Illusion and Manipulation
“A mere clone wants to attack me?” Leylin sneered, the phantom Giant Kemoyin Serpent behind him rapidly shrinking. Its body was now more substantial, and its scales reflected a dazzling luster.
The Giant Kemoyin Serpent snarled, its tremendous tail whipping at the female giant like a mace.
*Boom!* The female giant’s body blew up, and snowflakes fluttered in the sky.
The aftershocks were transmitted to the castle below, and large cracks began to appear on the walls.
*Whoosh!* As the wind and snow calmed, the entire area turned strangely silent.
The white powder formed from the life energy and consumption of frost energy of the many icy races covered the ground. There were also the remains of armour and weapons, which made the area seem even more desolate.
Leylin heaved a long sigh, producing a test tube from his spatial pouch that was filled with a purple liquid.
The seal at the mouth of the test tube opened automatically and a liquid dripped down to the ground, spreading quickly.
Large amounts of white powder were dissolved by the potion, creating a gigantic pool of water. There were countless bubbles constantly being produced on the surface, and they instantly turned the surroundings of the castle into a purple swamp.
The purple swamp continued to expand, also showing signs of going deeper.
‘I’ve made calculations with the A.I. Chip and developed this potion from Arwen’s blood and flesh using his memories. Let’s hope this is effective.’ By this point, Leylin had guessed the origin of this Arctic Queen. Hence, he was currently feeling very serious, hoping that his conjecture was wrong.
However, what he had just seen had validated his suspicion.
Large amounts of purple bubbles were constantly produced, and the original castle of ice was beginning to be eaten into, the main body of the building slowly sinking down.
*Buzz!* A pure, powerful spiritual force extended and began to fuse with the surroundings.
Almost instantly, Leylin found himself in another wondrous environment.
The sky was no longer filled with ice, it wasn’t the crust of the earth. The moon sparkled in a starry sky, and below was a white continent that spread a vast ocean, as far as the eye could see.
Ice Mountain Wyverns, Chilly Giants and other creatures were roaring out, and most had surpassed the limits of Morning Star.
“This is... the real Icy World!” Leylin muttered to himself. He, who possessed some of the memories of the ancient Scorpion Man, was naturally somewhat familiar with this place.
“Yes. The real Icy World, my homeland! Foreign Magus, can you fulfil my wish of returning to my homeland?” The Arctic Queen spoke with a gentle tone as she appeared by his side. Looking somewhat similar to the giant from before, she had on a crown and platinum imperial robes.
“Arctic Queen?” Leylin’s pupils shrank as he scanned the surroundings. “Not a bad illusion!”
“The most beautiful of illusions is still not reality. Even the fake world of ice in reality does not measure up to a smidgen of the splendour of the real Icy World...” The Arctic Queen sighed, her tone so sorrowful Leylin couldn’t bear it. He wanted to speak up, helping her solve the issue.
“As long as you’re willing to help me, you shall be the sole emperor of the entire Icy World!” As if she had seen Leylin wavering, the Arctic Queen added a bargaining chip.
“Pretty good conditions! It’s a pity that I don’t see any sincerity in them at all. How can someone who uses illusory magic on potential allies be trusted to abide by their promises?” Leylin shook his head, his words causing the expression on the Arctic Queen’s face to change.
Blood-red flames came into being on Leylin’s hands. They crackled as they were shot to the Arctic Queen’s feet without hesitation, starting to burn her.
“You’ll regret this!” The Arctic Queen, who was now covered in flames, showed a wavering energy. Yet, she was like an expressionless paper doll as she spoke.
“If I agree to your conditions, I might regret it even more!” Leylin was still slightly fearful at this time. He’d believed that he had a very powerful resistance to illusory magic, and yet he had easily been pulled into the illusion that his opponent had created, and almost lost his senses.
If not for the A.I. Chip’s timely warning, as well as the many secret techniques of Spirit Warlocks he’d learnt from Paul, he might very well have died here.
After all, who would have thought that the ruler of the Icy World was proficient in illusory psychological hints?
“You’ll regret this!” “You’ll regret this!”
An icy female voice resounded in the illusion, causing his hair to stand.
Paper dolls that resembled the Arctic Queen sprang up one after another, the icy world collapsing with a rumble. Whether it was the stars in the sky, the continent, or the creatures upon it, everything turned into an Arctic Queen, giving Leylin a terrifying glare.
[Beep! Host’s brain is suffering from an unknown influence. Determined to be illusory magic,] the A.I. Chip’s voice sounded.
“That’s obvious damn it, but my connection to the real world hasn’t been severed. If I die here, my main body outside will probably die as well...”
Morning Star energy rippled as traces of soul force lingered around the surface of Leylin’s body, giving him a few layers of protection.
Such a high-level illusion could render a Magus’ spiritual force useless. However, it could not restrict a Morning Star’s soul force, which still had a good effect.
However, this was the opponent’s home ground. If he used up all of his soul force, he would be in trouble.
“A.I. Chip, scan the structure of the illusion and search for the point of three-dimensional construct and Wors’ Space!” Leylin silently sent down the order.
The A.I. Chip did not have a good method of dealing with such a situation before, but now with the database on the soul, its ability at analysis had improved by leaps and bounds.
“You can’t escape!” Like the many galaxies in the universe, countless three-dimensional Arctic Queens were formed. These clones that looked like inverted images of the original held weapons in their hands, going on the offensive against him.
*Ting!* Soul force condensed to form a blood-red cross blade in Leylin’s hands.
Leylin quickly took a step forward, the cross blade blocking large numbers of icy blades that produced dazzling rays of light.
“Cross Slash!” A cross-shaped light flashed, and tens of paper dolls turned into fragments that filled the skies.
“It’s of no use. This is my spiritual world! No number of deaths will cause any exhaustion to me. How long do you think your soul force can last you?” The doll accompanying this icy voice was torn to shreds, but it then reformed into the Arctic Queen once more.
“Stop resisting when it doesn’t even matter. Together, we can—”
*Schlick!* Before the Arctic Queen could finish her words, her head was chopped off.
The flat head that was like a piece of paper fell to the ground, and continued to chatter on, “Your only choice is to serve me! Hand over your soul source and become my servant. This way, I might even let you off!”
*Rumble!* Red flames flashed and burnt the paper into ashes.
There was a cold smirk on Leylin’s face. “I’d be a fool to listen to your commands!”
“Kill him!” As if the Arctic Queen had been enraged, large numbers of two-dimensional paper clones pounced on him.
“Cross Slash!” Leylin’s expression was cool as he launched attack after attack, sending fragmented paper flying into the skies, filling it like butterflies. They even covered Leylin’s clothes, his weapon, and his hair.
“I told you, you can’t escape!” The paper on Leylin’s body became as heavy as lead, a few pieces joining to form the face of the Arctic Queen.
Leylin’s body grew sluggish as a blade swiped at his chest. The fine Kemoyin’s Scales unexpectedly could not hinder the blade at all, and a wound opened up on his chest, blood spurting out.
“I told you this is my mental world. Even if your defences are extremely powerful in the external world, I am the ruler here!” The paper doll standing in front of Leylin spoke slowly.
“Is that so?” Leylin’s face was pale, his body in the external world evidently receiving a real injury.
“If it’s true, wouldn’t you have killed me long ago? Why would you still be here spouting so much nonsense?”
“Nonsense?” The Arctic Queen’s brows lifted and raised her arms. Leylin had no idea which part of his speech had irritated her.
The number of illusory figures increased greatly, and in practically an instant the area was completely filled with paper dolls of various colours.
“Since you wish to die, let me fulfil your wish!” Countless Arctic Queens pounced forth.
At this moment, however, a slight smile appeared about Leylin’s lips. “Found it!”
He suddenly moved forward, soul force undulating at his body and gathering on the cross blade, resulting in rays of flaming light that seemed endless.
“Cross Slash!” The gleaming cross blade sliced at a point in the sky.
*Crack! Crack!* It was like a mirror being shattered, and numerous shivering, spotted lights that resembled tadpoles appeared behind it.
“No! Impossible! How did you find out?” The Arctic Queen’s voice became high-pitched and piercing.
“Haha...” Leylin laughed maniacally, ignoring the fury of the Arctic Queen behind him and rushed headfirst into the sea of tadpoles.
“A.I. Chip! Begin destruction based on the previous plan...” Countless black threads appeared in Leylin’s hands and quickly dispersed. Even more mirrors shattered.
*Bang!* A slight tremor was produced by Leylin’s body, and his eyes instantly focused. He glanced at the icy castle and purple swamp as well as the cut on his chest and sighed, “I’m finally out!”
*Chi chi...* At this moment, a furious, high-pitched sound was emitted from under the castle.
“The opponent’s illusory spells are too powerful. I need to leave for now!” Just now, Leylin had lucked out. Depending on the A.I. Chip’s ability to find the gaps in the illusion, he’d managed to escape. The next time, the situation would be different. Even if he could find the gaps again, successfully breaking through them was still an issue.
Leylin’s eyes flashed as he moved a long distance away in an instant.