Chapter 566: The One Who Closes the World (4)
His dazed eyes, listening to the words, slowly regained their focus.
He gazed at the shadow standing majestically, shrouded in various spells, then nodded and slowly pushed himself up.
“Yes, seeing that… I understand now. My future self, after all, failed.”
“…”
“Because I failed, this space was needed, and my existence was left behind here?”
Even though Kaiser had been unconscious when he received the message directly from the shadow, he seemed to grasp the full extent of the situation in an instant.
“If the being dreaming here isn’t a legacy of success, but merely the lingering regret of failure, then all the more reason to end it here.”
Saying that, Kaiser slowly raised his blood-soaked hands and began to form hand seals.
With his eyes closed, he quietly focused his mind and spoke to Lennok.
“The task is the same. I’ll deploy my Domain to completely reverse the time of the anchoring device, and then finish the non-existent spawning process to destroy the Vessel itself.”
“Understood.”
Lennok nodded and slowly stepped in front of Kaiser.
He would buy time until Kaiser deployed his Domain and overlaid his Mind Imprint onto the anchoring device, while simultaneously surviving Alkaid’s machinations.
Gazing at the colossal Ghost Ship looming overhead, and the massive stone statue, Arjumarta, mounted atop it, Lennok drew upon every last drop of his remaining mana.
Woooosh…!!!
The instant the form of lightning burst from his tattered coat, surging up as if boiling and spinning.
The shadow, watching Lennok, raised its hand again.
[Ooooh!!!]
The stone statue atop the Ghost Ship moved its multiple arms simultaneously to form hand seals, deploying Parden McQueen’s Liberation Protocol and Domain Boundary Pattern at the same time.
Simultaneously, hordes of military spirits created atop the ship poured down like a waterfall towards the exhaust vent rooftop, charging at Lennok.
Amidst the descending hordes of military spirits and the bright yellow pure light of the Liberation Protocol, flashes of radiance-attribute magic flickered wildly.
Amidst the ceaseless waves of light, Lennok, his carapace shield firmly raised, transformed his remaining mana into lightning will-thought and unleashed it.
Dudududududu!!!!
An illusion where all other ground and space, except for the area where Lennok and Kaiser stood, seemed to burn away and vanish without a trace.
Beyond that, Kaiser concentrated, beginning to pour all his remaining mana into his inner Mind Imprint.
KWAANG!!
Amidst the torrent of light, the shadow moved, colliding with Lennok.
The shadow, closing the distance instantly with a swing of its iron-clad wings, shattered the shield effortlessly and slammed its fist into Lennok’s abdomen.
“!!”
His breath caught in his throat with the impact of one side of his ribs shattering completely.
Intense pain, transmitted through his numbed senses, despite being dosed heavily with painkillers.
Lennok’s expression contorted slightly, but he had no time to even fall.
The instant Lennok forcibly twisted his body with mana threads, Gileon’s Spatial Delamination ability activated, shattering the spot where Lennok had just stood.
“Cough!!”
Coughing up blood ceaselessly, Lennok staggered to his feet and, with trembling hands, pulled out another painkiller and injected it.
The elixirs he always carried for mana replenishment had already been completely used up.
Yet, the reason Lennok had been able to endure until now, buying Kaiser time.
It was because the shadow’s imitation of past superhumans’ abilities was fundamentally aligned strictly with their core essence.
Olivera’s radiance-attribute magic was used only for linear bombardment, while Madrich Onnion’s Military Spirit Sorcerer spells were used for large-scale area control.
Parden McQueen’s Liberation Protocol focused on spell assistance, and Gileon’s Spatial Delamination ability occasionally introduced variables into the combat dynamic.
If one could read the essence of all those spells and their optimized purposes, they could predict which abilities the shadow would use to press Lennok in any given situation.
The time it took for the shadow to switch between and freely manipulate and fire off its four spells and unique abilities was less than 0.2 seconds.
It was impossible to react to such a spell deployment ability that surpassed human reaction speed.
From the very first moment he began protecting Kaiser and buying time, Lennok had been focused solely on predicting, avoiding, and deflecting all of the opponent’s spells he remembered.
KWAANG!!
From behind the shadow, a mad torrent of light consumed even the remaining shield fragments and slammed into his carapace shield.
Between the helplessly receding carapace shield, the flashing shadow and Lennok’s body flickered.
Amidst the fiercely burning and evaporating masses of mana light, he could only gather what little strength he had left to endure the attacks.
Not only his mana, but also his Mind Imprint, mental strength, and vitality had been scraped clean, reaching the brink of their limits.
Yet, with the transcendent reason of a wizard, Lennok did not forget what he had to do until the very end.
He neither lamented nor made excuses, claiming the situation would have been different if he were in normal condition.
There was no other escape route.
There was no time to find a better solution here.
Believing the method he chose was right, he was using even his capacity for thought just to survive this moment.
Dududududuk!!
Even as the lightning will-thought circling his fingertips grew faint, and the mana threads that bound and manipulated his body snapped one by one, he did not stop.
Even if he was helplessly broken and severed like a swaying doll, he supported himself with his remaining arms, head, and legs, drawing out another second.
To a body pushed beyond its limits, he added a will that surpassed all limits.
“I see.”
A hollow smile formed between his lips, from which blood dripped.
“So this is what it felt like?”
Absurdly, in that moment, Lennok felt as if he could vaguely understand the meaning of the Touin technique.
Swaying as if about to break, yet not breaking.
KWAANG!!!
Seemingly about to yield at any moment, yet never yielding.
With mana that was barely a handful, Lennok’s capacity to endure, circling amidst close-quarters combat and barrages, transcended the realm of calculation and cognition.
Watching Lennok’s desperate struggle, Kaiser formed hand seals with trembling hands.
“Damn it… damn it…!!”
Undeniable unease swirled on his blood-soaked face, where sweat streamed down.
Kakakakak!!!
As he formed hand seals and drew magic circles, his fingertips scraped the ground, peeling off his fingernails, and blood streamed down.
Though the skin on his fingers was completely peeled off, and he focused his mind until his chanting lips cracked and blistered,
Yet, Kaiser’s inner self did not elevate and swell.
“My Mind Imprint…!!”
The Domain isn’t deploying.
The colorless wave that should have been the stepping stone to overlay his Mind Imprint was nowhere to be found.
In this situation, where the major premise for resolving the issue, as per their plan, was blocked from the very beginning.
No matter how much he drew upon mana according to the sensations in his memory or concentrated his mind, no answer returned.
“…I see.”
Kaiser’s face wavered for a brief moment, then filled with despair, before finally settling into a calm, static frustration.
“Is it because… I am merely a substitute?”
His trembling lips unconsciously blurted out a truth he never wanted to confront.
The movements of his blood-soaked hands, forming hand seals, slowly ceased.
A Domain is a technique that overlays the caster’s root Mind Imprint onto reality.
But if a caster has no Mind Imprint, it is only natural that the Domain to deploy it would not manifest.
Absurdly, it was at this point that Kaiser realized with utmost certainty that he was nothing more than a false illusion.
After all, Kaiser Bajour standing here was not his true self who lived in reality.
He was merely a fragment, remaining in a spacetime that had already passed, within forgotten memories of the past, fixed as if dreaming.
He had thought he had already perfectly understood and fully accepted that.
But reality always revealed the truth in a more cruel way than he had imagined.
Kaiser, being merely a memory of the past, ultimately could not bring an end to this spacetime.
The self left behind on an already failed timeline was merely a byproduct of failure.
This was different from the case of Kaiser’s companions, who existed as memories of the past.
Because he was the very being who directly designed and intervened in this fixed spacetime, and the core of this spacetime, designed as a substitute for himself.
Because he was the only being capable of recognizing and shattering the contradiction of this dream.
Ironically, Kaiser himself was not permitted to deploy a Mind Imprint.
He had realized that fact far too late.
“…”
An outcome doesn’t always follow the end of effort.
A reward isn’t always granted at the end of yearning.
He knew that asking a question didn’t guarantee an answer.
He hadn’t tried to change fate, expecting a beautiful fairy tale ending.
But—
Kiiiiiik!!!
Beside Kaiser, who sat dazed, a blood-soaked figure slammed down and collapsed.
“What… are you foolishly… staring at…?”
From Lennok’s head, twisted to one side, a faint, almost broken voice escaped.
“…The Domain isn’t opening. The plan failed.”
Kaiser replied quietly.
“At this rate, Ramahal District’s spacetime will be completely reset, and you and I will be trapped here together. I’m sorry.”
“…”
“It was an impossible plan for me from the start, as I have no Mind Imprint. I should have realized that sooner…”
The spacetime collapse accelerated, and now all other streets, except for the area near the Particle Power Plant, had crumbled and turned into an unknown void.
Beyond that, the shadowy figure resembling a younger Kaiser slowly walked closer.
Facing the approaching end, Kaiser spoke in a dazed monologue.
“Even if I was left in memories of the past, I thought I could leave behind hope in the end… but it ultimately doesn’t go as planned.”
“…Hah.”
Lennok, breathing heavily, let out a chuckle.
“With monsters swimming across a dark sea… and destruction approaching the world… what hope would you even wish for?”
“…”
“Not hope… but a way… I’m looking for a way…”
Lennok raised his own trembling hand and placed it on top of Kaiser’s blood-soaked hand.
“It’s not about qualification… I’m creating the answer.”
Wooooosh!!!!
Immense mana burst forth from Lennok’s entire body.
It was an overwhelming power, unbelievable to be surging from a wizard who had, just moments ago, scraped the bottom of his mana reserves.
In Lennok’s other hand, the glass vial containing Kaiser’s serum was completely empty.
His serum, which Lennok had secretly extracted after confronting Kaiser at the Particle Power Plant.
A powerful medium that triggered the power of Time Reversal, which he had held onto until the very end, just in case.
The moment Kaiser, realizing that Lennok had drunk the serum and forcibly reversed the mana within his body to inflate his output, gaped blankly.
“If you need a chance to choose… I’ll create it for you.”
Paaaat!!!
Simultaneously, a colorless wave erupted from Kaiser, devouring the spacetime cracks and collapse, and began to swell madly in size.
Lennok’s last resort, saved until the very end for the deployment of his Domain.
He poured all his strength and Mind Imprint into this spot, overlaying it onto reality.
Domain Deployment: Divergence Point Observation