An illusory, transparent pointer pierced through Iver's body, pinning him to the very center of Mirror Lake like the Sword of Damocles. It overlapped with the holy sword.
Clang--
Amid the ringing clash of blades, the illusory Light Sword slammed entirely into the holy sword.
For a moment, the holy sword seemed to grow larger, but in reality, it was only the radiance surrounding it that made its outline appear bigger.
Iver instinctively thrust out his chest, as if deliberately welcoming the Light Sword, or as if he wanted to drive the holy sword impaling his heart even deeper.
--Or perhaps he simply hoped the blade would pierce through his chest faster and bring an end to this long, agonizing torment.
The pointer abruptly erupted with a dim yellow radiance, and Iver's body was illuminated by it in that instant.
It was like forcefully blowing on a piece of burning coal.
Iver's skin dissolved in an instant, withered, and turned black like charcoal before peeling away and vanishing. The flesh beneath his skin became thick, slowly flowing golden lava, radiating an increasingly brilliant and dazzling golden light.
"Gaaaahhhhhh--"
Iver couldn't stop himself from letting out an unbearably shrill scream.
It was like having a red-hot branding iron driven straight through his chest--
A continuously expanding, almost tangible heat violently poured in through his chest, tearing his flesh apart and melting all his bones. In an instant, the heat spread throughout his body, and every nerve was overloaded by boiling agony.
That was the terrifying magical power stored within the ritual. These activated energies could directly trigger cataclysmic earthquakes--they could make mountains that had existed since antiquity collapse like tofu and flatten plains into basins. Yet all this energy had been injected into the tiny body of a human.
An ordinary