Chapter 1227 – #288_Fledgling
#1221
1.
I’ve overcome many adversities so far.
There have been quite a few times when I’ve led seemingly impossible matches to a brilliant come-from-behind victory, and at those times, Black Siwoo was always there to help.
To some extent, I am grateful.
His methodology, whether it was carrying me through a crisis or always showing me the way forward, ultimately led Siwoo to the 23rd tier.
He’s a creepy bastard who’s always trying to steal my body, but at least in terms of handling magic, Black Siwoo was Siwoo’s role model, and naturally, Siwoo’s method of handling magic mimicked his.
Magic isn’t ‘magic’ that performs miracles just by pressing a button.
It’s a discipline that transforms the world under strictly refined rules, and it’s also a comprehensive art that embodies the caster’s inspiration and imagery.
The Black Knight’s methodology breaks away from this general witch’s perspective.
Imagery? Inspiration? Message? Symbolism? Artistry?
He declares that such things are meaningless.
Black Siwoo was a machine, and a machine cannot understand aesthetics.
Therefore, his magic has no intuition or spontaneity.
Only thorough calculations and formulas are applied.
He breaks down magic, breaks it down, and breaks it down again.
He recognizes the mysteries of the world as patterns, and replaces inspiration and imagination with trial and error and algorithms.
Based on cold calculations, he piles up the fragments he has broken down into a single melody.
Magic like an orchestra created by a machine using only harmony and mathematics to the extreme.
That’s what it would be like if you implemented Laplace’s demon with steampunk world technology, a huge computing device.
If Siwoo had the ability to completely imitate Black Siwoo, Siwoo would have created magic with a similar structure.
And Siwoo saw it.
The scene where the pure light created by Erelim shattered his world.
The origin of magic before it was called magic.
The light with vague concepts such as ‘origin’, ‘wish’, and ‘prayer’ strongly fulfilled what Erelim desired.
That was clearly a piece of the ‘Witch of Creation’ that many witches had wanted to catch up to.
Magic must be controllable.
Magic must be calculable.
Magic must have a formula and be performed according to it.
From this point of view, that light was something ambiguous to define as magic.
That light is not created by calculations.
It is merely the goal that witches who inherited the mark from apprentice witches pursued before they closed their eyes.
“What is that.”
Siwoo, who had been tearing down the structure of Ain from the core while in a trance, stared blankly at the scene.
“Is that even possible?”
It was only after the ideal that he had always taken as an absolute standard collapsed that he saw it.
Two paths.
One is the path he has been pursuing so far, following Black Siwoo.
The other is the path of the new Siwoo, where he has to give up everything he has built up and pioneer for the first time.
It goes without saying which one is more appealing.
Although it was a short time, it was the former that made Siwoo who he is now.
The path with the steep stairs leading to the high sky is a path that feels familiar, even if it is crooked and precarious as it goes higher.
On the other hand, the path on the opposite side is extremely difficult from the start.
There is no clear end in sight, and there is no guarantee that the middle is not cut off or collapsed.
Perhaps a clumsy result that is worse than not trying at all awaits.
“……”
The advantage that the new Siwoo had as a witch was outstanding intuition.
But Siwoo had only used intuition as a smooth finishing material to fill in the gaps in his insufficient calculations.
For a higher level, for true transcendence, he must completely destroy everything he has built up at least once.
He must give up what he believed to be the truth and look at the world from a new perspective.
Siwoo closed his eyes and stepped onto the first step.
The dark ceiling of Ain opens.
The darkness that seemed like it would never open was swallowed up and disappeared in the pure white light.
2.
“…Cough.”
I can feel the air touching my skin.
After that, a tingling pain runs through my whole body, urging me to wake up.
The outside air, which I thought I might never smell again, has a fishy metallic smell mixed in.
The excruciating pain and terrible headache, as if my nervous system was burning, were all self-inflicted wounds caused by Black Siwoo overclocking my spirit body.
“That bastard… using someone else’s body so carelessly….”
Surprisingly, the damage caused by the ‘light’ is minimal.
The Titans were all destroyed and the Seven-Colored Spear was also shattered, but there was no physical damage caused by being directly hit by magic.
Other than that, it could be said that there was almost none.
This was not exactly what Erelim intended.
The ‘light’ she created was a materialization of the level that the witches who inherited and left wanted to reach.
In other words, it is a radiance that realizes what the caster desires in reality.
Black Siwoo, who was covered in light, disappeared as she ‘wished’, but originally, Black Siwoo and New Siwoo were divided into two in Ain.
The spirit that was trapped by Black Siwoo came to reside in the body that should have been an empty shell.
But Siwoo, who was given a new opportunity like a miracle, had no time to worry about such causality.
The process of giving up everything and building up again from the beginning.
The current Siwoo was thrown into the world after having only reached the incomplete level of the 20th tier.
Just as a butterfly that has just emerged from its pupa cannot fly in the sky with its wings wet, Siwoo’s current state is incomplete in itself.
And the enemy in front of him is the strongest witch who has brutally destroyed the ‘completed’ Black Knight.
First, I have to survive.
“Revere.”
Erelim is not an omnipotent god.
She doesn’t know why New Siwoo woke up after being hit by that light, and why another ‘New Siwoo’ appeared again, not that ‘New Siwoo’.
However, through the flow of the surrounding magical field, she could tell that he had reappeared with the magic of a mere 20th tier witch.
The difference in their tiers is a whopping 5 levels.
She has completely digested the mark left by Keter and has obtained a ‘light’ that is more powerful than all the magic she has had so far.
The light of the origin that existed before magic was called magic, surpassing all imitations.
At this rate, the level difference is good enough to predict an easy victory.
But Erelim did not easily guarantee victory.
Erelim’s body condition, which has not been optimized, with magic that has transcended her own limits, is by no means better than Siwoo’s.
Despite the possibility of suffering terrible self-inflicted wounds if she continues to use this ‘light’, Erelim used her strongest move.
-!
The pure white light from Erelim’s incantation extends like a beam.
There is no significant destructive power in it.
There is no tremendous impact that changes the world, no ear-splitting noise, and no aftershock that resembles a natural disaster.
From its shape to its form, it was not much different from the ‘Mana Cannon’, which is the basic skill of witches.
However, if a normal witch were to face its tip, they would give up resisting the enormous gap.
A light that is sure to hit and pierce the enemy, realizing Erelim’s wish.
In a fighting game, it’s like a cheat that guarantees victory just by pressing a button.
The light containing the thought of ‘fall’ flies to illuminate New Siwoo.
-Whoosh!
The light with such hostile intent narrowly grazed New Siwoo and missed.
To be precise, New Siwoo turned his body the moment the light was emitted and barely dodged it.
This is impossible.
No matter how fast a witch is, they cannot outrun or dodge light.
But it is possible enough.
If he had been watching the tip of Erelim’s hand, the source of the light, and reacted to the magical wave in a fleeting moment that was not even 0.0001 seconds, a dramatic evasion might have been possible.
This is only possible because Erelim’s proficiency in handling the ‘light’ she has just obtained is low.
“Still trying to play tricks…”
Erelim, biting her lip, came up with a simple solution.
She extends her hand and emits a beam of light.
Like a laser beam aimed straight at a prism, a bundle of light that has been divided into various colors swept across the front.
And.
-Whoosh!
Through the colorful rays of light that split apart almost without any gap.
A black armor rushes forward.
Sometimes in a straight line. Sometimes drawing a sharp turning angle. He dodges the trajectories of light that even the caster, Erelim, cannot fully control.
It is not a conscious evasion.
Right now, New Siwoo was so busy running towards a new realization that he had almost no mental capacity to spare for battle.
Instinctive evasion,
He approaches Erelim, repeating evasions that can only be explained as extremely, extremely lucky.
That rush is also reckless.
Even when he was in perfect condition, Erelim overwhelmed New Siwoo in close combat.
He doesn’t have a special armor now, nor does he have a colorful spear.
In addition, even the red tree that gave New Siwoo a huge ‘distortion’ has disappeared.
Then what on earth is he relying on….
“…No way….”
His thoughts stopped.
The New Siwoo who reappeared had a magical field that was only at the 20th tier level, even if he squeezed it out.
But at some point, the aura surrounding him had changed.
Even though it was only a slight reduction in the enormous gap that Erelim saw, it was a difference as if he had surpassed one tier.
In that short moment, his presence swells as if he has gained a new realization.
With each step he takes, the gap that seemed like it would never be narrowed is quickly reduced.
“……”
Seeing New Siwoo, who had fallen twice but reappeared as an enemy again, Erelim once again felt the shadow of Keter.
The shadow of Keter that Erelim had always looked up to.
Erelim withdrew the pure white light.
The sharpest sword is not necessarily the best sword.
Now is the time for Erelim to face him in the way she is most familiar with.
“Revere.”
The light scatters and the ‘Wings of Akasha’ spread out again, covering half of the world.
“Bloom.”
The back of the black armor rushing towards Erelim scattered in the dazzling light.
