NOVEL WEB Chapter 1009: Alarmed
After Caleb made his breakthrough, everything he did was for Shadow Rebirth.
He abandoned all sects, all alliances. He scoured battlefields for soul remnants, studied Dimensional Creatures that warped time and space, and even infiltrated the Divine Seers to obtain a portion of their Eternal Mirror Formula, which he used to stabilize soul resonance during ritual transfer…
He was aiming to get some assistance from a mysterious being called Mennena…
"Mennena…" Vale repeated.
It had been quite some time since he heard this name...
Mennena was supposedly just an Arch Fey capable of answering simple questions and normally used by students, as the Arch Fey was not hostile to Arcane Practitioners.
However, Vale had already heard a lot of things about this Fey, and they weren't all good. It was mysterious and suspicious at the same time.
"I didn't expect that she's also connected to the Shadow Realm."
This time, Vale couldn't help but consider summoning her through the ritual taught in the Academy.
But he had to consider that for some time before trying it out…
For now, he continued looking through the memories.
Caleb seemed to have followed the Order of the Undimming Night from a certain church, but after getting what he needed, they still cast him out, calling him "a corrupted Immortal."
But he didn't care.
He grew stronger, reaching Earth Immortal completely on his own. Because of how he joined multiple churches and how he would always restructure their exclusive Spell Models, he also became known as a heretic…
Of course, he also encountered some Demon Saints, and he would always do his best to hunt them down… He even learned a lot of things about these Demonic Creatures.
Then, with all of his experiments, he built the foundation for Shadow Rebirth using four Spell Lights, three Arcana Cores, and a condensed bloodline fragment from his own Mystic Body.
It was almost complete.
But during his final trial, when he tried to use the technique to resurrect Eliri's soul, something went wrong.
Something saw him. It seemed to be a higher being or the Will of the Realm itself… It was something in the void that refused to let him tamper with the balance of life and death in the realm.
Vale saw it through Caleb's eyes, but he also didn't fully understand. He could only guess this much after considering various things.
It was like a glimpse of a formless presence in the Spiritual World…
Not a Death God… but a Mysterious Entity…
It shattered the Arcano Cores he collected and sent his body into collapse.
He tried to preserve himself by binding his soul to a Divine Seal, embedding it into his chest, and locking his memories deep in his corpse.
Then, he soon died before completing the Spell.
But he left everything behind—in case someone else had the will to try again.
"Whoa~" Vale couldn't help but feel impressed by Caleb's life.
The memories had ended with Caleb sitting atop a withered tree where Eliri was once buried. It was the place where Caleb died…
He may have failed to complete the Spell, but this had given Vale not just important knowledge about Immortality but also the process of restructuring Spell Models.
Vale calmed himself as he slowly controlled his emotions. The memories he just obtained were simply too vivid. It was because of Caleb's arrangement.
It was as if he were expecting someone to absorb his Memory Fragments.
"Caleb…" Vale whispered.
Now he understood why Shadow Rebirth was born. It wasn't just a spell. It was like a vow or a final act of love.
And it was now in his hands.
Vale sat silently in the chamber as he considered what to do with this Spell.
'I'll try to research it soon.' Vale thought in the end.
For now, he had decided on what four spells he planned to combine.
Since he obtained the Celestial Shadow Physique, he believed that he would do really well with the Holy Darkness, Eternal Night Chains, Withering Starlight, and finally, the Spell he extracted from Archanthus himself, the Eternal Darkness Spell.
These were the four Shadow Immortal Spell Models he would elevate to the Perfect Realm—Level 10. The foundation of his next ascension.
It would be his bridge toward the higher planes of Immortality.
He reached for his Divine Extraction Interface, channeling thousands of accumulated Energy Points, ready to begin the upgrade.
And then—
WEEEOOO–WEEEOOO–WEEEOOO!!!
An ear-splitting alarm suddenly echoed across the entire city.
The walls of his chamber shuddered, warning every citizen in the city….
Vale instantly stopped the upgrade process and stood upright…
"…Again?" he muttered as he finally recognized this alarm…
It was the same demonic incursion alarm that had gone off last time, but this time… there was something different.
He had planned to just stay neutral or to observe… But something about the alarm frequency had changed. It seemed more urgent.
Vale activated Divine Sense and extended his awareness outward.
His mind shot through the city's defense formations, past layers of protective domes, and watchtower marks. He scanned the northern district—and then, Vale's expression changed.
"What…?"
The sky appeared to be bleeding…
There was a colossal black rift that had split the sky open above!
'They opened a Dimensional Rift?' Vale was shocked as he continued that it was spilling waves of demonic creatures!
Some of them were winged aberrations with long limbs, armored monstrosities with dripping acid in the mouths, and beasts stitched together with glowing threads.
And worse…
Vale's gaze looked at the twelve horned-figures near the rift…
"Twelve Demon Saints… I guess this isn't just a drill anymore." Vale whispered.
His mind instantly classified the threat.
With the fresh memories from Caleb, Vale knew that these were beings that had transcended mortality and forged their Demonic path to Sainthood. They were all at the level of Lesser Immortal at minimum. Some might even rival Earth Immortals in the wrong conditions.
One of them, cloaked in bone armor, started chanting a ritual, and Vale felt something off about it…
"I guess it's time to leave this place…"