The First Gate (9)
“After taking charge of the First Gate, I had planned to refrain from activity for a while.”
The burning black-market night streets.
Flames rippled down like bombardments, while the commercial district lay in ruins and the golden tower split apart and collapsed.
A young man walked out onto the tilted outer wall of Hwachungryu and looked around expressionlessly.
“But for some reason, flies just keep gathering around me. It’s so noisy I can’t even work. Tower Master. What exactly is going on here?”
At the young man’s flat voice, Lennok refined his mana and slowly rose to his feet.
Green surgical robes and inorganic eyes.
A chilling sense of dissonance from someone who did not even feel like an ordinary human presence.
Though he wore a human shape, the sense of alienness radiating from him was so intense he did not feel human at all.
So this man was the Conjoining Sorcerer—one of the four Grand Sorcerer Lords under the Order Federation and an 8th-level specialty-type sorcerer said to possess the most unrivaled authority since the Federation Leader himself.
‘Did Angel and Bernard retreat?’
Glancing around, Lennok realized the presence of the two had vanished and nodded.
If they escaped the battlefield beforehand according to Lennok’s signal before the battle began, then that was enough.
Once the plan fell apart, the best option was for everyone to immediately move to their own tasks.
“Grand Sorcerer Lord.”
Fwoosh!!
The Tower Master scattered one hand and reverse-summoned the staff he had been holding before rising with a weary expression.
Even after having his Self-Image Domain forcibly canceled by the Sorcerer Lord, he still looked as though he intended to somehow resolve the situation here.
“Sorry for interfering. This wasn’t my intention.”
“Wasn’t your intention?”
Pulling a glove onto his hand, the Conjoining Sorcerer asked with a blank face.
“You expect me to believe that after looking at the state of this black market?”
“That is……”
“I have no interest in disturbances occurring inside the gate city. Kill each other all you like.”
The Sorcerer Lord turned a cold gaze toward the Tower Master.
“But there was one thing I clearly forbade. The use of Domains.”
“……”
“My operating theater is an extremely delicate territory. Even the slightest activation of mental imagery affects it.”
The Sorcerer Lord slowly tilted his head, inorganic light flickering in his eyes.
“Tower Master. Of all people, you should have known that.”
The meeting between the current administrator of the First Gate and its former administrator.
But there was no need to ask which side held the upper hand.
The Tower Master could not even meet the Sorcerer Lord’s eyes, while the Sorcerer Lord openly stared him down.
‘Strange…?’
There might indeed be a gap in strength between the two sorcerers, but even considering that, the Tower Master’s attitude bordered on submission.
No matter how monstrous the Sorcerer Lord’s abilities were, it was hard to believe someone as prideful as the Tower Master would act so lowly.
Did that mean the Tower Master deeply acknowledged and understood just how unreal the Sorcerer Lord’s capabilities were?
No—if he feared the Sorcerer Lord that much, there would have been no reason to risk deploying a Domain in the first place.
While Lennok fell into thought, the Tower Master quickly stabilized his mana and spoke.
“……I can explain everything. I’ll handle this myself.”
“Ah, forget it. I’ll hear the excuses later.”
The moment the Sorcerer Lord waved his hand dismissively—
A sharp mass of flesh erupted from beneath the Tower Master’s feet and instantly pierced through his lower back.
“Kuh…!!”
Chomp!!
With a grotesque sound like something devouring flesh, the Tower Master’s expression twisted in agony.
The Sorcerer Lord approached the Tower Master, who had been skewered like meat on a chimera spike, and adjusted his mask.
“I injected anesthetic into your spine, so you won’t be moving for a while. Keep your mouth shut.”
“……”
“I’m returning to the operating theater. Follow me.”
After instantly subduing the Tower Master with a chimera he summoned himself, the Sorcerer Lord moved as though intending to drag him directly back to the operating theater.
Watching the scene, Lennok slowly flexed his fingers.
‘Need to move. But…’
The moment the Conjoining Sorcerer intervened on the battlefield, the entire board had inevitably collapsed.
Still, Lennok had time left to choose.
The Sorcerer Lord seemed interested only in the Tower Master for now, but it would not be strange if he turned his attention toward Lennok at any moment.
Now that the Tower Master had fallen and the Sorcerer Lord appeared, what was the best way to accomplish his objective?
Just as Lennok stepped back from the Sorcerer Lord after thinking that—
“Ah, right.”
As though only now remembering Lennok, the Sorcerer Lord suddenly turned his gaze.
“Evan Martinez. You were here too.”
The young man stared at Lennok through his mask before stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“What should I do? I don’t have much time. As far as I know, there’s still a day left until the appointment time.”
Lennok answered calmly.
“I’ll come myself when the time arrives. I still have things to do at the gate.”
“……”
“Or are you planning to leave the black market in this state?”
Even hearing Lennok’s indifferent reply, the Conjoining Sorcerer showed no reaction.
He merely calmly examined Lennok as though observing him.
How much time passed?
The silence descending upon the black market grew so intense it hurt the ears.
“I see. I’ve decided.”
After staring for a long while, the Sorcerer Lord slowly nodded.
“Yes. It’s better to just take you to the operating theater too.”
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
A gigantic mass of flesh erupted behind the Sorcerer Lord and instantly devoured the entire black-market district.
“Uwoooooooo!!!!”
A colossal chimera opened its enormous jaws wide and howled while sucking in everything on the ground.
With nowhere left to stand, the bodies of Lennok and the Tower Master fell as though being swallowed into the chimera’s throat.
“……!!”
At the appearance of the chimera in the center of the black market, Lennok drew a deep breath and tried to raise his mana—
[That’s far enough, Conjoining Sorcerer.]
A violet gravitational field exploded outward and swept across the entire black market.
BUAAAAANG!!!
The chimera-devoured building debris and Lennok’s body were forcibly lifted upward.
An overwhelming sense of dissonance, as though gravity itself had been inverted and strengthened.
“This power…!!”
An innate ability based on immense mental strength.
A type of gravity manipulation familiar even to Lennok.
The monster’s ability he once experienced inside the Ganges Sand Labyrinth.
The moment Lennok realized its identity and snapped his head upward—
[The brigade comrades gave me notice, though it seems I arrived quite late.]
Chrrrrrrrkk!!!
Thick violet chains draped across the night sky as a powerful telepathic voice thundered down.
Dozens of corpses hanging between the chain links swayed aimlessly with the vibrations.
The vast gravitational field covering the black market from the moment of his arrival.
And above it stood a middle-aged man looking down at them.
[Evan Martinez. It’s been a while. You haven’t changed at all since I saw you in the labyrinth.]
“Balak Oedon…!!!”
An 8th-level gravity-type esper.
The Sixth Seat of the Ability Awakening Brigade.
Had the monster who once rampaged uncontrollably inside the Ganges Sand Labyrinth finally begun moving within the gate city?
Bernard and Angel must have taken action after retreating from the black market.
The moment Lennok instinctively realized that and looked skyward in surprise—
[Conjoining Sorcerer. It has become difficult to continue overlooking the atrocities you commit within the gate city.]
Balak’s booming telepathic voice echoed violently through the night sky.
[The entire continent already knows what you are doing after establishing that horrific life territory. Are you truly unafraid of being cursed by humanity?]
“Esper. My time is extremely expensive.”
The Conjoining Sorcerer turned an indifferent gaze toward Balak standing in the night sky.
“If you want a consultation with me, bring at least a hundred million cells per hour.”
[Money can be paid in any amount. What meaning does mere wealth hold to us?]
Balak laughed heartily while stroking his chin.
[But your curiosity and research obsession surpassing ethics seem impossible to halt no matter the price.]
“Not something I want to hear from an esper who collects the corpses he kills as trophies.”
Releasing the Tower Master by the collar as his body faintly convulsed, the Sorcerer Lord looked up.
The violet chains suspended over the gravitational field.
The corpses hanging by their necks between the chain links.
Massaging his hands, the Sorcerer Lord spoke.
“I told the Cult this before as well. Every piece of research I conduct is fundamentally for the betterment of human life. Rather than personal curiosity, it is a process toward permanent and utilitarian conclusions.”
[Of course. There could hardly be any other reason a heretic like you would remain loyal to the Federation Leader.]
Riding the rotating gravitational field blanketing the black market, Balak slowly bent his body forward.
[That is the nature of specialty-type sorcerers. Flowers blooming from twisted, rotten soil, giving off scents more toxic and intense than anything else… Though you wear a human form, you are a being fundamentally incapable of mixing with others.]
“……”
[Perhaps that is precisely why you can even treat fellow superhumans as patients and perform surgery upon them.]
KUGUGUGUNG……!!!
[Release Evan Martinez and leave. That man’s flame is too precious to extinguish within your hands.]
Woooooong!!!
Every time Balak spoke, gravitational waves exploded outward, endlessly distorting the night sky.
Even Lennok could not estimate how powerful Balak’s psychic abilities had become after stabilizing them.
[In the name of Balak Oedon, vanguard of the Ability Awakening Brigade, I forbid you from obtaining any more ‘talent’ beyond this point.]
“Interesting. Do you realize saying that only makes me want him more?”
For the first time, the Sorcerer Lord smiled brightly and slowly removed the glove from his right hand.
“Well then. After becoming the gate’s administrator, I had already been thinking I needed an example sooner or later.”
[An example.]
“Ability Awakening Brigade. I happened to be lacking esper corpses for specimens in my operating theater.”
The Sorcerer Lord brushed the cold night air with his bare hand and walked forward.
“I’ll split open your skull, remove your brain, and display it in my dissecting chamber.”
[…]
“An esper who reached Level 8 through nothing but innate talent. Clearly just another fool incapable of controlling his own gifts.”
Adjusting his mask with his gloved hand, the Sorcerer Lord raised his mana.
“Let’s begin. I’ll teach you here just how unrefined innate abilities truly are.”
[Conjoining Sorcerer. It seems you still fail to understand.]
KUGUGUGU……!!!
Amid the earthquakes shaking the ground, Balak’s telepathic voice thundered.
[Have you not realized why I refrained from appearing on the battlefield ever since arriving at the gate?]
“What?”
[The stabilization of my psychic abilities that consumed several months.]
The instant the Sorcerer Lord also realized it and looked toward the trembling earth, Balak clenched both fists tightly.
[All of it was preparation to maximize restrictions solely for the purpose of fighting you, Conjoining Sorcerer…!!!]
Kiiiiiiik……!!
The gravitational field spanning hundreds of meters over the black market tilted diagonally.
With a metallic groaning sound like grinding steel, the axis of the earth slowly shook.
The instant the savage pressure made the Sorcerer Lord frown slightly, the earth split apart and violet gravitational waves erupted outward.
KUAGAGAGA!!!
Dozens of pillars of intense purple light rose in every direction and lashed the ground like whips.
Everything touched by the gravitational waves was compressed and crushed apart.
Even Lennok’s complexion stiffened at the overwhelming pressure, as though a formless giant stomped madly across the black market.
‘The output…’
The range and intensity of the gravitational field were absurdly greater than expected.
Compared to when he fought Balak in the labyrinth, it felt several times stronger.
Yet the Conjoining Sorcerer did not move even while watching the gravitational waves crash down upon him.
He merely extended his bare hand above the waves of gravity crushing everything nearby.
Kkudududuk!!
The instant the Sorcerer Lord’s hand touched the gravitational wave, a bizarre twisting noise rang out.
Immediately afterward, the circular gravitational wave inverted and warped aside, missing the Sorcerer Lord and crushing the nearby ground instead.
KWAAANG!!
Udeudeudeuk!!
The gravity waves slashed diagonally through the black-market streets and exploded.
Watching the Sorcerer Lord raise his bare hand, Lennok’s eyes sharpened.
‘So that is Conjoining Sorcery.’
The power of Conjoining Sorcery was exactly as its name implied—fusing objects together and controlling what had been fused.
Everything the Sorcerer Lord touched connected together on the spot and transformed into tools obeying his will.
Simple in concept, perhaps.
The problem was that the range of applicable targets for Conjoining Sorcery was absurdly vast.
He could fuse a Self-Image Domain together and forcibly close it.
Or fuse gravitational waves with surrounding debris to twist their direction.
A power capable of combining living beings into grotesque chimeras, while also surgically healing high-ranking superhumans.
‘The maximization of spell applicability unique to specialty-type systems. So this is what Level 8 specialty sorcery can achieve.’
Originally, ambiguous concepts like “fusion” could not function under normal spell laws.
But this miracle existed precisely because specialty-type powers expanded the concept of the spell to impossible levels.
It was also why the Conjoining Sorcerer could stand as one of the four Grand Sorcerer Lords forming the Great Connection and one of the Federation’s unrivaled powerhouses.
“So that’s why your spell output seemed absurdly high even when using techniques…”
The Sorcerer Lord twisted actual gravity barehanded before slowly shaking out his hand.
“A geas that amplifies output only when fighting me as the designated target.”
“……”
“You’re insane. Even an 8th-level esper shouldn’t be able to endure the backlash after imposing restrictions like this just to increase psychic output.”
[Facing a specialty-type sorcerer like you without this level of resolve would merely be the arrogance of the weak.]
KUUUNG!!
Balak descended upon the ruined black-market streets and spoke.
[Now that you’ve moved away from your territory, this is the perfect opportunity to challenge you.]
“No. It’s pointless.”
The Sorcerer Lord clenched and unclenched his hand before looking upward.
“My sorcery is not fundamentally specialized for combat. That’s why it isn’t affected by environment.”
Thunk!
Placing a bare hand against building debris, the Sorcerer Lord tilted his head while raising mana.
At that moment, the rubble fused together and rose up as a gigantic shield to block the gravitational waves.
JJEEOONG!!
Unbelievable durability for something made from debris that would crumble underfoot.
The Sorcerer Lord collapsed the shield with a mere gesture and spoke.
“Whether or not I possess territory makes no difference to me.”
[Then let us see whether that confidence is truly deserved…!!]
Wiiiiing!!!
The moment Balak clenched both fists, dense violet light gathered within his hands.
At the same time, objects around his hands twisted and rotated as though being sucked inward, distorting the scenery before them.
KUAGAGAGA!!!
The gravitational field hundreds of meters wide spread over the black-market sky responded to Balak’s will.
The instant he brought the entire black-market district into range and crushed downward—
[Haaaaaah!!!]
Balak raised both fists overhead as though flipping them upward.
A movement like grabbing and lifting invisible space itself.
At the same time, the ground exploded and tilted diagonally.
KWAUUUUUNG!!!
The instant the Sorcerer Lord leapt along with the explosion, Balak seized empty space and yanked downward.
Everything floating in the air, including the Conjoining Sorcerer, crashed toward the ground at supersonic speed and shattered.
KWAAAAANG!!
Creating a gravitational focal point inside the field, twisting gravity’s direction and amplifying its output.
The gravitational waves generated through focal-point manipulation dragged in and hurled away the surrounding landscape.
Every time Balak swung the gravity spheres while floating in the air, the ground was pulverized into ruin.
“A shame I didn’t bring a scalpel. I dislike such crude compositions.”
Yet even amid the raging storm of gravitational waves, the Sorcerer Lord’s expression did not change.
Kiiiiiing!!!
He fused together building debris to create bridges, raised walls and towers to block the gravitational waves.
He summoned flesh-fused chimeras as meat shields and used them as footholds to accelerate.
The freedom with which he manipulated spells regardless of target or timing was astonishing, but what was truly unbelievable was the complete lack of any prelude during the process.
The instant he touched an object, the spell completed and activated.
Even the mana consumption was negligible.
Proof that the Conjoining Sorcerer’s fusion sorcery had been optimized to an almost theoretically perfect level.
Kigigigigigik!!!
As the Sorcerer Lord accelerated while sliding across the ground, fused structures and chimeras rose and staggered behind him from every direction.
Everything his hand brushed transformed and reconstructed, creating forests of grotesque aberrations.
The ruins of the black market shattered by gravitational waves were rebuilt again through fusion sorcery, deepening the chaos.
KUUUNG!!
Watching the battlefield where destruction and creation alternated repeatedly, Balak roared and raised his output further.
[If Conjoining Sorcery is the problem, then all I need do is eliminate every material it can use…!!]
Within the rain of gravitational waves crashing down like bombardment upon the ground, Balak’s eyes flashed.
[I shall turn you and this entire black market into nothing more than a handful of blood and dust!!!]
KWAAANG!!
Hundreds of gravitational waves crashed down, reducing all the debris scattered throughout the black market into dust.
Conjoining Sorcery was powerful, but its true strength appeared only when materials existed to fuse together.
Therefore, if Balak erased everything the Sorcerer Lord could fuse, Balak would inevitably gain the upper hand.
[OOOOOOOO!!!]
Wiiiiing!!
Eight gravitational spheres manifested above Balak’s head as he raised both hands.
As the eight spheres rotated around the gravitational field, the mining ground beneath the black market was ground apart.
Invisible hands seemed to shatter and crush the quarry cliffs and terrain with relentless bombardment.
“Hah.”
Alongside the Sorcerer Lord’s low laugh, the ore quarry containing the black market itself was torn upward into the sky.
KUAGAGAGAGAGAGA!!!!
The black-market district spanning hundreds of meters rose like a floating island.
A divine feat manipulating the entire gravitational field spread across the black market in order to lift an actual object.
Except the object was not a person or item, but the quarry itself on the outskirts of the gate city.
“The rankings of the Ability Awakening Brigade are the most absurd among any faction I’ve faced.”
Even the Sorcerer Lord seemed dumbfounded by the sheer scale as he looked upward.
“Even with a target-designation geas, an esper like you is only ranked sixth?”
[OOOOOOOO!!!]
Lifting the entire black market into the sky, then amplifying gravity and slamming it down toward the earth.
Output sufficient to crush even the Sorcerer Lord’s body no matter what tricks he used.
Watching the rapidly approaching ground with an expressionless face, the Sorcerer Lord finally removed the glove from his left hand as well.
“I admit it. At least during the surgery schedule, I won’t be able to finish this quickly.”
Pressing both palms together, the Sorcerer Lord spoke.
“Then let’s begin by undoing that target designation.”
Crackkkkk……!!!
Black mana twisted like acrid smoke and rose from the Sorcerer Lord’s body.
Mana so sticky and foul it was difficult to believe it belonged to the otherwise faint-presence Sorcerer Lord.
The moment Lennok realized this was the unique mana of a specialty-type sorcerer, his expression hardened.
“Spell activation. Additional target designation.”
The Sorcerer Lord lightly twisted his clasped hands and muttered.
“Life Territory Summon.”
JJEEEEEEONG!!!
At that moment, a gigantic flesh-encased structure erupted from the ground.
A massive dome of flesh spanning hundreds of meters.
Writhing grotesquely like a living organism, it possessed a presence identical to the Sorcerer Lord himself.
Only then did Lennok realize how the Sorcerer Lord intended to deal with Balak’s attack, and his face stiffened.
“He used the territory to break the target-designation geas…!!”
The Territory obtained at Level 8 projected the sorcerer’s ideal world.
Thus within sorcery systems, a Territory was treated as equivalent to the sorcerer themselves.
The geas Balak Oedon imposed amplified his psychic output only when fighting the Conjoining Sorcerer as the designated target.
But the Sorcerer Lord summoned his territory and increased the number of entities designated by Balak’s geas, forcibly breaking the target designation.
[Kuh…?!!!]
The designated target, which should have been only the Sorcerer Lord, doubled into two, disrupting the geas and causing backlash.
Balak coughed up blood and staggered, but still gritted his teeth and dropped the island he created.
The membrane-covered ceiling split open like the jaws of an insect and swallowed the falling island whole.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
Alongside a tremendous shockwave, the ruins of the black-market ground were crushed and mixed together between masses of flesh.
The operating-theater space rapidly wrapped around Lennok’s falling body and drew him inward as though swallowing him—
“……”
Yet even while sensing that movement, Lennok did not resist.
Instead, he entrusted his body to the pull.
***
Clack, clack.
An unpleasant scraping of metal.
Cold, inorganic air.
The stench of blood stabbing at his nose and bright lights shining through his eyelids.
He opened his eyes.
A pink room stained with blood.
Someone wearing green surgical robes stood with their back turned toward Lennok.
“……”
Lennok was about to speak before noticing the belts tightly restraining his body and falling silent.
His limbs were firmly bound atop a gigantic surgical table.
Without even turning around, the other person spoke.
“You’re awake.”
“……Where is this?”
“What kind of question is that at this point?”
The Conjoining Sorcerer turned around and approached Lennok.
“Welcome to my operating theater.”