C1002
Larian frowned as she blocked the dark wave fired by the Fallen.
'The power has definitely changed.'
Until now, she could easily deflect the Fallen's magic with five daggers, but after he sprouted wings, it became difficult to block even with seven daggers.
'Still, it's as expected.'
She had anticipated the Fallen's transformation from the beginning. If the fight continued like this, she was confident she would win no matter what. Larian controlled eight daggers simultaneously with mana at her fingertips, aiming for the Fallen's vital points.
However, despite being imbued with dense mana, the daggers failed to pierce the Fallen, stopping motionless before the light barrier he had erected.
"Is it because they're daggers?"
The Fallen snapped his fingers, striking the blade of a dagger.
"Do they seem weak?"
"I don't think so."
As Larian rotated her wrist, the daggers spiraled, piercing the light barrier the Fallen had raised.
"Huh?"
The Fallen tried to extend the darkness as he exhaled sharply, but the daggers had already detonated the mana stored in their blades. The magic stored in the daggers opened in succession, exploding violently as if the Fallen and the space around him were about to disappear from this continent.
As the black smoke that had risen to the sky dissipated, the Fallen's figure was revealed. The right side of his upper body and the left side of his lower body were soaked in crimson blood.
"Certainly spicy."
The Fallen smiled as he looked at his right shoulder and left thigh where the flesh had been torn. It was a serious injury that would make it difficult to continue the fight, but by slightly moving his hand, the wounds disappeared as if time had been reversed.
"Though not enough to burn my guts."
The Fallen shrugged, saying it was only enough to make his mouth tingle.
"Then we'll keep hitting you until your guts burn."
Larian raised nine daggers in front of her chest with a cold gaze. As the dagger tips touched, a brilliant light rose from the center and shot towards the Fallen. The Fallen extended barriers of light and darkness to block the flash Larian had created.
With the two forces evenly matched, not yielding an inch, cracks spread across the sky and earth.
'If I keep pressing like this...'
Just as Larian was about to move her remaining daggers to target the Fallen's back, she felt an alien force rising from beneath her feet.
'Hm?'
Larian looked down, moving only her eyeballs.
'So they died after all...'
Merlin had stopped breathing, and Raon seemed surprised by the outcome, frozen like a statue.
'Then that energy I felt a moment ago was... Wait a minute!'
Larian's eyes widened as she examined Raon holding Merlin.
'I can't feel Raon's soul.'
Emptiness bloomed from Raon's body. There was no soul present in that child's body at this moment.
'He's not dead, but what the hell...'
Judging by the vitality remaining in Raon's body, he was definitely not dead. For a soul to suddenly disappear while examining a patient was something she had never heard or seen before. It was so unbelievable that she felt her heart sink.
'I can't let them notice.'
Larian bit her lip as she watched the Fallen walk forward, breaking the magic of the daggers.
'That monster will attack Raon even while fighting me.'
The Fallen was a vile monster who would do anything for victory. Merlin was dead, Raon's soul had left his body, and his subordinates had no strength to fight, so they wouldn't be able to block a single blow from the Fallen.
'I have to stop him from noticing.'
Larian made a swift movement with a yellow dagger to ensure the Fallen's attention remained solely on her.
"This might sting a bit?"
As the dagger enveloped in a dense beam pierced the air and aimed at the back of the Fallen's head, a dark and shadowy mist rose. The beam dagger failed to pierce the Fallen due to the black mist, only scattering an intense beam into the air. Larian clicked her tongue and brought the yellow dagger back to her hand.
"Did you call for reinforcements?"
She looked at the man in a black robe who had appeared behind the Fallen, mockingly. The black mist that blocked her dagger was not the Fallen's ability, but this man's.
'A Transcendent...'
While not a high-ranking Transcendent, he was certainly a magician who had surpassed transcendence, judging by how he blocked her dagger. The man in the black robe slowly turned to look at her.
'A skull?'
Larian frowned deeply.
'Has he already found a new Specter?'
She knew the Specter had been killed by Raon and Merlin down there. Even for a lich mask, it made no sense for him to resurrect again.
'No...'
That's not a lich. Looking closely, the eye sockets and mouth of the mask the man in the black robe was wearing were extremely large. It was more akin to a phantom than a skull.
'Now I understand.'
It must be a specter. Specters are a type of undead monster that float in the air, absorbing the souls and mana of people like flies. Most of the malevolent spirits commonly called ghosts are actually specters.
The man wearing the specter mask opened a dark dimension and pulled out a huge scythe with a jet-black gleam from within. Its appearance resembled the grim reaper said to reap souls from hell.
'Not a common opponent.'
Not only was his strength at the level of transcendence, but the energy emanating from that scythe was also abnormal. He was a dangerous enemy.
'The biggest problem is...'
That he's not alone. What the Fallen had summoned wasn't just this specter mask. The Eden executives were gathering at his feet.
'This is dangerous...'
She could resist anyone who came, but Raon down below couldn't. With his soul gone, he was full of openings that even a child could exploit to kill him.
'Not my style, but I need to get his attention.'
Larian exhaled briefly and tilted her chin.
"When did you call these lackeys?"
She raised her daggers, aiming at the specter-masked phantom and the other Eden executives.
"I didn't call them."
The Fallen shook his head calmly.
"Since you discovered our location, they had to retreat before the damage increased."
He smiled slightly, saying they had no choice but to come here.
"Of course, it's not because of you or Lady Chamber that we're leaving the main base."
The Fallen shrugged, saying it was because of Glenn Zieghart.
'Didn't he realize?'
Larian thought she was lucky to have caught the Fallen's attention as she raised ten daggers simultaneously.
"You three..."
The Fallen raised his long, slender finger to point at Raon and Merlin.
"Kill them."
He ordered the Master and Grand Master level Eden executives to kill Raon. The Eden executives who received the Fallen's order lunged towards Raon, emitting a chilling fighting spirit.
'Damn it!'
Larian bit her lip deeply as she watched the Fallen smile coldly.
'That bastard knew it all along!'
The Fallen had known about Raon's condition from the beginning, but he made her let her guard down before ordering his subordinates to attack. He was a ruthless man.
"Come at me all you want!"
Mark Goetun stood in front of Raon and Merlin, holding his sword with both hands. Despite trembling from having exhausted all his aura and stamina, he didn't take a single step back.
Larian clicked her tongue briefly and launched four daggers downwards. The four daggers pierced the four cardinal directions, erecting a defensive magic circle to protect Raon, Merlin, and Mark Goetun.
The Eden Grand Master swung his massive hammer, but not even a small crack appeared in the protective barrier Larian had created with her daggers. The other Eden phantoms also poured out fighting spirit, spells, and magic, but Larian's barrier didn't waver like an iron wall, perfectly protecting those inside.
Just as Larian was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the Fallen's light magic exploded right in front of her. She blocked the light with her remaining six daggers, but due to the incredible speed, some flesh was torn from her left shoulder.
"Six daggers? Will that be enough?"
The Fallen smiled slightly, saying she seemed to have slowed down. By bringing his fingers together, massive spheres of light and darkness rose from the sky and earth, pressing down on her as if to crush her.
"These daggers are just tools anyway."
Larian snorted as she slid the six daggers between her fingers. Connecting the mana of her heart with the daggers, she shattered the spheres of light and darkness the Fallen had created.
"Tch..."
Larian frowned as she looked at her trembling fingers.
'This isn't easy.'
It was becoming difficult to block the Fallen's offense while pouring mana and mental strength into the four daggers protecting Raon.
'But I have no choice.'
She had to look for an opportunity now. She hadn't revealed all her weapons yet. She needed to focus on defense and then stab the Fallen to death with a single blow when he showed an opening.
Unlike her, the Fallen seemed to want a quick end as he continuously unleashed magic enveloped in light and darkness. However, as befits a high-ranking Transcendent, he didn't reveal any openings even while attacking like this.
Larian exhaled a cloudy breath as she watched the wave of darkness approaching.
'It's not time to think about counterattacking.'
Judging by the energy contained in that darkness, it seemed she would need to use all her strength to block it without taking any damage. Just as Larian was opening the mana imbued in her six daggers to block the Fallen's offense, her mana barrier suddenly shattered, and her left waist was deeply torn by the darkness.
"This is..."
Larian clutched the wound on her waist where black blood was flowing, frowning.
"It's not your doing."
She gritted her teeth as she looked at the man wearing the specter mask hiding behind the Fallen, not the Fallen himself.
"That's right."
The Fallen nodded calmly.
"The mask this person is wearing contains the power of Pelin, the specter king. He is now called the Soul Devourer."
He patted the Soul Devourer holding the black scythe on the shoulder, saying he had noticed well.
"Soul Devourer..."
Larian bit her lips as she looked at the man wearing the specter mask.
"Even if he's the specter king, he shouldn't be able to absorb magic, right?"
Specters can absorb mana and souls, but they can't absorb magic. She didn't understand how he had destroyed her magic when she was on guard.
"It's because of that scythe."
The Fallen tilted his chin to indicate the black scythe the Soul Devourer was holding.
"That scythe has the power to destroy spells. When a mana-absorbing specter encounters a spell-destroying scythe, magic is bound to break."
He nodded, saying it was natural.
"For you right now, it's no different from a natural enemy. No, it would be the natural enemy of all magicians."
The Fallen cracked a thin smile as if asking if it wasn't interesting.
"You talk a lot."
"There's no chance of information leaking out anyway."
He seemed confident that she and Raon would die here.
"Ha, does even the leader of Eden have to fight 2 on 1?"
Larian snorted as she stopped the wound on her waist.
"Of course. I don't particularly like the phrase 'fair and square'. Isn't winning the only thing that matters?"
The Fallen tilted his head, saying he wasn't ashamed of borrowing the Soul Devourer's power, but proud.
"Right. That's just like you."
Larian scoffed as she ground her molars.
"Come at me, both of you. I'll face you both."
She floated six daggers in the air and took a deep breath. The six daggers clashed their blades together, condensing a large amount of mana in front of her chest. The radiation Larian shot out by compressing the mana of the six daggers repelled the light and darkness raised by the Fallen and poured into her chest.
However, when the Soul Devourer swung his black scythe, her mana was swept away as if it had been erased. The specter's ability to absorb mana combined with the scythe's power to destroy spells truly made them the natural enemy of magicians.
Meanwhile, the Fallen's magic broke through her defense and pierced her thigh.
'My concentration is failing.'
It was already difficult enough to deal with the Fallen and the Soul Devourer, but protecting those below was also a problem. The mana wall protecting Raon and Mark Goetun was still standing, but the mana was rapidly depleting due to the continuous impacts, and her head was spinning.
Finally, her concentration broke, and she missed the white flash fired by the Fallen, her right chest was pierced.
"Ugh..."
She bit her lip as she touched the bleeding wound.
'This is dangerous.'
Unlike when she was hit in the waist or thigh, a chest wound could result in immediate death. The situation was becoming truly critical.
'It was me who got impatient.'
There was no other way, as in this situation, it wasn't the Fallen who was in a hurry, but her.
'Do I have to use it after all?'
Just as Larian was about to extract the mana from her heart to use her hidden trump card, a warm and majestic red light ignited from Merlin's body, which had been motionless. Merlin's heart, which had stopped, began to beat like a mountain drum, and the vitality that had been draining emerged like the heat of a volcano.
'Resurrection?'
No, such a thing doesn't exist in this world. But an incredible phenomenon was happening right before her eyes. Merlin's mana circle, which had been shattered and scattered, reconnected on its own, forming a new ring that intensely heated her heart. The tenth circle. It was the realm of transcendence.
"What the hell..."
Even the Fallen seemed astonished, his mouth agape as he looked at Merlin and Raon. Amid the mysterious light and heat that had stopped even the battle between the Transcendants, Raon and Merlin opened their eyes simultaneously.
***
Evelyn rose naturally and removed the old, cracked mask with her own hands. The person revealed beneath the mask was a beauty whose purple eyes made even the word 'incomparable' seem inadequate. She smiled gently with eyes that blended sensuality and innocence.
"How do you feel?"
Raon extended his hand to Evelyn, who had closed her eyes as if she were feeling this world.
"Perfect."
Evelyn slowly lifted her eyelids, feeling the beat of ten circles spinning.
"It's all thanks to you."
She simply said thank you as she took Raon's hand and stood up.
"Are you alive? From that death?"
Even the Fallen seemed to have not expected this situation, his golden eyes wide open.
"It's been a while."
Evelyn looked at the Fallen, curving her lips in a long smile.
"Fallen. No, I should call you Sage, right?"
She tilted her chin as if mocking the Fallen.
"...It seems you've regained your memories."
The Fallen narrowed his eyes deeply, seeming to sense the change in Merlin.
"Yes. Thanks to Raon."
Evelyn looked at Raon with warm eyes.
"I found my name, and I was able to see my mother again."
She nodded, saying it had been a very satisfying time.
"Still, nothing will change. Even if you've ascended to transcendence, the outcome of this battle will not change."
As the Fallen shouted that nothing would change while condensing light and darkness, the mana flow twisted, and the light and darkness gathering in his grasp exploded on their own.
"Ugh!"
The Fallen's eyes widened as he looked at his torn hand.
"How can nothing change?"
Evelyn curved the corners of her mouth as she looked at the astonished Fallen.
"I defeated you 500 years ago, right?"
She snapped her fingers with a smirk.
"I'll make you kneel at my feet again."
-
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