Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2853: Fate

Two days passed.

No message.

No update.

No confirmation.

The waiting was unbearable.

When the door finally opened, he was already standing.

Jinkan stepped inside.

Behind her was Magus Rex.

”How is she?” Emery asked immediately.

Jinkan did not answer at once. The hesitation was worse than any words.

”It’s bad,” she said quietly.

Rex took over, his tone professional. ”After her testimony, she was classified as a critical witness. That placed her under controlled custody. Official healers only. Limited external interference.”

”Limited?” Emery repeated.

”They do not want contamination of testimony,” Rex clarified. ”Especially now that the Astiel are contesting the validity of her soul revelation.”

Emery understood instantly.

”They’re isolating her,” he said. ”These bastards!!! They want her to die!!!”

The chains trembled as his aura flared violently. The beast within him stirred, savage instinct rising to the surface.

”Emery!” Jinkan stepped forward. ”Control yourself.”

His breathing was uneven.

”It is difficult to send anyone inside,” she continued more gently. ”But as the accused, you have the right to request a witness visitation.”

”When?” he demanded.

”Soon.”

The hours stretched until they felt inhuman.

Every footstep in the corridor outside his cell sounded like a verdict. By the time the guards finally arrived to escort him, Emery’s restraint was hanging by a thread thinner than silk.

The witness chamber lay deep within the justice complex, layered with defensive arrays and guarded by elite enforcers. It was not a dungeon; it was orderly, even comfortable. Soft light panels glowed along the walls. Clean air flowed through filtered vents. A single wide bed stood at the center.

And on that bed—

Klea.

She looked thinner than he remembered.

Two official healers stood at either side, hands hovering above her body, maintaining a steady flow of stabilizing energy. Their technique was careful and clinical, but Emery recognized at once that it lacked depth. They were preserving her, not healing her.

He crossed the room in three steps.

When he sat beside her, her eyelids trembled, then slowly lifted.

Her eyes found him instantly.

The faintest light appeared in them.

She could not speak; her lips barely parted, breath shallow and uneven. But the joy in her gaze struck him harder than any divine sword.

”I’m sorry...” he whispered, ”I’m sorry I came so late.”

He took her hand.

It was cold.

He extended his divine sense gently, carefully, slipping past the outer layers of stabilizing spells and into the core of her condition.

What he found made his heart seize.

Her life force was unraveling.

Her spiritual sea was fractured in multiple places, cracks radiating outward like shattered glass. The forced extraction of the Winter Lord’s soul fragment had torn through her foundation, and worse—deep within, a residue remained. A frozen sigil embedded into the roots of her essence, coiled like a parasite.

It was not fading.

It was feeding.

She was not merely weak.

She was dying.

”No...” the word left him like a broken breath. ”No, I won’t allow this.”

He moved immediately.

From his domain, he withdrew his finest soul-recovery elixir, a treasure capable of restoring shattered spirit channels. He guided it between her lips with careful spiritual pressure, ensuring absorption despite her fragile state. Then he formed the seals for [Sea Soul Restoration], summoning a tide of deep blue spiritual water that flowed from his palms into her body, weaving through her damaged soul like a healing current.

For a moment, her aura steadied.

The fractures slowed.

Hope flickered.

Then—

The cold answered.

The frozen mark left by the Winter Lord flared violently, releasing a surge of glacial energy that collided with his healing tide. Frost erupted along the spiritual channels he had just repaired, crystallizing the restorative energy and shattering it from within. The backlash shot up his arm, forcing him to sever the connection before the corruption spread to him.

The healers staggered backward in alarm.

Emery’s expression darkened.

That was not an ordinary remnant. It was a mark carved by a three-cosmos existence, a deliberate curse branded into the roots of her soul.

Emery’s hands trembled once—then steadied.

”I need a catalyst,” he said, voice low but urgent. ”Something that can override high-grade glacial law. Divine-tier fire essence, phoenix marrow, sun-core resin—anything above tier 6 grade.”

The two healers froze.

”We do not have authority to—”

”Then get someone who does.”

They looked toward the guards.

The guards did not move.

”The witness is under judicial custody,” the senior guard said stiffly. ”External resources require clearance.”

”Clearance?” Emery’s voice cracked. ”She is dying!!!.”

Klea’s life sign flickered again. The monitoring array gave a soft, warning pulse. Frost crept faintly along the edges of her spiritual channels.

Emery turned sharply. ”Find Jinkan... FIND HER NOW!!”

The guards hesitated.

It was only a heartbeat—but to Emery it felt like a lifetime slipping away.

Klea’s pulse stuttered.

Something inside him snapped.

If they delayed him one breath longer, he would tear the formation apart.

He would shatter the building.

He would burn the entire justice complex to the ground.

But he stopped himself

Klea was too fragile.

One uncontrolled surge could shatter what little held her together.

Klea stirred.

Her fingers twitched weakly in his grasp.

”Emery...” she whispered, barely audible.

”....I .... i... blamed... fate... for taking you away...”

”But I thank fate... for letting me see you... one more time...”

One more time.

No.

This was not a farewell.

The word fate struck him like thunder splitting open the sky.

Fate.

A memory surfaced—clear and sudden.

Grand Magus Aurora.

The oracle’s gift.

His divine sense plunged into his domain until it found a carefully preserved container.

Inside lay the [Spring Lotus Fruit].

A spiritual treasure capable of purifying foreign corruption, specifically against the extreme cold.

Perfect.

Without hesitation, he summoned his cauldron.

The healers stared, stunned, but did not interfere.

”I will save you.”

His hands moved with ruthless precision. The chamber filled with the scent of rain after winter.

Green-gold light rose from the cauldron in slow spirals.

The elixir flowed in.

The clash inside her soul was violent.

Frost cracked.

Petals burned.

The curse howled in silent resistance.

Seconds felt like hours.

Finally—

A crack.

A faint, crystalline sound echoed within her spiritual sea.

The frozen mark splintered.

Its control weakened enough for the lotus essence to wrap around it, isolating it, sealing it in layers of warm spring energy.

Klea’s pulse stabilized.

Weak.

But steady.

She would live.