Chapter 1502
This guy still hasn't wondered why Saimeron suddenly turned into a floating skull beside Leon. The promise of a beautiful future has already made him lose his mind...
He barely shone during the Age of God-Demons before falling, and after finally managing a successful reincarnation, something went wrong. The reincarnated body didn't awaken as expected; by the time he woke up, the vessel had already birthed an independent soul. Now, things were truly a mess.
He hadn't even seized the body yet, and the vessel died. After much struggle, he turned into a lich, only to be sabotaged by his own reincarnated body, trapped within his own god-demon dominion, endlessly reliving old memories—roaring and struggling, but never able to escape.
An entire era passed, and he finally got a chance to escape—only to end up trapped inside a magical artifact. This time, there was truly no way out. In the Nightmare Dominion, at least there was some hope, because the mindscape trapped anyone who entered.
If someone managed to escape from the mindscape, he could tag along and slip out too. There was still a shred of hope, wasn't there?
But now, trapped in the Death Tome, the Lord of Nightmares was truly hopeless. Here, unless the master of the Death Tome personally let him out, there was no chance—better to just sit tight and behave.
Especially after the Balance Chapter appeared, the Lord of Nightmares was completely broken—he couldn't even muster the will to escape anymore.
Who could've expected that after the Balance Chapter appeared, the Relic Spirit of the Death Tome would awaken, instantly dragging Leon into the Death Tome—and then, the most beautiful moment arrived...
Once the Relic Spirit appeared, the Death Tome came under its control, weakening the tome's instincts. When Saimeron and Leon both fought to a standstill, barely clinging to life, the opportunity finally presented itself.
Trapped within the pages of the Death Tome, the Lord of Nightmares finally sensed the bindings weakening just a little. Not enough to escape, but inside the tome, he could now force open a tiny crack—slipping from that page into the inner space of the Death Tome was no longer so impossible.
If he could devour both Saimeron and Leon while they were barely alive, it would be the greatest stroke of luck he'd had since the Age of God-Demons...
“Hahaha, my luck is unbelievable! Since the Age of God-Demons, I've never had a single good break. Must've been that bastard Lord of Misfortune cursing me on his way out. But it doesn't matter—the fortune I've been saving since then is finally exploding all at once.
Just look at this! Not only do I get to seize the body of a naturally perfect transcendent creature, I also get to devour the Relic Spirit of an innate mythic artifact. After this, I'll be a transcendent being with a companion artifact. Sure, I'm weak now, but soon I'll rival the strongest god-demons.
Death Lord, Ocean Lord, all those fools with companion artifacts—they're nothing to me. Don't worry, as a thank-you, I'll devour you all in one gulp. You won't even feel a thing..."
The Lord of Nightmares was nearly delirious with joy, never noticing that while Leon looked battered, his rank had quietly dropped from Sky Mage, Ninth Rank, to his original Sky Mage, Seventh Rank...
Even his spent mana had fully recovered. In his hand appeared the Doombringer Staff; the Arcane Wheel and Spellbook of Ages floated at his side.
Watching the Lord of Nightmares rush over, his body towering tens of thousands of meters high, the soul waves he stirred up were like a massive Ninth Rank soul spell. Even if he did nothing, just the terrifying aura from his body was enough to drain Leon dry.
Yet Leon showed no sign of worry, and neither did Saimeron. They didn't take the Lord of Nightmares seriously at all.
After finishing his conversation with Saimeron, who was now thoroughly convinced, Leon finally relaxed. Only then did he turn to glance at the Lord of Nightmares and softly chant two strange notes. Odd as they were, anyone who heard them instantly understood—they meant balance.
In an instant, the invisible Force of Law emerged—a primordial gray balance scale appeared between the Lord of Nightmares and Leon, each side holding a phantom: one for the Lord of Nightmares, one for Leon.
Once the phantoms materialized, the Lord of Nightmares' side of the scale began to sink, but under some tremendous power, it quickly returned to equilibrium. As the scale balanced, Leon felt his rank surge up to forty-nine, while the Lord of Nightmares' terrifying power was forcibly suppressed to forty-nine as well.
Even as a god-demon, with only part of his soul left, his rank would never be low—especially for a semi-phantom like the Lord of Nightmares, whose power depended almost entirely on his god-demon soul. The fragments left behind would easily put him above level fifty.
If this guy ever unleashed his full strength, Leon definitely wouldn't stand a chance...
Too bad he's trapped inside the Death Tome...
Where is the Death Tome's power strongest? Naturally, inside its own space. Here, the Death Tome can reach its peak state. Outside, it might be limited by Leon's own strength, but inside, there's no such worry.
With the Chapter of Balance activated, the Lord of Nightmares was instantly knocked down to Leon's rank...
Feeling himself at rank forty-nine again, Leon found it oddly unsettling. This time, reaching forty-nine wasn't as perfect as it had been during the fight with Saimeron.
When battling Saimeron, from every angle, he was a true peak Sky Mage, Ninth Rank. But now, he basically just had the rank—the Force of Law let him wield forty-nine-level power, but his insight was sorely lacking.
But it was enough...
The Lord of Nightmares hadn't even processed his sudden loss of power when, behind Leon, an enormous Natural Semi-Plane appeared!
Just a single projection spanned dozens of kilometers. This time, it was the true projection of a Natural Semi-Plane—an entire domain, not just Leon's personal mastery of magical rules as in the fight with Saimeron.
This was a full-powered projection of the Natural Semi-Plane, released for the first time by Leon. The entire void seemed ready to collapse, trembling under its weight.
The projection, dozens of kilometers across, slammed down on the Lord of Nightmares in the simplest, most brutal fashion—pure suppression, like a world pressing down on his head.
The Lord of Nightmares, once tens of thousands of meters tall, had already been weakened by the Chapter of Balance. Now, with the Natural Semi-Plane pressing down, he was crushed to less than ten meters high...
And the Lord of Nightmares had to use all his strength just to hold up the projection of the Natural Semi-Plane. Otherwise, it would crush him half to death—and if Leon wished, he could keep him suppressed forever.
The Lord of Nightmares looked utterly miserable, his semi-transparent body sprouting four arms to prop up the projection. He glared at Leon, who floated nearby without even sparing him a glance, so furious that ripples kept appearing on his body—he was about to explode from rage...
But seeing the projection descend even further, the Lord of Nightmares didn't dare linger—he quickly steadied himself, all four arms desperately holding up the projection.
Though this was only a projection, it was still an evolution of the Natural Semi-Plane's rules. It wasn't as heavy as the real thing, but it was enough to suppress the weakened Lord of Nightmares at rank forty-nine. He couldn't use any of his powers—if he relaxed even a little, he'd be completely crushed.
Struggling beneath the Natural Semi-Plane, the Lord of Nightmares was truly miserable, his face even showing a look of 'of course' resignation...
I knew it, I just knew it would end up like this. How could perfect luck ever have anything to do with me? This was a trap—the biggest trap of all. I never should've come here. I should've just stayed quietly on that page. After all, that guy couldn't do anything to me...
As long as I dragged my feet a little during his battles, he'd be in big trouble. Then I could threaten him a bit—even if I couldn't escape, he wouldn't be able to mess with me. That would've been fine, way better than spending endless cycles in the heart-image world of my old dominion, where everything made me sick. A change of scenery would've been nice, right...?
Why did I fall for it? That damned cunning, scheming human—he must've done it on purpose. Yes, he definitely did it on purpose, just to keep me suppressed here forever so I could never drag him down again. How could I be so gullible...?
How could good luck ever have anything to do with me? That damned Lord of Misfortune must've cursed me hard when he died...
"Merlin, Merlin, let's make a deal. You let me go, and I'll take care of that idiot Uther—wipe him out completely so he can never bother you again. After that, we'll leave each other alone. I swear I won't oppose you. Wherever you show up, I'll stay far, far away. How about it?
Uther's soul—wait, no, Uther's soul has completely split into two people now, two entirely different beings. Dekrise's soul has merged with mine, and it's impossible to destroy Dekrise's soul now. He'll never die.
Just think about it—he'll never die, so he'll keep coming after you forever. Destroy one body, he's got another spare; you can't kill him no matter what. The only way is to let me devour him..."