Fake Professor, Misunderstood As Strong - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: A Very ‘Friendly’ Encounter… Part-3.
The item that Jareth and Zion both were looking for was something unique.

It was created by the First King by imitating the remnant power of the Golden Light.

It was an item that brought hope to the world of this underground city, where darkness had dug its claws deep.

It was a symbol of the First King’s amazing, immense wisdom; it was something that all humankind felt proud of while looking at it.

That item was the ‘Artificial Sun’ of the Forgotten City.

Strar U’lbyatre created the ‘Sun’ for his underground city; it had the ability to suppress darkness, miasma, and corruption to a very high degree.

It used light magic at its core to illuminate the entire forgotten city, and it was a miracle in itself.

When Konda came, the very first sin it committed was to swallow the artificial sun in its mouth, making everything go completely dark in the forgotten city.

Konda was the bane of the forgotten city that destroyed everything, and the legacy of the First King was lost to time.

After Konda’s body rotted away from corruption and only his bones were left intact, he put the broken artificial sun’s remnants into the hidden chamber near the place where he was sealed in the golden nail.

The node of the False Dome seal was literally located right in the middle of Konda’s boss arena, and the artificial sun was located right beside the arena in a hidden chamber.

Initially, even if Zion had managed to capture this sun, it would have been of no use, as Konda would have continued to release more miasma into the underground city.

The three endgame bosses are basically around the same level of power; neither of the three can kill each other, and that’s why Zion was unable to deal with Konda.

Konda’s resistances were simply too high.

Even Jareth needed the help of the ‘Laws’ of the world to finally kill the other party by putting him in a trap; otherwise, it would have been impossible.

But now that Konda is gone for good, Zion can definitely purify all the miasma in the underground city and then use the broken remnants of the artificial sun to create a new safe haven for humanity.

Originally, Zion was very depressed and had given up on life as he couldn’t see any hope for humanity or himself, but now that this final hope has appeared, Zion can’t let it disappear.

He believes that if he constructs an underground safe place, even if the sea of miasma swallows the planet, only the surface will be affected.

Jareth knew about the lore of Zion and his thought process; thus, Jareth easily figured out what Zion was planning.

“Jareth, my friend, do me a favor; leave these broken pieces of the sun to me; I will create ‘hope’ for humanity… No matter how pathetic the people of this world are…”

“No matter how cruel and bad this world is, no one deserves total annihilation; there are innocent children, there are weak people, and there are pure-hearted people in this world…”

“If the sea of miasma swallowed them, everything would be lost and all would suffer horribly for eternity…”

“What I am trying to do is prevent this from happening. I am fighting for the greater cause, and my aim is to resist the sea of miasma…”

“How about it, my friend? Let’s walk on this path together; let’s save the world and all that lives in it together. I can feel it; you definitely have the power to help me…”

Zion stretched out his hand once again, but this time he was extending his friendship to Jareth.

Zion wanted Jareth to grab his hand and help him save the world together.

With Zion and Jareth’s strength, the two of them can definitely figure out something for the world.

Even Jareth was moved by that speech a little, but he still shook his head and replied in a solemn tone,

“The sea of miasma has the power of the ‘Law’ of ‘Miasma’ supporting; the moment it comes into contact with this planet, the whole planet will burst apart and shatter instantly like an egg being hit by rock…”

“Saving this world is impossible… It is hopeless; wake up to reality, Zion Reid; accept the truth; and don’t lie to yourself…”

Hearing Jareth’s words, the smile on Zion’s face disappeared, and a cold look appeared on his face.

“So, in the end, you will still oppose me then? I didn’t want to turn someone as strong as you an enemy… But forgive me; I can’t let you take the ‘hope’ of the world away from me…”

“I will definitely take these remnants with me today… I will strengthen the magic power of the artificial sun so much that it will be powerful enough to hold the planet intact!”

“As long as I work hard on it, there will definitely be some way out of this trouble! I will not give up now that I have a mission in my mind!”

The Zion in the game had nothing left in life to live for.

He witnessed his lover die in his arms; he witnessed his hometown getting destroyed in front of him; he witnessed the cruelty of this world for several millennia.

And he witnessed every dangerous moment the world faced.

Time passed bit by bit, and that deadline of the seal breaking and finally killing him kept coming closer and closer.

By the time Allen met this guy in the game, Zion was already too deep in his pit of depression and loneliness; he only had rage and hatred left in his mind by that point.

People are not afraid of their eventual death, as they don’t know when they will die in life, but if you already know your death date from the start, everything will lose meaning in life.

Your whole attention will be on that single end date, and you will fall deeper and deeper into the pits of darkness as that date gets closer.

This is the reason why knowing about your own death is one of the cruelest forms of torture; it keeps you on the edge of your mind constantly and torments you for your whole life.

It prevents you from living properly, making your life a literal hell!

Zion could see that that seal’s date of breaking was drawing closer and closer, thus he knew his death was not too far away.

Furthermore, even after centuries of hard work, he still couldn’t repair the seal and never was able to go beyond the pseudo-grade-0 level… He never truly achieved the new realm, the real Grade-0 realm.

He came to the conclusion that the law of mana in this place is suppressed severely by the law of miasma.

Thus, as long as the sea of miasma exists, no one in this place can go beyond the pseudo-grade-0 level, and all of them will remain stuck forever.

But things changed when Konda disappeared; he can now see a last hope of survival, so he’s definitely going to cling to it.

And unlike Jareth, Zion is not a selfish person; he won’t think about leaving the people of this world behind and escaping alone.

Jareth and Zion are completely opposite types of people. Zion is basically the embodiment of a hero that has lost all hope of winning; he’s the protagonist of a story with a bad ending.

And Jareth, on the other hand, is a villain who is ready to abandon the world for his own sake; he’s ready to use the precious items that can save the world to save his own life.

They both needed the exact same artifact for their own goals and motives.

Their ideologies are completely different.

…

Seeing that Zion wasn’t going to back off, Jareth sighed and spoke in a cold tone.

“This world is hopeless, so don’t get in my way, Zion Reid. Although the world can’t survive, I can use this item to survive and carry on the memories of this place in my head somewhere else…”

Hearing Jareth’s words, Zion shook his head and denied,

“No, I am not letting you take it no matter what…”

Jareth sighed heavily and felt that it was a pity.

“Then there’s only one thing that can solve this conflict…”

“Yes indeed…”

Both Jareth and Zion knew what was going to happen next as if they could read each other’s thoughts.

The two of them jumped back and made a certain distance from each other while staring into each other’s eyes.

Zion brought out his wand from his space ring and spoke in a cold tone.

“Zion Reid, ‘Conqueror of the Divine Light’, challenges you to a duel!”

Jareth also drew out his grimoire and replied coldly.

“Jareth Ayad, ‘Inheritor of the True Flame’, accepts your challenge!”

Both Jareth and Zion followed the proper etiquette and manners of a sacred duel.

When two mages fight to prove their ideologies, their standing in the world, and their mastery over the path of magic, that event is called a ‘Sacred Duel’.

It is said that the ‘Law’ of ‘Mana’ itself looks over this sacred duel, and you must not disrespect this sacred ritual.

Wizards are selfish people, so any types of underhanded tactics or any unfair means are completely legal in this duel; the only rule is that you can’t use others’s help or the ‘Law’ of ‘Mana’ will not favor you anymore.

Aside from this sole restriction, you can use anything at your disposal to fight and win.

The winner will decide which ideology is worth considering true.