Chương 58: Chapter 117: Unbreakable

Acrypha felt like she needed to stop being wowed by Ryland's magic by this point. Hadn't she already received proof, multiple times, of just how insanely incredible he was when it came to all things sorcerous and magical? How many times was she going to keep gawking and staring at him in that fashion? And yet, despite knowing that intellectually, she couldn't help herself. She couldn't stop mimicking everyone else staring at that Reality Demesne that Ryland himself had constructed in next to no time.

Because the mana coming to life within that gigantic pocket of reality broke all her previous notions of just what magic was capable of. And it wasn't just once. Her perspective was shattered multiple times There was that gigantic half-molten cliff slamming down from a different Realm, one that caught the Calamity by surprise and slammed it through a different rift. Then came that storm that she couldn't even look at properly because of how blisteringly bright and powerful it was. And then came that eye.

Acrypha hadn't even been able to look at it properly with how hard it had shone. While the Reality Demesne was preventing her from actually feeling the overheated and pressurized magic, just the sight of it alone had told her that she'd have been obliterated several times over by that. Who even cast magic like that? What normal mage could stuff their opponent into the core of a planet? Because that's literally what Ryland had just done, hadn't he? But there was a problem with that too. The Calamity kept surviving.

It was a testament to the sheer madness that was Ryland because ever since the display of impossibilities had started, Acrypha had barely looked at the Calamity. This was a creature of legend. A monstrous being with the potential to end entire Realms. Calamities were the main reason the Realmbreaker Wars had come to a stop. After all, it had taken the combined strength of several entire worlds working together to prevent certain Calamities from ripping them apart. And here, Ryland was toying with one.

Utterly infantilizing it with his magic. Albeit, it was a newborn Calamity. But still. Acrypha would probably have been turned into smithereens within her first few breaths in its vicinity. A realization that everyone else around her appeared to arrive at. No one was looking away. No one was even bothered by those evil mages still alive far beneath them. Not after Ryland had taken care of them. Not after the far greater threat of the Calamity had fully risen.

However, for all of Ryland's impossibly powerful magic, for all that he seemed capable of, his opponent just refused to die. The Calamity kept coming back. Destroyed, gravely wounded, severely deformed by the intensity of the magic acting against it, but still alive. Still more than capable of channelling magic so volatile, she really did fear for Androvia and Vyrd. Especially since it kept popping out of those slashes in reality. What had Ryland called them? Wound Corridors? So appropriate.

It really did feel as though Acrypha was staring at the goriest mess possible if she ever looked at one head-on. Even Ryland seemed conflicted. They were decently far away, but the pause in his casting as the monster reemerged from the latest destruction he had sent it to proved that he was reconsidering things as well. She even managed to catch where he threw his look—to a spot right beneath her. Acrypha followed his glance and frowned. That mad jerk.

The one that had first popped out of the Wound Corridor and had attacked Ryland. The leader of the contingent of evil mages. Acrypha couldn't quite recall his name. Things had been a little too volatile. She had been too busy trying to survive and counter the group of mages from the Flourinus Order. But Ryland was right. She could tell, just by one look, that the madman stuck to the surface of the ocean was the one who was allowing the Calamity to pop in and out of reality like that.

Somehow, he was the one behind the Wound Corridors, despite the fact that the boundary of Ryland's Reality Demesne should have stopped the Order Mage's magic from taking effect. If they didn't stop him, Ryland would never be able to finish dealing with the Calamity. And he definitely couldn't just leave the monster alone to deal with this other annoyance. For a moment, she hesitated right there at the lip of the rock floating out of Ryland's rifts. She didn't move. Her thoughts were awhirl.

They kept returning to her parents, to the magical guardians they had left behind, to how they had been corrupted by the Living Mana. Then she shoved the thoughts away. Now really wasn't the time to get bogged down by her own emotions and other silliness. So, she took a deep breath and decided to plummet straight down. Air rushed past her, but she felt none of it thanks to the impassable barrier Ryland had encased her in.

Her Glyph of Summoning brought out her sword in a blink, and she held it tightly with its pointed end aimed straight downwards. A moment later, just as the evil mages on the ocean were aware of something dropping on them, Acrypha reached her target. He looked up with a scowl, too late to do anything about it. Just as his face turned upwards, Acrypha's sword pierced through his open gullet, cutting through his jaw and neck with a tremendous burst of blood and splitting flesh.

The only reason she herself wasn't crushed by her own manoeuvre was all because of Ryland. That barrier he had created, [Eternal Bastion], was almost foolproof. She really needed to thank him after this. Maybe teach it to her too, if possible. As Acrypha crashed down onto the water and the layer of earth just beneath it, as she felt tremendous weight settle on her, she could only think of how easy it had been to slice open her opponent. She had been trained on the fragility of people, on how everyone was killable.

She had improved her martial prowess, against both monstrous manabeasts and monstrous mages, since she had been a child. Yet slicing through a real person was just nothing like any of her training could ever have fully emulated for her. He hadn't possessed any barriers around himself. Maybe he was directing too much of his magic elsewhere, too secure in his belief that no one would be coming after him. The barrier around Acrypha shimmered.

Where she had felt like she had been about to be pulled flat against the ground covered by a thin layer of seawater, she was now able to stand easily. It was impossible to be certain, but had Ryland just changed something in [Eternal Bastion]'s Subglyphs to let her ignore gravity? Insane. Her summoned cloak rippled, the blood sliding off it with ease. She gritted her teeth. This wasn't over yet. The other mages had all staggered away in shock at her sudden appearance.

Her target was writhing and twisting on the bloodied water, clearly struggling against his fatal wound. Acrypha steeled herself. A part of her hesitated even now. Even at a moment like this, when everything was vital. It helped that this wasn't her first time fighting someone with fatal intentions. It certainly wasn't her first time cutting through flesh. That Incursion shattering through Arcoryx's defences had cured her of that… The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Then one of the other evil mages collapsed, a mirror of the wound she had delivered on her actual target covering his body. He was dead within moments, a Glyph shining on him. A Glyph she had seen before. One that rippled with the kind of power she had only seen from Ryland.

"Ah, how insane," her target said, rising back to his feet with no sign of the fatal blow she had delivered on him.

"Why does it rain evil killer brats in this Realm?" Acrypha stared at him.

"What?"

"You, brat!" He pointed two of his muscular crimson arms at Acrypha incriminatingly.

"You're distracting me from my holy work! Now take your punishment in silence."

"Yo—" Acrypha never got her words out. A spell circle flashed in front of the mage from the Flourinus Order, igniting with frightful power in less than a second." [End Times]." A massive geyser of magic jetted out of his hands to slam at Acrypha. She didn't even get the time to read the Tier of that spell, much less formulate how to evade or block. The beam of destruction swept into her unlike anything she had ever felt.

Her senses were obliterated, sight and sound and everything else all reduced to the rushing sensation of irrepressible energy waterfalling past her. Leaving her entirely unharmed." What?" Acrypha felt so many of her misgivings and terrible feeling simply melting away. A grin cracked across her face. Yes. She could do this. With Ryland's impassable barrier keeping her perfectly safe, all she had to do was take the madman down.

"Him!" the evil mage said. The others still standing stiffened around him, "That spell is his! You're related to that traitor scum!" She didn't know quite what all that meant, but she was determined to see this through. Acrypha brandished her sword.

"Now, die." She met his eyes.

"Scum." He shrieked at her as she charged. Her Inscriptions flared, granting her strength and speed enough to make the air rush past her, enough to blur the world in the minute moments before she reached her target. Acrypha's slash missed wildly. One moment, that madman was raging. Then, an instant before her thin blade was about to make contact, he appeared to realize he was in danger and dodged. The motion was so fast, it didn't even register in Acrypha's mind fully. It was almost like he vanished.

Only the wake of breaking water and rushing wind proved that she hadn't misjudged what he had done.

"Ack!" he growled from behind. She whirled, but not fast enough. A blow hammered in with brutal force.

"You truly think you can beat me just because you have a powerful barrier that isn't even yours?" Said barrier ensured that blow left no mark, nor even made her move an inch. She tried to slash away at the hand that he'd struck her with—he had actually punched her—but she missed. The mage was far too fast. The Order mage spat. Two of his four eyes blinked at his nearby subordinates.

"Grab her." Acrypha's heart thundered. Not good. They might not be able to get through the barrier easily, but if they subdued simply by piling themselves on top of her, she'd lose. Panic made her start to cast, but she once again failed to account for the sheer difference between herself and the Order mage. She hadn't even uttered a syllable before his next spell was out." [Wild Lash]," he groused." [Infernal Burst]. [Searing Light]." His avalanche of spells struck Acrypha all at once.

They were powerful, but they were direct too. Which was why none of them really managed to get through the barrier of [Eternal Bastion]. She was just forced to squint against the violent splash of overwhelmingly strong magic. And then, as the terrific burst of mana cleared, Acrypha was surrounded by the rest of the Order mages. She cursed.

"…not too late!" The shout drew all their attention skywards. Acrypha wasn't the only one gawking as Viren arrived in much the same fashion that she had. The one difference was that he had a fireball in his hands. And as he crashed down, it burst apart. Setting loose a tremendous explosion that set everything shaking and steaming. Even Acrypha's barrier rippled at the shockwave from it. Acrypha tried to ignore how the Order mages were screaming and burning and leaping into the sea.

"Viren? What are you doing here? And why are you glowing?" He offered her a grin.

"Well, can't I ask you the same thing?" That didn't answer her question at all, but it wasn't like they had time to banter. The madman was back again, another red Glyph ensuring one of his underlings burned away instead of him.

"More brats!" he said, clearly infuriated.

"Once the Calamity arises fully, I will ensure this world has no brats ever again!"

"Acrypha," Viren said.

"We can't beat that guy on our own. Even after all the enhancements I gathered from everyone else." Oh, that would explain the glow. It made sense too. None of them had the kind of barrier spells Viren and Acrypha were protected by. She didn't know how he had convinced the others to leave it all up to academy students, but Viren could be convincing when he needed to. Because right now, he was trying to convince her that they needed real assistance that she was capable of summoning." Beat me?"

The Order mage cackled.

"Children shouldn't dream too fancifully. Unless you wish to get crushed to dust!" Before either of them could reply, the evil mage was already flinging his spells. Another avalanche of overwhelming magic fell upon them with the force of a landslide, far too many effects taking place all at once to keep track of.

"Acrypha!" Viren managed to scream before they were both swamped by the salvo of energy sparking and tearing against one another and against their barriers. They tried to force their way through the blizzard of magic, only to get caught by what the evil mage was actually trying to attack them with. Acrypha cursed herself for falling victim to the same trick twice. Two monsters had risen out of nowhere, spiderlike but instead of jointed legs, they had thick tentacles covered in rough skin.

Both shot at Acrypha and Viren.

"You brats really need to be timed out," the Order mage said.

"And I know just the thing."" Acrypha!

"Viren shouted again, his Soul Glyph of Burning flaring as he created a counterspell." [Overburn]!" The flames did almost no damage to the monsters, which continued rushing at Acrypha and Viren with frightful power. It was now or never. Viren's shout still rang in her ears. She remembered, for a brief moment, that she could unlock the suppression he had cast. It was all up to her." [Afterlife Guardians]!" she shouted.

Just as the two monsters were about to slam down on and wrap up both Viren and Acrypha, they were rebuffed. Not just that, but almost flung backwards. A surge of magic tore free from Acrypha, fighting off the literal flood of power that the evil mage had released.

"What is this?" His whiny voice turned into a near-shriek." What is this?" The two guardians that were so familiar and yet so unfamiliar now at the same time burned bright and sizzled with invincible mana channelling through them with the hue of an aurora. Her father and mother stood before Acrypha, between herself and the man she needed to end once and for all. Because there lay the key to stopping the Calamity for good too. Acrypha put a collar on her roiling feelings and then shoved them all aside.

They could wait. For now, she brandished her sword again.

"Viren," she said.

"Let's go kill that bastard." Viren nodded, a spell circle coming to life on his palm.

"Ready whenever you are." They attacked with the fury they needed to see through this. Now, the Order mage was overwhelmed. All his underlings were either already dead or were barely trying to pull themselves together. The others hadn't forgotten them. Spells from the Mage Knights, the Wardens, and the Miner Mages rained down, taking out the last of the underlings. Meanwhile, Viren and Acrypha had launched an onslaught against their enemy. Acrypha slashed in, her Inscriptions working far beyond their capacity.

Her father's bulky form blocked any retaliating spells from the Order mage her barrier couldn't handle itself. Her mother was by Viren's side, harrying and harassing the evil mage to create an opening for his burning power. They were combining surprisingly well.

"One clear opportunity," Viren muttered as they gathered back together after a furious play of magic that had the air turning solid before exploding a moment ago.

"That's all I need." The evil Order mage was just looking around, ignoring them with a pout on his face.

"What is this? You're all dead?" He looked skywards.

"Mistress Righteous! Weren't you supposed to send more? Where are they?"

"One opportunity," Acrypha said.

"Coming right up." With a scream and a furious burst of magic, she charged." [Ender's Dance]!" Calling on [Afterlife Guardians] had also unleashed her Soul Glyph, and she now used that to her full capacity. There was no room to hesitate. Her parents wouldn't have. No matter what they had done for and with her, no matter how they had treated her, one undeniable fact remained. They had been heroes. And heroes knew what was needed of them. Just as Viren did.

Magic exploded out of Acrypha, from the bits of her parents' manasouls. The air turned incandescent as she ripped forward.

Her sheer momentum almost broke her brain, but she still managed to guide it just enough. The strength of powerful Restorers was useless if she couldn't actually guide it, and she was determined to succeed. She was determined to win. Eyes widening, the evil Order mage tried casting a storm of spells to stop her. But the combination of her barrier and her guardians sent her through. She sliced off one of his arms entirely, blood spraying from the stump as she grounded to a halt just behind him. No time to waste.

No room to second-guess. Acrypha just stabbed her sword through his leg and pinned him to the ground." Now, Viren!" she screamed. Her guardians had dealt with the man's other arms, leaving a clear opening. One that Viren took advantage of, leaping in with his spell." [Fuel So—]" A wound popped open over them. A wound in reality. A little gate to the Wound Corridor. And from it spilled a rain of tendrils, all of which grabbed the evil Order mage and simply ripped him back into the Wound Corridor.

It snapped closed behind them. Acrypha blinked, magic still combusting around her. What… just happened?