Chapter 1263: Post-War Processing (16)
Targeted Resistance.
A power that grants resistance to all types of spellcraft and abilities activated by designating a specific individual.
A talent Lennok possessed from the moment he awoke in this world, and almost the only positive ‘effect’ he had.
Thanks to Targeted Resistance, Lennok had been able to move between various identities without being caught by any kind of tracking spellcraft.
It was effectively always having the powerful advantage of not merely being untraceable, but also immune to curses or debuffs.
While it didn’t often play a decisive role in combat, as a talent to organically assist all of Lennok’s actions, it was unbelievably potent.
Therefore, Lennok was always aware of the strength and usefulness of Targeted Resistance and actively utilized it.
Yet, he knew it was a powerful trait and talent on a different dimension than simple resistance.
That Targeted Resistance possessed a freedom not limited to spellcraft or superhuman abilities, unlike other spellcasters.
That it was an absolute talent, to the extent that even powerful Trait-type Spellcasters like the Conjunction Spell Master couldn’t stand against it.
Because of that, he had occasionally pondered the origin of Targeted Resistance—
But he had never imagined hearing its name directly from the lips of an Imperial Family member.
Let alone that it was a talent the Emperor had sought to obtain, even as he became an Outer God.
“……”
He had to manage his expression to suppress the runaway thoughts.
The moment he heard Ezekiel’s answer, countless possibilities and questions had chained together, overwhelming his consciousness.
A power freed from all worldly entanglements. A trait free from the ‘designation’ of causality and fate.
The [possibility] the Emperor had tried to seize, even as he became an Outer God.
“……The talk of the Emperor abandoning the Empire wasn’t without other meaning, then.”
Lennok murmured quietly.
“Did it mean he literally left this world to become…… one of the gods of that Outer Sea?”
“……”
“If he desired possibility even as he became the Demise of the Outer Sea, if he wanted my talent as a way to avoid the designation of fate……”
Whoosh!!!
In the chillingly subdued air, Lennok asked in a low voice.
“What, exactly, was Ars Nova?”
“……Who knows.”
Ezekiel replied.
The Blue Blood flowing down his wrist had slowly begun to stop.
Looking down at the wound that was rapidly staunching, the imperial noble spoke.
“Ascension and Reversing Heaven are two sides of the same coin; choosing one doesn’t mean completely forsaking the other.”
“……”
“We dreamt of salvation, making great Transcendent and Ascendants generals of the Empire, but we had to fall as swiftly as we had prospered.”
Chii-chick, chii-chii-chick……!!!
The True Blood that had dripped out was, at some point, mixed with intense static and evaporated.
A strange feeling, as if the True Blood was rapidly depleting as payment for Ezekiel’s answers.
Only then did Lennok realize that not a single drop of True Blood remained on the ground beneath Ezekiel’s feet.
So, the reason Ezekiel had been bleeding before their conversation even began was, from the start—
“Perhaps it would have been better if we never knew to the very end.”
Ezekiel said calmly, letting his hand hang loose.
“Perhaps the Emperor knew even that. Which is why he left us and went to that sea alone.”
“……Ezekiel. You……”
Crack, crack-crack……!!!
Cracks ran along Ezekiel’s fingertips, where the True Blood had dried, and his flesh and skin crumbled.
But Ezekiel, even as he looked at his crumbling hand, spoke with an unwavering tone.
“I don’t know if he truly obtained what he desired. Perhaps he never deserved it in the first place.”
“……”
“But it is clear that the answer we ultimately missed lies beyond The Veil.”
Snap!!
From the tips of his dried, True Blood-stained fingers, the imperial noble’s hand shattered into dust and vanished.
In the frozen silence, the imperial noble whispered, disregarding even Lennok’s gaze.
“A Demonic Realm created by making the Emperor’s main facilities and the remains of the Grand General into graves…… the legacies of Ars Nova abandoned there.”
“……That is.”
“The key to opening the sunken Imperial Palace lies beyond.”
Ezekiel said.
“Mythic relics permitted only to past Ascendants. Or pseudo-authorities created to kill Ascendants…… a deviation from fate granted only to those who have obtained the qualifications for Ascension.”
“……”
“You understand why I am giving you this information, don’t you?”
Was he answering this question because he knew Lennok had obtained power equivalent to Ascension through the Subjugation Operation?
If it was because only those of his stature could earn the qualification to conquer the Demonic Realm beyond the Central Front.
If Ezekiel intended to fulfill his role or duty here.
Lennok—
Thump.
There was no answer. The door was already open before Ezekiel had finished speaking.
A tall woman with a transparent veil stood at the office door, her elaborate robe fluttering.
The owner of this street, where Lennok and Ezekiel had just been conversing.
Olivera Ron Maize was now watching the two of them from in front of the office.
Whoosh!!!
[……]
A warm breeze blew, but the surrounding air was infinitely cool.
At this moment, the two veiled figures faced each other across the office.
Lennok, too, set aside their previous conversation and quietly observed the scene.
Olivera and Ezekiel Ron Maize.
Lennok knew that the two, sharing the same name, were born in the same place and shared blood.
One fact he had vaguely surmised the moment he heard Ezekiel’s name before the Subjugation Operation began.
Perhaps the moment of reunion he had been waiting for since the end of the Subjugation Operation.
[I distinctly told you to wait until I arrived.]
It was Olivera who spoke first.
Her mana-infused voice resonating with a cold tone, her Mystic Eye glinted beyond her veil.
[You couldn’t endure even that brief wait and spilled blood after all. You’re still as disobedient as ever.]
“I’ve waited far too long, Sister.”
Ezekiel replied quietly.
“I had to endure until the Subjugation Operation ended and he was ready. Any more than this is meaningless.”
[That’s preposterous. I vividly remember you not even sparing a glance at outsiders beyond the Imperial Palace.]
Her voice resonating with her unique mana-infused voice, she spoke with a faint hint of laughter.
[Has that wizard truly pleased you more than your inherent arrogance?]
“It would be foolish and stupid not to acknowledge his uniqueness.”
Ezekiel affirmed.
“He already understands the meaning of Ascension. He doesn’t cling to a realm he hasn’t yet reached, but seeks the correct answer.”
[……]
“He even holds Transcendence in his hands and deliberates on the timing. What kind of being he will become…… even saying ‘it’s only a matter of time’ is meaningless.”
[So, you tried to mislead him by recklessly speaking of an as-yet unconfirmed outcome?]
“Ultimately, it is for him to choose.”
Ezekiel closed his eyes at Olivera’s scoff.
“Through this war, I was able to ascertain what kind of being he is. If he has the qualification and the power, I merely convey what I know.”
Having said that, Ezekiel walked past Olivera.
“If that man is the Demise of this world, I think I could accept it.”
[……]
Olivera did not respond to his words.
She merely stood with her arms crossed, silently watching Ezekiel disappear down the corridor.
As Lennok looked at Olivera and took out a cigarette, she spoke.
[You are quite late in coming.]
“There were various…… matters I had to attend to first.”
[Are you referring to everything you observed in the Ninth Tribulation?]
“……”
Lennok, with the cigarette in his mouth, remained silent.
He too knew what Olivera was referring to.
Kaiser Bajour’s corpse, which they had encountered at the edge of the Outer Tribulation City where Olivera had also arrived.
Where his true ending, left with his neck severed, had begun and ended.
She, too, surely knew.
Olivera was not an outsider who had pursued the project like Lennok, but the only person who had started the project with Kaiser.
She must have known with what heart Kaiser had endlessly repeated regressions, rewinding failures, and yet what memory he could not abandon until the very end.
She must have known what resolve, broken and twisted, he intended to carry to the very end.
And yet, the reason she had ultimately not told Lennok directly was—
[This is not a story for such a place.]
Olivera said calmly, turning her body.
[Let us move. I know a good spot.]
Swoosh……!!
The Cartel headquarters building soared sky-high, as if piercing the heavens.
The existence of a vast sky garden, stretching across the street lined with high-rise buildings.
The resting area, created by connecting buildings like a bridge and then landscaping an artificial garden on top, was completely empty.
It was proof that the Cartel had cleared out its entire headquarters building for this meeting today.
Whoosh!
The cigarette smoke scattered with the wind, rising high and vanishing without a trace.
Lennok walked silently behind Olivera, facing the blowing wind.
As they walked through the beautifully landscaped garden, Olivera’s ceremonial robe fluttered.
[It’s not as sad as I thought.]
“……”
[Even after spending such a long time together, is my heart unwavering because I have already finished my mourning? Or……]
Olivera slowly raised her gaze and spoke.
[Is it because I thought that from the Ninth Tribulation, it might have already ended like this?]
“……Olivera.”
[Perhaps he knew the moment Kaiser entrusted his end to Ethan’s hands.]
Olivera’s mana-infused voice mingled with the wind, scattering faintly as if to disappear.
[He may have consciously avoided it, despite knowing. That he wouldn’t make such a choice……]
“……”
[I think I already let go of Kaiser inside me back then.]
After winning against Maleon in Kundara.
Lennok, together with Olivera, had searched the wreckage of the Ninth Tribulation that had crashed in the Western Front and completely incinerated Kaiser’s remains.
Olivera had understood the true meaning of the mourning they shared over Kaiser Bajour’s cremated remains back then.
Looking back, Olivera Ron Maize had always been like that.
Even though she stood at the moment everything began, she didn’t despair over her own predicament, bound by The Prohibition and unable to speak a word.
Even as she mourned an irreversible failure, she always maintained that composure, even when her life was in danger or facing imminent death.
“You weren’t a collaborator of the Imperial Palace or an ordinary noble from the start.”
Lennok said.
“Was your name itself…… a designation for a direct descendant of the Imperial Family of Ars Nova?”
[……]
“What is the Imperial Privilege?”
Lennok asked quietly, facing the silent Olivera.
“What is it that Ezekiel consumed his True Blood to convey the answer?”
[The Imperial Family of Ars Nova, their very existence is the fruit of a cursed breeding, meticulously created through genetic manipulation and selection.]
Olivera said.
[There are roles and duties determined even before birth, a mission that must be borne…… we called that mission a privilege.]
“……A mission?”
[Instead of moving along a predetermined life trajectory forever, all actions related to it are granted an otherworldly level of correction.]
Olivera slowly moved forward.
[Talent, luck, connections…… it attracts all the causality needed to fulfill one’s ‘role’ and eventually becomes a component of fate.]
“……”
[Our fate, from the moment we are born, is steeped in betrayal and taboo. Every moment, we are strongly entangled and subjugated by it.]
Olivera’s hand, clutching her own wrist with one hand, turned stark white.
[A bloodline mixed with True Blood is closer to a curse than glory…… I always had to bind my name to maintain myself.]
The reason Olivera Ron Maize had traveled across the continent, researching magic after leaving the Empire.
The reason she participated in the project with Kaiser, and even after its failure, twisted her lineage towards the Mystic Eye.
Was all of it part of an attempt to twist the trajectory of fate she was born with?
[I traveled across the continent searching for a way…… and met Kaiser.]
Olivera said quietly.
[It would be a lie to say I didn’t dream of success through thousands of sleepless nights.]
“……”
[After thousands of failures, I learned too late that there were things one should not know.]
“That was why you used The Prohibition to keep the project and the existence of the Imperial Palace a secret, then.”
[Many of the things the Imperial Palace attempted, which brought about its destruction, still lie in the realm of unobserved causality.]
Olivera turned to Lennok at the end of the garden and said calmly.
[The Emperor’s end, reached by my blood relative, is also such. Because it is a result no one has observed, whether it is true is still unknown.]
“……”
[The sunken Imperial Palace beyond The Veil, stretching from the edge of the Sea of Understanding…… a horizon of incomprehensibility no one has yet observed.]
“That is……”
[My blood relative told you that fact because he judged you had the right to choose…… but my thoughts are a little different.]
Beyond the veil, her rainbow-colored Mystic Eye glinted faintly with complex emotions.
[We went through many failures, yet we didn’t even know if the answer was on the other side. We couldn’t even be sure if it was truly the answer.]
“……”
[Nevertheless, I chose to seek the answer myself rather than rely on the Imperial Palace, and came this far…… but now, I’m not even sure if that was the right path.]
Olivera looked at Lennok and said.
[Because all of it was my own choice, I can only say that I did my best to change my fate.]
“……I see.”
Whether the answer lies within the collapsed Imperial Palace beyond The Veil is unknown.
Whether what exists within is truly the answer is also unknown.
The reason she was telling Lennok this now was, contrary to Ezekiel, to balance Lennok’s choice.
He could understand why Olivera thought that way.
He could also understand why she obliquely made such a suggestion to Lennok.
After all, if he were to meet the same end as Kaiser, who failed even after accepting the Imperial Palace’s cooperation—
“We could come this far because we dreamt of the same thing, yet saw different paths.”
[Adamant Thunder.]
“Olivera. I am no longer swayed or influenced by others’ answers or failures.”
Lennok closed his eyes.
“The reason I now observe them is to carry even their failures forward, leaving nothing meaningless.”
[……]
“I will cross the Central Front and head towards the sunken Imperial Palace. Ultimately, that will be the only way to leave meaning in this entire journey.”
Perhaps the Vulcan Mayor already knew.
That no matter what secrets were conveyed, Lennok’s answer would not change.
That Lennok would not alter his direction even after obtaining information about the Imperial Palace.
Perhaps that was why he hadn’t rushed after speaking of the lingering temptation in District 19.
Because Lennok valued choice above all else, and conversely, tried to respect others’ answers.
If he understood through the Subjugation Operation that Lennok observed all those failures and destructions, and sought to sublimate them into a process.
Lennok, burning the cigarette in his bare hand, scattered all the remaining smoke and said.
“But before that, I think there might be a way to discuss the problem you’re contemplating.”
[What nonsense are you spouting?]
“If your words are true, the Imperial Privilege is ultimately a curse and a mission etched in blood…… a problem deeply related to True Blood itself.”
Lennok slowly turned his gaze.
“I have some research findings that might be relevant to that aspect. Perhaps it could become a significant clue.”
[……Research findings?]
“You’d best clear your schedule soon.”
Lennok smiled at Olivera.
“Evan Vylun’s fourth thesis will be published shortly.”
Vulcan, District 44, the mega-city.
Alphonso Murphy’s infirmary, where the Tower’s mercenaries were being treated, now stood in place of District 49, which had been devastated by the aftermath of the Subjugation Operation.
The spacious infirmary, once inhabited solely by a vampire, had become incredibly noisy with the screams of people.
“Gyaah?! Ugh? Ugh-ugh-ugh!”
Dylan, twisting his body on the bed with a flushed expression.
A syringe the size of his forearm was stuck diagonally in his bared back, shaking.
Murphy, the vampire doctor, who was examining a sample beside the bed, frowned.
“You’re too noisy. Shut up, it’s distracting.”
“I-I think I’m going to die…… d-does it normally hurt this much— Aghhh!!!”
As Murphy flicked the syringe, the needle in Dylan’s back shook, and Dylan’s screams intensified.
Watching Dylan thrash, Murphy said indifferently.
“I’m collecting your serum and bone marrow to check for abnormalities. It’s poking your spinal nerve bundles, so of course it hurts.”
“T-that shouldn’t be normal…… shouldn’t you give me an anesthetic……?!”
“If I use an anesthetic powerful enough to affect your regenerative body, your cell activity will drop, making it difficult to collect normal samples. This is all because you have a body different from humans, so endure it.”
Dylan O’Casey was the sole survivor of the cult’s immortal experiments.
He possessed regenerative abilities incomparable to other superhumans, but precisely because of that, it was difficult to find latent injuries in his body through ordinary examinations.
A week after the Subjugation Operation ended. The mercenaries and spellcasters belonging to the Tower were undergoing examinations under Murphy’s guidance to check for any lingering effects or side effects of the battle.
“Adamant Thunder sent word that all superhumans who fought on the front lines must undergo a precise medical examination. You’re not thinking of disobeying the wizard you serve, are you?”
“B-Van would change his mind if he saw this, it wouldn’t be strange if…… Gyaah!!!”
Dylan’s screams echoed through the wide infirmary corridor.
Felix, who was sitting in the opposite room undergoing an examination, forced a wry smile.
“He seems to be in more pain than when he was fighting The Legion in the labyrinth.”
Beep, beep-
Every time he rested his arm on his knee and clenched and unclenched his fist, a regular signal echoed through the electrodes attached to his arm.
Each time, a green light illuminated the monitor, indicating that Felix’s senses were normal.
The eagle-headed giant, gently moving his arm and shoulder according to the medical staff’s instructions, shook his head.
“Perhaps the examination can’t be conducted normally for someone with regenerative abilities. Dylan must be going through a lot.”
“It’s possible you all were affected in some way during the drastic changes in District 49. It can’t be helped.”
Lennok, leaning against the infirmary wall, said.
“Even if there are no immediately visible injuries, there could be something wrong elsewhere. It’s best to confirm now to prevent future problems.”
“Hmm. I do think such an examination is certainly necessary after ending a major war, but……”
During the Subjugation Operation, Lennok had continuously altered the environment of the labyrinth in District 49 to engage in the decisive battle.
It was natural for his comrades in the Tower, who fought The Legion within that labyrinth, to be unknowingly affected by the drastically changing environmental conditions of the Domain.
Even if they appeared fine on the surface, there was a possibility that side effects from exposure to his Incarnation Body’s Will-thought or Mana had accumulated in their bodies and minds.
Confirming the well-being of his comrades who had risked their lives on the battlefield was one of the tasks Lennok rightly had to handle personally.
“Don’t worry. Even if it wasn’t for injuries, there were a few things I needed to confirm through this examination.”
“Things you needed to confirm?”
“There was one power I distributed to you all for this war, and then reclaimed.”
The possibilities Lennok sought to obtain through this war were not just the Branching Point of Ultimate Lightning Magic.
Apart from gaining Transcendence through the Incarnation Body, it was another growth he had attempted using the labyrinth and the Domain.
Flash!!
In Lennok’s hand, a Golden Halo emerged and began to spin.
The moment the oval-shaped halo rapidly rotated, beginning to shine brilliantly like an eye.
Lennok slowly opened Ouroboros, held it out to Felix, and smiled.
“A new form of Ouroboros. It’s about Apostle Transformation.”