In that instant, Rosemary Pulos—the flame mage known as "Abyssal Flame Annihilation"—sensed the earth's lament.
Wielding invisible power was the very foundation of a mage. Even those with only a modicum of magical aptitude, let alone a master of Rosemary's caliber, must have felt that eruption of force.
It was that enormous.
It was power far beyond what human hands could hope to control. Its magnitude had already surpassed magic, taking on the scale of a natural disaster—even at Level 8 with her attack-specialized build, the "Abyssal Flame Annihilation" was utterly outmatched.
"Tch... they just had to make things difficult."
Rosemary, who had been sitting in the spectator stands with her legs crossed, watching the events unfold, rose to her feet with staff in hand.
She had heard the Fox was planning something. She'd even given instructions to signal her. But this development was beyond even her expectations.
The fox-masked man's words had been no joke. That Treasure Weapon was an extraordinarily powerful artifact—one capable of breaking the world. And among the spectators, those with enough skill—like Rosemary—had realized the truth behind those words.
An invisible force tore through the earth, and the ground trembled. The massive structure swayed, and oblivious ordinary people began to scream.
This was no earthquake. It was merely the prelude to destruction.
Dust and debris obscured everything. But the Treasure Weapon was already active.
That kid from Thousand Transformations... he'd blown it.
The schemer, drowned by his own stratagems—so that was how the saying went. Even the mastermind who had supposedly juggled all creation in the palm of his hand turned out to be merely human.
Having witnessed countless forms of magic over the years, Rosemary could clearly see that the destructive force swelling within the arena was an extremely pure, colorless, transparent energy.
It was of the same school as the technique with which the fox-masked man had single-handedly crushed the Thunder Emperor, Krahi Andrih. And that likely had everything to do with why he had chosen that particular Treasure Weapon.
She had known he intended to use a weapon, but the scale was far greater than she'd anticipated.
"The barrier won't hold, I'd say. Completely beyond tolerance."
The barriers employed at the Creet Martial Emperor Festival were designed to mitigate all forms of attack. But against destructive force on this scale, they were meaningless.
Rosemary could clearly see the immense energy spreading like cracks beneath the ground.
"...What do we do?"
Gaark—who, like Rosemary, had a precise grasp of the situation—was staring into the arena with an intensity that could bore through steel.
At that moment, another shockwave blasted the dust clear.
The dust settled. What appeared were two figures clinging to a single sword driven into the ground.
One was, naturally, Thousand Transformations. The other—the fox-masked man.
Waves of destruction rocked the arena. Cracks raced along pillars and floors with splintering groans.
—Yet the energy was significantly diminished compared to what Rosemary had first sensed.
That fact carried a single implication.
This was the signal. Rosemary shot to her feet and barked at the spectators teetering on the edge of panic.
"Calm down! Thousand Transformations is holding it back—there's still time!"
The destructive energy from that Treasure Weapon was enormous. If fully unleashed, it would sweep not only Creet but all the way across the Zebuldia Empire, annihilating everything in its path. The damage wrought by criminal organizations up to now would pale in comparison—this was true annihilation.
But there was still time. The Treasure Weapon's power was vast—too vast for even Rosemary to stop alone.
But what was happening here was the Martial Emperor Festival—where hundreds of capable mages had gathered.
They couldn't prevent the destruction entirely, but they could mitigate it. No—Thousand Transformations was already demonstrating that very thing.
Hunters who had conquered the Treasure Hall excelled at situational judgment. Those who grasped the intent behind Rosemary's words immediately pressed their hands to the ground and pitted their power against the destructive force. With output this high, the Treasure Weapon's effects shouldn't last long.
"I'll evacuate the crowd."
"Right. This is a mage's job. Honestly, putting an old man to work like this—you brat!"
Gaark dashed off to coordinate the evacuation.
Protection wasn't his specialty, but there was no room for such considerations. The "Abyssal Flame Annihilation" let out a deep sigh and, for the first time in a long while, drew upon every last drop of her mana.
§ § § "Follow the Abyssal Flame Annihilation!! We must suppress the destruction at all costs! I don't need your escort—go!"
He had been naive. Radric Atrum Zebuldia gritted his teeth at the unexpected turn of events.
"Your Majesty, at least allow us to evacuate you—"
"Unnecessary! I have a duty to witness this!"
Below, vast crowds of spectators were fleeing in every direction. He could clearly see the panicked masses scattering, those stepping in to direct evacuation, and the mages kneeling in place, straining with everything they had to contain the force.
According to the literature, the power of the Key of the Earth was large-scale destruction that interfered with the very earth itself.
The destructive force absorbed energy from the Ley Lines at its point of origin and expanded outward, growing ever larger. The tremors currently shaking the arena were merely fragments—the merest edges—of the true destruction.
He rose, gripping the railing, and leaned forward to glare into the arena.
The Key of the Earth, to which Thousand Transformations and the Fox had latched on, blazed with brilliant light.
As the emperor of a great nation, composure was always expected of him.
Until now, Radric had always strived to conduct himself as an emperor should, never allowing himself to be consumed by emotion.
But for the first time in his life, Radric felt something boiling-hot surging up inside him.
"You... damn... fox. To think you'd go this far—"
The last shred of his reason whispered: this was rage.
The shadowy operations within the Zebuldia Empire, the assassination attempt on Radric himself, even the creation of a copy of his daughter—through it all, he had managed to keep his emotions in check. Now, they had exceeded all limits.
The only reason Zebuldia had refrained from crushing the organization at any cost was that the Fox's activities had been too quiet, too subtle.
Moving great power required proportionate justification. Zebuldia was an absolute monarchy, but even so, deploying state power against an opponent who hadn't caused significant public damage would inevitably draw opposition. Sometimes it was necessary to weigh risk against reward and choose patience.
But this time was different—this was absolutely unforgivable.
The Key of the Earth, blazing with light. According to the literature, this was proof of the Key of the Earth's full release.
A fully released Key of the Earth would absorb the power of the Ley Lines and project its influence across tens of thousands of miles in every direction—collapsing mountains, sinking entire continents, reshaping the very terrain.
According to the texts discovered in the Treasure Hall, in the ancient era when the Key of the Earth had existed, it had never once been fully released.
Furthermore, according to the Relic Investigation Institute's research, there was an extremely high probability that the ancient civilization's destruction had been caused by a single full release of the Key of the Earth.
He knew that the secret society—the Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox—aimed at the destruction of civilization.
But destroying a nation was one thing. Unleashing power capable of reshaping a planet without any restraint made them nothing less than an enemy of the entire world.
That strike was one that absolutely must not be unleashed. It carried a terrifying killing intent—the intent to annihilate the world along with the organization itself.
Had he known a plan of this magnitude was underway, Radric would never have resorted to such half-measures.
Whether Creet was reduced to rubble, whether Zebuldia faced condemnation from foreign powers—he would have employed every means at his disposal to annihilate the Fox.
He took a deep breath. The fire that had been raging through his mind began to subside.
But it had not disappeared.
What remained at the end was cold killing intent. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at the fox-masked man clinging to the hilt.
His fist was clenched too tightly. Nails pierced through skin, and blood trickled down.
But neither the pain, nor the tremors, nor the screams registered in the consciousness of Radric Atrum Zebuldia.
"I'll crush you—I'll kill you, Fox. Even if it costs tens of thousands of soldiers, even if I have to tear through every blade of grass on the ground, I won't let a single one of you escape. I'll destroy you all."
It wasn't only the Fox who could throw propriety to the wind.
§ § § This was Thousand Transformations. What a certifiably insane man.
Boss had barely managed to deflect the shockwave from the initial activation, and in that split second, he had latched onto the key that Thousand Transformations was gripping.
Simultaneously, he channeled his own mana into the key, pitting his power against the destructive energy pouring from the Key of the Earth in an effort to neutralize even a fraction of it. A terrifying shock unlike anything he had ever experienced ripped through his body.
Thousand Transformations, also gripping the sword, was blinking rapidly but showed no signs of being overwhelmed.
Deflecting that shockwave had been nothing short of a miracle. If he had been blown away directly, the nation would have ceased to exist in the few seconds it took him to return. The Key of the Earth's destruction swelled in an instant.
He had no luxury to concern himself with the surroundings. He could only glare at the man before him while desperately pouring his power against the destruction.
"Ki... sa... ma—what... are you—"
"Hm? What about it?"
Thousand Transformations clutched the sword and widened his eyes. Amidst the terrifying torrent of destruction, he was perfectly composed.
That was the privilege of the one who had activated the Key of the Earth. He was the eye of the hurricane. He probably felt none of the destructive shockwaves at all.
Boss wanted to wring his neck. But there was no room for that.
The moment he let his guard down, he would be swallowed by the destruction. He could feel it in his bones.
The Treasure Weapon blazed with brilliant light—proof that it had fully released the Key of the Earth's power.
"Ki... sa... ma—"
The power flowing through the hand touching the key sent violent, body-rending agony surging through him. For Boss, who had honed his skills over years and amassed vast mana and power, it was something he hadn't felt in a very long time.
In this torrent of force, he could feel how insignificant his own power truly was. But he gripped the key with every ounce of his being.
Even if the original plan had succeeded, he hadn't intended to take it this far. The Fox's ultimate goal was the destruction of civilization, but that was premised on eventual reconstruction.
A full release of the Key of the Earth was far too destructive for that purpose. The Key of the Earth was the kind of trump card that should never be played.
A modest display of power would have served as sufficient deterrence.
To fully release it—did this man intend to destroy the world?
He was insane.
"I was prostrating myself... I was just trying to bow down, that's all."
If Boss had made a move now, he wouldn't have been able to resist. But Thousand Transformations showed no intention of attacking.
He hadn't activated the Key of the Earth to defeat Boss in the first place. That would have been putting the cart spectacularly before the horse.
"You were—prostrating!?"
He had no idea what the man was talking about. He couldn't fathom how someone could be so nonchalant while fully unleashing a Treasure Weapon that would bring about the world's destruction.
His thoughts—he couldn't read them. Krahi had been strong, but he was just a hero. The man before him was different.
"B-but, I think you guys are partly to blame too. I wasn't trying to oppose you or anything—see, I was just—"
Why!? Why wasn't he trying to stop the Key of the Earth's activation?
The world was going to be destroyed! Creet, Zebuldia, every other nation—all of it would be annihilated. The modern Ley Lines had vastly different properties from the ancient ones, so it was unclear exactly how far the destruction would spread, but at minimum, the casualties would number in the millions.
He had known the Mourning Specter was considered ruthless, but this went beyond ruthlessness entirely.
The man before him was the Demon King.
He intended to obliterate the Fox—and civilization along with it, allies and all.
That vacant, oblivious expression, which seemed to suggest he wasn't thinking at all, was terrifying.
Thousand Transformations looked at his glowing sword, then at his own hand, then at Boss's face, and furrowed his brows.
"I'm really, truly sorry about all of this."