Chapter 955: The Prohibition (10)
Guido Cult Far Eastern branch. The decisive battle that unfolded on the island traversing the sea.
The day the Priestess and the Apostle became intertwined, reborn as new beings, and then died.
At the moment he concluded his battle with the 10th Apostle, Amrita Fraubel, Lennok had met him.
The Second Apostle, hailed as the elite ultimate combatant even within the Cult.
A Transcendent who, as the most perfect Incarnation Body, led the Cult’s actual movements.
A monster who, even as other Apostles succumbed to madness, still perfectly maintained his sanity.
How could he forget the chilling presence of that day, when he crossed the sea bare-handed, arrived alone at the Far Eastern branch, and sought to slaughter all life?
An ordinary appearance. A laid-back way of speaking. A tranquil aura unbelievable for an Incarnation Body serving an Outer God.
But undoubtedly, within him lay the most dangerous and enigmatic true intentions among all the Cult’s Apostles.
“Why am I here? That’s a meaningless question.”
The Second Apostle, sitting beside Lennok, rested his chin in his hand and smiled languidly.
“Obviously, I came to get my glasses fitted. Can’t you see?”
“……”
“For those with poor eyesight, they’re practically a part of the body. Something that requires delicate attention at all times.”
While Lennok remained silent, the Second Apostle casually chatted idly.
He subtly turned his head, glanced around the quiet workshop, and smiled.
“The craftsmen at Duris Workshop are very skillful, and their warranty period is quite long. So, I make good use of them too.”
“That’s enough idle talk.”
From the very act of speaking such words to humans he himself had knocked unconscious by suppressing their wills, it was clear his opponent was no ordinary human.
However, the Second Apostle, who bore immense responsibility within the Cult, claimed he had simply come all the way to Duris Workshop to get his glasses fitted and pass the time.
He was either hiding another objective, or those glasses were special enough to require the hands of the Arcane Workshop.
“I heard you turned Machina upside down, but I didn’t expect you to be lying low in a place like this.”
Tension stretched taut, as if it would snap with a slight pull.
Lennok chose his words slowly, gauging the distance between them with extreme caution.
The Second Apostle was a Transcendent said to be perfectly free from madness among the Apostles.
In terms of power and prestige, he stood in a unique position among all past Apostles.
Even a slight lapse in caution could mean losing the initiative at any moment.
Moreover, it was difficult to expect an Apostle of an Outer God to care about the well-being of other humans.
Lennok slowly raised his Will-thought, so imperceptibly that even the Incarnation Body sitting right next to him couldn’t sense it, and asked,
“It seems even the Cult’s Head Apostle found dealing with the Machine City too much to handle?”
“The Machine City is entangled in more complex situations than you’d think.”
The Second Apostle adjusted his glasses and replied.
“The Supreme Council has lost power, but the superhumans dominating the dark underworld are extremely tricky. Especially big shots like Mastermind and Chungryeong – they’re dangerous individuals whose movements the Central Council regularly monitors.”
“……Are you saying it took time because you were dealing with the superhumans of the underworld?”
Even if he didn’t know Chungryeong, Lennok knew who Mastermind was.
Aoshu Spero, the Level 8 mental psychic residing in Machina’s shadows.
The superhuman who had approached Lennok after his battle with Hermes and used his abilities to help with the aftermath.
He had behaved as if he was acquainted with Maiya Lonsdale and treated Lennok favorably.
But conversely, he was also a madman who openly declared in front of Lennok that he wanted to devour his memories and brain.
When Lennok stayed in Machina, he had only briefly encountered them at the end due to clashes with the Machine City’s overt factions, including the Supreme Council.
But surely, the superhumans of the underworld residing in Machina also possessed considerable power and prestige.
Could it be that the Second Apostle had even clashed with them in Machina, cleared out all other forces, and then returned?
“Let’s just say there was a certain transaction.”
He shrugged his shoulders, leaving Lennok lost in thought.
“It wasn’t easy. I had to destroy that old city to an irrecoverable extent for a while, yet conversely, not annihilate it completely.”
“……”
“Every action I, as an Incarnation Body, take is imbued with meaning. It would be troublesome if I were bound by some annoying ritual like a Gabihaeng, wouldn’t it?”
He smiled casually, bringing up all the secrets and taboos Lennok had unearthed without a care.
As if testing Lennok’s reaction, or perhaps, conversely, as if he didn’t care about such things at all.
From the moment he appeared here, he was free and lighthearted, seemingly unbound by any intention or purpose.
And because of that, Lennok felt an utmost clarity of conviction from the Apostle before him.
“You knew from the start that I would come here.”
At Lennok’s confident words, the smiling Second Apostle stopped moving.
“And your approaching me at this moment must be because you have something to say about Kaiser’s matter.”
“……”
Hairspring was a component that controlled the second hand of a clock, and a word referring to Kaiser Bajour, who had lived a similar life.
Therefore, it was no coincidence that the three of them met, with the death of Oshuto Duris, who had created Hairspring through a transaction with the Cult, serving as the medium.
It was already predetermined that the Hairspring’s Transcendent Style would be discussed during the meeting with the Director and the Pontiff.
And it was also no coincidence that the Second Apostle, who had been moving whimsically and whose intentions were unpredictable, appeared before Lennok at this very moment.
It was because a very powerful objective existed, one compelling enough to hold the Second Apostle in this place.
“If you have something to say, finish it quickly. I have no desire to be in the company of a Cult Apostle for long.”
“Hmm, that’s quite an unhospitable reception. This is a bit disappointing.”
The Second Apostle shook his head and stood up.
He slowly adjusted his glasses, then chuckled, and said,
“Is it because you killed the Sixth Apostle recently?”
“……”
This man knew everything: Anathema’s corruption and defection, his death, and his end.
Knowing everything, he had pretended ignorance from the start. Shamelessly faking a chance encounter.
He had approached and spoken to Lennok the moment Lennok grasped something crucial.
Just as Lennok, finally convinced of that fact, was about to channel his magic with cold killing intent…
“No, I didn’t come here to fight you.”
Thud!
The Second Apostle casually placed his hand on Lennok’s shoulder.
He pierced through Lennok’s shield, artifacts, and the sensory perception of his Will-thought, instantly touching his body.
A single movement, without any spellcraft or Will-thought manipulation, unhesitatingly exploiting Lennok’s opening.
But there was a chilling nuance in that gesture, unlike any of the strong opponents Lennok had faced.
“……”
“I told you. This is a workshop I frequent too.”
The Second Apostle, his hand on Lennok’s shoulder, tilted his head slightly and said,
“If we fight in a place like this, wouldn’t all the craftsmen who fix my glasses die?”
“You’re the one who really doesn’t listen well.”
Lennok looked up at the Second Apostle and smiled coldly.
“Let go.”
Crackling–!!
At that instant, intense currents sparked from between the Apostle’s fingers gripping Lennok’s shoulder.
The moment the Second Apostle casually glanced away, his expression subtly changed.
A sharp bolt of lightning flashed, instantly tearing the two apart.
Bang!
A searing blue shockwave rippled and burst forth in the quiet center of the workshop.
The unconscious people, as well as the entire workshop facility, violently trembled from the intense surge of Will-thought.
Lennok brushed off his shoulder and turned to face the Second Apostle, who had raised his hand and retreated.
“This is… amazing.”
The Second Apostle, looking at Lennok with a slightly surprised expression, asked with a hint of interest,
“To pierce through the Sacred Seal of Inviolability and even leave a scratch. Has your mana transcended the scope of its attribute?”
“……”
“Though its power source is still based on mana, the lightning has already reached the Will-thought level. Unless it has transcended mere Property Transformation and reached true transcendence…”
“Always so composed.”
Lennok smiled, looking at him.
“Shall we see how long you can keep that up?”
Whoosh!!!
Mana spun at an incredible speed within Lennok’s body, indiscriminately scattering his will throughout the surrounding space-time.
Within his consciousness, accelerated to its limit, the innate abilities of the Eight Trigrams Formation activated.
It stretched subjective time as if pulling taffy, slowing everything around him.
The Mind Imprint drawn from within instantly enveloped the entire workshop, transforming into a colorless Domain.
“……No way.”
The Second Apostle’s smile, which had never left his face, vanished for the first time.
Fwoosh!!!
Simultaneously with the start, he unleashed his Domain at full power.
His opponent was a monster of transcendent level, ranked among the top three within the Cult.
Unless he gave his all from the start, not only would victory be uncertain, but even his very life would be difficult to guarantee.
However, instead of pulling out Kaleidoscope and unfolding a prepared branching point, Lennok immediately withdrew his magic at the chilling sense of anomaly before him.
‘He’s not there.’
In that fleeting moment where reality and the Domain’s space-time overlapped.
The Second Apostle’s presence was not felt in either space-time.
Even as his senses and intuition reached beyond their limits into transcendence, the Second Apostle standing before him could not be grasped.
“……”
Confirming this, Lennok withdrew his hand, and the Domain that had spread to cover the entire workshop canceled and faded.
“I heard you were unrestrained in your actions, but this is completely beyond expectations.”
Perhaps even a high-ranking Apostle couldn’t simply shrug off Lennok’s Domain without any countermeasure.
The Second Apostle, raising his hand and channeling magic, muttered with a troubled expression.
“To suddenly unleash a Domain in a place like this, when you just fought a battle to the death with Anathema a few days ago–”
“That must be the Apostle Spellcraft of the Outer God you serve.”
“……”
At Lennok’s sharp words, the Second Apostle fell silent for a moment.
“Evading a Domain isn’t something allowed for ordinary Apostles or Incarnation Bodies.”
A Domain was the culmination of self-alteration, overlaying the caster’s Mind Imprint onto real space-time.
Because it was a power that entirely altered space-time, it wasn’t a technique that could be avoided or blocked.
While domains could clash or overlap, evading the Domain itself was impossible.
Therefore, the ability the Second Apostle had just shown could only be related to his Apostle Spellcraft.
“Spatial Exfoliation. Concept Evasion. Bond Nullification. None of these are possible with just distortions of Will-thought or Mind Imprint.”
Lennok looked at the Second Apostle with sunken eyes and said,
“It must be a power related to your essence as an Apostle. The true identity of the Outer God you serve.”
From the moment he met the Second Apostle, Lennok had been pondering his vague presence, which couldn’t be sensed.
A strange anomaly: he was clearly present, yet his form and target couldn’t be definitively pinpointed.
Even using Lennok’s Oracle’s Divine Ability, the Apostle’s true nature remained unclear.
Perhaps that peculiar atmosphere, distinctly different from other Apostles, was his inherent nature as an Apostle.
During their conversation, Lennok made his judgment, and upon engaging, he deployed his Domain to verify his hypothesis.
“The essence of an Apostle…”
Perhaps he too noticed that Lennok had glimpsed his true nature for a moment.
The Second Apostle smiled with a troubled expression and shook his head.
“I made a mistake. I should have assumed that a wizard who killed Anathema would know that much about Apostles…”
“……”
“I didn’t expect you to use your Domain as bait to figure out my spellcraft. This is a bit troublesome.”
The Second Apostle, who had lived as the Pontiff’s second Apostle yet was infinitely free from madness.
Could his abilities and Apostle Spellcraft be the reason and origin of why he hadn’t gone mad yet?
However, the Apostle before him readily admitted the fact, yet seemed to have no lingering attachment to it.
While Lennok pondered that fact, the Second Apostle tilted his head.
“But your judgment to unleash your Domain the moment you decided to fight me is surprising. It would be impossible unless you were incredibly confident in your Domain’s power… I’ll have to completely revise the information about you when I return to the Main Branch.”
The Second Apostle hadn’t seen Lennok’s Domain, but he understood what Lennok’s response implied.
If one deployed a Domain immediately after preparing for a battle to the death, it meant they had absolute conviction in their Domain.
Wasn’t that because Adamant Thunder’s Domain was a power thoroughly specialized for combat?
“If you’ve recognized the power I wield, you would understand that this is rather meaningless.”
The Second Apostle leisurely massaged his wrist and tilted his head, asking,
“Do you still wish to settle this here?”
“……”
Lennok remained silent at the Second Apostle’s question.
Lennok himself, having confirmed the Second Apostle’s power, was feeling skeptical about whether he could still fight.
Perhaps the Second Apostle’s casual demeanor, even after showing a part of his spellcraft, was meant to provoke this very reaction.
A powerful individual with transcendent experience and talent, one Lennok himself couldn’t be confident of defeating.
If such an opponent chose to withdraw instead of directly confronting Lennok, there wouldn’t even be a fight to begin with.
Having thought that far, Lennok withdrew his magic, and the Second Apostle nodded, turning his back.
“There should be a little time until Oshuto’s son wakes up.”
The Second Apostle smiled and gestured towards the outside of the workshop.
“Let’s talk for a bit until then.”
“……”
“A story about Anathema’s death, and Kaiser Bajour’s role.”