Chapter 249 - Infinite Mage

Amy shook her head as she hugged Shirone tightly. No matter what situation unfolds, she will not give up. She will never let him leave the safety of her embrace. "No one is going to die. I will save you! I will, without a doubt, save you!" Shirone was losing consciousness. Even though Amy shouted as loudly as she could, it seemed as if her words were not reaching him. His hazy eyes were focused only on the ceiling. "Run away... Amy." As Reina was searching Shirone's room, she burst into the living room and shouted. "Amy! Over here! I found it!" Amy laid Shirone gently on the sofa and dashed into the room. She didn’t have the luxury to wipe away her tears. This was the last stand; from now on, it was all or nothing. On the table in Shirone's room lay an open notebook. Armin was waiting, while Reina anxiously shifted from foot to foot. Amy gestured towards the notebook as she approached. "Is this it?" "Yes. It seems to be a record of his stream of consciousness. But no matter how much I think, I can't figure out a way to save him. What should we do, Amy?" Amy approached the table and examined the notebook. At the top of the last page was the name 'Amy.' Her face filled with pity as she turned the pages to understand Shirone's thoughts. There, too, was Amy's name. In fact, it filled the entire notebook. She turned another page. It was the same. No matter how many pages she turned, she couldn't find the point where the name Amy first appeared. Tears welled up again in Amy’s eyes, but she quickly shook her head, suppressing her emotions. She had to save Shirone. By any means necessary. But how? No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn't think of a way to save Shirone from the grip tightening around his throat. Suddenly, the cabin shook as if a quake had struck. Amy held onto the table to regain her balance. If the second phase is trembling, it signifies that Shirone's life in reality is nearing its end. If they couldn't at least catch up with Arius, they would all meet their end here. "Amy! We have to go down now! I'll get Shirone!" Reina rushed out of the room, but Amy could not move. Even if she were to die here, she had to think of a way Shirone could survive. 'No! I don't know! What should I do?' But reality differs from the realm of the mind. What cannot be done, simply cannot be done. Reina and Armin aren't fools. They know it’s physically impossible and are likely searching for a way that at least someone might survive. Amy's hand shook violently as she gripped the pen on the table. Each passing second felt like an agonizing curse. The Secret of the Abyss (3) Armin, peering out the door, urged her. "We don't have time. If you’re going to do something, you must do it now." Amy clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tightly. There was no method. Yet she couldn't simply descend to the first phase without attempting something. 'If it were Shirone... If it were Shirone, he could do it.' Amy opened the last page and set the pen in motion. Shirone. This was her best. If she couldn't discover a way to save him, at least she could try to alter the flow of consciousness. Just then, Reina's voice echoed from the living room. "Amy!" Dropping the pen, Amy ran to the living room with Armin. Someone clad in armor that mixed the quality of living things and metal was charging at Shirone. "Zion!" Fire ignited in Amy's eyes. Though Arius, the only apparent means of escape from this place, was not visible, she wasn't disheartened. Right now, the person she wanted to beat the most was Zion. Reina narrowly dragged Shirone away, and Zion's blade cleaved through the sofa. Filled with fiery wrath, Amy powered up a fireball and hurled it. The flame, twice as large as usual, shot towards Zion and detonated near him. Zion, thrown by the explosion, slammed into the wall. However, moments before impact, tentacles clutched the wall, minimizing the damage. As Reina distanced herself with Shirone, Armin and Amy simultaneously blocked the path. "A diversionary tactic, is it?" Armin’s Spirit Zone was so expansively deployed that it encompassed the entire cabin. While it wouldn't catch an assassin's equalizing ability, Zion's presence was not so elusive that Armin would miss it. 'So he was hiding in phase one. Does this mean Arius has already descended?' Just as Armin and his group had to linger in phase two to save Shirone in reality, Arius required time as well to extract the Ataraxia. Therefore, he sent Zion to delay them. "Are they that determined to obtain it?" As Armin retreated towards Shirone, Reina realized and stepped forward. Simply employing flicker magic or weaker spells wouldn't shake someone clad in firm armor. "Amy, you understand, right?" "Yes." The two recalled the battle they had waged in the food storage and spread apart. They aimed to exploit Zion's unfamiliarity with dealing in the blind spot. "Hmph! I won't fall for that twice." Zion dispatched tentacles to either side, preemptively cutting off target dispersion. Utilizing the tension of the tendrils protruding from the wall, he launched himself at Reina. Reina, in the fleeting moment of rolling on the floor, shot an arrow. As an arrow struck the armor, Zion's body soared into the air. Amy, wielding her targeting Spirit Zone, unleashed a barrage of Fire Strikes. As each fiery spear grazed past, Armand's organic components crisped and cracked. "Insolent wench!" Executing an acrobatic turn in midair, Zion used the wall to propel himself forward. With the simultaneous exertion of force by the eight tendrils embedded in the wall, he achieved a speed akin to a storm. Amy twisted her body, able to discern only his afterimage. As Zion slammed into the ground with a thud, he swiftly spun on his knee, swinging his blade. The silver glint passed, severing Amy’s collar and revealing her clavicle and upper chest. Her milky-white skin was gradually stained with red marks of blood. Had it been cut just a bit deeper, it would have sliced through the aorta. "You bastard..." "Ha! You're just like a barmaid in a tavern!" Blood flowed from the wound on Amy’s chest, trickling down into her cleavage. The contrast of white and crimson fueled Zion's frenzy with reckless abandon. As he licked his lips, preparing to charge, Shirone glared at Zion, his expression tensing. “Grrrghh!” Darkness gathered in the space between Amy and Zion, and a sleek, agile silhouette emerged. Egoist- Murderous Form. Its chin was sharp like a dagger, and its hair flowed back in sharp arcs, plunging down to the waist like blades. Its long, ape-like arms formed distinct sword shapes, while its inverted knees stored tremendous kinetic energy. Even its soles resembled the crescent shape of skate blades. "Ssshhooo!" The ghostly howl was sharp enough to chill the teeth, and Zion took a step back, his face growing tense. With a spring of its inverted knees, the Murderous Form vanished without a trace, leaving no afterimage behind. If it wasn’t attacking head-on, then it had vanished in another direction. Yet, Zion could not even guess its path, his pupils remaining fixed as ever. -Alert. Subject movement undetectable. Nervous system paralysis. Switching to automatic defense mode. The warning signal pulsed as quickly as thought, enveloping Zion in his cloak while tentacles extended in every direction, countering the unseen threat. However, the Egoist's Murderous Form evaded even that, crossing its hands and striking Zion fiercely. As the silhouette of blades passed by at the speed of sound, the cloak’s surface quickly hardened, leaving a distinct X-shaped scar. Boom! The sonic boom belatedly shattered the air. “Urgh...!” Blast back by the shockwave, Zion rolled across the ground, unfurling his cloak as he came to a stop. Digging a blade of his gauntlet into the ground to halt his roll, Zion looked up at the standing Egoist. -Target detected. Nervous system relaxed. Automatic defense mode disengaged. Armand immediately assumed a combat stance, but Zion had already lost the will to fight. There was no sense in risking his life over something worth four billion. He had already bought the time Arius requested. Detecting the user’s emotions, Armand activated its rapid transport system, whisking Zion away swiftly—disappearing from the sight of Shirone and the others like the wind. Amy and Reina gave up pursuit and turned their attention to Shirone. In Arius’s embrace, his form was so transparent that objects could almost pass through him. “Shirone! What’s happened?” Armin explained in his stead. “With his last bit of strength, he manifested the Egoist. Further movement is impossible.” “M-Mr. Armin, you should run away.” “No. Even if we can’t catch Arius, we can’t get out of here anyway. Please show us the way down. If Ataraxia is plundered, it will spell catastrophe.” Armin laid Shirone on the ground. As he did so, a bright aura enveloped Shirone’s avatar until the ground beneath him melted like chocolate, cascading downwards. “Could it be that Shirone is... dying?” “No. He’s descending. The entrance to the first phase is Shirone himself.” Amy crawled towards the person-shaped recess in the floor. She shouted at Shirone, who was already over five meters down. “Shirone! I will save you! I will definitely save you!” The subterranean darkness flowed over Shirone's body like liquid. Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, but Amy distinctly saw a faint smile appear on Shirone’s lips. And finally, the entirety of the second phase was sucked into the hole. *** The first phase of Shirone’s consciousness. Primal psyche. It was the abyss’s terminus. Falling alongside the scenery, Amy looked around. There was nothing, yet it wasn’t dark—an endless plane. Somewhere, a deep, resonant thudding, like the sound of a heartbeat, echoed, as if submerged underwater. “This sound...?” Armin appeared out of the darkness. “It’s the sound Shirone heard while he was in the womb. This is the primal psyche—a repository of memories from conception to birth. It’s the place where instincts are formed.” “So, Ataraxia was here, in the final phase,” Reina remarked, her voice tinged with disbelief. A weary smile broke across Armin’s face as well. It was a journey taken in vague hopes of possibilities. Who could have imagined that the Archangel’s power was imprinted in the realm of instinct? ‘How in the world...? Could it be possession?’ Even if that were the case, it’s still far too dangerous. While possession can offer greater insight than a dive, the Egoist’s resistance would be formidable. Attempting possession on a stable Shirone could spell obliteration for even an Archangel. ‘Then again, it can’t be ruled out... if it’s an Archangel... .’ From Armin’s perspective, the probability was fifty-fifty. Frankly, it’s impossible to outright state that one can dominate an incarnation in someone else’s mental world. But the fact that it involves an Archangel introduces an element of the unknown. A being who surpasses human capabilities by leaps and bounds. Recalling his experience in heaven still sent shivers down his spine. “For now, let's go. Arius's work might be quite far along.” Reina scanned their surroundings. “But... where do we go?” “Just keep walking. This isn’t really a place. Wizards refer to it as a ‘spot.’ There’s no direction, so it doesn’t matter where we go. For additional context, a wizard’s Spirit Zone also manifests from concentrating their mind in this first phase.” Amy nodded, assimilating the new information. The first phase is a storage space, condensing higher concepts. Without spatial constraints, its volume is infinite. But infinity might not be a large expanse as commonly imagined—it might just be a single point. Following Armin’s guidance, they moved on. With no change in their path, it felt like they were walking in place. Upon sighting something 50 meters ahead, a sense of distance formed, altering the first phase's scenery. They found themselves in a verdant garden, with the chirping of birds and random marble statues scattered around. Having seen only the Great World Transfer mechanism filled with strange machinery in heaven, Amy failed to notice it. But Armin instantly recognized angelic sculptures. ‘Ikhael’s trace.’ Armin and his group entered the temple beyond the fountain. The coolness of the marble floor was refreshing. Before them stood a statue of an angel, towering eight meters high. Waiting in front of it were Arius and Zion. Arius quickly realized who the masked figure was. Though he had never seen the face before, there was no mistaking someone who dealt with time among the scale magicians, especially blind as he was. "Hmm, this is unexpected. My apologies for not recognizing someone of your skill. It feels a bit disconcerting, honestly. I never imagined you'd be the first to break the 'accord.'" Ignoring Arius, Armin examined the statue first. The archangel held its hands to its chest, smiling. Its wings wrapped around its body, and a halo floated above its head without any visible support. 'So this is the personification of Ataraxia...' Turning to Arius, Armin spoke solemnly. "The treaty vow is still in effect. I'm here simply as a magician to eliminate grave robbers and have no ties to any organization." Arius feigned discomfort, rubbing his ear nonchalantly.