Chapter 1043: Milestone (30)
Flicker…!!!
The pure white, distorted light of the Supernova abruptly halts before Lennok’s eyes.
Like the spellcraft itself had stopped in time, a chilling radiance violently churning in place, yet incomplete.
But the Lightning Emperor could not easily tear her gaze away from the wizard who had seized her spellcraft in mid-air.
The Hall of the Thunder God, a sanctuary where one must engrave their own enlightenment to attain it.
Lennok’s answer forcibly arrested the Lightning Emperor’s gaze, a gaze that had been seeking Foreknowledge transcending all rules.
It was a spellcraft that had reached the extreme of immutability, forcibly halting the Lightning Emperor’s Lightning Unraveling Spellcraft itself.
“Did you reverse the enlightenment that reached the extreme of Property Transformation, sublimating it into a power that halts all change?”
The Lightning Emperor asked, gazing at the pure white star where time had stopped.
Even without further explanation, she already understood the miracle unfolding in this sanctuary.
“You forcibly severed the changes of all things, even tampering with the flow of time itself.”
Her gaze upon Lennok now held an unparalleled depth.
“Have you already reached the level of interfering with time as a result?”
“To be precise, it’s the result of actualizing the concept of ‘incompleteness,’” Lennok replied with a tired expression, slowly kneading his hands.
Myriad Sands Divine Thunder was lightning that had reached the extreme of Property Transformation, transcending the Horizon of Thought.
And Decasing was the enlightenment that transcended that limit, forging a new property entirely opposite to the existing one.
Lennok, having heard the explanation directly from Myeong and grasped its potential, had adopted black magic’s Decasing into lightning magic.
After reaching the extreme of Property Transformation through Myriad Sands Divine Thunder, he had then reversed that power through Decasing.
Just as Myeong had used the power of black magic’s Decasing to heal Lennok’s body.
Because it reversed a spellcraft that had reached the extreme of Property Transformation, Myriad Sands Divine Thunder’s Decasing literally forcibly suspends and halts all change.
The change and flow of time. The incantation and casting of the Lightning Unraveling Spellcraft. All moments of change when Lennok and the Lightning Emperor clashed and produced results.
Through this, he halted the spellcraft that the Lightning Emperor had unleashed, completely stopping the battle itself.
“It severs cause and effect, and prohibits the change of all things. In that process, it even stops time as a result.”
“…”
“The incompleteness that obstructs the completion of phenomena… What I actualized through Decasing is precisely that immaturity itself.”
By forcing everything to remain incomplete, Lennok’s Decasing forcibly stops even time as a result.
This miracle would have been impossible to attempt without having obtained lightning that had reached the extreme of Property Transformation through Myriad Sands Divine Thunder.
It would have been impossible without creating the Ouroboros magic system and making even incompleteness Lennok’s power.
It would have been impossible without gaining the sensation of controlling time through Kaiser’s Mental Image and the Eight Trigrams Formation.
After reaching Level 8 and directly controlling space, and then handling various supernatural abilities that indirectly control time.
Lennok combined and failed countless times, with all the enlightenments and achievements he had learned and stolen over a long period, in various ways.
Finally, Lennok had come to understand what it meant to manipulate time as a result.
“The incantation and casting of spellcraft. Even halting the harmony of will-thought and Mental Image that constitute the spellcraft in that process…”
Crack!!
As Lennok reached out his hand towards the Lightning Emperor’s spellcraft, the purely distorted Supernova cracked and shattered.
“Rendering the completion of the spellcraft itself into naught.”
Clang!!
Fragments of lightning scattered and fell like shards of glass over Lennok’s head.
The secret art of the Lightning Unraveling Spellcraft, which uses thunder and lightning to unravel all things, dissipated without ever blooming in that spot.
Lennok turned his gaze to the Lightning Emperor, who was looking at him with a stern expression, and asked,
“Isn’t this enough proof that I am not bound by the rules of the sanctuary?”
“You…”
The Lightning Emperor tried to answer, then closed her mouth.
She merely stood silently, arms crossed, her dragon robe fluttering as she gazed at the sky.
With just a slight movement of the Lightning Emperor, who was much taller than Lennok, an insurmountable pressure could be felt.
A compelling aura that immediately revealed the reason for her grand epithet, ‘Lightning Emperor’.
“It’s preposterous. To think you would surpass the standard I set in such a way…”
The Lightning Emperor, who had been contemplating for a long time, eventually shook her head with a complex expression.
“Alright. You are worthy of hearing the explanation.”
“…”
“Follow me.”
Without waiting for an answer, the Lightning Emperor’s figure moved ahead, quickly receding into the distance of the sanctuary.
Lennok, who had been looking at her retreating back with a reluctant expression, sighed and summoned his staff.
“…Walk a little slower.”
The process of achieving Decasing required immense mental strength, leaving Lennok’s will-thought and mental reserves utterly exhausted.
Stopping time as a result was something he had only just managed to grasp, not a miracle that could be used at any given moment.
It was a secret art that could only be attempted after incanting Myriad Sands Divine Thunder, as now, and pushing Lennok’s senses to their absolute limit.
He was in a state of extreme fatigue, having not only clashed with the Lightning Emperor’s spellcraft but also having continued fighting from outside.
But the Lightning Emperor did not look back at Lennok, who was walking far behind, and snapped her fingers.
Whoosh!!
At that moment, the sparkling path of the sanctuary beneath Lennok’s feet contracted, closing the distance between him and the Lightning Emperor.
A method of shrinking distance, compressing space to travel great distances in an instant.
Before his eyes, the vast landscape of the Outer Sea was now stretching far away.
Woo-woo-woong!!!!
Like gazing at a dark sea from a gigantic spaceship, a magnificent scene of starlight twinkling beyond infinite darkness.
The boundary at the very edge of the Hall of the Thunder God sanctuary.
The end of the grand path created after inscribing Foreknowledge.
At the end of the path, which had been passed down with the causality of lightning, only an endless void stretched out.
While Lennok silently gazed at the Outer Sea spread at the path’s end, the Lightning Emperor, with her back turned, spoke.
“To gain one thing, one must give up another.”
“…”
“Life is structurally bound to inevitably break down, as it moves further from perfection with every sacrifice.”
Raising her head, the Lightning Emperor’s gaze, looking out beyond the sanctuary, drifted to an immeasurable distance.
“But the end born from the dark sea is not bound by such rules. It disregards coincidence and inevitability, toying with fate and swimming in the sea eternally.”
“…”
“Those who engrave and seek enlightenment in the Hall of the Thunder God must be well-versed in this fact.”
The Lightning Emperor, walking with her ornate robe fluttering, spoke in a lofty voice.
“This is a miracle that precedes across three worlds. An opportunity granted only once even to great seekers.”
The Lightning Emperor stopped, turned her gaze towards Lennok, and said,
“Because there are sights one must reach even at the cost of abandoning perfection and completion… you must not waste it.”
“Are you trying to persuade me again, now?”
“If you have obtained Decasing, you can certainly disregard the rules of the sanctuary and enforce your own will.”
The Lightning Emperor said to Lennok, feigning a gentle voice.
“The problem isn’t with you, but with me. Unlike you, who are bound by nothing, my existence is a clumsy and precarious contradiction bound to this sanctuary.”
“…”
“Your insight in recognizing that incongruity is excellent, but your choice was impossible from the start. I intended to personally admonish you to inform you of this…”
The Lightning Emperor, arms crossed, then shook her head with a hearty smile.
“It seems I’ve only confessed my own incompetence. I never thought I’d show such an ugly display to a mortal from the next world.”
The Lightning Emperor offered no further explanation, but Lennok instinctively understood.
This was the enlightenment carved by seekers who had honed the causality of lightning across three worlds, transcending the Horizon of Thought.
That meant all Foreknowledge existing in this Hall of the Thunder God was a result of a similar level of attainment to Myriad Sands Divine Thunder.
A power comparable to spells that can kill Apostles and nobles just by existing, or turn night into day, lay dormant here.
Now, having displayed new enlightenment through the Decasing gifted by Myeong, Lennok had only one chance to make a choice in this lightning sanctuary.
Therefore, the Lightning Emperor was recommending that he take another complete power, not her imperfect self.
“What did Akendrias El Thorben choose here?”
But Lennok diverted the topic instead of answering the Lightning Emperor’s words.
“Considering he tried to open the Hall of the Thunder God for me, the Tower Lord must have also gained enlightenment here.”
“He chose to hone his chosen answer to its absolute limit.”
“You mean the Tower Lord’s choice was to reinforce his own answer?”
“What he chose was a divine technique called Celestial Lightning, a cultivation method honed by the celestial beings of the First World for their ascension.”
The Lightning Emperor replied.
“It is a power that processes bio-electricity with will-thought, transforming all matter and components of the body and extending lifespan.”
“…”
“In terms of rank, it is a Heart-Will Spellcraft that transcends metamorphosis, but it has the disadvantage of being unstable as physical shaping depends on the caster’s senses.”
“The caster’s senses, huh…”
“I wouldn’t know without using it myself, but one would have to constantly strive to maintain their original form.”
Only then did Lennok understand why the Tower Lord had tried to get him into this Hall of the Thunder God.
The Tower Lord hadn’t just vaguely suggested Lennok might be able to enter. He had been certain that Lennok was qualified to enter the Hall of the Thunder God and would be able to obtain Celestial Lightning here.
“I see.”
“Akendrias’s choice of Celestial Lightning merely contained unusually complex principles; in terms of output, there are spellcrafts and cultivation techniques superior to it.”
Seeing Lennok lost in thought, the Lightning Emperor extended her hand.
Within her small hand, various kinds of lightning appeared.
The Lightning Emperor, displaying different fragments of lightning above her sparkling rings and bracelets, said,
“There are also more profound secret arts than I first explained to you. Any enlightenment that transcends the Horizon of Thought—”
“No.”
Lennok said.
“No need for further explanation. I have no intention of choosing any power from this sanctuary.”
“…”
The Lightning Emperor, her face devoid of expression, slowly crossed her arms.
As she slowly tilted her head, the earring woven through her hair jingled.
“What… does that mean?”
“It means that, regardless of disagreeing with the Tower Lord’s choice, I sympathize with his method.”
Lennok smiled.
“To present one’s determined answer before the conclusion. Nothing else is needed. I will choose nothing.”
“You’ve decided to engrave the enlightenment of Myriad Sands Divine Thunder into the sanctuary, yet you say you won’t take any other enlightenment from it?”
The Lightning Emperor shook her head.
“That’s impossible. It goes against the rules of the Hall of the Thunder God to begin with.”
“What happens if I break the rules?”
“What do you mean, ‘what happens?’”
To Lennok’s calm retort, the Lightning Emperor replied nonchalantly.
“Until you obtain enlightenment, you will continue to remain in this sanctuary—”
“Like you, perhaps?”
“…”
At that moment, the Lightning Emperor’s words stopped dead.
Even her movement of tilting her head towards Lennok stiffened as if time had paused.
“I know what kind of being you are.”
But Lennok, undeterred by the Lightning Emperor’s reaction, spoke calmly.
“A qualified Ascendant. Or perhaps the answer itself, left behind by a transcendent who has already failed.”
“…”
“Isn’t that why you couldn’t be fully bound to this sanctuary, remaining with your will intact?”
The Lightning Emperor standing before him was neither a living human nor an enlightenment completely subservient to the sanctuary.
That was why the Lightning Emperor had told Lennok that she was a contradictory being and tried to persuade him that it was impossible.
However, having faced the Old World’s Ascendant, Hermes Orokhnier, Lennok knew what kind of being the Lightning Emperor was.
A Mental Image someone who had achieved ascension had uploaded to the Hall of the Thunder God. Or the answer itself, transcending such interests.
Just as Hermes Orokhnier had ascended his answer across worlds, one of the Transcendants had uploaded their answer to the Hall of the Thunder God.
Thus, the Lightning Emperor existed in the Hall of the Thunder God with will, yet could not choose enlightenment herself and leave the sanctuary.
A transcendent being left in this sanctuary, not by choice, but unable to choose.
That’s why Lennok had known from the beginning what he needed to take from this sanctuary.
“You are enlightenment carved into the sanctuary, yet you cannot choose enlightenment yourself.”
Lennok said.
“You cannot leave the sanctuary because you are not a living human, nor can you be completely bound to it.”
“…”
“The clumsy and precarious contradiction you spoke of, it referred to your very origin.”
“There’s no need to recount the failure of ascension to a challenger seeking qualification.”
The Lightning Emperor replied calmly.
“But you seem to have seen much more than I expected. To even know about that half-hearted answer…”
The Lightning Emperor, eyes closed in silence, slowly turned her body, arms crossed.
“Then you must also understand why your choice is impossible.”
“…”
“I am a failed answer. A lingering attachment, inheriting the will of the Ascendant who perished in the First World.”
She said, tilting her head back as if not wanting to reveal her true feelings.
“So, choose what you desire and leave. A contradiction like me would be nothing but useless vexation to a seeker like you.”
“Indeed, for other seekers, your existence would only serve to obscure their own answers.”
Lennok smiled, shaking his head.
“But I intend to take you from this sanctuary precisely because you are such a being.”
“What did you say?”
“Impossible. Unreal. Someone might say it can’t be…”
Saying that, Lennok clasped his hands together and drew out his mana.
“That unfulfilled wish is, to me, the most invaluable treasure.”
If it was not a human belonging to this world, but a being closer to an answer, not even life itself from the start.
What Lennok had to show to gather that ‘possibility’ had been determined from the beginning.
Fwoosh!!!!
A explosively bursting monochrome ripple instantly enveloped and swallowed the entire Hall of the Thunder God sanctuary.
Only the Lightning Emperor and Lennok remained, floating in the midst of a vast, endless universe.
The moment the surprised Lightning Emperor frantically turned her gaze towards Lennok.
“You…”
“I’ll show you.”
Domain Deployment: Branch Point Observation
Kii-i-ing!!!!
A colossal Kaleidoscope emerged from the void of the universe, illuminating the Hall of the Thunder God sanctuary.
Immeasurable, magnificent golden rings emerged, reflecting infinite possibilities and branch points.
Embracing the two of them, reflecting parallel futures that could someday be reached, or perhaps had already been reached.
“…!!!!!”
The Lightning Emperor’s face, which had maintained an arrogant expression throughout, was for the first time filled with breathtaking awe.
Perhaps because she herself was someone’s answer and enlightenment, a being who had awakened alone in this sanctuary, she could understand it more clearly.
Not reflecting the past and present, but the future yet to come.
Lennok’s answer, possessing possibilities that no one across three worlds had ever dared to dream of.
“I desire the process, not the result. I seek the means, not the end.”
Lennok stared intently at the Lightning Emperor and said,
“Because without drawing the answer myself, I cannot transcend the laws of causality and create the next.”
“…”
To draw a non-existent next, an answer that transcends the causality of this world is needed.
As he had told Lapis, he believed that answer already existed within him.
“Then there is no choice but to return the answer to its beginning.”
Crackle!!!
The moment one of the empty golden kaleidoscopes shone upon the Lightning Emperor.
A tremendously colossal Lightning Spear fell behind the rigidly frozen Lightning Emperor.
Kwa-woo-woong!!!
The spearhead pulsed violently, emitting pure white lightning.
But now Lennok understood that it was not merely the shape of a spear.
Its gigantic size, tens of meters long, and its peculiarly twisted blade had simply been too unusual to fully take in at a glance.
“An answer carved into the Hall of the Thunder God, and the unique being not bound to the sanctuary…”
Lennok, arms crossed, gazed at the giant ‘key’ that had fallen from the void and smiled.
“I will take you, this key, from this Hall of the Thunder God.”