The First Gate (8)
[Blazing Flame Sphere]
Fwoosh!!
The walls wrapped in splendid silk collapsed layer after layer, flames surging through the gaps.
Intangible fire spun at tremendous speed, mercilessly battering the walls and ceiling.
KWAANG!!
The Tower Master, wreathed in flames, accelerated explosively while Lennok wrapped fire around his fist and clenched it tight.
The bodies of Lennok and the Tower Master tangled together in a roll before colliding again an instant later after crossing more than ten meters.
Waves of fire exploded dozens of times over, scorching and burning the wide corridors of Hwachungryu.
[Small Burning Shot]
Drrrrrrrr!!
Alongside a noise like a machine gun firing, hundreds of miniature Blazing Flame Spheres detonated.
The ceiling of Hwachungryu’s top-floor corridor was pierced through, leaving scorch marks like a beehive.
“You’re fast. To miniaturize Blazing Flame Spheres to this extent…!!”
Tatatat!!
As Lennok sprinted through the barrage of miniature flame spheres and dove behind a wall to conceal himself—
Lennok appeared behind the Tower Master, twisted both hands together, and instantly created and hurled a spear of flame.
Piiiiiing!!
The Disaster Slave Garment wrapped around the Tower Master’s body split apart, burning away Lennok’s flaming spear before vanishing.
A type of counterfire that burned flame-heat magic with flame-heat magic itself.
Lennok narrowed his eyes.
“So it’s Disaster Slave Garment. I’ve seen Tatiana Chiglet use it before.”
“If you fought that child in Vulcan, then naturally you would have.”
The Tower Master laughed as he turned his gaze.
“And yet in the end, were you not merely a beaten dog incapable of killing either Chiglet or Bolt?”
“……”
“I graciously considered the defeat you must still be chewing over and even gave you the opportunity to take the lead in a rematch against Bolt…”
Beyond the blazing flames, the Tower Master’s eyes fixed upon Lennok with chilling intensity.
“And yet you dare ignore my goodwill without knowing your place?”
[Illuminated Domain Arsenal]
Kwaaaaah!!
The hems of the Disaster Slave Garment spread wide open, and countless weapons formed from flames poured out from within.
Flaming spears, burning blades, and countless blazing weapons shot toward Lennok.
At the same time, Lennok slammed one foot harshly into the ground.
[Illuminated Flame Step]
[Stepping Harmony]
Centered around Lennok’s foot, flames erupted outward like ripples, burning through the floor of Hwachungryu’s top story.
The moment the place where Lennok and the Tower Master stood collapsed, the wave of weapons lost direction and veered away.
Kwarrrrung!!
“Goodwill? I never asked for such a thing.”
Falling toward the lower floor with one hand hidden behind his back, Lennok smirked.
“Wasn’t you the one who needed consideration after losing the administrator position to the Sorcerer Lord?”
“……You truly…!!”
Had those words touched the Tower Master’s reverse scale?
His expression twisted as he slashed one hand downward almost simultaneously with Lennok.
The palms of Lennok and the Tower Master collided head-on in midair as they fell through empty space.
Clap!!
Flame-Heat Attribute Unique Magic Property Transformation Compression Manifestation
Flame-Heat Attribute Unique Magic Property Transformation Designated Manifestation
“Compressed Flame.”
“Compressed Flame…!”
KWAAAAAAAANG!!!
The [Compressed Flame] of the two mages originating from the same source inverted diagonally against each other.
Flames exerting maximum power at point-blank range erupted in all directions through their joined hands.
BWOOOOOOONG!!!
The top-floor corridor of Hwachungryu burned apart and collapsed, while the head of the splendid golden tower exploded wrapped in flames.
Flame streams spanning dozens of meters blasted out to both sides, blowing apart Hwachungryu’s golden tower.
Within the distorted cloud of flames, the figures of the Tower Master and Lennok fell along the outer wall of Hwachungryu.
Whoooosh!!
The Tower Master floated with his hands clasped behind his back beneath the clouds, while Lennok turned around wrapped in flames.
The moment the Tower Master glared at Lennok with a hardened expression, Lennok smiled and crooked a finger.
The instant the Tower Master realized the direction of that gesture and raised his gaze—
[Flame Seal]
[Heaven Collapse]
A gigantic flaming fist appeared beside Hwachungryu and smashed directly into the Tower Master.
KWAAAAANG!!
The impact sent the Tower Master crashing into the middle floors of Hwachungryu, skidding across an empty corridor.
“…!!”
Even after sacrificing portions of the Disaster Slave Garment to reduce the force, the impact still stole his breath.
It was difficult to believe this heavy force came from materialized flames.
The Tower Master’s face hardened as he steadied himself with one hand and painted flames into the air with the other like a brushstroke.
Swaaaak!!
Riding atop the enormous flaming fist, Lennok accelerated at tremendous speed and rammed into the Tower Master.
“A mere heretic!!!”
Roaring, the Tower Master drew a flaming magic circle with one hand while forming seals with the other and chanting a spell.
[Scorching Flame Fortress]
[Closing Gate]
A burning castle gate rose up and slammed shut, blocking the space between Lennok and the Tower Master.
The highest-level split chanting—casting one spell through a magic circle with one hand while using seals with the other.
KWAAANG!!
Lennok, wrapped in wings of flame, collided against the burning gate, causing it to shake violently.
Flames so fierce they looked capable of breaking through the gate and devouring the Tower Master at any moment surged through Hwachungryu’s middle levels.
Watching the scene, the Tower Master rapidly completed a flaming magic circle and thrust his hand inside.
[Saturation Armament No. 2]
The Solar System of the Blaiver Magic Tower.
[Saturation Armament], which summoned flames existing within the tower’s ritual space in the form of armaments.
Among them, the Tower Master was about to draw one of the numbered weapons from one to ten—
When Lennok’s quiet voice echoed from beyond the gate.
“Combustion Armament Summon.”
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
A gigantic ignition device smashed through the gate while spewing flames.
Through the shattered gap, Lennok’s left arm shot forward, and the array device attached to it activated.
As the pipes rotated, they sucked in every flaming magic circle the Tower Master had drawn.
Wiiiiiiing!!!
“What trick is this…!!”
This was not magic but pure elemental manipulation closer to an innate ability.
It felt like facing pyrokinesis itself.
The Tower Master watched his magic circles disperse in confusion and tried somehow to draw out Saturation Armament—
Crunch!!
Lennok smashed the ignition device down onto the Tower Master’s foot and spun his body.
[First Flame]
Using the explosive flames as boosters, he launched his body upward while suppressing the strain through the power of drugs.
[Second Shade]
The ice stigmata flowing through his blood prevented cellular necrosis and forcefully bound together his creaking body.
[Third Ring]
Dozens of layers of miniature barrier circles wrapped around his body suppressed the collapse of joints and muscles while preserving their form.
[Fourth Revolution]
Accelerated through the recoil of the flames wrapped around his body, Lennok’s fist slammed into the Tower Master’s side at terrifying speed.
Every one of those actions was reinforced and amplified by flame-heat magic to the utmost limit.
The moment dozens of spells, barriers, drugs, and blessings supporting Lennok’s fragile body activated simultaneously—
Ninefold Arrival Linked Secret Art
[Tenth End]
For a brief instant, Lennok’s strike forgot all recoil and bombarded the Tower Master’s entire body.
PUBUBUBUBUBUK!!!!
The bones in his foot shattered and crumbled while tendons in his arms and legs snapped and muscles ruptured.
His solar plexus, jaw, liver, and waist were smashed apart and pierced through in succession before burning hands tore through them.
Heavy strikes targeting and crushing every vital point of the body, catching the Tower Master off guard just as he prepared to react against spellcasting.
“……!!!”
The Tower Master’s eyes momentarily blurred as his entire body was mutilated by the relentless barrage.
Even high-ranking superhumans could not avoid having their thoughts interrupted momentarily when their jaw was smashed and their brain rattled.
Yet despite the impacts pulverizing bones and muscles, the Tower Master regained his senses almost instantly and raised his head.
“Grrrk!! You bastard…!!”
Despite being struck by killing blows capable of reducing a human to chunks of flesh, not only did he not die, he immediately recovered consciousness.
The transcendent mental strength of an archmage, unbound by physical pain.
From the start, this was the skill of a war mage who possessed immense resistance to such injuries and impacts.
Proof that the Tower Master himself had repeatedly crossed life-and-death lines in the Center.
“Very well, if you wish to settle this directly, I shall indulge you…!!”
The Tower Master burned his own blood and wrapped it around his body, staggering forward in a mangled state while grinding his teeth.
“I shall personally test here and now whether I possess the qualifications to reclaim Bolt’s Phoenix Palace!!!”
“No. It’s the opposite.”
But seeing the Tower Master still walking forward despite being drenched in blood, Lennok instead stepped back.
Shaking out both hands with a tired expression, Lennok spoke.
“This itself was the incantation. It’s already over.”
“What?”
The most talked-about spellcasting technique Treadburn displayed in the battle against Bolt.
The moment the Tower Master recalled it and hurriedly tried to raise his mana—
Flames erupting beneath his feet instantly trapped his body and began spinning.
Fwoooosh!!
[Flame Heart Coffin]
[Spring Heat]
[Crimson Bloom]
[Red Compression]
The martial strikes hammered into the Tower Master’s body activated a beat later through substitute chanting, manifesting flame-heat magic.
Each delayed explosion acted as an ignition sequence, preheating the flames and amplifying their power.
A composite chant specifying a space large enough to imprison a single person while concentrating and extracting heat within it.
Flame-Heat Attribute Unique Magic Tenfold Chant Composite Resonance Heart Intent.
“Dragon Flame Shelter.”
The instant Lennok pressed his palms together and twisted them downward as though grinding them together—
The Flame Heart Coffin imprisoning the Tower Master split diagonally apart and exploded brilliantly.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
The golden tower of Hwachungryu, dozens of floors tall, split in two along the cut line.
Flames spread across the severed surface while boiling steam erupted upward, and the Tower Master’s body fell through it.
He crashed down atop the collapsing golden tower with a thunderous roar.
KUUUUUNG!!!
Lennok descended to the ground afterward and smiled through the rising smoke.
“You’re absurdly persistent. Did you reverse-engineer the sequence of Dragon Flame Shelter and reduce its power?”
Dragon Flame Shelter.
A Heart Intent that combined ten layers of flame-heat magic into a single chant.
A supreme anti-personnel flame-heat technique that literally suppressed a dragon’s flames by concentrating firepower beneath a designated space.
Though it possessed immense power, it normally required a long chant.
Yet even after Lennok used substitute chanting to unleash it almost instantly, the Tower Master’s body had not vaporized.
The moment he realized evasion was impossible, the Tower Master reverse-engineered the sequence of spells composing Dragon Flame Shelter.
Then he inserted his own flames into the formula and forcibly twisted the composition to offset the power.
Only possible because the Tower Master was also a flame-heat mage of the same origin who forcibly amplified rather than suppressed the spell.
At the same time, it was proof that his understanding and sensitivity toward sorcery had reached the level of a true grandmaster.
“Your instinct and judgment are higher than expected. So your techniques are this refined even without relying on raw output.”
When he encountered the avatar as Bolt, Lennok thought the Tower Master was simply the type to overwhelm opponents with sheer output.
But facing him directly revealed his techniques and judgment to be extremely sharp.
His mastery of split chanting through magic circles and seals.
Layering preheating without relying on high-tier magic.
Predicting and countering an opponent’s spells.
Even the judgment to tank Lennok’s Heart Intent head-on and reduce its power rather than evade.
Not only proof of the Tower Master’s talent for magic, but also evidence that his fire resistance had reached a level nearly akin to immunity.
“But every one of those decisions is only possible because you’re convinced you won’t die to flames… Just how absurd is your fire resistance?”
“Huhu… The same applies to you as well, does it not?”
The Tower Master leaned amid the wreckage of Hwachungryu’s first-floor restaurant and laughed with a soot-covered face.
Fwoosh!!
When he summoned pale-green flames and placed them against his shoulder, the wound at his neck slowly healed.
‘A healing Ember.’
One of the Embers the Tower Master had shown Lennok.
Among them was a flame possessing abilities Lennok had never seen before.
Even Lennok found it difficult to estimate the use and value of that healing Ember.
As Lennok’s eyes sharpened while observing the healing flame, the Tower Master slowly rose and spoke.
“To absorb my flames through an array device and redirect them through your own body… An ordinary sorcerer would have died on the spot.”
“……”
“You. It seems you possess abilities beyond merely regulating body temperature.”
The Tower Master staggered upright, strange light flickering in his eyes.
“What exactly… are you hiding within that blood?”
The Tower Master had discerned that Lennok absorbed his flames to cancel the magic circles and endured the recoil through the blessing of the ice stigmata.
But because the battle moved so quickly, he had not yet determined exactly what that ability was.
“This isn’t really the time to be worrying about things like that.”
Lennok sneered at the Tower Master.
“By now you should understand. You can’t beat me while restricting your output.”
“……”
“Or do you intend to continue until the Conjoining Sorcerer notices us?”
Midnight within the gate city, where the mana environment shifted drastically beneath the Curtain.
But archmages capable of manipulating mana down to the particle level were not bound by such environmental restrictions.
Both Lennok and the Tower Master had reached that realm, allowing them to rampage while burning the black market.
But even that had limits.
Once they began exchanging attacks while restricting their output, the only way to settle things would be to preheat their flames to the limit and collide head-on.
But would the former administrator truly risk attracting the Conjoining Sorcerer’s attention and go all the way?
Lennok was already convinced the Tower Master was not such a person.
“If you were the sort willing to take such risks, you would never have stepped down from the administrator position in the first place.”
“……”
“You only used the Flame Lords and contacted me in the black market because you believed everything remained under your control.”
The attitude of the Master of the Blaiver Magic Tower contained contradictions in many ways.
He seemed wary of the Conjoining Sorcerer, yet not particularly afraid of this disturbance being discovered by him.
He seemed displeased with the Spell Order Federation, yet showed little reaction toward the Federation taking over the gate.
Some secret the Tower Master hid must exist within the gap between those incomprehensible attitudes and judgments.
If so, Lennok needed to provoke him further here and force him to reveal his hand.
“You mocked me as a dog defeated by Bolt…”
Walking toward the Tower Master with lowered head, Lennok spoke.
His gaze looking down at the Tower Master gleamed coldly.
“But who exactly is bowing their head like a dog right now?”
“Hah.”
At that moment, the Tower Master slowly raised his shoulders and lifted his gaze.
Through his disheveled hair, his crimson eyes gleamed slickly.
“What could a bastard like you possibly know to spout such nonsense?”
“The incident in Vulcan was not my fault. It was the failure of incompetent underlings unable to handle a single task properly.”
The Tower Master slowly rose and walked forward while cracking his neck.
“You, Chiglet, even Bolt… all the same. I gave you opportunities and offered you choices, yet every one of you openly rejected them.”
“……”
“I repeatedly showed patience and gave chances to reconsider your decisions, and yet you dare mock my goodwill?”
As the Tower Master muttered through clenched teeth, veins bulged across his forehead and crimson blood dripped from between his lips.
Self-inflicted bleeding from biting through his own tongue.
Catching the blood running down his lips and smearing it across both hands, the Tower Master spoke.
“None of that matters now. Consideration itself was wasted on lowly sorcerers like you.”
“……You.”
“Evan Martinez. I acknowledge it. You possess the qualifications to witness this.”
The Tower Master pressed his blood-soaked hands together, eyes gleaming madly.
“I shall teach a mage walking the path of heresy what the history of a prestigious magic tower spanning centuries truly means.”
Solar System Deployment.
[Saturation Armament No. 2]
Fwoosh!!
A staff pierced through his bloodied palms, rising and spinning into existence.
The secret treasure the Tower Master had previously failed to summon now appeared without even a prelude.
“Open, Scorching Time Melody.”
KUUUNG!!
Gripping the staff formed from flowing flames, he slammed it downward violently.
“Time, ignite…!!”
The moment the Tower Master glared at Lennok through the flames and chanted—
Kiiiiiing!!
A powerful sense of dissonance arose deep within Lennok’s consciousness.
A strange sensation as though time itself slowed because his awareness accelerated rapidly.
The Eight Trigram Formation obtained during the decisive battle against Armas von Anathema, the innate ability that extended internal time, was reacting to that staff.
“……No way.”
A dharma treasure created using the relics of a former Tower Master of the Blaiver Magic Tower.
Something that stimulated and activated the Eight Trigram Formation the instant it operated.
If it forcibly stimulated both flames and time simultaneously, what principle was it based upon?
Realizing the staff’s ability in an instant, Lennok’s face hardened.
“A dharma treasure that burns time itself to accelerate…!!!”
“If we must avoid attracting the Sorcerer Lord’s attention, then all we need do is end this so quickly he cannot even notice.”
Grinning as he gripped the staff, the Tower Master leaned his head back and whispered.
“Self-Image Domain Deployment.”
Self-Image Domain Deployment Origin Hierarchy Mental Projection
[Private Flame Immolation]
No colorless ripples.
No signs of scenery transforming through engraved mental imagery.
A divine artifact that skipped the deployment process of the Self-Image Domain and directly manifested the completed domain upon reality.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
Space-time split apart above Lennok’s head as the Tower Master’s domain descended.
Beyond the cracked dimension, glimpses of the fully engraved domain could be seen.
A gigantic burning altar of fire.
Upon that altar danced those the Tower Master had burned to death.
Burned hands stretched toward Lennok, beckoning him to come closer.
‘Too late.’
The moment a Self-Image Domain asserted its greatest presence was precisely during its deployment.
That was why the Tower Master used Scorching Time Melody to complete the domain in advance.
The dharma treasure Scorching Time Melody burned the user’s own time to temporarily accelerate it—a divine artifact drawing upon lifespan in exchange for time itself.
Within accelerated time, the Tower Master completed the Self-Image Domain and overlaid it directly onto this place.
A judgment that he could overwhelm Lennok inside the domain without drawing the Sorcerer Lord’s attention through the Curtain.
Within the accelerated flow of time, Lennok’s thoughts spun rapidly.
‘Deploying Thousand Flowers Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance is impossible. Even if I start preheating now, it won’t help much.’
Treadburn’s Self-Image Domain, Thousand Flowers Ten Thousand Mile Fragrance, possessed immense power but required extensive preheating.
Its greatest power manifested only after every flower petal fully bloomed, but reaching that point required time.
Had he prepared from the start of the fight with the Tower Master, perhaps.
But at this point, where he had not anticipated a domain battle, it was effectively useless.
‘Whether he truly believes he can avoid the Sorcerer Lord’s notice or whether he has some hidden confidence…’
Deploying a Self-Image Domain did not merely designate a single target.
It overwrote the entire surrounding space-time.
Thus even Lennok, possessing designated-target resistance, could not avoid being included within the domain.
But once trapped inside, the battle would inevitably become far more difficult.
Should he finally bring out the Red Star Domain, which he had held back even during the battle against Lieutenant General Roberide?
But once activated, the Red Star Domain could not be stopped.
Either he would continue straight into the operating theater and carry the battle onward, or else fight the Conjoining Sorcerer without the Red Star Domain.
He did not desire conflict with the Sorcerer Lord, but completely excluding that possibility was impossible.
Crackkkkk!!!
The completed Self-Image Domain spread open above Lennok’s head.
Just as the Self-Image Domain, Private Flame Immolation, was about to swallow Lennok and overwrite space-time—
“I believe I warned you clearly before.”
Someone walked out from behind Lennok and extended a hand toward the splitting domain.
Grab!!
The instant he seized the splitting space with one hand and raised his gaze—
“Do not interfere during the scheduled surgery period.”
“……!!!!!”
The scenery of the Self-Image Domain spreading toward Lennok instantly closed and began to ‘fuse’ together.
Crackcrackcrackfuse!!!!
The fully completed Self-Image Domain closed before Lennok’s eyes without altering reality and disappeared.
The surreal sight of the fiery altar descending through the black market night sky folding between dimensional cracks and vanishing.
The heat that had filled the night streets moments ago disappeared like a lie, replaced by dead silence.
Lennok and the Tower Master both fell speechless and halted their movements before that bizarre miracle.
Then someone wearing green surgical robes slowly turned around.
Pulling down his mask with one hand, he revealed the face of a young man with an indifferent expression.
“Master of the Blaiver Magic Tower. Did my words not sound like words to you?”
“……”
A surgeon who had appeared casually between the Tower Master and Lennok.
Dressed in green surgical clothing, wearing a thin glove on one hand.
Outwardly, he appeared completely ordinary, with no discernible mana, will, or presence.
But the moment Lennok saw him, he immediately knew who he was.
The only person capable of forcibly ‘closing’ a domain by fusing space barehanded and intervening between 8th-level archmages to end the situation.
The Grand Sorcerer Lord of the Spell Order Federation.
The administrator of the First Gate.
The Apostle Slayer who slaughtered an apostle of the Cult.
The Tower Master’s prediction had been wrong.
The Conjoining Sorcerer, Avesta Chapman, had noticed the anomaly occurring within the gate and intervened.