Between the Mage Towers, crystals glittering like stars floated up from Thousand Lakes Province below, gathering around the hundred-odd towers like stars clustered in the cosmos. They were countless magic crystals.
Yet the magic crystals, normally so precious, were being consumed like paper money burned for the dead. They took a minute to rise from the lakes below to a hundred meters above the ground, but remained suspended for less than a second before their glowing forms were consumed into nothingness. Countless more below kept repeating the process.
Four Legendary Mages stood at the four corners, chanting. Mages of their caliber could already cast spells in an instant, yet this time, they took a full ten minutes to finish.
The instant the incantation was complete, the violently churning ocean of magic unleashed a terrifying force that pushed them away.
An invisible ripple spread outward in every direction from that point. Even ordinary people could look up and see the sky clearing as an inexplicable force swept away and dispersed the Cloud Sea.
The ripple moved at a terrifying speed. In mere minutes, it cleared the Cloud Sea above Thousand Lakes Province, then spread farther. The sky above Carlos Province held it up no longer. When it reached the sky over the Nant Kingdom, a dense chorus of cracking sounds rang through the void. White fragments like glass fell from the heavens, radiating gentle light. They shattered into powder upon striking the ground. The powder tried to float upward in pursuit of the sunlight, but soon vanished into the void without a trace.
From the Nant Kingdom onward, the ripple of Heavenly Collapse brought an endless rain of light over a vast expanse.
Less than ten li from Nant Royal City, the Empire Emperor looked up at the rain of light,