The clash between Alicia and Yonan’s reanimated vessel was far from over. Initially, the disparity in raw combat parameters between Alicia and her grandfather's physical husk was stark. Yet Alicia channeled her total internal reserves, integrating her vessel with the surrounding natural mana to push her cultivation parameters to the absolute peak of Rank 8.

Absolute focus was the key to identifying an enemy's structural flaws—it was the path through which a martial artist surpassed their limits and ascended to higher realms.

Raising her longsword into the sky, thick bands of incandescent energy coiled around the glowing blade. Enveloped in a brilliant aura field, Alicia launched a flurry of thin, high-density light slashes that carried immense explosive potential. Manifesting a radiant circle before her vessel, she unleashed a continuous stream of kinetic projectiles.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

The barrage of high-velocity light projectiles rained down upon Yonan’s vessel like a storm of lethal arrows. In response, Yonan’s thrall summoned dozens of dark constructs that swarmed the air around him—monstrous, distorted entities forged from volatile dark magic, their features bulging and irregular.

The dark constructs swarmed forward to intercept Alicia's dense barrage, absorbing the light slashes head-on. Minor muffled detonations echoed within their shadowy bodies as the light energy was extinguished. Alicia paused her assault, startled to see her high-yield energy slashes swallowed effortlessly by the dark constructs.

Recognizing that straightforward projectile strikes were being absorbed without effect, she disengaged to regroup and recalibrate her parameters. She needed a different tactical approach to neutralize her grandfather's physical husk.

Focus... look for the structural flaw. Every technique possessed a weakness; these constructs could not be absolute.

While Alicia searched for a flaw in Yonan's spatial casting pattern, the army of dark constructs surged forward. Brandishing armaments wrapped in corrupted dark magic, the massive wave of shadow entities closed in on her position.

Alicia manifested a wide-area defensive shield, deflecting the incoming strikes. As the constructs swarmed her perimeter, she channeled high-density mana into her sword, sweeping the blade in a wide arc to unleash a kinetic vortex.

SLASH! WOOOOOSH!

A sweeping light slash severed the front rank of dark constructs in half. Yet as the energy wave passed through their shadowy forms, the severed halves flowed back together, reconnecting seamlessly without taking a single point of damage. Re-forming instantly, they resumed their assault.

Alicia retreated using high-speed footwork, finding herself increasingly cornered. She leaped and ducked, parrying left and right, yet the dark constructs attacked in an unbroken, relentless cycle. Whenever her sword strikes shattered or exploded their bodies, the shadowy essence reconstituted within seconds.

The pressure mounted. Though her internal reserves remained stable, she was forced to expend continuous energy evading and parrying the endless barrage. Reaching Yonan’s physical husk felt nearly impossible while bogged down by waves of regenerating shadow constructs of various sizes and forms.

Encircled on all sides, Alicia was pressed into a tight defensive perimeter. The shadow entities attacked in synchronized waves, alternating their strikes to deny her a moment's breather. Straining her concentration, she held her parrying arc, deflecting every incoming blade.

Over time, maintaining her defensive aura field began to exhaust her spiritual stamina. Forcing her remaining mana into a dense spherical barrier, she braced herself as the shadow constructs hammered relentlessly against its surface. The heavy impacts rattled her core, demanding every ounce of her strength to keep the barrier from collapsing.

The sheer parameters of Yonan’s physical vessel were staggering. Alicia internally acknowledged the reality: her current output remained far inferior to the legendary saint's peak power. Even at her absolute limit, she was being driven back and overwhelmed by his automated casting patterns.

Despair crept into her mind. As the unbroken bombardment battered her barrier, her concentration faltered under the strain.

Seeing her barrier buckle, Yonan’s thrall recognized the opening. Driven by the absolute directive embedded in its core by Lord Demon Shura, it prepared to execute the target.

Bringing its palms together above its head, the dark staff hovered between its hands, spinning at absolute velocity. The rapid rotation generated a violent energetic vortex that siphoned dark magic from the surrounding sky and terrain.

Black Hole!

A spatial rift opened above the spinning staff—a void domain that discharged a dense, suffocating torrent of dark magic directly into Yonan’s physical husk.

A pair of massive, skeletal dragon wings adorned with rib-like struts erupted from the thrall's back. The massive black wings unfolded, flapping rhythmically to propel the thrall upward. With every sweep of the dark wings, Yonan’s internal parameters surged exponentially.

Directing the rapidly spinning staff toward Alicia, the thrall condensed dozens of heavy black spears around its vessel, each wrapped in volatile dark lightning and dark magic.

The ultimate judgment was at hand.

Trapped behind her cracking barrier, Alicia closed her eyes, trying to center her scattering focus amid the continuous impacts hammering her shield.

CRACK!

Hairline fractures spiderwebbed across the barrier's surface.

As her focus began to fail, a memory suddenly flashed across her mind—the private counsel Aji had given her before the campaign commenced. It was true what grandmasters said: in moments of extreme peril, the mind recalled the most critical truths.

"Alicia," Aji’s voice echoed in her memory, "Saint Yonan’s absolute discipline lay in high-tier energy manipulation. He could manifest complex energetic structures and project his consciousness and parameters directly into his constructs."

Aji had been right. Her grandfather possessed the ability to split his presence into multiple constructs, transferring his physical vessel and core parameters among them instantaneously. While high-speed spatial transfer was exceptionally difficult for standard spellcasters, Saint Yonan had mastered instantaneous spatial jumps through decades of relentless conditioning.

"Do you know the single flaw in your grandfather's discipline?" Aji had asked.

It was a detail only someone who had studied Saint Yonan's combat rhythms in actual battle could know.

"It is nearly impossible to find a flaw in a master of that caliber, Aji," Alicia had replied in her memory. "How do you defeat someone who can relocate across spatial boundaries at will, attacking from any angle and swapping places with his constructs in a fraction of a second?"

Aji had smiled softly. "Listen closely, Alicia. Every living entity possesses a vulnerability. Your grandfather was no exception. His parameters were vast, but after deploying his ultimate, high-yield spellwork, Saint Yonan always experienced a brief, five-second casting recovery window. During those five seconds, his core recalibrates its energy pathways, leaving his vessel completely defenseless—as vulnerable as a newborn babe."

At the time, Alicia had questioned whether such a precise flaw existed. But now, cornered on the brink of defeat, it was her only remaining lifeline.

Trust Aji one last time!

She had to bet everything on her final counter-attack. A five-second window might sound like a speculation, but it was her sole path to victory.

Alicia’s eyes snapped open, blazing with brilliant light. Unsealing her highest-tier spiritual circles, she unified her offensive and defensive parameters into a single, focused vector, preparing to break through her limits. Focus... do not break! I must prevail!

High above, Yonan’s thrall unleashed its ultimate spellwork. The sky darkened as dozens of heavy dark spears plunged downward—a catastrophic bombardment capable of leveling a continent.

Alicia manifested a high-density natural mana barrier to absorb the initial wave.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosion after explosion rattled her shield, driving her feet deep into the soil. Disregarding the shockwaves, Alicia held her ground, patiently waiting for the thrall to finalize its casting sequence. Releasing a light projectile from her sword, she sent a subtle probe streaking through the falling spears, tracking the thrall's casting rhythm.

The catastrophic detonations lit up the sky, casting alternating glares of blinding light and deep shadows across the landscape. Shockwaves tore through the air, fracturing the hills and earth. Alicia strained against the kinetic feedback, holding her shield together by sheer force of will as the shadow constructs continuously hammered her perimeter.

She refused to break. She was the granddaughter of Saint Yonan—the legendary figure who had held her in his arms as a child and bid her farewell before every campaign.

Today, I will prove myself a worthy successor to his legacy!

The elemental crest on her forehead blazed as four natural elements merged into a single, unified mark. Disregarding her physical strain, Alicia concentrated her entire internal parameter into her blade.

In that life-and-death instant, she achieved a breakthrough—shattering her bottleneck to enter the Rank 9 Arch-Mage realm!

Her internal aura erupted like a rising sun. This was her absolute, all-out strike. She had to force Yonan’s thrall to complete its ultimate attack to trigger the five-second recalibration window.

As her barrier shattered under the descending dark spears, Alicia surged into the sky, meeting the incoming bombardment head-on. Sweeping her longsword in a brilliant, incandescent arc, she radiated a heat field that disintegrated the dark spears and shadow constructs into fine ash.

Yonan’s thrall froze in surprise as its ultimate bombardment was completely neutralized. Attempting to execute a follow-up, the thrall flapped its skeletal dragon wings, gathering dark magic to form a high-density kinetic drill.

However, just as Aji had foretold, the thrall’s core entered its five-second casting recovery window—stalling its ability to form a new spellwork instantly.

Within two seconds, Alicia blurred through the spatial divide, materializing directly behind Yonan’s thrall. Sweeping her steel sword in a blinding flash of light, she severed both skeletal dragon wings from the thrall's back in a single, flawless strike.

TRING! SHATTER!