Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 566

Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!!!!

An overwhelming roar that devoured reality and shook the heavens and earth.

A majestic echo of creation, as if opening a new world.

The moment he opened his eyes, Kaise was floating in a vast, dark void.

“……!!”

The bottom of the vast void was so immense that he flinched, thinking he might have been thrown beyond the outer sea [a metaphorical term for the edge of the known universe or reality].

Surrounding Kaise, vibrations burst forth as if playing an instrument, exploding in unison and taking on a golden hue.

Faaaah!!!

An area of kaleidoscope that shone brightly through the dark universe, illuminating the branching points of infinite possibilities.

In the endless void where neither sky nor earth existed, Kaise blankly stared at the image in his mind.

“This is, this is…….”

The magnificent golden kaleidoscope continued to illuminate the endless reaches of the universe.

The golden light, permeating the unknown void, rotated perfectly centered, opening hundreds of paths.

A branching point of infinite possibilities, unbelievable for a single mage to possess.

Only then could Kaise understand why Lenox hadn’t wavered for even a moment in the face of his manipulation of perceived time.

This is not a human mind.

This is not a scene that a living being’s mind can construct.

A conceptual form that transcends the limits and shackles of existence.

The mind of a transcendent who has grasped the possibilities of the future, not the past or present.

The key of a respondent who has reached the end of the sky and is knocking beyond it.

Even though he was seeing its meaning and true value with his own eyes, he couldn’t dare imagine that such a thing could exist.

“How… how can a human have such a thing….”

If one were to endlessly depict the mind of a seeker searching for an unattainable answer, would it look like this?

To take something that doesn’t exist and mold it into an image with one’s own mind, how much absurd talent and desire would be needed?

While Kaise was overwhelmed by the unfathomable meaning and lost his words,

Lenox’s voice echoed quietly from behind him.

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

Lenox stood there, looking at him, his body battered and bruised.

Even though his whole body was covered in blood, the mage’s eyes shone brightly.

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

“…….”

“The fact that you can enter my mental realm is proof that you are not the real Kaise. But so what?”

Lenox said.

“If you are an existence that craves an answer, then within my world, that is the absolute truth.”

“……That’s an arrogant statement.”

Kaise chuckled unintentionally.

“Are you planning to judge this world based on the standards set by your mind?”

Instead of answering, Lenox quietly raised his hand.

The brilliant and beautiful golden kaleidoscope that floated behind his back.

Among them, he pointed to a golden ring that was empty and showed nothing.

As if it had been prepared for Kaise at this very moment.

“Choose.”

Lenox said, looking into Kaise’s eyes.

“Here, you can properly draw out even the possibilities of mental images that didn’t originally exist for you, and leave meaning within me.”

“…….”

“Instead, you will disappear and vanish in the distorted space-time, as originally planned.”

“What will you do if I don’t?”

“I will have to do it.”

Lenox answered without hesitation.

“You’ll die?”

“Having come this far, what is there to hesitate about?”

“I see…….”

Upon hearing those words, Kaise nodded as if he finally understood.

“Indeed, a mage with such a mental image wouldn’t have hesitated from the start.”

“…….”

“Gathering the infinite branching points of the future, you made the desire to find an answer your mind. It’s a pity, if someone like you had been with me, I would have….”

Kaise said that, then chuckled.

There was no point in expressing such regret now; it was a meaningless thing that wouldn’t remain anywhere.

No, surely the lingering attachment Kaise left behind would remain in that mage’s mind.

But Kaise didn’t want to leave such useless sentimentality in this mage’s mind, which was full of possibilities.

The mental image that had taken root in this man’s inner self was already a result that was nothing short of a miracle.

Adding his lingering attachment to this transcendent culmination of mind, which surpassed perfection, would only make it look ugly.

From the very first moment he faced Lenox’s mental image, Kaise had already made his decision.

Without any lingering attachment, Kaise approached the nearest golden kaleidoscope and raised his hand.

The moment his hand touched the dazzling golden ring, the scenery inside the kaleidoscope began to change little by little.

The vast, empty dark universe transformed, following the changing scenery inside the kaleidoscope.

Faaaaaaaat!!!!

“Thank you.”

Kaise smiled within the changing scenery of the realm.

Even if the self standing here was just a memory left in the past, and his future self was already dead and gone.

Someone would always set out to find the answer again.

Even if it wasn’t conveyed, the desire would continue.

Even if Kaise himself couldn’t provide the answer, someone else would continue to move towards the conclusion.

As long as they seek the answer, they will not stop.

Magnetic Field Deployment

Ideological Hierarchy Mental Image Manifestation

[Fetal Reversal Shackled Leaf]

Deudeudeudeudeuk!!!!

A vast, endless disc filled the dazzling end of space-time without leaving any gaps.

The shape of unknown markings peeking from below the ground.

Only then did Lenox realize that he was standing on a giant clock whose size he couldn’t measure.

Ticking, tock……!!

The land of a giant clock that was constantly turning.

But its second and minute hands were not rotating clockwise, but counterclockwise.

As if reversing the concept of time.

Lenox stood on the giant hour hand, and Kaise faced him on the minute hand.

Using the long hour and minute hands as boats, they were going against the great river of time.

Magnetic Field Fetal Reversal Shackled Leaf.

Kaise’s fundamental mental image, which grasped the concept of time, using reverse magic as its power source.

The mind of a pioneer who would endlessly rewind time and repeat failures, but would ultimately find the answer.

Lenox, who was looking at Kaise’s realm while standing on the hour hand, asked.

“Space-time fixation device. Is it okay if it’s not visible within the realm?”

“It’s fine.”

Kaise said, looking back at Lenox while standing on the minute hand.

“I’m not going to reverse the time of the fixation device, but my own time, to erase the very fact that I existed in this space-time.”

“…….”

“Even if the timeline is fixed, the range of the fixed time is limited. If I go beyond that limit and my existence itself disappears, this space and the beings bound to it will naturally vanish.”

The Alcaide [a term for a powerful mage or leader] who was with him during the Black Consumer Project and the Alcaide who left a shadow in this space were different beings.

Kaise was aware of that fact, and he had decided to completely eliminate this fixed space-time and the existence of the shadow.

“Originally, reversing time to this extent is not something I am allowed to do… but in exchange for leaving meaning in your realm, I can walk to the end of possibility. That’s enough.”

He began to walk towards the end of the vast minute hand, which had no end in sight.

“If this space itself is a lingering attachment left by my future self… I refuse to dwell on that failure.”

Ticking, tock.

The more the clock reversed, the more the surrounding scenery flipped and accelerated, and the speed became even faster.

A space-time realm spinning madly. Everything around them began to reverse, leaving only Lenox and Kaise standing on the clock.

“Be careful of the future me.”

Kaise said, glancing at Lenox.

“During the project, I never once thought about finding a substitute.”

“…….”

“Even so, the fact that my future self left this point as a sample of a substitute… there must be a good reason for it.”

That was probably related to the fundamental cause of the Black Consumer Project’s failure.

Kaise Bajur of the future, who had already died. He wasn’t saying to be careful of that dead man.

He was warning that if they didn’t find out the reason why the future Kaise had changed, it might be difficult to find the truth.

Shuuuuung!!

With a faint tearing sound, Kaise’s figure on the second hand began to pick up speed.

Amidst the incessant sound of gears, Lenox said, watching Kaise move away.

“Your granddaughter’s face. Is it okay not to see it?”

“…….”

Kaise’s steps came to a halt.

Lenox opened his mouth again, looking at his back.

“At that time, I didn’t fully understand your intentions, so I stopped you with a plausible excuse… but if you want, I can show you.”

Within Kaise’s magnetic field, which used reverse magic on a time scale, there was still a moment of leeway.

How Jenny had lived during the time he was gone, what she had done in the back alleys of Vulcan [likely a city or region], what kind of past she had endured, and what kind of future she was envisioning.

He could show as much as Kaise wanted.

He could tell him what his only remaining blood relative was remembered as in this world.

But Kaise hesitated for a long time, then answered in a faint voice.

“Perhaps it’s because he inherited my nature ambiguously, but my son didn’t live long.”

“…….”

“So I didn’t think that child would have a daughter.”

Kaise quietly lifted his gaze and looked at the space-time beyond the realm.

“It’s okay. If she’s living well, it might be better to leave without knowing more… I just hope she’s happy. Even that would be a lingering attachment for me.”

Was he saying that he would leave even the remaining lingering attachment as a shackle on his own resolve?

Lenox probably wouldn’t have been able to do that.

Not without being certain that it was the only way to move towards the conclusion after shaking off all the confusion and lingering attachments he had left.

Lenox couldn’t fully understand all of Kaise’s resolve, but he respected his decision.

After all, it was impossible for anyone to fully understand his feelings unless they were Kaise himself in this situation.

As the distance between Kaise and Lenox widened, the figure of the giant second hand approached from the other side of the reversing clock.

The moment the second hand intersected with the end of the minute hand, Kaise immediately boarded the second hand without hesitation.

Click, click!!

Amidst the rapidly receding second hand, Kaise bent over and slowly began to release the safety device.

At the same time as releasing the inner geas [a magical binding or oath] that had been placed to construct the clock’s mental image, the speed of the turning clock gradually increased.

Woo woo woo woong!!

Kaise’s magnetic field, Fetal Reversal Shackled Leaf, constructed with his mental image.

The safety devices and restrictions that had been set to construct the mental image of a giant clock, using reverse magic as its power source.

Releasing the geas that constructed the mental realm meant pushing the reverse magic to its limit without restriction and causing it to go berserk.

In other words, it meant the peak of time reversal and the end point of the time that Kaise himself had walked.

“You know, Ban…….”

Kaise’s hand, which was releasing the safety device, was trembling faintly.

“Have you ever thought about what might exist beyond the eternal time?”

“…….”

Click, click……!!

The entire mental realm was shaking, and all the parts and hands of the clock were rotating wildly as if they were jumping around.

The only things that remained relatively stable were the hour hand, which moved relatively slowly, and Lenox, who was on it.

Only then did Lenox realize why Kaise had deployed the realm with him on the hour hand.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time… but I still haven’t found the answer.”

Without waiting for Lenox’s answer, Kaise muttered and released all the remaining safety devices.

Woo woo woo woong!!!

The speed at which the second hand reversed became incredibly fast, and Kaise’s figure gradually blurred.

He looked back at Lenox and forced a smile.

“But that would have been the same for my dead future self.”

“……Kaise.”

“This is all I can do. But maybe you’ll be different.”

His back, which was gradually scattering and disappearing, was seen between the endlessly receding second hand.

“If you don’t lose the heart you had when you first started, you won’t regret it at the end. If that’s the case…….”

Then, you can always become an echo for the next step.

The moment he understood the meaning of the blank space that Kaise hadn’t spoken, the land of the giant clock where the two were standing began to collapse.

At the same time, Kaise’s will, which had burst out beyond the realm, reversed and pieced together all existing space-time.

Charrrrrrrrk!!!

All the scenery of space-time that had collapsed and disappeared returned, centered on the hour hand where Lenox was standing.

The scattered and vanished power plant buildings, the downtown area of the closed district that could be seen in all directions, and the rooftop of the thermal exhaust tower where Lenox and Kaise had met.

At the end of the horizon, the boundary line of the giant water wall that separated the closed district.

All those sceneries and views were assembled in reverse, as if putting together a puzzle, filling the gaps in space-time.

As if taking away all the colors of the world once and then giving them back one by one.

Beyond the collapsing scenery of the magnetic field, the colors of the world regained their light and reversed time.

Faaat!!

With the soft sound of the clockwork rewinding incessantly, all the physical laws of the world reversed, regenerating the broken world.

It recreated the scenery of the closed district that Lenox remembered from decades ago.

Kugung……!!

But unlike when he first entered the closed district, the past space-time that had returned by reversing time was cracked and shaking as if it would burst at any moment.

The rooftop of the thermal exhaust tower of the particle power plant. Kaise and the shadow, which looked like it was made by compressing the Milky Way, stood facing each other at the end.

Jjeojeok!!

As cracks appeared and shattered in the fixed past space-time, the shadow’s figure also cracked and faded, slowly scattering and disappearing.

As if collapsing and self-destructing without properly containing the power of starlight, the body made to imitate a human collapsed.

[…….]

The shadow was just quietly watching its own body collapse without any emotion or reaction.

Kaise, who had turned into a young boy, was staring blankly at the shadow.

A small pocket watch held in the boy’s hand was spinning madly in reverse, increasing its speed.

As the pocket watch reversed, the boy’s body continued to become younger, erasing Kaise’s existence itself from this space-time.

The moment Lenox realized that Kaise was materializing the power of the magnetic field through the pocket watch and using it outside the realm.

Kagagak!!

He reversed his own time to the limit, returning his physical age and even the existence of his being to the back of the timeline.

As he recognized Kaise’s existence, who could never exist as a boy at this point, the past space-time itself shook and collapsed.

Udududuk!!

The shadow’s form collapsed along with the past space-time.

In the collapsing and crumbling past, Kaise, who had turned into a boy, looked back at Lenox.

“…….”

He opened his mouth as if to speak to Lenox, then smiled quietly and shook his head.

At the same time as he turned around, Kaise’s back slowly blurred.

The moment Lenox unintentionally reached out his hand towards him, the space-time where Kaise and the shadow were standing faded into a monochrome color.

The light that burst out between the two turned into a storm of dozens of colors and pushed Lenox out.

Kwaaang!!

With the impact of that storm, the past space-time fixed in the closed district finally broke, and the scenery of reality appeared from the outside.

Changrang!!

Even the smell of the air that brushed past his nose changed.

The power plant and the Ramahal district [likely a specific district or area], which had been clean as if they had just been built, had turned into ruins covered in dust as if decades had passed.

The rooftop of the exhaust tower, which was swaying as if it would collapse at any moment.

Lenox slammed his face into the debris, where the cement had worn away and the internal steel structures were clearly visible.

Kuung!!

“……!!!”

Lenox, who couldn’t even scream, rolled off the edge of the rooftop and stopped just before falling, barely hanging on to a single strand of magic thread he had extended.

In Lenox’s eyes, hanging on the wall of the dilapidated exhaust tower, fragments of the past turned into a huge cluster of light and soared into the sky.

Faaaaaaat!!

A dazzling ring of light, as if reversing time, rewound and disappeared beyond the sky.

A form that seemed to be self-destructing by removing all the gaps between the present and the past that had existed until now.

Lenox, who was watching the disappearing cluster of light without saying anything, grabbed the magic thread and struggled to climb back onto the rooftop.

“Haa, haa……!!”

He clutched his chest and breathed heavily, desperately trying to regain consciousness.

Lenox’s expression, leaning against the dusty cement debris with a pale complexion, was dark.

He didn’t think this method was wrong.

He still believed that the path Lenox himself was taking was right.

However, it was painful to watch the end of an existence that had been moving towards the answer with him.

Even though he knew that Kaise’s journey had ultimately failed to reach its goal, his heart was heavy just by facing it.

Perhaps Kaise was walking a different future that Lenox could have reached.

“Hoo……!!”

Lenox gritted his teeth, raised his body, and lifted his gaze with difficulty, sweating profusely.

The real appearance of District 25, which had been isolated and neglected for decades, was now free from the past timeline.

He looked down from the top of the power plant tower at the scenery of the downtown area, which had become ruins, covered in dust and broken.

The place where Kaise had last looked back at Lenox and disappeared.

The moment Lenox stumbled and arrived at that spot.

Click.

He stopped in his tracks when he found a pocket watch lying on the dusty cement floor.

The place where Kaise had disappeared after turning into the form of a boy.

But the pocket watch he had been holding remained here even after passing through the past time and returning to reality.

“…….”

Whiooo!!

A dusty wind blew across the cold ground of the closed district.

Lenox stood there for a long time, staring at the old pocket watch without saying a word.