Chapter 1316: The Grand General’s Mausoleum (14)
The Grand General who dominated the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. A brilliant conqueror who led The Empire’s Unification War.
A Transcendent so formidable that even decades after his death, the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult coveted his physical form.
At this moment, the Grand General of Brilliance, who had been offered to an Outer God, awakened from his long slumber, took up his weapon, and stepped onto the battlefield.
Clang!!!!
The Grand General’s body, descended from the Altar of Human Flesh, took a step, passed Lennok, and reached the Priestess.
The Grand General, dragging the shattered Satellite Shredder, confronted Ureka Naydree, who clutched her staff.
As the Priestess’s distorted reflection appeared in the Grand General’s vacant eyes,
The house-sized axe, dragged along the floor, began to move slowly.
Whoosh—
It shot out from amidst the debris, tracing a gentle arc as it spun.
The movement was so slow that even Ureka, let alone Lennok watching from behind, could perceive it with their naked eyes.
It was slow enough to be easily dodged with a slight movement to the side. It was already clear and precise enough to be caught by Magical Perception.
The moment that thought occurred, the Shredder’s blade had already embedded itself in Ureka’s side, pulsating.
Crunch—
[…!!!!!!!]
An inescapable resonance of ruin echoing from within.
Half a beat too late, Ureka’s expression completely changed as she extended her staff, attempting to mitigate even a fraction of the power.
A chilling sensation, tearing apart Ureka’s consciousness, which was composed of a spiritual body, not a true physical form.
[Damn it—]
Crack, cr-cr-cr-crack—
All of the Priestess’s senses and cognitive abilities seemed to be sucked into the Shredder embedded in her side.
An intense sense of incongruity, as if everything, including Ureka, was being forcibly pulled into the blade of the Shredder.
Snap, her staff broke, and her Spiritual Presence and consciousness ruptured. The spellcraft and Quasi-Authority she tried to unleash in a fit shattered and collapsed from their very foundations.
[This, you bastard……!!!!!!]
A Single Stroke, impossible to dodge or block from the outset.
The moment the Priestess instinctively realized this fact, she shrieked in an epileptic fit, struggling desperately.
A cleave, originating from the very center of the mausoleum’s basement, tore through the Priestess’s Spiritual Presence and surged upward, piercing thousands of meters beneath the ground.
Flash!
As the golden axe blade rotated diagonally, as if slicing the sky from below, its will-thought flooded to the horizon.
It spun and crushed down, as if it would cleave the entire vast canyon of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors in half.
Kwooooshhhhh!!!!!
The jungles and forests spread across the entire Demonic Realm withered in real-time, crushed by the cleave.
Monstrous plants that devoured humans and sucked up death were annihilated into dust, struggling and screaming in agony.
Along the trajectory of the cleave, colossal cliffs, dozens of meters deep, erupted one after another from all directions, causing violent earthquakes.
A Transcendent’s cleave, capable of reshaping a map with the power of a single individual.
Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!!
“K-k-k-k-k-k!!!!”
“No, no……!!!!”
“How could this be, the Priestess has……!!!”
Swept away by the shockwave, the Guido Cult’s forces screamed as they died at incredible speeds from all directions.
Bishops gasped and shouted. Priests bled and died, yet ceaselessly offered prayers.
The armor of the Rectification Knights, attempting to escape the collapsing mausoleum with the injured, shattered, and their bodies crumbled.
“All survivors, return to the main temple!!!”
“The Grand General has awakened!! The Empire’s Mad Fortress—!!!”
“Run away!! Facing him head-on means death……!!!”
Kwagwagwagwa!!!!
Pale holy light pierced down through the debris of the collapsing mausoleum ceiling.
Vast pillars of light rained down from all directions, tearing apart the ground and smashing the mausoleum.
Each strike was a bombardment comparable to a tactical weapon, a full-scale assault meant to deter and suppress a single individual’s approach.
But the black-haired warrior, clad in broken armor, did not evade the bombardment falling from the sky.
He simply walked forward, taking the holy light directly onto his deceased body.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!!!!
The Guido Cult’s battleship, floating in the sky, wobbled and veered off course, unable to withstand the rapidly changing atmospheric pressure.
The shockwaves, spreading from both sides of the cleave, crushed and annihilated the cult’s forces that had targeted the Grand General.
Priests and corpses empowered within Ureka’s sanctuary burst like toys, spilling their entrails.
Splatter-splatter-splatter-splatter!!!!
“Aaaaargh!! Save me, save me……!!!”
“My God, why have you done this to us—”
“……Unbelievable.”
With a single swing of his weapon, the Grand General of Brilliance had cleaved the Priestess, turning the mausoleum into a sea of blood.
That alone shattered the Priestess’s spiritual body on the spot, and thousands of corpses lay strewn across the area.
A monstrous might that, in one fell swoop, crushed all the plans the Guido Cult had attempted within this mausoleum, led by the Priestess.
As Aileen was rendered speechless by the overwhelming massacre, a small ampoule fell at her feet.
“Martinez……?”
“It’s a hemostatic.”
Lennok, who had appeared beside Aileen, watched the Grand General with an impassive face.
“You’ll need it for first aid on your wounds. It would be best to take it now.”
“……”
A wound on her shoulder, pierced through by Ureka’s staff.
Aileen, staring blankly at the blood flowing from her shoulder, nodded.
She plunged the ampoule into her wound and gasped for breath, then looked up.
“What…… what happened? The Grand General, what on earth…….”
“Our initial premise was wrong from the start.”
Lennok answered quietly.
“He was not corrupted by the Demonic Realm. Rather, his mind was preserved intact until just before he awakened.”
“The Grand General of Brilliance was known as a Transcendent who suffered from severe madness even during his lifetime.”
Aileen murmured.
“So I never doubted that the Grand General was already insane, but how…….”
“We don’t know his exact condition yet. We can’t say for sure unless we ask him directly.”
Lennok said, turning his gaze.
“But it seems undeniable that he was a Transcendent befitting the grand status of The Empire’s Grand General.”
“……Ah.”
“That is the slaughterer who was loyal to Ars Nova. The pinnacle of a Transcendent, symbolizing The Empire’s golden age…….”
Boom!!!
Amidst the raining bombardment, each time the Grand General turned his gaze, the golden Shredder gleamed slowly, dancing.
Each time, cleaves with no discernible starting point or trajectory exploded, tearing apart hundreds of priests who sprayed blood.
Without employing grand spellcraft or Miniature Universes, he simply extended his hand, not even glancing at the holy light exploding where humans moved.
Each time, localized cleaves and explosions, penetrating the entire mausoleum, surged like a tsunami, turning the Guido Cult’s forces into minced flesh.
A martial prowess befitting the title of ‘The Empire’s Conqueror,’ single-handedly overwhelming and slaughtering thousands of superhumans.
“He’s not expending power to fight the cult.”
Lennok’s gaze, fixed on the warrior standing alone in the sea of blood, was deep.
“That man is trying to destroy these Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors by himself. Everything else is dying just by being caught in the aftermath.”
“……”
Strength unconstrained by life and death. An unyielding transcendence, untainted even by a decaying body.
Was this the strength of an Ascendant who had achieved a complete Level 9 in mind, body, and spirit?
A monster perfected in soul, mind, and Inner World, unlike Hermes, Dorye, or Maleon.
A Transcendent who, in his lifetime, had attained a status comparable to none other than Jinwa.
Whoosh!!
He raised his other hand, not holding the Shredder, and lightly clenched the empty air.
With that alone, the spacetime of the mausoleum warped, causing battleships floating above to plummet and the horizon to distort.
A bizarre phenomenon, as if everything in the vicinity was forcibly pulled and sucked towards the Grand General.
Simultaneously, high-ranking bishops and knights, who had been fleeing the mausoleum with the wounded, began to be dragged back.
“Damn it—!!!”
Clang!!
A knight, dragged back helplessly, swung his sword in a frantic fit, but it couldn’t reach due to the difference in their physiques.
The Grand General, clutching the struggling knight’s head with one hand, slammed him to the ground without even looking back.
The knight’s body exploded before it even hit the ground, evaporating without leaving even a piece of flesh.
Bwaaaaaaam!!
“H-huh……!!”
“Impossible…… what kind of strength is that—!!!”
Unbelievable monstrous strength, capable of exploding a human body with mere air resistance.
A sight of power that seemed to transcend the limits of what could be exerted in the material realm, even in a dead body.
Kwooooh!!!
A viscous, oily substance flowed from the Grand General’s body, soaking his broken armor.
A shadow, resembling a black hand, coiled around his forearm, adding power and making his presence even more substantial.
Aileen’s face turned pale as she felt a sense of déjà vu from the shape of that black hand.
“Surely, that’s…….”
“He’s using the Outer God’s aura remaining in his body as a substitute for mana to fight.”
Lennok slowly shook his head.
“He’s already half no longer a being of this world. Is such a thing possible for a monster of an ancient Ascendant’s caliber…….”
The Grand General’s corpse had long been used for the sustenance of the Demonic Realm, its True Blood extracted.
Since his entire body’s blood, and even his will-thought, had been exploited, there could not have been sufficient mana remaining in his body.
But the Grand General was fighting by using the power of the Outer God residing in his body as a substitute for mana during the Sacrificial Ritual.
Because of this, Lennok himself, the moment the Grand General approached, had been unable to sense his presence at all.
An unrealistic martial talent, instantly understanding and wielding power of entirely different origins and mechanisms as if it were a tool.
Boom!! Rumble-rumble-rumble!!
Pillars of pristine white light collapsed from all directions.
Blessings and protections falling from the sky were torn to shreds, fading and disappearing.
Less than three minutes had passed since the Grand General took up the Satellite Shredder and entered the battlefield.
Ureka Naydree’s sanctuary, conjured by borrowing the power of an Outer God, was being annihilated by a single Transcendent.
[Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!]
From beyond the disappearing sanctuary, Ureka’s furious roar, filled with venom, echoed chillingly.
[Every single one of you, both this one and that one!!!! I won’t let you be. All of you, every single one……!!!!!]
“……”
[Order Alliance…… Grand General…… that noblewoman……!!! And Martinezzzzz!!!! I will surely kill you all and grind your bones to dust!!!!!]
“That is a duty for This General, not for you.”
Thud!!
At that moment, the Grand General snatched a cluster of light echoing within the sanctuary with one hand.
The Grand General of Brilliance, who had seized the very Spiritual Presence vibrating with the Priestess’s will, spoke.
“A method of incarnating one’s will into the mundane world by borrowing the knack of divine possession. Progressive. If you continue like this, This General cannot truly punish you.”
[Let me go!!!!]
“But an indelible Lightning Imprint is already etched painfully and clearly within your Spiritual Presence.”
[……!!!!]
At that moment, the Priestess’s Spiritual Presence was felt to shake and waver severely, visibly.
A sensitive and sharp reaction, as if a hidden shame that must be concealed had been exposed to someone.
But the Grand General ignored the Priestess’s reaction entirely and spoke calmly.
“Even simply tearing open that crack would be a punishment greater than any other. Especially for a priestess like you…….”
Crack……!!!
As the Grand General exerted force, the light containing the Priestess’s Spiritual Presence fractured as if splitting apart.
“It would be fatal.”
[Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!]
Ureka’s reply could not be heard.
The cluster of light, shattered in the Grand General’s hand, broke into myriad fragments and was entirely swallowed by a brilliant blue lightning.
Forced to recall a forgotten pain, consumed by it, the Priestess’s consciousness itself seemed to shatter and collapse.
Simultaneously, the entire surging pale sanctuary dispersed and vanished, and the corpses blessed by the cult began to fall like puppets.
Thump-thump-thump!!!
Swoooosh—
Corpses falling like broken puppets from all directions in the mausoleum. Priests and bishops, dead by the Grand General’s hand, turned into mere minced flesh.
In the center of the slaughter, where bodies and blood rained down, the Grand General slowly lowered his axe and closed his eyes.
The Transcendent fell silent, as if the warmth of the blood falling on his armor was his only remaining sensation.
“Ah…….”
Lennok and Aileen quietly watched the Grand General’s gloomy and chilling figure.
The black-haired Grand General, who looked perfectly suited to stand on a battlefield overflowing with blood and corpses.
The Imperial Palace’s Transcendent, who had fought his entire life as a brilliant conqueror at the forefront of The Empire’s Unification War.
Now, after awakening from death after a long time, what thoughts he harbored, whether he was an ally or an enemy, was unknown.
Thud!!
As he lowered the massive blade of the Shredder, it plunged diagonally into the ground.
Leaving the house-sized axe, the Grand General turned and slowly walked towards them.
The figure of the slaughterer slowly approaching from the sea of corpses and blood in the collapsing center of the mausoleum, ravaged by the aftermath of the cleaves.
“Step back, Aileen.”
Lennok, fiddling with an Elixir vial inside his sleeve, said calmly.
“It seems it will be difficult to respond to the situation while worrying about you from now on.”
“……”
Thud!!
Slowly, the Grand General stopped in front of Lennok and looked down.
A colossal figure, nearly 3 meters tall, forcing Lennok to crane his neck significantly to look up.
Despite his entire body being muscular, his physique was well-proportioned, giving no impression of clumsiness or bulk.
A vacant face, yet possessing a strange dignity despite the killing intent emanating from his entire body and his pale complexion.
But Lennok, looking into the utterly empty eyes of the corpse, was thinking something else.
‘My opponent is an Ascendant who is loyal to the Emperor even in death…… In the end, there’s no way he’s on our side.’
The Grand General knew that the Emperor had become an Outer God and left this world, yet still referred to him as ‘His Majesty.’
While referring to Lennok as an ‘old acquaintance,’ he showed no great reaction, focusing only on slaughtering the cult.
If he was tearing down the mausoleum with his own hands, and even using the power of an Outer God as a substitute for mana in the process,
It was clear that the Grand General had awakened in response to Lennok’s call because he had ‘a goal to achieve.’
‘He knows about me, and he wants something from me, that’s clear. The problem is not knowing what that is…….’
He was revered as one of The Empire’s Grand Generals, a warrior entombed as a hero in a mausoleum after death.
In his lifetime, he must have been a great Transcendent who ruled with the loyalty of hundreds of thousands. It was highly likely that he was a superhuman with extremely strong pride and self-esteem.
If the Grand General of Brilliance was a loyal Transcendent who bowed to no one but the Emperor,
And if their relationship wasn’t close enough for him to show emotion despite knowing Lennok,
Then this very moment would be a new Branching Point, redefining the relationship between Lennok and the Grand General.
Should he play along and extract his purpose? As Lennok considered this, sizing up the Grand General standing before him,
The Grand General, looking down at Lennok with an impassive face, finally opened his mouth.
“Do you have anything you wish to ask This General?”
“……”
Absurdly, Lennok felt his voice catch in his throat.
A shocking reply, enough to stiffen Aileen’s body, which had been watching with intense tension.
But the Grand General did not look back at Aileen, nor did he pay attention to the corpses strewn around.
In a calm and composed voice, unbefitting his empty eyes, he simply reiterated to Lennok.
“Speak. If there is anything you are curious about, This General will answer.”
“……You are.”
The Grand General of Brilliance of The Empire’s Imperial Palace of Ars Nova. A mad conqueror who pledged loyalty only to the Emperor.
A cruel slaughterer who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops and contributed to the Unification War.
The master of the Demonic Realm, whom Lennok had never once considered an ally, was showing him the utmost courtesy.