Atiste used magic to summon his private chair back to the Creation Room.
The room housed all of his works.
For example, “Moment of Eternity” was displayed by the entrance.
It was a perfectly still sundial, and the shadow of the needle remained fixed at 12 o’clock, regardless of whether there was sunlight or not.
Directly beneath the sundial was a heart, donated voluntarily to Atiste by a human.
He had wished to turn his life into a moment of eternity, so Atiste granted his request.
Incidentally, Atiste used that human’s lover as the source of Mana to help him “freeze” at that moment.
This was also his lover’s wish.
Moving further inside was a piece Atiste was quite satisfied with, which he named “Silent Scream.”
It was a statue of a human with a twisted face, holding his head with both hands, his body contorted as well.
Atiste had frozen a human tyrant who feared him, turned him into a statue, and carved runes onto it so that whenever Atiste walked by, the statue would emit a scream.
Atiste found this very amusing.
The rug in the Creation Room was also a work of Atiste’s.
He named this rug the “Erroneous Weaver of Perfection.”
The rug was constantly weaving itself.
The material this time was not a human, but a human tailor who had wished for his technique to be passed down forever, so he had offered his soul and weaving skills to Atiste.
It should be noted that a human and a human soul are two completely different materials.
Atiste sealed the tailor’s soul into infinite yarn, allowing the tailor to weave endlessly.
It was a pity that the tailor was a perfectionist and had spent 300 years here without ever finishing the work.
Such were many of Atiste’s strange art collections, but the only one he was truly satisfied with was Lillian.
Now, he sat in his chair, racking his brain to find a way to switch Lillian’s soul back.
He could not think of a good solution.
Even though he had crafted items capable of sealing souls, Lillian’s soul was unique; it glimmered with light.
If he forcibly extracted it, her soul would surely be damaged, and then it could no longer be called a perfect art piece.
Atiste also began to wonder if he was being held back by his excessive concern for the integrity of his materials.
But he believed that not destroying Lillian’s soul was surely the right thing to do.
Moreover, Eileen’s soul was still trapped in Lillian’s body.
Atiste would never allow Eileen’s soul to suffer even the slightest harm.
Just as he was nursing a headache, Atiste received a communication from Siegfried—
-Boss…
I have been hunted for 24 hours straight without a wink of sleep.
If you don’t come to help me, I really won’t be able to act as your eyes and ears anymore…
Atiste activated his vision-tracking magic and quickly pinpointed Siegfried’s location.
He saw Siegfried wearing a pair of women’s purple lace-trimmed panties, holding his broken, ragged sword, and fleeing along a steep mountain path.
He was being chased by several groups of people, including mages in black robes, bounty hunters, and Royal Palace guardians…
-I have been running the whole time!
I didn’t dare to stop!
My Mana hasn’t recovered much, and I’m outnumbered here, Boss!
Atiste had no intention of bothering with this loser, but he noticed a document tucked into the waistband of Siegfried’s purple panties, labeled “Soul Swapping Technique.”
Atiste immediately used teleportation magic, appearing instantly on the mountain path behind Siegfried, transforming into his monster form.
“Fall back! It’s Atiste!”
The pursuers immediately stopped in their tracks and maintained a safe distance from Atiste.
Even though they knew that in front of Atiste, such behavior was entirely meaningless…
“Boss! You finally came! Save my dog life!”
Finding a way out of a desperate situation, Siegfried was overjoyed; seeing his boss was like seeing a savior!
“Atiste! Before we could even go to crusade against you, you delivered yourself to us! The new ruler of the Muse Kingdom said that if we capture you, we will have endless wealth and glory!”
“Are you done talking? How do you want to die?”
Atiste didn’t even release his Mana, yet that one sentence caused the groups to retreat even further back.
Their movements were smooth and uniform, even more well-trained than when they were drilling for battle.
“Don’t think we’re afraid of you! The new ruler said she has 5 ways to kill you! 5! Do you hear me!”
“Boss, they are so arrogant!”
“Shut up and hide in the back with those panties on.”
“Understood!”
Siegfried immediately ducked behind a corner, poking his head out to catch a glimpse of his boss’s heroic posture.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you! Atiste! You aren’t that untouchable! I’m calling the new ruler over now!”
Atiste showed no disdain for the harsh words they spat at him.
Because his appearance here meant that none of these people would be leaving.
The lead black-robed mage held up a red signal flare, raised it above his head, and lit the fuse with fire magic: “One cloud-piercing arrow, and a thousand soldiers will come to see you!”
The signal flare flew into the sky, but instead of exploding, it hit a certain boundary and transformed into a massive magic circle.
The internal magic runes and incantations were so complex that no one present could react to what kind of magic it was.
But a second later, they all knew.
It was a drizzly, overcast day with dark skies.
In an instant, countless fireballs descended from the circle, lighting up the entire sky.
“It’s fire rain! Everyone, take cover!”
The mages hurriedly cast magic shields, the bounty hunters hid in the mountain rock to avoid the fire rain, and the Royal Palace guardians used higher-level defensive magic to resist the descending fire.
But they had all miscalculated Atiste’s true intention.
He didn’t intend to burn these people to death; he intended to turn this place into a sea of fire!
With the operation of the giant fire-rain magic circle, it wasn’t just flames falling from the sky; molten lava began to rain down!
All the pursuing teams were swallowed up instantly, and even the Royal Palace guardians using stronger defensive magic could not withstand the heat of the molten lava!
The entire circular area, referenced by the giant magic circle, was melted by the extremely high-temperature falling lava—this was a weapon of mass destruction, usually used for sieges or eradicating armies, and its temperature was 100 times that of natural volcanic lava.
As the lava fell, the mountain and the ground were scorched and melted, quickly forming a lake of lava.
Everyone was swallowed into the lava lake, leaving no bones behind.
“Boss is mighty!”
Siegfried hid beside Atiste, fearing he might also be ignited by the lava.
“Give me the thing tucked into your pants.”
“Huh? You mean this?”
Siegfried took the document from the waistband of the women’s purple lace-trimmed panties and said, “I originally wanted to secretly investigate that black-robed woman and sneak into her room, and also find some clothes to wear. But the alarm sounded right after I got in, so I grabbed a pair of shorts and this document, and scrambled out.”
He handed the “Soul Swapping Technique” to Atiste.
Atiste took the document, secured it, and said to Siegfried, “Good work. You’ve performed a great service, and I’ll give you a reward later.”
“What? There’s a reward? Is it more power?”
Atiste gave a meaningful smile and said, “No, I will only give you the most appropriate reward. Just look forward to it.”
After finishing his sentence, Atiste teleported back to Outside the Three Realms.
Siegfried didn’t even have time to get a word in before he was left behind.
“At least give me a pair of pants before you go, Boss…”