Chapter 2103: Adel’s Principle of Return
Upon hearing Shard’s words, Miss Isabella, who was kneeling on one knee before him, showed an increasingly gentle smile:
"You still do not understand what your actions truly mean to us, no, to them. Please allow me to thank you on behalf of the Council’s ladies. Although I still feel that all of this is part of Luviya Annette’s plan, at least she has chosen you, and that may be one of the few correct decisions she has made. Spending long time around someone like you, perhaps even she might recover some of her conscience."
It’s really hard to imagine what Luviya did in the past to leave her with such psychological shadows.
Noises came from behind her, and the golden-haired lady immediately stood up, turning to glance at the plaza where the giant worm with a human-like head had almost completely healed:
"Compared to Time, you seem more adept at using the power of Moonlight. This idea is not wrong, even I have never seen that enormous Light Wheel technique you just used. Although I don’t usually use energy output attacks, would you like to hear my suggestions on your Moonlight Magic?"
"Of course."
Shard immediately nodded. His "Moonlight Slash" had developed into three forms, eventually evolving into the "Moonlight Wheel." And now the Moonlight Wheel had only developed into its second form, and he himself believed this magic uniquely belonging to him still had room for expansion.
Miss Isabella reached out and helped Shard stand up. Seeing him wince in pain due to his wounds, she showed an expression of pity:
"Magnifying the basic form of the Light Wheel is indeed a good way to deal with giants, dragons, and other large enemies, but it also leads to increased consumption, and in urban settings, it’s inconvenient to use. The basic form of the Light Wheel you just threw out, although low in consumption, almost had no effect on that worm’s shell. So, the next idea is to maintain the size of the Light Wheel while enhancing its destructive power."
Shard nodded:
"This is also my thinking in developing the ’Moonlight Slash,’ by slightly modifying the spellcasting method and sacrificing consumption and speed, to alter the magical power. But how can this be done?"
"Your Light Wheel currently charges with one hand; have you considered charging with both hands simultaneously?"
Miss Isabella asked, seeing Shard frowned in thought, then smiled and shook her head:
"Think about it slowly after you go back, Shard. The help I can offer is only available when you visit me here each month. Although we transcend Time and Apocalypse, I will patiently wait for your return until you no longer need my assistance."
Before Shard could say anything, she took a step closer to him. Seeing Shard looking embarrassed, her golden eyes curved into a smile:
"Carefully experience my next magic - Adel’s Principle of Return. If you can master it, you will avoid most troubles in the future."
She pressed her forehead against Shard’s. In that instant, the sensation of warmth and shiver surged in the hearts of both of them, and Miss Isabella’s "Other Self" and Shard’s "Her" mutually allowed the contact between the two souls.
The Power of Time resonated between them, and the Witch Echo supplemented the part of "Adel’s Principle of Return," flooding Shard’s mind with all the ritual information. Miss Isabella too, in this renewed resonance, finally glimpsed a fragment of Shard’s soul.
Underneath the skirt, nearly transparent hairs on pale skin stood up. That golden glimmer deep within the soul made her lose herself against Shard’s forehead. Not until the roar of the worm behind them echoed did she realize their current situation.
Acting as if nothing happened, she moved her forehead away, unaware that both she and Shard were equally flushed:
"Watch closely."
Saying this, she turned around and leapt into the air. At this moment, the giant worm had fully recovered, with half its body still hidden beneath the plaza, now a giant sand pile, and the other half coiled above it, sparingly upright.
With a mouth full of thousands of human teeth, the worm’s maw opened, and a sandstorm enveloped the interior of the plaza with its roar. It was as if endless fine sand gathered in its mouth, but its essence was a massive amount of Spirit and extremely chaotic elements compressed into a sphere in its mouth.
Miss Isabella, ascending, was nearly at the same height as the worm’s mouth. She did not attempt to dodge but raised her hands high. As her palms subtly twisted, the rotating profound Star Ocean appeared above her, as if she was lifting the starry sky itself.
Shard stood on the plaza’s edge, eyes widened, watching this scene, observing the sandstorm’s center where the massive worm body with hairs and tentacles supported the head, spitting out a huge earth-colored energy sphere towards Miss Isabella.
"Adel’s Principle of Return!"
As the Star Ocean rotated above the witch’s raised hands, the wild energy-carrying earth-colored sphere collided with the Star Ocean, then smoothly returned to its "owner," under the power of Time, penetrating the sand storm and directly piercing through the human head of the worm.
This time, the damage was far stronger than Shard’s previous strike. The massive worm body immediately crumbled into a sky full of yellow sand, leaving only the hunched form of Professor Drake falling from the sky;
"Shard, now’s the time!"
"Thunder Spear!"
Gripping the [Yggdrasil’s Staff], he charged and threw it. The silver-white thunderbolt attached to the long staff accurately pierced through the humanoid evil object in midair, driving it with immense kinetic energy toward the other end of the square. After the collision created a concave spherical pit on the wall of the wreckage, the professor’s form was completely pinned against the wall.
Upon landing, Miss Isabella flew over with Shard, the silver-white electric light was constantly leaping on the body scattered with dust. That body rapidly became sand, while the professor’s cloudy eyes opened, surprisingly like he regained sanity in the last moments.
He raised his right hand, which was jumping with silver-white electric light and constantly shedding sand, as if trying to grasp something invisible in the air:
"So, this is, truth."
His eyes closed, arm turned to dust quickly blown away by the wind, Shard and Miss Isabella watched it completely disappear, leaving only the long staff pinned against the slanted wall and the cards drifting toward Shard with the wind.
He collected the cards but did not immediately check them to prevent leaving abruptly. He reached to pull out the long staff pinned there, but once he exerted force, he felt all the wounds on his body ache.
"Let me do it, don’t move."
The witch beside him urgently stopped him from using more force, herself grasping the long staff to pull it out. When returning it to Shard, she thought this was her first time directly contacting this weapon in so long. Previously, when it was in Luviya Annette’s hands, no second person could touch it.
After the battle ended, they didn’t linger long in the sandstorm. Returning to the other side of the square, seemingly untouched by the battle’s aftermath, Miss Isabella aided Shard, who was leaning on the long staff on the stairs, and asked:
"Did you understand the arcane technique earlier? Adel’s reflexive principle theoretically allows returning any type of energy attack. There are two drawbacks, firstly, it requires a few seconds of spellcasting preparation, which is alright when ready, but if faced with sudden attack, might not activate the arcane technique in time; secondly, it can only return detached types of energy attacks, while if it’s a continuous output like a Light Cannon, it can be returned but consumes heavily, better to find a way to dodge."
She supported Shard around the staircase corner, as Shard strived to memorize this content, this arcane technique indeed as Miss Isabella said, once mastered, could avoid most of the combat troubles:
"Why not call it Star River’s Revolution... I mean, is leaping to the air a necessary condition for casting?"
"Yes."
Miss Isabella gave him a rather surprised glance:
"Didn’t expect you could tell. On one hand, this arcane technique’s concept derives from Star River’s Revolution, requiring contact with the sky; on the other hand, since it’s based on reversing time principle, because it needs extremely precise control over energy flow return, the fewer tangible contacts the better. Clothes don’t matter much, but earth affects casting precision. Therefore, leaping and casting in the air is the best choice."
The ritual content of "Adel’s Reflexive Principle" is now ingrained in Shard’s mind, such advanced arcane technique, but the learning process surprisingly isn’t complex. The ritual should be held at night, the base formation must simultaneously contain the holy emblems of "Chaos Witch" and "Father of the Infinite Tree". The ritual materials are varied, but Shard has heard of all. Even the hardest to find "Millennial Pine Nut" and "Core of the Astral Meteorite", can be purchased at a high price at Saint Byrons.
"This arcane technique is really amazing, Miss Isabella, you truly are a genius."
He genuinely praised, the witch shook her head:
"Don’t say that, actually Luviya Annette is the true genius."
Due to severe injury from being swallowed by the worm, Shard’s condition did not allow him to stay long, but Miss Bella Belindel’s issue still needed resolution. Miss Isabella certainly did not forget this matter, after helping Shard sit on the sofa, she proactively shifted to the topic:
"Although darkness and light are mutual nemeses, the light you mentioned must be some extremely special light, once infected, unless the Chosen of Darkness intervenes, ordinary darkness absolutely cannot completely dispel it."
The Chosen of Darkness Ivan Daknis died last year.
"But apart from darkness, light must be considered too. After all, glimmer doesn’t affect glimmer itself; that peculiar glimmer can assimilate everything, yet only glimmer won’t melt into glimmer."