Hebe stood still, staring fixedly at the pyramid in the distance. The city that had already become ruins continued pressing in on her from all directions, seeking to bury her completely beneath the earthquake.
The girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
As her vision vanished, her other senses grew ever clearer. She could hear Ozymandias's wild laughter carried on the wind, feel the anger brewing in the depths of the earth, and even sense the grim chill about to descend from the clouds.
Her fingers touched that cold radiance once again.
A familiar soft laugh seemed to drift over from an unimaginably distant place.
So Hebe gripped the Sword in the Stone and drew it inch by inch from the earth.
The sole of the girl's right foot pressed against the rubble, while her left leg bent slightly forward.
She raised the sword high above her head.
The Sword in the Stone was a relic of the Authority Path. Legend said that February Archon Scarred Father had personally forged it, and whoever was chosen by it would become Scar Father's heroic spirit and take to the battlefield when Twilight of the Gods arrived.
Many nights ago, Arthur had shared the Sword in the Stone's secret with her: it would take different forms according to the heart of its wielder.
When Arthur marched to war, this sword had always shone brilliantly, its might bearing down in every direction.
When Arthur had been bound upon the Iron Throne, the sword had always burned like furious magma.
When Arthur stood at the brink of corruption, about to choose to walk alongside Morgan, its blade had turned pure black.
Hebe had never truly held this sword, but in her imagination, it ought to blaze with boundless radiance and majestic power.
The blade fell, and a pure pillar of light surged forth from Hebe's palm, cleaving dead Memphis in two!
The Red King's majesty was canceled out by another monarch's authority, and the path to the Great Pyramid was opened without obstruction!
The illusion of the Sword in the Stone dissipated from Hebe's palm. She coughed softly twice, blood winding down from her eyes, nose, and mouth in a terrifying sight.
The girl pressed onward without pausing for even a moment, not daring to stop in the slightest.
This was Egypt, the Red King's territory.
A monarch's authority was strongest only within his own nation. For the Sword in the Stone to temporarily suppress the Red King's majesty was already a gift from heaven; how could she ask for more?
As she advanced, turquoise flames ignited within Hebe's pupils. The blue flames soon spread like living creatures, wrapping around her entire body and making her seem like a humanoid blaze.
These flames carried no heat and burned nothing at all.
—Second Mark: Demon King.
42 Fated Death
This was the first time Hebe had fully unleashed this Mark after condensing it, and wrathful blue fire enveloped her.
She once again set foot upon the Imperial Road leading to an audience with the Red King.
The statues standing along both sides of the Imperial Road came alive one after another, their stone pupils emitting deep-blue light amid the gale.
The souls of sinners from every generation had been sealed within them—but now Hebe knew that those sinners had merely realized the truth ahead of time.
They had been too clear-minded, so Ozymandias had ordered them confined within the statues, forcing them to endure agony day and night, to suffer torment too painful to bear.
Hebe silently watched these sufferers.
She raised both hands, and blue flames formed a lotus-petal ring of fire behind her.
Hebe pressed her palms together.
The ring of fire symbolizing discipline swept across those statues in an instant, turning them stiff and lifeless once more.
Then two fully scaled serpents drifted out of the fire ring, their heads and tails joined together.
First Mark: God of Medicine
One statue after another fell to its knees. The suffering souls within them released satisfied sighs. There were no more words; their torment, which had lasted centuries, had finally come to an end.
At the end of the Imperial Road, the pyramid's gates were tightly shut and could not be opened from this side.
Yet the instant Hebe reached out, the pyramid gates rumbled open to either side.
The clouds in the sky grew denser, and gloomy thunder rolled without end. Ozymandias had already fallen into a furious rage.
Hebe looked up and smiled faintly. "Your Majesty is on the verge of ascension. How could a subject fail to come and pay her respects?"
Above the clouds, Ozymandias once again unleashed thunderous fury.
At the end of their lives, the Nine Sages of every generation would all pay audience to Ozymandias and offer up their life flames, allowing the Red King's reign to continue.
Obstructed by the King of Sheep, Ozymandias's decree could not be delivered smoothly. Naturally, he had not had time to reclaim the authority he had granted Hebe.
As one of the Three Kings, she naturally had the right to enter and leave the Great Pyramid freely.
Passing through the pyramid once again, cobalt-blue light flowed past Hebe's sides. She watched those magnificent yet utterly lifeless sights and allowed them to recede behind her.
She leaped high from the stone platform, escaping the cramped stone chamber and vaulting above the sea of clouds like a fish that refused to yield.
An invisible force abruptly emerged, and Hebe could advance no farther.
"This is as far as you go."
The massive Radiant Composite Temple continued operating in the air. Layer after layer of mechanical rings clicked shut, and this colossal wonder that transcended generations finally opened its gates before Hebe.
From within, the God King's pupils cast a violent glance upon the present world.
"Imhotep, thou art indeed a treacherous minister."
Hebe gave a slight bow and actually smiled as though honored. "To receive Your Majesty's recognition is the highest honor. But does Your Majesty truly still have the leisure to chat with a rebellious traitor like me at a time like this?"
"I am Ozymandias, ruler of the four corners of the earth."
Ozymandias's words were like thunder, ringing out from every direction at once. "Dost thou think that playing with schemes and rhetoric like a jester can make me waver?"
"Thou art wrong. Utterly wrong."
The Red King's words held unabashed and absolute arrogance.
"I am myself, the King of Kings. Even the Ennead is not worthy of a glance from me."
"Imhotep, thou treacherous minister, thou hast arrived at precisely the right time."
"To witness my great work, which shall make heaven itself submit!"
The immense Radiant Composite Temple began burning inch by inch. Its metal gates came apart one after another, and a hand made of nothing but white bone reached out from the edge of the gate, tearing the temple apart from within.
Like the Creator God said to have been born from an egg, the Red King was recreating that myth.
It was power born from imitating the law, as though by doing so, he too possessed an awe-inspiring divinity no one could look upon directly.
Once he fully emerged from the temple and proclaimed the Golden Truth, he would completely shed his mortal body and perhaps even leap into becoming a new Archon.
Hebe merely raised her hand calmly.
Demon King had a second effect called Special Authority, which could even allow her to simulate a new Mark from nothing.
Ozymandias remained unmoved and even sneered.
Twilight? It was simply impossible for it to break through the Great Temple's obstruction. Once he achieved his unparalleled feat, he could kill as many of such things as he wished!
The halo of the Third Mark rose behind Hebe's head. It was cold, silent, and white as bone, possessing no power whatsoever, as though it were merely an impractical illusion.
—Third Mark: Nefertiti.
Within the temple of the obsidian city, Hebe listened as Tutankhamun recounted the entire life of Ozymandias's wife, Nefertiti.
In despair, Nefertiti had thrown herself into the Nile River in hopes of ending the Ennead's wrath.
This was a secret not even recorded within the temple.
Afterward, in Abydos within Nitocris's mirror, Hebe found Nefertiti's bones, which had been enshrined in the Temple of Kings.
Ancient Egypt was a land that believed in resurrection after death. They believed that the dead could return once again.
"So there must be a way for Nefertiti to be resurrected as one of the dead." Hebe's voice was certain. "There must be a crucial element that only I can accomplish."
Illusion.
What limited illusions had never been scale, but imagination.
From Tutankhamun and Nitocris, Hebe obtained the framework that made up "Nefertiti." Then, through illusion, she used imagination to add flesh and blood to it, using Demon King's Special Authority to decree that "Nefertiti" would return to the world as the Third Mark.
Yet Ozymandias could no longer tear his gaze away.
"Thou rebel!"
The God King's roar could finally no longer be restrained, and beneath his furious rage, traces of panic could still be heard.
Hebe only answered with a tolerant smile. "Your Majesty, why react so strongly?"
A white finger bone flew out from Hebe's bosom.
Invisible force blessed that finger bone, restoring its missing portions as well.
It became a slender female skeleton. She slowly stepped toward Ozymandias's radiant temple. The force that had pinned Hebe in place without allowing her to move did not obstruct her in the slightest; instead, it made her body increasingly complete.
"NEFERTITI!!!"
Ozymandias roared, "Thou didst willingly offer thyself to the Ennead! Thou art no longer the queen who shared my glory! How darest thou appear before me once again!"
Along with Ozymandias's voice, invisible majesty descended once more, making Nefertiti's skeletal steps increasingly difficult.
But Hebe's voice rang out once again.
"Your Majesty, you truly are growing senile. Have you forgotten that she threw herself into the Nile River precisely because she had fallen into despair? And you never stripped her of her title as queen, nor did you take another wife. In other words, she is still your lawful wife... and still possesses every authority you personally acknowledged."
"Moreover, she is also your blood relative. Naturally, she has the right to take your place in the ascension ritual."
"Then I shall deny that she is my wife." Ozymandias replied darkly. "Only a pharaoh older than I am has the right to reject my decree in the name of preserving sacred bloodlines."
"Every pharaoh of past generations has been devoured by me. Go on, then—show me how thou wilt defy me!" The God King cast Hebe a gaze filled with killing intent. Even Ozymandias had not realized that a mere insect had driven him to this point.
In the face of Ozymandias's challenge, Hebe merely raised her hand and pointed to Mercury, which shone brilliantly in the sky.
Three voices came from different directions.
"Rejected!" Junapekape's mocking voice came from the far side of the Red Sea.
"Rejected!" Nitocris spat out the icy words through clenched teeth.
"Rejected!" Tutankhamun tossed aside the Papyrus Scroll in his hands and spoke impatiently.
At that moment, Ozymandias's expression finally changed drastically. He had tried to strip Nefertiti's decree away, only for three pharaohs older than him to reject it!
This was one of the few powers Ozymandias could spare at the critical point of his ascension to protect himself.
He no longer had the ability to obstruct Nefertiti's advance!
Ozymandias could only watch helplessly as his wife's skeleton entered the Radiant Composite Temple and forcibly seized half of the power that belonged to him.
More fatally, as Nefertiti entered, the invisible force restraining Hebe also vanished.
So in an instant, Hebe combined the Marks once more.
This was not enough to let her break through the status of Day and Twilight. It merely strengthened the First Mark.
Ordinarily, Ozymandias would not even spare it a glance. But now, at the crucial moment when he was fighting for control of consciousness, it was a feather capable of tipping the scales.
The Staff of Apep appeared in Hebe's hand once again, and the radiance of the God of Medicine gleamed brightly.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to panic. I have come to grant you your fated death."
43 Please Ascend, Your Majesty
"IMHOTEP!!!"
Ozymandias finally understood fear.
He realized that if this continued, the fate awaiting him would be even more terrible than death.
Nefertiti was gradually overwhelming Ozymandias and becoming the ritual's leader. Once she successfully ascended, Ozymandias would be unable to escape either.
For the Red King's ritual was called Tenth Calamity: The End of the Ennead's Calamity. This ritual symbolized Ozymandias conquering the Nine Calamities and ascending into the wilderness, becoming a new Archon.
Without Nefertiti's interference, the Red King could naturally stop the calamities with ease—because the heavenly disasters had originally descended at his own will, and canceling them required no more than a thought.
In other words, the Red King and the heavenly disasters were two sides of the same coin.
Before you continue