Chapter 1043: The Master's Fury

Temple of Truth, Council Hall.

The Empire's senators one by one stepped onto the platform, walked toward the voting table in the center, and as they passed before Lei En, they saw the Consul's composed expression, his deep gaze falling on them, and instantly felt immense pressure.

Among the more than three hundred senators, the majority have had dealings with the Consul over these years.

They are either shareholders of the Secondary Continent Trade Company, whose profits have overflowed, with wealth multiplying dozens or even hundreds of times within ten short years; or they have taken part in the construction of New Continent cities, pouring countless funds, yet to see returns, tethered to the Consul's ship and unable to disembark.

Some senators are Empire officials—provincial governors, high‑ranking legion officers, mayors, cabinet ministers—who attained their current status through the Consul's patronage.

The swing voters are mostly noble lords, as well as senior figures from the Mechanical Union, the Earth Church, and the Justice Church.

In the past few months.

Duke GreyEagle met the senators privately, but what GreyEagle did not know is that most of the senators had already met the Consul beforehand, and some did so afterward.

Interest is the strongest bond.

When choosing between the Consul and Duke GreyEagle, almost every swing voter gave the same answer.

A few stubborn or double‑minded senators found they had no secrets before the Consul; the Consul could always see through their limits at a glance, cornering them and leaving no room for wavering.

Those senators who betrayed the Balance faction and the Naiser faction were similarly shaken.

Gem after gem was dropped into the container representing approval.

The affirmative votes surged rapidly!

On the dais, the Holy Soul Wizards wore varied expressions; Tim*Kenan and Kaiersitong's eyes seemed ready to burst into flame, yet they were merely projections, and the rune array set on the platform was controlled by Lei En, who alone easily suppressed the entire Supreme Council.

The two watched the Empire senators casting affirmative votes, their faces growing increasingly grim.

The betrayal of some senators was one thing; what was more frightening was that a few who had not previously revealed their stance also voted in favor.

Chief Vice‑President Beili Saliu of the Mechanical Union, along with three other vice‑presidents;

Dean Margaret of the Yelatusa Academy, the Empire's most renowned Destruction Sorcerer, the spiritual leader of over seventy percent of sorcerers;

Except for the Gra Morgan faction, the five noble houses of Mo Du all, without exception, supported Lei En;

The northern Empire nobles, led by Marquis Zheli Mu, BatuLa, for the past ten years had served as Lei En's Minister of Military and Civil Affairs, and while intending to run for the next Consul, they also cast affirmative votes; the dozen or so noble senators of the Naiser faction followed BatuLa in turning toward Lei En;

"BatuLa!"

Kaiersitong's eyes showed disbelief.

BatuLa had been his most loyal ally for centuries; when Lei En first invited him to serve as Minister of Military and Civil Affairs, he had consulted him, considering the role's importance and the chance to keep a watchful eye by Lei En's side, and thus agreed.

He never imagined BatuLa would betray him!

Kaiersitong, amid his anger, also came to his senses.

No wonder BatuLa hadn't met him face‑to‑face for two years; he knew Kaiersitong could read thoughts and dared not appear before him, lest he expose his betrayal.

Soon after BatuLa, the Lord of Hestav of Thus: Thus: Shengangcheng also took the platform and voted in favor without hesitation.

Thus: Thus: Shengangcheng is the foremost of the nine cities of the Tuld Trade City‑State; the lords of the other eight cities are Empire senators, and the nine senators have always shared the same stance. The Lord of Hestav led the way, and the other eight senators followed suit.

Hestav's influence extends beyond the trade city‑state; southern Empire nobles, led by him, also cast affirmative votes.

The southern Empire lacks a Holy Soul Wizard stationed there, yet it is the gateway of the Golden Sea Route, with thriving trade and deep involvement in Secondary Continent commerce, its interests already tightly bound.

Next, the commanders of the Empire's major legions also stepped onto the platform.

The Sword of Arcane Law, the Iron Knights, and the Dragon Lizard Knights—leaders and deputy leaders of the three great knight orders—all voted affirmative; among the four great legions, three—Rick Guard, Storm Legion, and Elfa's Hammer—expressed support for Lei En.

Only the GriffinLegion cast a dissenting vote; their garrison on the northern great prairie has been bound to the Naiser faction since its founding, and even Lei En cannot intervene.

The Empire's military strength has risen a notch overall in recent years.

Each legion is expanding, some even doubling in size.

Because the number of supernaturals in the Empire is growing, it is easy to recruit qualified supernaturals;

Meanwhile, Lei En sold large quantities of Black Soul elixirs to the Empire's legions at low prices, through unified procurement and regular supply, rapidly boosting the power of supernaturals in the Imperial forces.

The next few Empire senators who took the platform also unanimously voted in favor.

After their initial fury, Tim*Kenan and Kaiersitong, seeing this scene, suddenly calmed, their eyes flashing with gloom and doubt. Master Kangjierade, Howai Master, as well as Anxiwodasi and members of the Mo Du faction, wore expressions of astonishment.

These individuals are representatives of the Earth Church and the Justice Church.

There are few of them; each church has three, and their standing within the churches is not top‑tier, barely reaching the upper echelons, still far from the Pope's level.

Yet, they represent the two great churches!

The Empire is a wizard's empire, the mortal realm of the God of Magic; although the three deities are equal, wizards are the true ruling class, and the Earth Mother and the God of Justice tacitly accept this rule, restraining the churches from participating in Imperial politics.

Thus the two great churches have only three representatives in the Imperial Council; when voting, they usually follow the majority or abstain, staying neutral.

Today, they all voted affirmative.

Although it may still be that they simply followed the majority and did not truly persuade Lei En to become a lifelong Consul, even that possibility is astonishing.

"Could the Earth Church and the Justice Church also have turned toward Lei En?"

The Holy Soul Wizards were uncertain and wary.

As affirmative votes piled up one by one, the Holy Soul Wizards couldn't help glancing repeatedly at Lei En, only to see Lei En also turn his head, but his attention was not on Tim*Kenan or Kaiersitong; the person he focused on surprised everyone.

Black Robe Duke Tuzlei!

Lei En's gaze met Tuzlei's eyes briefly, then paused.

Tuzlei seemed oblivious, his face unchanged as usual, showing a complete unwillingness to intervene, eyes half‑closed, as if daydreaming.

But after a few seconds, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Lei En.

A golden hourglass flashed in Tuzlei's pupils, then his calm returned, a slight smile curling his lips as he gave Lei En a meaningful expression.

The scene shifted back a few minutes.

In the lower depths of the Dark Region, Reslin borrowed Kuilu's guiding stone markers, consecutively casting mass teleportation to swiftly transport his ten Grand Mages toward Yilaientu.

Soon, the Grand Mages manifested near the nearest guiding stone.

Reslin's eyes projected an ancient gate formed by countless coiled worms, his sight piercing layers of void, locking onto Yilaisen's direction.

A few seconds later, he successfully opened a portal.

This portal pierces the spatial‑coordinate distortion of the Dark Realm, and the teleportation point lands precisely in a cavern outside Yilaientu; the Grand Mages entered the portal, and this place is less than five thousand meters from Yilaientu, so a single teleport can go straight into the city.

The ten Grand Mages' figures vanished one after another, and they circled Yilaientu, hiding in various directions outside the city.

Reslin began casting.

First, he set up a concealed force aura in the cavern, masking his casting fluctuations.

Then, he grasped his staff and infused it with massive mana; the straight staff flickered with strange magical light, and after a full minute, the casting was completed.

Ten-ring Spell—True Mirror Image!

A completely identical Reslin was created, gaunt and pale; this True Mirror Image possessed everything Reslin had—knowledge and thoughts, magical items and staff—and could exist for an hour, indistinguishable from the original.

Reslin is already level thirty‑four!

True Mirror Image is the first Ten-ring Spell he mastered; by studying the Endless Storm staff and with many casting experiences, he built the spell model in his soul in just half a month.

The two Reslins cast again, still using True Mirror Image!

They grasped their "Endless Storm" staff, infused mana, and triggered the True Mirror Image attached to the staff.

After a minute, the two Reslins became four.

The four Reslins looked at each other, as if copy‑pasted, minds identical, and each possessed equally powerful casting ability!

The casting interval for True Mirror Image is one day; the True Mirror Image attached to Endless Storm requires a seven‑day cooldown. A True Mirror Image cannot cast True Mirror Image again, and the duplicated Endless Storm has already triggered, so at most only four Reslins can exist simultaneously.

But that is enough.

A True Mirror Image waved its staff and instantly teleported into Yilaientu.

Over a dozen years passed, and this Spirit‑absorbing Monster city showed no change.

Two massive rifts intersected in an "X" shape; lava churned beneath the rifts, and countless caves were carved into the vertical cliffs, housing tens of thousands of gray dwarf slaves.

Several underground dark rivers flowed down from above the rifts, forming waterfalls that plunged into the magma; the clash of cold and heat produced continuous violent explosions, the water vaporized, and thick mist shrouded the lava lake's surface, wetting the cliffs.

In the middle of the city, a mountain‑shaped monolith rose above the lava lake, hollowed inside and built into tiered structures like a towering spire.

The monolith's summit was a dark palace, its walls etched with countless Spirit‑absorbing Monsters, tendrils, and tadpole‑shaped murals, the style gloomy and eerie, exuding what seemed like tangible spiritual energy.

The vastness of this spiritual energy became visible to the naked eye.

It resembled a shimmering blue‑purple glow, capable of seizing souls, and seemed alive; staring at it longer would cause hallucinations. Many caves, stone bridges, and tunnels on the cliffs were also fitted with corresponding rune arrays and magical traps.

Throughout Yilaientu, an eerie spiritual light leaked everywhere, as if entering a twisted world of a nightmare.

The All-Seeing Eye could not see through this spiritual light, being limited everywhere, like trying to see flowers in fog.

The True Mirror Image lingered in the rift for a moment, then mind‑leapt again into the palace perched atop the monolith.

Just as back then.

The massive palace was extremely spacious, silent as a tomb; aside from a circular pool at its center, there was nothing else.

Reslin's True Mirror Image bowed to the pool and softly said, "Augulevi Master, I have arrived."

The water's surface churned, and a sphere of light rose from beneath.

The light sphere gradually dispersed, revealing a tall, slender figure; he wore an ornate magical robe of black and purple, his withered palm gripping a silver‑gray staff whose tip bore a dragon claw clutching a fist‑sized eerie eyeball, the pupil hourglass‑shaped.

He had an ugly, massive head, seemingly forced onto his torso, the skull stripped away to expose a brain riddled with fissures, looking gruesome.

Six withered pale‑purple tendrils hung from his chin, limp and dangling before his chest.

Where a face should be were only two hollow depressions, each containing a pair of flickering blue flames.

It is indeed Augulevi Master!

Augulevi floated up from the brain‑pool surface, gently landed, his robe's trailing hem dragging on the ground, glanced at Reslin, and the flames in his eye sockets flickered a few times.

"You always manage to surprise me, Lei En."

Augulevi's voice remained cold as ever; as he spoke, the tendrils on his chin twitched involuntarily, "You obtained the Master Brain's Heart and Creation Technique from me only a few short years ago, yet you have already fashioned so many powerful duplicates; I even regret it."

Clearly, he has already sensed the Grand Mage outside Yilaientu.

"Master."

Reslin's True Mirror Image, with sincere expression, said, "I mean no hostility; I came to Yilaientu today to visit the Master merely to ascertain your stance."

"To oppose me, ha…" Augulevi chuckled, though his dry‑skinned face showed no smile, seeming to mock, and retorted, "Do you truly wish to become emperor?"

"Yes."

The True Mirror Image answered calmly.

"Over a thousand years ago, the usurper Waldon and Kaflanz II crippled each other; I seized the chance to establish the Supreme Council, usurped the Empire's authority, precisely to prevent the Empire from ever having an emperor, turning Oryense into a wizard‑ruled realm."

Augulevi briefly recounted the past, the flames in his eye sockets frozen, his voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

"Now, you dare tell me you wish to become emperor?"

The Spirit‑absorbing Monster's central brain Lich suddenly emitted a terrifying aura; Arcane, spiritual energy, and death force swelled like seas, coalescing into substance that twisted the surrounding void to its limit, forming a bottomless black void that even devoured light.

Amid the roar, the entire palace shook violently, as if it could collapse at any moment.

Reslin faced Augulevi's pressure like a rock amid raging waves, then smiled faintly and calmly said, "Master, please calm your anger; it is not good for your mental state."

He seemed to have grasped Augulevi's thoughts.

Appearing furious, actually calm.

When truly enraged, Augulevi would never rely solely on intimidation; once he decides to act, he wouldn't utter a single word before striking.

He is intimidated!

The surging magical wave vanished abruptly, as if never having arisen; Augulevi snorted coldly, "What if I oppose?"

"Then you shall witness the Master's magical prowess," Reslin's True Mirror Image replied, "This is a perfect chance; I, Ryan Augustus, am fully qualified to become Oryense's emperor!"

As the words fell, thirteen figures teleported into the palace, scattering around the brain pool.

"Alsha has met Augulevi Master."

"Zevier…"

"Sarum…"

Mavoro……

Strange……

Ruizi……

Landerselin……

Yishamel……

Buleisi……

Makado has seen Augulevi Master.

Reslin and ten Grand Mages all paid homage to the greatest wizard in history, announcing their names.

The eerie blue flame in Augulevi's eye sockets flickered violently.

He sensed that powerful spellcasters were hidden outside Yilaientu, but he never expected there to be so many, nor that Lei En's Grand Mage clone would be of such a high level!

All four Reslins are above level thirty!

Among the ten Grand Mages, the two who called themselves Saruman and Makado were also above level thirty, while the remaining eight were all close to level thirty; each emanated astonishing magical fluctuations, mastered many nine-ring techniques, and their strength far surpassed that of peers of the same rank.

Arcane, psychic, shadow, and earth-water-fire-wind; the surging energy collision sparked an invisible storm.

So many Grand Mages are enough to match the entire Supreme Council!

Continue writing chapter two; it will be finished before 12 o'clock.

(End of chapter)