Supreme Magus

Chapter 3817: Just One Person (Part 2)

The allied forces had never stopped raining powerful spells upon the lost city, but now each spell left a deep mark on Ruugat’s stone body.

The last Fountain of Death had consumed much of his energy reserves, and, in his current state, Earthly Vault had lost part of its effectiveness. The white flames were the natural counter to earth-based abilities, and they burned at Ruugat’s protective aura, weakening it further.

Tier five spells were supposed to blow open castles and destroy entire city blocks, but, until that moment, they had been ineffective against Ruugat’s sheer size and the impregnable defense of Earthly Vault.

Without it, every Raging Sun opened a molten crater. Every magical formation bent the metal and cracked the black stones that formed the lost city’s body. For the first time since the beginning of the fight, the attackers hurt Ruugat faster than he could repair himself.

‘I can still do it. I just need to get rid of either the Bright Day or-‘ The resonance effect spread throughout the battlefield, cutting the lost city short.

Tista’s wings blazed with elemental power, and her red eye emitted a burst of red fire that joined the violet one erupting from her mouth.

The wings of Balors and Fomors turned red as well, each of them releasing a pillar of red fire from their eyes instead of raw elemental power like they were supposed to. Balors and Fomors had no idea what they were doing or how.

They let the song that reached them via the world energy carry them away and guide their actions without trying to resist. They didn’t know what the melody was either, only that it felt right.

The resonance washed over Morok once again, and this time it found him ready. A red streak appeared on his wings, right beside the blue one, and he too released a pillar of red fire.

Unlike Balors and Fomors, however, it came out of his whole body. His red eye was the focus point, but each one of his scales ignited the world energy and produced more red fire.

Hundreds of pillars of mystical fire joined the Primordial Flames while they were still growing after absorbing Tista’s elemental flames. The resulting blast of white fire engulfed Ruugat from head to toe, striking him with such force that it pushed him back.

The furrow formed by the shift was barely visible, but moving something the size of a lost city even by one meter was a feat that only the Guardians could achieve.

***

Atop a mana geyser hundreds of kilometers away from the battlefield, at the same time.

“Marvelous!” Baba Yaga stopped fighting to break free from Zagran’s hold and stared at the fight in awe. “Is that the hidden power of humans? Their potential?”

“I don’t know.” The Guardian of Might shrugged. “I’m not a human and have no idea what they can achieve. Neither do they, for that matter. Since its birth, the human race has wasted its time trying to imitate the gifts of the other races with Forbidden Magic instead of cultivating its own.

“What I know is that this is the reason I stopped you earlier. This is why I couldn’t allow you to step in and ruin everything for everyone.”

“You knew?” Baba Yaga moved her eyes from the surveillance mirror to the Guardian nonstop. “You knew that this would happen? How?”

She pointed at the flaming wings of the evolved humans and the subtle adjustments in the life forces that kept spreading unseen throughout the battlefield.

“Again, no.” Zagran shook her head. “You overestimate me, Yaga. You overestimate the Guardians. Not even we know the future, or we would have never allowed so many pointless tragedies to happen.

“I simply appreciated this.” A wave of her hand changed the surveillance mirror’s point of view.

It now showed a human soldier carrying a dying elf to the backlines. The elves of Medolin did their best to save their brother and thanked the soldier by infusing his equipment with powerful spells.

Then, the vision shifted to another corner of the geyser, further away from the blazing glory of the Primordial Flames.

Despite Dawn’s constant stream of light element, most of the undead were on the verge of eternal slumber. They had defended the living from the Fountain of Death with their bodies and were now paying the price.

Their blood cores were almost empty, so those of their same race of origin willingly shed their blood to feed the undead. Death had repelled death, and now life nurtured life.

The image on the surveillance mirror changed again. Reverted orcs rushed through the files of wounded, using their mana crystals to bestow upon the non-Awakened effects similar to Invigoration.

Reverted ogres grew fruits rich in nutrients that the members of the allied forces ate without hesitation to replenish their strength. Injured Wargs were carried to safety and tended for like the warriors they were, not treated like the monsters they looked.

All around Ruugat, the invisible barriers that had kept the different races on Mogar split until that moment cracked and crumbled.

“But to be honest, I hoped this would happen.” Another wave of Zagran’s hand brought the surveillance mirror back on Lith and the other evolved humans. “You see, Yaga, impossible is just a word, but if everyone believes it, it becomes reality.

“When everyone thinks that something can’t be done, nobody can. People put an invisible yoke on themselves and doom their efforts to failure because success is unthinkable. Even with that, however, impossible is just a word.

“All it takes to tear its veil off is for one person not to care about the impossible.” She pointed at the stream of red fire coming out of Lith’s eye. “Once one person succeeds, the chains created by the word impossible shatter.

“People realize they had just fooled themselves and that if he did it, why shouldn’t they. One becomes many, and impossible becomes hard at first, and then just a matter of talent and effort.

“Think about it. It’s what you did with the undead. What Tezka did with Dimensional Magic. What Lochra and every past Magus and Ruler of the Flame did. What Lith has done with merging his life forces and Void Magic.” Zagran’s words reverberated with the admiration she felt for such feats.

“What those lazy, filthy bastards who resort to Forbidden Magic do to this very day.” At those words, the admiration in her voice turned into venomous spite.

“Yet there’s merit even in that. Thrud has shown the children of the Guardians that being a Lesser Divine Beast is no curse, just a condition. The Master has saved from death those that even Mogar has relinquished so long ago.”

Zagran paused, letting the Red Mother ponder her words.

“People may not like me much, but this is why Mogar needs a Guardian of Might. Self-growth and individual success may seem egotistical at first, but only until you notice that those like me set the example for everyone else.

“It doesn’t matter what we share, but what we achieve. The hate and envy of others push them to work hard on themselves and reach our same height because they look up to us and know it’s possible.

“Look at the Balors! Look at the Tyrant! Look at the girl! Look at the humans!”