Chapter 289: Apostle’s Advent (6)

“What a pity. I believed we could walk the same path, even with different thoughts… but there’s no choice now.”

Walter lamented, pressing a hand to his forehead.

Immediately after, his face, still covered, split into a long, wide grin.

“That talented intellect and body, I can only make them sustenance for Ibon.”

“Wait, Walter.”

The Ibon Family Head, who had been watching the two with a tense face, interrupted with a startled expression.

“What in the world are you talking abou—”

CRACK!!

At that moment, a pale flash of light, extending from between the pillars, pierced directly through the Ibon Family Head’s body.

“…Ah?”

It wasn’t that she had no time to resist. In a fleeting instant, Ibon had instead released her mana and pushed her body toward the flash of light herself.

She looked down at her chest with a vacant expression, as if she couldn’t believe her own actions.

“Don’t resist. Didn’t we make a promise in the name of God?”

Walter smiled.

“That I would give you an eternal, immortal body.”

The Ibon Family Head’s face crumbled as she instantly understood his words.

“Th-this wasn’t what I heard!! This isn’t the body I wanted!!! To just, just become one with another like this…!!”

She struggled, rejecting the pale radiance engulfing her entire body.

She tried to endure somehow by using tree roots pulled from beneath the ground, but it was futile.

A contract sworn on the Guido Cult’s god. With her will, which had accepted and understood at least a part of that faith, she could no longer escape.

Her body, thrashing and screaming, was sucked directly into the pillar of light.

CREAKKKKKKK!!!

“GYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

A desperate, excruciating scream echoed from within the pillar.

“…”

Lennok furrowed his brows but did not move rashly.

Instead, he unleashed his mana and struck Walter’s body.

BOOM!!

“Hahahahahat!!”

Walter, sprawling on the ground with his body tattered, burst into mad laughter.

“It’s already too late. You can’t interfere with anything! Just witness and worship the incarnation of the great will that has descended upon this world!!”

At that moment, the pillar of light, striking down from the sky, split wide open.

From the center of the colossal halo of light covering the mansion’s upper airspace, something slowly began to stretch.

Walter shouted.

“The Apostle’s Descent!!”

CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!!

Beyond the ruins’ fissures, as if glass were shattering, a completely different space was reflected, and something faint gleamed.

By the time they noticed, it already existed in this world.

WHOOSH!!

Its massive bulk filled the entire airspace above the mansion. Dozens of swaying legs, and a floating head.

Though shaped like a cephalopod, its body was angular, as if encased in sturdy armor.

Hundreds of gleaming eyes, shining through the armor, calmly gazed down at the terrestrial landscape.

In accordance with that gaze, immense mana began to press down and rupture the ground below.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!

Even conservatively estimated, its level far surpassed the benchmark for a Level 7 wizard.

Simply by manifesting its body in this space, it was emitting tremendous mana in all directions.

A display of power close to chaos, having never even considered regulating its strength from the start.

With the expression of a will seemingly devoid of any intellect, the already chaotic and crumbling streets of the fortress collapsed further.

“Gah…!!”

Even Walter’s body was helplessly swept away by the mana pressure, which was too much for a human body to endure.

CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!!

This was an entirely different level of solidity compared to the unknown mass of flesh Walter had manifested in Rebatenon.

A robust sense of completion as a single being was palpably felt.

[Finally…!!]

At that moment, a telepathic voice echoed through the mansion’s upper airspace. Absurdly, it was Walter’s, who had just lost his body and disappeared.

The voice came from near the head of the Apostle’s deformed body.

[Finally, we’ve come this far…!!]

The trembling tone, filled with emotion, clearly showed how long he had awaited this moment.

Lennok, who had been observing them cannibalizing each other and self-destructing, understood the situation and clicked his tongue.

“So there was a reason you put so much effort into proselytizing. Were you aiming for this from the beginning?”

Only now did he grasp the true nature of Walter’s fanaticism, his obsession and attachment to proselytizing all this time.

The series of processes Walter had just demonstrated, though seemingly chaotic at first glance, had clearly followed precise preparations and rituals.

The will sent down by a monster from the Outer Sea.

The superhuman body of the Ibon Family Head.

And a possessed body formed by the intellect of a cult Bishop.

The existence of an ‘Apostle,’ as defined by the Guido Cult, was precisely a divine manifestation achieved by gathering three different aspects into a single body.

“So that’s why the missionaries would inhabit others’ bodies without their own. They’ve been repeating this act, selecting only candidates to become the cult’s Apostles.”

[Hahahaha!!]

At Lennok’s words, Walter burst into roaring laughter.

Immediately after, one of the Apostle’s sluggish legs split at the end, instantly taking on the form of flesh and transforming into a human limb.

[Ahhhhh!!]

The face of the Ibon Family Head, screaming desperately. From her wide-open mouth, a massive surge of mana burst forth like bullets, striking down next to Lennok like a bombardment.

CRASHHH!!

The impact force far exceeded that of any ordinary firearm. The mere aftershock was enough to chip away Lennok’s shield, exposing his bare body.

Walter, who had instantly calmed his tone, spoke.

[If you’ve realized that, why don’t you cooperate obediently?]

“…”

[It will be easier to adjust later if we replenish the body before this one finishes adapting. There’s no need to make things troublesome, is there?]

As he spoke, he naturally lifted his dozens of other legs all at once.

SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE!!

Lennok frowned at the bizarre sight of the ends of all those legs simultaneously transforming into identical torsos of the Ibon Family Head.

If Lennok accepted Walter’s offer, would he also end up like that?

If he didn’t accept the offer, it wouldn’t be surprising if Walter turned Lennok into minced meat right here and now.

“Adjustment, you say…”

Although Lennok hadn’t heard many stories about the cult’s Apostles, if all Apostles took such monstrous forms, there’s no way Lennok wouldn’t have heard of their infamy.

After Walter’s ‘adjustment,’ it was likely possible to discard that monstrous deformed body and transform into a human form.

While Lennok was deep in thought, Walter took action.

He plunged some of his legs into the vicinity of the ruined mansion and began to unleash massive mana bombardments.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!!

An act like a child trying to show off its strength.

Had he gained the Apostle’s body and, in doing so, allowed his inner desires to come forth honestly?

[It’s a strange feeling.]

Walter murmured intoxicatedly, gazing at the scene of destruction he had created.

[I have always yearned and anticipated this moment… but responsibility comes before joy. I can only think of spreading the power of this great god to the world as quickly as possible.]

“…”

[It’s regrettable that I confirmed the existence of three ‘pure’ beings and could only secure one, but this is enough. Now, the time of wandering without even being granted a body is over.]

He spoke with a voice filled with regret.

[I have now evolved into an existence that even the cult can never ignore.]

“That’s not going to happen.”

WOOOOOOSH!!!

Lennok slowly raised his mana, looking up at the Apostle’s body hovering above the fortress.

The mana rotating within his body spread from head to toe, instantly leaving Lennok’s body and scattering its presence in all directions.

FLASHHHHHHH!!

Lennok’s mana, which had instantly shaken off the Apostle’s pressure pressing down on the ground, rotated and spread a colorless ripple.

“Because you’re not going back to the cult.”

WHIRRRRRR!!!

He dyed the entire space with his own colors, and directly projected the scenery of the Mind Imprint etched within him into his own Domain.

[A Domain? Well, fine. Do as you please.]

However, Walter replied leisurely even after confirming the mana Lennok had manifested.

Such arrogant words and actions. But Walter was not without a plan.

While dismantling the barrier, he had already roughly observed the magical lineage Lennok used near the heart of the tree giant.

As Walter was not deeply versed in magic, it was difficult for him to guess the exact school, but he had a general idea of the attributes Lennok handled.

This monstrous wizard primarily used two lineages: lightning and ice.

Although he had burned Ibon’s proxy in the Proxy Battle, given that he used the flames of a new year as a catalyst, it was unlikely that he had mastered opposing attributes.

Walter had calculated this far, and decided to embrace the will of demise among the Outer Sea monsters, specifically those who controlled the domain of ice.

No matter what, he could not be defeated here.

Even if he couldn’t acquire Lennok’s body by killing the wizard, Walter himself had to return to the cult somehow.

Originally, he had planned to use the spatial transfer spell ‘Amrita’s Scales’ to escape the moment he successfully manifested the Apostle’s body, but seeing how Lennok had countered the previous two transfer spells in different ways, a third attempt didn’t seem impossible.

Furthermore, to spatially transfer the Apostle’s body, dozens of lives would probably be required.

The probability of Lennok leaving Walter alone until then seemed infinitely low.

It was preferable to exhaust all of Lennok’s mana here, then completely break his body and will.

[Once a wizard of your caliber has poured out all their capabilities and potential, you’ll inevitably realize what the truly correct base in this world is… You will…]

WOOSH!!

Walter’s telepathic voice abruptly cut off as he observed the golden light rotating in the dark void.

The clockwise rotating light formed a massive golden ring, lifting hundreds of distinct circles.

FLASHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The traces of destruction created by the three, the ruins of the mansion, the swollen landscape of the ground — all vanished.

The pillar of light that connected sky and earth instantly disappeared, and within the vast cosmos, hundreds of golden circles floated, illuminating everything.

A golden kaleidoscope surrounded the colossal Apostle’s body and the wizard gazing up at the entire scene beneath it.

Through it, countless branching point sceneries were reflected, and the Apostle’s swaying legs simultaneously ceased all movement.

[W-wait… what, what in the world…]

Only then did Walter murmur, his voice completely devoid of mirth, but Lennok did not stop.

“I knew there would only be one chance. You did too.”

Lennok, with the dazzling golden light behind him, began to walk towards Walter and spoke.

“So I waited for the moment when escape was impossible. Because once that body is fully materialized in this world, no one will be able to escape death.”

He remembered how the mass of flesh Walter had summoned at Rebatenon University had met its end.

Although the Apostle’s existence Walter had summoned now was on a completely different dimension, a much weaker one, hadn’t it also died after being torn apart by Aris’s magic?

It was the same.

Even if it bore the grand name of ‘Apostle,’ as long as it manifested in this world, it would ultimately be subject to the cycle of life and death.

In that case, Lennok’s course of action was clear.

Uncaring of Walter’s dumbfounded expression as he looked around, Lennok calmly extended his hand.

Hundreds of golden circles, floating in the air, slowly rotated and began to approach Lennok.

A kaleidoscope endlessly shifting its scenery, reflecting different futures within.

As he contemplated those countless mirrors of branching points, Walter, belatedly understanding the meaning of Lennok’s words, stammered and screamed.

[Im-impossible… You waited to face me from the very beginning…!!]

“…”

[Do you think you can guarantee victory against an Apostle with merely the Archmage stage?! How dare, how dare a lowly unbeliever harbor such arrogance!!!]

Walter huffed, yelling at the top of his lungs.

The Apostle’s telepathic voice reverberated through the empty, dark void.

Simultaneously, the mana erupting from its massive body seized the surroundings and raged fiercely, but nothing changed.

Lennok turned to Walter and said,

“You wouldn’t understand. But this isn’t the conclusion; it’s merely the process.”

[…What?]

Walter asked back, having forgotten even his own way of speaking.

Lennok answered by silently raising his hand.

He does his best to survive. He walks forward without leaving a single moment of doubt.

He spares no means or methods to win, meticulously calculating the odds, yet understands that even that is not enough.

Because he knows that one day he might not be able to fight with a retreat path, and he might have to risk his life against an opponent whose chances of success are uncertain.

Because he knows that a moment of inescapable confrontation will come.

Precisely now, he must pour all his effort into measuring his limits and expanding his horizons.

He doubts and proves at every moment how far the inner scenery of his Mind Imprint, created with all his heart, can reach.

This is possible because Lennok was born into this world with a different vessel and will from other ordinary wizards.

It is a yearning granted only to those who truly crave life and pray for their remaining time, not merely those who seek to improve their skills and mastery.

A desperate, pleading longing for life within Lennok awakens.

The answer was decided from the beginning.

The crimson grimoire in Lennok’s hand. Through the catalyst obtained by defeating Gionis in the Volcanic Zone, he grasps one of the most powerful branching points.

WHOOSH!!

The golden light shining brightly behind him was overlaid with crimson flames, rapidly engulfing the void and instantly flipping the inner scenery, drawing it into the cosmos.

The chief disciple of Blaiver Tower, one of the Five Flame Pillars.

A non-existent future unfolds here, a future where she, following the Tower Master, plunged into the endless inferno of war and broke through countless battlefields of fire.

The moment he opened his eyes, everything had changed.

WHIRL!!!

A scorching wind, hot enough to burn flesh, blew.

What unfolded before him was not a magnificent estate filled with splendid flames, but an endless, pitch-black plateau.

The feast of flames symbolizing his will was nowhere to be seen; instead, a scorched and withered hill of ashes unfolded before the Apostle and the wizard.

Above the sky, darkened to the point of being unable to see an inch ahead, faint rings of light were visible.

Against the black sky where a total eclipse was occurring, Lennok gazed up at the Apostle’s colossal body.

Domain Deployment: Branching Point Observation.

Origin Hierarchy Mind Imprint Manifestation.

[Black Sun Eclipse (黑解曜辰落)]

There was no trace of flame within the Domain’s scenery, but the heat rising from this ash-covered field was unmistakably the essence of the fire attribute.

Lennok, standing on the debris of a world consumed by fire, exhaled smoke.

“Here I come.”

WOOSH!!

With those words, the black sky, which had only shone with rings of light, began to violently churn.