Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Facing this fierce attack.
The Master in Yellow’s incarnation rapidly collapsed, dissolving into a mass of dim yellow mist. Within the mist, ghostly shadows writhed, resembling countless wriggling tentacles, or perhaps the wailing of myriad beings.
Any knight would have been unable to pinpoint Hastur’s true location.
But these disturbances were like nothing to Xi Wei.
He never focused on Hastur’s form, but rather on his elusive death line. Death Divinity condensed in his eyes, making it seem as though a ball of scarlet fire burned fiercely within them, and this fire locked onto the death line.
“Hoo—”
Just as Xi Wei fell.
Countless tentacles suddenly extended from the mist. They moved with extreme speed, as if attacking from all directions. Each tentacle was nearly a thousand meters long and a hundred meters wide, possessing the power to annihilate mountains and crack the earth. But facing this fierce strike, Xi Wei casually slashed out with his sword. A crimson sword light instantly cleaved through the tentacles. His figure continued to descend, his speed increasing, surpassing even the wind and sound.
“Swish, swish, swish—”
More tentacles swept out from the mist.
They were denser, more violent, and clearly more anxious.
But Xi Wei simply cut them down.
“Hastur, you’re afraid!”
His roar was torn apart by the wind. The black-armored knight maneuvered through the mist, twisting and dodging within the inferno of endless tentacles. Finally, in the deepest part of the abyss, his eyes met those of Hastur’s incarnation, clad in yellow robes.
“So you do have a face, but it’s that of a coward who hides!”
Xi Wei’s mocking laughter shattered with the wind.
On the Master in Yellow’s tentacle-covered face, the dim yellow eyes glared upwards. Within them lay destruction, death, and the ultimate evil. A terrifying pressure surged towards the black-armored knight, but it was seared by the two scarlet glints emanating from his helmet, and an even more horrifying aura pressed down.
Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
Golden flames swirled into a vortex behind him.
A ring-shaped shockwave rippled outward.
The black-armored knight’s falling speed increased by a fraction, nearly instantaneous.
He carried the setting sun, carrying the majesty of heaven.
Holding the King of Conquest Long Sword with both hands, he brought it down with force.
The arc of light consumed everything.
The knight’s roar shot straight into the sky.
“Die—!”
His Qi and Saintly Flame exploded together.
It unleashed a roar like torrents of a collapsing mountain, like cracking earth and booming thunder.
And Hastur’s inner world, the Master in Yellow’s inner world, finally shattered under this sword strike.
The outer world—
Xi Wei’s figure burst through the Master in Yellow’s yellow robe, like a large hole pierced in a balloon. Countless dim yellow masses of deathly stillness poured out from the breach, and Hastur, the Master in Yellow, let out a tragic wail.
His inner world was broken. Even though it was merely an incarnation, it still caused him immense pain.
Xi Wei gave Hastur no chance, turning and striking again. “Clang—!” A golden sword light slashed diagonally across Hastur’s body, leaving a deep gash. The sword strike pierced Hastur’s form and shot towards the sky, instantly illuminating the dim sky as if it were daylight.
Hastur’s body was split in two by this sword.
The death line was severed, but he did not die. He merely knelt on the ground in pain, his Chaos Origin desperately attempting to repair the severed death line.
Xi Wei knew the weakness of the Old Ones.
With the death line severed, his Chaos Origin was completely exposed.
He hovered in the air, his gaze cold.
He raised his sword and pointed it at Hastur’s Chaos Origin.
However, in this fleeting moment, the Master in Yellow, who was already at the end of his strength, suddenly burst into laughter: “Keke, person of the Origin, you are indeed strong, but do you think you have won like this?”
Xi Wei’s eyes narrowed, and he slashed out with his sword.
Hastur’s incarnation scattered into dust.
Only a mass of Chaos Origin remained in place.
Just as Xi Wei was about to step forward and pick up the Chaos Origin.
A sense of unease suddenly spread through his entire body.
He looked around.
Sound vanished, and the entire world fell silent. Not to mention the chirping of insects and birds, even the slightest white noise had disappeared.
The wind stopped, and the air became stagnant.
Everything seemed to be trapped in glue, viscous and congealed. A dangerous low pressure was spreading uncontrollably.
“Crack—”
Xi Wei slowly looked up.
He saw a rift open in the dim sky.
Pitch black wind poured out from the rift, carrying unease and ill omen. Then, the cracks multiplied, and the openings grew larger.
Finally, at a certain moment.
The entire sky collapsed.
In Dragonflame City, soldiers fighting the Old Ones’ Retainers, and residents praying silently in their homes, all stopped. They looked at the fractured sky, their souls trembling inexplicably.
The Holy Lothian Empire—
Fario held the Book of Laws in one hand and the Staff of Laws in the other.
He stood amidst the Black Tide of the Old Ones’ Retainers, facing two incarnations of the Lords.
Furious elemental forces condensed into storms, flames, and dazzling thunder around him.
Beside him, the corpses of the Old Ones’ Retainers were piled hundreds of meters high, forming a mountain. He stood on the summit of this mountain, his gray hair dancing wildly in the wind, while silver-white magic runes swarmed around him like a beehive.
He looked up at the shattered sky.
A hint of determination and resolve appeared in his eyes, which shone with the light of laws.
“It’s time!”
He murmured to himself, then raised his staff.
Instantly, the Magic Net, which spanned the entire South Continent, surged.
“Boom—”
Four pillars of holy white light shot up from the four Holy Cities of the Holy Lothian Empire.
Even though they were tens of thousands of meters apart, the four pillars converged towards Fario.
It was the purest magical energy.
It was the belief and will imprint of all mages on the entire South Continent.
An endless barrage of mental shock caused the old mage to kneel on the ground, his features contorted, and he wailed in pain, clutching his head.
At this moment, countless wills bore down upon him, making him appear possessed.
Vast elemental forces transformed into void storms, sweeping through the surroundings. No Old Ones’ Retainers could get close.
“Ascend to Godhood… Ascend to Godhood!!”
The old mage panted, and with all his might, he stood up.
A silver staircase leading straight to the highest heaven had appeared before him.
“Defend Cain!”
Unfamiliar faces appeared on his face. Their mouths moved, and the voices of men, women, youths, girls, and children converged, uttering the same four words.
They were fragments of the will of all mages on the South Continent of Cain.
Their sheer quantity was overwhelming.
Even Fario could barely withstand it.
Ultimately, Fario’s will was ground down by this vast aggregation of wills, forming a new entity, a collective condensed from all the fragments of mages’ wills. But even so, he staggered, yet walked step by step towards the staircase of godhood.
Perhaps defending Cain was not just Fario’s conviction.
It was also the conviction of all mages in Cain.
They inherited Fario’s last wish.
Tens of millions of fragmented wills made the same decision in that instant.
That was to ascend to Godhood!
To defend Cain!!
