The Invincible Young Master

Chapter 258 - 258 - The Strongest Ascendant of the Jul Empire

From the earlier battle inside the ruin, the Elder was already spent; his energy drained to the last thread.

The guardian puppets who had stood at the forefront not long before now lay motionless nearby, armors cracked open like a broken shell.

There was no one left who could truly stop them.

Lina's brows knit tightly as she watched yet another defensive formation crumble beneath Vearos's relentless advance.

Only she could restrain them now.

If she cast the advancing forces into an Illusion Domain, she might stall their march and give the others time to escape.

She had contained him once. Now that he knew her illusion, a second time would not hold him for long.

Still, there was no other choice.

"I-I'll buy time," Lina said. "Prepare the ship to escape."

"That will not be necessary." A soft voice drifted from her left.

Lina quickly turned toward the sound.

A beautiful woman stood there as though she had always been part of the battlefield, her presence so natural that it felt the world had merely shifted to reveal her.

She reached out and placed a slender hand upon Silica's forehead, her eyes half-lidded, as if peering into depths unseen by mortal sight.

"Miss Yuna!" Lina exclaimed, relief flooding her voice so suddenly that her knees nearly weakened beneath her.

Ling Yan, who had been nearby, froze in place. She had not sensed this woman's arrival at all.

Then, her gaze darted across the battlefield, as if searching for someone amid the chaos.

If she is here… then he must also be here.

Slowly, almost instinctively, she lifted her eyes toward the sky.

…

At the front lines, the charging Durn soldiers abruptly halted.

As though they had struck an invisible wall.

Their bodies trembled violently. One by one, their hollow eyes shifted upward in perfect unison.

Every gaze on the battlefield followed.

Above the chaos floated a loosely attired man.

He wore no armor and bore no grand regalia of rank or command. His robes drifted lazily in the heated air, utterly out of place amid warriors clad in steel and soaked in blood. There was nothing outwardly imposing about him.

Yet no one dared dismiss him.

They had heard of this man before. The man who had single handedly repelled the coalition attack of five empires.

The Strongest Ascendant of the Jul Empire.

Some had claimed his strength was illusion. Exaggeration. A political myth crafted to inspire fear.

But standing beneath him now and breathing the same air was entirely different.

"Offspring of one of the Dragon Emperors submitting to a Fiend," the man muttered. "How disappointing."

Vearos slowly tilted his head upward, crimson eyes burning like coals dragged from the depths of hell.

"I have waited for this battle," his voice thundered. "You have finally come, Spark of Jul. Come… prove that your strength is real."

Spark gave no reply. He remained suspended in the air, his expression calm and distant, as though the chaos unfolding below had nothing to do with him.

Then the space around him began to glow.

At first it was a faint shimmer. Within moments, however, the glow intensified, spreading outward in widening rings of radiance.

The light swelled rapidly until the sky itself seemed to ignite.

Where Spark floated, a blazing sphere of condensed radiance formed, like a miniature sun burning above the battlefield.

Its brilliance was so overwhelming that shadows vanished, colors washed pale, and the world beneath it seemed to shrink.

The Durn soldiers were the first to react.

Their flesh began to sizzle, dark veins bursting apart beneath their skin as if something within them were being incinerated. Armor softened and warped, running like molten wax over their limbs.

Though the fiend's blessing had stripped them of pain and fear, something deeper was now burning, something tied to the corruption woven into their very souls.

They writhed violently, emitting inhuman howls that echoed across the battlefield.

"You can't kill me!" Vearos roared, his voice thick with rage and disbelief. "I am immortal!"

His defiance vanished beneath the expanding inferno.

The blazing sphere widened, pouring waves of searing light onto the Durn soldiers below.

Bodies disintegrated into ash before their screams could finish. The darkness saturating their flesh evaporated instantly, and the regenerative force sustaining them failed before it could even begin.

Within a few breaths, Vearos was gone.

The Durn soldiers were gone.

They had been erased, as though they had never existed.

Silence fell across the battlefield. Soldiers at the rear lines blinked repeatedly, uncertain whether they had truly witnessed what stood before them.

Spark had merely gazed downward and the enemy had ceased to exist. They only hear Durns scream of agony, but they had not seen what he had to them to result those screams.

Spark descended lightly to the ground beside Silica and asked. "How is she?"

"I've stabilized her internal injuries," Yuna replied gently, her hand still resting upon Silica's forehead. "The deeper damage remains, but Young Master should be able to restore her."

Spark exhaled and scratched the back of his head. "This troublesome sister of mine… making me travel all the way here."

"S-Senior…" Lina stepped forward, tension still tight in her voice. "Senior Reynold is still trapped inside the ruin."

"I know."

His gaze shifted toward the ruin, where a towering pillar of violent energy continued to spear into the heavens, the surrounding air twisting under its intensity.

"Take her back," he said. "We'll check the situation below."

Lina nodded. "Understood."

Spark turned and began walking toward the ruin's entrance, Yuna following quietly at his side.

Ling Yan watched him go, sweat gathering at her temples.

Just now, because of her unique perception, she had faintly sensed what the Durn soldiers experienced in their final moments, that crushing brilliance, that suffocating radiance pressing against existence itself.

It had lasted less than an instant.

Yet even that fleeting contact had nearly ruptured her from within.

That level of power… What kind of monster is he?