Book 10 Chapter 27

Episode 252

"Let's end this?"

As if dumbfounded, the six eyes of Zernix, who repeated the words, narrowed all at once.

"Heh heh heh, who do you think you're ordering around? This time, I'll definitely teach you some manners—"

Suddenly, a bizarre mutation occurred in Bell Querius's world, which was made of 0s and 1s.

He thought he was reading an ability, but he couldn't even grasp the precursor of that power, when a powerful flash of light flew in.

Bell Querius couldn't even react, so he had no choice but to suck it into a dimensional barrier right before being hit.

"Even so… no?!"

Clearly, after he swallowed that power, the dimension closed again, but suddenly the dimension swelled up with colorful bumps, then exploded with a裂.

'I can't blow it to another dimension?'

What flew off in the explosion of that 'uninterpretable power' was Zernix's left arm. An unspeakable pain assailed him.

'Regeneration is slow.'

What is it?

The hit area felt like it was burning away… no, it's incomparable to that baby dragon's flame from before. Something is fundamentally different.

This isn't so much a flame, but a power that seems to completely nullify existence itself?

"Bell Querius!"

As soon as he escaped the smoke, he directly exerted the power of dimensional interference on that body.

The moment he was sure that the body writhed and twisted, and its upper half flew into another dimension… unbelievably, the dimension split again.

And his body returned to its original state.

'What is this…'

This Zernix is standing beyond the realm of providence that he cannot interfere with?

No, that can't be.

Simply put, it could be seen as a countermeasure against dimensional magic.

'In that case, I just won't use a dimensional barrier.'

I'll neutralize and obliterate it. With these eight elements that I can freely control.

"No, no. There's no need to be afraid at all. There's no wisdom on this earth that I don't know."

「…」

"I'll praise you. To have devised a strategy to counter this great senior's dimensional magic."

The eyes that had sprouted on both sides of Zernix's forehead drew a disgusting arc.

"What you just used must be a trap-type magic where the power is amplified the moment it's interfered with. The runes must have been woven with an amplification-type Delbaischer's spell formula."

He saw right through it in an instant.

He must have thought he could defeat me if he just blocked dimensional magic, but he was completely, utterly wrong.

"I'll show you the difference in our class. It's perfect timing. I wanted to know how much power your body, whose evolution has no end, could unleash."

Magic power condensed in the main spell spread out like wings, then split into eight spheres.

The character carved in its center was the Rune of Origin.

A rune known to exert the most powerful force from ancient times to the modern era.

"Secret Art, Elemental Expansion."

The elemental spheres combined one by one, emitting a deafening roar that seemed to paralyze sight and hearing.

As soon as they combined, new spheres emerged in the empty spaces, and were then recombined with other magic.

A total of 23 spells were prepared. Spheres of power burning more dazzlingly than the sun.

"You won't even make this great senior kneel!"

If the power originally was enough to lay waste to an area, in its current state, it would be enough to blow away the entire <Raptas> and more.

"I'll teach you that clearly!"

The opponent had not yet calculated any magic.

He hadn't formed any hand seals, had no specific talismans, nor was a magic circle rotating on his palm.

There was no way he could respond to the transcendent destruction that was about to rain down like a storm. Perhaps he could block one or two.

As the power, reaching its peak, scattered the light of despair and was about to unleash all at once──

──It exploded.

The combined power of 23 elements, converged with ultimate lethality, twisted, melted, destroyed, and crushed Zernix's body.

'What.'

His ribs shattered under water pressure, his lungs burst from lightning, fire scorched the skin of his entire body, iron tore his muscles, and potent venom melted his bones.

'What happened?'

The six Bell Querius, who had gained power strong enough to stretch his perceived time, were interpreting this chaos terrifyingly clearly.

'My control over the magic was taken away?'

He saw it with his eyes but couldn't believe it. Bell Querius relayed such information, but his doubt wouldn't disappear.

Bones melted in intense pain regenerated, tendons sprouted, and skin grew back.

Super-speed regeneration instantly filled in the lost body… but what was terrifying was not this physical pain. What did I just see?

That guy's body doesn't have Bell Querius?

"Hup, kuh, kh-eup…"

It was an explosion that utterly incinerated and melted one entire sector of the city, yet, unbelievably, he sustained no damage.

Neither his companions scattered across the city nor that shrine maiden girl…

Conversely, Zernix, who barely restored his body from that outrageous damage, could only gasp for breath.

「Just knelt, didn't you?」

Lin's eyes, looking at Zernix, were as calm as before.

「One knee.」

There was no satisfaction or exhilaration of gaining the upper hand in a battle where he had only been pushed back. As if this was only natural.

"Don't get cocky…"

How dare he look at me with such eyes?

Eyes like he was looking at some pitiful wretch, that old man Ryuken looked at me with those same eyes too.

"Don't get insolent and cocky just because you succeeded once—!"

The moment he let out a scream-like roar, an abyss suddenly erupted from his entire body and swallowed his flesh.

The rampaging Abyss.

The sky was covered in black storm clouds amidst lamentations, and the earth began to melt amidst screams.

Amidst a sickening squelching sound, his arms, legs, body, and face began to mutate into dark blue alien matter…

When the mutation ended, what stood before him was no longer human. Something that wore the framework of a human.

「Ah, so this is what molting feels like…」

41 grotesque tentacles that sprouted from his back looked like snail eyes, and all those eyeballs were Bell Querius.

「It feels like I'm not controlling providence, but simply dominating it, holding it under my feet.」

The moment Zernix grinned, red wavelengths burst from his 47 eyeballs.

「In this moment, even my physical body has transcended humanity.」

It was incomparable to the power that had previously blown away localized dimensions. A power that twisted, collapsed, and swallowed the dimensions of an entire area.

「Hahahahahahahahaha!」

A vortex of a transcendent gravitational field that swallowed all matter, all abilities, all light and shadow, and all providence.

「Lin!」

How mighty was that power?

Even Frede, who had collected his companions and retreated far from the battlefield, felt an enormous gravitational pull.

'To think that the barrier of the Divine Poem would break just from gravity alone.'

Zernix, that guy, has finally reached the true ranks of transcendence.

'To think the Abyss made that guy even stronger than the ancient nobles.'

How much favoritism does he receive from the <Forgotten Kings>?

Just as Frede's mind was filled with despair, the dark vortex suddenly lost power and began to dissipate.

And then, matter, light, and nature, which had been forcibly negated and trampled, returned to their original state and were restored.

「What's so surprising?」

The being standing in the normalized area spoke to Zernix, who blinked his 47 eyeballs.

「If destruction is the authority of the abyss, then creation is the authority of light.」

「…?!」

「Let's really end this now. I waited to see your state, thinking you might come to your senses, but it was my misjudgment.」

Zernix couldn't just stare blankly at Lin's next move.

'No.'

What, how should I put it?

Is that really a spell-casting motion? He just clasped his hands together in a reverent gesture.

Magic isn't a theory of faith. But why is he praying like those paltry priests…?

'This is impossible.'

He had never seen it, but he had heard of it. He had read about it. How Karen, the progenitor of magic in the Age of Gods, used magic.

「Phenomenon Manifestation, Asura Soul Mirror.」

* * *

When Ryuken asked Karen about the truth, he began to speak of it in a voice that was both excited and sorrowful.

It was truly an amazing experience.

To be able to hear the story of the great wizard from a thousand years ago, and to be able to empathize with that story.

- This time, go out into the world, Lin.

If I had heard this story without any foundation, I wouldn't have understood.

Anything at all.

Just as I didn't understand, back in my Lin days, that magic was about embodying one's heart.

- There are countless things in the world that aren't in books. Beautiful things, terrifying things, joyful things, sad things…

But my journey through life.

The footprints of my life in my past and present lives made me understand all those teachings with my whole heart.

- If you see them with your own eyes, hear them with your own ears, and touch them with your own hands, you'll gradually realize things without even knowing it.

What magic is.

And how power should be used.

Ah, Dean. You were right. It was as if I had already heard the truth from you.

- Abu.

If 'imbuing magic with one's heart' is the realization needed to cross the threshold of truth, then what is needed to reach that peak is to understand 'the heart'.

The heart.

The heart dwelling in the providence of creation.

The heart the Creator Gods had when they spread this land, drew the sky, and molded each and every one of us.

- Abaaat!

It is to look at everything that exists in this world with love.

- Didn't wait long.

With love, one understands that the potential of the object is infinite.

- Panchi panchi Aki panchi da!

It endures patiently, is kind, does not act arrogantly, does not behave rudely, and does not indulge in its own gain.

- Dur-Morris, Aki has arrived.

The potential of numbers is infinite.

Numbers are like people.

Each one has limited potential, but if they cooperate, love, and help each other, their potential becomes infinite.

- Master, Lin Master!

Just as combinations of numbers can solve all mathematical equations in this world, so too can the world be built through mutual help and affection.

- Evil…

The Creator Gods fashioned this world so beautifully with precisely such a heart.

And it was such a heart.

That Karen created the theory of mathematics so that humans who do not know love could understand it even through reason.

'I could understand everything, I understood everything.'

When Ryuken organized and spoke these words like a formula, the days I spent with Aki, Tureina, and Nen made me realize it.

The joy and happiness I saw in those children were all unique, and their potential was also unique.

It is to observe all things in this world with precisely such a heart.

'That is the truth.'

The Creator Gods did not hide that truth anywhere. They simply let us realize it implicitly while living and loving and helping each other.

Ah, how truly beautiful.

The love of the gods dwelling in this world, the very structure that allows us to understand the heart through connections, is so beautiful.

- The power of the gods is not like that. It is to wish, to pray, and to receive.

Thank you, Alakis.

For giving me a teaching that pierced to the core at that time.

- The name of this daughter of Alakis is Akilea. It means freedom. I entrust everything to you now.

Thank you, Alakis.

For entrusting Aki to me then.

Without Aki, I would not have reached this understanding.

'I am praying here now.'

Clasping hands together signifies a prayer from the whole heart and will.

Let me know the will of creation.

Let me embrace the heart of creation.

That sincere prayer will lead the one who prays to infinite possibilities.

'Now I understand. The structure of the three-headed dragon Asura in the Age of Gods.'

If the 6-star realm allows one to actualize their inner image, then the 7-star, one who has reached truth, makes the phenomenon itself change.

'He embodied the memories, joys, and realizations he gained while accompanying the Light Dragon, the Fire Dragon, and the Water Dragon, weaving them into one.'

It was not a biological weapon, nor was it a fusion of the three dragons. It was a separate existence. Not an existence, but a power.

Just, precisely, like this.

Is this understanding I've gained correct, Master Karen?

「Phenomenon Manifestation, Asura Soul Mirror.」

I will take these children to the future.

And one day, I will make sure everyone knows the will of creation, and your heart.

- I called you to record and convey it.

To convey it, that meant those children, didn't it? You called me for this, didn't you?

「What is that magic…?」

With overwhelming wonder, perhaps even awe, the Archmage of the Abyss stood gaping.

The magnificent and noble form embraced the beauty of providence and scattered the light of creation in all directions.

A dragon wielding brilliant light.

A dragon wielding fiercely burning fire.

A dragon made of gently swaying water.

Three dragon heads sprouted from a single body, looking down on him oppressively. Each of their three pairs of arms held a spirit orb, a yeouiju.

'I don't even feel fear.'

It was impossible for Bell Querius to interpret. Interpretation was not possible, only witnessing it.

The power of the Black Sun Karen, everything veiled in mystery, the power that confronted the ancient kings of the Age of Gods.

'No.'

Therefore, he felt unpleasantness.

Had this young brat, who had lived at most 40 years, reached a realm that I, no matter how much I strived for a thousand years, could not reach?

'That can't be.'

That couldn't be.

If it was that easy, if it could be reached so easily, what on earth had my life been for?

What was the purpose of my life's wandering?

「Stop with your pathetic hallucinations! Do you want to show off that a greenhorn who hasn't even lived a hundred years has reached the truth before this Lord Zernix?!」

As the three dragon heads opened their mouths in unison, light began to overflow from their throats and converge.

A light that rebuilds the world, which had been terribly destroyed, utterly devastated, and fleetingly lost, exactly as it was intended.

「Show off? Zernix, you should have reached the truth before me. In fact, our positions should have been reversed.」

The runes forming that power belonged to none of the eight elemental runes of origin.

In fact, all elemental runes were merely derived from this rune.

The name of this rune is Light, a power that only those whose hearts are aligned with the gods can wield.

「I merely received the teaching that you were originally supposed to receive from Ryuken Ludwig. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had the chance to receive that teaching.」

「What did you say?」

「You know, don't you? You're the one who kicked away that opportunity.」

「This insolent brat, rambling on without knowing anything—!」

Bell Querius's dimensional interference.

The apocalyptic power of elemental combinations.

They poured down countless times, as if responding to that wave of light, but they were meaningless.

「—That old man!」

Each time, light burst from the yeouiju held by the three-headed dragon… and the power originating from it was 7-star magic.

「He only cared for me superficially! To use my talent!」

Just as darkness cannot overcome light, they merely broke and disappeared futilely.

「There's no way he would have given me such a teaching!」

He tried to open a dimension and leave this place to plan for the future, but it wouldn't open. Everything submitted within that creative providence.

「Does it make you feel better to defend what you did like that?」

Then Lin pulled something out from his embrace and showed it, and Zernix's eyes widened, and he suddenly stopped his struggle.

「You weren't obsessed with Bell Querius because of its abilities.」

It was a book.

「You actually wanted to become Ryuken's kin, even if it meant taking his body, didn't you?」

A book cherished for a thousand years, the lifelong regret he left behind when he abandoned Zernix's body.

「Living for a thousand years, you've never truly raised a child or a disciple, have you?」

The power of creation, dazzlingly concentrated in the three dragon heads, finally overwhelmed his consciousness and vision with absolute radiance.

「Poor wretch, that's why you wouldn't know.」

At that moment, the black yang-scales hanging around Zernix's neck emitted a sorrowful light.

「That there's no parent or teacher who can hate their child or disciple.」

The light of creation.

To reach the soul of the wicked, submerged deep within the abyss stained with sin and darkness.

「Farewell, Zernix.」