"What is happening?" The onlookers would only look at the Crown Prince who, just a second ago became the epitome of evil, suddenly acted like this.
"Achoo! Achoo!"
Crown Prince Ranon continued to sneeze as his body continued to be warm.
Too bad, because of the curse power manifesting in his body he would clearly see the red rashes slowly appearing on the areas which were directly exposed to the baby powder.
"You! What kind of powder was that!" It did not take long for Crown Prince Ranon to realize that what happened to him had something to do with the powder Leon scattered earlier.
"Hmmm… it turns out that even cursed users could not escape their own bodily constitution…" Leon did not answer Crown Prince Ranon directly and just mumbled while he proceeded to attack the other party once again.
"Young one, not bad… your move is too vicious." While Leon was already on his way to turn things around, the ancient spirit dragon could not help but commend him on the side.
"It is just thanks to my future wife. Her words back then just gave me the idea…" Leon answered as Eli's smiling face flashed in his mind.
"How fortunate for you to have such an insightful wife… However, you shall finish this fight for your body too will crumble as you exceed past the agreed time…" The ancient dragon graciously reminded me with his wise old voice.
"Yes, great dragon spirit." Leon respectfully replied.
As Crown Prince Ranon could hardly guard his attacks against Leon, the battle quickly reached its peak.
Leon landed multiple blows at Crown Prince Ranon's body while the other party suffered from a severe allergic reaction.
What was more, it seems like the curse power also started to go wild inside his body.
It might be because of the fact that his body could no longer control its treacherous nature or the curse power started to find a desperate source of replenishment, but Crown Prince Ranon's body started to exhibit the similar symptoms that Hasta exhibited right before he died.
However, Leon still landed the deciding blow hitting Crown Prince Ranon's chest with his sharpened spirit dragon claws.
"Aaaargh! Why?! Nooo!" Crown Prince Ranon fell on his knees as the purple veins started to pulsate intensely.
Leon stood back, unsure of what measures to do. Handling the curse power's recoil effect was quite mysterious even for the Anti curse committee. So far, only Eli was able to handle it quite properly.
"S-save me…" Crown Prince Ranon could no longer take the pain as his body squirmed on the ground in agony. His eyes were bloodshot, exhibiting a look of disbelief and unwillingness.
"Third Prince, let us take over." Mishael finally called from the other side of the barrier, asking Leon to allow them out.
The temple knights worked fast and immediately created a barrier to contain Crown Prince Ranon's body.
"Noo…. s-save me! Save me!" Crown Prince Ranon looked at the temple knights in desperation as he demanded them to do something.
However, he only met Mishael's eyes as he said,
"There is no redemption to those who sold themselves to evil… Regardless of the victories you achieve on the surface of Prasinos, there's always a consequence that will haunt you back… That is evil's very nature."
He looked at Crown Prince Ranon whose life force was slowly being drained by the curse's power, sapping his skin dry to the bones.
Mishael looked at him with regret and disappointment as even at this moment, it did not give him satisfaction to see people who were receiving retribution for the sins they carried out.
After a few minutes of struggling, Crown Prince Ranon is no more.
The purple blood flowed out of his emaciated body, crying to the heavens of why his doom had come. In his last breath, a dark malevolent spirit fragment appeared which was visibly stronger than that of Hasta's and even the combined spirit fragments absorbed by Carolina.
"Here it is…" Mishael announced as he alerted the temple knights to activate the array.
Vrrrr!!!
Even with the array protecting them from the spirit fragment, the overwhelming power of the evil curse still affected everyone on the battlefield.
The soldiers who weren't strong enough stumbled to the ground because of the heavy pressure while Kazimir and the others gritted their teeth to withstand the suppression.
"Good good… you fools from the Seirende! From the beginning of time, you have been someone who foils my plans!"
The next moment they heard a loud and hair-raising evil voice rang not only in their ears but resonated deep in their minds, shaking their souls.
"Aaaaaa!" Those who were weak of heart and mental fortitude immediately broke down and fell to the ground in pain. Nonetheless, the voice continued.
"Curse you, subjects of Ignis! Curse you sons of Seirende! I, the Lord Raven, the personification of the mighty being Birsha, will swear that I will disperse your soul to nothingness, forever becoming separated from the heavens!"
Vrrrrr!!!!
The entire gorge, including the multilayered defense array, shuddered once more while Mishael and his men worked in panic.
"Quickly! Pour out all the anti-curse potion! Eradicate the fragment!" Mishael ordered as he frantically poured his portion.
Much to their dismay, the cure potion was not even able to weaken the presence of Lord Raven's spirit fragment.
In the end, the spirit fragment flew out of the barrier and tried to attack Mishael and his people.
"Great Ancient Dragon…" Leon pleaded, seeing that Mishael and his men were about to meet death with the attack of the spirit fragment.
"Young one, let me take over for once…" The Spirit Dragon answered with a sense of urgency.
Leon immediately allowed the Spirit Dragon to take over. The moment they did, his body immediately appeared in front of the attacking spirit fragment and raised his hand.
In a blink of an eye, Leon's body completely turned into a humanoid spirit dragon and with his claws, he effectively stopped the spirit fragment from its trajectory.
"You are a fortunate, evil one that I have no vessel to carry on! Now go back to where you come from!" The ancient dragon's voice came out of Leon's lips while his claws lit up with colorful mana.
It choked the spirit fragment aggressively, so much so that it formed several cracks in the fragment's core!
Lord Raven's spirit fragment felt that it could not contain the power of the mysterious being he was facing at the moment and so it struggled to fight once more but this time, its goal was to escape from the grasp of the ancient spirit dragon.
"Begone!" The Ancient Spirit Dragon exclaimed as he tightened his grip with his claws.
Crack!
The fragment's core finally split and crumbled into pieces.
Nothing remained other than a faint dark wisp of smoke that flew so fast into the wilderness.
"Young one, I apologize for not being able to do much with that evil thing. The time we have agreed has already long passed." The Ancient Dragon conversed with Leon as his presence in his body was slowly fading away.
"Great Ancient Dragon, your help is more than enough… do watch us from your resting place and wish the entire Prasinos to win the battle against the evil being." Leon smiled as he expressed his sincere strength.
The ancient dragon, still in Leon's form, looked at the men on the battlefield and said,
"Blessed are you who chose to fight for peace, for the heavens will be upon you along the way. Blessed are those who have fallen while choosing the righteous for they will see Paradise.
Woe to those whose souls were destroyed, but be glad for they will find a way back to their Father, in His grace."
After he uttered these words, a shower of multicolored raindrops showered the entire gorge.
"A rain of blessing!" The men exclaimed as they felt all their injuries and fatigue washed away from the mysterious rain.
The most bizarre thing was that those men who were swallowed by the shadow monsters earlier and were supposedly reduced to nothingness appeared. Their corpses peacefully lay on the spot where they last bravely held their swords to fight the evil.
Unfortunately, for those who chose to side with evil, their corpses remained as it is, leaving their corpses a testament to their eternal damnation.
Finally, the Ancient Dragon finished his blessings and his presence completely faded. He left Leon's tired body on the ground causing the rest to panic.
–
Meanwhile, in a secret throne room somewhere in the Vanderford palace, a ranging Lord Raven revealed his wrath and took it out on the jewels that he accumulated just around his throne.
"Curses! I lost another fragment yet again!"
"D*mn these slaves of the heavenly realm!"
"Just wait! I myself will go back to the realm and bring your proud realm utter destruction!"
–
In the furthermost region of the desolate wastelands, Rachana suddenly paused in the middle of their troops charging to catch up with the ambush troops.
"What is it, paladin?" The Pope asked.
Rachana looked at the Pope and said in a panicked voice, "Pope, the Lord summons us back!"
