Chapter 1486: Hunting the First Apostle (20)
The Great Connection and Apostle Spellcraft pierced through the world, rewriting physical laws and concepts.
Vast spellcraft and authorities, so immense that even Lennok found it difficult to comprehend them all, spun and collided in a dazzling display.
The Second Apostle, wielding mad Apostles like servants, and the Order Alliance Leader, dominating the battlefield alone, were fighting.
“How marvelous. This must be the decisive battle between grand masters who have reached the apex in their respective fields.”
Lennok stopped behind the praying Priestess and looked down at the scene.
Although he had spoken to the Pontiff through the Priestess, he still did not respond.
But Lennok paid it no mind, instead watching the battlefield unfold before the Priestess.
It was as if he were speaking not to the Priestess, but to the Pontiff who was surely watching this place now.
“It’s been quite a while since I’ve watched another’s battle like this. After surpassing the hierarchies, I’ve almost always stood on the battlefield myself.”
“…”
KWWAAAAAGGGGH!!!!
The Alliance Leader, supported by the Great Connection, unleashed an infinite barrage of mana and spells.
The Second Apostle, commanding hundreds of Apostles like familiars, received his attacks and countered.
A tortoise Apostle, its body grotesquely twisted, advanced while taking the barrage of spells on its shell.
He dodged the spells raining down on the side of a centipede Apostle’s body, using the Apostle’s form as a stepping stone to accelerate.
BOBOBOBOOM!!!
He deflected a Subordinate Spellcraft exploding at point-blank range by compressing a broken Apostle in his hand and using it as a shield.
The entire battle unfolded in an instant, less than a moment, yet it also felt as if it stretched on for an eternity.
Sometimes as weapons, sometimes as shields. Sometimes as bridges or offerings.
The First Apostle, freely manipulating the mad, frenzy-consumed Apostles as if they were his own limbs, confronted the Alliance Leader.
“Can the Second Apostle freely use not only the spellcraft of other Apostles, but also the abilities of the Priestess?”
Lennok remarked, watching the scene.
“He seems more adept at controlling Apostles than their original master, the 11th Priestess. It’s absurd… but I’ve never seen such application skills from her.”
[KREEEEEAK…!!]
A mutated Apostle with dozens of mouths ceaselessly spewed curses, disrupting the Alliance Leader’s incantations.
A puppeteer with thin Mana Threads attached to his fingertips began to raise and control the corpses strewn about.
Beasts that should have long since gone mad and been unable to wield Apostle Spellcraft were now activating spells under the Second Apostle’s control.
The Apostle Spellcraft used by the Second Apostle himself and the spellcraft activated by controlling the broken Apostles intersected hundreds of times in a single moment.
Through this, he maintained the engagement, matching the Alliance Leader—who was supported by the Great Connection—in a direct firefight.
Ironically, watching him, Lennok was beginning to understand why the Alliance Leader had insisted on facing the Second Apostle himself.
The Second Apostle was a monster who could single-handedly wield all the Apostle Spellcraft existing in the cult, as well as the Priestess’s abilities.
He was a Transcendent beyond measure, capable of holding his own against the Order Alliance Leader even with his own abilities half-sealed.
Unless it was the Alliance Leader, who controlled all the spells belonging to the Great Connection, it would be impossible to even suppress his abilities.
Expecting the Conjunction Spell Master to win against the Second Apostle was out of the question; even entrusting him with the role of buying time was likely because he knew of the Apostle’s power.
“Now I see why the high-ranking Apostles I’ve met never even coveted the position of First Apostle. To be honest, I still don’t quite understand how he can possess such an ability.”
“…”
“He worships chance as a god and receives its authority in the form of Apostle Spellcraft… The very fact that such a thing is possible is proof that the Second Apostle himself was an unbelievably exceptional superhuman in his human days.”
The more exceptional Apostles are born in the cult, the more talented Priestesses appear, the more diverse and powerful the Second Apostle’s authority becomes.
In terms of the diversity of spellcraft and abilities, only the Alliance Leader, who could seal his authority through the Great Connection, could stand above the Second Apostle.
But what was truly astounding was that the Second Apostle was not being pushed back at all, even against the Alliance Leader, who was practically his hard counter.
Within the Ideological Domain manifested by the Order Alliance Leader, he wielded Apostle Spellcraft with its output reduced by more than half, yet he wasn’t being significantly overwhelmed.
On the contrary, he would occasionally strike with chilling precision, as if to pierce the Leader’s heart or slice off his head in an instant.
High-ranking spell masters and Apostles trying to intervene in the fight were crushed into chunks of flesh with a single gesture from the two.
The leader of the Alliance and the head of the cult’s Apostles.
In terms of hierarchy, the Second Apostle should have been at a clear disadvantage against the Alliance Leader, yet his marvelous prowess made that disadvantage unnoticeable.
If he had faced the Second Apostle at full power without any information, could Lennok have properly countered the authority of freedom wielded by the First Apostle?
Lennok, who had been through countless decisive battles, couldn’t say for sure even as he watched their fight; the Second Apostle’s ability had aspects that transcended all logic.
A monster who, despite not being a Level 9 Ascendant, possessed power and authority comparable to one.
That man was undoubtedly the strongest and most outstanding Apostle of the Pontiff in the current cult.
And, for that reason—
Lennok knew full well that this very moment was the only chance he would have to speak privately with the Priestess in this war.
“If it weren’t for this situation, the Second Apostle wouldn’t have just stood by and watched me meet you. Unless he’s fighting an Ascendant on the Alliance Leader’s level, he can exist everywhere on the battlefield at once, and act simultaneously.”
WHOOOOSH…!!
Before he knew it, all the priests guarding the Priestess’s altar had fallen.
Lennok approached the Priestess, who remained alone, silently offering her prayers, and spoke.
“That’s why I had to wait for this moment. The moment when the First Apostle and the Alliance Leader are clashing at full power, their abilities entangled. The moment when the gaze of chance touches this world more strongly than ever before….”
Stopping behind the Priestess, Lennok slowly raised his mana.
“The moment when it’s not the Pontiff coming to see me, but when I can go see the Pontiff myself.”
From the very beginning, Lennok had no intention of siding with either the Alliance or the cult in this war.
He had merely been trying to confirm the hidden objectives of both leaders in this decisive battle where the two forces clashed at full power.
With the Alliance Leader and the Second Apostle now fighting, this was the only opportunity to discover the true intentions the Pontiff, the master of the cult, had kept hidden until now.
Lennok was certain that this opportunity lay not with the Second Apostle, but with the Priestess, and had been waiting for the battle to reach its zenith.
The moment the Priestess received power from the Pontiff and interfered with the Alliance Leader’s Ideological Domain. The moment she declared a Sanctuary and blocked the gazes of those around them.
A brief instant, not even a few minutes long, when neither the Alliance Leader nor the Second Apostle could spare any attention for Lennok’s existence.
“Summon him. I need to meet the Pontiff.”
“…”
“So, you won’t answer. Are you planning to wait for help from the Second Apostle who’s fighting the Alliance Leader? It might be possible for him, but—”
“The First Apostle’s ability, unlike how it appears, is not without its limits….”
At that moment, the Priestess, who had been praying silently, quietly responded to Lennok’s words.
It wasn’t the Pontiff, but the Priestess herself who had finally spoken after a long silence.
But the meaning contained within her words was something even Lennok couldn’t easily dismiss.
“The Apostle of Freedom is a being bound by freedom more than anyone else… That is why the principle of creating something from nothing is not permitted for the First Apostle.”
“Creating something from nothing… Does that mean the Second Apostle’s ability cannot create something from nothing, and can only wield existing authorities and spellcraft?”
Lennok smiled.
“Even without such a limit, creation is difficult for anyone. I don’t think the Second Apostle’s inability to do so can be considered a weakness.”
“Because there is a vast difference between something that is difficult but possible, and something that is impossible. For a being like the First Apostle, that gap is felt even more keenly.”
The Priestess replied quietly.
“The First Apostle has remained by His side for a very, very long time, solely for that purpose.”
“…”
“One by one… each time they crossed a world, those who remained by His side left… until only one person was left.”
The Priestess slowly lifted her gaze and murmured.
“He was freer than anyone, but he gave up everything to stay by His side. But this, too, is now the end.”
“…The end, you say.”
Lennok’s expression hardened.
“That can’t be the Second Apostle’s weakness. Rather… the fact that there’s a ‘time limit’ to his use of power is what I’d call a weakness.”
“…”
“The very fact that he borrowed the Eccentric Monk’s help to be summoned before the Crystal Canyon was to save even a little of the time he could move at full power. That must be because the time he can wield the authority of freedom is itself limited.”
“…”
“An Apostle of Freedom who cannot himself freely wield the authority of freedom… Isn’t that the true nature of the First Apostle’s ‘contradiction’ and his limit?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
The Priestess affirmed.
“He has remained by His side for a very long time. To do so, he had to sacrifice just as much.”
“…”
“As time passed, the role he accepted to remain by His side gnawed away at the First Apostle… and now, the end is not far off.”
“That’s not the answer I expected. Is it alright for the Priestess of the cult to so easily admit to the Second Apostle’s limits and contradictions?”
Lennok asked with a stiff expression.
“In the first place, your personality and way of speaking seem quite different from when we last met. Did you happen to regain the ‘original’s’ memories in the meantime?”
“It’s not like that. It’s just….”
The Priestess hesitated for a moment, then answered readily, as if it were nothing.
“Because you… are the Pontiff.”
“…”
“It is only natural for the Priestess to answer the master of the cult.”
The words of the Priestess who had come to the banquet at the Magic Tower, calling Lennok the Pontiff and clinging to him.
But the words the Priestess spoke now while looking at Lennok were completely different from her childish behavior then.
It wasn’t a vague feeling or mere speculation, but as if she already knew something—
“Wrong. I’ve already reached a conclusion about that.”
Lennok declared coldly.
“I am not the Pontiff.”
“No, you are the Pontiff.”
The Priestess said, bringing her hands together.
“You despise us, yet at the same time, you pity us. That must be because you glimpsed His memories through the Priestess who was my original.”
“…”
“If my original showed you her memories, it must be because you are the Pontiff. Because you are you. The two are not different.”
Lifting the stone staff that was taller than her with great effort, the Priestess raised her mana and said.
“Therefore, I will do as you say, Pontiff.”
FWASH!!!
A pale, holy light spread out from the Priestess and began to gently envelop Lennok.
Immediately after, the two monsters who were tearing apart heaven and earth at the edge of the horizon simultaneously noticed what was happening at the altar.
[…Adamant Thunder.]
“Priestess, you…!!”
The Alliance Leader, covered in blood, and the Second Apostle, mounted on a monstrous dragon, turned their gazes with incredible speed.
With a single glance, they understood Lennok’s presence with the Priestess and his intentions.
That Lennok, of all times, was contacting the cult’s Priestess at this very moment.
They didn’t know what method he used, but he was now trying to meet the Pontiff—
KRAKOOOOM!!!!
The Great Connection raged, showering down starlight, and Apostle Spellcraft fell from the empty air.
A bombardment transcending the speed of perception rained down, simultaneously to kill the Priestess and to protect her.
Lennok, raising his mana to its fullest, deflected the spellcraft of both the Alliance Leader and the Second Apostle on the spot.
[Thunder Seal]
KWWAAAAAAANG!!!!!
Amidst the scattering silver-white lightning, the gazes of Lennok and the two Transcendents met.
But in the midst of the escalating battle, a moment’s hesitation as they wary of each other created an opening.
At the same time, the Priestess, having finished her preparations, slammed the stone staff she held in both hands onto the ground.
“Because there is nothing strange at all about you going to meet you.”
FWAAAAAAASH!!!!!
The entire world was enveloped in a pale radiance, and a completely different scene unfolded before Lennok’s eyes.
This wasn’t surprising. A long time ago, on the day he first met Ureka Naydree in the satellite city.
She too had used the Priestess’s power to declare a Sanctuary and help Lennok meet him.
The 12th Priestess must have also modified the Sanctuary she had already declared beforehand to create a space for the two to meet.
And Lennok knew that all of this was a miracle made possible because he had responded.
“…”
The absolute being who hid himself in chance, dwelling within the beliefs and memories of others, looking down upon the world.
As always, he was waiting for Lennok, standing within someone’s memory somewhere.
A star covered in an endless sea of corpses. A world where black blood formed an ocean.
Similar to the battlefield Lennok had just fought through, but filled with a death far more hideous and慘혹한.
Undoubtedly, the Pontiff stood at the end of a star that had existed somewhere.
“He has been devoted to me for a long time….”
The Pontiff, who had been looking down at something with his hands behind his back, spoke quietly.
“I kept him by my side for reasons I can no longer tell were lingering attachment or obsession….”
“…”
“Because the time we spent together has faded, and even the resolve from back then has lost its meaning. Now, I feel nothing about it….”
Slowly raising his gaze, the Pontiff murmured in a voice as faint as a dying flame.
“Perhaps I have… accepted his final request….”
“…Pontiff.”
“Truly, it can’t be helped….”
The Pontiff, turning to face Lennok, smiled quietly.
“I told you time and again… that we should not meet again until the very end….”
“…”
“But ‘I’ was never one to be bound by such words or promises. I know that….”
The Pontiff, having turned fully, said.
“Because the me of old was also like that.”
“I….”
Lennok, as if to answer the Pontiff, opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.
After a long moment of choosing his words, his lips twitching, Lennok finally spoke quietly.
The Pontiff’s attachment. The Pontiff’s obsession. The Pontiff’s past.
Despite all those emotions and truths that could not be easily ignored, there was something that had to take precedence.
“I believe you know why I came to see you first.”
“…”
“For a long time, you have watched the world while hiding your existence. Sometimes as the god of a holy nation, sometimes by the name of a failed savior….”
Lennok stared silently at the Pontiff’s face, which was shrouded in noise.
“Since returning from Paradise Lost, I can feel that I have crossed a line. There isn’t much time left until I bring all journeys to their conclusion.”
“…A conclusion, you say.”
“Surely, it will be an end that comes at the same time as a beginning… When that time comes, we will have no time for conversations like this. So I must ask you before then.”
Lennok looked at the silent Pontiff and spoke.
“What is it… that you truly desire for this world? Are you still here to save this world?”
“…”
“Watching the cult’s actions, I thought it wouldn’t be strange either way. I thought it possible you desired this world’s salvation, or conversely, its irreversible ruin.”
Ever since learning of the Pontiff’s existence in the process of killing the Tenth Apostle, he had pondered it for a long time.
Was the Pontiff Lennok’s enemy, or his ally?
If he intended to kill Lennok, he wouldn’t have just watched him silently for so long.
But if he intended to help Lennok, he wouldn’t have led the cult, made human offerings, and served the Outer Gods.
He had always believed the answer lay somewhere in between, but ultimately, Lennok couldn’t discern the Pontiff’s true intentions with the clues he had so far.
The Answerer who was the most dangerous, the most mysterious, and ultimately, the most incomprehensible of all his selves across the worlds.
What did he, who had ascended to this world after two ascensions, ultimately want as he watched over it?
Before reaching the end of his journey, Lennok had to find an answer to that question.
“Because I cannot move forward any further without confirming which side you stand on in the ‘next’ that I envision.”
“A fine answer….”
The Pontiff, who had slowly turned his body, did not answer for a long time.
He stood silently with his hands behind his back, and only after some time had passed did he offer his thoughts.
As if he had finally finished a long deliberation and decided to give his answer.
“To be frank… I did not want to meet you. All of your words and actions seem to stir up old memories that now hold no feeling for me….”
“…”
“However, since you have finally come this far… I suppose I have no choice but to answer. You have earned that right….”
In a breathtaking silence, Lennok focused his mind.
The Pontiff watched him, smiled faintly, and slowly turned back as he spoke.
“In the process of accepting the Outer Gods into myself for a long time, I came to a realization. Ruin is not a result, but a process… It is closer to the price they pay to devour worlds and dream.”
“…”
“This universe endlessly repeats expansion and contraction, being consumed the moment it is born… Thus, it is practically impossible for us to truly change the ending.”
“Is that… the conclusion you reached in the first world?”
The Director seeks to kill the gods of the sea, avoid ruin, and pursue the present.
Lennok seeks to create a fourth world, overcome ruin, and advance into the future.
If so, then the Pontiff—
“If you have no intention of overcoming or avoiding ruin… what is the answer you found?”
“Everything must be returned to its original place.”
The Pontiff smiled.
“I intend to break the infinitely repeating cycle of demise and plunge everything into primordial chaos, making it so that even our ‘choices’ never happened. That is the only way to break this cycle.”
“I don’t understand what that means. Primordial chaos, how in the world….”
“It is a simple matter….”
The Pontiff said gently.
“I will summon all the gods swimming through the Outer Universe to this world, and have them merge with this final, remaining world.”