Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)
Chapter 740: When The Impossible Happens

740. When The Impossible Happens

“Close the barrier!”

Clayton Skyshredder yelled as he hopped back onto his nimbus cloud and flew up towards the edge of the magical dome. He was the first person to break out of the stupor that had taken hold of all the [Mages] gathered here to fend off the Centinels.

Immediately, the other [Mages] snapped out of this trance that held them. They began scurrying around, readying their spells— bracing themselves for the arrival of the Matriarch Centinel. Because she was coming. She was speeding through the landscape, heading straight for Mavos Academy.

But she would arrive too late to break through the barrier. Clayton could already see the final layer of the barrier extending over the hole that had temporarily been created. It would close in time. In fact, it was going to seal shut in only a few seconds.

However, the Headmaster of Mavos Academy took this opportunity to cast one final spell beyond the barrier before it fully closed. He muttered an incantation under his breath as he hovered right before the closing barrier, seeing the rapidly approaching Matriarch Centinel in the distance.

“[Soul Of The World. Lifeblood Of My Strength. End The Rebirth, And Deplete This Land So That There Is No More Splendor. Bring About The Magic Death Of The World.]”

And Clayton raised his sword, aiming at the region just outside the barrier.

“[Antimagic Field].”

All at once, the entire region right outside of Mavos Academy was engulfed by a discoloration that seemed to confuse the Centinels swarming around the campus. And right as Clayton fired off this Grand Skill, the final layer of the barrier closed.

Mavos Academy was safe— it was now under the impenetrable barrier that had managed to save off the Demon King’s invasion once again. But that was not all. With the [Antimagic Field] surrounding the barrier, the Matriarch Centinel was not going to be able to use its most powerful Skills either.

Clayton was certain that this was more than enough to put a pause to the Centinel invasion once again— for now, at least. But the Matriarch Centinel was still enraged. It screeched as it shot through the air, reaching the barrier moments after the final layer was erected.

Even though the barrier was there, the Matriarch Centinel didn’t slow. With its new distorted giant form, it crashed straight into the barrier, causing the entire dome to ripple. The [Mages] gathered down below recoiled at that, some of them pointing up in fear and terror.

Clayton himself flinched at the sudden impact. But he was not afraid of the Matriarch Centinel breaching through the barrier. Never in its history had Mavos Academy ever fallen because of this protective barrier.

In fact, the Matriarch Centinel’s crazed charge didn’t even cause a small crack to the barrier. Which was to be expected.

So Clayton just sighed in relief as the Matriarch Centinel peeled itself off the barrier. It hovered there for a moment, eyeing the barrier— looking in through the translucent dome. In its current form, it was smaller than the [Ancient Centinels] that were gathering around it.

But it was still much larger than before. And it floated back like a flying serpent as it inspected the barrier, like it was trying to find a way around it.

“As long as this barrier stands, Mavos Academy will never fall.”

Clayton declared as his voice boomed out, drawing the attention of everyone below him. Marie Schofen, Valda, Faith— all the [Mages] gathered below— looked up when they heard the confidence in the voice of the Headmaster of Mavos Academy.

For a moment, the Matriarch Centinel just stared at the man standing atop the floating cloud. He held its gaze… although he could barely even make out its face. And beneath him, his students began to cheer his name.

But as he stared deeper into the gaze of the Matriarch Centinel, some of the distortion began to peel away. Was it his imagination?

No— Clayton was certain that he was starting to see something… but it wasn’t the Matriarch Centinel’s face.

Instead, he saw a giant wall of iridescent light— a wall so vast that it spanned the entirety of the horizon. He saw a place where rifts filled the sky, and all directions were meaningless. Mountains hung down from above, while rivers cut across the landscape like a rainbow.

“Just what is this place…?”

Clayton blinked a few times, before snapping out of his stupor. He returned back to reality, and that was when he realized that the cheering had stopped. Narrowing his eyes, he looked down towards the rest of the Matriarch Centinel’s body.

And he realized that it was glowing brighter than before. Empowered by a strange essence. Something he had never seen before.

“This power… it’s not magic…”

It didn’t matter that Clayton set up an [Antimagic Field]. Because this power was neither magic nor divinity. It was—

“So this is the end of the world, huh?”

Clayton whispered in realization, and that was when the Matriarch Centinel let out another shriek, before unleashing a beam of distortion and iridescence straight at the barrier.

This time, Clayton could only watch as the impact caused a ripple to wash over the magical dome— before a crack began to form where the blast struck.

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The girl screamed— a bloodcurdling cry that went unheard by anyone except for the entity. It heard her pained voice echoing in the empty canvas. Again and again. Her scream continued.

It wasn’t a continuous scream of the same pitch or intensity. No, it was constantly fading in and out as the pain that overwhelmed her subsided before returning. Or at the very least, that was what the entity assumed was going on.

The entity… the remnants of the Archangel’s essence… or perhaps it should be called Iu, for it was merely part of Iudex— it had warned the girl that this process was unlikely to succeed. That what she wanted was not going to work.

And just as Iu had anticipated…

It was not working.

It was going to fail.

This was always going to happen. It knew this was going to happen.

After all, Iu hadn’t been able to calculate the probability of success. Which meant either two things— that it was about to create a brand new vesselization process entirely… or that it was impossible.

And it was starting to be evidently clear that it was the latter, not the former.

Iu couldn’t sigh. But if it could sigh, it would.

Instead, it just watched as the girl’s body slowly

Perhaps I could still reverse this process— turn her into an ordinary vessel. Although… that goes against what I agreed upon.

Iu seriously considered going against its word for a long moment. However, eventually, it decided to continue the process. Because it had gone this far, it might as well go all the way.

Even if it means the death of both Iudex and this girl, Iu thought as the echoing scream resumed. Even if it means I cease to exist.

But why was Iu adamant on keeping its word? It didn’t know… it vaguely recalled a memory that Iudex had. From a long time ago. A young woman’s smiling face— a proffered hand.

However, the vision vanished an instant later, before Iu could fully comprehend what it meant. And Iu just watched as reality returned and the redheaded girl’s body began to crumble and crack— her fingers turning to ash as her soul itself collapsed under the pressure of the Archangel’s immense power.

So this is it, Iu thought as the spellwork— the magic mixed with divinity that tried to replicate the creation of the Arcraem— began to fail. Its essence rejected by the girl’s collapsing body. This is how it ends for the Archangel…

Iu resigned itself to its fate. To its final demise.

And the girl’s screaming suddenly came to a halt. Iu thought it was over. That her body had finally succumbed and fallen apart.

But that was when a bright glow filled Iu’s vision. It didn’t have eyes, but it did a double take as a brilliant light shone even amidst the white canvas that surrounded them.

Iu stared as the girl’s cracked body began to mend. Her fingers slowly returned, and her soul stopped trembling under the pressure of the Archangel’s own soul. It was not possible. But it was happening.

What is this? Iu looked at the spell circle that had suddenly appeared. That hadn’t been there before.

It was interlaced over the girl’s soul. A magical imprint that should not have been there— that almost seemed to override the Arcraem’s influence over her. But that wasn’t exactly the case either.

And that was when Iu realized what it was.

Soli… is this really how you treat your subjects? You monster! Iu just stared in horror at the realization of what the Spirit Lord had done.

But this was the only chance of completing this specialized vesselization process— of adhering to the demands the girl had made. So Iu moved, gathering whatever remained of the Archangel and began to merge it together with the girl’s soul.

“How is this possible?”

Clayton couldn’t believe his eyes. Somehow, the Matriarch Centinel was destroying the barrier. But its attacks shouldn’t have been strong enough to tear through the powerful protective layers of magic that had defended Mavos Academy for many millennia.

Even though Clayton wasn’t able to fully judge the extent of the Matriarch Centinel’s power, he could still tell that this blast was not supposed to be that strong— that it was not supposed to be capable of this level of destruction. And yet, somehow, the barrier was cracking.

The layers of magic slowly peeled away, collapsing under the beam of iridescent distortion unleashed by the Matriarch Centinel. How? Why?

Clayton didn’t know. But he just floated there in disbelief as his students screamed and fled from the barrier beneath him. Because it was soon going to collapse.

The magic would soon fail, and the Matriarch Centinel would kill them all.

“Headmaster Skyshredder!”

A voice called out at him from beneath. Clayton barely even processed his name. In a daze, he glanced down to see the Fallen Queen of Elutra waving at him, pointing towards the center of Mavos Academy.

“We are going to evacuate as many people as we can from the school with a long-range teleportation spell once the barrier collapses! But we cannot do it without you!”

Clayton stared at her in a daze. He didn’t fully process her words. Instead, his mind was still trying to work out— trying to comprehend— how the Matriarch Centinel was dismantling the barrier.

Slowly, he turned his gaze back towards the barrier. He stared at the beam of iridescent distortion— at the power of the end of the world. And his mind began to unravel the power behind the attack.

And he realized that it was a direct attack on the magic itself. Not on the barrier, but on the spellwork— on the mana that composed the dome. That was how it was destroying the barrier. Because it was destroying the source powering the magic itself.

“I understand now…”

Clayton whispered as he heard more voices shouting at him from down below.

“Headmaster—”

Someone else shouted, and Clayton slowly lowered his head.

“So this was what Salvos warned us all about—”

Clayton started. But suddenly, the screeching of the Matriarch Centinel came to a halt. The beam that was boring through the barriers of Mavos Academy was interrupted as a flash of light appeared before the swarm of Centinels.

The dozens of [Ancient Centinels] gathered behind the Matriarch Centinel recoiled from the light. A ripple washed over the sea of red that was the Centinels down below. Even the Matriarch Centinel drew back warily from the bright light.

Clayton himself blinked a few times as the fleeing [Mages] beneath him slowed. And they all turned to face a single sight.

Right before the barrier of Mavos Academy, a rift opened up. A hole in space. Like a portal through the planes. But it wasn’t shoddily made— it was a hole that cleaved cleanly through space.

And emerging from this portal were four figures. A [Will O’ Wisp]. An [Evolved Centinel]. An [Ancient Yaksha]. And—-

“Who is that?”

Clayton asked, watching as an almost familiar figure stepped out. It took him a moment to discern who it was.

It was Edithe. But she was… different. Very different.

[??? - Lvl. ???]

And even the Matriarch Centinel shuddered at the sight.