It took Kleya, Robert, Fin, and Sarah half an hour to navigate the large underground base of the Ascetic Blasphemers and reach the lowest floor. Kleya’s objective was to find and rescue Jennifer Savbra, however, since she couldn’t separate from the group, she stuck with them until they reached the final place: A dimly-lit circular room with engraving and runes on the ground, forming seemingly ritualistic symbols, specifically belonging to Black Magic.There were no enemies stationed there, only the high-ranked members of the organization.At the center of the room, in the middle of a large bloody circle drawn on top of the runes, stood a man wearing a wooden white mask. He had the three remaining Red Masks positioned around him, their arms extended and pouring Aether into the ground.“To be visited by such an illustrious company.” The White Mask, albeit acting nonchalant, sounded slightly anxious. Strong as he might be, he still had his limits. If it were only the Nightmare Witch o
Zeke returned to his normal form, raised the shortbow in his hands and, empowered by ‘Voltage Rune’, unleashed ‘Rain of Arrows’.The glowing blue projectiles poured down on the startled Red Masks. Two of them were unlucky and got pierced by several arrows, as for the last one, he managed to jump back in time only for an extremely and barely visible white line of thunder to go through his mask and then his forehead, ending his life instantly.It cost Zeke a whopping 35PE just for that small attack, but Divine Thunder was by far his strongest skill. It was able to overpower the Dead Ends, so a Red Mask was nothing.Robert and Fin fused their spells, causing a momentary storm of water and darkness to ravage the two remaining enemies. The Red Masks used special artifacts to make their bodies explode, but the shock wave was easily absorbed by Kleya’s magic.When the tremors stopped and the dust cleared, there was an eerie bout of silence flowing between all of them. Everyone was looking at
“You’re here for the Witch, are you not? I see no point in wasting such a valuable artifact on me. How about-”The White Mask seemed perturbed once Kleya took out the Doom Fan. However, she didn’t wait for him to finish speaking as she waved the hand holding the open fan.With just one simple gesture, a violent and explosive gale of wind was unleashed, pulverising the ground and hitting the leader of the Ascetic Blasphemers.Although he tried to protect himself using the purple-colored threads of magic, he was still hit directly and sent flying backwards until his body hit the wall.His wooden mask was broken, his mouth puking a large mouthful of blood. He supported his wounded body with his hand as he gasped for breath.Kleya, on other hand, tightened her grasp on the Doom Fan. With just one attack, she looked weakened and even sickly.“Open your eyes and see who the true enemy is!” Yelled the White Mask as he spat more blood and slowly stood up.Kleya was about to initiate one final
Were it not for someone viciously slapping his cheeks multiple times, Zeke wouldn’t have woken up. He heard constant rumblings and explosions, but what caught his attention was a floating and half-illusory woman.Her violet-colored eyes and disproprotionately wide mouth made him recognize her identity almost instantly.“Alexia?”She was named Alexia, previously using John as a host. The 5th-grade Artifact, the Talking Sin, had finally awakened from her slumber.“It’s not the time for chitchat!” She half-turned her ghost-like body and pointed to the right, where Jeremy and the White Mask were still going at it.“See that big black eye? Take it from them!”While holding his aching head, Zeke sat up and examined his body. He was feeling quite energetic and stronger than ever before. A couple of moments passed before he rolled to the side, avoiding a large falling boulder.“The entire place is collapsing. It’s time to bail!”The place wasn’t going to last any longer, and his high physica
It was undoubtedly an unforgettable night for Heaven’s End and all its residents, including Emperor Ascalon Serey.The Commercial District, which was entrapped inside a multi-layered barrier empowered by the four Magic Pillars, had suffered considerable direct and collateral damage.Most of the damage, however, was caused by the momentary clash between Zeke and the Angel.“Your Radiance.”Archmagus Robert, Archmagus Fin, and Kleya were facing the ruler. The former two were kneeling on the ground, looking physically and mentally exhausted. However, they had to report immediately after all that happened.Sulong Braveheart was declared missing and many knights were dispatched to search for him. As for Sarah, she opted to rest as she had suffered a lot of wounds.During her final clash against the White Mask, she had actually succeeded in landing a powerful hit, but in return, she also suffered a direct strike to the chest, leaving her incapacitated.“The cultists of the Ascetic Blaspheme
“First and foremost, I was the Seat of Sin under Edward Heart, who would later be known as the Mad Emperor. Very much like the Seat of Criminality and Seat of Death under you, I had special circumstances and was eventually ‘recruited’ by Edward.”Alexia had a melancholic expression as she faithfully recounted her experiences without missing any detail.“The second, and more important, clarification that I want to make is about the Three Divine Scriptures: The Paths of Extinction System, the System of Sun and Moon, and the Heavenly System. Yes, they are 8th-grade Artifacts, one of the existing 6. However, they were all based on schematic illustration, so to speak. All three originated from the one and only 9th-grade Artifact, the Grimoire of Transcendence. The grimoire depicted how to create the Systems, including the necessary energies, the materials, the rituals, the sacrifices, etc… Moreover, only someone who had become a Divine being, a God, is able to create a System. And even the
Time passed and no one bothered Zeke. It was unknown whether those looking for him had found his location, but he liked to think otherwise.He stayed by Jennifer’s side, splitting his time between silent meditation and checking up on her. Her condition was stable and the flow of Aether in her body was normal.He could sense that she had gotten significantly stronger, and linking that with the odd occurrence that Bran had mentioned, he suspected that she rose up to become a 6-star Witch.It was common knowledge that Witches were able to raise their so-called ‘stars’, but it would progressively become harder. The existence of only 3 6-star Witches was proof of how hard to ascend a Witch’s ‘rank’.As he stayed inside the inn room, enjoying serenity to think about all that had happened, Zeke was, unavoidably, interrupted by a guest.There was a light knock on the door, followed thereafter by a soft voice of a man,“Mister Orland.”As voltage appeared all around Zeke, crackling in the air,
The Royal Palace was unbelievably huge, so much so that it took Zeke and Robert close to half an hour to reach the majestic and spacious Throne Hall. The Hall, which was empty except for thick ceiling-high golden pillars, felt a bit chilly and unwelcoming. Still, Zeke focused his gaze on the middle-aged man sitting on the throne. Emperor Ascalon, who was over 90 years old, looked like a 35 middle-aged man; He had a fairly well-built physique, a nice cleanly-cut beard, long light auburn hair, and commanding jawline. His unique red pupils were distinct and his gaze was authoritative but not overly domineering. “Your Radiance, I’ve brought Mister Orland.” Archmagus Robert respectfully bowed and stood next to the stairs leading to the somewhat unremarkable and shabby throne. Meanwhile, Zeke performed a polite bow, “Zeke Orland greets his Radiance.” Besides being a capable and well-respected ruler, Zeke’s knowledge about Ascalon was superficial, at best. Although he was meeting th