Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 565

Kaise’s eyes, which had been blankly taking in the words, slowly regained their focus.

He looked at the shadow, which stood proudly, adorned with various techniques, then nodded and stood up.

“Yeah, seeing that makes it clear… I guess the future me didn’t succeed after all.”

“……”

“Was it because I didn’t succeed that this space was needed, and my existence was left here?”

Even though Kaise had been unconscious when he received the message directly from the shadow, he seemed to grasp the whole situation instantly.

“If the existence dreaming here wasn’t a legacy of success, but a lingering regret of failure, then I should end it here even more.”

As Kaise said that, he raised his bloodied hand and slowly began to form hand seals [a series of gestures used in magic or martial arts].

He closed his eyes, quietly focused his mind, and spoke to Lenox.

“The task is the same. Deploy the magnetic field to completely reverse the time of the fixation device, end the non-existent scattering process, and destroy the vessel itself.”

“I see.”

Lenox nodded and slowly stood in front of Kaise.

He would buy time until Kaise deployed the magnetic field and superimposed his mental image onto the fixation device, while also surviving Alcaide’s arrangements.

Lenox, looking at the giant ghost ship looming overhead and the giant statue riding on it, Arjumarta, gathered all of his remaining magical power.

Woo-woo-woo-woong…!!!

The moment the electric current burst from his tattered coat, surging and rotating.

The shadow, looking at Lenox, raised its hand again.

[Oooooo!!!]

Several arms of the statue on the ghost ship moved simultaneously, forming hand seals, and deploying Parden McQueen’s release technique [a technique that enhances or releases magical power] and the main gate diagram at the same time.

At the same time, a swarm of military spirits [magical constructs or entities] created on the ship fell like a waterfall towards the rooftop of the outlet, rushing towards Lenox.

Amidst the swarm of military spirits falling from above and the bright yellow light of the release technique, flashes of light magic flickered madly.

Amidst the ceaseless waves of light, Lenox, who had firmly raised his carapace shield [a shield made from a protective shell], converted his remaining magical power into the will of lightning and swung it.

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!!!!

An illusion as if all the other ground and space, except for the space where Lenox and Kaise were standing, was burning and disappearing without a trace.

Beyond that, Kaise focused his mind and began to hammer all of his remaining magical power into his inner mental image.

Kwaaaang!!

Amidst the pouring waves of light, the shadow moved and clashed with Lenox.

The shadow’s fist, which had narrowed the distance in an instant by swinging its armored wings, lightly shattered the shield and slammed into his abdomen.

“……!!”

His breath caught with the shock of one of his ribs being crushed.

Excruciating pain transmitted through his numbed senses, despite being slathered in painkillers.

Lenox’s expression slightly distorted, but there was no time to be rolling around.

The moment he forcibly twisted his body with magic threads, Gilleon’s space-tearing ability manifested, shattering the spot where Lenox had been standing just a moment ago.

“Cough!!”

Lenox, who was coughing up blood incessantly, staggered to his feet and pulled out another painkiller with his trembling hand.

The elixirs he always carried with him to replenish his magical power had already been used up.

But even so, the reason why Lenox had been able to hold out and buy time for Kaise until now.

It was because the abilities of the past superhumans that the shadow imitated and used were fundamentally faithful to their essence.

Oliviera’s light magic was only used for linear bombardment, and Madrich Onion’s military spirit technique was used for large-scale area control.

Parden McQueen’s release technique focused on technique assistance, and Gilleon’s space-tearing ability occasionally introduced variables into the battle structure.

If one could read the essence and optimized purpose of all those techniques, one could foresee in what structure and with what ability the shadow would pressure Lenox.

The time it took for the shadow to switch between and freely manipulate and fire the four techniques and abilities was within 0.2 seconds.

It was impossible to react after seeing it in front of that technique deployment ability that surpassed human reaction speed.

From the very first moment when Lenox was protecting Kaise and buying time, he had been focusing only on predicting and dodging all of the opponent’s techniques that he remembered.

Kwaang!!

The waves of light pouring madly from behind the shadow shattered even the remaining shield fragments and slammed into the carapace shield.

Amidst the carapace shield being pushed back helplessly, the shadow and Lenox’s figure flashed.

He was only barely managing to withstand the attacks by gathering what little remaining strength he had amidst the burning and evaporating light of magical power.

His magical power, as well as his mental image, mental strength, and energy, were scraping the bottom and reaching their limits.

But even so, Lenox, with the reason of a transcendent magician, did not forget what he had to do until the very end.

He did not lament or make excuses that the situation would have been different if he had been in normal condition.

There was no other escape route.

There was no time to find a better solution here.

He believed that the method he had decided on was correct, and he was using even the energy to think to live in this moment.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!

The will of the electric current swirling at his fingertips was fading, and the magic threads that had been binding and manipulating his body were breaking one by one, but he did not stop.

Even as he was being broken and cut off helplessly like a staggering puppet, he supported his body with his remaining arms, head, and legs, and bought another second.

He added a mind that had surpassed its limits to a body that had surpassed its limits.

“I see.”

A hollow smile formed between his lips, which were dripping with blood.

“Was this what it felt like?”

Absurdly, at that moment, Lenox felt like he could vaguely understand what the technique called ‘Two-in’ meant.

* * *

He was staggering as if he would break, but he did not break.

Kwaaaang!!!

He seemed like he would collapse at any moment, but he did not collapse in the end.

Lenox’s ability to endure by circling between close-quarters combat and bombardment with the magical power that was now less than a handful was beyond the realm of calculation and cognition.

Kaise, watching Lenox’s desperate struggle, was forming hand seals with his trembling hands.

“Damn it… Damn it…!!”

His bloodied face, with sweat pouring down, was clearly filled with impatience.

Kaga-ga-gak!!!

His fingernails were peeling off and blood was dripping from the fingertips that were forming hand seals and drawing magic circles on the ground.

His skin on his fingers was completely peeled off, and his lips, which were chanting, were cracked and chapped as he focused his mind,

But even so, nothing happened to elevate and swell Kaise’s inner self.

“The mental image…!!”

The magnetic field was not deploying.

The colorless wave that should have served as a stepping stone to superimpose the mental image was nowhere to be seen.

This situation, where the major premise for solving this problem according to the two’s plan was blocked from the start.

No matter how much he pulled up his magical power and focused his mind according to the sensations in his memory, no answer came back.

“……I see.”

Kaise’s face wavered for a brief moment, filled with despair, and then turned into a calm and static frustration.

“Is it because… I’m just a substitute?”

His trembling lips inadvertently uttered a truth he never wanted to face.

The movement of his bloodied hands forming hand seals slowly stopped.

The magnetic field was a technique that superimposed the caster’s original mental image onto reality.

But if the caster did not have a mental image, it was natural that the field to deploy it would not manifest.

Absurdly, it was at this point that Kaise realized more clearly than ever that he was just a false illusion.

In the end, Kaise Bajur standing here was not the true self who had lived in reality.

He was just a fragment left in the forgotten memories of the past, fixed as if dreaming.

He thought he had already perfectly understood and completely accepted that.

But reality always tells the truth in a more cruel way than expected.

Kaise, who was just a memory of the past, could not bring this spacetime to an end after all.

He was just a byproduct of failure, left in a timeline that had already failed.

It was different from the case of Kaise’s companions who existed as memories of the past.

He was the one who directly designed and intervened in this fixed spacetime, and as the center of this spacetime designed as a substitute for himself.

Because he was the only one who could recognize and break down the contradiction of this dream.

Ironically, Kaise himself was not allowed to deploy a mental image.

It was too late to realize that fact.

“……”

Effort does not always come with a reward.

Desire is not always followed by compensation.

He knew that asking a question did not mean that an answer would come back.

He was not trying to change fate while expecting a beautiful ending like in a fairy tale.

But-

Screeeech!!!

A bloodied figure crashed down and collapsed next to Kaise, who was sitting blankly.

“What… are you… blankly… watching…?”

A faint voice, as if it would break, leaked out from between Lenox’s head, which was bent to one side.

“……The field won’t open. The plan has failed.”

Kaise answered quietly.

“As it is, the spacetime of the Ramahal area will be reset entirely, and you and I will be trapped here together. I’m sorry.”

“……”

“It was an impossible plan for me from the start, since I don’t have a mental image. I should have realized that sooner…”

The collapse of spacetime was accelerating, and now all the other streets except for the area near the power plant site had collapsed and turned into an unknown void.

Beyond that, the figure of the shadow, resembling a young Kaise, was slowly walking closer.

Kaise, facing the moment when the end was approaching, muttered blankly.

“Even if I was left in the memories of the past, I thought I could leave hope at the end… but things don’t always go as planned.”

“……Ha.”

Lenox, who was breathing heavily, chuckled.

“In a world where monsters are swimming over the dark sea… and destruction is approaching… what kind of hope are you trying to wish for?”

“……”

“It’s not hope… I’m looking for a way…”

Lenox raised his trembling hand and placed it on the back of Kaise’s bloodied hand.

“It’s not a qualification… I’m creating an answer.”

Woo-woo-woo-woong!!!!

Vast magical power erupted from Lenox’s entire body.

It was an overwhelming power that was hard to believe was coming from a magician who had just scraped the bottom of his remaining magical power.

In Lenox’s other hand, the glass vial that had contained Kaise’s serum was completely empty.

His serum, which he had secretly taken when he met Kaise at the particle power plant.

A powerful medium that triggered the power of time reversal, which he had kept until the very end, thinking that he might need it.

The moment Kaise, who realized that Lenox had drunk the serum and forcibly reversed his internal magical power to inflate his output, opened his mouth blankly.

“If you need a chance to choose… I’ll create it for you.”

Faaaah!!!

At the same time, a colorless wave that erupted from the center of Kaise devoured the cracks and collapses of spacetime and began to swell madly in size.

Lenox’s last move, which he had kept until the end to deploy the magnetic field.

He poured all of that power and mental image into this place and superimposed it onto reality.

Magnetic Field Deployment: Branch Point Observation