Chapter 859: The Handover (27)
A consciousness space created by the Ascendant Pyeonram, Padme Kiesa.
Within this space, entered through the Guardian Spirit Beast’s subconscious, Lennok faced not Pyeonram, but a consciousness construct of Heavenly Sight.
However, the moment he calmed Heavenly Sight down, the words he heard were entirely different from what he had expected.
“Show me what happens… to a failed Ascendant after they die?”
“If you came to see Padme despite not being an Incarnation Body of an Outer God, or an Outer God yourself, then it’s obvious.”
Heavenly Sight answered with a listless expression, her arms crossed.
“If you’ve reached such a high state and are still wandering in search of something, what you want is already decided.”
“……”
“Weren’t you going to ask how to obtain the qualification to challenge ascension?”
Heavenly Sight smiled as if she knew exactly what Lennok was thinking.
“It’s not a bad choice. Padme has little interest in humans, but she was exceptional at theorizing sensory experiences. She couldn’t be a teacher, but she’s perfect as an instructor.”
“…No.”
“I think Grimalder said it was a talent she gained in the process of adapting spellcraft designed for the human species to herself, since she wasn’t human from birth… Well, does any of that matter now?”
Murmuring this, Heavenly Sight nodded lightly toward the area behind the altar.
“In any case, you have something you want to hear, so I’ll help you this much. We don’t have much time, so let’s go at once.”
“No, I’m not here to talk about Pyeonram.”
Lennok cut Heavenly Sight off and spoke hesitantly.
“I have seen a failed Ascendant die. An Ascendant who, at the end of his challenge, went mad and ultimately committed suicide by throwing himself at an Outer God.”
“Hoh.”
“I know that such a method exists. But why is that relevant to this situation?”
Gye-baek Aurel Silford. The Ascendant from the central city who was engineered to fail his ascension.
Lennok had already witnessed once before in the Well of the Codex how he had broken and what kind of end he had met.
Through Gye-baek’s case, Lennok knew that killing an Outer God was one way to challenge ascension.
However, regardless of whether that method was feasible for him, it was ultimately impossible without meeting an Outer God directly.
He would either have to leap out of the well and commit suicide towards an Outer God like Gye-baek, or wait for the moment the world’s end arrives, like the Director.
Either way, it was all far too vague for Lennok.
What Lennok wanted wasn’t to reach Level 9 using the world’s end as a turning point.
It was to be ready to present his own answer at the very moment the end of all causality arrived.
To achieve that, he had to complete all preparations to challenge ascension before the end came.
Obtaining the qualification and reaching Level 9 was a process for that purpose.
But upon hearing Lennok’s words, Heavenly Sight’s expression soured in displeasure.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The death of a qualified Ascendant doesn’t mean something like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“The final moments of a Transcendent who has accumulated a status comparable to the world.”
Heavenly Sight gave a bitter smile.
“The worst possible ending, met after burning away every desire one has built up throughout their life. I’m going to show you that.”
“……”
“This may be Padme’s consciousness and not reality, but it will be enough to give you a sense of it.”
The moment Heavenly Sight said that and extended her hand, the ground beneath their feet bent like taffy and was sucked away as if disappearing.
Fwoooosh…!!
The very ground Lennok and Heavenly Sight stood on moved as if being forcibly folded, a bizarre phenomenon that instantly transported the two of them a great distance.
Watching the shape of the ground sliding rapidly beneath his feet, Lennok asked with a look of strange admiration.
“Instead of moving directly, you’re compressing a real space to drastically shorten the path. Is this possible in reality?”
“It’s about forcibly stitching together the scenery that should be visible at the starting point and the destination.”
Heavenly Sight answered as if it were nothing.
“It comes with the condition that there can be no obstacles, but any place whose concept of ‘seeing’ can be remembered and shared will do.”
“……”
An ability that, for places she had visited and remembered once, compressed the path to reach them in an instant.
When it came to the act of observing something, Heavenly Sight was already like the concept itself.
Even as a consciousness construct cut and pasted from the past Heavenly Sight, she wielded the Ascendant’s power freely.
As Heavenly Sight watched Lennok carefully observing the passing scenery, she turned to him and asked casually.
“You seem quite interested in the power I wield. Shall I teach you?”
“…What?”
“A joke. I can’t steal the successor that Jindun went to the trouble of choosing. That would be too cruel, wouldn’t it?”
Heavenly Sight cackled and clapped Lennok on the shoulder.
“I never thought that crusty barrier mage would take on another disciple before he died. When I first saw you, I even wondered if you were some kind of vessel for Jindun.”
“……”
“I thought he’d spend his whole life looking for an Obaekro opponent, but the fact he changed his mind in his final years must mean he quite likes you. Shall we play a game sometime?”
“No, that’s…”
There was more to the Ascendant Jindun, Zaigis Idenor, passing on his barrier arts and telling Lennok the world’s secrets than just Lennok’s talent.
The deal made between the Director of Pandemonium and Jindun before he died.
Even as he forsook his desire and accepted death, he must have wanted to leave a possibility other than the Director in reality until the very end.
Considering the Director’s actions, it was possible that Heavenly Sight had also been offered a similar deal.
If Heavenly Sight’s own failure in ascension and subsequent death were the result of a deal with the Director, similar to Jindun’s…
Just as Lennok thought of this and was about to ask Heavenly Sight a question.
“We have a little time before we arrive. Let’s continue the conversation we couldn’t finish earlier.”
Heavenly Sight’s smile faded slightly as she spoke.
She glanced around as if making an excuse and murmured.
“Padme’s consciousness-world is overwhelmingly vast, even among Ascendants. That’s why we have no choice but to use this method to get to the end of the consciousness space.”
“…What conversation are you talking about?”
Was choosing this mode of travel in itself a way to secure time to speak with Lennok alone?
With her intentions unclear, there was no reason to rashly play along with her actions.
But even as she looked at the cautious and contemplative Lennok, Heavenly Sight showed no particular reaction.
“I am indeed the Madria Falcia who exists here, but I am nothing more than another possibility, deflected from the death in reality.”
She simply began to speak quietly, with a contemplative air.
“I had decided long ago how I should die, but I myself was not confident that it would happen that way.”
“……”
“It’s also true that I wondered if I could do well until the very end… How was it?”
Heavenly Sight asked, quietly closing her eyes.
“The ‘me’ you met, was she devoted to her mission until the moment of her death?”
“…Perhaps. I’m not sure.”
Lennok answered after a moment of silence.
“Because the you I met seemed too worn down to explain such things one by one.”
“…”
“However, I think it was a little different from regret. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have left while entrusting her mission to Lapis.”
He had spoken directly with Heavenly Sight only for a moment when she came to Vulcan.
And then there was the time he peeked into her memory of confronting the Doctor, through the Doctor’s own memories.
What Lennok had felt seeing the Heavenly Sight of her later years was not regret or remorse, but a fragment of an emotion that was hazier and more scorched.
Yes, if he had to define it, it was more like….
“She pitied the world.”
“……”
“Even in the moment she failed her ascension and died, she felt sorry for this world.”
Having given that answer, Lennok realized why he still remembered Heavenly Sight so vividly.
From the time she saw through his talent and warned him about Alkaid.
Even in the moment he saw her in the Doctor’s memory, mocking and yet comforting his fate.
Madria Falcia had pitied this world.
She had sympathized with, had compassion for, and tried to help all life and concepts that existed in this world, transcending good and evil.
She passed away without seeing the fruits of everything she had done while upholding her mission.
Perhaps that was the only lingering attachment Madria Falcia had left.
Heavenly Sight didn’t answer for a long time after hearing those words.
“I see…”
After rolling Lennok’s words over in her mind during an eternal silence, she finally uttered just one phrase.
“So I failed my ascension and died after all.”
“……”
“I must have known I would fail… In the end, I acted just as I had thought from the beginning.”
Heavenly Sight shook her head with a sorrowful smile.
“But I knew it would be so.”
Her hair, swaying slowly with the movement of her head, held an inexpressible emotion.
Lennok quietly observed Heavenly Sight’s remorse before asking.
“…Why did you become an Ascendant by accepting the mission? You would have reached a similar position someday without it. Weren’t you aware of that yourself?”
Not everyone who inherits the Lighthouse Keeper’s mission can become an Ascendant.
While one can quickly draw out their potential through a pre-existing power, reaching that state ultimately depends on the individual.
Moreover, Heavenly Sight was a Transcendent of such caliber that she could leave this much of her memory in a consciousness space even after death.
Even if she hadn’t upheld the mission, with her temperament and talent, she surely could have challenged ascension or reached its vicinity.
But Heavenly Sight’s answer was slightly different from what Lennok had expected.
“Because there was no one else.”
The smile on Heavenly Sight’s lips turned bitter.
“No one else but me could do it.”
“……”
“I don’t think everything I did was for the world. Nor did I uphold the mission for such a noble reason alone. But…”
When Heavenly Sight turned her gaze, her eyes were filled with absolute conviction.
“If it was something someone had to do, I simply thought that I should be the one to do it.”
“……”
“No matter how much I regret it, no matter how much I suffer, even if I fail ascension and die alone, this decision will not change.”
Heavenly Sight said calmly.
“Because I decided to love this world. I made that choice a very long time ago.”
“That’s…”
Lennok was about to say something but ultimately closed his mouth.
It wasn’t a sublime will that transcended humanity. She hadn’t upheld her mission because of a Transcendent’s duty.
She hadn’t split her own consciousness to illuminate the Outer Sea in hopes of compensation or reward.
The reason she could act, believing until the end that it would be the same as it was in the beginning, despite her regrets and hesitation.
She simply loved this world where she was born and had lived.
“…I see. I understand.”
He thought he now understood why Heavenly Sight was called the most pro-human among the Ascendants.
Because she herself possessed an impeccably human nature, and she never let go of it, even at the end.
The conclusion of her story was merely the one she had wished for. There was no reason or room to add anything more.
Having reached that conclusion, Lennok neatly filed away his sentiments and asked.
“Then why didn’t the real you, despite failing ascension, meet that worst possible ending?”
“……”
Heavenly Sight, who had been lost in sorrowful contemplation, turned her gaze to him with a dumbfounded expression.
Lennok ignored her reaction and asked shamelessly.
“You spoke as if something terrible would happen immediately upon an Ascendant’s death, yet your own passing was rather quiet. There must be a reason.”
“…Such a typical magician. Won’t you even give me a moment to be sentimental?”
Heavenly Sight swept a hand over her eyes and immediately spun around.
“Well, fine. We’ve arrived, so it will be faster to explain while looking at that.”
Flash!!
Everything around them blazed, stretching into white lines, then vanished in an instant.
In terms of time, it was a short span of less than five minutes. But in that interval, the two had reached the edge of this vast consciousness space.
“The gate is over there. You’ll probably know it as soon as you arrive.”
“You keep mentioning a gate. Are you referring to a passage connected to the Outer Sea?”
Lennok asked as he walked behind Heavenly Sight.
“We also call them wells. If you’ve met Pyeonram, you couldn’t possibly not know, could you?”
“I know. However, I heard that most of those gates are sealed and under strict management. Why does such a gate exist in Pyeonram’s consciousness space?”
Through his work with Pandemonium, Lennok knew that [Gates] connecting to the Outer Sea existed in this closed world.
The Well of the Codex, the gate the Fisherman was searching for outside the continent, the secret place the Clown mentioned existing in the basement of the Kabahim royal palace.
Besides those, other paths to the Outer Sea were kept secret and sealed away.
But that was something that happened in reality, not in a consciousness space like this.
In this formless space where only each other’s consciousness and memories existed, was it even possible for such a passage to exist?
But Heavenly Sight did not answer Lennok’s question immediately.
She just looked back at Lennok in silence, then smiled and shook her head.
“It seems Jindun wasn’t neglectful in his teachings to you after all. You know most of it, except for the most important fact, don’t you?”
“……”
“The fact that causality is closed is proof that the world is cut off from the Outer Sea. Normally, passages like that shouldn’t exist.”
Heavenly Sight answered bluntly.
“But in this world, gates like the wells that connect to the Outer Sea clearly exist.”
“That’s…”
“It’s the same principle. There are exceptions to everything. Especially for Ascendants.”
Glancing back, she said.
“To have reached Level 9 is proof of having acquired a status comparable to the world. Therefore, the consciousness of a qualified Ascendant is already constructed like a world in itself.”
“……”
“But the consciousness-world of an Ascendant, created in such a way, does not have closed causality. Do you understand what this means?”
Understanding Heavenly Sight’s words immediately, Lennok gave a bitter smile.
“It possesses the same status as the world, but because it isn’t the real world, it’s actually easier for it to connect to the Outer Sea.”
This world is the third and final one; a fourth does not exist.
In a world of closed causality, ascension cannot exist, which is why all who challenged it met a miserable failure and either died or went mad.
But conversely, because its causality was closed, this world had been protected from the Outer Sea and was able to maintain its existence.
The consciousness of an Ascendant, having accumulated a status equal to the world, is like a world unto itself, but because it is not the real world, it is not protected from the Outer Sea.
Heavenly Sight nodded at Lennok’s words.
“This problem doesn’t happen to every Ascendant. An immature being who cannot control their own ego would never become an Ascendant. The problem, however, is-”
Creeak!!
Stopping in front of a dense jungle, Heavenly Sight murmured.
“When an Ascendant’s mind has completely collapsed, to the point where they can’t even control their own consciousness.”
“……”
Gooooooh!!!
In the sky above the vast jungle forest, a giant serpent floated with its eyes closed, its body forming a massive ring.
Beyond the distorted spatial rift within that ring, an abyss of unfathomable, dreadful darkness was slowly leaking out, widening the gap.
The subconscious of the Ascendant Pyeonram.
Her consciousness construct, which Lennok had been seeking, had become the Outer Sea gate that had formed in this world.
“This is…”
“Pyeonram. Padme Kiesa performed the mission of guarding the well for so long that she forgot what she was even protecting.”
Heavenly Sight looked up with a cold gaze at Pyeonram’s consciousness construct, which had become the gate to the Outer Sea itself.
“Just because one becomes an Ascendant doesn’t mean they can enjoy an eternity. If they gain the qualification but don’t fulfill their duty, or if they don’t challenge ascension and just forcibly hold on, their already broken mind will completely collapse.”
“……”
“The moment a consciousness space with open causality loses its master’s control, the Ascendant’s consciousness becomes a medium, stitching reality to the Outer Sea.”
“A maddened Ascendant’s spirit connects to the Outer Sea, and manifests through their physical body, affecting the real world…”
Heavenly Sight turned to look at Lennok and said.
“This is the worst death an Ascendant can face, and it is the reason why [Gates] are created in this world of closed causality.”