Throne of Magical Arcana

“Advancement into the demigod stage?” Lucien was truly surprised this time. It had been only slightly more than a year, and the president was all set?

Douglas said with a smile, “When you discovered the sun, my preparation was almost done. I spent most of the last year confirming the existence of the sun and melting the feedback of the truth of the world with my own research products to deploy ancillary magic circles. Opening the gate of demigods actually does not need any special legendary materials. It’s the accumulations in the past that matter, like the solidification of the cognitive world, the real connection with the Host Star of Destiny, etc.

“Therefore, as long as the nature and the key of the ancillary magic circle are found, the deployment will be relatively simple. I estimated that it would take three to four years, but it’s much shorter than that.”

It was similar to the magic circle with which Thanos and Viken became demigods. No special legendary materials were required. As long as they completed the status transformation and accumulated enough power of feelings and faith, the preparations could be accomplished rather easily. The long time to gather the power of faith and the feelings could be saved.

As he spoke, Douglas smiled peacefully and gently, not having the excitement and anxiety of someone who was about to try to break into the demigod level. He was not even as thrilled as he had been when he learned of Lucien’s discovery of the sun a year ago.

“But wouldn’t it be too hasty?” Although Lucien was proud of his rationality and decisiveness at the critical moments, he couldn’t help but hesitate at such a moment.

Douglas shook his head with a smile. “All the preparations that should be done have been done. Making the attempt right now and doing so ten years later will be no different. You should remember that it’s been almost three hundred years since I reached the peak of legendary. I’ve come to you because I am not entirely reassured. Brook is smart, cautious, and open-minded, but he prefers to be devoted to his own studies. He is not very suitable to lead the Congress. Fernando and Hathaway, on the other hand, have major deficiencies in their personalities and are even less suitable. So, if the attempt fails and I don’t survive, I hope that you can lead the Congress, Lucien.”

He roughly analyzed the other three top legends and looked at Lucien earnestly.

“Mr. President… You’ll certainly be fine,” Lucien said subconsciously. Then, he said solemnly and sincerely, “The Congress will never die as long as I am alive.”

Douglas smiled in satisfaction and patted Lucien’s shoulder. “Then, I’ll have to ask all of you to protect me during my attempt.”

“Protect you? That’s not a problem. Mr. President, are you going to make the attempt in an alternate dimension?” Although there were no records about the unusual phenomena when somebody broke into the demigod level, Lucien had no doubt that it would be quite noisy, considering how the advancements of the previous major levels behaved. Also, he had concluded that Thanos must have accomplished the advancement in an alternate dimension or his own demiplane.

That was why the legends of the Magic Empire did not sense anything. Behind every door of the Realm of Gates was an independent alternate dimension. Viken could have fooled Maskelyne and the rest of them.

However, Douglas’ advancement was different from them. He needed the cognitive world and the demiplane, the real environment that corresponded with his cognitive world. It was obvious that he could not complete it in his demiplane. So, he could only go to alternate dimensions or places like the World of Souls. Also, if it was too eye-catching and took too long, Pope Viken, Maltimus, and the pontiff would certainly come to hinder him.

Douglas said rather helplessly, “My advancement is based on my cognitive world and my own demiplane, and I have to grasp the Host Star of Destiny in order to melt its projection in the soul completely with the soul, the cognitive world, and the demiplane. This process will be much more difficult in alternate dimensions and the World of Souls. So, I can only choose the main material world and count on the defense of Allyn.”

“How long will it take? If it’s short, there will be no time for Viken to come, and we only need to take care of the Lord of Hell. Three top legends should be able to stop him with the defense in Allyn.” Lucien became rather solemn. Faced with demigods, the Congress of Magic had no problem in defending itself, but it was unable to put up any counterattack.

Douglas sighed and said in a self-mocking smile, “As the legend who tries this path for the first time, I can only roughly estimate that it will take ten to forty minutes. It’s hard for me to predict what will be caused in which phase.”

The Congress of Magic didn’t have any systematic research on the unusual phenomena yet.

“We can only assume that it will take forty minutes… I believe that the Silver Moon will be happy to have one more reliable ally. After all, Viken has the platinum staff and the key to master the power of ‘Mountain Paradise’. I’ll pay another visit to the Dark Mountain Range,” Lucien analyzed the situation. “However, we need to be prepared that somebody would release the Will of Abyss during the mess…”

Alterna would stop Pope Viken, and the three top legends would stop the Lord of Hell. It should be enough provided that there were no other emergencies.

Douglas became rather solemn. “I’ll go to the Dark Mountain Range with you and talk to the Silver Moon face to face.”

Having carried the Congress of Magic to move forward for hundreds of years, he was not a person who considered his pride to be above everything, and he knew that he had to show his own sincerity if he wanted to ask for somebody else’s help.

“Alright.” Lucien nodded his head but hesitated for a moment. “Although it’s been only five years since Viken turned into ‘Benedict III’, and he hasn’t entirely recovered, we know that the real reason that he hardly uses ‘God’s Arrival’ is the irrecoverable physical exhaustion and the fear for Monster Viken. When the critical moment comes, he certainly will not hesitate to use anything. So, we should be braced for ‘God’s Arrival’.”

“Do we have to find a way to distract Viken so that he cannot arrive in time to stop us?” With Douglas’ wisdom, he naturally had plenty of plans, such as attacking the alternate dimensions that were under the control of the Church, acting as if they could save Monster Viken.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien hesitated and said, “Perhaps there’s a better way…”

…

In the praying room of the Saint Geno Church…

“Saint” Clement was repenting before the cross quietly. Last time, he went to the Chaotic Cosmos to take the Time Plate under the instruction of Mecantron, only to run into Lucien and almost get consumed by the high-energy storm created by the Positron Cannon. Thankfully, the Lord of Hell, who had been conspiring with him, saved him from the disaster. He was terrified for a long time after he learned from the Lord of Hell that even Mecantron was almost killed.

Unlike Mecantron, who was a container that The Angel King prepared for himself and who would be reborn in the light of the Lord as long as Mountain Paradise existed, he would’ve been completely killed if he had been touched by Lucien’s terrifying legendary spell!

He learned the truth of Mecantron’s resurrection from the Lord of Hell.

“I have gathered almost enough ‘Power of Virtues’, but I still need a ‘container’…” The Book of Virtues, which Clement acquired from the Angel King, replaced the power of negative feelings with positive symbols such as honesty, so there were not as many problems. He did not need to capture another legend as his container and could use the utensils made of special materials.

Those were the two branches that Thanos and Viken created while they perfected the path to the demigod level. The difference was because Thanos started from scratch and was, therefore, not restrained by negative feelings and primeval devils.

“But the materials I need are difficult to collect.” Clement thought rather regretfully and said, “I could’ve used Geno’s body as the ‘container’ if he hadn’t died a long time ago and only left his power and godhood behind… Why have I inherited the power of Geno, instead of that of Saint Ivan or Saint Felix?”

When he was sorry about himself, the suburb of San Ivansburg was enshrouded in darkness.

San Ivansburg in the late autumn was already as cold as the winter in Allyn. It was particularly freezing at night.

On a wide but not steep hill, a wagon was riding toward the manor at the foot of the hill.

The slim coachman had a red nose and wore a coat that wasn’t very thick. He spurred the horse and poured hard liquor into his mouth, as if it was the only thing that could prevent him from the coldness.

Suddenly, the coachman shivered. Even the hard liquor seemed not enough to stop the coldness from rising in his heart.

He looked at the sky. Seeing that the silver moon had been blocked by the clouds and everything was dark, he subconsciously felt deserted and creepy. So, he waved his whip and accelerated the wagon.

The horse ran quickly for a while, but it slipped during a turn, and the wagon flew out, falling off the slope that was not too high.

“Damn it. How should I tell my lord…” The coachman was not heavily hurt. He stood up, upset, blaming himself for not reining the horse well.

He was about to check the wounds of the horse when he suddenly saw a cave, which was at a corner of the slope that could never be found under normal circumstances. There was a glittering coin at the entrance of the cave.

“A coin…” The coachman’s eyes became passionate. He observed the surroundings carefully and walked to the cave, speculating in excitement whether or not there were treasures inside.

He was too drunk to consider whether or not there were dangers in the cave. He simply walked over and picked up the coin, not realizing that he passed through a transparent shield of light that was about to disappear.

He was about to examine the coin, but his pupils suddenly widened, because the cave was full of weird symbols that denoted pain, desperation, and hate.

The coachman went stiff and stood where he was while watching the symbols decompose and disappear in a couple of minutes together with the light shield that he did not notice.

Then, he shook his head and burped. “Did… Did I fall asleep just now?”

When the coachman walked into the cave, Clement, who was still in the Saint Geno Church, suddenly sensed something. He disrupted his “repentance” and really closed his eyes. Then, he saw a pair of mocking red eyes in the darkness.

“Somebody transformed into the status of primeval devils in San Ivansburg through the power of negative feelings. I sensed the strong pain, desperation, and hate…” Maltimus said affirmatively. “Find out who he is as soon as possible.”

Clement squinted. Did anyone else in San Ivansburg know the status transformation?