Chapter 1154: Fate of Demise (5)
Woo-woong…!!!
The golden temple was filled with a warm breeze.
Lennok walked, bathed in the sunset light streaming through the window.
Beyond the distant horizon, the orange sun was setting.
He understood without any explanation.
The Archive created by Ars Nova was a conceptual domain, formed by overlapping the boundary lines of two worlds.
Even the setting sun symbolized the limited time remaining for this world.
The conclusion Lennok had continuously heard about since awakening in this world was now truly imminent.
“……”
Even the fear that tore at his chest was now familiar.
In the long journey of living each day and dreaming of tomorrow, he was still here.
Traces of Lennok himself, occasionally encountered while unraveling the world’s end.
Secrets that caught his eye, preventing him from passing by indifferently, yet secrets he had averted his gaze from and hesitated to confront.
Flash!!
With each step, dazzling light gathered from various parts of the golden temple.
Golden photons flowed like waves, following Lennok, playing a beautiful melody.
The languid and warm sound of strings caressed his ears, soaking into his chest.
It felt both awkwardly familiar and strangely comforting.
As if he had been listening to this melody for a long time.
As if he believed that by listening to this melody, he would remember.
The déjà vu he had forcefully ignored, despite knowing.
The familiarity he felt every time, from somewhere, despite not knowing.
Within emotions surging from his chest, emotions that were not his own, Lennok slowly opened his eyes.
Whoosh!!!
A gigantic golden sphere floated up, rotating majestically before Lennok’s eyes.
[Imperial Palace Archive access complete.]
[Special Authority Holder Spiritual Presence activated.]
[Existence Projection Rate confirmed.]
[Retrieving reserved access information.]
Fwaaah…!!!
The beautiful golden star rotated, and rings of light embraced the sphere.
A clear voice, like a record playing, flowed out once more.
[There is 1 message left by the Authority Holder himself in the Archive.]
[Would you like to view it?]
At the end of the message, the sphere flickered like a mouse cursor.
The golden star calmly repeated its question, not rushing Lennok’s answer.
But Lennok still did not reply, staring intently at the sphere before him.
“……”
A beautiful scene, as if it possessed its own will and awaited Lennok’s consent.
As if all the will and power forming the Archive had gathered and taken shape before Lennok.
However, instead of answering the sphere’s question, Lennok turned his gaze towards the sunset outside the temple.
The Special Authority Holder who visited Ars Nova’s Archive.
A message left directly by the Authority Holder himself for his future self.
Surely, someone Lennok couldn’t even remember had prepared this moment, someday.
But if this message was someone’s arrangement, Lennok didn’t know how the Archive would react the moment he viewed it.
If the Archive were to change form from its current state, the task of obtaining the ‘knowledge’ Antares mentioned might become impossible.
Having come this far, he couldn’t give up the ‘right’ to steal the Dead God’s Remains.
For now, the priority was to gather information about the Archive and understand exactly how it operated.
After a moment of thought, Lennok chose a question himself, rather than the sphere’s.
“What is the purpose for which this Archive was created?”
[Keyword access to Archive design purpose and structure.]
The golden sphere responded to Lennok’s question.
It rotated slowly, horizontally and vertically, maintaining the shape of a perfect sphere from any angle.
With each rotation, like a giant record player, an emotionless, clear voice flowed out.
[The Archive is a Golden Record left in the Outer Sea by the Imperial Palace before its destruction.]
[As it maintains a superposition state at the boundary line between the world and the Outer Sea, between the Material Realm and the Imaginary Dimension, the Archive is always observed by adding Conceptual Variables.]
[Through this, the Archive continues to exist even after the Outer Sea’s destruction, functioning as a cornerstone for what comes next.]
“So, all the knowledge here is a last will and testament left by Ars Nova?”
[The Archive is not a concept that exists in the Material Realm. This place, which the Authority Holder has accessed, is also not the essence of the Archive.]
Before Lennok’s eyes, the golden sphere slowly tilted.
[Remaining as infinite afterimages across infinite timelines, it exists and vanishes every moment, aiming for the acquisition and renewal of knowledge.]
[This was created by hypothesizing and simulating the operating principles of the Akashic Records, which theoretically exist in the Outer Sea.]
“……”
The concepts and information pouring in were too vast to question and respond to individually.
He simply tried to remember every word the sphere before him explained, not to forget it.
But even amidst that, Lennok could discern what the Archive’s answer implied.
“So, the main body of the Archive doesn’t exist to begin with, and this place is just one of its countless afterimages……”
In the flow of time, every Archive existing at every moment was both a replica of itself and an independent afterimage.
It was akin to the thought process of an Ascendant, infinitely splitting consciousness to stretch perceived time almost to eternity.
Had the Ars Nova Imperial Palace manipulated even the power of Ascendants to leave its knowledge in the Outer Sea?
Only after hearing that answer could Lennok somewhat understand the situation he now faced.
“Because this place is one of the Archive’s afterimages, Antares and The Fisherman were able to access it with their abilities.”
[Continuously acquiring, renewing, organizing, and filtering knowledge in real-time.]
[Classifying recorded information differently every moment, preventing information contamination of the Outer Sea.]
[Access is prioritized for those with special talents or unknown knowledge.]
Was that why Aronbaiger, who possessed the Talent for Duality, and The Fisherman, who moved between Wellsprings, could access the Archive?
“If the information inside the Archive is constantly being updated, then it should be able to observe events happening in this world right now.”
Lennok asked.
“Can I check for powerful real-time information flows or coordinate locations from here?”
[Interpreting Special Authority Holder’s request based on Imperial Palace Protocol Hierarchy.]
[Judgment impossible. Information computation error.]
…
…
…
[Computation resuming. Processing this command with highest priority.]
“……?”
For a moment, the sphere before him seemed to stutter and glitch, but Lennok had no time to wonder.
Because the moment the golden sphere rotated horizontally and vertically, emitting light, the surrounding scenery began to change rapidly.
Whoosh!!!
The entire grand temple seemed to move and change scenery, centered around Lennok.
Myriad images and mental imprints of unknown forms flickered vaguely and accelerated, then instantly assembled and stacked.
At that moment, Lennok’s expression turned pale as he faced the vast plain that unfolded before him.
“This is……”
[Currently observing in real-time the most extensive independent information entity collision on the Central Continent.]
Grrraaaaaah!!!!
A majestic sight that stained the endless plain with deep darkness.
A Ship of Darkness rising from surging dark waves, supported by Dark Giants.
And beyond where that darkness was headed, the lingering echoes of formless language pulsed like a heartbeat.
The army of darkness marching forward, bearing the Black Coffin.
A garden of corrupted language, using corpses as its letters.
The moment Lennok faced a scene symbolic of two unprecedented Transcendants in history, as he knew it.
Beside Lennok, who stood agape, the golden sphere explained in an emotionless voice.
[Ascendant Jinwa. The last bloodline of Black Edict.]
[Rapidly updating and approaching, among the Transcendent beings active in Ars Nova’s airspace.]
[Initiating superposition of Thought Domain and Black Edict Domain spacetime coordinates. Fully altering the spacetime over 44 hours.]
[The Spiritual Presences of Twilight Veil Bloodline and Reverent Void Bloodline appearing near the designated coordinates. Presumed objective: information renewal observation.]
“…Nether King……!”
Lennok’s face hardened as he understood the situation the moment he saw the scene unfolding beneath him.
Had the Nether King, who began his Gabihaeng at the First Gate, finally set foot in Jinwa’s Paradise Lost?
It seemed they hadn’t yet encountered the Ascendant herself, but he had definitely entered her Thought Domain.
Kugugugu…!!!!
On the majestically rising Ship of Darkness, a human figure shrouded in darkness so deep that their face was invisible.
And beneath that black wizard, a host of Dark Giants, bowing their bodies and marching forward as if supporting them.
All life and vegetation on the plain withered, choosing death even before a battle began.
As if clearing the surroundings before the impending decisive battle, disaster unfolded at every point where Gabihaeng and Paradise Lost intersected.
The moment Lennok took a step forward to examine the indescribable devastation in detail.
[Information renewal impossible. Real-time observation data insufficient.]
Flash!
The scene overlooking the Nether King vanished, returning to the golden temple.
[Please refer to the Archive of the next timeline.]
“…Is this all the information about the Nether King that exists in the Archive I accessed?”
This place where Lennok stood was one of the Archive’s afterimages existing within infinite timelines.
Therefore, the knowledge present here stopped updating at the moment Lennok accessed the Archive.
Perhaps at the exact moment Lennok accessed the Archive, Myeong was also entering Jinwa’s Paradise Lost.
Realizing this, Lennok quickly changed the direction of his questions.
“Is there a way to receive new information updates here while maintaining connection to the Archive?”
[As the Archive is superimposed on the boundary line of reality and phenomena, it is influenced by and influences both sides.]
[The closer the accessor’s location is to an information update point, the easier it is to view information about that singularity.]
So, the knowledge and information he could view differed slightly depending on where he accessed the Archive from in reality?
Only then did Lennok understand why he had been able to access the Archive.
It wasn’t simply due to Antares’s precognition or The Fisherman’s ability to directly access the Archive.
It was simply because Kabahim Royal Capital, where Lennok was physically located—
“—was the place where the Outer God died and its remains were preserved.”
[The Cold Comet that fell on the Northern Continent permanently altered the continent’s climate.]
[The Divine Remains left at that coordinate are proof that the Fate of Demise has descended upon this world.]
“…Fate of Demise?”
[The first is coincidence. The second is inevitability. The third is fate.]
The sphere answered further secrets without hesitation.
[Though the beginning may be coincidence, the end shall be fate.]
[The name of the fate, christened ‘The Third’, is Demise.]
[This world’s Demise was originally destined by fate.]
“……”
The Third, entrusted with the role of bringing about this world’s end.
He knew. He had always wondered.
Where that statement pointed, whether to his past, present, or future.
Uncertain and anxious, he had continuously denied it.
That he would not be bound by the word ‘fate’, just as he wasn’t by coincidence and inevitability.
But that fate, after all—
[There is 1 message left by the Authority Holder himself in the Archive.]
[Would you like to view it?]
“……”
The message the sphere presented to Lennok once more.
Lennok, who had been staring at it silently, nodded.
“…Yes.”
Kiiing-!!
At that moment, the golden sphere before his eyes turned black and unraveled.
It stained the sunset landscape of the Archive with darkness, embracing Lennok within the colossal gloom.
The moment Lennok realized this was a ‘memory’ transfer method, directly implanting information into his mind.
The scene before Lennok’s eyes was covered in pitch-black static.
Crackling!!!
A painful, piercing chirping. A distorted vision that warped everything before him.
He was sitting on a sticky black lake, staring at his hands covered in black blood.
With both hands stained black with blood, and a crumbling sky above his head.
He lifted his static-filled gaze to look at the crumbling, inverted sky.
Shhhhhh…!!!!
The warm air froze solid, and the area around the black lake transformed into a frozen snowfield.
The worst disaster in history, permanently altering and corrupting the once mild climate of the Northern Continent.
A gigantic black ring rotated at the center of the frozen sky.
Kuoooo…!!!!
[……]
The image of a black ring, endlessly breaking down, shedding black tears.
Proof of a failure he had yearned for and attempted, yet never achieved.
Only then did Lennok realize that he was looking into someone else’s memory at this very moment.
The being who sent Lennok the message had not bothered to leave their message in words.
They had simply carved their memory into the Archive, intending to show it to Lennok someday when he arrived.
‘Emotions……’
Screeching…!!!
The assimilation rate of the memory was abnormally high, allowing an excessive amount of sensations to flow into his mind.
The pain of loss felt every moment, the spirit blurring amidst complex emotions.
Even the sense of relief that he had finally accomplished a task he had put off for so long.
Everything felt both not his own, yet familiar as if it were Lennok’s.
Chii-ji-ji-jik-
The ‘someone’ in the memory faintly frowned at the static flickering before their eyes.
Intense and eerie static, as if trying to reject and erase that being from this world.
It was as if, once before, Lennok had encountered something similar from the Pontiff and the Director—
“You are not me.”
At that moment, a clear voice echoed through the static.
On the black lake, someone in pure white priestly robes stood.
“This is interesting.”
The priest said softly, his face obscured by static.
“I clearly thought The Third had already arrived, and that it would be you.”
[……]
“You are and are not you. You are not and are you.”
Passing him by, she walked slowly.
“Perhaps that is related to your origin, or the deeds you have accomplished.”
Walking on the black lake, yet not a single speck of dirt touched her.
In a voice that held a unique, absolute divinity that one would never forget after hearing it once.
“Infinitely breaking and remaking everything, ultimately even sacrificing yourself……”
The Pontiff smiled and turned her gaze.
“Is that how you intend to become your own Demise?”