[This chapter has been revised and changed. Hope you enjoy it.]
***
-On another side of the town-
"Hmm. How unfortunate. I wanted to play a little more, but I guess my work here is done." The Architect spoke as he looked into the eyes of a black-haired woman with a rapier through her chest.
Her eyes were listless, yet even he could see the amount of despair etched within them.
Tears streaked out of her eyes as she tried to call the chief and Nymira's names out, yet her mouth would fill with blood every time, drowning her in the process.
"You were strong..." The Architect turned around one last time.
In his right hand, one could see the head of the chief being held up by his ponytail as blood poured out of his decapitated neck.
In his other hand was an unconscious pink-haired girl no older than 9, being held up by her collar.
"May the lord forgive you for your transgressions." The Architect prayed before his figure disappeared into thin air, alongside Nymira and the chief's head.
***
'Something's wrong,' Silas thought as a frown fell upon his face.
The wailing howls of the wind felt like a haunting scream reverberating throughout the town.
The thunder in the distance echoed as the rain only became heavier.
*"O Divine..."* An ethereal voice suddenly echoed throughout the sky, yet it sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it.
The battles throughout the town fell silent for the second time that day.
The clashing of metals were no more.
"Sh*t! Move out of the way." Silas roared while launching his spell, "Rising Sun."
However, it was too late.
Silas could see a bright golden energy move toward where the commander was as a storm formed above him, one with clouds so dark that they made it look like a solar eclipse had fallen on Gilea.
*"Grant me strength to smite sinners and purge their transgression."*
Silas could see the commander shooting toward them at blurring speeds.
Silas raised a finger and began to trace runes in the air. He had a limitless supply of mana for a short period of time. Of course, it didn't mean that his mana was purer.
It just meant that he could cast the spell a few times without getting tired, though he did worry that using too much of the breakthrough mana would somehow affect his mana core's strength after it.
Diveen froze when she saw what Silas was doing, but she didn't say anything, mostly because he didn't understand what was happening.
All she knew was that her danger senses were screaming at her to move back.
After finally finishing his rune that was flashing with silver and smoldering with a reddish-orange color, Silas pointed his hand forward.
He didn't really care if Diveen found out... All that mattered was the safety of his family.
So, Silas breathed in one more time, activating his cultivation technique "metamorphosis" to absorb as much mana as possible, but instead of taking it into his mana core and breaking the remaining impurities to end his breakthrough, he surged most of it to his body, and the rest of it into the rune in his hand.
'Phew.'
Hundreds of walls made of earth appeared before him by rising from the ground.
Raising his hand into the air, he closed his eyes and formed two magic circles before his hand that merged in the center.
The clouds spun in one place as a drill-like object appeared in the air out of water, twice as large as the church and made out of ice in the center, water on the outside, and air to make it spin faster.
'I need to move him away from this town... sh*t!' Silas thought before turning to Diveen, who looked into his eyes before nodding in understanding.
She immediately shot toward the shelter and created several enormous light shields around it, capable of stopping the strongest of spells in their places.
Silas felt she might have used her entire mana pool, but that didn't matter right now.
Without hesitation, Silas shot the cone drill made of ice, water, and air toward the incoming figure, shattering the walls of earth before him like they were nothing.
"YOU BRAT!" The commander roared, yet just as he looked up, he saw the drill that quickly shredded through his toki.
However, light energy erupted out of his body and held the drill back, but Silas had already expected this.
Before him was a man who could probably go toe to toe with elemental beasts with amethyst cores.
Silas watched as the commander's arm was quickly coated in an enormous amount of toki.
Silas had to act quickly.
He coursed wind fusion through his body before running as quickly as possible, evading all the nearby buildings and circling around the commander so he doesn't see him.
*Swoosh*
The drill was instantly destroyed as it hadn't existed in the first place.
No, it wasn't just the drill that had been destroyed; the entire southern section of Uladia was flattened with it.
Everything on the commander's right side was turned into dust and wasteland. Everyone, from the guards to the innocents hiding in their homes, was scared to leave.
They were all dead...
But...
'Necessary sacrifice.' Silas thought as he watched half of the city turn into a wasteland.
It was his final protocol.
Enrage the one-eyed man into using his strongest attack, and in the process, he reduced his toki reserves down to the natural mana coating his body, which was now significantly weakened due to his exhaustion.
'And here I thought you were intelligent.' Silas' eyes became cold and distant.
Silas placed his hand forth and pointed it at the commander's face, the rune he had created earlier still burning vibrantly above his palm.
A look of terror fell upon the commander's face.
"No! Wai-"
"Rising Sun."
A final pale-blue flash of light blinded the commander before everything turned black.
*Ding*
[You have killed one -Chosen- Human]
[Devouring one life force]
[You are evolving]
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[We are coming to the end of the first volume. I hope you've enjoyed it so far. The next volume will not revolve around Uladia. There will be a lot more exploration, the mc will finally get to show his strength off.]
[If you have enjoyed this chapter and would like to support the author, please vote using your power stones or golden tickets. Also, you can join my discord server today to see illustrations or to converse about the latest chapters.]