The mont Adam tied those seemingly untiable threads, everything began to make sense.
A phylactery was a lich's reverse scale, its one true weakness.
As long as it remained intact, the lich was effectively immortal. Its body could be destroyed again and again, only to reform in ti.
But if the phylactery was damaged or destroyed, that illusion of immortality was completely shattered. With its soul anchor broken, the lich could be killed for good.
What seed like an undying existence was, in truth, balanced on a single, fragile point!
At the sa ti Adam arrived at that conclusion, sothing else clicked in his mind as well.
"What a... coincidence!"
After the Battle of Ravenfell, Tebu found him drowning in the depths of the Galestine. The ancient turtle brought him back from the brink of death and healed him to a stable state.
After that, Adam traveled the world, dealing with the teleportation portals. He ventured into the Dark Valley, defeated the abomination, and sealed the crack in the void through which it had entered this world.
When his journey finally led him back to Tebu, he operated on the ancient turtle's barnacles and searched for the "inheritance" left behind by Aldo Wagner.
And in doing so, Adam uncovered the dark truth.
All this while, he believed the grave threat haunting Tron had been resolved when he defeated the abomination dwelling in the Dark Valley.
However, the series of coincidences that led Adam to this point in ti made him question that belief. Perhaps Tron was still not out of danger.
His figure trembled, and he looked into the skies. His lips parted, and he whispered:
"Tron... are you still not safe?"
Low rumbles rolled across the sky, deep and distant!
There were no dark clouds, no sign of an approaching storm, yet the sound echoed again and again, vibrating through the air as if the heavens themselves were responding.
Adam felt goosebumps crawl across his skin. He abruptly turned east, his gaze seemingly cutting across the horizon as if it could span thousands of miles. "Wagner!"
His expression darkened, and he quickly ran towards the entrance of Bartholow's tomb.
***
After disarming the traps and weaving through dozens of defensive barriers, Adam finally arrived before the crystal coffin once again.
With a complicated look on his face, he gazed at Bartholow's unmoving corpse. He looked only slightly older than a middle-aged man- a testant to his great talent, given how young he had been when he reached the Mana Core Rank.
How did you end up here? Adam wondered. Just what happened between the two of you?
From Wagner's journals, Adam knew that the two of them had been close friends sworn brothers, even. Their bond may have been no less aningful than the one he shared with Edward, perhaps even deeper.
So then, how had Bartholow been reduced to such a state?
He had been a very talented Magus, soone even Wagner believed would
make a na for himself in the Greater Universe.
So what had truly happened between the two of them, all those thousands of
years ago?
From what little Adam knew about necromancy, he understood that Bartholow himself wasn't Wagner's phylactery. More precisely, he contained the phylactery.
The principle behind it was simple.
If Wagner's current undead body was ever destroyed, he would reawaken within Bartholow, who carried his phylactery.
The phylactery housed Wagner's soul, and Bartholow had beco the vessel that protected his phylactery.
That was the reason why the Cult Leader constantly recruited - or abducted - children with exceptional arcane talent. He intended to raise them into suitable vessels for his phylactery.
That was why he'd had his eyes on Adam for such a long ti.
Adam Constantine was a monstrous talent, far surpassing even Bartholow. He was the perfect vessel Wagner would ever hope for!
Everything makes sense now, the raven-haired youth thought to himself, his dark eyes flashing with complicated emotions.
His eyes narrowed, and he wondered, Your phylactery is right here in front of
.
So if I destroy it right here, right now, wouldn't that an...
He extended the Sphere of Resonance outward, intending to study the weak points of the crystal coffin.
But then he froze.
"What!"
His senses could not penetrate the coffin at all.
Adam subconsciously took a step forward, his pupils shrinking. He focused his senses on and around the coffin.
Yet, the sa result.
He had expected layers of powerful defenses around the coffin. After all, it contained the one true weakness of Wagner's seemingly indestructible,
immortal body.
But the fact that his Sphere of Resonance - a technique augnted by the Lotus - could not perceive anything beyond the strange crystal was deeply
alarming.
That could only an one thing...
The crystal was forged from materials of imnse value and power, far beyond what Adam's current rank could comprehend, let alone penetrate.
Could it be from the devils? He couldn't help but think that.
Given their vested interest in Wagner, the idea didn't seem unreasonable at all.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down the side of Adam's forehead.
Knowing nothing about the crystal coffin, what it was made of, how to destroy it, or even what might happen if he so much as touched it, made him hesitate. Acting blindly here could be fatal, ruining decades of his planning.
What if the coffin vanished to another hidden location the mont it was
disturbed?
What if Wagner himself appeared on the spot?
Could Adam deal with the consequences?
He did not know.
The raven-haired youth reluctantly took a step back, his face darkening.
"Dragonshit!"
How could an old monster like Aldo Wagner not have prepared countless contingencies in case soone discovered his phylactery or attempted to
destroy it?
I'm a fool to think I could kill him so easily, Adam thought, frustration burning
through him.
If I had to guess... the coffin can only be broken through from the inside. I don't even know what's going to happen if I attack it from the outside!
Despite being forced on the defensive, unsure of his next move, Adam now saw
the situation clearly.
He might not know how to destroy the phylactery yet, but he finally
understood how Aldo Wagner could be defeated.
The path forward was no longer hidden.
And so, amid uncertainty and restraint, a plan began to take shape in his mind...
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