CHAPTER 498: CHAPTER 453: THE SUN’S FIRE! THE MOON’S LIGHT!

Tap.. Tap.. Tap..

In the dim corridor of the second floor of the fortress, built with heavy boulders, military boots struck the hard granite ground with crisp sounds.

No delays whatsoever.

Accompanied by the highest two commanders of the base, two military priests, and a stationed wizard in high specifications, Aiven and Olivia had already arrived at Gel’s ward, a "ward" with a confinement function.

Seeing the group arrive, two fully armed guards standing at the door stood at attention and saluted Major General Marshall and Major General House:

"Greetings, Generals!"

Upon seeing the young man wearing the same general uniform as Marshall but unfamiliar following behind them, they hesitated slightly before also saluting:

"Greetings, Brigadier General, good day!"

After the group returned the salute, the rugged-faced Major General Marshall introduced them:

"This is Colonel Gel’s nephew, Brigadier General Galliot. After receiving the message, he just rushed over from the New Continent. Open the door and let the Brigadier General see Colonel Gel."

The casual tone now completely forgetting his previous disbelief and astonishment when witnessing Aiven’s divine descent.

Upon hearing the Major General’s words, the guards’ expressions towards Aiven instantly became much more amicable.

It wasn’t because of the Brigadier General but because of Gel’s nephew; as for anything about the New Continent, it was automatically filtered out. If using ordinary communication seagulls to send messages, even returning wouldn’t have been possible in this time.

"Brigadier General, Colonel Gel... alas, never mind, you better see for yourself."

Aiven noticed both guards were wearing school officer uniforms, and their vast life energy field indicated they unmistakably possessed the rank of Official Knight.

Official rank extraordinaries typically wouldn’t be deployed for mere guard duty, especially in the safest part of the fortress unless...

The least desired suspicion almost entirely confirmed.

Looking up at the heavy iron door behind them, Aiven, who feared neither heaven nor earth, felt a slight reluctance.

Bang——

In the hesitation, the two Official Knights had already jointly pushed open the specially reinforced iron door, revealing a silent darkness like a beast’s gaping maw.

Evading reality wouldn’t solve any problem, and Aiven stepped forward.

Step..

Just as about to be engulfed by the darkness, he suddenly heard one knight softly say by the door:

"Colonel Gel was a great hero! No matter... what he becomes."

"A hero?"

A pause in his steps, Aiven muttered indecisively before finally stepping into the darkness.

Gel was a hero to the nation and colleagues, but maybe not to his family; at this moment, Aiven only wished to return Aunt Daphne and Elante a complete husband and father.

The room behind the door had no windows or light of any kind.

The reason was simple; the "humanoid beast" formed after a Knight extraordinary loses control is photophobic, and any light would cause them intense irritation.

The uncontrolled imprisonments at New Inn Port were also located underground without light to prevent them from rampaging while minimizing all external stimuli.

However, such darkness had no effect whatsoever on an Official Wizard and a Tier 3 extraordinary.

Aiven easily saw, next to the heavy stone wall adjacent to the fortress’s inner side, a giant glass jar filled with some green liquid towering three meters quietly standing there.

Filled with medicines like various leaves, grass roots, and the middle-aged man curled up, floating within the liquid; wasn’t he the Gel absent for nearly a year?

Just by looking at the miserable state, even with Aiven’s composure, his eyes involuntarily reddened slightly.

Gazing over the huge wounds that hadn’t healed enough to expose internal organs, the somewhat twisted limbs, spine, and the missing left leg.

Particularly on the skin surface, there were already distinctly non-human tissues.

Despite his eyes tightly shut, clearly under the potion’s effect in a state of sleep, he still had a flushed face, muscles occasionally twitching, as if he could at any moment burst from the dream to kill!

He also saw the Extraordinary Handcuffs shackling Gel’s hands but understood, as with the two Official Knights at the door, that these were necessary precautions, frowning slightly before relaxing.

Worried this young general might lack experience and couldn’t assess the current situation.

To prevent any misunderstandings, the elderly priest responsible for overseeing things, hair gray and wearing a monocle, with Tier 2 Dean-level prowess, came beside Aiven and explained:

"After the battle that day, Colonel Gel soon lost complete control; reaching Tier 3 briefly before falling back down. Despite his physical qualities barely retaining third-tier levels, the injuries sustained in battle were too severe even for Tier 3 body self-healing to cope.

Moreover, after failing promotion, the residual Combat Qi and that of the Steel Knight continue to clash within him, producing strong counteracting effects. If not for the life force enhancement after losing control, we wouldn’t be confident Colonel Gel could hold out until family arrived.

Even when combined with the Alchemy School’s potions and using the Tier 2 highest level holy healing art regularly, it’s merely keeping his internal condition from worsening further."

At this moment, Aiven’s eyes sparkled with spiritual light, discreetly activating "Spiritual Vision" and "Data Visualization" for microscopic viewing, seeing deeper layers of Gel’s condition.

Throughout his body, not just shattered bones, fractured spine, missing left leg, various intricate internal organ damages numerous, the skin’s surface covered with shark-like dense scales.

Most troublesome were the two conflicting Combat Qi streams, one red one blue, continually colliding and exacerbating his injuries.

Surface bodily damage was secondary; under Spiritual Vision, it seemed a bloodthirsty cannibal shark lurked in Gel’s every inch of flesh, coldly glaring at everyone present.

That was the extraordinary trait from a certain demonized shark in the "Black Sea Potion" that Gel once consumed.

Aiven’s face was grave, and even the last bit of hope in his heart vanished.

Even for mere physical injuries, it might require a Pope-level Holy Professional to use the highest divine art to possibly heal. The most troublesome almost irreversible loss of control was even more daunting.

At this moment, Major General Marshall, standing beside, voiced a long-brewing suggestion:

"As Gel’s immediate superior, this is the last situation I want to see, but I think Colonel Gel might also not want to live in this state between life and death."

For a brave knight, accepting death with equanimity wasn’t a particularly difficult thing. It was even more insulting for a hero to lose consciousness and humanity, living like a beast.

The meaning of the Major General was clear, like in past hospitals where they made family members sign a waiver for abandoning rescue, then pulled the plug.

This time might not be now but after Daphne and her child saw Gel. He wanted to discuss it in advance with Aiven to hear his opinion.

What Major General Marshall didn’t expect was to hear an extremely surprising answer from Aiven, who stared firmly at the unconscious Gel in the huge glass tank:

"Even so, it’s not necessarily hopeless. I want to try!"

"I know you are also a formal wizard specializing in magic potion in the association, but this situation has already surpassed the level of low-tier witchcraft. You..."

A wizard, also from the "Violet Eye" alchemy school’s magic potion branch, advised Aiven out of goodwill. He had seen such things too many times and knew most family members didn’t want to accept the truth of their relative being incurable.

There were even cases in the "Alchemy School" where people did crazy things like turning into humans, but what they got were monsters or just a pile of rotten flesh.

Shua—

Without arguing, Aiven directly pulled out a gold talisman with exotic features from the "Magic Pocket."

Boom!

In the eyes of a wizard and two military priests, who were all magic professionals with spiritual vision, an incomparably brilliant sun suddenly descended into this stone chamber.

In the blink of an eye, it dispelled all the darkness accumulated over the years in this place even though there was no light. Even ordinary people could clearly feel the sequential change.

Several people’s faces changed dramatically, and they couldn’t help but exclaim simultaneously:

"This is... Tier 4, Tier 5?"

"The power of an alien god!"

The three of them stared intensely at the turquoise-inlaid gold talisman in Aiven’s hand, their eyes filled with fervor. Not only hadn’t they possessed or seen such extraordinary treasure of this level, but they also hadn’t even heard of many that were confirmed to exist.

They never expected this young brigadier general to casually take out such an item.

"It’s Inti’s Eye, a talisman offered by the New Continent Jashna Empire to the Main God Sun God Inti—an expendable charm. Could you all please step out for a moment?"

After a while, the magic professionals finally reacted and agreed somewhat absent-mindedly:

"Oh, oh."

Followed by two major generals, they walked out with hesitations, each of them wanting to say more but being unable to. Even though they weren’t sure of its specific effects yet, this treasure’s level would be cherished by magic transcendents from Tier 3 to Tier 4 or above.

Perhaps it might even provide a glimpse into some aspects of that Sun God’s power, which was renowned as a powerful demigod within the global transcendental community.

The most crucial aspect was that it had never been heard that this demigod possessed powers in the spiritual realm. Using it to save Gel might be a sheer waste of the treasure.

But they weren’t the owners, so no one could make a decision for Aiven. They could only leave the stone chamber one by one, some of them pounding their chests with regret.

Click!

The heavy iron door closed once more.

Clap—

With a snap of Aiven’s fingers, Gel in the glass tank was engulfed by a shadow. When he reappeared, he was already laying on a stone bed that rose thunderously from the ground.

Not showing the slightest reluctance, Aiven used his own spiritual energy to activate the "Eye of Inti" and placed it on Gel’s subtly undulating chest.

Whoosh—

The next second, blazing golden flames engulfed his entire body. His flesh seemed to burn and melt before gradually restructuring, yet Gel’s clothing remained undamaged.

[Eye of Inti]: Regardless of the type of physical injury, the body will fully recover in the golden flames released by the talisman. The soul, however, is not within Inti’s domain and cannot be healed (Chapter 425).

Soon, Aiven frowned as, under his spiritual vision, there was no change in Gel’s state of loss of control.

Step...

Without needing to speak, Olivia stepped forward from behind him, replacing his position with perfect understanding. The disguise was now pointless.

The silver bracelet on her wrist trembled slightly, and she retrieved a stone that gleamed like silver moonlight, gently tossing it until it hovered like the moon over Gel’s head.

Prol—

The clear light of the moon immediately spread like ripples over Gel, permeating his body and soul.

[Moonstone]: A unique gem witchcraft, it purifies the soul and calms the process of losing control (Chapter 413).

Waiting outside, the crowd could only faintly sense through small observation windows, the fiery flames of the sun and the cool light of the moon inside the room.

And... the aura of the "bloodthirsty beast" seemed to be gradually calming down!