't waste time. If this woman drags on until night, it will be very difficult."

Askesan said coldly to the black-robed man beside him.

"Hehe."

However, the black-robed man just smiled as he looked at the sky, as if he thought Askesan was telling a good joke.

He threw an orange epic card with a huge scarlet crack from his sleeve.

Immediately afterward, a monster shrouded in darkness gradually appeared in the distorted space above. It looked like a small disc-shaped larva, its entire body covered with hard shells engraved with strange patterns. The monster's eyes emitted a cold blue light, and just looking at it, you could feel the evil and toxicity emanating from the heart.

Suddenly, a terrifying pressure enveloped Sigrid, causing her to stagger two steps forward.

She stared at the monster, and even though her eyes hurt, she was trying her best to forcibly analyze the attributes of the epic summon through鉴定(jianding)magic.

The strangest thing was that the black-robed man brazenly summoned this halo-type summon in front of her, without worrying that she would kill it in the first place.

Gradually, she was able to obtain its brief attributes based on the actual feelings she sensed and the fragmented analysis results obtained from鑑定(jianding)magic—

\[Abyssal Black Worm]

\[Category: Summon Card]

\[Grade: Orange Epic]

\[Tier: 8]

\[Effect: Cannot move or attack. The closer the enemy target is to this summon, the stronger the gravity suppression they receive. After defeating this summon ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.]

\[Note: The power to annihilate all things.]

The black-robed man in the sky looked at Sigrid and asked Askesan beside him:

"How long do you think she can last?"

Askesan did not speak, but just shook his head with a smile, looking at Sigrid with pity.

In their eyes, Sigrid was like prey that could not escape.

Today, Bandera City, the northern border of the Protos Empire, was a very suitable burial place for the Overlord Cardinal Sigrid.

ps: The Blood Clan's Marquis Hereti first appeared in Chapter 86, the beginning of Volume 2

(End of this chapter)