End of the Magic Era

Faced with such a crisis, the Magic Tool Incarnation was not coerced into submission at all. If he didn’t obey Lin Yun, the King of Nightmares’ soul would likely swallow both of them. Then, Lin Yun would be completely gone, and the King of Nightmares would occupy his body. The Book of Death would become part of his body too.

With the natural-born extraordinary life and the natural-born Extraordinary Magic Tool, it might really be possible for the guy to reclaim its former glory.

The Magic Tool Incarnation would rather die than unwillingly yield. Lin Yun found him quite admirable. In the real history, the Magic Tool Incarnation had never surrendered ever since Bane acquired the Book of Death.

When Bane reached the strongest period of his life, he was capable of destroying the Book of Death, but the Magic Tool Incarnation still didn’t yield. Bane didn’t destroy it because of that.

Whether the Magic Tool Incarnation was not yielding because of a preset rule or because of his own personality, Lin Yun decided to respect him.

The Magic Tool Incarnation floated in front of Lin Yun, with a shield in front of him. It was not a shield of mana, but a thin shield of elements, which could block whatever spell Lin Yun was going to cast.

“Merlin, you don’t stand a chance. You can’t possibly win. I won’t yield even if I have to be swallowed by this stupid soul. You only have the mana to cast a level-1 spell. You don’t stand a chance…”

In the distance, the King of Nightmares’ soul was approaching quickly, and enormous soul waves were surging close like tides. Their influence couldn’t be neglected even if it was a distance away.

Lin Yun raised his hand, pale and with sunken eye sockets, as if he were already dead. His hand was shivering as he grimaced at the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation.

Then, a spot of red and blue light popped up on Lin Yun’s fingertip. Judging from the magic waves, Lin Yun’s spell was not even a level-1 spell, but the Magic Tool Incarnation’s expression changed…

There was no time to dodge. The red-and-green light that was the size of a fingernail flew from Lin Yun’s fingertip, and hit the thin shield of elements on the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation.

Considering his control of elements, whatever spell Lin Yun were to cast, the incarnation could block it perfectly with the power of elements. Although his remaining mana would be consumed too, it would be a tie in the end.

In such a battle, a tie would mean Lin Yun’s failure. He was unable to subdue the Magic Tool Incarnation.

The red-and-green spot that was only the size of a fingernail was pure fire and frost elements that were arranged in a specific order.

When the spot of light hit the Magic Tool Incarnation’s skin, the fire and frost elements collided. Every fire element collided with a frost element. Then, all the elements collapsed in the end.

Instantly, all the elements were annihilated…

It was absolute balance, without the slightest disturbance. When the opposite powers hit each other, the final outcome was obvious: mutual destruction.

A black spot appeared on the Magic Tool Incarnation’s forehead. The elements he controlled were annihilated without being able to resist at all. The black light broke into the Magic Tool Incarnation’s head, leaving a tiny black hole on his forehead.

Immediately, the entire world seemed to be frozen by a magnificent power. Even the King of Nightmares’ rushing soul was frozen too.

The Magic Tool Incarnation gradually turned transparent, just like broken glass. Disbelief had been frozen on his face.

Silently, the Magic Tool Incarnation disappeared into nothingness. It was not until this moment that Lin Yun felt that he had fully controlled the Book of Death in every aspect.

The Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation was under his control too. He fully controlled the Book of Death. Also, he realized that in order to really grasp the Book of Death, he had to beat its Magic Tool Incarnation.

It was easier to defeat the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation the first time he touched the Book of Death. At that time, the power of laws wasn’t involved. But in order to control the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation, he had to defeat it at the peak of the Heaven Rank again.

The Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation was essentially a mage that was perfect in every aspect. It was barely possible for a mage to defeat the guy when at the same level with the same amount of mana and soul power.

However, Lin Yun’s stats in every aspect had far exceeded perfection. His every step on the path of magic had been extremely perfect. Even if he were to walk the same path again, he might not be able to become so perfect.

Even so, he was not able to beat the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation until he was almost dying in the battle because the incarnation represented laws themselves.

It was impossible to defeat a law using itself. That was why the Book of Death had never been fully controlled.

The frozen void was back to normal. The King of Nightmares’ soul continued laughing and drifting close, as if it didn’t realize what just happened at all.

Next to Lin Yun, a skull that didn’t carry any aura of death was floating. That was the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation, or rather its original appearance. It looked like a skull only because the Book of Death was born in the Plane of the Undead.

The skull was floating next to Lin Yun. There was no need to worry about the King of Nightmares’ soul anymore. It looked at Lin Yun with a complicated expression.

“Merlin, how did you come up with that?”

Ever since the beginning of the battle, Semalion had full control of everything, even though Lin Yun was perfect at utilizing laws, controlling mana, and casting spells.

In the eyes of Semalion himself, Lin Yun was just another himself, similar to an immaculate embodiment of laws. There was not another person who could possibly do that.

But perfection was not good enough. It was not possible to beat perfection with perfection. Semalion was an embodiment of laws.

It would never be possible to really control the complete Book of Death without defeating Semalion.

Semalion reviewed the battle again and again, but still couldn’t understand what happened.

Lin Yun glanced at Semalion. After truly gaining control of the Book of Death, he learned the Book of Death’s Magic Tool Incarnation’s real name, which could be read for a dozen minutes. Its short version was Semalion.

“In the previous battle, you represented the Book of Death and the laws that gave birth to it. It was impossible to defeat laws with the same laws. I knew that very well.

“To defeat laws, I had to break laws. A mage’s greatest power depends not on his spells, Demiplane, or laws, but on his wisdom.

“You fought me as a mage, so you had to abide by the rules and be a real mage. You were perfect when you cast spells and made use of laws, but you don’t have the wisdom of a real mage.”

Semalion didn’t really understand, but he didn’t argue. He pondered the explanation, even though he couldn’t think it through.

Lin Yun glanced at Semalion. He had never planned to explain, but he also knew that Semalion had been very confident that nobody was capable of bending him.

Semalion had already lost, and he didn’t know what Lin Yun meant. Lin Yun didn’t explain further, and the former didn’t insist. However, he was Lin Yun’s most important magic tool, and to fully carry out his abilities, Lin Yun needed more than verbal submission. Lin Yun knew that very well.

“I was already planning after the first tentative attack. You just never realized it. I always knew that the battle would end in a tie and I couldn’t win. I only had one chance at the last moment.

“You thought that the ending of the battle would be the same as the last time, except that I couldn’t win again, because the power of laws was involved, and nobody’s laws could be more powerful than laws themselves.

“Am I correct?”

Semalion was slightly surprised. He thought for a moment, and nodded in silence.

“In order to defeat you, I had to abandon laws. So, the battle never really began until we both only had the mana for one last spell.

“I couldn’t defeat you with laws, elements, mana, or any other aspects, so I could only turn to the last resort, the power of annihilation.

“It didn’t belong to any element, or contain any mana or power of laws. I could only ensure that I could control it perfectly in the last strike, and you couldn’t resist it perfectly, so you lost.

“That’s why mages were powerful. Wisdom, instead of physical strength, is what makes human beings special.”

Semalion nodded in silence. He had already inferred the entire process. As a matter of fact, no matter how the process went, the result was already destined. Semalion knew that he couldn’t resist the last spell that was only a level-1 spell at best…

To resist the fingernail-sized ball of annihilation, he needed at least a level-3 shield. Also, he had to control it in person in order to resist the ball.

No matter how he deduced it, if he hadn’t known the annihilation ball in advance, then the ending would’ve been obvious…

That made Semalion rather frustrated. He might be knowledgeable and strong, but wisdom seemed to be a completely different thing.

While Lin Yun and Semalion were talking, the King of Nightmares’ soul had rushed close, imposing a breathtaking pressure with a torso that was more than ten kilometers tall.