Chapter 425: Chapter 194: Out of Control Zone
The metallic blade, under high-speed swings and absolute force, was stretched into a silver thunderbolt, and this thunderbolt, like the stroke of a painting on a flat surface, cleaved the frenzied appendages in two.
The Silver Knight leapt into the air, and the appendages before him disintegrated.
Like bubbles pricked by an invisible needle, no blood spilled, only illusory images that continually vanished. These illusion creations constructed by ether were easily subdued at the moment of their eruption.
A slight noise came from within Lebius, and he felt his ribs crack under the formidable repulsive force. But what truly concerned him more than his own injuries was this Silver Knight.
From beginning to end, Lebius couldn’t detect a hint of ether response from him. The opponent remained silent, his power contained beneath his armor, giving Lebius no chance to probe.
It wasn’t until the Alchemy Workshop’s disturbance that the Silver Knight chose to strike, cutting down with a single sword that shattered all of Teda’s offensive efforts.
"Remember the priority."
The Silver Knight landed steadily and then said this seemingly irrelevant sentence to Bucker.
But evidently, Bucker understood his meaning.
In an instant, Lebius felt the repulsive force around him increase significantly. Even though he tried to release ether to resist the oppression of the secret energy, the ground beneath his feet began to break apart.
With the support of the ground lost, Lebius once again fell uncontrollably backward, and the fractured ground lifted rocks that crashed into him.
The repulsive force propelled Lebius until he was pushed out of the Alchemy Workshop’s range, his body fully suspended over the Great Rift.
Lebius gritted his teeth, and in the blink of an eye, he was driven from the battlefield.
"Again with this!" he muttered under his breath.
During the secret war, Lebius had attempted multiple times to assassinate Bucker, but each attempt had ended in failure.
The scenario at that time was just like in front of him now; Bucker would never give him a chance to strike. Once his location was exposed, he would unleash secret energy with full force, casting him away like a grenade.
Lebius had encountered many cunning and challenging opponents, but an enemy like Bucker, who never faced him head-on, was truly a unique case.
Then Lebius realized something else: the importance of the Immortal Heart to the King’s Shield Guards far exceeded his imagination. Even when given a chance to kill him, they would not take the risk, instead choosing a more cautious plan to seize the Immortal Heart.
The grappling hook of the Arm of Adaptation broke, leaving Lebius with no choice but to command his body forcibly, plummeting towards a cliff on the side.
Geoffrey once asked Lebius if, since he could forcibly control his body, if he could make himself fly.
The answer was clearly no. This kind of forced control was not something Lebius could do much of, and often he borrowed strength out of thin air, detonating ether to move through its impact.
Lebius landed firmly on the cliff face, and then, utilizing ethereal amplification, the entire cliff trembled slightly under his acceleration. Lebius, like an arrow, once again charged toward the Alchemy Workshop.
Based on the intel he obtained during the last time reversal, after Teda’s illusion creations were destroyed, the next step would be the Immortal Heart’s loss of control.
Thus, it all became understandable. To prevent the King’s Shield Guard from seizing the Immortal Heart, Teda chose to perish together with them.
The desire of many years stood before him; no one could stop Teda, no one could change his mind.
Lebius sped up, attempting to return to the battlefield, feeling waves of heart-palpitating ether fluctuations ahead, knowing he was destined to be a step too late.
For this reason, Lebius could only hope Teda would not die so easily, as he had long planned for Alice’s resurrection, he should be fully prepared, right?
Unsurprisingly, the roar of an explosion rang out, and the intense flames almost dyed the thick Sea of Mist red.
Lebius recalled hearing such a loud noise in the last time reversal, but he did not expect it to be a large-scale explosion.
Unclear about the damage to the King’s Shield Guards, but it undoubtedly bought Lebius time. He quickened his pace and soon returned to the battlefield.
At the same time as Lebius returned to the battlefield, a frenzied killing intent expanded from the sea of flame. Scarlet flesh covered the charred ground, the soaring fire was easily extinguished, and appendages resembling stone pillars charged forward recklessly, the scarlet filled every part of the view.
Lebius halted and lifted his head to gaze at the terrifying scene.
The unprepared Condensers were ensnared by the scarlet appendages, crushed into a bloody pulp. The Prayer Believers desperately dodged, releasing secret energy to destroy the flesh, but this monster was immortal. Even when injured, the damaged areas quickly regenerated and proliferated.
As for Bucker, Lebius saw him, his entire body smashed into the cliff, lifting a bloody hand. Several appendages hovered in the air before him. No matter how hard they pressed, they couldn’t come near Bucker, as if an invisible barrier separated them.
But this obviously couldn’t suppress the hunger of the Immortal Heart. The pressing appendages squeezed into filthy blood, and vast amounts of blood seeped out, creating a scarlet rain locally.
The rumbling vibrations had yet to cease, and Lebius saw the Silver Knight leaping between the appendages, each jump pulling out a beam of sword light several meters long, with which he cleaved all the touched flesh.
But even as the Silver Knight, his strikes could hardly keep up with the proliferating speed of the Immortal Heart.
This disaster faced now was completely different from the ambush at the venue; the imitation used by the Chaos Cult back then was crude, while now everyone faced a power directly from Calamity.
The power of the Immortal Heart.
Lebius suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness, for even he, facing such a monster as Calamity, couldn’t think of an effective solution... At least in this instance of time reversal, Lebius had no way to solve it.
"You’re truly mad, Teda."
Lebius’s gaze became heavy. Ever since Teda left the Order Bureau, he had been living within the Great Rift. During that time, he must have done extensive research on Calamity.
As the former director of the Sublimation Furnace Core, it was all too easy for him to do so, and only Teda could resurrect the Immortal Heart to such a state.
Now, it seemed as if the Immortal Heart had completely come to life, its own flesh’s vitality constantly rising, inching its way to the limit.
So the next step...
Before Lebius could think further, a bone-chilling coldness struck his nerves, as if he was not on a battlefield, but in a frost-filled ice cellar.
"Calamity..."
Lebius’s voice betrayed neither joy nor sorrow.
The abominable and frenzied power from the Devil emerged, and everyone present could distinctly feel it.
That which was buried deep within the Abandoned Land, eternally tortured by the scorching light and buried under ashes, had awakened. It sensed the power of the Immortal Heart and yearned for its return, to complete its body.
Under Calamity’s call, the agitation of the Immortal Heart intensified, flesh proliferating and extending rapidly, spreading across the cliffs and continuing to climb upwards.
As if doomsday, the scarlet flesh soon emerged from the Sea of Mist, rushing towards the Wandering Crossroads. It resembled a crimson tide, coiling around aerial corridors, devouring one living person after another, squeezing every drop of blood.
The disaster spread quickly, dragging everything involved into death.
Thick veins surfaced from appendages, micro-glows flowing within, with each strong surge, large amounts of light particles were gathered and transported to the flesh’s center where the Immortal Heart resided.
An invisible heavy punch struck the heart of every person, unifying their heartbeats; after every beat, intense pain erupted from their atrium, and Lebius hunched over, coughing up a large amount of fresh blood.
He vaguely heard the roar of battle drums, the beats akin to deafening heartbeats, and a large amount of nutrients were gathered together. In that flesh-wrapped Alchemy Workshop, it was nurturing something.
Soon, it would be born...
Who knows what it’s like on Bologue’s side.
This thought crossed Lebius’s mind.
Perhaps Bologue was facing a situation more daunting than his own.
Yes, many things cannot be resolved with violence, and Bologue might now be trying, along with Aimou, to physically and mentally open her heart.
Thinking this, Lebius felt that his team members were working so hard, as their leader, he couldn’t easily give up, even if everything could start over.
Lebius took a deep breath, fully releasing his Ether, his own Secret Energy unfolding to the limit, and his face seemed covered with a vague wolf’s head.
Meanwhile, at the core of the flesh, fair palms reached out from the blood-soaked space; then they slowly tore open the enveloping membrane, streams of blood overflowed from within, a coagulated stench lingering in the darkness, and a blurred silhouette was crawling out bit by bit...
"The villain’s emergence!"
In front of the television, the Tyrant applauded and cheered for this scene, while Sai Zong beside him watched the TV attentively, looking forward to what would happen next.
Just as deep despair was about to erupt, a white storm surged from the streets of Opus, instantly engulfing most of the city. Before the blurred silhouette could emerge from its gestation, it was reduced to nothingness by the blinding white light.
The Tyrant’s applauding motion froze in place, fists clenched, he struggled to contain his rising emotions, his sinister laughter echoing incessantly in his throat.
"It’s okay, this was all meant to be."
In a few breaths, the Tyrant reverted to his elegant demeanor, very patient, but in his eyes, crimson eyeballs bubbled up from the whites, densely covering until they filled his pupils.
The fifth time reversal ended.
The sixth time reversal began.