Chapter 874: The Eye That Sees Fate (10)

WHEEEEE!!

The wail of sirens echoed through the rain-soaked streets.

On a dark, rainy evening, police cars with their headlights on patrolled the main roads, serving as makeshift beacons.

At every crosswalk with a flashing signal, police officers moved back and forth, silently observing people’s faces.

That alone cast a cold chill over the street, hushing even the sound of footsteps.

In a dark, rain-drenched back alley, unseen by the public. Inside a modest management office in an abandoned junkyard.

Fwoosh…!!

Through the window of the office, which should have been dimly lit, a dark, tingling magic was flowing out.

The magic that seeped out of the junkyard lightly evaporated the falling rain on the spot.

It was an eerie phenomenon, erasing matter as if washing it away, with no heat or physical force, merely through the manifestation of magic.

But the magic, which writhed as if it would stretch out without restraint, exquisitely remained near the management office, swirling like a fog.

Crack, crackle!!

The dark magic, spinning in place with a will of its own, was drawn into the tips of a limp hand.

Containing the dark magic that filled the office, Lennok, leaning against a trash can as if it were a chair, finally opened his eyes.

“Just the police for now, I see…”

The moment Vice-Mayor Amy Weinstein failed, the City Government and the Central Council must have realized something had gone wrong in the closed district.

Moreover, if they confirmed that the entire function of District 19 had been paralyzed, they would stop at nothing to capture Lennok and Lapis.

However, he hadn’t expected a wanted order to be issued the moment they escaped District 19.

Perhaps someone who had been assisting the Vice-Mayor noticed the anomaly and put a price on their heads.

‘My location hasn’t been pinpointed, but reinforcements will start arriving soon. I can’t stay here long.’

Despite suddenly being hunted by the entire city, Lennok, frankly, was not greatly perturbed.

From the start, the City Council was not a trustworthy ally or a reliable faction.

The old monsters entrenched in the city’s center were by no means benevolent, nor were they generous or patient.

Hadn’t even Adamant Thunder, who interacted with the City Council over the Magic Tower, sometimes tried to keep them in check and maintain a distance?

It was hardly surprising, then, that Evan’s identity, which had no ties whatsoever to Vulcan, would be treated this way.

Although he had only heard the news echoing from all corners of the street, he could roughly understand the situation.

The only thing left was the problem of how to navigate this situation and realize Lapis’s goal.

‘Once the magic settles down, I’ll move. Until then…’

As he leaned weakly against the trash can, calming his insides, he heard Lapis’s voice from the side.

“…Lord Evan?”

“You’re awake?”

Lapis, who he had seated on the management office sofa, had regained consciousness.

With her eyes closed, she slowly lifted her head and turned it precisely in the direction where Lennok sat.

Lennok rubbed his solar plexus with one hand and asked nonchalantly.

“How are your eyes?”

“…You must have heard the explanation from Partisha.”

Lapis gave a bitter smile.

“It’s alright. For me now, seeing is no longer a matter of the quality of my eyesight.”

“…”

“I can distinguish the simple whereabouts of people. I will make sure not to hold you back, Lord Evan.”

Lapis had not only inherited the Lighthouse Keeper’s abilities, but she was also a 7-level Saint-rank ability user who had already perfected her own hierarchy.

Her movements wouldn’t be hindered just because her eyesight had diminished for the time being.

“More importantly, where is this….”

“A junkyard in District 21.”

Lennok said, fidgeting with a soaking wet cigar in his pocket.

“It’s one of the commercial districts adjacent to District 19. It will take some time to shake off the pursuit.”

“Pursuit, you say?”

“The Central Council has issued a wanted order. We are currently designated as suspects who plotted the assassination of the Vice-Mayor.”

“That’s…”

Lapis didn’t say anything meaningless, like how the Vice-Mayor had betrayed them first or that it was the Central Council that broke the agreement.

She simply acknowledged the fact that the current situation was turning extremely unfavorable for them and nodded.

“They’ve seized the justification. Has it become a problem because their response was much faster than expected?”

“…You could say that.”

“If the City Government and the Central Council intend to be at odds with me, then it can’t be helped. I expected it wouldn’t be smooth.”

Lapis nodded with a bitter smile.

“The very fact that I came to this city was bound to cause problems, and it’s natural to face checks and balances in the process, but-”

Perhaps she hadn’t expected a powerful figure like the Vice-Mayor to openly try to kill her.

Lapis seemed more surprised that the Central Council had made such a choice so easily than by the fact that the negotiations themselves had become meaningless.

“What those council members we met said probably wasn’t a lie. It’s more likely the work of a faction with different connections, rather than the negotiation itself being a bluff.”

“I understand that the city itself is too vast for the decision-making bodies to have a unified direction.”

Lapis, her eyes closed, muttered bitterly.

“But even while opinions are so divided within the Council, their response to danger is astonishingly fast… It gives a glimpse of this city’s underlying power. I suppose there was a reason for the talk back at the Central Front…”

“It’s a system built by the founders of this mega-city. There must be a reason it can maintain this size even after abandoning expansion and development.”

“Leaving the city must be the priority. I’ll abandon the original plan and prioritize escape.”

Lapis’s reaction as she said this was surprisingly calm.

“Even if I summon the Watchers, it will take them a long time to reach Vulcan. It would be better to just send a message for now and for us to attempt the escape on our own.”

Despite having given up a great deal to come to Vulcan, she let go of the past failure and thought of the next step.

She was much calmer than when she had received the Vice-Mayor’s guidance to enter District 19.

Had she become more accustomed to this kind of conflict while staying at the Central Front and leading the Eyes of Blue?

“I told you. There is one other way besides escaping the city.”

But Lennok shook his head, despite Lapis’s cool judgment.

“Perhaps you might be able to attempt that ritual you wanted again.”

“…Pardon?”

As Lapis turned her gaze with a momentary look of bewilderment, Lennok spoke.

“The reason you tried to enter District 19 in exchange for the autonomous region’s non-aggression pact was because the Gate to the Outer Sea is there, wasn’t it?”

“That’s…”

Without waiting for an answer, Lennok nodded.

“There is one other place in this city with similar conditions.”

“Are you saying there’s another Gate to the Outer Sea in Vulcan…?!”

“No. It’s not a gate.”

Taking his phone from his pocket, Lennok opened a mobile map and held it out to Lapis.

The mega-city of Vulcan, an isolated zone between the 40s districts, without even a proper name written on it.

“The Tri-Head Eightfold Fortress. Now called the Hexagonal Fortress, a non-standard quarantine zone.”

Lennok said, tapping his phone.

“The Hexagonal Fortress manages a small fissure connected to the Outer Sea, one that failed to become a gate.”

“…”

“If you perform the ritual through the fissure here, you might be able to achieve your goal of meeting Heavenly Sight.”

The reason Lennok had escaped from District 19 without hesitation, even after intuiting that he couldn’t enter its core immediately.

It was because he knew that Lapis’s objective could be achieved by using the ‘fissure’ hidden in the depths of the Hexagonal Fortress.

“This way.”

The moment they turned out of the back alley, the blaring sound of horns echoed from all directions.

Bwoooaaar!!

Menacing, heavily modified cars sped past on the old road, and traffic lights flickered irregularly on all sides.

Merchants had set up shop on the sidewalks selling all sorts of goods, and pedestrians walked briskly, ignoring the touts.

“…”

Standing next to Lennok, Lapis seemed to be taking in all the surrounding scenery despite her eyes being closed.

Perhaps because she was a user of Chogyeon, she was not bound by her two eyes even after her sight had deteriorated.

Lennok led Lapis through the main street and into an adjacent alley.

“I’ve secured a place to stay. I can’t say it’s safe, but it should buy us about half a day.”

An alley lined with lodgings and guesthouses. An unmanned hotel where rooms could only be booked through advance reservation.

A place that asked no questions about a customer’s identity but was priced accordingly.

“If they start searching every lodging in District 21, we’ll be found soon. We’ll need to rest briefly and move immediately.”

Click.

Lennok, holding the key card he received at the hotel entrance, pushed it into the door and spoke.

“I’ll go check the surroundings.”

“…”

Lapis looked as if she wanted to say more, but she closed her mouth and simply nodded.

Lennok lit the end of his cigar and immediately used Blink to head to the hotel rooftop.

Fssht!!

He landed on the noisy outdoor unit on the roof, closed his eyes, and spread out his magic detection.

Lennok’s senses, spanning thousands of meters, read all the surrounding magic and presences, searching for any sense of unease.

‘Already, nearly half of District 21 is within their search range.’

They probably couldn’t stay in this hotel for long. It wouldn’t be strange if their position was discovered right now.

But the reason Lennok had deliberately chosen a nearby lodging, knowing this, wasn’t solely out of consideration for Lapis’s condition.

‘The magic…’

Frowning slightly, Lennok placed a hand on his chest.

How long had it been since he had directly tampered with his maximum magic capacity like this?

It was the first time he had used such a drastic method since he inherited the legacy of the Jindun in the Ganges Labyrinth.

As he had never forcibly interfered with the size of his vessel since reaching Level 8, his internal magic was churning with a rare violence.

“…”

He still believed that the decision to absorb the source power of the gate in District 19 was not wrong.

As a result, he had managed to break the Vice-Mayor, preventing himself from being dragged along by her plans, and had gained the benefit of increasing his maximum magic capacity.

However, in the process of expanding his vessel with the magic of the Outer Sea, the magic within Lennok’s body was boiling furiously.

Woong!!

“Ugh…”

Just by drawing up a little magic, beads of blood formed at his fingertips.

An eerie rigidity, as if the slightest loss of control would tear his blood vessels and wreak havoc on his entire body.

This was the state of things even while he was suppressing the backlash with all his might using his magic manipulation abilities.

Lennok’s mind had not been invaded by the magic of the Outer Sea, but his body couldn’t remain unscathed from the recoil.

He knew from the start that this attempt couldn’t be purely beneficial, but this was severe.

‘Trying to control it delicately just makes the backlash worse.’

The pain and backlash were less if he just grabbed chunks of magic and scattered them roughly. For the time being, he would have to handle chanting and spellcasting in this manner.

Increasing his maximum magic capacity by a significant amount was a great gain, but it was inevitable that he now had more things to be careful about.

“…”

Lost in thought, Lennok realized he had smoked his cigar to the end and lowered his hand.

He cleanly burned away the falling ash and filter before immediately heading down and knocking on the door.

“Lord Evan?”

Lapis opened the door immediately.

It seemed she hadn’t used any of the items in the hotel room; there wasn’t even a trace of human touch.

On the spacious bed, only Partisha stood majestically, treading on the blanket and preening its wings.

“Why is that crane resting there instead of you?”

Lennok looked on with a dumbfounded expression at the strange sight, as if the guest had been switched, and Lapis smiled softly.

“I don’t know when we might have to leave. A brief moment of meditation is enough.”

“…”

“While you were away, Lord Evan, I also organized my thoughts.”

Leaving the speechless Lennok, Lapis perched lightly on the edge of the bed and opened her still-unfocused eyes.

“For the sake of our future plans, I thought it would be best to tell you now about what I’ve experienced.”

“What do you mean?”

“In the process of establishing a new Lighthouse and collecting its abilities, I realized my own power was becoming unstable. To find the reason, I looked back on my memories for a long time… and I learned that my grandmother had still left her will in this world.”

Taking a deep breath with a calm demeanor, Lapis spoke.

“And I also learned where I must go to meet my grandmother’s will.”

“…”

“I apologize for not telling you sooner. Knowledge about the [Gates], when heard from others instead of being seen directly, often gets distorted in perception… I couldn’t speak of it, thinking that you might be put in danger, Lord Evan.”

“You mean there are dangers that can only be avoided by being told after seeing the Gate directly.”

Come to think of it, most of the knowledge Lennok had gained about the Gates of the Outer Sea was explained to him after he had seen them himself.

Was it not a simple coincidence, but rather a consideration from those who had imparted the knowledge to him?

Lapis lowered her head with a somewhat shrunken demeanor.

“The other [Gates] I know of are either under extremely strict management or occupied by very dangerous Transcendents. This place was the only one I could choose.”

Even after her death, Heavenly Sight’s consciousness construct still remained on the boundary between the Outer Sea and the world, serving in place of a Lighthouse.

Lapis realized that to meet Heavenly Sight’s consciousness, she herself had to get close to that boundary.

That was why she had accepted the Central Council’s unreasonable demands and tried to contact the Gate to the Outer Sea located in District 19.

Without pushing her consciousness directly out of the Outer Sea, it would be impossible to get close to the boundary between the Outer Sea and the world.

“I can feel it even now.”

Lapis said, her eyes closed.

“That she knows I am coming. And that she is not just idly waiting for me.”

“…”

“Perhaps the grandmother I will meet is already…”

Lapis’s expression, reflected in the window pane, wavered faintly before instantly hardening.

“You said there is a space in the Hexagonal Fortress’s sanctuary with an environment similar to a Gate.”

“Yes. But if you can’t trust that fact, we can look for other ways-”

“No. I trust you, Lord Evan. I have never once doubted you.”

Lapis answered resolutely.

“As soon as I succeed in contacting the Watchers, I will move to the fortress immediately. For now, where is that phone…”

Watching Lapis, whose calm and composed demeanor from moments ago had vanished, now fumbling with her phone keypad like a technophobe, Lennok was lost in thought.

In fact, there was one other method besides what he had told Lapis.

At this point, having forcibly increased his maximum magic capacity by absorbing the magic of the Outer Sea, there was a new method he couldn’t have attempted before.

However, it was a gamble that could completely ruin the entire situation, making it difficult to even bring it up.

Just as Lennok was debating whether he should tell Lapis about it and was about to open his mouth.

Knock, knock.

The sound of someone knocking on the door came from outside.

Lennok immediately raised his hand, and Partisha, who had been preening its wings, came down to Lapis’s side and carefully embraced her.

Confirming that the white crane was covering Lapis’s body with its back turned, Lennok immediately headed towards the door.

“Who is it?”

“Are you Mr. James, who booked our unmanned hotel for today?”

It was the alias Lennok had used to book the hotel.

“That’s me. What is it?”

“An official notice has been issued from the district office that governs District 21 to all nearby lodging facilities. We need to reconfirm the identity of our guests. Would you happen to have a moment?”

Swish.

A piece of paper slid very naturally under the door.

“This is an official document from the district office.”

“…”

Glancing back, Lapis nodded and quietly hid inside the wardrobe.

Lennok immediately bent down, picked up the paper, and spoke.

“Well, I have no idea what format the District 21 office uses when sending official documents.”

“We also had it checked just in case, and it bears the official seal of the district chief. It is undoubtedly a genuine seal.”

“Ah, I see. The seal does seem to be genuine. However-”

The moment Lennok said that and drew up his magic, lightly sweeping his hand over the paper.

Swoosh!!

All the densely packed letters on the paper distorted and scattered like blurry ink.

In an instant, it became a blank sheet of paper, save for the district chief’s seal.

Lennok chuckled, crumpled it in his hands, and said.

“The document isn’t real.”

“…Haa.”

A light sigh echoed from beyond the door.

Simultaneously, the deafening roar of intense gunfire erupted.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!

In an instant, dozens of bullet holes pierced the hotel room door, mercilessly riddling Lennok’s body.

Just as the helplessly shot Lennok fell backward, the door was violently shattered and someone burst inside.

Craaash!!

A man holding a small brush in one hand and a submachine gun in the other.

The man, dressed in a simple uniform like a waiter, strode through the door and spoke.

“After I put in all this effort, couldn’t you at least have the decency to play along?”

Rat-tat-tat-tat!!

He passed by, spraying the fallen Lennok’s head with the machine gun.

“Whatever, just give me the girl. The competition is fierce, and I’m short on time if I want to pocket the incentive all for myself.”

Swish!!

He swung the brush, and the ink at its tip exploded like a bomb, indiscriminately tearing through the hotel room.

“Where is she? No, I don’t even need to ask. It’s obviously that wardrobe, isn’t it!”

“You’re right.”

Grab!!

Just as the man was about to unhesitatingly throw open the wardrobe, Lennok grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“…!!”

The man’s expression changed, and just as he turned to plunge the head of the brush into Lennok’s eye.

CRUNCH!!

The man’s foot was crushed by an invisible pressure, bursting blood from between his shoelaces.

“Aaargh!!”

Screaming and staggering, he somehow managed to aim the machine gun at Lennok and pulled the trigger.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!!

The wayward bullets peppered the ceiling and walls indiscriminately, leaving dozens of bullet holes and the smell of cordite.

Just as the machine gun, flailing around as he waved his arms, naturally aimed at the wardrobe and was about to fire, Lennok grabbed the muzzle.

Sizzle!!

In an instant, the heated barrel and grip melted, fusing the man’s fingers to the trigger.

The man, convulsing in pain, was turned around, made to shoot his own body with the machine gun, and quickly died.

The man’s corpse, riddled with bullet holes from his own weapon, collapsed, spraying blood.

Thud!!

“It’s been a while since I’ve killed a mercenary.”

Cracking his stiff wrist, Lennok frowned and threw open the wardrobe. Lapis looked up at him with a slightly surprised expression.

“Lord Evan?”

“We’ve been tracked. Let’s move.”