Chapter 198: Fusion of Aura and Mana

Eldrin witnessed everything first hand with a stupefied expression appearing on his face.

"Please take care of them, old man."

Regis, who had appeared beside the old mage in the blink of an eye, spoke as he laid down Pandora, Killian, Larkson, and the unconscious Aurelia on the ground.

"S-Sure..." Eldrin stuttered, ’I didn’t see anything.’

Even though he was exhausted, his senses as a master rank magician with years of experience could not be taken away from him.

However, he was not able to sense anything.

’There’s not a single mana fluctuation. So it must be an aura art... But what kind of aura art is this powerful...’

Eldrin knew that, unlike magic spells with a stable hierarchy of power, aura arts were not the same.

His eyes remained glued to the boy’s actions as he fed health potions to the others.

"B-Boss... i-is that you?" Killian coughed blood as he asked.

"Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry for being late." Regis’s expression was grave as he saw the situation of his companions.

Larkson looked at him with a relieved expression, "Thank goodness you returned. We almost died back there."

"Shut up. You’re still dying right now. What do you mean, almost?" Eldrin scolded him, making the fortress commander chuckle.

Hearing the two’s bickering, Killian chuckled, "Don’t worry about us, Boss. Just avenge us, okay? Oh, you killed the demonic worshipper already...? Amazing as always, Boss..."

His eyes were unfocused, as if unaware of what was happening around him.

Regis bit his lip until it bled, "I’m sorry..."

He ruffled Killian’s blonde hair, "I’ll fuck that son of a bitch up for you."

"Woah, watch your words, Boss..."

"Haha, I don’t wanna hear that from you."

He then crouched down beside Pandora and softly caressed her head.

"Don’t worry, I’ll make this quick, okay?"

However, she only turned her head away as she let out soft groans of pain, seemingly embarrassed about her current state.

Pain gripped Regis’s heart at the sight of their suffering.

The mana threads that were attempting to connect his stars started to tremble..

Eldrin glanced at him, "I’ll do everything I can to not let their situation get worse."

"Thank you. There are potions here, and you can also rummage their storage pouches for more."

Regis took off the storage pouch tied around his waist and placed it on the ground.

He then stood back up and looked at the pieces of Marzak’s body parts, "You filthy demonic elf, I know you’re still alive."

"Aww, that’s what I get for giving you some time to talk?" Marzak’s mocking voice echoed around the area.

Once again, black tendrils of darkness gathered the severed remains, and an unscathed figure rose from them, just as he had before.

Seeing the pair of blood-red eyes staring at him, Marzak grinned, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is it because of what I did to them? Well, you can’t really blame me."

With each word that left his mouth, the mana thread in Regis’s chest quivered more violently.

"The fortress commander annoyed me with his punches, so I tore off his hands. It’s merciful enough of me to let him keep his legs!"

Something in Regis’s mind seemed to be on the verge of snapping.

"That blonde boy annoyed me with his little toy swords, so I made sure he’d never wield more than one again for the rest of his life."

Even his Gold-grade Tranquility could not calm his emotions down.

"And finally, that little bitch—she kept meddling with my magic spells. So I made sure she’d never utter an incantation again... nor ever glimpse the structure of my magic."

As soon as Marzak finished speaking, something in Regis’s mind snapped.

A feeling so overwhelming, it consumed every corner of his mind.

An emotion he hadn’t felt since witnessing the desperate final act of the demonic human leader; when he fused the other children into a grotesque monster before his very eyes.

Now, that same emotion surged once more—an all-consuming urge to kill, it felt like it was his only purpose in existence.

Seeing him stand still, Marzak taunted him once more, still wearing that cruel smile of his, "What now?! Come on, be angry!! You know you can’t kill me. HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Eldrin gritted his teeth, pouring potions over the others’ wounds with a helpless expression on his face.

However, something suddenly happened.

The old mage’s helpless expression turned to shock as he muttered, "He... succeeded!"

At that moment, the mana threads that had struggled to connect Regis’s stars finally bridged the last gap—the one that had proven most difficult to reach.

As the Two Red Aura Stars and Four Blue Mana Stars connected, a humming resounded in the area.

The breeze of the wind seemed sharp, like it was laden with mana.

Thunder rumbled in the night sky.

WOOOOONG—-!!!

At that moment, a phenomenon never before witnessed in history unfolded.

The fusion of an individual’s aura and the world’s mana.

Something that should never have been possible... happened in this moment.

The six-star constellation on Regis’s chest turned purple as a memory ingrained itself in his mind.

[Aether]

The regal purple energy surged from his body and introduced itself to him.

"Impossible!! Are you a g-god?! No, that can’t be!!!" Shock was apparent on Marzak’s face.

Though in the next second, he was somewhat able to regain his calm, "No, I don’t sense an ounce of divine power from you. This must be some desperate attempt at a chance to kill me—"

Before he could finish, his body was sliced into pieces once again.

"Amazing..." Eldrin muttered as he bandaged Pandora’s injuries.

This scene was also witnessed by Larkson, who had remained speechless since earlier.

On the other hand, Killian and Pandora had fallen unconscious alongside Aurelia.

At this moment, not an ounce of emotion could be seen on Regis’s apathetic face.

Just as before, tendrils of darkness reconstructed Marzak’s body, "Haha! I told you, you can’t kill me—"

His body was sliced into pieces once again.

"You—"

Shhhkkkk—-

"Thi—"

Shhhkkkk—-

"Canno—"

Shhhkkkk—-

"B—"

Shhhkkkk—-

The scene of Marzak reconstructing his bodies through the tendrils of darkness and his body being cut to pieces repeated tens of times.

Eldrin and Larkson witnessed everything with stupefied expressions on their faces.

"To think that we almost died just by trying to hold him back for one minute..."

However, something happened as Marzak instantly chanted something.

[Spirit Shift]

Regis, who had just used Lux Aeterna, was confused upon discovering that his iridescent Shard of Tinateria seemed to pass through the now translucent Marzak without causing damage.

"Hmm?"

He disabled his aura art and observed his opponent.

At this moment, Marzak’s figure became translucent, his body floating freely in the air.

"Haha! You can’t cut me now, can you?!" Despite his laughter, Marzak’s thoughts betrayed him.

’I better just take the cursed child and take off. I can’t risk dying here.’

Thinking this, he immediately flew towards the unconscious Aurelia.

Regis immediately chased after him, but no matter what he did, his attacks only went through his opponent.

At this moment, Eldrin shouted, "What he’s using right now is one of the elves’ racial abilities, Spirit Shift! It makes him invulnerable to physical attacks, so only magic spells can hit him!!"

Regis instantly understood what he needed to do as tens of purple chains manifested in a 35-meter radius with him at the center, all converging towards Marzak.

"You fucking old man!"

Marzak cursed, glancing at the aether chains that were at the verge of reaching him.

"Ugh, I don’t really want to use this, but..."

A chant escaped his lips, and a surge of demonic power erupted from him.

[Demonize]

An apparition of a demon began to merge with Marzak’s figure, black horns sprouting from his temples, a sharp tail emerging from his back, and black scales spreading across his body.

Seeing this, Eldrin and Larkson’s faces became aghast.

"One would need to be contracted to a high-ranking demon to use that, right?" Asked the latter.

The former replied, "Yes..."

At that moment, the translucent, demonized Marzak charged at them with terrifying speed.

To make matters worse, the constellation on Regis’s chest sparked before suddenly disconnecting.

This caused his stars to fade, accompanied by an overwhelming pain and exhaustion that swept over his body.

He collapsed to the ground, forcing himself to lift his head despite the overwhelming difficulty, his blood-red eyes glaring at Marzak’s back.

Seeing the demon rushing towards them, Larkson stood up, "If I knew this would happen, I should’ve just destroyed the fortress on my own."

He stepped in front of the group, using his body as a shield.

Eldrin also stood up beside him, prompting him to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I already have one foot in the grave. I want to at least use my withered body to delay him for even a second. Though it’s a shame I’m not able to be Pandora’s mentor anymore."

"Get out of the way!"

Marzak growled loudly, his black claws reaching towards Larkson’s chest.

"I’ll kill you right after, old man! Don’t worry, you’ll all be together in the afterlife!"

At this moment, Regis lay chest down on the floor, his head lifted despite the effort, his mind racing as he watched the scene about to unfold.

He could already foresee it: Aurelia being taken away, and everyone else dying.

Just like Alaric in the past.

All because he was afraid of persecution.