With the National Transmutation Array covering the entire imperial capital activated, Zepha finally carried the bearing of a true final boss.
"The ultimate Number, Number 1000?"
As the magic formation activated, the drain on mental power intensified, and Quaedes's expression grew more pained.
Yet more than the physical agony, she was concerned with what Zepha had just declared.
"A Number 1000 monster? I have never heard of such a thing!"
Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon—the terminal point of the Seven Barian Emperors under Quaedes's control—was already the highest Number Xyz Monster known.
And yet Zepha had directly surpassed all known Numbers, proclaiming a Number 1000 monster.
"A monster? Hahahaha! This is no mere monster! It is a god! Number 1000 is the Number possessed by the greatest God of Destruction!"
"The… God of Destruction!"
The useless elder brother she had barely spared a glance at since childhood now intended to summon the legendary deity said to bring about seven days of world-ending destruction.
No one could fathom how complicated Quaedes's feelings were in that moment.
"Zepha… did you deceive us?"
Quaedes was not the only one with complicated emotions. The Crown Prince, Homar Kaiser, was no exception.
From their very first meeting, the eldest sons of two royal families had regarded one another as soul-bound confidants.
Homar had once believed he truly understood Zepha… just as he understood himself.
So when Zepha sought Homar's help to stop the summoning of Numerounius and protect the Empire and the Spirit Continent, Homar had not hesitated.
And yet Zepha was the one who had truly intended to summon the world-ending god all along.
The dragon slayer becomes the dragon… no, he was not worthy of being called a dragon slayer. He was the one who forged the dragon.
"Homar… I am truly sorry, my soul's confidant. But if you truly understood me, you would understand how desperately I longed for this power… how desperately I wished to become a king who rules over all, just like you!"
Once kindred spirits, Homar had already been designated heir to the throne of Livorden; meanwhile, Zepha could only watch helplessly as his younger sister, superior in strength, ascended the throne of the Varian Empire.
"A destiny decided at birth, causality that tears and screams! Who could ever truly understand this pain and resentment of mine?!"
Standing amid violently surging power, Zepha threw his head back and howled. From the corners of his eyes streamed two lines of black-red tears of blood.
"But it all ends today! Through the power born of the God of Destruction, my life and the history of the Varian Empire will turn to a brand-new chapter!"
As terrifying magical waves erupted from the formation, the blood tears on Zepha's face dried instantly, leaving behind two black marks like curses.
"What is that thing?!"
The palace banquet hall was already battered and ruined from Miles' duel with Quaedes.
Especially after the massive Invoked Elysium had physically shattered the ceiling, the venue had become open-air—one need only look up to see the star-filled night sky.
And precisely because the sky was visible, everyone noticed the colossal form slowly emerging beneath the indescribable expanse of stars.
"Reveal your great form that annihilates all, and form a summoning contract with me! Number C1000: Numerounius!"
Miles finally recognized the colossal being manifesting beneath the stars. It was the very deity enshrined in the Grand Cathedral of the imperial capital—the symbol of the Empire's absolute power.
But the true form of Numerounius was far greater than that statue.
How vast? From a rough glance, the portion of its body visible in the sky rivaled the entire area of the imperial capital itself.
And this god, nearly the size of the whole city, was now frantically absorbing the power of countless Duelists through the National Transmutation Array.
"Not enough! O god who ends the world in seven days, you can evolve into an even greater form! As for sacrifices, there are as many as you desire!"
A stronger form of Numerounius—Miles suddenly recalled the seven murals displayed within the cathedral.
After the seven days that destroyed the prehistoric civilization, the final form of Numerounius was nothing like the angelic white figure that first descended.
It was stained black by endless destruction; a chaotic darkness of utmost dread and ill omen.
"You intend to summon that form of Numerounius?"
This was absolutely disastrous. Even Miles understood that the form depicted in the final mural of the seven-day apocalypse represented the end of an epic narrative—irreversible, beyond any hope of rewriting.
More importantly, Numerounius's evolution would require even more mental power than its initial birth.
Duelists on the level of Miles and Quaedes might endure it; that said, the other Duelists within the National Transmutation Array, even ordinary civilians, would most likely collapse and die from overexertion.
"Hahahahaha!" Standing at the center of the magical formation, Zepha gazed at the sky and laughed wildly.
"It's too late! I should thank you, Miles, for removing my greatest obstacle. Now, no one can stop me!"
"Don't speak so absolutely."
A youthful voice cut through Zepha's laughter.
Why did rescuers always choose to appear at the final moment? Miles did not know. Perhaps it was simply that bratty little girl's twisted sense of humor.
The draining of mental power abruptly ceased, as if the power supply had been severed. The glow of the National Transmutation Array instantly dimmed.
It was clear.
The anti-transmutation sigil that Viel had prepared beforehand had finally taken effect at the last moment.
That was why Viel had said that although she could not fully stop the transmutation, she could at least prevent the worst outcome.
And the worst outcome was Numerounius devouring every living being in the imperial capital to complete its final evolution.
"Baka na!"
With the flow of magic forcibly cut off, Zepha's face twisted into stunned disbelief.
He did not know who that youthful voice belonged to, but someone had actually managed to halt the National Transmutation Array he had spent an entire year preparing… had stopped the Soroya family's secret grand ritual.
"That's impossible! The only ones capable of stopping the Soroya family's secret magic formation are the Magistuses, who vanished from the Spirit Continent long ago!"
"Do I not look like a Magistus to you?"
At last, having waited for the perfect moment to make her entrance, Viel stepped lightly out from within the glow of spatial teleportation magic.
To be honest—no, she absolutely did not look like one. Even without saying it aloud, the expression on Zepha's face already gave the answer.
"And who exactly are you?"
"How heartless. Have the descendants of Soroya already forgotten me?" Viel flashed her trademark wicked smile. "You may not recognize me, but I certainly recognize your great-great-grandfather~"
"You knew my great-grandfather? Don't joke around!"
To Zepha, the little girl before him was just mocking him.
The Soroya family… his great-great-grandfather belonged to which generation by now? By the time that ancestor passed away, this childlike girl would not even have been born.
"I'm not joking. This magic formation of yours was left behind by your great-great-grandfather, wasn't it? Known as—the Magistus of Flame, Zoroa!"
Zepha froze. Everything the little girl said was accurate. And yet that secret should only have been known within the Soroya main family.
"I imagine Zoroa left quite a bit of information about me among his belongings. Then perhaps you'll recognize this form?"
With that, dazzling crystalline light enveloped Viel's small body in a flash.
Within the radiant brilliance—like the transformation scene of a magical girl in an anime—Viel's petite frame gradually grew beneath the covering light.
Perhaps "grew" was not quite the right word. She was merely returning to her original form.
When the light finally faded, standing before everyone was a beautiful woman whose face bore eighty percent resemblance to loli-form Viel—but with a tall, alluring figure and an impressively generous chest.
Aisha: "Σ(?д?lll) Is that… Boss Viel?"
Seeing the sight before her, Aisha suddenly felt a deep sense of defeat.
Until now, she had believed that at least in terms of cup size, she held a slight advantage over Boss Viel.
Albeit once Viel returned to her original form, Aisha was not just a bit outmatched… she was absolutely crushed.
Aisha: "(╬￣皿￣)=○ I hate people who pretend to be weak when they're actually strong!"
You say that, but when have you ever counted as the "strong tiger" here?
"It's you!"
After Viel returned to her true form, Zepha recognized her at last. "The Magistus of Verre… Rilliona!"
As one of the Magistuses who pursued the pinnacle of magic on the Spirit Continent, Viel's identity as the Magistus of Verre explained how a mere loli shop owner of a magic workshop could possess such overwhelming capability.
From crafting top-tier D-Wheels and selling strange magical tools,
To helping Miles create a new body, analyzing and enhancing the Millennium Puzzle, and forging the King's Key.
Even the National Transmutation Array that Zepha had spent a year preparing—Viel had written a counter-transmutation formula for it in only half a day.
"So you really are that capable, Viel."
"Only realizing that now, Miles? Are you slow or something?"
Zepha's fingers trembled. With the legendary Magistus of Verre standing in his way, he understood that using the National Transmutation Array to absorb sacrifices and force Numerounius to evolve into its final form was no longer realistic.
"But even if it can't reach its final form, this is still enough!"
In the epic of Numerounius's seven-day apocalypse, the first mural described it thus:
[On the first day, all surface life and humankind alike were extinguished.]
The God of Destruction, at the moment of its first descent, already possessed the terrifying power to wipe out all life upon the surface.
Zepha clasped his hands together, condensing magic between his palms, then slammed them with full force onto the "core" of the magic formation beneath his feet.
"By the summoning contract, let your power and mine become one! Soul Synchronization—Number C1000: Numerounius!"
Merely summoning Numerounius without being able to control and wield that power would amount to nothing more than a calamity that destroyed the world—Zepha naturally understood this.
However, compared to his younger sister, whose strength was practically monstrous, Zepha's one advantage was that, unlike Quaedes, he did not possess a constitution completely immune to the gods.
In other words, Zepha's body could accept and wield a god.
Through the secret art left behind by Zoroa, the Magistus of Flame—once a Magistus himself—Zepha's method of obtaining that power was to overlay his soul with Numerounius through a summoning contract.
The magic formation that covered the entire imperial capital shattered in an instant, and the remaining magic power surged wildly into Zepha's body.
As his soul overlaid with that of the God of Destruction, black-and-white chaotic wings—identical to Numerounius's—unfurled from Zepha's back.
As if to display the pride of a god standing above all mortals, Zepha beat his chaotic wings and flew toward the colossal form looming in the sky.
"It worked. I finally did it. With this power, I am the strongest in this world! I am a god myself!"
"Tch… he actually pulled it off."
In her mature form, Rilliona looked up at Zepha as he soared higher and farther away.
"I never thought the secret art Zoroa left behind could truly allow a human to overlay with a god."
"What do we do now?" Miles asked. "If we let that guy run rampant, letting a twisted soul control the God of Destruction won't be much different from the apocalypse itself."
"Obviously, we proceed with the original plan."
Rilliona raised her arm and pointed toward the sky, now obscured by the enormous body of the god.
"You'll fight that thing, Miles! And you're going too, Aisha—both of you!"
When Rilliona said "both of you," she deliberately included Dark Aisha, who had been separated by the King's Key.
Or rather, to be precise: Dark Aisha was the key.
According to the theory of Rilliona, the Magistus of Crystals, if Miles—who had now even defeated Quaedes and become the strongest Duelist on the continent—were to overlay with Aisha Carlos, who possessed boundless potential and an unknown future, the power unleashed would absolutely not lose to the soul overlay between Zepha and Numerounius.
"I get it!"
Miles had long since prepared himself. He had only been waiting for this moment.
The Millennium Puzzle shone brilliantly. The first thing Miles needed to do was return to his own body and give control back to Aisha.
His soul traversed space. At this moment, his body was outside the imperial capital, beside Alester.
Alester had already prepared a spatial teleportation magic circle to send Miles's body back to Aisha.
"Put on my robe, Miles," came the scoundrel's gentle voice. "I doubt you'd want to return dressed like that."
"Thanks, reliable senpai!"
Draped in Alester's silver-white mage robe, Miles stepped back into the spatial transfer magic and made a dashing return before everyone.
Next came the most crucial step in opposing Numerounius.
"Let's fuse, Aisha!"
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