Then an astonishing scene unfolded. The shattered ruins from the earlier battle slowly floated upward, every brick and tile rising like a great river flowing toward the sky. Fei'er Li watched as the small building beneath her feet lifted from the ground, while the destroyed structures below reassembled as if time itself were reversing.
The flood of light that had once spread outward now surged back from afar, converging on him. Wherever the light passed, everything returned to its former state. Clock towers stood tall again, bridges straightened their spines, flowers and grass rooted themselves back into the earth, and most shocking of all were the people.
Ordinary citizens who had been wiped out in droves, along with adventurers who had some strength, regained intact bodies. They lay across the ground, their chests rising gently as if asleep.
The light gathered back onto the Great Dragon, and with a final roar that echoed through the sky, the entire body of the Great Dragon transformed into a pillar of light. The summoned clouds and the scarred land moved as if obeying an order, retreating and returning to their original state.
"What is this?"
"This can't be… it's unbelievable…"
Chloe stared with trembling pupils as the streets filled with people who looked asleep. Dense rain of light fell from the sky, countless star-white points sinking into each person's mind. After a twitch of eyelids, the first person sat up in confusion and looked around.
"Where am I? Why am I here?"
"Wasn't I at home?"
"Why am I lying on the ground? Where did all these people come from?"
More and more people woke up, shocked by their surroundings. After a wave of noise and confusion, most of them cursed a bit and returned to their daily lives, as if nothing strange had happened at all.
Everything returned to how it was before, though it was easy to imagine endless discussions in the future. High above, Fei'er Li stared in shock and turned back, only to find that the black-haired woman was gone.
The imprint of the Holy Sword on the book completely shattered, breaking into light fragments that drifted away.
Fei'er Li carefully watched the people who had woken up. Only after several hours passed with no abnormalities or problems did she finally dare to relax. Her shoulders eased once she confirmed that everything looked normal.
After that, she followed the guidance of the book's Contract Sigil and found Icelis outside the city, along with Nefit who was still asleep. The strange part was what she saw next, which made her pause in place. Something about the scene felt completely off.
"Why did you turn into this?" she asked.
The massive Ice Dragon shattered apart as its other two heads burst into fragments of Shard. From inside, Icelis jumped out, hands on her hips, turning back to look at her own handiwork. She seemed oddly proud of what she had done.
"I am trying to turn back into the form I used when I beat those two just now," she said.
"…What?" Fei'er Li could only stare.
"What is so strange about that?" Icelis replied. "You saw how strong I was, right? We both use ice, so why could he do it but I cannot?"
After experiencing what she called an ultra the Lord trend, Icelis felt she had achieved some kind of insight. Being a humanoid Mage had no future, and the real path was becoming a Great Beast and piloting a Gundam. The more she thought about her earlier performance, the more convinced she became.
She had only changed her form into a three-headed dragon and received a tiny bit of help, yet she became that strong. If she could truly master the power of that posture, then even if she could not fight one against two, a one-on-one battle should be no problem. At least, that was how it sounded in her head.
"I do not think that is realistic," Fei'er Li said.
This silly girl must have passed out when she was thrown out earlier, so she did not see what really happened. Fei'er Li had heard the terrifying confirmation from that mysterious black-haired man. That was someone who used Holy Sword Authority with a god personally stepping in, and still beat two members of the Four Heavenly Kings.
And besides, why was an ice-and-water type thinking about climbing onto a Trident Dragon? Fei'er Li felt that after serving once as material for an ice sword fusion, this girl had become far too confident. She sighed and said, "Stop thinking about it. Let us leave quickly. Staying in Faris Empire is not safe."
"We cannot rely on others every time," Icelis said. "We should go… Hmm, what is going on with Nefit? Is she okay now?"
She pointed at Nefit lying on the ground. Her previously white hair had turned a very pure black, her breathing was steady, and her earlier wounds looked as if they had never existed at all. It was so complete that it felt unnatural.
"She should be fine," Fei'er Li replied. "But it seems there are some small changes to her body."
"For example, I do not know why, but her grip strength is ridiculously strong now," Icelis added. "When she was sleeping just now, she nearly snapped one of my fingers."
"By the way, I was asleep earlier and have no idea what happened," Nefit suddenly said. "With the way you are acting, is there something you want to tell me?"
"…No," came the answer.
Far away, at an unknown distance.
A huge black meteor wrapped in smoke fell from the sky, smashing the land below into shattered Shard. The heavenly fire and Lightning Magic it carried turned the surroundings into a sea of molten rock. The ground itself seemed unable to endure the impact.
"Tch… that was a lot of work. Good thing I am still better at this," someone muttered.
The massive Great Dragon lifted its head and shook it slightly. Belial scratched his own head to ease the lingering discomfort. His movements were slow, as if his mind was still catching up.
"Reviving tens of thousands of people at once, plus restoring the terrain and buildings around them, nearly burned out my connection," he said. "If I had not been in a base station hotspot state earlier, I probably could not have pulled it off, even if I drained all my Computational Power."
Looking back at the scene just now, Belial admitted that the final burst had felt satisfying. Seeing himself on the verge of exploding and then looking down at the devastation below, he decided to practice a resurrection skill he was still not familiar with. It was reckless, but it felt like the right moment.
His resurrection was simple in principle. He used light to reload records, restored souls to their original state, and then stuffed them back into their bodies. Doing that for tens of thousands of people scattered everywhere was another matter entirely.
If not for his previous state, which was almost like having every cheat turned on, he could not have endured it. Even so, the burden still made his head ache. The strain lingered even after everything ended.
"Still, it was worth it," he said. "At least I got my translator."
"Though calling it a translator is underselling it. This thing is way more generous than I expected."
After resting for a while, he happily began unpacking the package. It was the golden sphere of light that had returned earlier with his Clone explosion and Teleportation. The object had no real physical form and felt extremely strange to him.
It seemed to be made of vague rule-like concepts mixed with large amounts of light and darkness. It could be absorbed directly into his body and unfold on a mental level. Only after decompressing it did he truly understand what it was.
"This is basically the mature version of that website idea I had," he said. "So this is what communication means. You package your consciousness and send it directly to a friend through this site."
"So that is how she talked to me," he continued. "It works, but calling this a translator is really a waste."
Mephist watched with great interest as the unfolded sphere formed an almost boundless pure white space inside his body. There was nothing inside, except for a large glowing sphere hanging in the sky. The layout reminded him of a familiar kind of space, except the thing above was clearly the core, the server.
Compared to his old connection, this entire space was much broader and more stable. It could be reused, did not risk burning out, and could carry a greater degree of Teleportation power. The standards for using Teleportation were also greatly lowered.
You only needed to become a user. You no longer had to possess one of his Clone bodies.
"That said, this place is empty right now," he muttered. "Not a single user. Do I really have to recruit people myself?"
Compared to before, when the space was filled with massive light and dark user records and online counts, this one was completely barren. There was only one name on the list, or rather a single linked target. That light was now offline.
He also had to spend part of his own power to maintain the space, and its scale was much smaller. Even so, that was fine. This was only a small beginning.