Chapter 76: The Law of Manifestation.
Malrik’s gaze lingered on the black throne for several moments before he slowly stepped closer.
Without saying a word, he rested his hand against one of the obsidian armrests.
The surface was cold and perfectly solid. It possessed the same weight and texture as natural stone.
He pressed harder, almost expecting the throne to dissolve beneath his hand.
It didn’t.
A faint look of surprise crossed his face "...So it really exists."
Lilith smiled, still seated comfortably upon the throne.
"I told you, My manifestations aren’t illusions." "They become part of reality... for as long as I allow them to exist."
Malrik slowly withdrew his hand, his thoughts racing.
"If that’s true..."
His eyes instinctively drifted toward Blackthorn’s aging walls.
Lilith noticed the direction of his gaze and couldn’t help smiling. "You’ve thought of something."
Malrik didn’t deny it. "How long can something like this remain manifested?"
"It depends." Lilith gently ran a finger across the armrest. "Objects require very little concentration."
"If left undisturbed, they can exist for days."
She paused briefly before continuing."But living beings are different."
"The stronger the creature...the greater the burden."
Malrik nodded thoughtfully. "And durability?"
Lilith looked toward the northern wall.
"My manifestations possess the same properties as whatever they’re imitating."
"If I manifest a wall...it will be a wall."
"If I manifest steel...it will be steel."
She smiled faintly. "Destroying them isn’t impossible."
"But anyone trying to break them will discover they’re just as real as the original."
Silence settled between them.
Then...A slow smile appeared on Malrik’s face.
Lilith immediately noticed it."...That smile."
"I don’t like that smile."
Malrik remained silent for a long moment, his eyes fixed on the weathered walls surrounding Blackthorn.
Then he finally turned toward Lilith.
"...Can you manifest stronger walls?"
Lilith looked at him for a moment before answering.
"I can."
She gently rested one hand against the armrest of the obsidian throne.
"But the more intricate the details of a manifestation become...the harder it is to control."
Her crimson eyes met his.
"Manifesting a simple stone wall is one thing."
"Manifesting an entire fortress, complete with towers, battlements, and siege weapons...is something else entirely."
"It demands far greater concentration, and the burden of maintaining it increases accordingly."
Malrik nodded thoughtfully, silently weighing her words.
"The Law can manifest almost anything, But complexity always comes with a price."
Malrik remained silent for several moments, his gaze fixed upon the weathered walls surrounding Blackthorn.
Then he finally looked at Lilith.
"...Can you recreate the fortifications of House Vesperion?"
Lilith didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she turned her crimson eyes toward the fortress walls, silently measuring them.
"Yes."
She nodded once.
"I can recreate them."
She paused briefly before adding,
"But maintaining manifestations of that scale is no simple task. The more detailed the manifestation, the greater the concentration it demands."
Her gaze remained on the battlements.
"If I manifest walls of that level, I’ll have to devote nearly all of my attention to sustaining them throughout the battle."
"And if I do...don’t expect me to fight beside you."
Malrik wasn’t surprised. "What about their strength?"
Lilith considered the question for a moment.
"They’ll easily withstand Awakened-Rank Morveth, But Fallen-Rank Morveth are another matter."
A faint frown appeared on her face. "They’ll be able to damage them."
"If several Fallen attack the same section at once...the manifestations may eventually collapse."
"That will be more than enough."
Lilith looked at him with mild curiosity. "...More than enough?"
Malrik’s gaze swept across the fortress before settling on the thousands of soldiers moving along the walls.
"My greatest concern isn’t defeating the Morveth."
"It’s protecting the two hundred thousand people behind these walls."
"If your manifestations can keep those overwhelming numbers from pouring into Blackthorn...then they’ll be an enormous help."
His emerald eyes shifted toward the distant forest.
"We don’t need to wipe them out in a single battle."
"We only need to keep cutting them down...until there’s nothing left."
Lilith stared at him for a few moments before the corners of her lips slowly curled upward.
"...I see."
Lilith slowly rose from the obsidian throne.
"...Very well."
"If this is your wish..." Lilith slowly closed her eyes.
The smile on her face gradually disappeared, replaced by an expression of complete focus.
A moment later...her crimson eyes opened once more.
This time, they burned with a brilliant violet radiance.
An overwhelming wave of demonic mana erupted from her body, surging into the sky before cascading over the entirety of Blackthorn like a boundless violet sea.
The enormous fortress—stretching for several kilometers—was engulfed in violet light. Then, Lilith’s calm voice echoed across the battlements.
"Law of Manifestation..."
The endless sea of violet mana trembled.
"...Immutable Manifestation."
Malrik’s pupils contracted slightly. The first thing to change wasn’t the fortress itself.
It was a vision.
A colossal phantom fortress, forged from translucent violet light, gradually materialized around Blackthorn. Tower after tower rose into existence, vast walls stretched across the horizon, and immense gates slowly took shape as though an entirely different fortress had overlapped with the old one.
It looked no different from an illusion.
For a brief moment...The ancient walls of Blackthorn and the magnificent fortress existed together.
One real.
One seemingly false.
Then...the illusion began to change.
Starting from the foundations, the translucent violet light slowly darkened.
Stone replaced light, and obsidian replaced illusion.
Reality itself was slowly accepting the illusion as truth.
The transformation spread outward from the northern wall before sweeping across the entire fortress.
The aging walls of Blackthorn, once barely fifteen meters tall, began to rise before everyone’s eyes.
Twenty meters...Thirty...Forty.
They didn’t stop until they stood nearly sixty meters high, their thickness increasing severalfold as layer upon layer of jet-black obsidian replaced the crumbling stone.
The narrow battlements widened enough for entire squads of soldiers to march side by side.
Massive watchtowers climbed toward the heavens, their shadows swallowing the streets below.
while enormous gates, engraved with the crest of House Vesperion, emerged from the violet light.
One after another, colossal ballistae, catapults, and heavy siege engines materialized atop the walls, each one appearing so exquisitely crafted that they seemed forged by the finest master artisans rather than created by a Law.
Below...Chaos erupted throughout Blackthorn.
"What... what is happening?!"
"The walls!"
"They’re changing!"
A knight instinctively grabbed the battlements beside him, only to freeze as the cracked stone beneath his hand transformed into flawless black obsidian.
"It’s real..." His voice trembled "It isn’t an illusion..."
Elsewhere, dozens of soldiers stared upward with mouths hanging open.
Some instinctively drew their weapons, Others simply stood rooted to the spot, unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.
One soldier cautiously struck the wall with the butt of his spear.
The spear splintered, while the wall remained untouched.
The blacksmiths abandoned their forges, Servants rushed into the streets, and even the children pointed excitedly toward the towering walls.
Everywhere one looked...People were watching history unfold.
Even Kael and Ronan, who had rushed out after feeling the fortress shake, stopped in their tracks, neither spoke.
Ronan stared blankly at the towering walls.
"...Those...Those are the fortifications of House Vesperion."
He slowly turned toward Kael "...Tell me I’m not the only one seeing this."
Kael remained silent for several long moments before finally nodding.
"...No...You’re not."
Only then did the last traces of violet light fade away.
The phantom fortress had completely vanished.
In its place stood a fortress worthy of House Vesperion itself.
Lilith had never been creating ordinary illusions.
She first created an illusion...Then forced reality itself to accept it.
Malrik’s gaze remained fixed upon the fortress as the last traces of violet light disappeared from the newly manifested walls.
"...So this..."
Only now did Malrik truly understand what she had meant the previous night.
A Law must complement its wielder.
Otherwise...It would become a burden rather than a source of strength.
The Law of Manifestation.
It was the perfect Law for someone whose foundation lay in illusions.
No one could make better use of such a Law than Lilith herself.
Then...another realization dawned upon him.
If I was going to cultivate Laws in the future.
they had to walk the same path as the power I already possessed.
Only Laws capable of strengthening both me and my undead army could truly unleash our full potential.
A Law wasn’t meant to create a new path.
It was meant to strengthen the one its wielder had already chosen.
Only then could both the master and those who walked beside him reach heights impossible to achieve alone.