Chapter 1489: Hunting the First Apostle (23)
RUMBLE!!!!
On a hill piled with corpses, two Transcendent beings walked toward each other.
The Order Alliance Leader, having stolen the Second Apostle’s body, stood covered in blood, his hands clasped together.
Lennok, crushing lightning between his fingers, rubbed his wrist with an expressionless face.
Just as the two were about to clash, raising their mana simultaneously without a word,
“Wait, stop…!!”
FWOOSH!!
The Fairy Conjunction Master, her face pale, appeared before the Leader and blocked his path.
She was breathing heavily, unable to even keep her balance, as if she had run without rest.
“Fairy Conjunction Master. Did you return to the battlefield the moment you finished restoring the Great Connection?”
The Leader moved the Second Apostle’s face into a faint smile.
“Your mana circuits must be overloaded from completing the restoration ritual. You pushed yourself unnecessarily.”
“Hah, hah…… Cough!!”
The Fairy Conjunction Master coughed and bowed her head low. Cold sweat streamed down her body as she struggled to catch her breath.
She must have rushed back to the battlefield the moment the restoration ritual for the Great Connection, which the Grand Spell Masters themselves had participated in, was over.
Perhaps because she had activated spellcraft after using up nearly all her mana for the ritual, her complexion was dreadful.
“……Leader.”
The Fairy Conjunction Master, barely managing to speak, looked up at him with a hardened expression.
Perhaps the disparity between the Leader she remembered and the appearance of the Second Apostle was too great.
Hesitantly, she spoke slowly.
“This…… is wrong. There’s no reason to fight Adamant Thunder here.”
“……”
“You know how many Apostles Adamant Thunder has killed. There’s no way he colluded with the Cult.”
“The Eccentric Monk crushed the Cult’s lesser Apostles like insects, yet he still sided with the Second Apostle.”
the Leader said calmly.
“Therefore, killing Apostles alone cannot be proof of non-collusion. If he joined this war to meet the Pontiff, isn’t that even more telling?”
“Adamant Thunder…… is not a man driven mad by a single conviction like the Eccentric Monk. As someone who has been in constant contact with him, I know this best.”
the Fairy Conjunction Master asserted.
“Of all the Grand Sorcerers I know, he is the most…… untwisted. That’s why you entrusted this task to Adamant Thunder in the first place, isn’t it?”
“……”
“Leader, you know it’s true, don’t you?”
“You’re jumping to conclusions about my thoughts.”
“At least on paper, Adamant Thunder is a collaborator I personally invited to the Alliance.”
The Fairy Conjunction Master slowly straightened up and said with a resolute expression,
“So don’t frame him when you know perfectly well he’s innocent. Are you trying to tarnish my name?”
“I, too, am inclined to agree with the Fairy Conjunction Master…… Order Alliance Leader.”
Kalion, covered in cuts as if he’d been slashed all over, staggered as he raised a hand.
It was the opinion of the Valefor Magic Tower Lord, who had left the main battle to tie up the Fifth Apostle.
Smiling weakly, Kalion slowly shrugged his blood-soaked shoulders.
“There’s no way a friend of Antares would collude with the Cult…… I’d sooner believe he was there to assassinate the Pontiff. I’m grateful you stepped in at the critical moment, but isn’t this decision far too unilateral?”
“Leader, I’m sorry to say this on our first meeting, but I feel the same way.”
CLICK!!
Betagron said in a tense voice, carefully raising his modified beam gun.
“I don’t believe Adamant Thunder came all this way to work for the Cult…… In fact, the one who benefited most from this war wasn’t him, it was you.”
“……”
“We’ve just finished a massive war. Please, avoid any further conflict. If you don’t—”
“None of you know anything about the Pontiff.”
the Leader said, his voice indifferent.
“The Pontiff is not a being bound by common sense. He is a god-man who can drive people to fanaticism with a single meeting, making them lay down their very lives for him.”
“……”
“An entire world has already fallen into his grasp, toyed with to the brink of destruction, only to be mocked. He then abandoned the holy nation he established and left without a second glance.”
Placing a hand on the Fairy Conjunction Master’s shoulder, the Leader looked at Betagron and gave a hollow smile.
“He is a being who can warp belief itself. Before him, your faith means nothing. For you of all people to say such a thing, Satellite, you who lost a grandson to the Cult…… you’re much softer than the rumors suggested.”
“……That’s.”
“It would be improper to simply disregard you all, who have rendered such distinguished service in this war.”
Ignoring the frozen Betagron, the Leader, with his hand still on the Fairy Conjunction Master’s shoulder, gently swept his other hand through the air.
“However, this is a battle for me and Adamant Thunder. So, stand back.”
“Leader……!!”
FWOOSH!!
Before the Conjunction Master could finish her sentence, Fairy Conjunction Spellcraft activated at the Leader’s fingertips.
Betagron and Kalion, who were blocking his path, were instantly flung away.
A display of skill, using the Fairy Conjunction Master’s own specialty—instantaneous long-distance travel via the Spirit World.
After casually handling the entire process, the Leader turned and strode directly toward Lennok.
“The other Apostles are nowhere to be seen. It seems they tucked tail and ran while we were talking.”
“……”
“But no matter how quick their judgment, if they only started to flee after seeing the conclusion of my fight with the First Apostle, there’s no way they can escape this battlefield.”
The Leader spoke, slowly caressing his face.
“From the beginning, it seems the Cult assumed the Second Apostle would be defeated and had already prepared for the aftermath. Thinking of it that way, doesn’t all of this feel like destiny?”
“……You know far more about the Pontiff than I expected.”
Lennok asked, staring intently at the Leader.
The Fairy Conjunction Master was a Grand Sorcerer who wielded an extremely rare spellcraft, even among the unique casters of the Order Alliance.
That was why Lennok knew the Leader wouldn’t resort to silencing her opposition by killing her.
What was unexpected were the Leader’s words about the Pontiff.
In a way, those descriptions sounded like deeply personal impressions, yet they keenly alluded to the Pontiff’s past—
“This seems to be more than a simple obsession. Are you an Ascendant who opposed the Pontiff in the Second World?”
“To know something well means one has contended with it for a very long time.”
The Leader said as he raised his mana.
“If one knows chance so well, don’t you think it’s because one has been toyed with by it for just as long?”
“……”
“Thus, my acquisition of this body was not chance, but inevitability. I’ll admit it.”
The Second Apostle’s blood-soaked, expressionless face stared intently at Lennok.
“I know that your origin is indescribably similar to the Pontiff’s. The same, yet not the same; different, yet not different…… The mystery of the trinity I obtained is also inherent in you.”
“……”
“I do not know the exact principles or reasons. However, if you are hostile to the Pontiff yet strongly connected to him, then as the leader of the Order Alliance, I cannot simply overlook you.”
RUMBLE…!!!
Amidst the escalating tension, the Leader unleashed an incomparably intense will-thought toward Lennok.
“Therefore, do not stop me from personally looking into your inner world. If you do not resist, I will spare your life.”
“……I see.”
At that moment, Lennok faintly realized just how high a realm the Leader had reached as a spellcaster.
Despite not knowing Lennok personally, despite not even being a being of this world,
he was deducing the identities of Lennok and the Pontiff with remarkable accuracy through his innate intuition and spirituality.
Of course, he couldn’t have realized that Lennok and the Pontiff shared the same beginning. That was a secret even Lennok himself had not been aware of for a long time.
Yet, the fact that he had noticed that faint connection and elevated it to near certainty hinted at just how great a spellcaster the Leader was.
But—
“I know you have your own reasons. Regardless of what they are, I respect that you, as the leader of the Alliance, fought the First Apostle yourself to settle the matter.”
Lennok said calmly.
“But even if I did show you my inner self, how much would I have to reveal for you to be convinced? Does such a standard even exist?”
“……”
“Ultimately, it’s a meaningless discussion. Enough talk. Let’s begin.”
As he spoke, Lennok let his arms hang low and clasped his hands.
“Either way, this fight will be over in an instant.”
“……I see.”
The Leader slowly raised a hand toward Lennok.
“It’s a pity.”
KIIIIIIING—
The instant the Leader and Lennok stepped toward each other, the flow of time slowed.
Spellcraft and authority, innate abilities and Mystic Eyes, blessings and principles—all intersected in a fleeting moment, blooming into near-infinite possibilities.
On the blood-soaked plains, their figures collided at incredible speed before being thrown back in a brilliant flash of light.
KWAAAAANG!!!
Sliding along the ridge of the collapsed Crystal Canyon, Lennok watched the Leader gathering mana in the distance and thought.
‘Even though he’s taken the Second Apostle’s body, his synchronization rate is still low. He’s unlikely to use any major techniques right from the start.’
Not only had Lennok just fought the Eccentric Monk and the Second Apostle back-to-back, but the Leader had also just expended his full power fighting the Second Apostle.
Moreover, he had transferred into the Second Apostle’s body, which Lennok had just pushed to its limit. His condition couldn’t possibly be normal.
‘He’ll try to stall for time, increase his synchronization rate with the body, and then fight seriously. I need to end this quickly.’
No matter how exceptional a Transcendent the Leader was, he couldn’t possibly be unscathed after transferring into the body of a monster like the Second Apostle.
Besides, the Second Apostle wasn’t an ordinary human but an Apostle from the 1st World who had served the Pontiff for eons.
His very biological composition was likely completely different from that of humans in this world.
From the Leader’s perspective, he would try to stall for time to raise his synchronization rate with the body and use a major technique like an Ideological Domain only after his mana stabilized.
However—
“Domain, deploy.”
The chant that burst from the Leader’s clasped hands was completely different from what Lennok had anticipated.
FWAAAAAAASH!!!!!
A colorless ripple exploded outward, engulfing the battlefield where Lennok and the Leader stood in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, a river of stars flowing from the sky made contact with the will-thought space, temporarily altering reality.
In an instant, the surroundings transformed into a scene closely resembling the Ideological Domain, Great Connection: Soaring Heavens of a Hundred Million Scriptures.
“A Domain. Don’t tell me—”
The principle of the Great Connection still lingered on the battlefield after the fight with the Second Apostle, but its power had clearly diminished when the Leader switched bodies.
No matter how mighty an Ascendant the Leader was, he couldn’t have perfectly maintained the Ideological Domain while changing bodies.
That was why the Leader had deployed his Domain—to forcibly boost the output of the weakened Ideological Domain and once again project the principles of the Great Connection.
An application of using his Domain not as a primary weapon, but as a tool to stimulate and forcibly activate the Ideological Domain.
The instant Lennok realized this, he drew out lightning and fired it at the Leader.
[Chanting Thunder: Annihilating Scenery]
FLASH—
A sharp, spinning spear of lightning, moving faster than sound, pierced the Leader’s shoulder before he could react.
Clockwise-spinning shards of lightning tore through the First Apostle’s body, scattering blood.
At the same time, it seemed to ‘graze’ past the Leader, exploding behind his back with an immense flash of lightning.
KWAAAAAAA!!!!
It felt strange, as if half the attack had struck the Leader’s body directly while the other half had been deflected. Instantly realizing what had happened, Lennok’s expression grew cold.
“The Second Apostle’s Apostle Spellcraft…… Can you wield it to some degree just by possessing his body?”
“Of course, it can’t match the original version, which draws its power directly from chance.”
the Leader replied, his hands clasped.
“However, this body he has used across three worlds is a vessel perfectly optimized for the authority of freedom…… Therefore, I can read the ‘grain’ of the spellcraft left in this body and replicate it in a similar form.”
“……”
“The spellcraft’s efficiency is roughly fifty percent…… but that is more than enough.”
The Leader’s eyes, fixed on Lennok, gleamed chillingly.
“Explode.”
Explosive Thunder Spellcraft Activation
[Detonation]
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Flicker. Lennok slid backward, evading the explosion that erupted right before him.
Flames erupted in succession, tracking Lennok’s spatial jumps with incredible speed.
Despite a slight delay, the spellcraft struck down almost instantaneously right in front of Lennok.
The Leader’s opening salvo was aimed at Lennok, who possessed Targeted Resistance, yet it fired with near-perfect accuracy.
‘I see. He isn’t designating me directly, but the space around me to activate his spells.’
Subordinate Spellcraft Activation
[Myriad Slash]
FWHOOM-FWHOOM-FWHOOM!!!
He was given no time to think.
As Lennok used Flicker to dodge aside, hundreds of slashes rained down from above, aimed as if to split his scalp.
They exploded at supersonic speed, leaving gashes tens of meters long on the ground and cleanly slicing through bedrock and stone.
In the center of the area, the Leader stood motionless with his hands clasped, focusing his mind.
Is he planning to keep Lennok in check with the principles of the Great Connection, evade attacks using the pseudo-Apostle Spellcraft, and increase his synchronization rate with the body all at once?
To perform more than three tasks simultaneously while fighting Lennok—a feat difficult even for a Grand Sorcerer—was a display of wondrous skill.
The Leader’s gaze grew placid as he watched the haze of scattered explosions and slashes.
‘I’ve already observed most of the spellcraft and abilities Adamant Thunder uses in the Glass Garden. His Apostle Transformation wore off a long time ago.’
While Lennok fought to stop the Second Apostle at the crystal spire, the Leader had also been observing.
The raw power he’d displayed using Apostle Transformation to engage in a head-on brawl, overwhelming the Second Apostle with brute strength and pinning him down.
And at the last moment, his wondrous skill in waging psychological warfare with his Domain to rapidly complete the descent ritual.
‘Adamant Thunder’s body is more fragile than expected; he won’t be able to use an ability like Apostle Transformation again so soon. The thing to watch out for, then, is his Domain…’
The Domain’s ability to directly manipulate time was dangerous, but even more alarming was Adamant Thunder’s sheer proficiency in wielding it.
When fighting the Second Apostle, Adamant Thunder had positioned himself outside his own Domain, stalling for time while forcibly completing the descent ritual within it.
The very notion of maintaining a Domain while standing outside it was unreal, and to be able to execute that entire process while fighting the First Apostle was beyond absurd.
His sense for manipulating a Domain was, quite literally, on a divine level that not even the Leader could compare to.
‘If this turns into a battle of Domains, I’ll end up no different than the Second Apostle. So, I must crush him before he even deploys it.’
If Lennok were to deploy his Domain and their abilities began to clash, the current dynamic would inevitably be warped.
And on a battlefield filled with variables, not even the Leader was confident he could secure a certain victory against Adamant Thunder.
Thus, the Leader’s decision at the start of the engagement was, to some extent, the same as Lennok’s.
Overwhelm him from the start, pressing him relentlessly so he couldn’t even deploy his Domain.
So he couldn’t even form the hand seals—
FWHOOM-FWHOOM-FWHOOM!!!!
Exploding lightning and the spellcraft of the Great Connection clashed, tearing at each other and emitting a blinding light.
The Leader’s offensive was relentless, dodging, sometimes blocking, sometimes deflecting Lennok’s lightning while firing off a barrage of the Great Connection’s spells.
At that moment, amidst the rain of slashes, something dropped in front of Lennok like a shield with the dull thud of displaced air.
THWACK!!!
“……A black coffin?”
A black coffin, larger than either the Leader or Lennok. Had he used it as a shield to block the descending spells?
No, the moment that thought crossed his mind, the Leader realized the coffin was not a simple shield.
‘He summoned it. It’s not just some object meant to block a direct hit.’
CLICK!
CREAK…!
The door of the pitch-black coffin creaked open, and from within, an Incarnation Body steeped in deep darkness emerged.
The Incarnation Body, which had been twitching as if confined within the coffin, slowly stepped forward as the door opened.
Ignoring the featureless Incarnation Body, the Leader immediately activated a spell aimed at Lennok.
KRRRRAAACK!!!!
Simultaneously, a sharp slash erupted from within the Incarnation Body as if exploding, disrupting its spiritual form.
“……!!”
He had certainly cast the spell at Lennok, yet it was the Incarnation Body that seemed to have taken the hit.
It was a strange sensation, as if the spell’s trajectory had been redirected toward the Incarnation Body. The Leader instantly understood why.
‘Because Adamant Thunder avoids the spell, my own spellcraft, which treats the Incarnation Body as identical to him, is targeting it first…!’
It was a well-known fact that Adamant Thunder could not be designated as the target of spells or curses.
That was why, upon deploying his domain, the Leader had targeted the space around Lennok instead of Lennok himself, unleashing a barrage of spells.
However, once the Incarnation Body—which was treated as the same entity as Lennok—was detected, all of the Great Connection’s spells naturally began to target it instead of Lennok.
It was a natural yet brilliant counter, as if a strategy prepared from the very beginning to deal with the Leader.
In the brief time the Leader had fought the Second Apostle, had Lennok also found a way to resist the infallible aim of the Great Connection?
As the Leader trembled at the unexpected counter, the Incarnation Body began to move, absorbing the barrage of spells.
KWAGAGAGANG!!!!
The Incarnation Body charged, taking the spells with its bare form as it rushed at incredible speed toward the Leader in the center of the domain.
At the same time, seeing Lennok begin to chant behind the Incarnation Body, the Leader shot forward.
Was he planning to buy time with the Incarnation Body to prepare a major technique?
After all, there was no way that wizard didn’t know which of his techniques the Leader was most wary of.
If he was willing to play his hidden card, the Incarnation Body, just to buy time, then the spell he intended to use was obvious.
A Domain.
KWAAAANG!!!
Just as the Leader reached out to manually change his spell’s target, the Incarnation Body rushed in and struck his hand away.
Its movements were quick and calculated, as if someone else were controlling it directly.
All the while, Lennok, with his eyes closed, formed hand seals at an incredible speed, completing his incantation.
A spell so complex that a Grand Mage of his caliber had to incant every step without omission.
The will-thought spreading from Lennok enveloped spacetime at a terrifying speed, then condensed sharply.
However—
“—No.”
The expression on the Leader’s face, who was fighting the Incarnation Body, turned incomparably chilling.
“You seem to have forgotten why I went to such lengths to obtain this body.”
FWOOSH!!!
At that moment, the Leader’s form, this time for real, completely ‘vanished’ from the spot.
A colorless, odorless, and traceless ultra-long-range spatial transfer, activated by combining pseudo-Apostle Spellcraft, Fairy Conjunction Spellcraft, Substitution Spellcraft, and Yeonri-Type Esotericism in a four-fold combination in a single instant.
The Leader appeared behind Lennok before he could react and brandished a pale blue mana, and simultaneously, the Incarnation Body moved to block his path, taking the blow.
[Lunar Eclipse]
BOOOOOOM!!!
The Incarnation Body’s form, its heart pierced and irradiated from a single spell, could not withstand the blow and was pushed back.
At the same time, Lennok’s form, protected by the Incarnation Body, was caught in the blast, and his barrier melted away at a tremendous rate.
It was the Order Alliance Leader’s unique spellcraft, one he wielded without directly linking it to the Great Connection: the inducement of a pair-annihilation reaction via antimatter.
A storm of such immense thermal energy that Adamant Thunder, unable to use Apostle Transformation, could not have withstood for even a moment with his bare body.
“……Wait.”
However, the moment the Leader saw Lennok standing beside the half-destroyed Incarnation Body, he realized something was wrong.
It wasn’t a Domain.
He hadn’t summoned the Incarnation Body here just to buy time.
There was a far more dangerous reason, something he absolutely had to stop—
KIIIIIIIIING!!!!!
“……Yes.”
Within the storm of wildly scattering light, Lennok spoke, his hands clasped.
“The prize I sought to gain from this war…… included your power, Leader.”
Considering the true nature of the Order Alliance Leader, it was uncertain if killing him here would mean he was truly dead.
At the very least, it would be difficult to kill him completely without shattering the mystery of the trinity he had obtained.
That was why, from the start, Lennok had no intention of using a technique like a Domain against the Leader.
What Lennok intended to use was nothing less than a power borrowed from the Leader’s own talent—
“I knew from the start that you were a Transcendent who possesses a Talent for Duality.”
“Don’t tell me……!!!!”
“And that is why, upon seeing that duality, I too sought to learn how to unify them.”
As he spoke, Lennok unleashed a spell with all his might toward the Incarnation Body.
A method he had vaguely grasped long ago but had never had the chance to attempt.
A means for the current Lennok to reach a higher stage without risk, even if it was a shortcut.
“Begin incantation.”
Mutation-type Unique Spellcraft
Synchronization-type Unique Spellcraft
Physical Reaction: Assimilation Mutation
Soul Reaction: Unification Synchronization
The souls of Lennok and his Incarnation Body resonated in unison, synchronizing as if drawn to one another.
A being that was once Lennok himself, yet was never the same, held duality like a mirror, each reflecting the other.
Like two isomers fitting together, the existences of Lennok and the Incarnation Body began to unify, starting from the particle level.
An immeasurable transcendence bloomed from within that impossible miracle, shattering the boundaries forbidden to the current Lennok and surging forward.
Dual System Complex Resonance Unique Spellcraft
[Super Fusion]