Chapter 92: Crown of Lightning
Chapter 92: Crown of Lightning
One of the reasons why the Twelve Wings were known as holy weapons was because they were believed to possess the power to understand the heart of a human. The abilities they incubate were often in line with the will of their wielders, which, in a sense, could be considered as the fulfillment of wishes.
Roel was a weak child, so Ascendwing responded to him by granting him ‘The Unruly’ ability, allowing him to free himself from dangerous situations. To Ponte, the Twelve Wings chose to grant him greater offensive power instead.
Those in the Hextongue Faction were reputed for their exceptional spellcasting speed, bizarre transference spells, and powerful disturbance spells. However, similar to most Scholar Guilds in Brolne, it had a fatal flaw—its lacking offensive prowess. He lacked supreme power that could determine a fight.
Due to that, Ponte desired greater offensive prowess, and the response given to him by the Twelve Wings was the spell, Angel’s Chorale. This was a powerful spell that focused all of the spellcaster’s mana into a burst of destructive light. There was no questioning its prowess.
From the moment of its appearance, all soldiers on the battlefield could vaguely hear a divine hymn sounding in their ears, as if an angel was conveying his blessings through the light. However, to the target of the attack, Wade, it sounded no different than the voice of death.
“Your Highness!”
Felder was the first one to react in that situation. His loyalty toward his liege compelled him to charge forward fearlessly to shield his liege from this fatal attack despite knowing the consequences that would befall him.
Roel’s eyes widened in astonishment at the sight. He never thought Felder, or to be more exact, Bryan, would be the sort of person to actually give up his life for someone else. In his view, Bryan was a cold-hearted individual who prioritized the Elric House above everything else, including his own family. Yet, here he was, like a knight depicted in legends, unhesitatingly laying down his life to protect his liege.
As Felder dashed forward, he channeled his mana to its limits, swiftly forming innumerable layers of defensive shields out of his blood mist to fend against the burst of light. However, his defense was insufficient against the destructive might of Angel’s Chorale, which harnessed both the mana of Ponte and Victoria. His blood mist defensive shields were swiftly penetrated layer after layer with frightening speed, faster than the rate that he could generate them.
At the final moment, just as the last layer of the blood mist defensive shield was about to be breached, a hand pushed Felder away from the line of attack—Wade.
Wade managed to save Felder in the last instant, but the result of that was a direct hit from Angel’s Chorale. The bloodied Felder cried hoarsely in despair, and all soldiers on the battlefield, be it ally or enemy, were shaken by the sight.
The duty of a knight was to protect his liege, but how many lieges in the world would be willing to stand forward and sacrifice himself for his knight? Wade’s action was noble yet foolish, and he paid a heavy price for that.
Even after being weakened by Felder’s blood mist, Angel’s Chorale was still not a spell which Wade could withstand. His crimson lightning bolts were devoured by the silver light, and his blood and flesh were charred by its destructive energy. It all culminated into a deafening explosion before everything slowly settled.
The soldiers, who had finally regained their sight, put aside everything they were doing to look at the fallen prince on the ground.
“I-is he dead?”
“Have we won?”
Victoria’s forces stared at Wade from afar as they sought confirmation from one another in disbelief. Wade’s soldiers shouted in panic, hoping that their liege would open his eyes and tell them that this was not real. Felder was staring at Wade’s body with dilated pupils. Despite his injuries, he dashed forward without a care in the world to ascertain Wade’s current condition. It was almost as if someone had hit the pause button in the middle of the intense battle.
Wade Xeclyde had already lost his senses. In truth, he wasn’t thinking anything when he pushed aside Felder from the line of attack. The only thought dominating his mind was that Felder would die at this rate if he did nothing at all.
The death of a loved one was something Wade had experienced before, and he never wanted to go through it ever again. That was the reason why he picked up his sword and swore that he would never let history repeat itself. That was the central driving force behind his revolution.
Yet, he didn’t think that even after Felder’s blockade, the attack from Ponte and Victoria would still carry sufficient power to kill him. In the face of that blinding light, Wade’s body was punctured with innumerable holes. The hymn of an angel sounded in his ear, as if seeking to send him to heaven. He had lost his senses, and his consciousness began to blur. He felt his body growing lighter and lighter, and it felt like his soul was about to depart from the bustling mortal world.
For a moment there, he seemed to have returned back to the sleeping chambers in the royal palace he remembered from his childhood. On a familiar bed, an orange-haired woman hugged him and uttered her expectations for his future.
“Wade, you are born with great responsibilities. You are the future emperor of the Saint Mesit Theocracy, the envoy of Sia. You’ll uphold justice and fairness in the world. From the icy lands of the borders of the Northern Sea to the dense forests of the South, everyone will be singing praises of your greatness…”
Her loving words resounded in his ears, causing Wade’s departing soul to halt in place. As he recalled his mother, a doubt arose in his mind.
Have I managed to do it? Have I met my mother’s expectations?
As he thought and thought, his dazed eyes regained clarity, and his impassive face was consumed by rage. Silhouette after silhouette flashed across his eyes as he recalled the mocking of the nobles and the discrimination of the clergymen. He remembered the smile on the orange-haired woman’s face as she embraced him, telling him that they would reunite on the day he was crowned as emperor.
That was a promise that was never fulfilled, as well as the final piece of memory he had of her. His recollection froze right at that scene, and it silently whispered the answer to his doubts.
No, I can’t leave right now. I haven’t achieved my goals yet.
Wade’s eyes fully regained their clarity, and the angelic hymn no longer reached him anymore. Flaring pain returned to his body as mana began flooding his body at a ridiculous level. The glow of the Wrath Origin Attribute resurfaced as his answer to the irrationality of this world. His eyes shot open once more as he sought to purge the irrationality that brought about his mother’s death. His body was tattered, but his existence had never been felt so strongly on the battlefield before.
“Mother, please bear witness to the path I seek,” whispered Wade softly to himself.
A beautiful figure seemed to appear before his eyes. She smiled at him, encouraging him to advance bravely.
The lightning bolts in the sky began crackling once more, and a storm flurried furiously across the battlefield. Standing at the center of this frightening phenomenon, Wade looked far larger than he was. His crimson mana rose like flames into the sky, forming a ruby crown on his head.
This turn of events astonished Victoria and the others.
“How is this possible?”
“Wade…”
Right before everyone’s eyes, Wade successfully made a breakthrough. His fury overcame the limitations of life and death, bringing his Wrath Origin Attribute to a greater height, becoming an Origin Level 2 transcendent. His powerful mana shook the Holy Capital, roaring for those who had died of injustice. There was no one in this huge Theocracy who could stop him anymore.
The injured prince raised his sword up to the sky as he announced to the world that he had returned. At the same time, fragments of his mana drifted across the battlefield and fell upon his soldiers, warping into crimson light that shrouded their bodies. All of Wade’s soldiers roared in excitement as they felt their overall stats rising. Their exhausted bodies were reinvigorated, and it felt like there was a flame blazing in their chests.
“Brave warriors, follow me! We shall build an impartial world for all!”
Wade’s words served as the war horns to announce the commencement of a new round of battle, and his rally was responded to with loud cheers from his soldiers too. The buffed allied armies of Wade raised their swords and charged forth with unstoppable might, forcing Victoria’s forces into a defensive position.
Far away, Victoria looked at her severely injured brother who was now born anew. There was a dazed expression on her face. From the moment he successfully made a breakthrough, she knew that things weren’t going to go smoothly.
Origin Level 2.
This was already beyond what Victoria and Ponte could deal with. Other than Holy Eminence Ryan, there was no one in the entire Saint Mesit Theocracy who could suppress Wade in terms of power anymore. However, this didn’t mean that it was the end yet. They still stood a chance, for Wade was simply too severely injured.
Wade’s breakthrough did little to heal him from the fatal injury he had suffered, and Felder was severely weakened too. The two of them were at their limits. Wade’s unbelievable army-level buff was indeed powerful, but such spells tended to last for only a short duration and had extreme side effects afterward.
In other words, as long as they could survive this onslaught, there was a good chance that they could turn things around and win this battle! This was really the final battle of this war, and they needed to hold on regardless of the cost.
“Hold your ground, their spells cannot last for too long!”
“Reinforce the defense line!”
Such shouts echoed loudly among Victoria’s forces. Ponte even stood at the frontline to organize the formations personally.
On the other hand, however, Felder was personally leading the charge of Wade’s allied armies, emanating his trademark crimson glow along with him. He, too, knew that this was the critical moment of the war, so he forsook his shield and focused solely on offense. Behind him, the severely injured Wade was also casting lightning and flames on enemy soldiers. This liege-subordinate pair were already on the verge of death, but ironically, they appeared to be in their strongest condition yet.
Under Felder’s fearless charge, a gaping hole was pierced into the formation of Victoria’s forces. Wade’s allied armies charged right through Victoria’s soldiers, heading right into the heart of their formation. They couldn’t care less about the soldiers threatening their flanks anymore; their targets were clear—Victoria and Ponte.
On the battlefield, the familiar group of four reunited with one another once more, but the circumstances were different from before. Wade’s lightning was no longer something that Ponte’s comparatively weaker spells could dispel easily, and Victoria’s abilities were mainly centered around support, so she was unable to pose a threat directly. The ability of their Twelve Wings sword was still on cooldown, resulting in the teacher-pupil duo being unable to launch any decisive attacks against their enemies.
The area of their clash was soon devastated as sand and rubble shot in all directions. Explosions blasted off one after another.
The first one to fall amongst the four was Felder. He had been the one leading the charge earlier, resulting in him exhausting himself significantly. Victoria’s holy light area spell had struck him squarely, causing him to finally succumb to his injuries and collapse to the ground.
However, in return for that, Ponte and Victoria, who were already lacking in mana, suffered direct hits from Wade’s lightning, causing them to incur significant injuries. Ponte coughed a mouthful of blood whereas Victoria’s light wings gradually began to dissipate.
In the end, the two of them slumped to the ground while leaning on one another. Lightning rumbled in the air as a countdown to the end of the duo’s life started ticking.
But, all of a sudden, a divine ray of light suddenly shrouded the teacher-pupil duo as a small figure stepped forth to protect them—Nora. She descended from the sky with her light wings, and before the shocked eyes of the duo, she activated one of her magic tools successfully blocking the onslaught of lightning bolts from Wade.
However, this was already her limit. The protective barrier she summoned was severely strained under Wade’s earlier attack, and it wouldn’t last another direct attack from him. Once it shattered, she would have no other means to stop Wade anymore.
Wade was momentarily surprised to see his lightning bolts blocked before an impassive look returned to his face. He shot a look at Nora, and he could clearly tell the side she had chosen from the look in her eyes.
“You would rather die together with them? Very well, I understand,” muttered Wade.
He raised his sword to end this war that had continued for far too long, but all of a sudden, he felt a menacing threat coming from behind and halted his movement. He instinctively deemed this threat to be far beyond what Ponte, Victoria, and Nora posed to him right now, so he turned around and quickly scanned the battlefield.
In the end, his gaze fell upon a single silhouette that was walking his way. It was the black-haired boy he had seen not long ago.