Chapter 843: Handover (11)

“Even if only failure awaits at the end of the challenge, nothing can truly begin without first obtaining the qualification.”

Lennok clenched his hand, holding the tobacco stick, as he watched Evelyn, who had frozen still.

The tobacco, which he hadn’t even brought to his lips, burned away to ash in his hand.

“Because that was the only truth I learned from this journey. If so, I have no choice but to aim to at least stand on the same starting line.”

“………..”

Pursuing Evan’s records in the Military Spirit City and traveling to Yorta.

Peering into the Pontiff’s memories, attempting to decipher their cause and effect.

Fighting Dorye’s physical body to seize the power of Incarnation and forcibly conjure the Warrior’s Faculty.

Every moment that could never be experienced without directly attempting and failing — those were Lennok’s answers.

Everything was to unravel the unknown and find meaning beyond the ending.

That was how Lennok intended to explain who Evelyn had seen through the Lighthouse, and who that person truly was.

“I… I don’t know…”

After a long silence, Evelyn quietly replied.

“Qualifications aren’t something you can just get your hands on so easily, just by making up your mind.”

“………..”

“What does it even mean to challenge Ascension in the first place? Is it some kind of inspiration we can just witness and grasp?”

Evelyn asked.

“All the remaining Ascendants are either mad or turning into mad monsters. Even if you obtain the qualification, there’s no one you can ask for help.”

Evelyn clenched the wet ground fiercely with her bare hands, speaking with a sorrowful look.

“Even if something goes wrong, no one can help you.”

“That’s true.”

Lennok nodded.

“But everyone started the same way.”

“………..”

“Not everyone who challenges succeeds. Likewise, not everyone who gains the qualification can challenge. But…”

Lennok brushed back his wet hair, a faint smile playing on his lips.

“While the opportunity still remains, I want to make the choice myself. Even if that choice leads to a conclusion where nothing is chosen at all…”

“………..”

Now, he felt he could understand the meaning of what the Director had said.

The meaning of the words explained by the Director, who had recovered Jindun’s corpse at the end of the Hanghasa Labyrinth.

Had he said that as the end draws near, all standards become consumed by a single value, driving everything forward?

Having experienced it once before, he knew that when that moment arrived, not even an opportunity would remain.

There was still time until the world’s end, and until then, Lennok could choose what to select.

Then, the Director’s movement would be that one fleeting moment just before the ending fully arrives.

Screech…!!

The moment Lennok realized this, the noise distorting the Director in his memory seemed to recede slightly.

It was a fleeting instant when Lennok perceived this as a process of understanding the Director more deeply, and ultimately, peering into his true nature.

“Yes.”

Evelyn murmured.

“Perhaps, challenging Ascension….”

Doesn’t it begin by constantly reflecting on meaning with every moment spent building one’s Tier?

At least, that’s how Lennok had seemed to Evelyn, observing him until now.

It was a continuous struggle to imbue meaning into every moment of his life and to never forget it.

Because the magic of eternity Lennok had shown so vividly embodied that very desire.

The moment Evelyn realized this, her Tier fluctuated wildly, swirling within her inner being.

Wooong!!

Even Lennok could distinctly perceive the change that originated from her.

It was a rare premonition of inspiration, which, even if it couldn’t change her Tier entirely, might serve as a catalyst for growth for a superhuman of her caliber.

“Haa… It’s fine.”

But instead of clinging to the enlightenment she might gain, Evelyn sighed and raised her gaze.

“I didn’t drag you all the way here just to get help from you. This is enough.”

“………..”

Even after obtaining a transcendent Tier that a human body couldn’t reach, she wasn’t obsessed with reaching higher?

Perhaps it was because of such a disposition that Evelyn was able to come this far.

As raindrops fell under the dawn sky, Evelyn closed her eyes, her mind seemingly settled, and she grumbled in a noticeably brighter voice.

“Ah, but I lost after all. I expected this, but I was pretty confident nonetheless.”

“Isn’t setting up a stage like this thoughtless from the start?”

Lennok toyed with the lapel of his coat and asked.

“It’s not a good environment for an archer like you. Even more so considering your rank and status.”

Although Evelyn had chosen a closed-off facility where outside gazes wouldn’t reach and the repercussions wouldn’t spread, Lennok knew that her choice of this place as a battlefield wasn’t to discuss her chances of victory.

Evelyn’s essence was that of an archer, needing to fight from a distance.

Her talent was also specialized in drawing the bowstring, aiming, and hitting the target.

While Evelyn’s combat abilities were certainly outstanding, almost comparable to her archery skills, there was a clear difference in their potency.

Moreover, Evelyn didn’t even use her most powerful great bow among her armaments.

Having previously faced her ultra-long-range sniping, Lennok knew how tricky and lethal that great bow was.

In a dilapidated field strewn with old barricades like this, it wouldn’t be an environment where she could fully display her archery.

Considering her background as an Agent, it was obvious that even if she had intended to fight with full power, she wouldn’t have been able to due to concerns about the aftermath.

Despite having arranged the stage herself, it was virtually as if she had shackled herself more than Lennok in this fight.

“But if I didn’t do this, you wouldn’t have come here.”

Evelyn retorted with a sullen expression.

“If I hadn’t chosen a place you could immediately arrive at, you would have just run away.”

“………..”

Well, he could understand how little Evelyn trusted Lennok in that regard.

Indeed, once she began to doubt Lennok’s identity, it would have been difficult for her to be sure he would properly comply with her demands.

However, Lennok slowly shook his head at Evelyn’s words.

“No, I would have complied no matter what conditions you set.”

“Why?”

“That’s because…”

Lennok felt a certain degree of guilt toward Evelyn as well.

He knew that just as she trusted him, he hadn’t been able to trust her.

The relationship that began with him owing her his life often culminated in a sense of indebtedness even now.

The infinitely rational mind of a wizard and Lennok’s heart sometimes led to different judgments.

That wasn’t because Lennok was strong enough to perfectly reconcile reason and emotion, but rather, conversely, because he constantly hesitated and wavered.

Therefore, instead of frankly admitting that fact, Lennok subtly averted his gaze.

“Because I would have won in any situation. Negotiating conditions is the stance of the weak.”

“Huh?! What’s that? How obnoxious!”

“Both of us negotiated conditions and hid our full strength, didn’t we?”

“What?”

Lennok asked with a laugh.

“Your Miniature Universe, which manipulates inertia. My magic system couldn’t perfectly analyze it. Even though I’ve known about that ability for a long time, this is virtually the first time this has happened.”

“…………”

Immediately after Lennok’s Ouroboros and Evelyn’s Inertial Deviation clashed.

It seemed as though Inertial Deviation was overcome, and the victory was decided, but Lennok realized that this alone couldn’t explain the current battle.

Ouroboros was not a power that directly overwhelmed an opponent, but one that dismantled, analyzed, and devoured.

If the magic system had operated properly and dismantled Inertial Deviation, Evelyn’s Miniature Universe itself should have been temporarily nullified and rendered unusable.

But Evelyn’s Miniature Universe didn’t vanish at all; it merely shifted direction and went astray.

If even the power of Ouroboros couldn’t perfectly analyze and dismantle Inertial Deviation, it must be because she was hiding an ability beyond merely manipulating inertia.

And that secret was likely Evelyn’s ultimate trump card, hidden until the very end.

However, Lennok didn’t insist on an explanation or question her about it then and there.

He merely flashed a confident smile and pointed to himself.

“If you want to refute my words, try challenging me again next time. I won’t go easy on you then.”

“……..Forget it.”

When Lennok had previously assessed his chances of victory against Evelyn, what had he considered the conditions for triumph?

Invincible if either his Domain or Ouroboros was deployed. Certain victory if both could be used.

But before that, he would have to endure Evelyn’s suppressive fire and sniping, and buy time to cast his spells.

And today’s battle was merely a special situation where Evelyn herself had eliminated those tricky conditions.

However, Evelyn, perhaps disagreeing with Lennok’s words, glared at him with a sullen expression, turning her head.

“So, are you going to keep ‘preparing’ in that way from now on?”

In the end, Lennok never explicitly admitted that he was Victor.

Similarly, Evelyn hadn’t been told that Lennok had joined Pandemonium.

But it had become clear that Lennok had been undergoing repeated trials and errors using such methods.

Lennok shook his head.

“I’m not at a stage where I can definitively say I can challenge Ascension right now. What I told you was merely proof of a promise.”

Crack!!

As he caressed the falling raindrops in the air, the raindrops froze and transformed into an umbrella above Evelyn’s head.

Watching Evelyn awkwardly avert her gaze, Lennok explained.

“It’s not something you can obtain immediately just by wishing for it, and even the method itself is merely a vague possibility.”

“……I suppose so.”

“Perhaps you’re right. If I meet the Transcendent beings who have already challenged Ascension, or are about to, I might learn something.”

That’s why Lennok planned to seek out Myeong once he had sufficiently rested.

When he last met Myeong, he was clearly on the verge of Level 8, facing the very threshold.

Even in that den of demons, infested with all sorts of monsters, two individuals stood out for their unparalleled strength.

Hadn’t they, too, incessantly raised their Tier and stature, displaying talent and growth truly comparable to Lennok’s?

However, unlike Croken, who focused solely on his own issues, Myeong’s strength and growth seemed to hold a secret beyond that.

Myeong had acknowledged himself as part of one of the oldest wizarding families.

Lennok wondered if that secret might be connected to the dilemma he currently faced.

“Oh, speaking of Transcendent beings, it just occurred to me…”

Evelyn suddenly made an awkward expression, as if she had just remembered why she had finally come to see Lennok.

“Perhaps the precedent you’re looking for might be related to this matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“While you were gone, and because I still haven’t been reinstated as an Agent—”

“So, not being reinstated wasn’t your own will, after all.”

“Let me finish.”

Evelyn cleared her throat with a trace of indignation and said.

“Anyway, I handled a few tasks for the Eyes of Blue… and in the process, I received various kinds of help from Lapis.”

“So that’s why you were able to borrow the Lighthouse’s help in finding the mansion. And?”

“Lapis said she’s planning to visit Vulcan soon.”

“………..”

Lennok fell silent at the utterly unexpected news.

“She said she has an important matter, and will be accompanied by only one or two attendants to meet with the City Council.”

“…….Lapis herself is coming to meet the Vulcan City Council?”

Lennok murmured, echoing Evelyn’s words, then asked.

“I understand that the Central Front’s eastern side, where the Eyes of Blue has advanced, is extremely chaotic right now.”

Lennok hadn’t neglected information gathering before and after leaving Vulcan.

If before he had no adequate means to obtain information, now he actually lacked the time to process it.

Nevertheless, Lennok, who had intermittently gathered news from the Central Front through Davi, knew to some extent what was happening there.

The war between the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult had restarted, the Headro Warlords had been pushed to the brink of subjugation.

The Eyes of Blue was expanding its influence on the Eastern Front, and a fierce competition was unfolding over the first gateway to Ars Nova.

Among these, news about the Eyes of Blue led by Lapis came with the most frequent victories.

Was Lapis, who should be busier than anyone right now, truly coming directly to the mega-city?

“From here on, this is confidential information. I can’t explain it multiple times, so listen carefully.”

Suddenly, Evelyn’s expression turned serious.

“Lapis completed her Tier while the Eyes of Blue was active on the Central Front.”

“………..”

“In the process, the Heavenly Sight’s Ability became stronger, but it seems it also became more difficult to control.”

Lapis was the direct descendant of Heavenly Sight Madreya Falscher, an Ascendant’s blood relative who inherited her lineage.

Her leading the Eyes of Blue to traverse the Central Front was also to inherit the will of the deceased Heavenly Sight and to sustain this world, even if only slightly.

“So, the unstable Heavenly Sight’s Ability needs to undergo stabilization through a ritual, and the location for that is—”

“Vulcan, you mean.”

Lennok retorted.

“Are there no other options?”

“They seemed to have considered other hidden realms, but this place is said to be the safest candidate.”

“Safest, you say…”

Vulcan was a city with no connection to safety whatsoever, so if Lapis said that, where on earth were the other candidate locations?

“They’ve finished discussions with the City Council, and within a few days, she’ll come to the city with one or two attendants to make a deal.”

“What’s the deal?”

“The inviolable intervention rights of the Pilenom Autonomous Region, which Heavenly Sight had forced upon the City Council.”

Evelyn explained.

“In exchange for nullifying that and handing it over to the Vulcan City Council, she’ll lease a specific restricted area for a few days.”

“Nullifying the non-aggression treaty Heavenly Sight made in the past? I don’t understand. At the time, Vulcan’s aim at the Pilenom Autonomous Region wasn’t because of the Eyes of Blue.”

Lennok frowned, immediately understanding the meaning of her words.

It was because Lennok, having personally visited the Autonomous Region once, remembered certain facts.

“The Autonomous Region’s special environment was specialized for elixir production, so there was an attempt to forcibly annex it. For Lapis to give that up herself…”

“She’s not giving it up.”

Evelyn cut Lennok off, shaking her head.

“If the ritual proceeds as Lapis proposed, such a non-aggression treaty would become meaningless anyway.”

“…………”

At that moment, Lennok realized what Lapis was thinking.

And simultaneously, why this matter might be connected to his own objective.

“Could it be, Lapis… intends to recover and reclaim all of the Heavenly Sight’s Ability with this opportunity?”