Chapter 1203: Price (4)

There was no severed wound on Ethan Bajour’s neck. No scar, as if the wound had healed, nor any trace or cut surface was visible. It was as if Ethan’s own body was perfectly preserved; there was no damage whatsoever on his skin.

“…!!!” Lennok’s eyes widened as he confirmed the sight in the slowly passing time.

Beyond the flickering blue flames, Ethan’s expressionless face. A calm reaction, as if he felt no emotion towards the current situation.

The moment his gaze met Ethan’s, Lennok’s thoughts rapidly accelerated, overflowing in all directions.

‘No wound. Why?’

Ever since learning that Kaiser’s head was severed in Kundara’s Ninth Tribulation, Lennok had believed Ethan Bajour was the culprit.

The reason he hadn’t returned to the Legion until now, wandering the continent, only to finally come back to headquarters.

A series of rumors that he had regained his body and been reborn from the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.

The sight of him ‘cradling’ his own neck during the operational meeting, and the blood that flowed between his fingers.

And decisively, a series of words and actions that seemed to identify himself with the project’s failure.

Even though he had concluded it in his heart, believing he was about to confirm the truth with his own eyes—

The moment he checked Ethan’s neck, all those premises and conclusions diverged from what Lennok had expected.

Was Ethan, standing before Lennok, not the being who had severed and reattached Kaiser’s head to his own body?

Was he, instead, existing in this world as Ethan, in his original body born into this world, not Kaiser?

If so, then all the stories Lennok had heard about the project so far were not Kaiser’s, but Ethan’s—

Crunch.

Lennok’s thoughts, which had been rapidly extending for a fleeting moment, could no longer continue.

As Ethan twisted his hand, which had pierced Lennok’s heart, blue flames erupted and overflowed.

Whoosh!!

Fragments of the perfectly shattered barrier scattered everywhere, emitting a beautiful glass-like hue.

The light of life scattered with a glass-like radiance in the middle of a garden burning with blue flames.

Lennok’s body was slammed into the opposite wall of the corridor, emitting a powerful shockwave.

CRASH!!!

“…!!!” Giant structures of the Command Headquarters burned and collapsed all around. The flames that had spread among them began to lose their strength and die down.

The skirmish between Lennok and Ethan had been almost instantaneous. But its conclusion came much earlier than expected, and in a way no one had foreseen.

Leaving Lennok convulsing, slammed into the wall, Ethan slowly stood up, touching his neck.

“You thought there would be a wound on my neck.”

“…”

“Did you believe there would be a scar, as if something had been severed or, conversely, reattached?”

Ethan said, his face expressionless, as he looked at Lennok.

“Either way, it seems it wasn’t the outcome you expected. My apologies.”

“…You are.”

Blood trickled from Lennok’s lips as he stared at Ethan with a rigid expression.

The price for deliberately taking one of Ethan’s attacks to confirm his identity and close the distance.

The recoil of disregarding the exchange of blows by scattering the area around his heart with flames was now belatedly catching up.

“Let me make this clear here and now.”

Ethan slowly placed a hand on Lennok’s shoulder and whispered in a faint voice.

“I am not the person you think I am. And I am certainly not the person you wish I was.”

“…”

“I am here to reclaim what I once possessed, by any means necessary. So…”

Whoosh!!

At that moment, Ethan quickly slit his own throat with his other hand, drawing a wound.

Ethan, his hand stained with his own blood as it dripped from his neck, murmured.

“Crossing the line one more time won’t be difficult, will it?”

“What are you… trying to do?”

“I intend to confirm whether your talent and existence are products of the project.”

Ethan said, bringing his bloodied hand toward Lennok’s wound.

“However, human talent or aptitude is not a simple concept that can be judged by a simple test.”

“…”

“Therefore, I intend to push your talent and potential to their limits, and then observe the error values that arise in that process.”

Ethan replied, pressing his blood-stained hand into Lennok’s chest near his heart.

“Whether it causes errors in the same way I used to edit human talents long ago. If I confirm that, I’ll know if you originated from the project.”

“Potential isn’t a concept that can be quantified like that…”

With Ethan’s hand piercing his chest, Lennok coughed strenuously in response.

“Forcibly sending someone’s talent or aptitude into a rampage, to begin with—”

“No. It’s something that has already succeeded through numerous experiments within the Legion.”

“…What?”

As Lennok paused, taken aback by the utterly unexpected answer, Ethan replied calmly.

“The original purpose of the Operation System was the inheritance and preservation of talent. Crudely put, it’s a power close to a degraded version of the project.”

“…”

“It seems the system didn’t work for you, but it’s not difficult to do something similar if I use my blood as a trigger.”

Whoosh!!!

As Ethan’s blood seeped into Lennok’s body, complex lines began to be etched onto Lennok’s form.

A bizarre sight, as if his entire body was being disassembled like a complex circuit and forcibly imprinted onto Lennok’s inner self.

A phenomenon like forcibly resetting and inserting ‘commands’ into a human’s inner being.

“Kuh…!!”

Whoosh!!!!

At that moment, an intense light burst forth from Lennok’s entire body, gushing out as if exploding.

A phenomenon as if all cells and tissues composing his body were simultaneously undergoing activation and being forcibly awakened.

Immediately after, mana surged wildly from Lennok’s body, enveloping both Ethan and Lennok, unleashing a powerful storm.

ROOOOOAR!!!!!!

“It won’t take long. There weren’t many Seekers who pursued the project, nor Transcendants like you.”

“…”

“If I use my blood at this point, even I can’t avoid the recoil…”

Ethan murmured, looking down at Lennok with an expressionless face.

“Just as you did with me, I believe I need to define your existence here and now.”

“Indeed…”

Lennok slowly raised his gaze and murmured.

“Have you not yet let go of your lingering attachment, enough to force the confirmation of my existence?”

WHOOSH!!!!

At that moment, the flames entwining Lennok’s entire body began to burn his physical form without trace.

Lennok’s gaze, as he slowly raised his head, was sharply focused, unlike before.

“Just confirming that fact gives meaning to this moment.”

“…Martinez.”

Ethan, with an expressionless face, turned his gaze at Lennok’s unexpected reaction.

Normally, by this point, Lennok’s mind and body should have undergone complete activation, awakening beyond their limits.

However, even after accepting Ethan’s blood, Lennok maintained his reason instead of reacting to or being swept away by it.

Ethan, instinctively understanding what that meant, murmured in a chilling tone.

“Surely, from the beginning, not himself but—”

KWOOOSH!!!!

Lennok’s arms, shoulders, neck, and face were engulfed in blue flames, burning.

A miraculous feat of turning the body into flames, impossible for Lennok himself, who suffers from Mana Addiction.

The reason Lennok could unhesitatingly use that in his engagement with Ethan.

“Not bad for a stand-in, was it?”

Lennok, conveying his will through the Incarnation Body, gave a cold smile.

“Then, it’s my turn.”

As the blue flames surged, engulfing the corridor where Lennok and Ethan stood, and spiraling towards the sky at that moment—

A colossal pillar of fire, consuming the entire Command Headquarters building, connected the sky and the ground, unleashing an intense light.

KWOOOSH-BOOM!!!!!!

“Cough…!”

Clang!!

He coughed dryly, flailing his arm, and finally found a support.

As sticky oil stained his palm, the sound of metallic objects clattering down was heard.

Wiping the blood that flowed from his mouth, he weakly lifted his blurry gaze to see what was in front of him.

Only after seeing the oil-soaked screws and bolts at his feet did Lennok realize where he was.

“…It’s the armory I visited right before the Legion Parade.”

Was it near where he had burned to death Brigadier General Matisse of the 8th Legion, who had provoked him?

Lennok, who had stood up with great difficulty, coughing, immediately lost his balance and fell forward.

CRASH!!

Lennok, who had slammed his head into the stopped conveyor belt, shivered, then went limp.

Blood flowed from his mouth, dripping down the production line.

“Must move, immediately…”

He had clashed with Ethan Bajour to hear the truth of the project and confirm his identity, but…

Lennok hadn’t believed he could kill or neutralize Ethan here from the start.

The fact that Ethan himself was incredibly strong was one reason, but what Lennok was most wary of was that Ethan was a Revived.

Even if Lennok poured everything into killing Ethan, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t come back to life.

However, the situation wasn’t opportune enough to immediately uncover Ethan’s abilities or the principle of his revival.

That was why Lennok had focused entirely on uncovering Ethan’s purpose and identity from the beginning.

And he did so not with himself, but by using an Incarnation Body, which was as good as himself.

‘The plan to use the Incarnation Body as a stand-in succeeded. But…’

Lennok swapped his body with the Incarnation Body right after unleashing plasma using Property Transformation with Fusion.

Enveloping his entire body in plasma was to prevent Ethan from feeling any incongruity with the Incarnation Body.

At the same time, it was to realize a method that Lennok himself couldn’t do: ignoring Ethan’s attacks by turning his body into plasma.

Taking Ethan’s attack when he turned to offense at the last moment and confirming his identity was good, but the problem lay in what followed.

Immediately after, Ethan’s own blood, which he had injected to forcibly send Lennok’s talent into a rampage.

As the Incarnation Body went into a rampage during that process, the recoil was now flowing back to Lennok himself.

Rumble…!!

“Ugh…!!”

Every time he couldn’t hold it in and spewed heat, hot, sticky blood dripped down.

Blood so hot it felt like it would cook his esophagus flowed back into his mouth, ravaging his internal organs.

A hot inferno raged within Lennok, a turmoil that felt like it was scorching his insides.

A fierce recoil that felt like it was beating, tearing, and searing all his organs with fire.

Breathing heavily, Lennok leaned against the conveyor belt, his expression hardening.

‘It’s not just because I was hit by Ethan’s ability. This is the Incarnation Body’s inherent…’

Ethan’s attempt to forcibly send Lennok’s talent into a rampage to confirm its origin.

But Lennok knew from the start that such a thing was impossible.

Lennok’s talent was an absolute one, whose limits even Ascendants and Transcendants couldn’t discuss, let alone touch directly.

Even if it borrowed the power of the project, it wasn’t a concept that others could seize or take away.

Yet, the reason Lennok was swept up in such a fierce recoil from Ethan’s ability was…

It was because the one who was affected by Ethan was not Lennok himself, but the Incarnation Body he was manipulating.

The secrets Ethan was hiding. His lingering attachments and the goals he left behind in Vulcan.

Even the fact that he was wielding the ‘power’ he gained through the project via the Legion.

Many secrets he would never have uncovered if he hadn’t confronted him until the very end using the Incarnation Body.

But—

‘Has the Incarnation Body, which was unstable even before the Legion Parade, reached an irreversible state with that last act?’

While absorbing Lennok’s rampaging lightning magic, the Incarnation Body was also going out of control and running wild.

The Incarnation Body, which had forcibly suppressed and manipulated such signs, seemed to have completely crossed the line with that recent event.

Although he had canceled the Incarnation Spellcraft and retrieved the Incarnation Body, the recoil had already begun to gnaw at Lennok’s body.

“Haa, haa…!!”

The moment the battle with Ethan reached its conclusion, he had somehow managed to create distance and arrive near the factory district, but—

Despite that, he had to keep moving without stopping here immediately.

Since he had completely blown up the Command Headquarters, the entire Legion attending the Legion Parade would have noticed the anomaly.

Once they understood the situation, it was highly likely they would begin searching around the operational area before long.

KWOOOSH!!

Formless mana constantly surged from Lennok’s entire body, shattering and exploding the surroundings.

Far from being able to gather himself and move, simply maintaining consciousness while sitting was the best he could do.

If he were to faint here, it would be effectively the same as dying.

The moment Lennok raised his trembling hand, trying to gather mana to use even a healing Spark—

“If you use mana in that state, the blood in your entire body will flow backward.”

Thud!

Someone beside him seized Lennok’s wrist with a cold hand.

“It would be best to restrain yourself. Unless you wish to die here.”

“…Euphoria…?”

An expressionless, white-haired woman stood beside Lennok, looking down at him.

Releasing his hand, she knelt before Lennok and drew forth mana.

“Your cognitive functions aren’t completely damaged yet. This much should be enough for emergency treatment.”

Primitive Magic: Creation Harmonization Technique – Six Forms – Inner Method – [Life Suspension].

Whoosh!!!

A warm green radiance enveloped Lennok’s body, simultaneously imparting warmth.

His boiling body temperature gradually lowered, and the focus in Lennok’s eyes sharpened.

Lennok slowly regulated his stabilizing breathing and, raising his gaze, asked.

“…What are you doing here?”

“The second patient, whose treatment was scheduled through a deal with the Legion Command, did not arrive at the appointed time.”

Euphoria replied, infusing Lennok’s body with Life Spellcraft.

“Because of that, I was waiting near the factory to receive the ‘parts’ that were the price of the deal.”

“…”

Indeed, hearing that, he remembered.

Euphoria had said the reason she made a deal with the Legion Command was to receive parts needed for Kundara’s reconstruction, hadn’t she?

He had vaguely thought of them as necessary items and dismissed it, but he never imagined they were literally parts produced in a factory.

“Immediately after receiving the parts, a problem erupted at the Headquarters, and all personnel were on the move.”

Euphoria stared intently at Lennok.

“As expected, was it your doing?”

“…Yes.”

The skill with which she mended Lennok’s ruined internal body and revitalized him.

The moment Lennok felt his strength recover enough to move, Euphoria spoke.

“The [Life Suspension] I use is merely an emergency measure, literally a spell. It doesn’t improve the condition, but merely stops it at a level where life can be sustained.”

“…”

“But even considering that, your body is accepting my Life Spellcraft with incredibly high efficiency. This means you either possess immense talent for life-based spellcraft, or—”

Euphoria stared intently at Lennok.

“It’s because you’re a user who has learned Primitive Magic, like me.”

“…”

Neither statement was wrong.

Indeed, Lennok had learned the core principles of Maleon Gnosis’s Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style Primitive Magic.

Just as Lennok was about to respond, Euphoria lowered her gaze towards Lennok’s wound and said.

“And in my opinion, either reason seems sufficient to keep you alive.”

“…Is that so.”

“If you’ve recovered enough to move, let’s stand.”

Euphoria stopped the spell and stood, looking down at Lennok.

“I don’t intend to leave the Headquarters immediately, but I will accompany you at least as far as the direction you can escape.”

“…”

Indeed, as Euphoria said, his recovery speed was quite fast, enough for him to walk.

Lennok got up and walked with difficulty through the empty facilities of the armory.

Only Lennok’s and Euphoria’s footsteps echoed in the silent, empty space.

Euphoria, walking with an expressionless face, asked.

“May I ask what happened?”

“…I met the Marshal and confirmed what I wanted to ask.”

Lennok raised his gaze.

“It was different from what I expected, but perhaps because of that, it was exactly as I had expected.”

“…”

What had Lennok expected before meeting Ethan?

Had he expected Ethan to answer the truth of the project for Lennok, or to help him now?

He had known from the start that such a possibility was slim.

That the reason he returned to the Legion was solely for his own purpose and direction.

And that he might no longer be the person from the past Lennok knew.

He had merely confirmed with his own eyes the vaguely anticipated truth and his defection.

As Lennok was lost in thought, Euphoria pointed to a passage on the other side of the empty space.

“That direction leads to the North Gate of the 2nd Command, on the outskirts of the armory.”

“…”

“If we leave the operational area through there and head north, we should reach the Northern Continent before long.”

“…Is that so?”

Lennok smiled weakly and slowly turned his steps around.

Standing before the door leading out of the factory, Lennok murmured.

“My apologies, but it seems this is not the time for such words.”

“…Yes?”

As the iron door opened and light poured in, a deafening roar exploded.

RUMBLE!!!!

Countless armory production facilities stretched to the horizon, with vast plains on either side.

An army of tanks, lined up in formation, besieging them from every visible space and aiming their cannons.

Squadrons of fighter jets flying in the sky, and a colossal aerial fortress floating far above the Command Headquarters.

Uncountable roars and lights resonated from both ground and sky, generating thousands of currents of heat.

“Wait, this is…”

[Evan Martinez.]

A chilling male voice echoed through the speakers installed above the factory.

[Terrorism committed against the Legion Command Headquarters. Insurrection against the Marshal. By military law Article 44, a Pursuit and Kill Order has been issued for you.]

Clack!!

The tank cannons tilted in unison, aiming at them.

The fighter jets’ sonic booms intensified, tilting as if ready to unleash a bombardment on the ground at any moment.

[The responsibility for committing such an act immediately after the promotion ceremony. You will pay the price for manipulating and insulting the entire Legion.]

“…I see.”

He had found the surroundings strangely quiet; so, this entire area was already surrounded.

Seeing Euphoria’s presence waver as if agitated, it seemed this Long-lived Being had not set this trap.

If she had, she wouldn’t have bothered treating Lennok with Life Spellcraft on the spot.

“Evan Martinez. Let’s move.”

Euphoria, in a rare rapid tone, turned her gaze.

“If we move before the encirclement is complete, we can escape the operational area. From here, we first—”

“No.”

Lennok cut off Euphoria’s words, coughing strenuously as he walked out.

“It was something I was prepared for the moment I confronted Ethan… I knew it from the start.”

“…Martinez?”

His journey traversing the Eastern Continent, leaving Vulcan as Cheonbeon.

Meeting Euphoria Aosel, touring cities ravaged by the Conqueror, facing ghouls.

Until the moment he encountered the 5th Legion, attended the Legion Parade to undergo the promotion ceremony, and had a private meeting with Ethan.

Perhaps, it should have been this way from the beginning.

That if he met Ethan, he could hear the truth Lennok so desperately wanted to know.

He had averted his gaze, thinking that once he heard the truth of the project, he could finally find peace.

The fact that even after learning the identity of the Black Consumer Project, there still remained an unresolved doubt.

He now finally acknowledged and accepted the price of truth.

All the time and causality accumulated up to this point, he would burn as kindling, turning them into mana.

In the midst of the concentrated fire pouring from the sky and ground, Lennok closed his eyes and incanted, as if whispering.

“Release… initiate.”

WHOOM!!!!

Dazzlingly burning flame bodies rose around Lennok, rotating in unison and scattering heat.

Complex spell formations entwining the flame bodies rotated elegantly like planetary rings, adding to their brilliance.

A miraculous phenomenon where heat, transcending limits, did not allow matter to take form, scattering everything.

An overwhelming sight, like several planets unfolding around Lennok, each orbiting in a different trajectory.

The pinnacle of amplification-type secret arts, burning a Spark as a mana core, functioning as both engine and power source.

“Crimson Star System: Solar Apex.”

RUMBLE!!!

The recoil, growing stronger in real-time as it swallowed the Incarnation Body’s rampage. Mana, shaking unstably and escaping control.

But even with his current body, where it was difficult to properly use fire-heat magic, there was still something he could do.

Lennok’s eighth Spark, newly acquired under the identity of Cheonbeon.

A power that boasts the most overwhelming and vast scale among all the stars of the Crimson Star System.

Unleashing it against the Deadrise Legion, gathered from across the continent—

“Eighth Star: Tribulation’s Sky.”

Lennok slowly opened his eyes, raised his hand, and murmured.

“Summoning the Solar Ship, Megiddo.”