Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Primal (2)
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"Really... a spirit?"
Lilia tilted her head and glanced at Galen's left shoulder. A cat-shaped water spirit was perched there.
As far as she knew, the spirit Galen had originally possessed was the "complete" one, while the ones he could temporarily create after gaining enlightenment were "incomplete."
So when he suddenly claimed this one was the real deal, it was hard for her to wrap her head around it.
"I'll explain later. After we wrap this up."
Galen raised his left hand, aiming at the sky, and whispered.
The magic had now taken over the spot where the Miracle of Selection had been temporarily holding back Atma's spirits.
He had indeed depleted nearly all his mana to create the golden fireball in his right hand.
But his depleted mana was only the life force. He still had plenty left in Water Flow Manipulation, Phantom Flame Burst, Spiral Eddy, and the like.
Spirit Creation and Siren's Demonic Sound, which were based on life force anyway, hadn't been used against Atma's spirits from the start, so nothing had really changed there.
With the stalemate reestablished,
Galen lightly clenched his right hand. The golden fireball in his palm wriggled away as if avoiding it, climbing up to his fingertips. At that moment, Galen flicked his fingers.
The golden fireball floated up leisurely and slowly drifted over, landing softly on Lilia's right hand.
"Ah."
Unlike its appearance—like a miniature sun compressed small—it wasn't hot at all. It only gave off a pleasantly cozy warmth.
The fluffy mass soon melted downward with a soft rustle, transforming into a bracelet that wrapped around her wrist.
"This is...?"
"I'll call it the Spirit of Life, for now. From the third method I mentioned earlier—this one will take my place."
"Huh? You can do that?"
"That's what I made it for."
As Lilia examined the golden bracelet anew, Galen added,
"I don't know if it'll hit the perfect timing exactly, but you'll just have to adjust for that part."
"Got it. I'll give it a shot!"
Lilia replied energetically. Instead of needless doubt, she took Galen's words as fact and envisioned how things might play out. It looked promising.
She took a light breath, biding her time, and then—vanished in an instant, like a flame snuffed out.
Whoosh!
Shadow spears forged from darkness blocked the path of her charging form, now a streak of light.
She hadn't panicked even the first time she encountered them—now, on a repeat encounter, she was even less fazed. Lilia swung her Radiant Sword with all her might.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
The pitch-black weapons shattered mercilessly. Rather than slicing, dozens of destructive lines of light practically pulverized them, grinding the darkness to dust.
Amid it all, Lilia's senses focused solely on Atma.
It was just as she thought. When she melted all obstacles with the Miracle of Selection and closed in at ultra-high speed, he vanished instantly. But when she was even slightly held up like this, he seemed to think he had some leeway—his movements slowed.
Not by seconds, of course, but it was a gap.
Enough room to aim for the "perfect moment"?
And Lilia's expectation was precisely rewarded.
Not a fleshy voice, but an eerie resonance like the strange winds sometimes heard in unique terrains—it emanated from Lilia's right hand as she swung her Radiant Sword, precisely from the bracelet on her wrist.
The shadow spears pouring down relentlessly, whether piercing or not, halted unnaturally in their tracks.
"What?"
At almost the same moment, Atma's voice registered the oddity.
Boom!
Lilia, the first to realize what had happened, was already charging forward with the Miracle of Selection leading the way.
Whether the shadows dangled limply or darted nimbly, they crumbled equally before the Miracle of Selection—so up to this point, it was the same as before.
But the crucial difference: Atma hadn't spatial-jumped away. He stood awkwardly frozen in place.
Lilia's eyes caught the thick, full-body armor of darkness enveloping him rippling unstably.
This confirmed it.
The golden bracelet—whatever it was, the Spirit of Life—had perfectly replicated the siren's magic Galen used to subdue the Nightmare in the magic beast warehouse. It had truly taken his role.
Spiritists were a subset of mages, and mages were done the moment they allowed approach—except in rare cases like earth fairies or Galen, who had mastered their magic.
Without his annoying spatial-jump ability, Atma had no way to counter at this range.
Lilia closed the gap in a flash and swung her Radiant Sword. The blade of light pierced the rippling armor of darkness.
That was the moment.
Flash!
An alien light from behind. A ferocious warning from her innate senses.
"Lil—"
Galen's urgent voice barely reached her ears when—
Lightning engulfs Lilia!
* * *
Even if he scanned the entire world, no mage grasped their own abilities as precisely as Galen.
Thanks to the status window's perfect theoretical corrections.
Whether newly acquiring a spell, evolving an existing one, leveling up, gaining enlightenment—whatever the case, the corresponding knowledge was automatically organized and etched into his mind.
Thus, he fully understood the abilities of this new spirit he'd created upon awakening the Revised World.
It possessed several evolved traits far surpassing previous spirits—worthy of being called a "true spirit." But the standout ability right now was—
'It can replicate any spell I can cast.'
Of course, that didn't mean this one spirit could cast all of Galen's spells.
'As a Spirit of Life, it's limited to spells using life force. Right now, that's Spirit Creation and Siren's Demonic Sound.'
The former was amusing—a spirit creating spirits—but irrelevant now. The key was the latter: disabling Nightmares.
Galen could do it himself, but he was a bit distant, and busy handling Atma's spirits besides.
So, attaching the Spirit of Life to Lilia and timing a close-range cast would perfectly exploit the opening—a trump card.
Without lengthy explanations, Lilia moved exactly as he hoped, and events unfolded precisely as predicted.
The Spirit of Life's Siren's Demonic Sound crippled the Nightmare.
Even a slight hesitation was a huge opening for Lilia—and now, half-paralyzed and flailing, it was easy pickings.
As Galen glanced sideways with satisfaction at Lilia about to cleave the Nightmare armor in slow-motion time—
Flash!
A blinding light erupted, making Galen squint—then recoil in horror.
Atma's spirit had shifted attributes again. That alone wouldn't faze him—it had done so repeatedly. But...
Not fire, frost, wind, or earth, which it'd shown countless times—lightning suddenly surged.
In the blink of an eye, Atma's spirit became a thunderbird and hurtled forth at literal lightning speed.
Not downward at Galen—but sideways, at Lilia.
"Lilia!"
Galen's horrified shout escaped as the thunderbird already slammed into her.
Massive bolt illuminates the rear!
The Spirit of Life, linked to Galen's mind, screamed in pain—like Lilia's own cry to him.
Unable to withstand the voltage, Lilia was blasted backward.
Galen squeezed out the last dregs of his life force.
[Life: Spirit: Grant]
[Spirit Creation]
A hastily conjured wind spirit flew straight to Lilia.
[Ebony: Shadow: Manipulation]
[Darkness Assimilation]
Galen's body immediately melted into the shadows and vanished.
Galen reappeared behind the wind spirit cushioning Lilia's fall. As her speed slowed and she descended gently, he hurriedly supported her.
"You okay?"
"F-fine!"
Lilia replied stoutly through slightly numb lips. Fortunately, she wasn't badly hurt—enough to steady herself. Some spasms lingered, though.
More precisely, she was hurt, but healing in real-time. Her robe was in tatters, and exposed skin was bloodied in spots.
"I blocked most of it with Selection. It was a bit late, so I got a little scraped up—nothing major."
"That's not 'a little'! Sorry. I should've gripped the spirit tighter—"
"Nah, I'm really fine. It seemed like Atma's trump card—even how could I block a reckless all-out lunge?"
Lilia smiled brightly, consoling the guilty Galen instead.
She wasn't wrong.
Atma's attack wasn't a brilliant ambush—it was closer to a mutual suicide strike.
As the Radiant Sword began splitting the Nightmare armor, he'd blindly charged as a thunderbird.
The Nightmares stuck to Lilia got swept up in the lightning too.
Crisply charred Nightmares dropped away, revealing Atma's dismayed face within.
"Damn it... curses..."
His clutched side was soaked in blood. In that brief moment, Lilia's Radiant Sword had pierced the Nightmare armor and stabbed Atma inside.
Had he not hastily blasted Lilia away with the thunderbird, the sword would've churned his guts.
But without time to aim precisely, the Nightmares went down too—a total loss either way.
"Just pay back what we took, no worries!"
"You gonna keep fighting?"
"This much is nothing. You've fought orc mages with way worse injuries, right?"
"That time, I had no choice... Fine. I'll keep supporting you."
"Yeah!"
Regardless of his guilt, blindly coddling Lilia's fierce battle spirit wasn't right. She wasn't a child—she was Galen's equal.
Lilia drew a new Radiant Sword and glared at Atma. Galen regrouped his mana.
"What... what trick did you pull?"
Meanwhile, Atma—who'd lost his lifeline in an instant—lacked his prior confidence. His voice already trembled faintly.
"Nightmare malfunction? You wield some sinister magic tied to evil spirits?"
"Even if it's sinister, not as much as parading around with demons attached, right?"
Lilia shot back curtly. The obvious retort momentarily silenced Atma before he gnashed his teeth.
"Not yet—not over! You think it'll end like this?!"
"Yeah, not ended. Not yet. Who knows how much longer."
Galen replied indifferently, ignoring him.
"You had spatial-jump—should've fled early. Or at least stayed in the main house away from backup; that would've been a real pain."
"Too late for that now."
The voice wasn't Lilia's, Michael's, or Atma's.
Atma turned, his face twisting further.
From the forest encircling the garden like a fence, Anton emerged slowly, Radiant Sword in hand.
"Sorry I'm late. Took time cleaning up."
"Cleaning up?"
"No way you'd get cornered without escape after you two went in. Saw the commotion dragging on from the garden—figured I'd handle traffic control ahead."
Anton had spotted Galen's initial blast entering the garden and mobilized Selceph Parish's full forces to subdue the Speerius Family on his way.
With the family's main strength all rushed to kill Michael, no one left had the guts to resist even an archbishop's direct intervention. Paradoxically, their weakness bought more suspicion.
"Worst case, maybe Speerius are victims, but..."
"I'd testify a hundred times. What these scum did—from magic beasts to evil spirits, endless scandals."
Michael growled. Anton nodded knowingly, his cold gaze turning to Atma.
"No escape now, Atma. No one's left to help—surrender quietly?"
"And if I do?"
"I'll spare you torture and just behead you."
"See? Can't talk to zealots."
Atma sneered. Realizing retreat was cut off, fear faded—only a gem's pride remained.
"Fine, come on. I won't go down easy."
"Trying to slyly switch opponents?"
Galen chided.
"You keep playing with us."
"You whelps dare—!"
"Forgot already how you pathetically fled moments ago? Whatever. Ready, Lilia?"
"Yes! Right now?"
Lilia raised her Radiant Sword. Galen nodded lightly.
Simultaneously—
The Spirit of Life sang Siren's Demonic Sound—a technique Atma's spirit had never used before.
The thunderbird encircling Atma began convulsing wildly.
"Wh-what?!"
"Told you. I'm the superior spiritist."
Galen smirked at the panicked Atma.
"I'm claiming that title."