Chapter 1110: Level 9 (28)
The Ninth Tribulation battlefield, breaking through the atmosphere and plummeting from beyond the Outer Sea.
In the spacetime rushing towards destruction, the incantations of two Transcendent collided almost simultaneously.
Magnetic Domain: Deploy
Usurping Hierarchy: Mental Image Actualization
[Madness-Naked Void Palace]
A black-stained kaleidoscope spun, unfurling the Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace into reality.
The lunatic’s turning point, born as a mad Apostle of the Void who serves no god alone and is consumed by madness.
KWOOAAARGH!!!!!
From the darkness, dozens of black pillars violently struck down on either side of Lennok.
As if forging a path around Lennok, pillars of overwhelming size lined up left and right, flashing.
A black-stained meteor shower rained down from the sky of the Domain, casting ominous shadows upon the ground.
Behind Lennok, whose head was bowed, halos unfurled in succession, flickering like black wings.
Mortal power to kill the unkillable, to impose the laws of reality upon the immortal.
The execution ground of a mad Apostle who desires a world without gods.
Yet, Seonjong, even upon witnessing the darkness of the Void Palace, did not cease his incantation.
The power to change the world, obtained as a Level 9 Ascendant.
The power that allows Maleon Gnosis to exist as an Ascendant, changing the world with his own answer—
Space-Thought Domain: Manifest
Origin Hierarchy: Causal Alteration
[Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster]
WOOOOOSH—!!!!
Thousands of silver-shining meteors, encircling the Ninth Tribulation, drew the shape of a dazzling celestial sphere.
The moment the starlight forming the meteor shower curved into a gigantic, silver-glinting sphere of light.
The remnants of the Ninth Tribulation, plummeting towards the ground at immense speed, ‘stopped’ mid-air.
CRUNCHING SOUND!!!
The falling Ninth Tribulation instantly ceased its speed mid-air without even a rebound, stopping time.
The exact moment the Magnetic Domain and Space-Thought Domain simultaneously overlapped and clashed at a single spacetime coordinate.
WHIRRRRR!!!!!
Simultaneously, Lennok’s consciousness accelerated to its limit, fragmenting into immeasurable pieces.
A momentary reprieve, extending consciousness infinitely, not even a fleeting instant in real time.
“Van.”
From far within the consciousness space, Maleon was watching Lennok.
“I’ve been waiting.”
“…Space-Thought Domain.”
At the same time, Lennok, realizing why the Ninth Tribulation had stopped, raised his gaze.
“Did you stop the Ninth Tribulation with the authority to semi-permanently alter the world?”
“More accurately, I am rewriting the laws of physics imposed on this spacetime as my own.”
Maleon, with his arms crossed, said.
The silver dragon’s eyes, fixed on Lennok, were calmer than ever before.
“The Space-Thought Domain is the power that engraves an Ascendant’s answer onto the world. The moment this Ninth Tribulation is enveloped by my Space-Thought Domain, all existing physical laws here are replaced by mine.”
“…The strain and acceleration on the Ninth Tribulation must have long since exceeded what an individual could withstand.”
The spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation, where Lennok and Maleon currently stood, was itself a meteor plummeting from thousands of kilometers above.
The strain and acceleration here were already beyond what any living being’s power could halt.
Yet Maleon Gnosis had made it possible merely by deploying his Space-Thought Domain.
Erasing the physical laws imposed on the Ninth Tribulation and covering that space with his Space-Thought Domain.
For the Space-Thought Domain is the power that actualizes an Ascendant’s answer, and in itself, it is like a world.
Thus, the Ninth Tribulation, contained within it, was forcibly ‘fixed’ according to the physical laws of the Space-Thought Domain.
The Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace covered the battlefield. Encompassing even that Domain, the Space-Thought Domain: Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster unfurled.
Lennok murmured, gazing at the myriad beautiful meteors emblazoned across the dark sky.
“You deployed your Space-Thought Domain with the intention of stopping the Ninth Tribulation from the start.”
“It was my will, yet also not my will.”
Maleon said calmly.
“But I cannot help but be grateful for this time, however brief, that I have to speak with you.”
“Maleon.”
“Before the end comes… I wanted to apologize to you.”
Maleon’s voice was softer and gentler than ever before.
Lennok gazed at the Ascendant standing before him with an expressionless face.
Because he knew who had appeared in the consciousness space immediately after the Space-Thought Domain and Magnetic Domain clashed.
The fact that what stood before him now was not Seonjong’s residual thought, but Maleon Gnosis himself.
“I knew the moment I saw Seonjong wielding your Primitive Magic.”
Lennok, who had been silent, spoke.
“That he had obtained not only your body but also your spellcraft in its complete form. And that it was your own will.”
“…”
The Primitive Magic, Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style, is a power that can only be wielded by Maleon Gnosis’s own mental image.
Unless the spellcraft itself is specialized for it, like Ermont’s consciousness transfer, one cannot seize the spellcraft by merely taking the body.
Even a Transcendent like Seonjong would only be able to do so after completely shattering and absorbing the original owner’s soul and mental image.
However, the very fact that Seonjong was wielding Primitive Magic was proof that Maleon was voluntarily cooperating with him.
It was tantamount to proof that he was lending his power to the residual thought entity that had seized his body.
“I apologize, Van.”
Maleon said.
“I lied to you. I forcibly tried to ignore that fact.”
“…”
“After reaching Level 9 with your help in the Promotion Ritual, I harbored doubts.”
Maleon closed his eyes.
“I started to wonder if the path I pursued was truly correct, or if a better answer already existed.”
“…”
“I wanted to deny it but couldn’t. The moment I tried not to doubt, I was already doubting.”
The silver dragon’s expression turned sorrowful.
“The moment the ritual, which should have failed at that point, succeeded, I could no longer abandon that thought.”
“…Maleon.”
The moment a Seeker believes another’s answer is more correct than their own, they can no longer progress.
Originally, the Promotion Ritual should have ended then. Maleon should have failed and died.
But the moment Lennok intervened, saved Maleon, and made the ritual succeed, Maleon understood.
That Lennok, who intervened in the process, saw further than he himself, who had reached Level 9 as a result of the ritual.
That the conclusion he sought was aiming for a future even more distant than his own.
“I…”
Lennok’s expression, having heard that fact directly from Maleon, blurred for a very brief moment.
Should I have simply stood by?
Should I have allowed Maleon to die, the ritual to fail, and sought another way to ascend the Ninth Tribulation?
Perhaps that was the only way from the start.
Perhaps it was the only true rest for Maleon Gnosis.
But—
“I… am not the being you imagine.”
Lennok replied, his gaze lowered.
“I merely do what I can. I challenge it because I believe I can accomplish it. I cherish the process because I know the outcome.”
“…”
“What I desire is not as grand as you might think. I merely—”
How should he express it?
With what words could he convey his answer to this imperfect Ascendant?
What should he say to Maleon, who sought to confess his apostasy before the final confrontation?
Despite having answered those who asked for Lennok’s answer countless times, he always finds himself agonizing like this.
Because words are always imperfect, and feelings are never truly conveyed.
Yet, he always deliberates to answer and move forward in the most righteous way.
“Even this very moment, as you and I speak, I merely wish to leave it in the ‘next.’”
“…Van.”
“That everything we’ve done does not vanish into the seafoam. Always, like that…”
Though everything may change, some things remain constant.
The desire to live and see tomorrow remains the same as it was in the beginning.
Not a grand and magnificent reason, but a more honest and fundamental wish.
The process that moves Lennok to his conclusion lies there.
In the quiet silence, Maleon listened to Lennok’s answer with his eyes closed.
As if he would remember this moment, where Lennok revealed his innermost thoughts, until the very end.
“The moment you acknowledge your weakness and make it your answer, you are truer than anyone.”
Maleon, who had been silently contemplating, spoke softly.
“Because I realized your answer didn’t stem solely from innate talent, I became captivated by it.”
“…”
“I tried to deny it, but I don’t regret it. At least I…”
The Ascendant opened his eyes and smiled gently.
“Even having come this far, I am certain that you are right.”
“…Maleon.”
“The Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster is the power to make myself one with the stars, by herding the dragons and stars of the outer galaxy.”
Maleon slowly turned and said.
“Every star constructing the Space-Thought Domain is myself, and I am the stars, hence a Dragon Star. As long as the stars shine, it is virtually immortality.”
“…”
“However, there is a way. Because I reached the Ascendant state while captivated by your answer, my Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster, which contains my pursuit, is still incomplete.”
Maleon said this, smiling gently.
“For this fleeting moment, to tell you this, I fully surrendered my mental image to him.”
“…”
“Now that he has gained the sensation of wielding the Space-Thought Domain with my help, he will soon suppress my consciousness, ensuring I can never awaken again.”
A resolute will flickered in Maleon’s eyes as he met Lennok’s gaze.
“So, do not hesitate until the very end. You understand, don’t you?”
“Maleon.”
Lennok asked with a complex expression.
“Were you waiting for this from the beginning?”
Maleon’s mind, entranced by the melody of the Outer Sea and rampaging, could not last much longer.
Soon, when Maleon’s mind was completely broken, Seonjong would immediately absorb his soul and mental image, seizing his spellcraft.
But Maleon, by his own will, relinquished his spellcraft to Seonjong, earning a fleeting moment to speak with Lennok.
To inform him that the Space-Thought Domain: Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster, which had stopped the Ninth Tribulation, was an unstable authority.
Furthermore, to leave a promise for Lennok not to hesitate in killing him.
“What right do I, who bore Kundara’s destiny and failed, have to live and see tomorrow?”
Maleon smiled.
“How could I, who couldn’t even uphold my own pursuit, face the people who believed in and followed me?”
“…”
“If my journey is nothing but an echo, then I only wish for you to bring it to an end with your own hands.”
WHIRRRRR!!!
The consciousness, which had been expanded to its limit and slowed, gradually accelerated.
Time, which had been frozen around Lennok and Maleon, regained its speed.
Maleon Gnosis’s final moment.
The fleeting instant was coming to an end.
There was no longer any time for exchanging sentiments.
“Your opponent is a monster who wields life and death. It won’t go as smoothly as you think.”
“…”
“It might not be the way you want. But if that’s alright…”
Lennok raised his gaze.
“I will decide your ending myself.”
“Anything, if it’s the way you wish.”
As Maleon smiled, light surged from all directions.
Lennok’s body was pushed back as his consciousness accelerated to its limit.
As he re-emerged into reality, as if recoiling, the clock distorted.
KWOOAAARGH!!!!!
Black pillars struck down beneath the colossal silver celestial sphere.
Countless Dragon Stars raining down from the dark sky.
All that starlight was Maleon himself, harboring dragons, and the very components forming the Space-Thought Domain.
The moment Lennok thought that, supporting himself with one hand and rising, the colossal body of the silver dragon, wreathed in brilliant light, slowly descended.
GROOOWL!!!
The Space-Thought Domain, where a Level 9 Ascendant manifests their answer upon the world.
It goes without saying how absolute an Ascendant’s meaning is at the core of that spacetime.
WOOSH!!!
The scales covering Maleon’s entire body melted, becoming silver flames that blazed.
Maleon Gnosis’s new form, wreathed in dazzling silver flames and with eyes gleaming.
[I feel it.]
WOOOOSH!!!!
From the mouth of the qualified silver dragon, Seonjong’s hollow telepathic transmission exploded, echoing.
[I feel Maleon Gnosis has finally completely handed this body over to me.]
“…”
[What was he like at the end?]
Seonjong asked.
[Did he accept his end like a great Dragon-kind, or did he cry out miserably for his life?]
“Well,”
As he drew up mana, a halo violently rotated behind Lennok’s back.
Black lightning exploded outwards in all directions, shattering the void and overflowing.
CRACKLE!!!!
From all directions, black lightning, compressed to its limit, transformed into black lines and stretched out.
Lennok, gripping the black lines he had created with his bare hands, spoke.
“Even having obtained Maleon’s Space-Thought Domain, you’re curious about such things?”
[That’s right. Because this body of Dragon-kind is fundamentally not the vessel I desired.]
SWOOOSH…!!
The moment Seonjong spread his hand, the light of the meteor shower pouring from the sky tilted.
The Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster, drawing a majestic semicircular trajectory, poured towards the Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace.
[While Maleon Gnosis’s pursued answer and spellcraft have meaning, they are not the ultimate destination I seek.]
“…”
[For there is the miracle of the Trinity, completed by combining my powers of Recursion and Serenity with Kaiser Bajour’s Regressive Magic.]
Seonjong spoke, with the rain of stars falling from the sky at his back.
[Through him, I shall seize an opportunity even I, dead, could not obtain.]
“…An opportunity.”
Despite understanding much, Lennok no longer asked anything.
He knew that debating its rightness or wrongness now held no meaning.
He knew that once he had chosen his own answer, there was nothing left but to move forward.
However—
“I promised to decide Maleon’s ending with my own hands.”
Lennok, with his head bowed and hands clasped, murmured.
“Therefore, before the Ninth Tribulation falls, I will take your life.”
[Try it, if you can.]
Seonjong smiled.
[In this graveyard, I shall lay your death in place of Kaiser Bajour.]
ZIIIING!!!!
As the black halo twisted, dense darkness erupted like wings.
Formless black magic violently propelled Lennok’s body upwards, centered around the halo.
He soared upwards at immense speed, defying the hundreds of meteors falling from the sky.
Primitive Magic: Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style
Ninth Form (Eight Forms) - Outer Method
[Skyfall]
KWOOAAARGH!!!!!!
Hundreds of starlights accelerated diagonally, falling like artillery shells.
Dozens of meters of light pillars surged over the Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace, annihilating space.
WHOOSH!
Lennok, leaping through spacetime, traversed the Void Palace’s Domain at an invisible speed.
The black pillars that had surged left and right tilted diagonally, and a black sphere erupted from the center of the Void Palace.
Creation-Type Unique Magic
Property Transformation: Heaven’s Nadir
[Black Dissolution: Extreme Incineration]
CRUMBLE!!!
The starlight bombardment falling upon the Void Palace’s Domain was drawn into the black sphere, distorting.
The Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster, rotating in a vast spiral around the Extreme Incineration, collided and vanished.
Maleon and Lennok’s new forms, falling from the sky, clashed in the upper reaches of the Domain.
[Fall: Piercing Slaughter]
[Black Obscurity]
[Silver Shell of Myriad Forms]
[Dragon’s Calamity]
Sharp lightning radiance and heavy starlight traversed the spacetime of the Domain and Jurisdiction, exploding.
The moment Lennok, scattering black lightning, and Maleon’s colossal body, wreathed in silver flames, crossed paths in the air.
Countless black lines rippled as if splitting and shattering the celestial sphere, and a vast tsunami of black lightning overflowed.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!!!
As if crushing the vast boundary of the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster, spanning thousands of meters in radius, by clenching it.
Amidst the black lightning’s frenzy, which dismantled all creation, starlight fell, exploding and pulverizing.
The moment Lennok, stained with black blood, and Seonjong’s hand, flickering with flames, twisted towards each other.
Black halos and silver meteors burst forth hundreds of times, vanishing and burning the world.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!!
With each incantation of Ouroboros, dozens of black halos unfurled simultaneously.
A barrage of Heaven’s Nadir Spellcraft, burning Lennok’s remaining mana and time to the limit.
Black ripples appeared and vanished hundreds of times across the silver-flamed dragon’s entire body.
At every point of impact, black lines and black lightning were inscribed, erasing Maleon’s physical form.
CRACKLE-ZAP-!!!!
Ouroboros Magic System. Property Transformation: Heaven’s Nadir.
The fallen power, abandoning interpretation at the lowest point of providence, ‘dismantled’ all incoming recoil.
The moment it began to aim for destruction beyond that, past Maleon’s body, and even towards Seonjong’s soul.
[Impossible!!!!!]
Seonjong, with a chilling roar, gripped the rotating black halo with his bare hands.
CRUNCH!!!
The Ascendant’s arm, touching the halo, was instantly pulverized and scattered, yet he did not stop.
Extending his left arm, which was dismantling in real-time, he pierced through the halo and seized Lennok by the throat.
[WIZARD!!!!!]
Seonjong swung his arm at an invisible speed, slamming Lennok into the far side of the Domain.
BWOOOOM!!!
“…!!”
Even after dismantling and nullifying the impact and recoil, the shock rattled his soul.
The moment Lennok, silently spitting black blood, raised his upper body with vacant eyes.
Maleon’s colossal body, falling from the sky, surpassed the speed of perception and crushed Lennok.
THWOOM!!!!
“Kuh…!!!”
[A power so difficult to contend with, it’s almost disgusting.]
Seonjong, pressing Lennok’s neck with his right arm instead of his vanished left, spoke chillingly.
[The more I clash with your spellcraft, the more it empowers you; the more I fight, the more I bring loss upon myself.]
Ouroboros’s Heaven’s Nadir Spellcraft, stripped of interpretation and amplified by dismantling.
Everything dismantled and pulverized becomes pure driving force for Ouroboros.
Seonjong realized this immediately after clashing spellcraft with Lennok, and forcibly ended the exchange, accepting a momentary loss.
[Yet, even if you dismantle this body and soul, you cannot kill me within this Space-Thought Domain.]
WOOSH!!!
Starlight falling from the sky landed on Maleon’s left arm, transforming into silver flames.
The silver flames newly formed Maleon’s left arm, giving it a complete shape.
[Even if your spellcraft possesses the power to defy providence, the outcome of this battle is set.]
Seonjong, aiming at Lennok’s head with his left hand, spoke with a chilling gaze.
[I’ll shatter your head in one go, leaving no trace.]
WHIRRRRRING…!!!
Dozens of meteor showers comprising the Space-Thought Domain gathered in Seonjong’s hand.
A Level 9 spell that converges light to its extreme, annihilating the target of the spellcraft.
Ninth Form (Nine Forms) - Outer Method
[Star Annihilation]
Having confirmed Ouroboros’s danger, there was no reason to delay.
Completing the spellcraft without waiting for Lennok’s answer. The moment he unleashed the light of Star Annihilation.
A majestic silver starlight surged like a tsunami over the Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace.
THWOOOOM!!!!
However, at the center of that light, Lennok still lay, looking up at Seonjong.
His face was scorched, but he seemed almost unaffected by the Star Annihilation Seonjong unleashed.
[You dismantled the spellcraft and simultaneously preserved your physical body…?]
For the first time, Seonjong’s hollow eyes were tinged with confusion.
[Impossible. The output of a Ninth Form Outer Method is a power that any Transcendent can endure—]
The Primitive Magic, Star Annihilation, is the power that detonates starlight and annihilates the target with its recoil.
At such close range, even Lennok could not survive without fully dismantling the spellcraft.
Thus, Seonjong had intended to exploit the gap in Lennok’s consciousness while he focused on dismantling, to tear his physical body apart—
[You didn’t perfectly dismantle my spellcraft yourself.]
Seonjong’s hollow eyes were tinged with chilling killing intent.
[Has there been an issue with my spellcraft’s performance itself?]
“Silver reacts with poison, discoloring and denaturing…”
Lennok coughed faintly, watching it.
“The further it strays from pure silver, the lower its mana conductivity and conversion rate…”
“…Could it be?”
SSSIIZZZLE…!!!
Maleon’s right arm, pressing down hard on Lennok’s body.
Lennok’s black-stained blood touched it, gradually corroding Maleon’s body.
It looked as if extremely potent venom was reacting with silver.
The Primitive Magic, Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style, is the power to convert Dragon-kind’s unique magic into a potent heat source.
It is a spellcraft permissible because Maleon, born as a silver dragon, possessed silver’s powerful heat and mana conductivity.
However, if poison is mixed into the silver dragon’s body, inducing silver’s denaturing, the efficiency of converting mana into a heat source drops.
Maleon’s peculiar weakness, born with the properties of silver, which Olivera had advised Lennok about.
Lennok remembered this and continuously leaked his poisoned blood into Maleon during their engagement.
Finally, he succeeded in inducing denaturing to the point where Maleon’s spellcraft output dropped.
[Even if you altered the body’s properties, you can intervene with my spellcraft output within the Space-Thought Domain? Impossible. From the start—]
Seonjong suddenly realized something and looked up sharply.
[Could it be, this Domain’s ability—!!!!]
The Apostle of the Void, who dreams of a world without gods.
An execution ground that brings all existence under the laws of reality, killing the unkillable.
Therefore, the Madness-Naked Void Palace can return Maleon’s physical body to the laws of reality, even within the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster.
Was all of this intended from the very beginning?
Clashing their spellcraft, covering Maleon’s entire body with Lennok’s blood.
Forcibly imposing close-quarters combat to keep Ouroboros’s power in check.
And now, having willingly descended into the Domain of the Madness-Naked Void Palace, closing the distance with Lennok.
“Naturally, I had thought this far from the very beginning.”
WHIRRRRING!!!
A black halo, compressed to its absolute smallest in Lennok’s hand, rotated.
He gripped the halo, compressed like a revolver bullet, and aimed it at Maleon’s heart.
Magnetic Domain: Deploy. Madness-Naked Void Palace: Domain Release.
To release the fixed form of the Domain, compressing the Void Palace’s ability not across the entire Domain, but into a single point.
And only this moment, where no distance remains between the two Transcendent.
“Will be the singular moment I can directly ‘dismantle’ your hierarchy.”
CLICK!!
The halo, infused with the mental image of the Void Palace and Ouroboros, twisted in a double helix.
The sound of a finger tilting and a bullet being loaded echoed.
Lennok whispered, firing the halo as if flicking it.
“Fall, Ascendant.”
SNAP!!
The moment the black light, twisted into a spiral, pierced the Ascendant’s heart.
A sound like something shattering echoed from within Maleon.