Chapter 51: All Gathered Together

"Teleporting won't work here. The space coordinates in every part of this maze have been messed up. The center area is even worse - it's at the edge of a higher dimension. Things there are even more chaotic than where we are now on the outskirts. This path we're on is the only fixed route I purposely left. We just need to go through a few more areas ahead to reach our destination," Galadra explained matter-of-factly.

But someone quickly raised an objection.

"Then how did Michelle find her way there?" Adrian couldn't help asking. The current situation clearly didn't match what Galadra was saying.

"Well... you know, this is the real world. Even with my strong powers, I can only change space to a limited degree. There's no way I could completely isolate the center area," Galadra shrugged and answered helplessly. "Michelle has the ability to sense all elements. So she just needs to follow the source of earth element pouring out, and she'll find the right place sooner or later. As for Liana, I'm guiding her, so she shouldn't get lost either."

In other words, anyone else would have to rely on luck to keep jumping between the cut-off small spaces.

Although this explanation sounded a bit more reasonable, it still felt not quite convincing. But we were in a hurry to get to our destination, so there was no time to dwell on it further.

Luckily, the path ahead seemed relatively normal. However, before we reached our destination, we encountered another surprising scene!

As soon as we stepped into the next area, the first thing we saw was Michelle floating in mid-air, posing with wings spread and sword raised, as if about to swoop down to the ground - a frightening sight!

Of course, this wasn't the real Michelle. It wasn't even a solid form! Any object could pass right through it. It was just a lingering image left behind just before the Cycle of Rebirth descended. Because Galadra had separated this space from its original location, we only stumbled upon it now by chance.

"She's been frozen here?" Cyra got excited at the sight and couldn't help flying several circles around the figure. The two looked almost identical, like twins side by side. Of course, there were many differences too, like their clothes and hair color, as well as the color and number of wings. Also, on closer comparison, Michelle's face actually looked a bit older.

"Huh?"

This image shouldn't have been dangerous, but for some reason, its location seemed to be getting brighter and brighter, as if about to glow. It instantly gave people a sense of spatial displacement.

"Quick, get away from there!" 

Suddenly, Galadra, who was standing on the ground with us, seemed to sense something wrong and hurriedly shouted a warning to the sky.

"What? What's happening?" Cyra was startled by the shout and didn't understand what was going on.

The next second, cracks appeared in the middle of Michelle's image like breaking glass. Red light kept pouring out from the cracks, instantly tearing through the whole space.

"Go!"

There was no time to worry about Cyra anymore. Galadra turned and waved his hand, pushing me and Adrian directly into the nearest spatial seam. The scene behind us was like a volcano erupting sideways. A large amount of fierce flames gushed out from the cracks, forming a dazzling wall of fire that instantly split the entire area in two!

This was a true split in half. It felt like the whole world had shattered and started turning upside down. Thankfully we had Galadra's help, otherwise it would have been hard to say if Adrian and I could have survived on our own.

"Don't worry, I can make the remaining unstable space merge with the surrounding areas again. It shouldn't cause large-scale spatial collapse," Galadra's small figure reappeared in front of us after a short while in the neighboring space area. She brought good news, including about Cyra's safety. "Cyra is fine too, but she fell into another space. Her location is now too far from us, so we probably won't be able to meet up with her again for a while."

As for the cause of the accident, everyone had already guessed more or less. In this world, probably only "that guy" had the ability to split space in half to this extent, right?

"Galadra, I knew this maze was your trick. You've got quite a few tricks up your sleeve! But in front of absolute power, it's still useless in the end!" The real Michelle walked out from the space connection directly opposite us. Seeing all three of us blocking her way, she immediately let out a cold snort of disdain. "Anyway, with your remaining bit of power now, you're no match for me. Even staying in the projection of the Cycle of Rebirth, you're far from enough! Why not just let me control the Cycle of Rebirth? It'll be easier that way! How about just surrender?"

"You're dreaming! You really think I'd stand by and watch you do whatever you want?" Of course, it was impossible to accept her call to surrender. Galadra angrily refused, "I know what you want to do! That's why I called for help in advance. Feliciana is here too. You won't get away with it!"

"Feliciana? Didn't she just fight with me? She's far from enough!" Michelle glanced at me and sneered, "Anyway, even if all of you come at me together, you're still no match for me! This time, even if you're unwilling, I'll get the Cycle of Rebirth sooner or later!"

"What if you add me to the mix?" Nicola's voice suddenly came from another direction. She had also arrived here and was walking over to our side.

Michelle was stunned for a moment and fell silent. The situation on the scene instantly became very tense. Neither side dared to move carelessly. If a fight broke out, it might be hard to say who would win in a short time.

Suddenly, I realized that at this moment, in this small cut-off space, the four former Elemental Angels had gathered together in an epic way!

Unfortunately, this gathering was not harmonious. Not only was there the antagonistic relationship between Michelle and the others, but there also seemed to be some unspoken conflict between Nicola and me. When she came over and saw that Adrian was here too, her gaze suddenly became unusually fierce. If it weren't for the powerful enemy in front of us, she might have rushed over to fight right away.

"So, do you still want to hold on? After all, it's been so many years. We've finally met again after such a long time. There's really no need to end up like this, right?" Galadra finally breathed a sigh of relief now that reinforcements had arrived and asked. To be honest, although neither Nicola nor I alone were a match for Michelle, if we all joined forces to resist together, we believed Michelle wouldn't have an easy time either.

"..." Michelle didn't answer, her expression seeming to waver a little bit.

Seeing that she didn't respond, Galadra thought for a moment and then tried to reason with her, reminding her, "Moreover, you should understand what consequences this will bring! Not only could it cause a large number of precious 'Free Souls' to be lost in vain, but if you dare to lay hands on the angel race, aren't you afraid of repeating the disaster of light element overflow from back then?"

Angels' bodies are entirely made of light elements. If too many angels die, it would undoubtedly cause a huge excess of light elements in the environment, leading to secondary disasters, and even the rebirth of the God of Light! This is also one of the major reasons why those conservatives in Edenmere strongly opposed continuing to send troops to help humans.

"Hmph, they brought this on themselves!" Probably reminded of the painful memory, Michelle finally spoke, her face looking very ugly. "If they had just let me kill Elara obediently from the start, I wouldn't have been forced to set my sights on the Cycle of Rebirth! If Elara died, your angel race would end up being led by the conservatives and just return to Edenmere, completely sealed off and no longer going out. But now so many have come out and died in battle. This result can only be said to be your own fault!"

This was the first time I'd heard someone describe an invasion in such a fresh and elegant way! Although everyone was shocked by her shamelessness, they also discovered a fact - that Michelle's goal didn't seem to be truly wanting the angel race to go extinct, but just like the conservatives, she was only seeking isolation at the beginning?

"Haven't you been leading the monsters all along? Why are you showing mercy to the angel race?" Nicola couldn't help but stare at her strangely for a long time before remembering to ask. Monsters and angels have always been mortal enemies, this is an indisputable fact. But now they suddenly found out that the leader of the monsters actually didn't want to kill the angels. Anyone would find it hard to believe.

"That's just the long-standing grudge between monsters and angels. As long as the angel race doesn't leave Edenmere in the future, all problems can be solved easily. The main reason I want to control the Cycle of Rebirth is actually to use this method to force Elara to obey!" The angel race's way of reproduction is different from humans. Controlling the Cycle of Rebirth, the only source of souls in the Angel Descent Formation, is indeed equivalent to controlling the future of angels! Michelle's plan was not bad, but when she talked about this aspect, her tone obviously softened a lot.

"After all, I know this is a race you all created together. As for that God of Light fellow, I naturally know what I'm doing. I definitely won't let him be resurrected again!"

Huh? The situation seemed completely different from what we imagined. Looking at her attitude, perhaps she still cared a bit about the bond between the Elemental Angels from back then. Could it be that she's trying to confuse us because she can't win? However, when her gaze turned to Adrian beside me, her expression suddenly changed, and she pointed her weapon at him with a look of hatred.

"Of course, my ultimate goal is still to wipe out you humans. The most annoying thing about those angels is that they always come out to help humans at critical moments. This forced me to deal with them first. Everything is the fault of you humans!"

What's this all about? Although I knew early on that Michelle hated humans very much, I didn't expect her to hate them to this extent, completely unreasonably! Adrian, as a human, heard this and his face immediately darkened. As someone who used to be human too, I couldn't help feeling a bit awkward.