Chapter 520 - 506: Above the Firmament

Chapter 520: Chapter 506: Above the Firmament

The Y-417 Plane, known to its inhabitants as "Ionia."

A single continent spanned the entire Plane, a connected land of mountains, wastelands, and forests.

For thousands of years, three native Wizard Organizations—the Cyan Tower, the True Silver Council, and the Astral Sanctum—each held their own territory, with six Witch Kings jointly maintaining a fragile order.

But now, the Astral Sanctum was no more.

On the third day after the fall of Stargazing Mountain, the Demon vanguard crossed Meteor Fall Plain.

On the fifth day, three vassal kingdoms were annihilated.

On the seventh day, the Demons reached the center of the continent.

Celestial Fortress met the first wave of the Demon assault.

BOOM!

A sickly green fireball slammed into the city wall.

Waves of fire over twenty meters high spread across the protective barrier. A web of cracks appeared on the barrier’s surface, and more than a dozen Wizard Apprentices responsible for maintaining the nodes coughed up blood simultaneously.

"Replace the Magic Stones!"

"The western node is overloading!"

"Bring up the reserve chests, now!"

Apprentices dragged heavy metal chests toward the formation’s base. Two of the wounded were carried away immediately, their positions instantly filled by others.

No one asked if they would live.

Outside the walls, the ground was no longer visible, with nearly fifty thousand Demons of all shapes and sizes swarming the plain.

Horned demons carrying crude shields marched at the front, followed by hordes of imps and purgatory beasts. Winged demons blotted out the sky, continuously dropping corrosive flesh-bombs into the city.

Corpses were piled several layers deep. Some were Demons, others human. More Demons trampled over the dead to press forward.

"Magic-guided Cannons, third volley!"

The Runes on the city walls lit up in unison.

One hundred and twenty Magic-guided Cannons adjusted their angles. The Magic Power within their barrels compressed to its limit before erupting in columns of incandescent white light.

The beams of light swept across the plain.

Dozens of imps at the very front were instantly vaporized. The bone shields raised by over a dozen horned demons held for only two seconds before they, along with the demons’ upper bodies, vanished.

A brief cheer rose from the walls.

But in the next moment, a triple-layered barrier of Evil Energy immediately rose from behind the Demon army.

The fourth volley of cannon fire struck the barrier, only to cause a ripple to spread across its surface.

"The Purgatory Mages have made their move!"

A Wizard from the Cyan Tower turned his head. "Switch to Rune Warheads!"

"We only have seventy-six left."

The First-level Wizard in charge of the cannon battery stared at the approaching Demons, his voice hurried.

"Load all of them! What are you saving them for, your funeral?"

Below the city walls, the Wizards of the Bloodline School had already clashed with the Demons.

A Wizard from the True Silver Council violently tore off his robes, his body swelling dramatically in the wind, instantly transforming into a behemoth.

Jet-black scales, as if forged from molten iron, covered his entire body. Two menacing, curved horns sprouted from his brow, gleaming with a sinister, cold light.

He let out a low roar and crashed into the Demon horde like a falling meteor. His right fist, wreathed in thunderous power, came smashing down, instantly pulverizing the head of a horned demon.

Before the bloody mist could even settle, he spun around and seized another demon by the spine. With bulging muscles, he heaved it high into the air and viciously smashed it into the tide of monsters surging from behind. The crack of bones and agonized screams erupted across the battlefield like the drumbeat of death itself.

Then, more Bloodline Wizards completed their transformations.

Giant bears, griffins, earth drakes, rock giants.

They blocked the breach in the wall carved out by the Demons, forming a second line of defense with their very flesh and blood.

"Herud!"

Someone shouted amidst the chaos.

The Wizard who had transformed into a rock giant lowered his head.

Three spears of Evil Energy had already pierced his chest.

He did not retreat. Instead, he grabbed the spears and dragged three Purgatory Guards before him.

"Take care of my bloodline for me."

BOOM!

The rock giant’s body exploded.

Shrapnel of stone, mixed with flesh and blood, sent all Demons within a hundred-meter radius flying.

On the wall, a female Wizard closed her eyes for a moment, then resumed casting her spell.

She had no time for grief.

High above in the sky, the battle that would truly decide the war’s outcome was also reaching its limit.

Four figures floated above the fortress.

They were the four surviving Witch Kings of the Cyan Tower and the True Silver Council, and they were also Ionia’s last four Level 2 Wizards—its greatest fighting force.

Kassen, Lord of the Cyan Tower, pressed his hands against the void.

The forest outside the city trembled in unison as tens of thousands of vines burst from the earth, entangling swaths of Demons.

"Life Siphon!"

The vines pierced their flesh.

The Demons rapidly shriveled, their stolen life force flowing through the vines into Celestial Fortress, providing energy for the damaged protective barrier.

The True Silver Grand Chairman raised his silver Magic Staff.

A Rune array a kilometer in diameter appeared in the sky.

The Runes spun, reflecting the rays of Evil Energy unleashed by the Demons right back at them. More than a dozen altars in the rear were instantly destroyed, and large numbers of Purgatory Mages were reduced to charcoal.

Of the other two Witch Kings, one controlled a Storm, and the other summoned lightning.

The four’s Witchcraft covered half the battlefield, yet the Demons continued to advance.

There were simply too many of them.

Kassen glanced down. The city’s defensive barrier was at less than thirty percent strength.

More than half of the Bloodline Wizards had been killed or wounded.

The roar of the Magic-guided Cannons also began to grow sparse.

"If... if we hadn’t hesitated when the Astral Sanctum called for aid..."

The True Silver Grand Chairman didn’t finish his sentence.

The Cyan Tower, the True Silver Council, and the Astral Sanctum had existed in a tripartite balance. When the Demons first descended, they attacked the Astral Sanctum, located in the northern part of the continent.

The other two powers, harboring the dark thought of letting their old rival be weakened, chose to wait and see.

They debated a joint military plan for twelve days, and the reinforcements were delayed for seven.

They never expected the Astral Sanctum wouldn’t even last two months.

Its two Witch Kings died in battle, and the organization’s entire territory was swept over by the Demon army as if it were undefended. Millions of lives were sacrificed to construct an even larger portal.

By the time they finally decided to send troops, the two Witch Kings of the Astral Sanctum had already been nailed to their own stargazing tower.

The Demons gave them no more time for regret.

Just then, the earth-shaking war cries outside the city abruptly and strangely ceased.

For the first time in days, the frenzied assault paused.

The black tide of the Demon army receded, leaving an open space in the center composed of corpses and scorched earth.

A Demon far larger than its kin stepped forward.

He stood nearly ten meters tall, his body a mass of knotted muscle. A pair of bat-like wings on his back beat slowly as he dragged a colossal battle-ax burning with green Evil Energy flames.

The pressure he exuded was more powerful than that of any Witch King on the walls.

The Abyssal Commander, Baroque. Commander of this vanguard legion.

He stopped, his crimson gaze sweeping over the deathly silent Celestial Fortress, and let out a thundering, maniacal laugh.

"Mortals! Your resistance is... utterly laughable!"

"Do you see?"

"This is the world you protect."

"Weak, filthy, and plotting against each other on the verge of annihilation."

His voice seemed to contain some sort of magic, spreading clearly across the entire battlefield and causing many weak-willed soldiers to drop to their knees, trembling.

"Struggle! Wail! Your fear is the finest appetizer for my master!"

Baroque raised his battle-ax high, pointing it toward the sickly green sky.

"Soon! The will of the great Lord of Purgatory, Lord Sargeras, will descend completely! This delicious land, along with your pathetic souls, will all be reduced to a handful of burning dust in my master’s eternal kingdom!"

"Now, as a final reward..."

He stretched his massive jaw into a cruel smile.

"Meet your doom!"

"ROAR—!"

Tens of thousands of Demons roared in unison, the resulting sound wave nearly toppling the city walls.

Only pure destructive desire remained in their crimson eyes as the black tide surged forward once more, launching a final, all-out assault on the crumbling Celestial Fortress.

On the wall, the four Witch Kings exchanged a look, each seeing the resolve and sorrow in the others’ eyes.

Kassen looked at the city behind him.

The streets were crowded with civilians who had fled from the north. Wounded Wizards leaned against the walls, while apprentices were delivering the last few chests of Magic Stones to the formation’s base.

He raised a hand and pressed the Tower Badge on his chest.

"Prepare to activate the Seed of Cyan."

The True Silver Grand Chairman turned to look at him.

"Once activated, the entire fortress and the land for leagues around will turn into a desert."

"What’s the alternative? Wait here to die?"

Deep underground, a colossal root system that had slumbered for centuries began to awaken.

And at that very moment, a muffled bang echoed from the sky.

It was not thunder, nor was it the war drums of the Demons.

The battlefield fell silent for an instant.

The Demon commander raised his head.

The four Witch Kings also looked up at the firmament.

A roar grew louder, approaching from the distance.

The celestial canopy, dyed a sickly green by Evil Energy, began to warp.

Then, a fine, black crack appeared.

In the next second, the crack began to spread rapidly!

"CRACK... KRRRACK!"

The sky, like a colossal pane of glass, was being brutally shattered from the "outside" by some incomparably savage existence!

The massive, black prow of a ship, carrying an aura that could crush all in its path, was forcing its way into this world inch by inch through the fractured heavens!

Behind the fragments... the deep, cold, and chaotic Sea of Magical Power was revealed.