The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 233

233.

Don’t give up; keep thinking.

Even if you face the Wall of Oblivion, don’t despair; look up. Seek the truth.

That’s what Headmistress taught.

‘What am I lacking right now?’

Why doesn’t my Simyeong [a manifestation of one’s deepest desires and will, shaping their reality] reach Elamas’s miracle? Why am I just barely managing to block it?

– Your ‘Domain of Soul’ seems to stem from exploration, but you can’t beat me with that, even if you die and come back to life!

Does Simyeong originate from the Domain of Soul, in other words, what the soul desires?

Yes, in 『To Truth』, it said that the Simyeong barrier is a mirror reflecting the wishes in the heart.

Then, can that Simyeong be changed? Can the soul’s mirror, which lays the foundation of one’s soul, be changed at will?

‘Wishes in the heart? Wishes? Desires?’

Suddenly, the story Alakish told me in Harbardonia flashed through my mind.

– You are trying to control power too rationally. The power of gods or the power of dragon words is not like that. You wish, you desire, and you receive.

You wish, you desire, and you receive.

Come to think of it, when I was dying 300 years ago, the last thing I thought about was the longing for truth.

Did that become a prayer of the soul and reach the gods?

‘This is too abstract; even though I thought of it, I can’t understand it.’

But at this moment, listening to Alakish’s voice, I have realized something for sure.

If the Simyeong barrier is located at the gateway to that ‘world of desire’.

If it is about drawing out the desire within the soul.

‘Then, the other soul in my soul, Alakish, must have a different Simyeong.’

Wasn’t the space that called me from the boundary between this world and the afterlife and gave me a soul, Alakish’s Simyeong?

I have no choice but to try.

No, it is commanding me to do it.

The flame of Alakish engraved in my soul, and the light of the Black Sheep scales hanging around my neck.

“Simyeong Reformation, Hwacheonjigye [Simyeong Reformation, World Creation].”

The number of hand seals to be made is a whopping 11; it is only natural since the soul of the dragon, the Simyeong of the dragon, must be unraveled into human runes.

Hwa (火: Flame).

Chuk (築: Building).

Myo (渺: Distant).

Seong (晟: Bright).

San (山: Mountain).

Cheon (天: Heaven).

Ji (地: Earth).

Yeong (映: Jade).

Gyeong (鏡: Mirror).

Jeon (展: Unfold).

Ru (壘: Stack).

Like painting a different landscape on the canvas of the world with the brush of providence, the visible Simyeong itself changes.

‘What?’

The ruins of the inner palace, filled with a disgusting stench, are gradually buried and disappear.

‘What is this place?’

A world where a faint twilight shines down, red forests swaying quietly in the breeze, and beautiful mountains exhale a sacred breath.

‘Did you rewrite providence itself? With human power?’

Alakish’s heart’s desire is none other than longing for his homeland.

The sorrowful heart that has been built up in his mind for over a thousand years rewrites even the realm of providence.

A world of true transcendence, with a different level from the Simyeong of exploration built by the young Archmage with 10 years of desire.

“Elamas! Did you say you were going to show me the real power of the dragon earlier?”

“……!”

“I’ll give that back to you as it is. Open your eyes wide and watch carefully—the real power of the Red True Dragon!”

That doesn’t make sense; this is an illusion.

There is no way a human being has the power to not only interfere with providence itself but also rewrite it.

“You trash who was just barely blocking my power!”

From the mouth of the True Dragon, who pushed Miria away violently, the power that makes heaven and earth tremble is concentrated once again.

“How dare you crawl up here!”

The moment you try to defend against the power of the True Dragon, the primitives surrounding you will bite your neck off.

‘The number is as many as seven hundred.’

It is impossible to sweep them away with wide-area magic like before.

The guys breaking through the ground with heavy equipment right now are ancient giants with a height of over 3 meters.

They are elite troops that cannot even be compared to the cannon fodder you have easily swept away so far.

‘The higher the rank of soldiers that crawl out of the underground as time passes, the more my victory becomes certain.’

Then, Lane closed his eyes and opened them.

At that moment, the world changed as if it were a math problem.

The power of Bell Curias [a unique ability to perceive and manipulate the world through mathematical principles] finally becomes close to omnipotence in the Simyeong he created.

‘All I could interfere with so far was ability.’

Even if everything in the universe is interpreted as a mathematical expression, it was impossible to manipulate what is in the providence of the gods.

But in this world, in this world created with Alakish’s Simyeong, he will soon be the ruler of providence.

The wave of black flames that had rushed to his eyes was engulfed in flames that swept through without any warning.

“He took the full power of the True Dragon head-on……?!”

Everything is visible, Lane’s eyes were saying.

Where the flaws of that power are, what needs to be broken through, and what flames to confront.

Just like solving the mathematical expressions visible in his eyes with the appropriate formula and writing them down.

‘This is exactly the feeling of omnipotence.’

This irrational sense of omnipotence that I felt when I first received power from Alakish, when I fought Shar’kas.

Following that, a fierce vortex of flames surged along the stream of black flames, engulfing the True Dragon that was spewing out black flames.

‘All flames are under my control.’

Flames rise where I want, and flames swirl where my eyes reach. There is no formula for this unreasonable use of power.

Is this the power of desire?

How can I reach this realm? Now is not the time to be immersed in such thoughts.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Hieeeeeeeeeeee!”

The primitives rushing in from all directions are reduced to charcoal in the dazzling flames the moment Lane’s gaze reaches them.

Hundreds of people in an instant.

Elamas’s pupils trembled.

‘That doesn’t make sense.’

Did he calculate something?

Did he chant incantations like magic or miracles?

“What kind of trick is this──!”

The primitive army, fueled by Elamas’s rage, surged from the ground like a swarm of bees.

“──Bell Querious, temporal control!”

Without any need to build up power, the primitives crumbled into ashes within the raging storm of absolute flames.

‘Amazing…….’

Witnessing that miracle, Miria involuntarily swallowed hard.

‘He’s gaining the upper hand against Elamas and the pillar of the Black Church, who commands the endless army of the dead?’

But the limit is clear.

It’s only a slight advantage, and perhaps because he’s not yet accustomed to the power, his breathing is becoming increasingly labored, and his face is drenched in cold sweat.

On the other hand, Elamas’s primitive army continues to rise from the underground. The True Dragon isn’t dying from the flames either.

Amidst the flames raging from all directions and the black flames running wild, Lane has created an opportunity.

Time.

I have to turn this opportunity into victory with my own hands.

“Aki, run!”

Shouting that to Aki, Miria instinctively reached out towards Shirping, who was sprawled on the distant ground.

Dugun, a pulse of light arose from Shirping.

Shirping, soaring powerfully into the air, flew into Miria’s hand, leaving a sacred afterimage.

‘I can use the Spatial Tear at most three times.’

I’ve already used it once, but in this state, I’m not even sure if I can use it one more time.

But I have to endure.

Endure and use it.

The moment I grabbed Shirping, my body felt like it would shatter from the recoil, but I have to cut through Shalessarum’s heart with this strike. I have to liberate her.

“Shirping, show me the way!”

The trajectory of light emitted by Shirping sharply divides the dimension.

Visible only to Miria, this is the model answer for the slash, the trajectory of the slash that Miria must make.

Grabbing the Demon Sword with her left hand to augment her physical abilities, and clutching Shirping in her right hand, she raised it towards the sky.

“Aki, charge!”

Aki leaped, leaving deep footprints in the ground.

He flew with all his might towards Elamas, who couldn’t afford to look elsewhere due to his all-out battle with Lane.

He could have aimed for a surprise attack from the rear or the side, but why?

– Akirea, if the moment comes when you can defeat Elamas, never hesitate.

I know it’s a difficult request.

But when that moment comes, can you show this flame that I’m now passing on to you to that child?

So that this flame can reach that child’s heart, their soul.

‘This kid is now…….’

Elamas’s lips trembled fiercely as he sensed Aki’s attack.

‘Is he underestimating me? Coming straight at me?’

Even if I’m not particularly skilled in close combat, deflecting this much is a piece of cake.

‘Rather, the opening is so wide that I could even aim for his heart in reverse!’

Elamas gripped the scythe that reaps lives. And he swung it, aiming for Aki’s heart, who was rushing towards him──

“!”

──At that moment, the illusion superimposed on Aki’s form was that of a red-haired man, a Dragonkin [a human-dragon hybrid], who had faded and disappeared completely from his memory.

A confusion of memories.

The movement was halted.

In Aki’s eyes, who was about to plunge his fist burning with the flame of life into Elamas, the illusion that Shalessarum had shown him was superimposed.

The shadows of the days when Shalessarum and a young Elamas were walking together, as if they had simply transposed himself and Lane.

‘Uncle told me not to hesitate…….’

I can’t do it.

I don’t want to do this.

Hesitation in his heart, the flame of life that was rising from his fist, subsided.

But then, Elamas, who had escaped from the quagmire of lost memories, thrust his scythe out again with all his might.

And then, Miria’s cry flew in.

“Aki!”

Did she know that Aki wouldn’t be able to finish Elamas? Or did she already want him not to take a life?

“Jump up!”

Unable to read her own heart, the trajectory of the Spatial Tear that Shirping had drawn included both the True Dragon and Elamas.

“Right now!”

The heat haze of dimensions shimmered.

The instant Aki kicked off the scythe rushing towards his heart and leaped into the air, the instant Elamas, who was not accustomed to martial arts, lost his balance.

‘Even if I can’t avoid it, if I can protect the dragon’s heart─!’

The instant he sensed the threat and tried to slightly deflect the dragon’s heart from the trajectory of the slash.

“─I won’t let you get away.”

Hundreds of layers of fiery chains sprouted, firmly binding the True Dragon’s body to the trajectory of the slash, at that very moment.

“Sever─────!”

Cracks spreading like spiderwebs across space-time, the cracks momentarily shattered greatly, opening a gap.

The gap in providence [divine will or fate] that opened for an instant, sucked in everything that was placed on that gap.

Both the heart of the True Dragon that had died 500 years ago, and the heart of the Apostle who couldn’t let go of his connection with that True Dragon even in death.

Chaaaaaeng!

When the shattered dimension restored the cracks and refined providence again.

The True Dragon’s body and Elamas’s body were both lying on the ground, diagonally severed.

And Lane was clutching his heart, which felt like it would burst at any moment, kneeling down and repeatedly vomiting blood.

‘The price of touching the realm of omnipotence…….’

If he could have looked down at his head right now, he would have seen that the hair on the crown of his head had turned white.

It was because he had to burn his lifespan as the price for using power that was not allowed for a human body.

The temporal control that had been overlaid on providence began to disappear, and the collapsed palace began to come into view again.

Perhaps worried about that, Setsnen, freed from the fusion of souls, embraced Lane.

“Ah, Aruu.”

Miria also let go of Shirping with a sharp groan and collapsed. If she hadn’t stuck the Demon Sword into the ground, she would have fallen straight down.

‘Is it over?’

It has to be over.

Both Lane and I have exceeded our limits.

If we’ve gone this far, and he revives again here…….

“I…… I couldn’t beat you…… yeah…… but I won’t let you leave here alive…….”

“……!”

“This is my last necromancy [magic involving raising the dead]…… everything explodes…… the explosion will sweep through the entire Vara…….”

He’s still alive even after all that……?

Lane and Miria hurriedly tried to get up, but their bodies wouldn’t listen.

Necromantic explosion, I’ve seen that 300 years ago. Its scale and power, we can’t let it happen.

“Kyaat!”

Setsnen crawled wildly towards Elamas and bit his head hard with her fangs.

“That won’t stop my power…… Heuheu, it will activate even if I die! You’re all going to die here with me……!”