Chapter 813: Ascendant Dorye (8)

The moment Dorye’s body bent in half and was flung back, Lennok seized Dorye’s shoulder, which had floated into the air, and swung him.

A grotesquely stretched, ink-black shadow was trampled and crushed beneath the Temple of the Unbound Sea.

From that impact alone, hundreds of cracks spread across the temple floor, and a violent earthquake erupted.

“…!!”

The Ascendant staggered, staring at the wounds on his body, torn by Lennok.

The wounds didn’t heal on the spot; instead, they were slowly being devoured by the grotesque magic created by the spellcaster before him.

A body already dead, its life extinguished. A spirit trapped in a dead body, unable to let go of lingering regrets.

Lennok’s assertion that he would kill both at once and annihilate them was no lie.

Dorye’s body slowly regained its balance and faced Lennok askew from where he stood.

Struck by Lennok’s magic, the Ascendant’s blood scattered for the first time.

Blood dripped steadily from Dorye’s fingertips, gripping his side absentmindedly.

“…It hurts.”

Dorye, who was blankly touching the wound on his side, muttered this for the first time.

“This body is merely a corpse that died long ago, so why do I feel sensation?”

“…”

“If the power and will remaining within me are the body’s memories, then is this pain merely a remnant of memory?”

Crack!!

Dorye’s gauntleted fingers relentlessly tore into his own crushed side.

The Ascendant’s body, following his touch, was messily torn apart, damaged, and profusely bled.

Lennok’s magic, which had extended into muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, he scraped out with his bare hands.

Lennok had embedded it into Dorye’s body: the Unbound Sea’s magic that damaged his immortality.

Dorye also instinctively knew he couldn’t continue the fight without removing it then and there.

Shwaak!!

With veins bulging tightly on his forehead, he endlessly and slowly tore into his side, scraping out Lennok’s magic.

At the intense pain of scraping blood vessels and nerves, Dorye’s expression twitched, but his gaze never left Lennok for a moment.

As flesh and muscle were pulled out from the wound by his movements and fell with a thud, he drew magic over his gauntlet and rubbed it over the wound.

Chiiik!!

Not just stemming the bleeding from the wound, but an abnormal countermeasure of heating and burning it shut.

But Dorye, as if nothing happened, burned and crushed his own wound, then tilted his head back.

“I still don’t know… I sacrificed everything to know that, yet I still understand nothing.”

“…”

“That all the time I lived, all the moments that concluded before the Pontiff, were meaningless…”

Dorye muttered as if spitting out words.

“I can’t stand it, I feel like I’m going mad…!!!”

“Then you should have gone mad.”

Lennok laughed.

“Mad enough that you could never return, broken enough that no one could approach you.”

“…!!”

“The moment you abandoned your path and relied on the Pontiff, your journey ended right there. Do you still not know?”

Looking at Dorye’s distorted face, Lennok said.

“The moment you thought someone else’s answer was more correct, you already lost the qualification to reach the next stage.”

“Nonsense!!!”

In the rain of pouring candlelight, the dead Ascendant and the Apostle of the Unbound Sea clashed.

Kwaang!!

The moment Lennok and Dorye’s hands tangled in the air, they bounced off each other simultaneously, as if leaping through time.

To shatter each other’s bodies, they relentlessly thrust their arms and legs, maintaining their center of gravity, and swung their magic with full force.

Twisted torrents of magic and will-thought between their wrists and elbows violently erupted behind them, sweeping and crushing an area tens of meters wide.

Ninefold Dorye Martial Arts, Eight Transformations

Seven Breaches (七穿)

Inherited Secret Technique

Flash of Exemplary Decryption (解例閃)

Dududududu!!!

At a distance so close that their breaths and gazes intersected, they alternately slammed fists and mental images.

From tens of meters away, they unleashed martial arts and techniques based on will-thought in rapid succession.

A miraculous display, as if existing simultaneously in different spaces, without being restricted by time or distance.

Ink-black shadows and void magic flashed everywhere, relentlessly incinerating every space visible to the eye.

Eight Mirrors (捌鏡)

Pale ripples in the air flashed and rotated dozens of times.

Rogue Frenzy (匪猖)

Dark, sinking aura was torn apart, resonating like a strange song.

Ninefold Harm (毆害)

The will-thought striking down from all directions was shattered and disintegrated.

Kwaaaang!!

Waves of will-thought crashing over the Infinite Void Sanctuary exploded and distorted along the horizon beyond the vast, distant cathedral.

Magic clashing and intertwining regardless of order or magnitude raged into a storm that swept through the entire cathedral.

In the center of that storm, two monstrous figures relentlessly collided bare-bodied against each other, clashing and wearing each other down.

Over the sea of candles, they relentlessly bounced and tumbled, clashing by leaping across space in a fleeting moment.

Kwadudududuk!!!

The Ascendant’s ink-black magic, sinking into darkness, trailing like a meteor shower, plummeted down a massive cliff.

Using countless cursed candles hanging and glowing on the cliff face as beacons, he traversed the vast expanse of cathedral ruins.

Among the countless scattered rock fragments in the air, he precisely caught sight of Lennok’s form and landed a single powerful punch.

Kwaaaang!!

Magic twisted in different directions exploded, forming two ripples. Lennok and Dorye’s bodies, tangled together, collided amidst countless fragments of temple pillars.

On top of the unstable pillar fragments, so shaky it was hard to maintain balance, they engaged in a close-quarters battle, smashing through each other’s defenses.

Unleashing magic, wielding will-thought, every moment they let out silent screams, recoil exploded, leading the two superhumans to the very edge of the Infinite Void Sanctuary.

“Aaaaaah!!!!”

The space of the grand cathedral split and tore apart in all directions, revealing the desolate landscape of the spiritual realm.

Lennok and Dorye’s bodies, surging through the twisted cracks, bounced out of the spiritual realm and slid onto the trembling bridge of souls.

“…!!!”

Thud!!

With a prolonged, stomping kick, a knee was ground down.

A brushing touch burst a side, a fist striking the shoulder severed nerves, and a punch to the jaw submerged consciousness.

Normally, the moment one of these assaults was allowed, it wouldn’t be strange for the battle to end immediately due to fatal injuries.

But Lennok directly absorbed all of Dorye’s attacks and in turn, began to shatter the Ascendant’s body.

Dudududuk!!

Tilting his burst side, he crushed a thigh; colliding with a broken shoulder, he pulverized muscles; and bit off a finger that had struck his jaw.

Moving his body not by sensation, but by intuition and reason, he concurrently used magic and will-thought, pushing the functioning of his organs to the brink of collapse.

The Outer Sea’s magic held and supported his breaking body, temporarily ignoring the penalty the moment he bloomed his Miniature Universe.

Dorye’s head violently reeled, scattering black blood on the spot.

Kwaang!!

Simultaneously, Lennok’s body was flung in the opposite direction and fell onto the sea of candles located beneath the sanctuary.

A pillar of light, exploding diagonally across, struck down onto the Infinite Void Sanctuary, ripping open a fissure.

On top of the easily unquenchable cursed flames, Lennok weakly coughed.

“Cough!!”

“If it’s the ability of a warrior forcibly created, then maintaining that grotesque balance alone must consume immense mental power.”

Dorye, digging into his wounds with bloodied hands, looked down at Lennok from a mound made of piled candle holders.

He smiled, looking at Lennok, who was sweating profusely.

“Whether it collapses or breaks, it won’t last long. You’re the one who made a completely wrong choice…”

“…”

It wasn’t wrong.

Although he was wielding a warrior’s ability, this was not a talent originally granted to Lennok.

Manipulation of Magic Scribes via Manipulation Spellcraft. Touin, the martial art of mental images, learned from Krod Azlan. The existence of the Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea and the Incarnate Body. Even the Apostle Consecration Ritual.

If even one of these had been absent, it would have been impossible for Lennok to continue this hand-to-hand combat against Dorye here.

Moreover, even after piecing together such coincidences and miracles, he was still engaging in a precarious offense and defense, risking his life.

The complete body of an Ascendant, and the berserker martial arts manifested from the memories imprinted on that body from his lifetime.

But Lennok, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to break through it head-on, continued to challenge it, risking his life.

There were coincidences unattainable unless at this very moment, and possibilities that couldn’t be confirmed without this fight.

Forcing a warrior’s turning point and standing here was perhaps a miracle that might never be tested again.

Lennok knew that if he could overcome, even for a moment, the physical penalty he was born with the moment he opened his eyes in this world, he absolutely had to test it.

“It’s hard to believe that a power clumsily created with a spellcaster’s talent could be this strong… but even that miracle is meaningless, like a candle in the wind.”

Dorye looked around at the many precariously flickering candles and said.

“Like the curses fading away here right now.”

“Well… I don’t think I’m the only one clumsily made.”

But instead of answering Dorye’s question, Lennok slowly shook his head.

Although it was a body that had already died, the one moving it was Dorye himself, the original owner of the body.

A powerful individual who learned fist techniques, gained continent-shaking fame, and reached a realm no one could approach.

But Lennok knew that it was far from the true essence of Ascendant Dorye.

“Ascendant Dorye is a Transcendent who reached 9th level in the rank of Berserker.”

Lennok said that, spitting out black, clotted blood.

“But what about you now? Are you mad enough to be called a berserker?”

“…”

“Even if you have the body of an Ascendant, you can’t truly be called a proper Ascendant.”

Lennok smiled, looking at the silent Dorye.

“Ultimately, the reason you reached the ninth rank was because you temporarily handed over your body to the Pontiff.”

Dorye gaining qualification was only possible because he handed over his body through a deal with the Pontiff.

As a result, he went completely mad, becoming a berserker who massacred and shattered everything he touched.

Precisely because of that, he was able to transcend his limits and be perfected as an Ascendant.

Dorye, who had regained his body and stood here now, was an excellent martial artist, but not insane.

An existence with an Ascendant’s body, but without a fitting mind. Lennok had realized Dorye’s true nature the moment he manifested.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it? Your very existence here right now is reliant on such an ambiguous causality.”

Saying that, Lennok slowly raised his body and paused, noticing a dimly glowing candle beside him.

[Yao Xun’s Incarnation Spellcraft.]

“…Or perhaps you simply wanted to deny it.”

Lennok, looking at the nameplate carved into the candle, slowly extended his hand and grasped the candle holder.

Lennok, who clenched his hand and extinguished the flame, threw it away without regret, stood up, and said.

“That even though you hate and resent the Pontiff, the very fact that you got another chance was thanks to him.”

“…No.”

“You cling and hold onto regret precisely because you know it’s incomplete. It’s just that the answer was twisted towards someone else, not yourself.”

Lennok said that and slowly raised his right hand.

As if grasping something invisible in the air, the moment he extended it towards Dorye’s chest.

“If it’s a regret you yourself aren’t confident in, then I’ll cut it off for you right here.”

“Don’t call it mere regret!!!”

Dorye wildly pulled up his magic and dashed towards Lennok.

“I’ve reflected on everything and decided it with my own will. Failures like the Pontiff must disappear!!!”

The ink-black gauntlet, shimmering like a deep shadow, rotated, scattering fist techniques incomparable to before.

In a fleeting moment, he unleashed dozens, hundreds of shockwaves as if breathing, and brought down an aura imbued with even greater power.

Kugwagwaga!!

The berserker’s killing intent poured down like rain from above.

At the end of immeasurable time, stubbornly broken and twisted obsession and stubbornness, mixed within the magic, burning ignobly.

Intense strikes, fully imbued with that resentment, pierced Lennok’s body and scattered behind him.

Dudududuk!!

The Magic Scribes assisting Lennok’s movements all burned up and vanished, following the desolate incineration of will-thought.

If the Magic Scribes assisting in the battle with Dorye were damaged beyond repair, then physical manipulation would also lose significant precision.

But Lennok moved his body relentlessly, even knowing that.

Touin, the martial art of mental images.

A forbidden technique that moves a warrior’s body pushed beyond its limits, with the mind/will.

He knew there was a realm that could only be reached at this very moment.

As if recalling forgotten memories of his body, he revived, one by one, the explosive sensations within this life-or-death tightrope walk.

The smell of burning flesh. Cold breath. Hot, boiling blood and taut muscles.

The cool breeze brushing his cheek and the sensation of rotating magic. The Ascendant’s aura exploding before his eyes.

Reviving all those sensations as if retrieving and recreating them from memory, he added deeper meaning to the decisive battle that had continued until now.

Whoosh!!

At that moment, Lennok’s body moved at an incomparable speed, directly breaking and trampling all of Dorye’s assaults.

Kwaaaang!!

Magic and will-thought, the core fist-and-kick techniques, center of gravity, axis of balance, and strategic combat.

All the driving forces that formed the foundation of the body which had gained the qualification to challenge ascension were shattered and collapsed from the roots.

Dorye, who perceived this, also wildly pulled up his magic, forcibly propped up his crumbling body, and incinerated himself.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

Ninefold Dorye Will-Thought Secret Technique

Ink Shadow (墨影)

[Seonra Bicheon (先拏飛天)]

Dorye’s body, dashing through the temple where dark starlight poured down, lost its form and crumbled on the spot.

Flooding ink-black magic wrapped around his body, merely drawing across space-time like a brush.

Instantly transcending the form of matter, becoming a real, penetrating phantom, it shot towards Lennok.

Kwaaaanga!!!

Below the sea of candles, where the grand cathedral and the Temple of the Unbound Sea coexisted.

Dorye’s body, dimly distorted overhead, fell as a giant’s fist, filling the entire space.

[I will kill the Pontiff and save the world.]

Amidst that, Dorye’s monstrous roar was clearly heard by Lennok.

[I, who was betrayed by him… I, who saw his true nature and paid the price, must achieve that great feat in his stead!!!]

“No.”

Lennok said that and simultaneously pulled up his magic.

“He isn’t waiting for you.”

Yes, only after coming this far could Lennok finally refocus his thoughts on the Pontiff.

The cult’s Far Eastern branch. Like the message written on the old mirror beneath the sea of a secluded island.

He was waiting.

Opening his eyes in this world as a Fist Master, undergoing two ascensions, amidst fanaticism towards the Outer Sea.

Losing his body, at the end of a grotesque life, breathing within the memories of others.

For a clear answer that would resolve everything.

For a terrible ending that would destroy everything.

He could only vaguely guess now how many trials and failures he had endured to reach that place.

How many things he had done, such that only waiting remained.

Yet he seemed to understand faintly.

That he was waiting for him.

And that he himself had known it deep down.

Even facing the arrangements and memories he left behind, his evil deeds and karma,

Merely became questions the Pontiff himself cast towards Lennok, reflected like a mirror.

Then Lennok, too, had to show him.

To the failed savior who might be watching this very moment from somewhere.

Though in the same place, not the same; though in different places, not different—

To another version of himself.

Bzzzt!!

At that moment, Lennok’s immeasurably bloated will-thought exploded and overflowed, trembling.

From Lennok’s fingertips, the radiance of lightning began to twist agonizingly and blossom.

Apostle of the Unbound Sea.

Even at the turning point of a madman who lost everything and accepted the Outer Sea’s power, the mental image of lightning remained by Lennok’s side until the very end.

Even though it wasn’t manifested here, the endlessly overflowing mental image of the Eight-Linked Thunder Principle Palace ramped through the Kaleidoscope.

Completely different from the blue lightning he had used until now, it rotated as shriveled, sinking black lightning.

Crackkk!!

The form of black lightning that bloomed from his fingertips conversely burrowed into his body and began to distort Lennok’s form.

Applying lightning’s property transformation to his body itself, an ultimate technique that transforms his entire body into the form of actual lightning.

Body-Lightning Unification, which Lennok had never been able to attempt due to his innate penalty, even after mastering lightning magic.

Lennok’s body, flashing with shriveled, pitch-black lightning, lost its form and twisted at that moment.

[Thunder Void (雷虛)]

The entire Temple of the Naked Unbound Sea tilted, centered around Lennok alone.

Kugugung!!

His entire body transformed into black lightning, Lennok’s charging form pierced Dorye’s perception.

Seonra Bicheon, shimmering with ink-black magic, scattered and vanished in all directions, immediately after the Ascendant’s true form reappeared on the spot.

Lennok’s fingertips, flashing before Dorye, without time to react, settled upon Dorye’s heart.

“…!!!”

The shriveled, black lightning, imbued with the Unbound Sea’s magic, flashed and slowly rotated along his touch.

Carrying the will-thought of immense ‘Balgyeong’ (internal power release) at zero range, the moment it manifested across Dorye’s entire body.

[Muha-gyeong (無霞結)]

With a phantom vision of a black kaleidoscope rising and rotating behind Dorye’s body, the will-thought of Annihilation of Nothingness pierced through the entire Infinite Void.

The sanctuary that observed all curses on the continent was pierced through at a single point and ripped apart.