Chapter 86: World Conciousness
Chapter 86: World Conciousness
"Don’t let him get out of the space machine’s range or else he will disappear," one sage roared, his voice echoing violently through the devasted battlefield in Atlantian capital.
The emperor, his eyes burning with ruthless intent, stared down at the intruder. "Launch," the emperor ordered.
With that single word, a planetary annihilation beam erupted from its massive barrel. The sheer power of the weapon defied logic; the very air itself seemed to vanish from its path, leaving a vacuum of pure, destructive energy.
Nova warned immediately, "Victor, if the beam lands on you, you will die for sure. There is a zero percent chance of survival."
Victor took a deep breath, forcing his racing heart to slow down. The situation was desperate. He tried to reach for his usual trump cards, but they were completely sealed. He could no longer use time stop, and the space machine’s suppression range was abnormally large, locking down the fabric of reality around him. He couldn’t use teleportation either.
Left with no other choice, he looked into the oncoming blinding light. "Time reversal," he muttered under his breath.
It was a forbidden technique, one he had never used before because the cost was simply too devastating. Each second reversed consumed exactly one year of his natural lifespan.
According to Nova, the space machine had been fully activated around fifty seconds ago. To completely undo its reality-locking influence from this place, he would need to turn back the clock by that exact amount.
Fifty seconds meant fifty years of his life gone in an instant. Furthermore, he didn’t know what the price would be aside from his lifespan.
Instantly, a localized time domain materialized around him, shimmering with ancient, golden runes. The planetary annihilation beam clashed violently against the newly formed domain. The collision created a blinding shockwave, but the destructive beam was nothing compared to the absolute law of time.
"What is this thing actually? What kind of treasure is that bastard using?" When the emperor saw his ultimate weapon being halted by a shimmering bubble of golden energy, he couldn’t help but curse out loud and stood up from his throne, his aristocratic composure shattering entirely.
Exactly fifty seconds later, the temporal loop completed its work. Victor disappeared entirely from that precise coordinate, slipping through the cracks of the rewritten timeline. Deprived of its target, the cataclysmic beam shot forward, completely unimpeded, and hit the ground with terrifying force.
"Stop!" the emperor roared, his voice cracking with sudden panic.
In his immense, blinding anger, the ruler had forgotten one crucial piece of information. The planetary annihilation beam possessed a terrifying property: it could directly penetrate their defensive barriers and destroy them without encountering any magical resistance.
The elite technician acting as the activator of the cannon scrambled to input the emergency shutdown sequence. He stopped it, but it was already too late. The beam had already sliced upward, passing cleanly through the primary ancient barrier that was holding back the immense weight of the ocean water directly above their sub-aquatic empire.
"Damn it!" the emperor screamed, his face turning entirely pale. The main defensive barrier was destroyed totally, shattering like brittle glass under the immense pressure.
The fourteen surviving sages instantly reacted, unleashing their combined mana to form a makeshift barrier to hold off the immense cascade of ocean water. However, ten of those sages were already gravely injured from the previous clashes with Victor.
Their mana channels were fractured, and their stamina was thoroughly depleted. It was an nearly impossible task for them to hold back that much crushing water pressure across the vast expanse of the entire Atlantian empire.
Realizing the battle was lost and the city was doomed, the emperor made a ruthless executive decision. He ordered every high-ranking nobility to gather their families and immediately move toward the surface, ensuring they carried their sacred historical records with them. As for the millions of lower-class citizens, the emperor decided to sacrifice the commoners.
Meanwhile, Victor materialized exactly ten kilometers away from the epicenter of the blast. The moment his feet touched the ground, he looked back and saw a terrifying sight. The grand barrier of Atlantis had completely vanished, and an apocalyptic deluge of dark ocean water was pouring into the city, crushing buildings and drowning everything in its path.
Victor didn’t stop to admire the destruction. He knew he had to get to safety before the entire sector collapsed. He kept teleporting consecutively, pushing his spatial magic to the absolute limit, until he finally broke through the turbulent waters and appeared on the surface world.
Feeling the cool air of the surface hit his face, a wave of profound relief washed over him. He was incredibly happy that he had taken the precaution to take back his sister and mother from Atlantis before this final confrontation. They were safe, far away from the watery grave of the empire.
However, before he could fully catch his breath, he prepared to teleport once again. But as the spatial energy enveloped him, something went wrong. He suddenly appeared in a strange, otherworldly place that he didn’t even know existed. It was a pure white room.
"What the hell..." Victor muttered, turning around in a defensive stance, unable to understand where he was or how his teleportation had been hijacked.
"Son, I am sorry for taking you here without your permission," a motherly voice entered his ear. It was a very soothing, warm voice that immediately drained the tension from his body.
"Who is this?" Victor asked, his eyes scanning the endless expanse of white light.
"I am Ethereum," the voice replied gently, echoing from the very fabric of the dimension.
"Nova!" Victor called out in his mind. But there was only absolute silence. Nova wasn’t there.
"That AI cannot hear our conversation. I have isolated this space entirely. I have something very important to tell you," she explained.
Sensing no malice or hostility from the entity, Victor sat down on the glowing ground and consciously relaxed his posture. "What do you want to tell me?" he asked.
"You already know of the two apocalypses that are prophesied to come, and one of them is already here," Ethereum replied calmly.
Victor stood up instantly, his heart beating wildly against his ribs. He was not ready for either of the two cataclysms yet. His power was immense, but he needed more time to prepare the world.
"Which one?" he asked after taking a long, deep breath to steady his nerves.
"Two days ago, something came out from a purple dungeon," Ethereum revealed. "It is a creature existing at a realm completely above the current sages. Right now, it is hunting deep-sea monsters beneath the ocean, devouring their cores to become exponentially more powerful with each passing hour."
Victor frowned, realizing the sheer scale of the threat. "Do you have any idea how we can stop this thing?" he asked.
"I cannot sense your true mana limit," Ethereum noted, her voice tinged with a hint of awe. "Is it limitless? If you can merge your vast mana reserve with me, I can evolve my system to a higher level. With that upgrade, I may be able to do something truly helpful to combat this threat."
Victor thought silently for a long moment, weighing the risks of trusting a world consciousness. "How do I merge my mana with you?" he finally asked.
"Just sit here cross legged and give me your explicit permission," Ethereum instructed.
He sat back down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.
[Ding! World System wants to merge with your mana. Do you permit?]
Without hesitation, Victor gave his permission.
Instantly, he felt an immense, staggering pull on his internal mana pathways. Just as he braced himself, expecting an overwhelming wave of agonizing pain to follow, a beautifully soothing feeling washed over his entire body instead, causing him to relax completely into a deep meditative state.
Meanwhile, back on the surface within the high command council of the Federation, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
"The Atlantians are moving out from beneath the sea in massive numbers," Diana announced, her voice tight as she stared at the holographic strategic maps.
After Victor had vanished from the battlefield, Nova had managed to establish a secure communication line to Diana through the advanced wristband she wore, which had been custom-made by the AI itself.
Arthur’s face was completely pale as he looked at the incoming data streams showing fleet movements. "If their entire military forces surface, we stand no chance."
"But Victor killed twenty-one of their sages during his assault," Diana replied, trying to inject some hope into the room. "Because of his actions, their current number of active sages is quite equivalent to ours. Besides, we have our battle machines ready for deployment."
"But what about the planetary annihilation cannon?" Arthur asked, looking directly at her with deep worry. "If they bring that weapon to the surface, our cities will turn to ash."
In response, Nova projected a recorded video feed directly into the center of the council room. The AI showed them exactly what had transpired in the depths of the ocean. They watched in absolute amazement as Victor single-handedly dismantled the enemy sages and tricked the empire into destroying their own ancient barrier.
The footage ended where Victor suddenly vanished from all tracking sensors. Diana had not gone berserk with worry yet because Nova had explicitly reassured her that Victor was highly likely communicating directly with the world system. After all, Nova classified the world consciousness as an ancient, benevolent entity.
"We get prepared for the war," Elyndros said, stepping forward with a resolute tone that echoed through the council chamber. "Victor has given us a fighting chance. We will not waste it."