Free Web NovelChapter 448: Chapter 445: Rewinding to a Year Ago
Outside the fortress, soldiers lay scattered about. They had been washed over by Negative Energy, and though the source was gone, they had yet to recover.
Only Rorschach remained standing among them. He gently set the stiff Richard down. His old classmate looked as if he had been lying in a grave for ages; even after the Necromancer Master had vanished, his undead transformation had not been reversed.
If Richard had adopted a policy of "shut up and don’t resist" when facing his teacher, he was spilling the beans now, chattering on and on as he told Rorschach everything that had happened at the fortress.
Finally, lying weakly at the base of a wall, he said, "Tell Bart I’m sorry for not replying to his wedding invitation. Is his bride pretty? Are he and his family doing well?"
"They’re doing great. That guy’s life couldn’t be better right now." At first, Rorschach had just thought Richard was seriously injured and tried to heal him with Magic. But unexpectedly, the moment he used Su Sheng, Richard recoiled in extreme pain.
"Don’t tell me... you’ve become an Undead Creature?" Rorschach quickly moved to stand in front of him, blocking the sunlight.
"It’s already come to this... Burn me to ash and send me home, so they won’t have to see..." Richard stiffly removed his nameplate and armband, trying to hand them to Rorschach.
"Hey, don’t give up on yourself so easily..." Rorschach pulled a staff from his ring and began preparing a Reversing Beam, intending to hit his good friend with a blast as soon as possible.
"This is the handiwork of a Great Necromancer... By the way, what happened to the Chief?" Richard was worried the Chief would continue to cause trouble and come after Rorschach, but from what he had just seen, Rorschach had equally powerful backup.
"You mean the tattooed bald guy? He... he shouldn’t have the chance to bother you again."
Richard was incredulous at first. Then, he squinted, re-examining the backlit Rorschach. His appearance hadn’t changed much. If anything, his hair was just a bit longer, and his features were more defined.
"Dead?"
"Dead." Rorschach was certain. ’I interrupted the Necromancer’s process of transferring to a new body to be reborn, and his Soul dissipated, returning to the Creator’s flow. If I’d been more ruthless, I could have just used the Reversing Beam to stop his rebirth Magic, then immediately used the Necromancy Enlightenment Skill to gather his soul fragments, stuff them into some random vessel, and enslave him.’
Rorschach had only used the Forbidden Magic Roar. Because he was such a good person.
"Who... who killed him? He was a Great Mage specializing in Necromancy..."
"I can’t speak in absolutes, but his Soul did dissipate before my eyes and those of other Mages. And among those who took action, there was a Great Mage." Rorschach didn’t want to dwell on the issue. ’Even if that Necromancer Master is somehow still clinging to life, the Aurora Elder Council will hunt him down and exterminate him.’
Richard tentatively accepted this explanation. "That’s great. At least the Chief won’t be able to bother you for a while. Rorschach, you need to find sanctuary as soon as possible. Be careful..."
Richard’s voice grew increasingly faint as his bodily functions began to shut down. The dense Negative Energy launched an assault on its final stronghold: Richard’s Soul Residence. His pupils dilated, and a red light began to glow from within their depths.
"Quick... kill me..."
"Okay." Rorschach raised his hand, pointing the head of the staff at his former classmate, Richard, who was on the verge of turning into a living corpse. Seeing Rorschach act so decisively, Richard gave a relieved smile.
"...Don’t get me wrong. I meant the Magic to save you is ready."
Richard couldn’t comprehend what Rorschach was doing, or what was happening to his own body. The livid patches on his skin began to fade, the Negative Energy reverted into pure Magic Power, and color gradually returned to his flesh. His consciousness blurred, and then he passed out.
Though Rorschach was using the Reversing Beam, it was his first time using it on a person. Furthermore, he had to reverse Magic that had been active for an unknown amount of time.
There was also an unexpected and unavoidable problem: the Magic required the Caster to revert the target to a prior state. In other words, the Magic’s final effect was benchmarked against the Caster’s mental image of the target. And Rorschach... hadn’t seen Richard in over a year!
Whether it would succeed, and what state Richard would revert to, were both unknown.
He watched Richard drift into a deep sleep. ’If I wasn’t seeing the life return to him with my own eyes,’ Rorschach thought, ’I’d be worried I’d just cured him to death.’
Looking at Richard’s smooth, handsome face, Rorschach stopped the Magic and wiped the sweat from his brow. ’Great. Even if he doesn’t wake up, at least he can have a beautiful, open-casket funeral... Wait, how can I be thinking something like that?’
’It must be contamination from the Negative Energy! I felt sick to my stomach after forcibly absorbing and converting it. Yeah, that has to be it.’
’Next, I can treat the soldiers...’ Rorschach didn’t pause. He planned to immediately expand a Domain imbued with the power of Su Sheng to heal the poor, scattered bastards a little, all at once.
Unexpectedly, another "person" appeared beside him—the very source of Rorschach’s mastery over the power of Su Sheng.
"What are you doing here?"
The appearance of Deryats outside Moncado Fortress greatly surprised Rorschach. ’Is this some kind of limited-time event for returning characters?’ Though he recognized her at once, it was obvious that this Divine Spirit’s aura was different now.
The first time he met them, they were an androgynous, deer-headed being. The next time, they had surprisingly manifested a powerful male incarnation. And the last time they parted, she had been a Forest Maiden, as gentle as a fawn.
Now, she was even more beautiful, possessing a divine sanctity that felt unapproachable. Though she had the appearance of a human female, her aura was closer to the deer-headed form Rorschach had first encountered, and her eyes held a new maturity and majesty. Her luminous hair seemed infinitely long, cascading down and extending until it merged with the earth itself.
’It seems her power is far more abundant than before.’
"If I am to walk upon the earth and eke out this existence, I must have permission. To receive this Promise, I must perform a service for the one who grants it." Not only had Deryats’s aura reverted to that of her deer-headed form, but her intonation and syntax, reminiscent of the Ancient Elves, were also returning to how they once were.
"I still feel like your way of speaking could be a little more modern," Rorschach dared to suggest.
"Ahem... as you wish." To his surprise, the Divine Spirit was quite receptive. Her voice reverted to that of a young maiden. "By healing your friend this way, you’ve reverted his physical state to what it was at least a year ago. He was likely a Middle Level Mage back then. After your intervention, I’m afraid his Casting Ability has temporarily declined."
Rorschach was taken aback. "Then what about his memories...?"
"Memories are bound to the Soul; they can’t be so easily erased by you. Only his physical shell was reverted. Of course, he will need to train again to restore his Magic Power and control to the level of a Middle Level Mage before he can use the High Tier Magic he once mastered."
’Sigh, my good friend probably won’t hold this little side effect against me...’ Rorschach then asked, "Why are you here? To help the soldiers and civilians affected by the Necromancy?"
’The only being who could command a Divine Spirit is probably an even more powerful one,’ Rorschach thought. ’And I can only think of one. The Lord of Order truly has a deep love for humanity and for Valois, to send outside help to pull them up even after all this.’
"No, I have no time for that right now... The disaster in Kongdi is not yet over."
As Deryats finished speaking, she began to release her Divine Power. The fields, once scorched by the fires of war, returned to the lush green of spring and summer. But a moment later, an even more formidable power erupted from the center of the fortress, sweeping through the stronghold and the city once more.
