Chapter 185: We've Arrived Just in Time
"Ah! Yes! You're right!"
Any lingering doubts in Fidel's mind vanished. He slowly walked over to the holy sword, drew a small cut on his finger, and let his blood drip onto the blade.
And as the royal blood was absorbed into the 'Light of Ersten', the repulsive force that Grausam had felt began to weaken. In his own magical senses, the seal on the magic circle at the sword's base was now broken, its core now open and vulnerable to his influence.
The next step... was corrosion.
"Lord Grausam, the seal is broken. What should I do now?"
Grausam suppressed his excitement and said, "Your Majesty, you may now turn away and offer a silent prayer to the holy sword. For my next spell, I will require absolute silence. Not even a single gaze."
He had underestimated the emperor's willpower. He had not expected him to still harbor a flicker of doubt, even under his control. And so, to be safe, he had him turn away, to prevent him from seeing the dark and ominous crystal in his hand.
"Good. I understand."
The emperor immediately turned his back, his head bowed, as if in a deep and silent prayer.
Perfect.
Grausam immediately sprang into action. He rushed to the holy sword and slammed the crystal onto the stone pedestal at its base. Even with the seal broken, he still didn't dare to touch the sword itself. So he aimed for a key node in the magic circle on the pedestal, the circle that was helping the sword to absorb the power of faith.
"Reverse!" he screamed in his mind, and poured all of his own demonic power into the crystal.
A heart-stopping black light erupted from the purple crystal. A thousand twisted black tendrils, like living things, shot out and wrapped themselves around the pedestal, and then they began to crawl up, to insinuate themselves into the magic circle, and through it, into the holy sword itself.
The moment they touched, a violent clash of energies erupted. The pure, holy light of the sword began to be tinged with an ominous, dark color, and a blasphemous, dark aura began to fill the room. The 'Light of Ersten' began to tremble violently and let out a mournful cry, its own light flaring, trying to push back the encroaching darkness. But the power of the crystal was a strange and insidious one, a cancer that was now eating away at its very core.
Seeing this, Grausam was ecstatic. It was working. Even without touching the sword, he was able to corrupt its very essence. Now all he had to do was wait. Even with all its power, the holy sword was just a thing, an inanimate object. How could it possibly resist a power that was born of a god?
But just then... a new light appeared.
A few feet from him, on the empty stone floor, a magic circle, two meters in diameter, suddenly appeared and exploded in a brilliant white light. A stable spatial portal opened, and three figures stepped out, right between him, the emperor, and the holy sword.
The teleportation anchor point of the Kingdom of Ersten was in this very room.
He stared at the three figures who had just appeared out of thin air, and his mind went blank. The sizzling sound of the corroding holy sword and his own ragged breathing were the only sounds in the room.
The emperor, startled by the sudden light, also turned, his eyes wide and uncomprehending.
And then he, too, saw them. And when he saw the face of the one in the lead, the elven woman, his blood ran cold.
S... Serie!? How could she be here!? Lord Shurahat... he was supposed to be keeping her busy.
His elation was instantly replaced by a disbelieving horror. He stared at her, at the most powerful mage in the world, and he felt a cold and primal fear.
Rhodes, for his part, was unfazed by the teleportation. Flamme was a little dizzy, but as she regained her bearings, her eyes were drawn to the strange scene before her: the hovering holy sword, wreathed in a swirling mass of a holy and a profane energy, and the human-like mage, from whom a powerful, dark aura was radiating.
Serie... the sight of her had frozen the very blood in his veins. All demons knew of her power. In the past thousand years, she had slain countless of their kind. She was known among them as "Serie the Undertaker."
In that first, terrifying moment of eye contact, he knew. He was no match for her. He had to escape. He tried to pull his hand from the crystal, but the two energies were now locked in a fierce struggle, a maelstrom of power that had him trapped. But... if he could just stall for a little longer... the holy sword would be completely corrupted, and then, he would have no reason to fear her.
The moment he had stepped out of the portal, Rhodes had taken in the scene. The holy sword, the tainted pedestal, the dazed and confused emperor, and the "mage," whose demonic aura was now plain to see. It was all crystal clear.
And she had also locked on to him, at the demonic aura that he was no longer even trying to hide. Her face was a blank mask, but in the depths of her eyes, a murderous rage was brewing.
Even Flamme had noticed the change in her teachers' demeanor, the way their gazes had both fixed on the black-haired man, with a palpable killing intent. She didn't know why, but she raised her own staff, ready for a fight.
A dead silence fell over the room, broken only by the sizzling of the corroding sword, and the ragged, gasping breaths of the demon.
Rhodes's gaze finally landed on his twisted and contorted face, and he said, his voice a calm and teasing sound, "It seems we've arrived just in time."
(End of chapter)
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