Fwoosh!

The golden hawk, crushed thoroughly, melted away in crimson flames; the whale spewing fire, hacked into dozens of pieces, fell like a meteor shower. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The two decisive weapons created solely to kill Eun-Ha and Aria were destroyed beyond recognition along with the false Babel that could not endure the aftermath of their battles.

Rumble-

Only crumbling ruins were left. The interception facilities that attacked them on the way there and the countless core systems—such as the buoyancy devices and power units that kept the artificial island afloat—were all destroyed or rendered completely inoperable.

Thus, the island that housed the false Babel was slowly sinking into the sea. However, despite that, there was one place alone that remained utterly detached from the chaos.

Woong-

The black tower, an imitation of the Tower of Pristine, at the center of the false Babel remained upright. Only it and the land it stood on remained immaculate. It was like an untouched world.

“...”

Aria stared at the rift in front of her, facing the black tower with a massive crack that had been carved into the outer surface: the gap she had cut open and Eun-Ha had torn apart.

Little by little, that very gap was mending ‌itself, making Aria narrow her eyes.

Not yet...

Although she had been the one to declare she would stay outside just in case, ten whole minutes without a sign of anything had passed. Her impatience was creeping in. Just what was happening beyond that gap after her sword was deflected...?

Grip-

Staring into the opening where nothing could be seen, Aria tightened her grip on Dawnlight.

If she had followed her heart, she would have entered the black tower through that gap immediately, but she had forced herself to stay because she believed she shouldn’t follow.

“...phewwwwwww”

So, suppressing her impatience, Aria simply fixed her gaze on the gap with calmer eyes... only to see the gap mending itself even faster. In the blink of an eye, the gap was now about to fully close—

Whoosh!

A crimson fist smashed the gap apart, working in tandem with a slash of sword aura from Aria swinging Dawnlight.

Krr-

The golden slash carved ‌a cross through the opening in an instant, allowing the two people locked tightly in each other’s arms to shoot out.

“Haa... ”

“Ugh....”

Seeing Eun-Ha, breathing heavily with an exhausted expression, and Se-Hoon, frowning through dizziness, unharmed without a single major injury, Aria let out a sigh of relief...?

She stopped. One missing person made her harden her face.

“Where’s Terra?”

A heavy silence fell.

Rising to his feet with Eun-Ha, Se-Hoon explained, his voice sunken. “...Tuner was the Seeker, who was said to have died long ago, and she stole Terra’s body and revived herself.”

“Huh...?”

Aria stared at him in shock. Likewise, Eun-Ha, who had been too busy escaping to grasp the full situation until now, also widened her eyes.

“I still don’t know the details of how she did it... but she used the power of Omniscience.”

The power of Omniscience allowed one to access and download from the infinite aggregate of information known as the Akashic. With it, the Seeker had forcibly downloaded the knowledge that made up her identity as “Tuner” into Terra, allowing her to seize control of her body and completely revive.

If I had to guess... she was able to connect Terra forcibly to the Akashic because Hiranyagarbha and the Towers of Heroes had become linked.

In the first place, to interfere with the Seeker’s world, Hiranyagarbha, Terra had eroded the Tower of Heroes’ framework to bypass its administrative authority indirectly. Thanks to that, she had been able to exert powerful interference methods such as disrupting consciousness. However, in doing so, she had inadvertently also provided the Seeker with a pathway to interfere in return.

Then she must have influenced Terra under the pretext of downloading knowledge needed to control Hiranyagarbha or something along those lines.

If it had been him instead of Terra, or if the opponent had been anyone but the Seeker, something like losing control of the body would never have happened. Alas, through the Seeker’s century-long preparations, the one that gained the Towers’ administrative authority was indeed Terra, allowing her to reclaim the body she had severed long ago.

Maybe... she’s actually even been prepared for a moment like this if it came.

The Seeker had indeed handed her own body to Dawn as research material after becoming a demon, sparking the search by them for a compatible vessel for her revival. Also, there was her goal, as he had heard before, to become a transcendent being beyond the limits of both Perfect Ones and Harbingers of Destruction: to become like the Golden Ring itself.

Considering both of those events, it really was possible that both her death and eventual resurrection were parts of her plan from the very beginning.

“The revived version of the Seeker... how strong was she?”

“I didn’t really get to fight her properly, but she’s probably as strong as she was in her prime—no, there’s a high chance she’s even stronger. This is a world ruled by her own laws, after all.”

In the first place, Hiranyagarbha was only incomplete due to Terra’s interference.

Thinking about the Seeker’s World Alteration, which had completely suppressed him, and that it was highly likely that she was even stronger now, Se-Hoon made a grim expression.

“She may not be quite that strong,” Eun-Ha said, disagreeing upon seeing Se-Hoon’s expression.

“Pardon?”

“If the Seeker’s strength was truly great enough to surpass a Perfect One by a vast margin, then how could we possibly have rescued you?”

“That... you’re right.”

When he had been subdued by the Seeker, Se-Hoon had waited, believing that Eun-Ha and Aria would somehow create at least a brief opening. And indeed, not only had they created an opening, they had surpassed his expectations to even rescue him directly.

But, as Eun-Ha said, given the power the Seeker had displayed, how was that possible?

Was the Seeker’s resurrection not complete? No, that can’t be it. Maybe...

A new hypothesis was just beginning to take shape—

Woong!

Multicolored light began pouring out from the black tower, soon transforming into a tower of pure light that split into thousands upon thousands of strands soaring upwards. Now, up in the sky, those strands had scattered to form an all-encompassing aurora of countless colors.

At the origin of that mythical spectacle was now but one person: the Seeker looking down at the three of them with a grin.

“Looks like you’re still in the middle of a strategy meeting. Should I wait a little longer~?”

She looked relaxed on the surface, but from how the aurora in the sky was writhing ominously, it was clear the Seeker was furious.

The battle had begun.

Aria looked up at the Seeker, who had taken over Terra’s body, and asked, “So, what are you going to do?”

To end the war, they had to defeat the Seeker. To Aria, that meant she needed Se-Hoon to answer whether they would fight her—and abandon Terra.

Will we save or abandon her?

It was obvious which of the two would be harder, and if one thought coldly, it was also obvious which choice should be made.

Thus, there was no delay to Se-Hoon’s answer.

“We fight, and we all go back together. The four of us.”

Hearing those words, Aria let out a faint laugh while satisfaction appeared on Eun-Ha’s face.

“Yeah. I figured that’s what you’d say.”

“Yes, an admirable decision, Se-Hoon.”

With that said, the blade of Dawnlight pointed toward the sky as the Soul Furnace roared to life, melting ore and exhaling crimson flames. Seeing the backs of the two stepping forward to shield him, Se-Hoon formed Stellar Radiance and looked up at the Seeker in the sky.

A taunt tension fell between both sides, each waiting for the perfect moment—

“If you’re going to fight—” The corner of the Seeker’s lips twisted as she looked down at the three of them—“then you should hand back what you got from me first!”

Crack!

The Seeker’s orange horns split into dozens of branching strands that stretched out like tree trunks. Simultaneously, the aurora overhead began shining in countless colors and convulsing violently.

Boom!

Aria and Eun-Ha kicked off the ground and rushed her immediately, while Se-Hoon used the power of Space to move above her head. In tandem, the three coordinated their attacks—

“Infinite Ultimate Inquiry: Omniform Sacred Armament”

The Seeker’s will resounded throughout the world. With her Final Revelation, which synchronized her with the Golden Ring and granted her power and authority close to omnipotence, she had reached—even if imperfectly—the domain of omniscience and omnipotence.

In that realm, the Seeker looked at the blows aimed at her heart, throat, and head with calm eyes.

“Reclamation.”

Thud-

“...?!”

Stellar Radiance, which was aimed at her head; Dawnlight, which was aimed at her throat; Eun-Ha’s crimson fist, which was soaring toward her heart—all of them halted. All three attacks were stopped helplessly before a thin, single-layer orange mana barrier.

Naturally, Se-Hoon assumed on sight that the barrier was something special. However, his brow rapidly furrowed upon realizing something.

It’s...?!

Their attacks had been stopped so easily, not because the Seeker’s mana barrier was extraordinary. Rather, it was themselves—their own attacks had been weakened. The same power that had rivaled the powers of Perfect Ones and endured even the destruction the Harbingers brought had, in that single moment, become as feeble as that of someone who had only just awakened mana...?

“Get back—”

“Bang.”

Splurt!

Aria and Eun-Ha’s heads were blown apart helplessly by orange light bullets. Se-Hoon, who had tried to shove the two women away the moment he realized, was unable to move before the Seeker’s finger was already pointing toward them like the barrel of a gun.

Dream Manifestation: Regression

He instinctively activated his power of Regression upon seeing the blood.

Swoosh!

The gray ring split in half and spun counterclockwise, reversing the Seeker’s world and returning to a few seconds before the three of them launched their attack.

Seeing Aria and Eun-Ha alive before him once more, Se-Hoon met the Seeker’s eyes in the sky and quickly grabbed both women without wasting a breath.

“...!”

Whoosh-

Whisked away by the power of Space, the two women found themselves in the ruins of the false Babel several kilometers away from the Seeker with Se-Hoon. Feeling their confused gazes on him, Se-Hoon hurried to explain.

“The Seeker can erase our power—the very reality we live in! We can’t just fight her head-on!”

Aria and Eun-Ha were stunned. Weakening their power was one thing, but erasing the very reality they had built? What did that even mean?

The urgency in Se-Hoon’s voice, though, made a chilling sense of dread grip the two. Alas, before they could ask questions, the Seeker’s voice rang out from afar once again.

“Reclamation.”

Woong-

The aurora covering the sky flashed ominously, writhing as though dancing, and then an invisible wave swept across the world. When it washed over the three of them, their bodies, mana circuits, and mana that had been refined until they reached where they stood now were instantly diminished exponentially. Worst yet, even the knowledge tied to those things were fading.

“What is this...?!”

“Ugh- Cough!”

Aria stared at the golden sword aura coating Dawnlight trembling as though it might vanish at any moment, while Eun-Ha staggered, coughing up blood laced with flames.

Likewise, Se-Hoon’s elemental mana created through Soul Honing were disappearing one by one, and the countless things he had learned that made him who he was were also dimming.

What... in the world is this...?

What kind of technique had the Seeker used to be able to erase other people’s power so arbitrarily? Despite experiencing it firsthand, Se-Hoon could scarcely believe what was happening.

“Do you know how much knowledge I’ve scattered throughout this world?” The Seeker’s voice descended from above. Having caught up to the three, she let her orange mana dissipate nonchalantly.

“The foundational training method that defined the very concept of Synesthetic Mindscape and made it possible to cultivate it in connection with mana. The structural theory of mana circuits and the individual applications of elemental mana. The know-how for suppressing mutations and madness caused by mana while tempering the body... if I listed it all one by one, it would never end.”

“...”

“When I was called the Archmage, when I was called the Seeker, and when I was called Tuner—it was because the knowledge I had sown during those periods existed that all the knowledge of the modern age was able to take root, sprout, and grow into the forest it is today.”

At those words, Se-Hoon’s eyes widened. Upon first listening, she sounded as though she were simply praising her own achievements. Yet Se-Hoon realized.

Right now, the Seeker was explaining the origin of her power: the very origin of the Akashic.

“I share my knowledge; new knowledge is born from it, then transmitted back to me; from that, even newer knowledge is created. That is the origin of the Akashic and the true authority possessed by the power of Omniscience.”

The Seeker, who had secretly carried out a global experiment by teaching everyone—heroes, demons, and monsters alike—over the past several decades, smiled.

“To put it simply, I’m exercising copyright~”

Bang!

Having lost all their power, the heads of the three who were in disbelief below were shattered by orange light bullets.