Translator: CinderTL
Beneath the High Tower, Purgatory churned in chaos.
The human soldiers' defenses shattered under the heavy tread of magitech constructs and the gnawing of undead corpses. Their screams were drowned out by the clash of steel and flesh.
Further away, the transcendent beings of the River Domain Nations struggled to evade the Lich's relentless onslaught of negative energy, their retreat becoming increasingly evident.
No time left!
Before Vanessa could finish speaking, Roland's eyes held no hesitation.
With a swift swing of his arm, he hurled the control gem—freshly tamed, radiating a dangerous, submissive aura—like an arrow loosed from a bow, straight toward the glowing magic core before him.
The gem sliced through the air.
The core's supposedly impenetrable energy barrier, which had previously rendered Roland helpless, dissolved like mist upon contact with the control gem.
As if the barrier itself had existed solely to welcome this key.
Sizzle!
A peculiar, low hum resonated.
The control gem pierced the core's depths without resistance, like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
Deep purple strands of chaotic light erupted, surging through the magic core's twisted veins in a frenzied, corrosive advance.
Boom!
A torrent of pure energy, like a volcano dormant for millennia, erupted violently from the depths of his soul.
Endless, suffocating waves of magic element, following the invisible connection, surged into Roland's body and soul with irresistible force, crushing all defenses like a tidal wave!
Overload!
Roland felt like a skin bag forced to contain an entire ocean of storms.
Every nerve burned.
Every blood vessel strained to bursting under the pressure of the scalding liquid energy.
His bones groaned.
His flesh screamed.
His consciousness was completely submerged in the radiant glow of pure energy, leaving only the boundless, roaring sea of magic in his vision.
He seemed to have become the eye of the storm, a focal point on the verge of being torn apart and annihilated by this overwhelming force.
Just at the brink of complete annihilation—
The frenzied influx of energy, which had nearly crushed him, suddenly shifted.
The control gem, deeply embedded in the core of the Demon Capital, acted like a chaotic valve, forcibly organizing and channeling the raging torrent into energy channels that his will could perceive.
In the next moment, he "felt" it.
The towering spire was no longer just a structure, but a massive energy conduit connecting to the depths of the earth, drawing endless chaotic magic.
The entire Demon Capital Gilles, its very source of power and the core of its authority, had been forcefully seized by him.
Vanessa watched silently as Roland struggled to stabilize himself within the pure energy storm.
She observed the dangerous magical glow emanating from his trembling body.
She saw the blood seeping from his clenched teeth, yet also the nascent signs of control.
The curiosity in her violet eyes burned with astonishing intensity.
"Ripples... it's begun."
A whisper was drowned out by the roar of energy.
Below the tower, on the battlefield, the Lich's pupils contracted sharply, like a creature toying with chicks.
He could clearly sense the lifeline connecting him to the Demon Capital's core, the source of his boundless magic...
It had been severed!
A cold, unfamiliar will, imbued with the essence of chaos, had violently seized control of his power source.
The coalesced negative energy, lacking further support, exploded uncontrollably, its backlash causing his soulfire to flicker violently, like a candle in the wind.
This sudden weakness and vulnerability were like a beacon in the darkness to the transcendent beings locked in life-or-death combat.
Their eyes, which had been clinging to survival, now blazed with the light of desperate hope. Their defensive stances instantly transformed into aggressive assaults, like wolves pouncing on their prey.
But beneath Ellis's hood, his expression remained icy.
There was no fear, no panic, only the immediate clarity of his thoughts.
Deprived of the Demon Capital's core's infinite magic, facing a numerically superior enemy whose battle fervor had been reignited, continuing the fight would be an irrational drain of resources.
"Enough. I've had my fun anyway."
Watching the transcendent professionals charge toward him with renewed eagerness, his tattered black robes billowed without wind. The remaining magic coalesced into a precise, chilling shadow.
"However..."
Ellis's eyes flickered with curiosity as he gazed at the eight-sided die trembling in his hand.
"It can actually interfere with a device specifically developed by Schmidt? How intriguing. Who could be behind this? Could it be Van Buren?"
His thoughts raced as he ignored the pursuing attackers behind him. With an elegant glide that seemed to defy spatial barriers, he instantly outmaneuvered the combatants and ascended toward the tower's summit with composed speed.
Amidst the city's ruins...
A more dramatic transformation swept across the battlefield.
The relentless magitech constructs, which had been crushing the human lines without fatigue, suddenly had the ferocious red light in their eyes extinguished.
Their heavy metal joints emitted ear-splitting creaks before locking completely.
The steel giants that had been swinging their massive arms moments before now stood frozen in place like beasts with their spines ripped out, transforming into cold, lifeless scrap metal.
The battlefield instantly became a bizarre forest of frozen steel.
Soldiers who had been desperately resisting moments before now stared in bewilderment at the suddenly motionless constructs and the undead corpses whose movements had slowed and strength had drastically diminished.
The euphoria of narrowly escaping death and the shock of the tide turning coursed through the collapsing defense line like electricity.
"For the Kingdom!"
Someone's hoarse, powerful battle cry rang out first.
In the next moment, earth-shattering roars echoed through the ruins.
The surviving soldiers erupted with astonishing strength, like a breached dam, launching a ferocious counterattack against their stunned or chaotic enemies.
At the pinnacle of the High Tower, Roland had no time to consider the consequences of his actions on the war.
His body felt like a fragile vessel being forcibly filled with the entire ocean of storms.
Endless magic elements continued to surge through the forced connection, relentlessly pouring in and crushing him.
Veins bulged beneath his skin like coiled dragons, radiating a blinding magical glow.
Bones groaned under the unbearable strain.
Muscle fibers trembled on the verge of tearing.
A piercing scream of pure energy overload echoed deep within his soul.
Consciousness wavered under the scorching glare of magic.
At this critical moment, when he was on the verge of complete collapse,
a figure silently materialized before the High Tower's massive magic core.
His black robe flowed like ink in the chaotic energy storm, the shadows beneath his hood unfathomably deep. Only two emotionless pupils remained, focusing with viper-like precision on the tower's peak, like a predator locking onto its prey.
"It's him?"
Upon recognizing Roland's face, Ellis's usually impassive expression faltered slightly.
Though their encounters at Far Ocean Port and Blackwater Territory had been brief, Ellis had never forgotten this young man's face.
A robust physique, exceptional spirit talent.
Especially that... peculiar trick.
Recalling the illusion he had seen in the flames, Ellis pressed his lips together.
Before recovering his phylactery, he had even considered using Roland as a vessel for reincarnation.
"I remember, at that time, he was merely a mortal..."
The Lich's icy thoughts flowed silently.
"To have cultivated his breathing technique to such a degree in just a few months? Even his soul and spirit... Truly remarkable talent and perseverance. It's a pity..."
A faint sigh seemed to echo from the depths of his soul.
"If it were before the Final Epoch, perhaps... we could have been friends."
Gray-black negative energy surged and compressed in his palm, radiating a destructive aura that sent tremors through the hearts of the transcendent professionals from the River Domain Nations who followed close behind.
But Roland moved faster.
Before the negative energy had fully coalesced,
a faint orange-red light had already ignited at Roland's fingertips.
"Another one of those peculiar tricks?"
Ellis's thoughts flickered, and a fleeting smirk curled the corner of his lips.
"But I am no longer..."
The contempt in his cold pupils froze, replaced by profound shock.
The faint light expanded at a terrifying rate,
devouring the magic elements surging from the core of the Demon Capital.
In the blink of an eye,
A colossal fireball, blotting out the sky and radiating destructive heat and blinding light, roared into existence within Roland's palm, like a sun fallen to earth.
(End of the Chapter)
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