Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
A violent surge of electricity shot through Jill Young's entire body—the kind of wild voltage that could rival a thunderstorm. She glowed a blinding white, her bones practically visible beneath her skin.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh—!!"
Jill Young screamed in agony.
Crunch. Far off in the sky, Dream Monroe clenched her fist mid-flight.
"Don't look back... I can't look back..." Dream Monroe gritted her teeth and sped up, refusing to witness whatever was happening behind her.
While The Divine watched the world through its own eyes, deep in the chaos, The Archmage was also observing everything through The Divine's gaze. Master Nature had planted countless backup tricks inside The Divine—spying through its eyes was one of the simpler ones.
The Archmage had been keeping tabs on this battle—which, for him, was basically an "outside game." Now, at last, he nodded in satisfaction.
"They're out of options. Looks like there really aren't any cards left up their sleeve. Well then—" Whoosh! The fifth Cube suddenly hovered in place. The Archmage stood up. "Perfect timing. Guess it's my turn. If I wait any longer and they actually beat me to it, I'll look like a total fool."
He tapped his staff, and the reserves in the Elemental Pool started bubbling away again.
With a massive reserve of magical power, The Archmage unleashed his one and only supercharged talent: "Innate Magic—Phase Swap!"
Out on the Ancient Starlit Road, the shattered remains of the Overlord Golem began to fade, like someone kept cranking up its transparency—slowly vanishing where it lay.
Master Nature is a mage—and right now, the strongest mage on Earth. Mages always have a ton of secret weapons, and Master Nature is about as cautious as they come.
Nobody—at least nobody on Earth—knew that the original purpose behind Overlord Golem Unit-3's creation was to protect The Archmage. When The Archmage first awakened his Phase Swap talent, he designated a chunk of Black Starstone as his swap target. That Black Starstone became the core ingredient of the Overlord Golem. The spell kept upgrading over time, and now it's basically unfathomable.
No matter how busted up the Overlord Golem gets, as long as it's not completely wiped out, The Archmage can trigger Phase Swap and instantly trade places with it.
This spell is almost cheating—it can dodge death, bail you out, and save your neck. Just imagine: the enemy goes through hell to finally corner The Archmage. Right when he's about to get nuked by an anti-magic alchemy bomb and run out of mana, boom—Phase Swap! Suddenly, the big dumb Overlord Golem pops up like a tank, swinging and smashing, while The Archmage chills back at HQ, sipping tea and taking a bath before cleaning up the mess.
And if you don't use it for survival, flip the script—it's also a killer move for surprise attacks.
Like, right now.
The loading time was forever—since it had to cross a massive spatial dimension, way longer than the usual instant swap. Gave The Archmage plenty of time to fix his hat and coat.
But a long loading bar couldn't kill his vibe.
"Not even a teleport can interrupt this. Looks like they're really out of cards," The Archmage muttered, absolutely sure he'd won.
He finished tidying his beard just as the loading bar hit 100%.
A flash of light burst from the Overlord Golem's remains. The surge of magic burned up the Black Starstone core completely—Phase Swap was now a one-time deal, never to be used again. But The Archmage figured it was worth it; once he took hyperspace, he wouldn't need Phase Swap anymore.
Out of the shining light stepped The Archmage.
He held out his palm, and the Cube of Truth—once part of the Overlord Golem—hovered above it.
"Hello, you two." Under Jonathan Black's stunned gaze, The Archmage nodded at him. "Sir, you were absolutely right just now: these days, who doesn't have a trump card? On that point, we're in total agreement. The only difference is, you ran out of yours first."
The Cube of Truth spun as The Archmage stepped forward. As a proper mage, he broke through the dimensional barrier way faster than the Overlord Golem, which had to rely on remote computing power. His robes billowed, totally in control: "According to my calculations, you two have exactly twenty seconds left to live."
Jonathan Black was crushed—totally crushed. Jill Young's trump card was already spent. Who would've thought, after smashing a stone egg, they'd get a white-bearded powerhouse instead?
Was there any way left to turn this around?
"Go!" Susan Morrow grabbed Jonathan Black's shoulder, clutching her forehead and gritting her teeth. Her voice was hoarse: "We have to keep moving!"
In a blink, the dimensions of the void shifted—Susan Morrow whisked Jonathan Black away at high speed.
At the same time, memories from the void came flooding in.
Every moment in those surging memories was pain, every moment was sorrow, every moment was rage.
1988.
Unconsciousness, unconsciousness—like an endless, bottomless sleep.
Her mind couldn't focus at all, her soul adrift in a void with no up, down, left, or right. Weightless, lost, dark, alone—she couldn't feel herself at all.
In the endless sleep, only occasional voices broke through. Distorted, warped, but after a long delay, Susan Soo could still recognize who they belonged to.
"The custom anesthetic works—don't stop, increase the dose!"
"Insert electrodes into her brain, control her with electric shocks—just make sure she doesn't wake up until the surgery's over!"
Those were Parker Peterson's voices.
"No electrodes. I need her brain intact—I won't allow even the slightest damage to her intelligence."
"Implant the restraint program perfectly—I want it flawless. I mean, you wouldn't want her to wake up and shred you to bits, right?"
Those were Adam Zade's voices.
And then came a jumble of other voices, drifting like ghosts, swirling all around. Some familiar, some strange—probably researchers who used to work with her. But Susan Soo couldn't make them out, couldn't understand, couldn't react. All she felt was herself soaking in a nightmare she could never wake up from, tossed around by devils, helpless and pitiful.
Suddenly, a bunch of bamboo sticks carved with the words "bad luck" flashed through her mind.
What was that?
No, she couldn't remember at all. The memories vanished from her mind like they'd been erased with a rubber.
When Susan Soo finally woke up again, she found herself lying on a white hospital bed. Both arms were hooked up to IVs, her whole body thin and gaunt. With her head buzzing, she struggled to lift her eyelids—and the first thing she saw was Adam Zade.
"Welcome to New Mexico," Adam Zade said calmly. "I've set up a backup lab here. It's not much, but it'll have to do."