[Nicholas: Holy Gift + Tuning + Entropy]

The Arcane combination spread lines of artistic seal upon collision with Orwell’s skin. The glowing sigils branded Mehest like a tattoo of defeat.

Despite being mangled by Hikma’s win condition, Orwell refused to surrender.

[Orwell’s Original: Spectral Frost Armament]

The purple javelin appeared in Mehest’s fist, but white cracks spread from the spectral weapon, shattering it to pieces.

“Resonance,” Orwell gritted his teeth. “You dare use my own Adamakles’ property against me?”

“Why not?” Hikma’s visor glowed.

Orwell Mehest understood Hikma’s plan. The game was over. Chronicler unstably amplified his Adamakles’ vibration with holy energy. Any projection he created would vibrate unevenly across the material phase, resulting in an instant destruction. Without his Adamakles, Orwell lacked weapons and shields against an opponent adept at counter-play.

Still, the child of the Deathless Clan refused to surrender.

He swung a punch with his super-strength.

[Holy Lorde]

A beam of light blasted him across the frozen earth. Orwell tumbled across the ground in shamble. He bitterly stood and instinctively summoned a spectral javelin, only to see it broke. Growling, Orwell resorted to his Tundra shenanigan.

[Pyro Gift]

Hikma enchanted the area with summer, switching off Orwell’s toys.

“I can counter everything you try, Orwell.”

Still, Mehest rushed forward, refusing to give-up. He believed his raw stat was higher. If he manhandled the Chronicler, he won. 

[Earth Shift]

The ground beneath Orwell shifted and rose like a water fountain. The earth folded around Orwell, imprisoning him in an obelisk with only his upper torso visible.

[Pyro Gift]

Hikma slapped the summer-field enchantment on the obelisk and preemptively blocked Orwell’s attempt to shatter his way to freedom.

Still, Orwell Mehest refused to give in.

“Dark Ones! Code activate!”

…

In the Water-quarter, at Orwell’s wrecked Spiritium tower, the spell-crafting mechanism connecting to the Primordial World Enemy churned. The link anchoring the god-like reality destroyer chimed with power as Mehest triggered the weapon he avoided using.

Down below, Shyme and Velnia’s entourage trembled at the raw malice vibrating from the ruin tower. The young Enma fell to her knees as the creepy moons with countless eyes blinked, slightly awakened from its dream as Orwell muster the monster’s wrath.

Suddenly, the light shone as Hikma’s trap sprung.

[Nicholas: Holy Gift + Temple + Interfere]

…

Orwell watched the shining beacon of light rose from his ruin tower and pushed the World Enemy away from this reality. His expression was one of utter flabbergasted. He knew his ritual art. The Chronicler transformed his anchor into a sacred territory and used Orwell’s own energy tap to fuel the binding-turn-banishment. It was ingenious. By hijacking Orwell’s original set-up, the ritual technically concluded itself via an alternative route without breaking, thus preventing the World Enemy's release.

“When did you set that up?”

“When I lock your ice ability the first time,” Hikma explained dryly. “Our boss can’t help us directly, but she gave us historical reference in the right direction. The only thing I need to do is hide the surprise and wait for you to get desperate enough to grab your assess code. Thank you for co-operating, dismantling that set-up classically would take weeks otherwise.”

With the final card in his deck exiled, Orwell hung his head low. He was beaten.

In the distance, the grotesque moon with too many eyes was surrounded by amber color-light. Orange glow of gemstone infected the magical circle of greenish energy. Waves of power pulsed along the circle, rescinding the link between Phantasia and the Primordial without breaking the containment structure. The stupid ball of Malice got gently shoved to another dream as it faded from existence.

Thus, ending the nightmare of Venistalis.

Hikma took an opportunity to light the symbol.

[Signal]

…

The light touched the city of Venistalis. Survivors spoke from their shelter. Warriors watched from piles of fallen undead. Surviving mages glanced at the mysterious light raining salvation. The symbol of a man embracing the sun shone behind the obelisk imprisoning Orwell, casting the shadow of the hero who brought this nightmare to an end.

…

Kruger stabbed a Death knight with a spear before smiling at the fading black cage. Oh, how sorely did he miss the sun.

“That signal!” One volunteer yelled. “Does this mean we won?”

“Look the barrier is coming down, and the moon is disappearing!”

A witch covered in grime, and dirt fell to her knees as she cried.

“Thank god, I can’t take any more of this.”

“Fuck the gods, it is those guys we must thank,” a female knight dropped her chipped sword and yelled in gratitude. “Hey, Dream, if you are listening, you are a fucking hero!”

“Vice-Captain,” a young lad asked the one-arm man beside him. “Who are those people?”

Kruger smiled at the light of Horizon Dawn.

“Does it matter? All I care is that they are our savior.”

…

Shyme Enma registered that symbol on the sky.

How?

How did they achieve the impossible? When that light shone above the wrecked Fire-quarter, she ignored the symbol. Why bother lighting a signal in times no one care? Only a standing army and several demigods had a shot against Orwell, not mere beacon from nobodies.

However, that ignorance was forever impossible, because a man wearing that symbol defeated a monster she couldn’t beat. A simple flare transformed into a lantern of salvation. A light with a simple message — everything will be okay.

Shyme reminiscence to that helmeted knight who saved her when no one could.

“Just what make you so strong?” Shyme asked the air. “Why do you save someone like me?”

…

“You can’t be serious!” Chamomile Elragorn looked at the shining light of justice. “They won?”

Despite her flabbergasted reaction, Chamomile hung on to hope the mysterious Samadi would end Orwell. She realized how forlorn this hope was. Thus, she kept her expectation low.

Turn out, those wishes weren’t so stupid.

Chamomile chuckled so much she cried from laughing too hard.

After sometime, she hung her head down and whispered.

“Thanks, Samadi, I am wrong about you. Thank you for everything.”

The Vice-Captain without spine or hope smiled at the beacon of strength.

…

Andries Sellovett seemed like a woman sitting through a hurricane to cheer her favorite base-ball team. Her clothes were tattered in dozen places, but she grinned ear-to-ear.

“We won! We won! We won!” Roared Eliza the celebrating.

“Guys! Keep calm,” Andries suppressed her dancing inner chibi in vain attempt to maintain her noble dignity.

“WE WON!!” Lord Uther cried a tear of joy, with no hint of reservation.

Oh well, why bother fighting for a moot point?

“Onee-sama is awesome!!” The duke's daughter threw a celebratory dance like everyone else.

…

Hikma sensed the celebration as the black barrier dissolved, revealing the beautiful blue sky. It took him a second to realize they were cheering for him. The young archeologist wouldn’t imagine the possibility of an entire city cheering for a no-name orphan. The city that left him at death-door now showered him with gratitude.

“You look stunned,” Orwell stated.

“Yeah, I never expect the cheering.”

“You must be so proud,” Orwell snarked before squinting. “Wait, isn’t that…”

That was when Hikma realized his celebration was getting postponed.

Someone just blasted a rocket right at the obelisk.

…

Rem flipped the lid from his light reading session. The [Clairvoyance] he programmed as an alarm went baloney. 

“Za Wa! Ignore my order for the shelves,” Rem yelled at the octopus who happily stacked shelves of data it already analyzed via octopi’s Center Force power. “At least tell me you get everything.”

Za Wa leapt to Rem’s shoulder as the two left the bizarrely rearranged library.

Rem learned from his failure to stop Orwell. He predicted the current scenarios meticulously to the last fall-out. But a vision of Hikma being attacked threw his calculation to the dustbin.

All factors translated to a single nightmarish scenario.

“Why is an S-rank attacking?” Rem yelled the question as he raised the alarm through Horizon Dawn's communicators. “To any knight that can move, battle-station! An S-ranker is attempting to rescue Mehest. I repeat! We are under attack.”

…

Hikma blocked the missile with [Trinity]

But he didn’t notice the wormhole until the problem dropped on him. A mysterious woman in a lab-coat popped out of the swirling purple gate and tossed the grenade at the distracted Hikma.

“Wow, the shield that actually tanks my anti-magic missile. Good! But, sorry buddy, it isn’t enough.”

“Aww sh-”

A gravity bomb detonated, blowing Hikma De Darwin out of the sky.

Orwell barley believed the identity of his savior.

…

Truth to be told, those who saw her entrance refused to believe the absurd ridiculousness.

Shyme Enma’s mouth hung open.

Andries let out a scream.

Chamomile fainted.

Velnia’s entire entourage grabbed the princess and ran.

Melody flew into the sky. Her eyes widened at the sheer unpredictability before putting all the venom into her next question.

“What the hell are you doing, Arden Christy!?”

The Untouchable. The best inventor and Magi-tech creator Phantasia ever witness. The arch-rival to the Isle of Knowledge’s Director El Acerbia. The woman who invented Hyper-channel technology at seventeen. Ebony Solarmaria’s first disciple. The second-coming of the Duchess of Craft. An anomaly so powerful she broke into an S-rank only after a year of Mandatory Recruitment Order’s conscription.

“Wow,” Melody’s appearance mesmerized Christy. “Incredible.”

Data flooded past Christy’s retinas as her portable scanner took Melody’s physiological reading.

“Not 50% or the theoretical maximum of 78.95%, but a 100%,” Arden Christy drooled at the information. “How do you merge dragon genome into your DNA so well? Which lab sent you here? Tell me, pretty please?”

Melody nearly fell from the sky.

“First, I’m not a lab rat. Second, what do you think you are doing?”

Christy sighed like she just talked to an idiot.

“Hey, how much do you know about technology?”

Melody wanted to yell that her mom taught Christy half her know-how with construction, but she bit her lips.

“I know enough... but what the… oh”

Melody instantly worked out Arden Christy’s purpose.

“No. Fucking. Way.” Melody shivered at the thought. “You are here to recruit Mehest.”

“Oh, my!” Christy clapped enthusiastically. “Deduce it in one try. Hey, care to join this cute sister's newest gang? I always want a little sister.”

Melody cringed. That statement was closer to the truth than she wanted.

“No, I am taken. But you never have a faction!”

“Never is quite a big word. Let count the debacle lining this year. Olympus went hermit and emerged as a pacifist. The gods behave like an invisible iron fist hang above their cranium. 33 of Phantasia's hottest youngsters duke it out and several countries are already paying the price. Chuang Tianshang vanished for a month, leaving her faction hanging. Tai Hua’s lead is collapsing. Enma clan exerts its fang on Tengen’s fractured Alliance. Cytortia Tianshang publicly presumed dead three measly days ago. Even my fellow Untouchable — Illma Zoldia Road — died in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere.”

Melody’s face twitched when her hometown got referenced, but Christy was already too absorbed in her speech.

“Now, one of the 33 pipsqueaks devastated a capital city of the major power in the Seven Continental Alliance, utterly decimating the royal-forces and would have succeed if for few good costume wearing Samaritans. Not to mention my recent humbling by that insane bastard pretending to be a royal-mages’ Captain.”

Melody froze. Christy fought Wayward? What the blaze happened outside the dome?

“The first year in Age of Upheaval claimed one Untouchable, destabilized at least four nations, potentially killed two demigods and nearly murdered three S-rankers — fucking three. So, let me make it clear to this entire city.”

Arden tuned up her microphone. All the city heard the S-ranker’s proclamation from a giant speaker hidden in the sky.

“Congratulation! The gods fucking lost their iron grip on Phantasia. Factions all over the plane will be tearing each other apart until the king eventually emerges to establish a new order. Personally, I am not insane enough to rest my faith in this mysterious future king. Sorry folks, but I plan to win. So far Fenghui shows Mehest and I are grandly compatible.”

“Nice offer. What do I get?” Mehest dryly asked the energetic woman.

Melody didn’t wait. She plunged right at Christy, but kinetic barrier bounced her away. Christy, not breaking the combat-rhythm, pulled a huge Mana-powered laser from a pocket treasury and blasted Melody Solarmaria in the ground.

“First, you won’t get executed by Grand Empire. Second, you got another shot to crush this place,” Arden Christy glanced at Venistalis with disdain. “Like you, I have no love lost to this city. I suggest we celebrate our partnership by lighting the city with fire?”

Orwell’s answer truly reflected him as a man.

“I make an agreement and lost. The only thing I owe this place is a favor and nothing more.”

For all his faults, Orwell Mehest held to his end of an agreement. His treaty with Uther dictated that in event of his ascension to godhood, his rampage would end at Venistalis. On the flip-side, if he lost and somehow avoided execution, he owed Venistalis one favor outside the bound of risking his well-being for reduced tension. Originally, the agreement was three wishes, but Orwell gifted his research note to bargain to two.

It was Samadi’s suggestion. Strangely enough, Orwell agreed readily. Deep down Uther suspected both Mehest and Samadi held an act of Orwell tossing his family’s lifework to Andries Sellovett in profound manners incomprehensible 4th dimension play.

“You are rejecting me?” Christy sounded more hurt than anyone expected.

“Let me finish,” Orwell rolled his eyes. “While my debt with the Empire is resolved, I still got a grudge with the gods and the bloody system.”

Arden Christy’s eyes shone.

“We have many things in common. We are both geniuses scorning the gods’ stagnancy. For our differences, we agree the status-quo — the factions ruling this world — must end. I have a similar feeling regarding our fengshui. Now can you please dig me out of this bloody obelisk?”

Arden Christy smiled, destroyed the obelisk binding Orwell Mehest with her Mana-laser, and grabbed her new partner in crime before he fell.

“Let get out of here, partner,” Christy popped a teleport, but Orwell stopped his new best buddy.

He pointed at Hikma, waiting below them.

“That guys can toast Space-spells.”

“Aww crap, what else can he do?”

“He can use Ice, fire, water, earth, barrier, light and nullify spell. He can also customize a counter for us.”

“No one in history ever—” Christy smacked her forehead. “Oh right, we are in an era of carnage, so I guess impossible magical master is expected. Any tips.”

“Get out of here before a guy wearing a mask and a fedora appears, but don’t underestimate any of them.”

Christy rolled her eyes.

“Can’t belief I am using this on kids.”

A shadow cast over the city. Hikma nearly dropped his cane at the humongous structure appearing in the sky. So that was where the speaker is.

A massive UFO appeared from the sky and sucked the new buddy-terrorist duo into it.

Melody burst from the ruin building with [Burning Asura: Dragon Dance] on full-blast. A ball of condense fire flickered in her palm.

[Dravritra: Breath]

Melody shot a columned of fire so powerful it seared the sky with scarlet and gold.

…

Inside the UFO, Arden Christy cursed at the control.

“Holy shit, that output was S-ranker level. And this plasma’s composition…”

“Resembling Solar flare,” Orwell answered, and noted the room. “Celestium amplification reactor and signature camouflage. Good, I can work with this.”

“You better hurry. I am not the only S-ranker around here. Holy shit, that flames might actually roast our circuits.”

“Already on it.”

Orwell flipped on the camouflage to hide his spell from Hikma.

[Orwell Original: Reverse Arctic Circle Familiar Summoning]

…

It happened in a blink.

The massive UFO suddenly vanished with its two passengers before Hikma could detect and nullify the reverse summoning.

Melody cut the beam and collapsed, utterly exhausted.

They won, but Orwell Mehest escaped with a powerful ally.

Thus, the Capital of the Dead ended.