Return of the legendary Arcellius Family! (2)

An awe-inspiring invisible force pierced through the sky and quickly enveloped the world. Wind was swept from him at increasingly higher speeds, flattening the grass and flowers, bending tree branches, and shattering glass. The rain seemed to slow down as they approached the man, as if afraid of tainting his existence. He opened his eyes toward the sky and raised his hand. Answering his call, the storm clouds almost trembled. Above the world, World Energy was beginning to manifest and condense in the space above the Arkfell estate! It was the start of a heavenly phenomenon!

As the storm grew larger, Avin's aura began to violently transform and rampaged throughout the estate! It began to materialize around him, making the air around him glow. Everyone, regardless of who they were, be they the servants or the masters, felt a massive pressure dominate their bodies and souls. It originated from the oppression of a higher lifeform! One by one, they collapsed, their statuses unknown. Avin did not bother to hide his aura or restrain himself! There was no time. He wanted to save Freon as soon as possible and so, he completely released his aura to its maximum power, calling upon the full strength of his Blue Depth Core! The tremendous aura continued to propagate throughout the Engelsheft district, affecting everyone equally.

What followed was described already. Inari and his partner were shaken from healing Shirley while the Conquestian was roused from his meditation. They could distinctly feel that the pressure originating from Avin was vastly more powerful than they could imagine. It was one that surpassed all limits: Blue Depth Core Level! The situation was strikingly like the Sword King's single attack using the Cloud Sea Style. Back then, the Sword King also released a sliver of his aura which spread as far as Corasen. Despite both being Rank 3 existences, the situations were somewhat different. Sword King Sin released his power for an instant to destroy the First Hand. Furthermore, he used his power far away from the heart of Algard or Corasen so the effects were limited in scope.

On the other hand, Avin was fully releasing the vast supremacy of his Blue Depth Core, not bothering to hide in the slightest. Since he was located near the heart of Firecast, the strength of his aura was easily a dozen times greater than the Sword King's! Everyone throughout the city could feel an ocean was forming in the sky above! The man took a deep breath and the air quaked at his every movement. His eyes flashed with an otherworldly divinity. This was the insurmountable difference between Condensed Drop and Blue Depth. How powerful must Protector Avin be at his full strength? Or Sword King Sin? Or Lord Wenmord? Or even Drifting Snow Serenity Emperor? It was impossible to think!

Like a sinkhole, the storm of World Energy funnelled down toward him in a beautiful rainbow-colored vortex. Then, lights sparkled throughout the rain, refracting the sights throughout the capital. In an instant, the sky lit up with a thousand colors! Everyone was taken away by this timeless sight. It was… simply breathtaking! Inari, his partner, the Second Sage, Ten Dawn Rosemary, the Conquestian, the citizens, and even Avin were speechless. The torrent of energy finally poured into Avin's body, circulating throughout his Channels, as he refined it into Magic Energy. His Core was being rapidly replenished! Little by little, he was regaining his strength, the strength of Blue Depth Core Level!

When the energy vortex eventually disappeared, Avin was infinitely stronger than before, his Core restored to a significant fraction. His old and decrepit appearance was no more. Now, a middle-aged man, brimming with vitality and power, stood there. He looked nothing like the Conquestian, despite hailing from the same generation. If the same fight at Freon's home occurred again, Avin would be able to effortlessly annihilate them, including the man who used Thirty-Six Falling Meteors! Standing on the same level as the Sword King, he could easily do these things!

The man let out a deep breath, feeling the popping of his joints. While his hand remained outstretched to the sky, he grunted. A humongous Magic Circle materialized in the space above the Arkfell estate! The shocking thing was that… he used no wand or magical tool, free-casting! Free-casting… No Arcanist would believe you if you said it was possible. It was simply unimaginable! To put it into perspective, if someone asked you to chop a tree without an axe, you would think they were idiotic. It went the same with magic. A wand, a tool created from the Asaparagon Tree, acted as a medium to direct Magic Energy. It was the axe in chopping trees. Without this tool, no matter how you tried, you could not cut the tree down. However, that was not as absolute as everyone believed. If you trained your body enough, you could achieve the same! That was what Avin discovered: the secret behind Core Levels!

A horrific surge of liquid Magic Energy gushed from his body into the Magic Circle. He strained his physical and mental concentration until the spell finished. True Perception! Combining Martial Perception and Magic Perception into a single omniscient perception, this was True Perception. It was a supreme ability only available to those who could wield both simultaneously. There were likely less than five humans in the world that could use it! That spoke of just how exceedingly rare and powerful it was. Normally, he could use it without this spell, but his condition, while better, was not fully recovered. There were lingering wounds. Therefore, to maximize his range, Avin had to use a spell to augment it. The unfortunate downside was its conspicuity. Anyone could notice his True Perception!

A second later, an invisible field spread out across the capital city, piercing through buildings like nothing to reveal everything to him! He could distinctly feel… he was everywhere at once. He could see Nassandra in her room, he could see the servants of the Arkfell estate, he could see the other Engelsheft Families, he could see it all! That was not everything. His vision extended further beyond, regardless of how many walls stood between him and there, his vision was absolute. That was the power of True Perception. It went as far as the Celestial Court where Avin saw the Conquestian and the Second Sage. Avin paused for a moment before moving on. His face was masked with complex emotions.

Next, he saw Inari and his partner, who were frightened, and Shirley, who was unconscious. Avin had to raise an eyebrow at this strange sight. The two men were actually Perception Realm Masters! It was quite surprising. Remember, the strongest knights of the Alzar Kingdom were also at that level, which meant that Inari and his partner also stood close to the world's apex! To think that simple Shirley had a relationship with them made Avin wonder. Nevertheless, Shirley might be heavily injured, but her condition was stabilizing. Since the two assassins had no hostile intentions, he had no reason to intervene. He continued to survey the capital city for Freon.

Finally, he locked onto that familiar signature deep in the city. As his attention zeroed in, he discovered an ordinary building in an ordinary district. Freon was laying down in one of the rooms, surrounded by many physicians who tended to his injures. However, his injures were too severe. Just the look of his body would make anyone cringe. His limbs were contorted, and his organs were twisted. Just the amount of visible blood was horrendous. It was not a lie to consider Freon half-dead! The captain and vice-captain of the Third Hand were nearby with dark expressions.

Avin narrowed his eyes as he gave a low ominous chuckle. Treating the Arcellius Family like this… It really did seem like they treated him like nothing. The Protector of the Arcellius Family, who once dominated an entire generation of Arcanists fifty years ago, could he be ignored like this? When it happened a few hours ago, Avin already thought of eliminating their enemies definitively. And that was after considering that Freon was mostly unharmed. Now that Freon was close to death, who could imagine Avin's fury? Veins bulged on his forehead, his face red with the urge to kill! Even the air around him fluctuated between gas and liquid! That was how potent his killing intent became! He would not rest until he annihilated this threat, completely and utterly once and for all!