Chapter 513: Heavenly Retribution Descends
Chapter 513: Heavenly Retribution Descends
Hearing the rustling sounds, Liam and Hermione stood on the Altar, gazing into the depths of the ancient ruins where the noise was coming from. They saw mounds beginning to form on the sandy ground, growing larger and larger until they reached the height of a person's waist. These mounds then burst open, and countless palm-sized black Scarab Beetles surged out like a tide.
"Wilt", Hermione decisively cast the spell in High Valyrian. The black mist that had been released from her fingertips quickly formed a thick wall of fog around the altar.
Although the Scarab Beetles had been sealed for many years, they were still living creatures. Even though they could burrow into human bodies and bite, they were still insects, and each one contained only a weak life force. As a result, they quickly lost their lives when they entered the fog wall Hermione had created, which was filled with the power of death. In a few minutes, a wall of Scarab Beetle corpses had piled up around the Altar.
Just as the Scarab Beetles began to reduce their attacks on the defenses, heavy footsteps echoed. A large number of Mummies emerged from various exits in the ancient ruins, rushing toward the Altar. Among them were fat, clumsy Ancient Priests and Guards clad in rusted armor, wielding gleaming weapons.
Since these Mummies were already dead, the outer defensive line had little effect on them. Watching them breach the death-black mist, Liam recited a spell in Quenya: "Sunlight shines."
Stimulated by magic, the eight large pits filled with Sunlight Crystals simultaneously released a blinding light. This was the power of the sun, which had an absolute restraining effect on the Mummies, especially since it was midday in the desert. Leveraging the natural advantage, this sunlight formed an impenetrable golden barrier around the Altar. Each Mummy that entered this sunlight rapidly dissolved, and not a single one could reach the Altar.
Finally, the sun reached its zenith. Liam watched the relentless Scarab Beetles and Mummies still assaulting the defenses and shook his head lightly. Then, standing at the center of the Altar, he began to chant a spell.
"Essence of the Horn and Tail, Spirits of the Elements. Rise, stir the waves, and hasten the thunder and clouds..." As Liam raised his hands and recited the spell, dark clouds appeared in the sky, gradually gathering over Hamunaptra to completely block out the blazing midday sun.
The clouds rumbled, and flashes of purple light flickered within them. Even from the Altar, Liam could sense the immense power contained in the cloud layer.
As the last word of the spell was spoken, Liam felt as if a mountain had been placed on his shoulders. At this moment, Hermione, who was in sync with his thoughts, had already withdrawn the outer circle of death-infused fog and activated the Flame of Eternity in her ring, forming a white-glowing protective shield around her.
Seeing that everything was ready, Liam slowly lowered his raised right hand and extended his index and middle fingers toward the Mummy Imhotep lying in the coffin.
Rumble... Instantly, the cloud formation in the sky was complete. In the next moment, the entire sky above Hamunaptra's ancient ruins was covered by the lightning of Heavenly Retribution. To the eyes of Evelyn and her brother Jonathan, who were standing near the entrance of the ruins, and the Guards on the distant cliff, every inch of the ruins was now filled with golden and purple lightning.
"Is this a Wizard?" Jonathan exclaimed, gazing at the ancient ruins transformed into a sea of lightning. "This looks like the power of a Deity. Can a human really achieve this?" However, he received no answer, as his sister Evelyn also stood in shock, her eyes fixed on the ruins where every dimension was charged with thunder.
In the perception of everyone outside the ruins, every time they looked at the dark, thunderous clouds, a deep, instinctual fear arose from within their souls.
With a thunderous boom, a brilliant light erupted from the sea of lightning in the sky. This marked the true beginning of Heavenly Retribution. Unlike the pseudo-Heavenly Retribution Liam had created in his second year, this genuine Heavenly Retribution was different from the start. Soon, the first wave of lightning gathered in the sky, targeting the Mummy on the Altar, and dozens of thunderbolts rained down.
Inside the coffin on the Altar, Imhotep, the target of this Heavenly Thunder, felt a sense of impending doom. However, without being resurrected by the Book of the Dead, the power he could use was very limited. Even so, the 3000-year-old Wraith's power was not to be underestimated.
Liam felt a mournful scream echo from within his soul. Then, a black smoke-shaped human face suddenly burst out of the coffin, rushing to meet the thunderbolt cleaving down from above. A series of thunderous explosions echoed through the sky, and when the noise subsided, both the thunder and the smoke face had vanished without a trace, leaving Imhotep's mummy unharmed.
"Th-This—", Hermione exclaimed in shock, but Liam quickly reassured her through their mental link, "It's fine. This Heavenly Retribution consists of forty-nine bolts, and their power increases with each strike. I don't believe this mummy can withstand all of them."
Sure enough, as they spoke, the thunderclouds above began to slowly rotate. Soon, a greater number of lightning bolts emerged from the swirling vortex, heading straight for the mummy lying motionless in the coffin. Naturally, Imhotep once again summoned the surrounding death aura to shield himself. However, a tiny fraction of the Heavenly Retribution's power managed to strike the mummy directly, and Liam, using his Heavenly Eye, noticed that a portion of the death-black mist enveloping the mummy had been obliterated.
It seems Heavenly Retribution is indeed the nemesis of this evil force. Liam thought, and with a wave of his left hand, he drew several runes in the air. The Sunlight Crystals he had previously arranged around the area activated, and the wall of light encircling the altar began to rise, eventually connecting with the dark clouds above. From a distance, it looked like a golden pillar reaching to the heavens.
Under the influence of these Sunlight Crystals, the black mist surrounding Imhotep's mummy gradually dissipated. By the time the sixth bolt of Heavenly Retribution struck, Imhotep's face, formed from black mist, was shattered by the lightning, and a portion of the lightning directly hit the mummy.
The parts of the mummy struck by the Heavenly Retribution Lightning instantly turned to charcoal. Although the death force allowed some of the body to regenerate, the area around the direct hit, about the size of a fist, could not be restored.
Gradually, as the Heavenly Retribution Lightning continued its relentless assault, more and more parts of Imhotep's mummy turned to charcoal. Eventually, his entire body was reduced to ashes, leaving only a solid, dark smoke cloud floating above the altar, fiercely resisting the Heavenly Retribution.
Occasionally, a human face would emerge from the dark smoke, roaring loudly. With each roar, the escaped mummies and scarab beetles that Hermione had not summoned earlier swarmed out. However, in the face of Heavenly Retribution, both the mummies and the scarab beetles were far too fragile. Even the slightest remnant of Heavenly Thunder was enough to erase them from existence.
Finally, with the last three bolts of Heavenly Retribution, the dark smoke cloud, along with Imhotep's last trace in this world, was completely obliterated. The Canopic Jars and the coffin also vanished. When the thunderclouds dispersed, the ancient ruins of Hamunaptra returned to a peaceful silence, with only a thick layer of black ash on the ground and the barren altar as evidence of what had transpired.
Just as Liam thought everything was over, a golden orb like the sun and a pitch-black orb rose from the Golden Book of the Sun and the Black Book of the Dead, respectively. The two orbs circled the altar a few times before shooting into the sky and disappearing. At the same time, Liam heard two voices in his mind—one grand and one cold: "Thank you for removing the evil spirits from this land, allowing the dust to return to dust and the earth to return to earth. Purple Immortal, all the wealth here is now yours."
"What was that?" Hermione asked, looking in the direction the orbs had disappeared.
"Those are the divine powers contained within the two books. It's a good thing they left on their own. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to use something containing other divine powers with peace of mind." Having experienced the power of deities, Liam immediately recognized what the two light orbs represented. This also explained why, in the movie, Evelyn and Jonathan could perform magic by merely reciting spells despite having no magical abilities.
The final voices Liam heard were likely those of the Sun God and the Reaper. Upon discovering that Imhotep was completely gone, they promptly reclaimed the divine power used to suppress him. However, Liam, who still carried the scent of a deity from the World of Ice and Fire, was shown respect as an equal, and they compensated him with all the worldly wealth of Hamunaptra for taking back their divine power.
"We've hit the jackpot this time", Liam muttered, looking at the two books on the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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