Chapter 374: Chapter 374: Destruction and Rebirth
Earth Realm.
At the time that Rezen stole the realm’s Origin Energy, time had not stopped in the realm.
Both his beloved Brother Claude Preston and the Serpentine Empress were still alive after he stole the realm’s lifeblood.
"Haha! Claude Preston, you will die. Without the Origin Energy from the ownerless Blessed Land, you cannot save this broken realm!" The Serpentine Empress laughed loudly in ridicule.
She failed because of the Realm’s Chosen, but at the same time, she was able to prevent him from saving the Earth Realm.
Although this was not her desired outcome, as she would rather be the one to succeed in obtaining the realm’s origin energy, at the very least, the person who caused her to fail also did not succeed. This was a little consolation on her part.
She expected Claude Preston to be filled with despair due to his failure, but the man simply nodded his head.
"You are correct, I have failed to save the Earth Realm, my birth realm, the one that gave me my life and this cruel fate..." Claude Preston, the Dark Saint, the Realm’s Chosen, and its savior, admitted.
This was not the kind of reaction people would expect from him. It was expected that he would be angry, indignant, and filled with despair.
However, he was currently filled with calm. A bone-chilling calm that makes people feel like it was merely a calm before the storm.
Claude Preston’s personality has always been focused on the greater good. He is willing to sacrifice a million people if that is the only way to save two million people.
He was willing to use any means and methods necessary, even if people would brand him as evil, as long as it was for the sake of salvation.
Without the original energy from the ownerless Blessed Land, Claude will be facing the wounded but still powerful Serpentine Empress, as well as the remaining Rank 7 Mages that would not let themselves die for the sake of the masses. Faced with such enemies and not armed with enough power, his fate is to die.
He should be furious, but what is this strange calm that he is currently exhibiting?
"Claude Preston, what the hell are you planning?!" The Serpentine Empress questioned warily. As powerful and prideful as she is, she unconsciously pulled some distance between herself and Claude.
It was fortunate that at this time, the remaining 7th rank Mages finally arrived, and they surrounded Claude.
All of them released a threatening aura as if any moment from now, they would rip Claude Preston to shreds.
With their cooperation, along with the presence of the Serpentine Empress, Claude Preston is sure to die today.
"Claude Preston, give up! Resistance is futile!" The Serpentine Empress said. It was already clear to see that Claude failed in saving the realm. With everyone joining hands to kill him, there is no place on this earth that he can hide to save himself.
The loss of the origin energy of the realm due to Rezen’s theft, along with the continuous battles of 7th rank mages, along with the Serpentine Empress’ usage of artifacts and powers that exceeded what the broken Earth Realm can endure.
These events accelerated the realm’s destruction, and in perhaps a few years or a decade, the Earth Realm would cease to exist.
"Yes, resisting all of your combined powers is futile. I cannot defeat all of you" Claude agreed while nodding his head.
He was still as calm as before, as if the realm’s destruction was not the very thing he wished to prevent. It was the reason for his birth, it was his mission and destiny.
"However..." Claude trailed, and an oppressive aura was suddenly unleashed. The realm itself trembled as if it reached the peak of its fury.
The whole realm was plunged into chaos, and countless spatial cracks appeared all over the realm. Those with not enough power were ripped to shreds by the spatial storm.
The ice on the realm’s glaciers melted, the volcanoes erupted, tsunamis devastated the coastlines, rain and storms formed, the deserts unleashed terrifying sandstorms, and the whole earth cried and cracked.
All natural disasters imaginable to mankind were unleashed without a warning. No, perhaps, the warning was when the 7th rank mages continuously died at Claude’s hand.
"What do you plan on doing?!" One of the 7th rank mages asked furiously. He could sense the various disasters ravaging the land, sky, sea, and even the lives of the people.
"I failed. I cannot save this realm. Since that is the case, then let it be destroyed, and from destruction, it will be reborn!"
As he said that, as the realm’s chosen, Claude mobilized all the remaining origin energy that the realm possessed.
It was not that the Earth Realm only has the origin energy from the ownerless Blessed Land, as well as the 7th rank mages.
No, if that were the case, the Earth Realm would have ceased to exist a long time ago. It’s just that the realm was barely able to sustain its existence with the remaining origin energy.
Mobilizing the remaining origin energy would accelerate the realm’s destruction and to use enough energy to deal with all the 7th rank mages... even if Claude were to succeed, the cost was enormous... enough to completely destroy the whole realm!
Knowing that, Claude would not dare to mobilize the realm’s origin energy and opted to take back what the 7th rank mages had stolen.
However, right now, he has no choice. He cannot save the Earth Realm, and he can only do the next best thing.
With a heart filled with endless pain despite his calm exterior appearance, Claude waved his hand and used the realm’s remaining origin energy to create light chains.
These chains stabbed all the 7th rank mages on their stomach, and the Blessed Land, or more like the origin energy, was being pulled out from them.
Naturally, the 7th rank mages would not let this continue. As such, they resisted, using their Blessed Land to break the chains.
However, despite the fact that the chains were cracking from their attacks, Claude continued to pump more origin energy to repair them continuously.
It was a continuous cycle of destruction and repair.
The surrounding space cannot handle such a clash, and the fabric of space was fragmented as if they were fragile pieces of paper in the face of a dreadful storm.
In the end, the amount of the remaining origin energy in the realm was still higher compared to the combined origin energy of these mages.
However, using the origin energy is not without consequence. The land, the sky, and the sea soon start to die
The raging volcanoes soon calmed down, turning into dried husk. The plants withered, the water of the ocean evaporated, and the sky darkened.
The realm... it was dying.
An aura of decay spreads as thousands, millions, and billions of living creatures, whether they be humans, magic beasts, or spirit plants, it doesn’t matter.
Their lives were as fragile as paper.
Soon, the land either turned to ashes or was swallowed by the void. No one in the Earth realm can survive being exposed to the void.
The Serpentine Empress at her prime can achieve such a feat, but not at her current state. The void is not a place any normal person can step into and survive.
If not, why would the Serpentine Empress scheme to steal the realm’s origin energy? Why would Rezen, with the help of the farm and Ivy, need to go through so much trouble to be the one to take the origin energy?
It was precisely because a weak being as soon as exposed to the void will die.
Now, with Claude’s decision and ruthless sacrifice, the Earth Realm is dying and is being exposed to the void. Even 7th rank mages were no different than ants in front of a sea of fire when exposed to the void.
"Y-you... stop!" The Serpentine Empress said, her voice had a tint of fear. Never in her life did she expect that she would feel fear because of a weak mage that she could kill easily at her prime. Even the realm can be slapped to death by her if only she has her original power.
If she were to be exposed to the void in her current state, she would die.
Too bad that Claude didn’t listen to her. Instead, he waved his hand and created more chains of light. These chains of light, this time, didn’t attack the 7th rank mages but instead flew out and entered the bodies of as many people as they could.
Most of them are people he knows and has a relationship with. He prioritizes them while the remaining are random people from all over the realm.
He didn’t discriminate at all and the chains landed on people from various countries and not only that, even magic beasts, spirit plants, and normal crops didn’t escaped his grasp, all were hit by the chains he created.