Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 3073: Supreme

Emery moved fast.

A final pulse of soul energy surged through his body and tightened around the infected woman, reinforcing the restraints until she was completely incapacitated. He didn’t have time to finish probing her mind properly. Whatever was approaching was far too dangerous to ignore, and every second they remained in place increased the risk.

He immediately dragged the unconscious woman into his inner domain, sealing her away before turning toward Soltz.

Then he split off a handful of Khaos Shadow Clones and sent them scattering in different directions. Each clone concealed its aura just enough to appear like a genuine escape attempt, deliberately leaving traces that could mislead their pursuer.

At the same time, Emery and Soltz tore open a spatial gate and vanished in the opposite direction.

It didn’t matter.

Within a few minutes, every clone died.

Emery felt each connection snap one after another, the deaths arriving through their shared consciousness like brief flashes of pain. Through the fading fragments of their memories, he managed to catch a fractured glimpse of what had killed them.

A woman.

She was dark-skinned and draped in the scorched remains of what had once been royal clothing. Her figure moved through the desert with terrifying calm, completely unaffected by the chaos around her. The pressure radiating from her body was so overwhelming that everything else seemed insignificant in comparison.

Soltz’s face went pale the instant he saw the image.

"Ilyndra," he said. "The Sunveil Supreme. Lord of Valcrest."

Or she had been.

The purplish veins crawling beneath her skin and the blood-red glaze covering her eyes left no room for doubt.

The Supreme was infected too.

Emery’s expression hardened.

"What’s her power?" he asked, already sending another wave of shadow clones in different directions to muddy their trail. At the same time, a fresh spatial gate opened beneath their feet.

"Solar Law. She can see through almost anything under the sun. We can’t escape!" Soltz answered hurriedly, fear clear in his voice.

Another distortion tore open ahead of them.

Another gate.

Then another.

None of it helped.

Minutes passed.

One by one, the clones continued to disappear as Ilyndra hunted them down. Every time Emery thought the distance had increased, another connection abruptly vanished, followed by another glimpse of that terrifying figure cutting through his decoys as though they weren’t even there.

Yet she never slowed.

She never hesitated.

And no matter how many clones Emery sacrificed or how many spatial gates they crossed, the infected Supreme continued to close the distance, relentless and completely untouched by the chase.

Emery exhaled slowly.

"Follow this plan," he said, then quickly explained exactly what he intended to Soltz.

The old man clearly didn’t like it. His frown deepened with every word, and he shook his head several times, but he understood the situation. There was no better option. In the end, he gave a tight nod and followed Emery’s instructions.

Moments later, the Supreme arrived.

She stopped several dozen meters away, standing in the middle of the ruined desert without showing the slightest sign of exhaustion. Her dark skin caught the harsh sunlight, while the scorched remains of her royal dress hung from her body in tatters. Even reduced to such a state, she still carried herself with the natural authority of someone who had once ruled an entire city.

Power radiated from her in heavy waves, pressing against the surrounding space with unmistakable Supreme-tier might.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice flat and almost mechanical. "How did you get here?"

Emery couldn’t help the faint smile that crossed his face.

So the hive mind wasn’t as connected as he’d feared.

She didn’t recognize him—not from Baeldum, and apparently not from the Parasite X he’d helped kill barely a day ago at the edge of this very realm.

"How do you not know me, Sunveil Supreme?" Emery asked. "I’m a citizen of Valcrest."

The infected Supreme stared at him without blinking.

For several seconds, she said nothing, as though processing his words and searching through whatever fragments of memory remained within her corrupted mind. A faint flicker passed through her eyes before disappearing almost immediately.

"You’re lying."

"I’m really not," Emery replied with a calm smile. "Maybe you just forgot."

Something shifted behind her eyes.

The blank, emotionless calm hardened into something colder and sharper, like a predator finally focusing on its prey.

"It doesn’t matter," she said.

Her aura suddenly surged, causing the surrounding sand to tremble beneath the pressure.

"I’ll devour you and see for myself."

Emery glanced back toward Soltz, who hovered a short distance behind him.

"I’ll handle her," he said quietly. "Only step in if I’m in real trouble."

Soltz nodded.

Emery didn’t hesitate.

Twilight Transformation unfolded around his body, dark energy wrapping around his limbs as Excalibur solidified in his grip. The Dao of Heaven and Earth rose through his stance, reinforcing his body and sharpening every movement as he faced the infected Supreme before him.

Ilyndra raised one arm.

A javelin slowly took shape above her palm, bone-white and nearly twice her height. The moment her fingers closed around it, brilliant sunfire erupted along its length, bathing the surrounding desert in golden light.

She didn’t need to move.

With a single flick of her arm, the javelin shot forward.

The sheer force behind the attack distorted the air around it, and the spear intent alone carried enough power to cleave a mountain in half. It crossed the distance between them in an instant, aimed directly at Emery’s chest.

Emery swung Excalibur to meet it.

BAM!

The collision shook the desert.

Emery’s enhanced physique and the divine blade absorbed the impact cleanly, his feet digging several inches into the sand as the force traveled through his arms and into his body. Before he could fully recover, however, Ilyndra was already moving.

The javelin curved through the air and returned to her hand, still wreathed in blazing flames.

She thrust again.

Emery flooded his arms with Khaos energy and brought Excalibur across his body, parrying the attack head-on.

BOOM!