Chapter 63: The Mask

“Go ahead and keep struggling! I don’t want this show to get boring.”

The voice rang directly in their minds, mocking their helplessness.

“You bastard!”

No matter how Mann struggled, it was still useless.

Violent space distortion spread outward from Akreen’s body, quickly enveloping the entire city.

A deafening roar echoed as Sophien, having transformed back into a dragon, spread her wings and charged toward the cube-shaped monster.

But her mana was extremely unstable now, loose like sand on a riverbank, and rapidly draining.

“Hey! Sophien! Don’t be impulsive! If you forcefully maintain Dragon God Form now, you’ll…!”

Mann shouted at her urgently, but the fierce wind stirred up by Sophien made it hard for him to speak.

If even she fell, their side would have no chance of winning.

What’s more, judging by the rate her mana was depleting, she could only last another minute at most.

“Oh? You still have this much mana left?”

Akreen’s tone was mocking. At the same time, the space around the dragon began to twist.

But Sophien paid no attention to such attacks.

She reached out and forcibly halted the space closing in on her from both sides.

With a powerful flap of her wings, that space shattered with a thunderous explosion.

Mana gathered in her mouth, growing heavier and denser by the moment.

The next instant, a massive torrent of mana shot forth like a tongue of flame, rapidly engulfing Akreen.

As she unleashed this attack, Sophien’s body visibly reverted to its original form.

She came before Mann, enduring her全身 weakness, and used the Holy Artifact to break the spatial束缚.

“That was too reckless…”

“I know.”

Her hair rapidly turned white, a clear sign that the attack had severely drained her.

“Perhaps we lost this battle from the very beginning.”

“…”

Mann could only remain silent. Because what Sophien said was the truth.

“Ultimately, it’s because of me that you got dragged into this. And you don’t have to sacrifice your life for it…”

“So… please, run. Its target should be me.”

Hearing this, Mann shook his head.

“That’s your way of thinking, not mine. Don’t force it on me!”

After setting Sophien down, he stood up and blocked her way.

Though his body was still trembling, though cold sweat covered his forehead.

Even with such fear of death, there were reasons he couldn’t retreat.

His original purpose no longer mattered.

Because,

“The Matthews Family has no cowards!”

Sophien looked at the man standing in front of her, and for a moment, her heart was stirred.

The words to drive him away were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them.

“I’m… really selfish…”

She let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“If we can survive this…”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

Both of them felt space suddenly tremble violently. The flame-like mana on Akreen’s body had been completely shaken off.

Looking at the unharmed God of Space, Mann felt an unprecedented calm in his heart.

‘So this is how it ends. Maybe this is fate…’

Before his eyes, a pale blue panel slowly appeared.

His gaze fixed on a string of garbled code, and his eyes began to harden with resolve.

“Forget it. Let you and this city turn to dust together!”

As Akreen spoke, the entire space began to contract violently.

Huge cracks split the ground, countless buildings collapsed. Cries and wails filled the air.

“Just as I thought… madmen like you shouldn’t exist in this world. As long as I can kill you, I don’t care what I have to do!”

Mann stared at the enormous god before him, his rage almost becoming tangible.

Before his eyes, the pale blue panel gradually turned pitch black. The text on it disappeared entirely, replaced by a strange, ancient script.

Mann could understand its meaning.

It was the name of a person:

Tral Tekutri.

A name he knew all too well.

“Fate… Hah… I don’t believe in it!”

With a single thought from Mann, those characters turned into black mist and缠绕 around his body.

At that moment, the world became chaos. Time stopped flowing.

In the darkness, there was only nothingness.

Gradually, Mann couldn’t even move anymore. He felt himself fixed in place.

The tearing sensation of his flesh reached his brain. His limbs, torso, and even his head were severed one after another.

Yet not only did he not lose consciousness, the pain grew even more intense.

‘Why am I… feeling relieved?’

‘What’s wrong with me? Where is this place?’

The faint sound of conversation began to enter Mann’s mind, still in that ancient and eerie language.

“Is it really okay for us to do this?”

“This is Lord Tral’s… own wish.”

“I… can’t stand watching anymore! You guys! Stop it right now!”

“Have you lost your mind, Helgort?! Do you have any idea what consequences this will bring?”

“What consequences? I don’t care!”

…

‘This is Tral’s memory? And Helgort? What’s going on? Who are those people?’

Before he could think further, his consciousness returned.

The环绕ing black mist had already disappeared, and his body was full of strength again.

On the surface, there was no特别 change from before. The only difference was the addition of a ferocious mask.

Through this mask, Mann’s perspective also underwent a subtle change.

The enormous cube-shaped monster that had been in his sight was now completely invisible. Only the glowing core remained, floating in the air.

Facing Mann’s sudden change in aura, Akreen was also stunned on the spot.

“This eerie aura… who exactly are you?”

“Me…?”

Mann said as he walked toward the monster before him.

“Mann Matthews. Nothing more.”

‘The nature of mana has undergone a fundamental change. Is that head trying to completely replace me? Looks like I need to finish this quickly… As for the memories, I’ll ask Helgort about it later.’

As Mann thought this, his mana surged to unprecedented heights. He planned to defeat his opponent before this form wore off.

“Heh… Want to fight? Don’t forget, I hold the lives of everyone in this city in my hands!”

Hearing this, Mann slowly stopped in his tracks.

“Heh, wise decisio…”

Before Akreen could finish his words, Mann’s figure had already disappeared from his spot.

The next instant, Akreen, who was the core, was yanked out by Mann.

“S-so fast! What kind of speed is this?!”

By the time he came to his senses, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.

How was this possible? The nearest coast to Darquez was thousands of kilometers away. There’s no way he could have crossed that in an instant…

‘No… it’s not speed. Has this guy’s Time Control ability already recovered?!’

With Mann’s furious roar, immense force was applied to Akreen’s face. He was hurled like a meteor onto the sandy beach.

“Jump!”

Mann appeared before him almost instantly, a pure white dagger viciously stabbing toward his head.

“Trying to kill a god?! You’re not worthy!”

Countless overlapping layers of space blocked Mann’s attack, but it only lasted a moment.

With this strike, Mann poured all his strength into it. Even the dagger made from Celt Holy Stone let out a piercing screech.

With a series of continuous cracking sounds, he actually pierced through the space itself.

At that moment, the space on both sides of him began to distort violently.

“Retrospection!”

Seeing Mann’s figure disappear from before him, Akreen let out a cunning laugh.

Through the Heretic God Sect’s internal intelligence network, he had long known about his opponent’s Time Leap ability.

In other words, this was merely a feint to force Mann back.

Behind Mann, an extremely massive spatial distortion had already formed.

“I told you long ago, your speed means nothing to me!”