Villainess X Villain: They are obsessed with each other!

Chapter 324: Chapter: 323 Phoenix.

Dianan smiled, though the smile never reached her eyes. She had just provoked a monster.

Granted, that monster was still weak, little more than an infant compared to what he would eventually become, which was precisely why she had dared to provoke him in the first place.

Even so, a monster was still a monster. Whether fully grown or only beginning its journey, it remained something capable of causing unimaginable destruction.

Their mission wasn’t to kill Julius Augustus Hayes. It was to capture him alive, and that alone made the situation far more troublesome than simply eliminating a dangerous enemy.

After all, the monster’s parents were two dragons who would sacrifice anything for their offspring.

Nathaniel Augustus Hayes and his wife stood at the very peak of humanity, and with war against the Zlycons drawing closer with every passing day, possessing their only son as a hostage could shift the balance of the entire conflict.

If Julius was successfully captured, the Hayes Family would be forced to restrain themselves, perhaps even obey certain demands to ensure his safety. That single advantage could very well decide the outcome of the coming war.

The only problem...

They first had to capture him.

”Magnus, prepare yourself,” Dianan ordered, her voice losing every trace of its earlier amusement. ”Don’t underestimate him just because he’s only at the early stage of the Void Core.”

Magnus gave a silent nod.

At the same time, Helis, the towering Zlycon warrior, turned his gaze toward her with a solemn expression.

”Group up with Elder Hidan,” Dianan continued. ”Move together from now on. That’s the Phoenix of Destruction spell. I believe I don’t need to explain what it’s capable of.”

As those words left her lips, the confidence she had displayed moments earlier faded ever so slightly. Beneath her calm expression lay unmistakable apprehension.

It wasn’t fear of Julius himself. Despite his terrifying talent and the overwhelming arsenal of spells inherited from both Nathaniel and his mother, he was still only an early Void Core spell caster.

Even if he possessed the ability to fight opponents far above his own rank, he shouldn’t have been enough to make someone like Dianan uneasy.

The reason she felt that way had nothing to do with Julius.

It was because she still remembered.

She remembered the first time she had witnessed the Phoenix of Destruction descend upon a battlefield.

The divine bird had spread its wings across the heavens before drowning the world beneath flames that devoured everything in their path.

Mountains had melted, rivers had evaporated into steam, and the earth itself had cracked beneath the unbearable heat. More terrifying than the spell itself had been the man who cast it.

Nathaniel Augustus Hayes had stood amidst those flames without the slightest trace of emotion, as though the inferno consuming thousands of lives was nothing more than an ordinary breeze.

That memory had remained etched into her mind ever since.

And tonight...

She was about to witness that same spell once again.

”...Aren’t I a lucky one?”

Dianan muttered with a grin that looked far less confident than before as she tightened her grip around the massive greatsword resting upon her shoulder.

Without another word, the four Heavenly Trial experts moved simultaneously.

Magnus accelerated straight toward Julius while Helis and Elder Hidan spread out to cut off every possible escape route. Their formation was flawless, leaving almost no room for mistakes.

Then, without warning, a small explosion erupted around Julius.

None of them paid it any attention.

It was obviously one of his spells, and they had already expected him to resist.

Instead of slowing down, all three accelerated even further, intending to subdue him before he could fully activate whatever he was preparing.

However...

The flames born from that explosion weren’t ordinary.

Dianan’s eyes widened.

”Nathaniel’s flames...”

They burned with a brilliance unlike any fire she had ever seen. Their colour, density, and terrifying temperature were unmistakable.

She had witnessed those flames once before, and she would never mistake them for anything else. Julius still stood before them, yet the fire surrounding him belonged to someone else entirely.

Nathaniel Augustus Hayes.

No...

Nathaniel wasn’t actually here, realisation struck her almost instantly.

”...An artifact.”

Julius had somehow infused the spell with his father’s flames, using an artifact to draw upon Nathaniel’s fire and amplify the Phoenix of Destruction to its absolute limit.

Those flames weren’t merely hotter than ordinary fire—they surpassed even Hellfire itself.

”...What the fuck?”

The words escaped before she could stop herself. Every single Heavenly Trial expert instinctively came to a halt.

The flames continued expanding, growing hotter with every passing second. The dark night that had been illuminated only by countless stars and the crimson moon now possessed another source of light.

A second sun seemed to rise above the battlefield, bathing everything beneath it in a blinding golden-red radiance that forced even the surrounding darkness to retreat.

Then...a deafening cry filled with endless wrath and overwhelming killing intent echoed across the heavens.

The sound alone sent goosebumps racing across the bodies of Magnus, Helis, and Elder Hidan.

The flames twisted violently before erupting outward, revealing a colossal figure emerging from within the inferno.

It was a phoenix.

No...it was a divine bird born from destruction itself.

Its body was as large as a house, every feather forged from blazing fire that shone brighter than the sun.

Its enormous wings stretched across the night sky before beating once, sending waves of unbearable heat crashing through the battlefield.

Every movement caused the surrounding air to distort, while the space around its body trembled beneath the sheer intensity of the flames.

Its fiery eyes burned with endless madness.

Within them existed only one emotion.

The desire to kill.

As the Phoenix of Destruction ascended into the heavens, its enormous talons remained tightly wrapped around the unconscious Rosalina Valentina, carrying her high above the battlefield as though protecting the most precious treasure in existence.

Dianan stared silently at the divine creature for several long moments before a pale smile slowly appeared across her face.

”...This is going to be much harder than I thought.”