Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1775 The Ascension
Chapter 1775 The Ascension
Deep within the center of his being, Raze could vividly feel a profound, fundamental shift occurring inside his dantian. The ethereal core, the foundational wellspring where the raw, unbridled power of his cultivated Qi originated, was actively undergoing a terrifying metamorphosis. It felt as though the sphere of energy was physically breaking apart, the crystalline structure fracturing into a million glowing shards. But it wasn’t a destructive end; it was a miraculous rebirth. As the core began flawlessly reforming itself into a far denser, perfect state, an entirely new, transcendent form of energy started flowing outward from his center, flooding his veins with liquid warmth.
Simultaneously, he could feel a heavy, suffocating weight actively leaving his physical body. At every previous stage of his long, grueling cultivation journey, whenever he broke through a bottleneck and ascended to the next martial tier, there were always mortal impurities that would be permanently expelled from his flesh. Now, undergoing the ultimate transition, the cellular structure of his body was regenerating at an impossible, divine rate. The frail, mortal substances that would typically decay and fail over time were being entirely rejected. A dark, ash-like residue seeped from his pores, vaporizing into nothingness the moment it was forcefully expelled from his ascending form.
He intimately knew exactly what was happening. The ancient texts and whispered legends were clear as day: his frail, human body was actively becoming immortal. It would no longer wither or age. He would never again succumb to ordinary fatigue, nor could he die from mortal disease or the slow, cruel passage of time. The suffocating ceiling of his potential had shattered. He was officially crossing the threshold of the Divine Stage; after years of blood and sacrifice, he had undeniably reached it.
A blinding, pure golden glow began radiating directly from Raze’s skin. The divine light pierced through the lingering dust of the courtyard, illuminating the faces of everyone gathered around the stage so they could all vividly witness the miracle unfolding before them.
“How did you know?” Raze asked, his voice echoing with a strange, resonant dual-tone as he looked down at Lince. “How did you know that forcing me to fight under those specific, mortal restrictions would be the definitive key to making this work?”
Lince’s battered body was incredibly sore as he slowly stretched his bruised limbs, his joints popping in protest. The heavy, concussive hit he had taken from the blunt side of Raze’s sword had certainly taken a severe toll on his ribs. But despite the sharp pain radiating through his chest, the Demonic Clan head couldn’t help but crack a wide, knowing smile at the profound question the Dark Magus had asked.
“It seems you have always possessed a brilliant tactical mind, Raze, but you never quite understood your own complex heart. And clearly, it’s still the exact same today,” Lince said, dusting off his ruined cloak. “You never truly wanted to push away the others when you first arrived here in Pagna. You built a cold, impenetrable wall around yourself because you were ly terrified of them getting hurt. After the horrors of your past life, you were deeply, paralyzingly scared of losing more innocent people to your dark crusade.
“And yet, look around you now. Look at how many incredibly strong, loyal people you have successfully gathered around your banner,” Lince claimed, gesturing broadly to the awe-struck members of the Crimson Crane and the allied leaders standing at the edge of the stone stage. “You didn’t understand what your final, lingering regret would have been, so you foolishly tried to blindly follow the historical path of someone else. You tried to copy Bofan instead of looking inward.
“Deep down in your soul, you were constantly worried that you weren’t genuinely ready to enter the Divine Realm. You possess great, world-shaking strength; you are clearly physically stronger than ly anyone alive in Pagna. But you always attributed that overwhelming superiority to the fact that you seamlessly combined your dark magic with your cultivated Qi and Pagna techniques. It was a flawless synergy of two entirely different worlds.
“So, a dark whisper always lingered in the back of your mind: What if you weren’t a truly strong or capable Pagna warrior on your own merits? What if your fundamental, foundational martial skills were entirely subpar, and the only reason you were able to best everyone was entirely because of your unfair, magical combination?
“Leaving that question unanswered… that would have been a devastating, cancerous regret for you to carry before you moved up to the higher dimension,” Lince explained, his eyes locking onto Raze’s glowing form. “And do you want to know exactly why that mattered so much to you? Because, despite your origins, you have become far more of a true Pagna warrior than you ever consciously realized. You might have initially done everything for the sole, burning purpose of revenge against the Grand Magus, pushing yourself purely for the sake of growing stronger to exact your vengeance.
“But over time, you cultivated that undeniable, burning warrior spirit inside your chest—the pure pride that wishes to stand at the pinnacle of martial arts on its own two feet. Today, after flawlessly besting me using exclusively Pagna skills without a single drop of your magic to assist you… you have finally, undeniably proved your worth to yourself. You erased your final doubt. And because of that clarity, you are now completely ready to ascend.”
Raze stood in stunned silence, the golden aura swirling around his boots. He slowly turned his gaze, looking at all of the dedicated allies he had respectfully beaten in the sparring rings today. There was a very high, agonizing probability that he wouldn’t see any of their faces for a long while. It might even be years, perhaps decades, until he managed to carve a path back to them. Looking at their determined expressions, he profoundly realized that Lince was undeniably right.
He had intentionally pushed them all away, actively trying to shoulder the entire burden of the world alone to keep them safe, yet they had stubbornly stayed by his side and helped him fight through the darkness to the very end.
“I guess you were entirely correct,” Raze claimed, his voice softening, losing its usual icy edge. “You all know my history. I wasn’t really able to freely live my own life for the longest amount of time. I was a weapon. I was always fighting desperate battles simply to survive and do what I felt I needed to do. There was a very small, fleeting period back in Alterian where peace felt possible, but that naive dream changed entirely when I was utterly consumed by my dark goal of revenge against Idore.
“But I realized something profound when I came back to Pagna after finishing that bloody task. I realized that I cherished everything I had built here a lot more than my vengeance. And the most important part of that… is my dear sister in this life, Safa. I need to do my best to cross into the unknown and protect her from whatever ancient monsters rule up there.
“I will tell you all right now, so there is no misunderstanding,” Raze declared, his voice booming with divine authority. “I ly do not plan to stay up there in their damned hierarchy. I will conquer whatever trials they put in front of me, I will forcefully return to this realm, and I will bring Safa back home with me. We will all meet each other again. That is a promise.”
Hearing those resolute words, some of the hardened veterans standing in the crowd started to have a single, silent tear trailing down their scarred cheeks. High-level Pagna warriors were entirely used to living an incredibly long, often lonely life, watching generations pass them by. But so much fundamental, world-altering history had happened when this strange, magical outsider had crashed into their lives and joined their ranks.
“Raze! We will definitely be waiting right here for you! Do whatever you ly must to bring Safa back to us!” Liam claimed, stepping forward and shouting at the top of his lungs, his voice thick with fierce emotion. “And if any arrogant god or ancient immortal gets in your way up there… then deal with them exactly how you dealt with everyone on Alterian, and everyone who threatened us here on Pagna! Show them no mercy!”
Responding to the raw emotion, Raze’s entire, newly immortal body lit up in a blinding, radiant display of pure golden energy. The heavens above Flendon seemingly tore open, and a brilliant, towering beam of concentrated light crashed down from the sky, entirely covering his body in a pillar of divine power. The sheer intensity of the light was blinding, forcing the crowd to shield their faces, but Liam stubbornly forced his eyes to remain wide open. Through the searing glare, he could clearly see Raze offer one final, respectful nod towards him.
A heartbeat later, the celestial beam of energy vanished, retracting back into the clouds as quickly as it had appeared. The stone stage was completely empty, the air smelling faintly of ozone. Raze was no longer there; the Dark Magus had officially entered the Divine Realm.
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