In Autumn Reach, Byron, Lauren, Olivia, Silas, and the rest had already stopped upon hearing a female's amplified voice. Seeing that the person who had spoken could not be seen, the battle resumed.
However, the battle was again interrupted when a blinding light filled the sky.
All of them were forced to cover their eyes, but they did not lower their guards.
Similar scenes happened in several different locations.
In the Tower of Conclave, Osric and the others looked up, shocked to see the blinding light. Although they had heard a female voice speaking earlier, Osric ordered them to ignore it and focus on attacking the Conclave's defensive array.
The reason behind Osric's order was because he was confident Layla would not be at a disadvantage against the owner of that voice.
That was right. He knew who that voice belonged to because he had once met her in battle a thousand years ago.
The Queen of the Faes, White Lily.
Nevertheless, Osric wanted to return to Layla's side as soon as possible. Thus, after recovering half of his magic energy, he decided to use a powerful magic spell to attack the defensive array of the Tower of Conclave.
But before Osric could complete his preparation, the sky was covered with a blinding light, and he was suddenly racked with a bad feeling.
On the one hand, White Lily's resounding voice earlier had provided Eoin and company in the Lumley Family's Ancestral Hall a chance to execute their plan.
Their execution had been flawless because the enemy ranks seemed to have fallen into disarray from White Lily's timely interruption. Her overbearing stance actually made frightened the enemies, and most of them thought the opposing side had turned the tide.
Nevertheless, before Eoin and company could complete their plan, the sudden blinding light that covered the sky distracted them, and both sides stopped attacking.
In Noser, a somewhat different scene happens.
When Anette suddenly returned and told Ezra and the rest what had happened, they felt indignant— particularly Zephyr and the rest of Kyran's beast Sigils.
All of them unanimously agreed to destroy the enemies on their side in three minutes while the spirits prepared a passage to use so they could get to Ravenpass in the shortest time.
Frankly, a spirit passage that humans could use was impossible to make. But the spirits planned to take advantage of the crevices that started to appear because of the arrival of the Sovereigns.
Before they could make a move, though, they heard White Lily's raging voice and were somewhat elated. Of course, they knew she could not save the Regis Clan alone; thus, they still proceeded with their initial plan.
However, the spirits had yet to complete the passage when the sky was suddenly covered with a blinding light.
All of them were forced to a stop.
Similarly, all factions watching these happenings unfold were shocked by the sudden turn of events. Even the regular citizens were alarmed, especially those who lived in places where it was supposed to be nighttime.
In any case, starting from White Lily's rage to the descent of the Sovereigns through the hole in the sky, everyone was now fully aware that a major event was happening in the empire. And most of them guessed it all started with the attack in Noser.
"Who gave you permission to enter the Human plane?"
Following the blinding light that filled the sky was a deep and powerful voice that shook the whole empire. After that, a magic fluctuation that affected the whole empire was felt by everyone— including those who did not possess any magic.
True Void, who had not yet recovered from the sinking feeling because of the descent of the Sovereigns, was instantly thrilled upon recognizing the voice.
He looked up just in time for the blinding light to slowly disperse.
But it had not completely disappeared. Instead, it converged and turned into a huge golden net that covered the whole sky of the Ylfaen Empire.
"Sovereign's Cradle!" True Void exclaimed in excitement.
The Sovereigns who had just entered the Human plane were shocked as they felt their level being restrained by a powerful force.
"ARGH!"
All five Sovereigns— Calx, Club, Frock, Gemini, and Squall screamed excruciatingly at how the cradle's effect tore through their bodies. They felt as if several pointed chains gripped through their inner core, squeezing out the magic energies in their body and forcing their levels to drop several times.
They would not have suffered such torture if they had entered the Human plane with the Sovereign's Cradle in effect. Even if they forced their way in, their level would have been restrained automatically without having to experience the torturous restraining process.
However, they had entered when the cradle lost its effect. This ensured that their physical bodies would be able to cross the last veil that separated outside influence from affecting the Human plane completely. This means they could enter the Human plane in their completely unadulterated body.
Precisely because of this, when the cradle appeared, it saw them as foreign objects that had to be eliminated unless their mage level fell into a 'safe' one.
"RAWRGH!" Calx roused his magic and tried to fight the influence of the new cradle.
His huge steel tower frame further increased in size, albeit there were visible cracks all over its surface. The horse engraving in front of his body seemed to come to life as Calx's body frame enlarged.
WOOOSH!
A gigantic black, gold, and silver hand appeared from the hole and grabbed Calx's huge body,
"GUAAAAH!" Calx screamed in pain as the gigantic hand tightened around him.
It would have been alright if the hand's movement only damaged his physical body. But he soon realized that cracks had also appeared in his inner core.
"N-NOOOOO—!"
SHATTER!
Calx's agonized screaming came to an abrupt stop as his whole body shattered from the gigantic hand's grip.
"C-Calx!"
Gemini and the others were petrified after confirming Calx's death.
Calx was known to be one of the most powerful defense-focus Sovereigns in the Lower Realm, and he was actually crushed to death by a single grip! It was inconceivable!
Even if Calx's level was being restrained, the whole process had not been completed yet, so to the rest, it was impossible for him to die just like that.
No.
Gemini and company were suddenly reminded how they struggled to go past the human Ruin was working with.
Yes. That human, whom Ruin called Nolan. Even when outnumbered and disadvantaged, he managed to prevent all five of them from entering the hole.
Of course, if Obstruction had led the attack, it might have been a different story. But Ruin kept Obstruction at bay while Nolan faced the rest alone.
In the end, Obstruction managed to slip past Ruin's attack and trapped Nolan in a separate space. Gemini and the rest then took this opportunity to enter the Human plane.
Ruin tried to stop them, but what could he do when Obstruction was there to keep him busy?
Gemini and the other four entered the Human plane without using an essence. After all, Light had already confirmed that the Sovereign's Cradle had long lost its effect.
But.
How did it come to this? Why was the Sovereign's Cradle suddenly in effect?
Gemini first suspected that Light had betrayed them. But seeing the gigantic hand and how it easily crushed Calx to death, Gemini was convinced that the Sovereign's Cradle had been reactivated because a new Human plane Sovereign had appeared.
And that was the very human they were fighting outside— Nolan!
The gigantic hand dispersed, filling the whole sky with thick black particles. But these particles did not stay spread out. They soon converged, forming a gigantic golem. Soon after, a figure in black descended from the hole and landed on the golem's head.
It was none other than Nolan.
"F*cking b*tches," Nolan said, his voice still amplified and echoed throughout the land. "Forcing me to break through! I'll make your f*cking sorry asses into mince meat."
True Void, with his limited expression due to his miniature armor form, twitched slightly upon hearing Nolan's cursing. He already sensed that the Sovereign's Cradle was no longer Azaloth's, and to be honest, he was feeling mixed emotions. However, he could still sense the latter's essence, Mannick, so he tried not to think about it in the meantime.
In any case, now that a new Sovereign had appeared, the Human plane was safe against the possible invasion of the other Sovereigns.
At least True Void wanted to rejoice in that fact.
However, his actions were now restricted, with Nolan becoming the new Sovereign of the Human plane.
Just as Azaloth was not allowed to meddle in the affairs of the Human plane, Nolan could no longer assist in dealing with Layla.
With the Macabre Glacier out in the open, how would they deal with it if they had one less capable mage's assistance?
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