Chapter 223: The Golden Bead

What both Velmira and Azarion were unaware of was that when she had attacked him with that technique and inflicted severe damage directly upon his soul, the Null within his body had immediately attempted to erase the attack completely.

However, it had failed because the Null inside Azarion was not pure like the Null possessed by Atlas. Azarion’s Null had been mixed with Spirit Energy, which had diluted its properties and greatly limited its ability to erase things completely.

That was also the reason Event Rewriting had failed.

First, Azarion’s soul had been damaged by Soul Eruption ─ Multi Soul Slash, and at the exact same moment, the mixed Null within his body had begun attempting to erase the invisible slashes embedded within his soul. While those two processes were already occurring, Azarion had simultaneously tried to activate his evolved Unique Ability, Event Rewriting, which itself relied heavily on Spirit Energy.

The result was a three-way conflict inside his body.

The mixed Null was trying to erase the damage inflicted upon his soul, while Event Rewriting was attempting to overwrite the event itself, and the damaged soul was struggling to withstand both processes at the same time. The mixed Null could not completely erase the soul attack because it was diluted, but it also interfered with the Spirit Energy required for Event Rewriting, preventing the ability from functioning properly.

It was almost like three separate paths leading toward the same outcome, with each one depending on the others failing first. If one process succeeded, the others would lose their chance to take effect. If two succeeded simultaneously, they would interfere with one another and prevent the remaining process from working properly.

Neither Velmira nor Azarion understood what was actually happening inside his body, but Velmira didn’t need to know.

She only needed to that single opening.

’Now’s my chance...’

The moment that thought crossed her mind, Velmira vanished from her position.

Azarion’s weakened soul immediately sensed the movement before his eyes could properly follow it. He raised his head, and the first thing he saw was Velmira’s figure reappearing directly above him. Her sword was already drawn and held horizontally, with the blade positioned directly toward his body.

Her Spirit Energy had become considerably denser than before.

"Matter Ender ─ Marking Fold."

It was the same technique she had used against the Ex-rank boss inside the Eternal Ruin.

However, this time, Velmira was no longer the same person who had used it back then.

The restraints that had suppressed her strength had disappeared, and the amount of Spirit Energy contained within this attack was roughly a hundred times greater than what she had possessed when she fought the Ex-rank boss.

The difference wasn’t merely numerical. The pressure released from the technique distorted the surrounding space as the sword moved forward, causing the fabric of space itself to bend around the horizontal slash.

Azarion’s entire body reacted before his mind could process what he was seeing.

Every instinct inside him screamed at him to escape.

His nerves tensed, even his weakened soul went into a state of extreme alertness, and his body desperately tried to respond to the danger approaching from directly above. Yet his injuries and the speed of Velmira’s attack left him almost no time to move.

He knew what would happen if that slash reached him, he would die.

’NOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT LIKE THIS!!’ The horizontal slash tore through the very fabric of space as it descended toward his body. It was only a centimeter away from reaching him when something inside his chest suddenly reacted.

The golden bead embedded at the center of Azarion’s chest suddenly began glowing, and an intense amount of Null, which they knew as ’ an unknown substance’ immediately started radiating from it.

Velmira’s horizontal slash was already less than a centimeter away from Azarion’s body when the attack suddenly split apart without making contact, with both sides of the slash being forced around his body as though the space in front of him had been altered. Velmira’s eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the two halves continue in opposite directions before descending toward the massive forest beneath them.

The split portions of Matter Ender ─ Marking Fold eventually collided several kilometers below them, and the resulting impact released a blinding white light that instantly covered the entire area.

The sheer destructive force contained within the two portions of the slash tore through the forest and surrounding mountains, reducing countless mountain peaks to debris within moments. Entire mountains collapsed under the pressure as enormous quantities of stone were blasted outward, while everything caught between the two attacks was completely erased from the landscape.

When the white light finally disappeared, the destruction beneath them became visible again, and even Velmira couldn’t help but look at the result of her own attack.

A gigantic chasm stretched across the land for thousands of kilometers, with forests, mountain ranges, and everything else that had once occupied the area completely destroyed. Calling it a massive chasm would barely describe its actual scale, because the destruction covered an area comparable to nearly half a continent, leaving behind nothing except the enormous scar carved into the land.

However, Velmira’s attention quickly returned to Azarion because the destruction below wasn’t what had surprised her. Her slash had been powerful enough to cause destruction on such a massive scale, yet it had failed to touch Azarion despite being only a centimeter away from his body. Her eyes remained fixed on the golden bead embedded within his chest as she sensed the intense amount of the same unknown substance radiating from it.

’That strange substance...’

And the golden bead inside Azarion’s chest was the source of it...

- - -

Meanwhile, at the very border between the Dragon Continent and the Human Continent, a figure could be seen floating in the air with his eyes fixed on the destruction taking place in the direction of the Human Continent’s Entrance. The white light released by the collision of Velmira’s split slash had spread across the forests and mountains, and even from this distance, the scale of the destruction was clearly visible.

If one looked closely at the figure, they would instantly recognize him as none other than Veyron. He had remained there for several moments while observing everything that had happened, and although he was far away from the battlefield, he could still feel the overwhelming force contained within the attack that had just devastated such a massive area. However, instead of showing concern over the destruction or the battle between Velmira and Azarion, Veyron’s expression slowly changed into a grin.

"It’s finally time..."

The words left his mouth calmly, but there was a clear sense of satisfaction in his voice, as though something he had been waiting for had finally happened. Whatever had occurred during the confrontation between Velmira and Azarion had apparently confirmed that the moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

Veyron closed his eyes for a moment before sending a direct command through the connection he had established with every Chimera currently waiting inside the underground laboratory. The command reached their minds simultaneously, leaving no room for misunderstanding, ’All Chimeras, ranging from S-rank to SS-rank, march toward every Continent right now.’

The command had been sent.

The Chimeras that had been prepared inside the laboratory were no longer waiting for further instructions. One after another, they would soon begin moving toward every Continent, completely independent of what Azarion had originally intended to do.

Veyron then slowly turned his gaze toward the Dragon Continent.

A faint grin remained on his face as he looked toward the vast land ahead of him, and the expression in his eyes carried none of the hesitation that someone should have had after ordering an invasion of the entire World, ’Kufufufu... It’s all going according to your plan, my "Lord".