Book 2: Chapter 558
“…Haven't you already become destruction?”
The god was the third destruction, and much time had already passed since then.
Lukas could not see his form, but he could not find any madness or dissonance in the voice that flowed forth.
“How do you still retain your sanity? Or is this also one of the fragments of the ego you left behind?”
It would be inappropriate to say ‘when he was alive,' but he uttered the method that the god often used when he existed.
Still, no answer came back.
“…Is this really the god I knew?”
It was at the moment he voiced his final question.
“Are you asking about my condition?”
Once again, a voice was heard.
“I will answer simply… You might feel like we are having a rational conversation right now, but to a third party, it would not seem that way at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every being has their own means of communication. For some beasts, scratching each other’s bodies is also a form of affection, and in some cases, there are even more intense forms of expression… These are types incomprehensible to outsiders.”
“…So, have I stepped into such a realm now? A realm beyond ‘destruction,' incomprehensible to any other than you and me?”
If so, thinking that he, Lukas, was currently ‘conversing' with the god, The Beginning Wizard, might also be his misconception.
There was a more complex exchange of intentions going on between them than he could feel, and Lukas’s still-human mind was filtering it to make it understandable…
Lukas thought the god's emotionlessly spoken words held considerable credibility.
If this were true, then it explained why Residue, who shared all senses with him, felt nothing only at the moments of contact with the destruction.
‘Was it not that he couldn’t remember, but that he couldn’t comprehend?'
The god spoke again.
“I thought you could be a being capable of stopping the destruction, stopping me.”
“……”
“You have a strange power. You know how to firmly grasp improbably slim chances of victory, and you're accustomed to fighting against beings so strong they seem invincible. I thought there was something to learn and emulate from that. I believed it would be of great assistance in the fight against the destruction. However, the ‘Fourth Destruction' seems to have come to a different conclusion.”
“What are you talking about.”
“I am trying to explain the dissonance you felt in our recent conversation.”
Shudder-
At that moment, the mask of the old man, The Beginning Wizard's mask on the ground, trembled.
[──. ───.]
A choked voice, or perhaps a shout, leaked out and then abruptly stopped. The trembling also ceased.
Lukas looked down at the mask of the old man with a complex gaze, then shifted his focus to the mask of a middle-aged man.
“The Fourth Destruction thought that you needed more time.”
“…Time?”
“He thought that you are not yet capable of stopping the destruction… That has complicated my plans.”
“Your plans?”
“Originally, Lukas Trowman. You were supposed to become one of the Twelve Void Lords, The Beginning Wizard.”
“……”
─When was it, I had heard similar words before.
He reminisced about the past.
The moment he first arrived in the world of the Void, he recalled the voice left by the god.
─Become one of the Twelve Void Lords. Once you go to the throne after that, you will know how to act in the future.
“……Was that your ultimate goal? To make me one of the Twelve Void Lords?”
“That’s right. If you become one of the Twelve Void Lords, you would be able to enter the palaces of the world of Void, where truths, including the destruction, are hidden. It was the most natural progression I could think of.”
“……”
“Also, becoming The Beginning Wizard would allow you to understand the movements of all mana that has existed since the creation of the world. Furthermore, you would awaken to the methods of manipulating the coordinates of time and space, and under certain conditions, it becomes possible to overpower beings like the Ruler or the Four Knights.”
This was something that even Pale, the Blue Knight, had mentioned.
The uniqueness of The Beginning Wizard and his prominent strength among the Twelve Void Lords.
“With that power and the existence known as Lukas Trowman overlapping, the chances of defeating the destruction, albeit slim, would have increased.”
“To what extent?”
After a brief silence, the god replied.
“It would be enough to find a needle in a ‘Nayuta'.” (TL: Sanskrit work Nayuta which means a very large number)
“……Ha.”
“Are you scoffing?”
With a sarcastic tone, the god said,
“Do you think I am joking with you by mentioning an astronomical unit?”
He spoke as if he was angry, but his tone remained emotionless.
“Do you know how much has been sacrificed to go from nothing to something, from 0 to 1? The hope that finally blossomed used a longer time as fertilizer than what I just mentioned. You, who have not experienced that time, saw despair in the number Nayuta, but I feel hope. I am merely happy. Happy that I don’t have to perish powerlessly, that I have earned the right to struggle.”
Yet, the god did not seem happy.
He appeared to have lost even that emotion.
Lukas felt a heaviness in his heart. Where did the god’s sense of responsibility come from? It was the same for all those who had become destructions. If any of them had not possessed a sense of responsibility, had not loved the world, or had known that giving up would be easier, then…
Then the universe would have perished long ago.
“Should I apologize for not following your plans?”
He spat the words out bitterly, still in a sarcastic tone.
Ultimately, Lukas had not become The Beginning Wizard despite several regressions. In fact, this was his first time setting foot on the Magic Planet. It was a move completely opposite to the god's plan.
“No. It’s not your fault. Nor was there any mistake in my preparations. Right after you awoke, there was even a guide next to you.”
He was referring to the guide, Pale.
When he opened his eyes, the being always by Lukas's side was Pale.
Now that he thought about it, when Kasajin first came to the world of Void, it was Pale who had guided him.
“The only mistake was with the current Beginning Wizard, Mark Trowman, your bloodline. For some reason, that man did not relinquish his position…”
“Relinquish his position? What do you mean by that?”
“That was his role. To hold the position of ‘The Beginning Wizard' until you came to the world of Void, and then to step down without complaint immediately after you arrived, making it easier for you to absorb all his knowledge, experience, and accumulated power… But he did not do that. Because of this, everything became complicated.”
“Complicated…”
“Do you still not understand?”
A monotone voice flowed into his ears.
“It was you. Lukas Trowman. Originally, this was supposed to be your turn.”
Suddenly, the mask of the old man on the ground caught his eye.
Creak, creak.
The noise in his head grew worse, and Lukas felt the cold again.
Even though he had no physical body, it felt like a cold wind was swirling around a corner of his heart.
“My arrangement as the Third Destruction was you. It means you were destined to become the Fourth Destruction.”
“……!”
Instead of a cold wind, it felt like a large, hard snowball had hit his head.
It was as if his head had been whitewashed by a hammer.
However, the god continued to speak, unconcerned by the shock Lukas was experiencing.
“……Of course, that would have happened if you had lost. And in my opinion, now was the most opportune time. Delaying does not increase the chances of winning.”
Now he understood the meaning.
Those who fight against the destruction become the destruction themselves.
He still needed to find out what conditions applied, but it was clear that the power of the destruction did not weaken over time. On the contrary, it grew stronger.
As much as he had bought time, the next destruction would grow even larger and stronger.
Then, there would eventually come a limit to this stalling…
“However, Mark Trowman rejected that plan. He took on the role that should have been directed at you himself. Originally, it would have been impossible, but the strange relationship between you two had allowed for this absurdity.”
“……”
Only then did Lukas realize the sense of dissonance he felt upon hearing the words of The Beginning Wizard.
The Beginning Wizard said:
Lukas Trowman was an arrangement made by ‘God’ and ‘Himself’.
…That couldn’t possibly be.
The god was the Third Destruction, and The Beginning Wizard was the Fourth Destruction. Theoretically, their selections could not be the same.
“Why…….”
His voice faltered as he spoke.
Lukas turned his gaze back to the mask of the old man.
Why did The Beginning Wizard go to such lengths to give Lukas time?
Lukas recalled their meeting and the conversation they had shared.
Because he was his ‘younger brother'?
Because of their unique situation where only they could understand each other?
Or simply because he judged that doing so would increase the chances of victory?
He couldn’t continue his thoughts.
“And now, the time is up.”
“Time……”
The god muttered.
“—It has already started, and it will soon end.”
Lukas knew what the god was talking about.
* * *
“Ha, ack…!”
Lukas felt as though he had plummeted from the highest place imaginable to the bottom of the abyss.
“Cough, cough!”
Rough coughs.
He coughed harshly, as if he was vomiting something up, tears mixed with the coughing fits before they stopped.
Gasping for breath, he looked around.
[You……?]
…It was the same.
Lukas was still standing in the middle of the sky, in front of the waterfall.
And his hand was buried in the waterfall. Unlike the first contact, his body didn’t melt away. Rather, there was no damage at all. The waterfall could no longer harm Lukas.
Realizing this, he bit his lower lip.
Initially, the waterfall of the destruction was something he could only avoid because there were no means to counter it, but now Lukas was handling it as if he was merely dipping his hands in warm water.
[You, how did you wake up by yourself? I didn’t even use Thunder—]
“Residue.”
Lukas cut off Residue’s words.
It was because of an inexplicable sense of urgency.
“How much time has passed?”
[…About 3 seconds.]
3 seconds.
Only that much?
Lukas exhaled out of futility.
“…I need to go up.”
[The Magic Tower, you mean? What's the point?]
“There's something I must see.”
—It has already started, and it will soon end.
He recalled the voice left by the god.
Lukas muttered while looking at the waterfall.
“This waterfall, and the ‘Deepest Darkness', are aftermaths of the destruction. Someone called it a precursor, but that was a misinterpretation.”
[What?]
“The Magic Tower was originally built by The Beginning Wizard as a battleground.”
To stop the destruction? Yes, that wasn't wrong either.
More precisely, it was ‘to mitigate the impact when he and the destruction fought'!
[…….]
Fight, with what? Residue didn’t ask such a stupid question.
And Lukas bit his lip once again.
What an idiot, why did he only realize it now?
Observation, analysis, creativity, application, computation. What’s the point of scoring high in these skills if, in a state of panic, he can't even come to such a simple conclusion!
“…The final battle of The Beginning Wizard has already started. It began right after we parted.”
[So all that stuff about sending you to the first floor and trials and such.]
“It must have been a stalling tactic to keep me occupied.”
Damn it, and this waterfall, the droplets, ‘The Deepest Darkness' are merely the repercussions of the ongoing battle.
…The Beginning Wizard's room,
In that space which is but isn't the Magic Tower, The Beginning Wizard must be fighting.
And, he will likely lose.
Creak, creak-
…His head throbbed. What if he smashed his skull and turned the brain inside into pulp? It was a pain so terrible that he wanted to do that.
Lukas bled dark blood once again.
Why didn't he realize it?
Among all the destructions, only The Beginning Wizard's existence was incongruous.
And that man, he indeed gave Lukas the refreshing first experience.
─He had stolen the responsibility that had been assigned upon him…!
Numerous emotions surged in like waves, but Lukas had no time to analyze each one.
One thing was clear.
“…I have to see.”
The Beginning Wizard and the Third Destruction.
Their fight, The Beginning Wizard’s final appearance,
He had to witness it with his own two eyes.
*****
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