Chapter 1267 — Phantom

They walked deeper into the divine realm, treading this land blessed by god. Mortals had built this magnificent city with ten thousand years of illusion, and now it had become a splendid and solemn ruin.

The Cheerers and the mighty guardians of the divine realm celebrated in myth had departed with the end of myth. Kamal and the explorers he led met no obstacle here... not even any moving target other than themselves.

Except for the ancient ruin debris that ceaselessly circled above the divine realm.

The group passed through a tall archway that stood abruptly in the street, as if it were mere decoration. Mirmirna reached out and brushed her fingers lightly over the columns supporting the arch. The columns, which looked indestructible and seemed like rock yet gleamed with an iron-gray metallic luster, immediately shed a layer of weathered, decayed fragments. The fragments dissolved and disintegrated in midair, yet the scars that appeared on the columns were restored to their original state the very next second.

"It is frozen at the moment of destruction... frozen at the instant when the connection to mortal thought-tides was severed," the former Goddess of Magic raised her head and said thoughtfully. "So this is what a myth ended by humans finally looks like... I thought it would appear more absurd and dilapidated, but I never expected it to be merely a yellowed, faded illusion."

Kamal could not help looking up at the tall lady beside him, and asked, unable to suppress his curiosity: "What is your realm... like?"

"As a former mortal mage, do you not know?" A faint smile appeared on Mirmirna's face as she quietly regarded the ancient arcane master floating beside her. "That realm was created by you."

"...There is a boundless starry sky, and every 'star' symbolizes a magical truth in the world. An immense magic tower stands at the center of the starry sky, its top and base both hidden in darkness and invisible. All mysteries gather within the tower, the supreme Source of All Magic guards every floor, and only blessed explorers are qualified to glimpse the knowledge contained in that tower..."

Listening to Kamal's slow, low description, the smile on Mirmirna's face grew more pronounced, yet it was mixed with more helplessness: "Yes, there is a tall tower, and stars and such... But when I tried to touch that starry sky, it was only a shell covering the edge of the divine realm. When I tried to pluck those stars, they were only luminous stones set into the shell, carved with meaningless runes. My gaze passed through that shell to the outside, and I saw only ancient gods who had died with their eyes open, floating against the boundary of the divine realm, while broken bones and indescribable fragments surged in layer upon layer from beyond that crude starry graffiti..."

The former Goddess of Magic shook her head: "Then I shut myself in the high tower for thousands of years, deliberately refusing to answer any prayer from mortals, refusing to pay attention to the changes in the mortal world. Only then did a crack finally appear in that shell. I ran out of the divine realm, passed through those layered ruins and corpses, through the endless whispers and echoes of thought-tides that could drive mortals instantly mad. It took me a century, or perhaps two, before I finally reached the crevice between the Deep Sea and the Shadow Realm... There, at last, I found a little peace."

"...It was not easy for you either." Kamal was silent for a few seconds before he finally managed to squeeze out this sentence.

He had never imagined that one day he would stand before a god so calmly, or even discuss such things with a god.

The world is unpredictable.

Mirmirna paid no attention to Kamal's sigh. She suddenly looked ahead. A grand high wall in a curved arc stood before the group, and on that wall stood a gate large enough for giants to pass through. Many splendid banners hung around the high wall, their lower ends weighted with heavy shields as counterweights, making them hang straight down. At the top of the wall were countless gleaming spears and swords as decoration, arranged neatly as if an army were drawn up for inspection.

"It seems we have reached another place described in the Scriptures of the God of War," Kamal looked up ahead and said in a stern tone. "This should be the 'arena' described in their religious stories."

The group walked forward, while Mirmirna's gaze swept over the grand gate and the huge shields hanging on either side. She said slowly: "The arena of Kael, God of War, stands at the end of the Avenue of the Cheerers, facing the Palace of Eternal Feasting from afar. This is a place where the god himself came. Kael often came to this arena in person to watch brave warriors spar and hone their skills. Sometimes he would even step into the arena in the form of an avatar to instruct those favored champions and grant them greater power... But more often he sat on the tallest throne at the far end of the arena, reviewing everyone like a general."

The arena's gate was tightly closed. Mirmirna placed her hand on the door, which looked extraordinarily heavy. With only a gentle push, the seemingly immovable door opened a gap wide enough for an ordinary person to pass through. Kamal floated forward, but before passing through the gate, he could not help glancing at Mirmirna: "How do you know so much about the God of War? Did you not say that different gods cannot communicate, and cannot peer into another god's divine realm?"

Mirmirna lowered her head, and a faint smile appeared beneath the black veil covering her face: "I looked it up online just now."

Kamal was stunned for a moment, then thought it made sense—this Lady of the High Tower was also a veteran netizen; she spent twenty-three of the twenty-four hours a day immersed in the neural network... But though it was entirely reasonable, this answer was not what he had imagined...

However, after staying beside His Majesty Gao Yang Cecil for so long, he had seen too many strange things and abnormal people. This time he did not agonize over it for long. He merely adjusted his mindset slightly, picked up his heavy mobile power station again, and floated first toward the arena gate. The rest of the exploration team followed in single file.

Mirmirna also passed through the gate and looked up toward the far end of the arena.

An exceptionally tall and burly figure sat quietly on the throne prepared for a giant, his whole body covered in airtight iron-gray heavy armor. The empty helmet was slightly lowered, and its dark opening was fixed on the direction of the arena gate, watching the uninvited guests who had stepped into this place.

His heart and lungs stopped!!

Kamal looked up once, and in an instant felt as if the flow of magic throughout his body had frozen and stagnated. Behind him came a series of metallic clashes—the White Knights were also startled at the sight of that figure, and then their warrior instincts made them grip their warhammers and heavy holy-light shock cannons. Everyone was ready for battle in an instant, and even in Kamal's hands two orbs of shining arcane energy appeared!

But at such a tense moment, Mirmirna's voice suddenly came, interrupting the attack everyone was about to launch: "Calm down—this seems to be only a phantom."

"A phantom?" Kamal was startled, and only then did he notice that the figure sitting on the throne at the far end of the arena had still not moved at all. He was simply sitting quietly on the throne, showing no reaction to the uninvited guests who had entered.