How come this arcanist is invincible?

Chapter 257 The Grand Finale (Part 2): The End of All Things

Kane swung his scimitar down heavily, the movement unremarkable.

But the scimitar formed from pure shadow seemed to have transformed into a bottomless abyss, silently swallowing and annihilating the air, light, and even space itself wherever it passed.

However, this strike, powerful enough to tear everything apart, was completely engulfed by a burst of pure black flames just a foot in front of the Patriarch.

The shadowy scimitar vanished without even causing a ripple, as if it had never existed.

The Patriarch gave a faint smile: "My dear disciple, your ability can devour everything it touches and bring it into the Shadow Realm of the material plane—but I already have the Demon Gate as my anchor point, so your ability has no effect on me."

Kane didn't answer, but simply flipped his wrist and swung his knife again.

Endless shadows surged forth from behind him like a tidal wave.

Everything in its path was swallowed up, turning into pure darkness, which rolled over the Patriarch from all directions.

The Patriarch merely raised his hand slightly, and even more raging black flames rose up beside him.

All shadows that touch the flames will cease instantly and then vanish completely.

Just then, a deafening dragon's roar came from the distant horizon.

Almost at the same moment, a figure streaked across the western sky, hurtling towards them at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

"Dragon Flame!"

"Destroy the Demon!"

Accompanied by a sharp female voice and a cold male voice.

Three figures launched attacks simultaneously from three completely different directions.

Despite being surrounded by the three, the Patriarch maintained his faint smile.

The black flames surging on his body were momentarily extinguished by the combined attack of the three.

The other two figures also stopped, forming a triangle with Kane, firmly surrounding the Patriarch in the center.

"The Regent of Sussas, the White Dragon Queen of Nords, the Sword Saint of the Covenant Alliance—is this the last hope for this land? It seems that two of my old friends have been missing after all."

The Patriarch spoke gently, his smile unchanged.

"No, this is a good opportunity for you to witness the real ceremony."

Before he could finish speaking, a deafening cracking sound suddenly rang out.

Kane and his two companions' expressions changed drastically as the hundred-meter-tall demon gate, which had remained completely still throughout the aftermath of the previous fierce battle, slowly opened a crack.

The crevice was pitch black, like an abyss leading to another world.

Even from that tiny crack, the pungent, nauseating smell of sulfur from the abyss assaulted everyone's senses, making their hearts sink.

A blurry, enormous projection of a demonic finger covered in thick black hair slowly emerged from the crevice.

The projection of just one finger set off alarm bells in everyone present, sending a chill from the depths of their souls through their bodies and making their hair stand on end.

That is a true power that this material plane simply cannot resist; its arrival will completely corrupt the entire world.

The Patriarch smiled with satisfaction: "Why not accept all of this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, countless enormous hands formed from pure black flames quietly appeared behind him.

Kane slowly took a step back, the thick shadows covering his entire body like armor.

The shadows spread and expanded over him, eventually transforming into two Susas scimitars, each over three meters long, which he held firmly in his hands.

Queen Nord began chanting ancient dragon language, and a bloodthirsty red light gleamed in the eyes of the old white dragon beneath her.

The Sword Saint of the Contract Alliance slashed his palm with his longsword, and blood flowed down the blade, instantly giving the entire sword a thick, bloody sheen.

"Let's do it!"

In an instant, the three figures vanished from their spot.

The blazing dragon flames, the chilling sword light, and the silent shadow blade sliced ​​through the air almost simultaneously, striking precisely at the Patriarch's vital points.

boom!

The giant hand formed from black flames was successively annihilated and shattered.

The enormous tremor reverberated throughout the earth.

Centered on the Demon Gate, a violent earthquake swept across the entire Demon Land like a tsunami, and raging air currents rose into the sky, stirring up clouds of bones and dust.

Screams and wails rose and fell.

Whether it was the demon army, the Susas army group, or the Nord legion, all suffered heavy losses in the aftermath of this horror.

Countless people were caught off guard and swallowed up by the suddenly split earth, or swept into the air by the violent air currents and smashed to pieces.

Faced with the battle of the four most powerful professionals in the material plane, the fragile material plane was clearly unable to withstand it, triggering a massive natural disaster that was unparalleled in any previous war.

"We must get closer!"

On the outer perimeter of the Susas Army Group, a ten-man squad is making a difficult advance toward the center of the battlefield.

They were enveloped in a faint white light, making them stand out in this land ruled by darkness and fire.

Shar stood at the head of the group, watching the four terrifying figures clashing in the distant sky, and said firmly, "Those three have already entangled the Patriarch—and we must send the lantern into the Demon Gate—only the power of the Upper Realm can fight against the Abyss—"

Shar and the others struggled forward against the raging air currents.

Suddenly, a shadow silently engulfed them, and their figures vanished without a trace.

Bang! Boom!

The earth groaned in agony once more, and the commotion from the four-person battle grew ever louder.

The aged white dragon was completely enraged, and despite the deep, bone-revealing black burn marks covering its scales, it still roared and spewed destructive dragonfire.

Queen Nord's expression was stern as she chanted ancient dragon language, unleashing powerful dragon spells and dragonfire that poured towards the Patriarch.

The Sword Saint of the Contract Alliance continuously wielded the enchanted weapon, known as the strongest in the material plane, its powerful exorcising effect causing the giant hand made of black flames to shatter upon contact.

Kane's shadow weapons kept changing, from scimitars to longswords, then to spears and claws, attacking the Patriarch's weaknesses from all sorts of tricky angles.

The three men's relentless attacks intertwined with the black flames emanating from the Patriarch. Countless giant hands were severed, only to rise again in an instant.

The earth wailed, and the sky trembled.

The mountain of bones piled up beneath the Demon Gate had been completely pulverized into bone dust after countless energy collisions.

The composure on the patriarch's face finally vanished, replaced by a visible sign of fatigue, and the black flames on his body also dimmed slightly.

Kane extinguished the few remaining flames on his body, and an even more imposing shadow began to spread from him.

"A gift from the film industry? —"

In the process of constantly drawing upon the power of the Shadow Realm.

He began to feel an increasingly harmonious connection with another dimension, and he seemed to hear countless whispers from the Shadow Realm, the sounds of death and sorrow.

He had a premonition that he was slowly and completely mastering the power of the shadows, about to become the shadows themselves, instead of using himself as an anchor point to borrow this power from the shadow world.

This realization and sublimation were fully unearthed during the life-and-death battle with the Patriarch.

Kane looked at the patriarch before him and exchanged a glance with the other two.

The renewed clash between the four humans and the dragon further shattered the land of Demon Land.

Bang! Boom!

A massive black flame engulfed everyone in the explosion.

As the smoke cleared, four figures reappeared in the sky.

All the surviving demons and humans on the field could clearly see that Queen Nord's entire left arm had disappeared at the shoulder, and the severed area was burning with an inextinguishable black flame that was constantly eroding her body.

The white dragon beneath her was in an even worse state; half of its tail had been blown off, its stark white tailbone exposed to the air, blood gushing out.

The Sword Saint of the Pact Alliance was covered in charred wounds, and several fine cracks had appeared on his most powerful enchanted weapon.

Kane's chest was blasted open with a hole the size of a bowl, and his body was covered with countless black wounds.

His immortality was running wildly, with flesh sprouting continuously from the wound, only to be instantly burned to ashes by the black flames burning on the wound.

He could only slowly heal his wounds by constantly mobilizing the power of the Shadow Realm and using shadows to gradually devour the flames.

In contrast, the black flames on the Patriarch's body only dimmed slightly, but quickly solidified again and burned fiercely.

Countless giant fiery hands continued to pour forth from his body.

The Patriarch looked at the three and smiled, "Outside of here, any one of you could have taken me down with you if you had given it your all—but behind me is the Gate of Demons, so even if you gave it your all, you wouldn't be able to do any real harm to me—"

Upon hearing this, both Queen Nord and the Sword Saint's expressions turned extremely ugly.

Kane suddenly spoke, his voice calm yet carrying an undeniable power: "No, you lost."

As soon as the words were spoken, the enormous shadow cast by the Demon Gate began to undergo a strange change.

The patriarch's expression changed drastically the moment he saw the shadow vanish.

A ten-person squad, emitting a faint white light, suddenly appeared in front of the Demon Gate.

Without the slightest hesitation, they simultaneously hurled the lanterns, radiating holy light, at the slowly emerging projection of the demonic finger.

The instant the lantern touched the projection of the finger, a tremendous wail, filled with pain and anger and not belonging to this world, resounded throughout the heavens and earth.

The once arrogant projection of the finger vanished instantly.

At that very moment, the crack in the Demon Gate was forcibly pushed back slightly.

The Patriarch's gentle face finally turned ferocious and terrifying, and several large hands burning with black flames suddenly swung down towards the group of Lantern Knights.

However, the rising shadows stopped these giant fiery hands in time.

He then enveloped the group of lantern bearers, who had simultaneously lost their lanterns and powers, in shadow and safely moved them to a distant, safe area.

The patriarch's face turned ashen.

Kane exchanged a glance with the barely recovered Queen Nord and the Sword Saint, and launched another attack.

On the distant battlefield, the battle between humans and demons came to an abrupt end due to the devastation of natural disasters.

Although sporadic fighting still occurred, both sides subconsciously maintained their distance, and the intensity of the battles decreased significantly.

Hammond stood side by side with the Grand Inquisitor, before them piled high with the corpses of demons.

They looked up at the four figures that filled their entire field of vision in the distant sky.

Countless collisions, countless black giant hands, shadows and dragon flames intertwined, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.

Beneath the cracks in the earth lay countless corpses—humans, half-elves, and dwarves.

Everyone's face was extremely silent.

If this battle is lost, the number of dead will be hundreds or thousands of times greater than it is now.

At the Susas Academy of Mages, Lenora and Arundel stood atop the mage tower of the Academy of Prophecy.

-

As the ancient chanting began, a chilling aura crept in.

Arundel's breath suddenly faded, and a woman lay unconscious in front of him.

She was his lover and also his mentor, Bella.

Her eyes were closed and her brows were furrowed, as if she were having a terrible nightmare.

Arundel and Lenora exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked at the bright vertical pupil in the sky.

"With the lives and souls of three third-tier mages as a sacrifice, I humbly beg you to convey to him that revelation from fate—"

"Can.

"

A cold voice fell, and three cold corpses instantly appeared on the ground.

The terrifying pupil in the air flickered, then vanished abruptly.

In the prayer room of the High White Tower, Logan Susas, who was kneeling on the ground praying devoutly, suddenly clutched her stomach as a sharp pain instantly overwhelmed her.

When the maids saw the blood seeping from under the skirt, they were instantly thrown into a panic.

Immediately afterwards, a group of bird-beaked doctors and white-robed monks rushed to the scene.

The queen, after taking painkillers, was hurriedly taken to the delivery room.

In the land of demons, the sky trembled violently.

Cold, black rain poured down, and countless demon corpses burst into flames simultaneously from the cracks in the earth and on the battlefield.

They transformed into giant, burning black hands, which swung down fiercely towards Kane and his companions.

The Patriarch stood before the Demon Gate, arms outstretched.

He allowed the three men's attacks to continuously annihilate and collapse in front of him, colliding with the countless black flames.

But without the power of the demon finger projection, the Patriarch's black flames ultimately became water without a source and a tree without roots.

Countless giant black hands were severed, but they could no longer regenerate as quickly as before.

Time passed slowly, and shadows, dragon flames, and sword light intertwined.

Although the three humans and the dragon were already covered in wounds, the Patriarch finally showed signs of aging, and the black hand he summoned—

Arms are becoming fewer and fewer.

Until finally, the last black, burning hand was completely swallowed by the shadows.

Seeing the patriarch's weakened state ahead, Kane's shadow suddenly solidified, intending to deliver the final blow.

Queen Nord and the Sword Saint of the Pact Alliance stood behind Kane. The white dragon let out a deep roar, and the longsword in the Sword Saint's hand gleamed with a dazzling light.

Just as the three men and one dragon were preparing to launch their final attack, the Patriarch suddenly spoke, addressing Queen Nord: "Do you remember what I promised you when we first met?"

"But you lied to me."

Queen Nord's eyes were complicated. Just as she was about to say something more, she suddenly heard a strange movement beside her.

"Watch out for her!"

The Sword Saint charged forward and stood in front of Queen Nord and Kane.

Kane was about to condense the Shadow Blade to kill the Patriarch when he sensed something was wrong and tried to turn around, but it was too late.

The longsword, hailed as the strongest weapon against evil in the material plane, pierced Kane's lower back without warning.

The exorcising power contained in the longsword instantly shattered Kane's immortality, leaving a huge wound that exposed bone and continued to erode his body.

Although his self-healing ability was still functioning with difficulty, the speed of recovery suddenly dropped.

Queen Nord's expression changed instantly, but she reacted immediately and tried to steer the white dragon backward.

However, with a flash of cold light, the huge dragon head was pierced through by the longsword.

The white dragon let out a mournful howl, its massive body crashing heavily to the ground, its eyes wide open in death.

Queen Nord, having lost her contracted white dragon, instantly saw her strength plummet from a fourth-tier dragon mage to a third-tier one.

She suppressed her immense grief at losing her companion and managed to stabilize herself using a levitation spell.

Queen Nord looked at the Sword Saint and Patriarch of the Contract Alliance standing together, then at Kane lying on the ground clutching his wound, and instantly understood everything.

Her face turned ashen: "He—is also your clone? But how is that possible!"

"Why is it impossible?"

The Patriarch stood up, looked at Kane who was clutching his wound and the Queen with her hair disheveled, and smiled gently again.

"A swordsman who had no hope of ever breaking through to the fourth rank in his lifetime, in order to gain power, did not hesitate to take a forbidden demonic possession potion—"

And at the very moment of his breakthrough, I made his a part of myself.

"I originally intended to give you a dignified final battle to conclude the chapter, but you ruined the gains I had made through the sacrifice of millions of people with those damned lanterns from the upper realms—"

So, let's accept this ending.

"My dear queen, I will transform you into a high-ranking demon."

The demon army I promised you still belongs to you.

Queen Nord's face was extremely grim.

Kane, who was best able to withstand the attack, had his immortality destroyed by the weapon of destruction, and his own white dragon had also been killed.

Everyone on the distant battlefield who could see this scene wore expressions of despair.

This means that the fall of the material plane is inevitable, and even in death, their souls will be constantly swallowed by the abyss, never to be reborn.

But at that moment, Kane made a move.

He looked at the Patriarch, then said to the Queen, "There is no need to give up."

"My dear disciple, it is meaningless."

The Patriarch continued speaking gently, seemingly already certain of victory, and he didn't even rush to make a move.

Kane ignored him and instead said to Queen Nord, "I'm sorry, I can't keep the promise I made to you. Also, may I ask you something? Are you afraid of death?"

"No Nord ruler is afraid of death."

Queen Nord revealed a resolute smile. "If there's still a way, then do it."

Kane sighed softly and said, "Okay."

"Let's do it!"

The patriarch finally realized something was wrong, and a black hand burning with flames reached out to grab the two of them again.

The Sword Saint also drew his sword at the same time, and a sharp sword light slashed down at the two of them.

But at that moment, a huge shadow suddenly erupted from Kane's center, instantly covering the land within a radius of several miles.

A black sphere composed entirely of shadow appeared out of thin air, enveloping Kane, the Nord Queen, the Patriarch, and the Sword Saint.

The Sword Saint's slash struck Kane, but it was as if he had struck thin air.

Kane's figure began to fade more and more, and so did Queen Nord's.

Upon seeing the black sphere, the Patriarch's expression changed drastically once more. He cried out, "You're going to turn yourself into an anchor point between the Shadow Realm and the Material Plane—you're their backup plan! Stop! You'll be permanently swallowed by the Shadow Realm!"

"Perhaps."

Kane's figure grew fainter and fainter, as if he were about to merge into the shadows.

"But the revelation I received said that this was the only way, and I intend to believe it."

"Damn it! Stop!"

Black flames and sword light slashed wildly at the shadow sphere, but they didn't touch anything.

The figures of Kane and Queen Nord eventually turned completely black.

A massive annihilation and collapse erupted from the center of the shadow sphere.

Corpses, demons, bones, land—everything was swept up in it.

The Sword Saint tried to leap away, but countless shadowy hands suddenly rose from the ground and firmly grasped him.

Countless shadowy hands covered the Sword Saint's face, making it impossible for him to breathe or scream. He could only watch helplessly as he was pulled into the swamp of shadows.

Like the swordsman struggling in agony, the patriarch, gripped by the shadows, revealed true fear for the first time, screaming madly, "No! This is not my end!"

But a gigantic shadowy hand reached out from the depths of the Shadow Realm, gripped him firmly, and then slowly tightened, dragging him and the Sword Saint into the boundless darkness.

Meanwhile, the enormous shadow sphere continued to expand, engulfing the land, the battlefield, and the bones, eventually completely covering the massive demon gate as well.

Faced with this ever-expanding sphere of shadow, the remaining hundreds of thousands of demons and soldiers on the field began to scatter and flee.

But most people still couldn't escape, and were mercilessly swallowed by the shadows.

However, as it devours more and more things, the rate at which the shadow sphere expands slows down.

Finally, it stopped.

All that remained was a huge, bottomless dent, as if a piece had been ripped away by a god's palm.

The sky finally broke free from the boundless darkness, and cold, black rain poured down, washing over this ravaged land.

On the grasslands, the human armies, having won a Pyrrhic victory, gathered together.

Valentine, Malcolm, and the others looked at the hellish scene before them with incredibly complex expressions on their faces.

"We won!"

"But the price was too high—the Regent, he—"

The skeleton stepped forward, looked at the huge shadowy indentation on the ground, and slowly said, "We know nothing about the Shadow Realm."

But Kane is not entirely without hope of returning.

Even if he truly becomes a mindless shadow creature, his eerie immortality might help him gradually regain his senses and eventually return to our plane.

At the same time, a loud cry of a newborn baby pierced the silent sky atop the highest white tower.

Sixteen years later, at the royal court of Susas.

After experiencing that catastrophe that nearly engulfed the world, the world ushered in sixteen years of peace amidst grief and relief.

The Kingdom of Susas is now three times the size it was sixteen years ago, making it the most prosperous kingdom on the entire continent.

Nourished by the fertile black soil provided by Sussas, the world's population has experienced explosive growth.

The remaining five countries jointly signed a new convention banning all research related to demons.

At the suggestion of a lantern bearer named Shar, a new lantern bearer organization was established, composed of six nations.

Sussas, with its new weapons, fertile black soil, and cutting-edge research technology, became the biggest winner of this catastrophe, attracting countless people from all over the world.

At this very moment, in the garden of the Supreme White Tower.

A sixteen-year-old half-elf girl was nestled in the arms of a crowned female elf.

"Mom, why is my name Evelynn? I want to change it to a nicer name."

The female elf shook her head and gently stroked the girl's hair: "This is the name your father gave you."

"Father----"

Evelyn's expression darkened as she thought of her father, whom everyone called a hero, who had died on the same day she was born.

Logan Susas held the girl tightly in his arms and whispered, "My mentor said this is not the final farewell. He may return to our plane one day."

We just need to wait patiently.

Evelynn nodded, seemingly understanding.

Just then, she glanced at the ground unintentionally.

In a daze, she seemed to see her own shadow move slightly.

>