Chapter 282: Opening Eyes
Soon, another ten days passed...
Leon remained completely motionless, but everyone could sense an invisible pressure spreading through the air—like the oppressive, suffocating calm before a storm, when the sky is heavy with dark clouds.
On the Plane Path, silence reigned. Everyone instinctively held their breath, their eyes fixed on the young Archmage, filled with both anticipation and dread...
Time slipped by, day after day...
The magical fluctuations radiating from the young Archmage grew more and more terrifying. Even Sylas West, a true Title Archmage, found it hard to breathe just standing there. The magic was so intense it felt almost tangible, as if a massive boulder was pressing down on him.
But the most terrifying thing was...
That boulder was growing heavier by the minute!
In other words, the young Archmage's magical power kept climbing higher and higher. The feeling was almost hopeless—rising, rising, endlessly rising, as if there would never be a limit. Sylas West couldn't even imagine what level this ever-escalating magic might reach...
Everyone's face had gone a shade paler, and those with weaker strength were sweating buckets, cold sweat dripping down their foreheads...
The pressure brought by the young Archmage was simply overwhelming...
No one knew how much time had passed; in this moment, time seemed to lose all meaning. Even the void outside, being devoured by the Doomsday Tempest, could no longer draw anyone’s attention. Everyone simply stood there, trembling, holding their breath and clenching their fists, waiting for that earth-shattering moment to arrive!
The magical resonance radiating from Leon grew ever more intense, and the surrounding magical elements seemed to boil...
For a moment, all that could be heard was the roar of thunder and the howling of wind, as endless mana sang loudly above the Plane Path...
Everyone knew—the young Archmage was finally about to step into the realm of Archmage.
In the millions of years of Northend World’s history, among countless Grand Mages stepping into the realm of Archmage, this was surely the most awe-inspiring breakthrough...
Mana began to gather madly, and everyone held their breath. Next, the young Archmage would surely fuse the Nine Arcane Sigils and step into the realm of Archmage in one fell swoop.
After sitting there for over a month, completely motionless, Leon finally opened his eyes...
Suddenly, it was as if everyone heard a thunderous boom, and saw a streak of aurora flash across the sky. In that instant, everything seemed frozen—rolling thunder, howling wind, flowing mana, all of it vanished. The young Archmage—no, the young Archmage who had just become an Archmage—stood there quietly, with not a trace of magical resonance emanating from him, no sign of mana flowing at all. He looked just like an ordinary person...
But in that moment when he opened his eyes...
In those bright eyes, everyone seemed to see stars falling, worlds being born and destroyed, and endless sigils rising and sinking...
"How long did I take?"
Such a simple question, yet no one answered. Except for Hubert, who was still asleep, and William Merlin, who was busy communicating with the Merlin Family crest, the others looked at Leon with undisguised terror and awe in their eyes...
It was a pressure beyond words.
Finally, Salomon—who knew Leon best—stepped forward: "Ten days short of two months."
"That long?" Leon frowned, glancing through the warped space of the Plane Path. Outside, the crimson Doomsday Tempest was still raging, devouring the Apocalypse Plane. By now, nearly the entire plane had been reduced to nothingness, leaving only the Void Graveyard where Leon had once set foot.
Strangely enough, when Leon began analyzing that drop of Silver Dragon Blood, the Doomsday Tempest had already started sweeping through the Void Graveyard. But according to Salomon, nearly two months had passed, and yet the Void Graveyard remained unmoved, still resisting the Tempest...
This was the Doomsday Tempest...
Could it be that some force within the Void Graveyard was capable of resisting the Doomsday Tempest?
"Leon..." Just as Leon was silently pondering, Sylas West called out to him, cautiously.
"What is it, Sylas West?"
"You now..." Sylas West, recalling the previous phenomena, couldn't help but swallow nervously. But in the end, he couldn't resist his curiosity: "You now, have you become an Archmage?"
Leon chuckled at the question, then nodded, "More or less..."
Satisfied with the answer, Sylas West didn't press further. He simply offered his congratulations and quietly stepped aside. Yet inside, he was anything but calm. When Leon was still a ninth-level Grand Mage, he could use that strange flame to defeat Fran, who had just reached Title Archmage. Now, with all Nine Arcane Sigils fused and stepping into Archmage in one leap, his strength could only be described as terrifying. Even without that strange flame, he might already have the power of a Title Archmage...
Looking back, his earlier choice had been absolutely correct.
If he hadn't insisted on joining this journey and given up all its spoils, with the young Archmage's tendency to hold grudges, Fran would surely have had a reckoning someday...
When that day comes, Fran will be finished.
Now, after losing that strange Magic Relic, Fran has dropped to the level of a fifth-rank Archmage. Against the young Archmage, he probably wouldn't last a single spell. Even with Sylas West's help, they were nowhere near a match.
Fortunately...
Fortunately, he had made the right choice.
Thinking this, Sylas West couldn't help but feel a quiet sense of relief...
Meanwhile, Leon once again turned his gaze toward the Void Graveyard. The terrifying Doomsday Tempest had already swallowed the entire Apocalypse Plane. Now, the boundless void was nothing but a dazzling red, as if the whole world had been stained with blood. The Tempest crashed against the Void Graveyard like waves, each assault fiercer than the last. Even through the warped space, Leon could feel that bone-chilling, terrifying power.
This was the power of the entire Apocalypse Plane—irresistible, unstoppable...
"Ah..." Watching all this, Leon couldn't help but sigh inwardly. No matter how the Void Graveyard resisted, its fate was already sealed—to be devoured. Nothing could change that.
Just as expected...
The Void Graveyard's resistance seemed to enrage the Doomsday Tempest. After failing again and again, the storm suddenly shrank back, gathering strength for another assault!
"It's coming!" Leon's eyes narrowed—he knew this scene all too well...
Just as expected...
The endless Doomsday Tempest condensed into a mass of red, smashing down onto the Void Graveyard...
In that instant, Leon seemed to hear the sound of glass shattering.
Then, the entire void began to shatter. Countless rifts appeared, and endless voidstorms raged. In an instant, the Void Graveyard became a living hell. Meanwhile, the Doomsday Tempest expanded once more, turning into a sweeping red tide that instantly engulfed the entire Void Graveyard...
The entire Apocalypse Plane was reduced to nothingness...
"It's over..." Leon shook his head and looked away from the Apocalypse Plane.
On the Plane Path, the Dragonblood Orc was still fusing that drop of Golden Three-Headed Dragon's Blood, sitting there with a solemn expression. A faint golden glow shimmered over his green skin, giving him an almost divine aura...
On the other side, William Merlin was also immersed in a state of meditation...
However, this meditative state was very strange.
Now, Leon's perception of magical trajectories was ten times sharper than before. With just a glance, he could tell that William Merlin was now connected to the Bleeding Dragon Crest. On a soul level, there was no discernible difference—it was as if the Crest had completely merged into William Merlin's soul...
Leon knew this meant the soul inheritance had begun...
Within that Crest was the legacy of a Merlin Family ancestor...
And that ancestor was a warrior who fought in the Dragon-Slaying War.
Even Leon couldn't imagine just how astonishing this legacy truly was...
Only when William Merlin completes the soul inheritance will the real answer be revealed.
"Hm?" Just as Leon was lost in thought, a beam of light suddenly illuminated the entire Plane Path.
Startled, Leon looked up and saw, outside the twisted space, a beam of light suddenly shining in the void that had been devoured by the Doomsday Tempest.
No, no, no...
It wasn't a single beam of light.
Beyond the twisted space, the world was half light, half darkness.
Beyond the infinite light and infinite darkness, the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—were slowly surging...
"This... this is!" The scene was so bizarre that Leon was stunned. Infinite light arose, infinite darkness fell, and the four elements surged—this was the sign of a world being born. Leon had seen this very scene many times when touching the Eye of Reincarnation.
Could it be...