"O Heroic Souls of Strife, heed my command!"
"I am the incarnation of Strife, the necessary pain of this world!"
"Witness this—the World-Flattening Strike!"
In truth, there was no need to speak while casting a skill. But... if a few casual words could make him look cool, why not?
Besides, while the [World-Flattening Strike] was indeed an ultimate skill, Mydei's proficiency with it was already incredibly high. Combined with his overflowing mana bar—or rather, divine power—he could spam it like a basic attack without any issue.
The greatsword had just materialized when, in the instant it began to fall, it produced a deafening roar like a clap of thunder.
Then, everyone watched in stunned silence as the colossal blade, as massive as a mountain range, descended from the sky and slammed into the pitch-black darkness at the city's center.
BOOM!
Instantly, every pane of glass in the entire city shattered simultaneously. Everyone could feel the ground beneath their feet tremble violently, as if the whole city were being rocked by a massive earthquake.
From within the darkness, other sounds seemed to emerge, but they were completely drowned out by the roar of the greatsword striking the earth, rendering them inaudible.
While the surrounding soldiers struggled to stand, swaying violently just to maintain their balance, Mydei remained as immovable as a pillar, arms crossed, as if the cataclysm unfolding before him had nothing to do with him.
BOOM!
The greatsword continued its descent until even its hilt vanished into the darkness. Only then did the tremors slowly subside. The densest patch of darkness, which had been at the city's heart, now began to dissipate, allowing the light before Gerald to spread further.
"Let's go," Mydei said. "Time to see what's inside."
The surrounding soldiers stared wide-eyed, glancing up at the sky where the greatsword had been, then back down at Mydei, their faces etched with disbelief. "Th-this..."
Gerald's mouth twitched. So this is how he solves problems? he thought. Even though we don't even know what the problem is yet.
Gerald turned to Mydei. "By the way, what would we have done if that strike hadn't been enough to shatter the Darkness?"
Mydei shrugged and replied casually, "If there's a World-Flattening Strike, then naturally there can be a second, a third, a World-Flattening Sweep, and a World-Flattening Cleave. If one strike doesn't solve the problem, just hit it a few more times."
(In fact, besides the attacks he mentioned, there was also a World-Flattening Light Beam—the very one Castrum Kremnos fired at Okhema in HSR, which Aglaea and Tribbie intercepted and redirected.)
Returning to the main story, the group pressed forward into the previously impenetrable darkness. However, all they found were cracked earth and buildings reduced to rubble by the tremors.
When they reached the epicenter, they saw only the colossal greatsword embedded in the ground.
After a moment of silence, Gerald said, "Is it possible there was some kind of monster here maintaining the Darkness, and you just casually killed it, causing the Darkness to vanish?"
As for the corpse? It was undoubtedly impossible to find. Or more accurately, as Gerald stared at the greatsword before him, how could anyone possibly find it?
"Isn't that perfect?" Mydei said. "The problem solved itself."
The soldiers had warned that approaching this area would expose them to the Outer God's corruption. But Mydei felt no such taint now, which strongly suggested the source of the corruption had truly been eliminated.
All that remained was to wait and see if the spreading Shadow over the Dragon Ember Empire would dissipate as well. But as Mydei pondered this, he suddenly felt a malevolent gaze from the sky—a glare filled with the kind of hatred one might reserve for a mortal enemy who had ruined their fortune and murdered their father.
Mydei looked up but saw nothing. It was precisely this emptiness that made him mutter, "From beyond the World Barrier... Is it that Child of Flesh?"
After all, the anomaly here was clearly the Child of Flesh's doing. Now that Mydei had thwarted its plans, it was only natural for it to harbor such enmity.
Mydei thought for a moment and said, "I have a feeling this one won't let it go."
With nothing more to say, Mydei found an empty spot and sat down cross-legged. He'd just wait here and see what the Child of Flesh would do next. Whatever it threw at him, he'd handle it.
Time passed slowly—one day, three days, seven days. The Shadow covering half the Dragon Ember Empire did indeed shrink at a visible rate. During this period, Mydei clashed with the Child of Flesh several times.
However, since the entity was acting from beyond the Barrier, the power it could project was minimal. It either launched sudden sneak attacks against Mydei or sent down monsters to assault him.
The sneak attacks were indeed stealthy and managed to wound him, but he healed completely within seconds. As for the monsters, Mydei tore them apart with his bare hands the moment they appeared.
If Hysilens and the others in the Abyss were playing a tower defense game, guarding their Crystal, then Mydei was camping directly at the monster spawn point.
However, just as the situation in the Dragon Ember Empire was nearly resolved, new problems arose in the Arcane Federation.
-
The perspective shifts to the Arcane Federation's capital, where the Floating City once again took to the skies. Previously, Heinrich had powered it by drawing energy from the Sorcerer Divine Artifact, the Earth Element Crystal. But now, after studying diligently in Okhema for so long, he had managed to build an Elemental Furnace with Melly's help and installed it at the Floating City's core.
This device was nearly identical to Okhema's Elemental Furnace. After all, with a catastrophe threatening the entire world, Tribios was not one to be stingy. If it meant helping an ally, there was no need to hold back.
However, without a Century Gate, the Arcane Federation's Elemental Furnace couldn't be used as a weapon. Melly hadn't considered range when designing it, so this second furnace could only serve as a power source—or, in extreme circumstances, be used to self-destruct the entire Floating City.
Even more shockingly, Heinrich had personally declared, "If necessary, I will use this extreme measure at a critical moment."
The reason the Floating City had taken flight again was that the Moon, beyond the World Barrier, had once more fixed its gaze on the spot where the Barrier had previously shattered.