Chapter 1433: The Power to Defy Fate (7)
At the same time. In the sky outside the collapsing Paradise Lost.
KWWAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!
The purple sky shattered into pieces, revealing an ash-gray sky thick with dark clouds.
The Spell-Word Stones planted densely around Yeongheo Palace crumbled, turning to dust one by one and vanishing.
A shockwave covering the planet’s surface spread far and wide, momentarily altering the world’s climate.
Returning to reality on the crest of that impact, Croken stared at the ‘opponent’ before him with his bright yellow pupils.
[…It is over.]
Something resembling a giant jellyfish, its entire body flickering faintly like a ghost.
Its fluid movements made it seem as if it were eternally adrift in the atmosphere of this world.
Looking up at the dark blue flash of lightning that shot up, piercing the horizon vertically, it muttered.
[The Spell-Words of Paradise Lost are vanishing, and Jinwa’s spirituality is fading. The conclusion seems to have been reached in a single blow.]
“…”
[Prescience that manifests by prioritizing itself over any causality or affinity. Marvelous… That should be a concept that cannot ‘yet’ exist under the rules of this universe.]
A soft yet empty tone, as if calmly stating a plain fact.
Muttering with a voice tinged with faint nostalgia, it spoke.
[It seems such limits still do not exist for him. That absolute nature, as if transcending time, was the very symbol of him that I remember.]
“…”
[What say you? Having reached such a level, can he bring about the ending you desire?]
At the transcendent being’s casual question, Croken’s brow twitched.
The alligator-giant looked at the demigod before him with reluctance and answered quietly.
“It’s vague.”
[Vague.]
“That bastard has been suppressing himself, even though he could have become an Ascendant long ago. I believe… he thinks he can go even further.”
[That is not strange. In a way, are you not the same?]
“…He probably thinks things will become irreversible if he reaches Level 9, but it matters not.”
The reptile’s bright yellow pupils glanced at the Ultimate Lightning that pierced heaven and earth.
“In his current state, it won’t be long anyway. It will be enough to judge again then.”
[Indeed.]
“That brat is different from the other weakling maggots. So he must not die here.”
[You already understand what kind of conceptual being he is.]
The demigod floated slowly as it replied.
[Walking through a time close to eternity, he has embraced a seeking that proves the process through the result. There was a time when we all chased that greatness.]
“I, too, know what kind of genius that brat is.”
[Then do you know what kind of bindings he placed upon himself to reach his current position?]
“…”
[It was never about the strength or number of the bindings entangled with the third fate.]
The jellyfish-shaped demigod flickered gently and spoke.
[Because a fate that could be bound to nothing was forcibly shackled, no one could fathom the result… That is why it is so surprising that he is still here.]
“…Hah.”
[Like an endlessly precarious candle, flickering as if it might be extinguished at any moment… and yet, he remains here, shining alone. That is why I, too, am curious.]
The sight of the black hemisphere that had swallowed Paradise Lost being pierced and shattered by the dark blue lightning.
The moment the Ultimate Lightning, having pierced the entire Ideological Domain, devoured Jinwa’s existence without a trace, annihilating her from eternity.
The demigod, who had been silently appreciating the scene as if gazing upon something dazzling, muttered.
[Did he, I wonder, succeed in defying fate as he wished in the end?]
“Who knows…”
Croken muttered, looking up at the sky.
“When it comes to him, I suppose I ultimately have no right to say anything.”
[…]
“All I did in this affair was play along with your time-wasting. How can I comment on his fate?”
His expression as he gazed at the lightning-streaked sky was, for once, grimly subdued.
“I only wish to know. But even that has not been permitted to me for a long time. It is no different now.”
[Interesting… You felt it was merely a waste of time?]
A faint hint of laughter mixed into the demigod’s empty voice.
[There are few left, including yourself, who can refer to my ‘Void’ in such a way.]
“What nonsense are you-”
[It is also proof that you were, from birth, a being different from other lowly creatures.]
In that moment, Croken’s words cut off abruptly.
Watching the alligator-giant, his face deeply scrunched, the demigod slowly turned.
[You are likely watching him because you, too, know this faintly. In the end, was what you desire not something the One Who Walks Backward could give you?]
“…”
[It was an excellent fight for a rare amusement. Therefore, before I depart, I shall leave you with a final gift.]
The Grand Duke of Yeongheo, having risen high above the clouds, looked down at Croken.
[In his final years, Jindun called the Hanghasa Labyrinth a cradle, and Jinwa, who dreamed of becoming a god, created a cradle herself in Paradise Lost.]
“…”
[These two things are in no way different in a macroscopic sense. This is proof that they borrowed the concept from somewhere.]
“…Is this your grand, roundabout way of saying there was also a cradle in the central city?”
[You have already understood what I am trying to say.]
The expressionless jellyfish seemed to smile at Croken.
[The cradle left behind in the sunken Imperial Palace will not disappoint you.]
“Hah… Then let me say just one thing as well.”
Croken snorted.
“You all seem to think that wizard is still within a category you can comprehend, but you’re completely wrong.”
[Is that so?]
“He has a useless habit of being overly cautious about everything, but he looks towards a place so ridiculously high… That is why I place my hopes in him.”
As Croken raised his gaze, a blue sea, so vivid it stung the eyes, began to unfold in his bright yellow pupils.
“Look.”
Croken said, watching the miracle unfold in the distance.
“See for yourself what kind of destination he intends to reach.”
The Kaleidoscope that observes branching points is a power that embraces the concept of the future as its Root Mindscape, not the past or present.
Because it brings forth a future Lennok will one day reach, the Kaleidoscope’s branching points are always ahead of Lennok himself.
When Lennok researches a spellcraft or authority related to a specific branching point, the Kaleidoscope always grows stronger, reflecting a future beyond it.
The power of the Domain, unfurled by observing a branching point, is not static; it grows ceaselessly, surpassing Lennok’s control at every moment.
The Eightfold Lightning Firmament was the branching point Lennok reached after obtaining lightning-type unique magic.
Among all the images in Lennok’s Kaleidoscope, it is the most powerful and uncontrollable force.
Because Lennok, as a wizard, had always handled lightning magic, making it his most powerful tool and method.
That branching point, too, has ceaselessly added possibilities, grown, transcended, and already arrived at the future Lennok envisions.
The branching point of killing Eden, joining the Thorben Magic Tower, and becoming its Tower Lord.
The branching point of surpassing the Thorben Magic Tower, founding a new school of lightning magic himself, and becoming a Grand Master.
The branching point of receiving Ultimate Lightning Magic from Akendrias, obtaining transcendence, and becoming an Ascendant.
The branching point of inheriting the Hall of the Thunder God, becoming a direct disciple of the Lightning Emperor, and engraving the First World’s Lightning Sea Spellcraft onto his body.
While mastering lightning magic, countless branching points unfolded before Lennok, and the Eightfold Lightning Firmament indiscriminately devoured them all.
The stronger he became, the more Lennok realized.
That the Eightfold Lightning Firmament held more possibilities than any other Domain he had created, and that it had, by itself, already reached a concept similar to that of the Sea Gods.
That even Lennok, who had obtained transcendence and stood paused before the gate of ascension, could not handle it properly, and that perhaps he might never be able to bring it out again.
It was not something he could not accept.
If he had grown stronger at a pace that set him apart from others through transcendent talent.
If he had obtained the impossible Kaleidoscope and made choice itself his answer, then the price of being unable to use the Eightfold Lightning Firmament was something he could accept.
The very first Domain Lennok had obtained. And for that reason, it was the most powerful, yet most shrouded in mystery. He knew trial and error were necessary.
Because of the precedent set by the Eightfold Lightning Firmament, Lennok was able to strive to control the domains derived from other spellcrafts each time he researched them.
But-
Crackle…!
In the empty cosmos, a blue bolt of lightning streaks across the horizon of perception.
Crackle, crackle…!!
As if drawing a new line in a sea of darkness where there is no heaven or earth, dividing the universe.
BZZZZZZZZZZZT-!!!
As if trying to establish a completely new law in this universe steeped in chaos.
The sky where eight streams of thunder meet.
The churning sea of lightning.
From beyond the infinite thunder, a silent declaration.
Domain Deployed.
PZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT-!!!!!!!!!!
Seething thunder leaped to the ends of the world, blanketing the planet’s surface.
At the boundary line where the Outer Sea and the world meet, everything is swallowed by the blue light of lightning.
He unleashes it all, as if pouring out the entire sea of lightning situated in the deepest part of his being.
Forgetting even who he is, his sense of self fading, as if dredging up a very old memory.
He madly rushes toward that moment, that day, when Lennok first obtained an [Answer].
Crackle…!!
Incomplete and broken, precariously running rampant and overflowing.
And yet, the sea of lightning he had never forgotten for a single moment.
Eight■old Lightn■ng Firm■ment (八■雷■穹)
What could be shown was but a fleeting moment, not even an instant.
A fragmented piece whose name had not even fully reclaimed its meaning.
But even so, it was enough.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!
The entire world is blanketed in blue light as it defies gravity and soars upward.
The endlessly stretching sea of darkness is transformed into a raging sea of lightning.
The laws of the universe, once free to the Sea Gods, were overturned in an instant by a completely different concept.
“Ah…”
A low utterance of awe from Jinwa, who understood its meaning, an expression that could not be put into words.
The moment the eight-branched universe met and separated before Lennok’s eyes for a fleeting instant.
The sea of darkness before Lennok and Jinwa was swapped for a sea of lightning, and it blazed.
It incinerated all causality and fate that had existed in this spacetime, reducing it all to nothing.
■■■ (■■■)
KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAH!!!!!!!
The sea of lightning that filled the dark universe severed, burned, and swallowed everything.
The gazes of the Outer Gods descending upon this place, and the will they had endlessly sent down to Lennok.
Even the spirituality of Jinwa, who stared blankly at the sea of the Eightfold Lightning Firmament, and the shattered fragments of Paradise Lost.
The cosmic finalities that had hastened the end and enforced fate whispered from within the churning sea of lightning.
Why… you…
You chose… yet you did not choose.
The journey… does not end here…
The gazes of the Outer Gods looking down on Lennok are severed and lost beyond the Eightfold Lightning Firmament.
The cosmic will originating from their true forms lost its center in the sky where the thunder met.
The Upper Heavens, where the gods of the Outer Universe who none could approach reside, is overwritten solely by Lennok’s mind.
A sea of lightning that defied the laws of the universe merely by existing, not by any specific spellcraft or authority.
The Sea Gods, realizing this fact, sent down an indescribable will to Lennok from beyond the galaxy.
Bewilderment. Rage. Anticipation. Joy. Grief and sorrow.
Mixed within the gazes of irresistible finality, an intense emotion unlike any before.
“If I must decide this world’s end… I will not let it simply vanish until the very last moment.”
Lennok spoke quietly from within the sky where the thunder met.
“I will carry the choices and failures left by all others. Until this empty universe can be filled with what comes next…”
The end… to what comes next…
Are you heading to a new sea…
We eagerly await your end…
Some could not accept Lennok’s decision.
Some raged at Lennok’s conclusion.
And some anticipated Lennok’s end.
In this moment, an irreversible fate burns away in the lightning flash and proceeds in a completely different direction.
The Outer Gods, perceiving this, rise from beyond the galaxy to watch this world one last time.
You did not close the door
Nevertheless… we will wait for you…
GUOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!
The form of a shadow tilting as the Outer Gods rise from beyond the distant sea of lightning.
The moment they watch Lennok for the last time from beyond the sea where everything is erased, burning and scattering.
The sea of lightning that had connected and met in eight branches split apart and burned away as it unfolded beyond the Outer Sea.
FLASH!!!!
P’AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!
What could be shown was a moment that was not even an instant.
But even so, that power paints a new sea beyond the universe ruled by the Outer Gods.
As Paradise Lost collapsed, it incinerated the entire boundary where the world and the Outer Sea met.
It burned away all causality and fate that had existed there, reducing it to nothing as if it had never been.
The branching point of the Eightfold Lightning Firmament, where Lennok, having gained transcendence through lightning, will arrive on a future timeline.
The gazes of the Outer Gods looking down from beyond the galaxy and star systems were completely severed-
KWAAAAARGH!!!
Having exhausted all his strength, Lennok staggered at the world’s boundary line and fell, powerless.
Beyond Lennok’s falling vision, a distant sea of lightning was being dyed blue.
A mind that manifested in the world for a fleeting moment, burning away a planet and a universe before vanishing like a flame.
At that moment, as he silently watched everything burn and vanish beyond it.
Lennok saw Myeong’s soul burning in the sea and his eyes widened.
“…!!!”
Myeong’s soul, which had disappeared into the darkness beyond the hell of the Gabihaeng at the last moment.
Myeong’s soul, of which not even an ember remained, was burning in the sea of annihilation.
“That’s…”
Could it be that Myeong’s fate, swallowed by the Extinction Tree, had defied the laws of the universe and revealed itself within the sea of lightning?
He didn’t know the exact reason, but the moment he faced it, Lennok understood.
That was not the Myeong he knew.
It was a fragment, shattered into pieces, having lost its original form. A remnant left behind after being broken beyond repair.
But, even knowing that, Lennok found himself reaching out to it.
With his last remaining strength before being swallowed by the sea, he pulled Myeong’s soul and grasped it in his hand.
The fragment of soul, losing its power and glowing faintly in Lennok’s hand like a dying candle.
Simultaneously, Lennok, having used all his power, pierced the atmosphere at tremendous speed and plummeted toward the ground.
KWAGAGAGA!!!!
“I’m sorry, Myeong. I…”
Lennok, gazing at the soul fragment with a conflicted expression, closed his eyes and bowed his head.
“I… cannot turn away knowing I can save it.”
Was this the right decision? Had he rendered all Myeong had done meaningless?
This might not be the rest or the ending that Myeong, who had desired atonement through his own annihilation, had wanted.
But as Myeong had said, giving new meaning to something meaningless was Lennok’s job.
FWOOOSH…!!!
The darkly subsided boundary of the world crumbled, revealing the ruined landscape of Paradise Lost below.
Amidst the sensation of a long fall, Lennok looked at the ground unfolding beneath him and closed his eyes wearily.
The long battle that began in Paradise Lost had come to an end.
By now, word of what happened here must have reached everyone inside and outside the Ideological Domain.
It was time to return to Vulcan.