Chapter 396 - Astral Realm

A second later, Charles appeared above the Rebirth Tower and soon saw a glass-like ice layer covered the whole Tower.

But unlike the regular ice spell, this one appeared to be infused with the power of law!

It was a Rank-6 defensive spell array!

At that moment, a white-haired old man hovered outside the defensive spell array and looked at Charles with a stern look on his face.

His square face was full of wrinkles, and he had an aquiline nose, lengthy eyebrows, and azure eyes. He wore a plain grey robe, the same wizard hat, and held a golden staff in his hand.

"You are the mysterious Ancient Mage?" Arch-Mage Marcus looked down from above and frowned.

Then, he took out a crystalline fragment from his pocket and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"So, that was your clone, huh!" He nodded his head in enlightenment and then asked coldly.

"Are you ready to receive the punishment for killing my descendant?" While asking, he created a spatial crack next to him and sent an invisible blade from it.

It was a Rank-5 spell called "Dimensional Blade"!

It could travel through dimensions and even split a Magic Tower into two!

In a blink, the Dimensional Blade tore through the space and collided with the defensive ice layer.

The mere clash sent shockwaves in all directions and caused destructions everywhere.

There were even some people who stood outside the Rebirth Tower were cut down into pieces!

On the other hand, Charles looked at the defensive structure and noticed that a few cracks appeared on the clashing area.

Alas, the Rank-6 Defensive formation stood firmly like a mountain and blocked the Dimensional Blade from entering the Tower.

As Charles saw this, he breathed a sigh of relief and shifted his attention towards the old man.

Although this spell could travel through dimensions, it wasn't strong enough to break a Rank-6 spell.

'There is a huge difference between two Ranks. But that's not my worry at all. This guy is a Dual-Class Mystic.' A grim look appeared on his face.

Without any delay, Charles activated [Arcane Eyes] skill and started analyzing him.

But to his surprise, not a single piece of information appeared in front of his eyes.

'Is his wisdom power higher than mine? No, something feels off-' Just as that thought crossed his mind, Charles sensed strangeness around the Arch-Mage Marcus's figure.

'Hmm? Some invisible power seems to be blocking me from getting more information about him. No, that's not it. It's as if the person in front of me is nothing more than a mere illusion.'

At that moment, a look of realization appeared on Charles's face.

'Is this the power of a Rank-5 [Reality Warper]?' He muttered to himself in surprise.

It was the [Spatial Mage] Class.

Meanwhile, Arch-Mage Marcus stared at the defensive formation for a moment and then showed a greedy look on his face.

"I've never seen such a sturdy defensive formation! Now, I want to enslave your soul and see what secrets you are hiding." He said with a grin.

On the other hand, Charles let out a deep sigh and took a step forward.

The next instant, he disappeared from there while leaving blurry images and appeared outside the crystal-like defensive layer.

"You talk too much," Charles said coldly, released his wisdom power, and searched the whole surroundings.

'As I thought, this guy is speaking to me from a completely different place. Astral Realm?' A cold glint appeared in his eyes.

He knew how this guy managed to kill his clone and snorted inwardly.

In truth, Charles studied more about Astral Realm and soul research during the past few years and even knew how to deal with soul-related abilities.

'There is something Edith failed to do when facing this guy. If she had used the [Fire of Life] spell, she would've sensed his presence and even gave him a big surprise.'

Yes, the [Fire of Life] spell could indeed connect him to the Astral Realm!

Not only that, but this spell could also allow him to see his soul form and even heal minor curses in his soul!

'Unfortunately, there is a one-week time limit to cast this spell.' But Charles felt this was more than enough to deal with this guy.

At that moment, his [Forewarning] skill triggered on its own and sent out a warning in the form of future images.

A second later, the space behind him started to distort, and soon an invisible scythe-like thing flew out from it.

It was so fast that it arrived before Charles could even look at those warning images.

Without any delay, he cast [Fire Born] spell and turned into his Fire-Elemental form!

The next instant, the scythe tore through his fire elemental form and appeared on the other side.

A moment later, Charles returned to his original state without any scratch on his body.

In the meantime, an old man's illusionary form hovered a few meters away from Charles and stared at him with a surprised expression on his face.

It was Arch-Mage Marcus's soul form!

Currently, he was monitoring Charles's every movement from the Astral Realm!

Although his physical body was sleeping in the Iron Tower, he could still cast all types of spells in his soul form!

In truth, it was still impossible for a soul to harm any physical object.

There were many restrictions to travel in the Astral Realm, making it impossible for a soul to cross the barrier between the Astral Realm and the Physical Realm.

If an ordinary soul could damage the physical objects while it was in the Astral Realm, then the dead persons' souls would've long caused chaos and destruction all over the place. That's why when a person dies, their soul would enter the Astral Realm and then stopped interfering with the physical world.

There was a barrier between the two realms!

But there were always some exceptions, though.

The souls that could cause some paranormal activities were due to their awakened space-time abilities.

Charles and his disciples met ghosts during their journey to the Iron City had awakened such powers and became anomalies under Reid's experiments.

Like those anomalies, Arch-Mage Marcus's sub-class was also a perfect anomaly.

His [Reality Warper] class could allow him to warp the dimensional barrier that separates the two Realms!

Because of this, he always had the upper hand against his opponents!

'So, this Ancient Mage has an elemental form that could nullify any physical attack?' Marcus showed a surprised look, then turned his gaze towards Charles's soul form and waved his hand.

A second later, the space behind Charles started to twist and soon formed a small crack.

Marcus then moved forward, appeared near the spatial crack, and spoke.

"Consciousness Cut!"

The next moment, an invisible ripple filled with Death energy came out of his soul form and passed through the space crack.

A second later, the invisible ripple entered the physical world and arrived near Charles's soul form in a blink.

But just as the invisible ripple was about to touch his soul, Charles curled his lips upward and smiled.