Chapter 42: Outer Gods
After forcefully entering the dungeon by breaking through both the spatial isolation barrier and the illusion spell layered over it, Aurelius Zenith immediately directed his gaze toward the lower level where the princess was located.
"So... this is the brat he spoke about," he remarked, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable weight as his eyes settled on Caelum.
At the same time, he noticed faint distortions in the surrounding space, clear signs of recent teleportation.
’He can perceive it... as expected of his child,’ Aurelius thought, observing Caelum’s reaction with quiet interest.
"Ho ho... your senses are quite sharp, and for protecting them, you will be rewarded. Come to the Headmaster’s office once this is over," he added.
With a simple gesture, he erected two layered barriers around Zoe and Matilda, completely isolating them from their surroundings.
’The corruption has already spread through their souls... saving them would be nearly impossible,’ he concluded inwardly.
A trace of cold anger surfacing beneath his composed exterior.
The fact that such an incident had taken place within his own backyard without his knowledge was something he did not take lightly.
His senses expanded further.
Without disturbing them in the slightest, he brushed past the minds of nearby students, extracting fragments of memory and quickly piecing together the situation.
With another motion of his hand, he poured an elixir over Anastasia, its gentle light stabilizing her condition and easing the mental strain she had endured.
The true difficulty lay elsewhere.
The energy used by these people was abnormal, elusive, and difficult to trace through conventional means.
However, knowing Anastasia’s condition since birth, Aurelius required little time to determine the appropriate course of action.
Once satisfied, he vanished from the lower level and reappeared at the highest floor beneath the Observation Room, where the remnants of spatial distortion and dense dark mana still lingered.
’So the bastard managed to escape,’ he thought, narrowing his gaze slightly as he considered the few individuals capable of wielding such refined dark energy.
Then, almost as an afterthought.
’At least our cooperation with the barbarians has proven useful... these people are still unaware of the newer developments.’
Aurelius was fully aware that the isolation spell used within the dungeon was of the highest grade, capable of severing all forms of communication.
However, what the attackers had failed to account for was a recent breakthrough, methods that allowed signals to bypass even complete spatial isolation.
That was precisely why he had entrusted Ethan with an emergency tool.
After all, Ethan was not only a promising talent of the Empire but also someone who possessed the potential to reach heights many at Aurelius’s level could only aspire toward.
Raising his hand, Aurelius released a surge of brilliant white light.
The radiance spread outward instantly, purging the dense dark mana that lingered in the environment.
And in the very next moment.
With the external support gone, the Observation Room, already strained by the ongoing battle within, could no longer maintain its structural integrity.
BOOM!
***
Dorian stood on the brink of collapse, his mana reserves nearly depleted after pushing himself beyond his limits, yet even in that state, he was far better off than Johnson.
’Damn it...’ Johnson thought as he coughed up blood, his vision blurring while his eyes remained bloodshot from strain and injury.
He was already on the verge of death due to excessive blood loss, and with his mana completely exhausted, survival itself had become uncertain.
If not for the emergency magic scrolls and the high-grade healing potions he had consumed, he would have already fallen.
Lumi was not faring any better.
’What kind of techniques are these...?’ she wondered, her thoughts strained as she endured her condition.
Her injuries were severe, with her left arm completely gone, and yet she still forced herself to remain standing, unwilling to fall while the threat remained.
"Kuhu... despite some minor complications, everything is proceeding exactly as planned," Oliver said with unsettling excitement.
Black blood continued to seep from his body, staining the ground beneath him, yet his expression was filled with twisted satisfaction.
"How are you still–?!" Vivian began, attempting to launch another attack.
But before she could complete it, her eyes lost focus.
A strange pressure began radiating from her body, distorting the very space around her.
Even Oliver froze mid-expression, as if witnessing something beyond his expectations, but instead of fear, a look of exhilaration spread across his face.
The surrounding space began to crack.
It could no longer contain her presence.
Then, the Observation Room itself fractured, its structure failing as the anchor that held it collapsed.
"I offer this insignificant body to the Greater Void. O great being... grant this lowly one the truth and knowledge hidden from ordinary eyes, O great being... grant me knowledge beyond this sealed space." Vivian said, her voice trembling yet resolute.
For a single moment, her life force disappeared.
Then something else replaced it.
A dreadful presence emerged, one that caused an instinctive reaction in everyone present, as if something far worse than death had turned its gaze upon them.
Darkness swallowed their vision.
Every single one of them went blind for a few seconds, not because their eyes had failed, but because their very existence rejected the act of perceiving what stood before them.
It was as if their bodies had instinctively shut down that function to protect their minds from collapse.
When their senses returned, Vivian was no longer the same.
Her form began to distort, breaking apart and reforming in unnatural ways, as though her body could no longer maintain a stable existence.
With a casual motion of her hand, Oliver, who had been watching in delight, suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
Before anyone could react, that mist was drawn into her, absorbed completely as if it was a part of her.
"This is bad," Aurelius said, his expression turning uncharacteristically grave.
Without hesitation, he acted.
With precise control, he erased the memories of Dorian, Johnson, and Lumi regarding what they were witnessing.
There were things in this world that were never meant to be known by the weak.
Things that only a select few were allowed to see, to understand, and to survive.
Because without the strength to bear them, one would simply be consumed.
And what stood before Aurelius now... was one such existence.
Not the being itself, but a fragment.
An insignificant portion of something far more dangerous, something that, by the laws of the world itself, must be destroyed without exception.
Because it belonged to a class of entities known as: Outer Gods.
