189 - The Floating City (6)
TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
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The dragon who ruled shadows decided to break free from the cycle of reincarnation after witnessing one human's death.
Eternal Emperor Aurellion Khan Agnes.
A being who possessed power almost impossible to believe ca from a re human.
Every being in the world bowed their heads and submitted before him, and even dragons had to suffer humiliating defeats.
The dragon felt deep emptiness watching the Eternal Emperor's death.
It felt as if he'd lost any chance of achieving his goal of surpassing him.
But the dragon, already obsessed with this goal, continued seeking thods until reaching one conclusion.
Death - the one thing even the Eternal Emperor couldn't overco.
Overcoming death was the only path to surpass the Eternal Emperor.
Moreover, the dragon thought:
If he could surpass the Eternal Emperor this way, he might also escape the deep shadow cast over him.
-Therefore, the floating city must be destroyed.
Shadow Dragon Stigma muttered these words in a cavern similar to but fundantally different from Light Dragon Obergia's.
His words transford into magic, spreading throughout the city.
This magic was accelerating the city's destined fall.
As Stigma gazed intently through the cavern's ceiling at the approaching fate, sothing suddenly caught his eye.
Then...
-Soone unauthorized has entered.
These puzzled words flowed from the Shadow Dragon's mouth.
Zion's first step in finding the Shadow Nest was identifying a high-ranking magician among the 'shadows' hidden in city hall through the Light Watchers.
Soone ranked high enough to access restricted areas like the vice-mayor's office or special prison.
Then he hid near the captured assassin after leaking false information to this 'shadow'.
Waiting for them to take the bait.
They must have been desperate, as they bit quickly.
Soon after, the 'shadow' - Gaspel - killed the captured assassin and opened a passage to the nest right in front of Zion while trying to escape the prison. Zion wasn't about to miss this opportunity.
And now...
"Intruder... An intruder! Stop them!"
After forcibly widening the passage using his Black Star Force authority and entering the Shadow Nest, Zion was dealing with an endless stream of shadow magicians while moving forward.
SLASH!
'Where is it?'
While sweeping Eclaxia to cut down three approaching magicians along with their defensive magic, Zion's eyes scanned the nest's interior searching for sothing.
'The core maintaining the nest's 'veil' must be sowhere...'
anwhile, his other hand continued inscribing strange characters on the nest's floors and walls.
Then...
"Gaspel's down! We must handle this carefully!"
Perhaps they'd seen Gaspel's corpse, which Zion had dealt with imdiately upon crossing over?
The nest's magicians appeared at both ends of the passage but didn't approach, instead unleashing dozens of spells from where they stood.
As expected of the floating city's magical holy land, each spell's power easily reached the peak of level 7.
Moreover, the spells complented each other, amplifying their power further.
"Now."
Just as Zion muttered this while watching the approaching spells...
-Next ti, I'd like you to give
a na and call
by it.
Along with this cool yet clear voice...
CRACK!
The incoming spells froze in mid-air as if fixed in place.
"The magic... froze?"
As dumbfounded voices left the magicians' mouths at this unbelievable sight, Zion's sword began striking down all the frozen spells.
BOOM!
The spells flew back toward their casters, causing massive explosions.
"Aaaagh!"
While the magicians remained disoriented from the bizarre experience of being hit by their own attacks, Zion's form shot toward one side.
Simultaneously...
Black Fla Burst.
A sword strike fusing the Black Star Force's dark flas with Muspelheim's fire.
BOOM!
The blocking magicians were torn apart without even properly screaming from this strike focused purely on explosion.
'Their level is higher than expected.'
Zion thought this while observing the few magicians who survived without being completely annihilated.
Was this befitting one of the two secret organizations boasting the highest magical levels in the floating city?
He understood now why Ackendelt had opposed Zion entering the Shadow Nest alone when he'd proposed this plan.
'Though I had to co anyway since I was the only suitable person.'
With this thought, Zion dealt with the remaining magicians and headed deeper into the Shadow Nest.
But...
CLUNK!
His form suddenly stopped as if caught by sothing.
Countless hair-thin mana threads had wrapped around his entire body, too fine to see.
"Kihihi! Got you!"
Two wolf-headed beast-n revealed themselves, dropping their concealnt and rushing toward Zion simultaneously.
The Alkanpo brothers.
Criminals specializing in trap and ambush magic, but also top-tier magicians ranked within the city's top 20.
"Once caught in this magic, you can't move for at least a minute. During that ti, we'll carefully work our way from your head to your toes..."
Just as the older brother reached Zion and swung a specially enchanted dagger...
THUD.
Without any warning, the beast-man's hand holding the dagger dropped to the floor.
"...Huh?"
The older brother stared blankly at his severed wrist rolling on the ground, completely unprepared for this situation.
Then his eyes saw...
"Your magic is shoddy."
Zion was smiling at him, having already burned away all the binding mana threads with Muspelheim's flas.
And that was...
SLASH!
The last thing the older brother ever saw.
"How did you break the binding so easily...!"
Just as the younger brother cried out in shock from behind while beginning to chant a new spell...
Even faster...
CRUNCH!
Zion rushed right up to him and forcibly grabbed his muzzle, clamping it shut.
"The best way to deal with magicians is sealing their mouths."
"Mmph!"
Though the panicked beast-man quickly ford hand seals...
BOOM!
Zion's hand clamping his mouth released Black Star Force that pulverized his head even faster.
Zion's speed hadn't decreased at all during this.
"The intruder is alone! Attack together!"
Perhaps they'd been waiting in standby?
Dozens of high-ranking magicians appeared from all directions as Zion entered a large cavern, all beginning to cast spells simultaneously.
Each individual's level surpassed even Regan Urschler, the forr commander of Icarus.
Perhaps for the first ti, he couldn't underestimate their power.
'I'll erase them before being completely surrounded.'
SWOOSH-
For the first ti, Zion stopped moving and slowly raised Eclaxia upward, as if preparing for a vertical slash.
The cavern's brightness naturally dimd as the Dark Domain activated with this motion.
"St-stop whatever he's trying to do!"
Though the magicians' movents grew desperate as warning bells rang madly in their minds from the mont they saw this sight of instantly consud space, it was already too late.
Night Breaker Slash.
The second area-of-effect technique available only at the peak of Black Star Force's five stars.
CRACK!
Space split along Eclaxia's trajectory as it slowly descended.
Hundreds, no, thousands.
Countless black blades burst forth from the split space and...
---
---
---
---
--- !
Cut through everything in the cavern, beyond the magic being unleashed at Zion.
An instantaneous void ford in the cavern.
Of course, no magicians survived within that void.
BOOM!
Surrounding mana rushed in to fill this void, creating secondary shockwaves.
"Ah..."
A shadow magician who arrived slightly late to the battle and thus avoided that strike let out a dazed voice.
The magician stared with unfocused eyes at the catastrophic devastation Zion had created.
What exactly was happening here?
The enemy was one person.
Just one.
Moreover, this was their headquarters, the Shadow Nest.
Yet not only could they not deal with this one person, they were being slaughtered.
'This is impossible.'
Even knowing this was THAT Prince Zion Agnes, it made no sense.
They'd heard many stories about his strength, but what they were seeing now couldn't be explained by re words.
Even strength should have its degrees and limits.
But these two concepts simply didn't exist for Prince Zion.
BOOM!
"Aaaagh!"
Though they could probably handle him if most people currently in the nest rushed him together, Prince Zion kept moving without staying in one place, thoroughly avoiding direct confrontations.
Even if they managed to barely surround him, he'd instantly annihilate an inadequate number of people like before and escape.
It felt like chasing an uncatchable mirage.
'At this rate...'
As the magician's eyes darkened with this thought...
'Ti to start searching.'
Zion was increasing his speed while expanding his senses further.
Though he'd been freely moving through the Shadow Nest like his own ho, that too was becoming difficult.
The shadows' encirclent was gradually changing, becoming more intricate as they adapted to Zion's movents.
Moreover, other shadows from outside were returning to the nest one after another, apparently recognizing the ergency.
Among them were beings strong enough to compete with heaven itself.
Finally...
CRACK!
For the first ti, Zion's form was pushed back after deflecting hundreds of incoming spells.
The shadow magicians imdiately surrounded Zion, not missing the tiny opening this created.
This encirclent was incomparably more precise and solid than the one in the cavern earlier.
"I've enjoyed watching your performance so far, Prince Zion."
Perhaps believing they'd perfectly cornered him?
A man with a dragon's head like Ackendelt slowly walked out from among the hundreds forming the encirclent.
His na was Kadif.
He was the Shadow Nest's second-in-command and an extrely powerful being ranked fourth in magical hierarchy.
"Seeing you in person, I realize the rumors about Your Highness were understated. Honestly, we never expected a single person to trouble us this much."
Kadif's eyes swept over the nest's shattered interior and nurous shadow corpses littering the floor as he spoke.
Despite his neutral tone, undisguisable rage burned deep in his eyes.
The damage this man had inflicted on them was severe.
Moreover, the fact that their entire Shadow Nest, the world's greatest magical organization, had been pushed around by a single enemy further fueled his anger.
Therefore, though he should have asked why and how an imperial royal had entered alone, Kadif skipped straight to thoughts of killing Prince Zion.
"Well, it's all over now anyway."
Expressing these thoughts, Kadif slightly raised one hand.
Simultaneously...
WHOOSH!
Countless spells, too nurous to count, began rising above the magicians forming the encirclent.
However...
"No."
Despite the clear crisis, a smile played on Zion's lips as he watched this sight.
While his Black Star Force's darkness had continued extending endlessly, it had finally found the 'veil's' core.
"This is just the beginning."
"What...?"
Just as Kadif's eyes filled with question at these incomprehensible words...
THUD!
Zion thrust Eclaxia, held in reverse grip, into the floor.
Black Flash burst from the Light-Extinguishing Sword's tip, drilling into the ground at light speed.
CRACK!
The mont Zion's sword energy shot out and instantly shattered the 'veil's' core hidden deep underground...
FLASH!
The strange characters Zion had been inscribing throughout the nest suddenly lit up simultaneously, and...
CRACK!
Hundreds of passages ford from the Light Dragon's authority began opening behind Zion.
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