Chapter 375: Chapter 375: Destruction and Rebirth (2)
At the same time, the chains stabbed on the 7th rank mages successfully extracted the origin energy from these thieves.
An enormous amount of origin energy was transmitted from the chains that retracted until they entered Claude’s elixir field, and a wondrous change started happening inside him.
In his Elixir Field, containing the Mystic Gems he had cultivated that became obsolete in front of battles between 7th rank mages, the origin energy converged into a single point.
The origin energy was continuously compressed by him. It was to the point that cracks started to form all over his body as if he were broken pieces of a vase that were glued back together.
If not for being the realm’s chosen, a darling of a world, he would have died from the pressure he was exerting on his Elixir Field.
The golden light energy shrank to the point it became just a single dot. It was so small that people with poor eyesight would not be able to see and people with normal eyesight had to really search for it before being able to see it.
"Explode!" Claude ordered loudly, his whole body emitting sparks of lightning that further ravaged the fabric of space on the dying realm.
"What is he doing?" The Serpentine Empress, the only one remaining from all the 7th rank mages, wondered. The pressure and lightning being emitted by Claude were so intense and strong that she had to put more distance between them.
She felt as if she were to continue staying near Claude, she would die.
"This... the realm is dying. In just a few minutes, it would be completely broken and would be swallowed by the void"
"If I want to survive... I can only... but that fate..." the Serpentine Empress gritted her teeth, feeling extremely conflicted.
Currently, she only has one means, or more like one decision she can make to escape this broken realm alive, but she does not want to take that decision. It was the last of all the last resorts that she had.
A disgusting fate will engulf her if she makes that decision, and she is extremely unwilling.
To not do anything is to die, and to take that last decision means a life so disgusting that it might be better off to die.
Ignorant of the inner turmoil the Serpentine Empress has, Claude continued his plan. The infinitely small and condensed golden origin energy exploded with his command.
In his Elixir Field, it was as if the Big Bang occurred. The origin energy suddenly gushed out and engulfed Claude’s entire Elixir Field.
The Elixir Field cracked and was forcefully expanded. Just as one would think that Claude’s body cannot contain any more cracks, his skin starts to split even more as if he would turn into ashes any moment now.
However, he only gritted his teeth and focused on the task. His face flushed as he exerted all of his effort and energy.
The explosion of the origin energy not only expanded Claude Preston’s Elixir Field. It also created something akin to a Blessed Land.
In the first minute, a significant chunk of the origin energy turned into land. Another chunk turned into water, yet another chunk turned into the sun and the moon.
As for the remaining origin energy, it seeped into the land, nourishing the soil and creating a system wherein life can be sustained.
After that, the chains of light that engulfed people, magic beasts, spirit plants, and normal crops, who were actually protected by the chains from death, were pulled.
One by one, these living beings were pulled by the chains, and they entered his stomach, landing inside his Elixir Field that now contains a small world while unconscious.
Claude Preston created something akin to a Blessed Land, but it is way more special than such creations.
It was a realm, a realm embryo to be exact. The land was only as large as a few kilometers, but compared to the Blessed Land of 7th rank mages that can only sustain itself by siphoning origin energy from the Earth Realm, this Realm Embryo was completely different.
It was the legacy and hope of the Earth Realm. Claude had used the remaining origin energy of the Earth Realm to preserve its legacy.
As of the moment, Claude’s Elixir Field was only a few kilometers in diameter, but compared to Blessed Land, his Realm Embryo has the potential to grow into a proper realm.
It can grow into a complete realm with complete laws. A potential that could reach the level of the Earth Realm with broken laws and even surpass it.
That was how special this Realm Embryo was. It was literally a Nascent World. With enough nourishment, it cannot only surpass the now destroyed Earth Realm. Even reaching the level of the Savage Beast Realm that Rezen is currently living in was not impossible.
After securing the legacy of the Earth Realm, Claude gave one last look at the crumbling realm. The number of living beings that died today was probably in millions.
After all, Claude cannot save all of them. His Realm Embryo has a limited capacity. At most, he can only save thousands of living things.
Compared to the trillions of population that the Earth Realm has, it was but a drop in the ocean.
With a pained expression, Claude closed his eyes.
"Today, as the realm’s chosen, blessed with endless luck and cruel yet great destiny, I have failed all of you. I was not strong nor smart enough to save our birth realm"
"I was weak. I admit that. Despite being the realm’s chosen, the son of fate itself, I was not strong enough"
"It was easy to think that being weak is a sin. Especially after I failed to fulfill my destiny. But... is being weak really a sin?"
"No, I don’t think so! Being weak itself is not a sin. It is knowing you are weak and not striving to be strong, that is a sin!"
"However, I might not have sinned for being weak, but my failure is my sin. A sin so deep that not enough repentance can wash it"
"A sin so sinful that it overshadowed all other sins. Today, this sinful man vowed that one day, the Earth Realm will return. Our beloved world, our roots, our life giver, it will return"
"I will use every means possible to fulfill my vow!"
Claude Preston opened his eyes, and he gave one last look at the Serpentine Empress and said, "Outsider, today, my failure is largely because of you. I don’t know all of your means, I don’t know all of your abilities. I don’t know if you will live or die today"
"However! Remember this: if you survived this ordeal, you’d better find me immediately. If not, I will make sure that my hands will be stained by your blood"
"My failure causes all these deaths, and you are part of the reason why I failed. Your blood and soul shall comfort the souls of the dead"
As Claude Preston stated his piece, he used the remaining origin energy that he purposely saved and did not use on the creation of the Earth Realm’s Embryo to help him survive the perilous void until he entered another realm.
A realm so different than the now destroyed Earth Realm. A realm with complete laws wherein the 7th rank is not the peak of a mage’s cultivation.
The cultivation until the so-called 6th fusion is just the realm of Apprentice Mages in the realms with complete and intact laws.
They are not even real mages yet, and with the universe’s favor, the effects of the broken realm were washed away from Claude.
The real path of mages was laid bare to him.
As for the Serpentine Empress, she ultimately made a decision that would alter her life. No matter how humiliating and disgusting the life that awaits her, can it be worse the death itself?
To be ashamed, one must be alive first!
Today, another person made a painful decision. The first one was Rezen, as he betrayed Claude, a person he deeply admired and respected. A person he looked up to and idolized. The man who was always kind to him.
His theft of the Earth Realm’s origin energy was a great betrayal to Claude who even personally asked him not to become a 7th rank mage.
While he did not become a 7th rank mage, he committed a crime to the realm even bigger than that.
As for Claude Preston, he chose to let trillions of living beings die for the sake of preserving the realm’s legacy, and he was able to save only thousands out of trillions.
This decision was painful, excruciatingly painful. Even mere language was not enough to describe the pain that Claude felt after he made this decision. It was etched into the deepest part of his very being, and even the erosion of time cannot remove it.
Lastly, the Serpentine Empress, a being so proud and originally had a bright future, yet was forced to make a painful decision that shattered her pride.