Chapter 565 - The Will To Live

"Come on…" Nan Tian gritted his teeth in desperation as he tried his best to comprehend the Tier 6 magic circles.

Reading through Shiro's notes, he started to understand the core concepts of being a Tier 6 legend but knowing and doing were two separate things.

To make matters worse, his mind was constantly distracted when he could see Yin becoming pale as time went on. Understanding that Shiro's life was tied with Yin's, the more injured Yin became, the closer Shiro was to death.

Biting his lips, he read through the notes and wondered what he was missing. He was constructing his magic circles and was even trying to upgrade his element but there was still a missing piece that was preventing him from finalising a tier 6 magic circle.

"What am I missing?" He wondered to himself.

Watching Yin's face become paler, his worries grew as time was running out. Pulling at his hair, panic started to fill his mind as Shiro had basically entrusted him with her life.

Seeing this, Iziuel also grew nervous but didn't want to say anything since Nan Tian couldn't afford to be distracted right now.

Suddenly, she could feel Attie trying to get out of her grasp.

"Ah Attie, please behave ok?" Iziuel tried to pacify Attie but it didn't work.

Furrowing his brows in annoyance, Attie released an aura of fire which forced Iziuel to let go of him.

Stumbling over to Nan Tian, Attie also looked at the tablet with a worried face.

"You also want to help your mother huh?" Nan Tian smiled softly as Attie nodded his head.

Reading through the text, he tried to point out anything that might seem like it could work but it was fruitless.

However, as he continued to point at random sentences, Nan Tian noticed that a few of the sentences had a common theme between them. Naturally, not all of the sentences had this but for the ones that did, he felt like he was stepping closer to the truth.

'When Shiro became a tier 6 legend, her control over her element extended to the point where she could make a flying fortress the size of a city with ease. While one can achieve something of similar quality and size as a tier 5, the detail of construction varied greatly. Instead of having her magic destroy the city, she had to think about how it would work in balance or else the entire construction of the fortress would crumble. The level of control and understanding of her element was on a much deeper level. One that surpassed the system since it was a man made element, meaning she understood the 'origin'.' Nan Tian thought to himself as the words seemed to link themselves together, forming a key to a library of ideas that he had never considered before.

His main element was light but his understanding of the origin was 'rudimentary' compared to what Shiro understood about the origin of nanobots and how they worked.

Closing his eyes, he searched into his own mana realm and looked towards the light island.

Walking to the centre, he sat down and started to comprehend the origin of light.

###

She didn't know how long had passed but Shiro didn't care. At this point, she needed to delay the Guardian as much as she could. Unfortunately for her, she was all out of options as her body crashed against the pillar inside her Celestial Gardens. Most of the architecture in this place had been destroyed in the battle as all that remained was broken ruins.

"I'll be honest, you're the most tenacious meal I've seen in a long time. You've put up quite a fight." The Guardian sneered as he looked at the wounded Shiro who was laying in a puddle of her own blood.

"If you don't cook a meal properly you will get diarrhoea. All you can do is blame yourself for your food fighting back." Shiro laughed as she tried to wipe the blood from her eyes.

However, her body was weak to the point where she couldn't even move a single muscle anymore. She had already expended every single use of her healing skills as the broken pieces of Athera laid next to her.

"Indeed. How about I properly finish the meal then?" The Guardian smiled and swung his arm towards her.

Time seemed to slow down as her thoughts accelerated.

Despite trying her best, it seemed like the grim reaper's cold fleshless hands had a proper grasp on her neck this time.

'Is this really how I will die? Unable to even land a single hit? Is this really the end of my story?' She wondered to herself.

She had too many responsibilities and people that are counting on her so she couldn't leave things like this.

'Not like this. I can't die like this. I haven't told Lyrica about my life with her mother, I haven't met my parents, I haven't watched Yin, Lisa and Attie grow up into proper a.d.u.l.ts, I haven't saved the spirit race, I haven't guaranteed the safety of my loved ones, I haven't kept my promises that I had made, I haven't lived a full life yet. I don't want to die just yet.'

Gritting her teeth, nanobots started to surge around her as her garden started to shift.

The broken pieces of architecture that the Guardian had destroyed started to break down into nanobots while the giant statues surrounding the place started to move.

*CLANG!!!!

Crashing his claw against the metallic defences that appeared around Shiro, the Guardian was rather surprised that his attack was blocked.

The floor had sunk down to create a bunker around Shiro's body while the shield above her continuously regenerated in order to dispel the force of the attack.

"A final push before death?" The Guardian narrowed his eyes before smiling.

"Useless."

Raising his arm, tier 6 magic circles appeared around him as they aimed towards Shiro.

*RUMBLE!!!!

Before they could fire, the garden started to tremble as the walls of this world collapsed.

Bringing them back to reality, the Celestial Garden's was forcefully cancelled but the nanobots remained with Shiro.

Glaring at the Guardian, Shiro grinned with bloodshot eyes.

"Enjoy your new prison. Though I doubt it'll last."

Wrapping around the Guardian, a tower of nanobots started to construct itself in front of her as his body was sent high into the sky.

Pain filled her mind as blood started to pour from her nose. She couldn't handle the stress this put on her body, especially in her current condition. However, this was something she had to do.

Pressing her hand against the ground, she started to deprave the very earth of its mana as she needed it to construct a prison that could hold back the Guardian. One that could buy them enough time. Even if her body was reduced to ash, she HAD to succeed with this task.

"URAHHH!!!!" Shouting out in anger, the Guardian started to attack his surroundings with madness but the walls continued to regenerate. Even when he ripped out a large chunk of metal and reduced it to dust, new pieces would emerge and replace the damaged parts.

Glaring at Shiro with hatred, the feeling of being deprived of a kill drove the Guardian to madness.

However, no matter how powerful his attacks were, the prison continuously fixed itself and slowly grew in size.

Despite knowing that this was a temporary fix for Shiro, the Guardian was still angered by her actions.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

Hundreds of explosions could be heard as the Guardian started to destroy the prison with large scale attacks.

As the creator of this constantly expanding prison, Shiro could see how much damage he caused with a single hit but she didn't care right now.

The only thought that ran through her mind was that she needed to buy extra time. Just a single second was enough.

If she could delay it by a second, she could delay it by another.

'Just one more… Just one more…'

The same thought repeated in her mind but it was effective. As she was borrowing the mana from the nature around them, the tree's started to wither away while the grass was turned to ash. Due to the fact that her mind was solely dedicated to getting that extra second, Shiro did not notice Estrella, Iziuel or Attie watching her in shock as the size of the prison had grown to a ridiculous state.

Despite her large mana reserve, this was something outside of her capabilities should she not be extracting mana from the earth itself with the help of her nanobots.

Suddenly, a pair of hands gently wrapped around her as Shiro could see Nan Tian's face that was filled with worry.

"Sorry I took so long." He apologised while holding Shiro's broken body.

Just the sight of her current state made him feel as though a knife was plunged into his heart but this was not the time to wallow in sadness.

Carrying Shiro's body, he stood up and looked towards the prison.

Mana surged around him as a giant tier 6 magic circle appeared above the prison.

"Incinerate." He said coldly as a pillar of radiance descended from the very sun itself.