༺ Annalise (1) ༻
All eyes were drawn towards the sky as a cluster of pure white light descended upon the earth.
A miracle.
It was a word that only seemed right to describe that brilliant phenomenon.
Rohan’s eyes widened as the light shined upon him. It was an inevitable reaction, because he knew better than anyone else in the world what that light was.
‘The divine power of the Heavenly Realm.’
This was the light of the Supreme Creators; a power from a higher dimension that he could only draw a fraction of. And it was currently descending upon this earth.
Rohan recalled what he had just seen.
‘Saint…’
In order to draw in divine power, Renee had torn open a gateway to the Heavenly Realm with her sword and commanded the Advent of the Heavenly Realm upon this earth.
There was no question of ‘how’.
It was an authority that could perform a miracle as long as the possibility wasn’t nonexistent. If such a power existed, even Renee tearing open a gateway to the Heavenly Realm with her sword was entirely possible.
However, such an act would have tremendous consequences. As soon as that thought arose…
“Ugh!”
Renee’s coughing echoed. Rohan quickly ran to her side and helped her stand.
“Saint!”
“It’s okay, I’m alright.”
Renee felt as though her windpipe was being clogged, and barely managed to reply. Her mind was fuzzy, and she felt as though her whole body was floating on air. In the midst of that, she recalled the sensation of someone squeezing her heart.
As Renee endured through that pain, she shakily reached for the sky, and evoked a pure white divinity.
She wasn’t allowed to fall here. There was still something she had to do in order to stand in that light.
Renee weaved a magic circle at her fingertips. The pure white lines that emerged traced a circle, and formed a small pentagon within. The pentagon expanded, lines began connecting between each of the pentagon’s vertices and overlapped with each other, creating a star.
Renee launched the completed star into the sky, and it exploded.
Hyaaaaaah—!
Wide Area Recovery Spell [Cradle].
A pure white light descended from the sky, imbued with her spell.
‘It’s complete.’
Even though she couldn’t see, she was certain that the spell had been engraved properly. A faint smile formed around the corner of her lips as she lost consciousness.
“Saint!”
Rohan’s cry sounded like a lullaby in her ears.
***
Vera saw a white sky suddenly emerge. His eyes widened the moment he felt the cluster of light that enveloped his body.
‘Saint!’
No one other than Renee could’ve done this, and even then, there would be too much strain on her body.
He had to quickly capture the Tower Master and return to Renee’s side. Vera turned around with that thought in mind, and what reflected in his eyes was a glimpse of the Tower Master fleeing.
Clench—
Vera clenched his teeth. He couldn’t miss this opportunity. At that moment, he tensed his muscles and launched himself forward.
The direction the Tower Master was running and the direction of Vera’s pursuit was in the same direction as the slums.
***
In the depths of the Aurillac.
As soon as the white sky appeared, Tower Master Annalise opened the office drawer and took out a small vial. Inside was clear blood that had been filled to the brim. It was a serum that had been purified.
“Fuck—!”
Bang!
There was a loud echo as Annalise slammed the desk.
‘I was almost there!’
Her plan was to cause political chaos by capturing the Crown Prince and escaping.
An Apostle? She didn’t care. Although she was being followed by an Apostle, weren’t the odds in her favor? It wasn’t obvious who had the advantage between attacking and defending in the city, so she was definitely stronger, right?
It was because she had fled so pathetically with the serum.
Clench—
Annalise’s hand firmly gripped the serum. Her ordinarily fierce expression grew sinister, as though she had become possessed by a murderous evil spirit.
‘That fucking bitch.’
She was referring to Renee.
Annalise was a Tower Master. She was somebody who had reached the peak of the mystery called magic, and that was how she recognized what that light was.
If she were inside that storm of divine power, she would have inevitably been defeated.
No, she would have lost even now. That half-brained woman had torn open the heavens that was now rising above the Aurillac.
Was there really no way? No, there was that as well.
Annalise stared at the serum with trembling eyes.
All she needed to do was drink this, and then she could defeat that cockroach-like Apostle.
However, despite that, a worry came to mind.
‘And then what?’
The serum was completed. However, it wouldn’t be strange for a serum made from grinding humans to be incomplete.
The side effects were reduced as much as possible, as well as removing the immune system’s ability to reject the foreign substance.
However, she couldn’t guarantee that she would regain her sanity after drinking it.
It was such a dangerous substance that even in such an urgent situation, hesitation came to mind.
Kwaaaah—!
A sudden explosion engulfed the Aurillac, and the violent vibrations caused everything in the office to fall to the ground.
As Annalise watched that scene unfolding, she clenched her teeth hard enough that a grinding noise was heard, and raised her Observer.
‘The Apostle…!’
The Apostle of Oath was on the Aurillac.
‘That lunatic.’
Annalise felt her teeth chattering.
The Aurillac was floating in the sky, and he came here even without wearing the magic engineered thrusters developed by the Crown Prince. That meant he climbed all the way up here with his bare body—to kill her.
His fierce ash-colored pupils that were visible between his black hair were directed towards the observer.
The Apostle could be seen laughing with a sinister grin on his face.
Annalise knew at once that the laugh was meant to provoke her.
‘Fucker.’
A brat that had yet to live to even thirty, less than a quarter of her age, dared to laugh at her?
He was mocking her, without even realizing how great of a mission he was destroying.
Annalise, who had been trembling with rage, soon drooped down and began laughing hysterically.
“Dog fucker.”
Parasite. Filthy piece of shit. I want to rip him apart and feed him to the dogs.
All kinds of curses were coming out of her mouth while laughing.
Slam—
The serum’s stopper popped open as Annalise stared at the Apostle through the Observer with reinvigorated eyes, and then she drank the serum.
Although she ingested the serum instead of injecting, there wasn’t any problem. It was enough for the concept to be engraved in her body.
Crack—
Annalise’s bones slowly started staggering and writhing.
***
Vera clung onto the outer walls of the Aurillac, intending to create an opening with the divinity-imbued Holy Sword.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
A line appeared on the wall and formed into a crack.
Before making one final thrust, he added more divinity into the Holy Sword.
Baaaang!
The wall collapsed.
“Whew…”
Vera squeezed through the opening and searched the interior.
‘A garden?’
The space looked like that. The indoor garden was much larger than he had thought, perhaps because someone had cast a spatial expansion spell on it.
‘There’s no sign of anyone here.’
He came here to attack, expecting to fight against all the wizards of the Magic Tower, but he couldn’t feel anyone.
He suddenly tensed up and wondered if the Magic Tower’s wizards had become ‘corpses’ as well, then sharpened his senses.
Step—
“There’s no one here.”
Those words were accompanied by the sound of heels.
Vera quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice he heard, and standing at the end of his gaze was the Tower Master, Annalise.
After Vera confirmed it was Annalise, he took a deep breath.
‘Her hair color…’
There was pink rising from the tip of Annalise’s hair, and the impression she gave off wasn’t the fierce one from before, but a more docile one.
Crack—
With that sound, her facial structure contorted.
“I sent everyone outside the moment the festival began.”
“Were they all associated in this scheme as well?”
“There’s no way my children knew. I wouldn’t want their valuable intellect to go to waste, after all.”
Creak. Creak.
The corners of Annalise’s lips rose.
Vera didn’t hastily attack. Instead, he examined Annalise’s state as they exchanged words.
An endless supply of divinity was descending from the pure white sky. There was no need to be impatient.
“Kid, do you realize how foolish you are right now?”
“Well, I don’t know. Is what I’m doing more foolish than trying to assassinate the Crown Prince?”
“Crown Prince?”
Annalise giggled.
“Do you think it makes sense for such a retarded child to be a ruler?”
Vera didn’t respond. It wasn’t an unspoken affirmation; he could see the genuine anger in Annalise’s eyes as she spoke.
“Isn’t it funny? Of all things, that bastard calls himself a ruler while behaving so arrogantly to the point where I can’t do my research freely and have to hide.”
“Research…”
“Research that will take us towards the next stage of evolution. A new species where hunger, cold, and all other forms of suffering could be erased.”
Vera readied his sword.
‘A lunatic.’
Although he didn’t want to hear more, there was still something he needed to confirm.
“So, you’ve been conducting human experimentation. Even though you were given that serum, you acted with such arrogance? Do you have no pride, Tower Master?”
“You don’t understand.”
Annalise’s eyes turned pink.
“How great and mysterious the Origin Species are, and what it means to have been alive since the dawn of creation. You know nothing. Not just you, but all of the idiots on this continent.”
“Bullshit…”
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTANDDD–!!!”
Rage—!
A hot wind surged.
Vera surrounded himself with divinity to dispel the hot wind.
“You know nothing! You’re just a bunch of dumbasses, living because you’re alive! You’re livestock! You have no thirst for knowledge! You have no desire to seek Providence! You don’t even know why this world was created, and how it’s continuing to exist! You’re turning a blind eye to all of that!”
It was a scream that bordered on revulsion. The Tower Master, with a face that could no longer be recognized as Annalise, stretched out her hand.
A spear of red flames began forming.
Vera evoked his powers in response.
“I declare.”
An ashen divinity started to envelop the area.
“From now on, all acts of magic within this space are prohibited…”
“You can’t.”
Crack—!
The ashen space shattered and exploded into pieces.
An expression of shock emerged on Vera’s face. At his reaction, Annalise had a long smile on face, as if the corners of her mouth were about to tear apart.
“Why? Shocked? Did you think that everything could be solved with your power? What, are you going to piss yourself now that it isn’t working?”
‘How…’
His power was a blessing of the Gods. It was a power from a higher dimension. But, how could she interfere with it?
Vera was bewildered at that thought. Annalise laughed, then said to him.
“You foolish kid. Divinity is mutated mana, and your power simply a materialization of that phenomenon, isn’t it? Every power in this world has a principle behind it. If that principle has been uncovered, what is there to fear?”
Annalise raised her hand. The flame-forged spears all aimed for Vera.
The wide, tearing smile that Annalise previously had suddenly disappeared. She wiped the expression off her face and let out a deep sigh before smiling.
“…Well, what can I say? It’s meaningless for morons like you who have given up on thinking.”
There was a sense of disappointment in her words.
Afterwards, Annalise launched the spears of flame all at once with a wave of her hand.
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