#1016
Signpost (6)
“The Supplementary Pilgrimage that ascended after breaking through the first gate is currently moving toward the Western Front at tremendous speed.”
Warm sunlight poured through the window.
A gentle breeze drifted in through the cracks.
A silence so peaceful that the fierce battle and chaos felt like a lie.
The military ward of the Search Unit near the Gate City.
Lennok sat propped up on his bed, listening to Bernard’s report.
“Mana compression rate: 1048%. Estimated speed exceeds 120 km/h. Ever since it passed the Gate City, it hasn’t left a single survivor behind.”
“……”
“All forces and battlefronts within a 20-kilometer radius are being forcibly withdrawn and evacuated. The Eyes of the Blue are apparently cooperating through the use of a lighthouse.”
Bernard, wrapped head to toe in bandages, swiped through the tablet in his hand as he spoke.
“The ecosystem around Paradox Blue has already entered a state of extinction. At this point, the massacre in the Gate City can only be viewed as the King of the Dead deliberately holding back.”
Two days had passed since Fame had departed after slaughtering every superhuman pursuing Lennok through the Gate.
Lennok remained in the ruined Gate City, recovering his body.
The evacuated civilians had returned.
The Search Unit patrolled and guarded the area around the Gate.
The information Bernard brought from outside was their only means of learning about developments on the Central Front.
“So they’re still gathering intelligence even after Supplementary Pilgrimage departed.”
“I managed to get in touch with one of the Pioneers.”
Bernard shrugged.
“It’s someone I hadn’t heard from in years. Seems this incident caught their interest. I learned all this while exchanging information about the Gate with them.”
“Once it enters the boundary of Jinwa Lost Paradise, observation itself will become difficult. This is probably our last chance to estimate Supplementary Pilgrimage’s destination.”
Bernard turned off the tablet and set it on the bed.
“Thinking about it now, the King of the Dead may have known from the start that Jinwa would intervene. I never imagined he’d use even an Ascendant as a tool, but perhaps that wasn’t difficult for a black mage like him.”
“Perhaps...”
“What? Not very impressive to the great mage who managed to stop Supplementary Pilgrimage, even for a moment?”
Not everyone on the battlefield had died after Supplementary Pilgrimage left.
Anyone who had been present would have witnessed the moment Lennok forcibly opened the [Gate] and halted Supplementary Pilgrimage.
Regardless of the massacre committed by the King of the Dead, the fame of Treadburn, who had stood in Supplementary Pilgrimage’s path, was already spreading beyond comparison.
“More than several thousand people saw you risk your life to stop Supplementary Pilgrimage.”
Bernard clasped his hands together and spoke seriously.
“The organizations involved in this incident won’t be able to touch the Gate for a while. Even setting the damage aside, public opinion will force them to hesitate because of the contrast with what you did.”
“Restoration of the Gate City is nearly halfway complete. In a few more days, it should be finished.”
Rumble...!!
A mage extended a hand while chanting.
A building that had been split apart steadied itself and rose upright.
Search Unit members carried dozens of steel beams on their shoulders as they climbed the hills.
Almost no trace remained of the ruins left behind by the battle against the Conjoining Sorcerer and the King of the Dead’s Supplementary Pilgrimage.
Nearly half the Gate City had already been restored.
With the strength of superhumans and the power of magic, restoring a small city housing hundreds of thousands only took a matter of days.
“Supplementary Pilgrimage never returns to the place it leaves behind, so it should be safe from the King of the Dead for now. As long as the [Gate] functions, the city will return to normal.”
Bernard turned his gaze out the window.
“In a way, things ended up becoming easier for us. You could call it good luck.”
“Luck...”
Could it really be called luck?
Fame had killed the enemies pursuing the exhausted Lennok after the battle with the Conjoining Sorcerer.
Then he redirected Supplementary Pilgrimage himself and disappeared.
Could Lennok truly believe that Fame had gifted him all these outcomes without foreseeing them?
Even now, days later, Fame’s words remained vivid.
The answer he left behind while changing even the destination of Supplementary Pilgrimage.
Fame had not been wrong.
One realization mattered more than hundreds of explanations.
That was why the answer Lennok had discovered himself shone so brightly.
Had his kaleidoscope remained so pure if it had been built upon the wishes and regrets of others?
The answer had value because it was one he drew with his own power.
From the beginning, the answer had always existed within himself.
Because he knew that—
“Has Evan woken up?”
Bang!
The door opened and Angel walked in on crutches.
Like Bernard, he was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, his complexion pale.
Proof that Angel had also struggled desperately to survive that battlefield.
After setting aside his crutches and leaning against the wall, Angel gestured over his shoulder.
“Someone from the Ability Awakening Brigade is here. Says they have something to discuss regarding this incident.”
“The Brigade?”
The damage suffered by the major powers of the Central Front during the events at the Gate City was not something that could simply be overlooked.
But now that what happened there had become known throughout the Central Front, it was difficult for anyone to interfere with the Gate again.
Lennok had expected neither the Federation nor the Brigade to make the first move.
It was somewhat surprising that the Brigade had acted.
Noticing the strange stiffness in Angel’s expression, Lennok asked,
“You know them, don’t you?”
“Yes. Someone I know... in a sense.”
Angel nodded awkwardly.
“At least they’re not the type who’ll try to kill us. But... even back then, I could never tell what they were thinking.”
“Angel, didn’t you say you’d contact Vulcan rather than the Brigade?”
“Well, about that...”
Angel scratched his cheek.
“The Chairwoman and her partner are both busy with their own research, so apparently there’s no need to rush.”
“Partner?”
He had deliberately avoided mentioning Bolt’s name because of the medical staff listening nearby.
Still, Lennok understood what he meant.
With that thought, he removed the connector attached to his arm and stood up.
“We’ll stay in the Gate City one more day. I’ll meet the Ability Awakening Brigade immediately.”
***
With Bernard and Angel leading the way, Lennok left the private ward.
The Search Unit guards patrolling the corridor immediately saluted.
“Sir Evan. Your guest is waiting in the reception room. We’ll guide you there immediately.”
“Very well. Though...”
Looking at the subtly tense expressions of the Search Unit members, Lennok asked,
“The guest from the Brigade seems to be someone quite famous.”
“……”
The guards could not hide their tension.
This was not the reaction of people intimidated by magical power or mental pressure.
Rather, they seemed overwhelmed by reputation and social standing.
Which meant the visitor waiting in the ward was an influential figure even the Search Unit found intimidating.
“You haven’t been active in the Central Front very long, Sir Evan, so you might not know...”
The guards exchanged glances before speaking carefully.
“She’s one of the most famous ability users in the Ability Awakening Brigade. Her public reputation isn’t bad, but people say her ability is extremely cruel. Please be careful.”
Click.
Lennok entered the reception room.
A gust of wind blew through the open windows.
As the breeze slipped inside his hospital gown, Lennok turned his head.
The woman sitting inside stood up.
“Ah, you’ve arrived.”
A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair neatly brushed back.
Her appearance was surprisingly simple for someone whose reputation had made the guards so nervous.
As Lennok silently observed her, she bowed politely.
“Evan Martinez. It is an honor to meet the hero of the Gate City.”
“You’re saying something you don’t mean.”
“No. I’m quite sincere.”
When Lennok sat down opposite her, the woman smiled and took her own seat.
“I have no intention of speaking falsehoods to the person who killed the Conjoining Sorcerer.”
“……”
“Allow me to introduce myself.”
The moment she snapped her fingers, a small business card fluttered onto Lennok’s lap.
“I am Eredis Javelin, Second Seat of the Ability Awakening Brigade.”
Sitting upright, she spoke calmly.
“Though lacking in many ways, I currently serve as the representative of Lord Aphelia within the Brigade.”
“That’s interesting.”
Lennok picked up the card.
“So being the Second Seat means you’re the third-strongest innate ability user in the Brigade?”
“Lord Aphelia has not personally entered the field for quite some time.”
Eredis answered calmly.
“I am the Brigade’s number two.”
“......”
It was hard to tell whether that was an admission or a correction.
For someone claiming to be second-in-command of the Ability Awakening Brigade, her tone was remarkably polite and composed.
When Lennok glanced at Bernard, he awkwardly nodded.
“Uh... I didn’t interact with her much even when I was with the Pioneers. But she’s probably right.”
Eredis stared at Bernard without saying a word.
As Bernard began sweating under her gaze, Angel spoke from behind Lennok.
“Eredis possesses the greatest destructive power in the entire Brigade. It’s not an exaggeration.”
“You knew her?”
“Not exactly knew her...”
Angel smiled bitterly.
“If you fought alongside her a few times, you’d recognize her whether you wanted to or not.”
So she was one of the Brigade’s unrivaled powerhouses.
Eredis had clearly recognized Angel as well.
“Angel. It’s been a long time.”
“It has.”
“How is Vulcan? Are you doing well?”
“Hard to say...”
Angel trailed off.
Apparently he had no desire to share his thoughts with Eredis.
After staring at him for a moment, Eredis turned back to Lennok.
“Let’s return to the main topic. I came today as a representative of the Ability Awakening Brigade to offer an apology to Mr. Evan.”
“An apology?”
The moment she said it, Eredis stood and bowed at a perfect right angle.
“Regarding the unauthorized actions of Brigade Thirteenth Seat Roevid Auller and his assassination squad. On behalf of the Ability Awakening Brigade, I sincerely apologize. We are truly sorry.”
“……”
“You may raise your head.”
Whether rigid or simply professional, she was unusual.
She did not seem emotionless like a machine.
If anything, she felt less like an ability user and more like—
“Are you from Kabahim by any chance?”
“Hm?”
Blinking in surprise, Eredis finally answered.
“No. May I ask why you thought so?”
“Never mind. You can ignore it.”
Lennok waved a hand.
“So you came all the way here just to apologize?”
The agreement Lennok and Bernard had made regarding the recovery of Mikal Zellich’s remains.
The Brigade had betrayed Lennok through Roevid’s intervention immediately after the death of the Conjoining Sorcerer.
Then Fame appeared and swept away the entire Gate City, forcibly ending the matter.
The death of the Conjoining Sorcerer.
The restart of Supplementary Pilgrimage.
The deaths of thousands of mana users.
With two disasters striking at once, every organization that had attempted to seize control of the Gate had disappeared.
Yet the Ability Awakening Brigade had not completely withdrawn from the matter.
Unlike Roevid’s faction, the pro-non-ability-user faction had reached out to seek reconciliation.
Eredis belonged to that faction.
“First, I would like to thank you for recovering the remains of Third Seat Mikal Zellich.”
Eredis spoke calmly.
“Regardless of his betrayal, his Special Trait innate ability was a power the Brigade could never ignore. Under no circumstances could it have fallen into the hands of the Conjoining Sorcerer.”
“There’s something about that I’d like explained.”
Adjusting the IV needle in his wrist, Lennok continued.
“The only reason the Conjoining Sorcerer was able to ‘graft’ Zellich’s right brain onto himself was because Zellich cooperated. He minimized the rejection response as much as possible.”
Having dismantled the grafting spell through Ouroboros, Lennok understood both its potential and its limitations.
A grafting spell could only function if the caster possessed a relatively complete understanding of the target.
That was why Avesta Chapman had been such an exceptional surgeon.
And likely why the spell functioned the way it did.
If one wished to graft a body part, one first needed deep knowledge of it.
But the human brain was a complex organ not even this world’s science and medicine fully understood.
Without Zellich’s cooperation, even the Conjoining Sorcerer would never have acquired immortality so easily.
“Why did Mikal Zellich betray the Brigade? Did they not know he genuinely wished to die?”
“You may not know this, but Third Seat Zellich was not one of the Brigade’s founding members.”
Eredis answered.
“He spent much of his life being experimented upon and suffering under various organizations and factions. The only reason we were able to keep him in the Brigade was because we promised not to interfere with his life.”
“So your military strength was lacking enough that you had to keep him at any cost?”
“No. The opposite.”
Eredis smiled and shook her head.
“We did not need to bind him with burdensome restraints because losing him would not create any significant weakness in the Brigade’s current strength.”
“……”
The answer was so confident it bordered on arrogance.
Yet Lennok vaguely understood she was not wrong.
Most of the Brigade executives he had encountered were among the strongest figures in the Central Front.
Balak Oedon was one thing.
But even Roevid, only the Thirteenth Seat, had exceeded Lennok’s expectations.
Though he had died horribly at Fame’s hands, he had survived until the very end of that chaotic battlefield.
Had Fame not erased everything in Lennok’s place, there was a good chance Roevid and his assassination squad would have survived.
If that had happened, perhaps someone hostile rather than Eredis would be sitting here now.
As Lennok reflected on just how vast the possibilities arranged by Fame at the end of the First Gate had been, Eredis cleared her throat.
“Ahem. If you understand, may we move on to the next matter?”
“Go ahead.”
Apparently she thought his silence had lasted too long.
Even considering that, she treated him with unusual caution.
Whether because he was injured or because he was now Treadburn, the man who killed the Conjoining Sorcerer.
“Roevid Auller and the assassination squad have already been recovered. Normally, deceased Brigade members are returned to headquarters and cremated according to tradition.”
Meeting Lennok’s eyes, Eredis continued.
“However, given what happened in the Gate City, we cannot simply proceed according to Brigade custom.”
“……”
“The assassination squad will be dissolved and reorganized. But if you wish, we are willing to hand over their bodies. What would you like us to do?”
“.........”
The corpses of dead Brigade ability users.
Truthfully, Lennok had little interest in corpse-related magic.
Nor had he ever paid much attention to the possibilities it offered.
But among the dead were individuals directly affected by Fame’s black magic.
Even if Supplementary Pilgrimage had moved elsewhere, there was no reason to hand those traces over to the Brigade.
“You said cremation is your custom?”
“Yes.”
“Then cremate them.”
Lennok grasped the IV stand and rose.
“But every step of the process will take place in front of me.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll respect the Brigade’s customs. In exchange, there will be no further discussion of this matter.”
Looking down at Eredis, Lennok asked,
“Do you agree?”
“I also agree that the location is unimportant.”
Trailing off, Eredis eventually nodded and stood.
“Very well. If that is what you wish, we shall also settle Third Seat Zellich’s promise.”
“Promise?”
“There was an item Third Seat Zellich promised to give you, was there not?”
Eredis began walking.
“The ceremonial weapon Mars. I will transfer it to you immediately.”
***
The Spirit Realm, where countless colorful spirits played.
A grand palace of water rising above a lake.
“So it’s over. Took much longer than I expected.”
A young-looking woman sprawled in the center of the audience chamber yawned.
Her face looked too youthful to have even reached adulthood.
Yet her expression and mannerisms were lethargic beyond her apparent age.
The moment she sat up, the robot standing behind her activated.
[It seems the battle at the First Gate has concluded.]
The woman walked through the palace corridors without replying.
The humanoid robot followed and asked:
[Fairy Sorcerer. What was the outcome?]
“Chapman lost. Looks like he was completely overwhelmed in terms of firepower.”
[Hmm.]
Seeing the robot hesitate, the woman lazily continued.
“They fought inside his Territory too. I didn’t expect it to end like that. Wasn’t he originally from the Watchers?”
Splash!!
Every step she took created a pathway of water beneath her feet.
Walking barefoot across the lake at the palace’s center, she murmured:
“Looks like Lapis Falcia was raising a monster. We might need to rethink how we deal with the Eyes of the Blue.”
[What about the combat data? With your spell, you should have recorded everything through the fairy eyes.]
“I recorded it, but I’m not sure it’ll be useful.”
The Fairy Sorcerer answered indifferently and stretched out her hand.
“More importantly, let’s deal with this first, Artermaier. The item is ready, right?”
Whoooosh!!
At the center of the lake stood a mysterious tank.
Inside floated a single [right brain].
While the robot carefully lifted the tank, the woman crossed her arms.
“Doctor, if you’re here, that means the vessel is already prepared, right?”
[Avesta Chapman possessed talent and aptitude unmatched among sorcerers of his level.]
The robot replied.
[For a long time, I searched for a body capable of housing his mind and soul. Unexpectedly, however, I found a suitable candidate much closer than expected.]
“Closer?”
[The patients preserved in operating rooms he left throughout the continent. Among them was one particularly suitable vessel.]
[It will require a great deal of time, but adaptation should not be a problem.]
“So who exactly is this vessel?”
[Have you ever heard of the Juice Master?]