Chapter 222
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*Boom!* One of the walls slowly crumbled following the explosion, and large amounts of black dust fell down.
"This is the power of an Ancient race huh! The maze is already falling down. Oh! You are also here!" Leylin's eyes glinted coldly.
While he was focused on the energy undulations, space suddenly collapsed around him. A scarlet figure appeared before him like before.
Flames seethed in the opponent's hands, seemingly breaking their limitations to possess a terrifying heat. They caused the other energy particles to constantly draw back.There were only flames within this domain.
"Although it has Origin law of fire, it's still just a mere clone." Leylin snickered, his right hand unhesitatingly stripping the glove.
"Sun Scorching Nirvana!"
*Rumble!* Horrifying vibrations were transmitted over, accompanied by dazzling white light.
*Rumble!* The void was shattered, and large amounts of blue flames surged into the area, instantly forming a world of flame.
"Roar!* The phantom of a scorching Sun emerged from the tattoo.
"The Flames of the Ancient Sun's Child!" The world of flames enveloped the person who had launched a sneak attack. The opponent's law of fire was already tangled up by Leylin flames, using up its energy.
Leylin has activated the bloodline imprint and since it was a spell that could be activated using a Rank 6 bloodline, Leylin's bloodline imprint had reached a might of rank 6 spell. The bloodline imprint have been nourished for a long while and it even could regain the past glory of the Sun's Child touching the realm of laws.
'Unless one truly control the law of flames, it's impossible to stop this attack obviously the effects would be less than desired against the Monarch but for a clone it's more than enough.' Leylin could sense a deep-seated force in this world of flame. This was the law that controlled it. Due to its connection with the bloodline imprint, he gained some rudimentary control as well.
Large amounts of golden-blue flames were like the most loyal stream of flame to him, allowing him to do as he liked.
"Burn him!" With Leylin's command, great amounts of golden-blue immediately turned into raging wave, bringing with them the World Will as they rained down on the red figure.
"This isn't your own ability, it's an ancient rank 6 spell!" The tremendous force caused the scarlet figure to cry out involuntarily.
He was covered by the flame immediately after. Red light constantly penetrated through the golden-blue, yet it grew increasingly dark.
"This the true might of the Sun Child Bloodline imprint but ultimately even this is not something to write home about, although it can touch the realm of law it's not really quite there." Leylin sighed.
"Damn it, there's another one." Another voice sounded from within the flames, and it soon turned deathly silent. The world of flames didn't dissipate under Leylin command as it only stopped raging.
Leylin stared at where the scarlet figure had been. There was now nothing there.
"Time to meet the big bad wolf but I should let the two parts meet first." Leylin waved his arms, and the flame danced at his command as it dispersed spread out, completely corroding the walls of the labyrinth.
*Crack! Crack!* The labyrinth walls that had already gone through immense damage could not hold on any longer and began to break apart inch by inch.
Much of the wall turned into powder, and this was still spreading further.
The Alanore Labyrinth was a maze pattern that a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magus had painstakingly set up. The Magi who wished to intrude would have to advance by passing through all of the stages, only then reaching the end.
Now, after withstanding all this damage, as well as one crippling intentional attacks on Leylin's end, the labyrinth had begun to crumble. Bit by bit, the walls split open, glowing runes turning to powder.
The volcano from before was gradually drying up, revealing a surface full of cracks. The pathways were continuously crumbling with this area as the centre.
"The collapse of the Alanore Labyrinth is happening earlier than I expected," Melinda furrowed her beautiful brows and sank into deep thought. A dark shadow then charged towards the heart of the labyrinth at a quicker pace.
Within the barriers of the boundless world crack was the Fiery World. It was like the sun, the exterior of which was the imposing and serene Alanore Labyrinth.
All of a sudden, the labyrinth creaked. It was like it could no longer hold its burden, and began to collapse inch by inch.
Once the foundations completely crumbled, the large building began to topple with a loud rumble, and the surrounding fire elementals fled for their lives.
Along with a tremendous rumbling sound, the labyrinth completely broke down, revealing a minor plane.
Light flashed in the air, and Melinda took the first step onto this minor plane.
This minor plane was like the Morning Star Area, a world that was yet to mature. This minor plane was obviously much smaller than the Morning Star Area, with only a single layer. One could even see it end to end.
With just one look, Melinda could see a flaming figure sitting on a throne of pure gold at the middle of the place. At the same time, the flaming figure turned and met Melinda's gaze.
Terrifying energy that reached rank 6 emanated from the opponent's body, hovering around him. This was a rank 6 Magus, a Breaking Dawn. It was a Monarch!
The Magus sitting on the golden throne had evidently grasped some bits of the laws of fire. This was the Blazing Flame Monarch, the ruler of an enormous territory and the one who almost caused the extinction of the bloodline Warlocks!
"You're here?" The Blazing Flame Monarch asked, the voice androgynous.
"Yes. I've returned to take back what belongs to me!" Melinda muttered, her tone becoming increasingly resolute.
"You were mere emotions that I intentionally dispelled so that I could advance to Breaking Dawn. You're just garbage I tossed out. What are you taking me back for?" The flames dissipated, revealing the figure of the Magus on the throne.
"No! I am the consciousness of the main body, you're only a thief that took it over. A despicable thief!" Melinda's face flushed red.
"So you're making use of this opportunity and trying to steal everything back?" The female Magus on the throne chuckled, as if she was watching a mischievous child making a fuss in front of her, "But I have to admit, the allies you've found are excellent Magi. They're powerful and hold the possibility of advancing further. They could very well become new Monarchs in the future!"
"Everything's over! Return what's mine to me!" Melinda took a step forward, her aura fluctuating abruptly, seemingly even exceeding the peak of rank 5.
"Having lost me, you're at your weakest. And the more powerful I am, the weaker you get!" Melinda took several steps forward, eyes glimmering with light.
"As long as I can suppress you, I'll be able to obtain everything!"
Pure golden flames rose once more, and the female Magus atop the flame throne slowly got up, "You're wrong. No matter how weak a Breaking Dawn Magus is, they're still a Breaking Dawn at the core. It's already been three thousand years. Did you think I did nothing at all in this time?"
"It's just an issue pertaining to the soul. With the support of fire origin force, as well as the amassed knowledge of the Magus World, I found a way to mend the loss of a part of my truesoul." As if to verify her words, a golden sun appeared behind the female Magus. Boiling hot strength rippled out from the truesoul, emanating energy waves that put Melinda on the verge of suffocation.
This was a Breaking Dawn's truesoul! The icy cold of moonlight had transformed into terrifying, boiling light; its volume and power showed that it had reached the peak!
"You've… recovered?" Melinda abruptly halted her footsteps.
"Not only have I recovered, I've even forged ahead to greater heights!" The Blazing Flame Monarch stated, an unquestionably terrifying energy held within her.
"Keke, I seem to have heard something amazing!" A translucent figure emerged, and Jin's hoarse voice sounded from the shadows.
"So Melinda, you're my enemy as well!" Joanna and Leylin hurried over around the same time. Joanna was quite different from before, and Clarke hadn't appeared, as if he'd disappeared.
Joanna was now glaring at Melinda with hatred, "I trusted you so much in the past, but you betrayed me?!"
"Hm?" Leylin also appeared with an unamused expression as he inwardly judged the Monarch's strength and also observed Joanna's state, 'So this is one of the twelve top-grade bodies written down in ancient records. She is a top grade research specimen.'
The A.I. Chip completely recorded down Joanna's external appearance, and presented it to Leylin with a projection. The Joanna in the projection had completely dark purple hair, and a strange flower-shaped pattern appeared on her forehead like a tattoo. Yet, it rippled with some sort of lustre.
[Beep! Detected abnormal radiations from target's body. Vigorous increase in ability to attract energy particles with runes seen on the surface of the body…]
The A.I. Chip began to present the results of its scanning, and in Leylin's eyes Joanna's body seemed to turn into a gigantic magnet, attracting the free energy particles in the air. They formed a mysterious circuit in her body, allowing her spiritual and magic power to replenish itself continuously. It even seemed to rise, breaking through a bottleneck.
"It would be a shame to let her die, if I properly research her body I might actually be able to comprehend something interesting. With my sentient force it might even be easier to copy her talents." Leylin lowered his head, eyes flickering with an intelligent glint.
Leylin knew that It's not just her physique. This ability clearly has something to do with a natural ability to increase the aptitude of the soul itself. One can increase elemental affinity, but a natural gift like this to strengthen the soul has practically gone extinct in the central continent. With his sentient force he might make a break through in his research.
"Whatever she did to your clan occurred after I separated from her. It's the same with the bloodline Warlocks. I am not your enemy!" Melinda glanced at Joanna and Leylin, smiling wryly as she gave an explanation.
"Her strength slightly exceeds my expectations. I'll need your help!"
"I don't care about that!" Jin was the first to retort, "You promised to share the Law Comprehension Crystals with us once we killed her. Was that all a lie?"
Melinda had promised to split the Law Comprehension Crystals from the Blazing Flame Monarch's death evenly. She didn't even seem to mind losing her own share.
At that point, they had all been against the Blazing Flame Monarch, and had assumed Melinda was like them as well, only satisfied with the Monarch's death.
However, she had left behind a loophole that wasn't quite a loophole.
She was part of the Flame Monarch's soul, and once Melinda returned to her main body and gained control over the Blazing Flame Monarch, that meant the Monarch was 'dead'.
Yet, as the other party had not truly died, it was impossible for there to be any Law Comprehension Crystals, and even more impossible for there to be any distribution.
'One can only bow their heads to such calculating people.' Leylin shook his head inside, 'But it's fine, since I schemed you back.'
If Melinda succeeded, their only gains from this mission would be what they got from Düz City, nothing more.
On the other hand, Melinda would have become the Blazing Flame Monarch. Even they wouldn't dare to complain about a rank 6 Magus even if they had thoughts against it.
Melinda's plan was very perfect, but she had not thought Leylin and Joanna would have strength surpassed her expectations. On top of that, the Blazing Flame Monarch had actually eliminated the issues from the breaking up of a truesoul, and was perhaps now at her peak!
"All who have the audacity to violate my city are to kneel and repent before me!" Boiling hot soul force was like steel that sealed the space around them. The Blazing Flame Monarch's low voice resounded through the area, putting even Leylin under pressure.
Melinda's expression was first terrible but quickly brightened up. "No, that's not it! We still have a chance! If her injuries were really completely healed, she wouldn't hide here and watch us invade and destroy Düz City, even letting her subordinates be massacred at our hands!
"Leylin, Joanna, I'm depending on you now. No matter what requests you have after this is over, I'll agree to them!"
Before, Leylin and Joanna's strength had been too outstanding and caused there to be some changes in Melinda's calculations. However, it was these changes that gave her hope!
"How ridiculous!" Before Leylin and the rest could reply, the female Magus in front of the throne snickered.
Golden rays of light were like a world of their own, dazzling gold soul force pouring out with large amounts of flames. Leylin looked down at back of his palm and saw that even his Sun Child bloodline imprint is not capable of truly resisting her. Between the battle of laws of a dead Warlock and an alive peak level Monarch it's easy to see who would win.
In the midst of this scorching first sunrise, a pitiful cry rang out. When Leylin turned his eyes around, Jin was now raised and held in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hand.
"Out of all these people, you were the one that I felt was the most dangerous. I didn't expect it to be an old friend!" The female flame Magus stared at the faint human figure in her hands, a slight smile on her face.
"I don't know what you're saying…" Jin's voice was hoarse and robotic.
"Kellard! I cannot tolerate any outsiders peeping in on my land of flames!" The Blazing Flame Monarch seemed to be confident in herself. A terrifying golden soul force entered Jin's body with her declaration, threads of gold travelling through the faint body as they burst into golden flames.
The Blazing Flame Monarch conjured an illusory scene from of Jin's body.
A platinum figure seemed to be seated on a throne within a spacious place. The golden flames seemed to pierce through the void, descending in that area.
A low sigh was heard from the platinum figure. A feather appeared, turning into an odd-looking longsword amidst white light. There were feather-shaped ornaments on the hilt of this sword that swung down viciously. The void surged and separated, the palace from before disappearing.
Jin exploded like a balloon in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hands.
'After dealing with Blazing Flame Monarch, my biggest problem could be Sky Monarch but currently he cannot do anything against her even with his plotting and if he dares trouble me I would shove that floating city down his throat.' Intelligence flashed in Leylin's eyes, and he looked towards the Blazing Flame Monarch who seemed completely fine but was silent.
'Here we go!' Leylin felt something as he slightly moved his body to the right.
*Bzzt bzzt!* At this moment, a few pure-white goose feathers almost fell on Leylin's shoulder like snow, but because of his moving it felt on the ground.
Immediately after, a snow of feathers fell down on the place. The ground was covered by a thin layer of white that even shrouded the Blazing Flame Monarch's golden soul force.
Cracks began to appear on the boundary of the half-dimension, but the effects were even worse on the Blazing Flame Monarch herself.
*Rumble!* Golden flames burst forth from her body, immediately burning the feathers that drew close to ashes. However, there was still some white that managed to pass through her defences. Her expression changed, "Damn you, Kellard!"
*Boom!* The feathers exploded, causing her to sway a little. Immediately after, the scorching sun that was her truesoul suddenly dimmed, and the temperature nearby quickly lowered. The oppressive aura in the half-dimension was reduced.
Brown crack streaked across the faint figure of the Blazing Flame Monarch's truesoul, and even the Monarch's own aura weakened.
"So you still can't completely suppress your injuries!" Melinda moved forward, an odd aura being emanated from her body as it pounced towards the Monarch.
"Die!" Joanna was even faster. Her aura had already reached the peak of Radiant Moon, and purple gas converged to form a trident that pierced towards the Blazing Flame Monarch.
"Get out of the way!" The golden flames on the Monarch's body grew tenfold as exuberant with her cry, incinerating everything the Monarch of the Skies had arranged.
After launching that attack, the Blazing Flame Monarch staggered backwards, and cracks began to appear on the golden throne behind her.
Facing the attacks of Melinda and Joanna, the Monarch's expression grew solemn. It was as if she was a god when she made the declaration. "I am the Blazing Flame Monarch. The laws of fire in this world shall be controlled by I alone!"
Large amounts of scarlet fire particles appeared, forming something on a level higher than a domain that completely enveloped the area.
"It's truly an eye opening event to witness a Monarch using law." Leylin's squinted his eyes a little, his eyes were constantly emitting light.
He could feel with his senses that the moment the Blazing Flame Monarch summoned this plane of fire that was even more powerful than a domain, the fire elemental particles that he could normally control seemed to have an aura that rejected the summons of his soul force.
This was much more intense than the elemental isolation of a Morning Star domain. Leylin even felt that the fire element now had a life and will of its own, and was automatically rejecting his control over it.
'This is the power of laws, against it nothing else matters. This is why I didn't bother to reach Breaking Dawn Rank just staying at Peak Radiant Moon because without law it doesn't matter much of anything.' Leylin sighed.
At this moment, the Blazing Flame Monarch's right hand ruthlessly grabbed forward, "Law of fire!"
*Rumble!* A bundle of flames emerged in front of her, seeming neither strong nor very hot. However, it was like the most primal fire in the world, filled with a great ancient aura of leadership.
The tip of the purple trident sizzled and melted the moment it came into contact with the fire. The sound caused Joanna's expression to warp.
The scarlet flames seemed to have a life of their own in the Blazing Flame Monarch's hands, and immediately flickered as they turned into a fiery whip. Joanna's body was sent flying backwards, a long luminous burn mark on her body.
"I am the master of the flames, one who has grasped the power of law. You can't stop me!" A berserk soul force radiated from the Blazing Flame Monarch as if to prove her point.
Melinda took several steps backwards. The soul force at the Breaking Dawn realm had caused a backlash to her hand, and two streams of blood dripped from her eyes.
She quickly retreated, and transmitted to Leylin, "You're not going to fight back?"
"Maybe?" Leylin's arms were crossed together as he stared at Melinda mockingly.
"What do you want?" Melinda was about to go crazy. At this point, Leylin was still ignorant of the big picture. Did he not know that once the Blazing Flame Monarch killed her and Joanna, he wouldn't be able to escape either?
"What about the method you used to divide your truesoul and sever the soul!" Leylin was here to kill the Monarch and with his skills it's not really very plausible to check through her memories with surety hence, he decided to take the thing of most important directly from Melinda as a collateral just in case.
"Alright!" Melinda agreed to Leylin's condition unhesitatingly. As of now, the priority was eliminating the Blazing Flame Monarch. No matter how important the technique of severing souls was, it was just some information. There was obviously no issue at all.