Chapter 234: Aftermath (1)

WHOOOOOOOM!!!

McQueen’s White Rakshasa Temple Domain, which had been deployed the moment he fell from the building’s rooftop.

Within that mountain temple, Lennok’s new Domain unfurled.

The new secret technique of the Eight-Lightning Palace, revealed through Branching Point Observation, surged from beneath the sea of clouds and swallowed McQueen whole.

At that instant, Lennok’s Domain shattered like a glass pane, and a whale the size of a house soared into the mountain sky.

The immense firepower, enough to instantly incinerate a living human and leave plenty to spare, writhed like a living creature, burning McQueen.

Even amidst that, McQueen resisted with all his might, using his original spells, but before Lennok’s divine skill of conjuring another Domain within a Domain, his power had already lost its meaning.

His body, having temporarily regained its youth, was slowly corroded and consumed by the waves of overwhelming fire.

A desperate scream echoed within the white flames.

“Aaaahhhh!!!”

The white whale, having burst out of Lennok’s Domain, swam through the sky, flashing brilliant white lightning, then scattered into hundreds of streaks of lightning beyond the blue sky.

At the same time, the scattering snowfield and the appearance of the lofty mountains collapsed and vanished.

As McQueen’s Domain was dispelled, Lennok, who had fallen out, plummeted helplessly towards the ground.

“……!!”

With trembling hands, he formed a hand seal and chanted a levitation spell.

Barely managing to plant his feet on the ground, Lennok, dripping with cold sweat, slammed his head into the earth.

CRASH!

“Huuuuugh…….!!”

The fact that he had to use a hand seal to chant the levitation spell, which would normally have been possible by simply manipulating mana.

It was a fierce battle that proved the level to which the two wizards’ fight had escalated.

But even as Lennok was certain of his victory, he couldn’t help but let a wry smile creep onto his lips.

‘How foolish of me……’

There was no falsehood in the words he had spoken to McQueen.

Lennok had truly brought an impossible miracle into reality: simultaneously advancing his inner landscape to a future point in time, while also observing and manifesting parallel worlds.

Looking back from a step-ahead perspective, he materialized branch points that could have existed, treating them as a past timeline.

Lennok himself knew better than anyone what it meant to directly realize something that should have remained a mere conceptual shift or wordplay within his own inner world.

The problem was that by choosing such an inner landscape, the cost Lennok had to pay each time he deployed his Domain had astronomically increased.

Observing countless branching points that diverge at every moment from a future perspective and imprinting them within his Domain required an unimaginable amount of capacity.

He had to forcibly raise his condition by doping his entire body with hundreds of millions of cells’ worth of pills he had prepared beforehand.

If he hadn’t imposed various restrictions through the geas and trigger he learned over Grisha’s shoulder to amplify the spell’s power, Lennok wouldn’t even have been able to attempt it with just the mana core he had prepared.

His delayed Domain deployment after McQueen had already cast his, and his direct explanation of his Domain’s abilities, were all aimed at imposing various geas and boosting his spell manifestation capabilities.

Even so, if he had been even a little later, he wouldn’t have been able to decisively win, so there was no need to explain how dangerous it was for Lennok to deploy the inner landscape he had chosen within his Domain.

It was truly an act of unparalleled arrogance, considering there were several moments where he could have decided the outcome without deploying his Domain.

[That was foolish.]

Davi, appearing from within his embrace, settled on Lennok’s head and spoke.

[Not like Master at all.]

“I know, but……”

He had no regrets.

Instead of answering, Lennok slumped to the ground and looked up at the sky.

From the sky where the whale, formed by hundreds of lightning streaks, had scattered and vanished, something that had fully endured all that firepower fell.

THOOOOOOM!!!

It crashed directly into the cracked road from hundreds of meters above, and astonishingly, it was still breathing.

“Hmph, hmph……!!”

“……”

A grotesque figure with all its skin turned inside out.

Dried blood clung to its face, making its original form unrecognizable.

Its burnt vocal cords couldn’t even form proper words.

But Parden McQueen was still alive, trying to rise towards Lennok.

“Na, an……aaiik……”

What was it that still moved him, even after all hope of victory and life had slipped from his grasp?

His vanished youth and lost honor. His lingering attachment to the little life he had left.

And a fiercely persistent animosity towards Lennok.

It was because his opponent possessed such an overwhelming will to live that Lennok was finally able to unleash his full power.

A normal sorcerer would have lost the will to fight the moment Lennok deployed his Domain.

But because his enemy was McQueen, who struggled to survive even when facing an impossible miracle beyond common sense, Lennok could fully test the Domain he had created.

A kaleidoscope reflecting parallel worlds.

Observing one of those branch points, manifesting it within the Domain, and then deploying a new Domain in a dual layer.

He hadn’t even given it a proper name yet, but this was enough.

This was a process absolutely necessary for Lennok to ascend even higher.

To fully unleash his power and confirm his own position.

Only by knowing how much he could achieve could he truly set a proper goal.

A 7th-level high-ranking wizard.

Even though his skills might have been rusted and faded by long years, he was an unparalleled opponent for Lennok to clash with his full power……or so Lennok had to rationalize his irrational judgment.

Otherwise, he felt he wouldn’t be able to properly maintain the values he had upheld until now.

“Dangerous……”

It was different from before.

Lennok felt something continuously changing within him.

It wasn’t that there was a problem with his unparalleled talent.

Rather, as he climbed higher, realizing how dangerous and fatal that talent was, Lennok’s values were slowly shifting.

His self as a human and his self as a wizard.

To what extent could he definitively assert which was Lennok himself?

Did an answer to that question even exist in the first place?

Lennok didn’t know.

But ultimately, even such concerns were merely the luxury of a surviving victor.

Clutching his trembling legs, Lennok stood up and pulled Merlida’s Fang from his embrace, gripping it.

Slowly, he plunged the sharp fang with all his might into McQueen’s chest, who was approaching him.

STAB!!

“……Ah.”

McQueen, who had transformed into something no longer resembling a human, couldn’t even react.

With his skin-inverted face, he slowly looked up at the sky, let out a slow sigh, and then ceased moving.

It was ironic. All the organs necessary to sustain life in his body must have already been destroyed.

The residual mana, born from his clinging will to live, scattered and vanished entirely into the mana resistance contained within Merlida’s Fang.

The first CEO of the Cartel, and a founding contributor who had been with Olivera Ron Maize the longest.

The final moments of a magnate who had reigned as a power broker in the underworld for decades were truly hollow.

Only after confirming that sight did Lennok slowly step back.

THUD!

Lennok lay looking up at the clear blue sky, free of clouds, and slowly closed his eyes.

“I wish this would be the end of it all……”

He had done everything he could. The rest depended on the meeting between the Cartel’s Chairman and Jenny.

Though he hoped it wouldn’t happen, just before entering McQueen’s Domain, he had detected damage to the barrier he had set up in the bar.

He could only hope that the measures he had taken would be helpful.

Davi, coiled on his chest, spoke.

[…….I contacted Dray Krimgal. He’ll probably find Master within 2 minutes.]

Lennok chuckled at Davi’s cold reply.

“Thanks. Can you also get me a cigarette from my pocket?”

[…….]

Instead of answering, the fox spirit singed Lennok’s hair with its crackling tail.

All Lennok could do was let out a hollow laugh, smelling the faint scent of burning hair lingering around his nose.

[It seems it’s over.]

Olivera chuckled and slowly pushed herself up from leaning against the bar.

Jenny’s anxious gaze followed her.

[Your business partner seems to have won.]

“Then…!”

[I’ve lost a friend I’ve had for decades.]

At her words, Jenny, whose face had brightened, pressed her lips together.

Olivera looked down at Jenny’s face and smiled faintly.

The Mystic Eye containing seven colors of light slowly turned towards Jenny.

A normal person would likely die instantly from information overload just by meeting that gaze.

But Jenny, though her complexion turned pale, met her gaze directly.

The winged staff in her hand was protecting her, for a moment, from the Mystic Eye’s power.

Olivera didn’t know the specifics of Compassion of the Archangel, but she could roughly guess how valuable that artifact was.

[To lend you such an artifact before confronting Parden… It seems Van truly values you.]

“……Because we’re partners.”

[Well, if that’s what you think, then so be it. What matters isn’t just such a superficial relationship, I suppose.]

“……”

[What truly matters is what Kaiser left you as his legacy, isn’t it?]

At her words, Jenny said with a firm expression.

“I believe I’ve already told you about that.”

[Oh, I don’t intend to interrogate you. I was just curious.]

“Pardon?”

[About the weight behind Kaiser’s decision 50 years ago. Did he truly know everything when he made that choice?]

“……”

[I hoped to finally unravel a long-standing mystery… but I still don’t know. However, today has been quite enjoyable in its own way.]

Saying so, she slowly turned her gaze to look at a doll hanging by the bar.

Somewhere, it showed clumsy craftsmanship. But the doll’s appearance was quite familiar to her.

Her eyes, recalling old memories, curved into a long arc.

[I wondered what you were up to, spending such a long life wandering the continent?]

“……What do you mean?”

If she didn’t understand, then that was fine.

It seemed Jenny didn’t know whose work this doll was.

In that case, the one directly involved with that bronze-skinned sorcerer must be the wizard.

How interesting.

A wizard who had only started working in this field a little over two years ago, yet was connected to such a diverse range of people and privy to so many secrets.

Olivera didn’t believe it was mere coincidence.

No matter how ordinary a coincidence, if outstanding results follow, it inevitably transforms into destiny.

Didn’t everything happening in this city right now vividly prove that?

[Agents, Pandemonium, The Triad, and the office… I wish I could keep watching how far this goes, but this is where I get off.]

Olivera nodded gracefully at Jenny and slowly turned her back.

[If there’s a chance next time, let’s meet on another stage, Kaiser’s child.]

WHOOSH-!!

At the same time, her slender figure vanished from the bar as if extinguished.

Easily brushing off Jenny’s anxious gaze, she reappeared on a building rooftop several kilometers away and quietly looked down at the ground.

In a secluded alley where her gaze fell, a gang fight was in full swing.

Perhaps a dispute arose during the process of committing some act and splitting the money.

Gunshots rang out, bodies piled up, and blood splattered everywhere.

She watched the unremarkable scene for a long time.

More than 50 years had passed since she settled in Vulcan, but this chaotic city hadn’t changed much.

Even the city’s ugly side, which she once found tiresome… now felt endearing.

Holding down her long robe, which fluttered in the strong wind, she observed the ground for a long time and murmured.

[I’ve truly lived long enough. To see you directly involve yourself.]

“Have you enjoyed your excursion enough?”

A tall man with long hair casually brushed back.

His disheveled suit and fur-collared coat. Antares, with his hands in his pockets, appeared nonchalantly behind her.

Olivera smiled wryly at Antares.

[Are you really that worried about that child?]

“……”

[Don’t worry. I truly did nothing. That wizard had already taken care of everything.]

Despite her mischievous words, Antares replied calmly.

“Honestly, I’m not particularly worried myself… but I made a promise to that friend.”

“……”

“If you’ve had enough fun, it’s about time you returned. I believe your ‘research’ isn’t finished yet.”

The moment he uttered those words, the seven colors of light in her eyes flashed and swirled, but Antares calmly met her gaze.

“You’re not in a position to be away for long, are you?”

[Huhu……. You truly know everything. What an impertinent fellow.]

An intense pressure flowed from her eyes, pressing down on Antares.

Antares didn’t even react, waiting for her answer.

[You, whose thoughts I could never discern, would show yourself for such a trivial matter… What did you see in that wizard, that both Myeong and you are so impatient?]

“……”

[For a long-awaited outing, it was incredibly worthwhile. Thanks for the enjoyment.]

Olivera said so, slowly raised one hand, and covered her own eyes.

The moment Antares raised his head to confirm her presence, her powerful presence had vanished without a trace, as if washed away.

It was the play of a high-ranking wizard who had integrated all her spells through her Mystic Eye.

An application of spatial transference magic that literally cut and pasted entire existing spaces by shifting the point of view.

It had been decades since he had seen it directly, but her skill showed no signs of rust.

It was proof that she, too, had never stopped preparing, waiting for her time.

Antares, with his hands in his coat pockets, murmured casually.

“Last I checked, you had reached the end of the hierarchy…”

A 7th-level Archmage.

The Archmage realm signifies the pinnacle of human talent and effort.

The highest realm achievable by human talent and effort is the Seongwi realm.

In other words, to advance further would be impossible without abandoning one’s humanity.

To what extent had Olivera Ron Maize abandoned her humanity to climb higher?

Had she truly reached the 8th level of the hierarchy now?

It was impossible to know.

The reunion of the two, after decades, concluded in this manner.

Though their desires and aspirations differed, their timelines had continually intersected somewhere.

But it wouldn’t be long until their paths crossed again.

Everything was changing.

Even the leaders of The Triad, who had been cloistered for so long, would now feel the winds of change on their skin.

Antares’s shadow, looking up at the sunset sky, naturally vanished amidst those winds.