Chapter 943: Trampling Heaven (3)

A putrid wasteland, reeking of blood and oil.

The priests chanted prayers, and the mechanical armies unleashed their gunpowder.

“……!!!”

Boom!! Crash!!!

Soundless screams. Deafening roars.

The pain and wails of the fallen were buried beneath the shouts and prayers of the survivors, their own hands trampling even the lives of those who fought alongside them, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Overwhelming numbers, enough to fill a battlefield stretching to the horizon.

Amidst the clashes that tore heaven and earth apart, deaths bloomed like flowers, then withered like dust.

A chaotic battlefield where friend and foe were indistinguishable, and slaughter and destruction repeated mechanically.

A hellscape where one fought without knowing why, barely able to pour all their mental energy into killing the enemy before them.

Lennok walked through the heart of such a battlefield with the Pontiff.

“…….”

There were no divine footwork, spatial teleportation, or contraction techniques.

The Pontiff’s back, as he slowly took steps with his hands clasped behind him, as if out for a stroll amidst this pandemonium.

If the Director was aware of this meeting and arranged it, he too must have made his own preparations to match the timing.

Therefore, Lennok focused on observing the battlefield as he followed the Pontiff.

‘The ancient spellcraft of the holy spirit system embedded in the Archangel series. In the Second World, it existed in a proper form.’

The power wielded by priests who summoned angelic forms.

It seemed similar to what the Guido Cult priests used, yet it appeared slightly simpler than Lennok’s memory.

Was the impurity of the forbidden arts used by the Cult an intentional result?

But what drew Lennok’s interest more than the priests of the Old World was the presence of the mechanical army fighting on the opposite side.

Complex war machines, clad in black energy like shadows, confronting the priests.

‘They take the form of machines, but their design structure and operating principles aren’t that intricate. Is it merely that they used that as a base?’

As divine power and cannon fire surged, a strange light glinted in Lennok’s eyes, fixed with heightened vision.

‘Their power source, if one were to classify it…… is similar to Spirit Summoning. They combine Spirit Summoning with mechanical engineering to compensate for their flaws.’

The black spiritual entities wrapped around the war machines were not shadows, but souls that had been adjusted to inhabit non-human bodies.

And assisting those souls was a part of Spirit Summoning spellcraft so transcendent that even Lennok couldn’t grasp its depth.

Could it be that all these unfolding events were a disaster originating from the spellcraft of a single person?

The moment Lennok realized that fact and his lips tightened slightly.

From the far end of the horizon, a gloomy black-green radiance surged.

KWOOOOOOOM!!!!!

A gloomy pillar of light, a mix of black and dark green, exploded with tremendous speed, connecting heaven and earth.

Its appearance from the very edge of the horizon was proof that the light’s size and diameter easily reached tens of thousands of meters.

Its scale was so overwhelming, so unreal that it surpassed the laws and common sense of the world, even making Lennok falter.

[For a long time, achieving a level comparable to the world and progressing to the next was called Ascension.]

Breaking a long silence, the Pontiff opened his mouth.

[But there were pioneers who realized for themselves that it was not such a noble achievement……]

“…….”

The Pontiff called this moment in Lennok’s memory the instant a Transcendent successfully achieved Ascension.

That was a word not permitted in the Third World, where a fourth did not exist.

It was impossible in Lennok’s world, where no Transcendent had ever successfully ascended.

Therefore, this memory must surely be a moment showcasing a miracle that existed in the Second World.

If the Director remembered the moment of a successful Ascension, it was only possible because this memory was from the Second World in the first place.

Perhaps, because the Director had moved to meet the Pontiff residing in this memory, the Pontiff was accommodating him by setting the stage.

In that case, the owner of this memory was, after all, neither the Pontiff nor the Director—

“It was a memory of another Transcendent challenging Ascension, not you.”

[I understand your curiosity about my Ascension…… but that is not a memory we would choose as a meeting place.]

The Pontiff smiled faintly.

[I’m not even sure if that moment can still be called a memory anymore…….]

“…….”

[Showing you this memory today is possible because this moment is significant for us as well…….]

While Lennok remained silent at the Pontiff’s profound answer, the Pontiff slowly moved his steps and spoke.

[Because there is something to learn from the methodology chosen by one of the most outstanding pioneers across all three worlds.]

A pioneer’s methodology, he said.

Did that mean this very moment held something for Lennok to learn, not just the Pontiff or the Director?

As Lennok pondered this unexpected explanation, the Pontiff slowly whispered.

[While other challengers sought to rise above, he chose a completely different path…….]

Even in his increasingly faint voice, it was as if he couldn’t contain himself, as if he still remembered that moment.

A suppressed chuckle mixed into his communication, which felt difficult even to utter.

[He sought to pull it down…….]

“……Pull it down?”

The moment Lennok faltered at the Pontiff’s clear likes and dislikes, occasionally revealed when dealing with the Director or Lennok.

The sky above the battlefield turned dark.

Whoosh!!!

A colossal shadow fell over the sky, creating the illusion that light had momentarily vanished.

Everything fighting on the battlefield where life and death bloomed in reversal, simultaneously tilted their heads skyward.

Kwoooh!!!

The sun, rising in the sky, was being devoured and obscured by an infinitely vast shadow, as if by an eclipse.

It was like a total solar eclipse artificially created by some unknown, colossal entity swimming above a star.

It wasn’t a cloud obscuring the sky, nor an unknown giant beast or structure.

It wasn’t even the moon or satellites circling a star, nor even the entities of doom swimming beyond the Outer Sea.

It was a concept far vaster and more unfathomable, something that fundamentally should not exist within this memory.

A contradiction that ignored the process requiring cause and effect, instead pulling forth the result.

“No way……”

What overlapped the sun in the sky, casting a shadow over the land, was the presence of someone who had gained a level comparable to the world.

Having attained a momentary equivalence with the world, it stood upright within the Outer Sea, possessing power and meaning in itself.

The miracle of transcendence where worlds overlapped. An eclipse where human and world reached equivalence, obscuring each other.

The moment Lennok realized the meaning of the Pontiff’s words and instinctively raised his will-thought.

CRACK!!!

The scenery before Lennok and the Pontiff shattered as if breaking apart, and a new landscape appeared before their eyes.

A colossal Dark Shadow Temple floating, enveloped in void and darkness.

Beneath their feet, armies of giants marched, and above their heads, angels clasped their hands as if in prayer.

An archangel with dazzling wings and a halo, extending a finger with a gentle expression.

The gloomy black-green pillar of light connecting heaven and earth. At the very center of the core maintaining this phenomenon.

A Lich, cloaked in a black robe, stood alone, looking down at the land.

Grooooh!

A skull utterly devoid of flesh. Bony limbs forming arms and legs.

Yet, his body was densely covered with various complex artifacts above the robe, as if clinging to him.

From the Lich’s body, which felt meager and unattractive due to its thinness, a deep and vast surge of magic and will-thought, like an ocean, erupted.

“……A Lich?”

Even as a mere recollection in a memory, the fact that he was a spellcaster who had reached a transcendent state was palpably clear.

A Transcendent who had reached Level 9. Among them, he was undoubtedly a Spirit Summoner, even summoning spirits and elementals to serve as his own power.

If Lennok had encountered such a being in reality, he would have had to fight a life-or-death battle.

The moment Lennok subconsciously tensed, his expression hardening, even knowing that this Transcendent did not exist here.

The Pontiff, who had casually moved behind the Lich, spoke.

[Naoise Penn was a Lich with transcendent mediumistic qualities, across all three worlds.]

The Lich, commanding the catastrophe unfolding simultaneously in heaven and on earth, tilted his head slightly with a pleased expression, peering at his profile.

[Born without human senses, he was conversely blessed with an innate talent for perceiving concepts beyond them…….]

“……Are you saying he had superior sensitivity?”

[Possessing the aptitude to achieve great success in any system dealing with souls, he chose Spirit Summoning.]

From the Pontiff’s lips, as his gaze, laced with static, met the Lich’s direction, a low communication echoed.

[Because he knew that the ‘next’ he yearned for existed outside the world…….]

“…….”

Was he a Transcendent who completed his warped talent, born from the moment of his birth?

A transcendent talent, which the Pontiff himself mentioned by name, remembered, and specifically identified.

He must have been a Spirit Summoner without parallel in this world.

But Lennok was thinking about the Pontiff’s way of explaining Spirit Summoning.

Unlike Spirit Necromancy, which controls the spirits of the dead, Spirit Summoning is a spellcraft that also handles spiritual entities that have not experienced death.

Compared to Spirit Necromancy, it is relatively weaker in controlling spirits, but possesses an unparalleled advantage in summoning them.

“Spirit Summoning is similar yet different from Spirit Necromancy. Are you saying that difference is related to the success of Ascension?”

[Spirit Summoning is a spellcraft that calls upon spirits not of this world. As long as the basic principle of the spellcraft is maintained, the sacrifices offered and the concepts of the summoned spirits can be interchanged indefinitely.]

The Pontiff chuckled.

[He knew, from the very beginning, how to adjust authority, without anyone teaching him…….]

Whoooooosh!!!

With a skull devoid of any discernible emotion, he slowly formed hand seals with both hands clasped together.

His chanting, as if he alone commanded that moment in slowed time, entirely detached from the frantic pace of the surrounding battlefield.

But that alone quickened the pace of the solar eclipse in the sky, and intensified the tremor on the land below.

KWOOOSH!!!

The black-green pillar of light, which levitated the Dark Shadow Temple in the air.

That pillar of light was now explosively erupting from the fissures in the ground.

“……No way.”

It wasn’t merely the ground cracking and light bursting from the fissures.

Lennok’s face stiffened, unable to control his expression, as he realized that the appearance and material of the two lands on either side of the fissures were different.

“Impossible. Did he forcefully induce tectonic shifts to make them collide……!”

[War and massacre, struggle and collision…… He used two continents, materially and conceptually, as subjects of his Spirit Summoning……]

The Pontiff murmured.

[And succeeded in summoning a part of the Third World, which did not yet exist, into this world…….]

KWOOOOOOOOSH!!!

The gloomily spreading black-green pillar of light aligned with the sky where the solar eclipse had begun.

The light, slowly tilting as if sweeping the ground, drew a dark trajectory across the canvas of the pale sky.

The black-green radiance pierced precisely through the far side of the sky where the solar eclipse unfolded.

Using a planet’s crust as the subject of Spirit Summoning, causing it to collide, and pushing the power of the Spirit Summoning spellcraft to its extreme.

The miracle of a Transcendent, amplifying Spirit Summoning in such a way to match their own level with that of the world.

The one fleeting chance for a Transcendent to challenge Ascension. A magnificent challenge, wagering the entirety of their born life.

But Naoise Penn did not transfer his body to the next world, nor did he surpass the Second World.

He used his Spirit Summoning to forcefully pull a part of the ‘next’ that had not yet arrived in this world, into reality.

Not Ascension (昇天), but Trampling Heaven (踏天).

In a way completely different from what countless challengers had imagined, he understood and toyed with Ascension, trampled and defiled it, making it his own.

And the ‘next’ he encountered at the end of such Trampling Heaven was—

Crackle!!

At that moment, time stopped with a sputtering noise.

Even Lennok, who had forgotten to breathe and kept his eyes wide open, momentarily failed to perceive the strangeness, so suddenly did it occur.

[One of the few moments you and I both hold in our hearts…….]

The Pontiff whispered, slowly turning around.

[The end of one world…….]

“…….”

[The memory you would likely be waiting for must carry this much significance, or it wouldn’t suffice…….]

At that moment, Lennok realized someone was standing opposite the colossal Dark Shadow Temple.

A gigantic fissure bisecting the sea and sky.

The figure of someone standing with arms crossed before the light where space-time itself tore apart.

Assessed with static, and an unsettling shadow preventing any estimation of their physique.

Yet, Lennok instantly recognized who he was.

The Magic Gunner of the Old World. The failed God-Slayer.

The Director had not simply disappeared after lending Lennok his authority.

He had merely known where to meet the Pontiff, and placed himself within the memory that the Pontiff would seek.

The Pontiff had known from the beginning that the Director was waiting for them in this memory.

[A very long time ago…… I used to imagine this moment…….]

The Pontiff whispered softly.

[Believing I could endure until that day, whenever it might be, which I believed would surely come…….]

“…….”

The Director and the Pontiff facing each other, with the Transcendent challenging Ascension between them.

Somewhere in a long-past world, the two must have truly met at this very moment.

Only then did Lennok finally realize that everything had fully converged here.

The first was coincidence. The second, inevitability. The third, destiny.

The whisper he had heard just before waking in this world.

The origin of those words, circling like a curse, had finally descended before Lennok’s eyes.

How many secrets had he needed to unearth to witness this moment?

How many taboos and sacrifices had he passed through, how much blood-stained past and history had he sifted through, to find its origin?

The leaders of Pandemonium and the Guido Cult.

Those he had always chased were now before him.

Standing in the same place, yet not the same; standing in different places, yet not different.

Transcending three worlds, three people who should never have met were gathered in one place.