Chapter 638: How to Kill a God (4)

“A nostalgic scent of a soul…”

Even as the sticky backwash of crimson flame surged inches from him, Lennok unconsciously smiled wryly.

Simultaneously with Kashuin revealing his name, the Compassion of the Archangel vibrated fiercely within Lennok’s embrace.

The words, claiming himself a sinner who descended from the Archangel’s Seat.

How such a being could maintain a spiritual form perfectly intact from beyond the Gate. Whom the failed god he served referred to.

Just that one statement seemed to reveal what kind of being he was.

Could he truly understand an opponent so completely, even though he had never seen his face, a mere stranger from the other side of the world?

“A failed god. Is that what they called him in that world?”

Perhaps this was possible because Lennok, too, knew the god whom the Archangel before him served.

Old World relics, the Archangel series.

That was not merely a name used to categorize specific artifacts with similar specifications.

These were artifacts once forged under the power of transcendent beings who, in a truly forgotten world, had ascended to the heavens’ peak, dreaming of ruling the firmament.

Kashuin was precisely such a being, possessing both the power and the stature of the Old World, originating from the Archangel series, one who had ascended to a heavenly seat.

Crrrack…!!

The gigantic lake cavern burned and froze, dark crimson ichor overflowing from all directions.

A hideousness too great to be called an Archangel, yet a mana too domineering to deny.

Kwaaang!!!

The blood armor worn by the Archangel suddenly wriggled like a living creature, instantly piercing Lennok’s shield and striking him in the chest.

A shockwave erupted the moment Lennok’s form vanished.

As the wizard’s form retreated more than ten meters from that spot, a colossal fountain erupted, tracing water paths across the lake’s surface.

Swoosh!!!

Scattered ice fragments and lake droplets poured down, mixing like rain and snow.

The jade flame surging up along the water paths slid down the blood-coated wings like tears.

In the fleeting moments of collision, forcefully suppressing the rampant power from all sides, only fragments of will-thought, unable to be fully conveyed, flew back and forth like arrows.

Though it was a collision lasting mere moments, Lennok confirmed that his opponent was a being beyond Hierarchy.

A monster who had transcended Hierarchy even beyond a world that had already perished, still recalling and dwelling upon that peak state.

But even knowing this, Lennok focused on observing Kashuin rather than immediately killing him and heading beyond the Gate.

‘An Archangel who abandoned his god. Yet his nature and mana pattern are far removed from those of the Archangel series.’

The artifact category known as the Archangel series stood unequivocally as the supreme holy relics among the Old World’s remnants.

Lennok himself, through some connection, possessed the Compassion of the Archangel, which existed in staff form.

The Archangel series’ unique and powerful effects suited Lennok well, making it a favored piece of equipment he had consistently used since acquiring it long ago.

Hadn’t he even directly consumed the Archangel’s Tear, which was said to extend lifespan with Pandemonium’s help?

However, the sticky crimson flame emanating from Kashuin before him was far removed from the mana patterns of the Archangel category that Lennok was familiar with.

Was it because, as Kashuin himself claimed, he had abandoned his god and descended from the Archangel’s Seat as a sinner?

Fwoosh!!

Kashuin lightly twisted the polearm in both hands, once again shrouding it in sticky crimson flame, and muttered.

“I don’t know why your voice sounds so clear to me.”

“…”

“In this world where everything feels blurry, only that resonance is vivid. Yes, even if I want to deny it, I…!!”

Red blood streamed from beneath the eye slits of his helmet.

A tragic figure, as if weeping blood while clad in full armor. His sticky blood-soaked wings fluttered pitifully behind him.

Lennok, who had been watching the confused Kashuin, straightened up.

“I am not your god.”

Lennok answered in a calm voice.

The Gate, which had been spewing dark crimson ichor upon Kashuin’s manifestation, had now returned to a pristine, pure white form.

Lennok gazed at the Gate’s form, then muttered, drawing up his mana.

“But I think I know why you were able to respond to Hermes’s call… You must have used faith as a basis to create a point of contact with this world, even from beyond the Old World.”

The failed god Kashuin served was a being who still lived in this world, receiving the faith of countless others.

That was why Kashuin’s spirit, left in the Old World, could reach this world from beyond the Gate without losing its way, using that faith as a waypoint.

That was the true nature of the miracle that allowed a peak-level monster, a being beyond Hierarchy, to manifest in the body of a Meister.

The essence of the religious group that best utilized human sacrifice, across both the Old World and the current world.

“I believed the promised time would come, yet at the same time, I didn’t.”

Kashuin muttered blankly.

“Even if it was just a message to comfort us, I thought that was enough.”

The moment Kashuin, who had been bowed, slowly raised his gaze, a crimson glint flashed from beyond his helmet.

“But looking at you, I can’t help but think that your promise wasn’t entirely in vain.”

“Your god neither failed nor abandoned you. He merely forgot.”

Lennok, readjusting his iron mask, chuckled.

“When the world cycled and causality ended, everything was undone. Who would remember a promise then?”

“No, I remember it!!”

Kaga-gak…!!

With a sense of increasing weight at the tip of his guandao, the shields and ice barriers blocking the two shattered at a maddening speed.

Crash!

As the ice barriers and shield fragments completely shattered, Lennok and Kashuin vanished from their spots.

Kashuin, tracing trajectories of dark crimson flame with every swing of his polearm, and Lennok, barraging him with ice magic drawn from the lake, collided almost simultaneously.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

The calm surface of the lake surged like waves, rising wildly, and at Lennok’s gesture, it froze, transforming into a wave of chilling cold.

Kashuin’s body, flying through the sharply splintered ice fragments, became a streak of flame, piercing through the cold barrier head-on.

Every time the jade flame, making even breathing difficult, enveloped the space, shattered ice fragments swirled.

[Ice White Pillar: Angular Gleam]

[Myriad River Snow White: Group White]

Every time the shockwave pounded the lake, columns of ice erupted from that spot at near-sound speed.

From the ends of the broken fragments, a chilling cold spread, swirling in place and scattering pure white frost like snow.

Crimson and white light intertwined chaotically from all directions, transcending matter and crossing paths in the realm of will-thought.

As the exchange continued, the lines of cold and jade flame, incredibly thin, encompassed and surged across the entire lake, then expanded explosively, filling the space.

“I remember! I trusted your promise and lay my body down on Nakcheon Ridge!!”

Kashuin, clinging relentlessly to Lennok, shouted madly.

“…It was good to suffer.”

Heat erupted from the top of his head, streaming down Kashuin’s eye sockets.

A strange and eerie sight, as his own eyes melted little by little under that heat.

“It was fortunate to be cursed. Even if I’m merely a lingering trace, crumbling like dust at the end of oblivion, I…!!”

Kashuin, staring intensely at Lennok with his melting eyes, screamed wildly.

Crrunch!!!

Twisting his polearm, Kashuin peeled away the collapsing ice barrier, burrowing through exploding ice shards, and muttered.

“I…”

In Kashuin’s voice, shouting wildly, consumed by the frenzy of battle, there was an indelible sorrow deeper than madness.

The realm of ascension he couldn’t reach even after killing tens of thousands and drinking their blood.

The true self who ultimately failed, and the third world he would never know.

The tragic truth that he, a fragment of spirit and memory, was facing all of it.

Facing a reality too harsh to accept, too burdensome to comprehend, even when attempting to drown himself in blood and slaughter, he ultimately couldn’t escape.

Lennok quietly watched Kashuin, then reached into his embrace and whispered.

“I will let you meet your god.”

Kiiing…!!

Simultaneously, Kashuin’s scream, upon seeing the glowing Compassion of the Archangel from within Lennok’s embrace, abruptly ceased.

The helmet made of dark crimson ichor flowed away, fully revealing the wide-eyed face of a young man.

His reaction was as if he had frozen in place the moment he heard Lennok’s words.

But Lennok, unfazed by Kashuin’s reaction, silently drew up and rotated his mana.

A transcendent being who stood at the zenith of the heavens in the Old World.

The failed god, worshipped by Archangels, who left them in endless longing.

And in this world, the entity who became the master of Pandemonium and served Outer Gods.

It was clear that the failed god Kashuin spoke of was someone Lennok knew.

The reason he felt longing upon seeing Lennok.

The reason the Archangel series artifacts resonated and responded simultaneously.

All these fragments of miracles and connections pointed towards the cult’s headquarters far away.

As if realizing the truth of Lennok’s words, Kashuin paused blankly, unable to take any action, for that fleeting moment.

Crack!

An ice stake shot up from beneath his feet, piercing Kashuin’s shoulder.

Immediately, sharp thorns extended from within the ice stake, instantly burrowing into Kashuin’s body and relentlessly freezing him.

Snap!

Ice crystals scattered near his temple exploded, blowing off half of his head.

Numerous sharp ice pillars surged from beneath the surface, piercing Kashuin’s back, arms, and legs dozens of times, impaling him against the wall like a skewer.

“Huuph…!!”

Kashuin’s breathing momentarily stopped from the overwhelming cold and barrage of impacts that froze even thought.

Even though he was forcibly borrowing the body of a corpse that no longer breathed, his body couldn’t endure.

“Still, still not enough…!!”

But instead, he laughed wildly, as if he had been waiting for this, and began to consume his remaining mana to incinerate his own body.

“If you don’t prove your words are true…!!!”

A pair of wings convulsing behind Kashuin wrapped around his body, becoming burning flames that melted the dark crimson ichor drop by drop.

Thus, the ichor covering the water’s surface spread everywhere, turning into a catalyst for the flames, dyeing the surroundings with hellish heat.

Just as the jade flame pouring from the Archangel’s body was about to incinerate the entire space…

The staff, Compassion of the Archangel, flew like a bolt of lightning, piercing Kashuin precisely in the side.

It drove his body straight into the lake wall like a stake.

Thwack!!

“Guh…!!”

“Time’s up. You know that, right?”

Lennok, who had thrown the Compassion of the Archangel, gripped in reverse, precisely embedding it into Kashuin’s body, spoke.

“That body cannot fully contain your Hierarchy. The more you wield and incinerate, the harder it was for you to endure from the start.”

Kashuin was merely a materialized spirit form that manifested in Harvest’s body.

It was only natural that Harvest’s body couldn’t fully contain such overflowing power and Hierarchy.

Of course, Harvest was also a mana user with exceptional talent and capacity as a Meister.

But what descended into his body was a monster who held the Archangel’s Seat and reigned as a peak-level ability user of the Old World.

He couldn’t use Mind Imprint, Miniature Universe, or body-system spells.

All Kashuin could do was forcibly change Harvest’s mana into his own nature, wielding that sticky jade flame with his martial arts.

The conditions themselves were overwhelmingly unfavorable for Kashuin.

From the beginning, Hermes had only intended to summon Kashuin to buy time.

“Whether you gained the right to challenge Ascension or not, it’s all the same.”

Lennok said, gripping the Compassion of the Archangel embedded in Kashuin’s side.

“Everyone just got a brief reprieve. Not knowing that fact means you, too, didn’t understand the meaning of Ascension.”

“…I don’t care about meaning.”

Kashuin, who had been silent, answered with difficulty.

“I don’t want to know. I’m just… waiting.”

“…”

“If you truly… let me meet… my god…”

Kashuin’s quiet breath froze to a chilling cold.

As he slowly lowered his head, frost formed between his cheeks and eyes, and his breathing ceased.

As focus disappeared from Kashuin’s eyes, the Compassion of the Archangel, which had pierced his body, glowed red.

A peculiar phenomenon occurred as dark crimson light swirled and blended with the rainbow-colored jewel at the staff’s tip.

Kashuin’s spirit, realizing that Lennok’s proposal was not a lie, was shedding Harvest’s body and blending into the Compassion of the Archangel.

If a true Archangel’s spirit resided within an Archangel series artifact, in what direction would the artifact’s abilities expand?

He wanted to test it immediately, but there wasn’t much time.

Behind Lennok, who slowly pulled out the Compassion of the Archangel, a slightly stiff voice echoed.

“To so easily overwhelm and crush an Old World Archangel…”

“…”

“You are far more dangerous than I imagined.”

Even as Lennok and Kashuin clashed, Hermes had not died; he had watched the entire battle until the end.

Hermes’s head, half-frozen and the other half burned to bone, a grotesque sight, stared at Lennok.

Though he hadn’t died after being decapitated, he couldn’t endure intact amidst the aftershocks of the two superhumans’ power.

Perhaps he could no longer endure in that state, with half of his head burned away.

His calm voice also faded, cut off, whispering as if on the verge of sleep.

“I wanted to summon a spirit that was easier to converse with… but as expected, unless it’s a being with an incredibly strong ego, from beyond the Gate…”

“They wouldn’t have been in a state to hear your words and respond from beyond the Gate, I suppose.”

Lennok said, gripping Hermes’s head with one hand and lifting it.

“That’s not wrong. Ultimately, it’s hard to leave any mark in this world without going mad. I think so too.”

Hermes smiled faintly at that.

“What a pity… I wished to speak more… I am, at my limit.”

His gaze, with only one eyeball remaining, turned to the glowing Gate behind Lennok.

“The Archangel has bought enough time, and now… the Gate is closing…”

“…”

As he said, the gigantic ring of light that Hermes had opened was slowly fading and contracting.

Had Hermes, from the moment he summoned Kashuin, acknowledged his first attempt as a failure and waited for the Gate to close, buying time?

That was probably because Hermes was wary of Lennok using the Ascension Gate directly.

“The next exchange, please, let it be in a place neither of us wishes for…”

“No.”

Lennok muttered, letting go of Hermes’s head, which was about to close its eyes with a satisfied expression.

Thud!!

Hermes’s head rolled on the floor, splattering blood.

Ignoring his overturned gaze, Lennok gripped the closing gigantic ring of light with one hand.

Click!!

Lennok unhesitatingly pulled out a small chip from his embrace and immediately inserted it into the Gate’s joint. The closing Gate instantly fixed in place and began to glow again.

Crrrunch!!!

“…!!”

“It hasn’t even begun yet.”

The moment Hermes’s one frost-covered eye widened, Lennok said, drawing up his mana.

“What, how did you get that authority…!!”

It was a program code stored as a Geas in Elava Artemeyer’s mind.

Lennok had kept it in chip form, only recognizing it as the authority to open something specific, but he knew that the time to use it would surely come.

Because he had expected that the designer of the Ascension Gate, whose descendant had forcibly stored the information in her mind, would inevitably lead him to this moment while unraveling the Machine City’s secrets.

And his hunch was not wrong.

What existed in Elava’s mind was precisely the program code possessing the authority to open that gateway—a new gateway created after the failure of the Ascension Gate, for observing and researching fragments of the Old World.

Hermes, glaring at Lennok with a stiff expression, then let out a low chuckle.

“…But merely opening the Gate won’t achieve anything. Without preliminary work and adjustments, all you can do by reopening it is…”

“All I can do?”

Lennok drew up his mana, lifting his body into the air.

Lennok, putting one foot on the edge of the gigantic ring of light, chuckled as he looked back at the speechless Hermes.

“I’ll find out when I go in there myself.”