Chapter 181

Finally,

I asked the Magic Emperor who was disappearing while wrapped in white flames.

“Would it be alright if I summoned you again with [Simulation]?”

The Magic Emperor’s eyes grew hazy and unfocused before barely managing to focus on me. He asked me with somehow worried eyes.

-Have you ever, when someone close to you died, summoned them with simulation?

“No. You were the first.”

A faint smile hung on his lips.

-You did well. My case is different. Whether you use [Simulation] or not doesn’t matter. My soul will be extinguished anyway, and the records I’ve built up will remain within you. It’s your choice. But… from now on, I advise you not to use simulation even when precious people die.

“Why is that?”

-You said [Simulation] copies records from the Akashic Record?

“Yes.”

-But I think [Simulation] is something more than that. If it were simply a copy as you think… it could never affect the original. But… would that really be the case?

What is he talking about? Until now, [Simulation] has never affected reality at all.

-It would be fine against living subjects. But what about souls that have become extremely unstable while preparing for reincarnation? Even then, would [Simulation] have no influence at all?

Reincarnation?

That was still a concept I hadn’t accepted.

I didn’t particularly deny it, but… hearing it like this made it feel unreal, like a story from another world.

But to the Magic Emperor, this issue seemed important.

-As someone who believes in reincarnation, I’m worried. That your [Simulation] might steal the opportunity that should rightfully return to the dead. That reincarnation might become impossible… or their souls might be destroyed…

“…Isn’t that excessive worry?”

-It might be. But didn’t you say that gifts are the power of gods? The providence of gods is cruel to humans. This world wasn’t made for humans but for gods. Anyway, that’s my intuition. It’s a ghost’s intuition, so it might be quite accurate. Study it once. What [Simulation] really is. Until you know completely, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

Whoosh whoosh-

During our conversation, the pure white flames had climbed up to the Magic Emperor’s face. Regret filled the Magic Emperor’s eyes.

-Speaking of reincarnation reminds me… please tell the saint… that I’m sorry I couldn’t properly serve her… even if she doesn’t remember me…

“…Are you talking about Tris?”

But there was no answer.

That was the Magic Emperor’s end.

[Simulation End]

* * *

Blink blink.

I saw platinum hair in front of my eyes.

She was earnestly gripping my shoulder.

“Try it.”

Ah,

In the [Simulation], and in the dimensional rift, it felt like I had spent ages, but here it had all passed in an instant.

I gently took Hwi Someong’s hand and removed it from my shoulder.

“I tried it.”

Hwi Someong’s eyes widened. She seemed both flustered and half-doubtful. I told her about the Magic Emperor’s story.

At first, she wore an expression of disbelief, but as my explanation continued, her expression crumbled, and later she listened to my story in a daze.

“You were right. He kept his final promise. He burned his soul to become a dagger… and placed it in my hands.”

“Ah… ahh…”

Hwi Someong shed tears. They weren’t tears of joy.

She turned away to hide her tears and said this.

“Then… really… His Majesty has truly… passed away.”

Had she still not believed in that death until now?

Unable to find words to say, I kept my mouth shut.

But she hadn’t expected an answer anyway. Hwi Someong slowly turned back around. Her tear tracks were cleanly wiped away, and her light green eyes had regained their clarity.

“Divine Wizard, your words. I can see they’re all true. Because… you now carry the special aura that His Majesty possessed.”

Aura?

Does some smell come off me?

I lifted my arm and sniffed it, making Hwi Someong smile brightly.

“No. Not that kind of smell. It’s what you might call the dignity of the soul.”

Only then could I understand. The magical power that had burst from behind the Magic Emperor like a halo when I first met him. The profound mystery contained in even his small gestures. The majesty that made even wizards reflexively bow their heads.

All of that was the Magic Emperor’s ‘dignity.’

The magic created by records built up as the Saint of the Tower.

Now that had become mine.

“Hmm… is it still like that now?”

But carrying such majesty around all the time would be inconvenient, so I tried to suppress my presence.

It was difficult. Like trying to move a non-existent fifth tail.

Why a fifth one? Because it’s that difficult. Among fingers, the pinky is the clumsiest, so wouldn’t tails be the same?

Chuckle chuckle.

Hwi Someong laughed again. What’s this? Why are you laughing so much? Just moments ago you were like a tragic heroine.

“You just tried to suppress your presence, didn’t you? For your first time, you did quite well.”

Having said that, Hwi Someong wiped away her smile and looked me in the eyes before slowly lowering her body. She knelt on the ground and bowed her head deeply.

‘Ah…’

Only then did I realize why this posture is one of pledging loyalty.

In this position… you could strike the other person’s neck at any time, couldn’t you? It’s truly a gesture of offering one’s life.

“Subject Water Wizard Hwi Someong. I meet His Majesty the Second Magic Emperor. I won’t make a separate oath. You already know that the oath I offered to the First Magic Emperor continues intact.”

Only then did it feel real. What filled me completely was the karma of the Magic Emperor. His records. All the promises and oaths that had been directed toward him now inevitably became mine.

In exchange, I also inherited the obligations and promises the Magic Emperor had made…

I looked down at Hwi Someong who had bowed her head before me.

‘What should I say to her?’

I didn’t want to speak like the Magic Emperor.

Even though I had inherited his records, I hadn’t inherited them completely. The Magic Emperor had minimized the promises that would bind me and maximized the rights I would gain when passing on his records.

The only promise I had to keep was ‘protect the world.’

I didn’t need to play Santa Claus like the Magic Emperor or demand absolute loyalty.

Thanks to this, I couldn’t inherit the Magic Emperor’s power intact and suffered losses, but this was better.

I didn’t want to walk the path of ruling without friends or equals. I planned to gain the cooperation of everyone in the world to stand against the Outer Gods.

So,

What should I say to Hwi Someong who had bowed her head before me? How should I show our changed relationship?

But I couldn’t continue my pondering for long.

“Jun, Jun!”

Yuria called my name in a shocked voice.

“Hm?”

“You, you, your hair color…!”

Hair color? What?

I pulled at my hair curiously.

…It was white.

‘Ah… The Grim Reaper.’

The god’s fragment that had followed the Magic Emperor’s soul into me. Though the Magic Emperor’s soul had burned away and been extinguished, the god’s fragment remained in that place.

An unexpected additional gift.

I instinctively realized what that gift meant.

600 years ago, the reason the Magic Emperor could extract the Holy Grail from Ragnarok at the Dragon’s Blood Lake.

Gift.

[Time Stop]

It had become mine.

* * *

“Wh-what did you just do?”

Yuria’s eyes went round. But Yuria’s surprise was nothing.

“Huh?! Se-Senior Elder?”

Ak-hu, who had been taking an attack stance and looking around in surprise, opened his mouth wide and said.

“I-I was definitely on patrol…”

Lytol’s voice trembled.

“Huh? What? What? Divine wizard! Did you teleport me here?”

Tris was dumbfounded.

“Huh? But why is this one so agitated?”

-Grrrowwwl!

Unlike the bewildered Tris, the Dragon Heart she carried was moving menacingly as if it wanted to bite me immediately. Tris hurriedly calmed the Dragon Heart.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. I had something urgent to discuss, so I stopped time and brought you here.”

What did I do? I tested my newly acquired [Time Stop]. It was quite interesting. Even Ak-hu, a 6th Circle Ki-blood wizard, couldn’t perceive the stopped time. Due to magical power’s resistance to maintain its position, it was a bit heavy, but I could carry them here without them noticing at all.

Until reaching 7th Circle and gaining divine perceptual abilities that transcend time concepts, they can’t resist [Time Stop], let alone feel it.

‘Hmm… but the Dragon Heart still reacted.’

The Dragon Heart’s true identity is an ancient demigod’s magical circuit. Though its will was lost and it couldn’t move on its own, it felt my approach and showed a reflexive reaction. If I had shown hostility, wouldn’t it have counterattacked?

So [Time Stop] was only half effective against Tris…

But still, isn’t this completely broken?

The magic spells I could develop using this gift automatically came to mind, making me happy.

“St-stopping time is something you say so casually…”

Tris made a rotten smile. Then suddenly her eyes sparkled.

“Hey! Your hair turned white again!”

“Oh? It really did? How did that happen, Senior Elder?”

The companions made a fuss, so I explained the situation as concisely as possible.

The Magic Emperor hadn’t died a dog’s death. He had left me his memories, information about the Outer Gods, the karma he had built up, governing authority over the Truth Tower, and his gift before departing. In the process, I obtained a god’s fragment and my hair turned white again.

After I finished explaining, Lytol said with a pale expression.

“He-he left quite a lot behind…”

That’s certainly true. And thanks to that, new options arose.

I looked at my companions and gave instructions.

“Anyway, now that we’ve shared the situation, let me get to the main point. Wizard of Extraction. Send a message spell to Pathfinder headquarters now.”

“Ah, yes. What should I say? Should I report information related to the Magic Emperor’s death?”

“That needs to be sent too, but first, it’s a request for deployment.”

“Deployment… you mean?”

“Yes. To the 65th floor. To the Allied Command, request that they mobilize all available forces.”

“B-but…”

Ak-hu’s eyes went round. I knew what he wanted to say. The Magic Emperor’s death was such a powerful disaster that it could shatter the alliance. With the alliance’s continuation now highly unlikely, what deployment?

Even the Magic Emperor had advised me to lay low for a while and build up internal strength, hadn’t he?

But my thinking was different.

The Magic Emperor’s transferred records also included records about Society Chairman Wizard of Rebirth and Magic Tower Master Wizard of Soul Severance. Thanks to this, I could run [Simulation] on them without even meeting them.

How would they move going forward?

After dozens of [Simulations], my conclusion wasn’t to catch my breath but to press forward.

“There’s no time. We must hurry as much as possible. Before the Magic Emperor’s death becomes established fact and humanity’s fighting spirit is completely broken. Before the alliance the Magic Emperor worked so hard to create dissolves into thin air. We’ll reverse this situation like a storm.”

Crisis.

The inevitable dissolution of the alliance and humanity’s retreat.

But it hasn’t materialized yet.

It’s like a ship tilted about 30 degrees. If left alone, it will certainly capsize completely. But if a truly excellent captain takes the wheel?

A dramatic soft landing is possible.

“The Outer Gods also used too much power to kill the Magic Emperor. Now is our chance. Right now is the only opportunity.”

The last chance to turn the situation around.

“I’ll produce results within a week.”

It was golden time.