CHAPTER 236: KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Atlas waited for all the orders to be issued and then sprang into action again. He entered the circle Cassandra had drawn in the Throne Room and, without waiting even a second, said, "Sun Palace."

This was the very palace located in the capital of the Epsilon Empire, which was exactly two hundred thousand years old.

With just a single blink of his eyes, the scene before Atlas changed, and he found himself in the Throne Hall of the palace.

Aether and Aelia couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw Atlas. Both Emperor Aether and Empress Aelia were wearing their battle armour, and their bodies were covered in blood.

They were two lovers who had just returned from battle.

The explosions, screams, and other sounds from within the capital could be heard even in the Throne Room, one of the highest points of the palace.

"Atlas!" said Minerva Epsilon, the crown princess herself. She had not seen Atlas, whom she regarded as her brother, for a long time, and both Atlas and Minerva herself had grown up a lot.

"Minerva," said Atlas, and in an instant, he stroked the head of Minerva, who was still a little girl in his eyes, and then turned to Aether and said, "Uncle, let me destroy the gates. I destroyed the gates in Shorekeeper City. I have given orders to the Church of the Night and its two hundred million soldiers, as well as to every remaining church, to take action. The time has come to change the course of events."

As soon as Aether heard these words, he took a deep breath and asked, "Is there anything you want from us?"

Aelia was about to ask Aether what he was doing when Atlas’ voice was heard:

"Come with me, go outside, and continue fighting."

With Atlas’ words, all the nobles in the throne room rose to their feet, each looking at Aether and Aelia with great hope.

Aether hesitated for a few seconds. Even though he knew that his daughter, Minerva, and his son, Lars, had grown up and were strong, he was still a father who worried about their safety. So if Aether went outside, the two of them should follow him along with their mother.

Still, he realised it at that moment. When he saw his daughter, Minerva, and his son, Lars, looking at Atlas with shining eyes, Aether immediately turned to his wife, Aelia, who was standing next to him.

"Are you willing to come with me to the hell outside, my wife, either to live or to die?" Aether asked suddenly.

As soon as Aelia heard these words, she smiled and wiped the devil’s blood from Aether’s cheek with her fingers, saying, "If you wish, call me to defy the gods and goddesses, Aether. I will always be by your side."

These words sealed everything.

Atlas immediately opened one of the windows in the Throne Room all the way and then said, "I’m going first."

Before Aether and Aelia could understand what was happening, Atlas had already leapt out of the Throne Room, which was nearly seven hundred meters above the ground.

His body was enveloped in his aura, a majestic, brilliant colour that seemed to shine like a star as he began to fly toward the battle within the capital.

The capital needed to be cleared quickly. He had seen the first demon gate; he had to act fast.

Atlas, flying over the capital and having seen the first demon gate, began moving directly toward the area where the demon gate was located.

[Exactly 42 demon gates, Atlas. Be careful.]

With a sudden message from Nyx, Atlas managed to focus his attention even more clearly and plunged directly into a shadow.

There were many humans, elves, dwarves, and other soldiers around. Atlas had fallen from the sky like a god, causing an earthquake of magnitude four or even five that lasted for a few seconds over an area of several kilometres.

When the Holy Sword Delusion suddenly appeared in his hand, its aura did not shine on the sword this time, but instead enveloped him in a rainbow-colored flame aura.

The Holy Sword Delusion, black with blue veins, flickering like a heartbeat, shone with a brilliant white light, and Atlas shouted, "DUCK!" There were only three soldiers in front of him, but dozens of civilians behind him.

The three soldiers immediately threw themselves to the ground, and at that moment, Atlas swung the Holy Sword Delusion just once.

An energy as cold as ice erupted from the sword and began moving toward the demonic passageway, perhaps two hundred meters away, which was surrounded by hundreds of demons.

The energy emanating from the sword was utterly destructive. Nothing could stop it. The demons it struck were split in two, and those trying to escape the energy were drawn into it as if by a magnetic force. It was an unimaginable sight.

When the energy finally reached the demonic passageway, it emitted a high-pitched, ear-piercing sound and then exploded. The exploding energy created a piece of black ice nearly twenty meters long and perhaps thirty meters wide, instantly trapping the demons that were still alive and trying to escape from the demon gate.

Amidst everyone’s astonishment, Aether and the rest managed to reach the battlefield and were naturally amazed by what Atlas had accomplished in just one or two minutes.

Aether had indeed smiled... There was a chance, hope.

When the black ice suddenly cracked, Atlas had lunged forward again and shattered the massive black ice mass with a single punch.

Without waiting even a second, he had begun to inscribe the Strike and Destruction runes not into the air but directly onto the gate.

He didn’t stop there. He didn’t forget to draw a few "Haste" runes directly to make the two runes work faster.

The dozens of runes shining on the demon gate began to make a sound like a blacksmith hammering iron, and this sound spread for miles.

No demons were emerging from the demonic gate. More accurately, they couldn’t emerge. Atlas’s ability to use runes had developed after he had naturally eliminated a total of 13 demonic gates. He wasn’t as good as Constantine. That was impossible. Still, he was now faster, and the runes he created were much more stable.

He smiled and began to summon more runes without pausing for even a second.

As the sound resembling the clanging of iron grew louder, the gate suddenly cracked, and Atlas, realising his work was done, departed the scene.

"I’m going to the next gate!" Atlas shouted just before leaving.

With that, he began running toward the gate, which was about fifteen kilometres away.

He strengthened his lower body with his aura and used the Night’s Step ability. His speed was truly enormous.

He was accelerating every second, and when the Night’s Step ability ended, he used it again, effectively stacking his speed, that is, doubling it.

In a short time, he had to stop a few minutes before reaching the demon pass. He could hear that several buildings had collapsed and the cries for help were increasing.

He arrived at the area where the cries were coming from in a matter of seconds and then used his powers to lift every piece of debris that had collapsed around him without further damaging the buildings.

There were many imperial soldiers around, and although they were happy about what was happening, they knew they had to take action.

They had taken action to rescue every person trapped under the debris. Meanwhile, Minerva Epsilon herself had managed to catch up with Atlas.

Atlas was not surprised by this. Unlike her mother and father, Minerva had trained herself in aura arts and, at such a young age, had already reached nearly the third level of aura.

The fact that Eva herself was training Minerva made everything even easier.

Considering that aura users were many times more powerful than magic users, everything seemed quite normal.

Minerva didn’t stop for a second and immediately began helping the imperial soldiers with the transport.

The young girl was sweating profusely under her armour; she had never been to a real battle before. She was the crown princess of the Epsilon Empire; there was no need for her to participate in any battles, especially with Eva present.

Once the rescue and transport operation was complete, Atlas spotted Aether, Aelia, and Lars passing by. The trio was heading directly toward the area where the passageway was located.

Atlas would catch up to them through the side streets.

"MINERVA!" Atlas suddenly shouted.

As Minerva turned to him, he added, "Rescue as many people as you can from under the buildings with the soldiers. Once we destroy the second passage, the number of demons coming here will decrease significantly. Keep going!"

Minerva nodded as if she had understood the orders directly. Ordered the imperial soldiers beside her, especially those who could cast spells, to act quickly, and then left the area.

Atlas, on the other hand, once again covered his lower body with his aura and began to move forward using the Night’s Step ability.

The second gate was almost right in front of him.