Chapter 68: Night of Annihilation (6)
Chapter 68: Night of Annihilation (6)
TL/Editor: Rungir
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The Celestial Sea, a force mastered only by the royal Agnes family's direct heirs, ruled the world.
Just before his coming-of-age ceremony, Enoch realized he was less gifted in wielding the Celestial Sea than his siblings.
It was one thing for Rubrious and Evelyn, who had harnessed the Celestial Sea before him, to move forward. But when Utekan and Diana, who had surely harnessed it after him, also progressed, Enoch had to face the truth.
He could no longer overlook what he'd tried so hard to ignore.
Four stars.
That's all the Celestial Sea granted to Enoch.
From then, Enoch threw himself into the study of magic obsessively.
Was it because the Ozlima family was his mother's side?
Thankfully, his magical talent surpassed expectations. At the young age of thirty, he peaked at level 7 and aimed for level 8.
Once Enoch successfully combined such magic and the Celestial Sea in his unique way, he was finally acknowledged as a powerhouse in the Agnes family.
However.
'It's still not enough.'
Enoch's desire for power did not fade.
His current strength wouldn't secure the throne for him.
The Celestial Sea denied Enoch further growth, and his magic's progress was agonizingly slow.
So, Enoch sought something different.
And then, the demon, Diral, found Enoch.
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Raei Translations
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Boom!
Not only did Enoch's Celestial Sea shake the surroundings, but it also blew apart the library's ceiling and outer walls.
Now, the night sky and the enlarging battlefield were fully exposed.
Enoch was a mage.
Even if his close-combat preparations were flawless, a mage's nature always favored distance.
So, when the battle began, Enoch claimed his space.
This act was no less than an announcement that Enoch took Zion seriously and was prepared to exert all his strength.
'I don't know what these are...'
Enoch, eyeing the darkness wrapping Zion's body and the black sword in his hand, gauged the distance.
He had already witnessed it when the old Zion fought with Lergan, but he still couldn't fathom its true nature.
A force that stirred up unsettling feelings deep within him just by looking at it.
However.
'As long as it's not the same Celestial Sea, it doesn't matter.'
The Celestial Sea dominates all powers in the world.
So, regardless of the power that darkness held, he could just suppress it.
Whoosh!
With that, dozens of light orbs sprang up around Enoch, hurled towards Zion.
These orbs weren't simple magic. They nibbled at the surrounding space as they charged at Zion.
Zion, watching the incoming light orbs, swung his Eclaxia in a horizontal arc.
The light orbs caught in the black line vanished as if they never existed.
Seizing the momentary gap, Zion lunged forward, as though he'd been waiting for this.
A shockwave echoed where Zion had rushed past.
The darkness radiating from Zion's body, amplified by the lunar eclipse, was flaming with tremendous force.
Prince Enoch was a tougher opponent than any Zion had faced before.
Holding back against him was a surefire path to defeat.
"Isn't your attack too direct?"
Just as Zion, charging in a straight line, was about to reach him, Enoch murmured and tightened his outstretched hand.
Potent magic exploded from him, morphing into a spell that froze Zion in place.
This was high-level magic, unusable without tampering with space itself.
Suddenly, dozens of light spears rained down on Zion, frozen in space.
Each spear packed enough power to pulverize a house-sized boulder.
Just as the spears were about to engulf Zion...
"This is the best way."
Zion chuckled and murmured, his mantle resonating with Eclaxia, releasing a massive, hair-raising wave.
Enoch's immobilizing spell and the showering light spears evaporated as if erased, upon contact with the wave.
"...!"
Enoch's eyes widened at the bizarre sight, unlike anything he'd ever seen or heard of.
Despite seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't understand even a fraction of it.
Before Enoch could react, Zion, now closer, slashed with his Eclaxia.
The black lightning that had eradicated the demon's darkness earlier now pulsed from Zion's sword, hugely boosted by the lunar eclipse.
Prince Enoch, not underestimating its power, activated his Celestial Sea, casting dozens of defensive spells.
The shockwave from the collision of Enoch's defensive spells and Zion's extinction sword started tearing the surrounding air.
With that, Enoch's library was completely ruined.
Crash!
As the thick dust spread from that, the black sword light Zion created swooped down.
Inside Zion, the dark circuit throbbed with fervor, ceaselessly amplifying the Black Star.
Its potency was unlike when the elder Zion used the incomplete lunar eclipse.
The lunar eclipse, accessible from the third stage, was a technique channeled through the dark circuit, not through the blood vessels.
Hence, it was inherently more stable and potent.
"You held back when you fought Lergan, didn't you?"
As Enoch parried Zion's sword strike, he murmured in surprise.
Such growth in a short span seemed implausible, making it difficult to explain the current situation.
Incredible power for Zion, once deemed the royal family's disgrace.
However...
"This level won't suffice."
With those words, the four stars spinning in Enoch's eyes began to radiate a brilliant light.
Just as Zion, who'd been unleashing sword strikes, raised an eyebrow...
With the burst of starlight, Enoch's magic began to wholly reverse.
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Raei Translations
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"... Is this what you meant, Zion?"
A short distance from the Red Castle.
Evelyn Agnes, alongside her knights, observed the battle unfolding atop the Red Castle and murmured.
Roar!
A resounding roar and the aftermath reaching even where they stood.
The epicenter of such a clash were Zion and Enoch.
"Don't interfere, regardless of what happens in the Imperial City."
Zion had instructed Evelyn after a private discussion following the old national assembly.
On receiving the battle report, Evelyn had been heading towards the Red Castle, but she stopped when she saw Zion.
"I didn't expect him to cause such a commotion."
While she anticipated trouble from Zion's words, she hadn't foreseen it to be this significant.
Moreover, judging by the surge of spiritual energies emanating from the Red Castle's basement, it seemed Diana was also embroiled in the conflict.
All these developments surpassed her expectations.
However, what startled Evelyn the most was something else.
"I never knew he was this powerful..."
It was Zion, locked in combat against Enoch.
More accurately, it was Zion's power that was matching blows with Enoch.
Though she'd heard about it over time, this was her first time witnessing him fight.
Consequently, Evelyn's astonishment was inevitable.
Furthermore, that peculiar darkness that was nullifying Enoch's magic.
It definitely wasn't the Celestial Sea.
Yet, something about it felt similar.
Evelyn, despite reaching the heavens, couldn't pinpoint the source of the darkness she'd once glimpsed in Zion's eyes.
"But..."
The sight of Zion skillfully wielding that darkness, cutting through various enigmas...
The sight was intimidating enough to involuntarily tighten Evelyn's grip as she watched.
"That's not enough."
But against Enoch, it was still insufficient.
As these words escaped Evelyn's lips...
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Raei Translations
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Whoosh!
With a light intense enough to momentarily bleach the night sky, Zion's body plummeted towards the base of the Red Castle.
Zion's body, which had descended from the top of the Red Castle instantaneously, plunged into the ground, forming a massive crater.
Dust rose, thickening and spreading in every direction.
"Hoo..."
Rising from within the crater, Zion assessed his condition.
A single strike.
His armor of darkness, which had encased his body, was entirely shattered by the single blow he'd received.
Accompanied by that, his body groaned and creaked from various locations.
Had he not been clad in his armor, he would've lost his life the moment the blow struck.
'So, I'm still not enough?'
Despite the Black Star reaching three stars and the use of the Lunar Eclipse that amplified all his abilities several times over, a substantial gap persisted between Zion and Enoch.
The direct descendant of the royal family, deemed a 'monster' for possessing unparalleled power even within the Frosimar Chronicles, right?
Starting from basic capabilities, to the implementation of magic, speed, and output.
Enoch outclassed Zion in all these aspects, but the primary reason for Zion's disadvantage was something else.
"Is that the extent of your abilities?"
Dozens of starlights brilliantly adorned the night sky, orbiting Enoch, who gradually descended from the heavens towards Zion.
That was the problem.
The moment Enoch invoked that power, Zion's chances of victory vanished.
Galaxy Lactea of the Star River.
A unique magic created by Prince Enoch, the 3rd Prince, fusing the Celestial Sea and magic in his peculiar way, a magic exclusive to him in this world.
One of the paramount powers featured in the Frosimar Chronicles, the Celestial Sea.
The properties of the Celestial Sea, which reigned supreme among all powers in the world and could even belittle the world's laws, were wholly integrated into those starlights.
"How did you think of challenging me with your current strength?"
Not in a sarcastic tone, but genuinely as though he couldn't understand.
Enoch, who landed before Zion, furrowed his brows and asked.
"Are you too naive to assess my strength? Or... have you gone mad?"
Simultaneously, anger simmered in his eyes.
He was infuriated.
Enoch felt cornered by that insolent individual who failed to accurately gauge his opponent's power.
He had recognized that individual as a rival, if only fleetingly.
"Well, no matter how hard a simpleton tries, they remain a simpleton."
And it culminated in a hatred towards Zion.
"I'll obliterate you here, and dismantle all who dare infiltrate my palace."
As though resonating with Enoch's emotions, the stars of the Star River orbiting him began to radiate even more potent light, starting to dominate the entire space.
Had he surrendered?
"......"
Zion stood motionless, doing nothing, despite the growing pressure from Enoch's starlight.
Even the darkness that had previously undulated around Zion had utterly vanished.
"This is how it should have been from the beginning."
A profound smile curled at Enoch's lips, and a gleam of satisfaction lit up his eyes.
Then, at the moment when Enoch, in such a state, extended his hand to finish Zion off.
"But you see..."
The soft voice emanating from Zion's lips precisely interrupted Enoch's movements.
"Why did you assume that was all I had?"
"......What?"
In response to his odd question, Zion's eyes, etching a thin line as if relishing the situation, started to be reflected in the pupils of the stationary Enoch.
"I never once claimed that was everything."
From the onset, Zion knew.
That no matter what he did with his current strength, he couldn't triumph over Enoch.
There was an immense chasm between him and Enoch that could never be bridged, as apparent as the law of the world where water flows from high to low.
However.
Zion possessed a move that could shatter all that distance and even the laws of the world.
One of the mightiest marvels in the Frosimar Chronicles, acquired by conquering the phantom army in the past.
"As it happens, this fellow has just finished adapting."
With those words, Zion raised one hand, revealing his wrist to Enoch.
"What are you trying......!"
The moment Enoch, sensing an unidentifiable ominousness from his posture, hastily lifted his hand.
Five questions of the artifact, Chronos, adorned Zion's wrist in the form of a bracelet.
Crack-
The red gem corresponding to the first question shattered.
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