Chapter 149: Chapter 149 - Black Mass
The skies themselves shuddered at the sudden twist of fate.
First came Malrik’s impossible arrival.
Then... the horror that followed.
With a flick of his goblin staff, the air screamed.
The Federation’s fleet of Storm Discs. The hundreds of flying war-engines Ashreth had painstakingly built over centuries... They were all caught in the eruption of magic.
In an instant, they were torn apart like paper in a storm.
One hundred war-discs. Five hundred soldiers each.
Fifty thousand lives. They were erased in the blink of an eye.
No one had foreseen this.
And the look on Malrik and Ashreth’s face proved it wasn’t friendly fire.
It looked deliberate.
"Damn it!" Lucien’s eyes widened.
He was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected these two to stand together.
Lucien then lunged toward Malrik.
The phoenix had no fixed form. He was flame incarnate, a fire made will. Burning a shard of his own soul, he unleashed wave after wave of searing light.
Each fiery fragment burst apart, scattering into fresh explosions. They rained toward Lucien. They rained toward the people below.
"You’re fast... but not fast enough," Ashreth hissed.
Lucien cursed under his breath. He regretted not finishing this fight earlier. Every heartbeat he wasted gave Malrik more time.
Meanwhile, King Midas had acted instinctively.
His own mana expanded in a shimmering dome. It covered the city below. He had glimpsed enough futures to know this one was fragile. A heartbeat’s delay and the capital would be ash.
Yet even his foresight faltered. His visions had promised a great clash on the horizon but the timing was wrong. This was too soon and too sudden. He couldn’t abandon the shield to strike at Malrik. The lives beneath its glow anchored him in place.
There was no room for hesitation. He knew well. If he faltered, it would be his people’s blood offered next to the schemes of those in the shadows.
And Malrik... he was radiating with power. The aura around him reeked of something borrowed. It was something vast, oppressive and far above mortal reach.
Midas’ jaw tightened.
"Would it have changed anything if I had struck him down years before?" he muttered bitterly. "Or would an even darker path have awakened instead? In the end, being able to glimpse upon fate feels less like a blessing... and more like a curse."
All he could do now was stand his ground, shield his people and endure what was to come.
...
Malrik turned. His pale face glowed in the red gleam of blood being pulled from the corpses of the Federation soldiers.
Rivers of crimson twisted through the air. It was being dragged upward.
Suddenly...
The sky burned with lines of runes. A colossal magic circle took shape instantly.
Lucien froze mid-clash with Ashreth. His breath caught.
"That... That’s Dominion Circle."
It’s the same skill he learned when he sacrificed the Ancient Magus Figurines to the Rainbow Slime Lord Statue. And now... Malrik wielded it.
Worse... the magic circle was familiar. It was the very same circles they had destroyed in the capital’s dungeons.
With Dominion Circle the tedious creation of magic circles was bypassed. Only blood remained to spark the ritual.
Lucien’s throat went dry.
Ashreth’s flames flared hotter. His resistance was more violent.
Malrik’s hollow voice rolled across the battlefield like a curse.
"Boy... once this is complete, you will never match us again. Let this world fall into chaos."
Lucien fell silent. He was baffled by Malrik’s words.
Then...
Just as suddenly as he had appeared... Malrik was gone. He was swallowed by a storm of miasma.
Lucien tore free from Ashreth too late.
And that was when it happened...
From the northwest an earth-shaking roar rolled across the sky.
Far beyond the capital, the same vast magic circle blazed to life.
Then... something burst forth.
A black mass surged upward, swelling larger and larger until it blanketed the horizon.
It wasn’t smoke. It wasn’t storm. It was something alive. Something wrong.
Lucien’s breath caught.
"What the hell is even that?..." He hasn’t seen anything like that even in the mural world.
Amid the chaos Ashreth seized his chance. With a cry that split the heavens, the phoenix wrenched free. His wings ablaze and desperation sharpened into resolve.
Lucien surged after him as his fury burned hotter than flame.
But then...
The phoenix’s form shattered into a storm of blazing fragments. Fire scattered like a thousand smaller birds. Each streaked away in defiance.
Morphis shifted into a longbow in Lucien’s hands. He drew, conjuring an arrow of pure water essence.
Then... he released the blow.
The arrow split mid-flight and a cascade of liquid spears chased the fleeing embers. Several were snuffed out in bursts of steam yet the core still endured.
Lucien closed the gap. His blade flashed. With a roar, he struck.
At last... the sword cleaved through Ashreth’s radiant body.
The phoenix fell.
But even in defeat, Ashreth refused surrender. His sundered form erupted. A final blaze consumed itself. From within that inferno, a fragment of his soul tore free... It ignited into a streak of fire that vanished into the looming black barrier beyond.
Lucien’s eyes widened.
Ashreth had fled. Not as flesh... but as essence.
Lucien blamed himself.
This was a big blunder. One he could not take back.
He flew towards the black mass.
Dread crawled along his spine as he reached the edge.
Even with Burrower’s Eyes, he couldn’t see through it. His magic also slid off its surface like water on oil.
The barrier was made by an attribute he doesn’t recognize. And this barrier itself seemed to reject his presence.
Silence hung heavy. A foreboding realization gnawed at them all.
"...The northwest," Lucien muttered. His thoughts raced. "That’s where the Golddust Associates were based. This isn’t random. They planned this."
He remembered. The hidden circles they had destroyed in the capital dungeons. Also... Coalheart’s corruption at the eastern border.
If he hadn’t acted, those too might have become fuel for this nightmare. They might’ve also been swallowed by this black mass.
Midas appeared beside him after he was sure that his people were safe.
He faltered. His throat tightened as he whispered, "So this is what fate meant... It was never just Ashreth. Something far worse has been moving in the shadows."
Lucien’s chest tightened. Elunara’s visions...
"Then the great clash..." His voice was low, almost unwilling to admit it. "... It’s this. Or maybe the one inside this."
The black barrier loomed before them. It was impenetrable. Something within it pulsed. It was still growing. Waiting.
Lucien clenched his fists. He had seen ninety-nine lifetimes’ worth of history, yet none showed him this.
Only one mural remained unseen. Perhaps... it held the truth.
Midas studied his face and spoke quietly.
"Marquis, we’ll do everything we can to break this barrier. The kingdom will hold the line. I won’t keep you here. Do what you must."
Lucien exhaled. His resolve hardened.
"Your Majesty... I’ll uncover what’s inside... before it’s too late."
And with that, the path forward was set.
•••
And soon, Lucien reached Lootwell Territory.
But to his surprise, the Beastman Tribes were there.
They were no longer wild or unruly... but calm and obedient under Byakko’s watch.
Supreme Chief Leo himself was sparring casually with a few soldiers as though testing their strength rather than leading a rebellion.
Lucien fell silent. His soldiers had clearly handled things well.
It didn’t take long for Leo to notice him. The moment their eyes met, Leo stiffened. He felt an overwhelming pressure radiating from Lucien. It was a weight that reminded him of his ancestors.
The young man standing before him might have been human but his sharp eyes and predatory gaze were no different from a beastman who had endured countless battles.
In that instant, Leo understood. The true master of this land. It was Lucien.
Before Leo could speak, Byakko and Seiryu bounded toward Lucien. They lowered their heads eagerly. They looked like spoiled pets begging for affection. They pressed against him, acting with unusual cuteness as Lucien gave each of them a gentle pat.
The scene left some of the younger beastmen furious. A few even prepared to rush forward... until Byakko’s voice entered their minds. It was calm yet terrifying.
"Move... and I’ll break your legs."
The tiger continued to purr under Lucien’s hand as though nothing had been said.
The beastmen froze, speechless.
Lucien turned to the gathered beastmen.
Leo stepped forward first. He offered a quick explanation to clear the misunderstanding.
When he finished, Lucien recounted what had happened to everyone.
The battle, Malrik’s sudden strike... and Ashreth’s escape beyond the great black barrier. He spoke of the larger conflict still looming. A war none of them could ignore.
Only after sharing all he knew did Lucien move on.
He walked toward the dungeon.
Pausing at the threshold, he let his mind drift back through the mural worlds.