Within "Thunder Hell," inside Fernando's secret chamber.
The Life Amulet turned translucent without warning, blooming with clean, radiant light. A blood-stained length of intestine twisted, writhed, split apart, and regrew — it took a full hour before the Ruler of Storms finally returned to his original form, and then another two hours before his strength gradually recovered to the level of a third-rank Legend.
He donned his customary bright red mage's robe and set a bizarre artificial eye — one that resembled the vortex at the center of a storm — into his left eye socket. Only then did Fernando activate the node connecting "Thunder Hell" to the outside world. It wasn't that he distrusted Douglas, Hathaway, Lucian, or the others — it was simply the most basic caution of a Legendary mage who had lived for over a thousand years.
The node opened, and in less than half a minute, the teleportation circle flared to life. Lucian's figure appeared within Thunder Hell.
"You're back this early?" Fernando said with his usual crude grin. "I thought you'd be properly 'celebrating' with Natasha."
Even though Lucian was long accustomed to his master's lack of decorum, he still flushed slightly. "Prince Patrick was killed on the old king's orders. Natasha was in poor spirits, so I comforted her for a while. After that, the Lord of Nightmare delivered Duke Vaolet here — father and daughter hadn't seen each other in a very long time. I was also worried about how your recovery was going, Master, so I hurried back."
"What's there to worry about? I can go out and fight the Church's saints again." Fernando once more unleashed his storm-like aura, then shook his head. "Things like this happening within the royal family aren't that unusual. The girl just hasn't seen enough of the world."
Seeing Lucian so relaxed — even able to visit the Nexas Palace to comfort Natasha — Fernando naturally understood that the brief war was already over and the outcome was favorable, so he didn't press for details.
Lucian still regarded Fernando with some concern. "Master, why do I feel like your injuries are worse than the Divine Avenger's? It seems like you've dropped a rank?"
Once Fernando stopped projecting his aura, it hadn't been obvious, but the moment he let it flare, Lucian sensed something was off.
"The wound to my soul has spread somewhat to the physical side, but it's only temporary. I'll recover in a year or two." Fernando started off sounding perfectly fine, then suddenly bristled, his beard practically standing on end with indignation: "Mermos may be stronger than me, but in my full state, I wouldn't have been hurt any worse than he was! The reason I took worse damage this time is that I didn't have two Legendary items on me, the puppet dolls, Mirror of Clones, and other one-time-use items I'd prepared in advance were all spent entangling the five saints, and the defensive Legendary spells were completely broken through by them. That's the only reason I came off worse."
This was also why, even at the third rank, he had believed he could escape the Pope with injuries rather than death — after all, he possessed a great many Legendary items and life-saving defensive Legendary spells.
The ancient Arcane Empire had summarized certain phenomena from the deaths of numerous Legendary mages that could not yet be explained by existing Archanist theory. The Sword of Truth, for instance, could directly sever the soul, and along mysterious connections, annihilate every soul fragment that had been split off. Or that when purely brute-force energy attacks exceeded a certain threshold, the destruction of the original soul would also damage the soul fragment within a resurrection device through some mysterious means. If the energy climbed yet another level and the mage failed to mount an effective defense, it could even result in permanent death.
The ancient mages had named this phenomenon "Karmic Line Damage," equivalent in principle to certain curses. As for what was really going on, no one had yet managed to figure it out.
Regarding the situation at the epicenter of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" detonation, the Supreme Council's current theory was that energy of sufficient magnitude affected time and space, causing chaos in the Karmic Lines. That was why they had reduced the payload — they had feared it would kill Fernando along with everything else.
Lucian wasn't entirely convinced by this explanation, but he couldn't think of any alternative for the time being. Research into the domain of the soul was still far beyond his reach.
"Sure, sure." Lucian knew his master had always been a mage with tremendous pride who never praised anyone, so he hastened to nod in agreement, then changed the subject. "Come to think of it, to trap those five saints this time, the Parliament really burned through years of accumulated resources. We probably won't be able to pull off such a suicidal gambit for a surprise victory again."
One-time-use items like puppet dolls and the Mirror of Clones were essentially Legendary-tier scrolls — far rarer than alchemical items of the same level, requiring even more precious materials, and with much higher failure rates during crafting. Even an organization like the Magic Parliament, renowned for its alchemy, had only three in total, all belonging to Legendary mages. The puppet doll had been contributed by Douglas, and the Mirror of Clones was Fernando's personal treasure.
"To minimize our own losses, aside from thorough planning, comprehensive contingency preparations, and striking from initiative against a passive enemy, at critical moments you have to be willing to spend items and scrolls. If you don't want to spend money, people die!" Fernando struck the air of a wealthy magnate, though the unsettled storm churning in his eyes betrayed his true feelings. "Without the Mirror of Clones and the puppet dolls, I would have brought the Robe of Dominion and sacrificed it to entangle the five saints — but then the Parliament would have owed me a Legendary item in compensation."
In general, with outliers like Lucian, Legendary items were owned only by Legendary powerhouses. But the Magic Parliament had organized many expeditions to explore the demiplanes of ancient mages, recovering the relics of Legendary mages who had perished from all manner of unforeseen circumstances.
The Legendary items obtained from these expeditions, as well as those commissioned from rare acquired materials, became communal property of the Parliament. They were held in trust by the Archmage-in-Residence at Alinsor, and could be redeemed by those who had made exceptional contributions to the Parliament or accumulated vast wealth. Members of the Supreme Council, when venturing out or undertaking dangerous missions, could borrow one at a cost.
The Parliament currently held four such communal Legendary items. The redemption price was so exorbitant that even Legendary mages could not afford it. Exceptional contributions were recognized in only two cases — the kind Fernando had described, or an Archanist theory framework that had been confirmed to reshape the era. Fernando's Robe of Dominion had been obtained in precisely this way. A century ago, when several Grand Archanists had emerged in rapid succession, the Parliament's stock of Legendary items had nearly run dry. It was only through decades of exploration of other dimensions and the steady accumulation of rare materials — and after weathering several failures — that the creator and a master alchemist had each produced one item to fill the gap.
Lucian experienced a profound sense of what it meant to crush people with money. The Church might be far wealthier than the Parliament, but in alchemy, it was still hopelessly behind.
Fernando set those matters aside and asked about the battle's outcome: "How many of the five saints fell? What was the final result?"
Lucian gave a rough account of what had transpired. Fernando listened with cold snorts, muttering that if not for Mermos, all four saints would have died.
After he finished, Fernando frowned slightly. "We didn't lose a single Legendary — that's good. But the new Pope suddenly ascending to the demigod level is rather troubling. If the Pope truly received the God of Truth's blessing, why didn't He simply kill every mage present? If He had already descended with divine grace, following it up with a divine punishment would have been simple enough."