Zahra struggled to steady his mind, unable to fathom how he had offended Zeno.
The moment the space stabilized, Zahra found himself transferred to an unfamiliar mountain range.
As the teleportation completed, Zahra opened his eyes only to see a scorching beam of fire hurtling toward him. It gave him no time to react before swallowing him whole.
The magical artifact he wore close to his body activated instantly.
【Guardian Sigil】 Lesser magic grade. When facing a crisis, it rapidly deploys a mana defense layer that lasts for three seconds. The defensive strength is determined by the user's mana intensity. After triggering once, it requires a full day to recharge.
Relying on the magical artifact to withstand the frontal impact, the three-second shield was forced out immediately.
However, the fire mage lying in ambush here seemed to have anticipated this.
The flames that engulfed him quickly transformed into countless fine threads, binding him tightly from the inside out.
Flame seal!
Feiwan's long hair fluttered in the wind. The masterpiece grade magical artifact worn on both her hands, the Lava Restraint, had already been activated.
The effects of the Guardian Sigil had long been understood by Feiwan and Zeno.
As long as Zahra's magical artifacts weren't magically concealed, Tongmu could quickly see through them and identify their effects.
This initial strike was intended specifically to force out the Guardian Sigil's special effect so the seal could be completed.
Zahra, relying on the three-second mana barrier for protection, rapidly brandished his staff.
“5th-rank magic, Hand of the Earth!”
As the earthy-yellow magic circle expanded, the mountains shook and the earth split open. Shattered rocks and clumps of soil collapsed into the gaping chasm.
From the darkness within the split earth, a massive stone hand lunged out, clawing toward the sky!
Zeno quickly activated her ability. Countless plants grew frantically, attempting to bind the giant stone hand.
However, the power of 5th-rank magic was not so easily stopped.
The massive stone hand broke free from the restraining vines and slapped toward the sky, whipping up a hurricane.
Feiwan quickly ascended. With a wave of her hand, nine giant fire dragons were summoned around her. Flapping their wings of flame, they exhaled scorching fire like a breath attack, surging toward the flame-sealed Zahra.
Seeing this, Zahra manipulated the stone hand to block the flames.
Meanwhile, streams of water constantly eroded the flame seal binding him from all sides.
He was actually using water magic to destroy the flame seal while simultaneously maintaining the 5th-rank earth magic.
Zeno waved the Collapsed Atmosphere, activating it once more.
Zahra, who had been protected behind the stone hand, saw his vision go dark. He was transferred out from behind the stone hand's cover.
The scorching breath attack met him head-on, giving him no chance to break free.
This was the oppressive power and dominance of a treasure grade magical artifact.
“Zeno! We have never met, and there is no enmity between us! Why go this far?!”
Zahra gripped his staff tightly, holding it before him.
Water was continuously summoned in front of him, forming a soft sphere of flowing water that tightly encased his body to resist the scorching breath.
Zeno felt no obligation to answer.
A guardian's duty was to stand before their lord and clear away any potential threats that might pose a danger to him.
Seeing that words were useless, Zahra steeled himself and tore open his robes.
To resist the power of a treasure grade magical artifact, he had to rely on it.
Beneath the torn robes, Zahra's hidden body was revealed.
Now, Zeno, Feiwan, and Dalun Li—who was watching from the Well of Eternal Imprisonment—finally saw Zahra's hidden arm.
The arm he had kept concealed under his gray robes was now pierced through by numerous pitch-black chains.
The chains piercing his arm were connected to that ominous Book of Death, which radiated the aura of demise.
The Book of Death seemed to pulse rhythmically, continuously absorbing Zahra's blood.
As Zahra tore his clothes further, a circular wound was visible on his bare chest, right where his heart should be.
The edges of the wound had already scarred over, no longer bleeding.
Looking through the wound, his heart was nowhere to be found.
Under Tongmu's gaze, everyone could see it clearly.
Zahra's heart was gone. The Book of Death had taken over its function.
It had become Zahra's external heart, continuously absorbing and pumping blood for him.
Those chains were the external blood vessels connecting Zahra to the Book of Death.
Zeno and Feiwan were not deterred by this gruesome sight.
Taking the opportunity, Zeno raised her hand and activated her ability.
Countless wood spikes grew from the ground, shooting toward Zahra in the air as if to impale him.
The nine fire dragons summoned by Feiwan surrounded Zahra, exhaling their breath in unison.
Zahra's final line of defense was shattered. Flames engulfed him instantly, and wood spikes pierced through him.
Yet, even so, there was no sign of his life force fading.
Zahra, though impaled and consumed by fire, waved his staff.
In an instant, a massive surge of death power erupted from his body, mana churning and mixing with the aura of death.
“5th-rank magic, Death Beam!”
An ominous, pitch-black magic circle expanded in the night sky.
A gray beam of death, shimmering with black light, shot toward Zeno and Feiwan like a laser.
The aura of death within it made Zeno sense an intense danger.
She quickly activated the Collapsed Atmosphere, refracting and transferring the attack away.
The redirected Death Beam blasted into the earth. Instantly, wherever the beam passed, plants withered and died, and animals perished on the spot.
As for Zahra, though his body was burned beyond recognition and his chest was impaled by a thick wood spike, he remained vigorous, waving his staff.
The giant stone hand snatched three of the fire dragons out of the air like a person catching sparrows.
With a sudden surge of strength, the fire dragons were crushed until they exploded within its palm.
Zeno quickly waved the Collapsed Atmosphere, transferring Zahra directly to the ground.
Before he could react, Zeno activated her ability.
Countless vines grew frantically, binding him layer upon layer.
Feiwan raised her hand. Flames compressed continuously, turning from orange to red, red to blue, and blue to a brilliant white.
The fire then condensed into a white-hot spear. With a soft shout, the brilliant spear tore through the air, shooting toward Zahra, who was encased in layers of vines.
It was a blood-boiling combination attack.
However, it was as if death itself had rejected Zahra. The vines binding him withered rapidly, their life force seemingly erased directly.
Zahra, with a gaping hole through his chest, stood in the scorched crater and raised his staff.
“5th-rank magic, Earth Inversion.”
As the magic activated, the gravity of the entire area seemed to flip.
The earth became the sky, and the sky became the abyss.
The ground groaned and shattered as countless rocks, large and small, fell upward into the sky.
Feiwan landed on the back of a fire dragon, manipulating fireballs to shatter the falling debris.
Zeno activated her ability toward the ground from a distance. Plants grew downward frantically, taking root to hold the splitting earth together.
Seeing this, Zahra raised his arm and flipped open the Book of Death.
Page one, chapter one: Birth of Life.
In an instant, the wounds all over Zahra's body began to heal and grow at high speed.
Simultaneously, his skin was punctured by proliferating bone. Blood-stained white bones burst through his skin.
It was as if some terrifying monster was using him as nourishment, preparing to be born from within him, treating a 5th-rank mage as a cocoon to be discarded.
“This death power...”
“Zahra isn't a living person. He's nothing more than a resurrected corpse.”
“He is... a pawn resurrected by some entity!”
Zahra himself might not even realize that he was already dead.
To toy with a 5th-rank mage like a pawn and use him as a vessel for some kind of rebirth... just what kind of existence was behind this?
Rate on N.U.
