Chapter 1112: Level 9 (30)
As the Piercing Thunder Key pierced through the Spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation, the Sanctuary of the Hall of the Thunder God opened.
The Eye of Thunder bloomed, illuminating and engulfing everything in a pure white Lightning Radiance.
It redefined the battlefield where the two stood, giving it an entirely different nature and concept.
KWOOAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
Suddenly, Seonjong stood facing Lennok on a path with no discernible end.
A majestic wall of thunder and lightning, flickering in pure white. Countless branching paths stretching endlessly into the distance.
All sorts of weapons, of unknown origin and type, were embedded in the wall, emitting lightning.
They stood in a colossal hall crafted from lightning.
A contradiction, a solitude felt as if abandoned alone in the world, and a simultaneous sense of overwhelming fulfillment.
The moment he realized this was evidence of overlapping mental images, existing in an ideal realm beyond reality:
[You declared the Spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation as your Sanctuary?]
Seonjong, realizing what Lennok had done, turned his gaze with a hardened expression.
[Impossible. This is the cult’s method. How could someone without even faith…!!!!]
Sanctuary Declaration.
The power to summon into reality not the caster’s Root Mindscape, but the ideal realm of another, or the dream of an Outer God.
A miracle granted only to priests bound by primitive faiths, the cult’s highest-ranking high priests, or Apostles who are Incarnation Bodies.
“The Sanctuary of the Hall of the Thunder God cannot be entered without the Causality of Lightning, so it was impossible to draw you in or lure you.”
Click!!
Lennok, leaning against the Lightning Spear which was the center of the Sanctuary, spoke.
“So I summoned the Hall of the Thunder God into reality. This was the only way to pull a Mental Image that wasn’t mine into reality.”
The Hall of the Thunder God, the Sanctuary of Lightning existing in the deepest part of the Thorben Magic Tower.
The Piercing Thunder Key, the Lightning Emperor’s Key that supported the core of the Hall of the Thunder God’s Sanctuary.
But even after obtaining the Piercing Thunder Key, Lennok had never used the key in the proper way.
The Causality of Lightning existed beyond the world within the Hall of the Thunder God’s Sanctuary.
However, Lennok was not yet ready to accept the other lightning left by the pioneers within it.
Even his own lightning magic was precariously pushed beyond its controllable limits.
Adding more Causality to the lightning system would yield little meaning or efficacy.
But, for now, the meaning was different.
Crack, fizzzzzzz…!!!!!!
The colossal Sanctuary was filled with pure white Lightning Radiance.
Lightning surged from all directions, converging towards the massive Lightning Spear embedded in its center.
All the lightning of the Sanctuary fell to a single point, channeling through the Piercing Thunder Key and striking Lennok like a lightning rod.
CRUMBLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
It was as if all the thunder and lightning of the Hall of the Thunder God were being sucked in backward towards the swaying Lennok.
A magician’s new form, using the entire Sanctuary as a vast power plant, receiving an infinite supply of energy within it.
[You intend to use the lightning energy contained within the Sanctuary as power for your spellcraft!!!!]
“It is the earnest desire shared by Transcendents who have etched the Causality of Lightning… even beyond worlds.”
Lennok, facing Maleon’s massive form, closed his eyes and spoke.
“The lightning power contained within this place is an immense quantity, far more than any Transcendent could handle alone.”
[…!!!]
CRACKLEEEEEEE!!!!
Lightning energy poured over his entire skin and flesh.
The lightning flashed and accelerated through the blood vessels and nervous system of his body, which was rotting from the poisonous liquid.
A power of lightning, not his own, yet incomparably familiar, surged through his entire body.
= Adamant Thunder.
From beyond the distant Lightning Radiance, the Lightning Emperor’s consciousness, residing in the Piercing Thunder Key, whispered.
= I am supplying you with power through my spellcraft, but your body cannot endure this.
“…”
= I can only help once. After that, the Sanctuary will not be sustainable.
“It’s fine.”
Lennok slowly began to calm his Will-thought as he closed his eyes.
“One time will be enough to end everything.”
Having drunk the Elixir and accepted death, he could no longer use the Kaleidoscope that illuminated future turning points.
But there was a reason Lennok drew upon the Sanctuary’s electrical power, even without being able to deploy the Kaleidoscope.
Electrical power imbued with the nature of lightning was, in itself, a mighty energy and pure motive force.
If so, the power of the Hall of the Thunder God could be fully converted into the power source for Ouroboros.
And the destination Lennok sought to draw out, using Ouroboros once more, was—
“I will lower the spellcraft to the very bottom of the hierarchy, standing at the edge of Heaven’s Nadir.”
Lennok clasped his hands together and bowed his head deeply.
“The corrupted Root Mindscape that I, who accepted death and failed, obtained.”
Even if he couldn’t use the Kaleidoscope, it didn’t mean he couldn’t use a Domain at all.
Lightning magic and innate abilities. Unique spellcraft and Ritual Weapons.
A momentary miracle he sought to reach by discarding all the qualifications and abilities he had left.
Not the Madness-Naked Void Palace forcibly drawn out, but a new possibility allowed only in this instant.
The unique—of Lennok himself at the fallen turning point—
“My Domain—”
WOOOOSH!!!!!
The lightning power transmitted through the Piercing Thunder Key began to turn black in Lennok’s hands.
The black halo, larger than ever, spread out and violently spun at the center of the Sanctuary.
WOOOOOSH!!!!
The halo’s size was so vast that its resonance could not be fully heard.
Lennok’s body sank deeply, buried within the center of the pitch-black halo.
The moment Seonjong realized that this was a process of burying himself in a bottomless abyss, accepting the destruction that had fallen upon Lennok more deeply than ever before.
[MAGICIAN!!!!!]
CRACK!!!
Seonjong let out an utterly chilling roar, summoning his mana.
The Ascendant’s form, enveloped in intense starlight, explosively ascended hundreds of meters.
[Do you think I’ll just stand by!!!!!]
Sanctuary Declaration was a makeshift method to forcibly draw the Hall of the Thunder God into reality.
Maleon’s Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain was still spread out over the Spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation.
As Seonjong, standing at the center of the celestial sphere, extended his hand, the entire Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain warped according to his will.
[This is absurd. Do you intend to obtain a new Root Mindscape even now?]
WOOOOSH!!!
The Ascendant, with thousands of meteor showers falling from the sky behind him, let out a furious roar.
[That’s not talent. It’s a possibility not permitted to beings born within closed causality!!!]
Primitive Magic: Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style
No-Seed - External Method
Prosperous Star Cycle
Myriad Star Heaven
KWOOAAAHHHH!!!!!
Thousands of Dragon Stars warped simultaneously, drawing a massive wave of light across the sky.
In that moment, all the stars forming the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain sharply twisted in one direction and accelerated.
Simultaneously, the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain surrounding the Ninth Tribulation collapsed, and all the starlight from all directions began to converge towards Seonjong.
CRUMBLEEEEEEE!!!!!
Following Seonjong’s gesture, thousands of starlight streams warped, scraping and shattering the sky.
The crimson sunset was erased by the starlight, vaguely revealing a sea of darkness beyond.
Intense destruction, forcibly tearing apart the Spacetime of the atmosphere where the Ninth Tribulation plummeted, scattering flames.
WHOOOOOSH!!!!
Seonjong, accelerating at immense speed in the upper atmosphere and gathering starlight, waved his hand with full power, combining two souls and Mental Images.
[With the starlight of the universe, I will erase your origin from the world!!!!!!]
FLASH!!
The colossal sphere of compressed starlight from Seonjong’s fingertip exploded in place, splitting into tens of thousands of fragments.
The starlight bursting forth in all directions simultaneously warped towards Lennok, then converged into a single point again.
Tens of thousands of starlight streams, twisting in a spiral from the edge of the sky, descended upon reality.
[Outer Galaxy: Sacred Disintegration Cannon]
KWOOAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
A single strike wielding all the starlight of the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain concentrated into one point.
Thousands of Dragon Stars, each bearing power equal to the caster, were overlapped and focused onto a single coordinate.
A spell that drew in and fired all the repulsive force bursting forth at the culmination of starlight concentration beyond limits.
This miracle, unleashed by consuming the entirety of the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain, became a bombardment that permanently altered the world.
RUMBLEEEEEEEE!!!!
The starlight of the Sacred Disintegration Cannon diagonally split the crimson sky, accelerating as it fell.
A power that defied providence and law, fired solely to kill Lennok.
‘…’
But Lennok remained buried in the black halo, his eyes closed.
Converting the power of the Hall of the Thunder God entirely into energy for his spellcraft.
Amplifying and wielding the twisted power of Ouroboros more than ever before.
From the center of the corrupted mana, he buried himself deep into the Bottomless Abyss.
He sank his own origin and essence to the very bottom, into the surging darkness.
‘I knew it.’
The moment he drank the Elixir and reached the turning point of corruption, Lennok knew.
He knew it the moment he naturally created black lines by compressing black lightning.
The fact that this sensation felt so familiar to him.
As if he had known it for a long time, as if he had only just remembered it.
It wasn’t exultation or rapture, but a sense of relief at finally having reclaimed it.
That someday, he might have reached this point himself.
What was Lennok?
Or perhaps, what had he once been?
The remnant of corruption that had certainly existed beyond past, present, and future.
He inhaled completely, from the bottom of the abyss, the possibility he hadn’t consciously recognized or remembered.
Perhaps he had known even before drinking the Elixir.
Perhaps he had remembered it since seeing the Black Lightning that interfered with Maleon during the Promotion Ritual.
Or perhaps, even before Lennok opened his eyes in this world—
“…Ah.”
The words flowed naturally from within him.
He already knew what to do.
Just as he had buried his entire body in the Outer Sea’s darkness to ascend the Ninth Tribulation.
It was enough to simply savor everything within this grand yet lowly law.
The moment he desired it, he had already reached it.
Even if he didn’t understand it, it was already in Lennok’s hands.
All matter and laws of the universe were inverted and distorted.
Everything was misaligned, collapsed, and twisted in the wrong direction.
The turning point of destruction, reached by reversing all the answers and structures Lennok had built.
The lowest point of possibility, located at the extreme of that turning point.
Yes, even if this path was wrong and incorrect.
In this very moment—
This was Lennok’s answer.
[Domain Expansion:
At the same time he opened his eyes, a gloomy, stained telepathic transmission exploded within Lennok’s mind.
Even without opening his mouth, his will was etched into reality with utmost clarity.
Calling out a name he himself could neither understand nor remember.
[Open.]
He haphazardly grabbed the chaos festering within and turned it.
KIIIIING—
A pitch-black Black Line unfolded horizontally before Lennok’s eyes.
The fallen destination Lennok would obtain, or perhaps had already obtained.
The incomprehensible turning point he might have surely reached in a different way, someday.
The moment he turned what he already held, despite not understanding it, as he remembered it.
KIIIGIGIGIGIGI—
A colossal, pitch-black Gate opened before Lennok’s eyes.
A rectangular black裂 created by drawing a Black Line haphazardly.
Immediately after the void, containing nothing visible, unfolded before him.
CRUMBLEEEEEEE!!!!
The Ascendant’s spellcraft, which tore and collapsed the Spacetime of the world, fell diagonally.
WHOOSH—
The starlight of the Outer Galaxy: Sacred Disintegration Cannon vanished silently beyond The Gate.
[-Ah.]
Seonjong, watching the scene, let out an indistinct cry for the first time.
The Sacred Disintegration Cannon’s spellcraft, vanishing without a trace, as if the vast black裂 was swallowing light.
The essence of the External Method, unleashed by consuming the Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster Domain to erase Lennok’s existence.
The miracle beyond Level 9, poured out by Maleon and Seonjong by drawing upon their talent and future.
The converging mass of starlight, accelerating to reshape the world, vanished before his eyes.
[Impossible…]
Seonjong’s gloomy telepathic transmission trembled, then began to echo in dozens of overlaps.
[This, this cannot be possible. How can such a thing…!!!!!!]
“There was no need to avoid or block it from the start.”
Lennok slowly opened his eyes, muttering as he gazed at The Gate floating before him.
“Opening The Gate itself was the form of my Domain.”
The spellcraft of corruption obtained on the premise of destruction.
The Domain of the failed and corrupted turning point that Lennok might have reached someday.
The ability of the Domain, broken to the point where its name couldn’t even be pronounced, was the power to open The Gate.
It held neither the countless mysteries of ascension nor the omens of destruction that shattered everything.
The supreme authority to open The Gate and send all concepts and laws assailing him to somewhere, severing the connection of causality.
Lennok had deployed his Domain and flung Seonjong’s Sacred Disintegration Cannon beyond The Gate.
[Don’t make me laugh-!!!!!!!]
Only then did Seonjong unleash a telepathic transmission that threatened to burst eardrums.
As if hearing it from Lennok’s mouth was the only way he could even conceive of denying it.
As if he hadn’t dared to even think of it in his own mind before then.
[Don’t tell me such a thing is possible!!!!! How dare you tell such a ridiculous lie!!!!!]
“…”
[A mere living being opened The Gate alone! You reconnected the cross-section of causality…!!!!!]
Seonjong stared at the silent Lennok, his voice trembling madly.
As if unable to control his rage, he even stammered through the mana-resonating telepathic transmission, glaring as if to tear Lennok apart.
[Can a mortal achieve a miracle that uses an Ascendant’s death as fertilizer!!! That can’t be. It can’t be…!!!!!]
“…”
[That’s not human. It’s not a living species!!!! Not even the gods of that sea—]
Seonjong, who had been shouting madly, suddenly stopped speaking as he saw Lennok looking up at him in silence.
Because the moment he faced the dark void in the magician’s eyes, he already knew the answer.
He tried to deny it, but couldn’t.
The moment he tried not to doubt, he was already doubting.
That the magician had already surpassed the possibility he had desired through Kaiser’s body.
That he had possessed it from the beginning, and only now was finally confronting it.
“I don’t know how it can be opened.”
Lennok said in a hollow voice.
“But I definitely knew that someday I could reach it….”
Lennok whispered, gazing at Maleon’s body, which was shattered into scattering darkness.
“If so, I can do it right now.”
KIIIIING…!!!!
The world creaked, and the proclamation of The Gate’s opening echoed once more.
But the tearing sound no longer came from before Lennok.
The moment Lennok’s hand, raised from the darkness, pointed at the Ascendant’s body.
The Gate was opening once again within the silver dragon’s inner self, which had become an Ascendant.
[AAAAAAAH-!!!!!!]
Seonjong, realizing this, roared madly and drew upon his mana.
KWOOAAAHHHHHH!!!!
The Ascendant’s body, engulfed in intense starlight, accelerated at an immense speed into the upper atmosphere.
Maleon’s massive form, burning mana and increasing speed, transformed into pure white light and rampaged.
But the next moment, Seonjong stood facing Lennok again, across an endless horizon of darkness.
[H-HUH-!!!!]
CRACK, CRACKLEEEE…!!!!
The sound of The Gate opening echoed within Seonjong.
A Black Line spread across his chest, enveloping his form like a colossal black cube.
The moment he realized this was the prelude to The Gate opening within his own inner self.
[NO-!!!!!!]
Seonjong let out a chilling roar, struggling violently.
[Me, where are you sending me!!!!]
“…”
[I, I won’t go anywhere!!!! I will remain in this world until the very end, and gain eternal opportunity…!!!]
The Gate itself was not a concept possessing special destructive power or force.
It was merely a term referring to the phenomenon that connected Spacetime across the world and the Outer Sea.
Any concept passing through The Gate would surely arrive somewhere intact.
But Lennok was not only sending Seonjong’s spellcraft away, but attempting to send Seonjong’s very existence beyond The Gate.
What could possibly exist beyond it that he sought to conclude things in this manner?
[An infinite opportunity that even my dead self could not obtain-!!!!]
“The power to open The Gate was obtained through the Mental Image of corruption, based on destruction.”
Lennok said quietly.
“Therefore, what exists beyond The Gate is not the Spacetime of this world, but my Root Mindscape.”
[…That is.]
“Beyond the conclusion where ‘next’ ceases to exist.”
Lennok slowly extended his hand and said.
“The place I intend to send you is the future of ruin, where failure has brought about the end.”
Lennok’s Kaleidoscope was a power that illuminated infinite possibilities, not based on failure and corruption.
But there was another conclusion, one that only the ‘failed’ Lennok, who had accepted death and destruction, could reach.
Lennok’s own Root Mindscape from a future where he had failed, become corrupted, and reached ruin.
The Domain of a turning point that, at the end of corruption, held a twisted answer and plummeted to the very bottom.
This power, which summoned the possibility of ‘the future’ in a way completely opposite to the Kaleidoscope, was—
The power to guide a target to a failed future where the end had arrived. To a fixed timeline where everything was destroyed.
KIRIRIRIRIIK—
Within the black cube trapping Seonjong, a void surged forth with the sound of The Gate opening.
As if filling the space beyond the Black Line with the darkness from beyond The Gate.
He transformed the colossal Dragon-kind body into The Gate itself, right there.
CRUMBLEEEE…!!!
Consciousness and soul were sucked in entirely, beyond The Gate created within him.
An endless void. A future of destruction that had not yet arrived.
Advancing towards a timeline where no ‘next’ existed.
A closed world. The Gate of destruction leading to an annihilated future where cause and effect were severed.
[You, you were The Gate-Opener….]
Seonjong, staring blankly at the void beyond The Gate, muttered.
[That can’t be….]
Seonjong’s voice, trembling, gradually began to fade.
[You, you couldn’t have been him… That defies the providence of time—]
“Perhaps.”
Lennok smiled.
“Until the very end of the world, I intend to be myself. I will never become anyone else.”
“…”
“But if the conclusion of this world merely cycles infinitely within closed causality—”
Lennok, pointing at Seonjong with one hand, slowly tilted his head.
“Then I intend to wield even that failed conclusion with my own will.”
FLASH—
Seonjong’s reply could not continue beyond that.
The Gate that opened within him rotated circularly, scattering and unfurling a colossal void.
The moment the expanded black Gate glittered, dyeing the horizon completely black.
The Star of Darkness rotated, sending Seonjong’s consciousness and soul to a distant, destructive future.