Chapter 442 - 90: Foundation Establishment
His thick, grayish-white brows were knitted tightly together. Within his deep-set eye sockets, his world-weary eyes were now fixed on the three-inch-long sword hovering in the distance. His pupils constricted slightly, filled with an astonishment that threatened to overflow!
This was completely different from the "calm that comes after weathering life’s storms" that Grand Duke Charles had anticipated. This was clearly the shock of having one’s entire worldview shattered!
A storm was indeed raging in Knight Armand’s heart.
Ten years ago, they had fought side-by-side at Blackstone Fortress. He had personally witnessed Murphy’s breathtaking Swordsmanship and the miracle of him breaking through to become a Legendary Knight.
Who would have thought... this was no Knight at all!
He was certainly no Legendary Knight!
This was clearly a supreme being who had long since embarked on the Path of the Wizard and had reached the "Elementalization" stage—a level that countless Official Wizards could only look up to in awe!
Ostun and the Gray Robe Wizard beside him stared at each other, seeing the undisguised horror in the other’s eyes.
The Gray Robe Wizard’s voice was tinged with hoarseness. "Elementalization fused with a weapon... What in the world is the Church Court doing?! To actually let an artifact end up outside the Sanctuary! And to let the Enchanting Witch find someone compatible with it!"
As for Muriyas, the instigator of all this and its most direct victim, he was completely frozen in shock.
His earthen body stood stiffly in place. He had even suffered a severe backlash from his ultimate killing move being broken, his form now covered in even more cracks. The earthen-yellow light around him flickered erratically, and his aura had grown exceptionally weak.
But it was as if he couldn’t feel the pain in his body at all. He just stared blankly at the hovering three-inch sword, watching as his own attack—one powerful enough to kill anyone beneath the level of an Elementalization Wizard—crumbled and dissipated as if it were child’s play.
"Ele...men...talized... sword?" he repeated, his voice filled with absurdity and a trace of fear that even he was unwilling to admit.
’The guy I dismissed as a "crippled War Slave" who was "relying on an Ancient Witchcraft Artifact" is actually an Elementalization Wizard who has long since embarked on the Path of Elementalization and successfully fused with an Ancient Witchcraft Artifact?’
But Muriyas was, after all, an old monster who had lived for countless ages. The initial shock and fear quickly subsided.
He forcefully suppressed the weakness from his injuries and the backlash, staring intently at the three-inch sword.
"So... that’s how it is... You aren’t a War Slave, nor are you a Knight... You are like us, a Wizard seeking the truth and breaking free from mortal shackles! A fellow traveler walking the Path of Elementalization!"
"Melfield! No, Your Excellency, Thunder Sword! We are on the same side! Don’t you see? We are all Wizards! We are all fellow travelers who have broken free from our mortal shackles to pursue a higher form of life!"
He took a difficult step forward, bits of earth and debris rustling off him. He paid it no mind, instead opening his arms as if to embrace the small sword.
"We are not like them!"
He suddenly pointed to Pope Ete I and the Great Shepherd Leader on the altar, whose faces had turned grim, and then to the horrified onlookers.
"These lapdogs of the Church Court, these pitiful insects bound by old rules—they fear our power and reject our Path! They only want to lock us up, ’purify’ us, or use and control us like tools!"
"But you and I are different!" Muriyas’s voice grew more strident, filled with a bewitching allure. "You have already taken this step! You understand the hardship and the greatness of this Path! Join us! The four of us—no, the five of us, together! There are even more of our companions imprisoned and persecuted by the Church Court in the Sanctuary! Together, we are strong enough to overturn this rotten order! To establish a kingdom for us Wizards! Let truth and power, not some hypocritical faith, become the new masters of this Continent!"
As if in response to his words, psychic messages tinged with shock and urgency emanated from the distant Plane Rift, which was struggling violently and shrinking under the suppression of the Wall of Faith.
"A new Elementalizer! An artifact of the sword? Rare! Extremely rare! Join us and let’s destroy this hypocritical Holy City together!"
This was Raphael’s furious, thunderous roar.
"The Water Realm needs a new pillar... Your Excellency, please... join us in drowning this filthy past."
Sigrid’s melancholic voice rippled forth like water, carrying a strange temptation.
"Hehehe... another one to split the inheritance? Still... it’s better than being taken out by the Church Court’s lapdogs! Your Excellency, let’s team up first and get rid of these charlatans outside!"
Calvin’s shrill voice rang out. It held a note of rejection, but also a clear intention to win Murphy over.
The three powerful, imprisoned Wizards had all, at this very moment, extended an invitation to this newly revealed Elementalization Wizard!
On the altar, Pope Ete I’s expression was so dark it was practically dripping water.
Just moments ago, he had been ecstatic about Murphy’s "Knight" identity and timely assistance. Now, it was as if he had been viciously slapped across the face.
Thunder Sword was actually a Wizard!
And a powerful one who had reached the Elementalization stage, no less!
This was nothing short of a colossal mockery and a provocation against the Church Court and his own personal prestige!
However, his reason as the Pope allowed him to quickly suppress his churning anger.
The situation was delicate. That bizarre little sword had displayed astonishing power, and he absolutely could not let it fall to the side of those madmen in the Sanctuary!
"Melfield!" Pope Ete I’s voice rang out, having regained its papal majesty. "Please do not listen to the bewitching words of these fallen ones! They are the remnants of an ancient calamity, destroyers of order, madmen who bring only destruction! Their Path is filled with distortion and madness, and in the end, it will only lead to their complete self-destruction, dragging the entire world down with them!"