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By this point, Richard no longer had the time to wonder what miraculous method Alicia had used to appear before him. Faced with a fist that contained terrifying power, he instinctively channeled the strength within his body to defend himself. Unfortunately, he was still half a beat too slow.

Alicia’s fist slammed into Richard’s abdomen in an instant. A sharp cracking sound immediately rang out as several cracks appeared across his armor, and the terrifying force instantly transmitted through it.

**Boom!**

In the next moment, it was as if Richard had been rammed head-on by an ancient giant beast at full speed. His internal organs churned violently, and his body felt as though it were about to split apart.

The overwhelming force erupted in full, and the aura that leaked outward transformed into a shockwave, instantly blasting the exquisite throne into pieces. Immediately afterward, Richard shot backward like a cannonball that had just been fired, slamming into the wall at tremendous speed.

His face twisted in agony as blood sprayed wildly from his mouth, and his entire body nearly fell apart from the impact.

Under normal circumstances, the power behind Alicia’s strike would have been more than enough to send Richard flying out of the imperial palace and several hundred meters away.
However, defensive inscriptions covered every part of the palace, reinforcing the floors and walls until they were virtually indestructible. Now, they had merely cracked in a few places.

If he had been given the choice, Richard would rather have been sent flying several hundred meters away. Because the walls had been reinforced so heavily, the damage he suffered at this moment was absolutely multiplied several times over! It was practically unbearable!

Elsewhere. Lili swung her chakram and brought it crashing down heavily onto Legion Commander Blei, and a world-shattering might erupted in an instant.

**Crack!**

The black-and-red armor he had always been so proud of split apart with a sharp sound. The next moment, his entire body was sent flying, crashing into the palace wall and suffering tremendous damage to both his back and abdomen.

Blei’s condition was now much the same as Richard’s, with his entire body feeling as though it were coming apart!

Behind Lili, Moon thrust the dagger in her hand forward like a bolt of lightning, instantly stabbing toward the Dark Mage’s heart. The latter was so frightened that he nearly lost his soul.

Fortunately, he was wearing protective soft armor beneath his robes, which blocked the terrifying attack that struck like a venomous snake… Actually, just as the Dark Mage thought the soft armor would be enough to stop the attack, pain suddenly erupted from his flesh, and a violent black force surged through the wound!

At that moment, the Dark Mage felt as though his heart were about to explode. He barely even thought before using Advanced Flash.

**Whoosh!**

Moon’s assassination strike, which was just about to be completed, missed its mark. The Dark Mage appeared several meters away, his withered old face covered in sweat as his heart pounded furiously.

Just moments ago, he had vaguely seen the gates of hell opening toward him!

“What a shame,” Moon said regretfully after her strike had missed. It was called a miss only in terms of the assassination itself. In reality, she had already inflicted severe injuries on the Dark Mage.

Gurant and Passat were completely dumbfounded. Just a few seconds ago, they had still been certain of victory. A few seconds later, three of their strongest fighters had already been severely wounded.

The sudden turn of events had happened far too quickly. They did not even know how they were supposed to react.

“Get out of here!” Suddenly, an enraged roar erupted inside the palace. Looking toward the source of the voice, they saw Alicia, who had been pressing her advantage, forcibly driven back by a translucent silver defensive barrier.

Inside the barrier, Richard’s hair was disheveled, blood streamed from the corner of his mouth, and his handsome face was twisted out of shape. In all his life, this was the first time he had suffered such a crushing loss.

And the person who had dealt him such a devastating blow was actually his own foolish younger sister, whom he had always looked down upon! His anger was far beyond ordinary humiliation and fury!

Alicia lightly touched the ground with the tips of her toes and retreated to Lili and Moon’s side. The attacks from the three of them had all achieved excellent results. They had definitely come out with a huge gain.

“Guh!” Blei slid down from the wall and spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura instantly weakening considerably. Lili’s strike had hurt him far more than usual. The energy surging within his body felt as though it were about to tear him completely apart.

Blei did not dare delay and hurriedly expelled the energy that Lili had forced into his body. Compared to attacks that could cause massive explosions at any moment, attacks that directly poured energy into the body were the truly terrifying ones!

**Boom!**

Violent energy poured out of his body like the rushing waters of the Yellow River, and the powerful shockwave spread in all directions, destroying everything inside the palace.

Gurant raised a hand and hurriedly dispersed the shockwave around Passat. Otherwise, with Passat’s strength, he would probably have been battered half to death by the shockwave.

“Alicia!” Before the aftershocks had even subsided, Richard’s furious roar rang out. He did not know what miraculous method his sister had used to come charging directly at him, nor did he want to know. At this moment, all he wanted was to kill her immediately!

“I’m here,” Alicia said calmly. Yet inwardly, she was somewhat excited. Through that single strike, she had already gauged Richard’s true strength. He was only somewhat stronger than her.

That gap had been erased by that one punch. From here on, it would simply be an even match.

The Dark Mage clutched his chest, his face pale as he inwardly realized that things were not looking good. His injuries were more severe than he had anticipated. His overall strength had been reduced by at least twenty percent.

Fortunately, there were only three opponents, so they still held the advantage. The Dark Mage glared at Moon, his face twisted with venomous hatred. He secretly swore that he would kill this little wretch tonight!

Bishop Gurant held a golden staff in his hand, holy light radiating from his body. His expression was solemn, with a hint of nervousness.

They had originally possessed a tremendous advantage, but after their opponents’ surprise attacks, that advantage had been reduced to almost nothing. Even if they won in the end, they would suffer heavy losses.

Passat trembled all over, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest. If he had been the one ambushed just now, he would probably have already become a fresh corpse.

That was simply giving himself too much credit. An existence as insignificant as an ant was not even worthy of Alicia and the others’ attention. From the very beginning, their targets had been the three Legend-rank powerhouses present.

As for why they had not chosen Bishop Gurant as one of their targets… That had been Yae-hime’s suggestion. In her view, the Dark Mage, whose capabilities were still unknown, was clearly more troublesome to deal with.

Outside the palace. The five thousand members of Hidden Kill launched their attack the moment they appeared, achieving excellent results. The scene immediately descended into chaos, with cries of battle and screams of terror ringing out without end.

No one noticed that the barrier above the palace, as well as the barrier surrounding the inner district, suddenly flickered with black light as numerous strange patterns emerged across them. The strange change vanished in a flash.

“Done.” Amid the chaotic crowd, a woman dressed in a black robe spoke softly. The corners of her lips curled up slightly as she casually brushed aside a strand of silver hair, revealing a pair of crimson eyes.

At the same time, in the outer district. Yae-hime was still happily harvesting the leeks below, a satisfied smile spreading across her face. Clearly, her gains had already exceeded the cost of the bombardment. Exactly how much they exceeded it by, even she had no idea.

In any case, harvesting leeks was simply delightful!

However, as the native soldiers below gradually stabilized, her enjoyment was slowly interrupted. After all, since she had not gone all-out to kill them, the deterrent effect was rather limited.

At this moment, the native forces had already begun their counterattack, and flashes of light streaked across the sky. Faced with these chaotic attacks, Yae-hime merely smiled indifferently before her figure flashed and disappeared.

She had no intention of getting entangled in the battle. With a mere thought, she had Little Blue teleport her back to the City of Chaos, preparing for her next move.