Chapter 1008: Sever The Black

Chapter 1008: Sever The Black

Elisae had a relieved smile on her face when she felt the spread of her new energy. As long as she could improve the lives of the people of Kross, she wasn’t really that interested in taking their land. After all, unlike other kingdoms, Kross had been quite resolute in their refusal. Without overthrowing and likely killing the King of Knights, there was no real way to absorb the land as she had done with the other nations.

However, at the same time, she knew that such a conflict would be inevitable. The fact that she was spreading her energy to all that would accept it now was merely a prelude to prevent the wanton destruction that she had foreseen previously. The more people that inherited her energy, the fewer would be pulled into the battlefield when the time came.

Hopefully, it will be reduced to just Kross and his knights, though that is rather optimistic, even for me. Elisae knew that there would still be sacrifices, that no matter what course of action she took, she could not avoid this conflict.

“Finally...” James rolled his shoulders as he landed on a planet, looking at the wasteland surrounding him. “It’s not ideal, but what could I expect from my circumstances...”

Thankfully, all James really needed was somewhere that he could gather his thoughts. He swept his perception over the planet, finding it barren, and shook his head. With a stomp of his foot, the surrounding earth was smoothed out, becoming a plane of solid stone.

“Let’s see...” James ran a series of mental calculations, looking for the ideal configuration for the energies that he needed to fuse. He had the theory in his mind, and only needed to bring it into the real world now.

Along the stone floor, lines began to carve themselves into the ground. These weren’t fourth-tier spell diagrams, but rather third-tier. Although the popular belief was that higher tier magic was undoubtedly better, the same result could often be achieved with a lower tier, unless you were reaching for the limits of complexity.

Ten, fifty, a hundred, in a matter of ten minutes, more than three hundred spell diagrams were imprinted in the ground. Next, lines began to carve themselves, connecting these diagrams in a massive array as James stood at its heart. Each time a diagram was finished, his senses swept over it, ensuring that there weren’t any problems with the engravings.

“Now... let’s sever this karma, shall we?” He spoke up with a smile, lifting one hand and snapping his fingers to activate the first of the spell diagrams.

Dale, we need you back in the Administration Room, now! Chelsea’s voice called out to me as I was working on modifying my new summons. My eyes widened, startled by the sudden shout.

Without delay, I immediately ascended to the Admin Room, finding Chelsea sat on the couch with an anxious expression. “Is it time?” I couldn’t help but ask, and Chelsea nodded her head in confirmation.

“He just set up a massive array of spells on an uninhabited planet. James knows that he won’t be able to get what he wants the first try, so he made fifty separate experiments, all with slight modifications. With his expertise, there is an infinitely high chance that one of these fifty will produce the energy he wants.”

My lips twitched when I heard her words. “Isn’t he worried that the shockwaves of one failure would disrupt the others?” To my surprise, Chelsea shook her head in denial.

“This is James we’re talking about. Part of the spell he set up will transfer the energy to another region if it doesn’t meet the parameters he set. Although the spells were all created in the same area, there should be minimal interference between them.”

I gave a small nod at that, moving to sit down and begin purchasing the ‘lifeless world’ that would serve as a sacrifice for James to destroy. The modifier for a lifeless world wasn’t expensive at all, so this was only a drop in the bucket compared to what James had helped me earn through his many innovations.

Turning back, he found that the others were in an increasingly desperate battle. James held a hand out to manifest the gem he had created before, finding that it had once again turned clear. Now that he didn’t have the negative karma burdening him, the void beasts had instead been drawn to Chel and the others, who had shouldered a portion of the karma by helping him.

He reached a hand out towards the four, adjusting his perception of space so as to let his hand wrap around them, even from this distance. They were startled, before allowing themselves to be pulled to his side. Without a word, he focused on the gem, drawing in the negative karma from these four until the gem turned black once again.

With that done, he fired off a second blade of negative karma into the already broken world, sending a helpless glance to Chel. Was that strictly necessary?

Chel crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. Karmic information void clone. You tell me if it was necessary or not?

James blinked, before his eyes went wide. He hadn’t thought about that, the fact that his karma contained all of his information. So that’s why you had him make this world for me to target.

Yup! Now, you going to deal with those guys, or not? She asked, jerking a thumb behind herself towards the void beasts that were charging after their escaped prey.

James thought about it for a moment, before his right eye turned pitch black. I got this. He responded, a beam of energy shooting out and attacking the leading void beast, causing it to begin dissolving.

Chel watched with a wide smile as he dispatched the void beasts with the Eye of Ruin. Once the last one had fallen, she tore open a portal for them to leave through, one that connected back to their lab.

“It’s a long time coming, but welcome home, boss!” Nora grinned when she stepped through the portal. “Finally, no more malfunctions, no more getting sprayed or blasted in the face, no more randomly breaking systems, we can be a functioning institute again!”

“How long was I gone?” James blinked, looking around. “I couldn’t really grasp the passing of time. It’s been at least a few years, right? And... where are Three-Fifty and Sirius?”

“They ditched a decade in.” Treisha shrugged her shoulders. “And you were gone... about thirty years. It’s about time we get back on track with our research, isn’t it? All of our old projects were shredded to wipe out your name from the lab.”

“It was that bad?” He asked with wide eyes, to which all four girls nodded their heads.

“The perfection chambers on-site broke one after another.” Chelsea commented in a casual tone.

“The stored pilot bracers caused an energy storm that destroyed the warehouse.” Treisha grinned, the twins looking at each other mischievously before finishing adding on.

“And the divine forge spawned a metal demigod out of nowhere that wanted to eat us!” When James heard that, he paused, lifting a hand to speak, but couldn’t find the words.