Chapter 585: Brief Encounter

At the moment the judgment took effect, Lei Kedun reached out and seized the metal ring set with fine gems before him; dim stars floated, adding hidden power around it, and concealed the ring beyond the rules.

Having lost its execution target, the rule force, pried by words, abandoned the ring outright, returning the remaining magical items to their original places.

On the other side of the dock, Maihamus's figure became transparent the instant the hidden effect was broken by William Augustus I, vanishing in place and leaping via nearby gleaming metal objects and glass mirrors to quickly distance himself from the dock.

The "Witch King" Kalaman's body erupted with a swirl of black smoke; his form under the black robe withered rapidly, turning into a bat that existed between reality and illusion, scattering away.

William Augustus I lowered his gaze, his majestic voice resonating throughout the harbor:

"Execution!"

The group of mock bats, caught between reality and illusion, burst from within simultaneously, spewing a crimson mist of blood that turned into fragments like deep‑red moonlight solidified into paper shreds, swiftly dissolving under the scarlet moonlight.

The deep‑red moonlight rose nearby and quickly coalesced into Kalaman, hooded and clad in a black robe.

In his blood‑red eyes, Maihamus's pale, gaunt silhouette flashed briefly then vanished; using Kalaman's eyes as a springboard, he fled the street in an instant.

On the deck of the Luen military vessel transporting magical items, Lei Kedun's figure flickered, seeming to cease existing; an invisible, overwhelming force detonated at his heart, sending ripples through the air.

As the "Execution" effect faded, his body became ethereal instantly, then restored itself the next second.

He lost the ability to transform himself into an informational being.

Realizing his extraordinary powers had been stripped, he let out a barely perceptible sigh; immediately, pure white, illusory feathers gathered behind him, and a pair of pristine wings unfurled.

His body turned into a tangled, chaotic mass of black lines sprouting grotesque eyes, exuding an aura of madness, destruction, ill‑omen, and disaster in an instant.

William Augustus I's blue eyes deepened, a strong sense of authority radiating from him; the surrounding air grew heavy, making one involuntarily feel inclined to submit, unable to muster resistance.

A silvery spear was dragged from the void by him; shards of silver light sliced through, partitioning the entire dock into strange, isolated spaces.

He kept himself together with Lei Kedun, placing the two demigods of the military faction and the two Rose School demigods who had not yet escaped the harbor on the opposite side; both sides respected the non‑interference clause, yet could not affect reality.

Having done all this, he stared at Lei Kedun's mythic beast form, his voice flat and authoritative as he spoke:

"Mystery weakens here, reality strengthens."

As his words fell, Lei Kedun instantly sensed a shift in the underlying rules around him; mystery‑related phenomena were dampened, while physical rules at the reality layer were reinforced.

The surrounding pure, illusory feathers vanished, the black mass of eyes collapsed inward, reforming into Lei Kedun's body.

He gazed at the calmly hovering William Augustus I, his right hand, gloved with a mechanical gauntlet, gently twitched twice.

In a soundless instant, the surrounding physical rules altered; waves and wind roared, the air quivered violently as if unable to bear the intense noise.

The next second, cyan‑blue glows appeared on the bronze‑colored mechanical gauntlet, outlining symbols of storm domains and magical sigils.

Violent wind clashed with air, producing explosive sounds that raised visible ripples around them.

The raging wind, vibrating the air, became lethal under the decree "Mystery weakens, reality strengthens" and the physical modifications, capable of tearing apart anything it touched through resonant shockwaves.

William Augustus I's expression remained unchanged; he calmly extended forward and whispered:

"Imprison!"

The surrounding air seemed coated with an extremely viscous transparent liquid, stifling vibration and muffling sound.

Simultaneously, strands of light flickered across his deep‑blue eyes, like lightning from the depths of consciousness.

A torrent of spiritual power surged, forming tightly coiled electric filaments that became a terrifying barbed whip, striking Lei Kedun's soul with precise blows.

This was the Tier‑One "Whip of Pain", whose attack can easily rend or even destroy a soul, causing death through excruciating mental torment.

Sizzle!

Under the surging mental force, Lei Kedun's body was instantly torn apart, turning into pale yellow sheets of paper that floated in midair.

The next second, Lei Kedun's figure appeared on the opposite side of the deck; his right hand, wearing a mechanical gauntlet, reached forward, where blazing white currents converged in his hand, crackling.

As he pushed forward, sphere‑sized bolts of lightning, each like a tiny giant, shot out, colliding with William Augustus I in midair amid a swarm of silver‑white electric serpents; with physical strikes greatly amplified, the demigod‑level extraordinary ability was enough to threaten a Tier‑One angel.

"Exile!"

An invisible, overwhelming force ripped the void, tearing and pulling the surrounding spherical lightning, banishing them all.

Sensing the disappearance of the rule's suppression of mystery, Lei Kedun curled his lips and uttered a heavily polluted babble: "Can't you hold on a bit longer? You lifted the surrounding 'prohibition' so easily."

William Augustus I blinked, finally hearing Lei Kedun's words; before he could react, a massive shadow rose from the sea below.

A colossal black dragon emerged from the water, its enormous body draped with corpses on its wide membranous wings, green‑tinged corrosive venom dripping from its jaws.

The illusory black dragon beat its wings, bearing an aura of despair and calamity into the high sky; under its radiating breath, the battlefield William Augustus I had carved collapsed and vanished instantly.

This was the Norse‑myth inspired "Mystic Reappearance", a "World‑Eating Black Dragon" capable of dispersing and destroying barriers and seals.

With the rule's suppression of mystery gone, this "Mystic Reappearance" fully displayed its intended power.

William Augustus I fixed his gaze on Lei Kedun, his left hand forming a void grip forward, while he solemnly pronounced in ancient Humes language:

"Death!"

As he acted, the air around Lei Kedun instantly turned into an invisible cage, pinning him in place; an unseen rule‑derived force pressed on his head as if to crush it.

The restrained Lei Kedun suddenly became transparent, turning ethereal and transforming into a mass of bubbles.

These bubbles vanished in an instant under the air's confinement and the overwhelming pressure.

At the port's edge, Lei Kedun pinched the seized metal ring; crystal‑like light burst forth, enveloping his body and propelling him to flash repeatedly into the distance.

As the divided space disappeared, the Luen military demigods pursuing Maihamus and Kalaman each merged—one into moonlight, the other into a mirrored world—swiftly fleeing the port.

Deprived of the Traveler's Ring, the military demigods also lost the ability to chase them, forced to watch the Rose School demigods escape from their grasp.

The female demigod in a black evening dress pulled the barbed thorns of her crown from her head, inserting them into her own skull, and said to her colleague who had lost an arm:

"Selt, first find your missing arm; as long as it hasn't been too long and the arm still retains vitality, the 'Physician' can reattach it."

The blond, black‑smoke demigod called Selt gave a wry smile, pointed with his remaining left hand toward the dock, and said bitterly:

"Even if it wasn't sliced into pieces, it was certainly contaminated by those out‑of‑control magical items."

When the thorns embedded in his head disappeared, the female demigod in the black evening dress finally exhaled, her towering chest rising and falling as she whispered faintly:

"It seems you must seek Archbishop Horamick of the Steam Church to forge a mechanical arm for you, or go to Fennibote, where the Earth Church's 'Life Refinement' can regrow an arm."

No sooner had she spoken, William Augustus I, cloaked in a great coat, black hair, blue eyes, and an imposing bearing, appeared before the two.

Without giving the demigods a chance to speak, his voice was unusually cold and dismissive as he said:

Those out-of-control magical items have been suppressed, and the organization's personnel have regrouped and sealed them.

Also, clean up the members of the Rose School and the Mos Ascetic Society hidden in Loen, issue bounties externally, and put out a wanted notice for the several demigods and angels who appeared here tonight.

After his words fell, he clenched his right hand in the air, relying on his formidable strength to directly tear open space and leave Pryzh Port.

In Pryzh Port, inside an underground warehouse near the steam train station, fragments of starlight shot out from the void, gathering and reassembling in the air into a dark-blue door covered with mysterious symbols and patterns.

The moment this door took shape, Rekton stepped out from within it, his gaze falling on the corpse wrapped in bandages, missing a leg, in the corner of the warehouse.

At the mummy's eye sockets, the black gemstone 'eyeball' reflected Sharon's silhouette; her complexion seemed even paler than before.

The next second, Sharon's calm and restrained voice came from the one-legged mummy standing upright: 'The aura of this mummy has attracted some spiritual-world beings; we have had some disputes over it.'

Rekton nodded in understanding, his thoughts drifting a bit. The spiritual-world beings attracted by this mummy wouldn't be too weak; otherwise they couldn't withstand its curse, so was it Lady Reneet of the castle in the spiritual world who provided help?

(End of chapter)