Chapter 1017: Milestone (4)
Rumble…!!!
The ground where Dark Giants roamed and trampled.
The colossal Dark Spire floating in the sky.
The figures of two wizards facing each other amidst the immeasurable darkness.
Myeong’s leisurely smiling face as he turned towards Lennok.
“…Myeong.”
“Your five senses aren’t completely gone. Luckier than I thought.”
Myeong slowly clenched and unclenched one hand, then gazed at it as he spoke.
“This much, I can still move.”
“……”
Myeong’s voice, clear beyond measure, echoed from the rising darkness.
But even Lennok hadn’t expected Myeong to recover his senses so quickly.
He knew that Myeong’s mind was unstable due to the recoil of becoming incomparably stronger at such a rapid pace.
It was self-evident that wielding such transcendent power would not easily free him from its side effects.
Yet, Myeong, as if to prove a point, had recovered his senses right before Lennok’s eyes and was smiling at him.
Just as he had when he first met Lennok and showed interest in him.
“You… came to your senses?”
“Thanks to you. Or rather, as planned?”
Myeong tilted his head back, smiling, and the darkness clinging to his body slowly fell away.
The moment he regained his reason, the surrounding darkness was already under his perfect control.
He instantly regained his human form, slowly walked towards Lennok, and smiled.
“It’s been a while, Van. Seeing you again like this, it’s much… more delightful than I expected.”
“……”
“Hmm.”
Myeong’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the silent Lennok.
“Your body is a mess. The injuries look severe.”
“…Things happened.”
Not only the engagement with the Conjunction Spell Master but also the strain of pushing himself to reach Myeong.
The amount of blood shed on this Dark Spire alone was considerable.
Myeong, perhaps recognizing this, placed a hand on Lennok’s shoulder with an unconcerned gesture.
“This won’t do. I’ll heal you.”
“Heal?”
Flash!!
At that moment, a bright Pure Radiance flowed from Myeong’s hand and settled onto Lennok’s wounds.
Lennok’s expression stiffened at the warmth from the Pure Radiance, but before he could activate Targeted Resistance, it enveloped his body and vanished.
“This is…”
The peculiar sensation that, the moment the waves of Pure Radiance disappeared, the pain and fatigue in his body vanished with it.
Lennok, checking his cleanly coagulated wounds, turned to Myeong with a slightly surprised expression.
“Healing spellcraft? Black magic shouldn’t have such an ability.”
Black magic was one of the most alien magical systems in the continent’s history, encompassing all known spellcraft.
Even with the same process, using black mana would yield drastically different results for a spell.
A power that produces output in a completely different way from existing magical systems.
That’s why, even though black magic could interfere with concepts like death, which traditional spellcasters couldn’t handle, it was, conversely, infinitely far from abilities like healing.
The healing ability Myeong had just used shouldn’t have existed in the magical system of black magic at all.
But Myeong, understanding Lennok’s疑问, simply smiled leisurely and dusted off his hands.
“It’s called Disengagement.”
“…Disengagement?”
“It’s one of two directions reached the moment the Law of Darkness peaks and transcends.”
Myeong said, spreading his fingers.
“Negative energy overflows, then is completely worn away and washed clean. The energy refined and remaining in that process acts solely as a beneficial ability for life.”
“……”
“It allows me to forge a power completely opposite to the systematic magic I possess. To put it crudely, extremes meet, perhaps.”
Meaning that by pushing black magic to the level of transcendence, he could, paradoxically, extract a completely opposing power himself?
Lennok had heard tales of martial artists, upon mastering their martial arts to the extreme, shedding their madness, but to think it could be achieved even under the concept of a magical system.
While Lennok was speechless at the unbelievable explanation, Myeong glanced away and looked down at the ruins of Gateway City spread beneath their feet.
“This is around the first Gateway. It’s been quite a while since I last visited the Central Front.”
“……”
“I once lent a hand to ensure the death of the Long-lived Being that served as the Gateway didn’t lose its meaning.”
A complex emotion mixed in Myeong’s gaze as he looked down at the darkness-stained Gateway City.
“It’s probably no coincidence that the Gabihaeng started here again.”
“Wait.”
Lennok, pressing a hand to his brow, asked.
“You intervened in the death of a Long-lived Being? No, more importantly—”
“You killed the Conjunction Spell Master?”
“……”
As Lennok fell silent, Myeong smiled with a somewhat amused expression.
“Amazing. He’s a formidable practitioner even among the Alliance’s Grand Spell Masters. In terms of spellcraft potential alone, he was unparalleled within the Alliance.”
“That’s…”
“Life Domain and Operating Theater. Was he trying to resurrect a Long-lived Being? Seems he was conducting unpleasant experiments. Given the Spell Master’s tastes, it’s not surprising, though…”
“……”
Just by taking a moment to regain his senses and look around, he read the events that had transpired nearby as naturally as breathing.
Feeling what could not be felt with the five senses, remembering what could not be remembered by rewinding time.
Just as the Ascendant Pyeonram, upon awakening from the Well, could perceive the life and death of other Ascendants on a planetary scale.
Myeong’s power and senses had already reached a similar level of mastery.
“You used your Domain to decide the match. So, you’ve begun to tamper with time as a result.”
Myeong looked at Lennok, a soft smile on his face.
“Indeed, you’ve already reached this point…”
“……”
“As expected… my choice wasn’t wrong after all.”
Myeong’s voice, whispering quietly with his eyes closed, as if reminiscing about distant memories.
Feeling the deep satisfaction in his monologue, Lennok, who had been unable to answer, opened his mouth with difficulty.
“You’ve already… reached a level comparable to the Ascendants.”
“……”
“If you’ve obtained such power without challenging ascension…”
The Doctor once said that the Gabihaeng was a ritual not directly linked to ascension.
If that statement, which he hadn’t understood then, was a deliberate arrangement from the beginning to avoid acquiring the qualifications for ascension.
If Myeong’s true goal was to surpass Ascendants without ascending himself.
“To transcend without acquiring the qualifications. Is that the true purpose of the Gabihaeng?”
Since first meeting Myeong, his power had grown explosively, surprising even Lennok.
It had swelled without stopping even after transcending hierarchy, reaching a strength so immense that he had arrived at the unwanted door of transcendence.
But the ‘something’ that had made Myeong strong until now continued to rampage, consuming Myeong himself.
That very secret was the core that made Myeong strong and, at the same time, rendered his mind infinitely unstable.
“What secret lies within the curse you bear and the oldest bloodline?”
“You’ve already begun to see what I intend to become.”
Myeong smiled.
“You must be curious. Anyone would be, if they’d guessed that far.”
“……”
“But before I answer, there’s one thing I want to do first.”
With a light gesture from Myeong, black darkness surged from his hand.
The darkness spread across the Dark Spire, rotating and greatly expanding the space where the two stood.
Whoosh!!
Lennok and Myeong stood facing each other in the center of the violently rotating void of darkness.
Lennok tilted his head back in the space created by modifying the spire’s structure.
“What are you going to do?”
“Within this darkness, all sensations can be completely blocked. Nothing that happens here will leak outside.”
Rumble!!!
The rotating wall of darkness ceaselessly ground away all presences and gazes from every direction.
As Myeong said, this space itself must exist to function as a complete blackout and concealment.
Myeong, having instantly sealed and isolated the surrounding space, walked towards Lennok and spoke.
“Use your spellcraft, Van.”
“…What?”
“I healed your body, so incantation shouldn’t be a problem.”
Myeong smiled and spread his hand.
“I want to see your magic. I want to confirm your talent one last time, while my mind is sound.”
“……”
“You’re right. If not now, there might not be another chance. There might not even be time for this anymore.”
Whoosh…!!
Just Myeong lightly drawing upon his mana caused the surrounding space to violently shake as if in turmoil.
Myeong waded through the overflowing darkness at his feet and tilted his head back.
“Your chosen answer. My conclusion. A wizard like you should be able to contain all that causality in a single spell.”
“That’s…”
“No need to overthink it. Just do what you did with the Ciger Bang. Remember?”
Myeong grinned.
“Try to kill me. I happened to want to teach you something anyway.”
The moment he first met Myeong, Lennok, sensing death, still charged at him.
Myeong, looking at Lennok, still remembered that moment.
Now that he had met Myeong again, there were many things Lennok needed to ask him.
The unresolved doubts, the secrets of his family, the truth of the Gabihaeng, and the outcome Myeong desired.
The meaning of the role he had intended to entrust to Lennok, showing him favor, was still completely unknown.
“…Alright.”
But Lennok, knowing that fact, still drew upon his mana and regulated his breathing.
Because he instinctively knew that Myeong, just like him, had been waiting for this moment.
That there was something Myeong wanted to convey to Lennok, even if it meant putting everything else aside.
If Myeong wished to express his answer through magic, if he wanted to affirm his decision through will.
Lennok had now reached a level where he could respond to such a desire.
Tap.
Lennok, taking a deep breath in the quiet stillness, stepped forward.
He closed the distance towards Myeong, who stood beyond the darkness, one step at a time, then accelerated on the third step.
Tap. Tap.
Four. Five. Six.
On the seventh step, he rotated his mana with full power and incanted the spellcraft.
With a faint fiery tail, Lennok’s body explosively accelerated.
Fwoosh!!!
Lennok’s form, shot forward at an invisible speed, collided with Myeong. Immediately, shockwaves of flame erupted in every direction.
Myeong grabbed the distorted flames with his bare hands and twisted them, deflecting their trajectory.
Crunch!!
Arms and shoulders of the two collided in the darkness-distorted void.
Their forms, exploding with flame and darkness, rotated and instantly bounced off in opposite directions.
Clang!!!
“Ugh…!!”
Myeong rubbed his wrist as if unconcerned, while Lennok hunched over, panting.
Lennok’s hands, overflowing with flames, were faintly trembling.
‘It won’t take shape. It’s like punching waves with bare hands…’
The black mana, merged with Myeong’s body, was the darkness itself that encroached upon everything.
Even if struck with spellcraft or martial arts, the impact wasn’t conveyed; it was merely absorbed into Myeong’s interior and disappeared.
Was this what it meant to face darkness that had gained substance and form?
It was difficult even to briefly face Myeong now, without using Stopping Wheel Barrier or Body Isolation Barrier.
“Your injuries are severe. Are you sure you’ll be alright like this?”
Myeong, perhaps sensing this, turned and asked.
“I meant to just show you a quick spell and finish, but.”
“…No. This much is enough.”
Lennok swallowed a mouthful of blood and replied.
“It was a necessary process.”
Kuhwaaaak!!!
At the same time, flames erupted from beneath his feet, intensely rotating and surging upwards.
The form of fire brightly incinerating the void of darkness, drawing a colossal cross of flame.
“So you’ve refined martial arts movements into hand seals and incantations.”
Myeong, immediately understanding Lennok’s Alternative Incantation, his eyes gleamed with admiration.
“Impressive. I’m confident in my martial arts, but combining movements with hand seals to construct the desired spellcraft isn’t something one can just acquire through experience.”
Myeong’s insight dismissed the concept and principles of Alternative Incantation, which Vulcan’s wizards were still deeply researching.
“Preparation is complete.”
Lennok spat out the words, turning his body.
“This is the last…!!”
Pyrokinesis-type Unique Magic
Property Transformation, Creative Variation
[Cross Flame Seal (十字火印)]
Rumble!!!
The cross of flame, following Lennok’s outstretched hand, rotated fiercely and accelerated.
The brightly burning fiery cross filled the entire void of darkness and surged right up to Myeong’s face.
“Indeed.”
But Myeong’s expression, as he looked at the approaching Cross Flame Seal, was calm.
“It seems a bit lacking, but given the circumstances, it can’t be helped.”
Myeong clenched one hand and then spread it as if letting something drop, drawing upon his mana, and a black, distorted sphere appeared.
[Death’s Eye (死眼)]
Crack…!!
The form of a black sphere created by compressing the darkness existing in its surroundings to its limit.
The moment Myeong, raising it like an eye, brought it before the Cross Flame Seal.
Lennok poured all his remaining will-thought into the cross of flame he held.
Fizzle, Crackle…!!!
Inside the burning Cross Flame Seal, dazzling blue lightning began to burst forth explosively.
Lennok’s most powerful magic, lightning, which he did not use under the identity of Cheonbeon.
Lennok’s full power, whose potency and ostentatiousness he had restricted only to his Adamant Thunder identity.
Property Transformation, Attribute Conversion
Lightning-type Unique Magic
Crackle!!!
A breathtakingly intense flash of thunder light erupted, swallowing the Cross Flame Seal.
A new lightning magic manifesting by completely changing the attribute of an already incanted pyrokinesis spell.
The secret art of lightning-type unique magic that naturally followed through the attribute conversion of the Flame Seal.
[Thunder Seal (雷印)]
Kwooohhh!!!
Lennok, grasping the resplendent silvery-white lightning inversely, spun his body around.
The light of the Thunder Seal dyed the inside of the dark void with beautiful starlight.
Myeong’s expression, as he raised his dark eye, also changed to one of surprise for a moment.
“This is…!!”
The secret art Lennok had used when he killed the Ciger Bang gang’s lightning mage, simultaneously with the awakening of his unique magic.
Myeong sharply looked up, and Lennok, clutching the silvery-white lightning as if to shatter it, gritted his teeth and swung his arm.
The moment the inversely held Thunder Seal lightning collided with the dark eye Myeong had raised in the air.
With an immense resonance, the entire void was distorted, split into darkness and silvery-white light.
KWAHAAAAAAAH!!!
The entire void of darkness, unable to withstand the collision, wildly shook and began to turn white.
The moment the light of the Thunder Seal, capable of annihilating black mana itself and sweeping away space, rotated violently.
Zap!!
The silvery-white lightning, having pierced the eye, tore through Myeong’s chest and extended all the way to the opposite side of the void.
At the same time, dazzling lightning shockwaves scattered behind Myeong, electrifying and erupting throughout the surroundings.
RUMBLE!!!
The silvery-white lightning, piercing through the dark void and crushing everything.
Myeong, his chest pierced by the Thunder Seal’s lightning, then slowly exhaled.
“…!!!”
A quiet stillness descended upon the battlefield the moment Myeong’s chest was pierced.
Lennok stood still with his hand extended, and Myeong, having taken a step back, was enveloped in darkness.
Hanging his head, Myeong muttered, watching the silvery-white afterglow glinting in the darkness.
“Attribute conversion of an already completed spellcraft system, huh…”
Was he incanting the Thunder Seal, which was originally used for shooting, by converting the spellcraft to make it explode at close range?
Because he had incanted the Cross Flame Seal through attribute conversion, the Thunder Seal’s spell didn’t explode but could be compressed while maintaining its form.
Alternative Incantation using martial arts. Attribute conversion of pyrokinesis magic. Even the compression of the Thunder Seal.
The only way to strike Myeong’s opening until the very end, while compressing and delivering all remaining power into a single point.
Even the miraculous magic that perfectly reproduced the very first moment Lennok and Myeong met.
Despite defying Myeong’s expectations at every turn, all these results were incredibly astonishing.
“You seek to change the predetermined outcome… and even tamper with the process.”
“Cough…!! Cough!!”
Myeong, opening his eyes with a satisfied expression, slowly lowered his gaze.
He looked at Lennok, who was weakly extending his hand, swaying as if he would collapse at any moment, and spoke.
“Yes… you were right after all.”
“……”
“It should have been you from the beginning, not me.”
Myeong, bowing his head, again placed a hand on Lennok’s shoulder and gently patted it.
With just that, warmth enveloped Lennok’s tattered body, and his vitality slowly began to return.
He was directly infusing Lennok’s body with the Purified Radiance Myeong had explained as ‘Disengagement’.
Lennok, exhaling with a pale expression, twisted his lips as he looked at Myeong.
“Now… it’s time for an answer to the question I asked.”
“……”
Myeong, who had been silently smiling, opened his mouth.
“Van. You have now obtained the ‘result’ of wounding me.”
“What?”
“This is a causality that had to be arranged before it was too late, and a connecting point that replaces my own conclusion.”
Myeong said, spreading his hand, and a shattered eye appeared in his palm.
The Death’s Eye, where formed darkness had hardened, as if solidified into a black gem.
Myeong placed it in Lennok’s hand and said.
“With this, you have acquired the qualification to inherit my black magic.”
“Qualification…?”
“To be precise, the ‘possibility’ of inheriting my black magic.”
Did this mean the battle Lennok and Myeong just fought was to convey the qualification to inherit black magic?
But Lennok’s thoughts were swept away by Myeong’s next words.
“But for you, that alone should be enough. Right?”
“……!!”
Myeong smiled, slowly raising his gaze.
“I can’t see the exact form, but I can understand it. The answer and talent you’ve shown me, they all eventually…”
“…Myeong.”
Had he already known?
But Lennok, while knowing that, found himself not surprised.
Myeong knew about Lennok’s various names, and had even directly created those identities for him.
Why Lennok moved in such ways, acquiring various possibilities and turning points.
Why Lennok researched and wielded various spellcraft and unique abilities without being bound by systems.
If Myeong understood that, it wouldn’t be strange for him to infer the origin from the traces of infinite turning points.
But why did Myeong explain this to Lennok at this point, and choose to convey it to him instead?
Why did he scrape together all of Lennok’s remaining energy to confirm his answer, to gain certainty?
“You want an explanation. I know.”
“……”
“But once you hear the answer, all the time I have will run out.”
The moment Myeong took a step and turned around, the Dark Spire, passing over Gateway City, turned its head.
Rumble!!!!!
The spire, sweeping the ground with a tide of darkness, tilted, looking down at the humans on the ground.
A faint contempt flashed in Myeong’s eyes as he looked at the dying superhumans on the ground.
“Then those insects who survived in my wake will, this time, try to tamper with your fate.”
“……”
“It would be a cruel thing to ask of you, having scraped together your magic at my request. So, from now on…”
Myeong naturally stood beside Lennok and gave a chilling smile.
He pointed his index finger towards the ground and whispered coldly.
“I’ll explain while clearing out all the insects remaining on the ground, in your stead.”
“…What?”