Chapter 1418: Lord of Hell (1)
A little while back, just before Pandemonium entered Yeongheo Palace.
The moment the other members accepted the Conjunction Spell Master’s proposal and were preparing for the suspended animation procedure.
Lennok was being taught a certain ‘Blood Magic’ on the spot by Maiya and Sarin.
“The basic principle is to use blood as a medium to deploy space in parallel, but in reverse.”
Drip—
Maiya said, slicing open her palm with the dagger she was holding.
Crimson blood dripped from her hand, but the Enforcer remained expressionless.
“It forcibly overlaps the coordinates of a designated target, so the caster’s ability is paramount. The slightest mistake, and the one being summoned will be crushed by the space and turned into a pool of blood.”
“This… the principle is very different from the techniques used in the Blood Kingdom, but it has a very refined quality.”
Sarin, who was watching the Blood Magic lesson from the side, said with fascination.
“It’s clear that it was created by someone… no, a vampire with a very high understanding of Blood Magic. Who is the creator of this spellcraft?”
“It’s a spellcraft created by applying the principles of the Ascension Gate to Blood Magic, overlapping a desired target onto extra-dimensional coordinates. It’s akin to overlaying a connection originally intended for the Old World onto reality.”
Maiya said, squeezing the blood from her palm to draw a blood magic circle on the floor.
“To be honest, I learned Blood Magic because my aptitude for general spellcraft wasn’t that great. I could only barely meet the required aptitude by using blood as a medium for my spells.”
“…”
“The knack and aptitude for handling Blood Magic are different from other spellcraft systems. If you were an ordinary wizard, I wouldn’t have taught you this spell in the first place. The reason I’ve accepted your request and am teaching you this magic is because I also believe there’s a very high probability our paths will diverge inside Yeongheo Palace.”
Maiya explained to Lennok, who was staring at the blood magic circle with an expressionless face.
“You and I are the most suitable personnel here to carry out operations independently. Of course, your own combat power far surpasses mine, but if something were to happen, we would end up acting separately.”
“…”
“However, because it’s likely our paths will diverge, if we can artificially make them overlap in an emergency, that alone could become a variable in this plan.”
Maiya stared at Lennok with a cool gaze.
“To be precise, it’s not for us, but to create a variable for you. As long as Croken Asylus is absent, even if all of us die, as long as you alone remain at full strength, there’s still a chance for the plan to succeed.”
“…”
“Don’t mistake the priorities. Use it only to create a variable in the current situation, or to save your own life. I will relay the same to the Conjunction Spell Master.”
“Hey, there’s not even ten minutes left before we enter Yeongheo Palace.”
Sarin, watching them with her arms crossed, grumbled.
“The spellcraft’s structure is so complex that even the True Bloods of the Blood Kingdom would find it difficult to understand. How can he possibly learn it in the remaining time—”
“I understand. If I consume my own blood directly, I think I can manage to use it.”
“…What?”
As Lennok stood up, Sarin wore a dumbfounded expression.
“N-No. Even for a Grand Mage, that’s… how can a human, not even a True Blood, grasp such a high-level Blood Magic just by looking at it…”
“I know you wouldn’t make a mistake, but I hope you won’t have to use this.”
Maiya said, getting up as if she had expected Lennok to grasp it as a matter of course.
“Your health is worse than I thought, so the efficiency of Blood Magic won’t be high. You might be able to use it somehow with your transcendent magical talent, but the amount of blood consumed will be more than necessary.”
“…”
“It’s risky in many ways, and I can’t even be sure this spellcraft will work properly inside Yeongheo Palace. Just think of it as insurance for the worst-case scenario.”
“I don’t doubt the power or efficacy of the Blood Magic. I wanted to learn this spellcraft for a different reason.”
This was the spellcraft used to summon the Director himself from the Cradle in the Hanghasa Labyrinth.
It broke through Jindun’s Ideological Domain and allowed the Director to manifest, so there was no need to doubt its effectiveness.
But there was a reason Lennok learned Blood Magic from Maiya at this point in time.
“If our paths were to diverge inside Yeongheo Palace, the success or failure of the plan would have been decided at that moment. We would have either obtained the legacy, or someone would be dead and the others fleeing.”
“…”
“The moment we made the decision and split the team, it meant the situation had become uncontrollable… Nevertheless, I need a way to control the variables according to my own will.”
“…You’re saying that within this already broken game, another unexpected situation or variable could arise that even you can’t predict?”
“The master of Paradise Lost judged that Myeong’s legacy and the secret of Yeongheo Palace were related. That’s why she broke our existing deal to try and get her hands on the legacy.”
Lennok raised his gaze.
“Perhaps it’s because the legacy and the secret are concepts that can only be interfered with or opened by each other.”
“…That’s.”
“Of course, this is just speculation, and it’s impossible to be certain without knowing the true nature of the legacy and the secret. But… I don’t underestimate Ascendants.”
“…”
“The only lesson I’ve learned in this world is that anything, no matter how impossible, can happen.”
Getting up, Lennok looked at the distant Yeongheo Palace with a calm expression.
“Perhaps the secret of Yeongheo Palace contains something we haven’t anticipated. It seems I won’t know until I check for myself.”
Even Lennok hadn’t imagined that this prediction would come true in a completely different way.
Yeongheo Palace.
A detached palace favored by the Emperor, and a candidate site for the Corpse Emperor’s mausoleum.
A hidden place unaffected by Jinwa’s Spell-Word, where the deal between the Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant was scheduled to take place.
While conquering Paradise Lost, Lennok realized that the secret hidden in Yeongheo Palace was far more significant than he had thought.
That the reason the Three Grand Dukes wanted to take possession of Myeong’s legacy was actually because of that secret.
That the reason Jinwa wanted the legacy, even to the point of breaking their contract, was also because of that secret.
The reason Myeong, who was on his Gabihaeng, chose death in Paradise Lost and ended his journey. The reason Myeong had to continue his Gabihaeng.
The original sin and karma carried by the blood of Black Edict, which the boy had mentioned. The secret kept in Yeongheo Palace by the Emperor’s decree.
“…”
He had thought it might contain something shocking.
He had even thought it might be something he could recognize.
He had also thought that he might be disappointed in Myeong after learning the truth.
However, the original sin carried by the bloodline of Black Edict was nothing like that at all.
「It is confirmed that the house of Black Edict lent the power of the Exterminating Wood for the research and completion of Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft.」
「Therefore, all blood relatives of Black Edict are to be executed for treason, and their research records shall be sealed within the [Gate].」
Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft (天低術式).
The unique magic used by the Ascendant Ban-gung (叛穹), the power to open the [Gate] leading to a ruined future.
The ultimate technique that sent Seonjong’s Dead Thoughts to a future with a predetermined end in a single blow, back in Kundara’s Ninth Tribulation.
Even after reaching his current level of achievement, it remained one of Lennok’s most powerful and dangerous ‘means’.
The Emperor’s verdict: for the crime of contributing to the research of that Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft, the entire bloodline of Black Edict was executed.
Beneath the chilling verdict, more specific details of the imperial edict were written.
「By imperial order, the sinners’ bodies shall be confiscated after death. Their souls shall be cast into ‘Hell’ and preserved.」
「The souls cast into Hell shall be bound to another dimension via Will-thought Transfer Spellcraft, and repeatedly degraded and refined.」
「The youngest child of the family who inherited the blood of Black Edict shall be spared to oversee the management of the souls.」
Confiscation of the body. Isolation in Hell. Will-thought Transfer Spellcraft. The youngest child of the family.
Words he had never expected to see like this, yet words he could understand the moment he saw them.
With every chilling phrase that bored into his mind, he could feel his body growing cold.
“…I see.”
The words flowed out naturally, even before he had consciously processed it.
He found himself already accepting the truth before his mind could fully comprehend it.
“So that’s… what it was.”
Several questions about his past self that had become more incomprehensible the more he learned.
He felt the lingering suspicions, which had been so hard to resolve, now fitting together like pieces of a puzzle thanks to the truth written here.
His past self. ‘He’ was an Ascendant known as the greatest Manipulation Spellcaster in the continent’s history.
But why was the spellcraft he used not Manipulation Spellcraft, but Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft?
Why did Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft, unlike Manipulation Spellcraft, have such a dark and twisted appearance, as if stained by darkness?
It wasn’t that Manipulation Spellcraft and Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft were different powers from the start, nor that one had changed into the other by chance.
It was simply that he had embraced the ‘distortion’ of black magic, known as the most alien magic system among all spellcrafts.
“…”
Come to think of it, there had been plenty of clues.
The reason his spellcraft, which he’d reached after consuming the Elixir of Ascension in Kundara, had taken the form of a black, distorted halo.
The reason Ban-gung’s Prestige Domain, the Mandala he’d obtained in Kabahim, held a deep darkness like a moon shedding black tears.
That even the remnants of the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft, stained with that uncontrollable darkness, had similarities to the black magic used by Myeong.
The reason Lennok could handle black magic so easily despite not having a great aptitude for it.
The reason the Demonic Giant had so readily submitted to Lennok and pledged its obedience.
The reason Myeong had continuously tried to impart his teachings to Lennok and show him a higher state of being.
Even the reason he had left without explaining any of this to Lennok.
—He could understand it all.
“Adamant Thunder…?”
Maiya, who had collapsed beneath the closed blood gate, flinched and raised her gaze.
The cold, terrifying killing intent flowing from Lennok after he confirmed the edict written inside the jeweled coffer.
Because she felt that strange and intense will-thought was more agitated than any emotion she had ever sensed from him before.
“…”
The Ascendant showed no reaction even as she watched Lennok.
Instead, with a single step, she nudged the fallen Enforcer’s shoulder and simply walked on.
THUD!!!
“Ugh…!!”
Maiya’s body was sent flying into the distant lake, but Jinwa didn’t even glance back at her.
Instead, with a cool face devoid of any distracting thoughts, she silently began walking toward Lennok.
KUUOOOOOO!!!!
The sight of Lennok, standing blankly before the jeweled coffer, radiating endless killing intent.
The figure of the Ascendant, looking up at his back with an expressionless face as she slowly walked forward.
The moment Maiya struggled to lift her head, seeing the complete reversal of their attitudes.
“You knew from the beginning.”
Lennok said quietly, his back still turned to Jinwa.
“From the very beginning… you already knew, didn’t you.”
“Knew what?”
Jinwa asked nonchalantly.
“The presumptuous act committed by the bloodline of Black Edict? The punishment the Emperor dealt them after their deaths? The [Gate] hidden in Yeongheo Palace?”
“…”
“On the contrary, I want to ask you. You came here after dealing with the me from a previous timeline, yet you truly couldn’t guess?”
A chilling sneer formed on Jinwa’s lips.
“Did you never once consider that the secret laid before you was a causality related to yourself?”
“…”
“Even after I killed that whelp of Black Edict with my own hands, did you truly believe I was desperate to have his black magic?”
The reason Jinwa’s incarnation, encountered in the Cradle, had been so enraged upon seeing Lennok use lightning magic.
It wasn’t because of the existence of lightning magic, but because of her fury and indignation toward the Lennok who had ‘abandoned the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft’.
The reason the Jinwa from the previous timeline had so violently revealed her true body and swallowed Yeongheo Palace.
The reason she had tried to obtain the hidden legacy and secret there at all costs, without showing them to Lennok.
The Ascendant’s reverse scale, which Lennok had vaguely guessed at but could never be certain of.
Jinwa’s reverse scale was none other than the spellcraft his past self had used.
“Even if the evidence was lacking, you should have guessed. Even if you didn’t know, you should have found out somehow. How dare you, who couldn’t even do that, attempt to reclaim this?”
Jinwa didn’t hide her mockery as she looked at the silent Lennok.
“The whelp of Black Edict risked his life to protect this for you, but you don’t even remember why it was left here.”
“…”
“As I thought, this power no longer suits you. You, who abandoned everything and returned, have no right to reclaim it.”
Jinwa sneered.
“Didn’t you also abandon everything you had because you wanted that from the start?”
“…Yes.”
More than anything else, that fact stirred Lennok’s emotions.
If the reason Myeong had risked his life to keep this from Jinwa was because he knew this power was originally Lennok’s.
If the reason he never told Lennok any of this until the very end was because he knew his past self had abandoned everything.
While protecting the records of the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft that Lennok left behind, respecting the will of the Lennok who had abandoned and forgotten everything.
If he had intended to cover up all those secrets and sins here with his own death.
[As the former head of the House of Black Edict, I pray thus.]
The last words of the boy who had sacrificed his own existence to turn back time in Paradise Lost and vanished.
That whisper, which he hadn’t heard then, he could finally hear clearly now.
[My god. Please let not everything we have done become a handful of foam….]
“…”
In the eternal flow of time, had Lennok been someone’s god?
In truth, Lennok had no desire to be a god, nor any intention of becoming one.
But perhaps everything he did was, in a sense, no different from a god’s work.
He didn’t know. He didn’t know if all this causality left by his past self had that much value.
If the power and authority his past self had abandoned without a second thought had that much meaning.
But in the end, value and meaning were not things Lennok created on his own.
As long as those who helped him cherished it and gave it meaning, Lennok, too, could not turn a blind eye.
CRACK!!!
He clenched the jeweled coffer as if to rip it apart, drawing up his mana.
Each time, blackened mana erupted explosively, staining the ground beneath his feet black.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACRACRACRACK!!!!!!
Excruciating pain spread from his fingertips, this time deeply invading Lennok’s body and soul.
A distant, numbing sensation, as if his entire body were shattering, spread to the very ends of his soul, burning away his consciousness.
Amidst the agony that felt like it would evaporate his mind, Lennok slowly turned toward Jinwa with an expressionless face.
“You’re right, Ascendant. Perhaps I never had any right to reclaim this.”
KUUOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Amidst the swirling darkness, Lennok spoke in a chillingly resonant voice.
“But this is not a concept I need to reclaim or retrieve. The moment I remember it, it exists within me, a part of the authority that proves the process through its result…”
“…”
The secret hidden inside Yeongheo Palace. What existed beyond the [Gate] were the records of the House of Black Edict helping him research the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft.
But Lennok could use Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft whenever he wanted, without relying on such research records.
The Branching Point of Corruption obtained after drinking the Elixir of Ascension. The miracle of projecting past memories through the ring. Either way, it didn’t matter.
The moment Lennok drew closer to ‘him’, the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft naturally fell into his grasp, manifesting as a real authority.
“If the Emperor executed the House of Black Edict and left these records here, then this is something that should not have existed in the first place.”
Lennok said, slowly walking down from the mausoleum.
“If only to prevent it from falling into the hands of a fallen traitor like you… I must destroy it here.”
“Yes… I see.”
Jinwa smiled.
“As I thought, despite so much having changed, you haven’t. That detachment, that lack of lingering affection for what is yours, was the very source of my inability to understand you.”
“…”
“But I am different. I… will make everything in this world my possession, and have it exist eternally as a part of my garden.”
The Ascendant said, taking a step toward Lennok.
“Only real concepts and meanings have value, so that power, which reaches the gods of that sea, must be closer to a ‘key’ than anything else.”
“…”
“As I thought, it has to be you.”
Jinwa whispered, slowly licking her lips as she stared at Lennok.
“I will obtain the power to change fate, reach the gods of that sea, and finally ascend to the false Upper Heavens.”
“…Right.”
Lennok slowly closed and opened his eyes, an unfathomably chilling killing intent clouding his expression.
“If you can, then try it, Ascendant.”
[Hahahahahahat!!!!!]
Along with Jinwa’s sharp, ringing laughter, dozens of lips appeared behind her.
Pale lips, as if wearing violet lipstick, twitched in the air, weaving hundreds of Spell-Words.
[Bring it][Give it to me][It’s mine][I want it][I want to hold it][Come here][Hand it over][Over here]
KIIIIIIIIING!!!!!
An infinitely pure yet utterly vague desire and greedy craving.
But the world obeyed Jinwa’s Spell-Word, moving to bring about the result on its own.
The space around the mausoleum distorted and warped, and all of Yeongheo Palace began to tilt toward Jinwa.
Lennok, watching with an expressionless face, scraped together his remaining mana and unleashed a wave.
“Domain, deploy.”
FWAAAAA!!!!
At the center of the collapsing mausoleum, the Ascendant and the wizard clashed head-on.
Amidst a downpour of Spell-Words, as Jinwa looked down on Lennok with a chilling gaze, the moment Lennok unleashed a colorless ripple and summoned his Root Mindscape.
In place of the golden Kaleidoscope, a tremendous darkness erupted from the [Gate] that had opened inside the jeweled coffer, covering everything.
KWAAAAAAA!!!!!
“…!!!!”
A backflow of black mana exploded from beyond the [Gate], as if reacting in place of Lennok’s Domain deployment.
It swept over the Ascendant, who had accelerated her consciousness to the limit just before the clash, and sent her flying as if struck head-on.
[! You bastard !]
The enraged Ascendant’s roar echoed amidst the torrent of Spell-Words, but Lennok couldn’t focus on it.
A chilling sensation, as if something contained within the [Gate] was going berserk and being dragged into reality.
A violent discharge, as the existence of the [Gate] resonated in response to Lennok’s incantation and began to pour out its power.
The moment the two of them sensed it and turned their attention toward the [Gate].
SWOOSH-!!!
PAAAANG!!!
The overflowing darkness caught and devoured a crimson-black spear that flew toward Lennok at incredible speed.
A spear possessing such monstrous strength that just stopping it in place faintly distorted space.
At the same time, the Barrier Wall collapsed as if it had exploded, and a Transcendent with three heads and six arms slowly walked out.
“It is regrettable, my lord.”
“…”
“Despite my persistent warnings… you went and opened the [Gate] after all.”
The Grafter, who had been held up by the Conjunction Spell Master, was in a wretched state.
One of his three heads was torn off, and another was covered in stitches, as if it had been sewn up.
Of his six arms, two were severed below the wrist, one was torn off, and only the other three were intact.
But, what was held in those three intact arms was—
“You broke a forbidden seal and peered into a past sin. It is only natural that the price would come for you.”
Thud!!
The Grafter, dropping the blood-soaked Spell Master to the floor like a sack, stared at the [Gate] with a cold gaze.
The darkness gushing explosively from the center of the jeweled coffer instantly covered the mausoleum’s interior, painting it pitch black.
The moment the darkness that erupted from beyond the [Gate] rotated around Lennok, transforming into something like a distorted halo.
“The causality of Black Edict, which His Majesty had sealed in another dimension beyond the [Gate], is flowing in reverse. Ruin will soon befall this world.”
“…That’s.”
“The possibility of ruin that the House of Black Edict obtained but could not control until the very end… is returning to its original owner.”
The Grafter said with a chilling expression.
“The Hell that was sealed beyond the [Gate] has opened. The King of the Netherworld will soon arrive.”
RUMBLE…!!!!
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
At the same time, the darkness that had overflowed from beyond the [Gate] began to pour down upon Lennok all at once, as if to swallow him whole.