CH 254

Gerard wasn’t that agitated by Juan’s words.

When Juan saw that Gerard was just silently staring at him, he realized that Gerard had gone too far and was now unreachable. Juan’s words couldn’t reach Gerard anymore.

The emptiness had taken everything away from Gerard in just a few days. The emptiness from beyond the Crack possessed a breeze that could sweep away one’s identity itself.

‘You’ll probably call that growth, but it’s not.’

It was such a bitter sight for Juan—the sight of Gerard, who had lost everything that defined him as a person, made Juan feel bitter inside.

“I don’t understand what has gotten you so excited,” Gerard said with an indifferent look. “You said that the humans are the ones who are going to kill me, right? Why did you show up?”

“It will be the case… although I know you won’t understand it yet.”

“I’m sick and tired of your arrogance and bluffs, Juan. Do you really think that you can stop me from dominating Qzatquizail, even if you were to try your best? Do you truly believe that you can kill me even if the humans decide to come together and join forces to spur you on?”

“You think it’s impossible?”

“Yes, it’s impossible.” Gerard looked at Juan as if the latter were pathetic and said, “I wouldn’t have appeared here if there were any possibility of you disturbing me once you reappear. I know that you’re capable of surpassing expectations, but you have already lost the golden opportunity to kill me. I have already become one with Qzatquizail. I left this physical form alone because I was curious about what you were going to say once you reappear.”

Once his words fell, Gerard nodded. An invisible mana arm charged toward Juan. Gerard knew that a mana arm was no use against Juan, but this mana arm was extraordinary.

The mana arm was invisible, but it still left gusts of wind in its wake. Gerard was sure that once the gust of wind swept past Juan, the latter would either be crushed in the spot or be thrown out of the Crack.

The gust of wind eventually swept past Juan, but Juan still stood firmly. In addition, he didn’t even step away to dodge, not to mention block the attack.

At the sight, doubts filled Gerard’s eyes for the first time.

“Was that a tentacle of Qzatquizail? That was incredibly flexible. Indeed, there is no way that such a giant being would be made up of dense matter. Perhaps its skin is just like a rock, but the insides are actually made out of mana itself.”

‘And he even has the time to analyze it…?’

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Gerard thought that the Juan standing in front of him might be an illusion, but he soon shook his head and denied it.

The figure there was clearly Juan’s physical form.

Gerard felt that Juan’s alter egos were omnipresent, but he was quite certain that Juan only had one main form.

Gerard attacked once again, sending thousands of mana arms to lacerate Juan.

The mana arms seemed like they were thousands of threads, and they quickly pervaded Juan’s surroundings, giving him neither a path to escape toward nor enough space to hide.

The thousands of mana arms crushed everything in their path, and their combined weight was as heavy as a mountain range, flattening the ground

It was hard to see Juan’s figure standing in the middle of so many mana arms. However, Juan’s figure was emitting a strange sense of disharmony being emitted from him. His torn body looked like charcoal, and the rising haze distorted the surroundings.

Gerard pulled his arm back, seemingly displeased.

“As I thought. It seems like you’ve lost quite a bit of your humanity, Gerard. I can’t see any openings from your mana arm anymore.”

Gerard remained silent. Juan had reappeared as soon as Gerard retracted his hand.

The flames pervaded Juan’s injuries, healing them in real time.

The regeneration rate was so absurd that it couldn’t be called regeneration anymore. Gerard felt like he was trying to slice a flame into two. Gerard felt that it was even more absurd when he recalled how Juan didn’t have as much mana as before.

“What did you do? Did you become immortal? When you reappeared after I buried you, I knew by then that you’re definitely not ordinary, but this is just nonsense…” Gerard muttered.

“I didn’t really do anything because it turned out that I always had this ability. I should have noticed it when I was first resurrected. I had no idea that I was capable of doing this until I got through a crisis, thanks to you,” Juan answered.

“A crisis? Was it when I buried you?”

“No, it was when I was having a cold,” Juan smiled and said, “Elaine Elliot told me in my dreams; she told me that I can come back to life.”

Gerard looked thoroughly confused.

Juan’s smile widened. “I’m sure you can do it, too.”

“I can do it as well?” Gerard asked, taken aback.

“Yes. However, the only way you can find out if you can do the same is by dying. Do you know somebody who desperately wants you to live or someone who will never think that you’re dead even when you actually died?”

Gerard glared at Juan. He thought that Juan was mocking him.

“You just won’t stop provoking me until the end, huh?”

“You really won’t know until you die, so what do you want to do? Want to find out?”

Gerard retrieved Solvane and threw it at Juan.

A grotesque sound echoed as countless spears pierced Juan.

However, Juan casually pulled out the spears while walking toward the ground.

The spears fell to the ground, and flames enveloped Juan’s wounds.

The invincible Juan was an unfamiliar sight to Gerard. Juan’s regeneration rate was impressive, but it didn’t make sense for him to be impervious to harm. Gerard had used a spear to test it out, but it seemed that Juan was also impervious to physical harm.

Juan stared mockingly at Gerard and said sarcastically, “You’ve already lost your humanity, but it seems that you’re still human considering that you’re still afraid of dying.

“Haven’t I told you already? This physical form of mine has no meaning. I have transcended to become a higher being.”

“Is that so? However, doesn’t that mean that your existence will eventually disappear?”

Gerard showed no sign of agitation at Juan’s words. He thought that it was better to erase all the unnecessary feelings to become the best emperor. The greater the being, the fairer they were—and the stricter their standards had to be.

Therefore, his gradually disappearing existence was like a blessing for Gerard.

He felt like he was slowly becoming the purest being to have ever lived.

“Erasure is meaningless. The universe shall concede to my purpose, and everything comes true so long as I wish for it. I will erase my hunger, thirst, regret, and desire. I can feel myself becoming more and more perfect the lesser I become as a person.”

“And what will you have left once you have erased yourself? By then, will it be you taking control of Qzatquizail, or will it be Qzatquizail taking control of you?” asked Juan.

Gerard’s expression stiffened upon hearing that.

***

“Maintain the ranks! Treat your shoulders and your comrades’ shoulders as walls!” Nienna roared and ordered the Northern Army.

The Northern Army was about to enter the Dragon Citadel. Everyone thought the Dragon Citadel would be too cramped for all of them, but the interior was larger than they thought because it certainly could fit a lot of troops. In fact, it seemed to have been built with the purpose of housing a huge military force.

Most of the troops entered the Dragon Citadel, but some of them were left to confront the monsters of the Crack on the outskirts of the front line. Those troops were few compared to the enormous number of monsters, but they had become more prolific than usual because of their strange good fortune and morale boost from out of nowhere.

No one thought that it could be just a coincidence.

The same was true of Nienna.

“Where is His Majesty right now?” Nienna asked.

“No one has seen His Majesty since he entered the Dragon Citadel.”

There were scarce reports about Juan, even among the witness testimonies. The only notable testimony was that someone had seen Juan walking into the Dragon Citadel, but no one had actually come up to Juan and conversed with him.

“For now, it is impossible for us to know how His Majesty has performed that miracle, and we also won’t know his purpose in the interim. However, whatever His Majesty’s purpose might be, it is definitely important because His Majesty is guiding us…”

The Dragon Citadel and the surrounding terrain were suitable to defend against a siege because they were in a high-altitude location. However, there were so many monsters that the mountains felt like they were trembling at the monsters’ every footstep.

Pavan was convinced that it was only a matter of time before the Northern Army was annihilated.

“Opert said that the Dragon Citadel can move, right? Don’t you think he was telling us to run away?”

Nienna glared at Pavan.

Pavan massaged his tired eyes and said, “Don’t get me wrong, General Nienna. I want to defeat Gerard as much as you. But I honestly don’t even know if we are being helpful to His Majesty. I would have already died somewhere over there on the battlefield if it hadn’t been for His Majesty’s guidance, but… why didn’t he give us detailed instructions from the very beginning?”

Nienna couldn’t answer. She could no longer dismiss this with her usual, ‘I don’t know, but His Majesty’s actions definitely have an important meaning behind them.’ There was no way for them to know why or how Juan had decided to be defeated by Gerard and then reviving like it was nothing.

“So, are you suggesting that we should let His Majesty fight alone in there?”

“What I’m trying to say is…” Pavan paused to sigh. Then, he continued. “I’m saying that this place is not strategically appropriate for us to stay here. Rather than blindly waiting for His Majesty’s next order, we should make the best strategic choice possible. His Majesty did guide us, after all.”

Nienna couldn’t help but ruminate over Pavan’s words.

‘Why did he guide us toward the Dragon Citadel? If he’s not telling us to run, then…’

Nienna stared at the Dragon Citadel.

“How far are we into the Dragon Citadel?” Nienna asked.

“I supposed almost everyone is already here. Captain Anya and we are only the ones—”

“General Nienna!”

All of a sudden, Opert’s voice could be heard.

Opert had shouted while staring out the window with a pale face.

Nienna was about to ask, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t necessary for her to ask any questions. The giant tentacles had stopped moving, and they stood in a single file over the horizon.

A few moments later, the giant tentacles simultaneously swept across the battlefield.

***

“I am Qzatquizail and Qzatquizail is I! I am the crowned head of the nine-headed dragon! Once I have split your broken world, I will become the true emperor of the empire!” Gerard roared, and his massive tentacle flew toward Juan.

The tentacle was much larger than the tentacle that swept at Juan earlier. The rocky island floating in the middle of the Crack felt like it was a tiny piece of gravel along the river when compared to the massive tentacle.

The same tentacle swept through where Juan was sending, annihilating a chunk of the rocky island in the proverbial blink of an eye.

However, the massive tentacle didn’t manage to crush or sweep Juan away.

Gerard wasn’t surprised at all. He didn’t really think that Juan would be beaten that easily.

Juan stood still without saying anything. Starting like a fireball burning in the air, it slowly spread toward Gerard.

“You and I are too similar, Gerard.”

“Similar?”

“The world you want to create, the power you want to have, and the goals you want to achieve. I could have grabbed all those things for myself, but I chose to give them up. I wanted what you want. The only difference between you and me is that I let go of those things while you kept on chasing after them until it was too late.”

Juan reached out with his hand.

“What kind of trick are you trying to do here?” said Gerard while staring at Juan with doubtful eyes.

However, Juan ignored Gerard’s doubtful glare and started walking toward the latter.

The flames burning between Juan’s eyebrows got bigger with every step he took, but the flame was tiny compared to its previous size.

“Hold my hand. This is your last chance,” Juan said.

Gerard saw a flame burning above Juan’s head. It was a remnant of the crown left in Juan. Gerard could hold Juan’s hand right now and absorb the remnant of the crown, but Gerard chose not to hold Juan’s hand.

After all, Juan had a penchant for performing unbelievable actions that had always brought him unwanted results. In Gerard’s eyes, the world existed so that he could dominate it. However, the world in Juan’s palm was unknown, even to him.

One thing was for sure—Gerard felt a sense of foreboding while staring at Juan’s palm.

He felt as if it was a distant tidal wave that was about to become a tsunami.

Gerard neither threatened nor asked Juan about what he meant.

In the end, Gerard decided to move only the world he was capable of moving.

“If you’re not going to break…” Gerard muttered to Juan while staring at the latter’s outstretched hand. “Then, I’ll just destroy the world you’re standing on.”

Juan’s eyes abruptly widened. “Gerard, wait! This fight is between you and me, not—”

Gerard closed his eyes tightly and ignored Juan’s voice.

All of a sudden, a world-shaking roar erupted from beyond the Crack. The roar was so loud that it split mountains apart—even Juan’s flame couldn’t withstand the loud roar.

However, the roar was just a prelude to what was to come.

The giant fingers of Qzatquzail started rising to tear the world apart.