Chapter 422: New Magic System (2)
Level 8, Peak of Extremes.
The ultimate power one can reach by truly transcending Hierarchy, going beyond the seven stages of Self-transformation.
Wizards who reach this point are revered, called by the simple yet clear title of Archmage.
But is moving beyond an already complete Hierarchy truly the path to perfection?
Can the form one takes after completing the seven designated levels as a superhuman truly be called a better completion?
Drip, drip…!
Even after fully deploying the Ouroboros magic system and absorbing the power of the Military Spirits, the blood flowing from his body did not stop.
The wizard, gripping his side with a dazed expression, looked utterly pathetic.
“A spiral of gold and fresh blood… truly beautiful.”
Madrich gazed at Lennok, then spoke.
“But with great power comes a fitting price. Even if your talent truly reaches the heavens, it is a power that cannot be obtained without sacrificing everything.”
“…”
“You pursue perfection, yet you hold a contradiction that can never be reached. Do you realize that the very name of it goes against reason?”
Madrich spoke, watching Lennok slowly lose strength and fall from the upper levels of the Soul Requiem Tower.
“You too must be nearing your limit. Neither of us is in a position to be leisurely.”
Thud!!
As Lennok’s body hit the middle of the sandy beach, dust billowed.
Ruptured organs and bones, and joints. A searing pain incessantly pricking his mind.
But what weighed down Lennok’s body, already plastered with all sorts of medicine, was not just the aftermath of the intense battle, but the spiraling halo behind his back.
Madrich’s words were not wrong.
The Ouroboros magic system.
It purports to be a perpetual motion machine that analyzes, understands, and converts all existing power sources, but such power comes with a fitting price.
Each time the magic system is activated to absorb and seize such power and Mind Imprints, a corresponding price must be paid.
Now that the magic system had been amplified and manifested using the trigger of the sorcery Grisha used, the price demanded of Lennok was blood.
The moment Lennok grasped the Mind Imprints of the four Military Spirits, he was also being deprived of an equivalent amount of blood to maintain the magic system.
Ouroboros is by no means a power that perfectly circulates on its own, advancing infinitely.
It is merely the result of countless powers and Mind Imprints converging, seizing and extorting everything from oneself and others to maintain that craving and motive force.
Could this truly be called a power close to perfection? Lennok already knew that it was not.
Completing a Hierarchy is, in itself, becoming complete as a superhuman.
Taking one more step beyond that can be called overcoming, but in a sense, it is also returning to an incomplete state.
Abandoning the closest state to perfection that can be reached while bearing the shackles of a living, breathing human, and stepping back onto an incomplete path.
But even knowing that, Lennok believed this was by no means the wrong answer.
For the countless Ascendants he had encountered in this world were also never perfect or complete beings.
Knowing that even the great figures of the human world, who had transcended the Peak of Extremes and obtained the qualification to challenge ascension, could not let go of their lingering attachments until the very end of their lives.
He did not hesitate even a little to transcend a completed Hierarchy.
Whoooosh…!
Lennok’s body was battered, and his face turned pale from the loss of blood, but conversely, the magic rotating within his body grew exponentially.
He had achieved the extreme state of exaltation he reached by absorbing Jindun’s residual magic in the Hanghasa Labyrinth, by sacrificing his own body.
He did not stop, knowing that even the slightest misstep would cause him to lose balance and collapse between life and death.
Had he not risked his life fighting countless monsters for this very moment, trying to observe and understand their visions, Mind Imprints, and Miniature Universe Domains?
It was fine if his body could no longer move. As long as his thoughts and magic could still function, there were plenty of ways he could attempt before this time ran out.
Shlurrpp!
Magic threads extended from Lennok’s weakly fallen body, pulling him up as if raising a doll.
Creak…!
The Soul Requiem Tower, soaring high into the sky, at some point tilted towards Madrich, and the vengeful spirits screaming inside poured down upon the Military Spirit Sorcerer’s body.
“…”
“…”
Lennok, leaning precariously, and Madrich, with thousands of vengeful spirits weighing heavily on his shoulders, faced each other.
Without anyone going first, their hands moved.
[Screw Thunder Kill: Pierce]
[Six Finger Command]
[Linked Air Reflection]
Kwaaang!!!
From the enormous magic circle rising behind Lennok, dozens of streams of lightning barrage poured out, illuminating the night sky.
At the same time, they collided with the wave of ethereal energy Madrich extended, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
Two sorcerers, who had relentlessly closed the distance amidst the intense barrage of firepower, clashed simultaneously.
They stirred the magic in their hands, extending their intent in all directions.
A clear will, based on immense power, transformed into a miracle projected onto reality.
Dozens of branches of magic and spells burst forth at close range from the two sorcerers who did not fear close combat.
[Grand Flower Soaring Azure]
[Ghost Convergence]
Dudududu!!!
A violent noise, like blades being sharpened in the air, incessantly reverberated.
Faded lightning and backflowing magic. Flashes of light intersected dozens of times before their eyes, bouncing and missing, narrowly grazing the two sorcerers’ bodies before disappearing.
“Hoo…!”
Every single moment of leaning forward on two legs and brushing magic with his fingers was recognized and felt.
Every spell and branch of magic unleashed at every moment had clear grounds and intentions, and an intense battle where even a single oversight would lead to a fatal wound.
Even amidst the projection of firepower, which was difficult to properly confirm with the naked eye, he perceived and received everything.
Kugwagwagwa!!!
Each time the two sorcerers’ magic and Military Spirit sorcery, unleashed with full power, collided, the atmosphere burned to its limit and turned into plasma.
Spheres of heat, rising like small suns in various parts of the coastline, rotated and burst, sweeping away and evaporating sand and seawater.
Shockwaves, bursting forth with every gesture, lined up in all directions and shot up into the sky.
The wizard, swaying incessantly, somehow waving his hands, and the young Military Spirit Sorcerer, fearlessly delving into the gaps.
“Damn it…!”
But even as the almost equally fierce battle continued, it was the young man’s face that constantly distorted.
Each time he wielded the heavily burdened power of vengeful spirits with Military Spirit sorcery, the double spiral rising behind Lennok rotated, directly devouring that power whole.
Wazajajak!!
It didn’t end there; on the contrary, it rapidly inflated the sorcerer’s magic, an absurd situation where the power he unleashed returned as an even stronger attack.
[Open Lightning: Outer Link]
Pazzzzzzzk!!!
Even high-level lightning-based magic, which normally required pre-casting, now skipped the process and only manifested its destructive power, striking with his condition extremely elevated.
In the dark night sky, a massive breath of lightning burst forth above the pure white bridge pier.
Kwaaang!!!
But Madrich also reacted in an instant, twisting his body to somehow avoid the vital points and receive the attack.
An evasion chosen from the realm of prediction and intuition, close to precognition, unbelievable for mere fast reaction speed.
In a spirit more elevated than ever, Madrich’s intuition gave him an answer close to certainty, which naturally flowed from his lips.
“Die…!”
Simultaneously manifesting a Mind Imprint that ground the very existence of vengeful spirits into oblivion, pushing the distortion of physical laws to the extreme.
Eight giant ethereal scythes that had appeared in mid-air rotated as if permeating through shadows, piercing and twisting through Lennok’s barriers.
[Spiritless]
Kagagak!!!
But instead of counting the remaining uses of blink magic, Lennok reached out his hand towards the sky.
At the same time, the spiraling light rotating behind his back intensified further, delivering an immeasurable light of magic to his fingertips.
[Lightning Seal]
It was a magic he didn’t use lightly.
Perhaps because it was part of the ultimate technique he had first awakened and understood on his own in an awakened state when he became aware of his unique magic.
It was powerful, consumed a lot of cost, and sometimes contained a part of Lennok’s Mind Imprint.
The torrent of lightning that had just burst forth behind Madrich now gathered back into Lennok’s hand as if time was rewinding, twisting into a completely different form.
Pazzzzzk…!!
A pure white flash burst forth from between his slightly bent fingers. Amidst it, a distinct golden halo, impossible to hide, shimmered.
A lightning-based ultimate technique, directly projecting Lennok’s firm will, transformed into a dazzling radiance cutting across the night sky.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!!!
A heat that felt as if all the basic matter composing his body, as well as his mind, memories, and even his spirit, would be swept away and vanish.
Beyond simply hot and heavy, its ferocity, which fragmented and crushed his senses, was acutely felt until the moment consciousness snapped.
“Aaaargh!!!”
Madrich’s body, flung backward by a massive shockwave from where he stood, was thrown dozens of meters upwards, barely stopping as he collapsed on top of the Soul Requiem Tower.
“No… This can’t be…!! How could a mere unique magic…!!?”
Madrich, who had not expected the relentless exchange to end this way, twisted his body weakly.
“It’s not over, nothing is over yet!!!”
Bang!!
The moment he desperately pounded the spire of the Soul Requiem Tower with both hands, the night sky began to violently rotate around the colossal Soul Requiem Tower rising behind his back.
As if time flowed thousands of times faster, countless starlight spun in vast concentric circles across the sky.
Space itself distorted, converging into a single point, an illusion as if being sucked into Madrich’s back, standing against the full moon.
All the Military Spirits highly condensed within the tower surged upwards over the head of the Military Spirit Sorcerer, who stood tall on the summit of the Soul Requiem Tower.
Fwaaaat!!
Military Spirit Sorcery Ultimate Technique
[Heroic Spirit Command: Function Reversion]
“If it must be taken, I’ll inflate it so much it bursts, making it impossible to swallow…!!!”
Madrich, letting out a booming roar, simultaneously raised a finger towards Lennok, and thousands of vengeful spirits that had soared into the sky from the Soul Requiem Tower descended and seized Lennok’s limbs.
“Will you be able to understand and swallow even my judgment!!!”
Immediately after, a colossal giant appeared, tearing space apart above the Soul Requiem Tower.
With a massive ethereal scythe in one hand, it glared down at the ground and extended a pale hand towards Lennok.
It was one of Madrich Onnion’s Military Spirit Sorcery ultimate techniques used in the war era decades ago.
A fragment of his prime, where he judged sinners and made their spirits and bodies his Military Spirits, creating a legion by himself.
[Proclamation of Oblivion]
There was only one verdict for a traitor who disturbed the order of the city and resisted Madrich’s answer: death penalty.
To forcibly judge the opponent’s spirit and body, and even claim their fruits as his Military Spirits, forever advancing towards his answer.
Even directly facing the visionary ultimate technique that permeated Madrich Onnion’s entire life, Lennok shook his head.
“Wrong. You still don’t understand.”
“What…?”
Kiiiiiing!!!
At that moment, as if space was splitting and the other side of reality was opening, a golden kaleidoscope emerged behind the giant holding the scythe.
A landscape of an alien form, distinctly different from the shapes and radiance of Military Spirit sorcery.
Madrich’s expression stiffened as he finally realized that this golden ring was not his power.
“No, wait… This isn’t it…!! What on earth is that…!”
If the owner of the power emerging within this Domain was not Madrich, then whose was this magnificent kaleidoscope landscape?
It didn’t take long to find the answer.
Madrich’s enraged gaze instantly turned to Lennok, who was precariously hanging below the Soul Requiem Tower.
“You bastard!!!”
“Instead of your Self-transformation Domain, which isn’t specialized for combat, you forcibly manifested the functions you used in the past? Truly amazing.”
Lennok, having painfully gotten up, brushed his hair back with a tired face and smiled.
“But trying to discern my magic system and forcibly inflating the spell’s power out of concern was a mistake. Your sharp intuition became your poison.”
“No way, no way…!! You mean you interfered with my spell and twisted its direction…!! How dare a mere Archmage like you!!”
Madrich knew that Lennok paid a price for seizing the opponent’s power.
To prevent that, he had forcibly inflated the scale and firepower of the spell, even consuming the Soul Requiem Tower, but…
Instead of forcibly seizing the Military Spirit sorcery using Ouroboros, Lennok had inversely used the fractured other side of space as a foothold to deploy the kaleidoscope.
With the Mind Imprints of the four Military Spirits already converted into power, the output was sufficient.
The partial manifestation of the Domain, which had previously been unable to be used due to insufficient output, now perfectly formed and began to reveal itself.
“This cannot be!! This cannot be!!!”
The confusion stemming from the fact that Madrich himself was not the only one who had been biding his time.
The incompetence and ignorance of not having realized the young wizard’s ploy.
But more than anything, what overwhelmed Madrich’s mind was the fury from seeing the landscape of the answer he thought was perfect being helplessly used by his opponent.
He could not accept it.
The fact that Madrich Onnion’s own most powerful spells, from his prime, were so easily distorted and moved by another wizard’s hand.
To accept and acknowledge that very fact was tantamount to denying and demolishing Madrich’s entire way of life and his answers.
The powerful self-righteousness and stubbornness, the arrogance that blinded his eyes, instead transformed into a powerful force supporting Madrich Onnion.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
The colossal ethereal giant with a scythe, rising into the night sky, gripped the long scythe with both hands and swung it.
An incredibly vast and heavy wave of ethereal energy, too much for one person, one being, one spirit to bear.
The moment it struck Lennok with a powerful wave of annihilation that transcended actual physical force, seeking to erase existence itself.
Crack, crack, crack!!!
An ice pillar of unimaginable size blocked Madrich’s view.
“An ideal that cannot be disturbed by anyone. A paradise that nothing can invade. I can understand what you dream of and desire.”
Lennok looked up at Madrich.
More precisely, at the dazzling golden kaleidoscope emerging behind him.
The moment he perceived and understood it, it was already close enough to be grasped in Lennok’s hand.
“But I am here to find an answer that transcends all those interests.”
If what he obtained to reach Level 7 was a kaleidoscope that emitted infinitely possible branching points.
What was needed to reach Level 8 was the spiral landscape that converged all those possibilities into a single point.
The miracle possible because he fully held that immense output in his hands now burst forth through the kaleidoscope, spreading in all directions.
[Domain Expansion: Branch Point Observation]
[Partial Manifestation: Reality Alteration]
[Origin Hierarchy Image Manifestation]
[Imperial Void Ice Repository]
Crack, crack, crack!!!
Thousands of liters of seawater that Madrich had raised began to freeze entirely.
The ocean, holding an unimaginable vast amount of seawater. A partial manifestation of the ice Domain, using the most expansive and powerful water source on this star as a medium.
Dududududu!!!
Under Lennok’s gesture, the immense seawater, rising as if rotating, froze solid.
Colossal ice rings, all encircling the huge Soul Requiem Tower, slanted and shot up in an instant.
Not a single trajectory overlapped as they furiously rotated and unified. A vast ice asteroid was manifested in this very place.
Kugwagwagwa!!!!
A colossal ice prison, as if the entire sea had been lifted, poured, and frozen.
Cold ice pillars, extending from within, pierced Madrich’s limbs and fixed him in mid-air.
Popopopop!!
“Kahak…!”
The grand and magnificent form surrounding the Soul Requiem Tower was as elegant as a temple.
The entire sea was frozen, and upon it, a colossal ice temple was built in its center.
In the center of the Soul Requiem Tower, which slowly began to freeze along with the space itself, Madrich, realizing that everything had lost its meaning, screamed.
“No… No…!!”
It slowly stopped.
His own body, newly manifested within the Domain.
His long-cherished wish, which had climbed the Soul Requiem Tower without end.
The immense spiritual power surging through his entire body and the power of the Miniature Universe wandering around him.
Even the powerful desire that had never lost its fervor, and the cognitive ability and mind that remembered and replayed it.
All of it froze, halting its steps and slowly being forgotten.
A chilling breath, reversing the world’s natural order of movement and disorder, seizing and permeating all heat sources and power that Madrich Onnion possessed.
That cold breath was taking away not only himself but also all the hopes and wishes he had gathered at this naval base.
Wizard of the Pill 423