Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Chapter 68: Wrapping Up (1)
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Gab convulsed.
Jamie watched him silently.
Gab's mind must be a total mess right now.
That was because he had forcibly injected him with Diablo Volpir's memories. He would be indirectly experiencing all the pain and torment from that time.
"A mere ten thousand years."
It was certainly a long time.
Ten thousand years was an immense span, long enough for several civilizations to vanish and reemerge without surprise.
But Jamie had endured—Diablo Volpir had endured—sixty-six thousand, six hundred sixty-six years.
And that was in a horrific abyss.
He had been called the Eye of Omniscience, convinced he knew everything, but in truth, he was just a frog in a well.
"Wasting time like that..."
Even with his own power in hand, he had holed up in this backwater corner, scheming only to steal someone else's body.
Ganon came to mind by comparison.
With the same power, Ganon had struggled tirelessly to uncover the world's secrets.
He had ultimately failed, but Jamie didn't see it that way.
What he left behind had reached Jamie intact.
Yet Gab, with a similar name, couldn't even hold a candle to Ganon's toes.
Despite living ten thousand years, his entire life had been a waste. Not content with that, he had submitted to the 12 Gods, hoping to cling to another life.
"Daring to wield my power."
Gab's convulsions began to subside slowly.
Diablo Volpir's vast memories were finally reaching their end.
Jamie waited until the seizure passed.
A moment later, Gab, whose trembling had ceased, slowly lifted his head to gaze up at Jamie.
His eyes were filled with despair.
"Your mental fortitude is stronger than expected. So you really lived ten thousand years?"
Honestly, Jamie had thought his mind would shatter, leaving only a lifeless doll behind.
But it seemed those ten thousand years weren't entirely wasted; he possessed greater mental strength than anticipated.
Though it was fragile now, ready to crumble at the slightest touch.
"...Is this even possible?"
Gab's voice trembled with disbelief.
"How... how could you emerge unscathed from that horrific place?"
The fact that Diablo Volpir had fiercely battled the 12 Gods wasn't particularly important.
No, it was important, but it wasn't what intrigued Gab now.
There was only one thing Gab wanted to know.
"How could you remain sane in that endless, pitch-black void—devoid of everything, with no light whatsoever... trapped for that impossible eon?!"
It made no sense.
He had only glimpsed a fraction, but time flowed at an insane speed in that place.
It was a space of pure nothingness, so the acceleration of time hadn't been noticeable.
Time there was infinite.
It was a realm where time flowed differently from here.
Gab didn't know the exact figure of sixty-six thousand six hundred sixty-six years, but by his own perception, it was at least hundreds of thousands.
In that abyss where nothing existed, time raced at several times the speed of reality.
Any mind should have crumbled long ago, and even the body should have submitted to the 12 Gods.
Yet the man before him—reincarnated or not—retained those memories perfectly.
"Tell me, Dia—"
"Shh."
Jamie silenced Gab as he tried to utter his true name.
With a hand blazing black, Jamie gripped his face tightly and curled his lips in a mocking sneer.
"It's quite amusing."
"..."
"The fact that you, of all people in this world, understand me the best..."
Someone he had met for the first time today.
A being that was neither human nor anything else.
Pinpointing a problem no one else could empathize with.
Jamie found that ridiculous and intriguing.
"But you're wrong."
His fingertips sharpened, piercing Gab's skin.
Jamie effortlessly lifted him up.
Shadows fluttered wildly.
"I,"
Jamie said, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"was always mad."
Crush!
Gab's face exploded.
Chunks of flesh rained down to the floor.
The headless body slumped to the ground.
Jamie lowered his arm and gazed at the cold corpse Gab had become.
The end for one who craved life so desperately was this pathetic.
Jamie continued speaking to the corpse.
"I was always steeped in madness. I just never showed it. I had long since mastered the art of not drowning in it."
His violet eyes wavered in the darkness.
He crouched down and placed a hand on the body.
"Time to reclaim this."
The black mana—adrift without a master—began to stream out into the air at Jamie's touch.
It was the power Gab Illidan had luckily acquired before receiving his name from the 12 Gods.
However, Jamie didn't absorb the black mana itself.
"Crystallize."
As Jamie formed hand seals, the floating black mana tangled chaotically before rapidly condensing into a refined gemstone.
Exactly as it had been when Gab first obtained it.
And back to the present.
"I no longer need black mana."
Power didn't suffer permanent damage from losing a portion.
And while this amount would be valuable to the likes of Gab, it was insignificant to Jamie.
So what to do with it?
That was when it happened.
Screech!
Black burst out from Jamie's shoulder.
Jamie was slightly flustered as Black appeared unbidden.
Before he could say anything, Black's pupils narrowed vertically, and it swallowed the crystallized black mana whole.
"You little—!"
Jamie was quite taken aback by Black's sudden action.
Ignoring its master, Black shot up into the sky.
Hummm—!!
And began emitting black light.
Jamie widened his eyes at the ominous phenomenon.
Something was about to happen.
But he had no idea what.
'Black doesn't have that kind of ability...'
Black, one of Jamie's three familiars, was an artificial creature made solely to assist with rituals.
Come to think of it, the same thing had happened before when he turned Raiza and Azad into undead.
Back then, before awakening 'Stage 1 Authority: Defying Heaven,' his power had been insufficient for perfect undead conversion.
Black had devoured the residual black mana that leaked out.
'I was surprised then too, but...'
He had chalked it up to remnants being manageable.
But this was different.
This could be called a remnant of his power too, but the quantity of black mana contained within was on another level.
No matter how meticulously crafted, even Black had limits to what it could handle.
The black light intensified.
It swiftly enveloped the entire space.
Jamie spotted a white glow at the center of the black light.
"...What is this?"
They said opposites attract.
The darkness gradually turned to light.
Jamie couldn't close his gaping mouth.
Bat wings became covered in pristine white feathers.
Its sleek, round body followed suit.
Holy light manifested above it.
Jamie leaped toward it.
The situation was unexpected, but he wasn't fool enough to let such an opportunity slip.
"This power..."
His right arm darkened once more.
He seized the holy light.
And then.
Light and darkness intertwined.
Jamie embraced it with his entire body, gazing at the world fading to black and white.
His mana cores throughout his body thrummed. His energy channels raged.
"Gaaahhh!!"
All his veins bulged beneath his skin.
Blood poured from every orifice.
Yet he didn't release the holy light.
Black's enormous wings gently enveloped Jamie. The soft, warm feathers eased the pain.
Jamie's expression softened as he gripped the holy light with both hands.
"I leap once more."
The light born from the extreme.
"Become the foundation of new power."
Darkness swallowed it once again.
Rumble!!
"He's clearing his mind and heading up for now, but this is serious."
"It looks certain something happened to the Eye of Omniscience..."
"Once the Young Master catches up, let's discuss what transpired."
The three grand mages wore deeply troubled expressions.
They had no clue how to explain the events below to the other elders.
And this news had to reach the royal family too.
King Friedmoor's reaction was unpredictable, and if he made an issue of it, even Jamie couldn't escape punishment.
"Figuring out the full context comes first."
"The 7th Elder is right. Let's head up and convene an emergency meeting."
They fell silent and quietly reached the top floor.
That was when it happened.
Rumble!!
The magic tower began shaking violently.
"What's with the sudden earthquake?"
"This isn't a normal quake!"
"Damn it. It's not just the tower—the entire magical world is shaking!"
Siegfried quickly assessed the quake's range and informed them.
"Damn it, what now?!"
Luke ground his teeth in exasperation.
He'd lost count of the massive incidents lately.
And every one was too much to handle.
Linmel spoke calmly.
"Locating the epicenter comes first. 7th Elder, handle that. 5th Elder, ensure the citizens evacuate safely. I'll try to suppress the quake somehow."
Stopping a natural disaster like an earthquake with magic was virtually impossible, but Linmel was an 8th-class grand mage.
He couldn't stop it permanently, but he could hold it off until Siegfried pinpointed the source.
"And it would help if we could summon the 1st Elder quickly."
1st Elder Offen Ginger, in seclusion, was away from the magical world.
No matter how powerful Linmel's 8th-class magic, handling the quake alone was insufficient.
With Offen at the same level assisting, it would be far easier.
"Understood. I'll fetch the 1st Elder—"
Luke nodded and was about to move when.
"No need for that."
The earthquake stopped as if it were a lie.
The three turned toward the voice from behind.
Jamie stood there.
But something was off.
Siegfried noticed first. He couldn't bring himself to use the elder honorific and called Jamie as he always had.
"Young Master... what happened? You look... a bit taller."
As he said, Jamie appeared larger than usual to Siegfried's eyes.
It wasn't an illusion.
"I guess I grew a little."
"...A little?"
It was Luke.
He stared at Jamie as if beholding something grotesque.
"Doesn't look 'a little' to me."
Jamie had always been larger than his peers due to the Orb of Life's influence, but now it went beyond that.
Not quite adult-sized, but he looked about thirteen or fourteen.
He had visibly grown at least ten centimeters.
"What happened down there?"
Linmel scrutinized Jamie up and down, then broke into a cold sweat at the extraordinary aura emanating from him.
"I had a stroke of fortune."
A stroke of fortune he couldn't share with anyone.
The key point was that his black mana had transcended into a new realm because of it.
"No need to worry. The quake was temporary, so it won't happen again. And..."
Jamie scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"The Eye of Omniscience is gone now. What do we do...?"
The three grand mages were speechless.