Chapter 723: Housebreaking (16)
Immediately after Lennok projected the indelible black sun onto the Altar of the Sun and returned to reality.
The incantation of the Taiji Incarnation, which had been incinerating the quarantined zone, abruptly halted as if time had stopped.
The surging flames of will-thought magic reversed into sorrowful black flames, plunging straight down to the ground.
KWOOOOOOSH!!!
A wave of black flames surged over the collapsed theme park and rapidly spread across the vast field of waste stretching into the distance.
Lennok, returned to reality, descended to the ground, leaving Tatiana staring blankly up at the sky beneath the flames.
“Quickly, take Anghel and escape. There’s no time.”
“W-what happened? Master…?!”
While Lennok had been turning the consciousness space upside down, the ritual must have been ongoing in reality, as Duren’s corpse had already long since turned completely to ash and vanished.
What’s more, the presence of the Tower Lord, who had descended as an Incarnation using that very corpse as fuel, was no longer perceptible.
As Tatiana looked around in a daze, Lennok, with a face etched with exhaustion, pulled her to her feet.
Leaving Tatiana swaying unsteadily, Lennok replied, “I have officially inherited the authority of the Phoenix Hall. I’ve acquired the ninth authority.”
“……!!!!”
Tatiana whipped her head around to look at Lennok, her expression one of utter shock.
“T-then…!”
Lennok declared without blinking, “From now on, call me Master.”
“…”
Tatiana, who had been standing with her mouth agape in silence, finally came to her senses a beat too late.
“No, that’s not right!! You’re not my Master just because you say so!!”
“It seems you haven’t completely lost your mind yet.”
Lennok said this as he headed for the sewers, avoiding the black flames burning all around them.
“Let’s find Anghel quickly. In this environment, his condition won’t be good.”
“W-wait a minute. Then the Magic Tower you originally planned to build…?”
As she searched the sewers with Lennok using Mana Sensitivity, Tatiana couldn’t hold back her question.
“The plan will proceed as originally intended. Only the order has changed.”
“The order changed?”
“Because originally, I intended to adopt Blaiver’s system after building the tower.”
Lennok replied as he walked towards the theme park’s shopping arcade restrooms.
“It’s as if I’ve pre-processed the necessary tasks for organizing the system. In truth, I wanted to handle this in a more stable environment, but…”
Given the unexpected appearance of the Tower Lord, Lennok had no choice but to proceed with the inheritance ritual of the Phoenix Hall right there.
Lennok’s mindscape of pyromantic magic.
The Black Starfall of Unraveling Radiance, a Domain he obtained from the future he observed at the Divergence Point Observation.
Lennok engraved the black sun, grasped at the end of countless battles and research, deep within the Solar System.
As long as Lennok breathes, the flames of that sun will continue to burn within the tower’s Solar System, never extinguishing.
Tatiana’s expression turned serious only after hearing the explanation and grasping the full situation.
“Master would never spare anyone he’s turned into an enemy.”
“…”
“If he hadn’t known you inherited the authority, it might have ended with just me…”
“Perhaps.”
Lennok replied, having found Anghel, who had collapsed unconscious at the end of a toilet stall.
“But at this point, it was unavoidable. So what I did was…”
He bound Anghel with magical threads, tossed him into a cart with Peshia, and then turned his gaze.
“To weaken the Tower Lord’s authority and strike at the system itself by imposing a subordinate he cannot control.”
“…”
“Since I’ve turned the consciousness space inside out, it will take time to clean up. The Tower Lord will also have to focus on managing his own mindscape.”
Lennok’s reason for forcibly engraving the ninth sun into the Magic Tower’s Solar System by forcefully implanting his mindscape was his conviction that the Tower Lord’s power source would be shaken as their authorities clashed.
Even if the Tower Lord had learned magic from another world, its root was ultimately Blaiver Magic Tower’s pyromantic magic.
An anomaly in the tower’s Solar System, which sustained that authority, was as good as a major blow to the Tower Lord.
What’s more, there was the burden of having to continue to manifest the power of an opponent he had declared he would burn to death, all within the same consciousness space.
And the situation where he couldn’t do anything even when seeing the mindscape of the black sun burning right beside him.
Lennok knew precisely what method would deliver the most fatal blow and humiliation to an opponent trying to kill him at that moment.
“Since we both hold the same authority, I’ll be able to perceive the changes once the Tower Lord begins to consolidate his power.”
Lennok walked out of the theme park and smiled, turning to Tatiana.
“Even if I can’t directly figure out the Tower Lord’s plans, I can at least tell when he’ll resume his activities.”
“…I never thought the Solar System could be used so conveniently.”
Tatiana nodded, looking somewhat disgruntled.
“I still can’t quite believe it. That Master would have his authority usurped like this…”
“To be precise, the Tower Lord was the first to destabilize his own power.”
Lennok replied.
Seeing Tatiana somewhat relieved, Lennok turned his gaze.
“All that’s left now is… figuring out how to escape this place.”
“What?”
At his muttered words, as he gazed at the field of the quarantined zone overflowing with black flames, Tatiana recoiled in horror.
“Wait, wasn’t that black flame created by you? Why are you worrying about how to get out?”
“What I did was create authority in the consciousness space and use that authority to reverse the essence of the magic the Tower Lord wielded. I didn’t seize control.”
Lennok shrugged.
“I don’t even have enough mana left to control it in the first place. If we get too close, we’ll burn to death.”
“…Then?”
Tatiana asked.
“Are we just going to stand here and burn to death?”
“…Hmm.”
“…”
An awkward silence followed.
“No, we’ve dramatically escaped one life-or-death situation after another, only to end up here…?”
As Tatiana stared blankly at the surging black flames, Lennok smiled faintly and subtly raised his gaze.
Immediately after, the sudden sound of a helicopter echoed above them.
Whirring! Whirring! Whirring!!!
“Hey, Adamant Thunder!!”
A bloodied girl with fluorescent hair was hanging precariously from the helicopter door, waving her hand.
Tatiana’s face brightened as she recognized the girl.
“Meryllda!!”
“Hey, Firestarter, you’re still alive?!”
Flying equipment was originally unthinkable in the outer regions, where self-generated storms raged.
But Meryllda, who had escaped before Lennok, had arrived to help them, riding a helicopter equipped with the anti-gravity engine developed by Evan.
The result of research within the Cartel to independently commercialize anti-gravity engines.
Meryllda stared in horror at the helicopter door melting from the heat of the black flames and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Damn it, it’s hot as hell! Get in quickly!!”
The black flames that spread through Sector 59 only subsided after incinerating about 6% of the waste accumulated in the quarantined zone.
After all was said and done, the revealed statistical data and the jet-black flames witnessed beyond the barrier became a hot topic on the deepweb for a while.
Those who knew about the Hexagonal Fortress incident at the time recognized the similarity of the black flames but kept silent.
The wizard who had caused the black flames at the fortress back then had now become a madman no one could easily touch.
If they carelessly spread information, no one would take responsibility if lightning struck them down.
Even trivial information about Adamant Thunder was now traded for significant value.
As the incident that nearly incinerated the entire quarantined zone ended, and even its rumors circulated as information within the underworld’s trading networks,
Lennok stood before the Cartel’s chairman’s office.
THUD!!
Lennok, who had set down Peshia, restrained all over with chains engraved with magical runes, spoke, “Ghost Princess Peshia Grisbern. I’ve brought her back alive, as promised.”
[…]
The chairman’s office library, filled with countless books and papers.
Beyond the veil draped in the far corner, a shuffling sound could be heard.
Soon, a figure shimmered beyond the veil, and a rainbow-colored light pierced through it.
After sitting there for a long time, gazing at Lennok and Peshia’s forms, Olivera finally let out a faint sigh.
[I didn’t expect much, but it seems you tied up the loose ends quite well.]
“Your executives handled things quite effectively, you see.”
Lennok replied, lighting a cigarette.
“So I put in some effort too. There was also something I needed to deal with personally.”
[…It seems you had quite a struggle. They’re all like that.]
A faint hint of a smile was mixed in Olivera’s transmitted voice.
[It was always like this, but there wasn’t a single one of them who wasn’t a tenacious wretch. That’s why I never thought I’d see this woman’s face alive again…]
Peshia, having regained consciousness, was silently staring at the veil with wide eyes.
Rather than showing fear about being captured and brought here, she seemed to be glaring directly at Olivera.
Olivera, unfazed by Peshia’s reaction, lightly gestured from behind the veil.
BOOM!!
The red-skinned giants standing like totem poles on either side of the chairman’s office took custody of Peshia and disappeared.
Lennok, exhaling a stream of smoke as he watched them go, asked, “What do you intend to do with the Ghost Princess?”
[Well… I’m not entirely sure. I didn’t specifically want her custody for a particular objective.]
Olivera replied in a slow tone.
[Perhaps I just needed someone to talk to, to recall memories of yesteryear.]
“…”
Who would believe that the Chairman of the Cartel needed a conversational partner and thus tried to capture Peshia alive?
Seeing her blatant reluctance to reveal her purpose, Lennok immediately changed the subject.
“I heard that Kaiser’s son, Ethan Bajour, is leading Deadrise.”
[…]
“Did you know?”
Olivera’s shadow remained silent.
Lennok looked at her and spoke again, “Are you going to say this is also bound by a Geas and you can’t speak of it?”
[…It’s ambiguous.]
Olivera replied.
She slowly shifted her body behind the veil, leaning against something as she made her transmitted voice resonate.
[However, seeing what you handled this time, I’ll consider and answer you.]
“…”
[What do you want to know?]
“I heard his son died a long time ago, and Kaiser himself doesn’t even know his granddaughter exists.”
Lennok asked.
“A man like Kaiser wouldn’t be mistaken about such a fact, so there must be a hidden secret.”
[…]
“Which is it?”
Lennok’s question omitted the subject. But both understood what it referred to.
Olivera, who was directly involved in the project, and Lennok, who had returned after witnessing past memories.
The single memory they shared from different timelines faintly connected the thread of their conversation.
[Which do you think it is?]
Instead of answering directly, Olivera countered Lennok’s question.
It was as if she wanted to know Lennok’s thoughts on the matter.
Her attitude seemed to enjoy the current exchange, but Lennok also understood.
Considering the Geas she was under, it would ultimately be cleaner for Lennok to deduce it himself and merely have the conclusion verified.
“Well… the first thing that comes to mind is the possibility that Deadrise’s leader is impersonating Kaiser’s son.”
Lennok said, “Assuming Ethan Bajour actually died, he’s leading Deadrise by borrowing that name. Either way, this situation is the most realistic. But…”
[But?]
Lennok, contemplating, slowly opened his mouth.
“The Deadrise leadership I’ve seen were not the kind of people to fall for a flimsy impersonation and sacrifice their lives.”
Deadrise, a private military corporation founded primarily by Kaiser’s most loyal retainers.
But Lennok, facing Gileon in the past and Peshia in the present, had fully experienced their skill and experience.
The intuition and judgment they displayed in battles against two powerhouses were on a level Lennok could never ignore.
Considering the intensity of their resolve, it was difficult to believe that they were being deceived by a mere impersonation or lie.
Ultimately, was there a missing piece of the puzzle to connect this broken causality?
Lennok had personally brought Peshia to Olivera to ask this very question.
“Perhaps the leader of Deadrise has a compelling reason, or there might be an unspoken agreement among the leadership.”
Olivera didn’t answer Lennok’s words for a long time.
Rather than being speechless, it was as if she was slowly choosing the words she was about to speak.
Very slowly, her transmitted voice, which had begun from behind the veil, clearly resonated.
[Human nature is complex yet contradictory; it can never be entirely swayed at will.]
“…”
[Talent and aptitude are likewise. Ambiguous and vague aptitudes are sometimes a curse, not a blessing.]
She mumbled, glancing at the impassive Lennok.
[That’s why, sometimes, one becomes stronger after death, forcefully rewinding a destiny that has already ended.]
“…What?”
Lennok’s expression changed abruptly as he instantly understood her words.
He knew that what Olivera was saying referred to Kaiser’s innate constitution.
What did the contradiction mean: that his son, born with an inherently ambiguous constitution, had become stronger after death?
Olivera’s hint suggested only one possibility.
Reinforcement of Regressive Magic. A second hand rewinding and moving a stopped clock.
The meaning of forcefully rewinding an ended destiny.
[Born of the Dead (死者所生).]
Olivera smiled.
[You, of all people, must have heard of this concept at least once, haven’t you?]
Lennok, who had been silent, slowly questioned her as if confirming her words, “You mean Kaiser’s son… came back to life after dying?”
While there were many forms of magic that utilized thoughts or souls left behind after death, resurrecting the dead was an entirely different matter.
Life and death, concepts that divide humanity, were absolute in terms of magical formulas.
One might be able to trick or toy with things before reaching that standard, but it was impossible to reverse it once the boundary of life and death had been crossed.
Olivera was saying that Kaiser’s son was now a resurrected being.
[Kaiser possessed an extremely rare constitution, but his greatest talent wasn’t Regressive Magic or anything like that.]
“…”
[If so, wouldn’t it be strange if his son didn’t inherit some of that aptitude?]
It was close to wordplay, but Lennok couldn’t help but understand the meaning Olivera was conveying.
Kaiser, whom Lennok had encountered in the quarantined zone, was a designer with astonishing intellect and judgment, enough to earn Lennok’s admiration.
His declaration to change the world wasn’t a careless idea based on his own talent.
It was a resolution to thoroughly absorb all the failures of this world and find the sole correct answer at their end.
His brilliant mind and leadership allowed him to execute that reckless plan, drawing monsters from all over the world and succeeding.
If Kaiser’s son had inherited some of that talent…
“…You’re saying that even his death might have been part of his plan. That even that was a design to deceive Kaiser?”
[Well. That’s something I cannot judge.]
Olivera took a slow breath and replied.
[But look. See how broad and severe the Geas placed on the project’s personnel is.]
“…”
At the same time, thick drops of blood dripped from beneath the veil.
Was even her momentary slowdown in speech due to enduring unimaginable pain?
Olivera continued in a weakened transmitted voice.
[It activates merely by becoming aware, binding one’s life and death. We all agreed to it, but that’s why it’s such a severe restraint.]
“…”
[I don’t know what state Kaiser’s son is in now. But whether that’s true or not, can’t you guess by the name of the organization he leads?]
Lennok unconsciously answered Olivera’s question, then gave a bitter laugh.
“Deadrise…”
Because only now did he truly understand the essence of that word.