Archwizard K’s Journey In The Cultivation World

Final case: Spellborn.

A star was born in the sky of Linoel.

Kierra's mana circles shone dazzling streams of light on her surroundings, and soon enough, her presence had reached every corner of this continent. Every living being, regardless of their location or agenda, could sense the pure, vibrant mana touching their skin, falling slowly in place as if snow.

''Phew...''

Then, with a snap, time was reversed.

The exposed mana was rapidly pulled back to where the archwizard floated, albeit into somewhere other than her hearts. Now, it was swirling intensely on top of her staff, warping space as it moved.

It was so overwhelming that Eon, who struggled to escape its constraints, felt an instinctive shudder running down its entire being.

Dangerous.

Eon's most primal instinct was screaming, and reflecting that was its own balance scale of gold, created merely for intimidation but now exposing its feebleness.

Once that sense of fight-or-flight kicked in, there was no other option. From the deepest of its being, Eon drew the sleeping power it had been cultivating since conception—the scorching, ever-burning flame that was stronger than anything else.

[As if I would let you!]

This time, the world was engulfed in a shade of bleach white. The fire that had spread all across the realm was tainted with the proclaimed god's essence—a domain. Within that domain, none could pose a threat to its life.

[...!]

However, even though its fire had indeed overwhelmed Kierra, her mana remained active. Not only that, the Underworld's influence was not extinguished easily, leaving the ocean a still clean color of darkness.

Nevertheless, Eon easily shook off the skeletal fingers and readied its lance for a quick, decisive blow toward the archwizard—

————————!

The cosmic beast's claws suddenly descended from the void, interrupting Eon's flow. Despite enduring the scarring white flame that ate through her scales and corroded her starlight, Cosmos resolutely held onto her and her companion's enemy.

Eon tried to break through the cage of starlights, but in a heartbeat, its being was nailed in place.

''Not that easy.'' A voice as deep as hell itself resonated.

An unknown, immeasurable pressure pressed onto its body, and it appeared as though the force, together with the voice, came right from the abyss below.

Not stopping at that, numerous roars of dragons soon filled the space between the two. The dragon lords of the elements circled around them, continuously burning through their mana to reinforce the cage with colorful chains.

Standing on top of August, the Queen Dragon of Fire, was a black silhouette holding a deer skull for its head. The moment Ovi's red eyes gleamed against the white background, even more chains of darkness sprouted from within the cage, binding Eon's body down completely.

''Thank you, everyone.''

Amidst that formation, Kierra broke out in a hearty smile.

The inner surface of her hat gently reflected the stars that were swirling in her eyes, together with the dark blue hue of a gemstone she had on her neck.

Inside that piece of gem were some sparkling tides, which staggered from side to side whenever Kierra moved.

Another gamble won.

She purposely fed Eon false information about her preparation of the trump card called 'clones,' which was perhaps the reason it had worked so hard to increase the size of this domain. 

'It probably thought covering everything with the domain would prevent me from persisting in battle with clones.'

It was the right approach... if it wasn't being tricked in the first place.

In reality, when thinking about going against divinity, the archwizard immediately thought of using divinity itself to counter it. So, she and Yan Shi had meticulously collected what little was left of the first Heavenly Venerate that she had defeated and condensed it into a gemstone. Now, it was working perfectly as a barrier to prevent intervention.

Furthermore, she also took several heirlooms from the Immortal Empresses to store qi and brought them to Linoel, all to enable the execution of her mightiest spell.

All of the preparations—all of it was for this moment.

Unhurriedly, gently—as if fiddling with an egg—Kierra took the sphere of mana onto her bare hand. Then, under her staff's guidance, it was dragged around in a circular motion—almost as if a planet was bound to its star gravitationally.

''Hoo...''

After feeling the flow of mana for a second, the archwizard tapped the orb, cracking the layer of fragile containment away,

''Here I call upon the universe's silent reapers,''

''The guardians of time—the apex of things,''

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Repeating lines she had once come up with, and despite the immense force pushing everything away, Kierra held onto her position near the mass of mana she had procured.

On her face was now a calm, tireless look.

Regardless of the mind-numbing amount of energy she had to process, she remained steadfast. If she felt her arms shaking because of the pressure coming from the spell's core, she would pour even more mana into it.

She had to do whatever it took.

And even further.

''Past the rings of Saturn, across the Milky Way,''

''Where it's reigned by darkness, where we'll return someday,''

''Through the stars we've descried to where our hearts will stay,''

''Call on a grave for our spirits, where we'll be there someday...''

Through the deafening noises of space and time being ripped apart, Kierra's resolute words rang across the realm. After the construction of the miniature star that would soon go supernova, she began to pour in her qi, making the skeleton for the final detonation.

Gradually, the domain was abolished.

[No... way—!!]

In its final rage, Eon gathered everything it had and flung them toward a focused Kierra. Long, bursting lances of divine power hurled toward a single point. Despite this, she continued her chant,

''Life is but a flickering fragment floating in the sea of void...''

''Destined to return to the darkness along with the stars,''

''So, here I call the apex of the universe,''

''For I, and only I, your gluttonous will serve,''

''For your birth shall be with my spell, and for I am a spellborn wizard,''

Even if her protection began to wear off.

Even if her enemy's strikes grazed her skin and the wind blew away her red blood into oblivion.

The wizard, born from spells and magic, knew better than to blunder at the last minute. No, at this moment, she wouldn't be able to stop.

With every ounce of her spirit, Kierra shouted,

''Become the darkness that devours life and descends before me!''

⌈Astral Oblivion - EX—13★⌋

Click.

The sound of the golden scale quietly chimed.

It was when humanity's side completely tilted down, much to its creator's despair. Beyond that, no sound could be heard, and all that everybody could witness was an unadulterated, blinding white.

[You—]

Until it all collapsed into the singularity.

The image of the man in the suit rapidly warped, falling indefinitely to the point of pitch-black, destined to be crushed to nothingness. The undiscernible grumbles of the void grew louder in the space where nothing else could be heard, just as the void itself grew larger and larger.

Almost immediately after exhausting the entirety of her mana reserve, Kierra's summons were recalled, and her body fell forward, heeding the gravity of the black hole she herself had created.

[Good job.]

However, before that could happen, the beast of the stars, now morphed into a humanoid, caught the archwizard. Both of them were bloodied, yet their eyes remained as bright as ever.

''...You look terrible.''

[So are you.]

The two friends chuckled, watching the black hole devour everything in the distance. By this time, the sky and the ocean had returned to their original state, signaling both the retreat of the Underworld and Eon's downfall.

''Hah... hah...''

Kierra wanted to close her eyes for some good minutes, but she had to see it for herself.

The moment her enemy would be defeated.

''...''

'I... did it.'

She beat a god—again. Though, she did use a bit of assistance.

Even after the black hole had dissipated, she continued to look at the empty space for a while. Then, as if relieved, she turned to the starry sky.

It seemed the continent of Linoel would live to see these stars for much, much longer.

---

''Hey, get up! Are you alright?!''

''Kuh... shh, silent.''

Blood trickled down August's chin.

She propped herself up with her sword, golden eyes piercing the opponent above. She was thoroughly outperformed, whether she liked to admit it or not.

Divine power was just something superior to mana.

Still, wasn't this too much?

''Stop being stubborn! We can take a step back. Let's have Master treat your—''

Yu Chen, who suffered almost as much as August, tried to pull the Sword Empress away, but at that moment, she was pulled away instead.

''?!''

When she came back to her senses, the place where she and August used to stand was vaporized by the giant's fist.

''Pay attention,'' August grumbled following a cough, her voice slightly hoarse.

''But...''

Their opponent only suffered minor wounds, but the two weren't sure if they could go on for much longer. Even Tian Yun, whose silhouette they had caught a bit before this, didn't seem to have the energy either.

Yet, what Yu Chen saw in August's golden eyes was something different than despair.

''Keep fighting. Believe in her.'' The Sword Empress said. ''Believe in Kierra. That's what I have resolved, and you should, too.''

''...You're right. I—''

Once again, her words were cut off. However, something other than the giant Heavenly Venerate interrupted her this time.

''T-That is...!?''

A painful shriek could be heard coming down from the sky. Following the direction of the sound, Yu Chen and August immediately spotted a familiar figure whose feathers burned as brightly as the sun.

It was Diamante de Soleil.

Worse, she was being dragged around by an enormous dragon—with thick and sharp teeth painfully digging into her flesh.

While the two were stunned, the creature of gold flung Diamante to the ground beside them, circling around the area above while roaring with unseen vigor.

''D-Diamante!''

As the body of flame faded, Diamante's humanoid figure was revealed. She had an arm missing, a portion of her upper torso bitten off, groaning in absolute pain.

It was a horrifying sight.

Since there was a bit of time, thanks to the two Heavenly Venerates seemingly communicating with one another, August and Yu Chen ran over to the phoenix princess.

''Princess!''

The commotion also attracted Tian Yun, who was aiding the other soldiers nearby.

''This is... are you two alright?!''

''We're fine. Take a look at her instead.''

''Okay, I'll—''

A shadow fell on them.

In a split second, the giant fist was falling upon them once more, and this time, it wouldn't be so easy to get away anymore. August gritted her teeth and tightened the hand holding the sword.

She might lose something after this, but she had to.

''Hey, what are you doing?!''

Yet, incredibly, the heavy arm was completely kicked to the side by a sharp explosion of ice. Now floating in front of the group was a cold beauty with red eyes—Mie Xieren.

''How the hell did you guys get here?'' August asked while keeping her eyes on the two enemies.

''That dragon took us.'' The abbess sighed. ''It seems we'll have to fight together. But we just need to stall a bit more.''

''She's right! If we hold out a bit more, the other Heavenly Emperors and Empresses will come to our aid!''

Just then, a youthful voice could be heard from the side. At some point, Kang Shuren and Bai Qing had also arrived.

''Ugh... goddamnit...''

''Diamante! Are you alright?!''

Suddenly, when Diamante opened her eyes with her body restored, a sense of hope spread among the members. If it were all of them together, this battle...

No, perhaps there was something more than that.

This hopeful feeling was more than that. Almost as if...

''Ah.''

A crack had formed in the sky. 

Like glass being broken, pieces of reality fell down onto the ground, fading into nothingness. From beyond the void within the opening, two colossal claws poked out, and numerous eyes shone through.

''Finally...''

''She's here.''

At this familiar sight, the crew was beyond relieved.

With more relaxed countenances, they headed their gazes toward a certain silhouette falling through the rift.

She was adorned in starlight and brilliant mana—the spellborn archwizard with a radiant trail behind her, reminiscing that of a comet. Gently clutching the rim of her hat, Kierra Scarlett Aspenova turned her crimson eyes toward her beloveds,

'Sorry, I'm late.'

She mouthed.

Like that dazzling smile, Kierra's hearts gleamed with a spectacular light. As she now faced the final adversaries of this journey, a few memories would resurface in her mind.

On how she got into this strange world, with strange people doing strange things.

On how she was captivated by those strange people, who were undoubtedly beautiful human beings.

On how she ended up seducing a bunch of beautiful women, only to then be reunited with her old fates.

On how she ended up outdoing herself, grasping both cultivation and the secrets to the realm beyond wizardry.

And how... she ended up executing gods for world peace.

If it were the old Kierra, she would rejoice at these developments, and if it were the current Kierra, she would still love them. Surely more than her old, boring life.

'In that sense, I didn't change much, did I?'

She was still the same noble wizard, the pinnacle of magic, and the ever-so-alluring lady... but if the current Kierra was asked if she wanted to be which version of herself, she would unhesitantly reply that the new her was better.

Somehow, she began to look forward to the future. She didn't know when such a shift happened, but it was a certain truth.

And to preserve the future she longed for, the future of the people she loved, and the future of this beautiful world... it was time to put an end to this calamity.

So, Kierra began to chant,