Mage Manual

Chapter 1665 - 1226: Rupture

After completing the Six-winged Trial, Sonia and her companions only need a thought to ascend the Heavenly Kingdom and be promoted to Divine Lord. There aren’t many flashy conditions or thresholds; as long as they possess the World Secret Domain and complete the Six-winged Trial, they can reach the highest hall for mages... at least the highest hall of countless years past.

Six-winged God!

It would be false to say they are not moved; what mage hasn’t looked up at the unreachable Heaven, fantasizing about one day residing there, becoming one of the most dazzling stars? What mage doesn’t want to stand atop the highest peak, overlooking the world’s most splendid scenery?

Lord of Gods, reigning over the Void Realm!

Power is insufficient to describe the strength held by the Six-winged God; if words must be used, it would be "The Divine Lord dreamed yesterday, and it can be realized today."

Whether resurrecting the dead or enacting societal changes, any wish imaginable by mortals can be realized by the Divine Lord, at a certain cost. At most, some wishes are temporarily unaffordable by the Divine Lord, but there’s absolutely nothing the Divine Lord cannot achieve. For instance, going back in time, although after the fall of the Time Glass the concept of ’Second Cycle Divine Being’ became extinct, Divine Lords willing to exhaust all resources from Heaven could create from scratch a new Second Cycle Divine Being; it’s just such a scenario is impossible to occur, not due to inability.

But if it’s an ordinary wish, the Divine Lord can always fulfill it.

Eternal life, not just for oneself but for family and friends as well, and for those one admires; everyone can live forever worry-free in the Heavenly Kingdom;

Career, not only able to manage the Heavenly Kingdom but even alter the destiny of nations in reality at will using one’s ideas. If Ash one day ruled the world, he would surely institute a Miracle system similar to "Spicy Red Pepper," allowing both sides in online disputes to directly attack each other across the web—out of resentment from losing sleep over being taunted in the past.

As for enjoyment, there’s nothing more to be said. Ash and his companions have seriously discussed whether they would quickly tire of life after becoming Divine Lords, and the answer is no. If they truly become bored, the Sword Maiden has many things she’d like to do; Sonia wants to study Sound Technique as a Songstress, Diya wants to become a Fairy Tale writer, Weiser wants to exhaust all magic in the world, Vishi feels uncomfortable without being the strongest; the conclusion is Ash would be the only one to lie down until he reverted into a lazy slob.

Even now, with the update of Supreme of Magic, the strength of the Divine Lord has been significantly reduced, the benefits of ascending to Divine Lord are still innumerable, so Sonia and her companions have only one reason not to ascend to the Heavenly Kingdom: the environment does not permit it.

There are Dazzling Stars among the four Divine Lords in Heaven; if they dare ascend, those ’native mobs’ who’ve occupied Heaven for thousands of years would undoubtedly come over eagerly to welcome them. Heaven is their home ground, Sonia and her companions are at the end of the day just newbie demigods who have been in the Divine Domain for less than a year; the disparity is as great as a strike of an egg against stone.

Ash feels even if he sells his soul again, he has little chance of winning.

Endure!

Continue accumulating power to break through Heaven later!

Besides this, there’s another very important reason.

The moment Vishi completed the trial, the Drama Poet suddenly appeared before Ash and Felix, congratulating them on completing the trial.

If Felix hadn’t been scrubbing Ash’s back during a bath, the timing of the Drama Poet’s appearance wouldn’t have been so bad. In short, besides bringing glad tidings, the Drama Poet also conveyed the Secret Poison information of the Void Realm to them.

"On the peak of Hell, stepping into the lower layer of Heaven."

This is not a shortcut to ascend to Divine Lord, after all, Ash and his companions can ascend to the Heavenly Kingdom at any moment now. The Drama Poet didn’t play coy and directly said, "A Divine Lord is a Divine Lord, but ascending to Heaven is ascending to Heaven; only mages who ascend to Divine Lord via the Path of Origin are qualified to enter Heaven."

Simply put, ascending to Divine Lord varies; one is ’ordinary ascension,’ the other ’origin ascension.’ The former involves ascending the Heavenly Kingdom anywhere, while the latter requires understanding clues given by the Void Realm to ascend through the Path of Origin.

Only Divine Lords who ascend via origin have the privilege of entering Heaven. The Drama Poet didn’t elaborate on the precise meaning of entering Heaven, just provided a small example: before Dazzling Star ascended, there were actually thirteen Divine Lords in Heaven, but none were of origin ascension, so none could enter Heaven.

Among those thirteen Divine Lords was the ’Master of Thousand Wishes’ Ash’s company is familiar with. These Divine Lords aren’t all dead, but those who escaped hide, not daring to peek into Heaven until their death.

"Divine Lords who haven’t entered Heaven aren’t much stronger than you," described the Drama Poet, "just an extra country is all."

After Dazzling Star entered Heaven, all Divine Lords unable to enter were slaughtered by her. Yet no one ascended for hundreds of thousands of years, but five origin Divine Lords have appeared in the few thousand years after Dazzling Star, giving the impression she single-handedly pressured for a version update.

If they can’t enter Heaven, then even ascending to Divine Lord places them on the lowest rung. Before understanding the Secret Poison information, Ash and his companions naturally wouldn’t ascend to Heavenly Kingdom and cut off their own future.

At this moment, Ash finally understood why the Void Realm told them the correct way to ascend: the Void Realm could no longer stop them, but it could delay them. As long as Ash and the others didn’t ascend for a day, all sorts of accidents could occur. This kind of open conspiracy was hard to imagine being thought up by the Void Realm, and it was most likely the result of guidance from the Drama Poet.

Therefore, in Ash’s imagination, the ritual of raising the Heavenly Kingdom should be a very solemn, cautious, and impressive event, like a fully armed knight launching a decisive charge towards Heaven.

But what did he see now? It was like a down-and-out knight charging at a windmill recklessly.

Such a great moment, yet it was played out with a sense of absurdity.

"Who is that?" Ash grabbed Yenifa by the nape of the neck as she slumped and flew into the air to inquire.

Yenifa, a bit unwilling to be held up like a cat, but not daring to resist Ash, who had seven Void Wings, cautiously replied, "The Sky Punisher King."

"I vaguely remember," said Death Mad beside him, "but not much."

"He is one of the Eight Ancient Kings from the Fifth Level of Hell, possessing six layers of Prison Wings. We call him ’Sky Punishment Palace’ or ’Ancient Sky Punisher,’" Yenifa said. "It’s said he is an ancient demigod who existed thousands of years ago, considered the highest combat power of the fortress..."

"An old undying one who’s lived for thousands of years," Ash and Death Mad sneered in unison.

At the same time, the Heavenly Kingdom raised by the Sky Punisher King became increasingly complete as The Forgotten and the Eight-winged creatures oddly paused their battle, letting him ascend as the Divine Lord and escape into Heaven. Rather than waiting, it was more like they were anticipating.

Anticipating the Sky Punisher King to bring them greater victories.

"Sky Punishment!!!"

With a roar echoing across the battlefield, a blazing demigod charged towards the Sky Punisher King like a boiling meteor crashing into the earth, about to destroy the forming Heavenly Kingdom. But then another demigod blocked the blazing demigod, standing guard in front of the Heavenly Kingdom! The two of them unfurled their Void Wings, six layers of Prison Wings stacking with ancient menace. Without Death Mad’s reminder, Ash could tell they were the ancient demigod kings of Hell. Only the oldest demigods could accumulate six layers of Prison Wings!

"Mind’s Intent!" the blazing demigod roared. "Do you know what Sky Punishment is doing, what you’re doing? You’re dragging the entire world into Hell!"

"If we can drag the world into Hell, it means this world deserves to be destroyed." The ancient king, Mind’s Intent, calmly said. "We have no duty to protect this world, as it doesn’t belong to us."

"The high and mighty Divine Lords had us exhaust resources for thousands and tens of thousands of years to build the ultimate fortress, and we did it; they wanted us to hold on forever, and we persisted till now. Now the Secret Realm defense line has completely collapsed, everything is over, should we still accompany Hell in its burial?"

"Come with us, Flame Iron. We’ve done enough for Hell and the world. Even if the world is destroyed, it’s not our fault. Let those fellows in Heaven protect the world."

"Don’t spew this high-sounding nonsense to me!" Ancient King Flame Iron roared. "The All-Knowing has made it very clear—them outside stopping the devouring World Snake, us inside stopping it from digesting Level Six of Hell! It hasn’t invaded reality yet because the Void Realm is resisting it, the All-Knowing bastards are resisting it, the Supreme Star is resisting it!"

"Sky Punishment raising the Heavenly Kingdom now is equivalent to helping it open the door to reality... it wouldn’t just swallow Level Six of Hell, but the entire world into its belly! Don’t you understand this?"

"But should we just die here?" Ancient King Sky Punisher retorted sharply. "Why should we protect the world for the Divine Lord and the Supreme?!"

"Fool!" Ancient King Flame Iron punched forward, unleashing a hundred-meter Flame Burst, but it was still blocked by Ancient King Mind’s Intent. "Do you think escaping would let you survive?! Even if the Dazzling Star doesn’t reckon with you, how long can this world withstand the devouring World Snake?!"

"You’ve lived thousands of years and still fear death so much that, for a few years or even months of survival, you throw away a mage’s glory?! If I could survive, I’d run too, but since we’re all doomed, tidy up your clothes and paint the most heroic ending in your Mage’s Handbook! Those demigods just now were willing to go out and activate the Flowing Gold River nodes, not for you old undyings to escape!"

"I, Flame Iron, am ashamed to be associated with you," Ancient King Flame Iron’s voice echoed across the battlefield. "All demigods heed my command, stop Sky Punishment!"

Sky Punishment also shouted, "All who want to survive, follow me. I’ll lead you out of Hell!"

The surviving demigods immediately split into two factions and attacked each other. One moment companions, the next eternal enemies, while the Eight-winged creatures and The Forgotten watched quietly from outside. This scene was both absurd and a bit melancholic... In the face of an unbeatable enemy, instead of uniting, the weak splitting and killing each other seems like a more probable reality.

Only this time, even the demigods of Hell had become the weak.