Chapter 115: Duel at the Summit (2)
At that instant, Kori flinched violently.
He felt all the ether contained within a radius of several dozen kilometers from the border to the military base every fragment of energy present in the duchy’s territory converging toward a single point: Helion’s palm.
"This power... It’s a Royal Authority!" he breathed, horrified.
("He’s going to erase everything. If he completes it, even I won’t come out unscathed if I do nothing.")
The refugees at the border, the candidates, the scattered enforcers... Everything would be annihilated across hundreds of kilometers!
Driven by a visceral sense of urgency, Kori could not help but shout toward Gramm, who stood motionless:
"If he isn’t stopped now, the consequences will be catastrophic!"
Yet Gramm remained unmoved.
At the moment a gigantic, glowing crimson sphere condensing a cataclysmic amount of ether materialized in Helion’s hand, Kori resolved to intervene at any cost.
However, before he could make a move.
Gramm finally moved.
"Interesting. So this is the true power of the Authority upon which your pride rests?"
His voice was calm, almost contemplative.
Helion watched him approach, a triumphant grin twisting his handsome features.
"It’s useless! It’s too late to stop me! You might be strong enough to survive, but everyone else will perish! Nothing will remain but dust and desolation!"
Gramm let out a small laugh, tinged with scornful pity.
"You may have awakened the legacy of your lineage and evolved, but you haven’t changed. Still as impulsive as ever. No wonder a mere marquis was able to manipulate you so thoroughly."
Helion recoiled as if struck.
A wound to his pride one he believed long healed was torn open anew.
"Mephisto? What are you implying? Is it him? Is he the one feeding you this information? Our attack, our arrival... Has he betrayed his own kind?"
Gramm stared at him, and this time, a glimmer of genuine pity crossed his gaze, as one might look upon a child’s incomprehensible tantrum.
"And you expected to conquer the throne with such an attitude? Know this: you may well be the most mediocre prince the Kingdom of Vermin currently has."
Helion’s rage, restrained to its absolute limit, crossed the point of no return.
No more calculation. No more strategy.
Only the visceral urge to reduce this arrogant man to ashes remained.
<< ROYAL AUTHORITY: CATACLYSM >>
The scarlet orb, now the size of a small star, compressed in a brutal silence, shrinking from the size of a house to a single point of infinite density.
Space itself warped around it, on the verge of imploding and unleashing an energy capable of erasing the entire region from the map.
At the precise moment the implosion was about to occur, Gramm crossed the distance between them.
He whispered, his voice so close it seemed to resonate within Helion’s very soul:
"As a reward for serving as my training partner, allow me to show you the true power of those who have Transcended."
He extended a hand and brushed Helion’s forehead.
<< Inverse Transmigration >>
---
Transmigration? What exactly was it?
It followed a simple rule, a logical progression in the mastery of power.
Upon becoming an Initiate, one acquired Resonance.
At the Intermediate rank, Coating.
Upon reaching the Master level, the soul fused with ether and body, giving birth to Sigma Mode.
The rule did not make an exception for Transcendants.
Transmigration was both a state and an ultimate technique that allowed the soul to... migrate.
To leave its fleshly vessel and travel elsewhere.
While all Transcendants mastered basic transmigration liberating their soul , some prodigious individuals had gone further.
Instead of allowing their soul to leave their body, why not bring another’s soul inside their own?
And why stop there?
Why not transmigrate an entire being into oneself?
---
Helion felt as though he had blinked.
When he opened his eyes, his surroundings had completely changed.
The red moon was gone. The black sky as well.
He now stood in a white space no ground, no walls, no horizon only infinite whiteness.
And before him stood Gramm, hands in the pockets of his black coat, which drifted gently in a wind that did not exist.
Helion looked around, disoriented, lost.
Before he could even form a question, Gramm answered him.
"Welcome to my soul. I remember you welcoming me earlier. It’s only polite to return the courtesy."
Helion tried to speak, but no sound left his mouth.
His state was entirely unfamiliar to him; a sensation of suffocation and vulnerability overwhelmed him.
As if sensing his distress, Gramm took cruel pleasure in deepening it.
"You asked me how I knew so much. Now it’s your turn to teach me everything you know. And when I say everything... I mean all of it. Every secret, every memory, every fragment of knowledge."
Helion wanted to protest, to struggle, but Gramm was already at his side, one hand resting on his shoulder with chilling familiarity.
"Don’t rush," Gramm whispered, his smile utterly devoid of warmth.
"We have all the time in the world."
---
Outside, in the real world, Kori saw Helion suddenly vanish the moment Gramm touched him.
He knew the rumors surrounding this technique; his surprise was therefore minimal.
With Helion’s disappearance, the cataclysmic energy that had been gathering vanished as well.
The apocalyptic pressure fell away as swiftly as it had come.
Watching Gramm, he saw him standing motionless, eyes closed, as if sunk into a deep trance.
("That’s the side effect.
Despite its overwhelming power, this technique has a major flaw: it leaves the user’s body completely defenseless.") Kori analyzed.
He slowly approached Gramm’s static form.
His hand rose hesitantly toward the exposed nape of the man’s neck.
("So vulnerable. If I wanted to, a little force would be enough. Isn’t that right, Gramm?") he thought, his gaze probing.
"I’m here. Please forgive my lateness."
San’s serene voice made Kori flinch, straightening instantly as if nothing had happened.
Kori turned his gaze toward the newcomer.
"You must be under the command of His Eminence Gramm?"
San inclined his head.
"Your Eminence Kori. The duchy has been completely eliminated, and the final formalities of this examination are about to conclude.
I believe the role Marshal Bucharest entrusted to you has now been fulfilled."
Kori opened his mouth to mention that a major enemy technically remained in play, but before he could utter a word, the black sky and red moon faded away.
The sun reappeared, bathing the devastated landscape in harsh light beneath a blue, cloudless sky.
At the same instant, Gramm’s eyes opened.
Kori understood immediately.
Helion was dead.
The Duchy of Araceae had definitively ceased to exist.
"Your Eminence, congratulations on your victory," Kori said with formal courtesy.
Gramm replied with equally measured politeness.
"Please convey my regards and my deepest respect to Marshal Bucharest."
"I will not fail to do so," Kori assured him, turning on his heel.
His mission was complete; all that remained was to gather his troops and return.
As soon as Kori moved away, the satisfied smile on Gramm’s face faded.
He dropped to one knee, a bead of sweat finally forming at his temple. A slow breath escaped his lips.
("I may have underestimated him.")
"This examination proved more memorable than expected," he declared, a faint smile returning.
"Inform the selected candidates that they will be granted two weeks of leave before we meet again at headquarters."
"At your command," San replied.
Thus ended what would remain in the annals as the most difficult examination ever conducted by the Order... and also the first and last that Gramm personally supervised.
No one ever again had the courage to entrust him with such responsibility.
***
AN:
Hello, dear reader , this is Nebu 11.
First of all, thank you for your loyalty and for reading this far.
This officially concludes the Examination Arc.
After a short epilogue, Volume 1 of The Era of Calamities will come to a close.
The story is only just beginning.
For attentive readers, I have planted several clues regarding the arcs that will be developed in the following volumes.
The journey is still long.
Thank you in advance for your continued support, and enjoy your reading.
