Chapter 1172: Awakening (3)

BOOM!!

With a deafening explosion, the massive Magic Tower’s wall crumbled down.

Superhumans, snatching the falling debris from mid-air, shouted while clinging to the tower’s wall.

“Debris falling! Watch your heads!!”

“The tower’s barrier is currently deactivated. You’ll die if you get hit.”

“S-sorry!!”

Around the tower, excavators that had been digging deep into the ground now scurried about.

Dozens of trucks, laden with mountains of earth, followed behind them.

“Move them carefully. We’ll need to use them exactly as they are when we rebuild the tower.”

“The Tower Lord said they’d reinforce the materials by layering additional barriers.”

“The foundation stones and bricks themselves are expensive catalyst stones. You don’t want to vomit up your entire day’s wages, do you?”

Laborers with shovels moved, discussing work sections and techniques among themselves.

Concentrating wizards drew forth mana, transporting rebar and concrete chunks.

Excavators continuously dug downwards, breaking through rows of buildings and workshops extending into the basement.

Next to the half-demolished, collapsed Magic Tower’s passage, a plump baby dragon sat, wailing as if the world was ending.

[WAAAAAAH~]

It sat, belly exposed, pathetically crying and pounding the ground repeatedly with its thick front paws.

Passing laborers stared with incredulous expressions at the Guardian Spirit Beast, which was shedding copious tears.

“Seriously, what’s so sad that it’s crying like this?”

“Leave it. It’s been like this for days since the construction started.”

“It probably thinks its house is being torn down.”

“Is it some kind of beaver? Anyone would think it built the house itself.”

[ROAR!!]

As if understanding the laborers’ words, the baby dragon let out a sullen roar.

Just as the Guardian Spirit Beast was about to wail towards the collapsed underground cavity again, seeing the startled laborers hastily fleeing.

From behind the baby dragon, Aris subtly extended something.

“Here, don’t cry and eat this.”

[Wh-whimper…!!]

The baby dragon hesitated, sniffing the package Aris offered, then its eyes widened and it eagerly snatched it with its mouth.

It stopped crying instantly, holding the package with both paws and busily munching away.

As Aris watched contentedly, Lennok walked up from behind with an incredulous expression.

“That’s something I haven’t seen before. Are you giving it a snack?”

“It’s food for Spiritual Beasts, developed by the Sinclair Magic Tower.”

Aris replied, glancing away slightly.

“The Sinclair Guardian Spirit Beast is incredibly picky about its food, so the tower’s wizards developed these treats after much deliberation on what to feed it. This one seems to like them too.”

“It’s quite a glutton, but strangely finicky about its palate. It seems to suit its tastes.”

“It’s too pitiful for it to keep wailing like this. Shouldn’t we at least make it a temporary place to stay?”

“It’s not so oblivious that it can’t understand the situation.”

Lennok sighed and shook his head.

“As a Guardian Spirit Beast, it knows the Magic Tower isn’t truly disappearing. But it keeps crying because when it cries, it gets food.”

“…It was a more cunning child than I thought.”

[Wh-whine!!]

Sensing Aris’s gaze subtly turn cold, the baby dragon hastily flopped onto its back, exposing its belly, and tried to act cute.

[Coo, coo-coo-coo~]

“Yes, yes.”

“The foundational construction for where the tower stood is almost finished.”

As Aris’s expression softened and she stroked the baby dragon’s belly, Lennok surveyed the construction site.

“If we cover the tower’s former site, widen the streets, and change the structure… Aris?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

Aris, who had been stroking the Guardian Spirit Beast, had somehow approached Lennok and was smiling brightly.

“It’s just that, I think this is the first time I’ve properly seen this face of yours.”

“…”

“It’s not as different as I thought. Do you adjust your impression or aura to create the distinction?”

“I’ve been practicing the intricacies of disguise magic for quite a long time.”

Lennok offered a wry smile and turned his head.

“As you know, I’d appreciate your silence on that matter.”

“Of course.”

Aris said, smiling broadly.

“Who would ever believe that the developer of the anti-gravity engine and an 8th-level Grand Mage are the same person?”

“…”

It was the same when he discussed this topic with Evelyn, but Lennok still couldn’t get used to conversations about his identity.

This was likely because Lennok had meticulously concealed his identity and alibis, operating while keeping his secrets.

Yet, precisely because of this, Lennok felt he needed to let go of such feelings a little.

The reason Lennok had concealed his identity all this time was his belief that it was too dangerous for his talents and secrets to become known to powerful Transcendent beings.

But now, even if his secrets or identity were exposed, he possessed the power and means to overcome it.

It might be necessary for his future plans to loosen some of the restrictions he had placed on himself, or to undertake tasks he couldn’t due to maintaining his secrets.

This was one of the reasons Lennok had revealed and acknowledged his secret to Aris Richellen.

“Though I never dreamed Lennok would take up a professorship while I was gone.”

“Aris.”

“I had an inkling when I saw your paper on power-mana conversion, but your papers on the anti-gravity engine and common magic were truly amazing!”

Aris walked around Lennok, smiling broadly as she spoke.

“Even at the Sinclair Magic Tower, they bothered me for a while about the papers Lennok wrote. Asking if there was any way to bring you over, since I know Professor Vylun so well…”

“…So, what did you do?”

“Naturally, I refused.”

Aris crossed her arms and sharply turned her head.

“Lennok is, first and foremost, my researcher. I won’t let him be snatched away by other Magic Towers or research institutes.”

“I understand what you mean, but…”

Now that Aris had returned, Vulcan contained both Lennok’s Magic Tower and a research institute under the name of Vylun.

Even if Aris were to be reinstated at Rebatenon now, could Evan Vylun’s identity truly be subservient to her?

In the end, no matter what, things couldn’t go back to exactly as they were before.

Aris, perhaps not unaware of what Lennok was implying, quickly returned to a calm expression.

“I know. I was just speaking casually. As long as there’s a place where I can continue the research I did at the Magic Tower, that’s enough.”

“Regarding that, there’s a bit more I need to explain.”

Lennok averted his gaze.

“Many of the current studies at the tower are being conducted in parallel with the Vylun Research Institute. Raphael, who heads the institute, has a peculiar personality, but he’s an outstanding scholar in theoretical fields.”

“…”

“Regardless of the research, I plan to support it financially through the tower. However, research facilities and schedules might need to be shared or coordinated with the institute… Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh, no, I just never imagined I’d hear that name here.”

Aris, who had been staring at Lennok with a surprised expression, trailed off.

“Professor Raphael is a very famous figure in theoretical magic academia. I never thought he’d be working at Lennok’s research institute…”

“As I recall, he has an odd personality, but he wasn’t a bad person fundamentally.”

Lennok chuckled.

“He’s someone who loves to ramble on about what he knows, so if you ask him anything, he’ll explain it to the point of annoyance. Don’t worry.”

“…There are probably less than five people in academia who could talk about Professor Raphael like that.”

Aris, looking up at Lennok with a strange expression, murmured.

“It makes me realize a little more what kind of wizard Lennok was on ‘this side’…

“Even if you gild me like that, I don’t have anything special to give you.”

“I wasn’t just making it up, either.”

Aris tilted her head, smiling, and said.

“It just struck me again, how much you possess in so many ways. Both talent and secrets.”

“…”

Lennok chose silence, as her words weren’t wrong.

While he had told Aris much, there were still identities and secrets Lennok had not revealed.

But Aris, perhaps not wanting to press Lennok further, looked at the construction site and changed the subject.

“It’s just a little disappointing that construction started right after I arrived at the Magic Tower. I would have liked to familiarize myself with the tower’s facilities beforehand.”

“Once the construction is finished, even those who worked here previously won’t recognize its original form, so it will be fine.”

“…I’m not sure what you mean by ‘fine’.”

Aris, looking at Lennok incredulously, asked.

“Is the purpose of the construction expansion and addition of facilities? A project of this scale will take quite a long time to complete.”

“It’s a modification.”

Lennok replied.

“I plan to refit the Magic Tower into a facility that encompasses the entire District 49, which falls under the influence of my Domain.”

“Then it won’t be easy to even maintain the tower’s shape, will it?”

“I never intended to maintain the tower’s shape from the beginning.”

Lennok murmured, watching the laborers transport materials.

“We need to space out the main facilities within the tower and make them movable if necessary… that way, we can prepare for war.”

“…What? What do you mean…?”

Lennok walked past a bewildered Aris, slowly ascending the tower’s ramp.

“Preparations to minimize pointless damage. Experiments to gauge the tower’s full power. But fundamentally, this is preparation for myself.”

“…”

“Not the tower’s form, but whether I can sustain and leave behind my Domain as a concept independent of this world.”

Ever since his conversation with the Director in the Demonic Realm, he had continuously pondered this.

Whether Lennok truly had the right to craft the ‘fourth’, which even the god-killer expressed skepticism about.

Whether the preparations and abilities to create a world truly existed within Lennok.

Preparations for Lennok’s own answer, which he had been contemplating ever since his conversation with the Director.

“It wouldn’t do to claim I’m searching for an answer to the ‘Demise’ if I can’t even forge the means myself.”

The Deadrise Legion Parade was about to begin. Then the Order Alliance’s Great Connection and the decisive battle of Paradise Lost.

There were still many things to worry about, and they were changing regardless of Lennok’s will.

But before starting all those things again, preparations were needed now.

Many unresolved matters from his journey from Kundara to Kabahim.

Time to organize and deal with what Lennok had gained and lost.

The tower’s modification was merely the beginning; he would remain busy for quite some time.

Standing on a hill overlooking the construction site, Lennok cast a serene gaze.

“Through this Magic Tower, I intend to confirm whether I can create something from nothing.”

He was walking through a cavity where countless eyelids overlapped and blinked.

Layered like the compound eyes of an insect, they blinked slowly, turning to face him with every step.

The ‘eyes’, etched in layers of hundreds of thousands across the walls, had no will, merely blinking reflexively and casting their gaze.

But Raymond, precisely because of this, always feared them and avoided meeting their gaze.

The power of the Phase Domain that covered the space he inhabited with those grotesque overlapping eyes.

Because those inorganic, overlapping eyes of the [Mosaic] seemed to symbolize what kind of being the master of this space was.

“Raymond Olber, Supreme Committee Member of the Torquepaz Syndicate.”

Raymond opened his unmoving lips, slowly knelt, and bowed his head.

“The former Fourth Seat of the Ability Awakening Warband greets Zero Seat Ophelia.”

=…

Raymond. The auction house manager who had dealt with Pandemonium’s terror attacks in Torquepaz.

A powerful telekinetic, he had directly traded with Lennok at the auction house, handing over the Conjunction Spell Master’s custody and the corpse of the 8th Apostle.

But now, he was kneeling with an utterly rigid expression, bowing his head so deeply that he couldn’t see what was ahead.

Long ago, such etiquette and formality did not exist within the Warband.

Its humble beginning was a gathering of those who couldn’t control their innate abilities, seeking a way to live.

But now, the Warband had transformed into a colossal military force, worshipping and revering abilities, blindly following the dictates of a zealous, mad doctrine.

Believing that all innate abilities—including psychic powers, mystic eyes, and bloodline powers—were blessings bestowed upon humanity.

‘Commanding’ them to process and train their given potential to its absolute limit to achieve transcendence.

The master of the Warband, who received all that loyalty and reverence, sat there.

The Zero Seat of the Ability Awakening Warband, Ophelia Ionix Zaedark.

Once known as the continent’s strongest psychic, the Great Connector.

A great hero who had united the chaotic Warband and achieved an impossible victory in the continent’s worst war.

A guide who taught lost innate ability users how to wield their powers and offered them a way to live.

And now, ‘something’ that could no longer bear the hand it had extended and had broken.

=Raymond.

Her will flowed into his mind, ignoring even vocalization, telepathy, or the vibration of the medium.

It effortlessly bypassed the mental barrier and consciousness of Raymond Olber, a powerful psychic, ‘connecting’ with him.

Beyond Raymond, who was bowing his head, she tilted her head, thousands of wires connected to her skull.

Her form was obscured by countless wires, barely visible. Yet, her will was undeniably clear.

The Transcendent greeted him.

=It’s been a long ■.

“Zero Seat. Have you been well…”

=It’s been almost 8 years since you ■■■ the Warband. Have you been well since then?

“…”

Ophelia’s voice, conveyed not through words but through sensation.

Even though she was suppressing her will to speak with Raymond, her voice violently shook his mind.

Every time she conveyed her will, the broken and distorted Mosaic intertwined, wreaking havoc in Raymond’s mind.

S-s-static…!!!

=The Torquepaz VIPs managed to send you all the way to ■■. If they had intervened, ■ was planning to move.

The moment Ophelia’s will pierced Raymond’s brain, hundreds of thousands of overlapping eyes in the room blinked ceaselessly.

The [Mosaic], which was synonymous with Ophelia Ionix Zaedark’s symbol.

In this space-time dominated by her Mental Domain, Raymond’s very existence was nothing more than a single piece of the Mosaic.

If Ophelia had even the slightest inclination, if she made even the briefest mistake.

Raymond’s will would also become no different from one of those Mosaic eyes embedded there.

Raymond opened his mouth, freshly recalling a fact he had reiterated thousands of times before coming here.

“Now, even without psychics like me, the Warband won’t be in danger.”

=That’s not ■.

Ophelia replied, her will-thought fragmented.

=Even at this moment, the Central Front is ■■■■. If Raymond were to join, we could expect to significantly reduce the variable of death.

“…”

=I can feel all their suffering, hatred, and ■■■.

Ophelia’s will-thought, which she mumbled blankly, instantly became eerily barren and dry.

=I am here at ■■ to listen to their ■■■ until the very end.

“I was told you summoned me regarding the situation in Torquepaz.”

Raymond, with a rigid face, bowed his head even deeper.

“Though I have been absent from the Warband for a long time, I stand here now, having received an undeniable summons. Please, tell me what you wish.”

=Four ■ hours ago, there was a clash between the Eyes of Blue and the Warband’s 6th unit.

The Mosaic eyes throughout the room blinked a little faster.

=A skirmish occurred during the process of securing the custody of Gillian Kabahim, an 8th-level Watcher.

“Gillian, you say…”

Raymond also knew well who Gillian was.

An 8th-level physical superhuman and the last survivor of the Titan Legion.

At the same time, he was a member of Kabahim’s royal family and a noble holding the title of Grand Duke.

=According to ■■, Gillian Kabahim suddenly appeared on the Central Front and seemed to have gone berserk trying to return to the royal capital.

“…”

=The situation escalated when Watchers from the Eyes of Blue intervened, and because of that, a certain ■■ became known.

Ophelia’s will became even more eerily barren.

=A problem has arisen in the royal capital of Kabahim, yes.

“…”

=With the Kundara Elder Council wreaking immense havoc on the Western Front right now, the Warband must also move.

The overlapping eyes all around simultaneously turned their gaze, as if piercing Raymond’s body.

Only Ophelia’s implanted will echoed within Raymond’s head.

=As someone who ■■■■ the Torquepaz VIPs, you must know ■■ ■■■ ■■.

As if constantly whispering and forcing her will, as if dictating a blind direction and goal.

Raymond knew what emotion was contained within her telepathic will, which was like brainwashing.

Hunger.

Ophelia was starving.

=The bloodline ability possessed by Kabahim’s royal family. It’s a chance to secure this ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ability. ■■■?

“…Zero Seat.”

Static-

Ophelia’s will, piercing his brain, was becoming so fragmented as to be unintelligible.

‘Something’ that had transformed into an entity so alien it could no longer maintain human values and thought processes.

Despite clearly conveying her will, it felt unsettling, as if Raymond himself was breaking down rather than understanding it.

Raymond spoke, striving to maintain his composure.

“Kabahim has excluded foreign intervention and isolated its royal capital. What happened inside—”

=Zabelin is moving to conquer the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, isn’t he?

Ophelia said, as if singing.

=Most of the Warband’s high-level ability users are tied up at ■■■ and cannot move.

“…”

Hundreds of thousands of overlapping eyes turned to Raymond.

=Raymond. You, who have ties to Kabahim, have something you must do.

“Zero Seat, I…”

=I will give you command of the 4th unit again. Lead an expedition to the royal capital and open the way.

Ophelia’s will echoed through the room with ultimate emptiness.

=The Ability Awakening Warband must possess Kabahim’s ■■■ ■■■.

“…”

He knew from the beginning that he couldn’t refuse.

Perhaps he had known it would come to this from the moment he returned here.

Because that was Raymond’s role, as the Fourth Seat of the Ability Awakening Warband.

“Even if we start a war with Kabahim right now, it will take time to conquer the royal capital.”

Raymond, suppressing his complex emotions, raised his gaze and spoke.

“If the Zero Seat were to manifest before then, the entire Northern Front would be paralyzed. Please…”

=Don’t worry, Raymon■.

Ophelia replied with a soft will-thought.

=Even without that, I am already moving for the Legion Parade’s ■■■.

“…Excuse me?”

=The Deadrise Legion once requested this side’s ■■■, under the pretext of a subjugation campaign.

As Raymond paused at the unexpected words, Ophelia’s will-thought turned inorganic.

=The Revived’s Power, said to be possessed by the Marshal of Deadrise. I must confirm if it can be ■■■.

“Zero Seat, surely…!”

Beyond Raymond’s stunned gaze, an empty smile graced Ophelia’s face.

Her deteriorating will, for the first time, resonated with ultimate clarity.

=I must meet Ethan Bajour directly.