Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1244

Kyunroe Subjugation (36)

Having used regression to travel back in time, to a past where Kyunroe was still weak and young.

Encountering him in a bar in District 49, during the time when he had just started working as a freelancer.

However, the Kyunroe that Kaise encountered in the past timeline was not the person he had intended to meet.

“You’ve been acting strange since a while ago, are you not going to say a single word to me?”

“……”

“……Hey. If you keep acting like this, I’m going to call someone!”

While feeling a sense of unease looking at Ethan’s face, the woman was even more wary because of it.

However, even knowing that, Kaise couldn’t take his eyes off Lenok.

The mage slowly tilting his glass, his dark blue eyes turning to look at Kaise.

The Kyunroe standing in front of Kaise was not the clumsy freelancer from the past timeline.

A great mage who had obtained the transcendent lightning through the subjugation battle. A seeker who had obtained the same domain as Kaise.

The Kyunroe himself, who had been with Kaise until just before, was present here instead of the past Kyunroe.

‘Domain, time resistance, multi-dimensional aptitude, immutable body… Is this all the possibilities I can think of right now?’

In this world where all sorts of mysteries and wonders run rampant, regression is not an invincible power that cannot be countered.

The fierce battles he had experienced while facing all sorts of monsters and geniuses from the start of the project to its failure.

Among them, there were also transcendents who possessed the talent to recognize regression or block it.

What Kaise recalled were the most fatal elements or aptitudes from countless regressions.

Those who possessed an innate resistance to time manipulation, or those who had the talent to perceive multiple dimensions.

Or those who had obtained a body capable of responding to any external changes.

Either way, they were the qualities of the strong that even Kaise had to defeat after many trials.

However, Lenok did not rush, even while watching Kaise lost in thought.

Instead, he simply raised his hand towards the woman who was looking at him with a wary expression.

“I’ll have an Alter Wallet, please. Put it on this one’s tab.”

“Oh, so you’re buying because you earned a bounty? If you get into the habit of spending money like that already-”

“Jenny.”

Lenok smiled gently as he looked at the woman.

As if smiling while recalling an old memory that he could no longer return to.

“It’s okay. I’ll finish up quickly and leave.”

The moment the woman paused after seeing Lenok like that, Lenok spoke.

“It’ll be just a moment. Don’t worry.”

“……”

Why was it that she, who had dealt with all sorts of oddballs in District 49, couldn’t refuse Lenok’s request?

The moment the woman, with a strange expression at her own incomprehensible reaction, moved away from her spot.

Kaise opened his mouth with a blank face.

“How… are you here?”

At the end of the Kyunroe subjugation battle, Lenok and Kaise had simultaneously deployed the Taiji Shattering Calamity Leaf [a powerful domain expansion technique].

However, Lenok’s deployed magnetic domain could not stop Kaise’s regression.

Kyunroe, who did not possess the talent of reverse heaven [a talent that allows one to manipulate time], could not exist in the same timeline as Kaise.

Nevertheless, the one present here was undoubtedly the Kyunroe himself that Kaise had faced.

“Kyunroe. You-”

“You shouldn’t have the talent of reverse heaven, right?”

Lenok said calmly as he tilted his glass.

“You’re right. I didn’t regress. Nor did I travel back through the past timeline. I don’t think that method is right in the first place.”

“……”

“Everyone is given one chance. Everyone is finding their own answer within that one life.”

Lenok, slowly turning his gaze, spoke.

“It is so precious because it is only one chance… and it has meaning because it is only one life. I am no different from others.”

“……”

Lenok quietly met Kaise’s gaze, who did not answer.

“I was able to strive and yearn so much because I knew it was the last. I can cherish this moment even more because I know there is only one chance.”

“……”

“I am still here because I found meaning in the process rather than the result.”

Lenok slowly put down his glass and stood up from his seat, and said.

“So, I can’t fall behind you here.”

“That doesn’t explain why you can follow my regression.”

Kaise said with a blank face.

“My abilities, expanded to their limits through the project, are a miracle that changes the world… a power adjusted in the form of a literal ideological domain.”

“……”

“Does that mean that your answer alone has fulfilled the qualities or talents needed to stand in the same timeline as me?”

“It’s not that I have a heart because I found the answer.”

Lenok said quietly.

“The process of finding the answer is also part of my heart.”

The question and answer that he had given to the past Kaise in the closed area, repeated once again, transcending time.

The old bar in District 49 that existed even before the reconstruction.

Lenok and Kaise met eyes in front of the bar counter in the dimly lit bar.

“But… in the end, explaining it in words would be meaningless. Because everything you and I have done was built up by deciding and doing it ourselves.”

Lenok smiled as he tilted his glass.

“If you want, let’s continue. Because no matter what we do, the result won’t change.”

“……”

“I’ll keep waiting in this spot.”

“……I see.”

Kaise raised his power with a blank face.

Because he also knew what Lenok meant by saying these words.

The questions, the answers, and even all the confusion, were things that had to be figured out on one’s own.

Because both of them were seekers who had reached this point while searching for the next step-

“In the end, you shouldn’t leave the task of confirming the answer to others.”

Charrrrrrrrrk!!!!!

Underneath the two, the clock hands rotated once again, causing a surge.

“You’re right, Kyunroe.”

Kaise muttered, looking at the receding Lenok.

“I will continue to move on to the next iteration. No matter what ending exists at the end of it-”

Kwaaaaaaang!!!!

Kaise’s regression was a miracle that rewound time entirely based on the point where the ideological domain manifested.

As long as the ideological domain was maintained, Kaise could change the regressed timeline as many times as he wanted.

He just needed to find a timeline where the current Kyunroe did not exist, close the ideological domain, and fix the iteration.

Click.

The clock hands quickly reversed, and he landed in front of the dilapidated power plant.

The time when Kyunroe first learned his unique magic and achieved his accomplishments as a military mage.

At this time, when he had stolen and learned unique magic from an electric mage who had been expelled from the Torben Magic Tower-

Kwaaaaaaang!!!!!

A pillar of dark blue lightning fell, and the shape of the power plant disappeared as it was annihilated.

A hellscape where transcendent lightning fiercely rotated, erasing everything in all directions.

From beyond the collapsing power plant, the figure of a young man holding dark blue lightning, looking down at Kaise.

Click.

Without hesitation, he changed the timeline again.

The time when he killed Parden McQueen, the 1st president of the Cartel, and reached level 7.

The decisive battleground in an unnamed city with tall buildings.

Kugwagwagwagwa!!!!

Black-blue lightning surged like a tidal wave, erasing everything.

From beyond the collapsing domain of the White Rakshasa Corps, along with Parden McQueen’s corpse, someone was looking directly at this side-

Click.

The Madrich Onion’s Mangryang Chain [a type of weapon or technique] was split, and a dark blue thunder god raged wildly.

Click.

The mage standing on Anathema’s corpse smiled, scattering ominous glints in his eyes.

Click.

While supporting the stunned Maleon, he looked back at Kaise amidst the falling meteor shower.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Every moment. Every past. In every timeline, the ‘current’ Lenok faced Kaise.

No matter how much he turned back time, no matter how much he chose a different timeline, Lenok was already there.

Even after regressing hundreds of times to find a different iteration, the ‘past’ Lenok did not exist.

Kaise, realizing that fact, frowned for the first time as if he was at a loss.

“Could it be-”

An absoluteness that always existed identically in all timelines of a single human being’s life.

Could that mage, by any chance, possess the same fate or characteristics as Alcaide?

More dangerous and unknown than any talent or aptitude that Kaise had assumed-

“Why the long face?”

Click.

Lenok, who was entering the hearing room, asked Kaise while sitting in the wheelchair pulled by Antares.

“Wasn’t there still plenty more you could do?”

“……No.”

Kaise raised his gaze in front of the shattered Ascension Gate of Hermes.

“Clinging to one method for too long… I’ve done that enough to be sick of it.”

“……”

“Kyunroe. If you can maintain your current self in all the times you’ve lived. If you’ve obtained an immutable absoluteness-”

Kaise raised his magic power with a blank face.

“Let’s start again from a much, much further past.”

Charrrrrrrrrk!!!!!

Further back than the timeline when Kyunroe first appeared in Vulcan.

Towards the past, decades before Kyunroe was even born.

The past timeline that Kaise Bajur himself had repeatedly regressed to.

Before the project even took shape. Before everything began.

Clank!

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

The Taiji Shattering Calamity Leaf shook violently, and the timeline began to rage.

****

Since obtaining the ability of regression, Kaise had been constantly rewinding his past.

If he failed, he would try again. If something went wrong, he would try again. If he gave up, he would try again.

After stabilizing the ability of regression using the project, how much time had he spent on regression?

How many times had Kaise himself regressed through the time he had lived, re-experiencing and reliving it?

At one time, he thought it was nostalgic, then he thought it was boring, and after that, it only felt painful.

And now, he felt nothing.

Kaise’s past, which he had endlessly faced and relived, unfolded before his eyes.

Like back then when he had regressed almost infinitely, the events of decades ago flowed like a panorama.

[Kaise. Do you really have to do it that way?]

[I believe in your abilities, but this is too reckless of a challenge.]

[You’re going to fail. We’ll all be in danger.]

The time before the project started, when he was going through various trials and errors to prevent the destruction.

Kaise, who had traveled the continent in search of a method, had friends who had been with him for a long time by his side.

The seekers of truth who had realized that this world was the last. The seekers who were trying to prevent the destruction.

Comrades who loved this world as much as Kaise himself.

His friends, who were worried about Kaise, soon smiled as if they couldn’t help it.

[Well, let’s give it a try.]

[I’ll follow you to the end if it’s something you’re doing.]

[It’s right to struggle even before the destruction comes. Isn’t it?]

[Come on. I’ll show you how to use the newly created research equipment.]

Kaise, in his clumsy days, learned a lot from his comrades.

How to uncover the truth of this world. How to research and control the talent of reverse heaven.

How to share emotions with others. Even how to find meaning in a life different from others.

They taught him how to accept and live with finite life and death.

They were friends, lovers, comrades, brothers, and teachers.

Kaise also believed that he would be with them until the end.

Click.

Time passed, and the scenery that unfolded before Kaise’s eyes also changed.

[Kaise. I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.]

[Too many comrades have left… I think I’ve reached my limit.]

[I can’t bear to see you die. But if I can’t stop you… I guess this is where we part ways.]

The time when he was breaking free from the cycle of short lives and gradually controlling the talent of reverse heaven that Kaise possessed.

As time passed, his friends grew old, and Kaise gradually became younger.

As the appearance of his body changed, his opinions also differed from those he had believed he would be with for life.

His comrades, who had tried to prevent the destruction, grew old and changed their minds one by one, or died before that.

More and more people left to find their own meaning before the end approached.

Kaise tried to persuade them to stay until the end, but it was too late for many things.

Click.

Time passed again, and the scenery changed once more.

The empty research lab. Kaise, left alone after all his comrades had left.

Oliviera, with her face covered by a veil, stood behind him.

[It’s a futile struggle, haven’t I told you that countless times?]

[…Oliviera. You’re still here.]

Kaise, who had been blankly staring at his papers while slumped down, raised his head.

He glanced at her, confirming her face, and gave a weak smile.

[I didn’t think you’d just watch my failure without offering any help. How does it feel, are you satisfied now?]

[Hmph… I have no interest in a spectacle with a predetermined ending. What happened here was nothing more than a foolish act of reliving a failure that has been repeated for hundreds of years.]

Oliviera scoffed.

[It’s only natural that it ends in a catastrophe. It was decided long ago that your so-called friends and comrades would give up.]

[Yeah… maybe so.]

Kaise staggered to his feet.

[But, I haven’t given up yet.]

[…]

[I thought I had tried everything… but there’s still one method left.]

Kaise turned towards Oliviera and slowly pointed at himself.

[I’m going to use my reverse heaven talent to reverse the time of this world.]

[…You.]

[I’ve always been filled with regret.]

Kaise spoke softly, ignoring Oliviera’s hesitation.

[If only I could have done better back then… I’ve wasted time thinking that.]

[…]

[I’m going to rewind even the time I regretted and create infinite opportunities. If I look back at all the failures of this world that way…]

Kaise hesitated before speaking.

[At least, I might be able to find a path towards an answer.]

[There’s no way you can attempt such a thing alone. Have you found some method?]

[I’ve found a new patron. Someone who knows a great deal… and someone who is somewhat similar to me. Or, I don’t know if I can even call them a person.]

Kaise’s expression clouded over, but he soon gave a weak smile.

[I’m thinking of building a new city and using it as a base to organize one last project. What do you say, are you interested?]

Silence fell.

Oliviera must also know how absurd Kaise’s plan was.

To process the reverse heaven talent, adjust it to the authority of regression, and through that, infinitely rewind the failures of the world.

Kaise knew that the ever-cold Oliviera would never lend a hand to such a reckless plan.

Kaise himself wouldn’t have even considered carrying out this plan if he didn’t have a patron.

Even so, why did he propose the project to her back then?

A feeling he had forgotten long ago, yet clearly held onto at that time… it seemed to be there.

In the midst of the infinitely repeated regressions, Kaise vaguely recalled that moment.

Oliviera asked.

[What’s the name of the project?]

[Name?]

[You say you’re going to change the world, and yet you haven’t even thought of a name for your plan?]

Kaise stroked his chin, lost in thought with a haggard look.

[I haven’t really thought about it… but if you think about it, we’re in a position to force our existence beyond destruction. From the world’s perspective, we’re more like troublesome customers.]

[…]

[That’s right. We’re being stubborn because we want to grasp qualifications and a future that haven’t been given to us. So, the name of the project is-]

Again and again.

Kaise looked back at this moment again and again.

During his infinite regressions, he would sometimes deliberately turn back time to stand before her.

This moment when everything failed, and everything started again.

To not forget the resolve he had made here. To not lose the answer he had decided on here.

Even in the moments when his heart and soul were worn down, and even his emotions were fading away, he didn’t want to lose this.

Even now, when he couldn’t feel anything, he habitually turned back time and stood here.

Like a compulsion, he spoke the same words and acted out his emotions while talking to Oliviera.

And so-

“The name of the project is Black Consumer.”

When he heard Lenok’s voice from behind, even Kaise couldn’t help but react.

“We’ve been stubbornly dreaming of unpermitted qualifications and rights for decades.”

“…”

In the darkened research lab where the lights had gone out.

At the place where everything had started again, Lenok stood holding a dark blue lightning bolt.

The figure of a mage, wrapped in blackish-blue lightning, quietly looking at Kaise.

“I’ve seen you once in the restricted area. I remember.”

“…You.”

“It must be because Oliviera also remembered this moment.”

It was impossible.

This place was not the past of Kyunroe, but Kaise’s past that existed long before that.

In terms of time, it was a time when the human Kyunroe had not even been born yet.

Even if he had the absoluteness of existing identically in the timeline that Kyunroe had lived, there was no way he could be here when he hadn’t even been born yet.

And yet, the fact that Lenok was perfectly fine here meant-

“An interesting method. Are you going back to the beginning before the project even started and repeating it from the start?”

Lenok stroked his chin, not paying attention to Kaise.

“If you were trying to regress to a timeline where I don’t exist, there’s no need to start from here.”

“…”

“Ah, I see. It’s because you obtained Ethan Bajur’s body, so you’re rewinding the timeline ‘from the beginning’.”

Even as Kaise was at a loss for words, Lenok quickly found the answer on his own.

“Even if you’re blood relatives, your faces aren’t perfectly identical. If you regress to the middle of the project, someone who knows your original face would feel a sense of incongruity.”

“…”

“Amazing. To be so concerned about other people’s reactions and feelings. I thought regressors would be insensitive to such things.”

Lenok smiled.

“Or is that the only ‘meaning’ left in your regression?”

“…!!!”

For the first time, a faint crack appeared within Kaise.

Something he thought had been completely worn away in the infinite regressions.

Before he could even realize that it was a fragment of an emotion he had forgotten long ago-

Click!

[Kaise. Do you really have to do it this way?]

[I believe in your abilities, but this is too reckless of a challenge.]

[You’re going to fail. We’ll all be in danger.]

“You have good friends.”

Lenok stood beside Kaise’s worried comrades.

“Do you remember all of their names?”

Click!!!

[Kaise. I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.]

[Too many comrades have left… I think I’ve reached my limit.]

[I can’t bear to see you die. But if I can’t stop you… I guess this is where we part ways.]

“They were more worried about you than the success of the plan.”

Lenok said, watching the departing comrades with Kaise.

“Maybe they wanted you to say you’d give up. In fact, you probably knew it too.”

“…”

“You always wanted more than you had, even though you knew something was missing.”

Lenok smiled next to the silent Kaise.

“Perhaps it’s because that deficiency is similar to mine… that I’ve been following you all this time.”

Click!!!

[What’s the name of the project?]

[Name?]

[You say you’re going to change the world, and yet you haven’t even thought of a name for your plan?]

“Here again?”

Lenok stood behind Oliviera.

“No matter how many times you regress, no matter how many times you rewind… you always stop here.”

“…”

“It must have been a precious memory?”

Charrrrrrrrk!!!!!

Regress, and regress again.

Endlessly going back up the timeline of the past, starting again from the beginning.

[Kaise. Do you really have to do it this way?]

[Kaise. I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.]

[The name of the project is Black Consumer.]

The clock hands wildly flailed, moving towards the timeline beyond.

Until the moment he found a cycle where Lenok was not present in the infinite regressions.

Searching for a timeline where Lenok did not accompany Kaise’s regression.

[Kaise, are you perhaps… a regressor?]

[I’ve finally gained a Crimson as a comrade. From now on, we can touch the Ascenders’ domain.]

[I’m Lacy. A humble vampire. I’ve heard about your plans.]

Kwaaaaaaaa!!!!

Forgetting even the order and flow of time, he continued to regress.

The memories of the project’s progress towards success.

[Lord Kaise. Someone from the Imperial Palace… has come to see you.]

[They say they want to negotiate about the fate of Ars Nova.]

But, Lenok is with him in all those moments.

The moment Kaise moves to the next cycle and stands before another timeline.

The blackish-blue lightning always reveals its presence as if it had been waiting.

Repeated regressions. The boundary between the past and the present. As if time and place had no meaning.

And, as time passed, a turning point arrived.

[Nice to meet you. Kaise Bajur. I am Yuseong, the Left Vice-Minister of the Imperial Palace of the Empire.]

[Those born with the magic of reverse heaven all die young before the age of 20, and their magic is twisted, making it difficult to learn martial arts or spells.]

[Kaise. You are the one who has survived the longest with that cursed bloodline ability, and the only one who has managed to control that talent.]

[There are not many seekers who repeat trial and error like you, nor are there many who have come so close to the answer.]

[We are interested in the editing of talent that you have found after endless failures.]

[So, would you like to make a deal?]

A guest who had come from the Ars Nova Empire’s Imperial Palace, with whom he had rarely been involved in countless regressions.

Yet, the existence of a ‘noble’ who accurately recognized the true nature of Kaise Bajur’s abilities.

The catalyst that decisively twisted the Black Consumer project.

And the catalyst that made the project closer to the ‘answer’ than anything else.

[I have a proposal… regarding the Corpse Emperor.]

“Corpse Emperor, huh.”

Lenok was standing behind Kaise before he knew it.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard the Emperor of the Empire called by that name.”

“…”

“Even the nobles and Ascenders of Ars Nova didn’t call the Emperor that. Is there… a reason?”

“…I see.”

For the first time, Kaise properly turned to look at Lenok.

Only after coming this far, was Kaise finally able to understand the truth.

“You weren’t… regressing with me.”

“…”

“If you had the ability to regress, there’s no way you could have come this far. It’s impossible for you to exist in my past, beyond the time you’ve lived.”

If Lenok’s ability was the absoluteness of existing identically in all the timelines he had lived, it would explain why he was not affected by regression.

But even if he had such a talent, there was no way he could exist in the past, long before Lenok was born and existed.

It wasn’t just the talent of absoluteness that maintained his ‘current’ self regardless of the past and present time.

A totality of powers that was far more incomprehensible and far more unrealistic.

“You’re not here because you’re rewinding time with me. From the beginning, it wasn’t just your absoluteness, but-”

Kaise’s gaze passed Lenok and slowly went towards the lower part.

Since he started regressing using the Taeyeok Soegeop Yeop [Reverse Heaven Technique], Lenok’s presence had always appeared before Kaise.

And the dark blue lightning that was always with Lenok at those times.

Kaise, who had finally reached the answer, looked at the blackish-blue lightning.

“It was the result of the 9th level lightning magic you obtained.”

“That’s right.”

Lenok smiled.

“I’m not doing something like regressing with you. Nor have I been following you from behind.”

Lenok slowly raised the dark blue lightning he was holding and tilted his head.

“I’m just… existing here ‘prior’ to all the timelines you regress to.”

“…Prior, you say?”

“It’s the prescience I had to obtain to face a transcendent regressor.”

Lenok slowly moved his feet.

Each time, the dark blue lightning flickered, pushing Lenok forward in the timeline of this world.

Like lightning that exists before all changes, no matter how much the timeline is changed or rewound.

The power of the ideal that Torburn, the Master of the Magic Tower, had once told Lenok about in a dream.

Pulling the causality of lightning to the very end, reaching the very beginning of one’s life-

“A transcendent lightning that exists ‘prior’ to all causes and results in this world.”

“…”

“Kaise. This is what I finally obtained after reaching the 9th level of the divergence point-”

Fzzzzzzzz!

Lenok said, gripping the lightning that was dyed in dark blue light.

“It’s called Extreme Lightning Magic.”