The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2 Chapter 651

Although it was a plan he had made himself, even he was unsure at what point the outline of this plan had become clear.

That was because there had never been a single moment when he meticulously laid out the plan.

From the beginning, it was something that didn’t suit Residue’s temperament.

Elements that had been scattered, half as if by fate, gathered in one place, and at some point, this moment was naturally drawn.

Therefore, it appeared that he had arrived at this moment relatively easily, but in fact, several difficult conditions had to be met for the current situation to be created.

First of all, there had to be no interference in the destruction of the Sun God’s heart. In other words, the movements of the two of the Four Knights had to be restrained, but of course, that was easier said than done.

Because of that, the presence of Yang In-hyun in the Underground City was a welcome miscalculation for Residue. Beings who could establish a battle with the Four Knights were rare even across the entire universe, and among them, those who would actually decide to fight were even rarer. Yang In-hyun was one of those few and far between men.

After that.

Even after obtaining a hint about the One Step Through Time and Space from Michael and evolving his body, he hadn’t given much thought to the Blue Knight. He believed there was still some time before that woman would arrive.

And if it were only one of the Four Knights, he thought that he, Yang In-hyun, and Michael would be enough to confront them.

Nevertheless, placing Luca on the Outside was in preparation for a one-in-a-million situation. Until then, he hadn’t even considered the possibility that Red Knight would be in the Top Universe, but he had given sufficient consideration to the existence of Destruction, the Ruler, or other unknown powerful beings.

In any case, most of those expectations were shattered.

Yang In-hyun failed to complete the Everlasting Plum Sword, the Blue Knight arrived earlier than expected, Michael’s assistance was more outstanding than imagined, and Beniang was utterly, not even slightly, a force to be reckoned with. He was made to reconsider Luca again, and the appearance of Kran was something he had not accounted for at all.

Ultimately, their side’s fighting power added up to zero, while the other side had two of the Four Knights.

In a desperate situation, for some reason, Residue felt a laugh rising up.

A conversation he had once shared with Michael floated up in his mind.

-Ninety percent of it is bullshit, but there's this theory.

-This is you, this is the opponent, and this is the destination.

-Whatever it may be, it’ll be fine. Just mark the coordinates, or create something symbolic.

-And then?

-You surround that place with a magnetic field, and likewise, if you wrap your body in a magnetic field─

-This body would become a human magnet.

It wasn’t a difficult concept.

If an enemy was placed between two objects with strong enough magnetic pull to attract each other, the magnetic forces emitted could, depending on their strength, not only restrict the enemy’s movements but also tear them apart. ṟÀ𝐍ŏᛒËꞩ

Residue got the idea from that.

Unable to afford wasting energy, he borrowed power from all the Absolutes of the Top Universe, and as planned, the external force shot out from the six statues beautifully pierced through the heart.

The explosion of the sun.

The powerful magnetic field that occurred with it.

He mixed his lightning into it and synchronized the wave, setting it as the destination.

Indeed, the magnetic field emitted by the final trace of the Ruler, the heart, was tremendous. It was strong enough to freeze the movements of two of the Four Knights at once.

“……”

Residue confirmed that Michael had escaped with Yang In-hyun, Kran, and Luca.

Now, Residue and the exploding sun.

There were only two obstacles left in the path.

And Residue was not deeply conscious of those obstacles.

Whether it was a pebble, a rock, or even a great mountain in the way. It no longer mattered to him.

Hadn’t he made up his mind? That he would become lightning and tear apart everything that blocked him.

Tszzt.

-One step.

He took a step forward. He tried to.

But his whole body was stiff. Like a wooden puppet that hadn’t been oiled, he couldn’t move smoothly.

He forced his strength.

A tremendous pressure swept over his entire body. It felt as if he were caught among hundreds of whirlwinds raging in all different directions.

Had it not been for a body that had undergone more than millions of evolutions, it would have already been torn apart or collapsed into a handful of ashes.

He moved a bit further.

Then the impact spread not just externally, but internally as well. Starting from the tips of his hair, it felt like it was burning white, then it became a wick, reached down to the roots, and the flickering white flames soon covered even his brain cells.

Pajijijik!

It sounded like fireworks, or the burning of stiff leather, or perhaps the chirping of a mad bird.

His hearing was paralyzed.

Since the sound rang inside his head, it would keep ringing even if he blocked his ears. However, amidst that greatest noise ever, Residue’s concentration was, paradoxically, sharper than ever.

The white flames now seemed to reach his optic nerve. His vision suddenly became flooded with light.

An incomparably intense light seemed to engulf the entire world.

He could not see his destination.

But there was no sense of uncertainty or fear.

The pressure he had been feeling up to that moment disappeared like an illusion.

The sensation of his entire body burning, the pressure, the noise that had been ringing in his head… all the things that had bound him faded like something diluted in water.

Only the intense light remained undiminished.

Even within that radiance, there was a light that shone the brightest.

Like a milestone made of starlight, it pointed the way Residue had to go.

──He walked.

The moment he successfully took a step.

Everything he had lost came back.

As sensation returned to his entire body, he first realized how precarious his condition was. Due to ruptured eardrums, a constant ringing filled his ears, an unpleasant burnt smell sharply pierced his nose, and his mouth was dry and rough.

And before his eyes, something incredibly intense was pulsating.

The heart of the Sun God.

Even after being pierced by the attacks from the six statues imbued with the Absolutes' external force, it had not been completely destroyed and still maintained its form.

Thump.

The pulsing was felt again. The pulsation, as if it was using the very air around it as veins, spread outward, strongly asserting its presence.

Residue reached out toward the heart with a half-dazed expression.

“……”

But just before touching it, he felt as though the heart was pushing his hand away.

It was unexpected, and his brow furrowed. Until just moments ago, they had been fiercely drawn toward each other, yet now that he was right in front of it, it suddenly repelled him. Residue felt a strange sense of betrayal, and that betrayal quickly turned into defiance.

He wrapped his hand in lightning and grabbed the still-pulsing heart.

“……!”

At that moment, a violent surge of energy swept over Residue.

He nearly lost consciousness.

The heart, as if it had been lying about pushing him away, now clung to Residue’s hand. From the point of contact, a tremendous power was being absorbed.

Had it only been that, he might have laughed it off, but the process came with immense pain. Residue, who wouldn’t flinch at most pain, almost screamed.

'This is no joke?'

The power of the Sun God,

The external force of the Absolute,

And Residue’s brain power all combined into something unidentifiable.

Could such a thing even be called power or energy?

It was far more dangerous, violent, and on a much higher level than that─

‘Ugh.’

To make matters worse, the recoil from using the One Step Through Time and Space at maximum power began to kick in!

Like water leaking from a broken pipe, blood began to seep from his entire body. Residue couldn’t hold back and coughed up blood, then fell.

Thud!

…Unluckily, he landed face-first on the ground. Well, anatomically speaking, it wasn’t all that strange.

Anyway.

The situation wasn’t good.

Due to the sudden influx of energy, his body was trying to sever his consciousness. It was attempting to devote all its focus to handling the aftermath of the shockwave.

And because he had landed head-first just now, it was even harder to forcibly halt that flow.

‘Losing consciousness… I really don’t want that.’

Blood from his cracked forehead trickled into his eyes. Through it, he looked back on the path he had taken.

What happened to the Four Knights?

Was he able to take them down with that last strike?

Unfortunately, he couldn’t even confirm that much.

Residue lost consciousness with that thought as his last.

*

The sky came into view.

[…….]

Pale was staring up at the sky with an expressionless face.

It was tinged with a reddish hue, like a sunset. Of course, it wasn’t the time of day when the sun would be setting. It was a scene created because fragments of the shattered heart had scattered like sparks in all directions, momentarily illuminating the sky.

[…Puhuhu.]

A soft laugh escaped.

Pale roughly took off her helmet. In fact, “tore off” might be the more accurate term. The helmet had been nearly destroyed in the previous blow anyway, and now it was nothing more than scrap metal rolling across the ground.

Her armor wasn’t in good shape either, but more than that, her physical condition was worse than it appeared.

Her whole body tingled as if electrocuted, and it seemed like her blood wasn’t circulating properly. She could barely exert strength in the hand that held her sword. …If she hadn’t been in her Blue Knight state, she might really have died.

She staggered and forced herself to stand up.

When was the last time she had taken such a heavy blow?

“……”

Using her sword like a cane to support herself, Pale walked.

The streets of Sin City had vanished without a trace. That too was the result of that man passing through.

What did he do? What exactly did I get hit by?

She walked unsteadily, thinking such thoughts. Pzzzt. Lingering lightning slithered toward her like a tongue. Pale, feeling like her metal armor was attracting the current, stripped it off entirely and threw it away.

“……”

And there, she found the man collapsed.

The moment she saw his face, Pale froze once more. With his eyes closed, covered in blood, unconscious, he reminded her so strongly of that person.

They were only similar in appearance and completely different within, yet she wished that wasn’t the case.

If only there were such a thing as miracles.

If only all of this had just been a nightmare.

If not that, then even if it were an outrageous joke meant to mock her, she would’ve accepted it.

If only the scene before her eyes wasn’t real, she felt like she could accept any other possibility.

…But of course, that wasn’t the case.

There are no miracles in this world.

If it were a nightmare, she would have woken up already.

And that person, he doesn’t play jokes like this.

Even if she stabbed out both her eyes and lost her sight, the sights she had already seen, the reality that had occurred, wouldn’t just disappear.

That’s why she had made up her mind.

To end everything with her own hands.

Clang.

The moment her grip tightened on the sword.

A gentle breeze blew, and then, fluttering his garments in the air, a man appeared in the sky.

Yang In-hyun, wielder of the Everlasting Plum Sword.

Did he dodge that previous attack? It didn’t seem like a complete evasion. His condition didn’t appear normal either.

However, his aura was ferocious. With bloodshot eyes and murderous intent infused in his sword, he was charging in with killing intent.

“……”

Pale turned her gaze away with an emotionless expression. At that blatant disregard, Yang In-hyun’s expression twisted.

Was she ignoring him even in this situation?

He realized it was a mistake shortly after.

Kaaang!

Like a beast, the Red Knight lunged, leaving behind a red trail. It all happened so suddenly that his response was slightly delayed. Yang In-hyun managed to pull back the sword he was about to swing and barely blocked the strike at his chest, but he realized his left wrist bone had cracked.

“Keugh……”

She resembled a wounded beast.

The Red Knight’s condition didn’t appear normal at all.

To put it plainly, she looked far more damaged than Pale did… and yet, a red aura was rising from her entire body like heat haze, and the weight behind her sword strikes felt even stronger than when she was at full strength.

Of course, part of that could be because Yang In-hyun himself wasn’t in normal condition……

Is she in a state of frenzy?

If she overexerts herself in that condition, the outcome won’t be good.

‘Not the time to worry about others.’

Clenching his teeth, Yang In-hyun poured his remaining energy into the battle with the Red Knight. He was sorry, but he couldn’t spare any more attention for Residue now.

In the meantime, Pale had reached right beside Residue.

A distance close enough to reach him if she just stretched out her hand.

She climbed atop the fallen Residue’s body and firmly pinned him down.

“……”

In that position, she raised her blade high.

There was no hesitation.

If she brought it down and pierced through his neck, it would all be over.

And so.

“Stop.”

A voice rang out.

Clang, Pale’s sword dropped.

A look of utter disbelief spread across her soot-covered face.

“Uh……”

She examined the face of the man she had just been about to kill.

He was still covered in blood, completely motionless. There were no signs of his lips having moved.

A hallucination?

“Ha……”

Had she really gone insane?

Just as a laugh threatened to escape again.

“Stop it. Pale.”

“……”

It wasn’t a hallucination.

But the voice she heard again… it wasn’t Lukas’ at all. And yet, she had mistaken it for him.

She had mistaken ‘a young girl’s voice’ for Lukas.

She turned her head.

Dozens of times.

Hundreds of times.

Perhaps even more.

The girl whom Pale had torn apart with her own hands was now staring at her with sunken eyes.

*****

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