Chapter 1610: Lord of Flame II

Lory was taken aboard the aircraft that had been prepared for evacuation, along with several trafficking victims who had finally been rescued from the island.

Inside the aircraft, the atmosphere was tense and chaotic. Some of the victims huddled together in silence while medics moved hurriedly from one injured person to another. Meanwhile, Lory lay on the emergency bed near the back of the cabin.

She felt weak, draining but she didn’t feel the ache like before. Lory frowned slightly, unable to understand what was happening to her body. She had never experienced anything like this before, not even when she had been tormented by Lazarus’s curse.

This feeling was different. It was as though an overwhelming exhaustion was dragging her into darkness, tempting her to close her eyes and sleep forever. Her body felt unbearably heavy, and no matter how hard she tried to resist it, the drowsiness continued to consume her little by little.

The moment her head touched the mattress, her eyelids almost instinctively closed, but just as she fell asleep, the loud sounds of an explosion shook the entire aircraft, and it jolted her awake instantly. She immediately remembered what had happened.

"Li Xin!" She sat up abruptly from the bed, panic flashing across her pale face.

"Your Highness, please rest!" One of the female soldiers from the King’s Men immediately knelt beside her bed, her expression filled with concern.

The surrounding soldiers stared at Lory with complicated emotions written all over their faces. Disbelief, excitement, joy, and even perplexity. Even now, they still could not believe that the princess they had longed for all these years was truly alive and had finally returned to them.

"Give me a mana restorative potion," Lory said firmly.

The soldiers exchanged quick glances before one of them hurriedly handed her a potion vial filled with glowing liquid.

Lory immediately uncorked it and drank everything in one gulp. A second later, warmth spread through her body almost instantly. She could feel her depleted mana pool rapidly refilling, and soon after, strength slowly returning to her limbs. Although the strange drowsiness still lingered faintly in her mind, she already felt much better than before.

Without hesitation, Lory threw aside the blanket and climbed out of bed. She quickly rushed toward the window. The moment she looked outside, her face turned pale. The entire island was engulfed in flames.

Redish and Dark purple flame clashed violently across the land, illuminating the darkness like the end of the world itself. Crimson lightning flashed repeatedly from within the island while massive dark clouds gathered overhead, rumbling ominously like an approaching catastrophe, and from every direction, more Wyverns continued to arrive.

Their gigantic shadows stretched across the heavens, swallowing what little moonlight remained as endless roars thundered through the sky. The entire island looked as though it had become the center of a living nightmare.

Lory’s chest tightened painfully at the thought of Zhao Li Xin facing all of that alone. She bit her lower lip hard before turning toward the soldiers.

"Open the door." Her voice was calm, yet it carried unquestionable authority.

For a moment, no one moved. The cabin fell into complete silence, as though the soldiers could not fully process the command they had just heard.

But Lory had already made up her mind. Without waiting for anyone’s response, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a rubber band. With practiced movements, she gathered her long hair and tied it neatly before walking toward the aircraft door.

The soldiers instinctively stepped aside.

"Open it," Lory’s voice hardened with authority.

Still, no one moved; their expressions were filled with hesitation and worry. Just a second ago, they learned that the beloved princess their missed every day was alive. So how could they take the risk to lose her again?

"Your Highness... you cannot," one of the soldiers finally said, forcing himself to speak.

"Princess, it’s too dangerous," another added anxiously.

Nearby, Enzo stood silently, his gaze fixed on Lory with an unreadable expression. His mind was still struggling to process the truth. He still couldn’t accept that Raven Jane, the woman he had been investigating for months on his secret mission, was actually Princess Lorient.

How could this be? At the time, Enzo had indeed been suspicious of the woman and her husband’s identities, but he assumed they were simply someone connected to Noxcra, perhaps working for them, or perhaps someone working directly under the Archknight.

However, he never imagined that Raven Jane was Princess Lorient herself. The revelation was enough to make him reconsider all his plans, and he couldn’t imagine how his government would react if they found out.

’This is going to be crazy, no, the whole world is going to be crazy.’ The thought made Enzo shake his head in resignation.

Meanwhile, Lory realized that it was difficult for her to make them listen to her order; unfortunately, she didn’t have time to persuade them. Lory took a deep breath. Then, reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a piece of candy.

Using a strand of wind magic wrapped around her fingertips, she flicked it forward, a trick she’d learned from cultivators in the old world. The candy shot through the air instantly, passing by the startled soldiers before hitting the control panel beside the airship door.

’Beep.’

A second later, the heavy metal door slowly began to open. Cold wind immediately rushed into the cabin, howling violently as lightning illuminated the storm outside.

"Your Highness!" Enzo exclaimed, his eyes widening.

"Princess!" the soldiers cried out simultaneously.

But Lory’s expression remained calm and resolute.

"Take everyone out of here," she said quietly.

She removed her jacket and tossed it aside before walking toward the open doorway, where fierce winds whipped against her clothes and hair.

But suddenly, Enzo grabbed her wrist. "Princess, think again, this is too dangerous!"

Lory lowered her gaze to Enzo’s hand, which was tightly gripping her wrist. Enzo realized what he had done, and he immediately let go of her hand as if burned.

"Sorry," he said awkwardly

Lory didn’t care, "Don’t worry about me," she said calmly.

His eyes glanced at the burning island in the distance, "I once promised myself that if this situation ever happened again, I would never again leave my loved ones to fight alone."

And before anyone could stop her, she jumped.

"PRINCESS!"

Several soldiers rushed toward the door in panic. For one terrifying moment, Lory’s figure vanished into the storm beneath the aircraft.

But a second later, brilliant white wings unfurled behind her. The enormous wings spread gracefully, glowing faintly beneath flashes of crimson lightning. Wind gathered around her body as she glided through the raging skies toward the island below.

Everyone inside the aircraft stood frozen.

"It’s truly Princess Lorient..." one of the rescued trafficking victims whispered shakily.

"She’s alive..." the other murmured in disbelief.

"She really came back...!!" while the other cheered excitedly.

Enzo remained standing near the open door, silent as he watched Lory’s distant figure disappear behind the storm clouds.

Meanwhile, on the island, the monsters roared incessantly, shaking the air, but instead of fear, excitement coursed through his veins.

Every scream, every attack, every claw sounded like music to his ears. He’d forgotten how long it had been since he’d felt this sensation. Fighting with all his might without holding back, without worrying about hurting anyone, he finally felt it again—yes, this feeling. The intoxicating thrill of blood and death.

Zhao Li Xin could no longer feel the wounds covering his body. The scorching flames only made him more excited, like a flame demon bent on devouring everything in its path.

Meanwhile, Simon, who had completely transformed into a monster, continued screaming madly as he summoned the nearest Bael creatures to come. Zhao Li Xin did not attempt to stop him because this was exactly what he wanted.

More enemies.

More bloodshed.

More power.

The immortal flame within Zhao Li Xin burned violently as he forcefully absorbed the fire essence from every slain Wyvern. Energy flooded into his meridians like a raging torrent, colliding against his own immortal fire both inside and outside his body.

The sky around him twisted with terrifying heat waves as two different flames fought for dominance.

Inside his consciousness, Crimson Lightning became frantic. [Master, stop this madness! If you continue absorbing fire essence at this rate, your body won’t withstand it!]

[Are you worried?] Zhao Li Xin laughed sarcastically. [Are you stupid, Red Lightning? Do you really think I’ll die from something like this?]

He was extremely confident in his abilities. In the past, he had repeatedly pushed his body to its limits, yet wasn’t he still alive? And what he had done now was nothing compared to what he had done before.

If Crimson Lightning had eyes, he would have rolled them. Any normal human would have long since perished if they had done the same thing as his master.

[Master, absorbing hundreds of fire essences at once could kill you. Even if it doesn’t, it may damage the very foundation of your power and trigger a devastating backlash instead.]

Zhao Li Xin merely smiled. A cold, fearless smile.

Then he raised his head toward the endless swarm descending from the heavens, his eyes blazing brighter than the flames surrounding him.

A dangerous grin slowly spread across his face. [Good... Finally, I can test once again what it feels like to place my life on the edge of death.]

[But what about Young Madam?] the fire spirit suddenly asked, his voice filled with worry. [She must be very sad right now... What if she cries?]

The madness in Zhao Li Xin’s eyes faded significantly. The crazed expression on his face was instantly replaced by anxiety.

Even while slaughtering Wyverns left and right, Zhao Li Xin suddenly fell silent, seemingly lost in thought. Flames erupted around him as another beast was split apart by his sword, its burning corpse plummeting from the sky, yet his mind was clearly elsewhere.

The moment Lory’s tearful face appeared in his mind, his heart tightened painfully. Zhao Li Xin had never feared facing hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of Bael creatures alone.

He could walk through rivers of blood without blinking, stand amidst endless death without hesitation, yet the mere thought of Lory crying because of him made his entire body tremble with guilt and unease.

He knew what he had done would make her incredibly sad.

And angry. Very angry.

Although he had his reasons, he also understood that Lory would not care about those reasons once she saw the state he was in. Thinking about the expression she would make afterward gave him a rare headache.

He was scared not only that she would be angry with him, but also the possibility got kick out of their room. Zhao Li Xin frowned deeply while casually crushing a Wyvern’s skull with one hand. What should he do this time? Kneel in front of her room again? After pondering seriously for a moment, he secretly felt that’s not a bad idea; that method had worked quite well before.

After a while, he finally spoke. [Then...let’s end this quickly.]

Crimson Lightning nearly choked inside the sword. If he had known that mentioning Young Madam would work this well, he would have brought her up much sooner.

Zhao Li Xin released his full power, and a terrifying shockwave exploded outward, blasting away every enemy surrounding him. The sky trembled violently as countless Wyverns were thrown back like broken kites caught in a storm.

Without wasting another second, Zhao Li Xin lunged straight toward Simon, who was still screeching nonstop like a mad beast. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Li Xin appeared before him and thrust Crimson Lightning directly toward Simon’s throat.

Instantly, the screaming stopped. Simon glared at Zhao Li Xin with bloodshot eyes. There was no fear in them; perhaps he had already lost the ability to feel fear long ago.

"You’ve done enough," Zhao Li Xin hissed coldly.

With one clean motion, he swung his sword. Simon’s head separated instantly from his body. This time, however, there was no regeneration; how could he?

Crimson Lightning was a weapon capable of killing even demigods like Lazarus. How could a mere creature like Simon possibly withstand its power? Yet even then, Simon did not die peacefully.

His severed head continued glaring viciously at Zhao Li Xin. Zhao Li Xin frowned in disgust before lifting his foot and stomping down hard.

Crack!

The head shattered against the ground.

"Disgusting," he scoffed.

Zhao Li Xin turned around and looked at the Wyverns swarming around him, already preparing to launch another attack. These creatures were nothing if not relentless.

[What should we do with them, Master? Kill them all?] the fire spirit asked.

[Just killing them would be a waste.] Zhao Li Xin smirked, his eyes gleaming dangerously. [We shouldn’t waste food, should we?]

[Are they food now, Master?] The fire spirit sighed helplessly.

[Are they not?] Zhao Li Xin replied with an evil grin.