Chapter 1168: Fate of Demise (19)

Pandemonium’s Director. The leader of the most dangerous criminal organization across the entire continent, a Transcendent known as the One Who Walks Backward.

A rare monster who killed a god and ascended in the Second World, a ruler who presides over the origin called Inevitability.

Those who know him and those who don’t, both wary and fearful of his existence, watch for the moment he moves.

This may be partly because the Director’s power and authority have reached a level that no other Transcendent can easily approach,

but essentially, it must be because the origin called ‘Inevitability’ is such a dangerous and wary concept in itself.

The Acquired Authority that transcends causality to forcefully create results, reversing processes to inevitably reach a conclusion.

Lennok watched the moment this being, who even shot down the god of that sea and successfully ascended, resided in the Third World.

“……”

Even though he stood quietly in the dark, submerged hollow, no trace of him could be felt. Footsteps and breath. Body temperature and mana, even will-thought or spellcraft—he had no ‘precursors’ or ‘signs.’

A hollowness characteristic of the Director, always looking elsewhere even while present here. It was a symbol of Inevitability, existing solely as a result, not a process.

Although a long time had passed since Myeong handed him the obsidian mask and he joined Pandemonium, this was practically the first time he stood before the Director in his identity as Victor.

Yet, before Lennok could feel any particular emotion about the situation, he was focused on what the Director had said.

“This place now… is one of the Demonic Realms located in the deepest part of the Central Front?”

The cruise ship they had taken after the Royal Capital Conquest Operation sailed near the sea above the Northern Continent. How could they be directly connected to the deepest part of the Central Front from an unknown island reached after passing through the Arctic Ocean?

Even simply calculating the distance on a map, it would easily exceed thousands of kilometers.

The Director did not ignore Lennok’s question.

“The intense heat raging in the Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return is not caused by ordinary combustion or heating.”

“……”

“The heat generated there is excessively strong, so measures were taken to create craters across the entire planet wherever needed, to preserve the Demonic Realm.”

Did that mean the entire island in the Arctic Ocean was a crater created to preserve the Demonic Realm in its complete form? If so, it was understandable that the island Lennok had passed by took the shape of a volcano, but could such a thing truly be possible in reality?

The idea of excavating planetary-scale craters to vent heat and preserve a Demonic Realm was, from the outset, something not permitted to ordinary humans. Lennok found it difficult to grasp just how much authority the Director and Myeong had wielded to achieve such a feat.

“It may seem impossible, but it was a necessary measure to prevent the crust and mantle from splitting and the continent from being torn asunder.”

The Director said, walking along the dark corridor with a static-filled gaze.

“Such Demonic Realms were created because they brought it upon themselves from the very beginning.”

“Are you saying the Demonic Realms within the Central Front were intentionally created spaces?”

The Director no longer answered, beginning to walk down the corridor.

“Director.”

Agneta, who had been listening blankly to the conversation, bowed her head towards the Director while hanging from the corridor ceiling.

“The Clown wants to see you. Everyone’s here.”

“……”

“They said they want to make a wish to the Director. Should I bring them here now?”

“I have already finished speaking with the others.”

The Director replied without stopping his steps.

“I told them what they would wish for someday, and explained the reason why. That is all I can do.”

“What they would wish for someday? What is that?”

Agneta tilted her head.

“Isn’t it like just making a wish on a shooting star?”

“Myriad Shifts tends to twist and interpret many things in their own way.”

Beyond the static-covered face, Lennok sensed the Director closing his eyes.

“A wish… that’s not wrong, but I am not the subject of it. All I can do is pull the inevitability they will gain in the future into the present, and deliver it to them at this very moment.”

“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“I bring an inevitability they will someday face from a future timeline that has not yet arrived.”

The Director said.

“Shortening the time from cause to effect, refining it to be infinitely close to inevitability… but calling it a wish would be a stretch.”

“……That’s impossible.”

Lennok’s expression stiffened as he listened to the Director’s explanation.

“You… you must know what that means. Do you realize what you’re saying right now?”

To pull a future inevitability into the present and deliver it at this very moment. That could not be simply explained as precognition, like foretelling future events.

An achievement a single human would someday reach. Or a result they would gain in the future, or a destined encounter. The Director had skipped the time and process required to reach that point, stating that he delivered it to them purely as a ‘result.’

A reversal of causality, possible only by reaching the state of Acquired Authority, creating a contradiction that should not exist by twisting the order of cause and effect.

“Whether that will truly help them, no one can say. Perhaps they have merely shared their destined end at an earlier point.”

“……”

“No one knows the answer. But…”

The Director murmured, gazing at the red light approaching from the far end of the corridor.

“I have gathered those in Pandemonium who wish for the same thing as me.”

Fwoooosh—!!!!

From the end of the dark passage, hot flames surged. They covered everything in a crimson glow, instantly shattering the passage and erupting outwards.

KWAOOOOM!!!!

Before he knew it, Lennok was standing in a volcanic region where acrid storm clouds and a blood-red sky were visible. Across the endlessly stretching volcanic landscape, dozens, even hundreds, of massive craters erupted.

Hot pillars of fire rose skyward like whirlwinds, transforming into a blaze that connected the earth to the heavens.

“This is…”

The Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return, located in the deepest part of the Central Front. Was this the earthly hell, compared to the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors?

Lava flowed everywhere the eye could see, forming lakes and waterfalls, seas and waves. With no stable ground to stand on amidst the constantly melting surface, the roar of the crust melting, collapsing, and splitting echoed.

Volcanic ash scattered before his eyes. Lava melted beneath his feet. A pungent sulfurous smell stung his nostrils. Even with Common Magic protecting his body, it felt difficult to breathe.

The feeling of helplessness he had experienced when entering the Ninth Tribulation with Maleon in Outer Tribulation City Kundara. As soon as he exited the passage, Lennok felt a powerful pressure and intense heat, comparable to that, simultaneously.

Chiiiiiik…!!!

The azure gauntlet on his left hand glowed sharply, echoing. The Outer God, the soul of the Cold Comet contained within the gauntlet, emitted an intense, pouring cold.

The Director’s gaze, which had been silently fixed in the hellish heat, was now directed at Lennok’s gauntlet.

“So that’s the soul of the Outer God The Clown retrieved. It seems it has become aware of where its remains are.”

“Did you lead me here… because you need the soul of the god contained within the gauntlet?”

“Although it’s called a god’s soul, it’s not a concept that can be equated with a human soul.”

The Director replied.

“Demise floating in the Sea of Darkness has an ambiguous concept of spirit and body, and even the boundary between dream and reality is hazy.”

“……”

“What resides within the gauntlet is a will… something akin to the remnant of an origin. While it might correspond to a soul in the realm of catalysts or spellcraft, it is not a true soul.”

The Director murmured, walking through the lava field.

“It’s a process unnecessary for what I intend to do.”

“……”

He didn’t speak, but Lennok could feel it. The Director was intentionally giving him answers more than usual.

Was it the price for Lennok stealing the Cold Comet’s remains from beneath the Royal Capital? Or was it because he knew that such moments were running out?

Now that he had accessed the Archive, everyone sensed that the end was near, which is why—

“Let’s go.”

The Director said.

“What I must give you is over there.”

“……”

Even Lennok’s thoughts and monologues were naturally anticipated, as if already known. As if the Director had once pondered the same things as Lennok long ago. As if he knew what was needed to resolve them.

It wouldn’t be strange. In a sense, he would have been closer to Lennok than anyone else. Unlike the Pontiff, who was irrevocably twisted, the Director was in many ways similar to Lennok. That’s why he knew him without reading his thoughts. He understood him without knowing his answers.

KUGUGUGU!!!

They walked silently through the lava-strewn land, which overflowed from all directions. The hellish heat burned spellcraft and magic, evaporating will-thought.

“H-huff, huff…”

Agneta, her face pale and sweating, eventually drew out her mana thread and fled into the Imaginary Dimension. As a hybrid of an ancient species, she must have found it difficult to endure such a drastic environmental change.

If the Director said nothing about it, there would be no problem. Lennok thought so, quietly observing the surrounding landscape from behind his mask.

KUGUGUGUGU!!!!

A colossal wall of lava, stretching to the horizon, completely prevented any detection beyond it. Sight and sound, mana and will, all burned, melted, and vanished into that flowing lava wall, becoming isolated.

CHIIIIIIIK!!!!

As the lava wall surged and flowed down from the mountaintops and cliffs, something trapped within was glimpsed. A grotesque shape, confined within the majestic lava wall, convulsed and maintained its form without melting.

[KUUAAAGH!!!!]

[AAARGH!!!!]

[KHEUUUUGH!!!!]

A ‘something’ with a face as horribly distorted as a demon, screamed, trapped within the wall. Each time it thrashed and stretched out an arm between the walls, lava flowed, melting and constricting its body.

CHIIIIIIK!!!

Each individual entity trapped within the lava wall was tens of meters in colossal size. On the thrashing, flailing arms, metallic objects resembling gun barrels or weapons were haphazardly embedded.

“Are they keeping the creatures inhabiting this Demonic Realm confined like that?”

“Strictly speaking, they are not creatures of this world.”

Antares, walking beside Lennok, spoke.

“Those trapped there are alien phantoms defeated in the war with the Empire.”

“……Alien phantoms?”

“Remnants of a world already destroyed. Ghosts that can only survive by stealing others’ bodies and preying on their souls.”

Antares said with a grim face.

“Ars Nova imprisoned their souls in unescapable steel bodies, using them as tools for the Empire.”

Kiiiiing—!

Within a volcanic crater spanning hundreds of meters, a steel war-god rose. Crimson eyes flashed, and lava dripped from the gunports and barrels attached all over its body.

Hot, glowing flames were etched like veins across its steel body, emitting light.

Antares spoke, watching the phantoms, who roared from beyond the lava wall but could not approach them.

“The Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return was formerly the location of the Empire’s hangar, and also where tactical weapons were produced for wars across the continent.”

“……”

“Only the alien phantoms, used as material for tactical weapons, remained here, transforming it into a Demonic Realm that steals and devours life.”

The Empire’s Imperial Castle Large Tactical Weapon Hangar. Had the entire hangar, which stored Ars Nova’s war machines, fused with the volcanic region to become a single Demonic Realm?

A disaster where ghosts possessed weapons that should have no will, transforming an entire area into an uninhabitable hell.

WHOOOOM!!!

Before he could finish his thoughts, from beyond the lava wall, the demons trapped in steel bodies began to awaken one by one. Their faces twisted with pain and hatred, screaming grotesquely and bizarrely, laughing madly and thrashing.

Malicious weapons, dozens of times larger than humans, stared down at them with bloodshot, inverted eyes. A chilling sight: aware of their presence, glaring with hungry eyes, yet unable to approach.

Even Antares’s face was pale as he explained in a calm voice.

“This entire area is already steeped in radiation and mana collapse. Disasters directly interfering with existence, including soul contagion and mental pollution, are rampant here.”

“……”

“This is a hell that remained inaccessible even until Ars Nova’s destruction. Yet, the reason we can stand here now is…”

Antares said, looking at the Director as if dazzled.

“Because he has already conquered this Demonic Realm once.”

KWAAAGAGAGAGAGAGA!!!!!!

Each step the Director took caused the lava wall, which had divided the world, to split and bend to the left and right. All the heat and flames of the endless Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return bowed their heads in reverence and awe towards a single person.

At that moment, as he opened the gate in the midst of a hell where no living, breathing being could remain even for a second. Beneath the colossal lava flames falling from the end of the sky, an enormous corpse, thousands of meters in size, lay fallen.

KWOOOM!!!!

A horrifying sight, as if its body had been pierced across the vast volcanic landscape, its entire form crushed and shattered. Upon a mountain made of accumulated metal debris that would not melt even in lava, a colossal something lay dead and prostrate.

Its size was so immense that it could not be contained by the naked eye; even Lennok was momentarily overwhelmed upon encountering it. A thousands-meter-long corpse, with a turtle’s head, lying sprawled with lava flowing like blood.

“This is…”

“Megiddo, a Level 9 bio-battleship that alien phantoms used to navigate the Outer Sea.”

Antares said.

“It was the ark they rode to this world, and an Outer Beast used as a strategic weapon by the Empire after their defeat in war.”

“……”

“An Immortal Ship, said to be equivalent to a large city by itself. And he… killed even its corrupted incarnation body, steeped in demonic nature?”

CRACK!!

The Director said nothing, stopping before the corpse he had ‘killed.’ He stepped onto the bio-battleship’s corpse, whose head alone was tens of meters, and stretched out his hand.

The moment his static-shrouded, unidentifiable hand delved into the head of the colossal remains. Megiddo’s corpse vibrated in place, and the entire Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return began to tremble.

WHOOOOOM!!!!

“Kuhk…!!”

The entire Demonic Realm vibrated violently. Spacetime coordinates twisted and shattered. The space and time Lennok stood in resonated in different directions, shaking as if they would split the Demonic Realm at any moment.

As if forcibly correcting all the discrepancies and distortions, the Director slowly withdrew his hand and turned. In his static-shrouded, shimmering hand, a sphere radiating light as intensely as the sun was now grasped.

HWARUK!!

The miniature sun in the Director’s hand burned spacetime, emitting light. Merely revealing itself, extracted from the corpse, seemed to incinerate the world and raise the temperature of the stars.

The power source, forcibly extracted from the corpse of the bio-battleship Megiddo, presumed to be the ark’s core. The moment Lennok realized it was a miniature star burning itself to emit infinite energy.

The Director, clutching the miniature sun, extended his hand towards Lennok.

“Take it.”

“……Is that the ‘inevitability’ you are giving me?”

Lennok asked, hesitating.

“The result existing in some future I will meet… reached through the reversal of causality?”

“I thought you would already know.”

The Director slowly turned and directed his gaze towards Lennok.

“Your choice transcends concepts that can exist in this world. Just as you feel that when you see me, I cannot bring you your inevitability.”

“Then……”

Why did the Director conquer the Demonic Realm and intend to give him this colossal bio-battleship’s core? The reason for giving such an answer from the deepest part of an otherworldly hell, which the current Lennok could not enter—

The Director’s subsequent answer was of a kind Lennok had never expected, even until the very end.

“You’ll need that to meet Ethan Bajour.”