Chapter 456
Chapter 456
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 456
>Chapter Title: No Calculations
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Shock, confusion, disbelief....
A torrent of emotions swept through his mind. They all jumbled together in a chaotic whirlpool, none coming before the other.
And when that rush of emotions finally passed through his head....
For the first time in ages, the 9th Elder felt 'fear.'
......Fear.
It was truly an alien sensation.
No, alien wasn't even the half of it.
In truth, while the 9th Elder knew the word 'fear,' he had no idea what emotion it described.
He was born without the capacity to feel fear.
He could only guess.
- Then... let's make you the ninth. What do you say?
When he had encountered 'Three Fingers.' Maybe the feeling from back then was fear.
......Not his soul being 'torn,' but the mere possibility that it 'could be torn.' The anxiety born from that uncertain future.
Realizing that much, the 9th Elder scowled fiercely.
'What nonsense is this....'
His opponent was, at best, just a human.
Even as a grand archmage who had reached the pinnacle, he was utterly insignificant compared to 'Three Fingers.'
Could he even be compared at all?
Comparing 'Three Fingers' to the Tower Lord was like debating whether a human or an ant was superior.
Yet, why....
Swish, shhh—
The 9th Elder blankly watched the Tower Lord pierce through the labyrinth walls. And soon enough, he pinpointed the source of his fear.
......He didn't seem human.
Inhale and exhale.
Black mana rippled along with his breath.
His arm extended straight. His palm touched the wall. Black mana surged, enveloping his hand, and the wall scattered away as if it were the most natural thing.
Then one step.
Another step.
With every step, the darkness churned. Every particle of black mana focused on his every movement.
It was, without a doubt....
......Overwhelming talent.
A genius?
It wasn't even on that level.
They were different species.
He wielded black mana with mere will, and the black mana responded as if it were the most obvious thing.
So, if....
If the Tower Lord had learned black magic instead of regular magic, what heights could he have reached?
No, he didn't need to go that far back.
......The future.
What kind of monster would be born if the Tower Lord learned forbidden magic from now on?
In the 9th Elder's mind, the Tower Lord was already a monster.
One that would devour all knowledge of black magic, and in the end, swallow the 9th Elder himself, Salvatium, and everything else.
......Of course, whether Aster's talent matched the 9th Elder's imagination was unknowable.
To Aster, handling black mana wasn't much different from handling mana. If anything, it was even easier.
Unlike collision formulas, which required sensing mana particles and controlling their flow, manifesting black mana only needed sensing the particles.
Dissipating the wall followed the same principle as interference formulas.
But the difficulty....
'About a tenth?'
Black mana particles were coarser and their patterns cruder than mana's.
That was why Aster handled black mana so easily—and the 'circle' played no small part.
The gravitational pull created by the circle's rotation was overwhelmingly stronger for black mana than regular mana.
At this point, whether Aster had talent for black magic or not was irrelevant.
So, what mattered?
'With this power....'
......What could he do?
Aster dissipated the wall in front of him and pressed forward. He was growing accustomed now; he couldn't tell if he was scattering the wall or if the wall was parting on its own.
All the while, his thoughts continued.
......Power, by itself, held no meaning.
No matter how immense the power one possessed, if it couldn't achieve a goal, it was no different from nothing. Conversely, no matter how meager the power, if it could achieve the goal, it was more than enough.
So, he posed the question to himself.
'Is this enough?'
......Aster stopped walking and breathed.
Clenching his fist, black lightning crackled fiercely in his grip—unlike his usual, it was pitch black.
Stop at sensing the particles, then manifest.
'Let's see, then....'
What happens if I create a flow here?
He split the black mana in his hand into two layers, creating flows in each.
Up to here, it was just like a standard collision formula.
But.
Krrrng—!
Opening his hand unleashed a blunt roar.
Like compressing a snowball to its limit—a dull, heavy sound.
Now, add another layer and amplify the flow's intensity....
'Explosive Annihilation.'
Grk, grrrk—
The black mana in his hand swelled in size. Its destructive power surged accordingly.
The force was too much for one hand; Aster gripped the Explosive Annihilation with both. Arms extended at an angle, palms facing each other. A black sphere hovered between them.
Aster gazed at the Explosive Annihilation swirling like a vortex at chest level, then looked ahead.
Ahead was a wall.
A black wall.
Could Explosive Annihilation destroy that wall?
And furthermore....
......9th Elder.
Could it drag out the bastard hiding somewhere in the darkness?
He didn't know.
'If I make it bigger....'
He hadn't even entered transcendence, yet his thoughts raced at absurd speeds. Not slow enough to make time crawl, but far beyond normal.
Amid that, the Explosive Annihilation steadily grew.
A bit more... a bit more.
At first, it was to increase destructive power, but at some point, it became curiosity-driven growth.
......How far could it hold? How big could he make it?
The Explosive Annihilation grew larger.
Its destructive power intensified.
The 9th Elder wasn't just sitting idle.
"Foolish meddling...!"
He closed his eyes and focused his mind. He expanded the 'self' confined to his body, his 'domain.'
Phantom Barrier.
He recognized it as himself.
It was a phenomenon inexplicable by standard magic theory.
Unlike comprehending the world and accepting it as part of 'self,' this placed 'self' beyond human limits—a self-destructive act.
One misstep could erode his ego and personality, but the effect was tremendous.
Boom—!
As recognition expanded, his arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin... his mind and senses, trapped in flesh, exploded outward.
In this moment, the 9th Elder was the darkness.
The barrier itself.
What did that mean?
God.
In the Phantom Barrier, it was no different from saying he had become a god.
And what was a god?
......Omniscience.
Knowing all.
......Omnipotence.
Able to do all.
[......]
Transcending senses, the 9th Elder observed the Tower Lord. He observed the endlessly swelling energy between his hands.
How vicious it was.
Inside the black sphere was pure hell.
Dozens—no, hundreds of flows tangled and collided, birthing new flows from each clash.
Forces devoured and were devoured, generating and vanishing in cycles.
Threatening.
......But.
In this moment, the 9th Elder was the god of a small world. The world itself was him, and he was the world.
No matter how threatening Aster's Explosive Annihilation, it was made of the Phantom Barrier's black mana—thus, still within the 9th Elder's grasp.
And that was just the start.
He pierced even Aster's internals. The black mana Aster wielded was part of him, after all.
As a result.
The 9th Elder realized Aster possessed a different core from the norm. At the same time, he understood the source of Aster's absurd black mana affinity.
A ring.
A circle.
There was only one, made of black mana, but to the 9th Elder, the sight was shocking.
But the shock was fleeting.
......You won't leave here alive.
Instead of dispersing the Explosive Annihilation, he decided to destroy Aster's core.
Ultimately, the black mana in Aster was his own, and fused with the Phantom Barrier, he could manipulate it freely.
In a way, it was like clutching Aster's heart. He could burst it anytime he wished.
And so.
Thump—!
“......!”
Aster's eyes shot wide at the sinking sensation. He simultaneously moved his internal mana to resist the black mana's flow.
He couldn't expel mana outward, but he could block it from within.
But.
Grrrrk—
Aster squeezed his eyes shut against the intensifying pressure. The circle infused with black mana constricted, squeezing his heart.
The contraction accelerated his heartbeat, like frantic struggling.
“Urk, ugh.”
Aster staggered, groaning in agony. He was fending it off with mana as best he could, but it wasn't enough.
The 9th Elder watched in astonishment.
......What a tenacious bastard.
The pain of a gripped heart was incomparable. No, pain wasn't even the issue.
A normal being would crumble the instant the heart was seized. That was life's mechanism.
Yet the Tower Lord....
Crunch, crrrunch.
He resisted with mana while refusing to release the black mana in his hands. No, it went beyond that.
The destructive power only grew fiercer.
Even now, the Tower Lord hadn't given up.
So, what to do?
He wanted to disperse the sphere first. Not just because it was dangerous.
With death looming, clinging to it meant he had great expectations for it.
Dispersing it would go beyond neutralizing the Tower Lord—it would break his spirit.
But the 9th Elder hesitated.
......Explosive Annihilation.
Its power had surpassed his coercive force.
'Monstrous bastard....'
He felt no pity.
His unyielding will amid the crushing heart was less noble, more horrifying.
Yes, 'horrifying' fit perfectly.
Look at that smile.
Beneath the shattered mask, his revealed face beamed. Teeth stained red with blood gleamed in a silent laugh.
Eyes rolled back in pain, then refocused—pupils shining bright.
What dwelled in those eyes....
Malice.
Realizing that, the 9th Elder knew he had made a grave mistake.
Give flesh to take bone? It wasn't even that.
No calculations.
Flesh, bone, heart—whatever he had to yield to the opponent, he didn't care about his own losses.
What mattered was....
......What he could take.
How viciously cruel!
Stunned briefly by the Tower Lord's god-defying grin, the 9th Elder steeled himself.
Ultimately, it was simple.
'Burst the Tower Lord's heart.'
......Before he could break the Phantom Barrier.
And so....
Screeech, screeeeeeech—!
Whether from the Explosive Annihilation or his heart, ominous tearing grew fiercer.
Amid indescribable agony, Aster waited calmly, calmly for the moment.
'A bit more, more....'
He waited.
Waited and waited.
Until it was enough.
His breath had long stopped, bodily senses faded. He hadn't reached transcendence's horizon, yet time crawled endlessly slow. Even then, eyes closed, Aster waited.
Then, at some point....
......!
The world sharpened into focus.
Sound vanished.
Instinct told him.
......Now.
Craaaaaaaaack—!
It was an explosion.