Chapter 1416: All That Time Healed Nothing

At the same time, Ataneya and Kaelira’s attacks arrived.

The two energy spheres struck Noxhart from opposite sides and exploded inside the golden array. Infernal flames and purplish-red energy filled the entire formation. The runes forced the blast inward, trapping it in the confined space and sending it rebounding back and forth.

The golden array shook violently. Hairline cracks spread along its edges.

When the flames and smoke cleared, Noxhart could no longer stand.

It lay battered in the center of the array, barely breathing, black smoke rising from its scorched body. Yet it neither lowered its head nor looked at the people surrounding it.

Its eyes still burned with intensity.

Noxhart stared into the sky.

High above, the pale green energy sphere finally collided with the golden spear descending from the Archangel.

Green and gold spread from the point of impact, illuminating the entire battlefield.

Still lying in the damaged array, Noxhart slowly smiled.

"Now I’m curious what you’ll see next."

It watched the two forces clash without the slightest hint of retreat.

"Will you live up to my expectations?"

The others watched the collision overhead, their confusion only deepening.

Noxhart would never lie there and wait to die. That wasn’t in its nature. Yet the pale green sphere contained almost no destructive force. Expecting something like that to stop the Archangel’s golden spear was absurd.

Seraphine didn’t let down her guard.

Gray energy flowed from her palm and rapidly spread around the group, forming a protective barrier. But before it could close, the golden spear reached the pale green sphere.

The spearhead pierced its surface.

Its rapid descent slowed at once, as if it had plunged into thick mud. The green sphere didn’t explode. Its surface merely caved in around the spearhead, sinking deeper and deeper until it could no longer withstand the pressure.

Pop.

The spear punched through.

There was no earth-shattering explosion. No shock wave powerful enough to overturn the battlefield. Instead, a strange pulse spread from the breach. Pale green light raced across the ground and formed a vast dark green ring around the entire battlefield.

Then dense smoke poured from within the ring.

The wind couldn’t disperse it. The smoke clung to every source of energy it encountered and crawled upward. The golden spear was the first to be engulfed. Its divine radiance dimmed layer by layer within the smoke. The spearhead faded, followed by the shaft and then the Archangel itself, until all three disappeared completely.

Seraphine’s breath caught.

By the time she realized something was wrong, the wispy smoke had already turned dark green. Even the light it passed through took on the same color.

"Don’t touch the smoke!"

She immediately poured more gray energy into the barrier.

"Everyone, get over here!"

But the smoke spread faster.

Feylora had remained beside Seraphine and was protected by the gray shield from the start. Kaelira and Ataneya weren’t far away either, and both retreated inside before the barrier closed.

The others had no choice but to fall back on their own.

Catheryn had already used the darkness to move farther away, taking those beside her along. They escaped before the dark green smoke could swallow them.

Seraphina wasn’t so fortunate.

Her dragon body was too large. Smoke seeped between her scales and quickly spread across her wings, back, and limbs. Her natural draconic resistance kept her conscious, but her movements grew slower and slower until the churning smoke engulfed her completely.

Andona struggled at the edge of the cloud.

She spread her wings, using her divine radiance to burn away the green smoke approaching her body. But every layer she destroyed was replaced by more from outside. Her breathing grew ragged, and her golden light began to flicker.

Elira flew back and forth along the edge of Seraphine’s shield. She tried several times to reach Andona, but there was no path that wouldn’t take her through the smoke. All she could do was watch anxiously.

Across the entire battlefield, Seraphina was the only one completely swallowed by the smoke.

Meanwhile, in the world formed from Ethan’s cloud, Vesperhart faced a crisis of its own.

Its familiar animal companions left its side one after another and made their way up the grassy slope. Every so often, they looked back and waved their paws or tails, urging Vesperhart to follow.

Vesperhart remained where it was.

Energy gradually gathered between its antlers, while its once-calm eyes transformed into clock faces again.

"I’ll admit, you surprised me."

It watched the figures receding into the distance, its voice low.

"But I prefer things as they are now..."

It hurled the energy sphere into the ground.

The explosion ripped through the grass, sending dirt and rock flying. Lasers shot from its clocklike eyes at the same time, crossing over the ground and slicing the green meadow into a barren wasteland.

The earth shook. The hillside collapsed.

The animals above were caught in the destruction. Lasers swept past them, severing the ground beneath their feet from the rest of the grassland. The rock shelf tilted downward, leaving several small animals huddled in panic near the edge as loose stones tumbled into the depths below.

Vesperhart raised its antlers but didn’t attack again.

The sight stirred a painful memory.

Once before, it had killed these companions because it lost control of its own power.

Was it going to happen again?

No matter how much time passed, as long as it possessed this power, was it doomed to drive them to their deaths with its own hands?

In the distance, the phantom Ethan had left within the cloud world silently watched Vesperhart. An energy sphere had already formed in his palm, but when Vesperhart stopped attacking, he slowly opened his fingers and let the white energy disperse.

Vesperhart lowered its head.

The clocks in its eyes gradually faded, returning them to normal. The energy sphere between its antlers remained, casting its glow across Vesperhart’s silent face.

It knew none of this was real.

It also knew that walking toward those animals might mean its death. Ethan could be hiding nearby, waiting for it to lower its guard.

But Vesperhart never turned its antlers toward its companions.

It couldn’t kill them again.

If it destroyed them with its own hands one more time, who could say another Noxhart wouldn’t be born?

Another dark half made of loneliness, regret, and hatred.

Vesperhart looked around.

Under the influence of its time power, fresh green grass began growing across the land its lasers had destroyed. Tiny shoots emerged from the cracked soil, spreading until they covered the entire wasteland.

The energy sphere between its antlers disappeared.

The frightened animals above were still watching it.

Their strange appearances had made them targets of ridicule from other animals. Only they had been willing to approach one another. Only they had seen each other as companions.

Vesperhart finally stepped forward.

"I’m coming to save you!"

Its voice carried across the restored grassland.

This was its choice.

Perhaps it should have died alongside its companions instead of surviving alone. All that time had healed nothing. It had only made the loneliness heavier.