Emperor of Steel

‘Kuak! How long will this go on?’

Luke was suffering from extreme internal pain for three days.

It was because of the enormous amount of Aether that came from the monument and pressured his aura, mana, and magi in his body.

For the first time, aura, mana, and magi were fighting against the runaway Aether.

However, the three forces weren’t able to fight against the Aether, the most fundamental energy of the world.

Aura and mana got pushed away in a matter of seconds, and even the purely refined magi that was close to the Aether had no chance as well.

At some point, the three of them began to consolidate each other’s skills and fight the Aether.

And that resulted in Luke’s unconsciousness to stop the Aether runaway.

During the process, the aura, mana, and magi and the black circle located on his heart began to fuse.

The fusion of the three forces succeeded in slowing the runaway Aether at some point.

The 8th circle white and dark magic and the Sword Master’s aura combined and created the ability to power up a Worm class dragon.

And then, the three forces that were fused and Aether continued to compete in Luke’s body.

On the outside, it seemed to be the runaway of the mana, but in reality, the three forces were struggling.

And the reason Erwin’s healing magic didn’t get absorbed was because the Aether was interfering.

In any case, a day after fainting, Luke managed to regain his consciousness from within.

Since he was only awake, he wasn’t able to speak or move his body.

Though he was troubled, he soon began to figure out why and searched for a solution.

‘First, I need to stop the Aether runaway.’

All three sources of energy in his body were fusing and enduring, but there was no guarantee that they could hold on.

Moreover, if someone harmed him from the outside, then it was immediate death.

‘Somehow, I need to stop the runaway Aether or at least combine it with mine…’

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That would allow his body to stabilize and move again.

The problem was that Luke didn’t know of a way to interfere with the runaway Aether.

Besides, he couldn’t even try using Reina’s method of dealing with Aether.

Reina had previously accepted Aether in a blank state as she had no power, but Luke had strong mana, magi, and aura.

It was a different case and the outcome would surely be different.

‘Is there really no other way to stop the runaway Aether?’

The moment Luke was about to fall into pessimism, Luke came up with a way.

‘Isn’t there something in the Southern Continent? A poison can be treated with poison.’

Was there really another way to stop the runaway with another runaway?

It was purely theoretical with no guarantee that it would work.

Rather, it could end up for Luke to completely lose all three forces against Aether.

Then avoiding death would be difficult.

‘Even then, I need to do it!’

Since he couldn’t figure out how long he had been like that, Luke decided to do everything to go back to normal.

When the world got created from chaos at the beginning, Aether was what filled the empty space.

Aether was known to be the power of God and had tremendous potential. However, not everyone could use it as Aether was the purest and fundamental.

In ancient times, the demons, fairies, and dragons, who longed the spiritual powers of the gods, processed Aether into several other forms for their own use.

It turned into the driving force for living, evolving, and developing creatures in worlds divided by mana, magi, aura, and divine power.

However, there were those who continued to find ways to carry and use Aether.

The first ones to figure out a way were the dragons.

They used their Dragon Heart as a means to suppress and control the Aether runaway in their bodies.

They absorbed the very small amount of Aether in their body and devised a way to control it with the enormous mana in their Dragon Hearts.

That was the only way they could do it.

Even though it was a very small amount, dragons with Aether since then reigned as the strongest creatures in Middle-Earth.

‘Of course, because of their arrogance, they weren’t able to rule the land for a long time and were destroyed.’

And currently, Luke had such control.

It was the convergence of the three forces of, magi, mana, and aura.

The complex forces kept his body from eroding the runaway.

The problem was that the amount Luke’s body had absorbed was by no means could be considered small.

In response, Luke wanted to fuse the three to calm the Aether.

‘I’ll have to deplete my mana first!’

Thud!

The mana circles moved along with Luke’s consciousness.

It resulted in magi, which uses a black circle on his heart, moving together.

‘Kuek! Not yet. No…!’

Luke, who suppressed the magi runaway, sensed that Aether had briefly entered his mana’s runaway and immediately let out aura.

‘Kuek!’

Once aura got released, he could feel the pain of his whole body being torn apart.

Of the three, the power that had the most direct influence on the body was the aura.

That was why even if he couldn’t move, the pain caused by the aura’s runaway was vividly present in Luke’s consciousness.

‘Ah, it is still too far! There is still one more thing to do!’

His consciousness was overwhelmed when the two powers were already running out, and Aether was moving.

It was like he was going to lose consciousness once again.

Luke somehow endured and grasped the Aether by simply struggling.

It seemed that the two forces worked better.

‘Now is the last time!’

Grrrrng!

Luke thought magi as the last resort.

Magi, the base of his magic, had a massive runaway, far more than mana and aura.

His body, which could move till then, began to shake wildly.

What was more surprising was that the Aether runaway subsided.

‘Nice. Success! I was right… Ah, no!’

Luke, who was surprised and delighted by his success, was shocked to see the Aether that subsided to soon rise and interlock with the magi runaway.

Magi and Aether, which was entangled like snakes, began to react violently.

‘How is this… Ahh, I see! I was wrong!’

The plan to stop the runaway seemed to have an effect.

The problem was that Luke’s magi was getting purified as it was close to Aether.

Honestly, because of their similar nature, they could be used to fight mana and aura, but when things happened, Aether could be calmed using magi.

Krrng!

Krrrrng!

There was nothing to stop it, so Aether ran wildly. In an instant, the Aether hit Luke’s heart and brain.

‘Damn it! What’s going on?’

Luke, who began to get frustrated with the results, tried to prevent the runaway by calming his mind, which he learned from the Second Half of the Gold Sword, and the enlightenment he learned from dark magic.

However, the Magi was already out of his control.

Moreover, since he mixed it with Aether, even the minimal traits possessed by magi had disappeared.

An ominous shimmering grey light rose from Luke’s body as seen by Philip and Erwin. It was the remnants of magi disappearing.

‘Kuek! I can’t stop this! I might die if this continues!’

Immediately after the grey color faded, Luke’s body saw a bright light.

The Aether that dominated his brain and heart was finally producing some spectacular explosions.

“Oh my, where is this light His Majesty’s body coming from?”

“Is he getting some kind of energy?”

Seeing the light shine from Luke’s body, the men around Luke were confused.

It was because sometimes, the knights of high ranks and Sword Masters experience the same thing when entering a higher level.

But what was happening to Luke wasn’t the same.

Erwin, who knew about Aether, understood it.

“No! If this continues, His Majesty will…!”

She tried to push all her magic to calm the Aether’s runaway in Luke’s body, but none of her efforts worked.

Erwin’s face was full of despair as she watched Luke’s blood vessels shine with bright light.

She couldn’t get herself to see Luke die like that in his sleep. She turned her head to the other side and closed her eyes.