Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 928

A mystical aura, so clear and refreshing it felt almost transparent, emanated from him.

An aloof and detached presence, as if he had no enemies in this world, settled around him.

Though the flesh monsters on the ground were convulsing, thrashing, and screaming, the ritual site felt exceptionally quiet in contrast, as if a bubble of silence had formed around it.

He raised his gaze, which was even more serene than the silence that had settled all around, and looked down at the assembly.

The manifestation of Armas von Anathema, a noble of Ars Nova [a powerful mage family].

A miracle, the physical form of a man who had been stripped of his existence and banished from the central city, being called back into this reality.

Eight level 8 power users had to gather to construct the Eight Trigrams Formation [a complex magical array] and prepare the ritual for this moment. How could one possibly explain the time and value of that?

Even the Order’s attack, which began at the same time as the ritual, was clearly only for the sake of this man’s manifestation.

However, as soon as Lenok confirmed that Anathema had awakened, he quickly scanned the entire ritual site.

‘There are only five of us gathered here right now.’

Slane and Rage. The psychic giant who had been snacking throughout the meeting and the blind Ha Baek. And Lenok himself.

All of them were somewhat disheveled, as if they had rushed to the ritual site in a hurry.

A strange situation where not only the other attendees but even Kyolbaek, whom Lenok had sent to the ritual site first, was nowhere to be seen.

“……”

However, even after opening his eyes, Anathema did not say anything for a long time.

He simply sat on the altar, his mouth shut, staring at his body covered in blue scales for a long time.

Even though he had manifested in this world for the seventh time, as Slane had explained, he did not seem to feel any emotion about it.

In the quiet ritual site, it was Slane who spoke first.

“Armas. I understand that you feel out of place, having been called back to the world after so long, but we don’t have much time.”

“……”

“We completed the manifestation ritual using the Eight Trigrams Formation, but there’s a problem.”

Slane said, looking at the attendees who were observing the situation from the back of the ritual site.

“Someone attacked the satellite city and tried to interfere with your manifestation. We need to leave this place and ensure our safety-”

“How pathetic.”

“……What did you say?”

Ignoring Slane’s question, Anathema muttered.

His gaze was still fixed on his body covered in blue scales.

“It’s truly pathetic.”

“……”

“Even after six manifestations, I’m still in this form. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Anathema’s words sounded somewhat self-deprecating.

However, after looking at his scaled body with a sorrowful expression, he stood up from the altar.

Anathema, standing naked on the altar, looked down at the superhumans below with his clear eyes.

“Are you the ones who have resolved to help with my manifestation and fulfill your duty?”

Swish!

He raised his hand and grasped the invisible air.

As he slashed diagonally through the air with his scaled hand, a dark black silk appeared in his hand and wrapped around Anathema’s body.

Lenok’s eyes gleamed strangely as he instantly recognized the true value of the technique.

‘Changing the properties of air particles. In a way, it seems similar to Hermes’ mass formula [a reference to a known magical theory].’

A skill that changes the properties of the physical laws themselves, not magic or mental power.

Anathema, who had instantly wrapped himself in a black robe, floated above the altar.

“After the painful civil war ended.”

He took a step, treading on the empty air.

“After Kaise left.”

Another step.

“After the project failed.”

Anathema, standing on two feet under the night sky, muttered.

“And now, only we remain.”

“……”

Did he read the success or failure of the various events that had occurred in this city with just that brief manifestation?

A super-sensory perception that transcends cognition by accessing information about things while existing in the world.

Just after Lenok’s expression hardened at that familiar sensation he had seen somewhere before.

The young man, who had been staring blankly at the sky, closed his eyes.

“I believed things would get better, but it only gets more painful as time goes on.”

“Slane.”

At that moment, Rage, who was standing behind Slane, spoke in an unusually cold tone.

“This is different.”

“……”

It was hard to believe that the voice, which had been full of playfulness just a moment ago, was now cold as it flowed from behind the motorcycle helmet.

“Armas. He wasn’t like this before. Was the ritual done correctly?”

Rage, who was speaking, was also soaked in blood that was not her own.

She must have also fought off the flesh monsters that had rushed in while the ritual was in progress, abandoning everything else to rush to the ritual site.

That was why she was reacting so sensitively to Anathema’s seemingly poor condition.

The blind Ha Baek and the psychic giant seemed to have felt something similar.

“Her words are not wrong. He used to feel a bit more mechanical than that.”

“He was an existence with little emotion. It’s somewhat different from now.”

However, Slane remained unfazed by those words and retorted with a cold expression.

“He is a noble of Ars Nova. He is not a man born as an ordinary human, so it is impossible to know what he was thinking before his manifestation.”

“That doesn’t seem like an excuse for the current situation…”

The blind Ha Baek of the Shie Sword Sect [a martial arts school] chuckled and stroked his chin.

“Perhaps we should send Lord Armas back to rest comfortably with our own hands.”

“Ha Baek, don’t say such nonsense. Don’t you know what the Order is aiming for right now?”

Rage snapped sharply, but Lenok ignored the flurry of words and focused on the current situation.

Still, on the surface, there was nothing unusual about Anathema’s body.

His soul still exuded a clear fragrance, possessed a refined aura, and shone most brightly.

However, the level 8 power users gathered here were not people with poor judgment or a lack of awareness.

They had lived for a very long time, crossed all sorts of dangerous lines, and were veterans of the civil war who had met Anathema himself.

And that was why they were feeling an unknown sense of unease about Anathema standing here now.

“……”

However, Lenok was thinking about something completely different as he looked at the attendees and Anathema.

During Anathema’s manifestation, Lenok’s magic eye observed all the attendees’ presence and thoughts.

Lenok had already been with the Order’s priestess in Yorta and had inherited the authority of the Order’s high priest from her.

Therefore, even though he was at odds with the Order, he was better than anyone else at finding those who were connected to the Order.

That was why he used the priestess’s prophetic ability to find an informant in this place, but.

Absurdly, there was not a single person among them who was in league with the Order.

There was no informant.

The moment Lenok realized that and slowly lowered his head.

Anathema, who had been staring at the sky for a long time, turned his head and opened his mouth.

“The one who most joyfully welcomed the day I was reborn is here.”

The noble’s gaze, which felt endlessly clear, was pointing directly at Lenok in the crowd.

“Come closer, mortal.”

Anathema reached out his hand to Lenok with an exceptionally gentle gaze.

“I shall bestow upon you my humble ability as the first gift.”

* * *

“I won’t tell anyone, so could you tell me what you did?”

Rage, who had approached Lenok, quickly whispered in his ear.

It was hard to believe that she was the same person who had been emitting a chilling murderous intent towards Slane just a moment ago.

It was not normal to treat people like the back of her hand and not feel any remorse about it.

This woman was probably in the same category as Peisha Greeceburn, if one had to categorize her.

Just as Lenok was about to ignore Rage and walk away, Rage said urgently.

“Why is Armas reacting to you first when he has never met you before? Considering his personality, there’s no way he would do that.”

“Because he hasn’t met me.”

“……What?”

Even the others who had been eavesdropping on the conversation with interest frowned at Lenok’s nonsensical answer.

However, Lenok stared intently at Anathema, who was looking at him, and said.

“He said he was reborn, but his roots haven’t changed.”

“……Are you trying to say that his personality changes every time he manifests?”

“No.”

Lenok chuckled.

“It’s a much dirtier story than that.”

“I, I don’t understand what you mean at all?”

Ignoring Rage’s grumbling, Lenok immediately moved to stand in front of Anathema.

In terms of height, he was about the same size as Lenok.

Except for the fact that he was covered in blue scales, he had a sturdy build and was quite handsome.

In his previous life, he probably received similar compliments to Gilleon Mylos.

While Lenok was lost in such useless thoughts, Anathema spoke.

“The nobles of Ars Nova are born with the blessing of wielding special abilities.”

“……”

“The eight innate abilities given to the nobles who inherit the name of Anathema are called the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams-”

“They symbolize all the changes that exist between heaven and earth and are the power that explains the principles of the universe where all things are located.”

Lenok, who interrupted Anathema’s words and replied, nodded his head.

“I heard it from a man named Slane, so I’ll let it slide. I know what it feels like.”

“Good. Then, among the abilities of the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams, I will give you the concept that is most suitable for your aptitude…”

“Time.”

Lenok said.

“The trigram that symbolizes the concept of time. I will receive that ability as compensation for your manifestation.”

“……”

“You said it was the power that imitates the changes of all things in the universe and explains the principles of the universe.”

Lenok said, looking at the silent Anathema.

“Among them, if there is an ability that is closest to the concept of ‘change,’ it would definitely be the power to manipulate time, right?”

After hearing the meaning and symbolic concept of the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams, Lenok made it clear why he was participating in Anathema’s manifestation ritual.

The imitation and explanation of the changes of all things in the universe.

If that concept could exist through infinite applications, then the ability to manipulate the changes of time would surely exist within the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams.

Lenok had confirmed that fact at the same time as participating in the manifestation ritual and had demanded it from Anathema.

The ability to manipulate time, which he had never touched except through Kaise’s mental image.

If he could obtain it, he might be able to create time-based spells someday.

“The spirituality of the ability to manipulate time is a virtual reference point created by relatively observing a concept that does not originally exist.”

Anathema, who had been silent, spoke.

“If your aptitude and talent do not match, it is a dangerous power where even a noble’s spirituality can be consumed meaninglessly.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not in a position to worry about such side effects.”

Lenok nodded his head.

“What’s important is the opportunity to awaken my senses. Even a very small inspiration would be worth a fortune if you could make me experience it directly.”

“If your resolve is firm…”

Anathema nodded as if he understood.

“Come up to the altar. I need to awaken your spirituality.”

Thud!

Following those words, Lenok stood on the altar located at the highest point of the ritual site.

A place where the entire vast ritual site could be seen at a glance.

At his feet, on the altar where Anathema had awakened, there were fragments of blue scales that he seemed to have shed.

Anathema, who had ascended to the altar, reached out both hands and grasped Lenok’s hands.

At the same time, a transparent light enveloped the two of them and began to swirl violently.

Whoooosh…!!!

A huge ring of light, like a planetary ring, surrounded Lenok and Anathema and began to glow.

From inside the ring of light, hundreds of thousands of threads stretched out and touched Lenok’s entire body, beginning to transmit an endless stream of inspiration.

“……”

Lenok’s eyes naturally closed and his body slumped as he was overwhelmed by the intense flow of information that was turning his mind upside down.

At the moment when they were surrounded by the ring of light, obscuring their figures from anyone outside the ritual site.

“I’m tired.”

Anathema muttered.

He let go of Lenok’s hand and said.

“No matter how many times I atone, I can’t see a way to stay in the material world, and the end is near.”

“……”

“The efforts I made during six manifestations have all been in vain, and all that remains is regret.”

Anathema whispered inside the ring, where only the two of them were present, as if confessing to the unresponsive Lenok.

“This will be my last chance. I don’t want to leave any regrets until the very end.”

“……”

“I’m sorry.”

Anathema’s monologue was incomprehensible.

However, he tilted the ring of light as if he did not expect Lenok to understand or even hear him.

Anathema, who was looking at his scaled hand with a look of disgust, slowly grabbed Lenok’s neck with both hands.

Lenok answered with his eyes closed.

“I knew it.”

“……!!”

Anathema flinched and lifted Lenok up, tightening his grip, and Lenok’s body floated in the air without even resisting.

Squeeze…!!

The terrifying grip that was tightening around Lenok’s neck, as if the calm aura had been a lie.

However, even as his face turned pale from being strangled, Lenok did not stop speaking.

“From the moment I heard that your body didn’t exist in reality… I thought so.”

“You…!!”

“Did you meet him?”

A chilling smile. A question without a subject.

However, just hearing those words made Anathema tremble greatly, as if he had been hit right on the mark.

Lenok, who had barely opened his eyes, looked down at Anathema and thought.

Why did the Order intervene and target Anathema as soon as the manifestation ritual began?

Why did the Order aim for Anathema’s manifestation and try to enter the ritual site?

What was the reason why the leader of Pandemonium chose a giant city to manifest in the world?

Now he knew.

The memories and beliefs of others. The worship and fanaticism towards oneself.

A transcendent being who hides among concepts that transcend human reason and controls the side effects of ascension.

“After failing multiple manifestations, at the last moment… you took his hand.”

The Order did not attack the satellite city to stop Anathema’s manifestation ritual.

The goal of those fanatics was not to stop Anathema, but rather the opposite.

Looking down at Anathema’s stiff face, Lenok grabbed Anathema’s hand that was strangling his neck.

The moment the authority of the high priest engraved on Lenok’s right wrist emitted a pale light.

The ring of light surrounding Anathema and Lenok cracked and shattered.

Kwaaaang!!

The shattered ring of light, which had been a transparent glow, was dyed a pale light.

The light that illuminates everything without prejudice turned into the color of the Order, trapped in blind fanaticism.

Lenok began to absorb all the light that fell below the shattered altar.

Creak…!!!

A disturbing noise like gears grinding.

“It was you who was in league with the Order.”

Lenok descended to the ground, perfectly absorbing the Eight Trigrams Formation that had belonged to Anathema, using the priestess’s ability.

“You were the Order’s apostle.”

A noble of the central city. A level 8 dragon mage. A hero of the civil war known as the Six Heavenly Calamities.

Armas von Anathema was already an apostle of the Order who had taken the hand of the cult leader and completed his apostolization.