The ground beneath their feet trembled violently.
"It seems… this really is a solution." Ian fixed his gaze on the massive figure of Herpo in the distance. What he saw there was terror etched across Herpo's face, and it was enough to confirm his suspicions.
Under the catalyst of Ian's magic, Mount Vesuvius roared like an ancient beast awakened from its slumber. It bellowed with earth-shaking fury, ready to devour everything before it.
The power that had accumulated for countless years was finally unleashed in full.
Its eruption was like the coming of the world's end. Billowing smoke, churning with searing magma, surged from the crater with unstoppable force, drowning the heavens in a terrifying, blood-red hue.
Dense volcanic ash, glowing faintly with fire, swept across the land. The air reeked of sulfur and molten rock, each breath scorching the lungs as if they were aflame.
Even the sunlight itself was swallowed by the dark haze.
"This… this is the end of the world!"
The torrents of lava surged forth, twisting upward like countless black dragons. Around Ian, the priests had already collapsed in terror, never imagining they would face such a catastrophic calamity.
Before the unstoppable deluge of magma, they seemed to lose all ability to think. Even the courage to pray to the gods deserted them.
"This… this must be divine punishment!"
Of course, A few of the elder wizards gave hollow, broken laughs as they slumped to the ground.
Most others stood frozen, staring blankly at the crimson-stained sky, their minds utterly shattered. Even those who usually prided themselves on being extraordinary and aloof now felt their own insignificance. Before such a disaster, their magic was laughably small.
They had even lost the courage to beg for the gods' protection. Who could blame them? After all, the disaster of Pompeii, aside from the cataclysmic eruptions that once wiped out the dinosaurs, was among the greatest eruptions in human history. A whole mountain range had awakened in thunderous fury, the pure embodiment of nature's might.
Even gods would pale before such a force, what chance did mere mortal wizards have?
"This… this is a scene I could never have foreseen…"
The little girl Cassandra clung tightly to Ian's leg, trembling violently, her face pale as death.
"My lord, what have you done?" Her voice was laced with terror, so small it seemed ready to be swallowed at any moment by the volcano's thunderous roar.
Yet Ian heard her clearly. Ash fell around them like black snow, covering the land. He gently stroked the girl's hair.
"I'm saving you."
His wizard's robe snapped in the searing wind as he gazed upon the doomsday vision he had unleashed. This was no ordinary eruption, but a "historical anchor" awakened ahead of time by temporal magic.
This moment was inevitable, a fixed point in history, unchangeable, unstoppable even by the gods themselves. How could Herpo, still one angel short of godhood, possibly hope to resist?
It was the best counter Ian could conceive. Pompeii had already been destroyed by Herpo anyway. The souls that had been assimilated surely wouldn't object.
Knowing he could never match Herpo's raw strength, Ian had chosen instead to trigger the disaster earlier than fate had intended, nudging destiny forward to strike here and now.
The plan went smoothly.
But, Herpo could not accept it.
"No! This can't be! How can this be! You are mortal flesh, nothing but a wizard, what right do you have to tamper with the order of time?!" Herpo howled, his voice choked with disbelief.
His power had always been stolen, an "error" snatched from fate itself.
Now, the "true" destiny had come crashing down upon him.
And under the overwhelming might of the eruption, even his godly form wavered, unstable and faltering.
"Tell me! By what right do you do this?!"
Herpo's voice shook with rage and fear. His divine state began to crumble, the radiance around him fading, as though the stolen "error" he had absorbed was now abandoning him.
Faced with the question of that ancient dark wizard, Ian gave no reply. He only gazed silently at the raging lava. The lava surged like a roaring flood, sweeping everything in its path. The blistering heat seemed as though it would swallow the entire world, engulfing him, the priests, and everything else.
Yet, just as the lava was about to reach them, a golden light suddenly descended from the heavens, enveloping Ian, Cassandra, and the few surviving wizards.
It was the power of the Reckless Goddess. With Herpo's paradox domain fading and his strength in decline, she had broken free just in time, using her divine power to shield the group in the midst of the natural disaster.
"You're utterly mad!" The Reckless Goddess's voice trembled with shock and fury as she spoke. "This is nothing but a method of mutual destruction!"
She landed at Ian's side. Beyond the golden barrier, the roaring tide of molten fire cascaded down the mountain ridge like a towering wave, devouring the city below.
"Isn't that why you're here? I've always trusted my allies." Ian quietly slipped the prepared item back into his pocket and gave a faint smile, showing the trust he placed in the Reckless Goddess.
This made her impression of him rise sharply.
"My rescue, indeed, never comes late." The Reckless Goddess's anger softened at his words, turning instead into sorrow for the perishing ancient city.
"To even come up with such a countermeasure… you're truly remarkable." She didn't hide her shock at Ian's ingenuity. Never before had she seen a wizard with such courage, and such madness.
To dare to manipulate fate, to meddle with the nodes of history. And most importantly, he had succeeded. For the first time in her godly life, even the Reckless Goddess didn't know how to evaluate Ian's actions.
She had never met anyone so reckless… and never anyone so calm in their recklessness.
"This is already beyond what could be called a miracle."
Her emotions were no calmer than Herpo's. But of course, the one shaken most of all was Herpo himself, for he was the one falling, step by step, from the divine heights he had ascended.
"As long as we win, everything will be fine."
Ian raised his head to look at Herpo in the distance. Herpo still hovered in the air, but the divine radiance around him was growing dim, as if some invisible force was devouring his power.
Even his godlike features were starting to distort.
"No! This shouldn't be happening!"
Herpo struggled to resist, to halt his decline. But the power he relied on, the ability to let effect precede cause, forming a closed loop, was failing him completely.
He had proclaimed himself a god, believing he had transcended mortal limits, free to reshape history's course at will. Yet now, faced with the weight of immutable history, he felt a helplessness unlike anything he had known before.
"Stop! Vanish!" Herpo's divine power surged wildly around him as he tried with all his might to overturn the disaster. But no matter what he did, he could not halt the eruption of the volcano. He could only watch as the blazing flood, indistinguishable from heaven and earth itself, surged toward him.
The faces embedded in his torso screamed in unison. This false god, stitched together from countless lives, grew ever more desperate and fearful. The dried corpses that once supported him now vaporized into smoke within the molten tide.
What harmed him was not the magma itself, It was fate's current, an invisible hand that rendered all his efforts meaningless.
All Herpo could do was pour his strength into protecting his two Angels.
As long as his Angels remained, he still had hope. Yet at this moment, as his divine form crumbled, he was powerless, because without a third Angel, he could not truly ascend.
His body began to crack, like a shattered statue.
"I have not lost yet!"
Herpo knew, This was the moment for a desperate gamble.
He summoned forth ancient runic magic, gathering it into his eyes. His gaze blazed like starlight, burning with fierce resolve, as he attempted to strike at Ian, To forcibly transform him into an Angel.
"Careful!"
The Goddess of Bravery sensed Herpo's intent. Golden light burst from her body as she shielded Ian, while Ian, feeling Herpo's power trying to push past the goddess's influence, decisively chose to counterattack.
"Imperio!"
Of course, the only thing he could rely on was magic.
However, Magic might indeed have its limits when standing against gods, but Herpo's soul was still only that of a wizard. Seeing through this fact, Ian met Herpo's gaze head-on.
The next moment, invisible forces clashed.
(To Be Continued…)
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