Miracle Card Shop: All My Cards Can Be Actualize

678  Battle in the Imperial Palace - 03

"Of course! That's exactly why I did it!" the man in the owl mask declared proudly.

"What do you mean?" Pride asked, taken aback.

"Look around you! This ritual was only possible through the blood and souls of millions. And as you know, human blood and souls are inherently weak! It requires an enormous quantity to achieve this…" "Imagine…" He gestured with his hand to emphasize the significance of what he was about to say. "Just imagine how much we mages could achieve if people were to mutate into demons! Their blood, flesh, and souls would be enhanced with immense power... power that we could use in any ritual imaginable! Even the power to pierce through reality itself and reach the Akashic Records!" The madness in his eyes gleamed as he glanced at Daniel, emphasizing the last part.

Daniel remained silent, suspicion gnawing within him. It seemed this man might know something about the secret behind his power. In truth, the knowledge of the Akashic Records wasn't entirely forbidden or hidden.

Its existence had been mentioned in ancient texts and tomes familiar to mages. It was as well-known as the existence of Alpha Centauri in the realm of science fiction… humanity knew it existed, but reaching it… was an entirely different matter.

But the fact that this lunatic had linked him to the Akashic Records? Someone must have ratted him out to this madman. Who could it have been? Loki? Or perhaps Hephaestus? He narrowed his suspicions to these two.

Maybe it was Hephaestus. That forge god had a strange kind of greedy glint in his eyes when Daniel dispelled the curse from Loki's son's body. Loki, on the other hand, had shown only gratitude.

Hmm… perhaps that lame god saw something he wasn't meant to.

"Who told you that? Was it Hephaestus?" Daniel probed.

The masked man remained unfazed, and Daniel couldn't read his expression beneath the mask.

"I see… It really was Hephaestus, wasn't it?" Daniel muttered to himself. He decided to trust his instinct. He'll confirm it with Hephaestus later. "I'll deal with that rat later." He paused, channeling his mana and sinking his mind into the mindscape.

Daniel saw the magic circle in a blur. There were many lights intertwined with each other as if he saw a game bug with hundreds of targets in one. He could click the target or even destroy it, but he wouldn't know if he destroyed the wrong one, and something might explode or something bad happen.

That's why he just can't mindlessly use the enchantment-destroying spell to destroy it, as for the spell that can return the spell on the battlefield. He only has a Spell Reversal card, which is a single target spell. —

Card: Spell Reversal

Picture: A mage in a blue robe uses his spell to reverse his opponent's spell to become just a harmless normal element.

Rarity: Common

Type: Quick Spell

Mana Cost: 1 Water, 1 Non-Element

Description: Return the target non-creature spell to its owner's hand

Flavor text: —

But what he's seeing are hundreds of targets, which is impossible for his card to clear it. Since the return spell effect didn't have a field target spell that could return all of this spell, he can't do anything with it… Hell… he didn't even think of adding the spell-returning effect that targets the battlefield!

"Are you going to stop the ritual the easy way…" Daniel produced his saber from his storage space, gripping it in his right hand. "…or the hard way?"

He shifted into a combat stance, glancing at Koyuki and signaling her with his eyes to prepare for support. There was still time to stop the ritual; the Hell Gate hadn't fully materialized yet.

At Daniel's word, the man in the owl mask quickly retreated to the back while the mages in the room surged forward. All of them were homunculi, mages bound to serve in the lower ranks of the Hightower's enforcement forces.

Through their contract with the Hightower, their souls would be resurrected into pre-prepared homunculi bodies upon death, ensuring their servitude remained unbroken and eliminated the fear of death altogether.

For lower-ranking mages with limited potential and no influential family to support their research, becoming a servant of the Hightower was akin to receiving a scholarship, a chance at success and recognition.

"The hard way it is, then," Daniel coldly said, he then surging forward with a blade in hand.

The saber in his right hand slashed down at the mages rushing to subdue him, their close-combat magic enhancing their physical prowess.

In his haste, Daniel showed no mercy. He targeted vital organs and limbs, aiming to neutralize them as quickly as possible. His strikes aimed for throats, severed the legs and arms, or cut through their stomachs, inflicting large gaping wounds to incapacitate them.

With his left hand, Daniel drew his trusty large-caliber handgun, firing at the mages attempting to cast spells from a distance, either to assist their comrades or subdue him directly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunfire forced the surviving mages to abandon their spells and switch to defensive magic.

Bang!

Another shot rang out, piercing through a mana shield and killing the mage behind it. But before Daniel could focus on the remaining long-range casters, another group of mages charged at him, forcing him into close combat.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the remaining mages retreated, scrambling for cover. They darted behind anything they could find, large support pillars, piles of supplies, or overturned furniture.

Daniel couldn't intercept them in time, but Koyuki reacted quickly. She hurled several talismans toward the fleeing mages as they dove for cover.

The talismans honed in on the mages like homing missiles. The moment they made contact with a mage's body, they unleashed electric sparks, shocking the mages and reducing them to charred remains. With Koyuki trained in the art of the Miko and as a wielder of Yamata no Orochi's divine souls, her talismans contained traces of divinity.

This meant the damage inflicted not only destroyed the mages' bodies but also severed their souls, forcing them immediately into the cycle of life and death. This barred their souls from returning to the prepared homunculus bodies stored in safe locations, effectively killing them permanently.

The sudden and permanent nature of these deaths shocked the remaining mages. Fear surged through their hearts, and they found themselves dreading Koyuki more than Daniel. If they had to die, they would rather face Daniel's blade than Koyuki's talismans.

"Pride! Find a way to undo the ritual. It'll take me some time to neutralize them all," Daniel called out to Pride, the only one skilled enough in magic and rituals, second only to Envy.

Pride nodded and rushed toward the center of the magical ritual, only to find the man in the owl mask blocking her path, determined to stop her from interrupting the ceremony.

Realizing the fight would not end quickly, Daniel summoned hundreds of blade drones from his Universal Pocket.

The drones buzzed to life the moment they were released. With the control of Nexus Prime, their efficiency rose to several levels that were better than their original level. They immediately flew toward the mages, slicing through them with brutal precision and turning them into minced meat.

The mages stood no chance. Daniel's blade drones, designed for his personal use, were far superior to standard models. Their blades and armor cases were made from adamantine and enhanced with multiple enchantments. Their blades could cut through tank armor with ease… let alone human flesh, even when reinforced by powerful spells.

Blood splattered, and the mages screamed in agony as the blades tore through them, reducing them to minced meat. Within mere seconds, all the homunculus mages were no more.

Daniel and Koyuki rushed to assist Pride, who was locked in battle with the man in the owl mask.

Pride produced a few pieces of the Chromatic Philosopher's Stone and activated her spell, sealing the space around the area to prevent the owl-masked man from escaping.

But the moment Daniel stepped near the center of the magic circle, the owl-masked man muttered an incantation, his voice laced with dark power. The blood magic circle on the ground began to glow an intense red, the light growing brighter and brighter until it swallowed Daniel completely. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As the light faded, Daniel was gone.

"Hahahahaha! Finally, the trap worked!" the owl-masked man laughed maniacally, his voice triumphant as his plan succeeded.

Koyuki's eyes turned icy with fury. Divine lightning crackled from her hands, striking the man in the owl mask. Her eyes shone with an intense, holy light as the power of Yamata no Orochi flowed through her.

The lightning didn't kill the man; it merely hurled him against the wall, shattering his mask and revealing his face. He was of Turkish descent, his noble features etched with arrogance.

"Where did you send him?!" Koyuki demanded, her voice sharp with anger. She grabbed the man by the throat with her delicate-looking hand, her grip fueled by the divine strength of Orochi's power, making her far stronger than any ordinary human.