Chapter 471: The End of the Empire

The next day, after handing over his work at the Judgment Division, Xia Duo arrived at the Second Magic Academy. In fact, besides arranging for him to teach "Arcane Geometry," the academy had also assigned him a history class because of his background in the Judgment Division. Along with the relevant textbooks, he was also given a mental spell called 【Gumu】.

When Xia Duo projected over, "Aidi" had already graduated. He had never actually attended a history class, but judging from "Aidi's" memories, the so-called history class was more like a storytelling class.

It mainly recounted the deeds of the Great Sage and other famous figures. Looking at the mental spell Xia Duo received, it was less a storytelling class and more an ideological class.

Recalling "Aidi's" memories, such courses existed not only in the Magic Academy but even in the Apprentice School. To Xia Duo's surprise, in "Aidi's" memories, everyone liked these interesting and non-tedious courses.

On his first day after starting the job, Xia Duo was assigned work, though a senior teacher taught the history class with him, casting the 【Gumu】 spell on his behalf.

With "Aidi's" memories, plus Xia Duo's own teaching experience in the Main Plane, the first day passed without incident.

In the following days, Xia Duo remained at the academy. Although there was no longer the risk of being drafted to the front lines, his channels for obtaining information were greatly reduced; he could only acquire information that had passed through many hands during casual chats with academy teachers.

The Library remained open as usual, though it seemed to have returned to its original deserted state. Apart from the occasional teacher coming to look up information, people from outside rarely appeared.

Xia Duo's Blank Notebook had been used up. He remained here now only to utilize the time difference to finish learning the advanced courses and, at the same time, learn the Meditation Method. Although it could not provide real training in the Projection Plane, the experience would not disappear.

As the days passed, panic had spread to the academy. Now, the academy had explicitly forbidden teachers from discussing the front lines. The atmosphere in the academy suddenly turned cold. Although open discussions had ceased, the war had truly affected the academy's normal teaching order.

This day, just after finishing class, Xia Duo exchanged a knowing look with a teacher from the neighboring class and prepared to go to the Library to look up some information. But before he could reach the Library, the sky collapsed! Time rewound to ten minutes ago: the war surrounding the Arcane Empire's Border Barrier Node Mage Tower, after several rounds of perilous decisive battles, had finally begun to stabilize.

At the same time, a Great Arcanist had successfully entered the Demon Barrier and hidden smoothly; it seemed everything was developing in a positive direction.

At the Arcane Empire's Houfang Zhihui Zhongxin, the heads of various divisions had begun discussing how to invade the demon territory and completely wipe out the demons. Only the two Great Sages did not participate; instead, they felt increasingly endangered.

Just as everyone was complacent and looking forward to final victory, the command center suddenly issued an alarm. When one person learned what the specific alarm was, he actually collapsed on the spot.

His voice was trembling, and his tone was full of despair, "Great Sage, everyone, the Border Barrier has lost control!"

"Lost control? How did it lose control? Can it be restored?"

Although the others were furious, they maintained basic composure. The barrier was, after all, just an external object. As long as people remained, even if they had to continue struggling with human effort, it would be no different from returning to the state of a thousand years ago.

The most important thing currently was to figure out the cause and decide on the next step.

But before that person could answer, the people in the command center already had a feeling. Those who had been calm just a moment ago could not help but show expressions of despair, "The Magic Net is disappearing?!"

The disappearance of the Magic Net did not have a major impact on Great Arcanists, but almost everyone else was affected. Or rather, except for Great Arcanists, everyone else's spellcasting ability was built upon the Magic Net.

"Great Sage?" Everyone looked at the Great Sages, hoping they would have a solution. This was the prestige brought about by the Great Sages' decision-making having never failed over the past nearly a thousand years.

At this moment, the two Great Sages had already stood up from their seats. Their magical attainments were limited, and they had not yet discovered the disappearance of the Magic Net, but they believed the people here would not joke about such a thing. Combining this with some information they knew, they looked at each other and had already made a decision.

"Arrange for the Research Institute to evacuate, far away, do it immediately!"

One person took the order and left, while the Great Sage continued to instruct, "The destruction of the Arcane Empire can no longer be stopped, but the human will and the inheritance of the Arcane cannot be destroyed. Everyone, leave too! There is not much time left!"

After saying this, he slumped to the ground. When everyone helped him up, this Great Sage seemed like a different person, having no memory of his previous words. The other Great Sage was the same.

In a few words, the result of destruction was given. Everyone looked at each other, unable to accept such an outcome, but reality would not wait for their hesitation.

A moment later, only the shallowest parts of the Magic Net remained.

At the same time, Xia Duo also felt that something was wrong. The "sky collapsing" he had discovered earlier referred to the Magic Net disappearing, and at an extremely fast speed. He only had time to teleport outside the academy, hoping this was just an attack targeting the academy.

But outside the academy, the Magic Net was still disappearing rapidly. Soon, the Fifth Layer of the Weave vanished, and Xia Duo could no longer teleport. At the same time, he discovered that the Magic Aura on the surrounding buildings had mostly dimmed.

At this moment, he recalled some settings of the Tower of Time: simultaneously existing multiple sets of equivalent magic arrays at different levels, which could be upgraded or downgraded at any time to maintain constant functionality and combat power, all to cope with such a situation of the Magic Net disappearing.

"The Elves have the upper hand?"

During this time, there were no sources for news about the front lines, and Xia Duo did not know what the situation was like there. But seeing the Magic Net disappear, and the scope far exceeding the academy, he knew it was likely dangerous.

As 【Mage Armor】 was the spell Xia Duo was most familiar with, he had long possessed an equivalent high-ring version constructed with low-ring elements, but that was the only spell.

Xia Duo sat directly on the ground, took out a rather special Spell Notes from his Personal Space, and then flipped through it page by page. At the same time, he also began a long spellcasting process.

Five minutes later, a 3rd-ring 【Mage Armor】 was successfully cast by him. At this time, the third layer of the Magic Net had completely disappeared, but this spell remained unaffected.

Just like that, wearing this spell, Xia Duo ran quickly toward the academy. At this time, he was still counting on the upper echelons of the Arcane Empire to exert some effort and avoid a catastrophe, allowing him to stay here; after all, he hadn't learned the Meditation Method yet.

The time in the Projection Plane and the time in the Main Plane had exactly the same material impact on Xia Duo, but in terms of psychological perception and considerations after combining the situation, they were completely different.

Besides, in the Library, there were still some materials he hadn't recorded! How could he leave now! But before he could run to the academy, the Magic Net, except for the first layer, had completely disappeared, yet the response measures from the Arcane Empire's upper echelons that Xia Duo hoped for were nowhere to be seen.

Xia Duo stopped his steps; he knew it was time to go back!

With a single thought, his consciousness began to withdraw rapidly. It was not just "Aidi's" body, but also this Projection Plane. The Silver Thread behind him pulled at Xia Duo, causing his consciousness to "rise" rapidly.

Until he entered the silver void, the last impression the Arcane Empire left him was—the scene of the Magic Net rioting, with buildings and living beings being destroyed by chaotic Magic.

"Sigh—"

The Arcane Empire ended here. In short, the Elves realized that the overall development trend had shifted and did not want to drag it out, so they directly flipped the table. The Border Barrier originated from the Elven Mythallar, was stolen by high-level Mages, and finally formed a new spell, or rather a new Mythallar, covering the entire Arcane Empire. It didn't need much functionality; it only needed to destroy.

Of course, the price the Elves had to pay was also great. At the very least, those high-level Mages who cast the spell basically could not survive. But being able to defeat the Arcane Empire once and for all was worth it. If they dragged it out, they might truly fall behind and eventually be wiped out themselves.

The Arcanists would survive and continue to fight guerrilla warfare with the Elves, or play a battle royale game under the Elves' pursuit. The protagonist won't participate; this dungeon has been a bit long~~

(End of chapter)