Chapter 563: The One Who Closes the World (1)

Kaiser’s voice echoed from somewhere in a hazy sensation.

Kiiing!!

“I knew you’d find your way here quickly.”

“……”

“The only places with enough firepower to sustain the spacetime anchoring device’s energy supply are the underground power room and the top-floor energy exhaust port.”

A voice and dialogue I’d heard once before.

“Connecting the lines to maintain its operation was difficult, but it’s not impossible if you manipulate the power plant’s internal systems well.”

His familiar words echoed in my ears as if I could anticipate what he would say next.

As time repeated, Kaiser’s spell used language as a trigger to reverse perceived time and cast an illusion.

“It’s strange. The Particle Power Plant is so noisy, and it’s collapsing, but no one thinks of coming back.”

“……”

“I can’t reach my colleagues on the front lines either. There’s no sign, no trace of them. I thought it was just an anomaly within the power plant, but actually…”

Originally, the conversation should have stopped there, shifting to the topic of Olivera.

But what flowed from Kaiser’s lips were words completely different from before.

“Actually, it was to test you.”

“……”

Lennok did not answer.

He simply looked at Kaiser with an expressionless, somewhat dazed face, even after hearing those words.

Kaiser stared at Lennok’s face for a long time, then lowered his head with a look of disappointment.

“As expected, I can’t escape the perceived time manipulation… It was as I thought.”

Contrary to his words, with a clearly disappointed expression, Kaiser slowly raised his hand and placed it on Lennok’s forehead.

“If you can’t immediately break free from the mana of Defying Heaven, then so be it. From now on, I will reverse your memories and confirm what has happened… Yes, that’s enough.”

But contrary to what he said, Kaiser hesitated for a long time before drawing up his mana.

As if, after doing this, there would be no turning back.

Having finally made up his mind, Kaiser gritted his teeth, drew up his mana, and plunged it into Lennok’s mind.

Amidst the illusion of perceived time reversal, he began to glimpse Lennok’s memories.

Kiiing!!

Pure’s proposal to enter the Sealed Zone, the danger of the Exposure Phenomenon, and the spacetime dissociation phenomenon encountered after entering the zone by crossing the water barrier.

And a vast, advanced landscape of Vulcan, vastly different from Kaiser’s own memories.

Each time he confirmed Lennok’s memories, Kaiser’s complexion paled slightly, and his hands trembled faintly as he confirmed the truth.

[You said Kaiser’s granddaughter runs a bar by herself in the back alleys, right?]

[I heard she’s quite good at being a broker.]

“……!!!”

Kaiser, with a stiff expression, could not pass over that keyword and stopped.

Like someone facing an unwanted truth, he hesitated to hear the entire conclusion awaiting himself and his bloodline.

But gritting his teeth, he unfolded the memory of Lennok walking into the bar.

A black-haired woman standing with her back turned behind the bar. Her somewhat curly hair and slouched posture were exactly like Kaiser himself.

The moment she turned sharply, noticing Lennok’s entry, and her face was about to be seen through her hair.

“That’s enough.”

Thump!!

Lennok grabbed Kaiser’s wrist and lifted it.

“You know anything more won’t help.”

“……”

Kaiser, who had been staring blankly at Lennok with a suffocated expression, shook off his grasped wrist and stepped back.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he then suddenly realized Lennok’s reaction and lifted his gaze.

“Perceived time manipulation… You weren’t affected from the start. Then your memories…?”

“I merely thought it better to show you, if seeing it directly would satisfy you.”

Lennok replied indifferently, arms crossed.

“I’m the same way.”

The illusion of perceived time reversal, triggered by specific words.

Even Ilya was swept away by Kaiser’s spell, but Lennok was not caught.

However, he simply showed his memories to Kaiser, directly, to grant what Kaiser wished to confirm.

Though he hadn’t expected Kaiser to find the clue about his granddaughter and try to confirm it during that time.

“……”

Kaiser hesitated for a long time even after hearing that answer. As if contemplating what to ask.

The existence of his granddaughter seen in Lennok’s memories, and his current goal of confirming Lennok’s capabilities.

The choice was decided from the start.

Kaiser closed and opened his eyes once, then asked.

“You were able to resist the mana of Defying Heaven. Do you know the reason yourself?”

“I didn’t resist your mana.”

Lennok replied calmly.

“If I had, I wouldn’t have shown you my memories in the first place.”

“Then…?”

“Even if time changes, I do not change. That’s all.”

No matter how much time is reversed and manipulated, Lennok never returns to a path he has already traversed.

The formidable ego established as the essence of transcendent talent and the identity perfected through self-reflection never wavers amidst the flow of time, only moving forward.

Since first opening his eyes in this world, Lennok has not changed for a single moment.

If he is aware of that, Lennok can stand his ground.

He can maintain his center even amidst endlessly shifting spacetime and timelines.

To hold the kaleidoscope of possibilities within his mind without wavering, to exist as Lennok himself through countless iterations of himself—that was its meaning.

“To be entirely yourself even at the end of spacetime… Splendid.”

Kaiser, understanding the meaning of that answer, let out a faint sigh of admiration.

“You are already qualified. It will be enough if you just draw out the answer within you.”

“……”

“Good. That’s enough. Setting aside everything else, that was the one thing I wanted to confirm with you. How long you can withstand the flow of Defying Heaven’s mana, as the limit of your mental strength will ultimately determine the success or failure of this endeavor.”

After saying that, Kaiser turned his back without hesitation and stood before the spacetime anchoring device.

The trace of him wavering over his granddaughter’s existence was gone; his eyes were calmly settled.

“Let me explain. Why I had to tell you about this entire situation myself.”

“Right after we finished the research and manifested the Spawning phenomenon through the anchoring device, I realized something.”

Koo-goo-goo-goo!!!

Kaiser, standing before the massive pillar of light, turned to Lennok and spoke.

His eyes seemed somewhat mournful.

“Originally, at this point, the spacetime anchoring research should not have been completed. That was the reason for the sense of unease I felt throughout the research.”

“……”

“Because the research failed in the original history, my future self chose this moment to anchor spacetime. I realized it too late.”

“You chose this moment because it failed?”

“The research that should have failed succeeded because you assisted, and the possibilities of the future became intertwined.”

“……”

“Though I couldn’t create anything through the Spawning phenomenon and thus yielded no results, I reviewed the completed research output and became certain.”

Kaiser said that, patting the anchoring device.

“The moment this is completed, the world will undergo a corruption.”

“……Corruption?”

The moment Lennok frowned at the unfamiliar word, Kaiser gave a bitter smile.

“Perhaps my future self knew this fact and deliberately left it in an unfinished state. As a result of that abandonment, you eventually came into contact with it, and that’s why the research completed unusually fast.”

“……”

“Originally, it would have been a future where I didn’t even realize this fact at this point…”

Kaiser murmured, then crossed his arms and looked up.

“The spacetime anchoring research was a testbed for the project’s success and a vessel to contain my own ideals, but… it is no longer.”

Contrary to his weak tone, Kaiser spoke with unwavering eyes.

“This space is already being used as a vessel to hold someone else’s dream, not mine.”

“A vessel to hold dreams, you say…”

“The reason why past beings like myself and Olivera can observe themselves is because this space isn’t merely dissociated spacetime, but a domain altered with a specific intent.”

Lennok easily understood what those words referred to.

Spacetime left dissociated in the past.

But the past figures remaining here think and judge as if truly alive, maintaining their original powers. This is possible not merely because this space is a result of dissociated spacetime, but because it is still a part of reality actualized by someone’s will.

Kaiser was describing this phenomenon itself as a ‘dream.’

And if there was a being capable of constructing and maintaining such spacetime merely by dreaming, who could it be?

The answer was already clear.

“Are you saying what’s happening in the Sealed Zone… is related to an Outer God?”

“At least someone with power and status comparable to them.”

Kaiser said that, then fell silent for a long time.

As if hesitating to say something, like someone who, by uttering these words now, would find no turning back.

“If a being comparable to an Outer God is dreaming an endless dream here, and if that’s why we exist now, then I, I… must stop it.”

As if severing his remaining attachment, Kaiser spoke.

“I didn’t continue this research for something like this. Regardless of the outcome, if the process itself was flawed, it’s meaningless. The spacetime anchoring research is a failure.”

An outcome that doesn’t align with its purpose is ultimately meaningless, regardless of success.

“I know why you came to this spacetime looking for us. It’s because our current existence poses a real threat in reality, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Considering the Exposure Phenomenon that occurred when conducting the spacetime anchoring research, the most likely harm is a large-scale mana particle collapse event…”

Kaiser gave a weak laugh.

“It would be a top-tier disaster, risking tens of millions of lives.”

Just by glimpsing the memories Lennok showed him, Kaiser understood everything.

The research’s unintended destination. The disaster, the Exposure Phenomenon, born from its harmful effects.

And even who should choose what to resolve this situation.

“Even if I am myself, abandoned in a failed timeline, a discarded spacetime, still… I promised. When I vowed to abandon all failures of the world without exception and move forward, I swore.”

Kaiser murmured with a pained expression.

“Even if the one who fails and is discarded is myself, I would accept it…”

“……”

Lennok, speechless, listened to his words quietly.

Kaiser was now saying he would erase this timeline, even knowing he was a being of the past.

That was, in other words, a declaration close to suicide: to create the end of spacetime with his own hands and accept the result.

And wasn’t he also saying he would bury his comrades with him at that end?

“A person capable of resisting the mana of Defying Heaven is needed because I alone can no longer completely stop the spacetime anchoring device. I needed someone to stop the device while I performed the work.”

Kaiser said, beginning to walk around the anchoring device.

“Olivera has already used my serum several times, and as she is part of this spacetime, it’s impossible for her. I had no choice but to bet on you, the only sorcerer among your party and an outsider. But it was also impossible to explain this fact to anyone else and ask for their understanding…”

Kaiser said that, then unhesitatingly slammed his fist on the anchoring device’s control panel.

Bang!!

Simultaneously, the levers around the control panel spun wildly, immediately changing the device’s output and direction.

The colossal pillar of light split open in all directions, and an opening just wide enough for one person to pass through appeared at its end.

Kwoo-oh-oh!!

“This is the conclusion I’ve reached, Van.”

Kaiser stood unflinchingly before the path, looking back at Lennok.

“I will end this dream and completely close this failed timeline. What about you?”

“……”

Only then did Lennok feel he could somewhat understand what kind of person Kaiser was.

Kaiser Bajour was by no means a good person, nor a seeker sacrificing everything for the world’s salvation.

If he had been a human filled with altruism from the start, he would not have reigned as the king of the underworld in Vulcan, which was akin to a demon realm.

Indeed, all his decisions were infinitely close to the right answer, but the process of reaching them was terribly twisted.

He was merely a single human struggling to find an answer somehow in a dying world.

He still didn’t think it was the right way.

But, if that was the way of a being who fully recognized and accepted their own end…

“Merely stopping the anchoring device won’t be enough.”

Lennok, who had been silent, spoke.

“If we don’t pull out and resolve the source of the problem while the device is completely stopped, it will never truly cease.”

Clack!!

Lennok grabbed the control panel of the anchoring device and pulled the lever up.

Kugugung…!!

Parts of the surrounding supports crumbled, widening the path for Kaiser slightly.

“Van.”

“It doesn’t matter how your method came to its conclusion.”

Lennok replied, meeting Kaiser’s gaze that quietly looked down at him.

“I will find the answer I believe is right. You do as you wish.”

“……”

Ultimately, what happened in this spacetime was a story that began decades ago and had long since been concluded.

No matter how Lennok changed fate here, he was ultimately just an observer.

Without the cooperation of Kaiser, the initiator and planner of all these events, this situation could not be brought to an end.

Lennok had dimly intuited that fact from the moment he heard Kaiser’s name.

“I’ll help you end the dream. I’ll assist, so let’s begin.”