Chapter 71: The Limits of the Possible
The light from the Orion Cannon slowly faded away.
The explosion continued raging in the sky above the Kingdom of the Wind. Waves of energy rippled through the atmosphere as the remnants of the blast still lit up the heavens. Then, a silhouette reappeared at the center of the explosion.
Zéro was still completely intact. Not a single wound, and not even his clothes had been touched.
Silence fell instantly across the entire kingdom.
Rhea remained motionless in the air. Her face tightened slightly.
She finally understood what he had done. Around Zéro's body, time had been completely stopped. The explosion still existed around him, but it could not reach his body.
Then Zéro spoke calmly:
"I stopped the time of my body."
His voice echoed through the shattered sky.
"As long as my body is frozen outside the flow of time… no attack can touch me."
Rhea gritted her teeth.
Her body was already at its limit. She understood that, in fact, from the very beginning of the fight, Zéro had never been serious.
But even so…
She raised her lance once more.
Zéro let out a slight sigh.
"I've already wasted enough time here playing with you."
Then he disappeared.
BOOOOOOOOM.
The air exploded right in front of Rhea.
She immediately sensed the danger.
But she was too slow.
Zéro's arm pierced straight through her stomach in a single strike. Blood sprayed into the air. Rhea's eyes widened violently as a massive shockwave tore through the sky around them.
Her armor cracked instantly.
Zéro slowly withdrew his arm.
Rhea's body hung suspended in the void for a few seconds. She trembled as she stared at the masked man.
"Who… are you?"
Blood flowed from her mouth.
Her mana wings were already beginning to disappear. Tears slowly formed in her eyes. Because she understood that she had lost.
At the same time, millions of black fissures appeared.
Around the immense celestial structures, the capital was falling to pieces. Everything was devastated. Entire sections of the kingdom were plummeting into the ocean of clouds hundreds of kilometers below. The magical barriers that once protected the capital had almost all vanished. Fires now engulfed the royal towers, and the screams of soldiers echoed in every direction.
In the center of this chaos, Zéro slowly descended from the sky.
His feet calmly touched the ground of the palace's main courtyard.
BOOOOOOM.
A shockwave instantly swept through the entire royal structure. The stone tiles cracked beneath him as the last remaining guards instinctively retreated, all terrified by his presence.
Around him, hundreds of clones began to appear.
One.
Then ten, then thirty, and then…
Hundreds.
All identical, all possessing the same power as Zéro. They stood completely still.
The silence lasted only a few seconds.
And then the massacre began again.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
A clone instantly tore through an entire line of royal knights. Their bodies were sliced apart before they even realized what had happened.
Another simply raised his hand toward a defensive tower.
The structure exploded. Soldiers were hurled into the void as gigantic pieces of the palace collapsed into the clouds.
The royal mages immediately tried to fight back. Hundreds of spells were launched from the palace ramparts—wind storms, elemental dragons, and spears of light completely covered the courtyard.
But none of the clones slowed down.
Attacks passed through their bodies. Some spells vanished before even touching them.
It was as if… the spells were literally turning against their own users.
The soldiers began to lose all hope. There was no longer any chance of survival. Yes, undoubtedly.
Because they finally understood that they were facing something that completely surpassed their imagination.
Meanwhile, deep within the royal palace… the throne room had fallen silent. Part of the walls had been destroyed by the previous explosion. The floor was cracked, and several royal guards already lay dead around the throne.
The King of the Wind was breathing with difficulty.
Blood trickled down his forehead as he stared at the clone of Zéro standing motionless before him. Around the king, the last guards still standing pointed their magical weapons at the clone, but their hands were shaking.
No one dared to move forward. They were all petrified.
Then Zéro's clone slowly took a step forward.
Immediately, all the guards stepped back.
The king clenched his teeth.
"What do you want from us…?"
The clone looked at him calmly for a few seconds.
Then simply asked:
"Where is the Heart of the Sky?"
The silence grew heavy.
Even the mages present changed expressions. Because they immediately understood what that meant.
The Heart of the Sky.
The sacred stone of the Kingdom of the Wind. One of the Seven Original Stones.
The famous Heart of the Sky—the sacred stone of the Kingdom of the Wind, one of the Seven Original Stones that sealed the world. The very source that had maintained the existence of the celestial kingdom for generations.
The king's eyes widened slightly.
And Queen Kelyra, who remained frozen in place, could do nothing, powerless before such a man.
"How do you know of its existence…?" she said.
The clone did not answer.
He simply continued to advance. Each step echoed.
And then…
Nothing more.
Only darkness.
As if what came next…
was never meant to be shown.
...….
Everything came to an end…..
To be continued...