Chapter 377: The Weight of Succession

​’Master!! There is something wrong with Adira!!’​Mirabella blinked in genuine surprise at Vespina’s panicked, telepathic words echoing through her mind. She instantly shifted her weight and turned to her assembled guild members, her demeanor sharpening. "I will be back!!"

​With that short command, her figure vanished entirely from sight, leaving a vacuum of displaced air. But instead of an empty space, reappearing precisely on her previous spot was a tiny, intricate golden Palace, radiating an intensely ancient, divine frequency.

​"Is that...?" Rose muttered in surprise, her eyes widening as she recognized the energy. She didn’t hesitate for a microsecond. "Concealment barrier!!"

​She yelled, stretching her legendary class staff at the palace. A massive, shimmering dome of cloaking energy erupted around the artifact, completely hiding the miniature palace and its energy signature from the outside world and the wandering eyes of Galaxy City.

​"She explicitly told us back on Earth to keep this a secret at all costs. It only means this golden Palace is really important to her," Rose explained, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow as she stabilized the high-tier illusion magic.

​"I get it... You’re so thoughtful, Rose," Austin slowly nodded his head, blinking stupidly as he moved his confused gaze around the empty air. "Uh... Where exactly is the Palace again?"

​"It’s sitting right in front of your face... You literally can’t see it due to the visual refraction," Aurelia said, raising a judging eyebrow at her twin’s lack of awareness.

​"Oh! Right! I knew that!" Austin laughed sheepishly, extinguishing the flames on his knuckles.

​’Why would Big Sister leave her primary artifact behind in a hot zone like this? Did something catastrophic happen?’ Carl thought, his gaze lowering to the restless, unkillable red-skinned zombies pacing below their positions.

​"What should we do about those things while she’s gone?" David asked.

​"For now." Hitachi sheathed his legendary sword with a crisp, metallic click, his celestial eyes tracking the entities’ micro-movements.

"We wait."

​BAM!

​The massive, rune-carved double doors of the inner sanctum opened wide with a heavy echo, as Mirabella and Cupcake walked inside with hurried, synchronized footsteps. They bypassed the grand pillars, stopping abruptly beside the panicked Vespina and the rest of her Realm Bosses.

​"What is wrong with her?" Mirabella asked, her voice tight as she stopped directly in front of Adira. The tiny celestial fairy was hovering rigidly in the air, her small hands stretched out to her sides. Her delicate eyes had turned entirely, brilliantly white, devoid of pupils. What had truly terrified Vespina wasn’t Adira’s physical transformation, but the absolute, chaotic golden energy bleeding out of her small frame, distorting the room’s gravity.

​"I don’t know, Master! Suddenly, she just rose into the air without any warning, and this explosion started..." Vespina explained frantically, fluttering her wings as she ducked behind Mirabella’s back for protection.

​"Second Big Sister Adira is indeed terrifyingly powerful... I can’t even get within twenty meters of her without my defenses cracking," Toxin added, his multiple arachnid eyes staring up at the tiny divine fairy in profound awe.

​BOOOOM!!

​The volatile golden energy swirling around Adira violently condensed above her floating form, crystallizing into a massive, shimmering mirror.

​Absolutely everyone in the chamber stared, completely stunned, as vivid, historical images began flashing aggressively across the mirror’s surface.

​The projection revealed a catastrophic battlefield spanning the void of deep space. A regal, middle-aged looking fairy with long, shimmering silver hair was locked in an intense, planet-shattering battle with a four-handed humanoid monster. The abomination possessed the muscular torso of a human, the thrashing tails of an ancient fox, and two distinctly human heads that screamed in discordant harmony. It was an absolute abomination.

​"What on earth is that monster?" Mirabella muttered entirely to herself, her eyes locking onto the silver-haired fairy woman, then lowering her gaze to note the exact same silver hair on Adira’s small head.

​"You won’t get past the primordial gate!! I won’t let you destroy the four worlds!!" The ancient fairy warrior yelled in the memory, her voice cracking the void as she thrust her massive golden sword forward.

​"YOU DAMN FAIRY!!!"

The abomination roared.

​The four-handed creature smashed all of its mutated palms simultaneously onto her descending blade. The resulting impact sent devastating, apocalyptic waves of energy rippling outward, throwing the fairy lady violently backward through space. The residual shockwaves spread all over the galactic sector, instantly grinding countless surrounding planets into nothing but dust.

​"You...!" The fairy gasped, coughing up glowing silver blood as she struggled to steady herself in the void.

​"HOW DARE A MERE MORTAL STOP ONE OF THE FIVE GODS OF THE GREAT ONE!!"

The two-headed creature bellowed, its voices overlapping as it walked toward her through the debris. With each heavy step it took, the very fabric of the destroyed dimensional plain cracked and splintered further.

​"You and Void Calamity will never succeed! I will absolutely not allow you to sacrifice this entire world to the Great One!!" The fairy stood back up.

​"With my own blood! I hereby seal this entire world from the likes of you and your accursed Great One!! Someone will eventually rise in this world who will be able to fully wield my legacy, inherit my powers, and bring about the absolute end of your kind!!" She raised her cracked sword, pointing it toward her own chest.

​"YOU!! DON’T FUCKING DO THAT!!!"

The two-headed creature screamed, its four eyes widening in sudden, absolute shock as it shot forward to intercept her, its speed breaking the sound barrier.

​BAM!!!

​Without a hint of hesitation, the ancient fairy plunged the massive sword right through her own chest, spurting out a mouthful of brilliant, golden blood into the void:

​"My future successor, who will eventually locate my final resting place... Hear my words. Do not trust the gods of the pantheons; they are all merely corrupted pawns under the absolute will of the Great One! He will inevitably try to infect someone important in your world to break the locks!! You must remain exceptionally careful, for hidden dangers are always lurking behind you... All because of the machinations of the gods and goddesses... Once this blood seal begins to weaken, the four worlds will be violently invaded... Protect the worlds, and above all, protect yourself."

​As her final words echoed through the memory, her entire body violently exploded into a blinding wave of absolute, transcendent golden light. The sheer divine force smashed right into the oncoming two-headed creature, shattering its four arms and sending it flying backward into the dark recesses of the deep void.

​BAM!

​The mirror shattered into a million harmless fragments of light, and Adira’s limp body instantly dropped from the sky. Mirabella moved with blinding speed, extending her arms to catch the tiny, unconscious fairy gently against her chest. The chaotic energy vanished as quickly as it had arrived, leaving only a lingering warmth.

​"What... What just happened?" Vespina asked in deep shock, her limbs completely frozen in place.

​"Gods? Goddesses? I know for a fact that the entities residing within the apex of the fourth world are extremely strong, but she clearly wasn’t referring to those powerhouses..." Toxin muttered, all of his eyes widening in sudden horror as his mind calculated the implications. "Are there actually terrifying beings existing entirely outside the known four worlds? Is there a fifth world?!"

​"Who is the destined successor here? Is it Adira?" Cupcake asked, as she stared at the small, silent fairy in Mirabella’s arms.

​"No, I don’t think so," Reese, the colossal red dragon, spoke up, shaking his massive, scaled head as his deep voice reverberated through the palace:

"The ancient warrior specifically said, ’The successor, who locates me.’ In short... Adira is merely the reincarnated soul or carrier of that fairy’s lineage, and the actual Master..."

​He didn’t complete his words, trailing off into a heavy silence, but the collective gaze of every single Realm Boss in the room slowly shifted to lock onto Mirabella. The terrifying meaning was entirely clear.