Chapter 517: Chapter 30 Knight of Prayer
Amidst the crowd’s blooming flowers and singing and dancing, Bologue deeply felt everyone’s care for him. He exchanged glances with Palmer, forced a smile, and accepted everyone’s goodwill.
This feeling was terrible. Bologue couldn’t explain to everyone why he committed suicide. He certainly couldn’t tell them that damned devil was hiding in the afterlife, between nothingness?
No, he couldn’t.
No one said this to Bologue, but he vaguely felt he shouldn’t disclose these secrets, as if speaking them would bring disaster.
Like... the gaze of a mysterious force.
From his conversations with the astronaut, Bologue perceived that even as the embodiment of rule power, the all-powerful devil that the astronaut represented was still deliberately avoiding something.
Some kind of "omniscient and omnipotent" existence?
If Bologue narrated secrets that should be kept, it would draw the attention of that existence, and for this reason, the astronaut dared not reveal his identity.
Who could he be?
Another stronger devil opposing the astronaut? Or... the master of the devils?
Bologue couldn’t figure these things out. He knew very little about the astronaut and the grand scheme he was plotting. Bologue felt he needed to find someone to talk to.
Slowly closing his eyes, Bologue leaned against the headboard, expression solemn, as if deeply contemplating something.
The others remained crowded around the hospital bed, partly discussing Bologue’s poor mental state, partly debating how to help alleviate his internal pressure.
In the midst of the noisy chatter, Aimou was the first to notice Bologue’s abnormality. Green light tracks sparkled on his skin, the arcs fluctuating with his breathing.
"Bologue..."
Aimou softly called. She suddenly realized that everyone was bewildered by Bologue’s mad suicide attempt, completely overlooking that he had just completed an ascension.
Deep within Bologue, above the empty soul, a seed had taken root and sprouted. It extended a trunk, and under the impetus of the ascension ceremony, branches sprouted, chaotically growing, supporting the grandeur of the soul.
At first, there were only slight ethereal fluctuations, then more ether gathered, weaving into streams, many streams converging into rivers, flowing straight into the ocean.
Ether surged like tides, condensing visibly around Bologue, and then light arcs danced.
Everyone’s actions halted, collectively observing Bologue’s transformation.
At this moment, Bologue was releasing a significant amount of ether, highly concentrated ether unfurled and rolled, forming tentative solid entities. The condensed radiance flickered continuously, like fireworks.
Bologue observed his hand, witnessing the burning of the flame. He gently waved, the green flame in his hand swiftly spread, and in the blink of an eye, enveloped the surrounding material, covering the entire ward.
Aimou turned to survey the ward, green flames flourished, the places where the flames scorched were filled with green light tracks, extending from Bologue’s alchemy matrix.
Hart displayed some fear upon seeing the flames. His fur, susceptible to flames, quivered briefly. Yet, in his momentary panic, he realized these flames weren’t hot; they lacked temperature and seemed like mere flames without the ability to burn material.
"Ether fire," Belli softly said, extending her hand to touch the flames, "This is an ether phenomenon. When the ether concentration reaches a certain threshold, the intangible ether becomes visible. Often it produces dazzling light, merging together to form effects similar to flames."
These weren’t genuine flames but manifestations of ether, like the often-seen ether arcs, and the Origin School, employing ethereal blades to fight.
"Continue," Belli gestured.
Without Belli’s prompting, Bologue was ready to proceed. He slowly clenched his fist, and in the next moment, the materials covered by flames began to undergo changes.
As if entering the cultivation room, the smooth walls started to shift rapidly. Neat cracks surfaced, transforming into countless cubes, interlocking, reassembling. Between the gaps, steel bars embedded in cement were visible, cross-sections neat, resembling a giant Rubik’s cube.
Under Bologue, the hospital bed began to alter as flames enveloped it. All structures began to fracture and change. They gently lifted Bologue, stone steps appeared, softly supporting his feet.
Bologue strolled leisurely; more stones rose, forming disks beneath him. He needn’t move himself; the disk turned him, facing a side wall.
A gentle wave, and the entire wall began to shatter, like retreating squares, interlocked openings led to the garden.
"No longer restricted by ’touch’ anymore?"
Palmer’s expression turned serious. As Bologue’s partner, he was well aware of Bologue’s secret energy nature. The Secret Energy·Summoning Hand was highly practical, but its biggest flaw was requiring material contact to be effective.
Now Bologue broke this limitation, employing the spreading ether to command distant materials.
Unfortunately, Palmer’s seriousness didn’t last long. He mused internally, Bologue dismantling the ward, would the people from the Border Sanatorium come soon?
Rubble flew and danced around Bologue’s body, suddenly he turned, gaze fixed on Palmer, gently flicking his fingers, stones hurtled toward Palmer. Yet before they neared him, they were diverted by another force, crashing into the ground before Palmer.
The light in Palmer’s eyes faded, simultaneously, the green light in Bologue’s eyes vanished. The hovering rubble lost its supporting power, plummeting down.
Under the warm light, Bologue bowed his head and crossed his arms. As if deep in thought, his musings accompanied the branching tree upon his soul, envisioning the end of this road.
The image of Xilin Kagader.
In front of Bologue appeared the black soldier battling on the chessboard, passing through layers of lines, slaughter reaching the baseline.
If he ascended to higher tiers, breached the baseline, completed the "ascension"...
"Does the power I possess also come from your scheme?"
Bologue whispered, as his understanding of the world gradually deepened, the broken mysteries pieced together, revealing the truths beneath the sands of time.
Currently, the path of ascension was the ancient path of polarization, Bologue’s secret energy nature was further amplified. Under more extreme "narrow and sharp" tendencies, Bologue could clearly perceive the ability for more precise, intricate manipulation.
The limitation of "hand touch" was broken. Now Bologue could release ether, high-concentration ether created effects similar to flames, and the material touched by the flame would fall under Bologue’s command.
Bologue glanced at the distorted ward, now completely remodeled, dotted with protruding cubes like a piece of avant-garde design artwork.
Raising his arm, his palm slowly opened. Bologue again released his secret energy, ether spread from the alchemy matrix, like diffuse smoke, though expanding much faster than smoke.
Blue flames ignited on Bologue’s arm, rapidly climbing onto the room, sweeping the twisted hospital bed; they began decomposing, reconstructing. Bologue extracted the metal, discarding impurities.
Within the burning flames, deformed metal slowly rose, breaking free from gravity’s bonds, controlled entirely by ether.
Bologue gestured to it, swiftly beckoning it into his hand, clenching the metal tightly within the burning flames. In the flame, it seemed countless invisible heavy hammers fell, pounding the metal, shaping it into a slender, narrow sharp sword.
Amidst the blazing light, Bologue felt akin to a blacksmith, forging steel with ether.
"Flame of the Cauldron."
Bologue named this secret energy with transformed quality.