The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

The raging thunder current subsided in an instant.

A sudden silence bloomed. Residue turned around with a faint smile on his face. Then, he headed toward the exit that Luca had created, which had not yet closed, and jumped out from there.

“…Huh?”

Luca belatedly snapped back to her senses. She blankly stared at the spot where Residue had disappeared. He left? Without even looking back?

Tzzt!

At that moment, a bolt of lightning shot out from the place where Residue had leaped. It sparked brilliantly in blue and etched letters onto the ground.

─Stay put.

“…Haha.”

Luca let out a brief, hollow laugh before plopping down on the spot.

*

Residue descended from the tendril tree, taking in the view of the city below. The city was still in the midst of destruction, flames and smoke rising from all directions, making it difficult to find a single intact building.

Time had hardly passed.

The illusion Luca had shown him must have occurred in the blink of an eye.

As proof, the Destruction had yet to completely annihilate even this small city. He glanced up at the sky. No doubt, those two had contributed to this situation to some extent.

Iris and Retip had not yet left the city. They were putting up the greatest resistance they could. In other words, they were doing their best, and it was surprising that those whose roles should have been finished were still in the city.

Loyalty, duty, or perhaps something else.

Residue did not know the reason, but it was not a bad situation for him.

Tap.

By the time his thoughts ended, Residue had landed.

“They should be around here somewhere… Hmm.”

He stroked his chin and looked around, quickly finding the one he was searching for.

Symetra was embedded into the concave ground in a miserable state. If there had been a human-shaped crater in the ground, it would have been ten times funnier. ȑ𝖆𝐍Ő𝖇ÈŚ

Residue, looking at Symetra, who was still unconscious despite her sorry state, was about to fire a bolt of lightning but then realized that method had become a bit too predictable.

Crackle!

“Kyahhh!”

Still, it seemed that the most familiar method was the best, so he woke her up in the same way. Symetra let out a scream and snapped her head up.

“It does sound a little richer than the scream I heard in that white world.”

“H-Hiek. W-where…? I definitely entered the Destruction, and then…”

“That’s where your consciousness must have been cut off, you pathetic thing. Was that untimely deep sleep sweet?”

“Uh…”

Symetra still looked dazed. Either she had yet to grasp the situation or was still half-asleep. Either way, Residue couldn’t help but click his tongue.

“If you’re well-rested, then it’s time to work. The plan has changed a bit, but your task remains largely the same.”

“What—?”

There wasn’t enough time to explain everything at the moment. Residue grabbed Symetra by the scruff of her neck and moved to the next location.

Surely, it wasn’t crushed by the tendrils or anything like that.

A brief worry crossed his mind, but fortunately, ”it” remained intact in the exact place where Residue had last seen it. He grabbed it with his one free hand and then soared toward the sky.

Leaving a trail of thunder currents, he arrived in an instant at the place where Iris was. She looked at him with her characteristic cool expression, without any particular disappointment.

“So, the plan failed, I see.”

Then, she extended her pure white hand.

Residue tilted his head before taking her hand and shaking it up and down.

“What? Are you asking for a handshake?”

Smack! Iris roughly slapped his hand away and shook her arm as if something had gotten on it.

“Enough of that. We need to move on to the next plan. The evacuation of the people is complete. Now, we just need to escape. Some factions seem to be approaching this city, but we don’t have any reason to concern ourselves with that.”

“Oh? So that means you were waiting for me. How commendable.”

Iris responded with an annoyed expression.

”Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t waiting for you, I was waiting for that body. But do you really think we have the luxury to have this kind of conversation right now?”

”Not really. But my next plan is not to run away.”

”What?”

”Retip.”

With a brief crackle of lightning, Retip appeared. His face now showed clear signs of exhaustion.

And that was understandable.

The energy for the Thunderous Lightning Strike had mostly been drawn from him. Honestly, it was a miracle he was still able to move.

”That kind-hearted woman aside, why are you still here?”

”I thought I’d at least take your corpse if you died.”

”To your master?”

”You already know, so why are you asking?”

”Is that so? Fine, if I die, I’ll give you this body, so cooperate a little more.”

”Hah.”

The one who scoffed wasn’t Retip, but Iris.

She had a sudden urge to punch this man who was using Lukas’ body as a bargaining chip. But that would mean she had to punch Lukas’ body, and the guilt from that would be unbearable.

Calm down, calm down… I’m the only sane one among these idiots...

Retip glanced at Iris, who was muttering to herself, then turned his gaze back to Residue.

”So, you’re planning to squeeze me dry until I have nothing left. Well, at this point, following a few more orders won’t be too difficult. But in my current state, will I even be of any help to your grand scheme?”

”Of course. I know your condition better than you do. I’ll take that into account when I give you orders, so don’t worry.”

Residue’s attitude was nowhere near that of someone receiving help, and Retip, looking slightly displeased, gave a reluctant nod. In some ways, this man seemed even more arrogant than the Lightning God.

Then again, a Ruler wouldn’t ask for help from anyone in the first place.

”Alright, let’s start with a quick briefing on the current situation.”

”Hold on, I never agreed to help—”

”Then think about it while you listen. Is multitasking that hard for you? Or do you think we have time to waste right now? Pathetic.”

”…….”

A vein bulged on Iris’ forehead, but Residue ignored it and continued.

”That tree, Final Destruction, still has a part of the consciousness I once knew. I was able to have a conversation with it. But negotiation was impossible. It had no influence over the Destruction itself.”

”And?”

”I’m thinking of making a short trip into the Destruction.”

”…….”

A brief silence.

Then, Iris and Retip spoke in unison.

”What?”

*

Maybe he had known all along that it would come to this.

Residue looked at the man in his right hand, the corpse, or rather, the entity that could be called Destruction, and thought as much.

This man, Frey Blake, had given Residue countless gifts. Even aside from awakening his mind.

The most important one… a crucial clue that could be the key to conquering the Destruction in the future. If that were the case, had Lukas predicted that Frey’s death would have an influence on Residue?

”Just how high are we going?”

Symetra asked in a trembling voice. Residue took a glance around.

They had been ascending vertically for quite some time without stopping. By now, they had passed through the clouds, beyond the sky, and entered a world of pure black vacuum.

In other words, they were now much closer to the hole in the sky, the entrance to the Destruction.

Residue realized that besides the fragments of Destruction floating around the hole, there were other things as well.

Looking closely, they took the form of ships capable of navigating through space. Enormous, powerful beings were also visible.

Their origins and appearances were vastly different, but their purpose was undoubtedly the same.

Observation of the Destruction.

Iris PeaceFinder’s words came to mind. She had mentioned that some factions were approaching Meltown. Could these be the scouts sent by those forces?

”…Residue-nim?”

”You.”

Residue finally turned to look at Symetra.

”You tried to kill me.”

Symetra swallowed hard at the heavy tone of his voice.

”…Are you planning to kill me here?”

”No. Just remember that I have the right to.”

And with that, Residue let her go.

Suddenly freed, she wore a slightly dazed expression.

”Hey, Reject.”

”Yes.”

”You shouldn’t be like that.”

”…What?”

”I will see you as a Reject. Because from my perspective, that’s exactly what you are. But you yourself must not accept that.”

”I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…”

”When I first called you a Reject, you were angry, weren’t you? You couldn’t accept it easily. At times, you even glared at me with defiance. But what about now? Do you still feel humiliated? Do you still have any urge to deny it? Whenever I so much as lift a finger, you shrink back.”

”…….”

”Don’t just accept a derogatory name without question.”

Residue looked at Symetra with a steady gaze.

This was, in a way, a critical moment. If Symetra failed to grasp the true meaning behind his words here, then there was no hope. This fallen Absolute would remain unchanged and was highly likely to meet a pitiful end.

”…….”

Symetra remained silent for a long time.

This was no situation to afford leisure, but Residue willingly gave her the time she needed.

After a brief pause, she spoke again, her tone slightly different.

”How is it possible?”

”What?”

”I understand that you must have gone through something that changed you… but I simply don’t get it. Of all people, you should know best that one of the defining traits of an Absolute is immutability. For us, change itself is degradation. I experienced that firsthand, and I assume you did as well, Residue-nim.”

”I did.”

Residue chuckled and repeated his earlier words.

”You tried to kill me. So I have the right to kill you. And I have the power to do it. But for now, I won’t. Because I have come to believe in the transformation of the discarded.”

”The transformation of the discarded…?”

”That was my life. I was a reject, a worm, mere residue.”

”…….”

”But I could have changed. If I had made up my mind, I could have done it much sooner. There were countless moments I could have used as turning points.”

Residue quietly reflected on the path he had walked.

It didn’t have to be Lukas’ voice that changed him.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, he could have done things differently. Without wandering, without wallowing in self-pity. Even after that, there had been numerous opportunities, moments that could have served as turning points.

But he never took them.

Only at the very, very end did he finally manage to grasp one.

And so, the words he was saying to Symetra now were nothing more than advice from someone who had already crawled through the mud.

”I am about to ask something very unreasonable of you.”

”…….”

”This man, Frey Blake. The being who introduced himself as the First Destruction. Despite being part of the Destruction, he possessed a sense of self, was capable of conversation, and even managed to achieve mental resonance with me. After sharing consciousness with him, I came to some rather interesting realizations. One of them was that communicating with the Destruction is not entirely impossible.”

That plan had ultimately ended in failure.

”What else did you realize?”

”That the Destruction is not necessarily friendly toward its own. Certain conditions were met, of course, but Frey Blake and Lukas were hostile to each other. The Destruction and the fangs of the Destruction turned against one another.”

Symetra seemed to struggle to grasp the full implications of his words.

There was no need to convince her. That wasn’t what mattered to this Absolute right now.

”Analyze Frey Blake. This is the Destruction reshaping itself into a form comprehensible to human perception. In other words, it’s a nearly perfect standard that they themselves have set. Use it as a reference and link my mind to the Destruction.”

”…What?”

”Listen carefully, Symetra.”

Residue’s voice dropped even lower.

”You have shared minds with countless Destructions. Even if it happened while you firmly believed them to be Lords, even if you never once felt the slightest sense of discord, the truth revealed in this moment remains unchanged.”

”…….”

”The sensations from back then must still be buried in your subconscious.”

”T-this is far too vague of a task.”

”You’re right. Even if it succeeds, your mind might end up in tatters. But does that even matter?”

Residue grinned.

”Perhaps this is your very first chance. Your first opportunity to use as a turning point.”

”…….”

Symetra couldn’t answer so easily.

She clenched and unclenched her fists, bit her lip, and darted her eyes around, deep in thought.

It was a meaningful hesitation, so Residue waited for her again.

”What will you do after making contact with the Destruction?”

”It could be a conversation, a negotiation, or even a threat. I won’t know for sure until I meet it.”

Residue returned the exact same response he had once given to someone else.

”What if you fail?”

”The world ends.”

Symetra blinked.

”You’re joking, right?”

”Not at all. Haven’t you figured it out yet? I’m the type to just do things. That’s my nature. I don’t have the confidence to devise an effective strategy against the Destruction. Especially when the one currently attacking our world from the ’Outside’ is the most skilled being in strategy and mind games. Even for me, the chances of winning in that field are slim.”

”…….”

”Thinking about the consequences of this action, the aftermath, and the repercussions of that aftermath isn’t my style. Right now, the priority is keeping ourselves alive for even a minute longer. Everything else can be dealt with later.”

”Ir-irresponsible...”

”It is irresponsible. And it’s probably not the right answer, either. But so what?”

He spoke in an indifferent tone.

”I have no shame. At least in one regard. Both I and the owner of this body have suffered more than anyone to save the world. So no one from the Three Thousand Worlds or the Void World has the right to blame us.”

”And if you still fail?”

”If we give it our all and it still doesn’t work, then there’s nothing we can do.”

Residue smirked.

”We’ll all be destroyed together.”

”…….”

*****

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