Chapter 1426: Lord of Hell (9)

The decisive battle between the Nether King and Jinwa that unfolded in Paradise Lost continued for so long that they delved deep into each other’s inner worlds.

Through the Nether King, Jinwa came to understand the purpose and nature of the legacy, and she tried to break her deal with the Three Grand Dukes.

Through Jinwa, the Nether King came to understand her Spell-Word and laid the groundwork to turn back time in Paradise Lost.

Spell-Word and Black Magic.

The understanding the two Transcendent beings gained by peering into each other’s souls had reached its peak—

“If the brat from the Black Edict family could do it, then I can certainly imitate it.”

Crack, crackle…!!!

As Jinwa gripped a branch of the Extinction Tree, black twigs instantly began to cover her entire body.

Jinwa turned her gaze, presenting a horrifying sight as branches dug into her skin and grew forth.

“Just as that bastard stole my Spell-Word to turn back time in Paradise Lost, I, too, possessed a deep understanding of his black magic—”

KWWAAAAANG!!!

He focused and unleashed a blast of black magic, but Jinwa didn’t even flinch.

Despite him intentionally casting black magic to interfere with her synchronization, she remained completely unaffected.

“—I decided to divide myself in two and prepare for what was to come.”

“Don’t tell me, from the moment you devoured Yeongheo Palace…!!”

The past Jinwa, who had run rampant and devoured Yeongheo Palace whole just before the regression.

At that point, had she understood that the regression was Myeong’s design and begun to move so as not to be swept away by it?

The regression that turned back all of Paradise Lost’s time was a contingency left by Myeong, using Jinwa’s Spell-Word.

Therefore, within the hell beyond the [Gate], which was under Myeong’s dominion, she would be able to remain unaffected by the regression.

As soon as she reached that conclusion, Jinwa had split off a part of her ego and, without hesitation, thrown it into the [Gate] of Yeongheo Palace.

She had used the moment Myeong’s soul perished as a trigger, succeeding in awakening inside that hell.

“…This goes beyond mere boldness.”

Did she really make such a gamble, splitting her ego based on an uncertain judgment and risking its permanent loss?

In that moment, Lennok had no choice but to acknowledge what an outstanding Ascendant Jinwa was, despite her viciousness.

The transcendent judgment to leave a contingency for the next timeline loop, in the very instant she was perfectly caught off guard by the boy’s existence.

The audacity to split her ego and cast it into the [Gate] at a moment of absolute crisis, and the prowess to succeed just before the regression.

It was an improvisation worthy of being called the pinnacle of her abilities, both as a Seeker and as a spellcaster.

That alone was enough to guess how brilliant a Transcendent she had been before her fall.

KRA-DACK!!!

[O B R A N C H O F D E S T R U C T I O N I A M H E R E]

The moment the withered branch entwined itself around Jinwa, she carved letters into it.

The Absolute Script. The Ascendant’s Spell-Word, created using humans as material to communicate with the Outer Gods.

That incomparably clear message of ruin was transmitted unhindered to the Extinction Tree Outer God—

[R E A D M Y F A T E A N D S O W T H E S E E D O F D E S T R U C T I O N I N T H I S B O D Y]

CRACKLE…!!!

The Extinction Tree does not distinguish between good and evil in its responses.

It moves according to desire and prayer, responding to all who wish for destruction, and ignoring them just the same.

Gripping the branches that had dug into her body, Jinwa declared with a chilling expression.

[I W I L L G L A D L Y B E S T O W U P O N T H I S S T A R T H E D E S T R U C T I O N Y O U W I L L C O N S U M E A N D G R O W F R O M]

Ch-ch-ch-ch-chak…!!!

The black branches wrapped tightly around Jinwa’s entire body, engulfing her.

The snail-like form, which had been akin to a white slime, hardened and turned into something like black keratin.

In that instant, like an insect donning armor over its soft flesh, the Ascendant’s form transformed into a massive cocoon.

Aaaaaah…!!!

Inside the cocoon, Jinwa’s soul and spirit swelled explosively, twisting grotesquely.

A pan-cosmic presence erupted from within her, a disquieting sense that the very source of the Ascendant was being altered.

The aftershock alone caused the crumbling alternate dimension to heave and the withered sea to churn violently.

Even Lennok was momentarily pushed back, gripping the Penteract in his hand tightly.

「Ah.」

SHWAAAAAAAK!!!!

With a soft sigh, a violet radiance burst forth from the chrysalis of black keratin.

Ten purple wings, reminiscent of a moth’s, unfurled from her back as the cocoon opened.

From within, an Ascendant, twisted into an unspeakably bizarre form, stepped out.

“That form…”

Somewhere in this universe, if there was an Outer God whose entire body was made of mouths, would it look like this?

Instead of human skin, if hundreds of thousands of lips had grotesquely grown to cover it, would it appear this way?

Not just her body, but her entire face was covered in twisting, growing mouths that whispered with her whole being.

「Th」「ink」「ink, ing」「think」

Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss—

She endlessly whispered a language humans could not dare to comprehend, generating an inaudible frequency.

The hundreds of thousands of lips covering Jinwa’s body moved ceaselessly, squirming like a single, massive organism.

「Thought…….」「What I thought-」「More than what I thought…….」

Finally, as if she had adjusted her own voice and language, she began to speak to Lennok.

「More than what I thought… this is a far, far stranger feeling.」

“…”

「A sense of accomplishment from fulfilling a long-held desire. A strange feeling of floating. None of this feels real.」

Slowly raising her gaze, she muttered, speaking with her entire body.

「That must be… proof that I have finally escaped this world and drawn closer to the Outer Sea.」

“In that short time… you completely reconstructed your body’s linguistic abilities?”

Jinwa slowly walked forward and asked.

「I want to ask. Is this how you felt?」

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

「Was this the feeling you had as you looked down upon the insects who revered you?」

Jinwa raised a hand covered in countless lips, looked at it, and laughed.

「Yes. If one gained such power, it would be understandable. You wouldn’t even be interested in the lowly creatures of the earth; in fact, you might even pity them.」

“If you’re still planning to talk about the time before the regression—”

「I think I vaguely understand. Why you abandoned everything, why the Emperor left the world… Yes. So this is how it felt—」

A massive pair of lips on Jinwa’s chest, her arms spread wide, squirmed grotesquely and whispered.

「At last, I have finally… taken the first step toward standing on the same ground as the gods of that sea.」

“You’re insane.”

Lennok said, looking at Jinwa with a hardened expression.

“If you saw Myeong’s end, you should know… The Extinction Tree was never a being to be worshipped or served. Do you think you can consume a fragment of an Outer God and emerge unscathed?”

「No」「Just as that Black Edict bastard did, I am merely using the Extinction Tree Outer God」

Jinwa said as she slowly descended to the ground.

Every time she, covered in lips, stepped on the ground, innumerable mouths sprouted from beneath her feet and began to whisper.

「To forcibly alter one’s own origin by clashing it with the ruin harbored by the Extinction Tree— is that not the very foundation of the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft that the Black Edict hid?」

“…”

Jinwa hadn’t simply intended to borrow the Extinction Tree’s power or accept it to be reborn as another being.

Just like when they first met in the Cradle, she intended to defy fate in the same way as Ban-gung, by twisting her own origin—

「Among all the Transcendent beings that existed in this world, only you possessed the power to reach the end. At times, it felt as though you had already reached it and were merely watching us.」

“Do you still… think I was that kind of person?”

「What we struggled madly to possess, you already had from the very beginning.」「And you abandoned it and left without a second thought.」

In a disconnection where their words failed to reach each other, the lips sprouting at her feet whispered to Lennok.

「Those stiff-necked Grand Dukes knew this long ago. That’s why they hid information from me and tried to take the legacy for themselves. But I knew.」

Crack, crack…!!!!

As she extended a hand covered in lips, spacetime split apart and a Spell-Word descended.

The scene in the alternate dimension where Lennok and Jinwa stood facing each other.

Jinwa’s power, piercing through the center of hell where the Extinction Tree’s branches grew, transcended spacetime and descended.

「That there is a possibility that even those arrogant Grand Duke bastards cannot touch. That this is the very method to change the fate of an insect born on this star—!!!!」

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!!!

「Annihilate」「Star」「Return」「Sea」「Create」

Five True Words descended, shattering spacetime, and began to rotate in the shape of a pentagram.

In the instant the violet-glowing Spell-Word, harboring darkness, flickered and diagonally pierced the alternate dimension, pouring down toward Lennok.

Lennok, drawing up his mana, rotated his shoulder and met Jinwa’s erupting Spell-Word head-on.

KWAGAGAGAGAGA!!!!

A torrent of azure mana raged, and a wave of dark violet Spell-Word flooded forth madly.

The storm of will-thought unleashed by the two Transcendent beings bisected the vast hell, dyeing it black and blue.

As if in a lie, it pierced and shattered the skies of hell, beginning to ascend toward reality at an incredible speed.

KWAJIK!!

Amidst the pouring waves of the Spell-Word, Lennok raised his mana and gripped one arm, steadying his stance.

Jinwa’s hand broke through the light of mana, grabbed Lennok by the scruff of his neck, and slammed him into the ground.

KWAAAANG!!!

“…!!”

「Interesting.」

Even though he had spread his mana to read the flow and prepared to react, there was no sign at all.

A chilling sensation, as if the process of closing the distance had been skipped, leaving only the result of her grabbing him.

「Until just a moment ago, I could see almost no openings.」

Jinwa whispered to Lennok through the lips plastered all over her body.

「Were you always this light?」

Before he could continue his thought, a Spell-Word Stone erupted from beneath his feet and struck him.

Lennok’s form, thrown back dozens of meters, was ejected from the crumbling hell back into reality.

CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!!!!

RUUUMBLE!!!!!

Hundreds of Spell-Word Stones madly shot up, piercing through the alternate dimension that had been destabilized by the manifestation of the Extinction Tree.

The violet stone pillars that had been unable to breach Yeongheo Palace until now slammed down one after another, demolishing the annex.

Dragged into reality along with the exploding Spell-Word Stones, Lennok supported himself with one arm on the ground and flinched involuntarily.

“The wound…”

The moment he returned to reality from the alternate dimension, the crack etched into his arm had vanished as if it were a lie.

The excruciating pain he felt whenever he raised his mana, the disquiet and dissonance that had gnawed at his mind, were also gone.

When he received the key to hell from Myeong, did it swallow even the price he had paid for using the ring?

Or did Myeong, who departed to the other side of darkness in his final moments, take the price with him?

Lennok quickly suppressed his complicated thoughts and immediately checked his condition.

‘Fractures and ruptures… The internal damage is severe, but I can compensate with the Divinity Barrier. I can still move.’

He had been injured while fighting inside Yeongheo Palace, but most of it was the aftershock from the black crack’s recoil.

By downing stimulants and painkillers and using the Divinity Barrier to replace the function of his internal organs, he could somehow manage to fight.

Just as Lennok thought this and took a step forward, gazing at the violet-stained sky—

“Whoa!!! H-hold on… There’s a person here!!”

Lennok’s gaze snapped down at the scream from below his feet, and he frowned upon seeing a familiar face.

“Ermont? Why are you still here?”

“W-why am I still here…? What are you even talking about?”

Ermont, covered in dust, stammered back, flabbergasted.

“Yeongheo Palace collapsed, and the entirety of Paradise Lost has turned into a hellscape. Where are we supposed to run?”

“…”

“Adamant Thunder… You’ve returned.”

Maiya, leaning heavily against the wreckage, said with a pale face.

“Yeongheo Palace completely collapsed when Croken Asylus began his assault. The entire territory of the palace is now inside Paradise Lost.”

“…”

“Croken took on the most dangerous part, but the situation here is just as dire. Transcendent beings have surrounded Paradise Lost in several layers, and we’re fighting them now, but—”

Finally grasping the situation, Lennok quickly looked around.

The mausoleum, which had maintained its mystical scenery, was now shattered beyond recognition.

A wretched sight, as if torn apart by an irresistible force, with places destroyed, collapsed, and sunken.

However, there was no sign of Croken, who had supposedly taken on the most dangerous part, anywhere in Paradise Lost.

‘A veil… No, a void…?’

A disquieting feeling, as if something had deployed an extremely empty and vacant domain or barrier to draw Croken in.

And if it was a being using a domain of such a high dimension that even Lennok couldn’t sense its presence—

「Ha」「ha」「ha」「ha」「ha」「ha」

In that instant, a chilling laugh from the other side filled the skies of Paradise Lost.

The Ascendant’s bathtub, which had been rampaging outside Yeongheo Palace, descended and made contact with the Jinwa who had risen from beyond hell’s gate.

Splish, splosh!!

The slime in the bathtub coiled around the body of Jinwa, now covered in lips.

As the violet lips greedily drank the slime flowing from the bathtub, her presence swelled grotesquely.

The moment the Jinwa of reality, who had been fighting outside the [Gate], fused with the Jinwa from the previous timeline, who had been altered inside the [Gate].

Ermont’s face contorted as if he was about to vomit at the bizarre sight, which was hard to believe even seeing it with his own eyes.

“Ugh… No, what in the world is that? Where did you bring another monster like that from?”

“The Ascendant from the previous timeline. It’s Jinwa herself.”

“…Huh?”

“Indeed, so this was the result arranged by the Whispering Grand General.”

As Ermont asked blankly, a dry voice came from behind.

“So this was why you were quietly observing the situation until now. You were waiting for your self from the previous timeline to achieve her goal…”

“…Herald.”

THUD…!!!

The Grafter, Outer Asura, with three heads on his right shoulder, stepped on the wreckage and slowly walked out.

Draped in a magnificent dragon robe and waving his six arms, his form was filled with more killing intent than ever before.

“Truly, befitting an Ascendant who does not rely on the concept of an ego. Your cunning, to even use a regression caused by another, remains unchanged.”

“Hey, what are you talking about that I can’t underst—”

“It seems the Grand General has finally succeeded in seizing even the sins borne by the Head of the Black Edict.”

At that moment, Ermont’s voice was cut short.

A sudden reaction, as if he had accidentally overheard something he had only vaguely suspected.

“My Lord, everything has been settled.”

The Grafter said, walking out with his six arms spread wide.

“The Grand General has gained the opportunity to defy fate, and you, my Lord, have been cast out of the hell created by the Head of the Black Edict. What meaning is there in resistance?”

“…”

OOOOOOOOH!!!!

The Ascendant, who had been split by the regression of Paradise Lost, unified, raising her spirituality to a transcendent level.

The lips of Jinwa, who had swallowed the Extinction Tree’s branch, parted, endlessly whispering venomous Spell-Words.

“Since you ignored my warning and gifted a miracle to the Grand General, it seems further persuasion is unnecessary for you, my Lord.”

The Grafter formed hand seals with his six arms and drew up his mana.

“First… let us drag that body of yours before the honored ones, and then we shall discuss this further.”

“Adamant Thunder, I’ll take this one.”

CLANK!!

Maiya drew a short sword from her waist and spoke in a cold voice.

“They want you. If we hand you over here, all our plans will be ruined.”

“…”

“Hylaea should be waiting outside. Somehow, contact Agneta and aim to escape Paradise Lost—”

“…No.”

Lennok cut Maiya off and walked past her.

Seeing the hem of his shadow coat flutter before her, the Enforcer quickly raised her gaze.

“Van?”

“He’s not wrong. Myeong is already gone, and Jinwa has gained the power of an Outer God.”

Lennok stared blankly at the sky.

“I’ve confirmed everything I needed to find out here. Our plan… is now over.”

“Adamant Thunder, I’m sorry, but now is not the time to review the plan—!!!”

FWAAAAAANG!!!!

There was no answer.

The Grafter, who had slowly placed two hands on the ground, vanished from the spot.

In the blink of an eye, he broke the sound barrier and charged toward Lennok from the far side of Yeongheo Palace.

KWAAAAAAA!!!!

A mechanical acceleration, moving to take Lennok’s life without any further attempts at persuasion.

Six eyes rotated ceaselessly, glinting eerily as if observing Lennok’s every move.

Asura’s Martial Echo. Flame Manifestation. Immovable Magic Formation. Different martial arts, abilities, and spellcrafts unfolded and blazed simultaneously—

He watched the approaching Grafter from beyond his accelerating consciousness and thought.

What had Lennok been traveling for until now?

He always tried to move after understanding everything, and that hadn’t changed.

He tries to see every failure and ending through to the very end, and only after casting aside all doubt does he seek a conclusion.

That attitude, which seemed overly cautious to others, was fundamentally because Lennok didn’t consider himself a genius.

He had only gained a transcendent talent for magic in exchange for a penalty; he never thought he was a genius from birth.

But—

“…That’s right. I don’t know anymore.”

The words flowed out naturally.

“After forgetting and letting go of everything, I find myself chasing what I lost once more.”

Fwoosh—

As he took a step in the distorted perception of time, he drew up his mana.

The moment he reached out toward the Grafter, who was accelerating past the speed of sound and scattering shockwaves—

—he caught the descending Spell-Word and the Grafter’s arm like lightning, stopping them dead in their tracks as if pinning them down.

JEEEEEEONG!!!!

“But that isn’t to become the same as my past self. It’s to confirm that I am different.”

“How…!!”

Overwhelming power, enough to simultaneously catch and pin down both an Ascendant’s Spell-Word and the Grafter who had transcended sound.

The Grafter was horrified by the recoil that twisted his legs, bent his joints, and tore his flesh.

He thought all of Lennok’s power had been spent, but he still had this much left?

“I am here because I know I am different, and to become different.”

Looking past the staggering Grafter to Jinwa above, Lennok’s eyes shone with a cold light.

“I will prove it to you now.”

“Wait, this output—!!”

The Herald was given no time to respond.

[Scripture of Ruinous Thunder]

[Piercing Light]

Transcendent lightning descended upon reality, boiling up the arm where the black crack had vanished.

As Lennok swung his hand, the swirling lightning crushed the Grafter’s body at incredible speed.

It simultaneously pulverized his three heads from the crown down, slamming his massive body into the ground and reducing it to a pool of blood.

[Lightning Seal]

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!!