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665. The Empire's Age of Exploration: Fatima Fatesh's Strategic Battle
🕑 Added 2025-04-25 08:57:47 +0000 UTCAfter the potion, Fatima did not immediately start her attack. Instead, she took even more time to prepare. Arcanists are famous throughout the Astral Realm for a few reasons. They inherited a unique Mana Frequency from their predecessors, the Magus Race, granting them magic versatility unlike anything the world has seen. They lived in a highly controlled society dedicated to developing and sharing knowledge. They have secret access to knowledge from other universes.
But one of their greatest abilities is their preparation. It’s not uncommon for an Arcanist to lose a battle or fail during an invasion. However, as long as they survive, they can retreat, learn from their mistakes, and prepare a targeted plan for the next time. They have endless knowledge to draw from and can even ask others to help them analyze and plan.
Fatima is careful by nature because she is the last living family member of her daughter, and she does not want something to happen to her. So, she took full advantage of her nature and prepared for another half year before launching the attack.
“Is everything ready?” Fatima asked.
“There are no issues,” Khadija answered.
“Then, execute the plan.”
As soon as these words left her mouth, things proceeded at an alarming speed, which was what Fatima planned to prevent the God Corpse from noticing and reacting. The Anti-Divination Stupefy Potion was transmuted silently through the air by countless invisible artifacts. Fatima and Kadhija targeted all the surviving shadow beasts and their surrounding hordes.
Before these creatures could react, they felt dizzy and passed out. Then, a golem appeared in their area to teleport them to the Cause and Effect Area of the tower, cutting their connection to the God Corpse. A few creatures with wild instincts or extraordinary senses woke up, but the potion had drastically weakened them.
Khadija did not play around and allocated the most powerful golems on board to finish the job. Then, once the last one was captured, Khadija noticed a terrifying consciousness slowly waking up.
“So, Arcanist Liu Zheng was correct,” Fatima muttered. Over the past six months, she tried to find the corpse with no success. Gods are naturally able to hide their information, including from divination. It seems this ability has become even more potent on the corpse. After all, its entire purpose is to hide itself until it evolves into a new being/consciousness.
Fatima looked at this strange creature that was five meters tall, humanoid, with a black body and scales, one horn, and claws emanating the power of shadow. As she glanced at this “ugly” creature, Fatima shook his head. Despite the Empire’s disdain for Gods, they had to admit that Gods were almost the perfect creatures.
Upon ascension into a God, a person will develop several abilities that they share in common, including minor space manipulation, minor dream manipulation, soul manipulation, numerous immunities, and lastly, high charms. All gods — no matter the race — will be considered beautiful by a non-God. However, this abomination before Fatima was the definition of ugly, which was a sign of his corruption.
“Are we ready?” Fatima asked.
“We are, Madam.”
“Then, let’s get started.”
The magic tower released a spell that manifested in the shape of more than a hundred magic circles stacked on top of each other. Then, an ungodly golden light spread to every corner of this plane, turning the former gloomy and eerie world into a golden utopia.
Every Arcanist capable or willing to explore the Astral Realm must take a course. One of the first lessons they learned was that 99% of power systems in the Astral Realm focus on one element, so when facing these systems, the best strategy is to use the counter element.
The God Corpse used to have the [Shadow Authority], a subset of the Darkness Element. So, Fatima used a potent Light Charm to weaken his opponent. The God Corpse screamed, his voice echoing in this desolate plane. Black spots started leaving his body, a sign of leaking shadow energy.
“Continue,” Fatima ordered, and Khadija activated the second spell: a Resentment Curse. Gods have a high immunity to magic or energy in general, including curses. The God Corpse’s immunity to curses or dark spells is even higher than normal due to its corruption. So, why did Fatima choose this spell despite knowing this?
“It’s because she knew her spell would work for a variety of reasons. Magic that can affect and kill the Gods is called High Magic. Edward’s Arcane Rune Magic was a High Magic, and he updated it even more after studying Primordial Runes and the very first High Magic in his universe — Elven Magic.
During the Guzznad Invasion, after the fall of Verdant and the death of Queen Mirthal, Edward got his hands on her Sun Elf Bloodline and learned a bit of High Elven Magic. He analyzed and incorporated it into his system.
Of course, this was not the only source of Fatima’s confidence. She chose the [Resentment Curse] for a reason. The God Corpse devastated this plane, killing all its inhabitants. The amount of resentment energy left in this plane was astronomical, and her spell was designed to use that energy as a boost.
The God Corpse roared a second time as a red marking materialized on his body from his horn to his toes. His voice contained a hidden pain, but no one paid attention to him.
“How much energy do we still have?” Fatima asked.
“57%.”
“It’s not too bad,” she nodded. She bought three Rank 8 Aether Cores and Rank 7 Cores for this expedition, which was quite overdoing it. However, Fatima did not think so. If not for the limit of her Security Level, she would have saved to buy more. These cores were her last desperate attempt in case something went wrong during the voyage. She would use all their energy for a desperate life-saving attempt on Rana.
“Commence the Third Strike,” Fatima ordered.
“As you command.”
The tower released a strange voice, and as soon as the God Corpse heard it, it held its head before screaming in agony. What was Fatima’s major? The Soul. It could be said she was the nemesis of a creature like the God Corpse, who was trying to or had just nurtured a new soul or consciousness.
The God Corpse roared in agony for a few seconds before it fell and crashed on the ground, generating a shockwave capable of decimating North and South America.
“The Fourth Strike,” Fatima yelled. Black Gold Anti-Divination chains materialized in the sky before binding the creature, trying to capture it. It struggled desperately for a while, but it was useless. Then, the creature stopped fighting as its eyes lit up golden red. Its aura started drastically increasing, activating all of Khadinja’s alarms.
“The Plane Will — the creature swallowed it and now is using its power,” Fatima muttered. “Use the Plane Will Seal Spell and attack him with another Purification Spell.” The study of Plane Will drastically improved during the Age of Exploration, and they had already surpassed Edward’s knowledge before he left.
The red seal entered an unknown dimension before a golden pillar of light descended on the creature.
“Madam, our attack has merely stalled them,” Khadija reported.
“I can see that.” The creature resisted the seal while using its authority as the Plane Will Controller to absorb the world’s energy and sustain its injuries.
“Khadija, I need to borrow your calculating power,” Fatima ordered before fusing with her Tower Spirit. With a mind now faster than any Quantum Computer could dream of, she started inventing a spell that separated a Plane Will from a soul.
Fatima knew a little about Planes Will because one healer suggested using it as a way to save Rana. The idea was to use the Plane Will like a mother’s embryonic sac and use its power to heal Rana’s injury. The plan was not accepted because of how many things could go wrong, especially the possibility of the Plane Will overtaking Rana’s young mind. However, during the time she explored that idea, she learned a great deal about the subject.
With all this knowledge as a foundation, she swiftly invented a new spell. She ran a few simulations to find flaws before perfecting it.
“How much energy is left?”
“9.75%.”
“Higher than I estimated,” Fatima muttered. She was fighting the Plane Will, using a potent Light Spell, and creating a new spell. All these things require energy, so she expected to have way less.
“Switch to the Second Core.”
“As you wish.” The greatest ability of Primordial Runes is their ability to manipulate and convert energy. Normally, there would be a small delay for Fatima’s actions in the old towers’ models. However, with the Empire’s current technology, the change was seamless, with no delay or problem.
“We are ready,” Khadija reported.
“Then, let’s strike.”
Fatima activated the spell, and it manifested a towering sword above the sky. The sword struck down, seemingly having separated a piece of the void. However, Fatima knew what was severed was the God Corpse’s connection to the Plane Will.
Without this source of power, the Anti-Divination Chains did their work. They sealed all the creature’s strength and power before taking him to the tower.
—
[AN; According to my calculations, there will be 2-3 more chapters before we return to Edwards’ POV.]
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