The brown sky above the royal capital seemed to split apart from the center.
The deep black clouds were like two torn continents, slowly pushing apart to either side, revealing the rift between them.
From a distance, the whole world seemed to have been divided in two, exposing the mysterious river of flowing multicolored light.
The vast land around the royal capital welcomed warm sunlight as its gentle rays gradually spread across the dust-covered earth.
Countless giant trees towered into the sky, standing upon the loose soil.
Their lush green branches swayed with the gentle breeze, producing wave after wave of crisp rustling sounds.
Sunlight shone across the green leaves, their brilliant natural colors seeming to add specks of life to the clear sky.
As the breeze passed through, the oppressive black clouds finally began to part.
Bright daylight filtered through the opening and gradually covered the entire land.
The enormous divine tree, shining with streams of multicolored light, pierced straight into the heavens.
Its immense, dazzling magic reflected together with the sunlight, glowing brilliantly.
Flowers bloomed at that moment, displaying their sacred and extraordinary beauty.
Yet beneath that tranquility, the land was left with nothing but endless ruins and scattered rubble.
Even the rolling mountain ranges had collapsed during the upheaval, exposing the brown primordial earth once more.
The breeze swayed gently, carrying faint ripples of scent as it brushed across everyone's clothes, bringing a touch of freshness.
The residents standing outside the walls of the royal capital wore solemn expressions of reverence, their eyes filled with shock and awe.
The multicolored light reflected in their eyes as they stood motionless beneath the drifting tides of magic.
The overwhelming magic floating through the air affected more than just ordinary residents.
Haim Horn, sitting atop the city wall, also stared blankly at the sacred tree in the sky, feeling the vast magical power pouring down from above.
The deep and overwhelming sensation was as though the entire royal capital had been enveloped by an invisible land made entirely of magic.
Too terrifying.
Haim Horn found it hard to believe that magic could become this powerful.
He slowly lowered his head and looked at the mages maintaining the barrier in front of the residents.
All of them were sprawled across the ground.
It looked as though every last bit of magic had been drained from them, leaving them utterly exhausted.
If not for the fact that each of them was still breathing, the densely packed crowd would have looked like corpses left behind on a battlefield.
Although Viktor had lifted the battlefield into the sky, along with that terrifying spell.
The tremendous shockwave from the spell's explosion had even pierced through layers upon layers of clouds stretching for thousands of miles.
Even so, the land had still suffered from the tremendous impact, tearing countless cracks through the mountain ranges.
Ruins covered the entire royal capital. Broken rocks and shattered tiles had nearly been ground into dust, spreading a layer of colored powder across the land.
The transparent barrier surrounding the city walls had also shattered completely under the horrifying impact.
Fortunately, that spell had been cast high in the sky.
Otherwise, even a barrier jointly created by tens of thousands of mages would never have withstood such power.
By then, the royal capital would probably have been completely erased from this land.
"This is definitely the most terrifying spell I've ever seen in my life."
Looking at the sky, Haim Horn couldn't help sighing as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Rachel sat beside him on the stone wall, leaning on his cane and breathing heavily.
After his breathing steadied somewhat, he asked the Natu on his shoulder about everyone else's condition.
"How is everyone? Is everybody all right?"
———
After quite a while, Natu received several messages coming from different directions.
"Haha, now that was satisfying..."
"I'm fine over here."
"I can still move."
"I'm completely overloaded. After this is over, Viktor has to lend me Heilnason for a few days."
"Woof!"
As Natu continued relaying the council members' voices, Haim Horn and Rachel nodded to each other.
Finally at ease, they looked up toward the royal capital ahead, which had become a field of ruins.
Amid the layers of rubble and dust, the only place that remained completely intact, still shining with golden light, was the imperial palace in the center of the capital.
There, an earth-brown rock giant stood motionless before the palace.
As rocks continuously crumbled away, sending clouds of dust into the air, its enormous body gradually became loose, layers of rocky skin peeling away.
Looking ahead, Haim Horn spoke calmly, "Then, just as Viktor said."
"It's time to begin the next phase."
———
Before the brilliantly glowing palace, the residents in the central square stood blankly in place, like puppets, looking up at the torn clouds overhead.
Their eyes fell upon the gigantic rock giant, and their shock was plain to see.
The sky had returned to a clear blue, with the brilliant sun hanging high above.
Its gentle light shone upon the gradually collapsing rock giant, casting an earthen glow over it.
Even though the damaged rock giant had bent half its body forward, it still blocked half the sky.
The earthen rocks covering its body continued to crack apart, becoming countless falling fragments that scattered across the ground around the central square.
The six eyes of Uranos flashed intermittently.
Its once mighty body still seemed unwilling to submit to fate, remaining firmly standing where it was.
Only now did the people finally see the true appearance of the giant of earth.
Countless elves looked up at it, gathering together, showing great curiosity toward the now-silent giant before them.
Only the Crown Prince standing among the crowd had disbelief written all over his face.
Because he clearly remembered Viktor saying that he would deal with something like this by himself.
And now, as that enormous and terrifying rock giant stood before the royal palace...
Just facing that overwhelming presence was enough to leave him deeply shaken.
It was on an entirely different level from the previous rock giant.
Even now, everything still felt like a dream.
'Viktor actually defeated something this terrifying?'
'Just how strong is Viktor???'
Still in shock, Albany instinctively turned around to see Aubrey's reaction.
With a single glance, the Crown Prince froze.
Aubrey was still sitting in his chair, dozing off as though the disasters unfolding before the royal capital had nothing to do with him.
'Did Father really have so little sense of crisis?'
Suddenly, a figure in a black coat in the sky caught everyone's attention.
Viktor slowly descended from above, wearing a coat filled with elemental power and carrying the limp Erika in his arms.
The moment everyone saw Viktor, expressions of joy and reverence appeared on their faces.
Looking at Viktor descending like a heavenly god, every pair of eyes was filled with admiration.
But some residents suddenly sensed that something wasn't right.
Looking at the figure in Viktor's arms, they couldn't help whispering among themselves.
"That's Count Viktor, right?"
"Why is Count Viktor carrying a girl?"
One resident replied teasingly, "Oh, you fool. That's the Duke's eldest daughter."
"Wasn't the rumor about Count Viktor before that he confessed to her?"
"Oh right, right. My mistake."
Standing among the crowd, the Crown Prince listened to the idle gossip and couldn't help feeling a little helpless.
So he hurried forward and stopped them.
"Don't talk nonsense. Count Viktor is saving someone. It's not what you're thinking."
Sigh. These people really spoke without thinking.
Erika had been sealed inside ice. This had been a matter of life and death.
It was obvious that Viktor had rescued Erika.
Even so, the scene before them really was easy to misunderstand.
The Crown Prince looked up at Viktor and thought for a moment.
Hopefully Duke Levi wouldn't misunderstand what he was seeing, or explaining it afterward would become troublesome.
Viktor paid no attention to the discussion below.
His eyes remained locked firmly on Uranos.
Although Vega had exhausted its magic, Viktor had recovered a considerable amount of mana through potions.
Enough for him to continue using some spells and maintain his flight.
This battle against the Calamity had only taken one day.
So Viktor didn't feel tired at all.
Of course, that was also thanks to the help of the other Calamities.
Otherwise, with Viktor only at level fifty, dealing with the level seventy Uranos would probably have taken a very long time.
Thinking this, Viktor fixed his gaze on Uranos once more.
[HP: 5%]
It wasn't dead yet.
Its health bar, stretching for thousands of miles, had only a tiny sliver remaining.
Now that Uranos was in a weakened state, its defense had already dropped dramatically.
Viktor slowly gathered magic at his fingertips, and the stars overhead seemed to resonate with it.
He prepared to finish Uranos with one final attack.
[Fifth-Tier Magic: Thousand Blades of the Morning Star]
In an instant, countless magical blades formed a blurred starry sky around Uranos.
With a wave of Viktor's finger, they shot toward Uranos at tremendous speed.
However, just as the magic was about to strike Uranos, its body suddenly began fluctuating like a phantom.
The magical blades failed to hit the enormous Uranos, passing through it as though cutting through empty air.
They only left several faint tears in space, accompanied by a sharp explosive crack.
Then a line of text appeared before Viktor.
[Triggered "Intermittent Illusion." Damage from this attack has been nullified.]
At that moment, even the people on the ground were stunned.
They had clearly seen Viktor cast a spell in the air and launch the final attack against the rock giant.
'But... what did just happened?'
'The magic... passed through it?'
Viktor, however, didn't seem surprised.
He merely examined Uranos, whose entire body was rippling like a phantom, wrapped in golden light.
His cold voice sounded slowly, like a freezing wind, "Since you're already here, why won't you show yourself?"
"Are you afraid of me?"
Finally, Viktor raised his head and looked above Uranos.
At some point, a phantom with one leg crossed over the other, surrounded by faint golden light, had appeared atop Uranos's head.
Its illusory form made it impossible to see clearly, and only the smile on its face appeared incomparably mysterious.
Only Viktor's deep gaze remained fixed on it.
Then he spoke its true identity, "Hermes."