Chapter 6
1622words
Isabella, Lucas, and the body-snatcher "Greta Li" formed a tense triangle. Three distinct magical signatures—radiant light, consuming darkness, and corrupting undeath—saturated the air, grinding against each other like tectonic plates.
"Greta Li…" Isabella turned the name over in her mind—unmistakably male and modern. Watching this man wear her sister's face while twisting it into expressions of feral rage filled her with visceral revulsion.
"Lucas, you relentless bastard!" Greta Li's expression morphed from terror to venomous hatred. "You tricked me at the 'Abyss Rift,' forced me to take this woman's body just to survive. We have unfinished business, you and I!"
"Blame your own greed, reaching for power beyond your right." Lucas's voice cut like winter steel. "Though I am curious—how did you escape the 'Void Prison'?"
"Void Prison?" Isabella latched onto the unfamiliar term.
"A dimension designed to contain 'parasites' like him—those who jump between worlds, destroying the balance of planes." Lucas explained tersely, never taking his eyes off Greta Li.
Greta Li barked a deranged laugh. "I owe my freedom to this world's 'protagonist'!"
"Protagonist?" Isabella and Lucas echoed in unison, brows furrowing.
"That's right!" Greta Li's eyes blazed with fanatical light. "You think this world revolves around you? Wrong! The true 'chosen one' is your precious brother, Crown Prince Adrian! He unwittingly activated an ancient summoning formation, creating the perfect escape route for my soul fragment!"
The revelation hit Isabella like a physical blow. Adrian was the source of all this chaos?
"And once I seize his body," Greta Li continued with maniacal glee, "and merge with his 'Protagonist Halo,' I'll be beyond the Void Prison's reach forever—the new god of this pathetic world!"
"Dream on," Lucas scoffed.
"We'll see about that!" Thicker black mist erupted from Greta Li's form. "Selina's body served its purpose, but it's merely a temporary vessel. For today's special occasion, I've prepared something truly magnificent!"
His hands formed complex seals as he began chanting in a language ancient and foul.
The academy grounds shuddered as rumbling echoed from deep below, accompanied by the rising wails of countless undead.
"Gods, no!" Isabella's prophetic ability bombarded her with frantic warnings—visions of an ancient tomb beneath the academy breaking open, an undead army awakening from millennial slumber, catastrophe on an unimaginable scale!
"He's turning the entire academy into a necropolis!" Isabella cried.
"Too late!" Greta Li crowed. "Behold my masterpiece! Taste the despair of my undead legion!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The academy grounds split open like rotten fruit. Skeletal warriors and decomposing ghouls clawed their way through the fissures, blue soul-fire blazing in empty eye sockets as they surged toward fleeing students and instructors.
In heartbeats, the sacred sanctuary of learning transformed into a living nightmare—filled with screams, explosions, and the clash of desperate combat.
"Lucas, keep him busy! I'll evacuate the students and activate the defense arrays!" Isabella shouted, already moving toward the door.
"Watch yourself." With just those two words, Lucas transformed into a bolt of black lightning, hurtling toward Greta Li.
Darkness and undeath collided with cataclysmic force, the resulting explosion obliterating the reception hall's domed ceiling.
Isabella wasted no time, racing from the Star Tower toward the academy's central plaza.
"All students to the central plaza NOW! Instructors, activate maximum defense barriers!" Her voice, amplified by light magic, thundered across the entire academy grounds.
Amid the chaos, her voice cut through the panic like a beacon. Students rallied, finding courage they didn't know they possessed, fighting and retreating in organized groups toward the plaza.
Isabella soared above the battlefield, raising both hands skyward as she chanted words of ancient power.
"By the Moon Goddess's grace, grant me thy radiance! —Holy Light Illumination!"
A miniature sun of pure light materialized above her head, cascading sacred radiance across the battlefield. Undead caught in its beams erupted into golden flames, their unearthly shrieks cutting off as they crumbled to ash.
The tide turned instantly. Student defenders rallied, hope rekindled in their eyes.
"It's Princess Isabella! She's fighting for us!"
"The Princess! Gods bless the Princess!"
As Isabella commanded the central defense, fierce battles raged across the academy grounds.
Adrian fought like a war god incarnate, golden armor gleaming as he wielded the sacred sword "Dawn." Each swing unleashed crescent arcs of golden energy, cleaving through undead ranks. His gaze drifted skyward to Isabella—radiant as a goddess—his expression a storm of conflicting emotions. His unwitting actions had unleashed this catastrophe, and now salvation rested with the sister he'd once dismissed.
Mage Evan directed a team of instructors at the academy's four corners, his voice hoarse from continuous incantations as they reinforced failing defensive arrays. Layer upon layer of magical barriers rose under his guidance, holding back the relentless undead tide.
Leo stood guard over injured students, his blade a silver blur as he dispatched skeleton warriors with ruthless efficiency. Between strikes, his eyes constantly sought the silver-haired figure commanding the battle from above.
At the Star Tower, Lucas and Greta Li's battle had transcended normal combat. They tore through reality itself, their clashes sending ripples through the fabric of space.
"Why fight me, Lucas?" Greta Li roared, hurling waves of necromantic energy. "We should be allies! Together we could conquer countless worlds!"
"Our paths diverged long ago," Lucas replied, his form blurring like smoke as he evaded each attack. "You see only conquest and destruction. I seek something far greater."
"Something greater? Drop the act!" Greta Li sneered. "You harvest special souls to repair your precious 'Eternal Wheel'—don't pretend it's anything nobler!"
Lucas went utterly still, and for the first time, naked killing intent blazed in his amethyst eyes.
In the central plaza, Isabella's light magic had temporarily stemmed the undead tide. But she knew she was merely treating symptoms—as long as the source remained active, the horde would continue pouring forth endlessly.
"We have to stop Greta Li's ritual at the source!"
Her prophetic vision revealed the ritual's core—deep within the ancient tomb beneath the academy lay a corrupted "Heart of the Dead."
"Hold your positions until reinforcements arrive!" Isabella called to the defenders below. "Adrian, I'm entrusting them to you!"
Without waiting for a response, she transformed into a streak of golden light, diving toward the tomb's entrance.
"Isabella, wait!" Adrian cried out in alarm, lunging forward only to be swarmed by a fresh wave of undead. He could only watch helplessly as she vanished into the darkness below.
The tomb reeked of death and decay. Powerful undead roamed its halls—skeleton generals wielding massive axes, curse-casting liches, and even the legendary bone dragons.
Isabella carved a path through the horrors. Her Holy Lance flashed again and again, purifying undead with each strike. Moonlight Protection shielded her from the worst of the curses hurled her way.
Finally, she reached the tomb's innermost chamber.
A massive underground cavern spread before her. At its center, atop a grotesque altar, pulsed a gigantic heart wrapped in black veins—the "Heart of the Dead," pumping waves of necromantic energy throughout the academy.
But the heart's guardian was the last person she expected.
It was Princess Avril!
Her eyes were vacant and glassy, black mist swirling around her form—another puppet in Greta Li's collection.
"Avril?" Isabella whispered, heart sinking.
"Kill her, dear sister." Avril's lips moved, but Greta Li's voice emerged. "Slay your own blood, and I'll end this catastrophe. What do you say?"
The cruel trap was obvious. Kill Avril, and Isabella would not only bear the guilt of sororicide but suffer magical backlash from slaying her own blood. Refuse, and the Heart of the Dead would continue its grim work.
"You think I'd fall for something so obvious?" Isabella scoffed.
She ignored Avril completely, targeting the altar instead.
"Moon Goddess, answer my call—Falling Star!"
Her most powerful spell—she channeled every ounce of light and prophetic energy into a massive meteor of pure starlight above her head, then hurled it toward the pulsing heart.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the entire tomb complex. The altar disintegrated under the meteor's impact, the Heart of the Dead rupturing in a spray of black ichor.
Above ground, the undead army crumbled to dust as its power source vanished.
The crisis appeared to be over.
But as Isabella exhaled in relief, a darker, more concentrated mist rose from the shattered altar's remains.
The mist coalesced into human shape—Greta Li's true soul form, freed from its borrowed vessels.
"Bravo, Greenriel." Greta Li's spectral hands clapped in mocking applause. "You've destroyed the Heart of the Dead—and in doing so, you've freed me from my final constraint."
"What are you talking about?" Isabella's stomach knotted with dread.
"The Heart of the Dead was both my power source and my prison." Greta Li laughed with unhinged glee. "Now the seal is broken. As thanks, you'll be the first sacrifice in my glorious resurrection!"
He spread his arms wide, and death essence from throughout the tomb surged toward him. His spectral form grew increasingly solid, his power swelling exponentially.
Simultaneously, atop the Star Tower, the fragment possessing Selina's body dissolved into black smoke, rushing to rejoin its master in the depths below.
"Now the real game begins!" Greta Li's gaze pierced through stone and distance to lock with Lucas's eyes, brimming with malevolent challenge.
Lucas's expression hardened as he instantly materialized at Isabella's side, pushing her protectively behind him.
"Run! His power now is beyond our ability to counter!" For the first time, genuine alarm colored Lucas's voice.
But escape was already impossible.
With a casual gesture from Greta Li, the tomb's exit collapsed in a thunderous avalanche of stone.
"No one's leaving this place," he sneered, advancing with predatory confidence. "Lucas, Greenriel—today this tomb becomes yours as well!"
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