Chapter 936: Anathema (10)
Crackle!
The moment the lightning from Lennok’s fingertips pierced the Apostle’s brow. The thunderous light, spinning violently like a tightening screw, exploded behind his head, emitting an enormous amount of brilliance.
KWA-A-A-ANG!!!!
The surge of sapphire thunder filling the inside of the Earth Sphere.
From the center of the light, the young man in the black coat turned, his face expressionless.
WHOOSH!!
Dropping the ampoule syringe in his hand, he chewed and swallowed an elixir.
Lennok, with a bandage inscribed with ancient runes wrapped around his wrist, inserted a transparent catheter near his heart.
At that moment, Anathema’s low whisper echoed within the blazing lightning.
[How utterly pitiful.]
“……”
[Despite such intellect and talent, does it truly require such meticulous preparation to enter a single battlefield?]
THUD!!
Enduring the brilliance of the lightning embedded in his brow with his bare body, he rose.
Anathema’s gaze fell upon the wizard, over the cracked and splitting Earth Armor.
[What holds your life is neither divine mandate nor blessing. Talent not permitted to the human body, that must be what they call you.]
“Perhaps, from your perspective.”
CHIIK!! Lennok flicked his finger, lighting his cigarette, and said.
“It’s been a while since I last dealt with an Apostle, so it took some time to prepare.”
[A while, you say…]
Anathema’s eyes narrowed.
[You speak as if you’ve faced Apostles before.]
“If you don’t put in the effort to deal with you lot properly the first time, you cause a lot of unnecessary trouble even after you’re dead.”
As he drew up magic, observing the flow of the mana circuit beneath his wrist, Lennok spoke.
“Especially considering the stakes involved in this fight, I needed to deal with you cleanly, protected as you are by the Pontiff.”
[Arrogant words. Yet, if anyone is qualified to speak them, it is you, who has dragged this fight this far with that body.]
Anathema nodded coolly.
[I concede. The might of the magic you wield has been most vexing to me, and the heat of your spells, most agonizing.]
“……”
[Your judgment to barrage me with spells from the vanguard and choose the moment to end the fight yourself was truly valiant… yet there is one thing you failed to grasp.]
CRACKLE!! Anathema pointed at the Earth Sphere beneath his feet and said.
[This sphere that surrounds you and me is not a form that abandons combat to amplify the power of Apostle Spellcraft. Rather, its true value lies entirely in the opposite.]
The ceiling of the sphere, completing itself in real-time, slowly narrowed its gap.
The glimpses of the night sky occasionally visible were obscured, and the moment Lennok and Anathema’s forms were perfectly enclosed within the sphere.
Anathema’s eyes rounded for the first time.
[A dueling ground to exclude all external interference and determine victory or defeat. A prison built solely for a one-on-one duel with an adversary, that is the battlefield surrounding you and me.]
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE…!!!
Simultaneously with those words, small cracks appeared on the 6th Apostle’s body, and it began to shatter little by little.
Worn out by the relentless fierce battle, the Apostle’s body peeled and flaked away like tree bark, undergoing repeated molting.
[I will not say your judgment was incorrect.]
THUD!! Stepping out from inside the shattered husk was Anathema himself, who had first appeared on the altar through Incarnation.
[The opening created by the two vanguards risking their lives. My first time anchoring my body and initiating a large-scale spell activation. You must have judged it to be the only moment when the Apostle’s true form, assimilated with the earth, would be vulnerable.]
“……”
[However, I judged from the beginning that without killing you, there would be no progress in this battlefield. Thus, I made it seem as if I was solely focused on controlling the battlefield, raising tsunamis of earth with Apostle Spellcraft and altering the terrain. And now, finally—]
THUD! Anathema, standing before Lennok, whispered in a slow tone.
[I made the lightning-clad bird descend into my hand on its own accord.]
It was true that Anathema had been damaged by the Spirit Fusion: Freedom from Defilements that Peshia had pierced him with.
Yet, Anathema neither showed excitement nor anger from a blow that simultaneously pierced both body and soul.
Rather, he feigned concentration on large-scale spell activation, feigning a vulnerability to lure Lennok in. He had been waiting for Lennok.
He knew that this wizard, who had controlled the battlefield as he pleased until now, would be convinced that the opening Anathema presented was one he himself had designed.
Even if it meant personally stepping forward, he would surely seize the outcome of his confidence here.
Therefore, Anathema feigned using large-scale terrain-altering spellcraft, instead deploying the Dueling Ground with Apostle Spellcraft. The moment Lennok appeared and unleashed his lightning magic, Anathema constructed a Provisional Sanctuary, sealing off the battlefield.
[Victory is mine, Wizard.]
WHOOSH!! With unseen speed, the 6th Apostle seized Lennok by the throat.
Anathema gazed at Lennok, lifted effortlessly, unable to resist, and spoke slowly.
[The superiority of spellcraft, the logic of combat, the clash of strategies—in all, I, Anathema, stand above you.]
“……”
[Even after becoming a perfected Apostle, I have proven that I am not a beast drunk on power, making erroneous judgments. Surpassing even the Arch-Wizard consumed by ignorance—]
“I know.”
[…What?]
“I knew what Apostle Spellcraft you would use last.”
Lennok’s expressionless gaze met Anathema’s.
“That’s why I didn’t interfere. Constructing a battlefield isolated from the outside was also what I desired.”
KWA-A-A-ANG!!!
Before he could even finish, Anathema, still clutching Lennok by the collar, slammed him into the ground.
With a mere twist of his wrist, drawing up magic, the ground crumbled and ripples surged up the walls.
But the moment Anathema realized there was no human blood or flesh beneath the crushed ground.
“The 6th Apostle’s secret art that manipulates the surrounding earth to isolate spacetime.”
Lennok, who had appeared behind Anathema, extinguished the cigarette he had been holding against the wall and said.
“Among the Sixth Apostle’s abilities, it’s the one least related to direct combat, and therefore, the most powerful.”
The Dueling Ground created by Apostle Spellcraft is a Provisional Sanctuary designed to isolate and trap only the opponent and oneself.
While not directly useful in combat, the durability of the Dueling Ground, amplified by using it as a binding, truly transcends imagination.
The Dueling Ground used by the former 6th Apostle at the Well of the Codex was capable of tying up even an Ascendant for a brief period.
Lennok had already recognized this the moment Anathema began to construct the Dueling Ground.
HWAREUK!!
Lennok, burning the remaining cigarette stubs with his fingertips until they evaporated, reached into his coat.
The wizard, traversing the relentlessly churning Earth Sphere, continued his steps while injecting an ampoule into his wrist.
CLICK! As he pulled out the dangling cylinders and IV needles from his body, empty medicine bottles and syringe needles clattered to the floor beneath his coat.
With one hand, he gripped a respirator and pulled its lever, then poured five more elixirs into his mouth.
As cerulean magic streamed from his entire body, Lennok, who had walked back to Anathema, grinned faintly.
“Don’t overthink it. Our desires merely aligned, and we’ve simply stepped onto the stage by mutual agreement.”
[…]
“You intended to settle this without running or hiding. Isn’t that enough?”
[…Do you seek to be proud of yourself until the very last moment on the battlefield? Truly, you are an incomprehensible human.]
Anathema chuckled.
[Possessing transcendent magical talent, yet acting like a proud warrior. Ultimately, you trust no one more completely than yourself.]
“Whether I wanted to or not, I often found myself alone in a fight.”
Lennok replied nonchalantly.
“It’s unavoidable if you want to survive among unpleasant monsters, like the Incarnation Body of the End.”
[Has finite time made your potential even more boundless?]
The moment Anathema and Lennok simultaneously stepped forward, their respective times accelerated.
The clock they observed, their five senses perceiving and feeling, stretched endlessly, grotesquely distorting.
[Then, I shall take from you, here, even that moment when you shone so brilliantly.]
KIIIIING…!!!
At the instant the two monsters’ Will-thoughts explosively amplified and their perceptive abilities expanded to their limit.
Beyond the sixth sense, in the realm of the seventh sense, offense and defense were divided, and the Apostle and the wizard moved.
[Flicker]
[Earth Leap]
The wizard and the Apostle’s forms, barraging Space Leaps and Ground Movements, accelerated to supersonic speeds.
PA-BA-BA-BA-BANG!!
With the sound of cracking ground and surging thunder, dozens of shockwaves erupted from all directions of the Dueling Ground.
High-speed spellcraft exchanges clashed from different spatio-temporal points, regardless of direction or altitude.
Dozens of armaments surged from beneath Anathema’s feet and were seized by his hands, while countless magic circles rose and rotated behind Lennok’s back.
At every moment their spellcraft intersected, they moved without staying in one place, completely restructuring their tactical maneuvers and positions.
With a single step, they chanted dozens of spells, wielded them as weapons, and then with a single gesture, discarded them all.
The clash of madmen who consumed and discarded even high-level spellcraft, which ordinary spellcasters needed full concentration to use, as mere tools.
[Chanting Thunder]
[Sixfold Barrier]
DRRRRRRRRR!!!
Lightning, piercing Anathema’s body sixfold, exploded and slammed the Apostle’s form backward.
Dazzling spears of lightning flashed and surged along the walls, and Lennok, riding on their tips, ceaselessly pumped magic.
With every breath, the magic expelled from his entire body was converted entirely into lightning-attribute magic.
In an instant, half of the Dueling Ground was filled with dazzling ripples of lightning, rotating.
[False Electro-Domain]
PA-JI-JI-JI-JI-JIK!!!!
Upon confirming the sight, Anathema immediately deployed Apostle Spellcraft at full power.
The floor of the Dueling Ground rose over ten meters, transforming into a cliff to block the waves of lightning.
The clash of undulating earth and lightning.
As the stage of the Dueling Ground was covered in their respective attributes, Anathema and Lennok also moved within the storm of magic.
KOO-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA!!!
As they moved at supersonic speeds in all directions, the priority of attack ceaselessly flipped and changed.
Giant hammers formed from transformed earth slammed down, and saw-blades and fists rotated and collided.
[Spiral Thunderkill]
[Revolving Trample]
He met the hammer by bursting spiral-rotating lightning wings, then immediately increased his rotation speed and double-chanted.
[Blossom]
Lightning, fully unfurled in ten directions, glowed like a thunder flower, sweeping over and incinerating Anathema’s body.
Unable to withstand its firepower, the Earth Armor wrapped around Anathema’s entire body burned, cracked, evaporated, and burst apart.
KA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GAK!!!
[…!!]
It felt as if every single sensation in his body was being torn apart and crushed.
An excruciating pain, burning and ripping beyond flesh and muscle, reaching bone and nerve.
The 6th Apostle’s body, easily ranking among the top in terms of durability and toughness alone, crumbled, unable to withstand the lightning’s firepower.
At the thunderous roar that pierced beyond his body to even the Apostle’s mind, even Anathema momentarily lost his composure, his face contorting.
[Lightning Strike Spellcraft…!!! Truly, it is utterly dreadful!!]
A unique lightning-attribute magic that reached the peak of destruction among pure spellcraft-attribute magic.
Considering only its momentary peak output, it is a destruction spellcraft rated among the highest of all supernatural abilities existing on the continent.
While there exists a condition that one must awaken to all Property Transformations and be able to handle Will-thought to amplify the spellcraft’s output.
The wizard before him was fully demonstrating how powerful a weapon it could be in the hands of a spellcaster capable of overcoming that condition.
The moment Anathema realized that fact and momentarily raised his Will-thought to augment his armor.
“Unravel (解).”
Lennok’s form, as if it had been waiting, plunged down with tremendous speed, pressing hard against his chest.
KWA-A-A-ANG!!!
[Kugh…!!]
“Dome (穹). Pour (酌). Spit (吐). Press (壓). Narrate (述).”
A momentary reprieve granted to Lennok, who had seized the inevitable opening arising from the imbalance of firepower.
As if he had been waiting for that moment from the beginning, Lennok formed hand seals with both hands and began chanting.
The moment he formed complex hand seals and pointed as if commanding the lightning bolts surging from all directions.
“Target Designation initiated.”
A massive hexagram was etched beneath the Apostle’s feet, and a storm of lightning erupted.
Lightning-Attribute Unique Magic, Sixfold Chanting Complex Resonance
[Thunderous Will’s Advent (雷情道來): Transcendent Tremor (超想震輝)]
PA-JI-JI-JI-JI-JIK…!!!!
Columns of thunder, erupting from the hexagram’s points, tilted and pierced Anathema’s entire body.
A binding technique that pierced and squeezed his limbs, paralyzing him with a jolt, allowing no movement whatsoever.
Anathema, instinctively realizing that this was merely a prelude to the destructive spellcraft that would follow, roared in fury.
[OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!]
“Six Divine Thunders (六神雷).”
Lennok, his foot on Anathema’s shoulder and his finger pointed at his brow, coldly uttered the incantation.
“Lament (悲嘆).”
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!
At that moment, a strange noise echoed from the center of the hexagram, and Anathema’s expression instantly changed.
A spatial rupture erupted within Anathema’s body, and immediately after, Anathema also deployed Apostle Spellcraft at full power.
Simultaneously with the surging pillar of light, Anathema’s body shattered into countless pieces, scattering explosively across the Dueling Ground.
KWA-A-A-A-A-A-ANG!!!!
A powerful Pillar of Thunderous Light pierced through the center of the Earth Sphere.
The Dueling Ground, which had briefly withstood even Pyeonram’s rampage, wildly shook as if it might be breached at any moment.
Six Divine Thunders: Lament – a technique that causes six lightning bolts, having pierced the target’s body, to collide and tear apart space itself at their center.
It is an ultimate magic newly created by Lennok, who has reached the 8th-level realm where he can interfere with space as a result.
Although it requires pre-chanting and the condition that six spells must be forcibly fused through Target Designation.
Its power, however, is enough to crush space itself through purely lightning clashes.
But Lennok did not withdraw his magic, even after seeing Anathema’s body explode before his eyes.
This was because the Apostle’s body, which had burst outward in all directions immediately after Six Divine Thunders: Lament hit, was now gathering like puzzle pieces and reforming.
“Did he deliberately split his body and scatter it in all directions just before the spatial rupture hit?”
Lennok, having grasped how Anathema evaded Six Divine Thunders, ran a hand through his hair and chuckled.
“A central noble becoming an Apostle, and now resorting to all sorts of bizarre tricks. Can you even call something that self-detonates and regenerates a living creature?”
[Even after Ars Nova fell, the world remains vast, and geniuses still overflow.]
Anathema, who had instantly regenerated his body, murmured, unable to hide his admiration.
[For a spellcaster employing such extreme combat methods to reach the realm of an Arch-Wizard, it is truly astounding…!]
The wizard’s body was protected by only the bare minimum of shields around his skin.
All the magic Lennok had chanted in battle thus far was purely offensive magic, meticulously aimed at destroying the Apostle’s body.
He met Anathema’s attacks with destructive spellcraft, and from there, continued chanting new spells.
Converting all offensive and defensive exchanges into pure offense, he ceaselessly accumulated damage and broke down the opponent’s defenses.
Even the moment the opponent noticed him and attempted a counterattack was made part of the psychological warfare, allowing him to land high-level spells that required pre-chanting.
He fragmented even the briefest moment where the enemy’s perception shifted when facing Lennok, smashing it into his spellcraft to its extreme.
An extreme tightrope walk, intervening with his will in almost every tactical maneuver on the battlefield to avoid losing the initiative.
It was a strategy close to gambling, where a single failure meant pointlessly surrendering one’s life.
Nevertheless, the martial prowess displayed by the wizard before him was incomparably more intense than that of the two spear-masters he had faced earlier.
[Did you find the light of transcendence at the end of battles that surpass the limits of mortals?]
Realizing this, Anathema’s eyes sank deeper than ever before.
[Now I understand why a human who did not participate in the civil war carries the fearsome reputation of a blood-crazed wizard.]
“You, on the other hand, fight far more annoyingly than I expected, perhaps due to your experience in the Great War.”
Lennok, his head tilted back with a tired expression, said.
The mana consumption, wasted pointlessly from failing to land Six Divine Thunders: Lament, was considerable.
Anathema, too, wouldn’t be without consumption from repeatedly self-detonating and regenerating, but he was under the Pontiff’s protection.
“Even granting his mastery of Apostle Spellcraft, to already be using his own body as a tool like that…”
Lennok’s transcendent intuition and combat experience surpassed the limits of his species, looking beyond them.
In tactical and psychological warfare that transcended the concepts of prediction and foresight, there was virtually no opponent who could defeat Lennok.
Most of the enemies Lennok had faced so far either couldn’t even perceive it, or were broken even after understanding it.
But Anathema, the moment he realized he was being outmaneuvered by Lennok, changed his approach.
Even if it meant being hit by Lennok’s magic, he was determined not to be pushed back in the exchange, trusting his own durability.
Even if it meant losing ground in tactical maneuvering, the calculation to not abandon attack opportunities was not something just anyone could achieve.
Setting priorities against the enemy before him, and if necessary, abandoning and discarding even his own body.
This was likely possible because Anathema himself was an outstanding warrior, a soldier who had crossed countless lines of death in war.
“Despite his dignified manner of speech, his way of thinking is closer to that of a soldier. Now that he’s just become an Apostle, he’ll be free from the madness for a while, I suppose?”
KOO-GOO-GOONG!!
Lennok, who had struck and shattered the falling rock with lightning, chuckled.
“Indeed, if I let you leave here alive, things will get troublesome.”
[That is not wrong. For when this battle ends, I will be incomparably stronger than before.]
Anathema chuckled in return, slowly drawing up his magic.
[Now that I have cast off the shackles of exile and incarnation, I am confident I can absorb and grow from everything in this world as experience. That must be the very reason He bestowed his blessing upon me.]
“……”
[I will revisit every task I rushed through, pressed by the time limit to maintain my incarnation, and be reborn as an entirely different being than before. And once I have completely resolved the Curse of Exile…]
THUD!! Anathema, standing before Lennok, whispered.
[I must return to Ars Nova.]
“So that was why you allied with the cult.”
Lennok nodded.
“What on earth remains in the Central City that everyone is so eager to enter it?”
He knew that Ars Nova’s civilization, technology, and spellcraft were incomparably more advanced than any other city.
The feat of artificial creation of failed Ascendants, even that, by Aurel Silford of Gye-baek, was evidence of the heights the Central City had reached.
But what on earth remains in that ruined city that everyone seeking answers on the continent longs to venture beyond the Veil?
A question to which he had never received an answer from anyone due to the prohibition.
Lennok, too, had not expected an answer when he asked, but to his surprise, Anathema replied.
[A great legacy capable of altering fate slumbers there.]
“…Legacy?”
[Kaiser’s failure was merely the result of accelerating a predetermined downfall. Thus, I do not resent his failure.]
Perhaps reflecting on his own memories from Lennok’s question, Anathema’s gaze left his opponent, seemingly looking into the distance.
[For our great homeland was already heading towards ruin. It was predetermined from the moment all miracles and forbidden arts we could attempt turned to failure.]
“……”
[Only the Emperor held the answer to what lay beyond existence. But who truly believed that was the solution?]
“Surely, you are…”
Anathema, speaking of the Project and Ars Nova without any hesitation.
From that unrestrained answer, which he had never heard from anyone else, Lennok realized why the Pontiff had made Anathema an Apostle.
The new meaning Anathema’s name acquired after Ars Nova’s downfall.
Contradictory causality that bloomed amidst twisted fate.
Those involved in the Black Consumer Project, nobles of Ars Nova, the Long-lived Beings of Kundara, Alkaid.
This betrayer was not bound by the absolute [Prohibition] that all of them could not evade.