Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1162

The frost ring, once a chilling blue at the heart of the giant ice comet, now shimmered with gold.

It was the core of Olballa’s hell, the source of the boundless mana that Aaron Byger Kabahim wielded.

A power reserved for the gods of the sea, drawing not from the present, but from the currents of other timelines.

The frost ring, born from the soul of a frigid comet, began to pulse with a golden light.

Kiiiiiiing-!!!!

This was the unique ability of the Magnetic Field Nullification Formula: ‘Reconfiguration’.

Lennok’s branching point, a path diverging from Bangung’s, yet employing the same manipulation technique.

Instead of reducing existence to nothingness, he was reconfiguring the very fate and causality of others, seizing control of the potential to create existence from existence.

Magnetic Field Deployment: Branching Point Creation.

Fwaaaaaaaat!!!!!

The frost ring above Aaron’s head warped, its icy hue replaced by a golden kaleidoscope.

Simultaneously, the colossal ice palace that had been circling Lennok and Aaron began to crumble.

[What are you doing!!!!]

Aaron unleashed a furious surge of mana, but the sensation was different. The endless flow of power from a distant, unfathomable past had been severed.

All that remained was his frozen body, stripped of its human form, and the internal mana that had always resided within him.

A forbidden weapon forged from the remains of a dead god. The power of the frost ring was being stolen before his very eyes.

[No, I won’t allow it…!! This can’t be happening!!!!!]

A chilling unease gripped Aaron as he reached for the frost ring.

At his command, the center of the frozen comet spun wildly, collapsing in on itself.

Kwa kwa kwa!!!!

[That is the culmination of my life’s work!!! It is a power that should only be mine!!!]

“It was.”

Click!

With the sound of gears shifting, the positions of Aaron and Lennok were reversed.

Lennok, now standing at the center of the Eight Hells where the frost ring had first appeared, raised his gaze.

“If it weren’t for your talent for duality, you wouldn’t have had the means to create that frost ring, nor the right to wield it.”

[You!!!]

“But that power isn’t meant for you. It certainly wasn’t left behind to be used in this way.”

The death of the cold comet, preserved within the mandala [a symbolic representation of the universe], was an arrangement left by the Ascendant [a being who has transcended mortal limitations].

It was proof that he had tried countless times to break everything and recreate it, and had failed.

The will of the transcendent, who sought to leave meaning even in the face of failure, was present.

Why Bangung was waiting for Lennok.

What meaning he was trying to impart to Lennok.

The answer remained elusive. Sometimes, he didn’t even want to know.

But because even the memories, emotions, and this fear that didn’t seem to be his own, were ultimately things that Lennok had to bear.

Just as Lennok was the beginning of something, he was also here to decide the end.

Not to accept fate, but to defy it.

“Aaron Byger Kabahim. All the effort and results you’ve accumulated to obtain that, at this place…”

Lennok, reaching out towards the frost ring, spoke with cold resolve.

“I will take it.”

Kwaaaang!!!

Under the sky of the frozen sanctuary, the frost ring, now tinged with gold, descended at Lennok’s gesture.

With each pulse, it transformed into a golden kaleidoscope, moving further from Aaron and closer to Lennok.

The remnants of an Outer God that Aaron Byger Kabahim had obtained using the knowledge of the Archive [a repository of forbidden knowledge] and his talent for duality.

A possibility achieved by processing the remains of a god into a forbidden weapon, and merging that weapon with his own being.

He was ‘reconfiguring’ it entirely, transforming it into Lennok’s own.

He was forcibly incorporating a branching point that Lennok himself had never experienced, one that was not his own, into the kaleidoscope.

Uuuuuuung!!!!

[That is-]

The golden kaleidoscope rose behind Lennok.

Faced with its majestic radiance, Aaron momentarily forgot to stop Lennok, his eyes wide with shock.

A new branching point, reconfigured by taking Aaron’s frost ring.

The moment he faced the kaleidoscope, the proof and symbol of it, Aaron also saw its essence.

[…What am I looking at?]

Because he possessed the talent to see both sides of all things, both the front and back of the kaleidoscope were visible to Aaron.

He realized that it contained concepts and principles that could never exist in reality.

The branching point of the kaleidoscope, which did not exist in the current timeline.

Like the Outer Gods of the end, it wasn’t even the forced act of drawing power from a past that already existed.

A possibility drawn from the other side of a parallel world that did not yet exist. A miracle of drawing a future that does not come, believing that the impossible can be achieved.

Even if he wanted to deny it, he already knew.

The source image of the future timeline that exists only by what he desires and wishes for.

That it was a wish that even the Transcendent Ones had not dared to dream of, and a fervent desire that even the Outer Gods of the sea could not imitate-

Crack.

[Kuaaaaaaack!!!!]

At that moment, Aaron’s eyes burst, and blood flowed down his face.

Aaron let out a desperate scream, leaving behind the frozen crystals that fell from under his helmet.

Just by looking at both the front and back of the kaleidoscope at the same time, and understanding its true nature, he couldn’t endure it.

[No, no… there’s no way there could be such an answer…!!!!]

He tried to deny it, but he already knew.

Deep in his heart, he acknowledged that the unreal image was a real miracle.

Like those who had faced the kaleidoscope, he denied, rejected, raged, and finally revered it-

Realizing this, Aaron tore at his eyes with a despairing expression and screamed.

[No, no!!!! Aaaaaaack…!!!]

Kwaaaang!!!

The inhuman body, processed to be close to a sea god, tore through space and accelerated at an incredible speed.

Aaron’s body, with its ruined eyes, swelled grotesquely, resonating violently with the frozen comet as one.

The entire Eight Hells of Olballa, assimilated with Aaron’s body, moved, creating a bizarre sight of it opening its mouth towards Lennok.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa!!!!

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an illusion.”

In the midst of a demonic realm where the frozen world seemed to be splitting apart, Lennok raised his hand.

“Even the end of the world would be nothing more than a handful of bubbles to someone.”

[Shut up!!!!]

“But until then, I will try to contain everything so that it can be filled to the brim.”

Lennok smiled, looking at Aaron’s distorted face.

“Just like those who dreamed of the same thing as me, I don’t want to leave any regrets at the end.”

Crack crack crack…!!!!

The kaleidoscope held in Lennok’s left hand emitted intense cold, freezing over.

The chill imbued in the glass gauntlet flashed pure white with immense light, grasping the space.

He combined the forbidden causality assimilated with the remnants of the cold comet with the branching point of the Imperial Void Ice Accumulation.

Reconfiguring the power of the ice-type, which added causality by using the remains of a god as a material, with the Nullification Formula, and grasping the origin of Aaron.

Finally, he froze even that causality and fate in place.

[Fate Seal]

The magic book of the future that he had encountered in Nox Biblio [a hidden library].

The moment he naturally uttered those words, which he himself did not understand, as the name of the spell.

Aaron’s body froze in place, the comet shattered, and the sky of the ruined royal capital opened wide.

Crack crack crack!!!!

The remnants of the scattered ice comet. The figures of Lennok and Aaron falling amidst the frost fragments falling in a trail.

They crashed through the ceiling of the half-tilted royal palace audience hall, and tumbled onto the carpeted floor.

Thud!

“Your Majesty!!”

“Are you alright…!!!”

The knights who were still alive rushed into the audience hall, and were startled by Aaron’s appearance.

“N-no…!!”

Chiiiik!!

Aaron was screaming, slowly melting away while his whole body was turning to ice.

Aaron’s figure, turning his blood, nerves, and even muscles into ice, and dying while being deprived of power.

But what truly drove Aaron to despair was not the fact that his body was melting away.

“I can’t see it!! I can’t see it anymore…!!!”

The talent for duality, which allowed him to see both sides of all things, was no longer felt within Aaron.

As if the talent itself had been sealed and stolen, only a despairingly empty sense of loss filled him.

“Your Majesty!!!”

“How could this…!!”

The knights, seeing Aaron’s desperate figure as his whole body melted away, gripped their swords tightly with hardened expressions.

The knights glared menacingly at Lennok, who was standing at the back of the audience hall, where the throne was located.

“You dared to lay your hands on His Majesty’s body and ruined the grand scheme!!”

“We won’t let you get away with this…!!”

“…”

But Lennok ignored the knights and stared blankly at Aaron, who was kneeling and screaming below in the audience hall.

To be precise, at the words he had spoken himself, deciding Aaron’s fate at the last moment.

The third name given to fate was the end.

The reason why it was the end of the end and the end of fate.

[Fate Seal], was it.

About the meaning he had not understood even after encountering it in the dark archive, could he now understand it even a little?

“It’s over.”

“…Seer.”

At the end of the collapsing palace corridor, Antares was leaning weakly against the wall.

Even though he had held off the 1st Knight Commander Urwin to buy time, he only looked a little tired, with no other injuries.

Antares, brushing back his disheveled hair, looked down at the fallen Aaron with a complex gaze.

“This is… our end that I could not foresee.”

“Antares…!! You were there!!”

Aaron turned his head sharply at the sound of Antares’ voice.

Aaron, reaching out his melting hand, shouted urgently.

“Again, lend me your foresight again. You must show me the way to the Archive!!”

“Aaron. You know.”

Antares shook his head.

“That was a mistake. It was my overconfidence that you, who had traveled the world even while working as a mercenary, would not make the wrong choice of using humans.”

“I have utilized the knowledge of the Archive better than anyone!!!”

Aaron shouted in anger.

“I held the power of a god, researched the arrangements of the Ascendant, and found possibilities outside the continent…!! What more was lacking!!!”

“Too many people have died, Aaron.”

Antares said quietly.

“Even if I stop you now, the people you used will not come back. But, even so, I…”

The Seer, slowly kneeling and meeting Aaron’s gaze, said.

“I will try to undo the mistakes I made on the pilgrimage one by one. Just like Crocken did for me.”

“Antares!!!”

“Protect His Majesty!!”

At Aaron’s voice, which even felt menacing, the knights, regaining their senses, moved quickly.

They kicked off the walls and floor of the audience hall, leaning forward and sliding with their swords drawn.

At the same time as dividing their forces to block Lennok, the knights who supported Aaron were about to retreat quickly, at that moment.

A dagger that appeared in mid-air pierced through the gap between the helmet and armor without hesitation.

Thud!!

“…Ah?”

“Where do you think you’re going in such a hurry?”

A clown, with his arm around the stiff knight’s shoulder, whispered in his ear.

“Let’s put down what you’re holding first and then talk.”

Snap!!

He twisted the dagger that pierced the neck, severing the carotid artery and the neck bone at the same time.

“Gack…!!”

Even while rolling his eyes and foaming at the mouth, the knight’s fighting spirit to not let go of Aaron at any cost.

The clown, clicking his tongue, was about to cut off the knight’s wrist to neutralize even his resistance, at that moment.

Tap!!

Another knight supported Aaron from his arms and quickly began to flee.

At the same time as the knight carrying Aaron ran out of the audience hall, other knights rushed towards the clown.

“This way!!!”

“We must buy time for His Majesty to recover!!”

“Spare no lives!!”

“Hmph, this is quite something.”

Crack!!

The clown, planting a dagger in the forehead of a charging knight and kicking him away, sighed.

The clown, who had plunged into the midst of the knights charging from all directions, twisted his body while drawing up mana.

A storm of blood raged around the clown, and the bodies of the heavy superhumans collapsed to the floor, their breaths cut short.

The clown, who had massacred the remaining knights in an instant, stepped on their corpses and shook his head.

“I was in a good mood and was going to let you live, but it seems we just can’t get on the same page.”

“Clown. You’re late.”

Lennok, who had been watching the scene with his arms crossed, glanced away.

“I was waiting. You brought the item, right?”

“Is there any need to ask?”

The clown, with a satisfied expression, opened his clenched fist wide.

A small glass bead, about the size of a hand. The figure of a frozen knight, shrunk and contained within the snow-falling bead.

Looking at it, the clown grinned.

“The remains of the dead god that were left in the [Gate]’s sanctuary. I have recovered them properly.”

A series of operations that Lennok and the clown had discussed just before confronting Aaron. Lennok and the clown each moved to draw attention, and the summoner deployed the magnetic field.

While Lennok, who had deployed the field, was dealing with Aaron, the clown proceeded with the work to steal the remains of the god as per the original plan.

From the point when Lennok acquired the mandala, there should have been no problem for the clown to intervene in the remains of the god as well.

He had succeeded in stealing the remains of the god just before the sanctuary collapsed after the battle.

“The soul was used by Aaron Byger, but this will be enough for this operation.”

The clown smiled and shook the glass bead he was holding.

“Now, we just need to eliminate the aftermath and escape before the knight order from all over the royal capital comes. It’s very clean.”

“Aftermath…”

Lennok said, turning his gaze towards Aaron, who was running away in the distance.

Now that he had turned the Kabahim royal capital upside down like this, he couldn’t just leave Aaron as he was.

Even though Lennok had taken away his ability and talent entirely, he was someone who could become a threat in some way if he was left alive.

“It seems Antares doesn’t really want to do it. What are you going to do?”

The clown, twirling a dagger in one hand, said nonchalantly.

“Shall I do it?”

“…No.”

Lennok said, reaching out his hand.

“Even the time to discuss such things is a waste.”

Whoosh-!!!

A black magic thread pierced through the corridor, traversing the structures of the royal palace. It grabbed the neck of the knight who was carrying Aaron and fleeing, and constricted.

At the same time as the knight’s body was flung backward, he was dragged into the audience hall, breaking through the walls of the royal palace more than a dozen times.

Kwa kwa kwa kwang!!!!

“Cough…!!”

The knight, dragged by Lennok’s hand, convulsed weakly, his face turning purple as he was strangled.

Aaron, who had fallen from behind the knight, was lying down, struggling to hold onto his melting body.

“Y-you…”

“I don’t think there’s anything more to take from you now…”

Lennok said, walking down towards Aaron.

“But that doesn’t mean I have a reason to let you live here.”

“…I see.”

Aaron, looking at his body melting away mixed with blood, struggled to get up.

He staggered to his feet, raising his half-regenerated and melting eyes to look at Lennok.

“Now I understand. You were trying to create something even more absurd than the new empire I was trying to build.”

“…”

“Haha… it’s absurd. To try to take my fervent desire to take over the world and put it into a larger flow…”

Aaron closed his eyes, from which cold tears were flowing.

“I can’t accept it. I don’t want to accept it either. But… if this is fate, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Because he had followed and imitated the answers and methods of others, Aaron vaguely understood what Lennok wanted.

Even though Aaron Byger Kabahim may have been an inferior being compared to the other Transcendent Ones who had set out to find their own structures,

It was precisely because of that that he could guess what kind of heart and wish Lennok’s kaleidoscope was made with.

Because he is not perfect, he tries to look back on as much as possible.

Because he is not complete, he tries to contain everything possible.

He understood the kaleidoscope, despaired, and rejected it. But because of that, he looked back on all those moments like a mirror at the end-

“Come… this is where my heart is. You must aim properly so that you don’t miss.”

Aaron chuckled with his melting face.

“Go ahead and add the stain of a king-slayer to the grand wish you have built up…!!”

“No. That is not something that should be said.”

Whoosh!!

An old man with a benevolent smile appeared next to Aaron and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“…Lord Eldrich?”

“It would not do for His Majesty’s end to be decided like this.”

Eldrich was smiling next to Aaron, who turned his gaze with an unbelievable expression.

“From now on, I will help you.”

“5th Apostle. What are you trying to do now?”

Lennok tilted his head.

“Are you going to try to fight me again now?”

“As I said to you at the beginning, I am just doing what I have to do.”

Eldrich replied to those words, and naturally stood next to Aaron.

“After seeing His Majesty and telling him what has happened, I must finish the mission that I have not been able to complete for a long time.”

“…”

Eldrich, slowly drawing his sword, slowly raised his momentum as if protecting Aaron’s side.

A resolute figure as if he was standing side by side with Aaron, confronting Lennok.

“Ha, haha. I see…”

Aaron’s expression slowly changed as he looked at that figure.

“So, my fate has not yet run out… this was not my end?”

The determination with which he had accepted death changed into a faint sense of relief and anticipation.

At the same time, an incomparably strong will was imbued in Aaron’s eyes.

“Lord Eldrich. Let’s postpone all the words we have to say to each other for later. Right now, our priority is to escape from them.”

“…”

“If there is still hope left here, I will rise again and again-”

Thud!!

At that moment, Eldrich’s sword pierced through Aaron’s chest diagonally and came out.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“…Ah?”

“I told you that I would help you decide His Majesty’s end, didn’t I?”

Eldrich, leaning his face towards Aaron, who was frozen in place, whispered in his ear.

His face was stained with a joyful smile that he could not control himself.

“Accepting death with composure is not a fitting end for His Majesty.”

“You, you bastard…”

Even as his breath was cut short, anger and despair were etched on Aaron’s face as he belatedly understood the situation.

Betrayed by the hope he felt he had grasped at the last moment, he lost even the composure with which he had faced death.

With a trembling voice, consumed by the fear and dread of death, he called out that name.

“El, drich…!!”

“The Goddess wants His Majesty’s corpse. She is trying to bring down the result while ignoring the time seal.”

The 5th Apostle, looking at Aaron’s face, which was a mess, smiled brightly.

“His Majesty, please, you must become the key to unlocking the Fate Seal of the 1st Apostle.”