Chapter 1350: Designed Transcendence (28)

KABOOOM!!!!!

A pillar of light pierced through the skies of the mega-city, erupting with a tremendous roar.

Its radiance was so intense it dyed the sky pure white, a spectacle vast enough to blanket the entire world.

Simultaneously, the superhumans waiting in District 49 burst forth as if on cue.

“It’s begun!!!”

“Everyone, move quickly!!”

“No idiots forgot the planned route, right?”

“If you get even slightly confused, report to Jenny. Mess up the order and you’re dead!!”

Dylan, Mila, Weian, Drei, Tatiana, Soo-ryun, and other mercenaries, including Manson, scattered uniformly outside the zone.

Perhaps because the Outer Zone had been evacuated in preparation for this moment, the vast commercial district was unusually quiet and devoid of people.

[Let me explain again. Our goal today is to assist Van in completing the Ascension Ritual to the very end.]

Jenny’s cold voice echoed through the earphones clipped into the superhumans’ ears as they raced through the empty streets.

[Ultimately, the ritual must fail, but that’s Van’s task, not something we can interfere with. So, we need to focus on ensuring there are no problems with the ritual by supplying the necessary mana and arcane power, and minimizing the backlash from its failure.]

“Haa, haa……!!”

[Don’t forget the most important fact. Above all, it’s crucial to perfectly conceal the progress until just before the ritual fails—]

“Ugh, damn it……!! Why is this so heavy?!”

Thump-thump-thump!!!

Sweat poured down Weian’s face as he ran, clutching a long stone statue under his arm.

It was one of the symbolic objects Jenny had prepared to replenish arcane power for this Ascension Ritual.

The stone statue Weian was carrying was several times heavier than it looked.

With trembling arms, he carried the statue and ascended a skyscraper located on the outskirts of District 49.

“Hwaak, Hwaa……!! Hwe-ek……!!”

Although his skills had greatly improved from Peshia’s training-disguised-as-beatings, factors like physical strength had not.

From the start, most mercenaries like Weian had already completed their physical conditioning to the limits of their physique.

In other words, despite his increased skill, here he had to somehow manage with his own physical strength.

Thud!!!

“Hwe-e, Hwe-he-ek……!!”

Weian, having climbed to the skyscraper’s rooftop and set down the statue, gasped for breath and touched his earphone.

“5, 50th District H-point installation complete…….”

“-Arrived at 48th District B-point.”

“-51st District G-point installed.”

“-Confirmed. Barrier Spellcraft activated.”

At that moment, a faint light emanated from the statue Weian had set down, surging upwards.

Simultaneously, another light surged from the opposite side of the distant Outer Zone, intertwining with Weian’s light.

A net of light, connecting and joining the districts, slowly rotated around District 49, drawing a grand helix.

Soon, it gathered the light of the Ascension Ritual that covered the entire sky, sealing it to prevent it from escaping.

Paa-aa-aat!!!!

“Somehow, we just barely made it on time…….”

Weian wiped his sweat, collapsing in place, and muttered blankly.

“I hope it goes well. It’ll be a relief if this is enough…….”

The reason the Tower’s comrades began moving simultaneously with the start of the Ascension Ritual was not for some other cause.

Instead of preparing beforehand, there were senses and gazes that could only be deceived by taking action from this moment on.

From now on, he had to focus intensely and contribute to stabilizing the Barrier Spellcraft.

Just as Weian, catching his breath with difficulty, slowly tried to stand.

“Heheheh, wow~ What a spectacle.”

A scoffing voice came from behind him.

“So, you’re protecting the Ascension Ritual while simultaneously collecting the power lost during it to reduce the backlash. Not a bad idea.”

“…….”

“But what’s most impressive is the incredibly high completion level of this Barrier Spellcraft. You guys didn’t come up with this method, did you?”

Click!!

A man with a sinister impression, holding sharp daggers in both hands, looked down at Weian and smiled.

“A barrier that protects him without interfering with the ritual? No one but Adamant Thunder could devise something like this. It seems the rumors were true; he really is an incredible man.”

“……Just in case, I’ll confirm.”

Weian, staggering to his feet, placed his hand on his waist.

“You’re not just a civilian passing by this area, are you? We’ve been evacuating people with the City Government’s help for days, so if you didn’t hear the announcement, turn back.”

“Hahahaha!! Fuck, are you an idiot? Do I look like someone from this city?”

The man, twirling his daggers, walked closer and grinned.

“I’m a high-ranking executive of the Scavengers. I heard an Ascendant came to Vulcan and decided to visit after a long time, but I didn’t expect such an interesting event to be unfolding.”

“…….”

“Haha, an Ascension Ritual unfolding before tens of millions of people!! This is truly entertaining. If I interfere with you here, will Adamant Thunder just fail?”

“No, that’s not it. He’d suffer far more severe damage or impact. He might even have to endure a drop in rank.”

The man licked the tip of his dagger and slowly drew up his mana.

“So, I’m going to bring down the Grand Mage, said to possess the greatest talent in Eastern Continent history, with my own hands. This is exhilarating.”

“…….”

When is one most vulnerable when challenging transcendence?

Weian hadn’t even glimpsed that realm yet, but he still knew the answer.

It was the moment of ascent, when a Seeker surpassed existing stages and entered an untrodden realm.

He knew that others might target this moment—when the Eastern Continent’s greatest mage would be most defenseless.

The reason they deployed the symbolic objects to each position and activated the Barrier Spellcraft only after the ritual began was precisely to avoid revealing their locations to potential interferers beforehand.

It wasn’t surprising. No, it even felt familiar.

Because for a long time, this world had been swarming with people harboring incomprehensible malice, like insects.

Weian, too, had rolled through the back alleys of this city, encountering those filthy breeding grounds countless times.

He knew that as soon as the ritual began, there might be those both inside and outside the city attempting to bring Van down.

But—

“You’re not thinking straight. Are you really that dense?”

“……What?”

“Do you really think Van would start the ritual without considering that bastards like you are crawling everywhere?”

Weian grinned.

“Even without this Barrier Spellcraft, you couldn’t lay a finger on the ritual. It wasn’t created for ‘that purpose’ in the first place.”

“…….”

“You, you’d just burn to death like a moth, unable to properly interfere anyway. Please, try to think a little, huh?”

“Aha, is that so? I’ve made a grave mistake then.”

Perhaps because his claim of being a high-ranking executive of the Scavengers was true, the man didn’t get angry even after hearing Weian’s taunts.

Instead, he merely gripped his daggers tighter and grinned just like Weian.

“Then it should be fine to send this short-sighted moth on its way here, shouldn’t it?”

“Of course.”

Weian, placing his hands on the dual blades at his waist, readily nodded.

“Just leave your head here. Judging by the way you talk, you don’t seem to use it much anyway, do you?”

“Puhahahahah!!! This wet-behind-the-ears brat—!!!”

Cha-ang!!

Two daggers and dual blades were drawn simultaneously on the skyscraper’s rooftop.

At the pinnacle of the skyscraper, dozens of meters high, their hands moved with astonishing speed.

Hundreds of unseen sparks flared and vanished, unleashing a sinister gleam of swords.

KA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GANG!!!!

“You seem to just barely glimpse Level 7, yet you don’t know your place, brat!!! Huh?!!”

The man, appearing amidst the scattering blades, ruthlessly kicked Weian in the stomach.

A searing pain as his insides contorted. Weian’s figure, sent tumbling backward, was instantly pushed to the edge of the rooftop.

The man’s fierce assault ignored even the glowing stone statue as he charged. He clearly intended to throw Weian off the skyscraper like this.

“Cough—”

KA-GA-GA-GA-GAK!!!

Four blades crossed, drawing trajectories that no human mind could possibly trace.

A dizzying cascade of sword gleams, surpassing the speed of perception. An ultimate rapid assault, swinging hundreds of times per second.

It wasn’t a realm that could be controlled by calculation. Even if it were possible, he would never reach that level in his lifetime.

Because even if Weian died and came back a hundred million times, he couldn’t become Van.

He could only trust his innate senses and wager his life, not his calculations.

If he couldn’t think with his head, he’d entrust everything to instinct.

Then as now, Weian possessed only one talent. Even the method to wield it had been taught by Van.

Although Weian could not become Van, if he could catch even a glimpse of the essence Van perceived—

[Apostle Transformation activated]

Kii-i-ing—

Behind Weian’s head, a golden halo burst forth like an explosion, spinning.

The man’s expression, sensing the change, appeared so slow it seemed he could distinguish hundreds of changes per second.

Amidst the scattering blade flurry, he gripped two swords in reverse and broke through.

A state of selfless sensation, incomprehensible even to himself. He closed and opened his eyes amidst the surging gleam of swords.

The moment he regained his senses within an intense, Will-thought vision whose contents he couldn’t even grasp.

Kwaduk!!

Before he knew it, Weian’s sword had pierced the man’s temple and protruded from the other side.

The man’s bloodshot, wide-open eyes showed just how surprised he was.

“This, you son of a—”

“Uwe-ek!!!”

As the halo vanished, Weian vomited a torrent of blood onto the man’s face.

The Scavenger’s corpse, its breath cut off before it could even feel the sensation of dead blood pouring onto its face.

Weian, covered in blood and sprawled on the rooftop, wiped his mouth with a pale expression and stood up.

“Cough……!! Damn it, if I used this in a real fight, I’d be dead…… even with training…….”

Weian stumbled towards the statue and knelt with a ashen face.

Carefully, Weian gripped the statue with both hands, checked the time, and cautiously adjusted its position.

“Once every five minutes, adjust position…… spacetime distortion…… must hide it as much as possible…….”

Clank, Whoooosh—!!!!

As he manipulated the statue’s position in time, his comrades deployed in each district responded in kind.

The vast net of light split in all directions, concealing the unfolding ritual scene in the center of District 49 in real-time.

The tangled Barrier Spellcraft throughout the Outer Zone distorted spacetime in real-time, making the ritual’s center appear to split apart.

As Weian slumped down, exhausted, and gazed up at the sight blankly.

“—You weren’t acting to protect the ritual.”

A blood-soaked voice came from behind him.

“You were acting to ‘hide’ the ritual.”

“……!!!”

“The Barrier Spellcraft was a means to hide the ritual your master was performing. From whom?”

The corpse, with a sword still embedded in its head, staggered to its feet right there.

“An Ascendant…… were you trying to hide the ritual from an Ascendant?”

“How…….”

The man muttered, repeating Weian’s words, and figured out the Barrier Spellcraft’s true purpose.

True to being a high-ranking executive of the Scavengers, did he possess a means to move, even briefly, after death?

A grotesque sorcery, momentarily binding his soul to his corpse to exact revenge on the one who killed him.

The man pulled the sword from his head and rushed at Weian like a flash.

“Brat, I’ll kill you and tell this to the outside—!!!!”

The corpse’s words could not continue.

The instant Weian gritted his teeth, picked up his sword, and stood to face the charging man.

Felix, the eagle-headed giant, landed on the opposite rooftop and kicked the charging man, blasting him apart with immense speed.

Pbeo-eo-eo-eo-eong!!!!!

“—!!!!!!!”

Acceleration reaching the speed of sound. A single strike, maximizing impact force by simultaneously wielding Will-thought and a Miniature Universe.

The man’s body, kicked by the bird-headed giant weighing hundreds of kilograms, could not fly far.

Instead, his flesh and bones were utterly pulverized on the spot, exploding into countless fragments.

“……Wow.”

Weian, who had been watching blankly, finally released the tension in his body and flopped down.

“Weian, are you alright?”

Felix, carrying a massive hammer, approached Weian and asked.

“As expected, interferers began appearing simultaneously with the start of the ritual. I’ll handle the rest, so focus on maintaining the barrier without worry.”

“Right, just seeing you, there doesn’t seem to be any problem…….”

An immense aura emanating from his entire body, a sense of weight that made space itself tremble by his mere presence.

Behind Felix’s head, a halo, far larger and more dazzling than Weian’s, floated.

A new form of the Ouroboros magic system that Lennok had imparted to his Tower comrades.

Since mastering Apostle Transformation, Felix had been approaching transcendence far more rapidly than others.

Weian, still sprawled on the floor, muttered with a dejected air.

“Apostle Transformation, taught by Van. As expected, Felix handles it most skillfully among us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If I use it for 20 seconds, my whole body feels like it’ll fall apart, but Felix can use it for 20 minutes and still be fine. He also gains an immense amount of power from Apostle Transformation.”

“…….”

Felix stood at the edge of the rooftop, gazing at the Outer Zone without answering.

With his halo activated, Felix’s senses were now expanded enough to encompass several districts.

The augmentation of senses and abilities he received through Apostle Transformation was among the top three within the Tower.

Even at this moment, comrades adjusting the Barrier Spellcraft or engaging interferers in various places registered in his senses.

Dylan fighting freelancers, Mila blasting zombies’ heads, Tatiana clashing with a curse caster.

Although skirmishes were breaking out simultaneously in various locations, no one among them was in danger or seriously injured.

Their experience and growth from the subjugation campaign must have been a great help to the Tower’s comrades as well.

There had been concerns before it started, but at this rate, it seemed there was no need to intervene in other combat zones.

As Felix made that judgment and withdrew his senses, Weian grumbled, still sprawled on the ground.

“Ah, this world that only rewards geniuses is disgusting!! It’s so unfair and petty, how can anyone live like this?!”

“Weian…… aren’t those words a bit rich, coming from you of all people?”

“Yeah, say it!! Say I’m a mudskipper fighting with nothing but my sensing ability!! I admit it!”

“Why specifically a mudskipper as an example?”

Felix, with a wry smile, averted his gaze.

“Weian. It’s true that I’ve received a lot of help with Apostle Transformation, but that doesn’t mean you lack talent. From the start, the time you can maintain Apostle Transformation is very short compared to other comrades.”

“That means I don’t have talent, doesn’t it?”

“Think about it. Apostle Transformation is closer to us receiving a portion of Van’s perspective or judgment. But the augmentation of abilities itself is ultimately based on our own aptitudes.”

Felix said.

“The reason you can’t maintain Apostle Transformation for as long as others isn’t because your talent is lacking. On the contrary…….”

“On the contrary?”

“It’s likely because, through your prodigious sensing ability, you’re seeing much more within Van’s inner self.”

“…….”

Felix patted the shoulder of the blank-faced Weian, who stood with his mouth agape, and straightened up.

“Think it over carefully. I only stumbled upon this thought by chance during my cultivation of Apostle Transformation.”

“……I wonder how familiar I need to get with Apostle Transformation to make such a judgment.”

Weian grumbled as he stood up, following Felix to the edge of the rooftop.

“Well, let’s talk about that later. Now, do we just quietly observe the ritual?”

“Indeed. It’ll be over once we extract the Transcendent Magic while the Ascendant doesn’t notice Van’s actions.”

As the Scavenger’s high-ranking executive noticed, the true purpose of the Barrier Spellcraft isn’t to protect the ritual or reduce backlash.

It is to momentarily hide the ritual from Dadam’s gaze, buying time for Lennok to extract the World’s Ten Laws contained within the mirror.

Within the endlessly fragmenting pillar of light, Lennok would be performing the process to extract the World’s Ten Laws.

Weian and the other comrades’ task was to distort the Barrier Spellcraft at fixed intervals, preventing the Ascendant’s gaze from peering into the ritual.

“The ritual is splitting apart…… No matter how I look at it, this doesn’t seem normal.”

Weian muttered, looking up at the splitting and dividing pillar of light with an uneasy expression.

“You said we’d extract Transcendent Magic during the process of deliberately failing the ritual. Is that really okay?”

“According to what Van told me, the Ascension Ritual is closer to a process of deconstructing oneself to the limit and then recreating oneself anew.”

Felix said, looking at the pillar of light piercing the sky.

“It’s the concept of endlessly repeating destruction and creation upon oneself, carving the world’s order and laws.”

“Carving the world’s order and laws, huh…… Is that because an Ascendant’s existence is akin to a world unto itself?”

Weian said with a clouded expression.

“No matter how much I think about it, this feels like something we shouldn’t know right now.”

“You seem interested. Do you perhaps want to become an Ascendant later?”

“Ah, no. Not that, but…….”

The moment Weian scratched his head, about to say something.

The entire sky above Vulcan began to be dyed with an intensely blinding silver light.

Flash—!!

“……!!!!”

A powerful silver radiance, strong enough to make even Felix, let alone Weian, snap their heads around.

Simultaneously, the faces of both men hardened as they saw the ominous silver crescent moon floating above the Outer Zone begin to move.

A symbol of the Ascendant, Dadam, which had appeared in Vulcan and remained fixed in the sky for days since her manifestation.

The fact that this moon, which had never moved before, was stirring at this very moment, could only mean—

“Wait, don’t tell me…….”

“The Ascendant has moved. This is—”

[Felix, Weian. Retreat from that direction immediately!!!]

[Dadam has noticed. She’ll advance, trampling every Outer Zone in her path!!]

“……!!!”

Kii-i-ii-i-ing—

The radiance of the crescent moon, curved like a great bow, slowly rotated, cutting across the atmosphere.

The silver moon, slowly bending back as if drawing a bowstring, moved towards the pillar of light where the Ascension Ritual was taking place.

Each time, the ruined ground of the Outer Zone where the crescent moon appeared was swept up by immense power, beginning to be crushed and pulverized.

Kwoo-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!!!

The crescent moon form, revealing its Will-thought and power without reserve, approached District 49 where the Ascension Ritual was progressing.

The moon’s curve, bent like a gigantic bow, sharpened and gradually accelerated.

Without delay, Weian grabbed his gear and, along with Felix, leaped from the building’s highest floor.

“That’s impossible. There was nothing wrong with the Barrier Spellcraft, yet she noticed already?!!”

“Our opponent is an Ascendant. I didn’t think we could deceive her forever, but……!!”

Even after confusing the Ascendant’s senses with the Barrier Spellcraft, they couldn’t conceal the anomaly to the very end.

Jenny’s voice pierced the ears of the two as they sped vertically down the building’s exterior.

[Return to District 49 immediately. We’ll change the Barrier Spellcraft’s manipulation to hinder Dadam’s approach!!]

“No, it’s too late!! Unless we stop the Ascendant’s intervention right now……!!”

“Jenny, we’ll begin first from here. If it’s just to distract her for a moment—”

Although they had started the ritual earlier than Dadam perceived, they didn’t think they could hide it forever.

Even if they couldn’t confront the Ascendant directly, high-level superhumans were on standby to at least partially hinder her approach.

Even at this moment, not only Hyun-gung, waiting for a sniper shot, but also the Fearsome Blood King and Purity were preparing in various parts of the zone.

Just as the Tower’s comrades moved throughout the Outer Zone, about to enter Phase 2 against the Ascendant.

Dadam’s crescent moon, having swept through the Outer Zone, touched the boundary of District 49.

Simultaneously, the pillar of light, which had been splitting into thousands of fragments, merged all at once and began to ascend explosively.

KABOOOOM!!!!!!

“Kuk—?!!!!”

“Whoa-aaah!!”

Weian was flung away by the tidal wave of shockwaves that swept and inundated the Outer Zone, and Felix barely managed to grab his body.

An immense pressure, so great that even Felix, using Apostle Transformation at full power, could barely hold his ground.

Felix, struggling to lift his gaze, faced the wonder unfolding in the distant sky and gaped blankly.

“……Van?”

“This can’t be…….”

Kwoo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!!!!!

Around the pillar of light piercing through the center of Vulcan, clouds and atmosphere from all directions were being sucked in.

A greedy radiance of light, as if trying to absorb everything whole and seize it.

Simultaneously, a colossal silver crescent moon approached the pillar of light from the distant sky.

As Dadam noticed the anomaly and moved, Adamant Thunder was also taking some action in response.

An abnormal phenomenon not mentioned in the Ascension Ritual procedures, which had been discussed dozens of times beforehand.

They instinctively knew that things were going terribly wrong.

“Felix, that’s……!!!”

“The flow of the ritual Van is presiding over changed the moment Dadam intervened.”

Felix said with a hardened expression.

“Instead of failing the Ascension Ritual, he’s merging them all, adding power to the absolute limit. Don’t tell me……!!!”

The Ascension Ritual Lennok had planned was originally a procedure designed to fail at the last moment.

But now, as the ritual neared its end, there was no sign of the pillar of light dissipating or scattering.

Instead, at the advent of transcendence beyond all limits, the sky merely split and trembled as if the universe itself was about to open.

A magnificent symphony, as if shaking the very soul, completely contrary to the planned failure procedure of the ritual.

The omen of ascension.

Oooooh-oooooh-oooooh!!!!!!

Only then did Weian, comprehending the unfolding situation, gape blankly.

“Is Van…… trying to succeed in the Ascension Ritual right here, right now?”