Nightingale widened her eyes in surprise. But soon, she found something different. Through the Mist she saw a black hole formed in the enemy's palm instead of the characteristic dazzling light of the Magic Stones. It was not a sigil but an ability of the demon. s.h.i.+ning magic power was sucked into the black hole and became a fast-growing vortex which gave off such a strong light that it made it hard for the other witches to open their eyes. However, seeing it through the Mist, it was getting darker and darker.

The demon then thrust its sword into the ground, sending out a black s.h.i.+mmering light to cover the entire woods.

Instantly, the light of magic powers that were flickering like candlelight in the wind was put out. Nightingale's misty world was broken down again. Leaf was forced out of her Heart of Forest form and the trees promptly threw Leaf and Iffy onto the ground. Leaf was heavily injured. She was spewing blood and she was not able to stand up again.

Nightingale was shocked and she thought, "The demon sensed that the wood was Leaf!

No... Though Leaf hid well, it was still possible to see her movements from above. The really strange thing is why could it break the magic power like the G.o.d's Stone of Retaliation? Compared with Magic stones, the demon can release such magic power and is even more flexible in manipulating it, but there's no light when it was releasing the magic power!"

Nightingale did not have time to think about it anymore.

Enduring the discomfort after having her magic power broken off, she changed the cartridge and dashed towards the demon who was now walking to the paralyzed and defenseless Leaf after its previous black s.h.i.+mmering light attack.

When Nightingale came to a place about 10 meters away from the demon and was sure that she could hit it, she swiftly pulled the trigger.

The bullets. .h.i.t its arm armor, creating sparkles and smoke. The demon seemed very annoyed at being disturbed by someone else at this moment. It roared in anger and then held its giant sword up in front of itself. Seeing this, Nightingale's heart sank. The bullets did not get into the demon's body through its arm to break its inner organs as she had expected. In fact, she was not sure whether the bullets had broken through the armor or not, let alone this giant sword which was as thick as a door plank.

As she had already used all the five bullets, she drew out her dagger and lunged towards the head of the demon.

In order to save Leaf, she had to try her best to stop it.

The demon promptly lifted up its sword to strike, with its eyes s.h.i.+ning like bright red lights. Though it moved incredibly fast, Nightingale could still predict its action. She did not dodge the striking sword. Just at the moment when the blade was going to cut her in half, she disappeared in the Mist.

The demon's lightless wave could wipe out the effects of magic power in a large area, but it could not completely prohibit the magic power. After the vortex vanished, the witches could use their magic power again. Nightingale's keen eye caught this change immediately, as she had the ability to observe the flow of magic power.

In the world of black and white, she saw the giant sword's silhouette instantly distort and quickly found the "cutting point" in the blade. She slid "through" the blade and stabbed her dagger into a gap in the demon's helmet!

Surprisingly, the dagger cracked after a loud bang.

"This is... a Magic Barrier?

"d.a.m.n it, how many kinds of abilities does it have!?" Nightingale hurriedly retreated and soon the Armored Demon caught up with her. It used one hand to raise its sword and struck again.

She played the same old trick, hoping to escape in the Mist, but this time she was not that lucky.

The demon lifted his other hand into the air.

It pull Nightingale out of the Mist, as she was moving through the sword.

When she was pulled out, part of the blade was still inside her body. As she was thrown out, blood spilled out from a long, deep wound in her waist left by the blade. Even the protective clothing that had been specially made by Soraya was torn. Nightingale gave out a choked cry. Without time to attend to the wound, she made use of the force of falling to roll backwards, hoping to dodge the demon's coming attack. Unfortunately, this demon could move over two meters with a single step. It was impossible for her to escape from such a strong enemy that moved as fast as an Extraordinary.

When the sword was about to cut Nightingale, many purple beams of the light suddenly appeared around the demon and then quickly contracted inward to tie the demon tightly.

That was Iffy's Magic Cage!

"Crush it!" Nightingale shouted.

"I can't do it!" Iffy grated. "It's too strong!" She had squeezed her hand into a fist, but the beams of the light could not contract anymore. Instead, the beams shook as if the demon was going to break them apart.

The demon gave out a deafening roar and threw up its arms. The cage split up, but before it could raise its sword again, beams of light came back to trap it once more.

"Miss An-Anna use the golden thunder now... Be quick!" Iffy said in a measured voice. It was easy to tell from her face that the cage could not trap the demon for a very long time.

However, the demon was not far away from Iffy. The golden thunder of the Sigil of G.o.d's Will would probably strike both of them.

"Now, Anna!" Nightingale shouted to Anna in a distant place. "Activate the Sigil!"

Anna caught Nightingale's eyes and immediately got what she meant. She used all her power to lift the metal sheet in her hand.

A strong bright light lit up the woods and some beams of light also came down from the sky.

The demon howled. It might have seen this kind of scene before, as now it sounded angry and at the same time frightened, struggling even harder to get free.

Nightingale knew this was their only chance to win, as the demon now could not dispel their magic power.

The golden thunder struck!

Nightingale pressed on her wound and moved into the Mist. Before the dark lightning struck on Iffy's head, she suddenly appeared behind her, held her up and leaped aside, swiftly pulling her out of the Sigil of G.o.d's Will's attack range. She saved Iffy in only two steps

The move needed not only determination and courage, but also teamwork between Nightingale and Anna.

If Anna struck in a wrong place, Nightingale and Iffy could hardly escape from the coming golden thunder.

However, Nightingale trusted her. She believed that n.o.body could overtake Anna in terms of magic power control,

and the result proved that Nightingale was right.

The strong golden light instantly covered the place where the Senior Demon stood and destroyed everything in the area, including the weed and vines.

Anna staggered. She finally couldn't keep her feet on the ground anymore and fell down.

"Anna!" Leaf cried out. She had just recovered a little and stumbled towards Anna.

"She's fine. She just exhausted her magic power!" said Nightingale. Every word she spoke was contorted by the searing pain caused by the wound on her waist. Luckily the inner organs were alright. As long as she avoided violent movements that would open the wound up again, it was not life-threatening.

"You... got injured? Let me bind it up for you," Iffy said. A mixed feeling was obvious on her face.

Nightingale nodded and she was about to roll up her clothing when suddenly... she froze,

seeing a black figure slowly walking out of the smoke caused by the golden thunder.

Several thorns on the demon's helmet broke, looking like collapsed stone towers. Its delicate armor was cracked and covered by dirt. It had lost an arm and the giant sword,

but it surprisingly survived the fatal strike.

The demon hissed hideously. Nightingale was not sure whether it was smiling but she could tell from its voice that it sounded excited and murderous.

Although it seemed that the demon could not move as rapidly as before and with a much dimmer red light, would fall in any minute, Nightingale still thought no one could stop it now because herself and Leaf were paralyzed, Anna fainted, Lightning was missing and Iffy had nearly no power left.

Just at the moment, the witch beside her stood up.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Nightingale said in a low voice.

"Fight till the last moment," Iffy drew out a dagger and said. "It's the fate of a combat witch. Don't you still have some magic power left? Take them with you and hide. If you're unable to take all of them, at least, take one with you."

Nightingale suddenly thought of Roland's entrustment.

Yes... at least, I should take Anna back. That's what I've promised His Majesty. I have to do it no matter what.

A familiar howl from above suddenly interrupted Nightingale's thought.

"Aw..."

A huge shadow landed from the sky!