Chapter 1461: Hall of Ascension (7)

“I suspected you were no ordinary being to have come this far, but it seems you’ve already lost your mind.”

Lennok said with a hardened expression, looking at Yuseong who stood before the ancient Holy Ark.

“Injecting me with past memories to bring ‘him’ back? Do you truly believe that’s possible?”

“As I told you, I believe a person is defined by their memories, not by their genes or soul.”

Instead of replying, Yuseong slowly began to walk.

“It is not what you are born as, but what you have lived through, that has the most decisive impact on the formation of the self.”

“Absurd spiritualism—”

“We prove ourselves not by birth or lineage, but by the lives we have led. Our memories are the proof of our existence.”

Smiling at Lennok, Yuseong asked.

“Is that not why ‘he’ discarded his own memories before abandoning everything else?”

“…”

“The moment he cast aside his memories, the man I knew was already dead. You and he are now almost entirely different beings.”

Looking at Lennok’s cold, grim face, Yuseong slowly began to gather his mana.

“But for that very reason, by recovering those memories, it is possible to rewrite a person’s ego and identity.”

“…You.”

He didn’t need to deny it; he already knew.

If it weren’t so, he couldn’t explain the chilling sense of déjà vu he felt the moment he saw that ancient Holy Ark.

What was sealed in that Holy Ark was none other than the memory left behind by his past self. The very moment ‘he’ reached Level 9 and became a complete Ascendant.

If it were a memory left by someone else, no matter how dangerous the power it contained, Lennok’s mind and hierarchy would not be affected.

However, since it was the memory of his past self achieving transcendence, he had no idea what would happen the moment he came into contact with it.

“Let me promise you this, right here. I have no intention of harming you or letting any misfortune befall you.”

Yuseong said in a soft tone, stroking the ancient Holy Ark.

“I am merely trying to return everything in this world, one by one, to a time before things went wrong. Our encounter is no different.”

“…”

“For you, this will by no means be a bad thing. As a Seeker, do you not know better than anyone what it means to reclaim the lost moment of transcendence?”

“Perhaps.”

Lennok said, his cold gaze fixed on the Holy Ark.

“If what’s sealed inside is truly his memory… it would contain a moment of transcendent awakening beyond all imagination.”

“I believed you would understand—”

“But for that very reason, the outcome upon contact with his memory is unknown. To entrust that to you would be preposterous.”

This was entirely different from when he had received ‘his’ memories in the black ring through the mirror of the Ascension Ritual.

Unlike his past self who appeared through the mirror, what the Holy Ark contained was a memory that had no purpose to begin with.

Inheriting the Holy Ark’s memories could grant Lennok growth on an entirely different level, but conversely, his hierarchy could become severely distorted or corrupted.

It was a variable whose benefit or risk even Lennok, possessing the perfect reason and spirit of a wizard, could not gauge.

He already knew that this causality originated from none other than Lennok himself.

“I agree on the point that I cannot be sure what the result of injecting the memory will be.”

Yuseong nodded his head as if lost in thought.

“It would be fine if we could overwrite your memories and summon him, but a partial success where you and he coexist would be troublesome. In that case, it might be better to fail completely.”

“…”

“An average mortal wouldn’t be able to withstand the influx of memories, but for a Seeker such as yourself, it is a different matter…”

Watching Yuseong ponder with a serious expression, Lennok finally realized.

This man was not doing this now to deceive or kill Lennok.

He simply truly believed this was a way to resolve the situation without fighting Lennok.

Was he truly trying to execute a plan whose risks he himself could not be sure of?

His demeanor, as if he genuinely believed he was helping Lennok, only made Lennok realize just how twisted a being Yuseong truly was.

The essence of the Left Prime Minister, who had wandered the continent for an unfathomable time, recruiting geniuses who shone like stars for the Empire—

“In the end, assuming the worst-case scenario will get us nowhere.”

Fweee—

Yuseong, holding a needle between the fingers of both hands, moved toward Lennok.

“If there is any way to bring him back, then surely there is no harm in trying, is there?”

“You’re already assuming success and worrying about the risks.”

Lennok asked, raising his mana towards Yuseong with an expressionless face.

“According to you, you’ll need to stick whatever is in that Holy Ark into my head. Did you really think I would just stand by and watch?”

“Rest assured. While surgery is not my specialty, I am capable of a simple memory implantation procedure.”

Yuseong gave a faint smile.

“Alternatively, will you leave this hall right now and return to Vulcan?”

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!!

Before he even finished speaking, a bolt of lightning struck the spot where Yuseong stood, kicking off the second round.

At the same time, the two began to sprint down a vast corridor made of transparent glass.

Weaving quickly between pillars that obscured their vision, they looked back at each other and unleashed spellcraft and magic.

F-BOBOBOOM!!!

A symphony of lightning and needles flashed and accelerated between the pillars.

Lennok, who had closed the distance using Flicker, slammed into Yuseong’s side.

KWANG!!

Yuseong’s form, sent flying after smashing through the wall, tumbled down the escalator with Lennok.

A lightning spear the size of a car pierced the escalator, shredding the facility like paper.

Falling amidst the scattering debris, Lennok and Yuseong unleashed an incredible amount of mana at each other in a fleeting moment.

KAGAGAGAGAK!!!!

Lennok, cloaking his fingertips in lightning and aiming for vital points, and Yuseong, dismantling Lennok’s protective magic with needles in both hands.

Parts of Yuseong’s body burst as if exploding, and in return, sharp, knife-like cuts were carved onto Lennok’s collar and skin.

This was proof that even as Lennok ignored defenses with the Corrupted Golden Rule and used his Mystic Eye of Possibility, Yuseong was somehow creating cracks and launching counterattacks.

At a distance close enough for their breaths to touch, a series of compact mana manipulations continued, followed by feints and irregularities to break each other’s flow.

An exchange so elaborate and relentless that there was not even a fleeting moment to cast large-scale spellcraft or magic.

CRASH!!!

The electronic display hanging from the ceiling shattered, and a hose broke, spilling water.

The two who had fallen to the floor clashed, stepping into the puddle of water that had collected at their feet.

Immediately after, the puddle under Yuseong’s feet froze solid, momentarily restricting his movement—

As Lennok gripped Yuseong’s shoulder with one hand as if brushing it aside, he gathered his mana and whispered.

“It seems I have the upper hand in the diversity of spellcraft.”

[Contact Annihilation: Blue]

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

An immense amount of lightning that exploded in Lennok’s hand slammed Yuseong’s body into the floor as if crushing it.

From the impact, the marble floor buckled, then shattered completely, causing them to fall to the floor below.

“Damn, the reason you kept changing the battlefield from the start was—”

KWANG!!

Lennok accelerated with Flicker and slammed the falling Yuseong into the opposite barrier wall.

He exchanged blows with Yuseong, who righted himself by stepping on the diagonally slanted wall of the corridor.

The impact caused the doors of the rooms lining the corridor to buckle and jut out, obscuring the two’s vision.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!

With a single door blocking their view, Lennok, condensing lightning, and Yuseong, holding a needle, furiously exchanged spellcraft and attacks.

Accelerating past the door that crumbled in the blink of an eye, they broke through the corridor walls one after another and arrived in a vast lobby at incredible speed.

KABOOM!!!

Along with an intense shockwave, the figures of Lennok and Yuseong slid across the floor simultaneously.

The impact caused cracked statues all around to collapse, shattering and scattering fragments.

KUGWAGWAGWAGWA!!!

A muscular giant carrying a star on its back. A monstrous bird with its wings bound. A wizard with an open grimoire and a monk with his eyes gouged out.

Works of art honoring the great Ascendants who had reached the Ninth Hierarchy, who existed in the past and present.

The traces of countless predecessors who had challenged ascension and perished in failure crumbled away helplessly.

At the heart of the destruction, Yuseong was stopped on one knee, while Lennok, cloaked in lightning, flashed a blue glint from his eyes.

“Van!!!”

From the far end of the distant corridor, a familiar voice echoed faintly.

His companions, who had been scattered throughout the hall, had read the signs of the clash and were rapidly approaching.

“Found him. It was this way…!!”

“Who’s that prissy-looking guy?”

“Everyone, stay back. Don’t needlessly drag him down!!”

Dylan and Mila, who had instantly approached from the floor below the collapsed staircase using a mana discharge, frowned upon seeing Yuseong.

Felix, holding a hammer, watched the situation with a heavy gaze. Soo-ryun, without a word, raised her magical perception to its limit.

But among them, there was no superhuman inexperienced enough to recklessly intrude upon the battlefield where Lennok and Yuseong stood.

“Van, the Corpse Ghost Spell Master is still in reality.”

The two Transcendent beings faced off in the center of the completely wrecked lobby.

Mila, glancing cautiously at Yuseong, quickly said to Lennok.

“She seems to be holding the gate, so she couldn’t come in, but I think we can get out of the hall directly through her. We’ll be waiting over there, so come find us when you’re done!!”

“Understood, Mila. I will.”

Lennok replied, his eyes never leaving Yuseong.

“Go on ahead. I’ll follow right after.”

“You have good companions by your side.”

At that moment, Yuseong, who had been kneeling with his head down, spoke.

Slowly raising his gaze, he glanced around and spoke calmly.

“It is not easy to avoid recklessness in a situation like this. Seeing them intentionally convey only information that is difficult for me to understand before leaving, it seems they are used to this sort of thing.”

“They are people I can trust my back to on any battlefield.”

Intuiting that they would only be a hindrance if they intervened in the fight, they made the judgment to only inform him of the escape route they had discovered while exploring the hall.

And in the process, they even had the presence of mind to speak indirectly about the Corpse Ghost Spell Master and the gate so that only Lennok could understand.

“Is that so… Frankly, that’s impressive.”

Fwook!!

Yuseong raised a needle and plunged it into his own forearm without hesitation.

That alone stopped the trembling of his muscles, and blood began to circulate through the damaged vessels, restoring color to his skin.

Having finished the first aid in an instant, Yuseong looked at the wounds on his body and spoke with what seemed like genuine admiration.

“I had heard stories, but I never imagined you would possess this level of combat ability. I knew your magical talent was outstanding, but your skill in wielding it has reached the extreme.”

“…”

“Having lived a long time, I had some knack for fighting, but you seem to possess a talent that literally makes time and experience meaningless.”

“Yes, you certainly have the right to be confident in a fight.”

They hadn’t fought using large-scale techniques, but the moment they exchanged blows, he got a faint sense of it.

Among the Transcendent beings Lennok had faced so far, he was skilled enough to be counted on one hand in terms of dexterity and strategic battles.

Using needles as a weapon was unconventional enough, but he even used them to sever the flow of spellcraft or mana.

He could feel that Yuseong was fundamentally skilled at dragging fights into precise mana manipulation and meticulous exchanges.

If he was this skilled without even fully revealing his abilities, there was no reason to drag out the fight.

Just as Lennok thought that and raised his mana to blow Yuseong’s head off in one go.

“However.”

Yuseong, adjusting the sleeves of his robe, looked at Lennok and asked.

“Are you not… overlooking something important?”

CR-CR-CR-CRACK…!!!

At that moment, following the needle Yuseong had stuck into the floor, cracks began to spread across the museum’s ceiling and walls.

The needles that had been stuck in all directions during the fight with Lennok connected along a precise line, shattering the gaps in the staircase.

From above the staircase that had burst apart, the ancient Holy Ark, wrapped in heavy chains, fell before Lennok.

KUUUUUUUNG!!!

‘Internal structural rupture…!!’

The needles Yuseong used were tools for diagnosing and severing the internal pulse of a body, not the external.

Had he used them to intentionally destroy the internal structure of this vast hall and artificially create this environment?

Just as Lennok’s expression hardened at Yuseong’s foresight—having calculated the exact spot where the Holy Ark, left on the upper floor, would fall during their tense battle.

The chains wrapping the Holy Ark were released all at once, the chest swung wide open, and its contents were revealed.

SHWAAAK!!

An old dagger wrapped in a cloth soaked with dark blood.

The moment he laid eyes on the dagger, which looked as if it had been left behind long ago after stabbing someone.

At the same time, a tremendous shock, as if something from the unseen void had struck Lennok’s head, erupted.

JJEOOOOOONG!!!!

“…!!!!”

An intense, formless impact, powerful enough to momentarily shake Lennok’s consciousness and turn his complexion pale.

At the same time, Lennok frowned, realizing that an incomprehensible hallucination had begun to unfold before his eyes.

“As expected, at such a close distance, you could not remain unaffected.”

SHWAAK!!

Yuseong snatched the old dagger from the Holy Ark and slid toward Lennok, closing the distance.

Just as Yuseong, now right in front of him, thrust the old dagger toward the space between Lennok’s eyes, Lennok gathered his mana and manipulated his body with Touin to block the arm.

KWAAANG!!!

“I was aware that you were deliberately trying to put distance between us, leaving the Holy Ark on the upper floor.”

Yuseong said, watching Lennok lose his balance as their forearms collided.

“Conversely, I also needed to adjust my body to grab this dagger. You could say we established a new battlefield under a tacit agreement, but it seems you let your guard down because of it.”

“…Are you done with your monologue?”

“But you can already feel it, can’t you?”

Yuseong asked calmly, holding the dagger close to the space between Lennok’s eyes.

“The memory contained within is resonating with you. It seems they are already drawn to each other, as if to fill in the piece you have lost.”

“…”

“Already, faintly… isn’t something beginning to appear to you?”

It was neither a sneer nor mockery.

He was simply trying to confirm his own speculation with Lennok.

But even after hearing Yuseong’s words, Lennok focused his mind to avoid directly seeing the hallucination unfolding before him.

Because he was already convinced that the memory contained within that dagger was an incredibly dangerous concept for him.

His past self was an Ascendant who had transcended after realizing the origin known as the Fate of Demise.

He was a being who had reached Level 9 by taking a doomed future with a predetermined end as his Root Mindscape.

The memory he had attained as an Ascendant, one who stood closer to the doomed future than anyone else in this world.

It wouldn’t be strange for Lennok’s spirituality or mindscape, halted right before becoming an Ascendant, to be affected just by seeing it directly.

Therefore—

“Soon, it will become difficult for you to even stand for long.”

Yuseong, pulling out a needle with the hand not holding the dagger, leaned toward Lennok.

“I will put you at ease right away.”

Yuseong lowered his stance slightly, leaned forward and accelerated, and Lennok, his expression cold and hard, spun around and struck back.

KWAAAAAAAANG!!!

A sharp bolt of lightning exploded, and a vivid blue flash pierced the ceiling, extending vertically.

Just like the previous engagement, it was an extremely tense exchange where he didn’t fall behind at all in terms of firepower or impact.

But Lennok, standing behind it, was staggering, unable to keep his balance unlike before.

SWEEEEEEHK!!!

Seeing the staggering Lennok, Yuseong closed the distance without hesitation.

He continuously stuck needles into the shield Lennok had wrapped around himself, cutting off the flow of mana.

As if striking pressure points, he halted the very pulse of the spellcraft, blocking its flow and stopping its function.

Yuseong’s hand, having dismantled the protective magic in an instant, approached Lennok’s immediate vicinity at incredible speed.

In the blink of an eye, he pushed Lennok back at high speed, quickly driving him to the rear of the hall.

KAGAGAGAK!!!

Lennok’s hands, receiving the transcendent power pouring in from all directions in real-time, faltered, and his balance broke.

The barrier was breached in a fleeting moment. But Yuseong did not miss the brief gap where his reaction slowed.

He stuck a needle into the back of his hand, infusing it with mana to paralyze the nerves in his fingers.

The moment he swept his arm up, dozens of needles rode the gesture and embedded themselves in Lennok’s body, constricting him.

PAPAPAK!!!

Carotid artery. Central nervous system. He pinned him by sticking needles into countless pressure points, from the nape of his neck and the crown of his head to his abdomen and the backs of his knees.

At the same time, he lightly pressed Lennok’s chest with one hand, pinning his body to the floor as if crushing it.

KWANG!!

“Just lie there comfortably.”

Yuseong said, holding the dagger in one hand and aiming it at the space between Lennok’s eyes.

“I am merely returning what you have lost. It is the enlightenment that countless Transcendent beings and Ascendants have longed for.”

“…Yes. I know.”

A step too late, Lennok replied.

“If I obtain it, I might gain possibilities on a different level from before. A complete memory as an Ascendant would hold that much meaning.”

“…”

“But I have already decided to find a different answer from his. I cannot accept his memories now.”

“Is that so?”

“Although I know it would be beneficial in the end, I cannot take it for myself…”

SWISH!!!

Before Lennok could finish speaking, Yuseong plunged the dagger down without hesitation.

But Lennok smiled faintly even as he watched the dagger fall from the air.

“So this time, I shall yield to ‘the other side’.”

“…Pardon?”

HWAAK!!!

At that moment, Lennok’s form changed into something completely different before Yuseong’s eyes.

A fleeting moment in which even Yuseong, who was plunging the dagger deep toward the space between Lennok’s eyes, could not react.

The Incarnation Body that appeared before Yuseong’s eyes flashed its obsidian mask and gripped the dagger with a glass-colored gauntlet.