Chapter 812: The Ascendant’s Advent (7)

The Kaleidoscope’s Divergence Point, the Domain of the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea.

But even for Lennok, this divergence point was not a power he could wield at will.

It was a domain forcibly blossomed by choosing a possibility Lennok himself would never have picked.

A domain that blossomed into a unique and alien power, despite its incredibly stringent activation conditions and repercussions.

The power to kill what doesn’t die.

The temple of the madman who seeks immortality.

Kwa-gua-gua-gua!!!

Dozens of black pillars simultaneously rose above the sanctuary of the Infinite Void, overlaying the cathedral’s scenery.

The scenery of the Outer Sea, which should not have been reflected, cast itself over the temple’s sky, scattering dark starlight beneath the black temple.

Goooooh…!!

A strange, ominous growl, belonging to no one, echoed ceaselessly within the temple, distorting everything in existence.

The will-thought of the Unbound Sea, shriveling to a dark black, collapsing even the temple’s interior and the temple itself.

The possibility of a madman who became an Apostle without serving any god, premised on his own destruction.

“From the start… you never intended to choose any god.”

The Priestess, who had been staring blankly at the scene, finally realized Lennok’s intention and muttered.

“An Apostle completed by not serving a god… how can a human make such a choice—”

Lennok had not asked the Priestess for the Apostle Consecration Ritual to choose one of the Outer Gods and become an Apostle.

From the beginning, Lennok had never even considered choosing anyone among the Outer Gods.

He had simply needed a very special and intense ‘catalyst’—the process of becoming an Apostle through the Consecration Ritual.

But Dorye did not let it continue for long.

“He’s deceiving the Outer Gods, forcing the world’s laws for a fleeting moment…!!”

Ink-like, murky mana surged and coiled around Dorye’s arms.

“You, who made such a choice your mind-image, dare to lecture me, telling me I’m wrong!!!”

The mana, exploding from behind his elbows, instantly overlaid both forearms, transforming into the shape of thick gauntlets.

Giant fists, twice the size of Dorye’s forearms, instantaneously struck Lennok’s chest.

Whooong…!

A faint ripping sound grazed his ears. Dark ripples shimmered right before his eyes.

Dorye’s mind-image, spinning as if being sucked in and exploding, fired like a bullet, transcending sound and perception.

The Will-Thought Fist, launched as if vanishing into thin air, hammered Lennok’s solar plexus, piercing muscle and bone to crush his heart.

Thud-thud-thud!!!

A direct, single punch, delivered head-on into the defenseless body of the spellcaster immediately after activating his Domain.

The moment Dorye, having burrowed into Lennok’s reeling, stumbling form, gestured as if caressing empty air.

Dorye’s touch slammed through Lennok’s entire body, and behind it, dozens of layers of murky light burst forth.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!

The wizard’s form, fluttering as if dancing beneath the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace, was devoured and torn apart by Dorye’s mana.

With a tremendous explosion that seemed to rip his entire body apart, Lennok’s form was sent flying dozens of meters backward, crashing.

“…!!!”

The battle ended in an instant, before the Domain’s power could even be fully displayed.

The moment Dorye fully elevated his will-thought and materialized the ‘equipment’ necessary for a martial artist.

With a dramatically increased combat prowess, he instantly eliminated all elements vital to Lennok’s survival.

The Priestess, agitated yet remaining as a weakened, blurred spiritual body, desperately prayed and tried to maintain the Consecration Ritual.

But Dorye immediately snatched the Priestess’s spiritual body with one hand, gripping her tightly as if to annihilate her at any moment.

Thump!!

“Foolish. If you hadn’t activated your Domain, you might have lasted a little longer.”

Dorye sneered, glaring at the Priestess’s trembling, pained spiritual body.

“The blessing your god etched into this body caused a void by clashing with the Apostle Consecration Ritual… and you cast it aside yourself to deploy a Domain?”

“Ah…!!”

“Unbelievably arrogant for someone meant to stand in for the Pontiff.”

The moment Lennok initiated the Apostle Consecration Ritual and drew the attention of the Outer Gods.

Dorye had not been able to interfere with Lennok, not because his power was insufficient, or because the Ascendant’s hierarchy was beneath the Outer Gods.

The blessing etched into that body, which existed as the Pontiff’s vessel, forcibly clashed and resisted the presence of the Outer Gods.

This had prevented the Ascendant from raising his mana and killing Lennok on the spot.

However, the moment Lennok used the Consecration Ritual as a pretext to deploy his Domain, unleashing the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace and shaking off the Outer Gods’ gaze, that interference also vanished.

Lennok, unaware of what had granted him a reprieve in that moment, had merely offered his own life.

He might have thought the Domain’s power would serve as a weapon to fight against an Ascendant.

But he didn’t realize how free from the constraints of time and space a Transcendent who had reached Level 9 in physical abilities was at such a close range.

“It’s not over.”

Crack!!

The murky gauntlet wrapped around his forearm. Dorye muttered, gripping Seina’s spiritual body with an iron-plated grasp materialized from mana and will-thought.

“It’s only just beginning. We must gather all memories and traces left in Yorta, and before the Pontiff himself awakens in this world again—!!”

“No.”

Boom!!

Lennok’s voice echoed clearly amidst the shattered remnants of the temple, distorted and collapsed by Dorye’s mind-image.

“It ends here. There’s nothing more.”

Paaaaaaat!!!

At that moment, a pale flash of light erupted from inside Dorye’s body and began to be pulled out at an incredible speed.

As if something slumbering beneath that body was being forcibly extracted and manifested here.

“…!!”

Realizing this, Dorye belatedly tried to forcefully stabilize his body by manipulating his will-thought, but it was already too late.

The pale, pure white light that had resided within his body was pulled from Dorye and instantly sucked into the spot where Lennok had fallen.

Thump-thump!!!

Beyond the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace, something utterly crushed and broken suddenly stood up.

As if self-regenerating its form in the darkness, as if time was rewinding, it rose from that very spot.

Thump, thump-thud-thud!!!

Kwoooong!!

He rolled up his robe sleeve and lightly caressed his blood-soaked forearm.

With just that, his badly broken elbow repaired, blood vessels regenerated, and joints reconnected.

Lennok’s mana addiction and scarecrow physique.

The overwhelming mana from the Outer Sea, piercing his entire body and repairing it, was capable of momentarily disregarding the penalties that bound his physical form.

With each step, his swaying balance corrected, and strength returned to his stride.

Lennok emerged from the shadows of the surrounding glowing candles, covered in blood.

But behind Lennok’s dark form, a dazzling white altar had already risen.

Paaaaat!!

The form of a pale altar, surging up in the center of the dark temple, brightly illuminated its surroundings.

On the altar, a pure white coffin glowed, continuously sending down light towards Lennok.

Dorye’s face contorted as he immediately sensed that the power emanating from the coffin was that of his own incarnation.

“You… surely, you used the Apostle Consecration Ritual process, not for yourself…!!!”

Lennok had indeed invoked the divergence point of the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace using the Apostle Consecration Ritual as a catalyst.

But that didn’t mean the gaze of the already summoned Outer Gods would immediately disappear from this place.

Once the ritual was initiated, the process had to be concluded, either in success or failure, without any suspension.

Otherwise, the ritual initiated in the sanctuary of the Infinite Void would remain perpetually exposed and coexisting with the Outer Sea, never ending.

That was why Lennok, while deploying the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace using the Consecration Ritual as a catalyst.

He forcibly redirected the Outer Gods’ gaze, caused by the Consecration Ritual, towards a completely different target, thereby forcefully concluding the ritual.

And that target was none other than Lennok’s own incarnation, which had been slumbering within Ascendant Dorye’s body all this time.

“To forcibly extract a completely assimilated incarnation from your body, this was the only way.”

Lennok said, looking back at the pure white altar erected in the center of the temple.

He had expected the incarnation chosen as an Apostle to react, but he never imagined it would appear in the form of a pure white coffin, not even human.

The Pontiff’s memories obtained by assimilating with Dorye’s body. The series of rituals involved in being selected as an Apostle must have had such a strong influence as to redefine the incarnation’s existence.

But the true meaning Lennok sought to gain through this trial-and-error was elsewhere.

“A stronger gravitational pull than the Pontiff’s vessel. The power of an incarnation reborn as their Apostle, chosen by the apocalypse dwelling in the Outer Sea. And—”

Crack-crack!!!

The pale light flowing from the coffin rapidly absorbed into Lennok’s body, as if being sucked in.

It was as if Lennok was devouring the power held by the incarnation on the spot, amplifying his own mana and will-thought.

Limitlessly pale light poured over Lennok’s shoulders like a waterfall, streaming down.

The Priestess, staring blankly at Lennok’s fully restored body, muttered to herself.

“Directly absorbing the power of the incarnation that became an Apostle…”

What was unfolded through the divergence point of the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace was the Apostle of the Unbound Sea, devouring the Outer Sea’s power and immortality.

Therefore, Lennok, by designating his incarnation as an Apostle through the Consecration Ritual, forcibly extracted it from Dorye’s body.

And then, using the power of the Temple of the Unbound Sea Palace, he was directly melting the incarnation’s power and talent into his own body right then and there.

The inherent power and aptitude of the incarnation as a Fist Master of the Old World.

In the fleeting moment the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace was deployed, Lennok directly drew upon and used the talent of the incarnation designated as an Apostle.

This was the temporary release of the penalties that had long bound Lennok—something he had yearned for—and the realization of a pre-benefit for physical enhancement.

Crack…!!

At the same time as cracks like shattered glass appeared on his skin, Lennok’s forearm swelled.

His body twisted into a muscular physique that was not originally his, scarring it with wounds that were not his own.

Crack, crack-crack-crack!!

As if reborn from cracking out of an eggshell, the cracks on his skin tragically shattered, unleashing an enormous amount of mana.

Kugugugu!!!

A muscular form, enhanced with physical strength that ignored penalties by borrowing the incarnation’s talent, stepped forward towards the Ascendant.

Continuously repairing and strengthening his fragile body with the mana of the Outer Sea, by borrowing the talent of a Fist Master who had reached mastery with his two fists.

Forcibly moving a body that had surpassed its limits through mana manipulation and Touin, the Will-Thought Martial Art.

At this very moment, with the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace deployed and the incarnation’s power absorbed, Lennok was no longer a fragile wizard.

He had inherited the martial artist’s realm he had so desperately wished for, believing it would one day be possible.

The aptitude of a warrior who moves his own body and directly chooses life or death. He forcibly seized that talent, which was originally forbidden to him, in this very place.

Thump!!

“…You’re insane.”

Dorye, who finally understood how Lennok was restoring his body and intended to fight him, muttered with a hardened expression.

“Did you really modify yourself to such an extent just to contend with me?”

“If I’m to face an Ascendant’s body, this much should balance the scales.”

Shwaaaarak!!

As Lennok spoke and raised his hand, mana threads descending from the sky immediately coiled around Lennok’s arm and then his entire body.

The Seamster of the Imaginary Dimension, connecting thousands of mana threads to Lennok’s body from above.

And the Apostle of the Unbound Sea, receiving the will of the Outer Sea and imbuing physical enhancement throughout his body.

Slowly, as Lennok clenched his fist, mana twisted and distorted at his fingertips, blossoming open like a flower.

Crack-crack-crack!!!

A hollow will, merely by existing there, tore apart space, dyeing it murky and erasing it.

The madman’s power, prepared to erase actual immortality and kill what doesn’t die.

The Ascendant’s face hardened, realizing that this was the force intended to utterly annihilate him here and now.

And Lennok, his entire body supported and held together by mana threads, lowered his stance deeply.

Kugugugu…!!

Just that caused the very ground to violently vibrate, and an enormous pressure spread out from Lennok’s body.

“A non-existent warrior’s divergence point, forged with a wizard’s talent.”

Lennok whispered softly.

“You’ll make a fitting first opponent for this state.”

No more words were needed.

Lennok’s tightly clenched fist twisted at the wrist, then spun rapidly from his elbow and shoulder.

It vanished as if transcending space, directly striking Dorye’s face.

Mana Manipulation: Body Manipulation Ninefold Dorye Martial Arts, First Fist Touin.

Kwaaang!!!

With a thunderous roar like an iron plate bursting, Dorye’s form was sent flying dozens of meters backward.

The moment Lennok’s form appeared, transcending space, above the Ascendant’s body, which had crashed into a pillar of the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace.

Lennok, having crushed Dorye, began to pour mana and will-thought into every part of the Ascendant’s body.

Dudududududu!!!

The hollow will-thought bursting from his fist, and the madman’s mana flashing to assist it, swirled around Lennok’s body, amplifying his speed and power.

Explosive acceleration, so fast that even Dorye himself found it hard to react with his own eyes.

“Where…!!”

The Ascendant, having maxed out his sensory perception, raised both hands, leaning against the shattered pillar fragments.

The moment he clapped his hands together as if striking, Dorye’s mana exploded and scattered within his hands.

It erupted, imbued with eerie will-thought, and rushed towards Lennok.

Innumerable mana fragments, surging from the Ascendant, arced like missiles, rotating, and brutally slammed down onto Lennok’s head.

Ninefold Dorye Will-Thought Secret Art Scattering Vortex (Bi Jeok Hoe)

Kwaaaaah!!!

Dorye’s will-thought, slammed down onto the spot where Lennok stood, exploded and surged, unleashing a massive pillar of light nearly tens of meters tall.

Overwhelming firepower, capable of enveloping the entire Temple of the Unbound Sea Palace with just a light gesture.

The Ascendant’s will, layered over the sanctuary of the Infinite Void, rotated and swelled as if to burst the temple’s domain.

Amidst the murky pillars surging from all directions, Dorye’s form instantly accelerated beyond sound.

He accurately pinpointed Lennok, buried in the mana storm, and delivered a fist-kick.

Cheoooong!!

Lennok’s and Dorye’s hands clashed in mid-air, and the moment their hands met, an invisible shockwave erupted around them, sweeping through the scenery of the Infinite Void sanctuary and the temple.

The mana of the black-stained void and the murky-hued will-thought of the Ascendant intertwined, rotating and vanishing.

The mind-images of the two monsters, dividing the Infinite Void sanctuary, clashed ceaselessly, constantly filling the crumbling, distorting space with new abilities.

At the boundary of a vast domain, whose end was unknown, it was as if two house-sized beasts were devouring and intertwining with each other.

With every movement – a punch, a shoulder rotation, an elbow pull – a waterfall of mana radiance streamed out, flashing in all directions.

Kwa-gua-gua-gua!!!

Becoming a living storm centered on his own body, he poured all his remaining power into killing the opponent before him.

The moment Dorye’s gauntlet hammered Lennok’s shoulder, bounced off, and then pressed down, slamming Lennok’s form into the bottom of the temple.

A pale, pure white ripple surged upwards from the ground, fully absorbing the will-thought Dorye had unleashed.

“I told you.”

Kiiiiiing!!

Ninefold Dorye Martial Arts, Eight Rebounds (Eight Visions)

Thud-thud-thud!!

A counter-attack technique that had reached a transcendent level, forcibly deflecting attacks by distorting physical laws.

The Ascendant, in that fleeting moment, realized that it had reached a high-dimensional level comparable to the Ninefold Dorye martial arts he himself used.

Conversely, the mana of the Unbound Sea, erupting from Lennok’s fingertips as he gripped Dorye’s hand, invaded the Ascendant’s body.

It instantly shattered the gauntlet, bent it backward, and then slammed the broken arm back into Dorye’s solar plexus.

“It’s the power to kill what doesn’t die…!!”

The warrior’s talent, forged in a fleeting moment through the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea Palace.

The Miniature Universe Lennok wielded within the distorted Domain was the very power of paradox that killed immortality.

Lennok’s form, stained with the mana of the void, pierced through the Pontiff’s blessing and surged forward. Immediately after the Ascendant stumbled back, as if grazed by a shadow.

Pweoong!!

Dorye’s side exploded outwards, scattering black, dried blood everywhere.

“…!!!”

The impregnable barrier, clad in the Pontiff’s blessing and perfected by the Ascendant’s power.

That body, which should never have been invaded by another’s will-thought, was pierced for the very first time.