bookbashuk Page 486
Page 486
However, this time, the situation is different.
This moment marks the most important juncture in his 2,300-year-long experiment.
He was unwilling to take any more risks.
They were unwilling to entrust everything to an uncertain fate.
and so--
The last swordsman of light's body suddenly burst forth with an astonishing radiance.
Even with only one remaining, the magical power condensed within it surpassed the scale held by ordinary realm recording tapes.
This power seemed to be energy that had been accumulating for too long, finally erupting at this last moment.
Although it remains one of Kiz's lines of defense, Kiz knows that passive defense can never compare to proactive offense.
This was not the fighting style he was used to—he understood that if he continued to rely on this passive approach, he would eventually find it difficult to escape his predicament.
But the most fatal thing is—
The initiative had quietly slipped from his hands and been handed over to Matou Ike's control.
Kiz was suddenly jolted, and in that instant he realized that the course of the entire situation was no longer in his control.
From the initial confrontation to the current stalemate, his dominant position in this information war has long been quietly lost.
Initially, he possessed powerful means and preparations, seemingly unstoppable and without any suspense.
However, at this moment—
The initiative and control of information have shifted from his side and are now hidden deep within Matouchi and Juste's territory.
The turning point, almost imperceptibly, became an irreversible disadvantage for him.
and so--
A vast golden sword light, unleashed from the last swordsman of light, shone like the brilliance of the "Excalibur," tearing through the "stagnant" air and hurtling towards Just.
That sword light, dazzling like a falling star in this stagnant world, pierced the silence, unstoppable like an eternal vow, as if by fate, sweeping towards its most threatening target—Just.
In his final decision, Kiz chose the most direct threat: Just, the alchemist who wielded the Noble Phantasm-level Origin Bullet, who had become his easiest target to kill at that moment.
As for Matouchi, Kiz doesn't believe that his current offensive can directly defeat him.
Although he didn't know why he had somehow coordinated with Just's actions, Kiz believed that at this stage, he couldn't be finished off with a single sword strike.
It would be better to continue using "stagnation" to suppress this man.
at the same time--
"boom!"
Another gunshot rang out, its muffled echo piercing the still air. Yet, beneath the dazzling brilliance of the sword light, this gunshot sounded incredibly faint, like some silent, unseen call.
The contrast between the two is like moths drawn to a flame; the faint gunshots seem almost futile compared to the surging sword light, even laughable.
Chapter 543 Collapse
The intense light engulfed the reclusive alchemist Just.
His figure vanished completely at that moment, like a snowflake burned by the scorching sun, melting into this "stagnant" world.
he died.
He left this world that he hated.
Death came so quickly that it was impossible to tell whether the golden sword light completely destroyed him or whether his already riddled and shattered spiritual foundation finally reached the end of its disintegration.
however--
As his last moments arrived, a slight smile appeared on his lips.
That smile was utterly genuine, without any pretense; it wasn't a manic laugh, nor a victorious one, but rather a long-lost sense of relief.
It was as if he had finally broken free from some heavy shackles and was finally able to escape from this endless struggle.
"I hope you can keep your word."
His last words echoed in the air.
It was faint, like a gentle breeze brushing across the surface of a still lake, without anger or resentment.
There were no unforgettable emotions, only tranquility.
These are his last words.
It's also a sense of relief.
Immediately afterwards——
For some reason, the world, which had been stagnant and lifeless, began to slowly start to move.
As if turned by an invisible hand, the clock that had long stopped started to tick again.
The earth continued its unfinished torrent, the shattered crust twisting and contorting, magical energy surging from the fissures rising like mist, seemingly threatening to engulf the entire space. Rock layers crumbled, and broken stone pillars trembled, as if struggling to break free from their restraints.
The sky was no longer a solidified gray, but instead, it was filled with dreamlike fragments. Each shard of light reflected the unfinished destruction of the past, falling with eerie brilliance, tearing through the air like a meteor shower, leaving trails of burning light.
The air was no longer still; instead, it churned and roared like a giant beast awakening. Dense magical power swept across the heavens and earth, intertwining with explosions and shockwaves, making the entire space seem as if it were about to collapse.
The Demon Forest let out a painful wail. The vines that had sprung from flesh and blood began to wither, their branches and leaves twitching and twisting, as if they were suffering some kind of utter annihilation.
And the blood rain that had been halted finally fell again.
At first, there were only a few scattered drops, and then, as if freed from their restraints, they fell from the sky with a dull thud, splashing onto the crumbling earth and blooming into black and red flowers in the mud.
this moment--
The "stagnation" collapsed.
The fantasy has crumbled once again.
The mental world belonging exclusively to the Dead Apostles has ushered in its final, violent outburst.
Like the roar of a dying beast at its last moment, terrifying magic surged violently from Kiz's center. A thick, almost tangible, dark red light erupted from the ground, like countless upside-down thorns piercing the earth and spreading wildly in all directions.
The entire space was shaking, and the inherent barrier began to self-destruct frantically.
The earth seemed to be crushed by some force, twisting and cracking, with huge fissures swallowing everything, and soil and debris flying everywhere. Blood rain poured down, falling from the sky, gathering into viscous, blood-red streams that meandered across the surface, staining everything red.
The sky shattered completely, black cracks spreading outwards like a broken mirror. The storm whipped up fragments of light, transforming them into vortexes that devoured the heavens and earth.
In this world on the verge of destruction, Kiz stood motionless, bathed in the churning storm of magic, his eyes slightly lowered, as if sensing every detail of this collapse.
And opposite him—
Matouike stood there, silently watching all of this.
He did not move, nor did he take a step back; he simply stood quietly in the center of the collapsing world.
However, an unusual white, flocculent substance slowly seeped from his body.
They were strands of translucent, milky-white silk threads, seemingly light, but actually so heavy they were suffocating.
Upon closer inspection, the threads were not simply manifestations of magic, but rather composed of countless wriggling, tiny life forms.
They have no fixed form, they intertwine and entwine with each other, sometimes splitting and sometimes coming together, like a chaotic, indescribable mass of creatures.
Those worms are not natural things; they are neither flesh and blood nor magical creations, but rather a pure, twisted aggregate, something that parasitizes the depths of magical circuits.
At this moment, they are slowly crawling out of Matouchi's body, as if breaking free from some kind of restraint, greedily absorbing the surrounding magical storm, while rolling, struggling and twisting in disorder.
They have no eyes, no mouths, but each tiny body resembles a dying person making a final, hopeless struggle for survival.
The end of a demonic creature, or perhaps the beginning of its rebirth.
Just's final shot was not aimed at Kiz, but directly at Matouike.
Without any warning, without the slightest hesitation.
He traded his life for a chance to completely turn the tide of the war.
The Origin Bullet struck Matou Ike's body directly!
At the same time, the magic of "stagnation" suddenly converged.
At the moment of Juste's death, the "stagnation" power that should have been dissipating within the Reality Marble found a new anchor point and poured down instantly, imposing all conceptual constraints on Matou Ike.
—The sheer magical power contained within a brand new planet presses down on Matou Ike's existence with the weight of absolute concepts.
Space collapsed, time froze, and even the flow of magic was completely locked down!
At that very moment, the Origin Bullet struck Matou Ike precisely in the chest!
The concept of "annihilating the magician" was deeply embedded in the flesh and blood of this demonic creature.
Two completely different rules of side effects are now colliding fiercely within Matou Ike's body, like irreconcilable heresies!
Stagnation confines everything to absolute stillness, freezing magic, thought, the body, and even the causal laws of existence.
The Origin Bullet, however, carries the purest principle of "destruction," aiming to destroy all techniques and eradicate the absolute laws of all magicians, attempting to fundamentally eliminate the essence of Matou Ike.
Freezing and destruction.
Immobility and destruction.
Absolute blockade, and absolute erosion.
— Matouchi is being torn between two extremely contradictory "ends".
His body had exceeded the limits that his "physical body" could bear.
The white threads did not stop, but seeped out more and more, tangling, intertwining, and tumbling as they struggled to break free, like worms struggling to escape.
However, this is not simply a phenomenon of "exposedness," but rather more like a kind of conceptual stripping away.
His existence was frozen in the absolute freeze of "stagnation," while the "Origin Bullet" continued to erode everything about him, expelling and obliterating anything that should not exist.
Thus, those parts that were not once human, those things buried deep in flesh and blood, those key elements that made Matouchi a "demonic creature," are being torn apart, separated, and squeezed to the surface of reality.
Matou Ike's figure stood silently and solemnly in the crumbling world.
He never fell, nor did he waver.
Just let all of this tear you apart, dismantle you, and reshape you.