Chapter 816: The Knot (3)
Kashuin, the Archangel of the Old World who served a failed god. An anomalous being who, beyond the Ascension Gate, became aware of his own existence and entrusted himself to Lennok.
Lennok forcefully stimulated his power, using the qualifications possessed by the Priestess Seina, causing him to rampage.
The moment Kashuin spread his wings wide, surged upwards, and erupted in a grayish-white radiance.
A disc-shaped sanctuary spun outwards from the Archangel, beginning to sweep away all surrounding Military Spirits.
“[Die, die…!!!]”
Unleashing an unbelievably ferocious roar for one called an ‘angel,’ he wildly swung his will-thought in all directions like a madman.
“[Vanish, you filthy, disgusting trash spirits!!!]”
CRASH!!!
So violent was the will-thought and distorted magic Kashuin unleashed that the surrounding Military Spirits were swept away, creating a temporary void beneath the Memorial Tower’s hollow.
Beneath the grayish-white sanctuary spinning around the Archangel, the Military Spirits couldn’t endure; they either vanished or fled in haste.
“[It hurts, it hurts!!!]”
“[This isn’t our land. This isn’t our power!!]”
Even the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification, who had been observing the situation, paused in surprise at Kashuin’s sudden rampage.
“[Where in the world did a spirit entity of that caliber…!!]”
“[Stop him. Once the sanctuary is fully declared, it will be even harder to remove him!!]”
Though he had lost the god he served and fallen, Kashuin was a powerful spirit entity who had been granted the name of an angel in the Old World.
The will-thought and magic he unleashed possessed true power, and for formless ghosts, it was practically a natural counter.
Even the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification, who had been venting their fury at Lennok, found their gazes momentarily drawn to Kashuin’s presence, unable to help but eye him warily.
As chaos erupted all around due to Kashuin’s rampage, Lennok pulled out an old pencil with trembling hands.
Enakphil’s five fingers.
A single-use consumable artifact designed to temporarily teleport the user, allowing them to escape from dangerous areas.
Though his use of it had greatly decreased after mastering blink spellcraft, Lennok still kept his spare.
“…Oris!!”
“…”
He grabbed the unresponsive Arbitrator and, without hesitation, plunged the old pencil beneath his wrist.
At that moment, Lennok and Oris’s forms departed the Memorial Tower’s open area, tumbling down a distant flight of stairs.
Thump, thump!!
As he tumbled down the stairs, his body battered, Lennok’s complexion instantly turned pale.
Had he not scraped together what little mana he had to erect a shield, he would have collapsed unconscious.
“Ugh…!!”
Lennok’s form slid rapidly down the stairwell, dragging Oris by a Magic Scribe threaded around his throat.
Immediately recognizing their escape, the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification began issuing commands to their subordinate Military Spirits.
“[He’s escaping… we must catch him.]”
“[It doesn’t matter if you don’t capture him alive. You must obtain his soul at any cost!!]”
“[Mobilize the Military Spirits and corner him. We will handle clearing the path.]”
A being who not only trespassed upon the Infinite Void’s sanctuary but also desecrated and destroyed the Ascendant’s remains.
With the Infinite Void damaged by the aftermath of the battle within the sanctuary, all plans to recover from the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade’s failure were effectively rendered moot.
The unbelievable reality was that a plan, meticulously crafted by gathering all the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification, the souls of the Ghost Lords, and the city’s remaining power, had been shattered by a single spellcaster.
But precisely because of this, they knew they had to seize Lennok’s form here and now, to completely extort his memories and power.
Even for a sinner who had committed an unforgivable high crime, his power and talent were so formidable and alien, rarely seen in this city.
Therefore, they absolutely had to obtain his power while Lennok was exhausted and wounded.
“[Ooooohh!!]”
Though he had unleashed spirit-aligned magic with the Compassion of the Archangel, not all Military Spirits in the Memorial Tower were affected by that magic.
Among the souls subservient to the tower, there were many powerful Military Spirits completely unaffected by such magic.
These spirits, too, instinctively felt a strong pull towards Lennok’s presence and began to pursue him like madmen.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!!
Hundreds of Military Spirits surged like a tide from all directions on the Memorial Tower’s stairwells.
They gaped their mouths, extended their limbs in a frenzy, and ceaselessly shrieked soul-piercing cries.
The horde of Military Spirits swiftly caught up to Lennok, who was bound by a Magic Scribe and helplessly tumbling down the stairwell.
Amidst this, Oris, who was helplessly dangling from Lennok’s Magic Scribe, barely managed to speak.
“…Foolish human, run alone.”
“…”
“We can’t both escape the tower. This isn’t a situation where I can save you and flee like before…!!”
CRASH!!
A colossal beast-shaped Military Spirit, as if waiting for them, delivered a powerful blow from below the stairs.
Lennok’s form narrowly twisted his Magic Scribe, abruptly shifting his body to evade, then accelerated as he slid beneath the Military Spirit’s legs.
However, he couldn’t even properly control that momentum, slamming his back directly into the tower’s stairwell wall.
WHAM!!
“…Ugh.”
“See? You’ve grown so sluggish you can’t even control your manipulation spellcraft properly anymore.”
Oris chuckled wryly, lying sprawled at Lennok’s feet.
“Throw me to them and run. Even if I’m devoured and annihilated by them now, I won’t feel much of anything, to be honest—”
“You think I brought you along out of sentiment, do you?”
CRUNCH!!
Instead of answering, Lennok stepped on Oris’s face to push himself up, then pulled out an elixir from his pocket and gulped it down.
His obsidian mask was askew, his shadow robe torn to shreds.
As he shoved the bottle into his mouth with stiff, cramped hands, the elixir dribbled down from between his lips.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Lennok looked down at Oris, trampled beneath his foot, and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I intend to drag you along, whether you like it or not, until we cross the Headrain River.”
To escape Yorta, they would have to cross the Headrain River again, the same one they had crossed to enter.
In that process, they would need a guide to navigate the river’s flow outwards.
When they came, the Priestess had fulfilled that role, but she had completed her part in this journey and vanished.
That’s why Lennok had saved Oris and was desperately dragging him along in his escape.
“…Heh heh, what an insolent brat.”
Only then did Oris chuckle, as if resigned, allowing himself to be dragged along by Lennok’s hand.
But that was only for a moment; Oris soon completely lost his remaining consciousness and slumped his head.
Merely stalling for time by enduring torture against the Court of Soul Pacification had been his limit.
It would be difficult to expect any meaningful help from the Arbitrator here.
There was no Ghost Shark to transport them to the tower’s underground, as there had been when they first escaped the Memorial Tower.
Even if he pulled out Onnion’s Ghost Ship, it would just be a useless obstruction here, where there were no waterways.
He needed to at least escape the Memorial Tower and descend to the canal where the Headrain River was visible.
As he continued to descend the stairwells, getting closer to the surface, the hordes of Military Spirits blocking his path continued to grow.
“[Souls… just give us your souls!!]”
“[The elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification have promised us incarnation.]”
“[That body is mine now!!]”
But Lennok, despite his exhausted body, continued to push through them, searching for a path to the surface.
He generously scattered his prepared consumable artifacts, stirring up and disorienting everything in sight.
An incendiary bomb embedded with magic, carelessly dropped from his robe, detonated on the spot, simultaneously pushing back the rushing Military Spirits and Lennok’s body.
CRASH!!
It shattered the tower’s floor and walls, forcefully creating cracks that bypassed the stairwell.
He stumbled as if about to collapse, unable to even tend to the scratches on his limbs that had pierced his shield.
Scraping together his depleted mana, and ceaselessly drinking potions to replenish it.
The moment he stepped past the final corridor leading to the surface…
Before his eyes, the tower’s corridors and stairwells inverted, spinning in reverse, rewinding and surging upwards, the entire space with them.
“…!!!”
In that instant, unable to resist, he was swept away by the sudden upheaval of the entire tower.
Lennok found himself standing once again before the massive hollow surrounded by the steles of the Court of Soul Pacification.
BOOM!!
The very spot where he had first stirred chaos with the Compassion of the Archangel and attempted to escape, dragging Oris’s spirit body.
Towards Lennok, who stood swaying, one of the elder spirits hovering above the steles spoke.
“[This tower, built for the souls participating in the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade, exists in the material world but is not material.]”
“…”
“[It has the form of a tower but is not a tower; it possesses the structure of stairs but is not stairs.]”
The elder spirits whispered, as if mocking Lennok’s predicament.
“[Similarly, just because it takes the form of a door, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an exit to the surface.]”
Military Spirit City, Yorta.
The Memorial Tower, located at the city’s center, has the form of a tower, but it is not a real tower.
Its true nature is a bridge of souls, built by using the Military Spirits participating in the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade as components.
Therefore, by manipulating the Military Spirits that exist as components of the tower, they can freely restructure its layout and stairwells, even altering paths as they desire.
This marvel trapped Lennok, manipulating the tower’s stairwells to ensure he could never physically escape this place.
The chilling intention behind it: to fully seize Lennok’s very existence in this place.
“[Though he is already dead, he is the vessel of an exceptional spellcaster, one who survived even contending with an Ascendant’s body….]”
The elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification whispered, no longer bothering to conceal their greed.
“[Rather, I desire you even more than Dorye’s remains, which were enshrined in the Infinite Void.]”
“…”
“[If not now, it would be utterly impossible to hold a rogue like you in this place.]”
A dark desire, overtly felt amidst the grim whispers.
Ancient wills, now brazenly revealing that desire, stretched out their hands toward Lennok.
WHOOSH!!
Nine fragmented spirits, having left the steles, surged simultaneously, rotating above Lennok’s head.
Flickering soul-flames gathered and rotated counter-clockwise, transforming into hands reaching out towards Lennok.
From the hollow’s ceiling, nine fingers approached as if to envelop Lennok, quietly whispering.
“[Rejoice, human…]
[You shall become our servant, and personally carry the banner that reclaims the meaning of the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade.]
[You shall become the legion commander and vanguard, announcing the revival of our Yorta, once again sounding the alarm throughout this world.]“
It was not a verdict for one of the Court of Soul Pacification’s elder spirits to handle the matter, but for all nine elder spirits to occupy and control Lennok’s body.
Instead of claiming and resurrecting Dorye’s remains, they intended to use Lennok’s body to carry out their plan.
From the very beginning, the moment they saw Lennok emerge alive from the Infinite Void, they had been dreaming of something more than mere punishment.
“…”
The touch of the elder spirits, coiling around his body like blue smoke above his head.
Oris, unconscious and collapsed at his feet, and the remaining artifacts in his possession.
His depleted mana and a body pushed to its limit.
“Fine.”
Lennok, who had been silently watching the approaching elder spirits, chuckled wryly and closed his eyes.
“If that’s what you truly desire, then I’ll show you, just this once.”
The fact that what they desired could never be achieved.
If he had to show them here and now that intervening in his existence was utterly impossible, even if it meant his death.
If he could buy even a moment of time that way, then so be it.
The moment Lennok, thinking this, slowly stepped forward towards the approaching elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification…
Beneath the tower’s hollow, a hidden dark shadow.
From beyond it, someone’s voice resonated.
“How utterly pathetic.”
A whisper that made the air tremble and vibrate just by exhaling.
Even whispered low, its tone vibrated like thunder, echoing with the tingling roar of a predator.
“I didn’t save your miserable hide just for you to give up like that.”
“…!!!!”
Lennok forgot even to breathe at that voice, and the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification froze in place.
“[…Who is that?]”
“[Who dares enter this Memorial Tower without permission, spying on the elder spirits’ secrets?]”
“[Show yourself!!]”
“…No.”
At the elder spirits’ cries, Lennok muttered unconsciously.
Because he distinctly remembered the predator’s voice that had just echoed from beyond the shadow.
A monstrous voice that, once heard, could never be erased from memory.
Someone who should never be here, was here.
“This is, unmistakably…!!!”
RIIIP…!!
A strange, twisting sound was heard.
A noise like something real being forcibly mashed, crushed by force.
A powerful sense of incongruity, as if the entire space they stood in was being forcibly stitched together from a place so distant it was beyond Lennok’s senses.
As if something had appeared in this spot. Or conversely, as if something had vanished from it.
The moment Lennok, sensing the manifestation of this incomprehensible paradox, abruptly lifted his gaze.
A sharp flash grazed his cheek and vanished.
It snapped one of the nine steles standing behind him clean in half.
CRASHING BOOM!!!
“[Aaaargh!!]”
One of the nine elder spirits descending upon Lennok let out a horrific spiritual shriek, twisting wildly in place.
“[This can’t be…!!]”
“[How could a spirit stele made of Nebula Stone be broken by mere impact!!]”
Was the breaking of the stele that sustained the Court of Soul Pacification more shocking than the elder spirit’s pain?
Behind the elder spirits, who were so distraught they forgot about seizing Lennok’s body and frantically roared, a massive tremor echoed.
THUD!!
With a single step, the entire stairwell of the tower seemed to reverberate thunderously.
The slight tremor from shifting his foot, from bearing his weight and moving his center of gravity, was a miracle that directly conveyed itself to everyone present.
In the very midst of the Military Spirits teeming everywhere and the elder spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification raging in confusion.
Only Lennok, facing the gleaming, dark scales from beyond the shadow, broke into a cold sweat.
THUD!!
A colossal, dark-scaled body, sinking even deeper into darkness within the Memorial Tower’s gloomy hollow.
With each step taken within the shadows, its overwhelming form gradually revealed itself within the hollow.
THUD!!
Following the faintly gleaming dark scales, a tail as straight as a steel beam rotated, balancing its mass.
A long snout gripping and tearing at a faint Military Spirit with one hand, and densely packed, sharp teeth.
Bright yellow reptilian eyes that seemed to stare at everything in this place indifferently, yet murderously.
CRASHING BOOM!!!
A will-thought so colossal and ferocious that it was baffling why he hadn’t noticed it until now.
“Ah.”
The alligator giant, who had drawn the attention of thousands of Military Spirits the moment he appeared, spat out the spirit body he had been chewing and mumbled.
“It tastes far worse than I expected.”
There must have been countless epithets created to revere and fear his power and nature.
But grand modifiers held no meaning in describing his existence.
Only his name explained what kind of being he was, justifying all his actions.
A member of Pandemonium. A retired war mercenary. A traveler on a pilgrimage.
Croken Asylus.
The most dangerous monster who should never have been in this place.
Stood with his head tilted back in the middle of the Memorial Tower.
“As expected, leftovers aren’t to my taste.”
Croken gazed at Lennok with his gleaming reptilian pupils and twisted his lips into a smile.
“So, I suppose I’ll have to step in myself now.”