It had been so long since Lawrend stepped forward for his maids. Most of the time, he just allowed them to shield him. After all, it was a huge flex to have women defend you.


    But this time, it was different for Lawrend. He was in the Ignis n, and he wanted to show them his desire to keep Ember. The n Head might have given Ember to him in the past, but that didn''t mean he should assume that the whole n was into it.


    From what Lawrend could tell, the Ignis n was internally divided. So to convince those that doubted his rtionship with Ember, he decided to take a step forward today and defend Ember instead.


    "Master…"


    Ember was surprised. A beautiful smile formed on her face, and she took a step back. She could tell what was going through his mind.


    ''Master is so stubborn,'' Ember thought to herself.


    "Outsider, you might have red hair and seduced our Princess, but that doesn''t mean you''re equal to me in standing!" Luther shouted as he red at Lawrend.


    "You''re correct."


    Lawrend nodded his head.


    "Hmph. It''s good that you know."


    Luther smiled gleefully. The ease at which Lawrend agreed with him told him that he was afraid of him.


    "You''re just a bug beneath my feet," Lawrend continued.


    Spouts of me shot out at random spots on Lawrend''s body. Before anyone could realize it, he had turned into a fire phoenix. The pure fire mana in the surroundings gathered around him and became docile like sheep.


    At the moment, if he gave themand, all of these pure fire mana would follow his orders.


    "W-WHAT!?"


    Luther immediately realized something. He sensed Lawrend''s pure phoenix bloodline and his fine control over the elemental mana around him. He got the illusion that he was facing a Heaven Mage.


    But that was impossible. There were no Heaven Mages outside except those from the other great ns. Thus, the whole situation confused Luther.


    "Uhh… I don''t have a variety of spells. Ember, give me one," Lawrend awkwardly said.


    He could use his imagination, but it definitely wouldn''t be enough to defeat Luther in one move.


    Luther focused his gaze and opened his mouth.


    "O'' Phoenix Ancestor, fall to the earth, bring demise, burn thends, rise from the ashes, suppress the eternal me, then build an evesting fortress, Immortal Egg!"


    Luther didn''t know what it was, but he sensed great danger facing Lawrend. His years of umted battle experience screamed for him to cast his most powerful defensive spell, which was the Immortal Egg.


    "Here!"


    Ember threw a scroll to Lawrend. He unfurled it for a second before closing it and throwing it back to her.


    "O'' Phoenix Ancestor, fall to the earth, bring demise, burn thends, rise from the ashes, release the eternal me, burn the skies, Wrath of the Fire God!" Lawrend chanted.


    His words were attuned to the surrounding environment. The pure fire mana around him danced happily, and a giant avatar of a phoenix hundreds of meters in size that looked exactly like his current phoenix form appeared above his head. The avatar exuded great pressure as it sent waves of pure fire mana.


    Its existence shocked the Earth Mages in the city, especially the City General.


    And, of course, the most shocked one was Luther. He widened his eyes, and his heart stopped. Fear. That was the only word inside his mind.


    "NO!"


    If the Immortal Egg was the most powerful defensive Earth Mage spell in the n, the Wrath of the Fire God was one of the most powerful offensive Earth Mage spells in the n. It boasted unparalleled power that could harm a Heaven Mage in the hands of a Divine Earth Mage.


    It shouldn''t be forgotten that it was impossible for any Earth Mage to harm a Heaven Mage. Even Divine Earth Mages couldn''t do that at will. They needed a spell like the Wrath of the Fire God to be able to do any damage, but that damage would only be superficial.


    Luther wasn''t unfamiliar with this spell either. He had used it multiple times. It was one of the finishing spells in the n. When dueling, both sides would use their best spells at the end in one final bout.


    He didn''t expect Lawrend to use it at the start. He was both d andmented that he had used his Immortal Egg spell.


    It was ddening because it was the best defense he got, but it was alsomenting because it was not strong enough to defend against that spell. He wanted to go back in time to learn more defensive spells.


    All of those thoughts didn''t even take a millisecond as they passed through Luther''s mind. The giant phoenix avatar above Lawrend''s head opened its mouth and gathered crazy amounts of pure fire mana.


    A lot of them came from Lawrend as he pumped his mana into the spell, but more than half came from the surroundings. This allowed his spell to reach unprecedented levels of strength.


    Luther decided to use his all. He used a forbidden spell and poured all of his pure fire mana into the Immortal Egg surrounding him. This was hisst hope.


    If he didn''t give it his all, he would be done forever.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The semi-transparent egg around Luther quickly turned opaque. It looked like he was an egg now.


    *FWOO-BOOM!!*


    The phoenix shot out a beam of fire mana, and it exploded on impact. The Immortal Egg diverged the flow of the fire and caused the ck obsidian ground to melt and turn back tova.


    "STOPPPP!!!"


    The City General rushed forward with his greatest speed.


    Lawrend ignored him and stared at the struggling Immortal Egg with cold eyes. He was determined to kill Luther after insulting Ember and having thoughts about her.


    "PLEASE! THE IGNIS CLAN WILL NOT LET THIS GO!" the City General threatened.


    "I will also not let this go," Lawrend retorted calmly.


    *Crack*


    An audible crack was heard, and the City General widened his eyes and looked at the Immortal Egg. A bright white crack spread over its surface.