Chapter 12 A Completely Shattered Worldview
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: A Completely Shattered Worldview
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Too weak.
Compared to the magnificent and awe-inspiring force of nature, humanity was simply far too weak. The collision between the values they had always held regarding the sanctity of life and the fragility of that life itself deepened their fear.
And as the captain was about to meet with misfortune, he had fallen into an abyss of immense terror.
It was the first time he had ever so thoroughly despised the knowledge he possessed.
It was precisely because of that knowledge that he was able to know with perfect clarity that…
There was no saving them!
Even if God himself intervened, there was no saving them!
They had already been swallowed into the eye of the tornado, and next, the raging hurricane would tear apart the wings of the aircraft, and then every single one of them would become like buttered bread tossed into a washing machine!
It seemed as though they could do absolutely nothing other than watch helplessly as death drew near.
The co-pilot had already let out a hysterical wail.
It was like leaping off a ten-thousand-foot cliff — every single second from that moment until death arrived was infinite despair.
"God, I don't want to die!" Even the captain, with all his years of flight experience, had begun to cry out loudly like a child.
BOOM—!
A deep blue bolt of lightning cleaved across the sky, and in the instant that its blinding light illuminated the world, both the captain and the co-pilot opened their eyes wide at the same moment.
In that split second, they seemed to have caught a glimpse of a silhouette standing resolute amid the thunder and lightning.
Another bolt of lightning!
This time, they were able to see it clearly — it truly was a silhouette suspended high in the sky. The downpour swirled around him, bolts of lightning coursed along his sides, the silver-white patterns on his garments reflected a dazzling radiance, and his robes billowed and snapped in the howling gale.
"God!" Hope surged up within the captain's heart in that moment.
It was the glimmer of a miracle glimpsed at the very edge of despair. No matter how unbelievable that glimmer was, he kept his eyes stretched wide open, as if trying to determine whether what he was seeing was real or a hallucination, while simultaneously shouting like a madman at his co-pilot.
"Hank, do you see God? Do you see him?"
"Yes! I see him! I see him!" The co-pilot was also shouting like a madman, even waving both his arms frantically, his frenzied tone sounding as though he was weeping for joy.
"What God?"
The tower personnel had also heard these words, and he assumed that the captain and the co-pilot were experiencing hallucinations under the pressure of facing death.
But very quickly…
Shouts erupted from those around him as well.
"What’s that? Over there! Right in front of the aircraft!"
"I see it too! Tell me it isn't real!"
"Hiss—! How is that possible?!"
More and more people pressed themselves against the windows, their voices filled with disbelief and shock so intense that it surpassed even the moment they had learned that a crash was imminent.
Because this was a complete shattering of everything they knew.
The tower worker also raised his head, and he even grabbed the binoculars beside him with a single motion.
And then he saw it too.
Amid the thunder and lightning, a silhouette that was unmistakably human was soaring high in the sky.
BOOM—!
A blinding bolt of lightning suddenly struck directly toward that silhouette.
Quite a number of people instinctively screamed, and some even stumbled backward in shock.
However, this bolt of lightning didn’t strike the silhouette directly as everyone had imagined.
Instead, it was caught.
That was right — through the view of the tower worker’s binoculars, that silhouette had reached out with both hands and seized the writhing bolt of lightning from the middle, as if grabbing hold of a rope that stretched from the heavens to the earth. Then came a second, and a third... Even without the binoculars, one could see bolt after bolt of lightning from the sky converging upon that single point, clutched tightly in the hands of the figure that seemed neither fully human nor divine.
The lightning seemed to be alive…
Twisting and writhing ceaselessly, yet unable to break free.
"How is that possible—?!"
Everyone felt that what had shattered wasn’t only their worldview, but science and common sense itself.
Lightning... How could lightning possibly be caught in someone's bare hands?!
Some people even gave themselves a hard slap across the face, genuinely questioning whether they were dreaming.
But no matter what they did…
Everything before their eyes remained just as it was!
This was Witchcraft: Lightning Manifestation.
It was capable of transforming intangible lightning into something tangible, converting that enormous energy into a colossal force!
Since Shen Yi had decided to act, he was going to do it in the most overwhelming, most unbelievable way possible!
A halo of magical energy filled his palms as he gripped the bolts of current tightly, then he hurled them forward with all of his strength. The deep blue lightning flew out like a lasso and, astonishingly, bound the teetering aircraft completely!
The sustained blazing light made the heavens and earth seem as bright as midday!
Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, Shen Yi used the lightning as chains and pulled the aircraft, inch by inch, out from the eye of the massive tornado.
This scene…
Was like Thor roaring from above the clouds, like Prometheus casting heavenly fire down upon the earth, like Zeus atop the peak of Olympus declaring war upon his father Cronus.
It was filled with an epic grandeur and spectacle that beggared all description!
Words had lost all power to express the people’s emotions of that moment — even the name of God that was so often on their lips was forgotten — and everyone simply watched, their entire bodies trembling, as that figure used lightning to drag the aircraft free from the tornado, then set it down on the runway in a manner that was rough yet clean, sending a shower of blinding sparks scattering in all directions.
"Get over there, quickly!"
Someone finally came to their senses, letting out a cry before immediately turning around and running.
The rest snapped awake as if startled from a dream.
One after another, they followed close behind the running personnel.
Trembling with awe, they went to see for themselves that being who seemed like a deity, wanting to confirm it, wanting to rebuild their worldview that had been violently torn apart just now.
The lightning that Shen Yi had seized, freed from restraint, had long since dissipated.
But the thunderstorm hadn’t retreated.
The loud rumbling still resounded throughout the sky. Shen Yi hovered not far in front of the aircraft, residual lightning still circling around both his hands, and the light blazing from his eyes matched the brilliance of the lightning itself. The torrential downpour was unable to touch him in the slightest, scattering in all directions as if meeting an invisible barrier, while his robes and the silver patterns upon them snapped and billowed fiercely in the howling wind.
The captain and co-pilot gazed up at him with gratitude and reverence.
Until the moment his silhouette vanished into a ripple.
The downpour surged back to reclaim the space where he had been.
Only then did they seem to come to their senses, scrambling to their feet and leaping out like madmen, trying to find the one who had saved them and who had simultaneously revealed to them another truth about the world.
They naturally found nothing.
Shen Yi had chosen not to stay. The reason he had chosen to intervene in this manner naturally had its logic behind it, but for the time being, he had no intention of making contact with these people.
When the others arrived while driving fire trucks, bathed in the glare of the blaring lights, they stood staring blankly one by one at the aircraft before them.
"God..."
On the surface of the aircraft, clearly visible, were rings upon rings of marks that looked as though they had been scorched by fire.
Those were the evidence left behind by the lightning bindings.
As if silently telling them that the world was no longer what they had once known.
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T/N - Well, that’s certainly one way to leave a lasting impression. Though seeing how the MC wields his magic, he looks more like Scarlet Witch than Harry Potter to me. Imagine if after all of this, the world doomsday ends up as another world destroying plague like his previous world. Well, it’s free points for him, at least. 😅