บท 32: Brimstone.
—
Shaking her head, knowing this is no time to ponder, Ciri gave the grave news to Richard. "Come. We don't have much time. Yggdrasil is almost overrun by literal demons. I don't know how Philippa and the others are holding up, but the last time I contacted her, she was bleeding profusely."
Frowning at the dire news, especially since Philippa, using Yggdrasil's power, rivaled him in terms of destruction, Richard nodded and proceeded to transform the impaled Lich into data inside Huginn and Muninn's virus quarantine server. The undead turned to dust, and every atom moved into the two rotating orbs atop Tor Gvalch'ca. Richard then couldn't help but glance at Yennefer, who was still making her wish in the distance.
Following Richard's gaze, Ciri assured him, "Don't worry. She can handle the wish on her own," before vanishing into the air, drawn into the Ethereal Realms, precisely where Yggdrasil was located.
Observing this, Richard allowed his body to be pulled into the Ethereal Realms by the call of the Sa'angreal tree as well, officially entering the plane where the souls of the dead gather. Opening his eyes to darkness, he realized he was under the roots of Yggdrasil. Richard activated his Transparent World to peer outside but was blinded by the countless unfamiliar atoms before him, leaving him unable to see.
What was both worrying and fascinating was that each atom behaved differently from those in the Physical Realm, following their own wave-like nature. In other words, each atom had its own mathematical formula for calculating the wave function, unlike the Order plane of existence, which always followed Schrödinger's equation.
Seeing the many strange atoms, Richard finally confirmed his theory regarding spectral beings, or in other words, what souls are. Because, at the end of the day, these entities that the material world cannot touch or see are just beings able to hide the location of the rest of the atoms that make up their internal structure into the Ethereal Realms.
Unable to ponder any longer, Richard felt a barrage of earthquakes followed by sulfuric brimstone heat stinging his nose. Wanting to employ Lightning Breathing to command the atoms around him so that he can move faster than the speed of sound using the electric element, and get out of there to understand what was happening, he found himself unable to do so. Cycling through every breathing technique he had created so far, not one of them worked to manipulate the clump of atoms making up certain elements. Not until Richard employed basic Sun Breathing did he finally find some assurance.
Inhaling all kinds of strange atoms that made up the Ethereal Realms and employing proton-proton chain reactions, Richard exhaled the remaining strange atoms used up in the nuclear fusion process, leaving him with mostly hydrogen and helium inside his body. Feeling the strength coursing through his veins, Richard nodded in acknowledgment. Although he couldn't command every element like in the Physical Realms, he could create those elements on his own with his basic Sun Breathing.
As for why he didn't use Mana Sun Breathing, it was because here his basic Sun Breathing was equivalent to Mana Breathing, since Mana was just energy composed of many clumps of atoms mostly originating from the Ethereal Realms. Summoning Hofund out of thin air with logographic rune symbols (Aon) etched in the middle of the guard, Richard instantly dashed forward, exiting the roots of the tree system. This time, instead of lightning and thunder in his wake, ionized flames took their place, which is back to basics, relying only on Sun Breathing to defeat the enemy.
—
BOOM!
Producing ionized flames in front of his body to offset his flying propulsion system, Richard manages to dodge the green meteor aimed at him, which is made of brimstone and sulfuric fire. Noticing that he would likely be injured if struck by this assault, Richard couldn't help but wear a solemn expression, seeing for the first time an attack that could potentially kill him, despite using his Breathing Technique as a safeguard.
Then, seeing the one responsible for this attack in the distance, Richard gazes at a blue-purple titan with two tentacle-like beards drooping from his chin, effortlessly conjuring these meteor attacks one after another. It's as if he's toying with the three mages who already possess abilities to move mountains and seas like him. What's even more horrifying is that, as far as his eyes can see, armies of all kinds of demon types spread across the land like a carpet of stubborn ants, intent on sapping the strength of the Yggdrasil tree.
From gargantuan centaur-like demons with brains filled with brimstone fire, to large imposing satyr-like demons with horns wielding brimstone-lava burning weapons, to hound-like demons with sharp teeth and tails as fast as motorcycles, to small winged imp-like demons launching fireballs and curses, to shadowy demon constructs that absorb kinetic damage and have various shadow abilities—there are many more that he cannot even notice due to their overwhelming numbers.
Flipping his translucent watch to activate the trojan inside Yggdrasil, he accesses the tree's defense mechanism. Tapping on the transparent keyboard adorned with Aon logographic symbols, Richard creates a program feature so that the tree releases pollen causing allergies, weakening the intruders to the point where they cannot move normally. Excluding those already registered in the database system as the owner and creator, Richard finishes the program, noticing the demons becoming too weak to stand.
Drawing the Hofund stuck into the ground, he exhales a large amount of ionized flames, instantly causing his body to burn like the Sun. Propulsion jets emit behind his back like angel wings made entirely out of flame, Richard then enters the battlefield with ten others, intent on destroying the intruders who sought to sap their newborn baby of its strength.
Slashing whiplashes of fire into the enemy ranks, he dodges brimstone meteors launched toward him by a hair's breadth. As he looks at the demon lord, who still finds time to attack him while simultaneously fighting Lanfear, Logain, and Philipa, Richard becomes increasingly solemn as he sees the invincible enemies for the first time.
Wanting to find a way out of these sieges, he utilizes the heat and radiation produced by his Sun Breathing technique in a controlled fusion manner to stimulate his brain waves across various regions. Although different from using Lightning Breathing, which speeds up his concrete thoughts to the speed of light, this method boosts his mind in all aspects, not just accelerating thought.
Finding the breakthrough weakness that forces the demon lord to retreat for now, Richard decides to change his targets. Instead of going straight to the demon lord and assisting the three other mages tirelessly attacking that titan, he decides to hunt down every general of the army they can find, which later cripples the legion of demons into retreat. In which as a result, the demon lord titan is then forced to choose between retreating or continuing the fight and risking being surrounded by the eleven of them.
However, just after he changes direction, intending to hunt two lone generals who happen to be standing together—an vampire-like demon with massive wings and a centaur-like demon with brimstone-filled brains—Richard hears the demon lord say, "Dreth'kath, zin'ashoth. Vazraka narak," instantly causing every demon attempting to approach the tree to retreat into the distance, awaiting further instructions.
With a wave of the demon's hand, the three mages creating gigantic spells are thrown back by a shockwave of burning brimstones, their flesh charred beyond belief. Fortunately, before they could be killed by the generals of the armies, the three mages were able to safely teleport inside the protection of the Yggdrasil tree roots and be healed once again, as in their previous battle before the individual with a flaming mark on his temple appeared.
Now facing a stalemate, where getting too close would result in being surrounded by the generals of the armies, whom he assumes possess magic that could likely injure him according to his cosmic-level instinct, Richard is unable to ponder further upon hearing the demon lord's utterance of the word.
"Ful'rok, zin'ashoth. Torana fel ruul dora'kil."
—
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