Chapter 1033: Milestone (20)
Anathema’s last memory of the day he was exiled from the Central City. This moment, which he had replayed and reflected upon throughout his life.
To escort Anathema, who was imprisoned, an Ascendant appeared whom even Lennok had never seen.
A Spell-Word sorcerer who had reached Level 9. A Transcendent who created and disseminated the continent’s common language.
Now, a being who had fallen in the Central’s Paradise Lost, using humans as characters, mimicking Outer Gods.
The Ascendant Jinwa.
“It seems the Central’s protocol hierarchy has deteriorated quite a bit in my absence.”
Hearing Anathema’s parched voice, the white-haired woman, Jinwa, smiled softly.
She smiled brightly, as if she had heard words that shouldn’t ordinarily come from his mouth.
But the words that came from her mouth, making it difficult to guess her age, were truly chilling.
“I don’t recall ever allowing a failure like you to speak my epithet.”
“…”
“Well, that doesn’t matter anyway. If you’re awake, won’t you [come out]?”
Clank!!
The moment Jinwa spoke, the door to Anathema’s prison swung open.
Jinwa smiled as she looked at Anathema, who lay collapsed in the deepest corner of the cell.
“I have a few last things I’d like to discuss with you.”
Her Spell-Word opened the seal of the Time-Released Prison [시해감옥], which even the Central Nobles could not resist, with a single word.
But Anathema didn’t move at Jinwa’s words, instead staring intently at her face.
“The Emperor clearly… warned you.”
Anathema, his face gaunt, opened his mouth as he gazed at the woman.
“Did you truly take a living human as your Incarnation Body?”
“Hmm. I thought I had processed it quite well, for what it is.”
The woman’s eyes, looking down at Anathema, narrowed.
She stroked her cheek with one hand and spoke.
“It seems quite crude to a Dragon Sorcerer’s eye. Should I try to refine the Incarnation Body further, to suppress its individuality more?”
“…”
The sight of the woman caressing her own face as if it belonged to someone else.
Beside the two, Lennok watched the woman who called herself Jinwa with keen interest.
‘Were there already omens at this time?’
It was difficult to ascertain from the brief context of their conversation, but it was certain that this woman was not Jinwa’s true self.
Jinwa’s epithet held a rather unique meaning among all Ascendants throughout history.
If it referred to her accomplishments and origins in spreading the common language, then at least a secret related to that must exist.
Jinwa raised a finger towards the silent Anathema.
“If you’re not going to move, I’ll help you.”
“Kh…!!”
Crunch!
At that moment, Anathema’s body was violently thrust forward as if grabbed by the collar.
His body, head slammed against the prison floor, was forcibly dragged out of the cell.
Bang!!
“This place is…”
Anathema, tumbling across the floor, unable to resist, gritted his teeth as he recognized his surroundings.
A ‘Forbidden Vista’ [절경] located at the outermost fringes of Ars Nova. A research complex that conducted experiments defying natural laws on Superhumans who had committed grave sins.
Jinwa had not appeared in the underground spire of the Central Grand Court where the Time-Released Prison [시해감옥] was located.
She had merely Spatial-Transferred Anathema’s entire prison to her current location.
“Haa, haa…!!”
“Your head.”
The white-haired woman, arms crossed, smiled down at Anathema, who struggled to raise his gaze.
“It’s still too high.”
“!!”
Kwoooong!!!
Behind Jinwa, her magnificent ceremonial robe fluttering, hundreds and thousands of people stood in formation, bowing their heads.
Armor of brilliant radiance. Smooth silk. Intricate ceremonial robes rippled beneath the violet-dyed sky.
Imperial Dragon Knights. Soul Pacification Inquisitors. Subspecies Fusion Armored Division. Holy Palace Observatory. Immortal Alchemists. Flying Heaven Magic Alliance.
All sorts of names Lennok didn’t know, and had never heard of, surged through Anathema’s memory.
Goooooh…!!!
Talented and outstanding Superhumans, who had shared in Ars Nova’s golden age, bowed their heads to a single Ascendant.
The reverence shown towards Jinwa was so vivid that even Lennok, observing the memory, felt suffocated.
The presence of an Ascendant, capable of altering the color of the sky merely by projecting their will-thought into this place.
Did a Transcendent who earned the right to challenge ascension receive this level of treatment even in the Central City of that era?
However, Jinwa seemed to feel no emotion whatsoever as she gazed at the humans worshipping her.
“Ah, I shouldn’t have accepted the position of Grand General of Speech and Logic [언이대장군] after all.”
“…”
“Indeed, worship directed at my status, rather than at me, is meaningless. Or perhaps this, too, was a scheme orchestrated by the old men of the Council of Fate?”
Having said that, Jinwa turned without hesitation.
With each step she took through the crowd, people saluted, and a magnificent golden light rippled to the horizon.
Anathema’s form, bound by violet chains, was dragged behind her, unable to resist.
Clank, clank!!
The sound of chains dragging against his feet created a sharp, rattling noise.
“Although it was Crimson’s request, I didn’t originally come to this city for you.”
Without even looking back at Anathema, who struggled with a bowed head, Jinwa spoke languidly.
“Shall we just finish the final adjustments quickly before Pyeonram arrives?”
Thousands of people parted to either side, revealing a colossal barrier before Jinwa.
A barrier that warped ‘perception’ itself, hiding its location and coordinates, so much so that even Anathema only realized it after drawing close.
Kwooooh…!!
Beyond the barrier, a sense of endlessly ominous yet perilously close déjà vu.
Just as he felt a familiar sensation from that presence, a horrifying roar began to echo from beyond the barrier.
Boom…!! Boom…!!!
A grotesque sound, as if bare flesh was tearing through the earth, yet also ripping it apart.
“That’s…!!”
“If you also participated in the Council of Fate’s machinations, you’d know.”
Jinwa’s Incarnation Body smiled and raised a hand.
“What the end of a failed Ascendant looks like. If you’re willing, shall I show it to you as well?”
Zzeooong!!!
The words the woman uttered became actual Spell-Words, appearing before Anathema’s eyes.
The moment the Spell-Words, a distorted mix of ancient and modern characters, were etched into reality.
Jinwa and Anathema’s forms instantly leaped over the Perception Distortion Barrier, heading into the space within.
[Aaaaaaaah!!!!]
Cha-rurururuk!!!!
Thousands of humans, their entire bodies stained jet-black, screamed, bound by black chains.
With blackened hands, they scraped frantically at the ground, letting out screams that echoed from the depths of hell.
The chained human sphere ground against the earth, shaking and overturning the very ground.
Kugugugugu!!!!!
Beyond the barrier, a fallen Transcendent spun madly, staining the horizon black.
At the vile and corrupted amalgamation of flame, so much so that merely looking at it seemed to taint one’s mind, Lennok’s expression also hardened.
This was because he had seen that terrifying appearance in the Well of the Codex enough times never to forget it.
An Ascendant created in the Central City, artificially planned for failure.
The World-Soul [계백] Aurel Silford.
“Gah…!!”
Anathema’s face, having lost all will, turned pale.
He clutched his own throat with chained hands and knelt.
Unable to properly resist the surging flames, he was helplessly overwhelmed and overwritten.
But Jinwa ignored Anathema’s convulsions and continued walking.
Emerging with her ceremonial robe fluttering, she ran a thumb across her lips and opened her mouth.
[Temperance.]
Zzeooong!!
As her Spell-Word was uttered, characters glowing with intense magical light appeared in the air.
[Sealing.]
As the characters of the Spell-Word were etched into the air, they radiated vast ripples in all directions.
[Immutability.]
Zzeojeojeojeok!!
Jinwa’s Spell-Words appeared consecutively in the air at incredible speed, intertwining with each other.
The moment the dazzlingly luminous Spell-Words crashed down upon the convulsing human sphere in the distance.
[Engrave.]
Cha-rurururuk!!!
The intertwined Spell-Words became new chains, binding the human sphere and beginning to integrate as part of it.
[Oooooooh!!!!]
Thousands of chained humans wailed, trying to break free from the Spell-Words Jinwa had bound them with, but it was futile.
The Spell-Words of Sealing and Suppression she had personally etched bound the limbs of the broken, transcendent monster and prevented its further corruption.
“This will be the last time I add a Geas to my Spell-Words for suppression.”
Jinwa, retracting the Spell-Words from before Anathema with a mere gesture, spoke.
“In the end, the plan to create an artificial Ascendant completely failed. Or rather, should I say it ‘failed as planned’?”
“…”
“The Council of Fate calls him the World-Soul [계백]. Don’t you think that name itself is too blatant in its ambition?”
Jinwa chuckled, leaving Anathema unanswered.
“They say power resides in names, but if it’s too much, those who wield Spell-Words actually find it undesirable.”
A cold sneer settled on the woman’s face as she looked at Anathema.
“Just like your name, the more meaning you assign to it… the more it twists from its original essence.”
“…”
“Anathema. The Emperor wouldn’t have given you that name expecting this kind of ending.”
“…An ending.”
Anathema spoke a different word for the first time.
The light of the Spell-Word floating in the air illuminated his face fully for the first time.
A tall, handsome young man, completely different from the scale-covered appearance Lennok remembered.
He slowly spoke, biting his lip.
“From the moment the Emperor departed, such things lost all meaning for us.”
“…”
“You Ascendants are no different. You’re merely breaking down, unable to find a way in a world with no ‘next’.”
Anathema scoffed, looking at Jinwa’s smiling face.
“Even taking humans as Incarnation Bodies and mimicking Outer Gods… isn’t that because you feel impatient, seeing that Aurel Silford?”
“You’d do well to watch your mouth.”
The woman, who had been silently tidying her fingernails, spoke.
“Are you comparing yourself to such a half-baked Ascendant? Haven’t you lost all fear, even before receiving your punishment?”
“You’re agitated. Your speech is becoming muddled.”
“…”
Jinwa did not reply.
She merely fiddled with her hand, her face devoid of expression, then opened her mouth indifferently.
[Come out.]
Paaat!!
Anathema’s body tumbled onto the violet-hued field.
His wrists bound by amethyst chains, he was instantly flung out beyond the barrier.
Jinwa smiled coldly as she watched Anathema struggle to regain his balance.
[Kneel.]
Ppujik!!
Anathema’s knees twisted backward, crushed like reverse joints.
A faint groan escaped Anathema’s lips from the intense pain of tearing joints and nerves.
“Kh…!”
A grotesque sight: kneeling before the woman, his knees bent unnaturally backward.
Lennok, who had followed Anathema out of the prison, his expression hardened at the formidable power of the Spell-Word.
‘Performing Spatial Transfer and biomanipulation with just a Spell-Word, without any precursor…’
Not even explicitly designating the action or target; she manipulated phenomena around her with a single, commanding word.
A transcendental power that vastly exceeded the limits and scope of Spell-Word arts Lennok knew.
Is this the power of an Ascendant who obtained their qualifications using Spell-Word spellcraft?
[Unable to even resist my Spell-Word, yet you dare to wag your tongue like that. You have some nerve.]
Wooowoong!!!
The woman, unleashing her Spell-Word without restraint, spoke with a chilling expression.
[I intended to overlook it with a generous heart, but these are not words I should hear from a sinner who tried to consume an Ascendant’s death.]
“…”
[You, who cannibalized Seonjong’s corpse and attempted to mimic his status, dare to offer advice to anyone?]
“You, too, are using living humans as tools to covet unpermitted status, are you not…?”
Anathema, sweating coldly, raised his head and asked.
“What difference is there between your mimicking a god and the sin I committed?”
[…]
“I respected you, who created and spread the common language, showing compassion for humans…”
Anathema forced a strained laugh amidst the chilling silence and spoke.
“Now, you’ve become this.”
[It’s time.]
Jinwa, who had been listening to Anathema with an expressionless face, tilted her head back.
[Pyeonram has arrived at the Forbidden Vista [절경].]
At that moment, a colossal shadow began to be cast upon the violet-dyed sky.
Kugugugu…!!!
A massive entity, its entire body covered in scales, floated and rotated across the sky at incredible speed.
Its form was so fast that even in Anathema’s memory, its exact shape couldn’t be discerned.
But both Anathema and Lennok, observing the memory, knew.
The Ascendant Pyeonram, the snake guarding the Well.
A being born as a spirit beast, who became an Ascendant, had arrived above the Central City, leading its true body.
Wiiiiiiiing…!!!
The colossal serpentine body rotated across the violet sky, drawing an immense circle of unimaginable size.
A peculiar motion, as if drawing a circle with its body, intending to create a rift in the sky’s exterior.
Simultaneously, an incredibly vast barrier spell formation unfurled above the sky, beginning to glow.
Paaaat!!!
A colossal barrier spell formation, covering the entire violet-dyed sky, its size impossible to estimate.
Onto the barrier formation, which was large enough to encompass Pyeonram’s gigantic body, hundreds of meters long, powerful presences descended one after another from beyond the sky.
Kwagwagwagwa!!!
Invisible and inaudible, ‘something’ transcended space-time to settle here.
A miracle where Ascendants, scattered across the planet, scanned its surface and projected their will-thought.
[Seonjong mimics death, and Pyeonram becomes the conduit, opening the gate.]
Jinwa’s Incarnation Body, looking at him, spoke.
[Jindun will establish this process as a spell formation, and Crimson will bear witness to its existence.]
Tudududuk!!
Even though the woman didn’t open her mouth, her voice became a Spell-Word, crashing down upon Anathema’s entire body.
[This will become a message sent to beings deviating from causality, through your fate, which the Emperor arranged but went awry.]
Jinwa whispered with a smile.
[Therefore, only your name can be the message that Ascendants agree upon.]
“Jinwa…!!”
Anathema faltered at the unexpected words, but Jinwa no longer responded.
As if there was no longer any need to reply to Anathema’s words or communicate with him.
[The very fact that the foolish Jindun agreed to this proves your sin.]
She merely held the Spell-Word that had flowed from her lips with one hand, and poured it onto his forehead.
Wiiiiiiiing…!!!
The Spell-Word, piled above Anathema’s head, burrowed into his forehead, stamping down like a brand.
The moment Anathema cried out from the inexpressible pain.
Lennok’s vision, fixed on Anathema, distorted into a blinding white.
Pajik!!
In the flickering white memory, Lennok, facing endless light, raised his gaze.
“…Is it over?”
Because she had taken a living human as her Incarnation Body, Jinwa’s use of Spell-Words had its limits.
To channel an Ascendant’s Spell-Word was, in itself, an immense burden on a human body.
But Jinwa, utterly disregarding such burdens, used humans as tools to achieve her will.
The former Jinwa, who spread the common language and showed compassion for humans, versus her now, who regards humans as mere materials.
Even her own accomplishments were reduced to mere tools as she became a monster, usurping the title of a god.
That monster, with the power to alter reality with a single word, might one day be an adversary Lennok has to face.
As Lennok pondered this, waiting for the memory to end.
He came to his senses, confronting Anathema, who glared at him from within the blinding white light.
“…”
Anathema, streaming tears of blood and gasping for breath.
Half-buried in the blinding white light, his pale face glared in this direction.
His bloodshot eyes never left Lennok, staring intently.
Lennok, having seen Anathema’s face, quietly turned his body around.
Armas von Anathema’s last memory, which he had regretted his entire life.
If confronting him like this was the price for glimpsing his memory, then such a price was bearable—
‘Wait a moment.’
Anathema’s memory wasn’t over yet.
In the unfinished memory, he was still witnessing Anathema’s final moment.
Anathema wasn’t glaring at Lennok now.
Not at Lennok, but at what was behind him—
Hwaak!!
A field bathed in blinding white light.
In the shimmering sea of light, someone stood with their back to Anathema.
“Huuuh, huuuh…!!”
Anathema’s voice, gasping roughly.
The amethyst chains binding his wrists were completely shattered, leaving no trace.
“Haa, haa…!!”
He knew.
Merely perceiving that being shattered and dispersed Anathema’s entire essence.
Every element that constituted Anathema as a human being fractured, crumbled, and streamed away.
Even as he stared blankly, his desperate breaths fractured and vanished.
Zzeojeok, zzeojeojeok…!!
Cracks appeared on his skin, and the fissures reached his very soul.
The remnants of a power more formidable and transcendental than any Ascendant Anathema had seen in his entire life.
An existential exclusion that banished that being from reality forever.
A power that literally defied the natural order of heaven.
Anathema, realizing this, let out a blank gasp.
“Ah…”
Lennok and Anathema’s gazes met, their senses intertwined.
The moment someone standing beyond the light-filled field turned towards Anathema.
Zzeojeok!!
Black lines etched themselves across the sky, and the world of memory began to shatter like glass.