CHAPTER 746: SPIRE ASCENSION (XVI)

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Everybody saw Dawnbringer rising up to the skies, emitting a light so bright that he could’ve been mistaken for the sun itself.

His golden hair seemingly came alive like a blazing golden fire; his golden eyes were miniature suns themselves. His flying swords ignited with the same golden fire, and they dotted the skies like shining stars.

Cedric’s light was so bright, he illuminated the entire world he’s in. He truly was like the sun, and it’s this moment that everybody understood why he was called Dawnbringer.

"No, this is fucking absurd! Isn’t he a swordsman!? How can he wield fire like this!? And it’s on the Great Law level too!? Fuck, that’s so unreasonable!"

"The Great Law of Fire plus the Great Law of the Sword...Dawnbringer, you are one insane motherfucker!"

"That’s so broken!?"

"He turned into the incarnation of an actual sun. A great law sun! Fuck this!"

"So he was hiding more! I knew it!"

The emergence of Cedric bathing in golden fire had the audience going wild. They truly didn’t expect this.

They thought that it was over for him, that he would meet his unfortunate end on this stage. It would’ve been sad to see him die, but he signed an agreement before going in, so there’s nobody he could blame other than himself.

Yet, instead of dying, Dawnbringer rose instead, revealing a hidden edge and a trump card he’s been holding on to all this time. It seems that he finally felt overwhelmed enough to reveal this.

Seeing him turn into the incarnation of the sun was a big deal to everybody, especially to those who recognize that he’s wielding the power of the Great Law of Fire.

They have seen Cedric’s excellence with the sword. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he’s better than 95% of all the swordsmen throughout this entire chaos realm.

This made them believe that he was a one-trick pony. Yet now, he just revealed that he wasn’t.

The emergence of the dawn in this ruined world greatly startled the Creep Phantom Moths. They buzzed at the threat posed by this light and this heat because they could certainly feel it.

And it wasn’t just them. Even the audience could almost feel the heat emanating from the screens. It even disillusioned those who are situated in the coldest regions of the chaos realm.

It was here that they watched as Dawnbringer indifferently raised his sword, now blazing with golden fire.

He drew a line over the horizon with the sword’s edge, and all of a sudden, the whole world was engulfed with fire.

Everything that his golden fire touched was burned, refined, and fed to the aching world beneath his feet.

Then, Cedric began marching forward as the bugs around him writhed in agony and pain, his eyes gleaming with burning indifference, making him look like an actual god of fire.

After a couple of steps, he waved his sword once more and sent another wave of fire. This time, everybody could feel both the incinerating temperature as well as the petrifying sharpness of that sword strike.

He used this combination to sever the line between reality and illusion, completely exposing the appearance and the location of the previously hidden Creep Phantom Moths.

This also exposed their nests, which occupied the majority of this world’s space, revealing just how much corruption there was around. The reality proved worse than what it was previously, and its appearance was enough for the majority of the audience to feel their scalps numbing.

However, Cedric looked at all of this with nothing but pure indifference.

He raised his hand, and then suddenly, ten gigantic suns appeared above him, arranged in a circle.

At that instant, the temperature of the entire world rose incredibly high. Even the bugs that could previously resist the hot temperatures could no longer do so after this. As for those who couldn’t, they were, of course, killed right away.

Cedric then planted the sword on the ground, holding on to it with both hands. His back remained ramrod straight as his eyes coldly regarded the alarmed moths around him.

Then, with a sneer, the might of dawn was unleashed upon them.

All ten suns released rays of light, brilliantly illuminating the world. Heat rose and light flooded the surroundings. All darkness and shadow were melted and eradicated, like they have no place in Cedric’s kingdom.

One must know that aside from being hot, those rays of light were sharp. Cedric could combine the might of both laws seamlessly with each other. In fact, it’s the very first pair of laws he learned how to merge together, and it’s the one he’s most familiar with.

To the bugs, this was hell. They not only had to endure the heat, but they also had to face the sharpness of those lights. And since it was light, they couldn’t run away from it. Their only choice was to confront it, which was incredibly ironic given that this was exactly what they did to others.

The Creep Phantom Moths wailed and screeched to the heavens, trying their best to flee to the fabric between reality and illusion. They mourned for the destruction and death of their children, but they valued their own lives more.

They already knew that this sea of fire and light was incredibly harmful to them. They could feel themselves being swallowed up the longer they stayed. It’s like these elements were their mortal enemy, one that will certainly never show them any hints of mercy.

Yet despite their best efforts, they can’t run away. Their ability to swim between states of reality had been crippled somehow, and they couldn’t understand how; all they know is that it was Cedric who did it.

This made them feel overwhelming hatred and fear towards Cedric. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he’s the mortal enemy of their kind at this point because he could pry them out of their safety bubble and prevent them from going back there.

Cedric may or may not understand what they’re feeling. Regardless, though, he couldn’t care less.

With another sneer, another change happened to the world.

This time, the 10 suns he summoned suddenly changed into gigantic swords still blazing with the same golden fire. Their appearance was a spectacle that caused the audience to become speechless.

And it seems that the heat they packed rose even more after this transformation because even as they hovered in the air, they were burning the space and time there. It’s like this world and this reality were nowhere near enough to contain them.

Then, with a mental command, the sword fell from the skies, descending directly at the crippled and desperate figures of the moths.

Some tried to escape; others decided to use whatever means they had left to protect themselves, yet nothing they did saved them from their end—stabbed and completely wiped out from existence in body, mind, and soul by the gigantic blazing swords Cedric sent after them.

Everybody watched as all the Creep Golden Moths died miserably, swallowed and refined by the golden flames.

After killing their targets, the gigantic swords exploded like comets landing for an impact. A flood of golden flames engulfed the entire world, turning it into some kind of golden hell.

With what remains of the world being so corrupted, plus whatever Cedric did just now, by all logic, this world should’ve collapsed, yet it didn’t. It’s unknown if it’s due to it being nothing but a simulation or something else, but it remained.

And then, Cedric showed everybody a miracle.

Because amidst that sea of fire and volcanic eruptions, life began returning to the world.

They all saw how the world, as ironic as it sounds, experienced a rebirth like a phoenix.

Cedric didn’t take even a single morsel of the energy he refined from the bugs. He poured all of them into the aching and dying world beneath his feet after refining them with his flames.

Mind you, Cedric was swarmed with billions of bugs just now; every single one of them had been refined by his flames, their very essence and source purified to the extreme and fed back to the world. Furthermore, the largest sources were the moths themselves.

With the injection of the purest essence, the world wasn’t just reborn; it evolved, becoming even better than what it was previously.

As life began returning in full force, with the world receiving all the energy Cedric refined, the golden sea of flames subsided, creeping back to Cedric.

As they receded, the earth they previously scorched immediately transformed into a lush field booming with life and nature. The dried-up seas were refilled, the atmosphere was purified, and small animals were born. Eventually, this world will not only return to what it was before The Horde got to them, but it will even surpass its previous state.

And all of this was because of Cedric’s generosity.

But once again, this isn’t something he’s forced to do. His actions were out of willingness and instinct.

He didn’t even stay behind to see what would happen next. He just stayed long enough to extinguish his flames because they’re no longer needed.

Then, he returned to the platform of cubes for a brief rest.