Chapter 1118: Lingering Echo (6)
Outside the Western Front’s border zone. A secluded alley just beyond the train station, a transit point for the railway.
On a worn bench overlooking the plains outside a small city, Lennok met the person he had been waiting for.
The Ascendant who had pursued Kundara’s greatest challenge.
The Long-lived Being, banished beyond The Gate alongside Seonjong’s will-thought.
Maleon Gnosis.
Clunk!!
Lennok pulled an ionic drink from a vending machine and offered it to Maleon.
“Would you like one?”
“……”
“The quality of drinks sold in the Western Continent seems better than the Eastern Continent. Is it Torquepaz’s influence?”
Maleon did not reply.
Instead, he simply stood motionless before the bench where Lennok sat and extended his hand.
The moment Lennok placed the aluminum can in Maleon’s hand.
Hisss!!!
Along with a pungent black smoke, the can melted in Maleon’s hand.
The drink inside completely evaporated before it could even drip between Maleon’s fingers.
“……”
Corrupted mana. Is this a power that erodes and destroys whatever it touches?
A stained silver glow emanated from Maleon’s entire body. The overflowing mana had completely transformed into something thoroughly harmful.
Lennok stared intently at Maleon’s hand, then pulled out another drink and settled back onto the bench.
“How long has it been since you regained consciousness?”
“……About two days.”
Maleon closed his eyes.
“I collapsed somewhere on an unknown plain…… in this state.”
“Not long, then.”
“……”
Before replying, Lennok cleanly emptied the remaining drink.
As he tossed the can, a Magic Scribe snatched it as if squeezing it, then slammed it straight into a distant trash can.
Crunch!!
Watching this, Lennok pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket.
“Though you won the battle, that power wasn’t inherently something you could perfectly control.”
Hiss!!
Lennok, biting on the cigarette and lighting it, spoke.
“So I couldn’t be sure when you would ‘return’ again.”
“……”
“But I knew it wouldn’t be difficult for you to find my location if you did return.”
Lennok exhaled a puff of smoke and nodded.
“So I waited. You were the last person I needed to meet.”
“……”
In his final confrontation with Seonjong, Lennok had opened The Gate and flung the Ascendant into a future where everything was ruined.
The Gate that opened within the Ascendant’s psyche guided both Seonjong and Maleon beyond the conclusion, making no distinction between them.
Because he had forcibly opened an uncontrollable possibility of ruin, Lennok did not try to control it.
Maleon’s existence should have vanished along with Seonjong’s will-thought in a future with a predetermined end.
But—
“Sit. You must have something you want to ask me, don’t you?”
Lennok gestured to the seat beside him, tapping the cigarette between his fingers.
“Wasn’t that why you sought me out like this?”
“……Something I want to ask?”
Maleon retorted in a voice that trembled faintly.
His voice shook with unconcealable emotion.
“Rather, tell me what I shouldn’t ask…….”
“……”
“Why…… why…… did you save me?”
Thud!!
Maleon fell to his knees on the spot, tearing at his face with both hands.
Cracked scales cascaded down from between his fingers, but he didn’t even seem to notice.
“I, I failed…… I betrayed those who believed in me and followed me.”
“……”
“Everyone believed in me, they dreamed of the same future as me, but I…… that city, with my own hands……”
Hisss……!!!
From Maleon’s entire body, clutched around his face, flowed black-stained mana.
The mana that spilled onto the ground began to melt the pavement blocks around where Maleon knelt.
The mana that once shone like brilliant stars was gone, replaced by polluted, corrupted, filthy mana.
Only the intense emotions contained within it seemed to show how frustrated and despairing he was.
“You saw what happened to Kundara.”
Lennok said.
“But that wasn’t your fault. Not even at the very end was it your responsibility.”
“No! It was my fault.”
Maleon shook his head fiercely.
“It……!!! happened because I was unworthy.”
“……”
“It was the price for presumptuously dreaming of ascension and complacent salvation. So……!!”
Whoosh!
Maleon’s aura flared savagely, then instantly faded.
The dragon’s voice, which had been emitting a menacing will-thought, became so faint it seemed about to break.
“So, I had hoped…… you would decide my end……”
Despite his despair, frustration, and anger, Maleon couldn’t even properly express his rage at Lennok.
Perhaps because he knew he didn’t even have the right to, that Lennok was not to blame.
This immature Ascendant was a diligent being, unable to impulsively succumb to misguided emotions.
Even while his body was being seized and he was going mad, he was a Seeker who worried about others until the very end.
Even when everything went wrong, he was a Transcendent who did not regret being captivated by Lennok’s answer.
For that very reason, Lennok knew that Maleon would surely ‘return’.
“Beyond The Gate exists the future where the end has arrived. It is my own failed answer, accepting ruin.”
Lennok spoke quietly.
“Everything that goes beyond it merely becomes part of the predetermined end. Seonjong’s will-thought became exactly that.”
“……Then, I am.”
“Then, why were you, unlike Seonjong, able to return from beyond The Gate?”
Maleon’s murky silver dragon eyes met Lennok’s gaze in the air.
Lennok put down the burning cigarette and said softly.
“Because you chose to, Maleon.”
“……”
“Because you believed my answer was right, because you ‘chose’ my path…… you could not exist there.”
The Root Mindscape of the Corrupted Branching Point.
The Domain of the End that opens The Gate is a power completely opposite to the Kaleidoscope Lennok possesses.
Therefore, Maleon, who understood and accepted Lennok’s answer, could not exist beyond the failed Gate.
For a being who harbors Lennok’s vision of the ‘next’ cannot reside in a future where ‘next’ does not exist.
Maleon had returned to reality, using the non-existent answer beyond The Gate as his guidepost.
“I……”
As if struck by Lennok’s words, Maleon stumbled back.
“I…… chose……?”
He too must have immediately understood what Lennok was saying with his outstanding intuition.
Not merely to comfort Maleon, but because he realized it was actually true.
He was trembling so much precisely because he understood that this moment was his own choice.
Maleon stared blankly at his own black-stained hands.
“Such a painful end, such a utterly filthy lingering echo of life…… Did I, truly wish for this……?”
“Why shouldn’t you wish for it?”
Lennok asked, rising from his seat.
“Why shouldn’t it be painful and filthy?”
“……Th-that is.”
Before he knew it, Lennok was looking down at Maleon, who was on his knees.
Staring at the Ascendant who looked up at him blankly, Lennok murmured.
“Is the desire to simply live, even like that…… really such a grand thing?”
“……”
Maleon could no longer answer.
The last conversation they had in the consciousness space where the Phase Domain and the Domain of Self collided.
He remembered empathizing with Lennok’s answer then.
No, he hadn’t just remembered; he had chosen it.
Because he felt that Lennok’s answer was closer to the ‘next’ than his own.
Because he couldn’t deny it and had to acknowledge it.
Even though Maleon had accepted the end, he couldn’t simply finish, and thus stood before Lennok again—
“Because you truly believed my answer was right, you didn’t run away until the very end.”
Lennok said quietly.
“Therefore, you didn’t escape to the easy end of death, but returned yourself.”
“……”
“Because you embraced the ‘next’ that I envision, you gained the chance to choose.”
He spoke to the Ascendant who stared blankly at him.
“Then, for the answer you chose, bear responsibility for that decision until the very end.”
“……”
“Live by my methods until the very end of this world. Devote yourself to my path until its conclusion.”
Lennok’s words, more coercive than merely forceful.
But Maleon could not refute a single word, listening blankly.
Lennok looked down at Maleon and spoke as if delivering a verdict.
“That is the future you chose for yourself, and the end I dictate for you.”
Maleon had departed hoping Lennok would decide his end.
But at the last moment, Lennok had returned that choice to Maleon Gnosis.
Knowing that if Maleon truly embraced Lennok’s answer, he too had the right to ‘choose’.
That giving him the chance to choose was itself part of the end Lennok dictated.
It was the choice that should be given to Maleon, who followed Lennok’s path.
“The end…… you dictated.”
Maleon repeated Lennok’s words blankly.
“Is this, my choice……?”
Each time he repeated the words to himself, the murky dragon’s eyes grew a little clearer.
A slightly different emotion filled the pupils that had been sunk in gloom.
“……Indeed.”
The Ascendant closed his eyes.
“If this is the price for being captivated by your answer…… if this moment itself is my own choice……”
“……”
“……Then I must humbly accept even this end.”
Thud……!!
Slowly rising, Maleon once again knelt before Lennok.
Dropping to one knee and bowing his head to Lennok, he spoke heavily.
“I will remain as one who follows your answer until the very end of this world.”
“……”
“I will chase the dream you dream, living by drawing your answer onto this world.”
Maleon looked up and said.
“If that is the only duty given to me in this remaining life…… I will do so.”
Maleon Gnosis, an Ascendant who reached Level 9.
But what he harbored within was not what he had built himself, but someone else’s answer.
The end of an incomplete Transcendent who, despite having gained the right to challenge ascension, pursued another’s path.
The life of a Seeker, embracing Lennok’s vision for a lifetime and moving towards the world’s end.
At that moment, Maleon truly understood that Lennok had dictated his end and accepted him.
“You merely gained another chance to choose. There’s no need to make it so grand.”
Lennok replied softly.
“Even this moment is the result of your choice. I won’t interfere with how you live.”
“I am……”
“There’s no need to attach various reasons to this action now.”
Lennok said gently.
“I just hoped that you, who empathized with my answer, wouldn’t die because of it. That’s all.”
“……”
“The meaning after that, you can find for yourself.”
What Maleon accepted was the mental image of a path illuminating infinite possibilities.
Then, it was up to Maleon himself to choose what was right and wrong.
Even if Maleon had become a being who followed Lennok’s answer, there was no reason to interfere with that process.
Though a long way around, what Lennok truly desired was simple.
He merely wished that this Ascendant, corrupted by believing Lennok’s answer was right, would not die because of it.
“You…… haven’t changed at all, despite experiencing such corruption.”
Maleon seemed to understand this as well, looking at Lennok with complex eyes.
The silver dragon, kneeling, spoke in a heavy tone.
“Was even this moment part of the choice you spoke of?”
“……”
“Are you living to contain all these possibilities within your answer?”
“It’s not necessarily for that reason alone that I live,”
Lennok replied, extending his hand.
As Maleon looked at his hand with a bewildered expression, Lennok asked,
“Primitive Magic, you promised to teach me. Have you forgotten already?”
“……Ah.”
Lennok grinned, seeing the Ascendant whose mouth was agape with sudden realization.
“I can’t miss the chance to learn a spellcraft said to contain primeval mysteries. You’ll have to keep your promise.”
“Indeed.”
Maleon smiled and firmly grasped Lennok’s outstretched hand.
“To live…… you don’t necessarily need that many reasons. Do you?”
The promise that began in the secluded corridor of the Ninth Tribulation ends in an alley of an unknown city.
The right to challenge ascension, the promise to follow a path and envision an answer.
It is enough if it is part of a journey of building up each day and moving forward to the next.
The night in Kundara was ending.
It was time to return to Vulcan.
After that, Lennok practiced spellcraft with Maleon outside the city for a day, then parted ways.
Learning Primitive Magic was not easy, but understanding the principles and sensations themselves was not difficult.
Even if he couldn’t use it like Maleon, who was born a silver dragon, through research, he would surely understand what the primeval mysteries were.
Maleon said he would travel the continent alone and find his own purpose.
“In this broken body, I would only be a hindrance if I followed you.”
The dragon, covered entirely in a large robe, smiled.
Even at this moment, the mana flowing from his body was melting and blistering the foliage at his feet.
As Maleon said, it would be impossible for him to enter crowded places or cities.
This was the result of his entire body’s mana transforming into a corrupting, decaying nature.
The remnants of corruption still clung to his entire being, even after returning to reality from beyond The Gate.
But in the dragon’s eyes, as he looked at Lennok, there was no longer confusion or despair.
“I will find what I must do, in my own way.”
He mentioned Kundara, but he seemed to have no intention of visiting the city.
Perhaps he believed he no longer had the right to set foot in Kundara, having caused such a calamity.
Either way, Maleon clearly felt a significant debt to Kundara, but—
That was no longer Lennok’s concern.
[The transcontinental train to Vulcan departs in 10 minutes.]
Hisss!!
The train station was thick with pungent smoke.
Among the countless trains moving on the rails, he bought a ticket and settled into his designated seat.
The city Lennok had visited to meet Maleon was a transit point on the transcontinental railway, located on the outskirts of the Western Front.
Most routes were assigned to the Western Continent, but there were train services heading to the Eastern Continent every few days.
That’s why Lennok had been waiting for the train to Vulcan, learning Primitive Magic from Maleon.
“Reservation confirmed. Thank you.”
After verifying his seat code with the conductor, he sank into the chair.
As the train departed, the city outside the window slowly receded.
Clunk, clunk!
As his eyes closed in the warm air, something surfaced in Lennok’s memory.
Long ago, after finishing the Hanghasa Labyrinth and returning to Vulcan with Evelyn.
He had met Myeong on a train heading to a mega-city like this.
The memory of hearing from him about the meaning of transcendence and being invited to join Pandemonium.
It was quite a long time ago, but it remained as vivid as yesterday in Lennok’s memory.
Sitting in this quiet cabin with his eyes closed, like the other passengers dozing off—
“……”
He opened his eyes.
At that moment, Lennok noticed he was the only one awake in the cabin.
Less than five minutes had passed since the train departed, yet all passengers were in a deep sleep.
Too coincidental for chance, yet subtly not crossing the line for artificiality—
Tap, tap.
He heard footsteps approaching from the far end of the cabin aisle.
The footsteps gradually drew closer, heading towards Lennok’s seat.
“Ah.”
A woman with her hair tied in pigtails peeked out and met Lennok’s gaze.
She made a round sound with her mouth and nodded.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
“……”
“I naturally thought you’d be in first class, but I didn’t expect you to be in economy. Are you more down-to-earth than I thought?”
A face he’d never seen before. Yet she spoke with the familiarity of someone he’d known for years.
She walked barefoot down the cabin aisle, without even shoes.
The woman naturally sat on the seat opposite Lennok and said,
“It took some time, but the Order Alliance has decided to tacitly approve of what you did.”
“……What?”
The woman’s words were not something to be casually dismissed.
But she, unconcerned, sipped from a cold drink she was holding and said,
“The Kundara matter is sensitive in many ways, but surprisingly, it’s not an urgent issue to resolve right now.”
“……”
“They intend to leave it alone until the Great Connection is re-established. I thought I should convey at least this much.”
“……Before discussing such things, there should have been something you said first.”
In this situation, only one organization could speak of the Order Alliance Leader and the Great Connection.
Lennok gripped his staff gently and asked with a chilling expression,
“Who are you?”
“The Fairy Conjunction Master. Oh, was that not what you asked?”
The woman laughed.
“Unintentionally, I’m currently a messenger and spokesperson. I was the only one who could reach you right now, after all.”
“……”
“The Order Alliance Leader has a message regarding the Kundara matter. Would you like to hear it?”