Apotheosis

In the dark palace, Zen was caught in illusions.

He had shattered Barnaby's first attack with his Authentic Visual World, so for his second offensive, Barnaby had used sixty percent of his strength.

Before Zen could even activate the demonic eye, he had been completely trapped within the illusions again.

He could no longer tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. Such was Barnaby's strength.

Being under Barnaby's control, Zen suddenly felt a sharp pain in his soul.

It made him tremble and get rid of the illusions.

"There is another soul in his mind!" Barnaby exclaimed in shock.

The one causing the pain was No. 9527.

No. 9527 was left with no choice on seeing Zen trapped in the illusions. It had to give his soul a ferocious blow, even at the risk of exposing itself.

The attack, though not very powerful, was effective. It had at least brought Zen back to his senses.

"What happened?" Natasha asked impatiently.

She couldn't fathom why a young man of the Lust World would cause Barnaby so much trouble.

Barnaby's face darkened.

He had tried to deal with Zen but his methods didn't work. He felt terribly ashamed by his failure.

He realized he couldn't afford to underestimate Zen in any way.

He was in no mood to analyze the soul hiding within Zen's body, as he abruptly shook his white robe.

A big black and white eye emerged on the top of his head, like a human's. This was his Other Shore Token; the Illusory Eye.

"Lady Natasha, take a

owards them.

A touch of sword radiance turned into thousands of waves and rushed at Barnaby to stop him in his tracks.

Seeing this, Natasha gently stretched her body.

The space in the palace began to twist. The waves of the sword radiance released by Athemar were cut into several pieces, swishing about madly.

"Even your Emperor Gethin has given up but you still choose to struggle. Do you really want to die?"

Athemar was truly infuriated.

He stamped his foot down hard, and a circle of sword marks appeared around him.

In a flash, countless mysterious textures spread throughout the palace. The bodies of the men in black robes, Natasha, and even Barnaby and Zen were engulfed in the strange textures.

Splash!

The palace was quite sturdy. Athemar had struck it twice in order to enter earlier.

Now, the palace collapsed in an instant, turning to a mess of tiny shards. The shards were the same as the textures that Athemar had set, their edges as sharp and smooth as knives.