Chapter 71: Wasted Effort

Saint Ivanburg.

When the meteors streaked across the sky, raining down like a deluge toward Alinsol, Berkovsky—the Pope of the Northern Church, inside the cathedral—saw nothing with his own eyes, yet his heart stirred with a premonition. He raised his head to gaze at the ornately carved ceiling and murmured in astonishment, "Viken has made his move? Are they attempting to capture the artificial planet?"

He and the Cardinals of the Northern Church had long since devised a plan: seize the opportunity when the Southern Church attempted to capture the Arcane Council's artificial planet and, in the chaos, "acquire" one for themselves. They had even schemed about how to push things along from behind the scenes, lest the Southern Church delay too long and give the artificial planet more room to maneuver. Yet when the moment actually arrived, he didn't move at all—he didn't even summon the Saints or the other Cardinals.

This was because the Southern Church's operation had been too swift and decisive. The Arcane Council had offered no resistance whatsoever, which naturally meant there would be no all-out battle as they had imagined. At this point, if he and his people used the pre-arranged teleportation circles to jump into orbit, all they would see were the departing backs of the Southern Church's Cardinals, arriving to meet the Arcane Council's belated reinforcements—and then bearing the brunt of the Arcane Council's fury in the Southern Church's stead!

Who would willingly take on such a role—gaining nothing while shouldering someone else's blame?

"The Arcane Council can't really have had no reaction at all, can they?" Berkovsky furrowed his brow slightly, sensing something amiss. "No matter how powerful Viken is, he wouldn't dare remain outside Lance for long. How could he possibly suppress so many Legendary Peak powerhouses and Grand Archanists?"

Under normal circumstances, Viken should have launched a surprise attack on Alinsol, tying up several Legendary Peak powerhouses and some Grand Archanists—but being unable to hold back all of them. A small number of Grand Archanists would have teleported into orbit with the other legendary mages, engaging in a fierce battle with Mermos and the other Cardinals. Though arriving half a beat too late to prevent the Southern Church from seizing the artificial planet, they would still have triggered the all-out battle that he and his people had been hoping for.

But who could have predicted that the sky now showed not the slightest disturbance? Where were the Arcane Council's Grand Archanists?

Without a Grand Archanist to lead them, the other legendary mages would never descend into orbit through the artificial planet's projection. They were two full tiers below Mermos and would be utterly crushed. And if Mermos also carried the "Purification Cross," they could genuinely face extinction!

Divine Arts of prophecy were instantly deployed. Since the event was still unfolding and no one was attempting to interfere with or obscure the trajectory of fate, Berkovsky immediately grasped the current situation. The madman known as the "Will of the Abyss" had descended upon the northern lands without the slightest warning!

"He's cooperating with Viken?" Berkovsky felt as though he'd just heard his own death sentence—the notion was laughable. He turned the thought over in his mind but couldn't bring himself to believe it. There was only one way to cooperate with the "Will of the Abyss": set up a ritual to summon its descent and breach the planar barrier. Then, conveniently, an enemy worth fighting had to be nearby—after which, it would "diligently" go about the killing.

So Berkovsky would rather believe that Viken had exploited the "Will of the Abyss's" mindlessness. But how had he summoned it? Bringing a quasi-god not of the Material Plane to descend required an enormous cost, and this time there had been absolutely no prior omen—nor had there been any surface-level cover like a "Heavenly Kingdom on Earth"...

Berkovsky was pondering Viken's method—so as to avoid being subjected to the same treatment in the future—when suddenly his "Heart of Faith" rippled once more. A strange premonition surged through him, and he appeared at the window in an instant, raising his gaze to the sky.

On a gloomy winter afternoon, a brilliant flash of light seemed to streak across the high sky and vanish in an instant.

Others might not have noticed, but as the strongest of the Legendary Peak powerhouses, Berkovsky detected it without the slightest difficulty. He narrowed his eyes: "The artificial planet self-destructed?"

"And the power reached Legendary-level!"

"Those heretics of the Southern Church didn't even cast Dispel Divine Arts? They can't possibly be that foolish, can they?"

He suddenly felt a twinge of relief. Thank goodness he and his people hadn't made their move—otherwise, not only would it have been wasted effort, but they would have exposed their intentions and offended the Arcane Council.

Though cooperation always prioritized self-interest, the Arcane Council might well "return the favor" someday.

…………

In the empty orbit, at a distance, Saint Kati, Estila, and the others who had been standing guard only just noticed the artificial planet's anomaly before they felt the scorching heat of molten gold and petrified stone sweep toward them. An energy storm surged like a tidal wave, raging in every direction.

"This is bad!"

"How could this happen?"

Amid these thoughts, the Divine Artifacts on their bodies activated instinctively—then they were all swallowed by the energy storm.

Fernando and Hathaway's fission reactor was mainly derived from reverse-engineering the Arcane Magic of "Atomic Fission" along with their own research into fission reactions. They roughly understood the role neutrons played but not in sufficient detail, falling far short of the stage where the process could be steadily harnessed. In Lucian's words, the core of their fission reactor was essentially an atomic bomb, relying on Arcane Magic to release the energy gradually for practical use—which was precisely why it kept experiencing loss of control, and also why it could produce a Legendary-level explosion.

Once the "Purification Cross" had dispelled the outer Magic Circles, causing the magical effect isolating the reaction to vanish, the "failed reactor" installed within the artificial planet began to operate. At that point, the dispelling effect had not yet penetrated deep enough to reach the core, making it impossible to neutralize the reactor's Magic Circles within.