'Boris' withdrew his solid gold cane with extreme speed, his mental strength erupting to force Harry to his knees.
Then, raising the cane high with both hands, he aimed the tip downward, intending to impale Harry from above.
“Don't even think about it!”
Seeing this, the other Archmages could no longer sit idly by. They unleashed instant-cast spells one after another, flying into the sky to stop 'Boris'.
High-tier fire magic: Solar Impact. High-tier water magic: Oscillating Spring. High-tier earth magic: Titan Armor. High-tier lightning magic: Million Volts.
A massive barrage of high-tier spells rained down, forming a brilliant curtain of magical fire.
As the magical energy surged, ear-piercing alarms blared from monitoring stations throughout the city of Akhan.
However, before these spells could reach the mountain Harry had shaped, nearly a third of them suddenly veered off course, triggering one another and creating violent mana explosions that canceled each other out.
“What are you doing?! Do you intend to fall into depravity along with that madman Aaron?!”
The Archmages, who had been united against a common enemy, suddenly turned on one another.
“Follow him? No. We are Aaron. Aaron is me, and I am Aaron.”
Nearly a third of the Archmages spoke those words in unison.
Together, they threw back the hoods of their mage robes, revealing eyes filled with madness that had been concealed by the shadows.
The other Archmages were horrified, unable to understand when these old friends had fallen victim to Aaron’s foul play.
But there was no time for contemplation. The Aarons launched their attack, unleashing a succession of devastating spells.
To prevent the city's destruction, the remaining Archmages were forced to manipulate the city's ritual tracks, casting amplified defensive spells in a desperate attempt to hold the line.
On the other side, 'Boris' wore a contemptuous smile. Clenching his hands around the cane, he thrust it downward with savage force.
“Agh!”
Harry let out a howl of agony. The solid gold cane did more than just pierce through his skull and spine; it impaled his very soul.
Under the dual torture of body and soul, Harry felt only one thing.
Pain—endless, agonizing pain.
“Relax, little hatchling. It will all be over soon.”
'Boris' kept his left hand on the cane while his right gripped Harry’s chin, forcing the Archmage’s head around to meet his gaze.
As their eyes met, several mysterious runic formulas suddenly surfaced in 'Boris’s' eyes—resembling blooming flowers, a balance scale, and a deep abyss.
During the eye contact, Harry’s soul began to undergo a violent transformation.
First, his soul collapsed, shrinking into a tiny flower bud.
Then, a balance scale appeared. The flower bud landed on one side, while 'Boris’s' soul landed on the other.
Finally, the scale shattered. The flower bud slowly bloomed, and a brand-new 'Harry' was born.
'Boris' withdrew the cane, using a gust of wind magic to whisk away the filth before vanishing into the shadows with a concealment spell.
'Harry' slowly stood up, clenching and unclenching his fists as if adapting to his new body.
“A body on the verge of decay... but I suppose it’s better than nothing,” 'Harry' muttered indifferently.
He pointed his wand downward, and the cloud-piercing mountain instantly collapsed.
A massive deluge of rock and earth cascaded from the sky, swallowing the surrounding city in an instant and burying countless citizens of Akhan.
“Harry, you!”
An Archmage in the city hastily cast an energy canopy to block the landslide before shouting a demand for answers.
But when he looked up, all he saw was the madness reflected in 'Harry’s' eyes.
The exact same madness, the exact same despair.
...
In Daxia City No. 1, Chen Xu was observing the battle from a safe distance.
“What exquisite soul techniques!”
The skills Aaron displayed—whether it was the soul-splitting control or that marvelous soul-based ocular technique—drew Chen Xu’s genuine admiration.
Through Chen Xu’s unique-tier soul vision, he could clearly see the souls of the various Aarons.
Aaron’s soul-splitting wasn't a simple case of dividing his soul to create clones to possess others.
Instead, he used a special substance—or rather, a Dao, a unique Path of Madness—to anchor himself.
He then used this Path of Madness to infect and occupy the souls of others, reshaping them until they became unique husks.
These husks were then directly controlled by that Dao. This was how Aaron was able to control so many Archmages at once.
Witnessing everything from afar, Chen Xu couldn't help but marvel at Aaron’s intellect.
This man’s brilliance is no less than my own!
Furthermore, Aaron must have started planning this long ago, as nearly a third of Akhan’s Archmages were already under his control.
Now, with no interference, the ritual tracks in the sky continued to draw in the auras of corruption from the atmosphere.
Below, the mages of Akhan were pinned down by Aaron’s crazy clones, unable to spare a moment’s attention.
Perhaps Aaron’s mocking dismissal was right: the mages of Akhan had been terrified by the apocalypse of the past. Their actions were far too conservative, and now they were being suppressed by the crazy clones, forced to hide within their city.
With no obstacles left, the original Aaron stood atop the giant ritual track. He extended a swollen, mutated right hand that dripped with foul-smelling liquid from his mage robe and tore the garment away.
Aaron raised his right hand and began chanting an incantation—not a spell from the Akhan world, but one from hell.
Ultra-tier hell magic: Gate of the Demon King's Descent.
In the next moment, a massive blood-red hexagram surfaced above the ritual track, radiating a terrifying aura of depravity and corruption.
“That... that is the symbol worshiped by the fallen ones!”
“Damn it, Aaron really has fallen. Griffin and Hack’s suspicions were true!”
Now that Aaron’s soul and body were no longer shielded by the mage robe, the Archmages could see his true face.
Even when Aaron had manipulated the ritual tracks to assassinate Archmage Harry, they had merely assumed he had gone mad from his research.
After all, such things weren't without precedent. The pursuit of truth was often a journey into madness.
Losing oneself to temporary insanity due to the frustration of seeking the truth was rare, but not unheard of.
But the appearance of the blood-red hexagram made every Archmage realize the truth: Aaron was indeed mad, and he intended to take everyone down with him.
“Everyone, we can no longer afford to just defend! If that fellow Aaron manages to summon hell here, we are all dead.”
“We must be decisive. Abandon the city and launch an all-out counterattack!”
The Archmages made their decision immediately. No longer relying on the city's ritual tracks for defense, they went on the offensive, clashing directly with Aaron’s crazy clones.
They knew that if they delayed any longer, it wouldn't just be a matter of a few civilian casualties—the entire world would fall into the hands of the Hell demons.
The energy canopies fell as the Archmages activated their personal energy shields and charged out of the city to strike at the clones.
Under the guidance of ordinary mages, the citizens fled into the mage towers of the various schools to seek refuge.
Population, whether in a mundane world or a transcendent one, was the primary resource.
Among the panicked crowds, many strange figures in black robes were mingled in.
Their faces were hidden beneath their hoods as they squeezed into the mage towers along with the crowds.
“My Lord, we have successfully entered the mage towers.”
“Proceed to the next phase of the plan. While the Archmages of each school are outside, take control of all the mage tower cores.”
“By your will.”
Indeed, those black-robed figures were the Black Knights in disguise.
With a Demon King descending, the Akhan world was likely beyond saving. As an ally, it was only right for Chen Xu to preserve history for the people of Akhan.
These cloud-piercing mage towers couldn't be allowed to go to waste. It would be a pity to leave them here; demons wouldn't know how to use such high-end technology anyway. They would be far more useful in the Land of the Undead.
At the same time, the mage towers could amplify Chen Xu’s spells, allowing him to pose as an ordinary mage while fighting the demons.
In the event the Demon King arrived before Alifa’s angel army, Chen Xu had no intention of revealing his identity prematurely.
Using the mage towers to buy time while waiting for the Heaven's defenders was the correct move.
While Chen Xu observed the battle between Aaron and the Archmages, he used his ultra-high soul grade to learn a massive number of spells.
With every passing second, dozens of new spells were added to his skill bar. Most were high-tier magic, with only a few being mid-tier.
Suddenly, a ripple of Holy Light appeared on the battlefield.
A strange angel without light wings appeared. He held a greatsword composed entirely of Holy Light, and a single stroke of sword light sliced through the sky, carving a massive gap into the ritual tracks above.
“Eh?”
Watching that sword light, Chen Xu found the move strangely familiar. It had the distinct flavor of Ye Bufan.
Furthermore, why was there a stray angel left behind in this Akhan world?
The mysterious angel continued to swing his blade, sending multiple arcs of sword light toward the ritual tracks.
Under the relentless destruction, Aaron was forced to stop his chanting and turn his attention to this uninvited guest.
As Aaron looked down at the mysterious angel, his soul suddenly sensed a familiar fluctuation.
Then, a rare smile actually appeared on his previously calm face.
“Hahaha! Jingping, as expected, you didn't disappoint me. You’ve found a path of your own as well.”
“The Soul Particle Evolution Theory... using an ordinary mortal soul to evolve into ten thousand forms.”
“Hahaha! Interesting, truly interesting!”
Aaron pointed his left hand toward the sky, and his discarded mage robe flew back to cover him.
Then, buoyed by the power of his soul, Aaron slowly descended to face Zhang Jingping.
The two met each other's gaze. After a long moment, Aaron was the first to break the silence.
“Come. Expound upon your results to me.”
Rate on N.U.
