The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 406

“My prediction was right. The god of the mask didn’t give up all his power and disappear.”

Mimir’s feet tapped excitedly, her face flushed with excitement.

A face completely filled with happiness.

She looked like a researcher who had finally solved a long-standing mystery.

“That’s why it wasn’t progressing. It wasn’t that my research direction was wrong. It’s just that I didn’t have enough power.”

“Wait a minute. Don’t just mumble to yourself. Explain it to me too. What happened?”

I could tell that something had been resolved.

But I didn’t know what it was.

As someone who didn’t know what kind of research Mimir was doing, there was no way for me to know.

“Ah, that’s right. The Successor doesn’t know what’s going on at all.”

Mimir replied, her face beaming. Judging by how fast she was talking, she seemed to be as excited as she could possibly be.

“So, to put it simply…”

Normally, she would have just said, ‘I’ll tell you when it’s done!’ and that would be the end of it.

She must be in a really good mood. To see her so casually trying to explain her research.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

At that moment, the mask emitted light again. Three flashes of light accompanied by a subtle tremor.

Just like Umbra had conveyed her intentions to me through the relic, Persona was also conveying his intentions to me.

‘Come quickly.’

Persona was urging me.

He was telling me to come in quickly and talk.

“…I think it’s better to postpone my story.”

Mimir stopped talking and looked at me with a serious expression.

“Go there first.”

Go there quickly before Persona gets upset.

Mimir’s eyes were saying that.

“…Okay.”

I nodded my head.

I didn’t know what Persona’s personality was like, but there was no need to upset him when I was going to talk to him.

“I’ll be back.”

I infused mana into Persona’s relic, the white mask.

“Ah, right.”

As the mask absorbed the mana.

I felt my body being transported somewhere and spoke to Mimir.

“While I’m inside the relic, please keep track of the time.”

“Time?”

“Yes. As detailed as possible. In seconds, please.”

“…Why?”

“Because I need it?”

The information I had obtained from meeting Umbra earlier.

I needed to refine the information that time flowed differently inside and outside the relic.

I needed to know exactly what the ratio of time was, and what mechanism caused the time to flow differently.

I needed to know these things in as much detail as possible.

‘I might actually be able to complete time magic.’

The magic that even my teacher couldn’t complete. Time attribute magic. I might be able to complete that magic.

“I’m asking why you need it…”

Mimir was about to ask me for a detailed reason when.

A brighter light emanated from the mask.

‘Moving.’

The warm-up was over, and my body began to transfer into the relic.

A moment of darkness.

The familiar sensation of my body moving to another place.

I didn’t even feel dizzy anymore.

I opened my eyes calmly, without even frowning.

“…”

A man stood before me.

A man whose form seemed to be made of ephemerality [the state of being fleeting or temporary].

He didn’t even seem to possess the minimum amount of emotion that a sentient being should have.

It was like a blank canvas.

A canvas that could become anything, depending on what was done to it.

‘This man is the god of the mask.’

It was indeed the appearance of Persona, the god of the mask.

“End God.”

A beautiful, high-pitched voice flowed from the man’s mouth.

It was a neutral voice that was hard to distinguish as male or female.

“What do you mean by saying that I can take revenge on the End God?”

Expression, posture, voice.

All the elements that could be used to judge a person were transparent.

Even though he was talking about revenge, I couldn’t feel any emotion.

“It means exactly what it says. End God. Or rather, it should be called the End God’s avatar. His avatar has been resurrected in this era.”

“…I see.”

All gods hate the End God.

…That’s what Umbra said.

Persona must also hate the End God.

But I couldn’t find any passionate emotion in his eyes.

“It’s an avatar, but the End God is the End God. Killing him is the same as revenge. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

It was like talking to a machine.

“What’s the proof?”

As if he didn’t care about emotions. He only asked about the truth of the information.

“There is no way to prove his existence right now.”

To prove the existence of the End God to Persona, I had to meet Veil first.

Since there was no way to meet Veil right now, it was difficult to prove the existence of the End God’s avatar to Persona.

“Okay. Then come back when you can prove his existence.”

Persona’s presence, which was already faint, became even fainter.

Was he somewhat motivated until just now?

With the words to come back again, his presence itself began to disappear.

‘So that’s why you thought Persona had disappeared.’

I could understand why my teacher had written, ‘Persona gave up all his power and disappeared.’

Even to me, it looked like he was disappearing.

If he hadn’t said, ‘Come back again next time,’ I would have thought he was really disappearing.

“Wait a moment… There’s still something I want to talk about.”

It wasn’t the time to be admiring Persona’s uniqueness.

I couldn’t let Persona disappear like this.

“It’s true that it’s hard to prove his existence right now. No, it’ll probably be hard to prove it for a few weeks. He won’t show himself for at least a few weeks because we got one over on him.”

If it wasn’t long before I reunited with Veil, it wouldn’t have mattered if he disappeared like that.

However, it would be at least two weeks before Veil and I could meet again.

I couldn’t waste two weeks like this.

‘I don’t know the details, but it’s clear that Persona’s help is needed for Mimir’s research. I can’t wait two weeks.’

I had to get a definite answer about Persona’s help right here and now.

“If you can’t prove the existence of the End God, there’s nothing more to say. Come back in two weeks.”

Persona’s presence slowly disappeared, not paying attention to my words.

Within the next 10 seconds, Persona would completely disappear.

And after that, no matter what I said, he wouldn’t reappear.

I had to make my move before that.

“The End God’s avatar. It’s hard to show him to you directly.”

I said urgently.

“But there is one thing. There is something that could be proof.”

At that moment, Persona’s movement stopped.

As if he was intrigued by my words, his presence recovered slightly.

“Do you know the name of the god of shadows, Umbra?”

“…I know.”

Persona replied indifferently.

He had heard the name.

It was a reaction without any emotion.

‘So Persona was a god belonging to the neutral faction.’

Indifference as if he had heard about the neighbor, Min-soo.

It was clear that Persona did not belong to the good or evil faction.

I was sure of that.

“My friend.”

“…Excuse me?”

However, my conviction was immediately shattered.

“Fr, friend… you say?”

“Yeah.”

Persona’s presence began to recover rapidly.

He seemed to be intrigued by the name Umbra again.

“She helped me a lot with my performance.”

“Umbra… helps with performances?”

“Yeah. Shadows are good props.”

I couldn’t imagine it.

Umbra helping with a performance.

‘What kind of relationship do they have?’

I was genuinely curious about the relationship between Persona and Umbra.

“Why Umbra?”

Persona, who had reappeared, took a step closer to me.

I cleared the questions that filled my head and spoke.

“She witnessed the End God’s avatar.”

“…Umbra did?”

“Yes.”

I lightly raised a shadow on my hand.

Persona looked at the shadow flickering on my palm and fell into thought.

Of course, I had no idea what he was thinking.

Since his emotions weren’t expressed at all, there was no way to guess.

All I could do now was wait for Persona to speak again.

“…Okay.”

About a minute passed like that.

As if he had organized all his thoughts, Persona focused his gaze on me again.

“Just a moment. Excuse me.”

Persona slowly approached me.

Soft, quiet footsteps.

It was like a cat approaching.

“…”

Persona came close enough to touch my nose.

He stared into my eyes for a long time, then slowly lowered his gaze.

His right hand slowly rose as his gaze lowered.

At some point, his gaze and hand overlapped.

“Umbra did this…”

His hand and gaze were on my neck.

“I understand. For her to hand this over, it must be the resurrection of the End God.”

Persona nodded as if he had understood something.

“That’s enough proof.”

Persona took his hand off my neck.

And this time, he took my hand.

‘What is he trying to do this time?’

Judging by the fact that he grabbed the hand that was holding the shadow, it seemed like he was trying to confirm something else.

What was he trying to confirm?

“If Umbra has entrusted everything to you, then it’s right for me to entrust everything to you as well.”

At that moment, an indescribable energy began to flow from Persona’s hand.

“Take it.”

Thump!

My heart began to beat violently.

My prediction was wrong again.

Persona didn’t grab my hand to find out more about me.

He grabbed my hand to transfer his power to me.

‘…Because I can’t feel his emotions, I can’t predict his actions.’

Expression, gesture, tone.

Because all elements lacked emotion, I couldn’t predict his actions.

Even if it wasn’t emotions, each action was also extraordinary.

Who could have predicted it?

That the person who had been suspicious until just now would grab my neck and immediately transfer his power.

“…Kuh!”

As my heart rate increased, the pain intensified.

The same level of pain that I had experienced when I received Umbra’s power struck my entire body.

“One.”

As if he didn’t care whether I was in pain or not.

Persona spoke.

“There is something I’m curious about.”

Beyond my vision, which was trembling with pain, Persona’s eyes, though blurry, came into view.

“The End God. An outlier among outliers who possessed power stronger than all the gods combined.”

His eyes held emotion for the first time.

“The End God. Why did he even split himself?”

For the first time, paint was applied to the white canvas that was Persona.

Question. Curiosity. And anger.

Each color vividly filled the canvas.

“A being with that much power. There’s no way he could have been defeated by someone. He must have chosen to split himself of his own will.”

Perhaps, it was a change in emotion that occurred because the power to control emotions weakened as he transferred his power to me.

“Why did he bother to divide his body in two?”

Persona’s eyes filled my retina.

“Into your predecessor and that guy who was resurrected outside. What’s the reason for splitting his body?”

“…!”

An undeniable keyword popped out of Persona’s mouth.

‘Did he know?’

He knew that my predecessor, Ray Bell Vaitainer, was half of the End God.