Chapter 1410: Paradise Lost (21)
The depths of the sealing chamber, located in the deepest part of the ruined Yeongheo Palace’s audience chamber.
An annex palace where magnificent relics and treasures, once testifying to the Empire’s glory, now lay broken and scattered.
The end of the sealing chamber, existing on the other side of a spacetime distorted and layered with all sorts of spellcraft and barriers.
However, upon seeing the legacy he discovered at the end of his exploration, Lennok felt his breath catch in his throat.
A deep, ominous aura pulsed…!!!
A black throne, deeply stained with black magic.
The sight of Myeong, sitting powerlessly on the throne as if his limbs were bound by darkness.
Leaning against the throne as if in a deep sleep, utterly still and without the slightest movement, as if time itself had stopped.
Because he realized that sight—the figure with his head bowed and hair hanging down—signified an irreversible end had already been reached.
“…”
In fact, he had already known, even before departing for Paradise Lost.
Perhaps he had suspected it even before hearing the news of Myeong’s defeat.
From that moment he last met Myeong in Gateway City—
[Master…]
“…It’s all right.”
Despite having agonized over it countless times, the moment he faced the sight, he had to suppress the turmoil within.
He could feel even the wizard’s reason, which never faltered in any situation, waver faintly.
The reason Lennok had survived in this world until now was not purely because he alone was exceptional.
For he knew that just as there were those who hated and ostracized him, there were also those who affirmed and sought to help him.
That might be why he could forget the harsh reality, if only for a moment.
The fact that any being who pursued enlightenment in this world could not die peacefully.
The higher the rank of a Transcendent, the more miserable their end, and that even in death, they would only be mocked and toyed with.
The black wizard, who among all those he had met in this world had helped him without expecting anything in return, was now—
“…”
After being unable to speak for a long while, Lennok took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“To have been able to turn back the time of Paradise Lost once… is a relief. It’s thanks to that boy.”
[…]
“If everything had ended in the Cradle, I wouldn’t have been able to confirm it like this. Not even how Myeong died…”
Approaching the throne, Lennok muttered quietly.
“I almost rendered the very reason for participating in this plan meaningless.”
[…]
On the back of Myeong’s pale hand, which rested on the throne, the veins were stained black.
His fingernails were dyed jet-black, dark blood pooled and hardened beneath them—a wretched sight.
All sorts of wounds, as if branded with a hot iron, were etched onto his emaciated, almost skeletal forearm.
Were they wounds from his defeat against Jinwa? Or were they scars that had been etched onto his body like stigmata from long ago?
It was something the current Lennok could never know.
The Myeong of old had been a black wizard so powerful that Lennok could barely even look up to him.
And Myeong, until the very end, had never told Lennok about what he had experienced or about the Gabihaeng.
Yet, Lennok was here precisely to uncover that secret.
The final legacy left by Myeong, who in many ways had been his mentor.
The secret of the Gabihaeng, which he had protected and isolated with his own corpse.
He could not stand by and watch the master of Paradise Lost toy with Myeong’s corpse like a plaything, exploiting the legacy he left behind in such a sinister way.
“Davi. Summon the other members here.”
Lennok said calmly, his eyes still fixed on Myeong.
“Tell them the legacy has been found.”
[Yes, Master.]
With Davi’s help, he generated an ultra-low frequency wave that only Agneta could hear.
He transmitted it, imbued with a specific signal and meaning, so it could be detected throughout Yeongheo Palace.
How much time passed as Lennok stood alone in the center of the sealing chamber, watching over Myeong’s corpse?
He felt the members of Pandemonium arriving in the sealing chamber one by one, riding Agneta’s spellcraft.
“Adamant Thunder.”
Swish!!!
With a sharp gust of wind, the first to arrive, the Enforcer, walked in.
“I received the summons. You’ve found the target—”
Maiya’s gaze, which had been sharply scanning the sealing chamber with an expressionless face, stopped dead in front of Lennok.
“Tower Lord! Was that signal real? Even so, this fast…”
“The side effects of the suspended animation procedure are considerable… It’s been over thirty minutes since I woke up, and my head is still foggy.”
“…No way.”
“…”
Soryu descending on ice; Freya riding on Agneta’s back; Ermont and Hylaea arriving with Sarin.
Even the Juice Master, who arrived last and had been fiddling with a discarded corpse with an intrigued expression.
Upon seeing the sight of Myeong, asleep and leaning against the black throne, they all held their breath in silence.
“How…”
“So in the end… it came to this.”
As they faced the legacy, the members fell silent as if by prior agreement.
In the quiet silence, even Ermont fell silent with a faint, bitter smile.
“He’s more emaciated than when we encountered him at the Alliance, but it’s definitely him.”
The Juice Master said, looking up at Myeong with an indifferent gaze.
“The asymmetrical pattern of his black magic, his presence, physique, and skeletal structure—it’s all unmistakably the Nether King himself. The rumor that he was defeated and died in the decisive battle of Paradise Lost was true, then.”
“…”
“And that black throne he’s sitting on… is that the true nature of the Nether King’s legacy?”
In the chilly silence, the Juice Master stroked his chin and approached the throne.
“The throne itself seems to have no special function; it appears to be a vessel for the legacy’s contents. I’ll need to look inside. May I touch it?”
“Juice Master. Wait…!”
Passing by the silently standing Lennok, the Juice Master moved to touch the throne without hesitation.
Hylaea, who had been quietly watching, hastily called out to him, but Lennok slowly nodded.
“…If an investigation is needed, then do it. The rest of you as well.”
“Adamant Thunder.”
“To retrieve the legacy and escape, we will ultimately need the abilities of everyone gathered here.”
His voice was cold and subdued, yet surprisingly calm.
Only then did the members come to their senses and approach the throne one by one.
They looked up at Myeong’s unmoving corpse, their expressions pale.
Staring at the dark blood pooled at his fingertips, their complexions hardened.
“I’d heard the rumors, but I never thought it would be like this…”
Freya said in a trembling voice.
“To go this far…”
“This must be proof that the Nether King tried to decide the moment of his own death, right up to the end.”
Soryu said in a cold tone.
“He must have known that upon his defeat by Jinwa, it would be difficult to hide his legacy. Therefore, it’s understandable that he took such measures, ensuring no one could touch it.”
“Does that mean he intended to use even his own corpse as a tool to protect the legacy, only to be discarded?”
Sarin gave a bitter smile.
“Even vampires find it hard to accept death in such a manner… In many ways, it’s not a thought befitting a human.”
“But as a result, he was able to prevent Jinwa from touching this legacy until now.”
Hylaea said hesitantly.
“If Jinwa covets the legacy enough to break her deal with the Three Grand Dukes, the reason she hasn’t obtained it yet is undoubtedly because of the Nether King’s presence.”
“The condition of the corpse is extremely poor…”
Maiya’s expression darkened as she observed Myeong’s corpse near the throne.
As a former Enforcer, she could roughly grasp what had happened just by looking at the body.
“There are numerous signs of desecration that occurred over a long period, even after his death. It only looks intact on the outside; the inside is already…”
“…”
Seeing the typically thorough Enforcer uncharacteristically trail off, everyone fell silent.
They could guess, without a word being said, how he must have been treated in Paradise Lost even after his defeat and death.
But amidst all this, Lennok felt a faint sense of unease and was deep in thought.
‘The Jinwa of the previous timeline devoured all the secrets and the legacy within Yeongheo Palace and went berserk…’
If Jinwa couldn’t touch the legacy directly because of Myeong’s corpse, why was she able to do so when she fought him?
Was it something she could only do by abandoning her true body and risking her life? No, for a Spell-Word user like her, a restriction of that level would have been no problem at all.
It would have been an issue she could have bypassed or ignored by altering the laws of Paradise Lost to deceive her own death.
The reason why she hadn’t been able to properly touch the legacy until now, but could devour it when she fought him.
There had to be some crucial secret that made it possible for her.
A secret undoubtedly related to the current situation, and perhaps, a secret more dangerous than anything else—
“It seems the Prince’s speculation wasn’t wrong. The Nether King’s remains have unified with the throne, blocking access to the contents.”
While Lennok was lost in thought, the Juice Master stood up, rubbing his hands together.
“It seems he used his own death as a condition to bind the very causality of the legacy… In a way, it’s conjoined by a concept a dimension higher than my own spellcraft.”
“…”
“The way the legacy and the corpse conceptually overlap and exist makes separation impossible. That seems to be why the master of Paradise Lost has been unable to touch it all this time.”
The Nether King was a transcendent black wizard who had stopped just before the gates of ascension.
Although he had stopped at the very end of Level 8, his own power and achievements were already no different from those of an Ascendant.
Even Jinwa, who reigned like a god within Paradise Lost, could not directly interfere with the spiritual essence of a spellcaster of equal rank.
Seizing on that fact, Myeong, even as he was being defeated by Jinwa, bound the legacy’s causality with his death to prevent her from interfering with it.
Was it just his imagination that this measure, so severe it bordered on a vengeful obsession, aroused a sense of unease in him?
“The binding on the legacy is stronger than I thought. Would it be difficult even with Ermont’s blood?”
“This is something that even an Ascendant couldn’t open. At this rate, even transporting the legacy will be impossible.”
“There isn’t much time before the deal begins. At the very least, maybe we can change the sealing chamber’s location… Adamant Thunder?”
Lennok walked past the members expressing their skepticism and approached the throne.
The sight of Myeong, still leaning there, scattering a seething black magic.
Silently looking down at him, Lennok took out a teardrop-shaped piece of obsidian from his coat.
The fragment left behind in the final moments by the boy who had sacrificed his very existence to regress Paradise Lost.
The moment he placed it in Myeong’s deathly pale hand.
Click.
With a strange sound like the ticking of clock hands, Myeong’s body, which had been sitting on the throne, leaned slightly forward.
It was a strange sight, as if Myeong’s body, once unified with the throne, had separated from it the moment it absorbed the obsidian fragment.
At the same time, realizing that Myeong’s presence, which had bound the legacy, was now released, the members’ expressions turned to astonishment.
“How, a seal that even an Ascendant couldn’t touch…”
“Adamant Thunder, did you have the key to release the legacy’s causality all along?”
“From the beginning, Myeong left no way to forcibly detach his body from the throne.”
Lennok answered, watching the obsidian fragment dissolve and disappear in Myeong’s hand.
“Only through the reversal of time that Myeong himself established could it be returned to its state before the legacy was sealed.”
The boy who regressed Paradise Lost was Jinwa’s Spell-Word—a being that embodied the Spell-Word of time reversal.
Therefore, it was certain that the obsidian fragment the boy left behind also contained a similar law.
Lennok understood that even the obsidian fragment left behind as the boy vanished was an item meant for this very moment.
The former head of the Black Edict. The boy had hoped that the regression he performed would help Lennok until the very end.
Perhaps that alone was reason enough for turning back the clock on Paradise Lost to reach this point.
“…With this, the seal binding the legacy has been released.”
In Myeong’s hand, where the obsidian fragment had dissolved and vanished, a small, blackened tree branch was now clenched.
A black branch, resembling the form of Acrottrinier, the Exterminating Wood (滅木) that the House of Black Edict takes as its symbol.
Could this be the very will that Myeong had intended to leave for him at the end?
The silent Lennok retrieved the branch from Myeong’s hand, stood up, and spoke.
“I’ll leave the rest to you all.”
“…That’s.”
The reason why Myeong had to go to such lengths to leave something behind.
The reason he was bound by the Gabihaeng his entire life, breathing in death, and ultimately had to be defeated by Jinwa.
It was close.
All the secrets about him were contained there, so close he could almost reach out and touch them.
“Now that we’ve come this far, it seems our course of action is set.”
Hylaea said in a calm voice.
“Let’s extract the contents of the legacy, then smuggle out Myeong’s corpse and escape. If what’s inside the throne is the real deal, there’s no need to set priorities.”
“…”
“I’ll open the throne, extract the contents, and then reseal it with my ability to erase any traces. I can manage this much.”
Hylaea’s Talent for Duality was an extremely rare one, allowing her to simultaneously observe both sides of all things.
It was an innate aptitude that even Lennok, while able to imitate it to some degree, did not actually possess.
Those with the Talent for Duality had excellent observational skills and contemplated things from different perspectives, giving them an outstanding aptitude for creation and restoration.
This was precisely why Hylaea, who usually waited in the rear or assisted with planning, had entered Paradise Lost herself.
“Agneta, prepare the spellcraft. We’re starting right away.”
Chwaaak!!!
Taking her position before the throne without hesitation, Hylaea quickly began to station the other members around the sealing chamber.
“Soryu, freeze the air in the chamber with your Bloodline Ability. Freya, block the sound. When Ermont draws his blood, Sarin will process it into a catalyst.”
Click, clack!!
Drrrrr!!
She took out densely written materials and papers from her bag, then retrieved the work tools from the very bottom.
“Juice Master and Maiya. While you two extract the legacy, you’ll have to absorb Myeong’s black magic. Can you handle it?”
“It’s possible, but it won’t be easy.”
Maiya said coldly, stepping forward as she adjusted the prosthetic on her left arm.
“Especially since this entire process must be completed before the deal begins.”
“Now that we’ve started on the legacy before the Ascendant, it’s not like we don’t have a chance of success.”
Sarin said, slitting his wrist to draw blood and chanting a blood magic spell towards Ermont.
“Thanks to that one regression that turned back time in Paradise Lost, things have become much easier than expected. We must be careful not to lose this hard-won advantage.”
“Let’s finish the work quickly and move.”
Hylaea’s expression became resolute.
“As long as the Ascendant doesn’t awaken, we can definitely escape. If we use the ‘wish’ we’ve prepared—”
KUUUUUUUUUNG!!!!
At that moment, an enormous roar erupted from the sky above, and everyone’s expression changed drastically.
A tearing sound, as if the sky were splitting open. A heavy vibration, like the beating of a massive drum.
Despite it being a strange resonance they had never heard before, they knew intuitively what it meant.
It was like a celestial drumbeat, a declaration heralding someone’s arrival, and the moment everyone looked up.
An immense spiritual pressure bore down upon Yeongheo Palace, beginning to crush spacetime itself.
KWAAAAAAA!!!!
“Kh, aack!!”
“Uuup…!!!”
In an instant, their faces turned pale as they gagged or gasped for breath.
The spellcraft and abilities being prepared throughout the sealing chamber faltered, losing their balance in an instant.
“It can’t be…”
Hylaea muttered, her face deathly pale as she looked up.
A transcendent presence, accompanied by the heavy drumbeat, crushing the skies of Paradise Lost.
A spiritual pressure that crushed the souls of every superhuman present, despite its owner not having yet appeared.
Everyone understood what was about to happen without a word being said.
“No way. There’s still plenty of time until noon…!!”
The scheduled time for the deal, as explained to Lennok by the Jinwa of the previous timeline, was noon.
She had even affirmed not to be late, so the possibility that she had lied was almost nonexistent.
However, the ‘guest’ from outside Paradise Lost was attempting to arrive at Yeongheo Palace long before noon.
Just as the other members’ faces turned pale at this unexpected turn of events, Lennok muttered.
“It seems they’ve noticed that time flows differently inside and outside Paradise Lost.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how, but they’ve read the fact that time in Paradise Lost regressed once.”
Lennok’s expression turned frigid as he looked up at the sky.
“They recognized that something happened inside the Ideological Domain and moved earlier than scheduled.”
“But…!!”
They observed a regression that not even the master of Paradise Lost remembers from outside the Ideological Domain and are now trying to intervene?
The moment the members, understanding just how absurd that was, froze with hardened expressions.
Lennok said coldly.
“The Three Grand Dukes have arrived at Yeongheo Palace. It seems they intend to start the deal right now.”
Puuuuuuuu-!!!!!
With the brilliant sound of a trumpet, the purple-filled sky of Paradise Lost split open.
Beyond the clouds, a celestial shadow wavered, and as if in response, the Spell-Word Stones emitted an ominous light.
With the endlessly spreading garden of language at its center, heaven and earth convulsed—a transcendent spectacle as different authorities began to cover the world.
The Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant simultaneously moved their wills toward Yeongheo Palace and began their descent.