Chapter 303
Chapter 303: Not Gonna Lie, the Explosion Was Actually Pretty
At that moment, the Magic Archive presented a scene of utter ruin—like crumbling walls and broken ramparts battered by wind.
Shards of fractured marble drifted through the air like startled birds.
White stone fragments collided between each other, spiraling like shattered pearls suspended in the void.
After Heni's disappearance, the spellbooks, as though freed from their bindings, began flying freely through the air once more.
Like a flock of birds soaring across an boundless sky, they released the Magic recorded within their pages.
The shattered marble drifted and floated through the air, white stone fragments bouncing off one another, rebounding endlessly throughout that space.
Without Heni present, the spellbooks had descended back into chaos—flying freely through the sky again, releasing the Magic they contained into the open void.
Some had even gathered into a circle, orbiting around a section of ruined bookshelves as though performing an elegant dance.
A half-snapped wooden staircase, bookshelves demolished beyond recognition, and the long-since-shattered great domed ceiling……
Their fragments drifted through the air like lost and wandering souls, eventually tangling together to form a winding river that flowed through the sky.
Heim Horn was in a state of extreme agitation—like an ant on a hot griddle—brow furrowed deeply, pacing back and forth before the Archive.
Beside him, that silver-white spellbook lay quietly.
Magic Power flowed across its cover like a trickling stream, silver patterns slowly wandering across the surface.
Frantic and distraught, Heim Horn stared intently at that silver-white book and racked his mind for solutions.
Originally, he and Cocotte had been contemplating how to rescue Heni, who was trapped inside the book.
After all, the Deep Archive was nothing like the Archive's other sections.
Any Mage who remained inside without possessing the qualification to learn its Magic—who forced their way in recklessly—
Would, due to insufficient knowledge reserves and wisdom, face only 1 outcome.
Losing all their talent, ultimately becoming a witless fool devoid of reason.
But right now, something far more important had emerged that required him to step forward personally.
Because the appearance of the Goddess of Justice had sent the entire Sky City into a fever of excitement.
This news spread through Endymion with the speed of a hurricane.
Even Mages who had been deep in focused research were drawn in by the excitement, stepping out from their own spaces and joining in the grand celebrations.
And regarding the Goddess of Justice's descent, theories ran rampant.
Some believed it was her way of testing humanity's disposition toward her; others believed that the Goddess of Justice's orthodox authority was hidden within Endymion.
That the Mage Council itself might be the Goddess of Justice's true Church.
Though these claims sounded thoroughly absurd, for those Mages, they preferred to believe the Goddess truly existed.
The more a Mage learned, the more their sense of awe toward mysterious forces would deepen.
On top of that, the number of Mages in Endymion was vast, and their backgrounds were immensely varied.
Because Endymion had drawn together Mages of all races and nations, it had made this Sky City all the more vibrant and diverse.
With the exception of Mages like Viktor, who came from the Kingdom of Carencia.
The Kingdom of Carencia was a special case—virtually no one there followed divine beings, as the Empire's strict national disposition reigned supreme.
Within the Empire, Church followers of any kind would be swiftly suppressed as a heretical cult.
As for science?
Talking science to a Mage perhaps seemed a touch too peculiar.
But none of this was the point.
Heim Horn was acutely aware that the ripples this event had caused were far greater than anyone had anticipated.
As a Council Member, he understood perfectly clearly that their Council had absolutely no connection to the Goddess of Justice.
Their Council had nothing whatsoever to do with the Goddess of Justice.
Although at the Council's founding, it had indeed relied upon unwavering justice and noble morality.
But that was the Council's own justice—
Not the Goddess of Justice's fanatical, absolutist justice.
The Goddess of Justice's descent upon Endymion had led many Mages to mistakenly believe that Endymion was her orthodox Church.
This had to be refuted.
Heim Horn's expression was as hard and cold as a stone statue. He felt it necessary to personally step forward and dispel these misunderstandings.
As for why the Goddess of Justice had suddenly descended here, he already had his suspicions.
Why Viktor had stolen that forged scale—that he couldn't know.
But without question, this matter was absolutely connected to Viktor.
Heim Horn's face was grave and severe. He turned and fixed his gaze on the silver-white spellbook floating in the air, and gave Cocotte his instructions:
"Heni's situation—I'll leave it to you."
Cocotte suddenly heard a task land squarely on her own shoulders, and she froze for a few seconds.
Her mind spun at full speed, and both eyes suddenly went wide:
"Huh? You want me to handle it?"
Heim Horn replied:
"I had planned to send you to the Deep Archive from the start anyway."
He paused briefly: "Heni must be rescued from the book, whatever the cost."
Setting aside the fact that Heni had been brought here by Viktor—Heni's own capabilities and knowledge alone were extraordinarily valuable to the Council.
On top of that, her credentials—a 3rd-Tier Mage of only 3 months—were enough to cause a stunning uproar.
And the Council would absolutely not stand by and watch one of their own fall into danger.
Cocotte understood this logic as well. Though a look of reluctance crossed her face, no matter how she felt—the person trapped inside was Heni.
She had to rescue Heni from the book.
Heim Horn's figure began flashing rapidly through the air, countless phantom Doppelgangers surrounding him.
An instant later, those phantoms shattered completely and vanished, taking Heim Horn along with them.
Cocotte steeled herself and walked, stiff-faced, over to the side of the silver-white book.
In truth, she was not familiar with the Archive—because the Archive's manager had always been Heim Horn.
Heim Horn knew every corner of the Magic Archive intimately, even as a 4th-Tier Mage.
As its manager, he still held the qualification to enter the Deep Archive.
She, on the other hand, had never once set foot in the Deep Archive—she didn't even know what it looked like inside.
"Ahh…… had I known, I would've come in at least once back then no matter what."
In any case, now that Heni had fallen into crisis, Cocotte found herself regretting how lax she had been.
She extended her hand and pressed it against the book, its white patterns flowing beneath her palm.
This book was the 'door' to the Deep Archive.
The book seemed to sense the 5th-Tier Mage's aura emanating from Cocotte. A single eye rapidly twisted into existence on the cover, staring fixedly at her.
The patterns on the cover flowed like a stream, opening a gateway to a Pocket Dimension.
In an instant, a white light flashed, and 2 phantom silver arms gripped Cocotte's shoulders tightly and yanked her into the book.
Only the white cloud remained, drifting in the air.
It swayed left and right, as if expressing a touch of anxiety.
After a long silence, the book flipped open once more.
A silver arm reached out, pinched that drifting white cloud, and tossed it together into its vast maw—transporting it into the book's Pocket Dimension.
Only after that did it slowly close again, resuming its drift through the Archive.
As though continuing to search for its next prey.
***
Heim Horn teleported continuously through Endymion, piercing through layer after layer of space, heading straight for the City of Mages' lowest strata.
The surrounding scenery shifted before his eyes in an instant, but he had no leisure to appreciate it.
Several phantom forms flickered through the various tiers of the Council, like shooting stars streaking across the sky, steadily approaching the ground of this layer.
The 1st Layer of Endymion—this was an extraordinarily dreamlike and peculiar place.
Various bizarre Magical Creatures drifted through the air, a lion-headed creature with a long, lolling tongue using its small body to conceal itself among strangely-colored floating clouds.
Spatial rifts that opened and split continuously connected to corners of the world from all directions; a reckless flying piglet charged headlong into one of the rifts and vanished from sight.
This place resembled a ruin overgrown with vegetation, yet the natural energy and Magic around it were extraordinarily dense.
Upon reaching the 1st Layer, countless Mages were waiting for Heim Horn.
The moment they spotted Heim Horn, those Mages became extremely respectful, bowing to greet him one after another:
"Council Member Horn."
The Council Member emblem on Heim's chest gleamed in the sunlight, proclaiming his position of authority within this City of Mages.
Heim's brow was deeply furrowed. He asked the assembled Mages with agitated urgency:
"What exactly happened?"
One Mage raised a hand and gestured toward the distance, giving a brief answer:
"Council Member—have a look."
They parted to one side, opening a passage.
Heim stood at the edge of the floating island and fixed his gaze into the distance.
Countless floating islands, like pearls on a necklace, were strung together by ropes of Magic Power, assembled into a unified whole beneath the open sky.
Heavenly light pierced through the cloudless deep-blue sky, illuminating the entire world with radiant brilliance.
The sky had been split into 2 distinct zones of color—one blazing with brilliant light, while the other was shrouded in night.
That half consumed by night had countless curtains of stars suspended within it.
The enormous magical rings in the sky had shattered, their countless fragments colliding and tangling together with the stars.
Starlight and sunlight crashed against each other in the air, and the surging torrents of Magic Power they sent splashing continued to ripple and undulate across the Twilight Expanse.
What had been a riotous and chaotic zone was now as quiet and still as a great white stone, stripped of its original color and shape.
Only stone fragments still drifted through the sky.
The chaotic Magic Power had been dispersed, and the entire world seemed to have returned to tranquil order.
Taking in the scene before him, Heim Horn came to an instant and complete understanding of everything—cold sweat beaded across his forehead, and a profound helplessness settled in his heart.
Because he knew that the only force capable of causing such a monumental transformation was……
"Viktor!!"
"Why are you blowing things up in Endymion AGAIN?!"
***
Heni's mind was a little hazy, and she felt as though her body had become very light.
She forced her eyes open and found herself seemingly adrift within a swirling, misty expanse.
Silver fog wrapped around her like a layer of fine gauze, blurring her vision.
The dense silver mist had swallowed her up to the waist.
She raised her head and saw boundless white fog stretching without limit, billowing and churning just as it was beneath her.
A silver moon cast faint glimmers of amber-yellow light, standing out brilliantly against the pitch-black sky like ink.
Heni was somewhat confused.
Where on earth was this place?
But before Heni could think any further, a voice gradually rose in the sky—like the intermittent cries of egrets rising and falling among the reeds, yet carrying a few extra notes of ethereal quality.
That voice was like a gushing spring—a cool, clear sound that entered her ears and sent a tingling sensation spreading through them, as though something were gently tickling inside.
Then that cold sensation sank like a block of ice settling in the center of her chest, spreading throughout Heni's entire body.
She couldn't help but shiver.
Then warmth rose again from the depths of her heart, completely rousing Heni's somewhat hazy consciousness.
"Welcome, child……"
The voice had barely opened—barely spoken a few words—when it suddenly stopped short.
"Hmm? Something's wrong."
It was as though a colossal eye had opened in the sky above: upper and lower eyelids emerged from the darkness in yellow outline, and the moon itself transformed into the eye's enormous pupil, peering intently and fixedly at Heni:
"You possess no Eternal Furnace, nor are you a 5th-Tier Mage."
"Tell me—"
The voice, which had been light and airy a moment ago, now became extraordinarily deep and resonant—as though it came from a submerged cavern at the bottom of water, cold and oppressive, wrapping itself around Heni's skin.
"Why did it allow you to enter this place?"