Chapter 536
Episode 145: Omen (5)
The sphere of Reverse Heaven was swallowing the sky whole.
At the same time, the sky, the plains, the entire battlefield began to tremble as if on the verge of shattering under the immense power of Reverse Heaven.
Shattered rocks, piles of rubble, and corpses were drawn up recklessly by its gravitational pull, and the air near the sphere twisted grotesquely.
Kyaaaaaa—!
Jin let out a guttural scream, struggling to control the torrent of magic pouring madly from the mirror.
This was magic beyond what any human should be able to wield. From the very start, Jin was using several times the amount of mana that Enya had drawn in.
It was a scream born of near-total mental collapse—more a desperate wail than a battle cry.
To those watching, it was a chilling, terrifying sound, as if some transcendent being was announcing divine punishment, threatening all who heard it.
Everyone on the battlefield gazed at Jin’s distorted figure, faintly visible within the warped space.
“Is this… really magic wielded by a single human?”
Both enemy and ally alike were stunned to realize that the one unleashing Reverse Heaven was none other than one of the Twelve Riders of Runcandel.
Even the vacant eyes beneath the hoods of the phantom battalions twitched involuntarily at the light radiating from the sphere.
Most on the battlefield were unaware of the mirror’s existence. But they could tell that the magic Jin was releasing far exceeded human limits.
And even with the aid of some artifact, no one else could possibly do this.
A Grand Magician.
No, a Grand Magic Swordsman.
The Reverse Heaven Jin was unleashing now was a signal flare heralding the revival of the history of Runcandel’s magic swords.
[Infinite mana… it’s the artifact of Colon.]
[Fall back and take to the skies! Hurry with reloading the main cannons!]
The mass-produced ships of the Red Fleet began retreating to escape Reverse Heaven’s influence.
But the invisible, colossal gravitational force already held the entire fleet captive.
Every time they tried to break free, some part of a ship groaned and buckled, and their shields were torn to shreds.
Fragments of shattered ships rained down on the ground, crushing enemy ground forces beneath.
Occasionally, debris caught in the vortex fell into allied lines, but the dragon knights and sword saints were all fending them off.
Murakan and Quikantel spread veils of spiritual energy and the power of time to protect their comrades. Without them, the allies would have suffered heavy losses. But from the start, Reverse Heaven, using the mirror, had been a calculated risk, trusting in their protection.
Already, over 40% of the Red Abyss’s blades and chains were being absorbed into Reverse Heaven.
If the phantom battalions of the Red Fleet had the full strength of the original phantom battalions Jin remembered, they would have been able to resist even Reverse Heaven through the mirror. With sixty superhuman magicians, it would have been entirely possible.
But just as the mass-produced ships couldn’t compare to the Kojek, the revived phantom battalions were similarly inferior. They were, at their core, imperfectly resurrected dead.
Though immensely powerful, they lacked the transcendence and dignity unique to true superhumans.
[Kaaaargh!]
[Full retreat by air is impossible! Abandon any ships already caught in the vortex!]
The bands of red mana being absorbed into Reverse Heaven looked like veins of blood.
Those veins snapped and burst relentlessly, dragging the phantom battalions down the cliffs of the reverse flow.
Phantom battalions coughed up blood in droves. Some lost consciousness and fell outside their broken ships, only to be swallowed by the vortex of Reverse Heaven, disappearing without a trace—not a corpse, not a drop of blood remained.
It would be ideal to finish this before the main cannons reloaded, but everyone except Jin was too busy protecting their allies to spare the energy.
The battlefield had become a hell where even standing still was a struggle for ordinary soldiers.
Murakan summoned spiritual energy spears outside the protective veil to attack the enemy, but even those attacks couldn’t be properly aimed due to Reverse Heaven’s gravitational pull. He too was forced to divide his focus.
That was why Murakan worried about Jin.
“This is on a whole different level from what that fanatic used to handle, kid… He can’t keep this up without breaking down.”
If things went wrong, it wouldn’t just be a reverse flow—it could lead to death.
“The visibility’s too bad to check on him… I hope he’s not already lost it.”
For Murakan, saving Jin was paramount—even if everyone else here died. Jin wouldn’t want that, but as a guardian dragon, his duty came first.
Moreover, if Reverse Heaven progressed this far and then collapsed into a reverse flow…
It wouldn’t just be Jin’s life at risk, but everyone’s.
“The infinite mana that’s already escaped the mirror won’t stop until the magic ends. The kid’s controlling it now, but if that control disappears…”
No one knew what would happen.
There was no precedent.
But the immense mana unleashed on the battlefield wouldn’t simply vanish the moment Jin lost consciousness.
Reverse Heaven would spiral out of control, growing larger and larger, potentially swallowing even their own forces. By the time it ended, there might be no one left alive on the battlefield—not Jin, not a single soul.
Thinking this sent chills racing down Murakan’s scales.
Should he risk abandoning ally protection briefly to check on Jin’s condition?
If he did, allies would die by the second. He couldn’t let the hard-won advantage be stained with their deaths.
Quikantel saw through Murakan’s thoughts.
“Murakan, it’s too late to check now. We have to focus on our tasks.”
He had no choice but to trust him.
If they’d already passed the point of no return, even he couldn’t save Jin.
While Murakan hesitated, Reverse Heaven’s power continued to swell. Over 30% of the Red Fleet had been destroyed, and the phantom battalions showed no sign of counterattack.
“Damn it! I know, I know.”
If he were at his peak, he wouldn’t be worrying like this.
What tormented Murakan was his own helplessness. Quikantel, as a fellow guardian dragon, understood this better than anyone.
“Our contractors have always been stronger than us. Jin was always special among them. So wait and see—he’ll pull through, just like always.”
Murakan roared and expanded his protective veil further. Whenever he could, he checked Jin’s position, waiting for the mana to clear enough to reveal him.
As if answering his wish, the mana that had concealed Jin soon began to dissipate.
“Kid!”
Though Murakan was worried, the Jin who appeared was no longer screaming in agony. Instead, he looked calm and composed.
He was calmly adjusting the magic circles of Reverse Heaven stretched out in all directions. Alongside the mana, a familiar black energy swirled around him.
Spiritual energy—the power of Solderet.
Wrapped in it, Jin looked as if blessed by Solderet himself.
But that spiritual energy wasn’t something Jin was wielding directly—it came from the masterpiece of Solderet engraved on the mirror, a seal.
“That seal was created by Solderet at the height of his power, pouring all his authority into it. It’s not just dense spiritual energy—it’s a part of Solderet himself.”
These were the words the god of mana, Klam, had spoken when saving Colon long ago.
A part of Solderet.
Within it remained an infinite will guiding Jin—showing him how to wield this boundless mana, which could easily destroy the world, as a force to save it.
For the first time in a long while, Jin felt as if he was communicating with that will. Though no voice was heard, a clearer sense of purpose led and protected him.
“As a contractor, this is what it feels like to have a god by your side…”
The ocean of infinite mana moved according to his will. For a moment, he forgot the horrors of war, death, and madness.
Jin was lost in ecstasy, conducting his magic like a symphony—joined by the wills of two gods who had strived to save the world.
All the Reverse Heaven mana that had been aimed at their own forces now turned fully against the enemy.
It was the result of Jin’s perfect control over the mirror’s magic.
The chaos in the allied lines quickly subsided, while the enemy could only howl in frustration.
But their cries were drowned out by the cheers of the allies and the roaring of Reverse Heaven.
Amazingly, not a single ally had died to Jin’s Reverse Heaven.
The Balmur Alliance and Hailan had fought tooth and nail to protect every one of them.
Though Jin had reached the level of a superhuman, he was still only twenty years old. If he were burdened with the deaths of his comrades, Murakan feared he might never be the same after the battle.
“See? I told you he’d be fine. Now focus on strengthening the shields. Reverse Heaven is dying down, but your contractor doesn’t seem ready to stop.”
Within the mana and spiritual energy, a crimson flame flared.
“Main cannons reloaded!”
“Reload complete!”
At that moment, the remaining ships finished reloading their main guns.
The phantom battalions had yet to notice the flames spreading from Jin.
They still believed that as long as they could keep firing, they could strike Jin.
Even if they couldn’t finish him off, they were confident they could stop the damn legacy of Kidad Hall and kill at least a thousand enemies.
Seventeen main cannons opened fire.
Reloading had been a desperate effort even while retreating by air.
Moreover, the phantom battalions wore gray robes, though inferior to the originals.
They were prepared not only with their main cannons but also their final chain magic.
“We’ll drag the enemies of Ziphl down to hell with us!”
“Colon’s artifact, the White Stone—everything will be laid at Ziphl’s glory…!”
The commanders of the phantom battalions never finished their last words.
For a moment, it felt as if they had been plunged into pitch-black darkness.
The gloom was so deep that not even the person standing right beside them was visible.
“No way…!”
“This can’t be…!”
That darkness was spiritual energy—far deeper and more impenetrable than when Murakan had shrouded the sky in his veil of energy.
The ultimate form of the Annihilation Flame Jade of the Demon King.
The moment Jin finished his incantation, the cannon fired.
But no one on the battlefield even registered the flash of the Red Fleet’s main gun.
Because the instant the shot was fired, it dissolved into a sun-like blaze of magical power created by the Annihilation Flame Jade.
The legacy of Riol Ziphl.
A supreme spell of unparalleled magnitude, one that could only be perfectly unleashed through the power of Solderet, was now swallowing Ziphl whole.