Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1967: Maze Lock – Apocalypse City: Tobesk

A brand-new power is being nurtured within his soul, another step on the path to becoming a god.

[Outlander, guide a drop of divinity, infuse the spirit rune you prepared for "Sublimation Incantation."]

A gentle whisper sounded in his ear, and the tick-tock~ sound seemed like a droplet falling into the heart’s soil.

The golden liquid, guided by the soul, polluted the second spirit rune of the Inner Ring Sublimation Incantation, which was also the eyes of the Outlander, witnessing the destiny that was meant to befall this world:

"Whisper - End."

This wasn’t the first time Shard used divinity to infuse his spirit rune, but this time was completely different from before.

Divinity infusing the spirit rune originally only had an inward effect on Shard himself and did not affect the outside world. But when divinity completely dyed "Whisper - End" into a dazzling gold, like the Ring of Life in the golden glimmer showing a Seventh Ring state alongside the resonating bell sound, anomalies appeared on the island, which was originally raining and shrouded in thin red mist.

Under the tree, Luviya, who just helped Priest Augustus handle the Soul Storybook, suddenly looked up, reaching forward to touch something in the wind:

"Sand?"

The phantom of Long-Haired Luvia, unseen by anyone, directly appeared behind her, with an incredulous look on her face.

Endless sand, at the moment of Shard’s ascension, inundated Green Island, the gale carrying the sand with an extremely unpleasant sensation, affecting everyone on the island at this moment, including "Edwards" within the red light.

No one knew what it represented until someone saw in the endless sand, the scenery behind the God Summoner, obscured ruins of a city:

"Is this... the God Summoner’s new Maze Lock? Wait, what is this feeling?"

The scene of Apocalypse City: Tobesk, that infinitely desolate landscape, really transformed from a phantom into reality amidst the endless sand. Not only those below Shard—Iluna, Megan, and Durut Giles—along with Luviya under the tree, but even the Circle Sorcerers elsewhere on the island, as well as people on hundreds of boats in the water, could truly touch that sand upon reaching out.

Looking up further, where once the treetop burst with dazzling golden glimmer and suppressed bloody light, now under the night sky had fully revealed the city ruins scene obscured by sand.

Although the city was almost destroyed, by the architectural style of the remaining buildings and the limited street views, someone recognized it as Tobesk City.

Sand scattered across the entire island, a nearly freezing wind suddenly surged in the air that had cooled down due to the previous night’s rain.

On the island’s edge at the dock, Priestess Natalie with the Prophet’s Society’s president, the Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer "Mr. Crystal," Adelaide Lenormand, were shocked watching this scene in the sky. After being reminded by an old woman beside him, he hastily performed divination with a crystal ball floating by his side.

But that crystal ball immediately exploded:

"What is this? Apocalypse? What does the God Summoner know? What is he trying to do? It’s unnecessary to use mutually destructive power to confront that traitor, isn’t it?"

The half-phantom Apocalypse City solidified behind Shard, and the place he stood was conspicuously like the center of Saint Delan Square. The "Calamity Cards" previously floating around Shard automatically merged into the city, melting in the dark shadow, making the city even more vivid.

A voice reminded by the ear:

[Outlander, you’ve learned Maze Lock - The End...]

"No!"

Shard controlled his spirit, forcibly interrupting the impulse to reveal Tobesk of the Apocalypse. He reached to summon "Twin Lovers" and "Shadow of the Deep Sea" from the city nearly becoming real, storing them away.

He just felt the forming Maze Lock was "Apocalypse City: Tobesk City." But he also sensed that if the Maze Lock were truly born, its effect in conjunction with those two cards formed from his memory of the city of the end would directly pollute the current city with despair and pain from the apocalypse decay world, further polluting the real Green Lake Region and even the entire world.

He never expected divinity infusion of "The End" would lead to such a result. But fortunately, he controlled it in time; otherwise, it was unimaginable what would follow.

"Long-Haired Luviya clearly has awakened, but rarely acts directly. Is it also to prevent the apocalypse power contained in her memory and strength from polluting this time’s Sixth Era?"

The endless sand continued blowing, but the city phantom obscured by sand suddenly vanished from the night sky. That terrifying aura felt even by Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers disappeared in a sweep, as if everything that had happened was a collective illusion of everyone.

Yet people ultimately saw that scene, fortunately, considering the influence this matter would cause does not need current contemplation.

The Seven Rings of Fate had already emerged behind Shard, enveloped in a glow, but only the "Edwards" closest to him could see it. He was neither surprised nor skeptical as the man within the blood light opened his arms as if to embrace the starry sky. From beneath, dense blood-red branches pierced his back, causing the blood-colored glow around him to rapidly spread to the entire giant tree, and then to the entire island located on the flip side of the Material World, all of which started to emit a red glow.

The blood mist, rain, swirling yellow sand, and red blood light made this already bizarre island even less like a part of the real world, where humans should exist. Yet "Edwards," who was spreading all his power to the island, seemed to grow even more formidable in aura.

The ring formed by the twisted roots of trees emerged behind him in the thick blood mist. The peculiar Thirteen-Ring Life Ring gradually expanded until, in Shard’s eyes, the ring seemed to encircle the Diviner himself. Blood light entwined with the mystical ring, and his robe fluttered in the wind. With one hand pointing to the sky and the other to the ground, each breath he took matched the rhythm of the wind, and each heartbeat seemed to be the heartbeat of this world.

But across from him, Shard felt the strain from forcibly restraining the newly emerging Maze Lock, an ordeal even more excruciating than withdrawing the [Aikenora-Arrow of Knowledge] he almost released last year, as if thousands of Mia were simultaneously scratching his skin.

Yet he still knew what he had to do. The glow of divinity spread over his body, and with a gentle motion of his right hand, streaked with golden cracks, the [Night Watchman] from Iluna below flew into his grasp.

"God Summoner, can you tell me what the city that appeared behind you just now signifies?"

A grand voice resounded above the entire island, with even the echoes dissipating the clouds rising under the night sky.

"The past I once witnessed and the path I have chosen are to ensure that such an outcome will never occur again."

In the blood light, one pointed skyward, the other earthward; in the golden light, another held a longsword with both hands, pointing the tip downward, thrusting forcefully into the air beneath his feet. The gushing water fell like a waterfall towards the ruins of the banquet hall below, then continued falling beyond the ruins’ edges towards the lower part of the giant tree.

At the base of the tree, Luvia, who had just been shocked by the phantom of the ruined city, suddenly looked up to the higher night sky. She did not praise the moon like the Red Butterfly Sisters who gazed at the bright Silvermoon amidst the mist and yellow sand, but instead, reached out to catch the first falling snowflake:

"It’s snowing."

"It’s snowing."

Angelina, who had just walked out of the old house under the giant tree, also stretched out her hand and caught the snowflake almost simultaneously with Luvia. The cat cradled in her single arm meowed, sniffing out Shard’s scent from the snow. Lecia and Dorothy held hands, watching the heavy snow that covered the blood mist and yellow sand, and looked up at the starry sky, fully revealed for the first time tonight.

Their hearts were fairly tranquil.

Behind them, Miss Danester squinted, looking up towards the top of the giant tree, watching the "waterfall" fall down like a silver silk connecting the tree crown with the ground:

"Maze Lock... Can you swim?"

"What?"

"Nothing, it seems swimming won’t be necessary."

Heart Lake Island slowly rose from below, and Iluna, Megan, and Durut Giles felt only the vibration of the ruins beneath their feet. When they looked around amidst the heavy snow, they realized, without knowing when it happened, that they were already standing on Heart Lake Island, bathed in the light of the Silvermoon.

Shard’s Maze Lock enveloped only them; people on Green Lake Central Island and even those near the water only saw the giant floating island and a ring of silver-white water chains flowing from its edges.

It wasn’t that Shard didn’t want to transform the whole Green Island into part of the Maze Lock - Water of Wisdom; it was because Shard’s Maze Lock wasn’t the only presence here. The blood-colored giant tree still stood on Green Island, and moreover, directly pierced through the floating Heart Lake Island.

At the top of the giant tree, the Diviner, who was connected to the tree by dense branches, lowered his head, gazing across the distance at Shard, who actively landed on the Floating Island. The former closed his eyes:

"Maze Lock - Green Island!"

The latter widened his eyes:

"Maze Lock - Water of Wisdom!"

In an instant, the earth shook, and Green Island, transformed into "Edwards’" Maze Lock, collided with the power of the Maze Lock that called forth Heart Lake Island, and ultimately the Maze Locks fused together. It was as if a round jade embedded into a gold cake.

After two hundred years of preparation, Edwards, who had mastered the island and even became the spirit of the island, finally welcomed this moment under the moon. And the Outlander, who had reclaimed the Supreme Wisdom, also temporally and completely grasped the power that the enemy now finally possessed on their own island, thanks to the Maze Lock’s trait.

Blood color dispersed, the power of "All Things United" achieved ownership for the island’s master, and the power of "All Things United" also belonged to the Outlander. Although the two Maze Locks were still in opposition, the two who had just uttered different Maze Lock names simultaneously spoke the same word:

"Edwards’ Ascension Technique!" / "Edwards’ Ascension Technique!"