Soul Venerable (Re-written)

The chaotic battlefield was filled with innumerable corpses of various species, blood congregated into rivers and remains heaped into literal mountains. The Intense stench of rot and gore could be smelled even from afar.

At the peak of the highest mountain of corpses, there stood someone clad in black battledress. The rune pattern arrays engraved on its surface had dimmed, riddled with traces of wear and tear, caked from head to toe with bloodstains. Despite the near-dysfunctional armor, the face of the person who wore it bore cold, his amethyst-like eyes burning with pure killing intent.

He is Archmage Mordred, a peak rank 6 Sovereign expert.

He raised his arm, a dark silver glow of a magic formation appeared.

“Rank 6 sound-path magic spell, [Howling Death]”

The dark silver magic circle produces an invisible sonic wave that engulfs a 100-man army of experts donned in supreme quality anti-magic high tech knight armors. The soldiers who were rushing towards him were swept away by this invisible wave of sound attack. Instantly, their bodies fell like puppets whose strings were cut, blood flowing from their seven orifices as the anti-magic runes engraved on their armor shattered simultaneously.

Their bodies became an additional heap in the mountain of corpses.

“Mordred! Your head will fall today!” a knight in white armor led his subordinate as he pulled the reins of his mount, filled with righteous fervor. The death of his comrade-in-arms with a single spell does not affect his resolve.

The white armored knights were not riding on horses but 25-meter long giant dragons with colorful scales of extreme durability. Followed by 11 other Dragon Knights, the captain leads his subordinates into a suicidal charge towards Mordred.

After reaching a certain point in cultivation, warriors or knights of the martial path are capable of emitting killing intent to affect their enemy’s mental state. However, facing the combined killing intent of a dozen Immemorial Dragon Knights which could stop the beating heart of Paragons, Mordred received it as if it was a gentle summer breeze.

His response was merely a glance of disdain.

“So a dozen late-stage rank 6 Immemorial Dragon Knights were your last cannon fodder, o’ venerable Heroes?” Mordred muttered as his vision stared into the distance.

The captain of the Dragon Knight is an expert infinitesimally close to the peak of rank 6 Sovereign, yet still so far away. The Immemorial Dragon Knight Corps were trained and allocated resources sufficiently to defeat any foe of the same rank since they were the cream of the crop of the Sacred Alliance. Furthermore, their mounts are the strongest beings in Morgen World, dragons! However, their enemy was the traitor who had betrayed the Sacred Alliance for his own selfish reasons, Archmage Mordred.

He was one of the most accomplished amongst the Seven Braves from any observable aspect. Mordred’s power was beyond mortal comprehension, but he was still hovering around quasi-rank 7, only a minor rank higher than the Captain of the Immemorial Dragon Knight Corps.

Yet still, there was a significant gap between one that was a late-stage rank 6 Sovereign and one who has reached quasi-rank 7.

Even in the face of an assault from a dozen top-tier Immemorial Dragon Knights, his mind was occupied elsewhere.

At the end of Mordred’s vision was the flying fortress [Alistair], its circumference measuring at four kilometers wide and hundreds of meters tall with seven sky-piercing magic towers rising upon its enchanted walls, floating like a giant crown.

On top of its highest central tower, there stood a party of six.

“Casualties have reached over 991 million souls with most of them being rank 4 desolate beast slaves, all these just to exhaust the Archmage’s mana in a direct confrontation… such frightening power… Yet, if we did not use enslavement-path battle tactics of drowning him under large numbers of cannon fodders, the loss of our strength will be too much…” said one of the Braves that stood beside the hero.

She wore a white-gold clerical dress, signifying her role as backline-support in the party. She was the greatest cleric in the Sacred Alliance, nay, perhaps the entire world, the ‘Bright Saint’ Anais.

“It doesn’t matter, right? Cannon fodders are cheap.” Another interjected. This one was a tanned elven huntress with tight battledress wrapped around her body, highlighting all of her sensual curves. She had a sovereign-rank bow on her back and a strange whip on her hip, exerting a dangerous aura.

She was the Ranger of the party and a Beast Master that commanded myriad types of rank 6 Immemorial Beasts, Eleanora.

Anais retorted back, “That’s true, but I can only resurrect less than 1% of them, even with the resources of the Sacred Alliance, unless I sacrifice a part of my Origin Source…”

Anais’s response made Eleanora’s brow twitch. “Then, about my rank 6 Immemorial Beasts…”

“Don’t worry about them. I’ve already branded their truesouls. As long as their very existence did not disappear from this world, I can resurrect them to full strength.”

“Thanks.” She replied with a sigh.

To kill one of the 7 Braves was not an easy task, especially if the said Brave was the Archmage, who is now even stronger than the Hero himself. His specialty was refining artifacts and its creative usage to cause long-range devastation upon an army, teleporting away as his foes enclosed upon him.

If not for using myriads of Immemorial Beasts leading untold millions of powerful lower-ranked beasts to exhaust the Archmage’s near-inexhaustible mana and spell resources, shaping the battle through interference that restricts instantaneous spatial movement and magical flight, sealing access to his secret treasury and snatching his magnum opuses, it would be impossible to harm the even the edges of Mordred’s armor.

The former landscape has now changed terribly. Originally, it was an ambush for the Archmage as he went to this secluded village to harvest a rare rank 5 wood-path resources for artifact refinement.

The frontier village was quiet and did not even possess a wall to protect its inhabitants. The only source of their daily necessity is the forest that provides them with food and herbs. Sometimes, a trader will pass by the little village to trade resources. Unknowingly, the village harbors a rare wood-path resource, Walking Meat Tree, which the Archmage had searched far and wide.

Now, the village was no more, buried under mountains of corpses, be it beasts, human or other intellectual races. As for reaching this point, it was truly a miracle shaped by the power of the Seven Braves.

No, there’s only the Six Braves now.

“Weak! Is this the trump card of Britonn Kingdom, the leader of the Sacred Alliance?” the Archmage roared while conjuring a giant obscure spear made out of compressed dark lightning. It decapitates the neck of the last Dragon Knight, as the dragon they rode already decomposed, melted into goo, turned into ash or transmuted directly into fragile stone dregs, each not even useful as fertilizers.

“The Immemorial Dragon Knight Corps did not even last half the time we calculated. As expected of the Archmage.” Another person commented on Mordred’s performance.

He was the Brave who exploits his ability to read future possibilities in direct combat. His dark blue cloth armor is light, with simplicity and ease of movement as the core design, but it was made from body parts of a monster called [Immemorial Diamondweb Spider] whose web could be refined into a rank 6 material more durable than immemorial dragon scales.

His name is Drogan, the antimage assassin of the Braves.

“[Mise Energy Core] at full capacity, we are ready to strike him anytime…” Eleanora reported.

The flying fortress Alistair is an artifact that could take the role of mobile weapon platform-command center. The floating fortress was one of Archmage Mordred’s magnum opuses, but the raw materials were provided by the Sacred Alliance. Such architectural marvel wouldn’t be possible without the support of a super faction of that caliber otherwise.

The main battery of Alistair was an arcane technology developed by the Archmage personally; its unknown mechanism draws forth a massive amount of energy from the Mise Energy Core that supports the floating attribute of Alistair and other auxiliary systems such as the Spatial Lockdown and many others.

“[Mordred Energy Loop System] and the intellectual core of Alistair is sufficient to endure the loss of energy from Mise Energy Core. After the attack, Alistair will lose 90% of its ability to support.” Anais reported.

In this case however, Alistair was overcharging its main battery, it’ll expend all the accumulated energy to the point of over-exhausting the Mise Energy Core, leaving minuscule leftover energy merely sufficient to maintain Spatial Lockdown and Flight Interference for some time. All auxiliary systems deemed unnecessary were shut down to maximize the chance to kill Archmage Mordred.

The next moment, the two main canons of Alistair fused into one, producing profound blue light that condensed into a near-physical substance. The condensation of energy to an extreme degree formed a pulsating sapphire-like crystal of pure mana on the mouth of the cannon.

Archmage Mordred was too familiar with the mana fluctuation on the mouth of Alistair’s cannon. It means the [Godslaying Cannon] had been primed and had begun counting down its activation sequence. To counter his own creation, Mordred initiates a set of spells of his own.

“Rank 4 light-path magic spell, [Boundless Photon Coalescence]”

“Rank 5 light-path magic spell, [Solar Light Weave]”

“Rank 6 light-path magic spell, [Brilliant Astral Meltdown]”

Rings upon rings of high-energy spell formation manifest on Mordred’s surroundings. The spells possessed perfect compatibility with each other, resulting in better efficacy than normal.

The bright sun was currently at its zenith but due to the magical effect from Mordred’s spell, the sunlight was dimming by a noticeable margin. The sudden darkness expanded rapidly from the sky on top of Archmage Mordred, spreading like a solar eclipse. Within moments, the absence of sunlight turned daytime into as dark as starless midnight.

“Wait, this shouldn’t be possible… His mana should’ve been depleted and his artifacts exhausted!” Eleanora’s words filled with shock due to the intel she read from Alistair’s system interface were betrayed by Mordred’s spell.

“Rank 6 light-path killer move, [Light Strike Array]!” Mordred finished chanting multiple spells, they combined to form a [Killer Move].

A point in the dark sky turned extremely bright. The sun, which was hidden by Mordred’s spell, reappeared in the form of spider web-like multi-layered light arrays. In its central part, the light arrays fused to form a pillar of extreme light which poured down like a torrential waterfall.

At the same moment, without exaggerated light effects, the condensed energy within Alistair's Godslaying Cannon was released.

Mordred has already depleted his mana reserve which supports the magical force field that perpetually protects his body from harm after a long period of battle, the same was true for his primary, secondary and tertiary defensive artifacts. His supernaturally strong fleshy body was unable to withstand the full power of Alistair’s Godslaying Cannon head-on.

Boom! An explosion greater than that of nuclear explosions swept the area. The body of Archmage Mordred was evaporated into the most basic heat particles.

However, the pillar of white light made contact with Alistair at the same time as Mordred’s Body was disintegrated by Alistair’s Godslaying Cannon.

Boom! The magical force shield of the floating fortress Alistair flared to life in prismatic rainbow color, but an instant later, it was annihilated into smithereens. The surface of Alistair got showered by endless torrential lights, melting like ice cream during a blazing hot summer. Multiple spots were pierced by the laser attacks from the sky, destroying important facilities onboard.

Although not completely destroyed, Alistair was severely damaged, unable to contribute to the battle further.

Thousands of kilometers away, the six Braves managed to survive through emergency teleportation.

“Thanks, Multicast…” Eleanora had a grim expression on her face. Her sight soon followed the other braves who gazed towards the location where Archmage Mordred was evaporated. Despite the distance, their methods were more than capable of seeing what happened on the former battlefield.

Radioactive smokes slowly dissipate to reveal the now hellish landscape of molten magma and rocks. A dense golden fog of condensed timeforce saturated the area, distorting up the rate of time to an extreme degree. In the center of the golden fog, time was reversing as red particles gathered to a single point, perhaps it would be more fitting to call it blood mist.

At first, the blood mist condensed into a ball of blood. Then, slowly and surely, it condensed into some lines that resemble roots.

Then, more colorful particles gather.

Blue, green, black, white, et cetera.

The dust-like particles were condensing to the point of forming physical substance.

Slowly and surely, the condensed particles revealed a human’s skeletomuscular system.

Marrow, skeleton, blood veins, muscles, every piece of a human body was reassembled by the particles until the skin recovered, revealing a charismatic figure.

It was a tall male, standing 180 cm tall from top to bottom. He had an extremely pale skin complexion to the point of looking unhealthy. Jet black hair like an inky waterfall adorned the crown of his head. His eyes shone like amethyst, glowing with dark purple light while in contrast, his pure black sclera gave him an aura of extreme evil.

His naked figure was slowly falling into scorching lava that remained after Alistair’s attack. Just as his feet touched the sea of liquid fire, it froze into solid metal.

With a swipe of his hand, black battledress tinged with a golden hue shrouded his body. Myriad rune arrays on its surface shone in colorful profound lights, a sign of it being a supreme treasure comparable to the Godslaying Cannon on Alistair. The golden fog of timeforce was slowly absorbed by his armor as he resurrected into his peak form.

The local time distortion became normalized with the golden fog’s disappearance! He then silently whispered, “Aspect of the Devil, Rank 6 transformation-path killer move, [Despair Devil Metamorphosis]”

While still recovering from the shock, Eleanora reported, “The eighth phase of the plan has succeeded. We have forced Mordred to use his quasi-rank 7 time-path killer move, [Borrowed Time]. All conditions are clear; we are now ready for the last phase, let’s kill the Devil King!”

The [Seven Braves] are considered as the peak existences in this world where the divines could not descend with their true body, while Archmage Mordred was an existence that was considered the peak of the Seven Braves. The methods within his hands were innumerable.

Just now, Mordred used a time-path killer move, a troublesome trump card known as [Borrowed Time] which allows him to revert to pristine condition as long as he possessed a single breath left. In fact, Mordred had improved it to be so powerful that it could be considered as quasi-rank 7, which allows him to use it even if his physical body was completely obliterated.

Fortunately, the Braves had already anticipated it.

“Alistair, commence automatic repair protocol while maintaining Spatial Lockdown and flight interference. Let’s go.” Lamost the Hero simply said to the intellectual core of Alistair several thousand kilometers away. Lamost wore a golden armor shimmering with seven-colored light, his arm gripping the 7-colored Spear of Light.

The 4th Generation Hero Lamost was the strongest man in the Sacred Alliance. However, that changed when the Archmage didn’t stop pursuing power unscrupulously. When everyone slows down their rate of advancement, the difference of their powers are slowly being reversed. Mordred now took the position of the strongest as he was far stronger than the Hero.

However, he was alone. Of the Seven Braves, his power may be stronger than any individual Braves, but not stronger than all of the Braves combined!

Especially if Alistair, Mordred’s magnum opus and greatest wealth, was snatched by the Braves.

One of the Braves besides Lamost prepares a teleportation spell.

She was the smallest person at the Brave’s party, standing around 140 centimeters from top to bottom. Her body is covered by a black war-robe enchanted with runic words, chaotic powers of the nine elements materialized on its surface. Her head is also covered by a mask that resembles a helmet, further covering her body.

She was the only person in the world that could use magic without chanting the spells as she was mute. The only Braves whose identity is unknown and is always shrouded in mystery, Multicast!

Her specialty is to cast multiple magic spells at the same time. In a split second, six teleportation spell formations appeared beneath the braves. Her teleportation spell was assisted by the intellectual core of Alistair; with it she could teleport anyone into any point in the battlefield near instantly.

“Prepare for battle!” the last Brave who had never said anything before released a battle cry.

He was the Warrior of the Brave’s party, the one that excels in taking punishment and dealing damage through melee confrontation. His simple battle cry is a martial art that boosts the party’s mental defense for countering Mordred’s passive wisdom-path mental attacks.

He wore thick black full plate armor like a moving fortress. On his back, hanged a twin pair of pure jet-black two-handed greatswords.

As he held a greatsword in each arm, immense killing intent burst forth from his eyes that could kill anyone under rank 4. It was both a form of mental attack and defense to further counter most forms of Mordred’s wisdom-path methods.

He is the ‘Undying Warrior’ Yurnero!

Multicast's teleportation spell was too quick and too precise for Mordred to intercept.

The moment Mordred finished summoning his battle robe, Yurnero teleported in front of him while swinging his twin two-handed sword.

In an instant, the acceleration of Yurnero’s sword creates explosions of plasma and sonic booms due to sheer air friction. Each of Yurnero’s swords weigh two thousand metric tons, but it’s lighter than a feather in his hand. The sword fell on Mordred’s body at supersonic speed.

From Yurnero’s shadow, Drogan attacked with his void-tearing dagger, capable of tearing the toughest magical shield! Their teamwork was impeccable; the attacks could not be defended by normal means!

Boom!

At the last moment before touching Mordred’s flesh, the blade and swords were blocked by a black shadow.

Knowing his attack was blocked by Mordred’s method, Yurnero and Drogan did not pause their attack. Instead, they pour their energy to continue the assault.

In a second, the two braves managed to attack several thousand times, but their attacks were somewhat blocked by tendrils of black darkness.

Then, Yurnero with Drogan still hiding under his shadow, took a step back to observe. Even at melee distance, Yurnero couldn’t figure out how Mordred was able to parry his attack. When he took a step back, his body was covered by plasma fire. Molten plasma enshrouded his armored body, yet it could not exert the slightest damage to his extremely durable physique nor his quasi-divine armor.

It took a few seconds for the plasma cloud on Mordred to settle. Of course, just a cloud of extremely hot air was unable to block the Brave’s senses, but Mordred in his peak form possessed a magical force shield that was able to distort the space around him, rendering the area around him obscure.

What the Braves saw surprised them.

They thought that Yurnero and Drogan’s attacks were blocked by some sort of force shield or defensive spell, as it was too durable.

But it wasn’t.

It was parried by their enemy, the Archmage himself!

He no longer has the looks of a human, however.

Dark draconic scales replaced his weak human skin, purple blood veins-like lines adorned all over his body. Two pairs of leathery wings akin to the wings of a dark demonic dragon grew behind his back which bypass the spell-based flight restriction laid out by Alistair through physical means.

Two inverted kneecaps replaced his original, as his toes were replaced by hoofs that burned everything it stepped on with dark purple soul fire, the land itself dying with every step. The rune array-engraved battledress was no longer on his body, it was replaced by dark armor covered with purple light tinged with darkness.

After his transformation, he was taller than all the Braves, having a height of 2.5 meters tall.

His clawed hand gripped a sovereign-rank axe, [Despair of the Abyss] which possessed its own spirituality.

Despair of the Abyss was pure black. Its shape resembles the head of an otherworldly devil filled with indignation and despair. Its blade shone with dark purple light while leaking viscous dark purple liquid, evident of the curses and poisons imbued on its existence. His devilish aura amplified, capable of turning most rank 5 Epic experts into lunatics or retards.

“D-Despair of the Abyss!” the undying warrior Yurnero exclaimed in surprise after using an investigative killer move to examine Mordred. “What the fuck, he actually transformed himself into a real Devil- nevermind that, he’s also a martial artist!?”

Despair of the Abyss is a rank 6 weapon that possessed its own spirituality. As an intelligent weapon, it will not accept just anyone to wield it, since it's capable of choosing its own master and having independent thought. Despite having unfathomable wisdom-path attainment, Mordred was still a ‘magic caster’ in essence, though the extent of his powers sometimes made people doubt his actual limit. The only explanation the Braves could accept Mordred was able to wield it was because he possessed two occupations.

Double occupation, or more often called [Dual Cultivator] is a rare existence that cultivates in two distinct paths of power.

It was surprising to know that the greatest Archmage who’s known as the sovereign of magic also secretly cultivated in the path of martial arts.

He wasn’t the only ‘snowflakes’ who cultivate two different paths of power in the Brave’s party, but the revelation was still surprising.

To compare, Eleanora is an Archer and also a Beast Master at the same time, each of her occupations complements each other extraordinarily well, contrary to Mordred who threads two polar opposite paths at the same time.

But unlike Eleanora, Mordred’s dual cultivation covers each other’s weaknesses.

Of course, one cannot measure any of the Braves with common sense, since every single one of them are insane geniuses in their field, but Mordred is a genius amongst geniuses. A monster amongst monsters.

A cheat among cheats.

While wielding Despair of the Abyss on his right, his left hand conjures magic circles of unknown spells. The Braves have received a mental shock, they won’t allow Mordred to get the initiative, but it was too late. Mordred was not the Archmage for nothing, his spellcasting speed is near-instant even for rank 6 spells.

“Rank 6 fire-path killer move [Chaosflame Plague]

Rank 6 earth-path killer move [Burden of Gaia].”

Immediately, Mordred showed the specialty of Multicast to activate 8 different spells that combined into two killer moves which strengthened his offensive ability.

[Chaosflame Plague] is a fire-path method that replicates the profundity of poison-path, which instill Despair of the Abyss with a sickly green flame that spread a burning poison to the surrounding air.

[Burden of Gaia] was an earth-path method that put the surrounding gravity several hundred times heavier at the first instance and grows even stronger with every passing moment as long as Mordred channels his mana into the spell.

In an instant, the Six Braves make their moves.

‘Bright Saint’ Anais was quite familiar with [Burden of Gaia], therefore, she managed to dispel it almost instantly with her blessing. At the same time, the Magician of Multicast conjured one of her favorite light-path defensive spells, [Layered Force Shield].

It was an invisible defensive spell that could be stacked to increase its potency. With her ability to multicast, the amount of Layered Force Shield spells activated by her was more than the average rank 6 sovereign mages could cast in an instant.

Immediately, forty thousand layers of invisible bubble-like shields warp to existence, refracting light through sheer layer density.

“Let’s kill each other…” Mordred said with a cold tone as Despair of the Abyss cleave down into the invisible layers of shields.

Despair of the Abyss was not a standard sovereign-rank weapon. It is Mordred’s ultimate concealed weapon that he did not bother exposing his entire life, until now. Its power was not a laughing matter. Plus, the physical ability of the Braves was not something that mortals could comprehend. Just a casual swing of Despair of the Abyss in Mordred’s hand could produce sonic booms and explosions of plasma due to sheer air friction.

The magical runes and curses engraved on Despair of the Abyss’ body also made it an excellent anti-magic weapon, capable of destroying most magical force shields the instant they touched.

As it made contact with the magical shield, every layer of it was dispelled and some of the kinetic force behind the attack passed through, dealing cleave damage to both Yurnero and Drogan. The burning poison tried to envelop Yurnero, but Anais’s reaction could not be underestimated as a curse dispelling spell immediately activated.

“Yurnero, my Despair of the Abyss is lusting the flesh and blood of the greatest warrior in the Alliance.” Mordred taunted with a cold tone.

“Be careful. He had used a devil body metamorphosis art. His physical attributes are estimated to increase by threefold!” Drogan reported as he retreats several steps back after receiving the cleave damage wasn’t blocked by Yurnero, suffering from internal wounds.

Just the remnant energy from a casual strike allows Mordred to cleave through the sea of lava several kilometers deep, after penetrating forty thousand layers of Multicast’s [Layered Force Shield].

It wasn’t a normal sovereign-rank magician’s Force Shield, but Multicast’s [Layered Force Shield], there was a significant difference between a normal sovereign and a Brave-class Sovereign.

Boom! Suddenly, Mordred’s figure exploded with light that shone in an ominous deep black. “Drogan, I would be a fool if I did not prepare assassination countermeasure. Your effort is laughable.”

Drogan reveals himself with a pale expression, coughing a mouthful of black blood. What he just did was trying to attack Mordred through his shadow, but Drogan could not comprehend why the Archmage’s shadow was guarded by a figure that looks exactly like the current Mordred.

Needless to say, the weakness of mages are antimage assassins. Drogan is the assassin of the Braves, his assassination techniques are lethal against Mordred, but he wouldn’t be revered as ‘Great Archmage Magic Sovereign’ if he couldn’t deal with assassins, even if Drogan received the moniker of Darkblade Shadow Antimage Sovereign.

“How’s the taste of my Umbral Clone, Drogan?” Mordred sneered as Anais’s curse dispelling spell cleansed Drogan’s wounded body. Then, as if reacting to the main body’s words, Mordred’s shadow moves independently, taunting his weapon towards Drogan. It looks exactly like him, the only difference being the pair of cursed daggers on its hands.

“I have yet to perfect my rank 6 dark-path killer move, [Umbral Clone], but it’s sufficient to deal with your annoying assassination technique. After all… its movement pattern was designed to counter yours.”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless miniature black explosions continued to reverberate out as Drogan defended against Mordred’s Umbral Clone. The fights between the two shadows in their shadow dimensions were fierce, capable of interfering with the material world. Each micro-explosion was powerful enough to kill rank 5 epics, and there were thousands of them appearing and disappearing every second.

Yet, it wasn’t enough to overpower the Braves. Mordred went all out.

“Aspect of the Devil, rank 6 transformation-path killer move, [Timeseer Eye Devil Metamorphosis]!”

It was a transformation-path method that changed a part of his physique into that of an Immemorial Timeseer Eye Devil. A third eye split open between his eyebrows, glowing with reddish-golden light that grants him the power to see one second into the future with very high accuracy. Against a typical rank 6 foe, this killer move grants him the ability to see over 4 seconds into the future with perfect accuracy, but against the Braves, his method was suppressed to a great degree.

The others reacted to Mordred’s initiative. Anais cast one of her best supportive spells, whereas Eleanora uses her bow to send arrows at light speed.

As for Yurnero, he split into two after using his trump card, he and his clone made Mordred preoccupied so that the others can safely do their role. Multicast, whose name was never known even to the other braves, aided the close combat fighters by exploiting Mordred’s weakness of split attention.

“Multicast, we need your Arcane Artillery!” said Anais a large distance away to hide from Mordred’s Umbral Clone.

Suddenly, the Magician of Multicast teleported several kilometers out of the combat zone. After reaching an ideal position, she started preparing her spell.

The spell she had chosen was simple, it’s a rank 4 non-elemental spell; [Arcane Missile]. The Arcane Missile spell produces a magical projectile that will disintegrate its target to basic particles.

Its power was considered high, even when compared to some rank 5 magic spells.

But it has several weaknesses. For example; the long casting time, the precise concentration required to make the arcane missile stayed true to its target, so on and so forth.

However, Multicast was not a greenhorn with magic spells. In an instant, several hundred thousand [Arcane Missile] spell circles manifested around her, each spell circle did not disappear after releasing one [Arcane Missile], hundreds were pouring from every spell formation each second. Furthermore, each was amplified by [Quadruple Maximize], [Quadruple Pierce], [Quadruple Lengthen], [Quadruple Speed] and [Quadruple Damage] atop of her own methods. With these amplifications, the rank 4 spell was effective towards Mordred’s force shield.

Without the obstruction from Mordred’s assault, the Magician of Multicast had become a true Arcane Artillery.

Normally, Mordred’s boundlessly powerful mind was able to process countless more actions at once compared to normal people. His unfathomable wisdom-path attainment allowed him to dismantle Multicast’s spells the moment it materialized.

However, he was forced to fight Yurnero, Drogan, and the Hero supported by the other Braves at close range, his telepathic thought expenditure was too much. He had no spare thought nor attention to deal with Multicast’s attacks, therefore he could only allow Multicast’s arcane artillery to shave off his perpetual space-distorting magical force shield, forcing it to flare to life with dark golden purple hue.

After all, a well-rounded party is always better than a single person.

With Multicast turning into an Arcane Artillery, the already destroyed landscape becomes even more chaotic as each missile has the power of a strategic nuclear warhead, with its explosion range compressed into mere a two meters diameter, evaporating literally anything that does not possess rank 6 durability. It will be impossible for the environment to recover unless methods beyond the sovereign-rank were used to support the restoration.

Mordred’s meticulous use of spells, arrangement, and deliberate move to disrupt the Brave’s tempo meant nothing in the face of overwhelming power multiplied by team work.

It was at this moment that the Hero suddenly uses his trump card. The seven-colored strands of light that compressed into his spear started to separate itself.

It split into seven colored spears of light, floating around him. Each color represents an element. And since he could control 7 colors, he had attainment in 7 different elements.

Earth, water, wood, fire, metal, lightning, and light.

Each spear of light started to control its respective elements, began attacking with its own method, turning into a clone of the Hero himself.

No matter how powerful Mordred is with his dual cultivation, it will be impossible to fight with the 6 Braves fully cooperating. And now with the Hero splitting into 7, it’s as if fighting five Braves and seven Heroes.

Still, Mordred was sovereign of magic and a sovereign of martial arts combined into one. His tenacity was greater than what the Brave deducted.

The damage dealt by Mordred was massive, yet he was unable to stack the damage toward them due to Anais' healing her teammates in every chance she got. Mordred wanted to kill her first, but the others did not let him make a move on her, and she was also not that braindead to fight in the frontline.

“Rank 6 dark-path killer move, [Blackfire Corruption Curse]!”

The deadlock changes when Mordred uses a black flame that resists recovery spells. Every damage he exerts towards Yurnero and the others was more effective than what the Braves did to him. The reason why he uses the killer move at this moment was because of its self-mutilating nature: the curse also reduces his own recovery ability.

Unfortunately, he was alone, and the Braves had six.

It took two minutes of intense melee before Mordred’s Umbral Clone was beheaded, while the space-distorting force shield was dispelled by Drogan’s void-tearing dagger.

A minute later, one of his hands was severed, forcing him to wield the two-handed axe, Despair of the Abyss with his left hand.

Twenty-second later, his third eye was pierced by an arrow sent by Eleanora, which made him lose the ability to glimpse the future.

Ten seconds later, his right torso along with his two pairs of wings was obliterated by a clean strike from Yurnero, forcing him to fight from the ground.

Five seconds later, his legs were transmuted into epic metal by Lamost the Hero, reducing his evasion ability greatly.

Two seconds later, his whole body received the baptism of Holy Fire from the Magician of Multicast.

Although the battle time was short, their actions were a lot as they moved in supersonic.

Then, it was time for him to die.

Battles between sovereigns usually last a long period of time. If not for the use of cannon fodders and Alistair's unceasing spatial interruptions to force him to exhaust his trump cards, this result won’t be in the realm of possibilities.

“Any last words, Mordred?” The Hero said. He was the most powerful character in the Braves excluding the current Mordred, and he won’t let him recover.

Even now, the space around Mordred’s body is distorted. Ether particles, nine elemental particles, astral essence, soul essence, photons, electromagnetic force, terrestrial magnetism (gravity), and even basic heat of the lava in the surrounding area were absorbed by Mordred, becoming fuel to recover himself at a rapid pace.

Mordred’s three beating hearts are mending itself at a visible rate. If he was left alone for a few minutes, perhaps he could recover his strength.

Of course, the Braves weren’t in a good condition either. Of the six elemental clones made by the Hero, five of them were destroyed while his true body received severe wounds.

Yurnero’s clone also disintegrates, while his true body loses his right arm and eye permanently without any chance of being healed unless the God he believed in uses a Divine Miracle to wash away the curse.

Drogan received a massive slash wound on his face that continues down onto his chest, while Anais’ magic spells were constantly resisting the curses and poisons laced within.

Eleanora was standing behind Lamost, her expression paled as her two weapons broke in the fight, all of her immemorial beast slain with their truesouls erased from existence by Mordred’s methods, and her energy completely spent.

As for Anais and Multicast, they fainted due to mana exhaustion. Two renowned sovereign magic casters lost in terms of mana pool against Archmage Mordred who had to fight six Brave-class individuals at the same time… If words were to get out, it would be absolutely humiliating for them.

There was no anger in Mordred’s eyes. There was only tranquil equilibrium as if he had accepted the fact that he was already dead.

“What I’m trying to accomplish is finding a different method to break through to become a rank 7 ‘Archmage of Laws’, the realm beyond Sovereign! Just because you don’t like my method of abandoning faith towards gods, you want me dead and declare me as a heretic? I don’t want to ascend as a god of this damn world! Is this the justice that the Sacred Alliance pursues? You all covet the result of my research but do not have the guts to do it yourself. You are all fucking hypocrites.”

Mordred’s voice was very coarse and deep, as his neck was destroyed by Yurnero several moves ago. Yet, the life-force of a Despair Devil was so great that it does not allow him to die anytime soon.

“Don’t forget the looming threat of the remaining invaders, the 72 Otherworldly Invaders prophesied by the First Generation Hero! We only put down one of them, they are the true enemies! Didn’t you all notice, the time between each cycle is getting closer and closer. The Sacred Alliance is slowly losing in this war, we need power, even if it’s tainted with evil as long as you know how to properly control them!

The Divines are delusional; I am doing this to defend this world from otherworldly invaders like the Demon Kings! In the future, the myriad otherworldly invaders will not come one by one as Demon King Maximilian did!” Mordred was frothing from his mouth, but Lamost’s expression was ice-cold.

“Fool! You are considered as the 5th Otherworldly Invader: ‘Devil King Mordred’, no longer the venerable Great Archmage. There will be a long period of peacetime before the prophesied 6th Otherworldly Invader, a Demon King with their attendants, arrives in this world. Until then, the Sacred Alliance will enjoy a prosperous time of peace and glory. We had to thank you for your ‘contributions’ of single-handedly advancing our magical civilization for that. Alistair is an excellent gift you left us.” Lamost mused himself.

Seeing they have besmirched his reputation, stole his glory, and took all precious to him, Mordred revealed a furious expression.

“In my name as Mordred, I will reach the peak of this damned World. I will pursue the truth and eternal life. If the Heroes stand in my way, I will cut down Heroes. If Demon Kings stand in my way, I will exterminate Demon Kings! If the World stands in my way, I will destroy the World! If Gods stand in my way, I will slaughter Gods! And if the Heavens stand in my way, I will devour the Heavens!”

Mordred’s last word was like a proclamation to the heavens. Heavenly powers swept the area like warm winds of a summer breeze. In vigilance, Lamost activates most of his investigative killer moves, but he found nothing worth noting.

“Seven Spear Martial Sovereign, Undying Warrior Martial Sovereign, Darkblade Shadow Antimage Sovereign, Beast Ranger Sniper Sovereign, Multicast, and Bright Saint Healing Sovereign!” Mordred recites the six brave’s titles with malicious intent.

“ALL OF YOU ARE DELUSIONAL FOOLS, MERELY CHESS PIECES IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS AND YOU DARE SPOUT RIGHTEOUS BULLSHIT AT ME!!!! WITH MY REMAINING POWER, I CURSE YOU!!! I CURSE YOU, I CURSE YOU, I CURSE YOUUUUUUU!!!”

Archmage Mordred screamed on top of his lungs in manic insanity. He had fallen to the scheme of the Gods who have lived for countless years longer than him. The Divines lusted over his True Inheritances, but too bad he had never released it to anyone on their side.

“An ant’s death throes. Die.” Said Lamost as his seven-colored spear of light stabbed into his three hearts. His seemingly simple attack is a killer move that annihilated Mordred’s weakened truesoul, in fear of mental corruption released by the Devil King. Of course, it also kills any split souls connected to the Archmage's truesoul, since it was so difficult to kill him in the first place.

The moment his soul started to dissipate, Lamost could’ve sworn he saw Mordred’s lips curved upwards to smile smugly. In his deathbed, he activated an information-path killer move that explodes his body into a messy pile of blood and gore, destroying and corrupting the lands with his toxic blood and cursed flesh.

Even if the Divines manifest in the material world with their true body, they won’t be able to gather useful inheritance from this bloody mess since information-path was something that the Archmage has developed from scratch. Using information-path methods on him was like an elementary student showing off in front of a veteran surgeon with decades of experience how to do his fucking job.

Using time-path Divine Miracles to try something in the past before he died? Lamost wouldn't believe if Mordred didn't prepare a time-path countermeasure for that, doing it would bring the Archmage's counterattack from the past. A nasty one, at that.

The information-path bloody explosion was not a method that could be used to kill the braves, but Mordred’s body was imbued with unexplainable curses, toxic substances and other mental-encroaching radiation. It wasn’t good for any lifeform to touch it.

Fortunately, Lamost's body was protected by a golden glow of magical force field from Anais’ spells, similar to his unconscious companions. The blood explosion did not hurt them with its limited power, but the land started to die as the burning landscape started to turn purple and corroded by devilish radiation of Mordred’s leftover body. It slowly terraforms the world into an anti-intelligent life environment.

“Damn, he got us.” Lamost scanned the result of he and his comrades' hard work disappearing into oblivion. He grits his teeth bitterly, “Anais must work hard to contain this fallout. Most rank 5 Epics won’t be capable of resisting the devilish radiation in this place. Only an Archmage comparable to Mordred himself can completely dispel this unless a God uses their Divine Miracle on the material world, but that’s almost impossible. At least we got his Alistair True Inheritance and his Archmage Tower. Let’s leave, now.” Lamost said to Eleanora.

Later, the myriad races within the Central Continent’s Sacred Alliance rejoiced as a traitor of the Braves was dealt with. The status of the remaining six Braves rose into unimaginable heights in the hearts of mortals as they culled the evil Archmage who tried to fool the world by playing hero.