Chapter 569: Temporal Clash

Time's End, the world's most powerful Legend Grade staff, in the hands of a suitable caster, its might rivals a divine artifact!

Its shaft is not very long, about 1.8 meters, roughly the height of an ordinary adult man; its material is unknown, the surface is rough, covered with silver‑gray scale‑like patterns, the tip is finer, like a spearhead, gradually thickening toward the staff head, yet proportioned harmoniously. The head resembles a clenched silver‑gray dragon claw, gripping a peculiar gem.

The bright golden gem is only half a fist in size, like a strange eyeball; its outer layer has twelve faint concentric rings, each encircling the pupil deep within the core.

Upon close inspection, the pupil appears to be a black‑and‑white hourglass.

As one of the world's most famous staffs, a weapon countless casters have dreamed of wielding, its origin is known to few, and its enchantment effects are described only vaguely.

At least by the mid‑Second Era, roughly fourteen thousand years ago, this staff had already appeared in the hands of a powerful caster of that time.

Through the long ages, Time's End has passed through many owners and has also vanished for extended periods.

Augulevi Master obtained Time's End before the Holy Soul Ascension.

For over two thousand years it has accompanied Augulevi Master, becoming one of his symbols of status; the Supreme Council's Holy Soul Wizards are all familiar with Time's End and know it fairly well.

Time's End carries multiple time‑related spells.

It can accelerate casting, shorten the cooldown intervals of all the holder's spells, and grant immunity to any ongoing effects that require time to take effect—such as dehydration, disease, toxins, curses, and so on. In other words, only instantaneous effects can harm the staff's owner.

The most powerful spell of Time's End is "Time Reversal".

It is a Ten‑ring Spell!

The spell's effect lives up to its name: it can be cast instantly, causing time within an area centered on the caster to flow backward, with the duration of reversal decided by the caster.

The longer the reversal, the larger the area, and the more soul‑energy it consumes.

Moreover, the cost of casting Time Reversal is similar to Wish Spell; the soul‑energy or mana expended is lost forever, unrecoverable.

After releasing Time Reversal, one must wait twelve hours before it can be cast again.

Even with these limits, the formidable power of Time Reversal remains undiminished; it is said that even deities cannot break its effect, and divine immunity to time is greatly reduced, thus it is praised as comparable to a divine artifact!

At this moment, the Lich raised Time's End.

The golden eye on the staff head radiated black and white light; within a radius of a thousand meters, everything touched by the light—objects, corners, ground, air, fireballs, longswords, spells, Wizards, demon souls—had all color stripped away, turning the world into one of only black and white.

Time first stalled for an extremely brief instant, fleeting to the point of being imperceptible.

Ouroin Master's longsword had already struck the Lich, piercing the spatial barrier and reaching the Lich's core; the staff head was only a few inches away from smashing his head;

Anxiwodasi's fireball also flashed onto the top, ready to explode in the next instant;

Higher up, the ancient dragon demon's massive cleaver, like a mountain pressing down, sliced through a visibly huge gust of wind, as if to cleave the world in two;

Howai Master's torrent of spells also inundated the Lich's back;

Tim*Kenan, after breaking Time Stop, also summoned a ten‑meter‑long Rending Sky Sword, thrust toward the Lich, less than three meters away.

But all of this froze.

Then, time in the black‑and‑white world began to flow backward.

From afar, outside the spell's radius, Lei En, Sabra and Prophet Medif saw that space as if a rewind button had been pressed; the flow of time reversed, the past became the future, and everything ran backward.

Ouroin Master retracted his longsword and wooden staff, flashing backward away from the Lich; the spatial rift he had sliced also sealed rapidly. The fireballs that filled the sky rose upward, returning to Anxiwodasi's front. The ancient dragon demon charged backward in a bizarre posture. The torrent of spells scattered, returning to Howai Master and his elemental demon soul. Tim*Kenan's Rending Sky Sword flew back, vanishing without a trace.

It was only a second.

The several besieging Holy Soul Wizards reverted to their pre‑attack state; the spells and weapons they had unleashed were withdrawn, scattering in different directions.

Ouroin Master shrank back to normal size, and the spells he had imbued on himself vanished.

Howai Master's demon soul returned to his soul‑gathering tower; he took out a pipe and placed it in his mouth, but instead of smoking, the smoke flowed backward into his nasal cavity, then back into the pipe.

Tim*Kenan Master uttered a brief word; the sound wave materialized out of thin air, then contracted back into his throat—it was the word "caution" spoken in reverse.

Anxiwodasi's fireball dissipated, and the shield's glow dimmed.

That was not the end; time continued to flow backward.

Two seconds, three seconds…

The Lich himself remained unaffected, standing there immovable, one hand holding Time's End to sustain the Time Reversal, the other hand beginning to cast.

He first duplicated himself from the future.

Two Liches stood side by side.

Then, targeting the Holy Soul Wizards, he hurled one after another Nine‑ring Spells, Greater Dispel Magic, Energy‑Siphon, Ultra‑effective Spell Penetration, Annihilation Sphere, Celestial Fury Fist, Death Finger, Banshee Wail, Death Decree, Collapse Technique, Meteor Storm, Chain Ultra‑effective Meteor Spell…

The spells cast varied according to each Holy Soul Wizard.

The true form of the Duke of Silver Star was forced to reveal itself; the Lich did not spare her, hurling several Nine‑ring Spells at her.

The Time Reversal continued.

At the sixth second, the time‑cloned Lich vanished, leaving only one Lich; he did not cease casting spells, and more and more accumulated, each Holy Soul Wizard being enveloped by at least seven or eight spells.

Lei En and Sabra were horrified and paled.

Prophet Medif had already acted from the very first second of the Time Reversal.

He tried to interrupt the Lich's spells, but found himself too far away; the other spells that had relocated the Holy Soul Wizards also failed.

The area of Time Reversal became isolated, existing in a separate world unreachable from the outside.

The Lich, at the cost of his soul‑energy, maintained the Time Reversal.

"We're doomed!"

Prophet Medif shouted anxiously.

The Holy Soul Wizards caught in the Time Reversal were virtually undefended; even though many protective spells were constantly active on them, for a forty‑one‑level Lich, breaking those defenses was far too easy.

Perhaps the Holy Soul Wizards could resist or shrug off one or two Nine‑ring Spells.

But they certainly could not withstand so many.

Moreover, the temporal direction of those Nine‑ring Spells is opposite to that of the Holy Soul Wizards; at the instant the reversal ends, they are caught completely off guard, the spells materializing before their eyes with no time to react, engulfing them.

By then, how many Holy Soul Wizards could possibly survive?

Given the Lich's spell power, if luck is bad, all five Holy Soul Wizards could be wiped out!

And the three onlookers would also find it hard to escape death.

Mei Dif's face turned ashen; he could not imagine this outcome— the Supreme Council would lose eight members, including the three big heads, so what difference does that make from the Council's dissolution?

Without the Supreme Council's protection, the Empire will also be destroyed.

Lei En also thought of it, but he is now only a Mirror Image; even if his true self arrived, he would be powerless, tantamount to a suicide, and can only watch helplessly.

"We must do something!" Mei Dif shouted, unwilling.

Sabra and Lei En both shook their heads miserably.

The fact that they survived the Lich's hunt was already a miracle; a battle of this level is simply beyond their reach.

Each additional second that Time Reversal is maintained drains more soul energy from the Lich.

Obviously, the Lich intends to annihilate the opponent completely.

He spares no soul energy consumption.

In an instant, Time Reversal had already gone back nine seconds, about to hit the ten‑second limit of the technique. Let the strongest Wizard in history lock onto the opponent for ten seconds to cast the spell; no one could survive, not even a deity incarnation.

Five Holy Soul Wizards stood at five directions, speaking backwards, their positions unmoving.

Their protections did not trigger, each bearing a different expression.

Before acting, the Holy Soul Wizards surrounded the Lich and entered a brief exchange; the Lich was surprisingly compliant, now revealing that he was creating an excellent opportunity to cast Time Reversal, the exchange lasting far beyond ten seconds, enough for casting.

Lei En never imagined the situation would develop to this point.

The other Holy Soul Wizards were no different.

The teachers have been planning for so long; they know Augulevi Master's strength better than anyone and surely understand the power of Time's End, so why was there no defense against the Time Reversal move?

Lei En had never felt time stretch so long.

The final second of the reversal decides the Supreme Council's success or failure, the Empire's survival, and countless lives in a single second, yet it passes so swiftly.

Tick—!

The last second is about to end; as Lei En and the other two despaired, a beam of light pierced the black‑and‑white world.

It was a dazzling golden light, like a sharp sword, cleaving the world within Time Reversal; within the radiance appeared a gaunt figure, clad in a black robe, pale skin, an ordinary face, looking very young—just over twenty years old, with a pair of faint golden hourglasses in the pupils.

Black Robe Duke Tu Zilei!

His movements seemed slow, but were actually at the extreme speed, falling into the Time Reversal zone like light yet completely unaffected.

At the moment he manifested, he uttered in a deep voice, "Time Stop!"

The Black Robe Duke also held a Legend Grade staff—the Truth Light of Majisi.

The straight gray shaft was smooth and rounded, like a polished wooden rod, devoid of any ornamentation; the tip embedded a faintly glowing multifaceted crystal, activated by soul energy, emitting a cool magical radiance like a lamp in darkness, dispelling the monotone black and white.

Time Reversal was halted in the final instant.

The colors of everything returned to normal, yet seamlessly connected, and the surrounding space entered the Black Robe Duke's Time Stop.

The Black Robe Duke himself did not stop; the Lich, wielding Time's End, was also immune to the spell's effect.

However, the spell the Lich cast left him, so he could not be immune to Time Stop; it hovered mid‑air, unable to land on the Holy Soul Wizards to take effect.

The Lich's rhythm was thrown off by the sudden turn of events.

The clash of time—Reversal versus Stop, light versus black‑and‑white—produced an invisible, fierce collision that halted his spirit for half a breath.

The Black Robe Duke was prepared; he pointed his staff at the Lich.

"Truth Light."

A cone of pure radiant light enveloped the Lich; this is the strongest spell on the Legend Grade staff, reaching Nine-ring, and one of the few spells unaffected by Time Stop, directly piercing the Time Stop zone to strike the target.

The Lich was caught off guard, hit by the expanded light cone.

His spatial barrier was best against melee attacks, but could not block beam‑type spells; the Magic Siphon that just emerged was pierced, only managing to absorb a small amount of energy, reducing some of its power.

The Truth Light struck the Lich's true form, shining into his soul.

"Ah…"

The Lich let out a wail.

The Truth Light spell originates from a human Grand Mage of the Third Epoch named Majisi, the creator of the Legend Grade staff in the Black Robe Duke's hand.

It produces different effects on different targets.

A person with pure, kind thoughts hit by Truth Light suffers almost no harm, akin to ordinary sunlight; a person with chaotic, disordered thoughts experiences soul tremors, extreme dizziness, and loses all will to resist; a fallen, corrupted evil being struck endures massive soul damage comparable to Nine-ring Death Finger, and if not killed, also suffers dizziness, paralysis, and intimidation effects.

If an otherworldly creature is hit, it is immediately expelled.

The Lich, being one of the most evil beings, receives the greatest damage from Truth Light, which pierces his mental defenses and tears his soul.

Cries of agony rang out.

The Lich ultimately did not die outright; his powerful soul passed the death saving throw.

Time's End rendered him immune to the negative effects of Truth Light; he endured excruciating brain pain, instantly cast, and summoned up to twelve Mirror Images.

He intended to confuse the Black Robe Duke and strike at the Holy Soul Wizards trapped in Time Stop.

However, the Holy Soul Wizards' spiritual essence has undergone at least seven metamorphoses; without relying on Element or external force, they can resist part of the Time Stop effect.

They regained their thinking ability and received a magical transmission from Mei Dif.

They instantly understood everything that had just occurred.

The five Holy Soul Wizards, seizing the chance that the Lich was blocked by the Black Robe Duke, flashed away from the Nine-ring Technique attack zones, and the Lich's Mirror Images lagged half a step.

The Black Robe Duke also teleported away; once he left, Time Stop ended, and the sky‑filled spells instantly took effect.

The Lich's complexion finally changed.

He instinctively teleported away; a massive purple ring descended in the void, perfectly timed, imprisoning him and all his Mirror Images within that space, rendering all spatial displacement spells ineffective.

Boom—

Dozens of Nine-ring Techniques erupted simultaneously, engulfing the Lich and his Mirror Images.

These Nine-ring Techniques he unleashed left no effort spared; each spell's power was astonishingly great, and he ultimately bore them all himself.

The Holy Soul Wizards outside also did not stand by idly.

Anxiwodasi threw twenty‑five nine‑ring fireballs again, Tim*Kenan summoned a massive Rending Sky Sword, Howai Master's spell torrent surged forth, Ouroin Master entered a berserk state, staying vigilant beside Duke Silver Star, waiting only for the Lich to appear to unleash the strongest slash.

The Holy Soul Wizards keep their distance and cast spells to their heart's content.

Six attack one, there's no need to discuss tactics; just blast straight away.

Explosion, Tear, Collapse, Earthquake, Lightning strike, Storm, Ray… the area where the Lich is located is bombarded indiscriminately by spells, terrifying energy ravaging that space, making Lei En, who is several li away, feel his heart race.

He feels both anticipation and nervousness in his heart, wondering if the Lich can survive.

(End of Chapter)