Chapter 149: Chapter 149: The Conceptual Clash

Chapter 149: The Conceptual Clash

Archlich Malacor did not like being mocked.

He had existed for thousands of years. He had watched mortal empires rise from the dirt and collapse into ash. He was the absolute master of death, and he was currently floating outside my city, being insulted by a Goblin.

The endless voids of his eye sockets seemed to physically darken.

"Your arrogance is a cancer," Malacor’s voice vibrated against my soul. "I will cut it out of you."

He did not order the colossal Undead Bone-Dragons to attack. He did not command the legion of Starmetal Death Knights to charge.

His absolute arrogance demanded that he handle the insult personally.

Malacor slowly raised a single, skeletal finger forged from pitch-black starmetal. He pointed it directly at the Absolute Aegis Shield.

"Oblivion," the Archlich whispered.

FWOOSH!

A beam of concentrated, hyper-dense necrotic magic erupted from his fingertip. It was not a wide wave; it was a compressed laser of pure, absolute death.

It struck the golden-blue energy dome directly in front of my face.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The sheer kinetic and magical force of the impact was terrifying. The entire Velkrath Imperium violently shuddered. The heavy iron grating beneath my boots groaned.

The golden hexagons of the Aegis Shield flared blindingly bright. Cracks began to form around the impact point. The ancient bio-mechanical core powering the shield roared from the underground foundry, pushing massive amounts of energy to regenerate the cracking dome.

The shield was holding, but Malacor was casually pouring apocalyptic magic into it.

Sovereign! Nyssa’s voice suddenly screamed through the telepathic network. The fabrication is complete! Initiating spatial transfer now!

I grinned behind my glowing red visor.

Equip the Vanguard, I commanded instantly. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

My spatial ring violently flashed.

I did not need to run down to the foundry to put the armor on. Through the Royal Telepathic Network, Nyssa bypassed standard physics and transferred the physical mass directly onto our bodies.

CLACK. SHNK. CLANG.

Heavy, pitch-black plates of S-Grade Progenitor Chitin materialized and locked seamlessly over my crimson Ironclad suit.

It was a masterpiece of biological engineering. The sleek, iridescent black shell perfectly contoured to my massive mechanical frame. It absorbed the ambient light around it, radiating an incredibly terrifying, ancient aura.

Down in the courtyard, Rolf howled as jagged black chitin fused over his silver symbiotic armor. Kaelith vanished into the shadows, the dark biological metal wrapping around her delicate frame like a second skin.

We were completely outfitted in the apex armor of Strata 5.

Kaelith, I projected my thoughts. Cloak me.

Understood, Master, the Noctharion Empress replied.

Kaelith appeared on the wall directly beside me. She placed her hands on my back and activated her Law of the Absolute Void.

The starry, pitch-black darkness completely enveloped my massive Ironclad frame. The void did not just hide me from sight; it erased my spatial signature. It completely deleted my mana output from reality.

To the outside world, I no longer existed.

Outside the shield, Malacor raised his second hand, preparing to unleash a dual-beam of necrotic magic to shatter the golden dome entirely.

He was completely focused on the barrier.

I channeled my mana into my spatial ring. Because my signature was erased by the Void, the Archlich did not feel the spatial tear forming.

VWOOM.

I bypassed the Aegis Shield entirely.

I materialized in the open air, directly above and behind the floating Archlich.

I was completely cloaked in stealth. I did not make a single sound. The S-Grade Chitin absorbed the freezing wind.

I fell toward him like an invisible executioner.

I pulled back my right arm. The hydraulic pistons hissed silently inside my void-cloaked suit. I channeled all 3,500 points of my Kinetic Force directly into my heavy brass knuckles.

I dropped the void cloak at the very last microsecond.

Malacor’s void-like eyes suddenly widened as the massive shadow appeared directly behind him.

He didn’t even have time to turn his head.

CRASH!

My right hook slammed directly into the side of the Archlich’s starmetal skull.

The sound was like a cannon firing inside a cathedral. The sheer kinetic shockwave shattered the clouds above us.

Malacor’s jagged shadow-crown was violently blown away. His skeletal body was launched downward with terrifying, unstoppable momentum.

BOOM!

The Archlich slammed into the mud of the Ashfall Marches like a falling meteor. The impact carved a massive, fifty-foot crater into the earth, throwing dozens of his own Death Knights backward into the dirt.

I engaged my boot-thrusters and landed heavily on the edge of the crater.

"Who is the primitive beast now?" I mocked, my heavy voice echoing across the silent undead legion.

At the bottom of the crater, Malacor slowly pushed himself up.

His starmetal bones were incredibly durable. I hadn’t shattered his skull, but his jaw was violently dislocated, hanging loosely by a thread of dark magic. He snapped it back into place with a sickening crunch.

The endless voids of his eyes burned with pure, unadulterated fury. His cold, calculating persona was completely gone.

"You dare touch a god?!" Malacor shrieked.

He raised both of his hands. The entire Ashfall Marches turned pitch black.

"Rot into nothingness!" the Archlich roared.

FWOOSH!

A localized, apocalyptic hurricane of pure necrotic death-magic exploded from his body. It was an A-Grade spell designed to instantly liquefy the internal organs of anything within a hundred yards.

The dark hurricane completely swallowed me.

The Zenith Academy’s undead legion watched in silence, waiting for my mechanical suit to dissolve and my flesh to melt.

The dark magic swirled around me violently.

But I did not scream. I did not melt.

I simply crossed my arms over my chest and stood perfectly still.

The necrotic magic slammed into the S-Grade Hive Chitin. And then... it simply vanished.

The biological armor was the absolute apex of the continent. It had evolved to completely reflect and nullify magical energy. The terrifying A-Grade death spell hissed weakly against my black chest plate and dissolved into harmless gray smoke.

I did not take a single point of damage. I didn’t even feel the cold.

The dark hurricane faded away, leaving me standing untouched at the edge of the crater.

Archlich Malacor froze.

His skeletal hands slowly lowered. His void-like eyes stared at my pitch-black armor in absolute, paralyzed shock.

For the first time in five centuries, the Master of Death did not understand what he was looking at.

"Impossible," Malacor whispered, the telepathic vibration trembling with sheer disbelief. "That spell was woven with absolute decay. It bypasses physical matter. It rots the soul."

"Your magic is weak, old man," I stated coldly, taking a heavy step down into the crater.

"That is not mortal metal!" Malacor hissed, floating backward slightly. His mind frantically tried to calculate the variable. "Magic simply ceases upon it. It deflects the very concept of mana! How did you acquire a Progenitor’s shell?!"

I pulled my heavy combat knife from my hip. The thick iron blade scraped loudly against my chitin-plated thigh.

"I found a bug in my basement," I growled, my red eyes flaring beneath my visor. "And I crushed it."

Malacor raised his hand to cast another spell, panic finally bleeding into his ancient mind.

"Rolf!" I roared through the Royal Telepathic Network. "Drop the shield!"

On the high wall, the massive Silver Wolf slammed his fist into the control relay.

VWOOM.

The golden-blue Absolute Aegis Shield flickered and vanished entirely. The Velkrath Imperium was completely open.

"Vanguard!" I screamed, my voice shaking the heavens. "Kill them all!"

The massive black iron gates of the city violently exploded open.

Thousands of heavily armored Orcs, Beastmen, and Goblins poured out into the Ashfall Marches like a tidal wave of pure violence. Silas’s heavy steam-tanks rolled forward, their auto-loading cannons firing directly into the colossal Skeletal Behemoths.

Rolf and Kaelith launched themselves from the walls, diving directly into the ranks of the Starmetal Death Knights.

The ultimate war for the Monster Continent had begun.

I tightened my grip on my combat knife and charged directly at the Archlich.

"Let’s see if starmetal bleeds!" I roared.