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Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 23

Author: Blue_Rat

ch23

As soon as Kazuki’s ki entered Glacious, he took scanned over his entire body. On the surface, Glacious was perfectly fine and so Kazuki senses were directed deeper within. With no wounds on the body itself, Kazuki sensed the source of Glacious’s power. Kazuki could feel an overwhelming pressure descend upon him and he found it hard to proceed forward.

(This is his soul world.)

Kazuki could sense Glacious’s soul world but there was no way he could enter it without permission. A barrier of some sort protected it.

“Senior if you would.”

Glacious grumbled a bit under his breath but Etora persuaded him.

“Big bro, at least give him a chance. What do you have to lose?”

The tension on his face relaxed and Glacious opened his soul world to Kazuki. As soon as Kazuki’s energy could move freely, he suddenly paused as he noticed Glacious’s Mage core.

(This is!?)

Dark energy, spiraling orangish-red energy, sapphire blue, emerald green, silver, gold, purple, white, grey. A vortex of all of these different energies swirled and meshed with one another. Mixing one moment and defusing the next. Every single element was present. Each one there own, yet at the same time, they were bound to one another and linked like an unbreakable chain.

(He…he uses every single element of magic. Not only that, but none of them seem to be stronger than the other. They are all balanced and none hold sway over the others. Glacious is actually a master of all elements. That’s, is that actually posible?)

Kazuki was almost in denial. He had never heard of a being capable of using every element. One of the reasons Kazuki deemed it necessary to hide his ancient hand symbols was because if one were to master it they’d be able to use every magic. Such a person would be capable of ruling the world. Glacious didn’t have something so convenient and was actually born with such talent.

(This should be impossible, yet here it is displayed before me. Glacious’s is a being with such capabilities yet he’s forced to hide in this valley but I still haven’t found the cau…)

Just as Kazuki was lost in thought, something happened. Every single element moving around his core, all at once began to act up. They began to speed up, slow down, and become disorganized and chaotic. Kazuki searched for the source of this strange phenomenon and he didn’t have to look far. In the very center of Glacious Mage core, a tiny face floated within. To his shock, the face resembled that of a lion mixed with a dog. With a mane made of something akin to fire and fangs that looked as though they could pierce the sky, this face slowly opened its mouth.

As soon as it did, the swirling elements surrounding Glacious’s Mage core began to get sucked towards the open mouth. The energy within Glacious went wild and tried to fight back or even flee but it was futile. Little by little, bits of the elements were ripped away from themselves and were swallowed whole by the mouth.

*Hack cough cough*

Glacious had a violent coughing fit for a few seconds before he opened his storage ring and a few hundred magical beast cores fell out. Etora drooled a bit seeing them but he quickly wiped the drool running down his chin away and felt bad for wanting what was his brothers.

Kazuki watched both the outside and inside events unfold at the same time. While the open-mouthed lion dog tore bits of his elements apart and consumed some of them, Glacious lifted a hand and the magical beast cores floated in front of him. The very next moment, Glacious grabbed at the air and pure magical energy began to rush out of the magical beast cores in quick succession. Within seconds, all of the beast cores were drained of energy, the very next instant they cracked and crumbled into dust before they were blown away with a gentle breeze.

Energy flooded into Glacious rapidly and repaired some of the damage done to his elements but the face of the lion dog was not finished and it continued to absorb more and more. Thus a back and forth tug of war ensued. Glacious opened his storage ring again and hundreds more Magical beast cores fell out. Once again he sapped them of all energy and the lion dog gorged itself. This continued for several minutes until Glacious had run dry thousands of Magical beast cores.

The lion-dog face slowly closed its mouth and fed on the elements no more. Finally, Glacious heaved a sigh of relief.

*Haaa*

Cold sweat poured down his face and he was slightly pale.

“That is the poison I speak of. When I fought Aruzai, I actually held the advantage for the most part over a Titan. After an arduous battle, he was finally on the verge of death. Just when I had a chance to slay him and gain the treasure I seek, he used that very treasure on me and hit me with a powerful soul attack. Every few weeks or so, that mark he’s left behind within me awakens and devours part of my Mage core. I use magical beast cores and other treasures I’ve stored away to feed that abomination within me but it’s never enough. I can never fully repair my Mage core before that face reawakens. Because of that, I’m slowly but surely losing against it and my power grows weaker. I used to be at the 7th stage but now I’m on the lower end of the 6th stage. If I use my abilities, my power, it only speeds up the process. I’ve searched the lands for a cure but have run into enemies far too many times. I don’t know if they know I am weakening but I’m sure they suspect it. After all, I who used to never run away have had to repeatedly flee. I’m forced to retreat here. Some would call this place a paradise but to me, it’s resembling a prison more and more as the days go by.”

“You said you fought this Titan in his own territory but arent Titans a monstrous size, and you two are both incredibly powerful, shouldn’t you two have wiped out half the continent with your power?”

Glacious shook his head.

“As I said Aruzai is actually one of the weaker Titans. He is a being made of water and ice and his territory is deep near the bottom of the ocean. Even if we went all out down there I doubt that there’d barely even be a ripple on the surface. That doesn’t mean the struggle wasn’t real. He and I…we fought for 73 days and 73 nights in his territory. I pushed him into a corner and on the dawn of the 74th day, that’s when he used his treasure. A formless power hit me directly in the chest and I felt something wrong immediately. I prepared to counter but Aruzai had already fled. Him being made up entirely of ice and water made his hiding figure impossible for me to discover. With no treasure in hand, a weird feeling within me, and no enemy in sight, I retreated to the tune of his vile laughter echoing underwater. I thought it was just him giddy that he got away but in the end, his laugh was one of taunting. When I got back to my territory, it wasn’t long before that mark within my Mage core awakened and I suffered a terrible loss. That was when I understood what had happened to me. That’s when I knew I had been poisoned.”

Kazuki now understood. He was curious about such a treasure that could do this to a being at such a high state.

(For a treasure to bring down a 7th stage being, how can an item of such caliber exist? To spend so many years of your life training and defeating one obstacle after another, the hardships, the pain and sacrifice. For it all to slowly be taken away from you from ablow from a single item. How unfair can the world be?)

“Senior, do you mind if I try something?”

Glacious didn’t even turn around to face Kazuki as he said.

“Did you not just hear me. This is an attack from a special treasure that a legendary Titan used. Do you really believe your weird energy can actually make a difference?”

Kazuki shook his head in doubt.

“I don’t know but I can at least try. Have you already given up? Shouldn’t you try every option at your disposal before you throw in the towel?”

Etora as well wasn’t ready to give up and was aggravated that his eldest brother kept trying to get out of it with excuse after excuse when they’ve already come this far.

“Big bro can you stop all your nonsense and just let the boy try. If not for me or little sis, at least do this for your own sake.”

Glacious felt odd being lectured by a human, and then by his little brother.

(Just who is the elder here? Fine, this boy is right. I’ll give him a chance.)

Glacious said nothing but eventually reluctantly nodded.

With the go-ahead, Kazuki didn’t hold back and sent a tendril of ki toward Glacious’s Mage core.