Chapter 548: Kaiser (5)

Kaiser’s existence, detached and remaining in a timeline decades ago. Lennok had spoken directly with him, confirming what kind of man Kaiser was and the troubles he carried. But Kaiser, too, had not left Lennok alone without thought.

Perhaps his research had already succeeded. Perhaps this very space existed as the fruit of that successful research. Continually nurturing that faint suspicion, he succeeded in reaching the answer.

“I… I don’t know what answer I can give to that question,” Lennok replied, deliberating. “No one can tell you the outcome of the project anymore. I came to find you to confirm that.”

Even knowing that Kaiser had instantly seen through most of his plan, Lennok answered calmly. He couldn’t rashly antagonize Kaiser here. Provoking Kaiser, who held control of the research, was incredibly dangerous, especially when he didn’t know how far his other team members had progressed into the Sealed Zone.

“Do you want a definitive answer about what happens in the future?” Lennok countered. “If I were to tell you everything I know, would you simply believe it?”

“…”

“Of course not. Ultimately, you can’t believe something unless you see and judge it for yourself. You wouldn’t even want to believe it.” Lennok smiled coldly, watching the silent Kaiser. “That’s why you started such grand research in the first place, to change the world, isn’t it?”

Without an answer based on his own judgment, he would never be able to accept the outcome. Wasn’t that why he suffered and anguished, wandering in this moment, unable to find an answer? The strange sense of unease Lennok felt while helping Kaiser with his research. It wasn’t just because of the research’s content and goals, but because Lennok’s feelings, as he looked at Kaiser, were like looking into a mirror.

They weren’t different. And Lennok already knew what that fact implied.

Kaiser’s expression subtly changed as he listened. “I see. I understand what you’re saying. You weren’t Alkaid… He would never speak of the future and its outcome like that.”

With an expression mixed with complex emotions, as if laughing and crying, Kaiser slightly lowered his head. “But even if it’s just a lie, you don’t know what it means to be able to call yourself by that name. Perhaps you aren’t even aware of it yourself.”

“…What?”

“It’s proof of the worst possible future, and the qualification for the possibility of things spreading in the most terrible direction.”

At that moment, a faint ringing sound echoed behind Lennok. Ch-thud! A golden staff slammed down behind him, blocking Lennok’s retreat. It was the bronze-skinned apostate monk, standing with a demonic face, looking down at him.

From the distant sky, the blatant flapping of iron wings could be clearly felt. Without realizing it, the sharp, imposing presence of superhumans, who had seamlessly surrounded the entire power room and focused solely on Lennok, was now evident.

Standing at their center, Kaiser, who had been watching Lennok with his arms crossed, spoke. “Simply uttering that name is enough to make one consider every worst possible scenario.”

“…”

“For a very long time, we have tried to understand and utilize its essence. Because we believed that if we found every failure and reached the intersection in the opposite direction, an answer would ultimately exist at the end.”

Did it mean that because the name Alkaid implied the worst possibilities, they had anticipated catastrophe from the moment they faced Lennok? Once every possible coincidence and failure had been found and identified, only inevitable success would remain at the end.

Lennok didn’t know the precise meaning of those words, but he understood why Kaiser was saying them. Alkaid wasn’t simply the name of a specific person or the alias of an organization. It was a kind of qualification, and a proof closer to ignominy than anything else.

“According to the hypothesis I established, regardless of what happens in the future, the ‘Spawning’ phenomenon must have occurred. If the spacetime fixation research had succeeded, no outcome other than shaping a ‘Vessel’ through Spawning should have been derived.”

Kaiser’s cold gaze landed on Lennok’s face. “But the fact that it didn’t means that something already exists here to replace the Vessel.”

“…”

“Either you yourself are the Vessel, or you have a close connection to it… Answer me, wizard. Which is it?”

Following Kaiser’s emotionless question, a chilling female voice echoed from behind Lennok. [Parden said he brought a new executive, and I wondered what on earth he meant by that…]

Tremendous magical power sharply enveloped the entire power room, rising up. It was a resonance with a presence more overwhelming, desolate, and massive than anyone else present. [A rat had snuck in.]

“…”

An immensely powerful ‘Six Harmonies Transmission’ that conveyed will purely through thought. Within her veiled face, the clear light of her Mystic Eye shone with incomparable intensity, and the robes covering her entire body fluttered endlessly.

At this point, it was Parden McQueen’s superior, who had been conducting research with Kaiser but had temporarily left the power plant. The Chairman of the Cartel, and an 8-level Mystic Eye user. Olivera Ron Maize had realized the entire truth and arrived at this place.

[Step back, Kaiser. Focus on protecting the spacetime fixation device with your Defying Heaven power.] She said, walking casually past McQueen and unhesitatingly down the power room corridor. [I will deal with this one personally.]

Kwooooh! With each step forward, the destructive residual magic would coil up around her. Overwhelming confidence and certainty seemed to emanate from her, spreading through the air, following her imposing aura.

It meant that Olivera herself was not merely a high-level sorcerer, but a warrior who had survived countless life-or-death moments on innumerable battlefields.

Lennok stared at her for a moment, then bent down and picked up the staff that had fallen to the floor. “I still don’t know what you mean by ‘Vessel.’ Or what that name means to you.”

“…”

“But I understand that you’ve decided my existence hinders your research… So I have one last question.”

Lennok brushed off the dust from his staff and turned his gaze to Kaiser. “Even if this moment is just a dream, do you intend to complete your research?”

“From the moment I faced the nightmare of the world’s destruction, I have never strayed from that dream,” Kaiser chuckled. “I’ll consider your advice after putting everything here back to its original state.”

“I see,” Lennok smiled.

“This arrogant bastard, how long will he keep spouting such abominable lies…!” Parden McQueen, veins bulging on his forehead, let out a roar and rapidly drew up his main force. It must have been unbearable for McQueen himself to have been completely fooled by a single business card with Olivera’s signature.

Or perhaps he hated seeing Lennok casually conversing with Kaiser even after all the lies had been exposed? The main force gathered in the staff instantly transformed into a slash of a ‘Liberation Protocol’, fired with the momentum to blow off Lennok’s head.

“Fulfill your responsibility by dying!” Kwoaaang! The hallway of the power room was engulfed in flames and explosively shattered by the sheer impact, and Kaiser, too, rapidly drew up his magic to protect the operating machinery.

With the crimson ceiling of the flame-engulfed power room above, Lennok emerged from between the ruined corridors. “Then it would only be right for me to follow the laws of this era as well.”

Woosh! At that moment, the spacetime fixation device glowing behind Kaiser twisted, scattering its fragments everywhere. Broken parts flew in all directions, and loud warning alarms blared from various points on the device. Waaaaah!

“…!” It was such a sudden anomaly that all the superhumans, who had been completely focused on Lennok, turned their heads. He had used Davi’s hacking ability to twist and unravel the stability of the spacetime fixation device.

“Olivera!” [Kaiser, don’t move.] Olivera’s Mystic Eye, with the veil slightly lifted, shone brightly. [My Mystic Eye is still unpracticed in adjustment, making it difficult to focus even when directly looking. I need time.]

Kii-ing…! The light radiating from her Mystic Eye gently enveloped the shaking spacetime fixation device, beginning to stabilize it. Even with Lennok right before her, it was impossible to instantly stabilize the device without Olivera’s Mystic Eye.

Indeed, the superhumans gathered here were not merely for the purpose of escorting Kaiser. The adjustment had simply finished unexpectedly early with Lennok’s help, but Kaiser had originally intended to use their abilities to proceed with his research. His overlooking Lennok, who had uttered the name Alkaid, must also have been because it was abnormally helpful to his research.

Confirming his hypothesis, Lennok also moved immediately. The moment Lennok stepped forward, the wizard’s figure vanished from that spot. He casually broke through the rays of ‘Liberation Protocol’ slamming down from all directions.

Instantly, his finger, stopping at close range to McQueen, swept across his solar plexus.

Fire-Attribute Unique Magic

Property Transformation: Emanation Manifestation [發散現顯]

[Red Convergence (赤聯通)]

[Fire Construction (築火)]

Kwoaaang! Flames erupted from his fingertips, swelling and exploding beyond the speed of perception. They burst directly from the center of McQueen’s chest, throwing his body backward like a toy.

“As long as Olivera is holding onto the fixation device, she won’t be able to move right away,” Lennok’s eyes gleamed coldly. “Before that, I need to reduce their numbers first.”

“Ughhh!” Following McQueen, who had risen with a shriek and was drawing up his main force again, Lennok relentlessly suppressed him from the very start.

[Skyward Spear (飛蒼)] Dozens of current strands erupted from Lennok’s body, straightening and transforming into massive spears of lightning that rained down.

[Multiple Strikes of Fall (多衆墮極)] Scorching the acupoints throughout his body as if burning them away.

[Spiral Thunder Kill (螺雷殺)] Finally, they converged, forming a gigantic spiral flower, trampling and crushing his body into the ground.

Zzzzzzzzt! McQueen also tried to counter Lennok’s magic in real-time, combining his ‘Liberation Protocol’ and ‘Domain Boundary Pattern’. But before he could even summon Arjumarta, his symbolic summoned beast, all his spell processes and incantations were shattered from the start, turning into ash and dust.

Kwa-kwang! It was such an overwhelming and one-sided offensive that Olivera and Kaiser’s expressions instantly changed as they watched. It was as if Lennok knew exactly how Parden McQueen would start and end a battle.

The very concept of strategic maneuvering and the exchange of blows didn’t even apply. It was hard to believe it was a battle between high-level sorcerers, given the way he seemed to play with his opponent like a toy.

“Aaargh! You… you damned bastard!” How quickly McQueen had been cornered in that brief moment; a colorless wave began to swirl madly from beyond his shadow.

At this time, Parden McQueen’s nature was such that he was disappointed in his own ‘Domain’ and tried to seal it away, not bringing it forth. Yet, he was being pushed to the brink, so overwhelmingly cornered without any means to counter, that he unconsciously tried to deploy his Domain.

The colorless wave that erupted from beneath McQueen’s feet completely inverted, revealing the image of a snow-covered mountain. Domain Deployment: [White Rakshasa Monastery (白蘿察布寺)]

Crackle! Beyond the snowy mountain, the faint outline of an old, magnificent snow-covered temple could be glimpsed. McQueen’s eyes, previously buried in the snow, suddenly regained their vitality, and he jolted his body upright, combining spells.

“I’ll kill you, you wizardddddd!” From the four directions of the temple, gigantic stone statues of demon rakshasas rose, beginning to surround and trap Lennok.

Kii-ing! Simultaneously, a massive vortex of main force rose madly around the snowy mountain, raging. But Lennok’s expression, trapped within, showed no panic or urgency. The wizard observed the construction of the Domain with an infinitely calm and cold gaze, as if waiting for the opportune moment.

The extremely powerful ‘Liberation Protocol’ and the profound essence of ‘Domain Boundary Pattern’, usable only within the Domain, were once again unleashed here. Just before the spell was complete, Lennok’s magic transformed into a single iron spear, penetrating every gap and poised to shatter it in an instant.

Wuzzzzt…! A crack erupted on one side of the snowy mountain landscape, and something shot from outside directly slammed into Lennok.

Kwoaaang! As he registered the immense, near-subsonic impact arriving head-on, the iron wings, which had been standing rigid, powerfully flexed once more on the spot.

A gray flash, having accelerated to its maximum, directly seized and broke through one side of the Domain’s landscape. The landscape of McQueen’s deployed ‘White Rakshasa Monastery’ then collapsed, smashing Lennok’s body out of the power room.

P-boom! The power plant’s corridor completely melted and distorted from the impact and heat, crumpling like aluminum and collapsing. Sharp magical radiance intersected dozens of times amidst the scattering metal fragments and molten heat.

Sparks flew as flashes of lightning erupted, and gun muzzles glinted between the iron wings, alternately spitting fire. Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!

Shockwaves collided, sliding and rebounding multiple times through the collapsing power plant corridor. Surprisingly, the impact’s aftermath, instead of spreading randomly, began to shoot out with a specific direction.

That direction was aimed at the apostate monk’s body, hanging limply behind the iron wings. Even in the hair-trigger moment where offense and defense flipped dozens of times, the opponent was still looking for an opportunity to kill the downed Parden McQueen.

“…!” A sharp judgment and chilling insight, unbelievable for a wizard not specialized in direct combat. Even a cruelly persistent hand that would never let go of a targeted enemy.

The lightning firepower that erupted with a few gestures, as if breathing, sought to choke and twist him to the marrow. If he continued to exchange blows like this, he would be the one dragged into ruin.

As Gileon gritted his teeth and drew up his magic, one of his iron wings redeployed into a palm-like shape. He then used his ‘Spatial Delamination’ ability to forcibly create distance, blasting the opponent dozens of meters away once more.

Kwaang! The wizard’s figure, chasing a trail of light, plunged into the collapsing power plant corridor beyond.

“It would’ve been dangerous if I’d been a moment slower,” Gileon said, flapping his iron wings as he landed, looking back at McQueen whom he was carrying. “If I had deployed that spell just now, you would have died on the spot.”

“Cough, cough! Haaaaah!” McQueen, his face pale and dripping with sweat and saliva, finally gasped for breath wildly, struggling to speak. “I-I almost died… so easily!”

McQueen must have known the shadow of death that had just brushed his chin. The overwhelming despair of being dragged into the swamp of death so easily, unable to do anything, even as he undoubtedly fought desperately before his eyes.

It was an overwhelming offensive that felt so familiar it was sickening, as if he had already been killed once and dissected into pieces. He couldn’t properly resist any of the magic unleashed by that cold-faced wizard for even a single moment.

He only felt as if he were walking towards death, drawn by the outcome, as if the conclusion had already been decided. Only then did McQueen realize why Lennok had chosen him as his first opponent and mercilessly pounded him, causing his body to tremble.

That wizard had truly intended to utterly kill him in this very spot, in less than two minutes of combat. The moment he realized this, the vitality rapidly drained from McQueen’s eyes.

Gileon watched, then helped McQueen’s body to sit against a broken part of the corridor before standing up. “When you recover, return to the power room and protect Kaiser. You understand how crucial his role is in this operation, don’t you?”

Thanks to Gileon’s interference, who had cracked the Domain and intervened, Lennok couldn’t instantly kill McQueen, but he at least succeeded in completely breaking his will to fight. In his current state, it was effectively impossible to face that monstrous wizard any further.

Gileon quickly accepted this and decided to exclude the apostate monk from this battle. “…Alright,” McQueen, clutching his staff bent in half like chopsticks, struggled to stand and asked Gileon. “…What are you going to do?”

“Your disastrous defeat just now wasn’t purely a matter of skill,” Gileon replied calmly, quickly inspecting the iron wings mounted on his back. A confrontation of barely sixty seconds. Yet, a full third of the iron feathers composing the wings had completely lost their power and entered a functional shutdown state.

If he hadn’t forcibly caused a spatial delamination to separate the wizard at the very end, he would have effectively lost his flight capability entirely in this battle. The firepower was not just overwhelming, but terrifying.

But even so, Gileon wasn’t like McQueen, who had been beaten senseless from the start, unable to do anything. It was proof not only of the difference in their skill levels but also of a secret existing between McQueen and Lennok that they didn’t know.

“There’s something more than just compatibility between your spells and that wizard’s magic. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to apply to me.” Click! Gileon said in a calm voice, taking out a few more firearms stored inside his wings. “Then I can keep fighting.”

“…”

“Regain your composure and prepare to rejoin the battlefield if possible. Your ‘Liberation Protocol’ isn’t just a useful ability in combat.”

Although overwhelmingly suppressed by Lennok, the value of Parden McQueen’s ‘Liberation Protocol’ and ‘Domain Boundary Pattern’ wasn’t limited to direct combat. As an apostate monk who had transcended human principles and joined the secular world, his power lay in his versatility, allowing him to respond in all situations, regardless of whether he was on the front lines or in support.

Wasn’t it precisely because he possessed a wide array of diverse abilities and aptitudes, rather than just martial prowess, that he caught the eye of the discerning Olivera and served as her close aide? Gileon had no intention of devaluing McQueen based on this single battle.

“If we can buy time until the other forces on patrol for the operation return, it should be enough—” Kwooooong! At that moment, a colossal roar, as if the heavens and earth were collapsing, echoed from beyond the power plant facility. Simultaneously, a magical echo burst forth, filling the facility’s interior and letting out a desperate scream.

McQueen’s face turned ashen as he realized the owner of that magic, and Gileon offered a bitter smile. “It seems your chairman has already begun to move.”