Age of Adepts

Neo Valley.

The location of Black Mystery– the origin tower of the Dark Witches.

A black portal slowly lit up in an enormous magical hall on the eleventh floor.

One dozen witches were waiting here before the portal, covered in black robes and their faces obscured by the hoods. Their entire bodies radiated with a solemn, sinister aura. They were elite adepts of Shadow, the hidden task force of the Dark Witches. Even the weakest one among them was advanced Second Grade, while the average member was around intermediate Third Grade.

A group of Dark Witches with such power was a fearsome and awe-inspiring group no matter which plane they were in. Moreover, they were even led by a Fourth Grade witch elder!

Today, they had gathered here to execute a secret mission.

When the spatial energy from the portal finally stabilized, the leader of the group nodded. The witches then silently walked into the portal and vanished in an instant.

Soon, all sixteen Shadow elites had disappeared, leaving only Shadow Elder Claudina and Circe, who was shrouded in black smoke.

“That plane has been engulfed by the Dark Canopy. They will not be able to predict your arrival. Make it fast. Retreat from the plane once you have retrieved the Orb of the Fire God. I will be waiting here at the Dark Portal for your return.” Circe’s low voice rang out in the silent hall.

Shadow Elder Claudina turned around and glanced at Circe, before furiously complaining, “To think you would use the elites of us Shadow to steal a treasure for that bastard. You’ve really outdone yourself, Circe! If we suffer losses on this operation, prepare to explain yourself to Lady Malvina!”

Circe’s face was hidden in the shadows, hiding her expression. Only her odd voice could be heard.

“How I will explain the situation to Lady Malvina is my business. As long as I am the leader of the Dark Witches, you have to obey the clan’s decisions. What is it, Claudina? Do you wish to challenge me now?”

Claudina snorted and dove into the portal without another word.

When her immense and pure shadow energy pierced through the plane barrier of the alien world, the image of a strange world appeared on the other side of the portal.

There were only boiling sand, shattered rocks, and a smoking volcano visible across the vast, lifeless, red earth. A massive, burning fireball hung in the air, continually searing the world with unbearable heat and light as if trying to set the world itself on fire.

A short moment later, the shadow powers finally cloaked the Dark Portal once more as the image slowly faded.

However, the temperature in the hall had increased by a dozen degrees.

Once the hall returned to peace, and she was the only one left in the room, Circe let out a resentful sigh before turning to leave.

…………

A bloody battle was also raging in Faen Plane, where the Pale Witches ruled.

The elite Dark Witches that had traveled here as reinforcements had penetrated the central mountains of Garan Continent. They were furiously sieging the main temple of Meve, the Moonlight Goddess.

Due to the existence of a massive canopy of darkness, elf temples all over Garan were cut off from their god. Many temple guards had also been drawn to the war in the southwest due to the Calamity of Witches.

As such, the only ones in the main temple who could stop the Dark Witches were elven priestesses who held the favor of the goddess.

Unfortunately, even though the priestesses were protected by powerful divine magic, their enemies were the Dark Witches, who excelled at stealth and assassination. The priestesses had no choice but to defend the main temple and endure the enemy’s constant attacks.

Even though news of an attack had come from multiple temples, the only one that had suffered a significant loss was the main temple of the Moonlight Goddess.

The main temple had been attacked by multiple high-grade Dark Witches. Even the head priestess had died in battle. The Moonspring kept in the temple had also vanished, fallen into the hands of the witches.

A short moment later, the darkness over the area dispersed.

The elven gods were once again able to connect with their temples. It was then that they heard of this infuriating news of the witches’ attack.

For a moment, light glowed across every elven temple as divine energy filled the air.

One after another, the gods cast down their clones and avatars. Under the lead of Saoirse, the Goddess of Elves, they charged down the central mountains and started hunting the fleeing witches.

The gods’ True Sight allowed them to see through everything. No creature of darkness could escape their pursuit. Thus, one ferocious battle after another broke out throughout Garan Continent.

Unfortunately, the fleeing Dark Witches were very familiar with their operation. They also had a comprehensive plan of escape. They brazenly summoned legions of shadow creatures and had them assault all the cities and towns that were unprotected by divine powers.

The witches scattered and went into hiding, silently sneaking towards their prepared evacuation points.

Some of the Dark Witches were tracked by the gods and died in battle. However, even more of the Dark Witches successfully escaped their pursuit and returned to the World of Adepts from their evacuation points.

The Moonspring was also brought back to the World of Adepts!

…………

Half a month later, Dark Witch Leader Circe finally met the legendary fire adept under the company of Alice at the top of the Tower of Fate.

Even though the two of them had battled against each other in the shadows several times, this was the first time they were meeting in person.

Greem still appeared injured.

A large red robe was draped over his tall and muscular body. He looked as young and youthful as ever. However, anyone smart could tell that he was only putting up a front. His Spirit, the most essential trait for an elementium adept, was particularly weak.

However, even the weakest of Fourth Grade adepts was a ferocious lion that should not be taken lightly.

When Greem stepped into the hall and locked eyes with Circe, who had hidden her figure and face, he could clearly read the hatred and caution in her eyes.

“So glad to meet you here, Miss Circe. We have finally met!” Greem couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Witch Circe’s gaze lingered on Greem for a moment before shifting down towards his shadow. Two beams of black light shone out from the black mist that shrouded her face. Her gaze pierced through the boundary between the shadow and reality and saw the figure that she hated with all her passion.

“I have no intention of talking nonsense with you; let us finish our trade as we agreed!” Circe cut straight to the issue.

Alice couldn’t help but interrupt her then.

“According to the prior agreement, the Dark Witches will be trading the Orb of the Fire God and the Moonspring for the Orb of Shadows. Since you are here, I am sure you have what is needed. Why don’t you show us the goods first?”

Circe’s face twisted into an ugly expression underneath the mist when she heard Alice so casually bring up these two priceless treasures. They might not know how heavy a price the Dark Witches had paid for this, but as the leader of the Dark Witches, she knew perfectly well.

It was such a heavy price that her heart would break at the very thought of it!

The Orb of the Fire God was an artifact created by Sinai, the Fire God of the World of Gods. It was just as powerful as the Orb of Shadows. Trying to steal the Orb of the Fire God from his hands was a nearly impossible task.

However, Alice had divined that the Orb would be handed over to one of his followers during a planar war. Thus, the Dark Witches took that opportunity and launched an ambush, badly wounding the follower and retrieving the Orb.

Of course, the Dark Witches had paid a heavy price for this operation as well!

Elder Claudina, who had led the operation, was heavily injured and required at least thirty years to get rid of the flames that ravaged her body. Shadow had also lost a Third Grade witch and three Second Grade witches. They had all been killed by the artifact; their souls did not even have the chance to escape. Naturally, this meant that they could not return to life.

Meanwhile, the Moonspring was a divine item of the elves of Faen. It was located in Moonlight Goddess Meve’s main temple. Trying to rob the Moonlight Goddess’ temple had been unimaginably difficult.

The Dark Witches had lost five Second Grade Dark Witches to obtain the Moonspring!

That was why Circe’s expression was so ugly when she heard Alice’s question. She fell silent for a long moment before waving her hand and releasing two Fifth Grade items.

The Orb of the Fire God was a sphere the size of a fist. It constantly burned with an inextinguishable golden flame. The moment it was released from its container, it turned into a massive fireball and seemed to only grow by the minute.

The temperature of the hall was also rising rapidly, as if this place was going to turn into a molten world at any time.

Greem shut his eyes and silently felt the fire elementium particles in the air. They were so dense they had nearly turned solid. Greem could feel his every cell scream out loud, expressing their desire to devour the Orb of the Fire God and turn it into part of his power.

Mm, this was indeed a Fifth Grade artifact, and an offensive one at that. The value of such an item was far above the Orb of Shadows for Greem.

After finishing his inspection, Greem looked at Alice. She nodded her head, and he knew that the Moonspring was the real thing. He opened his right palm, and a metal claw emerged from his shadow, placing the Orb of Shadows in his hand.

Circe’s breath instantly became short and rapid!