242 Final Brilliance of the Dying Sun

The Forbidden Technique of the Imperial Clan's cultivation method, the Final Brilliance of the Dying Sun required igniting one's remaining potential for a chance at a last stand. As a result, it could generate the strongest power that a practitioner could possibly generate in exchange of their life.

It was a technique that one couldn't possibly cancel once activated. Staring at the ball of fire that resembled the sun floating in mid-air. Mathias knew that he had no time to waste. Clenching his fists, he glared at Danilo's direction before fiercely turning around towards the direction of the Core Disciples Region.

"I sure hope that you won't regret this decision, old bastard..." Mathias cursed as he mumbled into the air. He knew that Danilo had some methods that he could use to prevent himself from dying when activating the Forbidden Technique.

The Final Brilliance of the Dying Sun indiscriminately harmed everyone or anything around apart from the caster. And since Mathias knew that Danilo didn't have the heart to sacrifice his own life so he knew that the soul whom Danilo was using in igniting the Forbidden Technique didn't belong to him.

As for whom it belonged to, Mathias couldn't even spare the time to care. Shrugging, he flew towards the opposite direction, heading for the Core Disciples Region. Even if the Forbidden Technique didn't use a Divine Ascendance Realm cultivator's soul as fuel, it still possessed enough power to shake the foundations of the Academy.

"What are you doing?!" Mathias stared in horror at the direction of the Core Disciples Border. With his heightened senses, he could see an ant from at least a kilometer away so he instantly discovered the presence of so many moving disciples that ran towards the direction of the other regions in a frantic and desperate manner.

Mathias took a jadeslip from within his storage space and immediately contacted the Elders at the Core Disciples Region. His expression dark and locked in frustration. Mathias understood the concerns of the disciples who had families living within the region of the Academy. But witnessing them running towards their families frustrated him.

"Can't these young punks wait for my explanation before rushing out like this?!" In his anger, Mathias crushed the jadeslip within his hand into dust. Rotating his cultivation base, a sound like muffled thunder reverberated as he flew towards the distance.

Descending from the skies, it didn't even took five minutes for Mathias to arrive at the Core Disciples Region with his speed. Facing the Elders who stood there with blank expressions. Mathias harshly scolded.

"Are you old bastards, stupid or what? With your cultivation, it should be easy for you guys to stop them! Now everything has gone to shit!"

He flared up and those who saw his anger couldn't help but feel a shiver down their spines. It was the first time that they saw their normally composed and calm Headmaster being so furious.

Standing there together with their heads hung low, these Elders who were unparalleled talents in their generation looked like little children amidst Mathias's scoldings. They didn't dare to show any shame nor indignance for fear of aggravating Mathias's anger.

"You old fools! We don't have time for this, activate the Grand Barrier now!" Mathias stopped his scoldings and scoffed. Crossing his arms together, his eyes flashed with a light of complicated expressions. He also has a family so he knew the pain that his disciples were going through.

"But Headmaster, what are we going to do with the disciples that ran outside towards their families?" The middle-aged Elder who announced the state of emergency towards the disciples earlier asked in an uncertain manner. All the other Elders also turned to look at Mathias.

Each and everyone of them wished in their hearts that Mathias would do something to help those commoners stuck at the Outer and Inner Region of the Academy. After all, though they were cultivators. They were once mortals and commoners were human for them too.

Nevertheless, they didn't voice their opinions out. They understood that Mathias was a ruthless man that prioritized benefits at all cost. Saving those mortals meant that the Paradyne Academy would have to sacrifice precious resources that they painstakingly saved up for their disciples.

Mathias stared at these Elders with a gloomy and dark expression on his face. He wanted to save the resources of the Academy for the sake of the future generation but that meant losing the trust of his Elders.

In that case, does he even have a choice?

With a dark countenance, Mathias solemnly declared: "We're going to save the commoners, as for our disciples. Just let them run away to their families. I'll personally control the Grand Barrier, all of you guys stay here and make sure that no disciple is hurt from this stampede."

The Elders who heard his words were taken aback. They thought that Mathias would shrug off this issue, so his answer was unexpected for them. Nodding their heads solemnly, they all stared at Mathias's direction only to find that the latter had disappeared towards the direction of the highest mountain peak.

Clasping their hands together, the Elders deeply bowed in respect towards Mathias's direction as all of them turned towrads the disciples and started their work on calming down the crowd.

Soaring through the skies, Mathias soon arrived at the peak of the highest mountain and entered his residence. Sweeping his arm in the air. Space collapsed and Spatial Fluctuations emerged along with a Spatial Tear where Mathias swiftly entered.

At the other side of the Spatial Tear. Mathias arrived in a dark space, a strange sensation overwhelmed his body and he felt like he was floating up in the air. Sweeping his gaze across the darkness, innumerable runes suddenly lit up around him and surrounded his body.

These runes looked mystical as they floated in the air, emanating dreamy lights that looked ethereal and out of this world. Knitting his eyebrows for a moment, Mathias touched one of these floating runes and shuffled them together like solving a puzzle.

Shifting here, shifting there. Mathias carefully guided all of these runes into their suitable slots. His dignified countenance revealed traces of sweat that slowly dripped towards his chin. Despite the pressure that he experienced, his movements still looked fluid and without a trace of panic.

Eventually, all of these runes came together and surged into a brilliant and colorful explosion that resembled a firework exploding in the skies. Sighing in relief, Mathias calmed himself down as the dark space around him slowly changed, the sensation of weightlessness disappeared and Mathias found himself standing on a dark hallway.

Before him stood a dual-entry door that emanated an archaic smell which permeated the nose. Tracing the door with his eyes, Mathias found that the door stood so tall that he couldn't even see the top of it even with his heightened senses.

Opening the door with his palm pushed outward, the machinery inside the door creaked and rotated as they rumbled into life. Slowly, yet surely opening, Mathias calmed his perturbed heart and entered, walking towards the other side behind the door.

At the other side of the door, floated an interface that looked similar to the runes that he manipulated earlier. However, when Mathias stood before the interface, his expression turned solemn as he vigorously tapped on the runes that acted like buttons.

In each tap that he did, the earth rumbled and the skies outside the Paradyne Academy, changed. Black clouds rolled above the skies, blocking sunlight from reaching the ground as the entire Academy entered a state of complete darkness.

"It's judgement day... It's judgement day!" The commoners who saw the darkening of the skies screamed hysterically towards the skies. Women, children and even adults kowtowed on the ground, repeatedly asking for forgiveness as tears rolled down their cheeks.

"Father, please calm down. It's just the Headmaster doing that kind of thing to protect us from that huge ball of light over there!" The disciples who arrived at their families consoled their parents and siblings that everything was fine, yet they couldn't even suppress the trembling of their knees.

The Core Disciples that knew more about the Academy stood there with reverence and admiration shining within their eyes, the Grand Barrier of the Paradyne Academy was one of the strongest barrier that they ever knew, made from combinations of at least a thousand arrays and formations, it was practically indestructible for their eyes.

But right now, when observing that miniature sun glowing at the distance. All of them felt insecure and disturbed in their hearts. Could the Grand Barrier actually defend against that fireball when it explodes? None of them knew that answer to their questions.

Even more anxious than them was the Elders of the Paradyne Academy who stood together with their hands clenched in apprehension. Cold sweat dripped down their backs, yet they could do nothing other than watch and await the conclusion of the Imperial Clan's invasion.

Thunder rumbled, bestowing some light amidst the darkness as the black clouds that rolled overhead slowly shrunk until it covered the entire Core Disciples Region. Light returned at the Inner and Outer Disciples Region yet when the Elders saw what happened, their anxiousness intensified even further.

"This black cloud should be the Grand Barrier of the Academy... Right now, it only covers the Core Disciples Region, I wonder if the Headmaster will expand the coverage of the Barrier so that it'll protect the Outer and Inner Disciples Region too..." A middle-aged Elder blurted out.

"Definitely, I don't think that the Headmaster would be that ruthless to not think about the safety of his citizens. Even if they're mortals, they still have lives and remember that we were once mortals before we're cultivators!"

A woman at his mid-thirties retorted and the other Elders nodded their heads in agreement. They all knew that Mathias was ruthless but they believed that he still has a compassionate heart.

Sighing in their hearts, each and every Elder calmed themselves down. Since everything has already went this far, there's nothing that they could do other than to obey the Headmaster's command. Protect every disciple!

Within the cocoon of brilliant light above the skies of the Entertainment Block was Danilo who stared with a light smile on his face at the black clouds that roiled overhead. Rotating his cultivation base, his Spiritual Energy surged and diffused in his surroundings as the cocoon of light that enveloped him, gradually grew larger.

It expanded and wherever and whatever it touched turned into dust as space continuously collapsed. If not for the fact that the space within the Academy was stabilized by several dozens of arrays and formations intertwined with each other, a black hole may have already appeared and swallowed everything to nothingness.

Blood spurted out of Danilo's arms. His seven orifices bled and the skin on his body burst out, revealing his pinkish muscles that slowly drained out of blood. Despite the intense pain that wracked his body. Danilo kept his silence and never voiced his complaints.

The brilliant sun that floated in mid-air expanded from the size of a small house into the size of a small mountain. Its brilliance spread so far that its light reached the Outer and Inner Disciples Region, acting like a beacon in the dark.

"Sunlight?" A disciple embracing his family blurted out when he noticed the light and warmth that struck his cheeks. But soon, his eyes widened in shock and realization when he saw that the walls of his house started melting. The light clearly didn't came from the sun, but from that miniature sun floating at the Entertainment Block!

"Oh god, no..." The disciple rotated his cultivation base and enveloped his family with a layer of Spiritual Energy to protect them from the heatwave. Walking out of his house, he and his family desperately ran towards the Core Disciples Region for protection.

Same scenes occurred throughout the other Regions, disciples with their families ran about, some disciples strapped their younger siblings on their bodies and carried their parents with each of their arms, as they tried their best to escape the heatwave from the miniature sun.

Mathias who merged with the Grand Barrier saw everything that happened down below. In his current state, he could see every nook and cranny within the Academy so it wasn't strange that he knew what was going on. Staring at Danilo's direction, Mathias understood that everything was at the point of no return.

"Sacrificing so much just for the sake of a single attack, are you trying to prove something to me, old geezer?" Mathias bitterly smiled, opening his mouth. He fiercely bit at the tip of his tongue as blood splattered on the interface. It turned crimson-red as a result as Mathias wiped his lips and said.

"I wonder what you're feeling now, old bastard..."

He said in an aggrieved tone before directing his solemn gazes to the outside world.

Back within the miniature sun, enveloped by a cocoon of light that bestowed him protection. Danilo floated there with his consciousness murky and hazy. Staring towards the skies, he could see within his remaining consciousness, a faint figure of a young woman smiling at him from the heavens.

Her smile was so bright and colorful, yet her eyes sparkled with emotions that contrasted that smile. From within her eyes were resentment, hatred, anger and utmost fury that trembled the heavens itself.

"Everything's fine already, Celline. You can rest now, after this. I shall rest too..." Danilo affectionately mumbled, his expression lost all the craziness that he had, instead. He looked incomparably tranquil and at peace.

The woman staring at the skies sweetly smiled, her eyes that sparkled with negative emotions changed into peacefulness and affection. Sweeping towards Danilo's reaction, she pecked his forehead before dissipating into innumerable light crystals.

Taking a deep breath, Danilo swept his gaze around him and absorbed all the scenery that he could. Staring overhead, He saw the Grand Barrier slowly expanding until it enveloped the Inner and Outer Disciples Region.

Lightly laughing, Danilo murmured: "Stingy bastard, I finally managed to make you pay a huge price, back then. It was always me that paid the price when we fought. But this time, I guess that you can finally understand how much pain I experienced back at that time, right?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Danilo took a deep breath and exhaled. Snapping his eyes open, his cultivation base came to life and his Spiritual Energy surged towards the core of the miniature sun.

"FInal Brilliance of the Dying Sun!"

With his will, the miniature sun that floated above the skies of the Entertainment Block, suddenly yet silently exploded into a fierce heatwave comparable to a sun's supernova. Everything within the Entertainment Block and the surrounding area turned into nothing but dust.

Those staring at the explosion were blinded as Space wantonly collapsed. Each and every disciple of the Paradyne Academy, no matter where they were ducked on the ground and prayed for their safety along with their families.

Above the highest mountain peak stood Mathias, who observed the explosion of the miniature sun like observing the arrival of sunrise. Sighing in his heart, he turned around and one could see that his figure looked incredibly weakened.

The Grand Barrier who received all of the damage were riddled with cracks all over and when the disciples realized that the Grand Barrier didn't shatter, all of them rejoiced for their safety as cheers and cries of relief filled the atmosphere.

They understood and knew in their heats that the invasion of the Imperial Clan has officially ended with their victory. Despite the celebration of the disciples, none of the Elders felt happy. Instead, they looked lonely and somber, sweeping their gazes on the land that turned infertile and useless, they felt their heart bleed.

But everything on earth has its own time, a time for prosperity and a time for decline. Nevertheless, they were resolute that the Paradyne Academy will soon recover, and become even more prosperous than before.