Chapter 443

Oma's combat power is truly strong; even against Cao Zhenren's Unlimited Form he has the strength to fight, and even his pre-fusion self versus the Unlimited Magic Dragon is only fifty-fifty, let alone now the power within his body is at least five times that before fusion.

Even so, he was still completely suppressed; that ghost-like speed couldn't touch that silvery-white body at all. It looked like the two of them, evenly matched, represented by the blood-red and silvery-white streams of light colliding, then bouncing off each other, then continuing to turn their guns and engage in another rapid contest.

But if anyone could truly know the process of the clash, they would understand this is not a duel or battle, but an endless pursuit, and the one being pursued is that silvery-white silhouette, Oma wielding twin blades shrouded in blood-red, no matter how he accelerates, even using his utmost speed, he cannot strike Jiang Xia.

The scarlet twin blades had vanished; the speed of the blades' flight, in Oma's eyes, seemed to have become extremely slow, allowing him to clearly see the moment his blades were chopped into fragments by that silvery-white axe.

That silvery-white axe was as heavy as a mountain; at the instant of impact, the blade in his hand bore a force beyond the material's handy limit, the shattered metal fragments turned into impacts that continuously flew outward, and by the end of the collision, even the hilt in his hand was knocked away.

The silvery-white stream of light kept crossing and flashing before Oma's eyes, beautiful as the moon in the heavens, the Milky Way pouring down.

At this moment Oma finally knew Jiang Xia's true strength; strictly speaking, magic absorption and physical attacks being ineffective are personal unique abilities, but aside from those abilities, he discovered his own speed and strength were far inferior to Jiang Xia's.

Even without those miscellaneous abilities, Jiang Xia could crush him underfoot with extreme violence.

This is completely two different kinds of life; how could mortals, no matter how they scheme or train their bodies, reach the realm of deities? Such human life has a limit.

This battle could no longer continue; no matter how he struggled, the outcome was destined, destined to fail.

Oma considered himself to have surpassed the Wraith, surpassed humanity; he could use magic to overturn heaven and earth, yet he could not defeat a monster that had already reached the divine realm!

The dense blade light, like a hot knife cutting butter, passed straight through every part of Oma's body; countless cold lights turned into a galaxy storm, which finally constructed behind him a shining diamond robe, his body smooth as new.

Jiang Xia slowly turned his head, looking at Oma whose body was clearly hacked by a thousand cuts yet still retained human form; in that instant Jiang Xia had slashed him over three thousand times, and if he remembered correctly, the world record for lingchi was 3784, while he had made 3783 cuts.

Oma's fresh blood spurted out, like a sea of blood surging, dyeing his entire body red; even after suffering such grave wounds, he still did not die.

The power brought by the fusion of his two worlds saved his life; Jiang Xia lacked the skill to let a creature survive so many blades, so each part of Oma's body was at least repeatedly pierced over ten times; after being pierced, the holes healed again, and then the healed body would be pierced once more by Jiang Xia, repeating the process.

「Although these are not enough to atone for the sins you have caused, such bloody retribution could not be more fitting. 」

As Jiang Xia's words fell, Oma's body shuddered violently; standing on the ground of the Magic Kingdom, his whole body trembled like a sieve, his ferocious terrifying appearance instantly turned into a blood-colored collapse, restoring him to a blood-soaked figure collapsed on the ground.

He fell to the ground; the pain in his body, in that instant, traveled along the nerves to every neuron in his brain; that extreme pain distorted his expression beyond recognition, he opened his mouth wide wanting to utter a painful wail, but only kept spitting out mouthfuls of blood foam.

He could not shout out, just like those he had abducted, unable to utter any sound, because Oma's vocal cords inside his neck were now a bloody mess; even the strongest self-healing has its limits, Jiang Xia stripped him of the right to utter a death rattle, and the anguish of lingchi on his body could not be vented through sound even a little—this is the utmost despair.

However, there is one thing worth praising: Oma is not a fusion of two humans; he merely has a human appearance.

If it were a human with magic power inside, encountering this situation would definitely cause despair and give birth to a Wraith, and it happens very quickly, usually only a few minutes, so a few minutes later the original person would already be dead, replaced by another creature.

But Oma is a Wraith, and a Wraith is by nature the product of despair, just as a person cannot die twice, a Wraith cannot despair again; thus this lingchi torment Oma has no means to escape, even despairing won't help.

This is also what Jiang Xia wanted to see.

Grant hope to the good, despair to the wicked— isn't that fair?

Jiang Xia looked at the blood-soaked figure writhing on the ground from pain, sighed, he was ultimately just a normal person, unable to bear such a bloody scene, so it's best to kill him quickly.

He should have cleanly killed those who deserved death, but this time he still changed; however, there probably won't be a next time, since an exception is only allowed once— twice would not be an exception.

Torture is not something he is good at, nor does he wish it; he merely wonders whether killing him this way is too lenient.

The joy of reaching the peak of strength, the excitement of the enemy falling into a trap, the anger at being looked down upon by the enemy, and finally, in the face of an inconceivable strength gap, savoring that extreme pain, then despair.

This is the process that leads to despair; dropping from a height is the best way to defeat a sentient lifeform.

So now we should proceed to the final step: sending this person to his death.

Jiang Xia once again put on the Hope Magic Ring; the Unlimited Form is not merely pure Unlimited, but also includes all derived forms related to it.

He twisted his belt, placing the Hope Magic Ring in his hand at the center of his palm.

「FinishStrike！The best! 」

The crystal-colored white dragon's roar was deafening, dancing beside Jiang Xia, sweeping away all the blood-red around him; the crystal-like dragon wings traced diamond-like patterns in the air.

Finally, with great power, it surged into Jiang Xia's body, transforming into the dragon wings, claws, and tail behind him, the tail radiating bright light.

Unlimited Magic Dragon Form, adding all the other body parts of the elemental dragons atop the Unlimited Form, fully merging the magic.

「To finish your swan song with this form is really letting you off easy. 」

Jiang Xia leapt high, erupting with a roar like a giant dragon, accompanied by the silver-white magic sigils intertwining around his body, like the most splendid performance stage.

This is the limit of magical attack power; there is no stronger magic, nor has there ever been such a brilliant attack resembling a galaxy poured down, dazzling like the moon in the sky.

「Ha! 」

That silvery-white dragon head instantly condensed from his foot; at the moment it touched Oma, firelight shot up like a pillar, the vibration from the magical explosion even faster than seismic waves, the silvery-white body burst through.

The sharp dragon claws left several deep gouges in the ground, emitting a piercing sound. Jiang Xia slowly relaxed his body; the white dragon parts attached to the Unlimited Form all turned into crystal and vanished, the golden mage's dial in the explosion automatically merged into his body, and simultaneously the undying power coursed through his interior.

「Just this? Is this considered immortality? 」 After carefully feeling this power, Jiang Xia sighed and shook his head.

Some people always treat long life as eternity, but unfortunately Oma didn't even reach that standard; superimposed within Jiang Xia, the lifespan he gained was even less, and rightly so, those he blows up wouldn't gain much either if they ate it.

A thousand years is not enough; ten thousand years is too short.

Just then, the sky suddenly rang with a continuous dragon chant, also silvery-white like Jiang Xia's.

「It seems he also successfully awakened his power, just don't know what happened. 」 Jiang Xia gazed at the white dragon descending from the sky, feeling somewhat moved.

Not long ago, Jiang Xia had just stepped into the staircase; at the instant the wooden doorway closed, two wizards of different colors had already begun fighting.

Two selves with opposing cognitions can never be reconciled, just like Shirou Emiya and Red A; one wants to be a just companion, while the other, amidst endless slaughter, realizes that the just companion ultimately becomes a headsman who takes lives.

Therefore, even if one kills his past self, he must make him abandon that notion.

Cao Zhenren, although not that extreme, has always fought for hope, but now he has fallen into confusion; sometimes the heart that brings hope to people can also drag him down.

Two silvery-white blades collided, the sparks flashing illuminated two faces identical as twins; their forms were the same, their motions the same, even the way they spun in midair during battle was the same, and amidst the continual spark flashes, the two crashed into each other.

Each gem-like face reflected the other's; the crimson wizard's eyes were full of resolve, while the dark-purple wizard resembled a cold, merciless killer.

「Come on, you're from outside, you must have some power I don't know about. 」 The purple wizard wildly waved his blade.

「Why are you helping the gold mage, what exactly is your purpose? 」 Cao Zhenren asked while fighting.

He really had too many doubts to ask his other self: why would wizards become humanity's worst enemy, and why would that make him give up hope.

「Haha, we need the Philosopher's Stone, for only then can we birth a land filled with Wraiths. 」

The purple wizard also had no reservations, bluntly stating their goal, with no intention to hide it, after all, who could defeat the gold mage?

「You haven't fallen into becoming a Wraith, have you? 」 Cao Zhenren deflected with a sword, swinging to slash his blade.

「No. 」 The purple wizard denied.

"You aren't the last hope, are you? Why turn the magicians into phantoms?" Cao Zhenqingren asked.

If they really are isotopes, then they should have similar personalities, just like Rinzi; even if they switched worlds, she would still be a police officer, and her sense of justice would not have changed.

If the person before him truly is himself, then he should likewise possess a similar mind, unless he has encountered something capable of destroying another self's worldview, and what he wants to ask is exactly what could cause himself to fall.

"Hope, what is that?" the purple wizard said, "I have never believed in any hope; these are just lies told to children, despair is the norm of this world,"

"I have long seen through the true face of this world; hope is merely a beautiful lie, just as you see this world—peaceful, beautiful, tranquil, where everyone can live happily here—but I understand the darkness of this world, everything you possess is built upon brutal slaughter, and no one can escape."

"What?" Cao Zhenqingren did not quite understand his meaning.

"It's the Magic Power Circulation System, this thing is a container made from the bones of countless magicians that allows circulation; when I knew of it, I was truly in agony, almost dying." the purple wizard said lightly.

"This is just a false world, there is no hope at all; it would be better to completely destroy this world."

What he saw beneath the high tower could truly be called genuine goods; that kind of despair's anguish, how could he not understand? He understood all too well.

When he realized that everyone's hope was built on lies, and beneath that dazzling hope lay that ugly truth of reality, his heart had already died; isn't it normal operation for a person despairing of the world to guide the world's collapse?

"You are not me." Cao Zhenqingren suddenly realized something, "You are a demon dragon!"

"No, I am both the already despairing Cao Zhenqingren and a demon dragon, that's why I am in so much agony." the purple wizard shouted.

In this world, Cao Zhenqingren, while passing the high tower magician's examination and about to become a Court Magician protecting world safety, by chance entered that hidden room of the high tower and saw the Tanatos container.

Cao Zhenqingren, who had always wanted to help others, fell into despair, because he had lived here since childhood and had used the Magic Power Circulation System countless times.

But now he is told that these gleaming white bones are the source of the magic power system, just like the captain; in an instant he realizes that the golden magician he had faithfully followed for over twenty years actually did such a thing, and no one can endure such anguish.

Afterwards, the demon dragon inherited Cao Zhenqingren's despair and accepted the belt from Oma, and this also gave birth to another special existence, namely the purple wizard, an entity formed from the fusion of a desperate soul and a phantom.

Why can Cao Zhenqingren move unimpeded through the high tower library on his way there, merely needing to change clothes to smoothly evade all high tower magicians, and even when using the etiquette he just learned to salute, no one stops him?

That is because another him was originally a member of the Court Magicians.

Why does the purple wizard returning to the high tower feel like coming home? Because he was originally responsible for protecting this place.

So Cao Zhenqingren doesn't need to change clothes, and Jiang Xia doesn't need to be invisible; they can just go in like that, and no one will stop them. (End of chapter)