My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 92
#92
Variable (2)
Gooooo—!
At the oath hideout of Yeokcheon, hidden in the southern wastelands, the ceremony was nearing its end.
“— ———!”
At the center of the ritual, an old man chants a series of spells while holding a magic circle in front of him.
His eyes were filled with madness as he focused only on perfecting the Great Law, ignoring the loud noises echoing everywhere.
Strange patterns drawn everywhere, including on the walls and ceiling, continued to spread black light, slowly filling the area with darkness.
‘It’s going smoothly. It looks like there are no problems elsewhere.’
The large man who was watching the situation from afar nodded in satisfaction.
The preparation period, led by the elderly person who would perform the ceremony, lasted 30 years.
It has only been about 10 years since preparations began in the large southern region, but the preliminary preparation alone was a huge project that took a whopping 30 years.
‘No, I heard that the plan was being made long before that.’
I don’t know the exact time because it was before he joined the Oath of Yeokcheon, but it was a plan that took a lot of effort.
By now, the techniques that had been deployed throughout the continent by mobilizing all of the organization’s capabilities over the years would have been activated simultaneously.
It will be of great help to the ceremonies held here, the center of Dafa.
‘It’s the moment when all the hard work is rewarded.’
Although it is said that the work was carried out as secretly as possible, the process of preparing multiple village-scale sacrificial rituals could not have been easy.
It is not uncommon for plans to be derailed by reports from suspicious residents, as well as being discovered by powerful figures or religious groups passing by.
Each time, the organization cut off the tail and reduced the incident to the work of a single warlock.
Even amidst countless failures, their original purpose was somehow hidden.
‘It would have been better if the ceremony could have been held in the center of the continent, but there is no choice as the influence of the church is too strong there.’
So the place chosen was this wasteland between the central and southern regions.
This land, abandoned because it had no special resources, was the best land for work.
Gooooo—
How long has it been since the ritual began like that?
Black light rose into the sky from the darkness that was shaking at the bottom of the magic circle.
A black pillar that stretched high into the sky, ignoring the ceiling.
Observed from afar, it felt as if the sky was divided in two by a black line.
“Whoa whoa whoa!”
The old man who was in charge of the ceremony vomited black blood.
Dead blood continues to flow from the plaster on his face, and his limbs tremble mercilessly.
He did not care about his dying body and tried to complete the ritual by squeezing out the last of his vitality.
He has not yet reached his desired goal.
‘Even after doing this, you still can’t completely complete Dafa…!’
In his entire life, he had never seen anyone with greater magical talent than him.
From a young age, he was hailed as the genius of the century, and when he grew up, he was even mentioned as a leader…
Even though he worked hard for 30 years, he was unable to perfect it.
The door to the ‘abyss’ that connects to the bottom of the dimension.
‘The person from a thousand years ago feels amazing again…’ He
searched the entire continent to find places where the border with the abyss had weakened, and sacrificed entire nearby villages to supply energy.
Moreover, he, who prides himself on being the greatest wizard on the continent, personally presided over the ceremony, and yet he was like this.
‘It’s okay… I expected it from the beginning. It’s all according to the calculation.’
In the first place, his goal was not to completely retrieve ‘it’ from the abyss and become the second immortal king.
If it’s not enough, it’s not enough.
The old man tightly clutched the locket necklace around his neck.
And without hesitation, he offered his soul and his very being as a sacrifice.
“Kuhhh—!”
The ‘karma’ and ‘status’ of the great wizard, who had gone beyond extremes and were close to transcendence, became the nourishment of his consciousness and crumbled away.
Even then, the door wouldn’t open completely, so all I had to do was forcefully twist it to make a hole.
The original goal was achieved.
“Kick… Kkheehyah—!”
Even though he felt his soul scattering, he didn’t care and burst into laughter.
The only thing that dominates his mind is anger and madness.
His thoughts became blurred and even the precious things that supported him disappeared one by one.
Finally, the ‘thing’ that was stuck in the depths of the abyss began to climb up the pillar.
Pusssss—
Most of what came out of the abyss at the incomplete entrance was broken away, and only a single fragment was revealed in its entirety.
And the fragments protrude from the black pillar…
Pugh—!
It immediately penetrated the old man’s heart.
Clink!
Due to the impact, the string of the locket necklace around his neck broke and he fell to the floor, but he showed no reaction.
Now he was… just an empty shell.
The ‘seed of madness’ that lived in the old man’s heart immediately fell into hibernation in the aftermath of the incomplete summons.
It was inevitable as more than 90% of it was lost as soon as it escaped the abyss.
Most of the madness that broke up in the process rose up in a black pillar that seemed to pierce the sky and spread across the entire continent.
And so the second abyss opens.
‘Madness’ has sprouted across the continent.
***
‘The oath of the reverse heaven opened the abyss. I never thought they would be this crazy.’
I knew that they were a force operating in the shadows, but I had no idea that they could even open the abyss.
I felt like I needed to adjust my evaluation of them a little higher.
In order to do something like this, it couldn’t have been a simple criminal organization, and it had to have some kind of connection with a high-ranking authority figure.
‘That’s it.’
There was something I had to do.
Now that things had gotten this far, he couldn’t just sit back and watch.
[A ceremony of this scale. The energy of the continent is shaking. … I guess I should go and see it in person?]
Now we are about to start a full-fledged ‘home theater’ operation, but this was a variable that was far outside the situation he had assumed.
I needed to settle the matter with them somehow.
That was the moment when Hans was quietly concentrating and trying to trace the center of energy and move it.
A twitch—
something inside him reacted.
-I won’t leave you alone! I will never leave everyone on this continent alone!
‘hmm? This?’
-Death to the world! Revenge! Color this continent with death!
Suddenly, a will burst forth from within Hans.
A deluge of thoughts coming from the ‘Heart of the Immortal King’, which has now become his heart.
It instantly expanded in size and tried to invade Hans’ mind.
-What are you doing! Come quickly, become one with me and cover the world with death…
Hans frowned at the sudden outpouring of thoughts.
I was able to understand the situation right away, but it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for.
‘This is the thought of the immortal king of the past. Did it pop out again in the aftermath of the opening of the abyss?’
It was not the will of the ‘Heart of the Immortal King’ that he had been dealing with, but the thoughts of the previous Immortal King buried there.
For some reason, he had been sleeping quietly while the abyss was closed, but it seemed as if this incident had awakened him.
‘Is he the second immortal king? Surely it’s not just one? …Or maybe it’s both.’
Seeing that he was talking about becoming one with himself, I found that to be the most credible.
‘The Immortal King’s heart also originated from the abyss, so it seems to have been affected by this incident and become a bit overly active.’
I was irritated by the sudden situation.
Because of that thought, the amount of information in the “Mind Hub” increased rapidly, leaving no room for other leisure activities.
Because of the Immortal King’s heart, his spare time was always tight, but the previous generation’s thoughts were something that could never be taken lightly.
[Phew—How dare the ghosts of the past tell this body to do this or that?] -Come
with me right now… What?
[There’s a lot of talk about losers. I’ll take care of this matter, so you disappear quietly. He barks so much that I can’t stand it because it’s noisy.]
-…Ha….
The thoughts that were repeatedly coming from my heart stopped for a moment at Hans’ words.
But even for a moment.
-…Hahahahahahahaha—! you! you! You have escaped the will of ‘death’! I maintain full self-awareness! Well, that means you haven’t become one with us yet! Hahahaha!
The thought of mad laughter echoed in his head again.
-I…we are! I’m still caught up in ‘death’ like this! iced coffee-! Death, death! Please grant us complete death! Death—! …Ah, color the continent with death! Ah ha ha!
‘I think I’m really crazy.’
Actually, if I had been sane, I wouldn’t have accepted the Immortal King’s heart in the first place.
After that, he would have spent hundreds of years immersed in the death of the abyss, so it was only natural that it would turn out like that.
‘I don’t know if a real soul has been captured or if it’s just a thought.’
That probably isn’t a particularly important issue.
The important thing now was that I was already busy, but I couldn’t do anything because of that guy.
‘I’ll fall asleep again after the abyss closes, but why stay still like this?’
The ‘Heart of the Immortal King’ was already his.
Even though it was a used product, I didn’t pay much attention to it because it didn’t have any noticeable marks, but since I found the previous owner’s name engraved on it, shouldn’t I at least scratch it off?
Hans, who observed his own heart through the skill “Immortal Heart,” was soon able to discover the foreign object.
‘found.’
A thought like some intangible concept was stuck in my heart.
But when I found it, the problem was how to remove it.
‘It does not exist as an entity, nor does it exist as an energy body. Just like many negative emotions in the heart, those thoughts are also part of those emotions… huh? emotion?’
At that moment, an idea flashed in my head.
The “Mind Herb” that I had been using so far was not appropriate in this situation.
Now he needed a way to touch his emotions more directly… and he had the right skills for that.
‘「Persona」.’
A skill that was once used to capture the emotions of the main body into an avatar, and over time became able to amplify and control specific emotions.
That was the answer he found.
‘The Immortal King’s heart has already become completely one with Hans. The skill “Immortal Heart” proves it.’
Then wouldn’t it be possible to say that the emotions contained within it also belong to Hans?
In that case, it would be possible to at least scrape away thoughts that were not one from the beginning.
Hans, who gained confidence, spoke confidently to Samyeom.
[Stop talking and wait quietly. I will destroy you forever.]
-Extinction…? extinction! Eternal death! Disappearing from this world! death!!
The thoughts that had been raging alone responded again to Hans’ words.
The response was more intense than expected.
-Ahahaha—! If you really give me eternal death, I will give you a gift! What you should have had but didn’t!
I was momentarily curious, but what was the point of talking further with a madman?
Hans immediately focused on the inside of his own heart through “Heart of the Immortal.”
The first thing I saw was… All kinds of negative emotions, including death.
The emotions concentrated in the original ‘Heart of the Immortal King’ were so heavy and sticky that I couldn’t even dare to touch them.
‘That wasn’t my goal in the first place.’
What he was aiming for was the thoughts mixed within him like impurities.
Perhaps because the mixing period was short and because they had heterogeneous properties to begin with, it was not that difficult to separate them.
That was the moment when Hans used “Persona” to break down those thoughts little by little.
-Ah… they disperse. It’s disappearing! Eternal death is coming!
The thought that had been continuously shouting for death began to glow with joy.
-gift! I’ll give you a gift! It will help you stain this continent with death!
I immediately knew what the gift he was talking about was.
This is because part of the thought has been separated and divided into a part that simply contains information and a part that has the ego.
It seems that the information contained in the thought was a gift.
‘I don’t know how much that will help, but it’s better than nothing.’
And Hans, without hesitation, separated his egoic thoughts and scattered them.
-Ah… Death… That brilliant….
The thoughts of the previous immortal king who disappeared without forgetting his words until the end.
And Hans was finally able to have some peaceful time.
‘Huh, I feel a bit refreshed now. ‘I delayed it too much.’
A lot more time passed than I thought while dealing with my thoughts.
‘What is the gift you are giving? I don’t think it would be of much help if the information was 300 years old at the earliest.’
The most likely thing is knowledge or experience with magic…
That part includes the “evil wisdom” and “forbidden knowledge” provided by the heart of the Immortal King, as well as the “Way of Magic” that even encompasses the providence of the other world. Added together, it wasn’t really enough.
The moment he checked the gift with such a light heart, he couldn’t help but be quite surprised by the unexpected information it contained.
‘Oh…? It can definitely be called a gift?’
That’s because it was exactly what the thought said, ‘what I should have had but didn’t have.’
‘It’s a pretty good variable.’
It was about the ‘Legacy of the Immortal King’.