The cardinal, who was still eyeing Aldrian warily, was slightly stunned by the voice transmission from Prince Wilmar but not surprised. He must have been anxious about Aldrian bringing up the matter of the devils, and to be honest, it disturbed him too. If the second prince were to fall, he would fall with him.
He finally realized that facing Aldrian, even with the boost from the legacy artifacts, was not easy.
He had to admit, Aldrian was a monster in his own right. Even after unleashing that devastating sword attack, Aldrian showed no signs of fatigue or weakness. In contrast, he was already breathing heavily after using just one of his spear techniques.
Heaven’s Judgnt: Splitting Apocalypse was a spear technique that required trendous energy and physical strength, so it was no surprise that he looked slightly fatigued after using it. Even then, he had been boosted by the holy territory granted by the Heavenly Sovereign Sanctuary Staff.
However, Aldrian’s sword technique that powerful enough to reshape the landscape should have demanded just as much energy, if not more, to cause that level of destruction. And yet, what the cardinal sensed from Aldrian was a stable condition, as if what he had just done was nothing out of the ordinary. No exhaustion. No weakness.
"Alright," Cardinal Carsius replied.
He then closed his eyes as if focusing, deliberately ignoring Aldrian, who continued speaking while gazing down at the crowd below.
"This is an example. This is a warning. This is a promise," Aldrian declared. "This will be the fate of anyone who crosses my line—anyone who has brought destruction to the people, anyone who dares to work with devils!"
He turned his gaze toward Grand Duke Donovan and the second prince.
"You’ve done sothing that should never have been done. Worse, you’ve aligned yourself with devils. I’ll make sure you experience pain so unbearable that you’ll beg for death. You’ll wish I had killed you."
Suddenly, dark clouds began to gather above Aldrian’s domain. A deep thunderclap echoed across the sky, leaving the crowd stunned.
"You’ll beg to erase your very existence—to wish you had never been born."
Unconsciously, Aldrian released a wave of killing intent. The chaos in the sky deepened, the clouds swirling violently as streaks of lightning cracked through the darkness.
A similar phenonon spread across Aldrian’s entire domain, drawing the attention of everyone within as the sky darkened and the weather shifted abruptly.
"I will crush you. Even in death, I’ll make sure you never reincarnate. You’ll be erased from existence entirely!" Aldrian shouted, his voice cold and thunderous, echoing through the heavens just as a massive thunderclap split the sky.
This was the first ti he had ever shown such rage—his fury laid bare for all to see. It was a wrath he had buried deep in his heart since the mont he found Eleine on the brink of death.
When he first saw her, lying bedridden in such a pitiful state, a surge of nervousness rushed through him. But he forced himself to act normal, masking the tension building inside.
After his examination, he realized that if he had arrived even half an hour later, he would have already lost her.
This was the first ti he had almost lost soone dear to him because of soone else’s machinations. It was different from the ti the lust devil tried to take his mother—in Eleine’s case, the enemy’s intent was to kill.
Just imagining her dying within his own domain, a place where he should have the most control, filled him with rage.
He was furious—at himself, and at these bastards. His lack of preventive asures had allowed the second prince and Grand Duke Donovan’s plan to slip into his domain.
He still had a long way to go. He wasn’t omniscient enough to anticipate every sche. He was still too weak.
Suddenly, he sensed that the flying fortresses were preparing to fire their lightning cannons once again.
Inside one of the fortresses, the atmosphere was tense and silent. Everyone was scared out of their wits after witnessing a power so far beyond their reach. None of them wanted to provoke that monster in human skin any further—they just wanted to retreat and return to base.
However, the second prince’s orders were absolute. Despite everything they had just seen, he was still determined to kill Aldrian. The crew had been instructed to keep the lightning cannons aid at Aldrian and to fire as soon as they were ready—without waiting for the prince’s direct command.
They thought the prince had gone crazy—insisting on attacking Aldrian even after witnessing such overwhelming power. To them, the lightning cannons felt pointless, a futile provocation that would only enrage Aldrian further.
But they couldn’t disobey. Fear of the prince’s punishnt bound them just as tightly as fear of Aldrian’s wrath.
Aldrian, still in a foul mood after releasing the fury he had buried, cast a glance toward the flying fortresses.
Before the cannons could fire, the six fortresses began to rise, slowly and unnaturally, lifting higher into the sky without any input from the crews inside.
The massive bodies of the flying fortresses began to rise slowly, and the lightning cannons that had been aid at Aldrian wavered—now pointing wildly in different directions.
Inside, panic erupted among the crew as the fortresses slipped from their control.
"What’s happening?! Why the hell isn’t the fortress stable?!" the captain shouted, trying to steady himself.
"We don’t know, sir! We’ve suddenly lost control of the entire system!" one of the crew mbers replied, his voice strained.
Aldrian was using gravity laws on the flying fortresses. Fortunately, all six were still within his domain. By altering the gravity around them and making it unnaturally light, he forced the fortresses to rise uncontrollably into the sky.
Rumble!
The lightning cannons finally fired—but instead of striking Aldrian, the blasts shot upward, splitting the dark clouds as they tore across the sky’s horizon. Lightning surged for several seconds, but Aldrian ignored it entirely, his focus fixed on Cardinal Carsius, who now appeared to be preparing sothing far more dangerous.
His senses scread a warning. The power radiating from the Heaven’s Punishnt Spear was imnse, and the blinding light gathering at its tip illuminated the area around it.
He decided to strike first before the cardinal could launch his attack. As he prepared to teleport to Carsius’s side, he suddenly sensed soone appear near him, as if they had teleported. Without even turning, he knew exactly who it was.
Prince Wilmar had stepped out in person, shocking many onlookers below.
Prince Wilmar appeared to be holding sothing in his hand, and he pointed it directly at Aldrian. It was an artifact shaped like an emblem, marked with strange symbols carved into its palm-sized surface. The mont it was aid at Aldrian, the emblem began to glow with an ominous red light.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Aldrian’s hand imdiately shot forward, choking the second prince before he could do anything further. He grabbed the wrist holding the emblem and quickly redirected it away.
But then he noticed the prince was grinning.
"Too late," Prince Wilmar said.
Suddenly, Aldrian felt a constriction in both his soul and dantian. It was as if sothing had blocked the flow of energy within his body, while an invisible force chained his soul, wrapping it in a suffocating darkness. His mind trembled under the weight of the strange sensation, and for a mont, his grip on the prince faltered.
That single lapse was enough for prince Wilmar slipped free and quickly put distance between them.
Prince Wilmar expression turned ecstatic—he had successfully activated the artifact on Aldrian.
"Goodbye!" he shouted, then shot into the sky at high speed, fleeing toward the city in an attempt to escape the coming impact.
Aldrian tried to pursue him, but his thoughts were clouded by invasive negativity. A pounding headache surged through his skull as unsettling illusions flooded his mind, making it impossible to focus. His dantian was in disarray, and when he tried to circulate his energy, it only churned in chaos.
"A curse," Aldrian thought.
A second after everything unfolded, Cardinal Carsius suddenly launched himself into the air and thrust his spear upward toward Aldrian. The blinding light radiating from the spear’s tip carried an imnse force, far surpassing the power of a peak emperor-stage attack.
Carsius had poured most of his strength into this single strike—a final blow ant to bring Aldrian down.
Heaven’s Judgent: Punishnt
Although many felt that this technique was still much weaker than what Aldrian had just unleashed, its power was enough to send shivers down their spines. This strike was far stronger than the earlier spear throw, and they believed it could easily wipe out an army of tens of thousands.
Aldrian, still struggling to steady himself, saw the incoming attack. For a brief mont, it felt as if death stood right before him. With the curse disrupting his body, he couldn’t block or evade. Everything was happening too quickly.
He knew this was one of the most dangerous monts of his life, just like when he had faced the heavenly tribulation that had nearly killed him.
And yet, strangely, he didn’t feel fear.
It was not like when he had faced that "thing" during his encounter with the Heavenly Demon, back then, he had felt genuine fear.
He felt sothing strangely refreshing—sothing that reminded him he was alive. In monts like this, he beca aware that death could co for him at any ti. In monts like this, he felt sothing that affird he was a living being, capable of many emotions. He was human.
Boom!
Suddenly, Aldrian’s aura surged and spread across the entire city. The heavens and earth trembled, and the dark clouds were pushed back by the force of the aura.
Cardinal Carsius, already close to Aldrian, felt his heart tighten as he faced the overwhelming aura pressing down on him like a mountain.
Aldrian looked up at the sky and closed his eyes, as if he did not care about the incoming strike that could kill him.
"This is nothing for a being who controls the cosmos," he murmured.
For the first ti in a long while, he channeled the full power of his domain into himself.
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