Breaking dimensions with Sargon's spell, wielding an ancient-style staff, attacking without a word, then following up with floods and an evil behemoth—there were too many obvious signs. If this wasn't the Cult of the Cold Flame, then whose people could it be?
In his heart, Faust thoroughly "greeted" the ancestors of the Cult's four mages. The monster she had summoned had almost no direct attack power, but without hesitation it sprawled onto the observatory and began absorbing magical energy. This terrified Faust. His figure-eight mustache trembled as he no longer dared worry about mana expenditure. He issued several commands in succession, and the observatory began to retaliate autonomously.
Seven artifacts identical to the flying stone beneath his feet shot outward. They flipped one hundred and eighty degrees, turning the hexagram side toward the sea beast. Seven pale beams of energy struck out simultaneously.
This was a defensive method Faust had modified using the original Mage Tower framework combined with his own knowledge—Star Projection, named for its resemblance to hurling starlight. The seven streams fired continuously, blasting the sea beast's body apart. However, the creature's nature meant that as long as it had energy, it would not die.
It absorbed the observatory's energy to repair itself. The Star Projection continued firing—and it simply kept absorbing.
"I'll deal with you first!" Faust made a decisive choice. He knew his current methods couldn't handle such an infuriating creature and locked his target onto Thea.
His left hand gripped his right wrist. His right palm rose and aimed at her.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Five purple bolts fired in rapid succession.
Faust didn't want to waste strength on the sea beast, and Thea didn't intend to clash head-on with someone backed by the observatory's vast mana reserves. As long as she toppled the building, in her eyes, his true strength wasn't even on par with Mister E.
With a light twist of her body, she evaded the bolts and tore open another rift in the void. A fresh torrent of floodwater roared down.
Faust was caught in a bind. He couldn't hold the tower, yet he couldn't force a fight either. Thea's flight control was a hundred times better than his. Once she focused on evasion, with such a vast aerial range, there was no way to pin her down.
"Who exactly are you?! I don't even know you!" Faust no longer cared about artifacts. Lacking observational secret arts, he couldn't gauge her depth—but after sustaining such massive mana output without showing fatigue, it was obvious she was a formidable enemy. He had already decided to back down and seek peace.
You don't know me? Thea had arrived in her true appearance. She was extremely displeased.
I'm this famous, and you've never even heard of me? No more words—he clearly needed a lesson.
Seawater poured endlessly into the confined space. With nowhere to escape, it accumulated rapidly. Half of the observatory's main gate was already submerged.
Thea unleashed a deluge like the breaking of a dam—howling winds and towering waves without pause. As long as the two-story building's mana circulation faltered even slightly, the immense pressure would tear it apart.
"What do you want?! I'll give you everything I have!" Faust could feel his lifeblood—the observatory—burning through its reserves at an accelerating rate. His understanding of the Cult of the Cold Flame's madness deepened. Such a precious ancient structure, and they didn't even want to seize it—only destroy it?
Snap!
Thea ignored him entirely and continued her demolition. She drew the Sword of Merlin and activated its built-in Ice Storm. The moment the spell unleashed, even she was startled—the power was fully twice that of the same spell cast by her own magic.
Fist-sized hailstones crashed down like rain, densely filling the narrow space. Even Thea herself was affected, let alone Faust, whose flight relied purely on external tools. His gloomy long face was struck repeatedly. Losing balance, he plunged headfirst into the seawater.
"So cold… Is this the level of a Mage God?" Only now did Thea gain a direct understanding of spellcraft from Merlin's era.
The Ice Storm raged for a full five minutes. The space was already filled with seawater, and with the summoned gale added in, the temperature plunged by fifty degrees.
The observatory finally collapsed during the Ice Storm's third minute. First the windows, then the doors, and finally the entire brick structure and foundation. The surging seawater completely destroyed the former Mage Tower. All magical materials were annihilated—only broken bricks and rubble remained.
Thea surveyed her handiwork. Finding no loot, she directed the sea beast to haul Faust out of the water.
The north wind howled. Snow drifted. Even she—after multiple divine augmentations—felt the cold. As for Faust, a mortal wrapped in nothing but a robe and soaked in seawater for five minutes, it was far worse.
The long-faced middle-aged man had lost all trace of his former arrogance. Dragged out roughly by the sea beast, he offered no resistance—he was completely frozen unconscious. His face was bluish-gray, only faint warmth remaining near his chest. Frostbite had already formed on his hands and feet.
Thea took one last look at the ruined pocket space. It was completely destroyed. She caught the man, dismissed the sea beast, opened a portal, and returned to Malcolm's mountain cave.
"The one who attacked you was this guy, right?" She tossed the nearly frozen Faust in front of them, clearly fishing for praise.
Malcolm and the knight were chatting idly by the fire. Having already seen her come and go via teleportation, they weren't surprised. Both looked at the man on the ground.
"Seems like it…" the knight said uncertainly. The Faust from before had been far too flamboyant—the contrast with this half-dead wreck was enormous.
"It's him," Malcolm said flatly. His League of Assassins training was flawless—anyone he had seen once, as long as they hadn't turned to ash, he would recognize.
Thea tapped Faust's brow. A trace of magic roused him. She then applied two sealing spells in succession to lock down his power and gestured to Malcolm—it was their turn for revenge and interrogation.
Reading his mind directly would have been simpler, but Thea deliberately brought him back conscious so Malcolm could vent.
Malcolm was exceedingly experienced in interrogation. Faust, meanwhile, was no iron-willed fanatic. After only a few lashes of the whip, he answered everything.
The ambush on Malcolm had indeed been Faust's own idea. At the time, he had been meditating within the observatory when it transmitted a warning—an overwhelming sense of catastrophe.
He didn't understand what it meant. Using the observatory's immense mana, he performed a divination far beyond his normal limits. The result was vague, but the clearly revealed figures were Malcolm and his companion.
Striking first, he clashed with the demon inside Jason Blood, leaving both sides badly wounded. On his way back, he had been quite pleased, convinced that the foretold catastrophe referred to those two.
What he never expected was that just as his injuries finished healing—with the observatory's aid—the true catastrophe arrived.
Tower destroyed. Captured in one sweep.
Now, as Faust looked at Thea warming herself by the fire, his eyes were filled with nothing but regret.