Ch.302Storm (10)

“…How?”

It wasn’t the Emperor who answered Llewellyn’s dazed question.

The Emperor merely smiled, lifting the corner of his mouth as if he couldn’t care less, and stepped aside.

Instead, Melody and Isla appeared.

As Isla rushed into his arms for an embrace, Melody spoke while watching the scene with what seemed like envy.

“The Emperor summoned us. He said Llewellyn was in danger, that if Llewellyn died, everything would be for nothing…”

Melody grabbed Llewellyn’s remaining hand.

“And he said Netel commanded it, that now is our chance. That if not now, we won’t be able to push them back.”

At those words, Llewellyn blankly raised his head to look at the sky.

The sky was still open. The world remained unsealed. The Transcendents still seemed to be baring their monstrous forms, laughing ominously.

Closing the world seemed like a distant goal. At first glance, it was impossible to tell how many days they would need to endure.

But now was the chance? From where Llewellyn stood, Melody hesitated awkwardly.

“Netel came up with a method from the original plan to ‘use’ Llewellyn.”

Words she probably heard from the Emperor. As Llewellyn stared blankly, the Emperor, who had stepped back, spoke.

“Mother will use all the ranks you possess to close the world.”

Boom—a shockwave spread. Beyond the split sky, parts of a Transcendent’s body were slowly becoming visible.

“That means…”

“Mother will ascend. At the end of the ascension, she will seal the world from the outside.”

What could have happened if Llewellyn had sacrificed himself from the beginning. As Llewellyn realized what would happen as a result, the Emperor smiled faintly.

“From now on is the critical moment.”

He was right. The moment she chooses to ascend, Mother’s intentions will be exposed to the Transcendents.

It was obvious that the Transcendents would resist more fiercely to prevent that.

What needed to be done was clear. Llewellyn detached Isla, who was wagging her tail expressionlessly in his arms, and stroked her cheek.

“Shall we try?”

“Yes.”

Though still expressionless, her tail wagged gently with relief. Llewellyn also stroked Melody’s head as she puffed her cheeks in apparent displeasure, then turned to face forward.

Soldiers and knights stood in formation.

People gathered to protect the Pantheon gripped their weapons, while mages concentrated their magical power and chanted.

A melody enveloped these people. Magic that boosted vitality and instilled courage in their steps.

Magic composed of humming and distinct melodies. The magic of the Duel School, already spread by Melody and Maya, still enveloping the battlefield.

Llewellyn stepped forward in rhythm with it.

Thud—his step crushed the debris beneath. Normally, he would have used a leap to take the lead, but not this time.

Llewellyn was not alone. The entire Pantheon was with him.

The enemy approached.

Avatars and contractors, unable to neutralize their overflowing power to form proper shapes, yet they wouldn’t collapse even if cut or beaten.

They were made of transcendence itself. Like mud infused with transcendence molded together.

Llewellyn was suddenly at the front line of the battlefield. The place just before enemy and ally forces met, at the very front of the gathered forces.

Like a sharp spearhead. Llewellyn exhaled, feeling as if he had become the tip of a spear.

“Let’s go.”

An impressive speech, an order that moves hearts.

None of that was necessary. Everyone had come here of their own will.

Llewellyn took the lead. Matching his pace, not using leaps, just walking steadfastly.

Gripping the Star Cluster in his right hand, he infused power into his breath.

[Mourning]

Power swirled around his body. People advanced forward, matching Llewellyn’s steps.

Llewellyn gradually quickened his pace with the illusion that the entire Pantheon had become his limbs.

Finally, when his walk became a run, and the run became the charge of an army.

CRASH!

The Transcendent forces and the Pantheon collided.

Following his drawn sword, countless weapons exchanged blows. Launched attacks dismembered the Transcendents’ limbs, and counterattacks were blocked.

People tangled and tumbled together. Others filled the gaps from behind, facing avatars and contractors.

In the midst of it all, Llewellyn swung the Star Cluster in his grip relentlessly.

CLANG!

With an upward slash, he split an avatar in half, then blocked the barrage of spine-like attacks with his sword tip, blade, hilt, and forearm.

As Llewellyn ducked between the deflected attacks, arrows shot from behind him.

Whoosh—arrows of light pierced through the enemy’s head. Llewellyn immediately dashed forward.

THUD!

A simple flying knee strike, but with extraordinary power. A knee strike delivered with the power of a god who far transcended humans carried immense force.

After trampling the crushed contractor, Llewellyn swung his weapon while standing back-to-back with his sister who had approached.

Vivid red and blue trajectories. Attacks blooming from Lucilla’s and Llewellyn’s hands respectively.

They split the contractors rushing toward each other, and blood bullets rained down on those still charging at the pair.

The sound of blood droplets falling and enemies collapsing into shadow masses.

Lucilla looked at Llewellyn and smiled briefly.

“You’ve been through a lot. From now on, we fight together.”

Words that seemed to say she wouldn’t leave him alone anymore. Llewellyn silently lifted the corner of his mouth and rushed forward.

Slashing, striking, and kicking enemies.

Similar scenes unfolded across the rest of the battlefield.

People who would never have met just a year ago, even those who had been enemies with no expectation of cooperation, now stood back-to-back in a single army.

When the Sword Saint’s strike cleanly cut through an enemy, Maya followed with a similar sword. Her sword strikes and melody-like oration that resembled speeches invigorated the entire battlefield.

Behind her was the Sword Saint Society. People who had followed the Sword Saint seeking a place to live, people who had lost much. They swung their swords, determined to protect their home.

Not far away were the Inquisitors and Melody.

Singing along with the melody created by Maya, a swordswoman who deflected enemy attacks with her cloak and pierced through them.

A sword prodigy even the Sword Saint coveted. As she thrust her sword to impale an enemy, a massive avatar charged at her, but—

WHOOSH!

The charging avatar never reached her. Melody, as if it were only natural, didn’t even glance at it as she swung her sword in the air while singing, and beside her stood a knight engulfed in flames.

Called the Burning Knight. He faithfully followed the final command of the Star, drawing forth power. The star’s flames flickering around his entire body slaughtered the enemy.

While his shield and sword melted the enemy, the three Heads and the Immortals who had become another Head charged forward.

“Ahah!”

The Empress, raising her voice as if enjoying herself, swung her hand blade and crushed enemies with tentacles, tails, and animal maws newly formed from her deteriorated body.

“——”

The Prophet, chanting incantations that ordinary humans couldn’t even partially comprehend, crafted and fired countless spells, while the Court Count beside him coordinated the entire army and hurled blood-forged javelins the size of siege projectiles.

And the Dragon King, moving at high speed as if sweeping across the battlefield.

Among them, the Dragon King was particularly notable.

With each of her steps, a spray of blood bloomed, and destruction followed wherever her tail swept.

Behind her were numerous dragonkin and two elves.

Father and daughter, stepfather and his daughter—though their relationship was complex, the two elves worked in harmony, destroying enemies with precise movements.

As the dragonkin swung their weapons and used their trained muscles, claws, and tails to slaughter enemies, the two elves infiltrated and attacked.

Across the entire battlefield, the Transcendents’ forces were being dramatically pushed back.

Contractors who retained faint reason couldn’t understand how this was possible.

Though they had been drawn here by a vague call and will, losing their lives and falling, they sensed the strangeness of this situation.

And for good reason.

What filled this space was not just fighting spirit and will.

There was also divinity.

The power of principles that twisted fate, manipulated flow, and bent the world.

Divinity.

WHOOSH!

The divinity created by the god named Llewellyn filled the space.

Subtly twisting fate, Llewellyn continuously shaped the future toward victory.

“Llewellyn!”

A shrill cry. A long-reaching sword strike. As Llewellyn twisted his body to clear the path, Lorian’s decapitating sword bisected the enemy.

Blood sprayed forth. As Lorian extended his hand, the blood formed into the shape of a longsword in Llewellyn’s hand.

Llewellyn, now with a sword in each hand, swung them.

Receiving an enemy’s downward claw attack with his blade, he didn’t resist the force pushing against his sword but instead slashed downward.

The result was bisection. Kicking away the falling enemy, Llewellyn found himself at the center of the fortress ruins.

The slightly protruding edge of the underwater temple. The place where Llewellyn stood beneath the feet of countless Transcendents.

There, Llewellyn raised his head high and shouted.

“Netel—!”

A thunderous roar that even made the air vibrate.

In response to that cry, the sky trembled.

The Transcendents sensed something ominous and moved, but it was too late.

Llewellyn gathered the miracle he had wrung out.

With the Dream God supporting from behind, Llewellyn crafted a technique that had never existed before.

What Netel needed was power to assist fate. None other than divinity.

The human power that Netel herself couldn’t possess, couldn’t have due to her transcendence.

Llewellyn gathered it in his hands to the limit. He fought to collect divinity and pushed forward to a point where the enemy couldn’t interfere.

What was it that Llewellyn had to do?

He had known it from the beginning. Perhaps he had known it even before falling to this land.

Llewellyn looked down at what appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Use the miracle to close the world]

A clumsily appearing message. That which had faithfully assisted Llewellyn all this time, what he had believed was only Netel’s power or his father’s power.

Llewellyn felt something incredibly familiar from it.

Perhaps because he had seen and experienced it once before, Llewellyn finally realized the true nature of the status window.

It was a legacy.

The day of the Great Ascension, that day of destruction.

The lingering thoughts of divine ranks that were torn to pieces, knowing they would be devoured but unable to resist.

After a long time had passed, the faint divinity left behind in the belief that Llewellyn would finally reach this land and close the world.

In other words, qualification.

‘You have always looked after me.’

The first companions who believed in and supported Llewellyn even in the direst straits.

Llewellyn reached out toward it.

Crack, CRACK!

The status window slowly changed its form as if it had been waiting. The message lengthened, its form revealed to everyone as it took shape.

The extended text became a spear blade, and the connected text became a spear shaft, adhering together.

“Miracle Manifestation.”

Crackle…!

“Pantheon.”

Responding to Llewellyn’s voice, the will of the Pantheon was finally forged into the form of a spear.

The final move to close the world. Llewellyn gripped it firmly and turned his body to aim.

The target was the sky.

The unsealed universe, the impending doom.

Against it, the human threw the spear.