When the plot-skips players into the game world

Heaven City, outside the city.

In an occupied Snake-man Temple, the holy statue of the Serpent Celestial Marshal that was once revered has been shattered.

The original image of the Serpent Celestial Marshal was supposed to be a young man with three pairs of six wings behind him, a snake tail from the waist down, extraordinarily handsome, with long hair and wearing a monocle. His hands held a ring before him, smiling as he looked down upon the earth.

But now, his upper body had collapsed, shattered and fallen.

The golden ring he held has been taken, the silver wings adorned with multi-colored gemstones have been broken, and the diamond-crafted monocle has naturally been taken as well — though it was actually embedded in the statue's eye, so half the face was violently shattered.

In a world where gods truly exist, this act is undoubtedly a real desecration.

But for the Parthians, who have a simple view of reincarnation... they were even mentally prepared to be cast into hell after death, and they had just made plans to massacre the city.

Are they still concerned with this bit of blasphemy?

Since the Serpent Celestial Marshal did not help them during their suffering, there is no reason to stop them when they come to seek revenge.

Among those hated by the Red Hand Gang, of course, are also those high and mighty temple priests — their power and status are higher than those of ordinary free people. Not only do they not have to endure hunger and thirst, but they can also wear lavish clothes and live with attendants without working.

Now that they have both the strength and opportunity for revenge, naturally, these people cannot be spared!

For those who may not even live to see tomorrow, why care about ethics and morals!

Gathered here are the elite of the Red Hand Gang — but even calling them elite, none of them is at the Fifth Power Level.

They are here simply to guard their leader, using their bodies as eyes to detect, to bear the price of the ritual, and to share the curse preventatively.

As for Flame Fist Hassan, he sits at the very center of the altar, where he rewrote the direction of the array, wearing the golden ring from the holy statue of the Serpent Celestial Marshal like a hula hoop, eyes closed in meditation.

This is not a Mage's spell, but rather related to ritual magic.

The Serpent Celestial Marshal is the Ouroboros Celestial Marshal, the Infinite Celestial Marshal — relying on the resonance and transformation of six types of elemental magic, He can flexibly control and infinitely amplify power. In the desert, this means the priests of the Serpent Celestial Marshal can use this power to increase the water resources granted by the Abyssal Celestial Envoy to the Benevolent Lords... which is why the Benevolent Lords uniquely have a favorable attitude toward the priests of the Serpent Celestial Marshal.

Flame Fist Hassan's thinking is straightforward.

— Since it can increase water, then it can increase fire.

So he directly killed the priests of the Serpent Celestial Marshal, occupying a temple. Using a sacrilegious ritual to steal the power of the Serpent Celestial Marshal, using the Celestial Marshal Shard in his left arm as a medium, continually amplifying the purest power of fire —

Of course, this was not something he could think of by himself.

This was knowledge taught to him by a witch... she and her backers seemed very eager for him to kill Adil.

The prosthetic limb that can seal fragments of the Geometric Celestial Marshal, the ritual magic that can steal the power of the Celestial Marshal... and the Filthy Badge that prevents Celestial Marshal power from detecting him just by wearing it, all were gifts from her. When he first met that witch, he was still inside the Mage Tower.

— Manipulated?

That doesn't matter.

Hassan doesn't care if someone is using him.

He just needs to achieve his goals and doesn't need to impede others' goals. This is also something he learned from the Mage Tower... Sometimes, even mages are forced to collaborate with others. How to define "necessary cooperation" depends on whether the other party can bring irreplaceable benefits.

As long as there is no betrayal or deceit in this cooperation, and as long as both parties achieve the same goal, then it's considered a close and seamless cooperation — as for whether his actions will bring more benefits to others, or if he will pay more, this is not within Hassan's consideration.

As his followers thought —

For those who might not survive tomorrow, why worry about the future!

With the Infinite Power of the Serpent Celestial Marshal, he indeed summoned incredibly powerful forces.

This made Hassan quite excited — they felt tremendous resistance after only two days of facing Heaven City. Heaven City is indeed too strong, even Hassan regretted... they should have prioritized attacking other city-states to gather strength, surrounding it and cutting off supplies, instead of directly attacking Heaven City at the outset.

Because after his return, Hassan found the numbers of the Red Hand Gang had increased so much — they even had a thousand camels!

This made Hassan overly excited, consequently becoming a bit reckless in his actions.

In just two days, over a hundred brothers died at the hands of Heaven City's slave cavalry... and the fires they set didn't even disrupt the daily life of the central area's residents. Heaven City's Benevolent Lords didn't even deploy their guard corps, and the damage caused was mainly due to Hassan's spell attacks.

However, his magic has limits.

Even with the augmentation from the Celestial Marshal Shard, he can only use so much magic daily.

This is also an inevitable problem spellcasters face as their level increases... once his Mana Points are exhausted, he must retreat to rest to replenish, and higher-level spells consume more Mana. He could even use up a day's worth of magic in less than half an hour of battle.

Having the opportunity to use ritual magic to directly bypass Heaven City's army and slave cavalry to bombard the city is undoubtedly an excellent strategy — After all, the Red Hand Gang originated from commoners and slaves; even with their extreme ideology and the great legacy of the Iceheart King granting them extraordinary power, their level is not quite high, and they have no equipment to speak of.

Once mired in a war of attrition, death is certain.

Their advantage lay in being the attackers, the initiative in their hands — so being able to attack targets from beyond visible range is undoubtedly the most correct tactic.

Hassan brought the most suitable equipment, chose the right diplomacy, led the correct organization, and determined the most correct tactics...

— Yet, he still failed.

The array running beneath him suddenly exploded!

A violent explosion engulfed Hassan, and the golden ring he wore twisted and deformed abruptly — yet thanks to the elemental protection properties of the golden ring, he didn't die on the spot. The force from the blast was converted into magic power, replenishing him... but everyone around was killed.

Even the entire temple began to collapse!

The backlash from forcibly dispelling the spell, along with the backlash from breaking the ritual magic, attacked together, causing Hassan to vomit a large mouthful of blackish blood.

Within it, there were even shattered organs emitting hot white smoke.

"Damn it..."

Hassan struggled to move, slowly crawling out from the ruins of the ritual platform.

"Leader!"

"—Hassan!"

As the building teetered, people outside rushed in despite the danger, pulling Hassan out from the rubble, lifting him up, and carrying him away.

Just as his loyal followers took him out of the temple, the desecrated Snake-man Temple suddenly collapsed.

"Damn it..."

Hassan cursed with his mind blurred.

He had just been manipulating the "sun" in the sky, and barely managed to find the Benevolent Lords and kill them.

But shortly after that, his consciousness suddenly shattered—he still hadn't figured out what exactly "killed" him.

His own death didn't matter, but failing was such a pity...

He had been so close, so close to destroying Heaven City—

"Congratulations, Hassan."

A woman's voice slowly drifted in.

"Who's there!"

"Come out!"

Hassan's followers cursed warily, but Hassan himself relaxed upon hearing her voice.

Silver-blue long hair, eyes as clear as sapphires... Her beauty reminded him of lakes, and she was the mysterious mentor who bestowed upon him the precious ritual. Yet to this day, Hassan didn't know her name.

As she approached, Hassan's once-frenzied followers now loosened their grip on their weapons under her bewitching charm, pointing them to the ground, and eventually dropped them with a clang.

They gazed at her approach, gradually quieting down. In the end, silent, except for the woman's footsteps, everyone held their breath.

"You did well, Hassan."

The witch gently caressed Hassan's blood-stained face, showing a tender smile, and kissed his forehead.

"Adil is dead, you've won."

"...What?"

To Hassan's surprise, he didn't feel joy.

He merely asked incredulously, "Adil is dead? When?"

"He perished at the same time as your projected 'Ritual Magic·Third Sun Furnace'. Apparently, to oppose someone powerful like you, he had no choice but to choose death."

The witch smiled.

But Hassan couldn't smile.

He only felt a vast emptiness in his heart, and an indescribable fear.

He stared intently at the witch, realizing he might have accepted a gift he shouldn't have.

"Who... are you?"

Hassan looked at the witch, speaking in a hoarse voice, "What's your name?"

"Morgan."

Morgan smiled, "As a mage, you should have heard my name... I am Morgan.

"You have no idea what a great thing you just did, Hassan. If you knew, you would surely tremble with excitement at your bravery and dedication."

"I... what did I do?"

Hassan's voice trembled slightly.

He realized something but dared not admit it.

And Morgan merely watched him with a smile, slowly speaking, "You will soon find out.

"The stars... are about to fall."