Chapter 149 149: Extinct

"Then take care of it. You're the spellcaster amongst the two of us. Destroy this spell!"

For Lucius, Atlas was Castiel. And Castiel was the King of Spells. His knowledge was vast. If there was a person who knew more about spells than anyone else in the world, it was him.

Too bad, even Atlas had no idea what to do. He didn't even know what this spell actually did, let alone having a way to break it. He could only guess what this spell was about. He had barely learned some offensive and passive spells from Lilith's Grimoire, but none of them were of use in a situation like this.

Even he was slightly worried as to what was going to happen. He had sent Lilith away, so she couldn't answer him. In any case, she wasn't conscious. Only the two of them had to come up with a solution!

Atlas subconsciously observed his surroundings as he tried to think what they could do. Attacking the barrier alone wasn't a solution.

'Maybe if both of us attacked the barrier? No, that won't be enough either. We don't have the time. Urgh.'

The more he failed to find a solution, the more frustrated he got. However, soon his gaze fell on Lucius's sword. His eyes lit up

"That's it! Your Sword! It can absorb the natural energy of Spells. If your Sword can absorb the energy that's powering this spell, that should be enough!"

He had seen that sword be used to absorb all the attacks of Zhang, turning them into the flames. If the sword could do that with the energy that was powering the spell, it should stop the spell!

"That's it?" Lucius was surprised to know that this was all he needed to do to break the spell. In that case, there was no need to worry, was there?

He raised his blazing sword high in the sky. The flames on the sword intensified as they started absorbing the natural energy from the air.

Realizing that it wasn't enough, Lucius thrust his Sword down, stabbing it firmly on the ground. Through his Sword, he was able to sense where the flow of this energy was coming from, and he was sure that it was coming from the earth. He could make it more effective by taking directly from the source.

His sword penetrated the ground, entering up to the hilt. The blade of the sword completely disappeared inside the earth as the Sword started absorbing the natural energy reserves.

Slowly but steadily, the energy reserves started decreasing. However, the spell didn't appear to be weakening. Instead, it kept getting stronger.

"That's not enough! You need to increase the absorption!" Atlas called out, realizing that the Effects of the absorption weren't enough. They needed to draw out more strength to stop the spell.

"This is the most I can do. The reserves inside the earth are just too much, even for me. I alone can't take it all. You'll need to join!"

Throughout the battle, Lucius had been perfectly calm and composed, but it was now that he had started sweating. It wasn't even because he was worried about the explosion. He still believed that he was capable enough to survive the explosion. However, it was the spiritual energy that was putting a stress on his body, making him sweat.

He had never experienced something like this! The energy reserves here were too pure and so vast that he alone couldn't draw it all, despite his strong soul.

'Join? What can I do?'

Atlas didn't understand it when he was called to join as well. It was as if the man was asking him to help, but there was no way he could help.

"Why are you looking at my face like an idiot? Call out your Sword!" Lucius' anger flared, watching Atlas stand still after putting him to work.

"My sword?"

"Yeah. I alone can't absorb enough. You'll have to call out your Soul Weapon and join as well!" Lucius explained. "So don't play around. Be fast and do it. If not, I'm also pulling out my Sword."

Atlas scratched the back of his head, not understanding what to do. It appeared as if Lucius was implying that he had a similar Sword as him, and he could call it out. Moreover, that Sword also sounded like it was capable of absorbing the spells like Zhang's sword could do.

If that was the case, it was amazing. That meant he also had an incredible weapon like Lucius! But that's also a problem. He didn't know how to call the Sword out. Lilith hadn't taught him yet. The only thing he knew was the actions that Lucius did as he called out the swords.

Atlas glanced at the mark on the back of his hand, letting out a tired sigh. He really had no choice but to somehow call out his sword if he didn't want to be blown up.

He decided to at least try it. He raised his right hand, high in the sky, similar to what Lucius had done before calling out his sword.

Unfortunately, that was the extent to it. He didn't know what to do next. The mark on the back of his hand didn't shine. The illusory formation also didn't appear above his hand, let alone a sword coming out of it.

'Come on… Come out...' he looked up, seeing the destructive energy almost reaching its peak. He tried to think of a sword similar to the sword of Lucius, checking if imagining the sword was going to send the weapon out.

Unfortunately, that also didn't work. He just stood near Lucius, like a statue waiting for something to happen. Even Lucius couldn't understand why Atlas was just standing there like an idiot.

Not too far from them, Zhang was enjoying their struggles. He didn't even worry about them being able to escape that place or stopping her spell. There was no way anyone could stop a spell.

Seeing Atlas standing like a statue, he burst into laughter. "Near their end, they all go crazy."

"It's fine. It won't be too long before you'll all be my slave! And if Lilith is inside the Palace, she would be dead! With one stroke, I'll take all my enemies out."

"Thank you, ancestors! Thank you for creating the Energy Reserves and helping your descendent! Without it, I wouldn't have been able to achieve what I'll achieve today! I'll become the first person in the world to take out two Progenitors, that too all alone!"

Time was racing fast, and Atlas was still trying to figure out what to do. The protection charm on his soul kept disintegrating slowly, almost reaching near the end.

*****

The mark of protection... It was a special mark given to him by Castiel himself. It was supposed to be the mark of protection that protected Atlas's soul from the extreme burden that this supernatural body placed on his soul.

Without the Soul Protection from Castiel, his soul would've been destroyed within the first day of his soul entering Castiel's body. Despite all the burden, it was that mark that protected him. However, that mark wasn't eternal either.

The more Atlas used the supernatural strength of this body, the more the burden that was placed on his soul and the more that mark decayed. It had decayed so much by now that there was barely any left. It was as if it was going to disappear any moment now, hanging by a thread.

Unfortunately, Atlas couldn't see the mark. He didn't even know about the mark. All he knew was that he wasn't going to stay in this body forever. There was going to be a time when he was going to be forever gone, but even he didn't expect that time to be so soon.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop playing around and call out your sword!" Lucius roared, seeing Atlas do nothing in all this while except just stand still.

Atlas wanted to yell back that he didn't know what to do, but he controlled himself. He couldn't tell the man that he wasn't Castiel, no matter what. That was supposed to be a secret between only him and Lilith.

It could be too dangerous to tell anyone else since that was just going to show that they could capture him more easily than they could capture Castiel.

At any cost, he needed to call out the Sword now, even if he didn't know how to.

He closed his eyes, trying to calm his head, remembering some words of Lilith. When she was trying to teach him spells, she told him that he needed to stay calm at any cost if he wanted to do anything. Chaos was the biggest obstruction in a person's mind.

He took a deep breath, calming his chaotic head, erasing all the outside noise as if it wasn't there, entering a serene state.

"In trouble?" A voice floated in the head of Atlas, sounding the same as the mysterious voice that he had heard in his dream before…