Chapter 509: Curtains fall (2/2)

I felt ht was spilling across the do the walls with jues that quicklythat could be made sense of However, with each second that passed, the light focused in on the very center point of the chaan to blink rapidly My eyes were rolling back in ht stumble over backwards Just at the peak of this sensation, I took ed I was looking out at the Basilisk Fang Mountains, as if I were standing atop Taegrin Caeluy and uneven, like peering through stained glass I felt Ji-ae besidea physical forate,” she said

With a sensation like leaning forward, we began to move away froedaway as Vechor opened up before us I slowed, veering left and south I wanted to see Victorious City, to see all those faces gazing up at the sky in response to o lower, however, ood angle fro me back “We should stay focused Literally”

“Was that a joke?” I asked as I lifted, again speeding toward the coastline

“Yes If it wasn’t funny, though, it’s because I got my sense of humor from you”

I chuckled and felt my physical bodyrapidly in and out of focus

“Don’t ned this whole thing myself

“Yes, dear”

Soon the sea extended around us in every direction, the world nothing but a curved blue expanse as far as our projected vision could sense The speed of it only increased with each passing moment, however, until land appeared in the distance In al above land, the coast of Dicathen was behind us, and ere looking down at the Beast Glades Our forward motion halted instantly, but there was no htly as I instinctively braced for the force

“I’es with the display,” Ji-ae inforhtly between her teeth as she concentrated absolutely on her task “There That pattern perfectly round is completely blasted”

I focused where she indicated, and our view shi+fted

The Beast Glades around where Cecilia had held off the dragons was utter devastation and ruin Chunks of metal and crystal were scattered for hundreds of feet, while the earth bore signs of allwhere our shi+eld projection artifacts had formed the barrier

My focus adjusted upwards There was no sign of the opening into Epheotus, but I kneas there Kezess ain, but that didn’t seal it co so would cut off Epheotus from the world and eventually kill it and everyone inside The thought conjured a se of the rift as it had looked in Seris’s recording appeared in the sky

“Lining everything up The rift, when open, was exactly there,” Ji-ae said

I locked in the targeting syste unnatural and the texture s

I squeezed an to see swirling colors and ies behind my lids

I was back in the interface chamber Slowly, I loweredleft to do then” With a flick of my mana, I activated the sequence

“You’ll be needed in the Harvester’s core,” Ji-ae re battery to reat work of mine possible”

Despite round, and I flew The door into the interface chamber slammed open in front ofas I passed through it to take a more direct route In hout the fortress that allowed vertical egress for flight I plu out into a cavernous space tangled with pulsing tubes and cables full of ht white tendrils of ed atme hu several ti sparked in my mind, and I was suddenly connected to every one of the ht lines of golden thread

My breath caught It was like being back in the targeting apparatus, like looking down on the world from above as a true God, all iven to my like prayers as their faces turned up toward the sky, waiting to vieill madeer “This is always how it had to be”

I stepped close to the core, a giant white sphere condensed froanic er to absorb the purified mana I held inenough to rip it froe of the golden threads had vanished even more quickly than it had appeared, I could still see their echo inme to all of my people I knew this was to be the end result of the entire Alacryan experih exterior of the giant core It ared atheartbeat “Go on then Take it” I released y connectedall the energy it had fed into hter until I was forced to close h the lids, it was blinding I began to sweat and shake My teeth ached as I clenched theround cracked beneath my feet

“Slon!” Ji-ae warned, her voice a silvery chi ofto overload, and”—there was a faint clink, like the cracking of glass—“the core itself , I focused on sirim amusement, I realised this must have been how my subjects felt when the Harvester drew this sa and guiding the process of absorption in equal rew more steeled in its deteracy, at least for noould not fail here There was no path forithout this power

Seconds dragged past like hours The Harvester eatheredinstant, I heard the quiet splintering of crystal It was now or never

Eighty-three percent, I thought wryly to myself

The concentrated h Taegrin Caelu of stone

“The outer walls are collapsing The tower can’t support this density of mana The central structure remains intact Transmission of mana at…one hundred percent”

As Ji-ae’s voice sounded infro it to gather all its collected le point I had, of course, already locked in the target “Show ht,” I coer

My consciousness was ripped from my body by the pure force of the released ain—within the hter than the sun above Taegrin Caeluht carved across the sky A nearby mountain top exploded, the shrapnel of its destruction scattered as far as the plains of Vechor a hundred miles away

Instantly, the bea array It crossed the ocean in a single second My eyes snapped back open as I returned toon ainst the stone floor with each s over and struggling to stand Much of my own mana had been ripped froed along with the bearona This has left you more depleted than we’d calculated—”

“I have to see it!” I barked, scra forward on all fours as I tried to stand My feet slipped out froround, but I hardly felt it, only pushi+ngup, I had to pause and collect s of desperation and desire alone

“Oh, Agrona…” Ji-ae said I felt her attention looking upward, to the sky Like the rest of those loyal to Alacrya and to ht the well of htly My fists clenched I stabilized

I began to rise up the chute Not as fast as I’d have liked, but it was enough “Don’t tell me Don’t say a word I have to experience this for h that I could leave the fortress by a balconyinI half flew, half pulled ed rooftop There, I finally had a clear view of the sky in the proper direction

I stared in awe, and I wept

“Let the curtains fall”