Facing Sauron's intensely aggressive gaze and mental corruption, Kael maintained high vigilance, running Occlumency at full power. His mental fortress was defended tightly within his mind, giving Sauron no chance to invade and corrupt his heart.
But Sauron's power was too strong. Even though Kael's mental fortress was as solid as city walls, the thousands of seductive whispers filling his ears were like countless dense insects constantly gnawing at the fortress walls, trying to break through and completely corrupt and control him.
Kael's face was pale. The disparity in their strength was too great. At this rate, he probably couldn't hold out much longer before Sauron broke through his mental castle.
Facing Sauron, Kael dared not be careless in the slightest. He activated the Ring of Power on his hand, forming the most solid magical shield to protect himself, Rómestámo, and Morinehtar.
Simultaneously, he fully activated Eärendil's Light in his hand to counter Sauron's dark power.
Though Eärendil's Light could restrain dark forces, its effectiveness depended on whose hands it was in. Galadriel could use its power to repel Sauron at Dol Guldur.
But in Kael's hands, it could barely resist Sauron's power.
Under Sauron's terrifying dark force attacking like overwhelming mountains and seas, Eärendil's Light was like weak candlelight in darkness, seeming ready to extinguish at any moment, only able to envelop Kael's surroundings.
Sauron naturally discovered that his mental erosion power was blocked by Kael and couldn't penetrate, making him even more interested and curious.
"Truly, every time we meet, you give me different surprises."
His gaze directly ignored the Ring of Power's concealment ability, falling directly on Kael's hand with great surprise.
"This is the Ring of Power Saruman forged? In such a short time it's been improved considerably, far more perfect than before. Such craftsmanship reminds me of a certain elven smith who had similar extraordinary talent. After I taught him ring-forging techniques, he and his fellow smiths crafted sixteen Rings of Power together, and later he secretly forged three more of unparalleled beauty."
Sauron looked at Kael with full appreciation, his voice becoming inviting.
"Wizard Kael, you possess extraordinary talent. If you abandon resistance and submit to me, I can take you as a student and personally teach you how to forge a Master Ring of your own, giving you powerful strength and endless authority to rule this world together with me!"
Hearing Sauron's words, Saruman looked at Kael with hatred and jealousy.
The Ring of Power he had worked so hard to forge was thus making wedding clothes for others, and even the One Ring he dreamed of but couldn't obtain, Sauron was just saying he'd teach it to a wizard boy.
Such treatment disparity made Saruman very unbalanced.
Moreover, he knew Sauron wasn't deceiving him but, after discovering Kael possessed such outstanding ring-forging talent, wanted to take him as an apprentice out of hunting passion.
After all, besides being the Dark Lord, Sauron was also a master craftsman with exquisite skills. Before falling and serving Morgoth, Sauron had been the finest student of Aulë the Smith, reaching divine levels of craftsmanship. Otherwise he couldn't have designed treasures like the One Ring and Rings of Power.
Though the One Ring and Rings of Power were infused with evil power by Sauron, corrupting wearers, they were essentially rare treasures that countless people would desire and pursue.
While Saruman was also a student of Aulë the Smith, like in any class with both top students and poor ones, Saruman wasn't a poor student but was specialized, not outstanding in forging talent but possessing exceptional gifts in engineering mechanics and biology.
So even after learning Ring of Power forging methods from Sauron, the Ring he created was still inadequate in the eyes of Sauron, who had invented the Ring craft.
After all, as Dark Lord, Sauron still had aesthetic standards.
Of course, neither Sauron nor Saruman knew Kael possessed something like the Resurrection Stone, allowing him to summon Celebrimbor, the master craftsman who had personally forged the Rings of Power, and under his direct guidance had perfected Saruman's Ring.
Mistaking Kael for having improved the Ring himself, this stirred Sauron's love of talent.
It also made Saruman very jealous. After all, the Ring of Power he'd spent so long crafting had been perfected in Kael's hands in just a year, even earning Sauron's praise.
But facing Sauron's recruitment, Kael wasn't swayed in the slightest. He sneered. "I don't want to become like your Nazgûl, a puppet in your hands!"
Though Sauron's words sounded very tempting—becoming Sauron's student, second only to one in the dark world, even forging his own One Ring and gaining powerful strength—the premise for obtaining these was being mentally corrupted and controlled by Sauron, becoming a puppet loyal to Sauron like the Nazgûl.
Would he still be himself then?
Hearing Kael's unhesitating refusal, Sauron didn't get angry but chuckled like watching a mouse struggling in a cage.
"No matter, your current unwillingness doesn't mean you'll refuse forever. I'll take you back to Mordor, and after a period of enlightenment, you'll eventually join us!"
With that, he released terrifying dark power, bombarding Kael's magical shield.
The tremendous force Sauron unleashed made even Saruman show fear and quickly retreat.
Kael, directly facing Sauron's attack, struggled extremely, like a mountain pressing on him, making him feel suffocated.
And this was with the Ring of Power's magical shield protecting and blocking.
What made Kael's heart sink was that Sauron's attack power was countless times stronger than Saruman's. The magical power stored in his Ring was flowing away like a flood.
The magical shield that could originally withstand Saruman's full attack for half a day could now at most resist Sauron for half an hour.
More deadly, besides direct attacks, Sauron's powerful mental erosion ignored the magical shield, constantly invading Kael's mind, trying to break through his mental castle and corrupt and control his heart!
Kael could only continuously operate Occlumency, reinforcing his mental castle barriers while activating Eärendil's Light, casting the magical music Tom Bombadil taught him to fill his body and mind with joy, and summoning his Patronus.
To resist Sauron's mental erosion, Kael used all his methods, protecting himself layer by layer to avoid having his mind and spirit broken by Sauron before the Ring's magical shield was depleted.
For a moment, Kael could breathe easier.
But watching the magical power stored in the Ring flowing away rapidly like a flood, Kael grew anxious.
Was he doomed today?
[Hogwarts Check-in System: Located at Harad, Minas Harad City, check in?]
Seeing the system suddenly prompt him, Kael saw a glimmer of hope and quickly shouted in his mind. "Check in! Quick check-in!"
He only hoped this time the system would be reliable and give him something useful to escape his current desperate situation.
[Check-in successful. Congratulations on obtaining Portkey!]
Kael's eyes lit up with wild joy.
Just what he needed, finally saved!
Because of Saruman's pre-set magical restrictions, Kael had lost his Apparition ability and couldn't instantly escape.
But Portkeys were different from Apparition. A Portkey was an object enchanted with magic, unrestricted by Anti-Apparition measures, and able to transport anyone touching it to designated locations.
Kael quickly immersed himself in learning the Portkey charm, the invisible Crown of Wisdom on his head providing full enhancement, making his brain race to its limits.
Being distracted weakened Kael's mental and spiritual defenses somewhat, accelerating Sauron's mental erosion speed.
But Kael couldn't care about that. He needed to learn this advanced spell as quickly as possible to create a lifeline for himself and his companions.
As someone skilled at mental control and corruption, Sauron was naturally sensitive to emotional and mental fluctuations. He quickly caught Kael's joy and hope, immediately sensing something amiss.
He immediately unleashed all his power, attacking the magical shield protecting Kael.
The magical shield rippled. With each attack, part of the Ring's stored magical power instantly depleted.
The magical shield, originally estimated to last half an hour, was rapidly decreasing in duration like a cliff dive.
The solid magical shield began growing thin and precarious.
Just then, Kael reopened his eyes. Ignoring Sauron and Saruman's attacks outside, he quickly cast a spell on the crystal vial containing Eärendil's Light.
"Portus!" The crystal vial glowed faintly blue and trembled slightly.
"Rómestámo, quickly grab Morinehtar and hold onto the vial!" Kael shouted to Rómestámo.
Rómestámo was also pale and weak now. He'd used all his mental power and magic to protect his friend Morinehtar's mind, preventing further mental erosion and corruption by Sauron.
But the cost was losing his combat ability. He was hardly better off than Morinehtar.
Hearing Kael's words, he mustered his last strength, tightly gripping Morinehtar with one hand while quickly touching the crystal vial in Kael's hand with the other.
Kael also touched Rómestámo's bull with his other hand at the last moment.
Instantly, everyone suddenly felt like a hook behind their navels jerked forward, then their feet left the ground as they flew up, the scenery before them rapidly becoming blurred.
"No!" Seeing this scene, Sauron was immediately shocked and furious, unleashing his most terrifying power trying to stop them.
But before he could break the magical shield, Kael, Rómestámo, Morinehtar, and a bull vanished before his eyes.
Sauron felt he had been played like a fool!
In his fury, he unleashed terrifying power without restraint. Instantly, the entire Minas Harad fortress was destroyed by an invisible force; countless Haradrim and orcs, along with the mûmakil, were instantly torn apart by the tremendous power.
The Nazgûl prostrated respectfully on the ground, not daring to anger their master.
Saruman gritted his teeth, leaning on his staff and casting spells to protect himself, then looked at the terrifyingly powerful Sauron with full fear.