Throne of Magical Arcana

Below the grey curtain was the pale fire that was burning slowly, like a furnace which was needed to pass the winter in every house.

The face inside the Furnace of Souls, on the other hand, displayed the looks of Lucien Evans and Xiafeng at the same time. They seemed to be overlapping and entangling each other. As he stared at them, they were now separated, now integrated, and now showing certain strange parts that he had never seen in a mirror.

Why?

How?

After he learnt about the existence of the Furnace of Souls, Lucien once thought that he would not see the ‘projection of his soul’ inside the Furnace of Souls because he had time-traveled to this world, and that he would have one more trump card than other people did. However, the secret of the Furnace of Souls were more deep and horrendous than he imagined. It was not only showing the soul projection of Lucien Evans but also manifesting the look of Xiafeng, who came from Earth and did not belong to this world.

“Is the Furnace of Souls also in charge of the souls of Earth?”

“Is this why I have a Host Star of Destiny?”

“After this puzzle is solved, perhaps I will understand why I time-traveled, and why I was reincarnated inside Lucien Evans’ body…”

Too many thoughts swirled in his head. Lucien vaguely realized that the soul could be explained from a certain perspective, but he had no time to study of the Furnace of Souls. The Lord of Hell was right outside and about to catch up with him. Therefore, he could only extend his hand and touch the Furnace of Souls softly.

Slight coldness was the ubiquitous feeling in the World of Souls. Lucien did not feel anything but that after his touch, as if it were actually in a different world and what stood here were merely a projection, which perfectly matched the intangibleness and transcendence that it showed.

In the middle of his touch, Lucien’s right eye suddenly turned red and clear:

“Vengeful Gaze!”

A red ray of light, enhanced by ‘Hand of Uncertainties’, shot out of Lucien’s right hand at Maltimus, who was still in the cage of ‘Gravity Collapse’, at the speed of light.

Lucien would regret it if he didn’t try his luck and attack him when he could!

After he cast the spell, Lucien flew into the temple where the Furnace of Souls was at without looking back. Two pathways appeared in his perception. One of them lost the black and white colors and only had greyness with a certain palpitating sense of danger, and the other was brimming with vague ripples of the void, like something Lucien was quite familiar with. Also it was far more terrifying than the other one, as if a monster that could destroy the world was sleeping there.

“Familiar? Is this where the mysterious existence of the World of Souls is sleeping?” Lucien recalled the poor thing who was tricked by the Lord of Hell and the God of Silver Moon when he was about to wake up. “But the sense of familiarity does not agree with the impression he left earlier…”

Having no time to tell the difference, Lucien subconsciously chose the grey pathway. The danger from the other pathway was too much for him. Even the Lord of Hell and the God of Silver Moon wouldn’t have dared to press deep into it.

The pure redness hit Maltimus at the standard speed of light, piercing through the sacred defense of ‘Blessed Realm’.

Finally, he couldn’t dodge with his terrifying speed now!

However, the ‘Hand of Uncertainties’ did not work out, and ‘Vengeful Gaze’ disappeared after piercing through only one layer of defense, not causing any damage to the Lord of Hell.

Inside the hemispherical void, the Lord of Hell suddenly moved his right hand. The cage of ‘Gravity Collapse’ immediately fell apart.

He watched Lucien disappear behind the Furnace of Souls with his unique mocking smile and shook his head casually, not upset that the guy had escaped at all. He simply mumbled:

“That’s weird. Something weird and dangerous seemed to be hidden in that ray spell. Hehe. Lucien Evans, the Secretive, is always up to uncanny things.”

Then, he crossed his hands before his chest, and he immediately disappeared.

Hardly had Lucien stepped into the grey pathway when roars of shock and fury burst out from the outside as if he had raised public indignation. However, most of the spectres dared not approach the Furnace of Souls at all. Only a Servant of Death who had a long scythe and a dragon lich from whom mucus was dripping nonstop chased after him in exasperation, surpassing the Furnace of Souls and entering the grey pathway.

“Hoooooo!”

Roars came from all directions. The few legendary undead creatures seemed to have sensed Lucien’s abomination and were approaching crazily.

The bright gems on head of the Lich King, who was dealing with the Lord of Storm with two ‘saints’, suddenly glittered. He sniffed in anger and suddenly withdrew from the battle, teleporting himself to the Furnace of Souls.

Seeing that, ‘Aleksey’ and ‘Uriel’ performed their divine power and escaped in a hurry, not giving Fernando a chance to counterattack. They would be completely overpowered by the Lord of Storm without the help of the Lich King. Also, Ivan’s God’s Grace was about to be over. The deeper they pressed, the more slowly the time would be flowing. Although it didn’t take Lucien long before he ran into the Furnace of Souls, a long time actually had passed outside. The extraordinary skill to improve one’s strength like ‘God’s Grace’ couldn’t last for such a long time.

Fernando did not chase after them but took out his magic crystal ball, searching for the other people. This mission was for exploration and not to destroy the foundation of the North Church. The safety of Lucien, Klaus, Erica and the rest of them was more important.

The crystal ball became dark. Four brilliant stars surfaced inside. One of them flickered before it was enshrouded by the grey fog.

“There are only four Host Stars of Destiny… Has Klaus perished?” Lord of Storms roared furiously, and the thunderstorm around him reduced the palaces into remains. “Lucien seems to have reached behind the Furnace of Souls?”

Only if he were there could his astrology be completely nullified. Lucien’s Host Star of Destiny was almost frozen in the grey mist.

In another palace, ‘Saint Ivan’, whose God’s Grace was about to end, subtly sensed the changes near the Furnace of Souls and the retreat of Aleksey and Uriel. Seizing the opportunity that he was still suppressing Douglas, he flapped his wings and disappeared into countless spots of light, before he sent a message to ‘Felix’ and the angel of light not far away.

Therefore, Vicente and Erica watched their enemy to flee. The two legendary sorcerers had been both overpowered in the battle. Erica was even in grave danger.

“Gather in the Furnace of Souls.” They received a message from Douglas and Fernando.

Because a few intelligent legendary spectres were reaching the Fernando, there was no need for them to hide themselves anymore. After a short while, they were all teleported before the Furnace of Souls and saw Douglas and Fernando who was obviously infuriated. They also saw the tide of spectres in the square before the Furnace of Souls, who were roaring to scare their enemy but did not dare to approach the Furnace of Souls.

“Klaus has perished. He was killed by the Light of Judgment. There’s no telling who did it.” Douglas spoke of the prophecy he made based on the situation. It was very clothes to the truth.”

“What? Klaus has perished?” Erica asked back in disbelief, feeling rather terrified. Although Klaus and she were not best friends, they were partners in the same adventure. His death perhaps represented her future.

Vicente felt the same way, but he keenly realized something else. “Mr. President, Ivan was blocked by you, and Felix was fighting me. It should be easy to tell whether it was Aleksey, Uriel or the angel of light that did it.”

“Aleksey and Uriel were attacking me.” Fernando sounded like a volcano that was about to break out.

Erica said in shock, “I was fighting the angel of light!”

Who did it exactly? Were there other experts who were capable of legendary divine powers in the Temple of Spirits?

Grasped by the heavy questions, they were not in the mood to study the Furnace of Souls anymore.

Hooooooo!

The legendary spectres moved forward slowly, as if they were trying to overcome their fear.

Douglas was back to himself. He pressed his right hand. “We can’t delay anymore. Remember the feeling of the Furnace of Souls and study it after we are back.”

Fernando shook his head and bulged his red eyes. “You evacuate first. I’ll search for Lucien. As a top legend, I can certainly bring him back safely as long as he doesn’t go any deeper.”

Even if he couldn’t defeat the enemy, he could still escape.

Erica opened her mouth, only to come up with nothing.

After a brief silence, Douglas pulled his bow-tie. “I’ll go and find Lucien together with Fernando. That way, we will be able to escape from the gravest danger. You will leave the Temple of Spirits and bring back our exploration and the secrets of the North Church.”

“Mr. President…” Erica did not know whether she was trying to stop him or to participate.

Douglas said firmly, “No more talking. Let’s move out!”

Vicente had already moved his eyes to the Furnace of Souls, his skinny face filled with controllable passion. Erica also shift her attention and focused on memorizing the feeling and the details of the Furnace of Souls, before she tried many spells on it.

Hooooooo!

The swarm of spectres led by countless legendary ones approached. The intelligent centaur archer was among them.

Watching the devastating legends and spectres and sensing the enormous pressure, Douglas heaved a sigh, “Go to sleep now.”

He flew and pressed both of his hands:

“Eternal Blaze!”

BOOM. A bright sun rose where the centaur archer was at. The spectres around were obliterated before they were able to react.

“Eternal Blaze!”

“Eternal Blaze!”

One sun rose after another. The unimaginable storms of energy rumbled in the square that covered dozens of square kilometers. Even though they were at the edge of the explosions, Fernando, Vicente and Erica had to build up their defense.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Miserable cries echoed but stopped abruptly. Those spectres who hadn’t reached level three of legendary couldn’t resist ‘Eternal Blaze’ at all, but their intellect prevented them from fleeing. They rushed at the enemy under their natural instincts.

The whole Temple of Spirits lost the frozen black, white and grey colors. The dazzling brilliant illuminated everything.

After everything died down, the square had become a pit, and the overwhelming spectres had been entirely gone. The roars were no more.

“The world is peaceful again…”

Erica said with mixed feelings. Seizing the opportunity, she and Vicente teleported out of the Temple of Spirits, as it was impossible to directly jump into their own demiplanes from this place.

Observing the Furnace of Souls carefully, Fernando passed it like a storm and entered the grey pathway together with Douglas.

“They have both entered…”‘Ivan’, who had the typical huge nose of the Schachran Empire, appeared in midair, more serious than ever.