Chapter 898: The Eye That Sees Fate (34)

CRACK-BOOM!!!

Beneath the dazzling flower of flame, a colossal black serpent shot up, coiling around the Domain.

Its massive body, caked in some unknown black mud, stretched for dozens of meters.

Like a living skyscraper writhing and moving, it creaked as it retched.

[Kahaaaaaaak!!!]

It twitched like a broken machine, every movement a cycle of spasms and seizures.

Not a single spark of life could be felt from its motions, which resembled the convulsions of a corpse.

Screeeech!!!

The black serpent charged toward the petals of the Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance, its shriek piercing the ears.

It moved as if driven by pure instinct, seeking only the most potent energy in the vicinity.

But all the while, the flames and lightning that incinerated the air continued to clash and explode against each other.

The constant shockwaves from the battle battered the serpent’s massive form, pushing it back across the city.

The petals of the Celestial Flower began to fall one by one as its Domain spread throughout the undeveloped district.

And, watching the flower of flame bloom from a distance, was a group of people.

“Such persistent bastards. Are they still focused on their spellcraft battle amidst all this?”

“There’s no way they haven’t noticed the thought-form. They never intended to stop in the first place.”

[The City Government will be in an uproar. Didn’t they help prepare this stage?]

A blind man who had gouged out his own eyes, and a grotesque figure with a metal sphere floating where his head should be.

A silver-haired woman with an ice-cold expression.

A giant baby with a severed umbilical cord, and a behemoth whose entire body was made of jewels.

Atop a skyscraper hundreds of meters high was an old-fashioned, tile-roofed pavilion.

Some stood on its out-of-place wooden porch, while others sat, adding to the conversation.

The blind man rubbed his eye sockets and spoke.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a monstrosity like that. It’s that Guardian Spirit from the Great Forest, isn’t it?”

[The size is a bit different from what I remember, but there can’t be another serpent that large.]

The magnetic-headed fiend, Cheoknoe Olinic, replied.

[Seeing the remnants of its gloomy cursed energy, I’m certain. It is the thought-form of the serpent that guards the Well.]

“Heh heh, how did that devout guardian of the jungle fall to such a state…”

An old man’s voice escaped the mouth of the baby with the umbilical cord, sounding like a lament.

The jewel-bodied behemoth crossed his arms and shrugged.

=This isn’t a thought-form born from the death of the main body. It seems a fragment of a fallen consciousness has taken flesh in reality through some chance event.

[That in itself is proof of the great Ascendant’s decline.]

Olinic said, his voice laced with a hint of amusement.

[In her prime, she never would have allowed such a thought-form to disturb the mortal realm.]

“…”

[Time is so cruel. The great war from decades ago now feels like a dream. In the end, even an Ascendant is just a mere beast—]

“Padme Kiesa was a Transcendent who guarded the [Gate] of the Great Forest for a very long time.”

At that moment, the silver-haired woman fixed Olinic with a gaze as cold as ice.

An absolute chill, devoid of any emotional change.

Her short-cut hair, stopping around her neck, seemed to hint at her resolute and merciless nature.

“Mind your manners, Olinic. A being who has fulfilled their duty deserves to be treated with due respect.”

[Kiriya. If you wish to be so devoted to duty, then you should help Pyeonram with her burden.]

Olinic ignored her icy admonishment and sneered.

[Ah, but of course, you’d have to fold up that code and pride you hold dearer than your own life. What use is honor when you’re dedicating yourself to the world?]

“Do you intend to continue a discussion we finished decades ago? How utterly tiresome…”

The baby with the old man’s voice sneered at the two of them.

=Pyeonram’s thought-form aside, what are we to do about the battle between Cheonbeon and Adamant Thunder?

The jewel giant asked, lightly crushing a cup into dust in his hand.

=Considering the scheduled summit, it would be best if a victor is decided here. If this fight ends ambiguously, it will disrupt our plans.

It was an unchangeable fact that an unplanned variable had intruded upon the clash between the two wizards, a duel anticipated by all of Vulcan.

The problem was what would happen if the two wizards stopped or tried to avoid the fight because of the thought-form.

Given that they intended to reflect the outcome of this battle in their summit, it wouldn’t be strange for them to consider intervening.

However, the blind man seemed to think differently.

“I wonder. I feel this variable will, on the contrary, guarantee a decisive conclusion.”

=What?

The blind man rubbed his itchy eye sockets and spoke.

“I’ve been watching until now, and Adamant Thunder is being surprisingly passive. It’s highly likely because of that well-known rumor.”

[You mean the injury he sustained as the price for killing Onnion? There was talk of it being a type of curse.]

At Olinic’s question, the baby’s body shivered.

“That old man’s military spirit craft was truly dreadful… If Onnion cast a curse as he died, it wouldn’t be strange for him to still be suffering.”

“Forget the old man who’s already dead. What I’m saying is that Adamant Thunder hasn’t been using his full strength.”

=And you think Adamant Thunder’s reaction will change because of the thought-form’s presence?

“He may have intended to stick to a high-probability strategy against Cheonbeon, but he can’t possibly maintain that now that the situation has changed.”

The blind man smiled.

“If it were something that could be stopped by an unexpected variable, they wouldn’t have sought to settle things this way in the first place. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what method Adamant Thunder will choose.”

[What if the thought-form leaves the battlefield and spreads the damage?]

“Hmm, I didn’t think you would be having such worries.”

For a moment, the blind man turned to Olinic, genuinely surprised.

“Is there still a part of your frontal lobe left that worries about human lives?”

[…]

Olinic crossed his arms with a displeased look, and the rotation speed of the metal sphere that served as his head increased slightly.

The blind man chuckled at the sight before turning his head back.

“Don’t worry. Haven’t the protagonists of that stage already moved it to the outskirts of the city for us?”

“…”

“Accepting the Prohibition Edict was for the sake of those who live under the City Government’s administration.”

The blind man smiled as he watched the Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance distort slightly in the distance.

“The lives of trash beyond our control no longer register in my eyes.”

Gr-r-rumble…!!!

At that moment, the giant serpent’s thought-form began to burn atop the flower of flame, which was on the verge of blooming.

The firepower of the Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance soared up onto the thought-form coiling the Domain, unfurling completely.

[Kyaaaaaak!!]

Pyeonram’s thought-form also let out a violent scream and began to constrict its body, lashing out in every direction of the city district.

A horrific catastrophe, as a thick, black whip indiscriminately battered the ground hundreds of meters below.

Simultaneously, the dark clouds above the flame flower, which was about to fully bloom, began to part as the sky opened up.

“It’s begun. The rest of you, watch carefully in my stead and tell me what happens.”

Crackle, crackle…!!

The blind man muttered, his gaze lifted toward the empty sky where silent thunder rumbled.

“If Adamant Thunder has decided to make his move at this point, he certainly won’t hold back.”

“A Transcendent who has earned the right to challenge ascension learns how to infinitely split their own consciousness.”

A vast expanse of spacetime where a distant sea of darkness unfolded.

A distorted boundary where the world and the sea met.

From here, the vacant starlight shining beyond the Outer Sea and the traces of civilization left on the ground below were both clearly visible.

“They gain the opportunity to infinitely divide the time and memories of their life, to separate and define them.”

The boundary between matter and consciousness. A hidden realm where all concepts mingled and scattered, existing without any specific definition.

The final line of causality that allowed this world to exist as a world.

She took a step onto the hazy horizon.

“I used to think that it was a miracle granted to a seeker who had contemplated their entire life without omission…”

Heavenly Sight muttered, stepping forward as if treading on clouds, then glanced back.

“But now, I’m not so sure.”

“…”

Lapis couldn’t answer.

As if not expecting a reply, Heavenly Sight continued walking.

As she calmly gazed down at the world, the complex cityscape was reflected in her eyes.

The shape of a giant black serpent rampaging above the city, and the flower of flame burning within its coils.

And beyond that, the sky, slowly opening amidst a shroud of lightning.

Heavenly Sight spoke.

“Padme used that ability to cast away the self of her unenlightened days. As a Guardian Spirit who became an Ascendant, the memories from her time when instinct was strong were a hindrance to fulfilling her duty.”

“…”

“That choice is now eating away at her remaining time. That is why Pyeonram’s thought-form, having once become a [Gate] to the Outer Sea, has re-emerged in reality.”

Heavenly Sight looked at the serpent’s thought-form with a complicated expression.

“She hoped to persist as an Ascendant by discarding old memories, but it was precisely those memories that allowed her to exist as an Ascendant in the first place.”

“Memories…”

“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

Saying so, Heavenly Sight turned to face Lapis completely.

“Nothing is eternal, Lapis.”

“…”

“A great destiny, a noble duty, even long-held promises and memories… they are all like bubbles in this sea.”

With the sea of darkness above her head and a pure white world at her feet, Heavenly Sight spoke.

A scene at the boundary line that split heaven and earth into black and white.

Standing before Lapis, Heavenly Sight said,

“To gain one thing, you must discard another. Each time you discard something, you move further from perfection and completion, becoming structurally broken.”

“…”

“It is the same, Lapis. To obtain a fate not permitted to the living, one must endure a loss in some way. The price for trying to circumvent and evade that through a shortcut is—”

Heavenly Sight gestured toward the serpent rampaging on the ground.

“—down there.”

“…”

Was she saying that the very appearance of Pyeonram’s thought-form in that place was a mistake brought about by Pyeonram herself?

In that moment, Lapis understood that this was a lesson Heavenly Sight was imparting to her.

And at the same time, she realized that the Heavenly Sight present here was not the person she remembered.

“Grandmother… you are not the grandmother I know.”

“Grandmother?!”

Heavenly Sight shuddered, a look of shock on her face.

In stark contrast to the serious atmosphere until now, her expression suddenly became sheepish.

“Ah, right… I knew this, but still, it feels strange. To think I’d hear it from a child like you.”

“A child… you say.”

“Was that not something you wanted to hear? Ah, that’s not it.”

Heavenly Sight asked, then instantly grasped the truth.

Her eyes, looking at Lapis, sank into a deep abyss for a moment.

“You are sad because I do not know you.”

“…”

“It cannot be helped. The me that is here is the Madria Falcia from a time before you were born.”

Heavenly Sight said softly.

“Even if you are my granddaughter, I cannot truly feel that fact. I am no longer a being left within the continuity of time.”

“I know that you split your consciousness beyond the world’s boundary to take up the Lighthouse’s role, Grandmother.”

Lapis replied quietly.

“You told me many things I needed to know to uphold my duty before you left. But, the words I truly wanted to hear from you, Grandmother…”

“…”

“Were a slightly more… ordinary greeting…”

Lapis trailed off and closed her eyes.

Those who leave do not return.

Heavenly Sight, Madria Falcia, who failed her ascension and died, no longer existed anywhere in this world.

Even as she understood that simple, clear fact, a part of her heart still could not accept it.

Did she know it in her head, yet still perform this ritual, dreaming of a miracle of reunion?

Did she try to confide the feelings she had wrestled with alone, unable to find an answer from anyone, to someone who was already gone?

Heavenly Sight watched Lapis, who was desperately trying to compose herself, with a look of pity.

“You poor thing. You are already shouldering the duty I failed to fulfill.”

“…”

“The me from when I was alive must have known you were this kind of person, to have passed on the duty and left without any lingering regrets.”

Heavenly Sight stepped back slightly, her hands behind her back.

“It’s hard, isn’t it? Lighthouse Keeper.”

“…Yes.”

Lapis answered in a quiet voice.

“It’s so… so hard.”

“…”

“The more I act for the sake of my duty, the less I can convince myself. I don’t know if there is any meaning in this postponed conclusion, or if it is merely a way of buying time. Just for a brief reprieve, just how much sacrifice is needed….”

The words she had kept piled up poured out like a lament.

The emotions that had risen to her throat spilled out with just a slight tilt.

“I wonder if such a miracle is waiting for us at the end of this world…”

“…”

“But surely, probably, that won’t be the case.”

Lapis’s voice, having arrived at her own answer, trembled faintly.

Facing the silent Heavenly Sight, Lapis gave a weak smile.

“Causality will vanish and the end will come, regardless of the time and fate we have offered. The traces we leave in this world will mean nothing to the Outer Gods.”

“…”

“Even knowing it’s a futile effort, I try, I convince myself. Because everyone has done so until now. Because every single person has endured. So, so I must, too…”

In the grand machinery of the world, she was a cog.

She observes the Outer Sea and postpones the apocalypse so that this world can persist for just a little longer.

So that the causality of this world does not yet disappear. So that the Outer Gods do not notice this faint struggle.

She kills her emotions and suppresses her functions.

She doesn’t think about the future where she will be worn down and broken, but focuses on the reality that keeps turning.

But because it was Lapis’s duty to observe an ending for which there was no answer, she—

“I know. I was the same. To see the future and postpone it is our reality.”

Heavenly Sight said quietly.

“Our fate cannot remain in a single time, and our time does not remain in a single fate. We see the end closer than anyone, and must watch from further away than anyone.”

“…”

“Even while standing on the stage, we are, in the end, always observers. We cannot grasp the flowing time and bonds, and the only way to lay down our duty is death.”

Every word she murmured stabbed into Lapis’s heart with piercing sharpness.

It was likely because the younger Heavenly Sight had also suffered, agonized, and wandered in search of someone who would understand, just like Lapis.

The suffering that had echoed through one person’s entire life reached the next successor, crossing over vanished time.

Unable to even reply, she was struck again by the words she had emotionally poured out, and agonized.

Watching Lapis, whose shoulders shook as she hung her head, Heavenly Sight slowly began to walk past her.

The world’s boundary line. At the very edge of the extremity where the landscapes of the Outer Sea and the earth overlapped and vanished, Heavenly Sight turned back.

Standing before the extremity that seemed about to vanish at any moment, she spoke softly.

“Therefore, if you wish it, I can take your place.”

“…!!”

In that instant, Lapis’s trembling stopped as if by a lie.

“On this boundary line of the world, no one would notice even if we swapped our roles.”

Heavenly Sight smiled as if she knew what Lapis was feeling.

“Isn’t that why you came looking for me?”