Departure and Harvests
The Kemoyin Emperor was originally over a hundred kilometres long, but its figure had shrunk a thousandfold as it became a python that was only tens of metres in length. Terrifying light burst forth from what used to be its scales.
The two eyes of the python stared straight at Melinda, and her heart couldn’t help but palpitate upon seeing the merciless expression in them.
Leylin’s voice came from the python, “You’ve had enough, but that doesn’t mean I have. According to our deal, I’ve come for my reward.”
Following these words, the humongous python suddenly spread its mouth wide open, and a black hole formed within.
“Innate ability: Devour!”
“Nooo…” In the midst of Melinda’s pained cries, the Kemoyin Emperor that Leylin had transformed into bit ferociously onto the arm of the Blazing Flame Monarch. Soon after, it ripped open the space without hesitation and escaped.
*Buzz!* Its scales flashed with a glaring brilliance and even had traces of blood.
Leylin had obviously used some sort of secret method that allowed him to disappear from Melinda’s senses almost instantly.
*Whoosh!* Golden blood droplets suddenly started splashing from where the arm was broken. Blood dripped into the empty space drop by drop, forming a large ball of golden flames in the blink of an eye.
It was only now that Melinda started to let out a hysterical blood-curdling screech.
As a Breaking Dawn Magus, limb damage was not even considered a severe injury to her, but what Leylin had used earlier was his own innate ability, Devour. He had bitten into her flesh and devoured her bloodline! This even included a portion of her comprehension of laws and her soul! Her comprehension of laws had been stolen!
The anguish of her soul being ripped apart almost made Melinda think she’d returned to the moment when she’d split her soul.
It was at this time that the Blazing Flame Monarch’s conscient, which had been suppressed, appeared suddenly and unleashed a ferocious counterattack.
“Damn it! Damn it!” Melinda roared, and horrifying golden flames spread out in all directions continuously.
Her other losses were still tolerable, but the disappearance of her comprehension of laws and the damage done to her bloodline could even make her drop in rank. The counter-attack by the Blazing Flame Monarch’s conscient at this moment left her without any time to chase after and attack Leylin. She could only roar in depression and once again concentrate her energy on fighting the Monarch.
The pure gold flames gradually filled up the region, and even traces of dust were burnt until there was nothing left. Only the gigantic golden yellow cocoon in the centre was still throbbing rhythmically, as if a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes.
In a world where flames were everywhere, space was pulled apart as though it were a curtain, revealing Leylin’s silhouette. He peeked at his surroundings before giving a command without hesitation, “A.I. Chip!”
[Beep! Begin connection sequence! Activating astral gate!]
With the A.I. Chip’s voice sounding out, an enormous door bathed in blue flames slowly formed in front of Leylin, and he stepped into it without the slightest situation. The world began spinning with a single step, and when he ran his eyes over his surroundings once again, he had already arrived in the laboratory at Düz City.
Faint roars and shrieks could still be heard from outside, Düz City having descended into chaos. Outside of the laboratory, the subordinates of Jupiter’s Thunder and Joanna stood on guard, and all seemed still.
In the midst of such a disorderly scene, it appeared even more eye-catching.
A few civilians and such came forth to request for help from time to time, but were all rejected without mercy. The bodies on the ground still emitted a strong aura of death, effectively intimidating the few who still wanted to try their luck.
As for the biological beasts? Having seen the terror that Leylin could bring, they had run away as far as they could long ago. Whether they created disasters elsewhere was not of Leylin’s concern.
“Sir!” A few of the Morning Star Magi who were standing guard saw the astral gate open. Upon seeing that only Leylin had returned, their expressions changed.
“Hm!” Leylin nodded his head, indifferent. His entire being then transformed into a ray of black flames which dispersed. In just a few flashes, he vanished into the horizon.
The Morning Star Magi from the other powers looked at each other in dismay as they gazed in the direction that Leylin vanished in.
They were of Morning star rank at most. Forcibly stopping Leylin was simply an impossible task, and having seen how cold-hearted Leylin could be they didn’t dare to do anything that would provoke him.
……
In the air. Blood was still seeping out of the corners of Leylin’s mouth, yet his face was filled with excitement. “Those few Morning Star Magi are rather tactful. I didn’t have to take any further action…
“A.I. Chip, erase all the useless memories and emotions!”
At this moment, layers of flesh suddenly grew from Leylin’s body, carrying along with dense comprehension of the laws of fire. His Devour skill was still digesting the arm of the Monarch.
The A.I. Chip swiftly operated per Leylin’s orders, getting rid of all the useless memories and emotions in what he had obtained. The useful information was then processed into specialised folders, and the Blazing Flame Monarch’s comprehension of laws— the most important part— was carefully extracted by the A.I. Chip into a specially established database.
‘The most important bit, the comprehension of laws, has been obtained!’ Leylin was brimming with excitement.
To him, no matter how plentiful the Blazing Flame Monarch’s treasury was, it was not enough. The only thing he was currently interested in was the pursuit of an even higher realm, one to which the power of laws was key.
Leylin still couldn’t believe himself as he recalled how he had made use of his devouring ability to absorb the comprehension of Laws and memories from the Blazing Flame Monarch’s body.
The exhilaration and delight almost made him break through the boundaries that he had set himself, and greedily take in everything that the Blazing Flame Monarch had to offer. Luckily, at the final juncture, he forcibly controlled his body with an unwavering determination that was as strong as steel, and left the Fiery World.
He didn’t deal any killing blows to the Flame Monarch directly as he was afraid of her counterattack.
Regardless of the differences between Melinda and the original Blazing Flame Monarch, with their lives under serious threat there was a definite possibility of an alliance.
In fact, the A.I. Chip’s derivations revealed that if Leylin took advantage of the time when both of them were battling, there wasn’t even a 10% probability that he would be able to directly take one of them out. The remaining possibility was that both parties would ally under immense pressure, which would result in Leylin returning without achieving anything, or even resulting in his fall.
In such a situation, Leylin would, of course, choose the method that was in accordance with his own interests, and leave after fishing up the best gains.
Although he was unable to get rid of the Blazing Flame Monarch, making her suffer some losses was good enough.
Initially, when he was extracting the Blazing Flame Monarch’s bloodline and laws, Leylin had almost lost control of himself, and the A.I. Chip’s had alerted him in time. He was so close to even being a threat to the Flame Monarch’s life, which would cause unforeseen repercussions to the situation.
But fortunately, all went according to Leylin’s script.
Although his final blow made the Blazing Flame Monarch suffer heavy losses, it did not exceed Melinda’s tolerance. Hence, she didn’t choose to reach a compromise with the original conscient, and instead continued to annihilate her greatest enemy. It was because of this that Leylin managed to escape successfully.
As for what happened prior to that, Leylin had simply scoffed at how Melinda had invited Leylin to help.
While his soul force was relatively powerful, it also depended on what it was being compared to.
In the face of the Breaking Dawn soul force of the Blazing Flame Monarch’s, his soul force was so meagre that it was not worth looking at. Even if he was called in to help, he would just be a mere soldier who wouldn’t even have autonomy over his own soul force; his life and death would be controlled by his opponent.
What annoyed him even more was that after fighting such a tumultuous battle, the items received would depend on whether the other party would fulfil their promises and also their mood. Leylin wouldn’t do such a silly thing, of course.
“However, I didn’t think that merely the arm of the Fire Monarch contained such a crazy amount of energy. Furthermore, there seems to be a mystery hidden in the knowledge and memories of the laws of fire…” Leylin faintly felt like his body grew bigger, but it was actually an illusion due to the excessive energy in his body.
The corners of Leylin’s mouth curled up in a bitter smile as he recalled the past few times where he had transformed into the Kemoyin Emperor. No matter what he had devoured before, nothing had possessed such terrifying energy.
‘It’s fortunate that I chose to devour only one arm. If I’d chosen to swallow her whole, I’m afraid that even if she didn’t retaliate I would’ve burst apart due to this force.’ Leylin’s gaze flickered, as he changed his route of travel, his silhouette turning into a phantom.
This ability was brought about by dreamforce. Not only did it strengthen his resistance towards magic, it formed an illusionary forcefield which was effective at concealing his tracks.
The fruits of this battle were plentiful, so much so that even the almighty Leylin needed to find a spot to digest them fully.
……
Leylin didn’t expect that what he originally thought would be a simple digestion process would end up extending into a few months. The Blazing Flame Monarch had her own imprint of power of flames, and one of its characteristics was that it was extremely concentrated. This had given him a headache.
A squirrel bounded about continuously, a pine cone cupped between its paws as it nibbled on it with its buckteeth as quickly as lightning. White mist encircled the mountain range that stretched endlessly into the distance. Together with the green forest, it formed a dreamlike scene straight out of a fairytale.
Countless runners formed a natural protective screen under a humongous tree, leaving a rather big space inside. Black fog filled the air here, hiding and isolating the place. In the heart of the fog, Leylin slowly let out a breath and opened his eyes.
‘The energy composition of a rank 6 Magus and its characteristic concentration is truly horrifying!’ Practically all of the Blazing Flame Monarch’s flesh was densely constructed by the most concentrated of fire laws, and merely the digestion process required vast amounts of effort on Leylin’s part. He still felt traumatised at the thought of it.
In actual fact, without the innate devouring ability of the Kemoyin Emperor, analysing the Monarch’s arm would have been a huge problem. It had taken him this long to finally figure it out.
Just a moment ago, Leylin had not only fully swallowed the last trace of the Blazing Flame Monarch’s bloodline energy, but he had also completely sorted out the memory fragments and made the comprehension of laws his own.