Chapter 52: Making an Entrance Once More
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 52: Making an Entrance Once More
The ropes binding Edward had only just fallen away. Staring at the distant Leon, who looked like a demon god incarnate, Edward pointed at himself in disbelief.
"Wait, me?"
Roland nodded. "Precisely. As a strategic-grade weapon of the Empire, now is the time for you to prove your worth."
"Uh, Master... the thing is, I haven't actually figured out that Singularity Technology yet, so..."
Edward was halfway through his sentence when Roland cut him off.
"Don't worry about that. You're wearing a Directional Teleportation Necklace. The moment you whip up that Singularity, I’ll pull you back. Or are you saying you don't trust your master’s technique?"
"Er... it’s not that I don't trust you. But Master, you know as well as I do that my Singularity Explosion is still in the theoretical stage. Even if you make me manifest it right now, there’s no guarantee it’ll work..."
"Enough. I know exactly what you're thinking. If this succeeds, you can graduate immediately and join the ranks of the Royal Alchemists."
"No, no, no, Master! This isn't about rewards! It's about the fact that I might die right on the—"
"No more talk. Go."
Before Edward could react, Roland activated the instant teleportation spell he knew all too well.
In the blink of an eye, Edward’s perspective shifted. He was standing right in front of Leon.
Edward: "?"
Leon: "?"
Seeing that his opponent hadn't reacted yet, Edward instantly activated his Alchemy Matrix.
Driven by a reaction speed honed through countless life-and-death crises, Edward followed his memory. Within a single second, he used the Alchemy Matrix to set the surrounding energy into a violent spin.
A moment later, a strangely shaped speck of light appeared in Edward’s palm.
Whether it was a stroke of good luck or a curse, the bizarre speck of light he had manifested began to show signs of an imminent explosion.
Vrrrrm!
His vision blurred again, and Edward was back on the city walls.
Before he could even process what had just happened, he saw that the speck of light seemed to have grown significantly larger.
In the next instant, all the energy in the vicinity was caught in a massive gravitational pull, surging toward that single point of light.
Just as Leon was wondering who that person had been, a colossal pillar of light erupted, drowning out the entire sky.
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
-102.3 Billion!
-204.6 Billion!
-409.2 Billion!
[HP: 23.9 Billion / 740 Billion]
The Singularity Explosion triggered a triple chain of spatial ruptures. Leon’s health bar plummeted instantly.
Roland frowned as he saw that Leon was still alive despite such a horrific explosion.
"It seems a Demigod is indeed no simple matter. Even an explosion of that magnitude couldn't finish him off. Still, this is enough."
As expected, the moment the explosion subsided, Atoris seized the opening and charged toward Leon.
Weaving through the dense thicket of spatial rifts left in the wake of the blast, Atoris quickly reached Leon.
Having taken the full brunt of the explosion, Leon’s form was now tattered and broken.
The moment he saw Atoris appear, Leon struggled to adjust his body, attempting to push himself up from the ground.
But Atoris wasn't about to give him the chance.
In the next second, Atoris gathered every ounce of her strength. The Crimson Greatsword in her hand erupted with a blinding red radiance.
CRASH!
-100.2 Billion!
The blow landed. Atoris’s Crimson Greatsword pierced straight through his head.
Contrary to expectations, Leon’s body did not immediately dissipate after receiving the fatal wound.
In his final moments, Leon turned his mangled face toward Atoris and asked one last question.
"It seems that no matter how hard I try, I can never surpass my Father... Sword of the Empire, as his successor, do you believe that as well...?"
Hearing Leon’s final words, Atoris finally felt a flicker of emotion.
"No, Leon. You never needed to prove anything to your Father, nor did you need to surpass him. From the very beginning, he was always there, waiting for you to return."
"You mean... he actually cared about me...? Heh... since I'm at death's door... I'll take your word for it..."
As he spoke, the Chaos tentacles around Leon that had been struggling for life instantly went limp and crashed to the ground.
"By the way, Sword of the Empire... let me tell you something."
"What is it?"
"Just yesterday, someone claiming to be from the Chaos Church gave me two Demigod-level Chaos Seeds. They told me that if I failed, I should plant them in that Gold-Devouring Insect Hive... to ensure we all go down together."
Atoris realized something was terribly wrong. "So, you...?"
Seeing the look of unease on Atoris’s face, Leon let out one last bitter chuckle.
"I have been a selfish man from start to finish. During the expeditions, I grew accustomed to conquering others. If I encountered someone who refused to yield, I would activate my final order: to destroy everything they held dear."
With that, Leon’s body completely vanished.
"..."
Atoris watched him go, a complex swirl of emotions in her heart.
Hatred... nostalgia... or perhaps pity...
None of them quite fit.
"The Chaos Church... Fine. I will remember you..."
But she didn't have time to dwell on it. Looking at the Gold-Devouring Insects suddenly swarming the sky, Atoris felt a sense of crisis unlike any she had ever known.
She looked closer. Every single one of them was a Demigod-level Chaos Gold-Devouring Insect.
The potent Chaos power had allowed these insects to break past their natural limits. They could now devour anything in their path, no longer restricted to metal.
"Roland said the Singularity Explosion his apprentice used works by concentrating all nearby energy to create a blast. The energy in this area has already been swept clean. If we want to trigger it again, we’ll have to lure them somewhere else."
Thinking of this, Atoris looked toward the Sword of Expedition anchored in the distance.
It was then that a familiar voice reached her ears.
"You aren't planning on pulling some self-sacrifice stunt, are you?"
Atoris immediately turned toward the voice.
"The Master?"
Suddenly, Atoris realized how it looked. "No, Master, I wasn't planning on going personally..."
"Oh, please. Given your three hundred years of devotion to the Empire, I can guess exactly what you're thinking. You'd rather sacrifice yourself than lose a single citizen of the Empire."
"I..."
Xie Bai reached out and covered Atoris’s mouth.
"Enough. You’ve worked hard for this country long enough. It’s time for you to rest."
With that, Xie Bai drew Funeral Rites once more.
"Now, just watch me."
Atoris watched as Xie Bai swung the scythe, manifesting a magnificent Thirteen-Layer Magic Circle.
Stepping upon the motes of golden light rising from the ground, Xie Bai ascended toward the profound Black Gate in the sky.
CLANG—!
The moment the Black Gate was pried open, Xie Bai seized the timing and swung Funeral Rites.
SWISH—!
-106.508 Billion
-106.508 Billion
-106.508 Billion
-106.508 Billion
...
In an instant, a dense swarm of terrifying damage numbers jumped between the insects.
Every single Gold-Devouring Insect was swept away in a heartbeat.
As the insects died, the Chaos power scattered into the air. The sky looked as if it were celebrating Xie Bai’s arrival, blooming with one brilliant firework display after another, filling the entire horizon.
At the same time, the long-awaited notification chime of a level-up exploded in Xie Bai’s ears.