Chapter 1233: Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign (24)
At Baragan’s words, an eerie silence fell over the room.
People froze, unable to comprehend his words, while Jenny stood alone amidst them.
“I… am the project’s, success.”
She chewed on the words, her face pale.
Her fingertips were already stark white, trembling faintly.
“That can’t be… It’s…”
It was one of the preposterous hypotheses Jenny herself had once considered.
That as Kaiser Bajour’s granddaughter, there might be some secret beyond that.
That her very survival after the project’s failure might be due to some ‘utility.’
That even her easy mastery of Van’s Ouroboros magic system, which others couldn’t learn, wasn’t due to some innate talent of hers.
A possibility she had vaguely considered, yet ultimately denied for one reason.
Jenny knew that reason.
“If I had such utility… I wouldn’t have survived until now.”
Jenny glared at Baragan, speaking with difficulty.
“If the Bajour talent existed within me, I would have already—”
“No.”
Baragan replied.
“The opposite. Because no ‘utility’ existed within you… that’s why you’ve been able to live until now.”
“…What?”
“What Ethan did, using the project’s power, wasn’t to specially process your fate or talent.”
Baragan’s face, as he spoke calmly, was hidden by shadow.
“On the contrary, it was to completely annihilate all the talents and possibilities that existed within you.”
“…”
In the freezing silence, Baragan slowly moved.
“That certainly wasn’t the outcome we pursued through the project. Even if we sought to create fate and talent, we had no intention of severing or erasing it.”
“…”
“But Ethan, in exchange for his life, ultimately succeeded in that. As a result, it remained the only instance where the project functioned correctly…”
Baragan, stopping before Jenny, muttered as he looked down at her.
“Therefore, your very existence became the only ‘success’ of the project that we never wanted.”
“…”
Jenny couldn’t understand what Baragan was saying.
The project’s goal. Kaiser Bajour’s answer. The salvation they sought to achieve in Vulcan.
Because all of it was vaguely implied in Baragan’s words, she couldn’t properly grasp it.
Yet, one fact that Baragan intended to convey to Jenny was understood.
“…I am.”
The words ‘the project’s success’ didn’t mean that a great secret or power was hidden within Jenny.
On the contrary, it was closer to meaning that no possibilities or talents were left within Jenny.
If so, the reason Jenny, a blood relative of the Bajours, had survived until now was—
Baragan, who had been watching the trembling Jenny with a complex expression, slowly turned.
“Ethan knew the project would fail. So, even before the end approached, he began to clean up his surroundings.”
“…”
“If the destruction of this world couldn’t be stopped, if the outcome of the sky opening and Outer Gods arriving couldn’t be changed…”
Baragan raised his gaze.
“At least for that time, he wished for his only daughter to live a normal life.”
“…Stop.”
“So he erased the Regressive Magic talent that should have been passed down to you. He also severed all accompanying spellcraft aptitudes and dispositions. That wasn’t a blessing, but merely a curse that reversed a human life.”
“Stop it—!!”
Jenny glared at Baragan, her face pale.
“I don’t want to hear it. Not now…!!!”
“To succeed in that, Ethan made a deal with Kaiser, betting his own life. And he left before the project ended.”
Even as her mind reeled, Baragan’s words didn’t stop.
“He sacrificed his life to prevent you from being drawn into the project… to avoid being used by Kaiser’s plan until the very end.”
“Stop it!!!”
“Don’t you want to know, Jenicia?”
Baragan slowly turned his head.
“What deal Ethan made with Kaiser to protect you. What he had to hand over to the City Council. Why, despite all that, we are looking for you again now.”
“…”
“Who the ‘Ethan’ who now wishes to meet you again truly is.”
A suffocating silence fell.
Everyone watched the two, dumbfounded, unable to utter a single word.
Baragan looked at the frozen Jenny and slowly reached out his hand to her.
“If you follow me, I will explain everything. I will tell you everything you’re curious about, from the beginning. As a descendant of Bajour, you have every right to know.”
“…”
The reason Jenny showed no great aptitude for any magic or martial arts.
The reason she inherited the Bajour blood, but not their talents.
If all those things she considered her shortcomings were intentional. If they were the result of self-serving reasons, done ‘for her own good.’
If even her easy mastery of the Ouroboros magic system was because no ‘possibility’ had existed within Jenny from the start.
The more she thought about it, the more speechless she became.
Remembering the times she suffered as a broker, unable to master spellcraft or martial arts.
Remembering feeling self-loathing over her lack of talent, and trying hard not to show it.
Remembering how foolish she felt, secretly delighted while learning the magic Van taught her.
“Jenny. Run.”
At that moment, a blue-haired woman stepped in front of Jenny.
“…Priscilla?”
“I’ll… hold them off here.”
The mercenary who worked with Jenny, Mila’s younger sister.
An undergraduate who graduated from Rebatenon University, currently working at the Magic Tower as a Saint Wizard.
Priscilla, her face pale, stood in front of Jenny, her hands trembling as she whispered quietly.
“If I use the Water Stream Magic I learned from Professor Aris… I might be able to buy some time…”
“…”
“If I offer my life… I’ll do my best…”
“…No.”
Priscilla, though possessing remarkable talent at a young age, was merely a Saint Wizard who had just reached Level 4.
Even if she sacrificed her life, it would be impossible to hold off an 8-level Grand Sorcerer like Baragan for even a moment.
Yet, the reason Priscilla volunteered for such a reckless act at this moment was—
“It’s okay, Priscilla.”
Jenny slowly raised her gaze.
Her wavering eyes gradually regained their composure.
“I know. From the start, promises…”
Even if Jenny followed Baragan, would he truly keep his promise to spare the others?
No. If he had intended to, he wouldn’t have so casually revealed the project’s secret in front of outsiders.
An 8-level sorcerer. Especially a sorcerer who deals with totems, there are countless ways without directly taking action.
Even though Jenny knew immediately upon hearing Baragan’s offer, she lost her composure because the secret he spoke of was utterly preposterous.
Unbelievably hollow and absurd. Yet, because she knew it was true, she wavered even more.
But—
“…Don’t worry.”
Jenny, wrapping an arm around Priscilla’s shoulder, slowly stepped forward and spoke.
“From now on, I’ll handle it myself.”
“Handle it yourself, you say… Unexpected.”
Baragan, perhaps surprised by Jenny’s answer, let out a chuckle.
“You didn’t seem like the type to force sacrifices on others. Are you saying you’ll ignore it even if the Magic Tower personnel who follow you die by my hand?”
“…”
“Well, in that regard, you might indeed resemble Kaiser—”
“No.”
Jenny raised her gaze, her face pale.
“Here, there is no death, no sacrifice. There is only ‘Circulation’.”
“What?”
“Because Van taught me that nothing can be achieved by demanding something in return.”
Flash!!
At that moment, a golden halo appeared behind the back of the employee Baragan had killed.
The counter-clockwise rotating halo reversed as if time was rewinding, and life circulated once again through that body.
Before Baragan could react again, the employee’s body vanished into the labyrinth.
Whoosh!!
Neither fast nor slow. Yet, a perfect naturalness that even Baragan couldn’t instantly react to.
The moment Baragan realized it held a legitimacy akin to the world’s very order.
“H-how…”
“Because this is Van’s Domain.”
As if answering Priscilla’s words, Jenny raised her gaze, her face pale.
“The lives and deaths bound here are all part of the ‘Circulation’ existing under the laws of Ouroboros… a testbed for the world Van desires.”
“…Circulation of life and death, you say?”
Baragan immediately understood the meaning and flinched, but he didn’t know that someone else had realized it before him.
The true meaning of ‘Circulation’ that The Doctor had admired and revered when looking into Lennok’s labyrinth using the knowledge of the Ascension Gate.
The true nature of the world Van intended to create.
That was—
“Baragan. I don’t understand everything you’re saying. Perhaps I never will.”
Jenny took a breath and spoke.
“I have no intention of following you.”
“…Jenicia Bajour.”
“Even if you manipulated my talent and fate, leaving me unable to achieve anything on my own, it doesn’t matter.”
Jenny closed her eyes.
“Because even the feelings and thoughts I suffered from while living that way are part of me. Because Van taught me that even my flaws and shortcomings are part of myself.”
“…”
“I don’t need to hear the truth from you now. I don’t need your lies that all of this was for me.”
Vwoooom…!!
Jenny, with the golden halo behind her, glared coldly at Baragan.
“Even if my past wasn’t entirely my own… my future is mine. I can choose.”
“…”
“I will decide for myself where I stand.”
“…I see.”
Watching Jenny glare coldly at him, Baragan cracked his knuckles.
“Well, then I’ll abandon the negotiation and take you by force. It doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Do you think I’ll just stand by?”
Swish!!
What she pulled from her pocket was a whistle with an ivory-like white glow.
A worn and precarious consumable, cracked as if it would break if blown a few times.
A gift Van had given everyone upon returning from Machina, opening a Provisional Ascension Gate and calling it a ‘random box.’
The moment she unhesitatingly brought the object she had cherished since that day to her lips, ready to blow it with all her might.
Baragan, who had descended before Jenny, and a red spearhead collided with tremendous speed, twisting and deforming.
KRAAAANG!!!!!
“Argh…!!!”
“Ugh!!”
The impact sent Priscilla and the other Magic Tower employees sprawling in all directions.
“How absurd.”
Baragan, stopping in front of Jenny, muttered with a dumbfounded expression.
“I never imagined you’d appear here.”
“…Shut your mouth, Baragan.”
Peshia muttered with a bitter expression.
Peshia, raising the red spear in her hand, slowly aimed it at Baragan and spoke, as if spitting out words.
“Because even I don’t know what kind of insane thing I’m doing right now.”
“I thought Jenny had arranged a private residence for you. So you were still staying in a place like this.”
A few days before the Annihilation Campaign began. Lennok was at the Magic Tower training hall where Peshia resided.
“If you want to die quickly, there are plenty of better ways.”
“…Did you come here to pick a fight?”
A dark, solitary cell in the training hall’s basement, surrounded by thick iron bars.
Peshia, who had been curled up against the wall with her head bowed, raised her head and glared at Lennok.
Her eyes, shining eerily like a ghost through her dishevelled hair, gleamed frightfully.
Unlike the frenzied appearance she showed when fighting with a spear, she looked emaciated and worn out.
Peshia sneered.
“If you want to see a defeated dog, there are plenty around you. Don’t just stare, get lost.”
“Have you thought about the offer I made last time?”
At Lennok’s casual question, Peshia’s shoulder twitched.
She stared at Lennok with a stiff expression, then let out a gloomy laugh.
“Hahaha… This crazy bastard… Is that what you call talking?”
“…”
“Just kill me, Adamant Thunder. Or fry my brain with your lightning right now.”
Peshia grinned.
“Because unless I’m that crazy, I would never point my spear at The Legion.”
“As I said before, I’m not asking you to fight The Legion on my side.”
Lennok said, biting on a cigarette.
“I’m asking if you can stand by Jenny if she directly encounters Deadrise during the Annihilation Campaign.”
“…”
“To put it extremely, if Jenny takes The Legion’s side, you may join The Legion with her. The important thing is to protect Jenny’s safety.”
Lennok stared down at the silent Peshia.
“Once the Annihilation Campaign begins, my ability to deal with variables will significantly decrease. I simply want to prepare in advance.”
“…Pathetic bastard.”
A powerful murderous intent flashed across Peshia’s face.
A surge of frenzied Will-thought, as if unleashing suppressed emotions all at once.
Peshia glared at Lennok, her eyes gleaming.
“A wizard like you… you can’t even properly prepare to protect Jenicia Bajour, so you want to borrow my strength?”
“Of course, protecting Jenny’s safety isn’t difficult. I’ve prepared all the methods for it.”
Lennok replied.
“The problem arises if Jenny herself doesn’t want it. The methods I’ve prepared won’t activate if she refuses them.”
“…”
“And I don’t think there’s no possibility of that happening at all.”
Lennok silently exhaled smoke, lost in thought.
“She is Kaiser Bajour’s only granddaughter. Deadrise will have high-ranking generals who recognize Jenny and react to her, just like you.”
“…That’s.”
“Perhaps they’ll try to persuade Jenny by talking about her past, which she doesn’t know…”
Peshia couldn’t deny those words and instantly fell silent.
Because she realized that at some point, Peshia herself had felt similarly about Jenny.
She understood that The Legion’s comrades, who sacrificed their lives following Kaiser, might reach the same conclusion as her.
“No matter how much I prepare, that’s an area I, who am not involved in the project, cannot perfectly predict.”
Lennok left Peshia and slowly moved on.
“Most importantly, I don’t underestimate the Deadrise Captains. I’m even assuming they might contact Jenny in a way different from my expectations.”
“…”
“Even putting aside the fact that their prestige is comparable to that of a high-ranking Apostle or Grand Spell Master… they seem to have a much closer relationship with Ethan than I thought.”
Song-ha’s behavior at the Legion Parade, seemingly unrestrained by The Prohibition. The answer that he drank Ethan’s blood to fight Lennok.
There were plenty of clues. The problem was merely how far Lennok would consider them.
Lennok’s gaze, looking at the dark room’s ceiling, settled calmly.
“If the Deadrise Captains can borrow Ethan’s abilities in any way. Or if they already are… I don’t want to simply overlook that possibility.”
“If you think that, then you should just evacuate Jenicia and the other nobodies somewhere.”
Peshia glared at Lennok.
“Knowing that, why are you leaving Jenicia in your Domain?”
“Because while the Annihilation Campaign is underway, my Domain will be the safest place for them.”
Lennok replied.
“Since its initial construction, my Domain has existed in District 49… it is, in a word, a ‘Fixed Mystery’ itself. Therefore, here, I too can utilize the laws of Ouroboros to their fullest extent.”
“W-what did you say?”
“The Magic Tower personnel who pledged allegiance to my Magic Tower. Or comrades who have been with me for a long time… I can make even their lives and deaths ‘Circulate’ once.”
“Damn it, what kind of bullshit have you been spouting all this time…”
Lennok smiled, seeing Peshia grimace as if merely listening gave her a headache.
Considering the Geas Olivera had placed on Peshia, there was no chance the words exchanged here would leak.
A rival he fought with his life. A berserker who didn’t even trust herself. Precisely because of that, there were things he could speak of freely.
“It’s nothing much. Just what I want from this Annihilation Campaign… I was talking about that.”
“…”
“Before this war, I intend to expand Ouroboros’s Circulation and Convergence to their absolute limit.”
Lennok turned.
“Don’t you think it’s a rather fitting stage to test if I truly have the qualifications to ‘create’ a world?”
“Shut up, damn it…”
Peshia, listening to Lennok’s explanation with swirling eyes, suddenly snapped back to attention.
“Spout that nonsense to Jenicia, not me… Why are you asking me to do such a thing instead of telling her directly?”
“Because I want Jenny to decide her own future.”
Lennok replied.
“That’s why I couldn’t tell her much about the project. I believed it was ultimately Jenny’s role to hear it directly and make her own judgment.”
“…”
“Peshia Grisbern. You, who have observed both my Magic Tower and The Legion, will be able to stay by Jenny’s side, no matter what decision she makes.”
Lennok, having turned, looked down at the silent Peshia.
“So, I ask this of you.”
“How… can you do that?”
Peshia muttered, her head bowed.
Her expression, visible through her dishevelled hair, was faintly contorted.
“I… can’t accept that. I can’t prepare to send off a comrade like that…”
“Of course, I’m not asking this of you because I want Jenny to leave.”
Lennok smiled.
“Jenny has been with me for a long time… and she is the only one who inherited my magic. I want her to remain until the end and witness my answer.”
“Then, why…”
“Because the answer I seek is always for those who value their own choices.”
Lennok raised his gaze.
“Since Jenny inherited Ouroboros, I must also respect her will. So, I merely trust her.”
“…”
Lennok smiled, seeing Peshia staring up at him blankly.
“Because she’s a partner. It’s not strange, is it?”
“Ha…”
Was the sigh, escaping like a scoff, hers when she faced Lennok in her memories?
Or was it coming from Peshia, who now stood before Baragan?
“Peshia, you…”
Baragan, frowning as he looked at her. Jenny, watching her warily with a bewildered expression.
Peshia no longer knew which was her true self.
Her past self, who had vowed to change the world with Kaiser, loyal to the death.
And her current self, who stood here thinking, “This is enough,” looking at Jenny. What was the difference?
She didn’t know which was the right answer.
No, hadn’t she stood here because she believed there was no right answer in this world?
What Peshia believed in, what she always wanted—
“You…”
“Shut up. Jenicia.”
Peshia, interrupting Jenny’s flustered words, turned her head with wavering eyes.
“Step back and run. Don’t say anything.”
“…”
“Because even I… don’t know what I’m doing.”
Peshia’s hand, gripping the red spear shaft, trembled violently.
Jenny, looking at her with a complex expression, bit her lip and slowly nodded.
“Alright. I understand. You must have your own reasons.”
“…”
“We can talk again, after all this is over. Right?”
“I don’t know who’s worrying about whom.”
Peshia sneered, raising her spear.
“Get lost before I change my mind. And don’t ever come back here.”
Jenny didn’t answer anymore.
She merely nodded softly, and with the other employees, opened the gate and left the labyrinth.
Baragan, watching them leave with a frown, shrugged his shoulders at Peshia.
“I knew your mental state was unstable from before… but I never dreamed things would come to this.”
“Baragan.”
“What are you really thinking? You’re not actually loyal to Adamant Thunder, are you?”
“…I’m not crazy enough to bow my head to that insane wizard.”
Peshia retorted with a hoarse voice, moving forward.
Following her steps, the drooping red spearhead dragged along the floor.
“But… involving Jenicia… in The Legion’s affairs… I don’t know…”
“…”
“I… followed Lord Bajour… for this kind of thing…”
“Ah, that’s enough. Stop there.”
Baragan raised a hand, cutting off Peshia’s words.
Baragan, seeing Peshia’s endlessly wavering eyes, spoke.
“Just stop. Don’t say anything. If you force it out, you’ll truly break.”
“…”
“In any case, the labyrinth won’t move while Jenicia Bajour is escaping. With that much time, they can reach the center of this Domain somehow.”
Baragan said, casually picking his ear.
“Then it will be possible to interfere with the Ascension Ritual before Adamant Thunder returns. Our objective is roughly achieved, so don’t blame me too much.”
“It’s not blame…”
“But a lot of time has truly passed.”
Baragan let out a chuckle.
“The orphaned girl, haunted and eating scraps, can now think and judge for herself? Kaiser would have been pleased to see it.”
“…Adamant Thunder said all of this was part of Circulation.”
Peshia looked at Baragan with a stiff face.
“He said it was a process to confirm if he truly had the qualifications.”
“…”
“If what’s happening here is part of the flow he constructed, then we…”
“Yes. Adamant Thunder is a great wizard. I know that.”
Baragan sighed.
“How absurd his talent is… it’s not strange even if you, watching beside him, were unconsciously influenced.”
“…”
“I also had to overexert myself in many ways to break through his Domain. If it weren’t for Ethan’s power, I probably—”
Baragan, who was speaking thus, stopped when he saw Peshia staring at him eerily.
Peshia, her face stiff and unmoving, asked Baragan.
“Are you… using Lord Bajour’s blood right now?”
“…”
Baragan didn’t answer. Peshia nodded as if she had expected as much.
“Lord Bajour… is coming here now.”
“Peshia.”
“I need to talk to him. Baragan.”
Peshia said, gripping her spear with intense eyes.
“I need to hear his story. I…”
“Peshia. You’re very agitated.”
Baragan said. The sorcerer’s face had already become expressionless.
“Just sleep for a while.”
“I risked my life fighting Adamant Thunder for what he cherished!!!!”
Peshia gritted her teeth, her eyes bloodshot, and drew up her mana.
“I need to confirm what that truly was. I…!!!”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t take you to Ethan right now.”
Baragan raised his hand, his expression cold.
“You’ve suffered enough. Just rest for a while.”
“Baragan!!!!”
Peshia, gripping her spear, twisted her body sharply, and the sorcerer’s snake let out a violent roar.
In that instant, those who had started everything in Vulcan, transcending decades, once again aimed weapons at each other in this city.
The room Jenny had just been in exploded, and the entire labyrinthine corridor violently collapsed.
KRAAAANG!!!!