Chapter 417: Truth and Requiem (2)

The sound of crashing waves faded, transforming into a serene silence.

Following Madrich, I passed through the open stone door and walked down an endless corridor.

“I didn’t realize even that old man was one of your Military Spirits.”

Lennok, surveying his surroundings with an impassive face, said.

“I wondered why he emphasized the rules of the race so strangely. He didn’t appear until the gang was annihilated, so I thought he’d fled.”

“The Grimoire Gang’s Hundred Demons’ Night Parade is one of the few remaining means by which I can procure Military Spirits.”

The old man, Madrich, who had replied with a cold voice, waved his hand, and the corridor’s scenery instantly changed.

Whoosh!

Countless glass display cases were laid out along the expanding corridor. Inside them, different urns were neatly arranged.

As Lennok briefly paused, speechless, at the sight of the countless urns on display, Madrich, who had already moved among them, spoke.

“They were managed separately because of their efficiency in maintaining the Military Spirit ritual form. I just didn’t expect them to be wiped out by a single wizard.”

“You had hidden the terminals of your Military Spirits within Achilles’ security network.”

Lennok replied, wiping dust from an urn with his finger.

“It must have been necessary for you to communicate through the Military Spirits without directly intervening. It wasn’t difficult.”

“Achilles’ network is undeniably top-tier among the above-ground corporations. You must know how much a security company cares about internal control.”

The man, walking ahead with his hands clasped behind his back, let out a sneer.

“Your ability to penetrate it and precisely seize the coordinates of the terminals related to me is what’s abnormal.”

…

Even if Davi was a powerful Cyber-Spirit, directly breaching a security network without any medium or keyword would be difficult.

At that time, the reason for connecting to Achilles’ security network was using their company’s Technical Strategy Team Leader as a living biological terminal within the Cyber-Domain to access the network.

However, there was no reason to explain the detailed circumstances if Madrich didn’t know them.

As the sluggish conversation, probing each other’s thoughts, continued, the old man finally spoke first.

“Is that all you wish to ask?”

The old man, glancing back, met Lennok’s eyes precisely.

“I believe your refusal of my offer and decision to come here yourself implies you desperately crave some answers.”

“We’ve already confirmed what we each want.”

Lennok responded indifferently.

“The Black Consumer Project. You said you couldn’t speak about it due to the prohibition, but you could show it, didn’t you?”

…

“Kaiser and Alkaid. What happened after the project failed?”

Lennok asked.

“I want to know what kind of grave mistake occurred that still allows your influence to reach the highest echelons of the City Government.”

“How remarkably frank. It’s been a long time since someone dared utter that name in my presence.”

Madrich burst into laughter.

“There was a time when merely speaking that name would warrant a crime equivalent to treason.”

He said this while strolling through the endless exhibition of urns.

“That’s because their contributions were immense, and their mistakes were equally grave. Having personally witnessed the failure of the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade, I couldn’t repeat the same mistake.”

“The failure of the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade…”

Lennok’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“That must mean you participated in the Ascension Plans that determined the fate of two cities.”

The Hundred Demons’ Night Parade of the Military Spirit City, Yorta.

The Black Consumer Project of the mega-city, Vulcan.

Though different in time and method, they both shared the single goal of ascension. This implies he was involved in both colossal undertakings, doesn’t it?

“Did you participate in the Vulcan project, drawing on the experience of the failure in Yorta, and achieve your current status through that process?”

“As I told you before, I cannot personally speak of the project’s specific secrets.”

Madrich replied leisurely.

“The prohibition left by Alkaid is terribly potent and lethal; it forbids even uttering its name or existence first.”

…

Could it be that because Lennok had first recognized and mentioned Alkaid, Madrich was also able to refer to it?

“However, explaining why I still exert influence over this city is not difficult.”

Whoosh…!!

The end of the corridor gradually widened, then transformed into a vast, open space.

A pure white light seeped in, and a warm, clear luminescence shone down on their faces.

Madrich’s Military Spirit, with the clear light behind him, fully turned his body to face Lennok.

“It was a project initiated with dreams of eternity, but not a few desired insurance. As people who clung to life with extreme tenacity, they wanted guarantees for the continuation of time.”

A magnificent yet neatly adorned pure white cavern, extending straight from the urn display area where cold air had just lingered.

In the center of the display wall, filled with thousands of urns, a colossal giant sat upright, its hands clasped together.

The giant’s face, appearing hundreds of times larger than an ordinary human’s, was pallid, and its flesh was gnawed away in places, revealing bone fragments within.

Hundreds of elongated glass tubes, seemingly more than that, hung suspended by cords from its arms, knees, shoulders, neck, head, inner eye sockets, hands, and feet.

A bizarre sight, as if the giant’s body was supporting hundreds of glass tubes.

From the countless shelves on the cavern wall behind the giant, thousands of urns lined up, looking down upon the two men.

At that moment, Lennok was struck speechless by the truly bizarre and outlandish scenery.

The giant, which had been motionless as if dead, and the old man standing before Lennok, began to move their mouths simultaneously.

“Even if it is merely a sweet illusion, a hollow shell.”

[Even if it is merely a sweet illusion, a hollow shell.]

“…This can’t be.”

Only then did Lennok realize Madrich’s true form, opening his mouth in a daze.

The giant’s wretched appearance, as if long dead, with only slivers of flesh barely clinging to its bones.

That was Madrich Onnion’s true identity.

A giant race, with a physique far surpassing that of ordinary humans. To think that the identity of the Military Spirit Sorcerer, who had survived since the city’s founding, was not even a pure human.

The giant’s form utterly shattered the prejudice that, having long served as the head of a judicial institution, he would possess an ordinary human physique.

Madrich looked down at Lennok and spoke again.

[This ossuary is a requiem for the dead. And at the same time, it is the last sanctuary for those who have not yet given up on life.]

…

[Since the project’s failure, I have been embracing these wretched souls who could not abandon their lingering attachments to life.]

“…So that’s it. That’s why you could exert such powerful influence over the City Government’s high-ranking officials.”

Lennok nodded.

“You forcibly extended the time for those who couldn’t abandon their fear of death, and used the hope of an afterlife as bait to ensnare their spirits and bodies.”

Most high-ranking officials of the mega-city, much like their immense power, boast considerable age.

It’s obvious that unless one becomes a superhuman who has completed a formidable Hierarchy, their remaining lifespan is fixed.

Madrich Onnion, by providing a space where such individuals could postpone death, exerted immense influence over the City Government at the boundary between this world and the next.

“Was your role in the project not to ensure its success, but to create insurance for the investors?”

Olivera’s statement that the project’s scope was so vast that there wasn’t much overlap in what they knew was not a lie.

All Madrich Onnion, as a Military Spirit Sorcerer, could do for those facing death was to turn them into his Military Spirits and exploit them.

To forcibly postpone death, they were bound by the Military Spirit magic, continuing an existence worse than a corpse.

Unaware that their very existence could be extinguished at the sorcerer’s will at any time.

The giant, Madrich Onnion, laughed.

[The folly of choosing a rest worse than death out of fear of it has not changed, then or now.]

…

[Those who wield Military Spirit magic often warn that no one is free from death, and only lingering attachments remain. But even after hearing the truth, people do not change.]

Madrich said.

[Ignorance breeds fear. The unknown is terrifying. The incomprehensible is an object of dread. Military Spirit magic is a technique that harnesses that foolishness and contradiction as its source of power, but… even Yorta, a city composed of such sorcerers, could not escape that very contradiction.]

Yorta’s plan, the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade, which aimed to gather all spirits and bodies in this world to build a bridge to ascension.

Lennok didn’t fully know what devastation the failure of that plan, created with the secrets of Military Spirit magic, brought upon the city of Yorta, but it was clear that it was a deeply painful mistake for them.

Even the great Military Spirit Sorcerer, who had lived for hundreds of years, killing hundreds, even thousands, and collecting spirits, had his voice subtly tremble whenever he mentioned the failure of the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade.

A clear emotional tremor, not uncommon among superhumans who have lived for a long time.

It was a projection of intense emotion, rarely encountered in life, but Lennok remembered seeing something similar before.

Maiya, the enforcer from the Machine City, whom he met in Jindun’s Hanghasa Labyrinth, also reacted similarly whenever the failure of the Ascension Gate was mentioned.

How excruciating and fatal that failure must have been, for those who regret and cannot forget that moment to still wander even after decades, centuries.

Was it said that the act of challenging ascension itself was great?

But the challenge of those who lack qualifications is all the more disastrous when it ends in failure.

Lennok was facing a being who had personally carved that simple yet hard-to-grasp truth into their very soul after a painful failure.

The giant’s hollow gaze bore down on Lennok’s shoulders.

[The catastrophe that occurs when the bridge to ascension is severed cannot be simply described in words. In that hell where the laws of causality are twisted and natural order is inverted, individual lives are but trifles.]

…

[After experiencing such a failure, even those who denied it with all their heart and soul come to accept something.]

“What?”

[That if destruction cannot be avoided, they want to survive themselves and move towards the next… a very selfish yet pure desire.]

As the giant’s finger twitched, the glass tube resting on its fingertip shook, and something slipped out from within.

Splosh!!

As a greenish liquid spilled onto the ground, it slowly rose and transformed into a human form on the spot.

A naked man, without a single stitch of clothing, rose from the ground, slowly approached Lennok, and spoke.

The voices of the old man standing beside him, the naked man, and the giant echoed, overlapping.

“If you wish, I will give you the opportunity to realize that most primal desire.”

“An opportunity to realize desire…”

“The end of all living things is approaching. You already know this, don’t you?”

…

“Everyone must sense it. That’s why we cannot be negligent in our preparations. Before the power overflowing in this city becomes uncontrollable, we must select and refine the necessary talents.”

A powerful control mechanism encompassing both the above-ground and underground. Do they intend to unify the mega-city’s power and act before time runs out?

The new project was one of the fresh attempts for that grand plan.

Madrich’s cold gaze landed precisely on Lennok’s face.

“If you learn Military Spirit magic and gain control over the spirits of living humans, you too can participate in building the bridge at the end of the abyss and advance to what’s next. You can do it. You can become the blade that best suits our purpose in this city.”

He had suspected it since Madrich Onnion first attempted conversation, but it was confirmed by his words just now.

Rather than antagonizing Lennok, he was actively trying to exploit his talent and abilities for the city’s benefit.

Mentioning his own abilities and the secret that high-ranking City Government officials wished to postpone death was also likely to incite Lennok’s desires.

Perhaps it’s because the only thing that matters is the control over Vulcan’s above-ground and underground, regardless of its form.

Apart from partnering with Achilles security company to build a defense system, did they think Lennok’s existence could provide comparable control?

“…Certainly not a bad offer.”

Lennok smiled.

While he had received recruitment and persuasion attempts from many organizations and factions, this was the first time he had personally heard such a concrete and elaborate plan.

Control encompassing both the above-ground and underground, after all, tends to originate from unaligned military power.

It was a rather unfamiliar plan, but it was hard to say that the idea or logic itself was flawed.

If one moves alone instead of deeply aligning with any one side, is it possible to reach the city’s core in this way?

Having clearly recognized this, Lennok could make his decision.

“And I also clearly understand that there’s no need to make a deal with you.”

“…What?”

“Head of a judicial institution. Powerful Military Spirit Sorcerer. Project associate… but ultimately, all the power you possess originates from this ossuary.”

Madrich Onnion had told him various things to persuade him, but Lennok had never once averted his gaze from the core essence.

“Pretexts like having connections in the Elder Council or being the architect of a new project are irrelevant.”

Lennok smiled, gazing at the silent, naked man.

“The condition remains. If you want to use me as a blade, tell me what happened in the project.”

What good is being a massive figure, an influential person, a high-ranking City Government official, and a powerful incumbent?

Everything Madrich said was ultimately just an offer to work under them in exchange for the project’s secrets.

He had no intention of abandoning all his past actions and bowing his head for such a trifle.

“…The project, that damn project… Do you really think it holds such immense value?”

The man, who had been bowing his head, quietly asked.

At that moment, the pure white cavern of the ossuary where the two stood began to tremble slightly.

“The Black Consumer Project was not a plan for the future. It was a turning point of doom, rushing towards destruction. Have you truly still not understood why no one dares mention its secrets?”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Lennok said that, then pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

He flicked his finger to light it, inhaled deeply, then spoke.

“It’s something I’ll decide after seeing and hearing everything with my own eyes and ears. But you’re not just reluctant; you’re afraid.”

…

“You used the failure of the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade as your own driving force, yet you’re afraid to even mention the project’s failure?”

Madrich’s words were so firmly steeped in his own ideology and beliefs that, conversely, it wasn’t difficult to deduce his emotions.

This wasn’t because Madrich was clumsy at hiding his thoughts, but rather because he hadn’t needed to hide them for an extremely long time.

Someone demanding the truth from him, someone proposing a deal, someone standing before him in opposition like this.

For this Chief Justice, who had lived for so long, it must have been the first time in decades.

“…You know nothing.”

“I don’t want to be afraid of mere failure. Nor does it seem likely.”

That’s why Lennok could unhesitatingly break through that temporal void and question him.

He touched Madrich’s most sensitive reverse scale without hesitation, provoking and awakening the emotions he had hidden deep within.

“At least, I can’t quite imagine such a person standing at the end of the world.”

He negated and scoffed at every answer Madrich had yearned for throughout his life, right from the root.

The repercussions were beyond anything Lennok could have imagined.

“Is that so? Can you still speak like that after knowing what was born at the end of the project?”

At that moment, the mouths of the man and the old man standing before Lennok opened simultaneously.

Black sparks began to fly from the inside of their lips.

Crrrackle!!!

An extremely violent collapse, as if preemptively recognizing and blocking the words about to be spoken.

A premonition of the prohibition knot, created by binding their own power, twisting, tangling, and breaking apart.

The corners of both their mouths tore straight open along the sparks, their jawbones shattered, and their tongues were crushed.

At the moment Lennok frowned at the utterly desperate side effect of the prohibition, which suppressed and destroyed their own speech with their own power.

The two men, clutching their lower jaws which had begun to completely collapse, spoke simultaneously.

“The Black Consumer, Project’s failure, caused the, central city’s, downfall, even if it’s-agh-gah-gah!!”

Crunch-crunch-crunch!!

At that moment, the heads of the two men standing before Lennok crumpled inward, burrowing into their necks and spewing fountains of blood.

They rejected, yet also accepted, expressing any intention whatsoever, by their own will.

Thus, the heads that had burrowed into their own bodies ripped out their own hearts and tore apart all their blood vessels, staining them crimson.

The most perfect method of silencing conceivable by the afflicted party. A miracle that manifested all such actions directly through their own bodies.

Lennok stepped back, watching the two Military Spirits instantly vanish into mere handfuls of blood.

“…So that’s it.”

The prohibition’s effect didn’t end with just the Military Spirit; it reached the main body, the giant.

This was the extent of the prohibition’s penalty, even with Madrich Onnion, a Military Spirit Sorcerer, distributing it using his Military Spirits.

It was a power that made Olivera’s complete silence about the project’s secrets understandable.

Because he was a powerful sorcerer and superhuman, when the knot he had bound with his own power broke, it created an even more horrific agony.

But more than that, Madrich’s last words had completely filled Lennok’s mind.

“The destruction of the central city, Ars Nova. Was its cause a byproduct of the Black Consumer Project’s failure?”