Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2832: Torments

Inside the same pagoda, buried within the memories torn from entwined souls, a scene from not long ago surfaced.

A frozen chamber.

Runes crawled across the walls like living things, glowing with pale blue light. Chains of sealing energy crisscrossed the air, converging on a single figure suspended at the center.

Klea.

Her body hung limp, wrists and ankles bound by luminous shackles, strands of frost clinging to her hair and lashes. Even unconscious, her brows were faintly furrowed, as though her spirit refused to yield even in rest.

Two figures stood before her in soul form.

One was Prince Denard Astiel, his expression tight, gaze conflicted yet resolute. The other was the towering serpent-hybrid form of the Winter Lord, her cold eyes fixed on Klea as if studying a rare specimen.

”It’s been more than a year,” The prince said quietly. ”She still hasn’t given up?”

”No,” the Winter Lord replied, ”Her mind is... unusually resilient.”

”We don’t have much time...” Denard pressed. ”If she isn’t ready soon, the other clans will grow suspicious. We cannot keep her hidden here forever.”

As if stirred by the sound of their voices, the runes pulsing through the chamber shifted in rhythm.

Klea’s eyelids trembled.

Her eyes opened.

At first, her gaze was unfocused, clouded by exhaustion and lingering soul-pain. Then awareness returned in a rush, and with it, fury.

She recognized them immediately.

Her voice was raw, barely more than a whisper, but every word carried steel.”You dare... go this far... This isn’t about marriage... What is it you really want?”

Denard stepped forward from the shadows, a smile curved his lips—gentle on the surface, hollow beneath.

”You’re too smart for your own good,” he said softly. ”Yes, you are beautiful. But beauty alone does not interest me. What I need... is your talent.”

His gaze sharpened.

”You’ve conquered multiple aeons... all laws of the Sky... You are the perfect candidate to be my Dao companion.”

Klea’s eyes widened slightly as realization dawned.

”That’s why you let me learn the Eternal Winter techniques...”

Denard’s smile deepened. ”Of course. I would never waste such a... promising resource.”

She spat toward him, the gesture weak but filled with contempt. ”You disgusting bastard.”

The smile vanished. His hand flashed out with a slap.

”You should be grateful,” he said flatly. ”A woman from a lower realm, chosen by a prince. Do you understand how privileged that is?”

He paused, then added with a cruel smile, ”It’s just unfortunate... to fully draw out the benefits of the dual cultivation, my Dao companion must be willing.”

Klea forced her head up, blood at the corner of her lips. ”You’ll never succeed. He... he will come for me.”

Denard laughed, ”You’re still waiting for a dead man? How pitiful.”

The Winter Lord finally spoke, her tone measured.

”There is one way,” she said. ”I can implant a fragment of my soul into her,” she said. ”It will overwrite her resistance and prepare her as a suitable vessel. The cost will be severe—nearly a century of accumulated power... For the future of the Astiel,” she said coldly, ”it is a price I am willing to pay.”

Denard bowed slightly, satisfaction flickering across his face.”You have my gratitude, Elder. I will have Caelthar assist you.”

What followed was not a single ritual, but weeks of torment.

Soul formations carved into her flesh. Ancient chants that invaded her consciousness. Freezing essence forced into her meridians, crushing her resistance bit by bit. Each time she screamed, the seals suppressed her voice. Each time she fought back, the chains punished her body and soul alike.

Her will cracked.

Her spirit fractured.

Until finally—

She went still.

The possession was complete.

###

Back in the present, within the storm of battle inside the pagoda, Emery staggered as the memories slammed into him like a physical blow.

Klea’s pain.

Her despair.

Her defiance.

His vision went red.

A roar tore from his throat, shaking the soul-space itself.

His battlefield domain surged outward, no longer a quiet internal realm but a raging manifestation of his will. Spatial rifts split open around the chamber, jagged tears that distorted the pagoda’s formations and sent ripples through its carefully constructed seals.

The Twilight vines, previously suppressed by eternal frost, burst back to life in a frenzy of growth. Thick, verdant tendrils infused with Khaos energy tore through frost-covered ground, coiling up pillars and walls, smashing through layers of ice and formation light.

”What is happening?!” Caelthar shouted, slashing apart incoming vines, only for more to coil around him. ”Third Elder, we have to leave!”

The Winter Lord’s expression darkened as she felt the artifact’s instability.

”No,” she hissed, ”I cannot leave this pagoda... and neither shall you!”

The vines caught Caelthar first, wrapping around his limbs and torso. The Winter Lord was entangled moments later, both of them forced to chant the Eternal Winter Sutra together.

Ancient syllables of glacial law filled the chamber, their voices resonating with the artifact itself. A sphere of absolute cold condensed around them, layers of translucent blue ice forming instantly, compressing into a crystalline prison that froze even spiritual energy in place.

Within seconds, both figures were sealed inside a massive block of divine ice, their silhouettes barely visible within.

For a moment, nature and winter stood locked in a stalemate.

Then something else stirred.

Emery Spirit Devour’s ability progressed, and the immense cold spiritual energy fed into his wounded dark avatar, accelerating its recovery. The Death Gate within his Khaos hub groaned open, and the bound Tyrant Serpents let out silent screams as their soul energy was forcibly torn apart.

Notifications pulsed through his consciousness like war drums.

[Soul Power increases exponentially]

[4200]

”He’s still getting stronger?!” Caelthar’s voice cracked. ”This makes no sense!”

The surge did not slow.

The dark avatar’s recovery synchronized with the radiant light avatar; the two forces aligned perfectly.

[Khaos Convergence]

All three Gates awaken.

Opposing polarities—life and death, light and void—spiraled together, not in conflict, but in unity. The Dao of Heaven and Earth roared to a new height. Gaia’s verdant vitality and devoured soul essence fused into a single, terrifying force.

Inside the lower chamber of the pagoda, the chains binding his true body began to crack.

The death of the Tyrant Serpents fed the process, their fading souls the final keys to shatter the ancient restraints.

One by one—

The chains broke.

[Soul Power increases exponentially]

[4300]

The effect finally showed.

Cracks spread across both ice cocoon.

Caelthar saw it first.

Panic replaced the rigid composure he had worn since entering the pagoda. With a sharp cry, he formed a desperate escape art that burned his life essence. His body flickered, edges turning unstable as he forced himself out of the freezing cocoon.

Emery’s eyes blazed.

He had seen that escape technique before.

”You are not leaving!” Emery growled, his voice layered with the resonance of two avatars and the will of the Elysian Tree.

Dozens of Twilight vines shot upward like spears, twisting mid-air to form a tightening lattice. They chased Caelthar in a spiraling pursuit, thorns glowing with devouring runes as they lashed toward his fading soul.

”Grandmother! Let me out!” Caelthar shouted, scrambling toward the still-encased Winter Lord. Because of his action, the Winter Lord’s ice shell shattered under the accumulated strain. Shards of frozen soul essence exploded outward in glittering fragments, revealing her true form beneath, eyes burning with fury.

In a shocking reversal, she seized Caelthar’s arm.

”You ungrateful child!” she shrieked. ”You would abandon your elder to save yourself?!”

That single moment of conflict was all Emery needed.

Layer upon layer of Twilight growth surged forward, forming walls, cages, and spiraling coils that sealed every direction. Roots punched through the air itself, weaving a living prison that crushed inward with relentless pressure.

The temperature plummeted as the Winter Lord roared, summoning the pagoda’s core formation. Endless frost poured from the walls, a blizzard of soul-ice trying to freeze the vines solid. For a moment, the two forces reached equilibrium—winter grinding against life, stasis against growth.

Then the devouring began.

Caelthar screamed first as the thorns pierced his soul form, siphoning power directly from his core. The Winter Lord followed, her curses turning into strained gasps as the vines burrowed into ancient meridians of spirit energy she had cultivated for millennia.

They struggled, launching desperate counterattacks—blades of ice, waves of absolute zero—but every strike was absorbed, converted, and fed back into the expanding network.

The space inside the pagoda trembled.

Emery stepped forward through the storm of clashing energies, his silhouette wrapped in swirling verdant radiance and shadowed by Khaos icy flame. His eyes held no hesitation, no mercy—only the reflection of Klea in chains.

”You... even if you kill us... You will never escape this pagoda...” the Winter Lord rasped, her voice cracking as vines crawled over her throat.”

”Release us,” Caelthar choked, terror finally breaking through arrogance. ”I will swear an oath...”

Emery did not slow.

”This... is for Klea.”

”NO—!”

The vines struck.

They didn’t simply pierce—they bloomed through the two Astiel souls, branches erupting from within like trees claiming dead soil. Light drained visibly from their forms, streaming through the network and into Emery’s expanding domain.

Inside Emery, Gaia’s warmth and Khaos’ hunger aligned in perfect circulation. The Dao of Heaven and Earth turned like a vast cosmic wheel, grinding refinement from everything it consumed.

Notifications thundered through his consciousness.

[Soul Power increases exponentially][Soul Power increases exponentially]

Energy surged past previous limits, past restraint, past balance.

A final pulse, like the birth cry of a new star.

[You have successfully formed the Third Layer of the Second Cosmos]