Humans had always been afraid of the unknown. Even if they had the same power.
The moment Xerath's massive body appeared, the humans were stunned…
"Walls that banish the darkness and shelter mankind? Its collapse view must've looked wonderful, Xerath!"
Lucius' heart was already connected to this existence the moment it appeared. It clearly understood what's going on inside Lucius' mind.
"As you wish, Summoner." Xerath's ethereal hand raised high, lightning was dispelled as it screeched. Dispersing the dark clouds that engulfed the Earth. The magic surge created the lightning that spread across the sky!
This place was hundreds of kilometers away from Vatican City. Apart from nuclear missiles, everyone thought nothing could attack the city from here!
Nothing but Xerath.
Once a human mage, he stops at nothing to discover the power between magic and arcane! Obsessed with magic, he succeeded and became one of the strongest beings of his time! To the point that the magical power he had was too much for his flesh to contain. Eventually, he abandoned his flesh and sublimated into a mass of purest arcane energy. Magic made everything possible!
Xerath is a moving turret, more terrifying than any human-made nuclear missile! His Rite of Arcane could reach any corner of the world!
"Witness my power!"
The gray-clouded sky had been taken over by thunder and lightning, roaring thunder echoed in the sky. It wasn't a natural phenomenon, but the terrifying life form had caused it.
Humans fear nature. An insignificant human being was like an ant that could easily be trampled by nature. Now, the Espers had the same feeling.
"You can't!"
The Bible was spread out in Belial's hands. He was trying to stop what happened next. Even though he knew that trying to open the barrier of the Vatican City from here was absurd. Because the humans inside the wall survived a nuclear blast.
But… Xerath's terrifying presence that was close to absorbing all the stray magical elements in this world made him think…
In front of this man, all the elements submit to him!
If the magical elements were compared to a thousand horses, he would be the king of horses, no… he would be the God!
Can a man be compared to God?
Belial, who had believed in God for most of his life, shook his head in denial. It was too late when he whispered the word 'damn it' under his breath.
Xerath viciously unleashed the power buried within his body. The seals that imprisoned his power made of sticky magical elements snapped!
The ground sank as Xerath stood resolutely as if he was a monument.
"Real magic!!"
His crazy smile immersed in the world called magic, showed humans the true meaning of the word 'magic'!
As if a conductor were conducting a grand musical victorious song of heroic return, Xerath's true body drawing out power from the Earth!
The elements are his notes, and the runes are his baton! The place for the grand opening of this concert is a hundred miles away from Vatican City!
I hear you!
Lucius heard it…
That man… came from the past, explored by mankind for mysterious and enchanting powers!
The lightning became more frequent, a thunderstorm was heard from a distance, roaring, as if the sky was an ancient dragon. And the Godly thunder struck the barrier of the Vatican hard! The mana surge spread around the Vatican with an overwhelming momentum!
The burst of sound caused several Espers within range of hundreds of kilometers away to feel temporarily deaf!
It's… no longer a power that any human could imagine!
A single strike from him just now was no different than a small nuclear bomb! If another huge mushroom cloud rises, it's basically another nuclear explosion!
"Stop it!" Belial screamed again. This was the second time he ever felt this desperate! The first time was against that asshole, Van Helsing! The first one was because he had to hold his anger even though he wanted to unleash it so badly, and the second time was now! It's the feeling of being tricked, of having high hopes only to find them crushed and stomped on a few times!
He believed in God, Vatican City was the only pure land given to mankind by God, but this man in front of him was ravaging the holy land!
Magic? You're not the only one capable of doing it! Belial spread open the Bible in his hand, the white page fluttered, each page imprinted with golden writing!
"God loves the world! He even gave them his only son! Those who believe in him may not perish but have eternal life!" Belial read aloud the sentences from the Bible in Latin. He had been speaking in English, but now he returned to his mother language!
Books were originally linked to powerlessness and weakness. However, at this moment, it had the power of all weapons in the world!
A violent wind, baptized by the holy light, raging against Xerath, who was drawing power from the Earth, and converted it into a destructive magic blast!
"Such old magic! And you're trying to defeat me?" Xerath responded in Latin!
It seemed like this otherworldly being was quite familiar with mankind… Of course, Xerath was familiar with it. It had once belonged to the Church. From the moment he was summoned to this strange world by a peculiar summoner!
Old? Isn't magic more powerful the older it is?
But right now, Xerath was showing Belial what power innovation was all about!
"Shocking Orb!"
Even though the name was something like a novice wizard's magic. The name really doesn't matter, just like Lucius could have named his sword technique as 'Flying Imperial Sword Flow'. The names don't represent anything at all. He could only know how to swing and slash.
But the power…
Lucius had already walked a kilometer away from the manor when Xerath attacked. Because Lucius was 100%, he would become charred charcoal if he had stayed within his attack range. That was on the premise that there would be something left from his body after Xerath's raging Eye of Destruction. But the problem was, there won't be anything left from his body! While Lucius will resurrect after death, he wasn't a masochist who liked pain!
And so, the night shifted to day, not because of the rising sun. But because a beam of light resembling a satellite railgun appeared in the direction Lucius was looking at! A closer look at Xerath's violent mana output and gorgeous visuals will be even more impressive…
The ground shook as if a major earthquake had struck.
The sound of thunder was incessant. Nothing was left from the manor after Xerath's Eye of Destruction hit it! All that's left is a deep crater! Xerath's massive form towered over the crater, unmoving.
The power of the recent spell was almost as powerful as some mage's forbidden spell. Surely it wasn't far behind Thor's Wrath, right?
The problem was Xerath's opponent was one of the three strongest humans in this world. They wouldn't have been easily defeated!
Sure enough, surrounded by a mass of pages in monk's clothing, Belial survived Xerath's attack. The old man was clever enough to conjure a defensive spell when he realized something amiss.
The real battle was about to start. But what Lucius wanted wasn't Xerath taking out this old, immortal Archbishop!
"Stop messing around! Do it one shot!" Lucius used the contract to give orders directly.
"I understand, Summoner!"
Xerath was reluctant. If it wasn't for the seal on its chest that imprisoned his power, he would have swept half of the Earth's surface with the previous attack. His spell casting range was close to a satellite's information collecting range. But well, the target area also included Lucius. The seal was the only thing that made him submit to Lucius. It had the same principle as a genie in the lamp.
After so many years, the seal had already broken for the most part. But, He still obeyed Lucius' order because the previous unscrupulous summoners who enslaved Xerath added it. And since he was a genie in the lamp, he had to fulfill the wishes of the one who summoned him!
Xerath was obviously familiar with the construction of the Church's magical barrier known as the Darkness-Defying Wall…
With a swing of his ethereal arm, he pushed away Belial, who was trying to land a counter-attack. Xerath aimed at the Vatican City a hundred kilometers away. The magical element was his eyes, his ears! The suffocating power coalesced in his body once again!
"Follow the path of power!"
Xerath once again frantically drew the energy within the Earth, transforming himself into a magic surge! The Rite of Arcane began to surge!
...….
A hundred kilometers away, in Vatican City.
The believers were anxious. They gathered in the square to pray, to be protected by God. A few minutes ago, the skeleton dragon outside the city started to bang on the magic barrier, to tear the Darkness-Defying Wall apart. They were afraid.
But finally, their prayer was answered. A lightning beam suddenly descended from the sky, hitting the skeleton dragon outside the wall with a thick burning smell in the air.
The skeleton dragon wasn't dead, just a little dizzy!
But this bombardment was tantamount to a symbol of God's miracle! The believers became more devoted after witnessing the miracle. Some even spread open their arms and recite aloud the Bible statements to the sky.
But, was it really God's protection?
If it's true, then it must be God's punishment! The wrath of God was the harshest punishment for the world!
The thunder and lightning that represented God finally resounded again!
This time, the target wasn't to bombard outside of the Darkness-Defying Wall, but the inside! A wall that will not be crossed by all dark things. A blinding electricity bolt from a hundred kilometers away pierced through the wall, wreaking havoc in the city!
Xerath's knowledge of magic was beyond humans' reach. In pursuit of power, he had shed his identity as a human! He cleverly ignored the outer, impenetrable walls. Instead, he directed his power at the center of it all! The Obelisk in the center of the Vatican! The Obelisk that everyone should pay respect to when entering the city.
But today, the invader was full of killing intent towards the Obelisk!
In the ground on the square, circular lightning surrounded the Obelisk. Those who were near the Obelisk were confused as they watched the tiny arcs of electricity.
But at the next moment, another thunderstorm that pierced their eardrums struck!
A powerful arcane energy eruption within the lightning circle. Manifesting itself in the form of thunder, capable of destroying everything. Blowing the Obelisk's foundation! The people standing around the Obelisk were blown to bloody pieces of flesh by the attack!
The people stopped praying. They stared blankly at the center of the square. It wasn't because of the deafening thunderstorm, but because the stone monument that had always represented God's embodiment that supported their inner faith was falling apart.
Impossible… the feeling of the source of their faith being destroyed was just too much for them to take! But, as if continued stomping on their shattered beliefs to make them realize the harsh truth…
Another thunderstorm struck twice in a row in the same place! Collapsing the entire Obelisk. The stone could no longer hold the destructive power. It shattered into stone powder and gravel with a burnt smell like the dragon outside.
The barrier that sheltered humanity also collapsed. The azure sky turned into a raging thunderstorm haze…
It seemed like an illusion.
"Screech!"
But a high-pitched dragon's roar reminded the humans that this was reality!
They stiffened. Turning their head, realizing the outside world had been reduced to an infinite inferno.
A large number of skeletons with ice-blue flames burning in their eyes surrounded the city, skeleton dragons flew in the sky.
The Vatican City was like an egg, and the barrier protecting them was like an eggshell…
So, what to do when the shells are broken?
Of course, to suck every last bit of delicious egg yolk and whites inside! Or rather, chew it up and devour it!
Crack!
"Grrrrrr!"
The skeletons and zombies both let out their own distinctive roars, cheering as the egg finally broke, and they gotta eat the yolks and egg whites!