Chapter 1384: Variation (23)
Gateway City was a city that contained a “dead” gateway, allowing entry into The Veil.
Long ago, the corpse of a colossal Long-lived Being, buried along the boundary of The Veil, functioned as the gateway.
However, after Lennok’s decisive battle with the Conjunction Spell Master, the Long-lived Being’s corpse was destroyed, and Flame Flower took its place.
The Flame Flower, existing by semi-permanently burning The Veil, had now taken over the role of the gateway.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!!
Following the crimson Flame Flower shining in the sky above Gateway City, hot pillars of fire streamed down like tears.
A magnificent sight, as flames fell beneath the shimmering surface of The Veil, rotating like a colossal pillar.
The center of a grand Infernal Temple, where flames overflowed from all directions, forming pillars of fire and constructing space.
Lennok stared fixedly at the back of the knightess, who walked alone through the fiery corridor.
“What’s wrong? It won’t be hot, so come inside.”
“……”
Even while engulfed in the flames falling from the Flame Flower, the knightess seemed completely unharmed.
On the contrary, it felt natural, as if she had been one with the flames from the very beginning, with fire swirling around her entire body.
In the inferno where everything around shimmered with fire, the only thing that felt different was her slowly swaying crimson hair.
But unlike the flames burning all around, Lennok did not find the owner of that hair familiar.
As if sensing Lennok’s gaze, the knightess, who had been leading the way down the corridor, spoke.
“I’ve made you walk for a long time. We’ve arrived now.”
Whoosh!!!
No sooner had the knightess finished speaking than the fiery corridor receded, revealing a vast lobby.
The majestic form of a temple, carved as if from a red gem. A colossal cavern etched with ornate flame patterns.
She claimed to be a Guardian Spirit Beast, burdened with the mission of protecting Gateway City, but was she actually residing near the Flame Flower itself?
It seemed as though she had shaped the flames flowing from the Flame Flower to create an artificial Domain around it, and yet, for such a construct, the stability of the space was considerable.
Flash!!
[Lady Martina. Are you alright?]
As soon as she stepped into the cavern, communication networks opened from all directions, and multiple voices resonated simultaneously.
[The casualties within the commercial district have all been identified and managed.]
[We are currently tracking and assigning identification numbers to the surviving attackers in conjunction with the Reconnaissance Agency’s system.]
“Thank you for your concern. Everyone has worked hard.”
The Gateway patrol and the public officials and administrators in charge of the city’s administration all spoke to her from every direction.
Other Gateway City officials must also have been moving across various locations to quickly address this attack.
The knightess responded to the real-time reports, quickly confirming the matters that required reporting.
Questions from the patrol and the military swiftly followed, having grasped the situation.
[We have dispatched personnel to assess the situation, but we are hearing some ominous rumors.]
[Is the information that Adamant Thunder appeared near the commercial district true?]
[That wizard who allegedly defeated The Legion in a subjugation operation… …]
The events of the Subjugation Operation had a profound impact not only in Vulcan but across the entire continent.
It was impossible for the patrol operating on the Central Front not to have heard those rumors.
[To cause such a disturbance immediately upon arriving in Gateway City, his ill repute must not be false.]
[It’s even possible that his engagement with the attackers was intended to increase the city’s damage… …]
[Already, unsettling sightings of Adamant Thunder are spreading both within and outside the gateway.]
[Mad eyewitness accounts of Vulcan’s Archdemon coming to settle old scores… …]
The patrol consisted of elite soldiers who had protected Gateway City even before the Conjunction Spell Master governed it.
They were not so naive as to blindly accept Lennok’s actions in this situation.
However, despite the concerns of her comrades, the knightess responded calmly.
“He himself gave up resistance, so he is no longer a dangerous opponent. My sword does not burn against one who has no will to fight.”
[Lady Martina. But… …]
“I will personally monitor him, so you all need not worry. I will ensure this city is not endangered under any circumstances.”
As the knightess firmly dismissed their concerns, the communication networks one by one began to quiet down.
The knightess, leading Lennok, who had been listening silently, moved through the spacious lobby hall towards the corridor.
However, what caught Lennok’s interest was not the knightess’s familiarity with the people of Gateway City.
“Martina…”
Lennok murmured.
“I didn’t know you had a name.”
“Of course. I named myself.”
The knightess replied, puffing out her chest proudly.
“I am Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast, after all. So it’s only natural to take his name.”
“……”
“Martina, derived from Martinez. Isn’t it truly a fitting warrior’s name for a righteous Guardian Spirit Beast like myself?”
[Master. This organism seems utterly insane, doesn’t it?]
“……”
Even Davi, who had been subtly wary of the new Guardian Spirit Beast’s appearance, was dumbfounded by such a bold reply.
But Lennok, while agreeing with Davi’s words, couldn’t bring himself to respond hastily.
Even Lennok himself didn’t know what to say first to this confident knightess.
Nevertheless, the reason Lennok had obediently followed her all this way was—
“We’ve arrived. This way.”
They walked a long way down the mysteriously crimson corridor, heading towards a detached building located on the opposite side of the lobby.
A vast, multi-story annex building, neatly maintained but with no one coming or going.
Martina led Lennok into the reception room on the first floor and gestured to a sofa.
“Sit.”
“Aren’t you taking me to prison?”
“I have no intention of oppressing someone who accepted my request for escort to that extent.”
The knightess replied, leaning back on the opposite sofa.
“Moreover, you were outwardly opposed to the attacker. In other words, weren’t you his adversary?”
“……”
“If you were closer to being caught up in this incident, there’s no need to hold you accountable. I never intended to imprison you from the start.”
Did she already know who initiated the attack between Lennok and Jain, and who was responding to it?
For someone who appeared out of nowhere and unleashed a scorching inferno, she seemed to have a surprisingly accurate grasp of the situation.
“I brought you here to investigate this incident, so have no fear. Once I have secured your testimony about the events, I will release you immediately.”
“……”
“It will take some time, so please rest comfortably until then. I guarantee your absolute safety, on my name.”
This meant that this knightess, who had maintained such a firm stance, wasn’t completely inflexible.
Given that she displayed flexibility behind the scenes despite her outwardly resolute demeanor, she wasn’t without diplomatic skill.
It was fortunate that this knightess was a superhuman qualified enough to stabilize and protect Gateway City.
However—
“Why are you looking at me with such an expression? If you have any objections, I’d appreciate it if you’d speak.”
“……”
“Or do you disagree with my judgment regarding this incident?”
“……No.”
Lennok, gazing at Martina with a peculiar expression, asked.
“Is that truly all you have to say to me?”
She had been leading Lennok to a secluded area for some time, so he naturally assumed she had something specific to say to him.
He had expected a plausible explanation for her own existence, but there was nothing.
The knightess’s words and actions had defied Lennok’s expectations from her first appearance until now.
“It seems you wish to hear something specific from me.”
However, Martina instead looked puzzled by Lennok’s words.
“Ah, perhaps you wish to make a personal request of me? If so, I apologize. As one who protects Gateway City, I cannot do anything that goes against justice—”
“That’s not the issue.”
Lennok stared intently at Martina.
“You said you were Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast, didn’t you?”
“I did?”
“If you’re truly Cheonbeon’s Guardian Spirit Beast… …”
Lennok asked.
“Do you really have nothing to say to me about him?”
“……”
A mysterious Transcendent who protects Gateway City.
A guardian who wields immensely powerful flames, transforming her entire body into a fiery dragon to subdue intruders.
The Guardian Spirit Beast left by Cheonbeon, who defeated the Conjunction Spell Master and governs Gateway City, for the sake of this city.
Indeed, the justification was very plausible. No one would have doubted it after witnessing her transcendent power.
They would have believed that the mere presence of a powerhouse like her protecting Gateway City was proof that Cheonbeon continued to watch over this city.
Therefore, if Gateway City had maintained a peaceful atmosphere all this time because of this belief, it might not be incomprehensible.
However, if Martina was truly a being born as Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
If by some chance she was a spiritual beast that awakened with her own will without Lennok’s knowledge.
Could it truly be possible for her not to recognize Lennok at this very moment?
The utterly absurd situation where a being who introduced herself as Cheonbeon’s Guardian Spirit Beast did not recognize Lennok himself.
That was why Lennok still couldn’t determine what kind of being this knightess was.
Was she merely a madwoman impersonating Lennok’s Guardian Spirit Beast, or did she have some ulterior motive?
What reason, after all, would such a powerful Transcendent have to claim to be Lennok’s Guardian Spirit Beast and protect Gateway City?
Such a powerful superhuman could have remained in Gateway City for a long time without any particular reason or justification.
There was no need for her to make up such an absurd excuse as being a Guardian Spirit Beast to protect Gateway City.
“It seems you’re curious about how I became a Guardian Spirit Beast.”
However, Martina seemed to have understood Lennok’s question differently.
After pondering with her arms crossed, she readily nodded and replied.
“Very well. Normally, I wouldn’t bother answering such a question, but you and I have already overcome a great battle together, like comrades in arms!”
“……”
“For your sake, I will take a moment to explain how I came into existence.”
“You’re missing the point. That’s not what I meant—”
“I don’t remember it now, but it seems I was buried here when I was alive.”
Lennok fell silent at the knightess’s words.
Her explanation had been unusual from the start.
“Completely unaware of who I was, I slept for a very long time. Then, at some point, I awoke and looked up at the sky.”
“……”
“Above the tragically burning crimson sky… … a most beautiful Flame Flower had bloomed.”
Martina said with a serious expression.
“In that moment, I knew that not human blood, but flames flowed through my body. At the same time, I understood that I was a being awakened by the power of that Flame Flower.”
“……That is.”
“Why hide it? I was Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast, the master of the Flame Flower. The reason I awoke must have been to fulfill the mission of guarding the gateway in his stead.”
Martina said, puffing out her chest proudly.
“From that moment, I have been protecting the justice of this Gateway City, awaiting the day Evan Martinez returns.”
“……”
“Judging by your expression, you seem quite shocked.”
Martina tilted her head, watching Lennok, who was speechless and silent.
“I thought I had explained everything within my knowledge, but was my definition unsatisfactory?”
“You… …”
Lennok, about to speak, then closed his mouth.
Her explanation that Martina was not someone who came to Gateway City from somewhere else, but a being who awakened within Gateway City.
Her answer that she awoke upon seeing the Flame Flower in the sky and began protecting the city from then on.
Only after hearing those words did something also occur to Lennok.
“When was it?”
“What?”
“When did you awaken and become aware of your existence?”
“Ah, you’re asking about the time this happened in mortal terms?”
Martina, with her arms crossed, tilted her head.
“I’ve been too busy protecting the city’s justice to accurately count the time… … but it feels like roughly two months.”
“……”
Lennok didn’t need Davi’s help to delve into his schedule to find out where and what he was doing two months ago.
Even without checking, it was undoubtedly the time Lennok was deeply immersed in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, exploring the Mausoleum.
That’s why he could understand why the knightess had awakened then and had been protecting Gateway City ever since.
Martina was not some product of coincidence who happened to awaken upon seeing the Flame Flower at a time completely unrelated to Lennok.
Nor was she a con artist who secretly infiltrated Gateway City and was impersonating Lennok’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
At the culmination of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors’ Mausoleum, when he fought his final battle against the Grand General of Brilliance.
At that very moment, when he used Ninefold Lanterns, the new attainment of Hundred-Thousand-Mile Heavenly Flower, to settle the conflict.
Martina was, none other than on that day, the being who awakened and became self-aware in Gateway City.
“……”
The Flame Flower suspended in the sky above Gateway City was the residual trace Lennok left after fully blooming his Hundred-Thousand-Mile Heavenly Flower.
Perhaps, at the moment Lennok used Ninefold Lanterns in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, the Flame Flower in Gateway City reacted and underwent a change?
If, in that process, Martina, who had been dormant somewhere in Gateway City, succeeded in awakening, triggered by the power of the Flame Flower.
Even if her existence literally originated from Lennok, it might not be a false statement.
“Are you alright? You look very serious.”
“……No.”
Lennok’s expression, having realized an unimaginable truth, quickly calmed.
As the thought that Martina might genuinely be connected to Lennok dawned on him, there was much more to ponder.
If Martina wasn’t a being Lennok created, but something that awakened in sync with the Flame Flower’s power, it wasn’t entirely illogical.
Moreover, Hundred-Thousand-Mile Heavenly Flower: Ninefold Lanterns was an attainment Lennok had temporarily acquired using the core of a Singularity Reactor.
Therefore, it might not be impossible for Martina, who awakened through the power of Ninefold Lanterns, not to recognize the current Lennok.
As he retraced the events in the Demonic Realm, the incomprehensible pieces were fitting together like a puzzle, finally making sense.
But if that was the case—
“If you awakened through the Flame Flower, where were you originally dormant?”
Lennok asked with a stiff expression.
“Why were you dormant in this city, having lost all your memories?”
“……You keep touching a raw nerve of mine.”
Martina said quietly.
“To gain an answer to that question… … I am fulfilling my mission as Cheonbeon’s Guardian Spirit Beast, protecting this city.”
“……”
Grrrrumble!!!!
At that moment, a faint vibration and a deafening roar echoed from outside the room.
A distant, hazy sound, like thunder. But the mere fact that it was audible within this room hinted at its scale.
It was proof that some unknown disturbance had erupted outside, loud enough to reach even Lennok and Martina’s location.
“……”
“It seems there’s another commotion outside the city. It’s not an everyday occurrence, but it happens.”
Leaving Lennok in silence, Martina slowly rose from her seat.
Glancing back as she headed out of the reception room, she nodded.
“I’ll be back soon, so please wait. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
Click!!
With the door closed, Lennok, left alone, fell into silent contemplation.
The Guardian Spirit Beast of Evan Martinez, who protects Gateway City.
Was it because he now understood that Martina’s existence, which he had dismissed as nonsense, was intertwined with unexpected causality?
A being who awakened simultaneously with the blooming of Hundred-Thousand-Mile Heavenly Flower: Ninefold Lanterns, and inherited its power.
Even Lennok himself still had much to understand about the spell effect of Ninefold Lanterns, the Seamless Robe of Heaven.
Therefore, it might not be impossible for Martina to have become a being subordinate to the Flame Flower through a method Lennok was unaware of.
However, precisely because of this, it was difficult to gauge what kind of being Martina originally was.
If she could perceive Lennok’s Flame Flower and awaken, becoming subordinate to its power, she wouldn’t have been an ordinary human.
Her long dormancy somewhere in Gateway City already suggested an uncommon origin.
As long as he didn’t know how much of her words to believe, it was indeed difficult to accurately assess the current situation.
But—
“Found you.”
Click.
Simultaneously with the whisper from above, the reception room door quietly opened.
A nun entered, her head slightly bowed, making no sound with her steps.
Lennok tilted his head, seeing Hylaea’s face with the ever-present eye patch pulled down.
“……Hylaea?”
“Quiet. Don’t make a sound.”
Hylaea approached Lennok with a calm expression, placing a finger to her lips.
“Agneta caused a commotion outside to lure the guardian away. I snuck in during that gap, so let’s move quickly.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you telling me you snuck in here, avoiding the Guardian Spirit Beast’s eyes?”
Soryu had said that Hylaea was moving towards the guardian’s residence to begin the main plan.
If the place Martina brought Lennok wasn’t a public office, but literally her usual residence—
“I created a few plausible fake identities that would work in Gateway City while working on the Central Front. Thanks to them, I was able to approach the gateway without arousing suspicion from the patrol or the guardian.”
Hylaea, who had quickly approached Lennok, put her hand inside her clothes and said.
“And, during the commotion caused by the earlier incident, I managed to get this.”
“This is… …”
In Agneta’s hand, a beautiful form shimmered softly, like stardust.
Lennok knew the appearance of that mysteriously glowing dust better than anyone.
The fragment of The Veil that Lennok had stolen from the gateway long ago to head to Outer Tribulation City Kundara.
The crucial cause of Lennok’s clash with the Conjunction Spell Master was now held in Hylaea’s hand.
“……”
The essential catalyst needed to directly control and interfere with The Veil surrounding the entire Central Front.
Was Hylaea, possessing the Talent for Duality, moving alone at the start of the plan because she could collect this?
As Lennok’s gaze was momentarily captured by the unexpected glow of the stardust, Hylaea, holding it, stood up.
“There’s no time to delay. Let’s move to the gateway right away before the guardian returns.”
Hylaea said quickly.
“The guardian will never tolerate us misusing the Flame Flower. We need to finish before she returns.”
“Misusing the Flame Flower? What are you planning to do with the fragment of The Veil?”
“To search the entire Central Front, we’ll ultimately have to shake The Veil itself.”
Hylaea, clutching the stardust, began to walk.
“From now on, we’re going to steal the Flame Flower’s authority… … and directly locate Paradise Lost.”