Even the metallic dragon controlling the void magnetic field had to struggle to keep its body steady, lest it lose control. Morgan clung tightly to Gold Coin's saddle—if he slipped and fell, he could only blame his own bad luck; there was no hope that Gold Coin would catch him again. Morgan was already thankful enough if this guy didn’t stab him in the back.

Looking down at the ground, the word “tragic” was no longer enough to describe the aftermath of the first wave of the forbidden spell cloud’s eruption. In an instant, both sides lost ten percent of their soldiers—hundreds of thousands of lives vanished in the blink of an eye.

The commanders on both sides were red-eyed. With such heavy casualties, if they couldn’t make up for it with a decisive victory, once they returned to the imperial capital and their merits and faults were offset, they might not even get a scrap of reward. The countless widows and orphans of the empire’s soldiers would be out for their blood.

The mages of the mage corps had completely lost their usual elegance and composure. Their faces flushed, eyes glazed, veins bulging on their foreheads, they chanted spells rapidly and urgently. One by one, they floated upward as if under a levitation spell, pouring all their mental strength, control, and magic power into their casting. The forbidden spell cloud in the sky gathered energy once more, and countless attack spells took shape again, their size and power several times greater than the previous round.

Huge fireballs and lightning clashed in the sky. The airborne cavalry who couldn’t dodge in time froze midair, unable even to scream before turning to ash and vanishing between heaven and earth. Even the residual force of the forbidden spells that reached the ground claimed swathes of soldiers’ lives, as if the gates of hell had been thrown open.

Suddenly, the world seemed to freeze. A wild wind arose, and a dozen tornadoes appeared, connecting sky and earth.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sound of rending silk, magnified countless times, filled the air!

It was as if countless black cracks were rapidly spreading from the black lightning forbidden spell cloud. This blackness was unlike any black people had seen before, completely distinct from the black forbidden spell cloud—so deep it seemed to swallow all light, as if even one’s soul would be drawn from the body into this darkness.

“It’s the Spatial Absolute Prison Grand Forbidden Spell…” A mage from the Sylan Empire’s mage corps cried out in despair, his magic surging chaotically as he spat a mouthful of blood and plummeted from the sky, unconscious.

The other mages all turned ashen, as if witnessing the most terrifying thing in the world. Even the pupils of the Sylan Empire’s commanders on the ground were filled with obvious despair. Who could have imagined that the Texi Empire still had such a trump card at this moment? Anyone who had ever touched magic knew the power of the Spatial Absolute Prison Grand Forbidden Spell, ranked fourth among the top ten forbidden spells. But spatial mages were extremely rare, and even the weakest spatial forbidden spell couldn’t be cast by just one or two mages. Whenever a spatial forbidden spell appeared, it was always a superweapon that devoured and destroyed everything. With the Texi Empire unleashing the “Spatial Absolute Prison Grand Forbidden Spell,” the Sylan Empire’s officers knew they were doomed today. Even if their mage corps were unscathed and full of magic power, they still couldn’t withstand the slaughter of such a grand forbidden spell.

Whether on the ground or in the sky, everyone felt an invisible force pulling them toward the black cracks in the black lightning forbidden spell cloud. Those black cracks seemed to tear everything apart—air, forbidden spell clouds—ruthlessly ripping through the black forbidden spell cloud and reaching straight for the red flame forbidden spell cloud. The red flame forbidden spell cloud was torn apart without the slightest resistance, like a delicate maiden’s last shred of modesty being violently ripped away by a brute, wantonly ravaged.

The Sylan Empire’s forbidden fire cloud was shredded to pieces by the Texi Empire’s ambushed “Spatial Absolute Prison Grand Forbidden Spell.” Nothing seemed able to stop the space power that could shatter and devour all things. Countless Sylan Empire mages participating in the forbidden spell cloud spat blood and fell from the sky, most unlikely to survive. On the Texi Empire’s side, having prepared in advance, many mages pulled out extremely precious potions and downed them in one gulp. Fewer than one in ten mages fell due to forbidden spell backlash. The value of these potions even exceeded the total wealth of a vassal duchy of the empire. To end this protracted battlefield as quickly as possible, the royal family had no choice but to bring out their most strategic reserves.

In the Texi Empire’s spatial mage formation, nearly all wore the highest-grade mage gear, wielding standardized top-tier staffs of the same material and craftsmanship. The phalanx of spatial mages, painstakingly gathered and trained, chanted strange incantations in perfect unison. After countless drills, their synchronized chanting finally triggered a magical resonance, boosting spell conversion efficiency by several degrees. Even the surrounding air seemed to vibrate with the long incantation, the view blurring as if transparent ripples were spreading outward.