Chapter 191

Clank!!

The old travel bag-like handbag clanked open. No, it unfolded. From within, a god arose.

[Uooooh-!]

Letting out a roar, it devoured my arm and swallowed my entire body. What touched my flesh was incomprehensibly warm and soft metal. The base was a Guardian’s body. To this, I had used Tris’s gift [Mutation] to synthesize the Philosopher’s Stone along with precious magical materials including a single drop of public azure oil that could buy an entire city.

[Mutation] is a gift equivalent to the higher-tier version of the spell ‘Evolution’ that I had established, with mana patterns so complex for activation that even I haven’t dared attempt to replicate it yet.

Reborn through such power, this body had become ‘divine steel’ itself—comparable to, no, surpassing the flesh of ancient giants or dragons. But this body’s true majesty didn’t lie in its material.

[Huff—huff—]

The magical exoskeleton’s exterior, breathing roughly as if alive, was perfectly wrapped in magical power. Blood made of green magical power, muscles made of red magical power, tendons and bones made of black magical power, a nervous system made of blue magical power, and another layer of magical power wound tightly around the divine steel that formed the foundation of all these magical power structures, ensuring not even a speck was exposed. Skin of pure white magical power.

It had a dignified frame reaching about two meters tall. A smooth face like an egg, elongated arms and legs created by complexly branching magical power, an appearance painted solely with pure white magical power among the five colors—it was perfection itself.

Even with that egg ghost-like face, no eeriness could be felt. Like a curled-up sleeping white fox, like a cheetah’s elongated limbs, like summer clouds, it looked only divine. Though clearly resembling a human, comparing it to a human would be presumptuous. Each curve of its body would be a masterpiece that would eternally remain in art history if this were Earth. The radiance emitted by the pure white magical power was holy.

Eventually, a brilliantly glowing necklace flew through the air and merged with the magical exoskeleton’s facial area.

[Whooong-!]

The moment the spirit-inhabited necklace contacted the exoskeleton, the god opened its mouth. A mouth formed on the smooth face.

A mouth hole created by the 1st Circle. Lips created by the 2nd Circle, teeth created by the 3rd Circle, palate created by the 4th Circle, tongue created by the 5th Circle, vocal cords created by the 6th Circle, peripheral nervous system created by the 7th Circle, central nervous system created by the 8th Circle took their positions.

A mouth had formed on the faceless exoskeleton, so now… it was time for eyes, nose, and ears to form! The model I would make for others had separate sensory organs crafted by processing the Philosopher’s Stone, but I didn’t need such things. Because my body itself is a Philosopher’s Stone, right?

I scattered. I flowed into the gaps between the magical exoskeleton’s spaces.

Ears that could hear the voices of magical powers opened wide, a nose that could smell magical power pierced through, and eyes that could clearly see magical power and mana snapped open.

‘It’s different.’

It was definitely an ability I had possessed before, but its clarity was different.

Everything had changed.

-Ah… ahh… this is really… ahh…

-The texture… do you always have such sensations…? So nice, hehe…

-Different… I’m different too…

The spirits began conversing drowsily like cats basking in spring sunlight.

‘The fusion is much faster and more stable than when I forced transcendence last time.’

The boundaries of thought and identity began to crumble. Three spirits and one mage. Our consciousness and will mixed together.

Gently. Without fear.

If the previous fusion was like forcibly throwing everything into a blender and grinding it up, this was like putting it in one bowl and kneading flour and eggs together. Mixed, but not completely mixed. We became one greater being while still remaining four.

I didn’t feel the terror of possibly not being able to return. My identity didn’t scatter into pieces.

Therefore, I could state my name without hesitation and declare.

“My name is Divine Wizard. As promised, I shall walk upon the ashes of destruction.”

At the moment of declaration, far too many things happened simultaneously.

But what was truly amazing was that I perceived all those events perfectly.

Not just perception. I perceived them so perfectly that I could recreate every speck of dust floating in the plaza without missing a single one.

Slowly… no, actually very quickly, but feeling slow due to my expanded cognitive abilities, in that spacetime.

The blessings of magical powers poured down. Those already dead with vanished will, merely chasing memories of the past… surrounded me in shadowy forms and wept.

[Ah… ahhh…]

One who couldn’t even properly form words.

[I was wrong. I remember. That appearance. Ahh… I missed it so much.]

One reflecting on doubting me.

[Let’s go back. It’s time to return.]

One silently rushing forward.

[Why was I forgetting… ah…!]

One crying and laughing.

Whooosh-

Wind swept through.

I accepted all the pouring magical power without exception.

Rumble-

The barrier surrounding Ragnarok’s sanctuary shook from the excessive concentration of magical power. Other victims trapped by past phantoms. Throughout the Tower of Covenant, calamities noticed the anomaly occurring here.

Calamities from the tower’s upper floors and lower floors began descending upon this place from all directions.

-Enemy.

-A Deus-class enemy.

-Exterminate.

-Free the world from the oppression of the upper-floor gods.

-Where is our master…? If we capture that one, will our master return to us?

-I cannot sense the presence of higher authorities. Am I the only one left? I shall carry out my purpose until the end.

Calamities swarming in, breaking through the barrier. They were high-grade A-rank and S-rank calamities.

“Hi… hiik… I can’t stop something like that with my power!”

Tris, who possessed a Dragon Heart and could command most calamities, turned pale and fidgeted anxiously. Well yes, a newly adult dragon was classified as S-rank calamity. Though the Dragon Heart Tris carried surely belonged to a much more impressive dragon than that… as a lich who couldn’t yet fully draw out that power, she couldn’t stop S-rank calamities equivalent to the 8th Circle.

“Fool. What are you afraid of?”

But I just smiled.

Was it because we divided the work into teams?

They still don’t know what they’ve created.

[Race Change]

Whoosh-

With one breath, the exoskeleton’s appearance changed. The black magical power that had formed bones and tendons was pushed outward to form skin, while the dazzlingly white magical power curled inward to create bones and tendons.

A reversal of black and white.

Fingernails lengthened, horns sprouted, and a tail emerged. Eyes turned bright red. The complete form of a demon.

-Wait! That appearance is…!

The A-rank calamities and S-rank calamities that had been trying to kill me and complete their old masters’ commands, and even several S+-rank calamities, came to a complete halt.

They examined me with expressions of disbelief.

‘Let’s see…’

Three newly adult S-rank Worm Dragons. Continental-class calamities like the ‘Night That Devours Continents’ I’d seen before. These looked like moving nights, volcanoes, planets, or massive storms—types of disasters themselves.

Besides those, there were many calamities whose appearances weren’t clear. Like the ‘Earthquake Calamity’ that seeped into the ground to cause earthquakes, or the ‘Plague God Calamity’ that spread disease en masse.

‘Incredible.’

They were a spectacular lineup as if they’d just jumped out of stories meant to frighten children.

They would be terrifying beings that would make any human living on the Star Continent tremble in fear.

But they couldn’t utter a single word before me now. They froze before my gently swaying tail and lazily moving fingers.

I spoke to them. Naturally, my ‘mouth’ moved. The mouth made of magical power created sentences. Not human language, but the language of gods. That complex pattern, with Ari and Gyeolli and Inggolli’s will and consciousness assisting me, I finally managed to create.

[Be still. War is over. Forget past enemies. New enemy has appeared.]

‘Ah…’

It wasn’t yet a polished sentence. But it contained more than enough of the authority that ancient gods once possessed.

I realized it. That my current realm had reached not the 8th level but the 9th level.

That the magical exoskeleton had undergone another evolution the moment I donned it due to the influx of magical power. Where exactly was I now? A god? Perhaps not quite there yet? But I was surely at the level of a true demigod—like the first giants or spirits that were supposed to become gods originally but were born imperfectly after being caught by the Philosopher’s Stone, before their degradation. Definitely.

-We follow our master’s command.

-Higher authority command confirmed. Disengaging destruction mode.

-Awaiting next orders.

-We rejoice that you live. From now on, I, ‘Spirit of Raging Storm,’ end my solo actions and follow senior authority’s command.

The dragons folded their wings and bowed their heads.

Rumble- The Earthquake Calamity that had seeped into the earth created pleased vibrations.

The catastrophic storm that could have scraped away all the surface dissolved gently like spring breeze and settled on the ground.

These very beings proved the success of our completed magical exoskeleton.

-Ahh… I want to go back. Ahh…

-Too missed.

-Want to be like you, hehe…

-It hurts. Right now I feel like my insides are empty.

-Me too, me too… I want to become part of it too. Me too.

The spirits chattered as well.

‘Unexpected… I thought they’d dislike it.’

The spirits who each had their own distinct personalities. I thought they might show resistance to the magical exoskeleton. After all, it was a matter of sacrificing individuality and freedom to become parts of a greater whole. But the spirits were deeply moved by the exoskeleton. They wanted to become part of it.

-Of course. You know, don’t you? That we exist like empty shells. If we scattered, fallen pieces could just regain our past status… what would that trifling freedom, that trifling individuality matter? So it’s natural.

Ari whispered.

Right. That was it. Everyone was suffering from loss. Magical powers, spirits, even the calamities.

‘Come to think of it, my mage covenant was quite accurate.’

My promise to walk upon the ashes of destruction and regenerate you all.

When I became 3rd Circle and had to choose a name, it was a promise that came to me in a flash of inspiration like divine revelation… Yes. Those words must have been exactly what they desperately wanted to hear.

I turned my head.

Actually, I didn’t need to turn my head since I could clearly sense everything within several kilometers radius… but I turned my head anyway.

I met eyes with my dear mage comrades who had been frozen like statues, unable to say a word since earlier. They flinched and stiffened every time our eyes met.

What feelings might they have?

Awe? Fear? Thrill?

Whatever it was… I told them what I needed to say. To both the mages and spirits.

“You too will soon regain this form. Everything will return to its proper place.”

Yes. Everything.

Therefore,

Now it was time to begin the counterattack.