Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Seven: A Thousand Schemes, One Step Ahead

In the burning sky and above the clouds.

The demon sword and a plain yet elongated katana clashed in the air like lightning, producing an exuberant symphony, and soon the two figures separated again, standing facing each other with blades drawn.

Aileen’s gaze was icy, staring at the ethereal commoner before her, her voice almost laced with accusation.

“Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here. You’ve upheld your duties for three hundred years—why abandon them at this crucial moment? Min Chen, do you know what this means? You’ve made a grave mistake!”

Nodding slightly, the fierce wind stirred the young man’s graying hair as deep emotions flickered in his weathered gaze, almost as if he were talking to himself.

“Grave mistake… Yes, I’ve made too many mistakes in my life. Friends have died due to my arrogance, innocents have been plunged into turmoil because of my ignorance. The world is about to collapse, and I am filled with guilt, which is why I sealed myself away for three hundred years to atone for this sin.”

“But it seems my misguided repentance has only bred new suffering and hatred… Haha, such a ridiculous arrogance, in the end, I still haven’t truly learned from my lessons.”

Min Chen raised his hand, the weapon vanishing in a flash of light, then turned to face the cold girl whose age looked similar to his, but whose gaze resembled that of a kind elder watching over their child.

“Aileen, that’s your name, isn’t it? I’ve heard about your situation. It’s my oversight; I’m sorry. I, Min Chen, a seven-foot-tall man… It seems I’m not a qualified elder after all.”

“Child, you… you’ve suffered.”

“Swish!”

The sword light came rushing in, but Min Chen stood unmoving. His right hand that held the sword shot up into the sky, smiling at the girl who had just severed his arm, as if the blood spraying everywhere had nothing to do with him.

However, Aileen’s eyes remained icy as she waved her magic sword and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Do you think this little act can compensate for all the nonsense you did in the past? Your apologies should not come to me, but to Sylvester, to her who, even in her last moments, was proud of you, and to her mother who cherished her memory! If it weren’t for the need to have you apologize to her in person, I would have severed your head right there!”

“Do you know how much she endured, how many sacrifices she made just to see you, to defeat you, and give her mother some closure? How did she survive those hundred years of hardship?!”

“You have no idea! You just sat comfortably in your shell, enjoying your peaceful life while she suffered as that damn Gatekeeper!!!”

In the end, Aileen’s yell erupted into a hoarse roar, the surge of magic flowing out of her, making her gray hair, extended by the divine transformation, fly wildly.

Min Chen silently nodded.

“You are right, Aileen. I am indeed a jerk. I don’t intend to argue about the many mistakes I made, but there’s one thing I must correct.”

His remaining left arm grasped the air, drawing forth a long sword that was completely different from the one before—ancient yet exquisite, it emerged as if from the boundless void, emanating a sharp and profound aura.

“I became the Gatekeeper not to enjoy a comfortable life, but because in that failed adventure, I witnessed the horrors of the phantom realm, faced a power akin to that of true gods, and realized that if this place collapses, countless lives across the world would be engulfed in disaster. Therefore, I accepted Tiyelu’s invitation to guard this gateway.”

“That is righteousness. For this alone, I, Min Chen, have no regrets. Even if given another chance, I would make the same choice.”

The commoner youth stood aloft with the long sword, where his severed hand once was, a slender, spiked demon arm surged forth with his declaration, the weariness in his eyes replaced by clarity and fighting spirit.

“So, child, I will stop you.”

Aileen also raised her magic sword.

“If you can, bring it on.”

“Half-demon Min Chen, please teach me.”

…

“So, do you still not understand? You have no chance to escape, even if you’re in a hurry to settle some grudge with that Min Chen guy, he’s probably not out there anymore.”

The grand skirmish turned into close combat as the Summoner’s magic energy was running low. Although the Priestess wasn’t too skilled in such fights, that limitation only applied to battles of the same level of life and death.

Using the holy shield formed on her arm, she deftly blocked Sylvester’s magic sword, while Vilyric struck back with her staff, and the Avatar of Light behind her thrust its holy spear toward the enemy with lightning speed.

The Summoner hurriedly dodged the unstoppable spear’s tip, but another attack came unexpectedly, forcing him to shield his face with his arm. However, the power and indestructible properties of the artifact, the Eternal Staff: Heart of the World, could not simply be endured just with flesh.

“Crack!”

A crisp sound of bones breaking followed as Sylvester’s arm, which made contact with the staff, bent at a strange angle, but he took this chance to swiftly pull back and distance himself from Vilyric again.

“…”

Seemingly too disinterested to speak further, the Summoner silently glanced at his broken arm, an unusual light flickering over it, and soon the bent limb automatically returned to its original state.

Then, as if sensing something, Sylvester looked up at the sky, staring at the terrifying rift looming over nearly half the sky, absorbing the magical storm, murmuring to himself.

“Has it… reached the limit? Aileen…”

In the distance, a calm voice of the girl echoed.

“If you are waiting for the phantom realm to completely collapse, planning to escape amidst the spatial turbulence, let me say it again…”

Vilyric held her staff in one hand, the girl behind her radiating golden light floated like a guardian deity. She didn’t rush to chase or attack; instead, as if she had anticipated something, she casually pointed to the sky.

“I told you, the phantom realm will not collapse today, Sylvester. You were doomed to fail from the very beginning.”

As if to respond to the girl’s confident declaration, the expanding rift in the sky suddenly halted!

Then it began to shrink rapidly at an astonishing speed!

“What!?”

Underneath the mask, his pupils dilated instantly.

Sylvester stood silent for a long time, different from his usual composure, his voice now carrying a hint of confusion and the unwillingness of impending defeat, yet it didn’t show much anger; he simply turned his gaze toward the White Robed Girl who clearly knew something.

“Why is this happening? Clearly, Aileen and I have absorbed most of the powers of the Source of Magic. The remaining part has also been destroyed in our conflict with you. The phantom realm, which should now be rootless drifting on water, should not be able to continue existing… Are you sustaining this world?”

Hearing this, the Priestess simply shook her head lightly, appearing somewhat helpless as she revealed her last trump card.

“I haven’t done much, Sylvester Burwell; your opponents have never been limited to just me. Surely you didn’t think that the fragment of the Divine Spark stored at the end of the Ascending Steps, which I cut to pieces before, is really the essence of the Source of Magic, did you?”

   

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