Chapter 347: The Variable (Part 11)

  "Yes, good news." Stephen smiled slightly. He stood up and walked to the bed, reached out and gently pressed on Javi's head. A wave of black and white magical energy swept over him.

  A long, drawn-out breath came from Javi's throat, and then his tightly closed eyes slowly opened. He twisted his neck, looking left and right, then his gaze fell on the faces of Inham and Stephen, revealing a hint of confusion and bewilderment.

  "What?" Even someone with Bishop Inham's cunning and composure couldn't help but shudder. This was definitely not the action of someone whose mind was a chaotic mess, and that look in his eyes could not possibly belong to someone without the ability to think or consciousness. He quickly walked to the bedside and reached out to grip Javi's wrist. The touch was cold and pulseless; what flowed in this body instead was magical energy. This was not a human body; it was completely no different from the body of a Death Knight.

  "Regarding the body, you can be absolutely at ease. I selected all the parts meticulously crafted by Valthor and combined them. I even used all of their internal organs. In addition, I incorporated many secret arts I learned from the East. Even if Valthor came himself, he couldn't have done better. Now, I dare say your son's body is the strongest on this continent. It is the crystallization of the highest magical artistry." Stephen pointed to the scattered limbs in the corner of the room. All kinds of muscles, bone marrow, and internal organs were completely decomposed to the smallest degree, like a pile of offal dissected by the most masterful butcher. Only two heads were still intact, their original owners' appearances still discernible. Sylka's fierce and ferocious face, and Rodhart's handsome features, now lay quietly on the ground like two sculpted busts.

  "How do you feel?" Inham asked, looking at Javi. At this moment, his expression was different from any before. Whether it was the aura of a bishop, a Necromancer, or the deep cunning of a mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes, not a trace of it could be felt from him anymore. He was now no different from the tens of millions of fathers in the world.

  For some reason, Stephen, who saw this expression from the side, couldn't help but reveal a slight smile. This was different from the smile he had been wearing on his face until now. It was also genuine, from the heart. However, this smile didn't hold much goodwill.

  Javi just nodded lightly, not speaking. Even so, it was enough. A son who could understand words and nod was already enough to satisfy Inham. But Javi's eyes still held a look of bewilderment.

  Stephen returned to that very ordinary smile, shrugged his shoulders, and said: "There's a small imperfection. Neither of these Death Knights had vocal cords, and your son's original ones were also ruined by Sandro, so he can't speak for now. We can attach one later."

  "How was his consciousness restored?" Inham turned to ask. This was what he was most concerned about.

  Stephen smiled faintly: "The power of Universal Redemption was truly beyond my expectations, and coupled with the considerable foundation of white magic in his own body, I thought of a way. I used Necromancy to deliberately and slowly erode his spirit and brain, inducing the power of Universal Redemption to clash against it. I'm fairly familiar with Sandro's methods. His skill in bodily manipulation is something I can't match, but he is lacking in matters of the spirit and brain. At least, I can make up for that."

  "Yes, that could work..." Inham nodded slowly. The reason why white magic healing was ineffective against Javi's injuries was that, from a certain perspective, it wasn't an injury, but rather his normal bodily functions being twisted by Sandro's unimaginable methods. If there was a person familiar with Sandro's methods, with magic control comparable to Sandro's, who also borrowed the miraculous healing power of Universal Redemption, this indeed seemed to be the only way without using the Leaves of the World Tree.

  "But I should be the one to apologize. This method was quite risky. If Universal Redemption had stopped midway through my actions, it might have been irreversible. There was no time to discuss it with you then. I figured you would have some contingency measures, so I took the risk. Luckily, it turned out well." Stephen seemed a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry for disrupting your plan. You probably had a better way to restore his consciousness, didn't you? I took the liberty of acting on my own."

  "Teacher Stephen, I truly must thank you." Inham bowed to the ground.

  "Not at all, not at all. By the way, there's a small side effect..." Stephen hesitated for a moment before slowly saying. "You know the effects of magical erosion... Although Universal Redemption compensated for it, his memories of the past might be somewhat affected... Of course, I guarantee that his mind will be perfectly clear and normal from now on."

  Inham lowered his head and pondered for a moment, finally looking at Javi and sighing. He nodded and said: "Is that so... Perhaps this is a good thing for him. The reason he reached this state was, in fact, because he couldn't forget many things..."

  Stephen nodded and said with a smile: "There's a very interesting religion in the Far East. One of its teachings is that human troubles actually stem from remembering too much. Only by forgetting and letting go can one attain true peace and joy."

  "Yes, perhaps so." Inham nodded thoughtfully, looking at Javi. Javi was still lying on the bed, just looking at the two of them with a dazed gaze.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "He is still very weak now, but he will recover quickly as long as he has sufficient magical energy. However, what's needed now is not just Necromancy. After being remodeled by Universal Redemption, his body also requires a vast amount of white magic to be driven. After all, to drive the body of a Death Knight with the consciousness of a normal person, Necromancy alone is no longer sufficient. Just find a dozen or so priests and clerics and have them transfer all their magical energy to your son."

  As if feeling a bit embarrassed about his unilateral decision, Stephen thought for a moment and said again: "Hmm... If you're not at ease, you could wait for a while and see how he recovers. Until you're sure there are no problems, it won't be too late to give that thing to me..."

  "There's no need." Inham reached into his robe and took out a scepter.

  Stephen's expression didn't change, but his eyes were already glowing. There was a clear crack in the middle of this staff; it was clear it was two halves hastily joined together. Stephen recognized it very clearly. This was the thing he had always wanted. The faint fluctuation emitted when the two halves were joined could not come from anything else.

  Inham held out the scepter, then pulled it back a little, as if not entirely reassured, and asked one more time: "Teacher Stephen... are you sure? Is he completely fine? There won't be any problems in the future?"

  "Absolutely not. Rest assured." Stephen answered with a confident smile, but he wasn't looking at Inham. Ever since the scepter was taken out, his gaze had been glued to it.

  "Mm, since you say so. Then I can be at ease." Inham nodded and also smiled, handing the scepter to Stephen.

  Stephen reached out to take the scepter, his hand was actually trembling slightly, like a boy touching his lover for the first time. "It's just a pity that the Ring of Kings has fallen into Magnus's hands, and that wastrel used a total of four Forbidden Spells with it. I'm afraid its power is already exhausted. Otherwise, for these two treasures of the former strongest person on the continent to be reunited in my hands, then..."

  His words stopped abruptly here. His hand continued to tremble, and it trembled more and more violently, even his entire body started shaking, and his face completely changed. His other hand suddenly rose, a layer of black magical energy condensing at the edge of his palm, slashing down horizontally at his own right hand that was gripping the scepter.

  "Eh?" A hint of surprise appeared on Inham's face. He shot out both hands, a force field shield controlled with extreme dexterity blocking Stephen's left hand. Stephen's hand paused in mid-air, but the blade-shaped mass of black energy on it flew out, still slashing towards his own right hand.

  A ball of white Purification light flashed from Inham's hand and collided with the black energy, but it was immediately scattered by the black energy. Inham's hands flickered repeatedly. Balls of white light lit up between the two of them at an extremely dense frequency, finally dispelling that wisp of black energy.

  At this point, Inham's hand had already released the staff. The only hand gripping it was Stephen's own, yet he was now desperately trying to chop off that hand holding the staff, while Inham was doing his best to stop him.

  "You..." Stephen roared. His originally thin, scholarly, and dignified appearance was now completely twisted, his eyes now filled with a light intertwined with fear, anger, and ferocity. The gaze that had once looked like that of a learned scholar was now like that of a wolf struggling desperately in a trap. Now, it was no longer just his hand that was shimmering with black energy, but his entire body. The black magical energy surrounding him transformed into dozens of jet-black blade shapes, interweaving around him as the core and radiating outwards.

  Inham had already leapt back. He picked up Javi from the bed, and with a roll, they were in a corner of the basement. With a casual push, the bed was placed in front of them. He seemed to feel this wasn't enough. With a wave of his hand, the remains of the two Death Knights piled in the corner all flew over and landed before the bed, instantly piecing together into a strange shield.

  With a huge crash, the entire basement collapsed. It wasn't just the basement; everything within a radius of several tens of meters was completely shredded like cheese by these black, blade-shaped magical flyers. The buildings above all collapsed into rubble. Dust flew and tiles splattered. In an instant, this place had become a ruin.

  After a shift in the earth and stones, Inham dragged Javi out. He was already covered in dust and dirt. All the priests and swordsmen had gathered around the square, and no one had noticed what had happened here.

  "...It seems it was truly too risky..." He touched his chest, where several wounds were already seeping blood. Even though he had gained the absolute upper hand in terms of scheming and methods, the other was, after all, a member of the Necromancer Guild, with magical cultivation decades deeper than his own. If it weren't for the remains of those two Death Knights, and if he hadn't unleashed white magic with all his strength to defend at the end, he and Javi would now just be part of this rubble.

  Using earth magic to part the rubble and debris on the ground, Stephen was revealed. This Necromancer was still holding his previous posture, still tightly gripping the staff in his hand. Even the expression on his face was still twisted, and now it was even more distorted, because his head had been smashed by the collapsing stones from above until it looked like a tomato someone had squeezed.

  Inham carefully removed the staff from Stephen's hand. His movements were very careful because embedded at the end of the staff, at the spot where Stephen had gripped it, was a tiny needle, as thin as a hair. This needle, almost invisible to the naked eye, was originally hidden in Inham's ring. It had silently and tracelessly pierced into Stephen's hand just moments before. Whoever was pricked by this needle, the potent poison refined in the Diya Valley and the mixed curse on it would halt all of their bodily functions, and even their magical fluctuations.

  Even for a Necromancer like Stephen, who had been immersed in Necromancy for decades, the most he could do was slightly slow the onset of the curse and poison. And this "slightly" was only a second or two at most, just enough to give him one chance to strike and cut off his own poisoned hand. In the end, this Necromancer, one of the strongest mages on the continent, could only stand there like a clay sculpture, waiting to be crushed to death by the falling rubble.

  "I'm sorry, but I can't give this to you. Although using it this way seems like a complete waste to you, this thing is indeed much more useful than a dozen or so priests." With a push from Inham's hand, Stephen's body slowly fell backward. As it fell, his body began to collapse and disintegrate. In the end, only a pile of garbage-like, withered, broken remains and his clothes fell to the ground.

  Javi lay among the rubble, seemingly having exhausted all his strength. He had already closed his eyes. Inham pressed the staff against his forehead and slowly began to chant a spell.

  Following the chant, the entire staff began to emit a dazzling white light. A wave of white magic, in no way inferior to Universal Redemption, began to ripple through the surrounding air, but unlike the healing nature of Universal Redemption's magical fluctuation, this was a more primal, direct, and intense white magic.

  Inham's forehead was beaded with sweat. He didn't know the correct way to use this staff, but that didn't matter. The spell he was chanting now was actually Necromancy. As he chanted, black energy slowly spread from his hand towards the staff. The white radiance was forced by this black energy to flow towards Javi's body.

  Javi's body was like a sponge. The white magic, so dense it seemed almost tangible, merged into him the moment it touched him. Inham's chanting grew louder, the sweat on his forehead increased, and his hands began to tremble. Finally, all the white radiance flowed from the staff into Javi's body.

  The white light dissipated. The staff had become like a rotten wooden stick that had decayed for decades. The moment Inham let go, it fell to the ground and shattered to pieces.

  Inham was drenched in sweat, even standing was a strain. This was still a bit taxing for his magical cultivation. But his expression was relaxed, and even gratified, because Javi had already stood up.

  After being infused with the white magic from the staff, the wounds that had once covered his body had completely disappeared. And unlike the original Death Knight's body, he now looked no different from an ordinary person, with every inch of his flesh filled with the luster and elasticity of life force.

  Javi glanced at Inham and nodded, then turned to look at Stephen, who had become a pile of dregs. A very strange expression suddenly appeared on his face.