The Alanore Labyrinth was a maze pattern that a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magus had painstakingly set up. The Magi who wished to intrude would have to advance by passing through all of the stages, only then reaching the end.
Now, after withstanding all this damage, as well as two intentional attacks on Leylin's end, the labyrinth had begun to crumble. Bit by bit, the walls split open, glowing runes turning to powder.
The lava lake from before was gradually drying up, revealing a surface full of cracks. The pathways were continuously crumbling with this area as the centre.
"The collapse of the Alanore Labyrinth is happening earlier than I expected," Melinda furrowed her beautiful brows and sank into deep thought. A dark shadow then charged towards the heart of the labyrinth at a quicker pace.
Within the barriers of the boundless world crack was the Fiery World. It was like the sun, the exterior of which was the imposing and serene Alanore Labyrinth.
All of a sudden, the labyrinth creaked. It was like it could no longer hold its burden, and began to collapse inch by inch.
Once the foundations completely crumbled, the large building began to topple with a loud rumble, and the surrounding fire elementals fled for their lives.
Along with a tremendous rumbling sound, the labyrinth completely broke down, revealing a minor plane.
Light flashed in the air, and Melinda took the first step onto this minor plane.
This minor plane was like the Morning Star Area, a world that was yet to mature. This minor plane was obviously much smaller than the Morning Star Area, with only a single layer. One could even see it end to end.
With just one look, Melinda could see a flaming figure sitting on a throne of pure gold at the middle of the place. At the same time, the flaming figure turned and met Melinda's gaze.
Terrifying energy that reached rank 6 emanated from the opponent's body, hovering around him. This was a rank 6 Magus, a Breaking Dawn. It was a Monarch!
The Magus sitting on the golden throne had evidently grasped some bits of the laws of fire. This was the Blazing Flame Monarch, the ruler of an enormous territory and the one who almost caused the extinction of the bloodline Warlocks!
"You're here?" The Blazing Flame Monarch asked, the voice androgynous.
"Yes. I've returned to take back what belongs to me!" Melinda muttered, her tone becoming increasingly resolute.
"You were mere emotions that I intentionally dispelled so that I could advance to Breaking Dawn. You're just garbage I tossed out. What are you taking me back for?" The flames dissipated, revealing the figure of the Magus on the throne.
Yet, this Magus was obviously female. What's more, her face bore some semblance to Melinda's.
"No! I am the consciousness of the main body, you're only a thief that took it over. A despicable thief!" Melinda's face flushed red.
"So you're making use of this opportunity and trying to steal everything back?" The female Magus on the throne chuckled, as if she was watching a mischievous child making a fuss in front of her, "But I have to admit, the allies you've found are excellent Magi. They're powerful and hold the possibility of advancing further. They could very well become new Monarchs in the future!"
"Everything's over! Return what's mine to me!" Melinda took a step forward, her aura fluctuating abruptly, seemingly even exceeding the peak of rank 5.
"Having lost me, you're at your weakest. And the more powerful I am, the weaker you get!" Melinda took several steps forward, eyes glimmering with light.
"As long as I can suppress you, I'll be able to obtain everything!"
Pure golden flames rose once more, and the female Magus atop the flame throne slowly got up, "You're wrong. No matter how weak a Breaking Dawn Magus is, they're still a Breaking Dawn at the core. It's already been three thousand years. Did you think I did nothing at all in this time?"
"It's just an issue pertaining to the soul. With the support of fire origin force, as well as the amassed knowledge of the Magus World, I found a way to mend the loss of a part of my truesoul." As if to verify her words, a golden sun appeared behind the female Magus. Boiling hot strength rippled out from the truesoul, emanating energy waves that put Melinda on the verge of suffocation.
This was a Breaking Dawn's truesoul! The icy cold of moonlight had transformed into terrifying, boiling light; its volume and power showed that it had reached the peak!
"You've… recovered?" Melinda abruptly halted her footsteps.
"Not only have I recovered, I've even forged ahead to greater heights!" The Blazing Flame Monarch stated, an unquestionably terrifying energy held within her.
"Keke, I seem to have heard something amazing!" A translucent figure emerged, and Jin's hoarse voice sounded from the shadows.
"So Melinda, you're my enemy as well!" Joanna and Leylin hurried over around the same time. Joanna was quite different from before, and Clarke hadn't appeared, as if he'd disappeared.
Joanna was now glaring at Melinda with hatred, "I trusted you so much in the past, but you betrayed me?!"
"Hm?" Leylin observed Joanna's state, 'So it's her. I'd thought the first vibrations were from Jin or Melinda… This appearance, she looks quite similar to one of the twelve top-grade bodies written down in ancient records…'
The A.I. Chip completely recorded down Joanna's external appearance, and presented it to Leylin with a projection. The Joanna in the projection had completely dark purple hair, and a strange flower-shaped pattern appeared on her forehead like a tattoo. Yet, it rippled with some sort of lustre.
[Beep! Detected abnormal radiations from target's body. Vigorous increase in ability to attract energy particles with runes seen on the surface of the body…]
The A.I. Chip began to present the results of its scanning, and in Leylin's eyes Joanna's body seemed to turn into a gigantic magnet, attracting the free energy particles in the air. They formed a mysterious circuit in her body, allowing her spiritual and magic power to replenish itself continuously. It even seemed to rise, breaking through a bottleneck.
"I really want to…" Leylin lowered his head, eyes flickering with an intelligent glint.
'I really want to study her! It's not just her physique. This ability clearly has something to do with a natural ability to increase the aptitude of the soul itself. I can increase elemental affinity, but a natural gift like this to strengthen the soul has practically gone extinct in the central continent…'
"Whatever she did to your clan occurred after I separated from her. It's the same with the bloodline Warlocks. I am not your enemy!" Melinda glanced at Joanna and Leylin, smiling wryly as she gave an explanation.
"Her strength slightly exceeds my expectations. I'll need your help!"
"I don't care about that!" Jin was the first to retort, "You promised to share the Law Comprehension Crystals with us once we killed her. Was that all a lie?"
It was only at this point that Leylin remembered that Melinda had promised to split the Law Comprehension Crystals from the Blazing Flame Monarch's death evenly. She didn't even seem to mind losing her own share.
At that point, they had all been against the Blazing Flame Monarch, and Leylin had assumed Melinda was like them as well, only satisfied with the Monarch's death.
However, by the looks of it, she had left behind a loophole that wasn't quite a loophole.
She was part of the Flame Monarch's soul, and once Melinda returned to her main body and gained control over the Blazing Flame Monarch, that meant the Monarch was 'dead'.
Yet, as the other party had not truly died, it was impossible for there to be any Law Comprehension Crystals, and even more impossible for there to be any distribution.
'This woman harboured terrible intentions from the very beginning and wanted to use us as labourers!' Leylin shook his head inside, 'Though I never did expect much from her, this is still quite upsetting!'
He could tell that if Melinda succeeded, their only gains from this mission would be what they got from Düz City, nothing more.
On the other hand, Melinda would have become the Blazing Flame Monarch. Even they wouldn't dare to complain about a rank 6 Magus even if they had thoughts against it.
Melinda's plan was very perfect, but she had not thought Leylin and Joanna would have strength surpassed her expectations. On top of that, the Blazing Flame Monarch had actually eliminated the issues from the breaking up of a truesoul, and was perhaps now at her peak!
"All who have the audacity to violate my city are to kneel and repent before me!" Boiling hot soul force was like steel that sealed the space around them. The Blazing Flame Monarch's low voice resounded through the area, putting Leylin under immense pressure.
Melinda's expression was first terrible but quickly brightened up. "No, that's not it! We still have a chance! If her injuries were really completely healed, she wouldn't hide here and watch us invade and destroy Düz City, even letting her subordinates be massacred at our hands!
"Leylin, Joanna, I'm depending on you now. No matter what requests you have after this is over, I'll agree to them!"
Before, Leylin and Joanna's strength had been too outstanding and caused there to be some changes in Melinda's calculations. However, it was these changes that gave her hope!
"How ridiculous!" Before Leylin and the rest could reply, the female Magus in front of the throne snickered.
Golden rays of light were like a world of their own, dazzling gold soul force pouring out with large amounts of flames. It led Leylin to almost believe he was watching the rebirth of the Sun's Child here.
In the midst of this scorching first sunrise, a pitiful cry rang out. When Leylin opened his eyes once more, Jin was now raised and held in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hand.
-x-X-x-
"Out of all these people, you were the one that I felt was the most dangerous. I didn't expect it to be an old friend!" The female flame Magus stared at the faint human figure in her hands, a slight smile on her face.
"I don't know what you're saying…" Jin's voice was hoarse and robotic.
"Kellard! I cannot tolerate any outsiders peeping in on my land of flames!" The Blazing Flame Monarch seemed to be confident in herself. A terrifying golden soul force entered Jin's body with her declaration, threads of gold travelling through the faint body as they burst into golden flames.
The Blazing Flame Monarch conjured an illusory scene from of Jin's body.
A platinum figure seemed to be seated on a throne within a spacious place. The golden flames seemed to pierce through the void, descending in that area.
A low sigh was heard from the platinum figure. A feather appeared, turning into an odd-looking longsword amidst white light. There were feather-shaped ornaments on the hilt of this sword that swung down viciously. The void surged and separated, the palace from before disappearing.
Jin exploded like a balloon in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hands.
'Kellard? Is that the Monarch of the Skies' real name? I'd assumed Jin was a Spirit Magus… To think he was actually a puppet. It looks like it isn't just Melinda that's plotting against the Blazing Flame Monarch.' Intelligence flashed in Leylin's eyes, and he looked towards the Blazing Flame Monarch who seemed completely fine but was silent.
'But a Monarch's plot can't be so weak, can it?' A hint of anticipation rose in Leylin's eyes. After all, this was a Breaking Dawn Magus working behind the scenes. Jin shouldn't be so easy to deal with.
*Bzzt bzzt!* At this moment, a few pure-white goose feathers fell on Leylin's shoulder like snow, causing him to freeze.
Immediately after, a snow of feathers fell down on the place. The ground was covered by a thin layer of white that even shrouded the Blazing Flame Monarch's golden soul force.
Cracks began to appear on the boundary of the half-dimension, but the effects were even worse on the Blazing Flame Monarch herself.
*Rumble!* Golden flames burst forth from her body, immediately burning the feathers that drew close to ashes. However, there was still some white that managed to pass through her defences. Her expression changed, "Damn you, Kellard!"
*Boom!* The feathers exploded, causing her to sway a little. Immediately after, the scorching sun that was her truesoul suddenly dimmed, and the temperature nearby quickly lowered. The oppressive aura in the half-dimension was reduced.
Brown crack streaked across the faint figure of the Blazing Flame Monarch's truesoul, and even the Monarch's own aura weakened.
"So you still can't completely suppress your injuries!" Melinda moved forward, an odd aura being emanated from her body as it pounced towards the Monarch.
"Die!" Joanna was even faster. Her aura had already reached the peak of Radiant Moon, and purple gas converged to form a trident that pierced towards the Blazing Flame Monarch.
"Get out of the way!" The golden flames on the Monarch's body grew tenfold as exuberant with her cry, incinerating everything the Monarch of the Skies had arranged.
After launching that attack, the Blazing Flame Monarch staggered backwards, and cracks began to appear on the golden throne behind her.
Facing the attacks of Melinda and Joanna, the Monarch's expression grew solemn. It was as if she was a god when she made the declaration. "I am the Blazing Flame Monarch. The laws of fire in this world shall be controlled by I alone!"
Large amounts of scarlet fire particles appeared, forming something on a level higher than a domain that completely enveloped the area.
"You've comprehended the laws of fire? Even just a bit is already so powerful…" Leylin's head hung down a little, covering his eyes that were constantly emitting light.
He could feel with his senses that the moment the Blazing Flame Monarch summoned this plane of fire that was even more powerful than a domain, the fire elemental particles that he could normally control seemed to have an aura that rejected the summons of his soul force.
This was much more intense than the elemental isolation of a Morning Star domain. Leylin even felt that the fire element now had a life and will of its own, and was automatically rejecting his control over it.
'Just comprehending a tiny portion of a law gives you a huge advantage over weaker existences…' Leylin sighed.
At this moment, the Blazing Flame Monarch's right hand ruthlessly grabbed forward, "Law of fire!"
*Rumble!* A bundle of flames emerged in front of her, seeming neither strong nor very hot. However, it was like the most primal fire in the world, filled with a great ancient aura of leadership.
The tip of the purple trident sizzled and melted the moment it came into contact with the fire. The sound caused Joanna's expression to warp.
The scarlet flames seemed to have a life of their own in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hands, and immediately flickered as they turned into a fiery whip. Joanna's body was sent flying backwards, a long luminous burn mark on her body.
"I am the master of the flames, one who has grasped the power of law. You can't stop me!" A berserk soul force radiated from the Blazing Flame Monarch as if to prove her point.
Melinda took several steps backwards. The soul force at the Breaking Dawn realm had caused a backlash to her hand, and two streams of blood dripped from her eyes.
She quickly retreated, and transmitted to Leylin, "You're not going to fight back?"
"I can do that, but what benefits will you give me?" Leylin's arms were bunched together as he stared at Melinda coldly.
"What do you want?" Melinda was about to go crazy. At this point, Leylin was still ignorant of the big picture. Did he not know that once the Blazing Flame Monarch killed her and Joanna, he wouldn't be able to escape either?
"I want the method you used to divide your truesoul and sever the soul!" Leylin was very confident that he could flee, which was why he was in no hurry and was even bargaining for the best benefits.
With his strength, he was confident he could escape even the Blazing Flame Monarch at her peak, much less now when she was incomplete.
He was rather interested in the technique of soul separation that she possessed. Though he wouldn't do it himself, it would be a good supplement for his database.
"Alright!" Melinda agreed to Leylin's condition unhesitatingly. As of now, the priority was eliminating the Blazing Flame Monarch. No matter how important the technique of severing souls was, it was just some information. There was obviously no issue at all.
This was not all. Leylin instantly sensed Melinda's sincerity.
[Beep! Discovered spiritual force data interface. Allow transmission?] The A.I. Chip asked robotically.
After Leylin chose to allow the transmission, large amounts of information instantly emerged in his mind. Though he did not go through it in detail, the A.I. Chip's scans showed that this was the real deal.
"The power of laws can only be dealt with by laws." The grey ring on Leylin's right hand exploded and a puff of fog appeared, forming a grey world that contended with the opposing Monarch's flame plane.
"A rank 6 bloodline spell?" Grey fog and scarlet flames each consumed the energy of the other, and space itself was torn apart where these two tremendous domains met. A cry sounded from the Blazing Flame Monarch's side.
"Darned bloodline Warlocks! I should have completely destroyed you long ago!" These words that were filled with hatred did not cause Leylin to stop. He smiled instead, "I've always loved listening to the anguish and ire of those who want to eliminate me. It means they're completely defeated…"
Even if Leylin had sealed a bloodline imprint from Bevis' Misty Fog Giant bloodline in the ring, he could only launch two attacks. One had been used on the Blazing Flame Monarch's clone, and the other was being employed here.
'A.I. Chip, focus on collecting information!' Leylin ordered. With the Chip as a medium, Leylin could somewhat sense and manipulate the laws of fog. How could he not record such precious information?
[Beep! Beginning to record under Laws of Fog…] the A.I. Chip quickly intoned.
At this moment, large amounts of grey fog formed a monster with three heads that was under Leylin's control. Toxins, lightning, and frost were being spewed out by these heads, striking the flame plane.
Even stray energy from the toxins, lightning, and frost caused Melinda and Joanna to retreat in a hurry, afraid to get hit.
"My bloodline imprint only has one attack left. If you have any methods, use them now. I'll break through the opponent's defensive laws." Leylin stared at Melinda and Joanna without much emotion. The three-headed monster roared and tore at the flame plane, revealing the main body of the Blazing Flame Monarch.
*Whoosh!* A sharp grey claw descended and extinguished the flames that the Blazing Flame Monarch had summoned, and even tore apart the flame shackles.
At this moment, a trace of astonishment appeared on the Monarch's confident face. She had evidently never thought that Leylin's control over the power of laws would grow this quickly.
"Brother, wait for me! I am about to be done with my vengeance!"
A deep hatred rose in Joanna's eyes for the Blazing Flame Monarch. She pounced forward, streams of purple gas appearing from her back to form a gigantic plant that was similar to the flower on her forehead.
-x-X-x-
"Let's perish together!" Joanna had on an insane smile. It was as if death was not the end for her, only a beginning.
Many roots formed from her body, wrapping around her and the Blazing Flame Monarch. The faint image of the purple plant solidified, and the roots wound tightly together as the two fell into the half-dimension. Branches and leaves spread out, the bud at the very top growing and blooming.
With the Blazing Flame Monarch's infuriated howls, a purple flower bud with unworldly beauty slowly blossomed in the half-dimension. A terrifying strength took form at the same time, forming purple light that spread in all directions. Even the world of fog was affected as it crumbled down.
"This is bad!" Leylin's pupils shrank. The remaining fog force immediately created a thick wall-like structure in front of him, behind which Melinda squeezed in unceremoniously. Following that, purple light spread through the skies and drowned the area.
The half-dimension hidden within the labyrinth burst apart under the purple light, and many black holes appeared in the region, devouring the surroundings. The scene looked to be of the world's end. The stray energy from the explosion still bombarded the protective sphere of the Fiery World, causing it to shake.
Once everything calmed down again, the original world crack now looked completely different.
Large amounts of irreparable spatial rifts had appeared in the place, and endless turbulence streaked past the void, causing what was now in ruins further damage.
Even the nebulae around the place, what was similar to his previous world, had completely dissipated in the explosion. Bits of dimmed starlight flashed every once in a while from the edges, as if fading away and reconciling to this fact.
A large bundle of fog dissipated in this shattered void, revealing the figures of Leylin and Melinda.
"As expected from the physique of an ancient clan. The destructive force from her self-detonation…" Leylin seemed to be praising it, yet there was still some regret in his words. He was very interested in studying this sort of physique, and had never expected the other party to so resolutely detonate herself.
The terrifying storm that formed as a result was enough for Leylin and Melinda to be affected even with the defence from the rank 6 energy of the Misty Fog Giant, and they cut sorry figures.
"The bloodline!" Leylin's eyes turned red, and a small-scale vortex formed in his hands. Some of the items in the void seemed to be attracted by some formless strength and automatically reached Leylin's hand.
Large motes of light condensed to form a droplet of purple blood with bits of gold shimmering within.
"So this is all that remains? What an overbearing spell!" Leylin sighed, stowing the blood away.
"Not yet! The Blazing Flame Monarch isn't dead!" There was glee following Melinda's gasp of surprise. This was the best situation for her, with the Blazing Flame Monarch heavily injured and unable to resist her claim to dominance.
"She's a Breaking Dawn Magus after all. How could she die so easily?" Leylin nodded solemnly. He'd never dared to underestimate such a high-ranking Magus. On top of that, the A.I. Chip did not give any conclusion of sorts, and instead scanned the space for the aura of the Blazing Flame Monarch. This made Leylin even more acutely aware of the result.
Golden flames abruptly surged in the void, increasing in volume to form a giant blazing door.
The Blazing Flame Monarch walked out of this giant door, her detached eyes full of ruthlessness.
*Rumble!* The flaming door quickly shrank to form a golden Magus Robe that draped over her body, "I never thought a bug like you would interfere with the 'reincarnation' procedure this time. It seems like ancient clans like these and the bloodline Warlocks should all be exterminated…"
A peak rank 6 aura was being emitted from their opponent's body, and Leylin and Melinda shared a glance as they laughed bitterly.
"The ability to be revived by flames?" Leylin stroked his chin, "Seems rather well-suited to the fire element. It even has a healing effect which shares some similarities to the Icy World's Freezing innate skill…"
"We're already in this situation, and you still have time to think about that?" Melinda didn't know whether to laugh or cry in response. Yet, the Blazing Flame Monarch had already raised her right hand, and a longsword made of raging flames appeared in it.
"In the name of the Blazing Flame Monarch, I shall judge you!" Immense flames surged out with sword lights. These flames were not ordinary, they were from the law of fire!
Just the descent of a few wisps drew out all the fire elemental particles in the region in an instant. All the other elemental particles were tyrannically rejected and repelled.
With her rebirth from the flames, not only had the Blazing Flame Monarch managed to survive Joanna's self-detonation, but she'd also healed all her injuries. She had regained her strength as a peak rank 6 Monarch.
"Get out of the way!" Leylin pushed at Melinda, and a large amount of crimson light surged out, "Bloodline Shield!"
*Rumble!* The flaming sword struck the shield, emitting a frigid sound. On the other side, Melinda tossed out a piece of magic equipment similar to a statue, blocking the Blazing Flame Monarch's attack.
With Joanna's death, Melinda and Leylin were the only two invaders remaining. Leylin's rank 6 bloodline fog had left a deep impression on her, so Melinda transmitted a query to him, "Do you still have another bloodline imprint?"
"No. Do you think a rank 6 bloodline is so easily obtained? The amount of blood I had was only enough to create two imprints!" Leylin glared at Melinda, waving his right hand. He was speaking the truth. The ring on his hand had long since disappeared.
Upon hearing this, a hint of despair appeared in Melinda's beautiful eyes, "I can't take this lying down! Am I really going to die with Big Brother here?"
'She's going crazy again!' Watching Melinda, whose voice had turned into that of a little girl once more, Leylin was rendered speechless. It seemed like the original Blazing Flame Monarch had discarded more than one portion of her soul, which was why Melinda had such bizarre emotions and a split personality.
"Despicable Warlock Bloodline and the trashes that I had disposed of before… Let me purge you completely today!" The Blazing Flame Monarch that had regained her full strength took several steps closer, the peak rank 6 strength causing Leylin's expression to change.
Only when face to face with her did he realise how terrifying the might of a Monarch was. The opponent's truesoul was like a scorching sun, tens of times larger than that of a Radiant Moon and of better quality. This golden soul force exceeded the strength of Radiant Moon soul force, and made even Leylin feel suppressed.
"Erosion of the Sun!" The Monarch raised her sword once more, the faint image of her truesoul appearing behind her. Black light formed at the heart of the sun, converging on the tip of the flaming longsword.
From the black spot, Leylin could feel a terrifying energy that could obliterate everything in its path.
"Opposing qualities huh? This is incomparably close to the antimatter theory in my previous world…"
"Purify!" Along with an exclamation, the Blazing Flame Monarch swung her sword out, pitch black light beginning to shoot towards Leylin and Melinda.
Full of destructive energy, it surged like a stormy sea and roared.
The world origin force of the Fiery World beside them boiled and disappeared into the Blazing Flame Monarch's body, causing this attack to grow even more powerful.
"An attack befitting one at the peak of rank 6!" Leylin sighed, and then did not hesitate as he commanded, "A.I. Chip, begin defensive plan number 2!"
[Beep! Mission established, beginning usage of Host's energy and forming defence.] The A.I. Chip's icy voice intoned immediately.
Meanwhile, a layer of black Kemoyin Scales appeared on the surface of his body. He tossed out large numbers of potions that formed a colourful defence. At the outermost layer, the Bloodline Shield changed its shape with the manipulation of the A.I. Chip, welcoming the black light headed their way.
*Rumble!* Space itself crumbled. Even a world crack could not withstand such a powerful explosion, and spatial storms were formed everywhere.
Leylin emerged from the explosion, much of his Magus robes torn apart. There was a trace of blood at the corner of his lips.
"So, Melinda, are you dead yet?" Leylin's eyes flashed with wit as he glanced in Melinda's direction.
White light flashed in the void, and Melinda's head appeared. Her body had completely severed from below the neck, and on those body parts, there were signs of burns that had clotted and turned into scars.
"If I died, you'd definitely have died before me!" Melinda's face was now as pale as a dead person, as if she had lost all blood.
"I can't hold this for long. Do you have any other methods to deal with her? I have one more…" Melinda, who now only had a head, glanced at Leylin and seemed to have made up her mind.
"Yes!" Leylin pretended to struggle with the decision and spoke in a low voice, "But that's my life-saving trump card. Once it's used, I'm not going to bother with you!"
"You don't need to. As long as you can successfully suppress her for a period of time, leave everything to me. All the benefits that I spoke of in the contract will be given to you." Melinda gritted her teeth.
"Fine!" Leylin chuckled, and a few balls made of crystal appeared. Within these sparkling crystal balls was a dark red gas that was like a river.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* Many of the balls exploded, and a strange power spread outwards.
"It's no use! I've already grasped authority over flames! Any attacks below laws…" The Flame Monarch stopped abruptly, her beautiful eyes suddenly showing astonishment.
-x-X-x-
In actuality, the Blazing Flame Monarch was still on her guard against Melinda and Leylin.
Not taking into account her opponent's secret plan before, the tens of crystal balls that Leylin had sent out and exploded made it seem as if he was about to cast some spell. That already made the Flame Monarch feel some unease.
This was an ability similar to prophecy, and was common among high-ranked Magi. However, it was extremely rare for the Blazing Flame Monarch to get one with such a violent warning. Hence, she instantly made her move and golden soul force swept the area as the law of fire covered the void.
However, her strength strangely had no effect on the dark red fog, and no matter how hot the golden flames blazed, the dark red streams of gas still flowed in the air undisturbed.
"Damn it! Erosion of the Sun!" The Blazing Flame Monarch raised her longsword high in the air once more, the black point swelling and emitting a terrifying aura that was even more terrifying than before.
'This is about half of the dreamforce that I amassed!' Leylin's heart was aching as well. There was a limit to how much dreamforce he could store. He needed to use vessels from Dreamscape, and for this reason he'd used up much of what he'd acquired.
It could be said that in order to create this environment, he had thrown in most of his gains from Dreamscape. However, it was because he had put in these hard-earned savings that the effects were extraordinary.
Leylin could sense the dense dreamforce spreading through the area, something that caused even Melinda's eyes to glaze over slightly.
Dreamforce was no weaker than the power of laws, which was why the Blazing Flame Monarch's fires had little effect on it. After all, she had yet to completely grasp the laws of fire anyway, or she would long since have advanced to rank 7 instead of hovering around rank 6.
At this point, the results from the A.I. Chip's scans were presented before Leylin's eyes. [Beep! Emission of dreamforce complete. Meets standards of using dreamforce!]
"It's not as if I've never defeated a rank 6 before!" Leylin's lips quirked up in a smile, and immediately a complicated and illusory spell model with colourful rays was used in that instant. Dreamforce condensed in boundless tides around his body.
"Radiant Moon Dreamforce Spell— Distrait Dream!" Leylin's eyes seem to glaze over, and formless waves enveloped the Blazing Flame Monarch.
"This is…" The Monarch's eyes showed her confusion as the energy undulations from her body strangely came to a complete stop.
Distrait Dream. This rank 5 dreamforce spell targeted a Magus' truesoul, and had a 90% chance of being effective on a Radiant Magus, leading them to be unable to control themselves even if they were about to die. Even when facing a Breaking Dawn Magus, it had a success rate of over 50%!
The Blazing Flame Monarch was now in a dream, her truesoul having lost its way. She was completely unable to move, and her only defence came by instinct.
"Quick! I can only hold it for 3 seconds!" Leylin yelled at Melinda.
"I never expected you to have a trump card like this!" Melinda's head stared at Leylin, eyes full of meaning. Immediately after, flames began to burn and incinerate the remaining flesh and blood she had. A pure white soul figure suddenly emerged amidst the flames.
"Though I have a strong desire to expel the opponent's conscient and return to my body, there's no time!" The soul figure suddenly broke through the boundaries of spacetime and appeared in front of the Blazing Flame Monarch. She was now in a despondent state, and her instinctive defence had no effect towards Melinda. The soul figure disappeared into the forehead of the Monarch, the entire process going through without a hitch.
"Damn it! Get out!" The dreamforce quickly dissipated, and the Blazing Flame Monarch had regained her senses. However, her expression kept warping, and her muscles trembling.
She abruptly raised her right hand, as if trying to pull something out of her forehead. Yet, the left hand strangely grabbed the right. It was as if there were two people fighting in her body.
"As expected, in a situation with no other methods, Melinda chose to return to the main body!" Watching this, a smile appeared on Leylin's lips.
Melinda was merely an incomplete soul, while her opponent had the main body that had been tempered over thousands of years. Her soul force was tremendous beyond belief, and Melinda was surely no match for her.
Her initial plan was to take advantage of the Blazing Flame Monarch's strength being at a low, using Leylin and the rest to deal the Monarch a serious blow. She would then destroy the soul and place her own conscient in the Blazing Flame Monarch's body.
It was a pity that the Blazing Flame Monarch had a method of suppressing the injuries to her soul, which had caused setbacks in Melinda's plans. Thankfully, with the Monarch of the Skies helping from behind the scenes and the surprising strength of Joanna and Leylin, the situation had reached this stage.
The situation was currently do or die. Perhaps Leylin had a chance of surviving a Breaking Dawn's hunt, but Melinda was definitely going to die. As part of the opponent's soul that had awakened its own senses and wanted to eliminate the main conscient, she would definitely be hunted down endlessly by the Monarch.
Hence, after weighing the pros and cons, the only thing she could do was take the risk and enter the other party's sea of consciousness and strive to achieve control over the main body.
Though there was a powerful conscient in the sea of consciousness, it wasn't as if Melinda lacked any advantages. At the very least, she had an ally in Leylin.
The Blazing Flame Monarch had accumulated injuries over the various battles and the self-detonation, but she either had some secret methods or was forcefully suppressing them. This was why she was confident in her success. Though her chances weren't greater than 50%, this was a better option than dying without even a corpse remaining.
"Die, you unnecessary trash!" An unusual scene appeared on the Monarch's body. A few illusory female faces appeared on her own, like layered masks.
There was malevolence, anger, even peace on some. The one similarity was that they all looked like Melinda.
"I am the ruler of flames. How can I lose to you…" A white illusory face abruptly emerged, its appearance and tone very similar to the Flame Monarch.
"Stop struggling. You are me! In addition, my control over the law of fire isn't inferior to yours!" Melinda's face appeared as well.
Following that, this face switched to one that was childlike, eyes full of tears as it gazed up at Leylin, "Big Brother, help me!"
"How?" Leylin's expression was cold.
"I can temporarily suppress her defences. You use your soul force and invade the Blazing Flame Monarch's sea of consciousness. Believe me, this will be extremely beneficial to you!" The young Melinda's expression was miserable and moving, yet Leylin remained apathetic.
"Yes. There are definitely benefits from experiencing how energy revolves in a rank 6 Magus' body, and I'll even be able to make contact with the law of fire. However, I've my own method of dealing with this!" Leylin chuckled, a malicious intent gleaming in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll help you now!" Crimson rings of light formed at Leylin's back, causing him to transform into a terrifying ancient Kemoyin Emperor, two gigantic amber pupils staring at the Blazing Flame Monarch.
"You're thinking of– " The young Melinda showed the expression of a struggle before she went silent, and the Blazing Flame Monarch's face got out.
"Damned Warlock, what are you going to do?" Boundless golden shackles appeared around the Monarch.
"I'm obviously going to help!" A callous voice was transmitted from the Kemoyin Emperor, and petrifying light burst forth and caused the flame shackles to be covered with a layer of stone as they cracked.
The Kemoyin Emperor's tail ruthlessly struck the Blazing Flame Monarch, and with a flicker of black light she flew backwards a great distance. The defensive magic equipment on her body shattered.
With the Monarch's wealth, she definitely had at least a piece of high-grade magic equipment on her person, but under Leylin's attack it was as fragile as paper-mâché. This wasn't purely because of the frightful offensive ability of the Kemoyin Emperor. It had to do in part with there being nobody controlling it.
"You…" The Flame Monarch suddenly stopped speaking, and the sound of bones breaking could be heard, causing the soul's face to contort with pain. The light dulled by a large extent.
"Very good! Continue attacking her and attract her attention!" Lights flashed and Melinda's face appeared.
"It's my pleasure to do so!" Leylin laughed, and immediately after terrifying rumbling could be heard in the void.
*Pak!* Pow!* *Pak!* Pow!* The terrifying force from an ancient rank 5 creature caused the void to shake in the world crack. The Blazing Flame Monarch at the centre had now sustained injuries that were difficult to even imagine. If not for the support of the law of fire, as well as the durability of the body of a Breaking Dawn Magus far exceeding that of regular people, she would long since have become minced meat.
Two tiny wormlike souls nibbled away at the largest soul body on her face, causing the Blazing Flame Monarch to let out cries of misery. Gradually, the soul's light dimmed and allowed Melinda to gain the upper hand.
"Good! That's enough, stop attacking! When I've gained complete control over the body…" Melinda's face showed her glee, but that quickly turned into an enraged shriek, "What are you doing?"
She could see the Kemoyin Emperor that Leylin had turned into constantly shrinking until it turned into a python that was only tens of metres long, abruptly charging towards her. Its fangs were bared…
-x-X-x-
The Kemoyin Emperor was originally over a hundred kilometres long, but its figure had shrunk a thousandfold as it became a python that was only tens of metres in length. Terrifying light burst forth from what used to be its scales.
The two eyes of the python stared straight at Melinda, and her heart couldn't help but palpitate upon seeing the merciless expression in them.
Leylin's voice came from the python, "You've had enough, but that doesn't mean I have. According to our deal, I've come for my reward."
Following these words, the humongous python suddenly spread its mouth wide open, and a black hole formed within.
"Innate ability: Devour!"
"Nooo…" In the midst of Melinda's pained cries, the Kemoyin Emperor that Leylin had transformed into bit ferociously onto the arm of the Blazing Flame Monarch. Soon after, it ripped open the space without hesitation and escaped.
*Buzz!* Its scales flashed with a glaring brilliance and even had traces of blood.
Leylin had obviously used some sort of secret method that allowed him to disappear from Melinda's senses almost instantly.
*Whoosh!* Golden blood droplets suddenly started splashing from where the arm was broken. Blood dripped into the empty space drop by drop, forming a large ball of golden flames in the blink of an eye.
It was only now that Melinda started to let out a hysterical blood-curdling screech.
As a Breaking Dawn Magus, limb damage was not even considered a severe injury to her, but what Leylin had used earlier was his own innate ability, Devour. He had bitten into her flesh and devoured her bloodline! This even included a portion of her comprehension of laws and her soul! Her comprehension of laws had been stolen!
The anguish of her soul being ripped apart almost made Melinda think she'd returned to the moment when she'd split her soul.
It was at this time that the Blazing Flame Monarch's conscient, which had been suppressed, appeared suddenly and unleashed a ferocious counterattack.
"Damn it! Damn it!" Melinda roared, and horrifying golden flames spread out in all directions continuously.
Her other losses were still tolerable, but the disappearance of her comprehension of laws and the damage done to her bloodline could even make her drop in rank. The counter-attack by the Blazing Flame Monarch's conscient at this moment left her without any time to chase after and attack Leylin. She could only roar in depression and once again concentrate her energy on fighting the Monarch.
The pure gold flames gradually filled up the region, and even traces of dust were burnt until there was nothing left. Only the gigantic golden yellow cocoon in the centre was still throbbing rhythmically, as if a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes.
In a world where flames were everywhere, space was pulled apart as though it were a curtain, revealing Leylin's silhouette. He peeked at his surroundings before giving a command without hesitation, "A.I. Chip!"
[Beep! Begin connection sequence! Activating astral gate!]
With the A.I. Chip's voice sounding out, an enormous door bathed in blue flames slowly formed in front of Leylin, and he stepped into it without the slightest situation. The world began spinning with a single step, and when he ran his eyes over his surroundings once again, he had already arrived in the laboratory at Düz City.
Faint roars and shrieks could still be heard from outside, Düz City having descended into chaos. Outside of the laboratory, the subordinates of Jupiter's Thunder and Joanna stood on guard, and all seemed still.
In the midst of such a disorderly scene, it appeared even more eye-catching.
A few civilians and such came forth to request for help from time to time, but were all rejected without mercy. The bodies on the ground still emitted a strong aura of death, effectively intimidating the few who still wanted to try their luck.
As for the biological beasts? Having seen the terror that Leylin could bring, they had run away as far as they could long ago. Whether they created disasters elsewhere was not of Leylin's concern.
"Sir!" A few of the Morning Star Magi who were standing guard saw the astral gate open. Upon seeing that only Leylin had returned, their expressions changed.
"Hm!" Leylin nodded his head, indifferent. His entire being then transformed into a ray of black flames which dispersed. In just a few flashes, he vanished into the horizon.
The Morning Star Magi from the other powers looked at each other in dismay as they gazed in the direction that Leylin vanished in.
They were of Morning star rank at most. Forcibly stopping Leylin was simply an impossible task, and having seen how cold-hearted Leylin could be they didn't dare to do anything that would provoke him.
...
In the air. Blood was still seeping out of the corners of Leylin's mouth, yet his face was filled with excitement. "Those few Morning Star Magi are rather tactful. I didn't have to take any further action…
"A.I. Chip, erase all the useless memories and emotions!"
At this moment, layers of flesh suddenly grew from Leylin's body, carrying along with dense comprehension of the laws of fire. His Devour skill was still digesting the arm of the Monarch.
The A.I. Chip swiftly operated per Leylin's orders, getting rid of all the useless memories and emotions in what he had obtained. The useful information was then processed into specialised folders, and the Blazing Flame Monarch's comprehension of laws— the most important part— was carefully extracted by the A.I. Chip into a specially established database.
'The most important bit, the comprehension of laws, has been obtained!' Leylin was brimming with excitement.
To him, no matter how plentiful the Blazing Flame Monarch's treasury was, it was not enough. The only thing he was currently interested in was the pursuit of an even higher realm, one to which the power of laws was key.
Leylin still couldn't believe himself as he recalled how he had made use of his devouring ability to absorb the comprehension of Laws and memories from the Blazing Flame Monarch's body.
The exhilaration and delight almost made him break through the boundaries that he had set himself, and greedily take in everything that the Blazing Flame Monarch had to offer. Luckily, at the final juncture, he forcibly controlled his body with an unwavering determination that was as strong as steel, and left the Fiery World.
He didn't deal any killing blows to the Flame Monarch directly as he was afraid of her counterattack.
Regardless of the differences between Melinda and the original Blazing Flame Monarch, with their lives under serious threat there was a definite possibility of an alliance.
In fact, the A.I. Chip's derivations revealed that if Leylin took advantage of the time when both of them were battling, there wasn't even a 10% probability that he would be able to directly take one of them out. The remaining possibility was that both parties would ally under immense pressure, which would result in Leylin returning without achieving anything, or even resulting in his fall.
In such a situation, Leylin would, of course, choose the method that was in accordance with his own interests, and leave after fishing up the best gains.
Although he was unable to get rid of the Blazing Flame Monarch, making her suffer some losses was good enough.
Initially, when he was extracting the Blazing Flame Monarch's bloodline and laws, Leylin had almost lost control of himself, and the A.I. Chip's had alerted him in time. He was so close to even being a threat to the Flame Monarch's life, which would cause unforeseen repercussions to the situation.
But fortunately, all went according to Leylin's script.
Although his final blow made the Blazing Flame Monarch suffer heavy losses, it did not exceed Melinda's tolerance. Hence, she didn't choose to reach a compromise with the original conscient, and instead continued to annihilate her greatest enemy. It was because of this that Leylin managed to escape successfully.
As for what happened prior to that, Leylin had simply scoffed at how Melinda had invited Leylin to help.
While his soul force was relatively powerful, it also depended on what it was being compared to.
In the face of the Breaking Dawn soul force of the Blazing Flame Monarch's, his soul force was so meagre that it was not worth looking at. Even if he was called in to help, he would just be a mere soldier who wouldn't even have autonomy over his own soul force; his life and death would be controlled by his opponent.
What annoyed him even more was that after fighting such a tumultuous battle, the items received would depend on whether the other party would fulfil their promises and also their mood. Leylin wouldn't do such a silly thing, of course.
"However, I didn't think that merely the arm of the Fire Monarch contained such a crazy amount of energy. Furthermore, there seems to be a mystery hidden in the knowledge and memories of the laws of fire…" Leylin faintly felt like his body grew bigger, but it was actually an illusion due to the excessive energy in his body.
The corners of Leylin's mouth curled up in a bitter smile as he recalled the past few times where he had transformed into the Kemoyin Emperor. No matter what he had devoured before, nothing had possessed such terrifying energy.
'It's fortunate that I chose to devour only one arm. If I'd chosen to swallow her whole, I'm afraid that even if she didn't retaliate I would've burst apart due to this force.' Leylin's gaze flickered, as he changed his route of travel, his silhouette turning into a phantom.
This ability was brought about by dreamforce. Not only did it strengthen his resistance towards magic, it formed an illusionary forcefield which was effective at concealing his tracks.
The fruits of this battle were plentiful, so much so that even the almighty Leylin needed to find a spot to digest them fully.
...
Leylin didn't expect that what he originally thought would be a simple digestion process would end up extending into a few months. The Blazing Flame Monarch had her own imprint of power of flames, and one of its characteristics was that it was extremely concentrated. This had given him a headache.
A squirrel bounded about continuously, a pine cone cupped between its paws as it nibbled on it with its buckteeth as quickly as lightning. White mist encircled the mountain range that stretched endlessly into the distance. Together with the green forest, it formed a dreamlike scene straight out of a fairytale.
Countless runners formed a natural protective screen under a humongous tree, leaving a rather big space inside. Black fog filled the air here, hiding and isolating the place. In the heart of the fog, Leylin slowly let out a breath and opened his eyes.
'The energy composition of a rank 6 Magus and its characteristic concentration is truly horrifying!' Practically all of the Blazing Flame Monarch's flesh was densely constructed by the most concentrated of fire laws, and merely the digestion process required vast amounts of effort on Leylin's part. He still felt traumatised at the thought of it.
In actual fact, without the innate devouring ability of the Kemoyin Emperor, analysing the Monarch's arm would have been a huge problem. It had taken him this long to finally figure it out.
Just a moment ago, Leylin had not only fully swallowed the last trace of the Blazing Flame Monarch's bloodline energy, but he had also completely sorted out the memory fragments and made the comprehension of laws his own.
-x-X-x-
The structure of a rank 6 Magus' blood and flesh as well as information on the modifications to their body gave Leylin much inspiration and sprouted fresh ideas. He had also obtained many other benefits from the Blazing Flame Monarch's abundant life energy.
He pulled up his stats with a thought, and quite a few of the information on the A.I. Chip's screen was refreshed.
[Beep! Discovered high-grade cell structure. Simulating… Host has absorbed large amounts of life energy. Vitality increasing!]
[Beep! Host's soul has been strengthened. Spiritual force crossed bottleneck, reached Half Moon!]
[Beep! Host's stats have changed. Regathering info…]
It was after these messages that the A.I. Chip showed Leylin's new stats.
[Leylin Farlier, Rank 5 Warlock. Bloodline: Kemoyin Emperor (Complete form). Strength: 76, Agility: 62, Vitality: 176.9, Spiritual force: 2003.5, Magic power: 2003 (Magic power is in synchronisation with spiritual force). Soul force: 200, Half Moon.]
Leylin had long since expected a rise in soul force, but the huge increase in vitality gave him a great surprise.
With a treasure like the phoenix egg, raising his soul force wasn't an issue. It was just that his body couldn't keep up.
It was funny now that he thought about it. Most Warlocks' vitalities surpassed the growth of their spiritual force, but he was different. He progressed much too quickly, to the point that his spiritual force advanced by leaps and bounds and left his vitality far in the dust.
'A Half Moon truesoul, and such soul force!' Leylin focused on his point mass. His truesoul was perfectly round as before, but the cold light of his soul force already occupied over half of it. 'A truesoul like this is very powerful, but in comparison to a rank 6 Magus, it's quite lacking…'
Leylin sighed, thinking back to the truesoul of the Blazing Flame Monarch that was like a scorching sun. The soul force seemed to have solidified. A truesoul like this could be said to have reached a peak, and could exist for a long time even without the Magus' body.
Soon after, he couldn't help but burst out in laughter, finding himself too greedy. The path of a Magus was one of accumulation. Not only was the Blazing Flame Monarch of a higher rank than he was, she had spent tens or even hundreds of times longer than he had on searching for the truth. He was confident that, once he reached Breaking Dawn, his truesoul would not be second to hers.
"And this…" Leylin began to check all his profits. He'd been assigned many treasures from the attack on Düz City, a portion of the holdings a rank 6 organisation had amassed over time. Whether Morning Stars or even Radiant Moons, everyone would go green in envy at such wealth.
And yet, these things were all additional items to Leylin, not something he paid much attention to. What he was more interested in was the information recorded in the A.I. Chip.
"Soul splitting technique?" Leylin glanced through a document in the A.I. Chip while muttering to himself. He'd gotten this terrifying technique that could split apart a Magus' truesoul when he'd taken advantage of Melinda earlier.
This technique could separate a truesoul into two parts, forming individual bodies that could think for themselves. It could also be used to discard unnecessary emotions or memories from the main body of a Magus, an extraordinary effect.
"Sometimes, psychological issues can be a hindrance to the advancement of a Magus. This technique is even better for Warlocks. Perhaps Offa and the others would be more than willing to take out all their wealth in exchange for this…"
Leylin stroked his chin. After obtaining this truesoul splitting technique, they could strip off the berserk emotions from their bloodline instability by placing it in another soul. To some extent, this was a way to completely cure the Warlocks' bloodline instability. A rational Warlock still retained their advantages but had no weak points. It was a terrifying thought, but it had one small issue.
After the truesoul was split into two the separated soul was, in some way, an individual body of its own. It could even become like Melinda, forming a will of its own and becoming hostile towards the original Magus.
However, because they had originally been one body, Magi could not just destroy this parted soul, or else their truesoul would be affected. They could only choose to banish the soul or suppress it, which would leave a danger lying around.
'Whatever it is, this technique is very valuable. If not for that being an emergency, Melinda probably wouldn't have given this to me…' Leylin thought about Melinda. The female Magus had initially been one with the Blazing Flame Monarch, but there seemed to have been some issues when splitting the truesoul which led to her returning for revenge.
'She's lost part of her energy and bloodline, and is also facing issues from the cracked soul which haven't been solved yet. It'll be difficult for her to recover to her original strength…' Leylin's eyes flickered.
This was a situation he had intentionally created. The conscient of the original Flame Monarch was done for, and Melinda had to heal the wounds to her body and soul. None of these were easy tasks. It would be a miracle if she could even remain at rank 6.
Leylin thus concluded that the Blazing Flame Monarch's organisation would die down for a very long time. After gaining control of the body, Melinda wouldn't be the same as the Monarch was before and it was unknown whether she would come after him in the future. He'd made the best choice in the situation.
"A.I. Chip, show me the database on the Blazing Flame Monarch!" Leylin commanded. Immediately after, a large file was projected in front of Leylin, the information within an incomplete mess.
Leylin hadn't just devoured his opponent's flesh and blood with his innate skill. He'd also managed to absorb her memories and her comprehension of laws.
However, due to a lack of time, the memories he had were incomplete. Yet, they were good references for the A.I. Chip.
Leylin's eyes scanned through these incomplete memory fragments and came to the deepest ones. The few fragments here were like crystals that gave off a majestic aura, emitting burning hot rays of light.
Given that this was how the information was being displayed within the A.I. Chip's database, it aroused Leylin's interest.
[Beep! Comprehension of the laws of fire incomplete. Unable to scan and present as data, host needs to perform a soul force probe.] The A.I. Chip's explanation rendered him speechless.
This was the bit on the comprehension of laws that the A.I. Chip had separated from the remaining memories in the bloodline Leylin had forcefully obtained. However, it was currently in a strange state that even the A.I. Chip could not decipher.
"This is the issue of having different power systems," Leylin sighed.
In his view, the world was one complete existence that had various focuses. His previous world was one that focused on atomic studies.
The Magus World, on the other hand, was a world of energy and laws.
In reality, there was only one real world. Atoms, energy and laws were all just the same thing viewed from different perspectives. These differences in perspective allowed Magi and the people of his old world to come up with different conclusions.
The A.I. Chip was a result of microscopy, and it could not decrypt things like the comprehension of laws. It was only something to be expected.
However, with its continuous upgrades and the establishment of the database on the soul, the A.I. Chip had made continuous progress. It now accepted the embodiment of energy and laws.
Leylin was very confident in the learning abilities of the A.I. Chip. Some day, it would be able to analyse anything in the universe, becoming the best tool to search for the truth with. For now, the current ability of the A.I. Chip to store the comprehension of laws separately already left Leylin satisfied.
Though it could not be sent to him, perhaps comprehending laws himself was the best way to go about it.
Leylin closed his eyes. Half Moon soul force spread out from his truesoul, making contact with the scarlet Law Comprehension Crystals.
*Rumble!* A vast current gushed forth, and Leylin felt like an ordinary being standing amidst a flash flood in the mountains.
Terrifying force weighed down on him from all sides, pushing and pulling at him with immense power. Many different scenes flashed before his eyes without end, detailing the comprehension the Blazing Flame Monarch had towards the laws of fire.
The red fire elemental particles seemed to be magnified a million times over as they appeared in front of him, their mysteries being unveiled layer by layer. Never had he felt as close to the fire element before.
This feeling came and left very quickly. In a few seconds, Leylin regained his senses from this comprehension.
[Host's brain waves in a peculiar state. No records in database!]
[Beep! Host's blood flow rate has increased. Increase in energy wave radiation.]
[Beep! Host's fire elemental affinity has increased. Aptitude has been slightly strengthened.]
...
The A.I. Chip's new prompts caused a smile to appear on Leylin's face, 'Comprehending the laws of fire can increase soul aptitude on top of increasing my elemental affinity?'
Leylin had never worried about his elemental affinity. His foundations were not half bad, and he'd never misstepped. Through the advancements in and strengthening of his bloodline, his control over darkness and fire exceeded that of most Radiant Moons.
However, his original soul aptitude was only at grade 3. Compared to grades 4 and 5, or even special geniuses, he still had a ways to go. His few advancements had only pushed him to the peak of grade 3.
-x-X-x-
Not only did Leylin have a lot of information on methods to increase elemental affinity, he'd also attempted some of these methods himself.
There were ancient records detailing this field in the central continent, and the A.I. Chip had recorded the information down and used it well.
However, even the central continent that was touted as the cradle of the revival of the glory of Magi had very little information on soul aptitude.
It had been extremely unlikely for Leylin to find a physique from an ancient dead clan, and it might have been useful to him. However, Joanna had ended up self-destructing, something Leylin found a huge pity.
With what he understood, Leylin found that the power of laws could alter his soul aptitude. How could he not go crazy in excitement?
'The power of laws is boundless and inexhaustible, and can even modify a Magus' soul aptitude!' Leylin's eyes brightened. While he was a bloodline Warlock, he still paid much attention to his soul aptitude.
'But…' At the thought of what he had comprehended, a look of hesitation rose on his expression.
The Blazing Flame Monarch did not have complete authority over the law of fire, else she would long since have advanced to rank 7.
Her comprehension of laws was incomplete, and what Leylin had found from her memories was pieces of a fragmented version. He'd comprehended less than a tenth of the power of the laws of fire, and it was impossible for him to fully understand them and become a rank 7 Magus with this.
With the A.I. Chip's lack of research and information on laws, it was impractical to rely on it to simulate the complete version of the law of fire.
"Hah… There's no way around it…" Leylin sighed, "Profiting through that risk was already extremely lucky. Do I have to sneak attack another Magus that has comprehended laws and steal their comprehension?" He was unwilling to go up against someone who had completely grasped the power of a law and obtained control of it.
The World of Gods had a special title for existences at rank 7 and above; they were called True Gods. This was because once one completely understood the power of laws, even a regular human would step into the domain of divinity! The gap between the two was even wider than the gaps between ranks 1 and 6.
Hence, while Leylin and Melinda dared to grievously harm a Breaking Dawn Monarch, they definitely wouldn't set their sights on a rank 7.
He wanted to live for a long time, hopefully peeking at and transcending to a state of immortality. Why would he intentionally seek death?
"Those things don't matter yet. For now, I need to break the bloodline shackles as quickly as possible and break through to Breaking Dawn. After all, only peaking the power of my soul force will give me the foundations to begin to comprehend the power of laws…"
At the thought of what had happened during the comprehension process, Leylin's expression turned grim. With his current soul force, analysing and comprehending the power of laws was much too difficult. Even though he had compiled all of the information, he had only felt a bit of the aura of the law of fire, and had not even understood 0.00001% of it.
Only Breaking Dawns could comprehend laws. Even being able to achieve what he had was because Leylin was talented and had the great help of the A.I. Chip.
"Whatever it is, I need to obtain the power of laws as soon as possible. Breaking the bloodline shackles will depend on it…" Recalling the meeting with the Wisdom Tree as well as its 'gift', Leylin's eyes blazed as he immersed himself in understanding the law of fire.
...
Crimson light fluctuated around Leylin under a tree in the darkness.
His eyes were closed tightly, as if he was in contact with a world full of mysteries. Large amounts of this light surged around his body, the endless information forming a strange code as they hovered before his eyes.
He tried to stretch out and grab those flaming words, but the action was in vain. He could sense some flaming words continuously dig into his body like earthworms, causing him to tremble slightly. The comprehension of laws had begun.
*Bzzt bzzt!* Just as Leylin's comprehension of the law of fire was about to begin, a massive amount of crimson light interrupted him.
"No! What's going on?" Leylin almost roared. The state he'd been in was clearly one that was hard to come by, and it had been interrupted just like that. It filled him with a near-insane bloodlust.
"Wah! Wah!" Both his bloodline and the innate controlling ability of the Kemoyin Emperor laid a scene out before his eyes.
In an extravagant bedroom the dark subterranean world, a bed sheet had blood stains on it. A woman who was sweating profusely trembled as she held onto a wrinkled baby.
"Goo Gaa!" The baby with jet-black eyes still had amniotic fluid on its body. The umbilical cord had just been cut, and as if noticing Leylin peeping, the crying baby beamed up at him, causing the woman to be shocked.
"My blood! My blood has been born in Twilight Zone!" Leylin opened his eyes wide. All Magi had a strange sensitivity to their own blood, and given that the Kemoyin Emperor was the ruler of a race, Leylin's sensitivity was even greater.
"Has the child I left to Celine been born?" His gaze penetrated through the ground and arrived at Twilight Zone. He hadn't let the A.I. Chip control his interactions with Celine, intentionally leaving behind his bloodline with her. It was about time for the child to have been born.
Because these children were Warlocks, they would be different from regular humans. They would have some inborn talent, and could cause elemental storms or leak radiation at birth. Celine was a Magus herself and had defences against these situations. Most regular women would be done for.
The younger generation would mature quickly with Leylin's rank 5 Kemoyin Emperor bloodline, and they would definitely be terrifying beyond belief.
With Celine's influence, what kind of changes would be brought to Twilight Zone? Leylin's eyes showed he was deep in thought.
And yet he was the same detached Magus after all, and he waited for a long time after observing the law of fire. With a slight sigh, Leylin placed his attention on himself, and the A.I. Chip's prompts popped up.
[Beep! Host beginning to grasp unknown force, determined to be power of the law of fire. Fire elemental affinity increased by 50%.]
[Host's soul aptitude has been strengthened. Recalculating… Determined to be upgraded to grade 4.]
'My elemental affinity and soul aptitude have been upgraded after crossing the threshold of comprehending laws?' Leylin was surprised by this. From his days as an acolyte to the current day, he'd only been able to raise his soul aptitude to the peak of his initial grade of 3. This one step he took into comprehending laws had pushed it up a grade, something with a terrifying meaning.
However, that would be it for Leylin's current soul in terms of comprehension of the power of laws. He was only a Radiant Moon Magus after all, and his truesoul was still at Half Moon and hadn't even reached peak Full Moon. It couldn't support the study of laws.
In other words, Leylin himself wasn't good enough to accommodate a greater understanding. He had to upgrade himself to break through, and that had to be accomplished by reaching rank 6, Breaking Dawn.
This discovery rendered Leylin speechless. Though he had stolen about 10% of the Blazing Flame Monarch's comprehension of the laws of fire, he had only understood about 1%. The rest would have to be shelved due to him not meeting the prerequisites.
"My injuries have completely recovered, and I've gone through pretty much all of my profits. It's time to return…" Leylin suddenly sighed, figure turning into black flames and disappearing from the area.
...
In an astral river, countless light-years away from the Magus World.
A starlike coiled up snake in the Purgatory World revealed the figure of the Snake Dowager. Every strand of her hair was a different serpent, emitting different kinds of energy. Her face was extremely exquisite, and her eyes held within them the life and death of worlds themselves.
Every inch of her body seemed to embody the law of darkness, and it was full of perfection and harmony.
Currently, there was a rare grimness in the Dowager's eyes. "The Emperor of the Kemoyin has already begun to make contact with the power of laws? Its bloodline has begun to spread as well…"
The Snake Dowager could see the events in the faraway Magus World from across the astral river, causing her to sink deep into thought. Though the Kemoyins were only a small branch of her bloodline, they still represented a portion of her abilities and authority!
The imperial bloodline had left her on guard. This uncontrollable variable could one day become a power that would tear apart her divinity.
"Through the shore of clouds and stars, my bloodline shall all return to my embrace…" The Dowager's voice was faint and tender, giving one the urge to lose themselves within it.
With what sounded like a prophecy, a tremendous illusory world slowly emanated from behind the Snake Dowager, and as if she was stepping through time and space, she entered the Magus World.
-x-X-x-
It was as if he had gone through a long fall. Leylin felt like he was in another world when he finally touched the ground.
'What… is this place?' Observing the dusky fog of the mountains and the black forest in the distance, he sank into deep thought.
*Caw! Caw! Caw!* A crow with three blood-red eyes spread its wings and took off from a tree branch beside him, leaving behind a few fallen feathers. Its piercing shrieks spread far and wide.
'A.I. Chip!' Leylin subconciously commanded.
[Beep! Beginning scan of surroundings. Scan completed! Begin…]
The A.I. Chip's voice was normal at first, but near the end, it suddenly grew rough as if it was facing some strong interference.
"AAH! AAH! AAH!" After some time, the voice changed to become piercing feminine shrieks. They grew higher and higher in pitch until they threatened to blast Leylin's eardrums apart, at which point he had no choice but to order it to halt operations.
"Wind probing…" Leylin stretched his arms out, and light green wind elemental particles gathered around him, the slight green wind elemental particles gathering extremely slowly, causing his brows to furrow. Soul force appeared, causing a light green gust of wind to spread in all directions.
'This seems quite familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it!' Leylin frowned, feeling as if his memories were shrouded by some fog. Yet he managed to remember a lot of things, such as his magic. Still, he seemed to have forgotten something important, and it gave him a bad premonition.
Soon enough, the scattered wind gave him some results which let him know of his current location. He was outside a forest, and there was even a dark red river flowing nearby. There was a wooden house not far away, with what seemed to be a human figure inside.
'This range…' Leylin's brows furrowed, 'Not only is it difficult to use spells at all, even their effects have been suppressed to a large extent. Could this be some high-ranked World?'
The temperature of the forest lowered with the setting sun, and the fog around him grew denser. It even turned a dark red, which sent a chill down Leylin's spine. He quickly got out of the area and arrived at the wooden house he had discovered.
Golden roses were in full bloom behind the fence, and traces of grey smoke rose from within that allowed Leylin to feel some warmth. The wooden door creaked open, and a kindly woman walked out. The woman seemed rather young, around twenty years of age at best, but the intelligent glint in her eyes made Leylin feel like she was someone with abundant experience.
"Little brother! You're back!" The woman chuckled after seeing him, the brilliance of her smile leaving Leylin intoxicated. It was as if the flowers surrounding her bloomed with her laugh.
"Who are you?" Leylin couldn't help but ask.
"Me? I'm your sister. This is your home!" The woman's face was beautiful, and the brilliant golden strands of hair that blew in the wind felt familiar to Leylin.
"My… home?" Leylin mumbled.
"Yes, your home! Welcome back!" His gentle sister spread her arms wide open, as if wanting to give him a warm embrace.
"You're my… sister?!" Leylin kept repeating it over, and the beautiful woman's face gradually matched to one in his memories.
"Yes! Little brother, you're finally back!" There were tears in the woman's eyes. And yet, he suddenly felt immense terror as her arms approached him for an embrace. An unknown malicious intent caused him to quiver in dread. 'WAIT!
'I'm Leylin Farlier, a bloodline Warlock from the Magus World. Why am I here?' a voice kept shouting out in his mind, but Leylin could no longer control his body. His limbs moved automatically, and he was only one step away from pouncing into a hug.
"Defiant Ring of Fire!" "Shadow of Quandary!" "Dark Serpent Tendrils!"
Spell models flashed one after another in front of Leylin's eyes, but his spells that had already been suppressed to a large extent seemed to lose all their abilities. No energy was emitted at all.
"Come back!" "Come back!" "Come back!"
The faint voice caused Leylin's eyes to show further perplexion, and the surroundings of the wooden house underwent a huge change. The dark red fog grew more dense, and the bright golden rose gradually wilted to reveal white skeletons below. A few small snakes slithered out of the occasional eye hole.
The wooden house had changed behind the roses, becoming a coiled up bundle of snakes. A few triangular serpent heads popped out from it, spitting out a dark red poison. In an instant, the peasant home had turned into a terrifying hell.
'This feeling of suppression is familiar…' Streams of dark red fog automatically invaded Leylin's body, and it caused the familiarity to grow more intense.
Finally, light flickered in the depths of Leylin's eyes.
"It's dreamforce! This is Dreamscape! I've been dragged into a dream!"
[Beep! Host determined to be in Dreamscape!] As if the fog in his memories had been completely swept away, the A.I. Chip's voice was no longer that of a shrieking woman; it grew clear once more.
Feeling his elemental control and his soul force being isolated, Leylin's thoughts flashed to something, 'Dreamscape is a profound world that rejects all powers that are not dreamforce.'
"Come back!" At this moment, the fingers of the woman nearby were about to touch Leylin's face.
"In that case," a spell model was abruptly transferred to him by the A.I. Chip, "rank 4 dream spell— Illusory Scepter!" Large amounts of dreamforce waves gathered in Leylin's hand, forming a strange ancient scepter.
"Go away!" Leylin pointed the scepter at the woman, and dark red demonic flames sprayed out of it.
"AAAHH!" The woman screamed, covering her face and retreating.
"Who are you?" Leylin's expression was very serious as he watched the woman who stood up once more.
A large portion of her face had disappeared, but strangely enough she had no reaction to it. There wasn't even any blood at the site of the injury.
"I never thought you'd have already altered yourself for Dreamscape and grasped control of dreamforce…" The woman spoke dully, but the familiar voice made Leylin's pupils shrink, "You're… The Snake—"
*Rumble!* The scene broke apart, revealing an astral river that stretched through the void. A starlike bundle of snakes opened up in the river, revealing the Snake Dowager within.
"My child, return to my embrace!" The Snake Dowager's voice held within it some bizarre attractive force, causing the blood in Leylin's body to boil, out of his control.
A voice inside urged him to submit and fall at the knees of the Dowager. Large numbers of giant snakes were hissing and roaring at him, the sound waves causing his expression to change. "This is not Purgatory World, but a dream.
"My free will shall not be controlled by anything else! Snake Dowager, your biggest mistake today was dragging me into Dreamscape!" A decisive look immediately appeared in Leylin's eyes, and an even more illusory, dazzling spell model formed in his hands.
"Rank 5 dream spell— Distrait Dream!" Strange undulations shrouded the region...
Feeling wetness across his cheek, Leylin opened his eyes to find a strange large beast looming over him with its mouth wide open. Its scarlet tongue licked at his face, and a terrible stench assaulted his nostrils.
"The central continent's Bone Grey Badger? Then this is the real world, which means I've escaped?" Leylin's eyes regained their radiance as he easily chased the monster away, glee apparent on his face.
He took a look around, and found skid marks on the ground, greenish yellow soil peeking through the tracks made in the grass.
"That's right. I was on the way back to the Warlock Union, but the Snake Dowager pulled me into a dream, which is why I suddenly fell…" Leylin touched his chin, guessing what had happened.
"Darkness and dreams share a strong connection. It's no surprise that she can use the power of dreams. The only thing she didn't expect was that I'd already undergone Dreamscape alteration and be able to use dreamforce…" Cold sweat streamed down Leylin's back. If not for his prior experience with Dreamscape, the consequences of being pulled into that dream would have been disastrous.
There was a huge gap between the Magus World and Purgatory. With the added limitations of protective spheres, the Snake Dowager would not be able to attack Leylin so easily.
Yet, Dreamscape was different. Space itself was muddled there, and everything was everywhere. An attack through dreams would be the most energy efficient.
Though there were some limitations, it should have been enough for the Snake Dowager to suppress Leylin. Perhaps the only thing she hadn't considered was that Leylin had already made contact with dreamforce, and his body was used to it. This allowed him to snap out of it automatically, and even use a rank 5 dream spell.
While he could do little to her, the time he had gained was enough for him to escape.
"Snake Dowager…" Leylin muttered, his eyes flickering with light. Her attack had made it clear to him that she would not tolerate any descendant escaping her control.
The more outstanding he was and the faster he progressed, the more intense the conflict of interest would grow.
'I never expected that a tiny existence like me would catch the attention of the Snake Dowager.' Leylin's lips quirked up in a bitter smile. He'd already felt like he was being watched when he'd evolved to become a Kemoyin Emperor Warlock. He just hadn't expected this day to come so fast.