Chapter 452: Bella’s Visit
Cheryl let out a sharp cry and formed a hand sign. An ice lotus made from the Law of Extreme Cold suddenly bloomed beneath Kelsey’s feet.
The freezing air turned into countless crystal chains, trying to completely suppress the dark, violent aura surging wildly inside Kelsey.
However, the moment those frost chains touched the black mist around Kelsey, they melted away like snow under the blazing sun. A harsh hissing sound filled the room, and in the blink of an eye, the chains were gone.
"Pfft—!"
The backlash hit Cheryl hard. Her body shook violently, and a thin line of bright red blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
"This Strength... it’s devouring my law!"
Cheryl’s beautiful eyes were filled with shock. She was a combat Miko with a Mythic Rank class, yet she could not even hold it back for a single second!
"Cheryl, step back. This isn’t something you can handle."
Aiden’s voice was calm and cold, like deep water, yet it carried an authority that allowed no argument.
He took one step forward. His white clothes billowed even though there was no wind. Then he reached out with his right hand and clenched the air.
Buzz!
An ancient stone platform slowly appeared in his palm. It gave off endless yellow-black energy and shone with the light of supreme laws.
Demi-Sacred Artifact—Transmutation Altar!
"Go."
Aiden raised two fingers like a sword and lightly pointed at Kelsey.
In an instant, the Transmutation Altar turned into a beam of divine light and hovered above Kelsey’s head. Strands of the Law of Creation, heavy as mountains, poured down from it.
[Ding! Unknown ancient energy detected. Transmutation Altar analysis function activated. 10,000x critical hit triggered!]
[Analysis power increased by 10,000 times! Forcefully decoding the seal deep within the host’s soul!]
The system’s cold voice exploded in Aiden’s mind.
Boom!
A golden screen of light, visible only to Aiden, suddenly spread out before him. It turned into a huge and mysterious soul scroll.
Under the almost overwhelming scan of the Transmutation Altar, the secrets hidden deep inside Kelsey’s soul were finally revealed to Aiden for the first time.
Aiden’s pupils suddenly shrank to the size of needles.
It was an ancient seal lying across the very core of Kelsey’s soul.
The seal was dark gold. Countless scenes were carved across it—gods and demons falling, and countless races bleeding in brutal battles. It gave off an aura that was desolate, ancient, and deathly still.
And behind that seal, Aiden could faintly see a massive black shadow beyond description.
Just the tiny wave of power leaking from it was enough to make Aiden, a peerless monster with the 10,000x critical hit system, feel a crushing pressure that nearly stopped his breath.
"This is..."
A flash of memory suddenly struck Aiden’s mind.
It was a broken piece of information he had received back in the Abyss, when he fused with the memories inside the supreme Miko Wraithshard.
"When an era reaches its end, the bell of the Great Destruction will ring..."
"Deep within the core of Earth sleeps the source of ruin. It is an ancient being that even the gods of the Sovereign City dare not look at directly..."
The supreme Miko’s empty and hopeless voice seemed to cross a thousand years of time and echo beside Aiden’s ear.
Aiden slowly let out a heavy breath. A seriousness he had never shown before flashed in his eyes.
"So that’s it..."
"Kelsey isn’t suffering from some strange illness at all. She is the host of this seal. She is also the ’voice’ of that ancient being."
"That terrifying thing in Earth’s core is slowly waking up. And the first sign of its awakening is being sent through the seal in Kelsey’s soul, spreading a signal of destruction to the whole world!"
Aiden withdrew the Transmutation Altar and quickly stepped forward, catching Kelsey as her body went limp.
Under the power of the Transmutation Altar, the darkness in Kelsey’s eyes slowly faded. She closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep.
"Aiden, what exactly happened to Kelsey?"
Cheryl did not even bother wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth. She asked in panic.
"She’s fine. She’s just exhausted for now."
Aiden shook his head, but his gaze passed through the window and locked onto the far northern horizon.
There, a golden wall of light stretched across more than half the Earth, faintly visible in the distance.
It was humanity’s greatest barrier against the Abyss—the Golden Great Wall.
"There is only one way to truly cure Kelsey."
Aiden slowly stood up. His white clothes fluttered around him, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
"What way?"
Cheryl quickly asked.
"Find the core of the Golden Great Wall, repair it, and raise it to the level of a Sacred Artifact."
Aiden spoke each word clearly, his voice low and heavy.
"The Golden Great Wall is not only a defense line against the Abyss. Its true purpose is to suppress the ancient seal deep in Earth’s core."
"As long as the Golden Great Wall regains the power of a Sacred Artifact, the seal in Earth’s core will be strengthened again. Then Kelsey’s strange illness will disappear on its own."
After hearing Aiden’s words, a trace of joy appeared on Cheryl’s face. But it froze almost at once.
"But... wasn’t the core of the Golden Great Wall lost a thousand years ago, during the war between gods and demons?"
Cheryl’s voice trembled slightly.
"It wasn’t lost."
Aiden turned around. His deep gaze seemed to pierce through space and land on that forbidden place, a place even gods did not dare enter lightly.
"It is deep inside the Ancient Battlefield."
"That dead land where countless gods and Demon Gods are buried. A place filled with endless storms of law and withered mana."
Aiden stood with his hands behind his back. Behind him, the nine-colored divine light of Celestial Imperial City wove together into a brilliant background, making him look like a young god who ruled the world.
"The Ancient Battlefield..."
Cheryl sucked in a cold breath.
That place was a terrifying forbidden zone. Even a level 99 Great Venerable would have only a slim chance of coming out alive!
"I’m still not strong enough right now."
Aiden slowly clenched his fist, feeling the Strength of his level 50 Magic Apprentice body. In his eyes, fierce ambition and fighting spirit began to burn.
"Once Celestial Imperial City is fully stable, I will set out for the Ancient Battlefield."
"Whether it is the core of the Golden Great Wall, the mana fragments, or the law fragments—I, Aiden, will take them all!"
...
After settling the sleeping Kelsey down, Aiden had not even had time to catch his breath when the space above Celestial Imperial City suddenly split open without warning.
A huge sword, tens of thousands of feet long and formed from pure white divine light, crashed down from the crack in space. It looked as if it would cut the entire Floating City in half.
Rumble!
The citywide ward of Celestial Imperial City, which had only just finished merging, activated at once.
Nine-colored defensive light burst out with a sharp roar, desperately blocking the terrifying pressure released by the giant sword of light.
"Who dares break into Celestial Imperial City?!"
Luke shouted angrily. Dark divine light from his level 79 Tyrant Cleric body shot into the sky.
But the moment it touched that bright divine pressure, it melted away like snow under the sun.
"Step back. You are no match for her."
Aiden’s figure flashed, and he appeared at the highest point of Celestial Imperial City.
His white clothes fluttered as he faced the enormous sword that covered the sky.
He gently raised his right hand, and the Transmutation Altar floated into the air.
Countless streams of pure energy from heaven and earth poured down from it, forcefully freezing that overwhelming divine pressure in midair.
"As expected of the human monster who built a Floating City. You are only level 50, yet you can block thirty percent of my divine power."
The sword of light shattered with a loud boom, turning into golden rain that filled the sky.
From within the rain of light, a graceful and peerless figure slowly walked out. She was cold and beautiful, like an immortal from the moon palace.
The newcomer wore white.
Behind her head floated a bright divine halo filled with endless sacred power. Her eyes were deep like the stars.
She was the Legendary of the Great Shaw Empire, the strongest human god—
Bella!
"Junior Aiden greets Lord Bella."
Aiden cupped his hands slightly. His expression was calm, neither humble nor arrogant.
"I did not come here in my true body. This is only a Radiant Blade clone, formed with thirty percent of my power."
Bella’s cold voice echoed through the air.
Her beautiful eyes fixed on Aiden, and a trace of surprise flashed in them—so faint that almost no one could notice it.
"You... carry his aura."
Bella suddenly spoke, and her voice trembled slightly.
"His? Whose?"
Aiden frowned.
"Yves."
Bella said the name word by word.
The moment Aiden heard it, his heart shook.
[Ding! Supreme causal fluctuation detected. Unknown resonance found in the system’s core logic!]
The sudden system alert made Aiden’s fingers tighten slightly inside his sleeve, but his face remained calm and unreadable.
"Come with me. This is not the place to talk."
Aiden turned to the side and made a gesture of invitation.
Then he led Bella’s clone to the most restricted area at the heart of Celestial Imperial City—
the top of the Tower of Laws.
The wind howled.
Above ten thousand meters in the sky, the sea of clouds rolled beneath their feet, like subjects bowing before a king.
"Lord Bella, may I ask why you have come here today?"
Aiden went straight to the point. His deep eyes looked directly at this guardian god of humanity.
Bella looked down at the mighty Floating City below and let out a quiet sigh.
"The bell of the Great Destruction has already rung. Humanity does not have much time left."
Bella turned around, her expression more serious than ever.
"The seal on the Heavenly Demon Clan is far weaker than the world believes. It is not an impossible barrier to cross."
"Among the seven ancient seals that suppress the Heavenly Demon Clan, the one at the highest level of the Abyss cracked half a month ago."
Bella’s words struck Aiden like a thunderbolt from the highest heavens.
"A crack?!"
Aiden’s pupils shrank.
He knew very well what the Lysander Demon Clan meant. They were an Imperial-rank, Divine-rank race of the Abyss, home to the most terrifying Abyss Demon Gods.
"That’s right. Once all seven seals break and the Heavenly Demon Clan fully awakens, Earth will become a wasteland."
A trace of exhaustion appeared on Bella’s stunning face.
"My true body is now at a life-or-death stage of secluded cultivation. I am doing everything I can to break through to the Supreme God realm."
"Only by becoming a Supreme God can I hold up the sky for humanity when the disaster comes."
"But before I come out of seclusion, Earth needs someone who can take charge of the bigger picture."