Chapter 1399: Paradise Lost (10)
The secrets hidden by Transcendent beings were as numerous as stars in the night sky, but all the time Lennok had spent in this world hadn’t been meaningless.
Secrets he couldn’t comprehend before. Powerful Transcendent beings he dared not even look up to.
Even the Ascendants, whom he had regarded as god-like Seekers, he now vaguely understood.
Having undergone the Ascension Ritual, he now knew how great Ascendants were ‘composed.’
A memory of destroying and creating oneself almost infinitely, reassembling everything at a particle level.
An Ascendant’s soul and body draw infinitely closer to their ‘answer,’ transforming into a being that embodies their seeking.
Pyeonram, who mastered sorcery in the body of a beast to reach the Ascendant rank. Silver Star, reborn through the Ascension Ritual.
Having met various Ascendants, Lennok knew how Level 9 was ‘constituted.’
Nevertheless, the woman who now appeared before his eyes possessed a more peculiar aspect than any being Lennok had ever encountered.
“…”
Whoosh…!
The white-haired woman slowly stroked the beautiful silk-woven ceremonial robe, lifting her gaze.
Her dazzling, rose-like impression was similar to Freya’s standing beside her, yet far sharper and more chilling.
Even standing still with a smiling face, there was an unstable, precarious aspect, as if she stood on a blade’s edge.
Outwardly, no power was felt, yet there was a suffocating pressure, as if facing a bomb about to explode at any moment.
Ascendant Jinwa.
A Spell-Word Sorcerer who had reached Level 9. The Transcendent who created and spread the continent’s common language.
A being who had fallen, using humans as her ‘script’ in her own Paradise Lost, mimicking the Outer Gods.
‘This is the worst-case scenario.’
Pandemonium’s plan was to intercept Myeong’s Legacy before or after Jinwa’s transaction with the Imperial Three Grand Dukes.
Naturally, the plan presupposed that their presence would not be discovered by either party until just before the transaction.
Moving to Paradise Lost with the Fisherman’s Authority and tracking Myeong’s Black Magic had all been for that purpose.
Yet, at the very moment he was exploring the innermost Cradle of Paradise Lost, guided by the boy, Jinwa herself had come directly to find Lennok.
Was the boy’s existence a trap from the beginning?
For a moment, doubt arose, but Lennok immediately dismissed that possibility.
To imply that, the secrets of Paradise Lost the boy had revealed were ineffably dangerous and fatal to Jinwa.
If the boy had merely been used to lure Lennok, there would be no reason to let him reveal Jinwa’s secrets upon arriving at the Cradle.
Above all, Jinwa had stopped the boy’s heart and ended his breath the moment she revealed herself.
‘Think. What’s the reason?’
He had thought it unlikely for Jinwa to notice them due to the Black Magic spread throughout Paradise Lost.
If the real Jinwa was still ‘contained’ somewhere at this moment, unable to move rashly.
And yet, if she could return to the Cradle so quickly to meet Lennok.
The answer lay in Anathema’s memories, which Lennok had witnessed long ago.
“An Incarnation,” he said.
“…”
“Is she using a living human as an Incarnation Body, summoning them as her Apostle?”
The memory of the day Armas von Anathema was expelled from Ars Nova.
He remembered how Jinwa, in that memory, had appeared before Anathema.
A Forbidden Art, warned against by the Emperor himself, where one manifests by using a living human as their Incarnation.
Perhaps, even then, Jinwa had already been—
“Hmm…”
However, Jinwa’s reaction to Lennok’s words was completely different from what he expected.
A chilling sneer formed on her doll-like smiling face, and her lips slowly parted.
As if she had read Lennok’s thoughts, Jinwa said casually, almost singing.
“I know what you’re seeing. Anathema’s memories?”
“—!”
“Few people were ever bold enough to point that out directly in front of me. Especially when they held the title of Grand General.”
A tone and voice entirely different from when she used to carve script into entrails or corpses to convey her will.
Yet, even that unsettling strangeness, so utterly unlike her past self, felt perfectly natural to her now.
In the suffocating silence, Jinwa spoke in a languid tone.
“Ah, looking back, it truly was pointless. So many words, but only a fraction could ever become meaningful language.”
“…”
“They acted as if conquering the world under the banner of the Unification War would bring everything into their grasp. How much time was wasted clinging to the trivial value of an Empire?”
She spoke, singing in a voice as clear as a nightingale’s.
“Isn’t it funny? Things I couldn’t obtain no matter how hard I tried back then, now fall into my hands so easily.”
“…”
“I thought I’d go mad wanting what I couldn’t have. But now that everything has turned out this way…”
Jinwa’s expression slowly turned cold.
“It’s simply tedious.”
What had Jinwa gained by secluding herself in Paradise Lost and mimicking the Outer Gods?
At the very least, it was clear she was ineffably satisfied with her current self.
As he listened to Jinwa’s languid yet chilling words, Lennok calmly settled his mind.
The mistress of Paradise Lost. The worst-case scenario: a direct confrontation with a deranged Ascendant.
But he had never expected everything to go smoothly with this plan.
If his opponent was a Transcendent mimicking an Outer God, he had considered that she might possess any number of means or Authorities that he couldn’t possibly account for.
He had to remain calm. Especially in the presence of a Transcendent who wielded ‘words’ as both Authority and weapon.
Even a single small word could become an irreversible mistake or a binding oath.
Slowly, walking between the bathtubs where humans dissolved, Lennok asked.
“How did you find your way here?”
“I am a Spell-Word Sorcerer.”
Jinwa answered calmly, without turning to Lennok.
“I remember every word I’ve spoken, every word I’ve heard. Even the moment you recalled Anathema’s memories exists within me.”
“…”
“I read the moments that become meaningful within the infinite sea of language flowing through this world. It doesn’t matter whether I perceive that fact or not. Isn’t that what prescience is?”
Jinwa casually stroked her sleeve and said.
“It’s only natural that I can do it far better than the insects who mistake themselves for diviners. Otherwise, how could I dare—”
Jinwa turned to Lennok and smiled coldly.
“Claim to be a god?”
“…”
Both the overbearing tone she used to intimidate with Spell-Word Sorcery, and the sarcastic honorifics she directed at Anathema in his memories.
All felt distinctly different and alien compared to the Jinwa now speaking plainly to Lennok.
But that was proof that Jinwa’s ‘words’ were no longer bound by specific forms or directions.
It was likely the manifestation of her conviction that as long as she could convey her will, the specific words didn’t matter.
“Haa, haa…!!”
Was it an instinctive recognition of danger, even without sensing any magical presence?
Freya was trembling, her face pale, and the boy lay collapsed, covered in blood.
But Jinwa paid no mind to either of them, raising a finger towards Lennok.
“[Sit.] Must I say it twice?”
Snap!!
The moment the Ascendant snapped her fingers, the interior of the Cradle transformed into a lavish reception room.
Various dishes, steaming hot, were laid out on the table.
The Ascendant sat in a plush armchair, facing Lennok.
Freya was naturally seated beside her, while the boy remained collapsed on the floor.
“Wh-what…!!”
Freya, who had been sitting next to the expressionless Lennok, realized the situation a beat late and flinched in surprise.
It was because she could vaguely understand what Authority Jinwa had used in this space.
She hadn’t used a spellcraft to move the location or conjure various dishes and furniture.
She had merely, with a single word of ‘sit,’ transformed the entirety of this spacetime into a space suitable for sitting.
No complex spellcraft or incantation was needed.
With just a simple Spell-Word, all of Paradise Lost obeyed and offered everything for her.
The absolute exercise of Spell-Word, truly feeling no different from a god’s command.
It struck her again: entering this Paradise Lost had been an incredibly dangerous act—
“It strikes one again, doesn’t it? That entering this Paradise Lost was an incredibly dangerous act.”
Jinwa turned to Freya, smiling sweetly.
“And yet, knowing that, this insect dared to crawl into my garden?”
“—!!”
“Hmm, now that I look closely, I quite like this face, too.”
Jinwa grabbed Freya’s chin, pulling it, and said.
“I don’t know why, but I like faces that look so ill-tempered. Perhaps it’s because that’s all the feeling I can read from an insect’s face these days?”
“…”
“In the past, I would have made this an Incarnation Body, too, but it’s a shame. Lately, I’ve had trouble controlling my power, and I keep turning brains into mush. Just one small mistake, and it trickles out of these tiny nostrils…”
Jinwa brightly smiled, tracing Freya’s lips and the bridge of her nose.
“Brain stems tend to pop out. Disgustingly.”
“…”
Freya trembled, unable to speak a single word.
But Lennok rated her highly just for not having fainted or gone mad.
The mere fact that she was managing to maintain silence in this situation was proof of Freya’s formidable mental fortitude.
Therefore, before Freya broke, Lennok pulled the chair in front of him and sat at the table.
“Ah, are you finally ready now? How terribly lazy.”
As if she had been waiting, Jinwa abruptly let go of Freya’s chin and turned her body.
“This is why it’s so hard to adjust to the sense of time insects have. I can’t tell if they’re uselessly procrastinating, or if their speed of thought genuinely is that slow.”
“…”
“But well, you’re the more special kind among them. I can wait a little longer. Do you still need to prepare yourself?”
“No, I’m done.”
Seated in the chair, Lennok calmly said, one hand resting on the table.
“The very fact that you went to the trouble of preparing such a place means you have something to say to me. I’m ready to listen, so speak.”
The act of altering spacetime with a single Spell-Word and setting up this stage and seating was proof that she had something to say to Lennok.
After all, without some special purpose, why would Jinwa’s Incarnation Body seek Lennok out directly to converse?
If she had intended to kill Lennok the moment she found him in the Cradle, she would have used a far more gruesome method than this.
Jinwa wanted something from Lennok in this Paradise Lost.
“Oh, really?”
Jinwa said that, then added casually.
“Then first, tell me your [True Name]. Are you the person I know?”
“—!!”
Kiiiiing-!!!!
Jinwa’s question, abruptly plunging Spell-Word Sorcery directly into Lennok’s head from the start.
Lennok’s expression froze coldly at Jinwa’s chilling Will-thought, burrowing into his brain.
An ordinary spellcaster would not have endured the Spell-Word in this place and would have been rendered an imbecile.
Their brain might have been crushed, turning them into a lump of flesh obeying Jinwa’s commands.
Jinwa’s demeanor, showing not a trace of killing intent even after directly hammering such a dangerous Spell-Word into his brain without warning.
That alone was enough to fully understand just how cruelly insane she currently was.
Jinwa tapped the table impatiently, looking at Lennok’s stiff, frozen face.
“Hey, aren’t you going to answer? I asked if you were the person I know.”
“N-no.”
Lennok replied, feeling his vision momentarily redden.
Despite enduring the Spell-Word itself with Targeted Resistance, an agonizing pain like bursting blood vessels came from the sheer pressure of its power.
But Lennok remained unperturbed by the throbbing pain in his head, slowly wiping beneath his eyes.
His opponent was a Level 9 Ascendant and the continent’s foremost Spell-Word Sorcerer.
A monster Lennok would have to stake his life against if he truly intended to fight her.
He had known, even before joining this plan, that she was a being possessing such absurd Authority.
With resolve firmed, Lennok spoke in a low, steady voice.
“This is the first time I have seen you directly. Let’s be clear on that.”
“Hmm… really?”
Jinwa narrowed her eyes, then smiled at Lennok and said.
“Then, how about I rephrase the question? Were you the person I used to know?”
“…”
She knew.
She already surmised it, merely enjoying the process of confirmation.
Did she believe even hearing the answer from Lennok’s lips held some special meaning?
Or did she, from the start, think it didn’t matter whether it was true or not?
“Well, fine. It doesn’t seem like you’re just trying to play word games with me.”
Without waiting for an answer, Jinwa propped her chin on her hand and said in a languid tone.
“You’ve been openly circumventing my Spell-Word since earlier. You’re not lying, but you’re not accepting my Spell-Word either.”
“…”
“A type of spellcraft resistance, mental resistance? No, for that, your physical strength is too weak… There are too many parts that don’t align with my memories in various ways.”
Had she read, with just one remark, not only the fact that her Spell-Word wasn’t working but also the true intent behind his answer?
Not that she had seen through Lennok’s thoughts, but an intuition that gauged the tone of his answer and the intensity of his expression to find fragments of truth.
“Hmm, what should I do? I feel like it might be too late for me to intervene now…”
Jinwa slowly ran her finger across the table, as if pondering something.
But even then, Lennok glanced back at the black-haired boy.
The boy lay at Jinwa’s feet, eyes closed, covered in blood.
The moment Lennok felt an indescribable sense of unease from the boy’s unmoving form, his heart stopped.
“Alright. I’ve decided.”
The Ascendant slowly tapped the table and said.
“I don’t like that you resist my Spell-Word, but it’s not immediately important. In fact, it might even be better that way now.”
“What… are you talking about?”
“What am I talking about?”
Jinwa looked at Lennok, a soft smile on her face.
“I’m talking about the reason you crawled into my garden with your insects.”
“…”
“It’s about the transaction, isn’t it?”
The reason Lennok had sought Paradise Lost with Pandemonium’s members.
The Ascendant’s attitude, readily speaking first of the transaction involving the exchange of Myeong’s Legacy with the Imperial Three Grand Dukes.
As Freya’s expression stiffened, Jinwa spoke casually.
“The Imperial Three Grand Dukes will be visiting my garden soon. They’ll be coming to receive the item left by the black wizard in this transaction.”
“…”
“I need you to intervene in this matter and break off the transaction with the Imperial Three Grand Dukes. Can you do that?”
“…What?”
Hadn’t Jinwa’s continuous operation of her Paradise Lost been precisely for this transaction?
She had made a deal to hand over Myeong’s Legacy to the Imperial Three Grand Dukes, yet now, unexpectedly, she was trying to break the contract.
But Jinwa’s next words were of a kind Lennok could not have even imagined.
Jinwa looked at Lennok and said with a smile.
“Then I’ll use my Spell-Word to help you retrieve your lost memories.”