Chapter 165
Chapter 165
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: The Sovereign's Perfect Revival
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"Ol pa sis, where does that turbid soul of yours come from?"
Nariaduk narrowed his eyes as he asked, but the response that flew back was a fireball scorching heaven and earth.
Yet the moment it engulfed him, that spacetime was flung into another dimension, leaving Nariaduk standing there as leisurely as ever.
With a seductively soft sweep of his fan, a storm of poison qi surged forth, but no sooner had the power manifested than it was incinerated into white ash.
"…Hoo."
Amid this suffocating exchange of probes, Nariaduk's mind was surprisingly complex as he casually veiled the underside of his eyes with his fan.
‘The adult form of the Red Dragon lingered within a human body... Did it use the same method as me?’
At that moment, Milone Alter Gaumris staggered toward the red-eyed youth, Rain Ludwig.
"It's time."
She jabbed a syringe of blood serum into the severed stump, regenerating her left arm as she spoke.
"That thing manipulates time. It just flung away the 'time' when you attacked."
Time... The red-eyed youth turned his head, witnessing his past self.
He could see it. The unknown energy occupying Lin's body. It was that same bastard trapped inside the Beltar divine stone back at the temple...
‘My old body.’
He had thought meeting it upon graduating top of <Delaiten> would stir some profound emotion, but facing his former flesh—now sprouting strange eyes and wings—brought no such sentiment. Strangely enough.
What blazed in his chest, deep in his soul, to the point of suffocation was nothing but hatred and rage.
The abyssal acid rain, evaporated by transcendent flames, began pouring once more. The red-eyed youth placed a hand on his chest and replied.
"This body was granted new life by Alakish through that soul, so it must look turbid."
「Alakish... An unfamiliar name.」
"Now it's your turn to answer my question. Did you lure Tureina into the abyss?"
The unnaturally calm voice only hinted at the magnitude of his fury.
The atmosphere quietly began to boil.
As if all oxygen had been burned away by invisible flames, those present choked, sweat beading on their backs.
「Do has... How dare a mere human worm like you glare at me so insolently...?」
"I'll give you five seconds to answer."
「Time belongs to the Throne. That woman dreamed of twisted time, and I, Nariaduk, merely took a bite of that dream, that soul's flesh. Little by little, ever so slightly... Heh heh heh heh.」
The instant the red-eyed youth's eyes flashed, Nariaduk snapped open his fan, tearing through dimensions to yank the hatchling from beyond the flames.
「Do you resent me? Ru has... Even with transcendent power mixed into your soul, at root you're still worthless human trash... You should have subdued me instead of prattling...!」
Miria's face paled as she realized Aki had vanished from her arms without warning.
Aki.
He entrusted him to me.
「Emotions hold power... ger sas, but they always demand a price... Thus, the wise exclude emotions coldly... Design victory meticulously... And exploit every situation coolly... Just like this...」
The hatchling gripped in Nariaduk's hand was swallowed by a repulsive vortex of abyssal hues. Inside, Aki coughed in agony.
「This dragon will now slowly be swept into the storm of fate... Why not right away, you ask, Bel has...? To make use of that fate valuably...」
As Miria moved toward Aki and Milone toward the holy sword Gaumris, Nariaduk flashed a sinister smile their way.
「Quell those insolent powers, or I'll plunge this irreverent being into fate right now... Is that acceptable...?」
"Nariaduk, you bastard...!"
「You lot show no reaction to whatever I do... Al shiras... Not until I approach that thing and forge it a new stellar body...」
One step, one step.
The eternal sovereign closed the distance with arrogant leisure.
「This is true power... Strategy. A de sebur... Now I'll offer your luscious flesh upon the altar of the true king...」
Silently staring down the ancient noble and his former body, the red-eyed youth suddenly bowed his head and let out a short sigh.
"No, you're not."
He muttered in a flat tone, then lifted his gaze. In those red eyes, the slowly rotating flower buds had blossomed into seven radiant petals.
"Your overconfidence in power makes you so transparently predictable. No way Tureina fell for it."
And the moment he glared at the poison storm with those eyes, it ignited in brilliant light and vanished in an instant, widening Nariaduk's eyes.
「What...?!」
By the time Nariaduk belatedly thrust his fan toward the hatchling, the target was gone. In its place stood two women.
"Gaumris!"
Milone swung the ultra-apex holy sword Gaumris, blazing with pure white sword aura, clashing against Nariaduk's fan. In the opening, Miria scooped up Aki and retreated far away.
‘Time flew again.’
But the FakeWarrior, humanity's strongest soldier, wouldn't fall for the same trick repeatedly.
She forcibly twisted the trajectory of the hammer's downward swing—defying inertia and momentum—flinging it back in reverse.
Nariaduk, shocked by this superhuman feat pushed beyond limits, flapped his grotesque wings for the first time and soared high into the sky.
「You lowly thing...」
The resulting poison storm was offset by the dust storm from Milone slamming Gaumris into the earth, scattering it.
「No one can block the storm of fate, and my feathers shall guide this world from false dreams to the true kingdom!」
Out of the FakeWarrior's reach, amid pouring rain clouds, Nariaduk spread his three pairs of wings wide.
Then, feathers glistening with foul stench scattered widely across the mountains... Shockingly, the forests they touched began melting gooily.
Even Miria's hastily deployed character barrier from the Sacred Scripture Pages wavered in pain, cracks forming on its surface.
"Urgh..."
Yuliana, sustaining the Scripture's power, vomited blood, while Valensidis, who had been ushering the few survivors inside the barrier, shouted.
"It's pointless! Using something that strong will just get the time flung away! We need abilities that can be unleashed endlessly!"
The instant Rain shattered the five rotating magic circles crackling with red lightning on his palm.
‘Instant 5th-circle synthesis?’
With the sharp blue hum of igniting flames, a fragment of transcendent soul power was unleashed.
This force incinerated all tangible existence in the world, reducing the unity of all phenomena to ashes.
He manifested that absolute mana as fire runes, commanding blood apertures to open in the field.
"Fire Field Blood Aperture, First Thunder."
Crimson lightning flashed as dark clouds tore open, and in the next moment, flames rent the sky amid retina-searing light.
‘I learned from Shar’kas. These things must be finished with full power when they're off-guard.’
The moment Nariaduk scoffed at the lightning bolt and flapped his wings to scatter more rotten feathers, the ancient god cried out in pain, his pupils shaking.
「What...?!」
His upper right wing was engulfed in flame storm and vaporized in an instant. He had flung the time away—how?
"Bell Quirius."
Ability analysis, reverse calculation, calibration... Amid brain-burning info overload, blood streamed from Rain's eyes.
‘A 10-meter radius ability circle around him—that's the spacetime manipulation construct.’
The forbidden Orvios, runes of the 6th substance symbolizing the abyss.
From battles with black mages and Shar’kas, he'd seen and researched countermeasures countless times, so solving its equation was daunting but possible.
The price: agony as if his brain and eyes were burning white... Valensidis, grasping the situation, gasped.
‘He's controlling Nariaduk's spacetime authority...?」
Nariaduk instantly sensed the anomaly disrupting his power.
"Second Thunder."
Heaven and earth glowed crimson again... All rainwater in the area evaporated, unleashing massive steam in scorching swirls hot enough to blister skin.
‘What the... that guy...’
Miria, clutching the gleefully shrieking Aki, watched the absolute power display and swallowed dryly in awe.
‘Stronger than what several mages cast together earlier by several times...’
And for some reason, a strange tremor stirred in her soul. She couldn't fathom why. Just like the tears that came when she saw the frozen boy earlier.
「R, R, RugabakkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkKKK──────!」
As the time sovereign's bizarre scream blanketed the mountains, some feathers whipped up poison gales toward Rain, but.
"Gaumris."
Milone, guarding Rain's side, plunged the ultra-apex holy sword into the ground, exploding its light to dispel the gales in succession.
"Third Thunder, Fourth Thunder."
Ear-shattering thunderclaps shook the world as third and fourth bolts struck the sky's shadow in rapid succession...
The fifth lightning snatched light from the world, followed by the roar of the ancient ruler crashing from the sky into the earth.
Around him sprawled repulsive wing flesh, an indescribably sour stench emanating from the mad mass.
「Ga, Gal be Cyclo, Cybia, y-you, you dare... to thwart my mission, I who must awaken all eyes──」
Rain's eyes were chillingly cold as he looked down at his former body, charred to cinders in the flames, crawling on the ground.
"──Keep barking in hell."
Snap. The red-eyed youth flicked his fingers, unleashing the sixth thunderbolt.
Amid the mountain-rending boom, the ancient great mage's cracked, hoarse death cry was mercilessly buried.
With the intangible tremor of formless power's dissipation, lethal stench poured from the massive crater left by the lightning.
‘Who is that?’
‘Who could it be?’
A few Rivendel elders, two great witches, and fewer than ten others watched the unreal power spectacle with clear minds, swallowing hard.
‘A human who wields the origin rune Fire so perfectly?’
If it were 300 years ago, they might have cried "Great Mage Lin has come to save us!" just from that robed back with staff in hand.
Of course, they weren't immune to the thought—but it was impossible fantasy.
Great Mage Lin died 300 years ago, his body devoured by the ancient ruler.
And per Light Dragon Church doctrine, soul reincarnation doesn't exist. It's heretical nonsense.
“...”
Rain, staring fixedly at the crater with a tense face, forgetting even to breathe, finally exhaled the lump in his throat.
‘Is it over?’
The presence had clearly vanished.
Dangerous. Controlling ancient authority with Bell Quirius felt like every neuron in his brain had ruptured.
Just then, Milone extended an arm as if to support him, gazing curiously into the smoke.
"What is that?"
Bracing for the dull brain pain, he reactivated Bell Sidias... Only for stunned shock to banish the agony.
Raven caws conquering the mountains resonated like cosmic melody, scrambling his mind.
At the crater's center lay an unnaturally transparent frost flower. An unforgettable icy form.
"Juyeo Soge Daeban...?"
But something was off. Fundamentally so. The red-eyed youth doubted his eyes.
Cold sweat trickled down.
For one, he couldn't interfere with it via Bell Quirius at all...
‘Impossible.’
Inside, a cosmic oblivion entity writhed black, instantly recombining its incinerated, torn flesh to original form.
‘Even unstable-but-corporeal Shar’kas couldn't hyper-regenerate after a direct hit here...’
Theoretically understandable (that incantation's nature), but practically incomprehensible.
How is that thing using it?
Combining Juyeo Soge Daeban's temporary invincibility and healing amp with absolute existence's hyper-regeneration?
Crack...
...Crrrack...
……………Crack...
Amid the twisted laughter of cosmic ravens, cracks spiderwebbed across the frost wall...
────KABOOM!
Ice shards exploded outward, and the great Nariaduk awoke from his momentary slumber, spreading sour stench across heaven and earth.
"No way..."
"Nariaduk's body..."
"It's fully restored...!"
As all shuddered in indescribable terror, Nariaduk inspected his flesh and burst into mad laughter.
「Heh, heh heh, heh heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah... Ro a kusas! I despaired at failing to manifest the perfect flesh with all authorities... What an exquisite mortal body... A human form so beautiful...!」
Then, with a roar as if the mountains were being cleaved, the seventh thunderbolt struck the ancient great mage's body.
He didn't dodge.
Nor manipulate time.
Over his incinerated flesh under transcendent lightning, the frost wall—said to be crafted by the youngest-ever great mage and legendary shrine maiden—deployed once more...
‘No, no...’
It felt like the heart of a nightmare.
Watching the great mage's body, with three pairs of wings and a third eye, restore instantly within that icy prison.
Then the ice began cracking again, and with grotesque twisted laughter, the nightmare descended upon the land anew.
‘Does that mean no fatal wound can kill it...?'
Milone clearly heard the apocalyptic echo this despair implied.
‘It's transcended death with that... No more weaknesses... No magic or spell has meaning...’
Shrine Maiden Yuliana of the Star Cluster also recognized the absolute madness's whisper of doom.
‘Not an incomplete revival.’
Here, at Myth Peak of the Crimson Mountains... The Time Triad Nariaduk, ruler of the old era, had resurrected in perfect form.
The ancient god, living infinite time with immortality and undeath, reborn to dominate humanity once more.
「As ever, this body shall exist in infinite time... Aaaaaa, kneel before the vortex of fate...」
As the FakeWarrior and all trembled with primordial fear inherited through oblivion, quiet flames flickered in the red-eyed youth's gaze.
‘If annihilation won't work, bind it. Guess I have to use ‘that’ after all.’
But it needed time... The moment that judgment formed, he turned and dashed down the slope toward Myth Peak's summit.
「Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...」
Nariaduk watched the sight—the mortal overwhelmed by fear fleeing with back turned—with deep satisfaction, before finally spreading wings and ascending.
「A fitting squirm for base origins... Bel has... As gift, I'll take that irreverent soul and flesh painlessly... Right now!」