Chapter 293: Gate of Ascension [2]

Chapter 292

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Episode 77 - Gate of Ascension [2]

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Drip! Drip! Drip! Drip!

Raindrops began falling from the sky as incomprehensible creatures emerged from the enormous crack that had opened across the firmament.

The rain was black, a color that symbolized chaos, destruction, and despair.

During the Three Dark Eras, humans and the other races had become completely accustomed to that rain.

However, for the people of the current Era, black rain could only mean one thing: chaos, destruction, and despair.

It was a sign that their lives were in danger.

A sign that creatures from a place beyond the world inhabited by humans and the other races had appeared.

Creatures from a place known as the Abyss.

Bernice’s figure disappeared instantly and reappeared at another location.

Two individuals stood before her.

"Long time no see, Slaughter Star... Ah, that’s right. I forgot that you erased the title you were given during the War against the Five Lords of the Abyss, Bernice Sylvain D’Aubermont."

A mocking smile appeared on the man’s face.

Anyone who dared mock someone like Bernice, a Ten-Star Awakened known as the strongest person in the current world, would practically be asking for death.

Unless an Eleven-Star Awakened appeared, several Ten-Star Awakened joined forces, or a Class 10 villain emerged.

There was no doubt that Bernice was known as the strongest.

The man who had spoken mockingly was the leader of the Abraham Clan.

His name was Atlas D. Abraham, a Class 10 villain.

Standing beside him was a woman with an amused smile and unmistakable mockery in her eyes.

She was the leader of the Red Rose Order.

Her name was Vahelra Veyris Crimson, a Class 10 villain.

Bernice, wearing an expressionless face, looked at the two of them before slowly raising her gaze toward the sky.

’A Gate of Ascension... They actually opened a Gate of Ascension.’

Anger slowly began to rise within her.

Gate of Ascension.

It was the term used to describe the cracks that suddenly appeared in the sky.

A dimensional rift that connected directly to the Abyss.

Although the Abyssal creatures that emerged from a Gate of Ascension weren’t particularly powerful, reaching at most Class 6, their true danger didn’t lie in their individual strength.

It lay in their numbers.

Thousands upon thousands of Abyssal creatures emerged like an endless tide.

Whenever a Gate of Ascension opened, a vast territory spanning up to thirty thousand kilometers in radius became a desolate wasteland infested with these creatures.

The sky turned completely black, dark rain covered the land, and the monsters continued emerging without end.

But above all, the Power of Chaos spread throughout the entire area, killing anything considered "life."

In short, a Gate of Ascension was nothing more than a calamity of colossal proportions.

Bernice shifted her attention back to the duo of villains.

"What the hell are you trying to accomplish by opening a Gate of Ascension?"

Class 10 villains possessed the ability to temporarily open or create a Gate of Ascension.

However, doing so required extensive preparation that could take several years.

For that reason, Bernice had no idea why they had opened the Gate of Ascension.

’Kill my cadets.’

It was the most obvious explanation.

But was that really all there was to it?

’The only truly valuable things in my Academy right now are...’

".....!"

Her thoughts immediately turned toward certain things.

And, as if they had read her mind, both of them spoke at the same time.

"It’s exactly what you’re thinking."

"We’ve come for the Memory Gates."

"...."

Naturally, both leaders had prepared in advance.

The Gate of Ascension would force nearly every professor and cadet to focus on surviving or containing the wave of monsters.

Meanwhile, the strongest professors would attempt to intervene and stop the threat.

For that reason, the Executives of the Abraham Clan and the Red Rose Order would deal with them.

The Executives were Class 9 villains, while the strongest professors at Holy Academy had reached Nine Stars.

As everyone remained occupied with their respective enemies, a sufficiently powerful group could make its way toward the underground facilities and search for the Astral Memory Library.

That was where all the Memory Gates Bernice had acquired over more than a thousand years were kept.

Memory Gates couldn’t be stored inside a Pocket Gate, a dimension separate from the world. Nor could they be transported to another Plane or stored inside a Storage Ring.

For some reason, Memory Gates couldn’t leave the World itself.

It was as if the World itself prevented them from being stored somewhere safe.

For that reason, Bernice had created the Astral Memory Library, where she kept every Memory Gate under her possession.

However, if Atlas and Vahelra had appeared together, it meant that their true objective was to keep Bernice occupied for long enough.

Long enough to destroy the Memory Gates stored within the Astral Memory Library.

All the Awakened of Holy Academy would be occupied dealing with their respective enemies.

Bernice, meanwhile, would have to choose between confronting Atlas and Vahelra directly or pursuing the villains who had infiltrated the Astral Memory Library.

If she chose the second option, she would leave the way open for Atlas and Vahelra to massacre every living being within Holy Academy in a matter of seconds.

’Looks like I have no choice.’

Her gaze became slightly colder.

’I have to kill these two as quickly as possible.’

The problem was that Atlas and Vahelra possessed extremely troublesome abilities and Traits.

That was probably the very reason they had prepared complete sets of equipment to keep Bernice occupied and prevent her from intervening in the rest of the battle.

Immediately afterward, Bernice’s Mana began surging from her body.

Atlas and Vahelra tensed, and the mocking expressions they had worn until then disappeared completely.

Their opponent was known as the strongest. Naturally, even the two of them would have a hard time fighting Bernice for long.

If not for their abilities, Bernice could kill them in less than a minute, probably within a matter of ten seconds.

As the Mana continued to pour from her body, a thought suddenly crossed Bernice’s mind.

’Ah, wait a second. There is one... no, two Awakened who could become an Anomaly in these two’s plans.’

Bernice was referring to Lumina and Adel.

Both had reached Six Stars, but Bernice knew that the two of them were strong enough to fight even Eight-Star Awakened.

She wasn’t sure what a potential battle against a Nine-Star Awakened would look like.

However, there was no doubt that Lumina and Adel were exceptionally strong.

Bernice immediately sent both of them a mental message.

She explained what they needed to do next, and once she finished relaying her plan, another concern surfaced in her mind.

’I don’t have a Lock of Ascension. How the hell am I supposed to close that Gate of Ascension?’

Lock of Ascension.

It was a single-use Relic specifically created to close a Gate of Ascension.

The problem was that the Awakened capable of creating a Lock of Ascension had died eight hundred years ago.

Since then, no one had managed to create another one.

And Bernice didn’t have one in her possession.

The only way to close the Gate of Ascension would be to destroy it by force.

However, the problem was the amount of power required to do so.

It required strength approaching Eleven Stars, and Bernice wasn’t strong enough to accomplish it.

Even if she could, the destruction caused by an attack approaching the power of Eleven Stars would devastate nearly 25% of the entire Holy Continent.

’If I’m lucky, this Gate of Ascension might be temporary. Otherwise, I’ll have to spend ten years killing every monster that comes out of that rift, day and night.’

The minimum duration before a temporary Gate of Ascension closed was ten years.

Throughout that entire period, monsters would pour out of the rift without end.

Thinking about it, a wave of anger surged from deep within Bernice.

’Damn it, I’ll turn these two bastards into dust.’

Then, silver and dark blue Mana erupted from her body.

Bernice was a dual-Attribute Awakened, something extremely rare among Awakened.

Her two Attributes were the Lunar Attribute and the Solar Attribute.

But that wasn’t all.

The space in front of her twisted, and a long sword appeared out of nowhere.

Bernice grasped it with one hand.

Her Specialty wasn’t limited to a single category either.

It was an extremely rare variant that combined the Swordsmaster and Mage Specialties.

Bernice had simply named it Magic Swordsman.

It couldn’t be classified under any of the Swordsmaster or Mage Sub-Specialties.

Since it was a combination of both Specialties, she had simply combined their names.

The Solar Attribute covered her sword in dark blue flames, resembling the flames of a blue sun.

At the same time, her eyes changed to a silver hue.

Her hair also took on the same color, and a three-pronged silver crown appeared above her head.

From her arms, silver lines began spreading until they reached her left eye.

Her left eye turned a color somewhere between silver and ash gray.

Atlas and Vahelra felt their bodies tremble.

Their faces paled, but they still forced themselves to remain in front of the monster standing before them.

Then, the Power of Chaos surged from their bodies.

Both immediately assumed combat stances, preparing for the battle that was about to begin.

’Fighting here isn’t a good idea.’

Bernice was floating a kilometer above Holy Academy.

A single attack from her would be enough to destroy the entire Academy, as well as the Imperial Capital, which was located a short distance from Holy Academy.

For that reason, Bernice murmured:

"Dimensional Displacement."

".....?"

".....!"

The figures of all three suddenly disappeared from the black sky.

The only things left behind were the motionless air and the black rain that continued to fall.

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Author’s Note.

If you’re wondering, yes, I’ll finally be showing the first battle involving a Ten-Star Awakened and Class 10 villains, although it will only be one Chapter.