Chapter 448: Act 198 – Final Moments (Fifteen)
Among the six great elements, light and darkness are the most special. The light element is gentle and peaceful, possessing the power to nurture life, yet it can harm all negative forces, a process known as purification. Sorcerers who master the power of the light element are called priests. In Vaunte, the priestly hierarchy only practices Holy Words and light-based spells.
In contrast, the dark element has an exceptionally strong corrosive power, its aggression solely targeting life, yet it can simultaneously enhance undead and demonic creatures.
——— ”Vaunte Player’s Handbook”
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The silver and black cover of the Book of Mavikarte emitted an indescribable dark glow. Amann’s pale, lifeless hand lay flat on the pages, as time flowed like dust through his withered fingers. He was quickly aging, yet he obnoxiously laughed aloud, “Andisha, Veronika, what folly… cough, haha… so amusing, truly too funny…”
But soon, his laughter ceased.
The laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Amann looked at the arrow that pierced through the layers of black light like a meteor from the heavens with a horror-stricken expression, “Impossible!” His wildly arrogant laughter turned into a shriek. He tried to withdraw but found himself firmly glued to the book’s pages, and with a dull thud, the wolf-tooth feather arrow pierced through his chest.
“Ah—!”
“Ah? He’s not dead!” Brendel was equally astonished. He had no experience dealing with the Book of Mavikarte—rumor had it that this book had always been kept within the Temple of All Things, never touched by outsiders before the Slate War. However, Brendel was quite familiar with the spell “Dark Shockwave.” According to Vaunte’s basic rules, the dark element only acted against living beings—or rather, it burned and eroded life itself. He was not surprised that his arrow could cut through the tumultuous waves to strike true.
An arrow, after all, was inanimate.
Yet Amann had not died; with Martha’s presence, he was a frail priest! Moreover, this was the second arrow. If this were a game, Brendel would suspect he had encountered a bug. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he was experiencing one now.
Not only was Amann alive, but he was also pressing a hand against his wound, screaming in terror: “Ah ah ah—my spells… Ah! The Book of Mavikarte, ah ah ah, you’re all doomed!” No sooner had the words left his mouth than the layers of black shockwaves in the square began to tremble, exploding into countless dark light particles that scattered in all directions.
The square fell silent, leaving only a thin veil of twilight mist, which carried a faint stench in the air.
The spells were interrupted.
The mist gradually dispersed, revealing Amann gasping for breath behind it—his build inherently taller than that of a typical Crusian—thus appearing more like a gaunt shadow. Amann’s face was pale, his lips stained with blood, staring at Brendel with a gaze full of anguish and vengeance, almost making Brendel feel he owed him hundreds of thousands of Tor to repay.
But he quickly snapped back to reality.
Veronika could not help but slightly part her lips.
They saw a hole had formed in the silver and black cover of the Book of Mavikarte in Amann’s hand. Brendel gaped at the hole—he had just pierced a hole in that book with a single strike!? He almost rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Martha above, that was an ancient evil object, equivalent to a semi-divine artifact, yet he had made a hole in it with just one blow?
Amann stammered, finally managing to squeeze out a sentence: “You… are all doomed.” His voice trembled with anger.
At that moment, Brendel suddenly realized and exclaimed excitedly: “I understand! That Book of Mavikarte is a fake!”
Amann and Veronika’s expressions changed simultaneously, but one was filled with terror while the other was filled with confusion.
“Fake?”
“No, it’s more accurate to say it’s a projection of the original. It merely recorded a segment of the ancient evil object’s power, a counterfeit!” Brendel quickly explained to Veronika: “While it possesses similar power, it lacks the formidable defenses of the ancient evil object—”
“Enough!” Amann shouted, cutting Brendel off. Even though his sweat glands had almost fully regressed since becoming undead, he could not help but feel cold sweat pouring down. Amann never expected to encounter a relic so familiar to the Everything Returns Society here, and the person wielding it was neither Veronika nor Gray Saint Mephistopheles, but an unknown young man.
The Book of Mavikarte had not appeared in nearly ten thousand years!
“Though it’s only a projection, its power is still enough to exterminate you insects,” Amann’s expression shifted uncertainly. “As long as I cast another spell…”
“Oh,” at this moment, Veronika realized what was happening. She turned her head and cast a light glance at Amann—her emerald eyes sparkling with danger. The female Crusian warrior smirked, “Do you think I will give you the chance to cast a spell, Amann?”
Veronika moved. She was not a match for Andisha in her prime nor able to suppress the might of the Book of Mavikarte—but both the Twelve High Priests of the Arborist and the ancient relic recorded in prehistory were already beings above mortals; Andisha, it was said, experienced the Saints War and was a monster that had endured millennia, while the Book of Mavikarte was a born evil birthed from the Sea of Chaos itself. Yet apart from these factors, Veronika was still a genius among mortals, the Crusian war goddess, who achieved such prowess at less than one hundred and fifty years of age; her strike embodied the exceptional talent inherent in humankind.
Filled with her pride and glory, her sword resembled a crescent moon, a heavenly azure blade appearing verdant.
Amann’s face finally turned deathly pale.
“Ah ah ah, no!” His bloodless face contorted entirely, his pupils full of unwillingness, regret, and madness. His hands clawed around the Book of Mavikarte, refusing to let go, as if clinging to it could save his life. He screamed, “No, you damned… I won’t let you get away… even if I die…”
Amann emitted hissing sounds like a beast; his withered fingers clung tightly to the silver and black pages, suddenly radiating a dazzling black light. The black light surged, instantaneously forming an area from which light could not escape—it was pure black, devoid of any impurities, seemingly pulling one’s soul into it.
Annihilation Black Hole! Brendel’s heart raced with alarm. The Book of Mavikarte allegedly had the ability to devour everything and convert it into its own power, but this was far too exaggerated. An invisible force seemed to form between heaven and earth, gathering everything toward that singular point. He looked down in horror to see a layer of radiant light rising from the Earth Sword in his hand, but upon closer inspection, it was not light but a layer of translucent lines. Some curved, some straight, the complex lines were the runes inscribed on the sword. The immense gravitational pull generated by the Book of Mavikarte had forcibly drawn this substance from the Earth Sword.
Brendel couldn’t help but curse inwardly. The Book of Mavikarte was actually absorbing the laws of power—this was utterly terrifying. If those runes were dismantled, the Earth Sword would be no different from a plain longsword—merely slightly longer and broader, looking like a greatsword.
However, when the black hole formed, it was Amann who first bore the brunt. He evidently lacked the ability to control this spell, and with a piercing shriek, he was helplessly torn apart into the swirling sands.
Next, those closer, Veronika’s sword momentum could not be retracted. The blade of the Azure Sky shimmered momentarily, an ephemeral glow flickering, and the pale azure blade lost its luster, becoming an ordinary weapon. The Azure Sky was a wind-element holy sword, a dream-grade weapon like the Earth Sword, yet it was utterly destroyed in mere moments, causing Brendel and Veronika to change their expressions.
“The power of the Book of Mavikarte is the devouring of all things! Destroy that book’s projection!” Brendel shouted immediately.
Veronika certainly realized this as well. She unleashed several waves of azure sword energy, but unfortunately, the wind-element sword energy disintegrated as soon as it approached the edge of the annihilation black hole, and the black hole, conversely, absorbed the sword energy, further expanding. The immense suction force momentarily left Brendel struggling to maintain his stance.
“Get back!” a hoarse voice coldly interrupted: “Trash!”
Andisha’s voice surprisingly came from the direction of the forest. This high priest of the Arborist was not dead yet; she staggered out, covered in wounds and blood, the bark that had previously wrapped around her body now cracked open. Her robust form stood defiantly in the air. But Andisha was not human and did not care, instead raising a hand to shoot a green light toward the annihilation black hole.
“No, wait!” Brendel’s expression changed as he tried to stop her, but it was too late.
The green light vanished the moment it entered the pitch-black domain, and Andisha screamed, “How is this possible! This thing is absorbing elemental power! Ah, what is this monstrosity?!” With the expression of someone who had seen a ghost, Brendel could not help but curse in his heart. Elemental power was indeed the highest law in the Vaunte world, but there were hierarchies among the elements.
If he remembered correctly, the Book of Mavikarte represented the purest chaos, devouring all, encompassing all; an inferior time effect could never shake its laws in the slightest.
Brendel was thoroughly frustrated, for the annihilation black hole, after absorbing Andisha’s power, continued to expand. This time, the generated force nearly overwhelmed even Veronika; as for him, he was directly pulled into the air, flying toward the heart of that dark domain.
“Damn it! This brainless woman!” At this sight, he nearly passed out from rage, but Brendel certainly would not resign himself. Rather, it was as if he had foreseen this all along. In the final moment, gritting his teeth, he raised the Earth Sword overhead and thrust it into the annihilation black hole.
“Ah!”
“Brendel!”
“Brother Brendel!”
“Lord!” After the black hole formed, the mist that enveloped the square was swept away in a tempest. Far off, Xi and her group witnessed this scene—Brendel flying through the air, turning into a sword aiming for the center of that pitch-black realm, the Earth Sword’s blade radiating a powerful white light, vibrating as if under immense pressure—
They could not help but exclaim in shock.
But it was just then that with a crisp ‘crack’, akin to shattering glass, the first to break was, astonishingly, the annihilation black hole.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please head to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
