The monster who traversed the boundaries between life and death, the Great Sage Faust, reached out his hand toward me.
“There’s no need to be so wary.”
“Oh? So what, are you asking for a handshake now? Between you and me?”
No need to be wary?
After causing this kind of chaos?
Even if his only goal was to talk to me, there was no meaning left in that now, not after creating a situation like this.
He had already shown more than enough of how he handled things.
“There’s no need to be so prickly. Besides, even if you were on guard, there’s nothing you could do, is there?”
“Maybe not.”
To be honest, it wasn’t just “maybe not”. There really was nothing I could do.
This was just a bluff.
But still, there was one factor that could turn that bluff into truth.
The fact that he could act so relaxed meant that Lobelia and Olga Hermod were being held back.
Surely, he hadn’t defeated them… right?
This guy might seem endlessly mysterious, but in truth, he wasn’t.
The reason I had always considered Faust the least intimidating of the final bosses—
It was because he never showed any sign of “growth” within the story.
His power only grew horizontally, never vertically.
“You’re quite confident…. almost excessively so. Do you perhaps have something to rely on?”
“That must be…”
At that moment, the surroundings were swallowed by darkness.
In the stillness, as if even time itself had stopped, it appeared once more.
“That must be me.”
The Archdemon Mephistopheles.
The demon who had a deep connection with Faust appeared after a long time.
I had been worried, since even in life-threatening moments until now, he hadn’t shown himself…. but thankfully, it seemed Faust had finally struck Mephistopheles’s sore spot.
“It’s been a while, my friend.”
“You dare call me a friend, you bastard?”
“I do regret how our contract ended. But still…”
“Silence! Faust! You tampered with the soul you promised to give me and twisted the contract!”
“Hmm… Well, even if you can’t understand, there’s nothing I can do. Still, I will try to understand your anger. And I believe that one day, even you will come to understand me.”
“Wh-What? Are you crazy…? How can you speak so confidently? Do you truly not understand what a contract means?”
Faust shook his head as if it were nothing.
Mephistopheles trembled as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
A level of depravity so deep that even a demon couldn’t comprehend it.
Even I had to admit. This bastard was a real piece of work.
When demons make contracts with humans, they take the human’s soul as compensation.
But what had Faust done?
He had used his ability of cycle to manipulate his own soul.
What had started as a simple ability to circulate mana in a cycle to create something like a fireball had evolved to the point where he could illustrate the very cycle of life itself.
Faust had taken his soul and forced it into a cycle not of reincarnation, but of his own design, making himself immortal.
It was no different from using the goods specified in a contract however he pleased.
“That was for the greater good.”
“You’re crazy!”
It looked as if Demon Mephistopheles was actually losing the argument and surprisingly, there was no better way to describe it.
Faust really was crazy.
Eventually, struck speechless by Faust’s brazen attitude, Mephistopheles began to radiate a menacing aura.
Good. Let them fight it out.
“Shout, ‘Stop O’ moment!’ Johan! If you do, I’ll personally kill that bastard for you!”
“Wait….calling me by name so familiarly all of a sudden… And, uh, can’t you do anything on your own?”
Also, could you not twist your personal grudge into my wish?
Look, why don’t you two just settle your business with each other and let me quietly leave?
To that, Mephistopheles growled and answered,
“You may not.”
Well, aren’t you confident.
To be fair, a demon without a contract couldn’t exert its full power.
Actually, the fact that he could exert this much influence even without a contract was already ridiculous.
If I really did make a contract with him, could he actually take down Faust by himself?
I knew Mephistopheles was an incredible demon, but if my soul was the base of his power, honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.
“Now then, let’s get back to the story.”
“Says who?! I’m not finished speaking yet, Faust!”
“Wait, hold on. What is this strange mood all of a sudden?”
What even was this situation?
This was clearly supposed to be incredibly dangerous, and yet I felt no sense of tension.
I needed to seriously reflect on how this ridiculous situation had ended up like this.
“I see…”
I understood.
This absurdly unserious atmosphere was all because of one person.
The Great Sage Faust.
He was the one creating this mood.
Come to think of it, that was true. From the start, he had told me there was no need to be wary.
To him, it really must have felt like he had just come out for a casual stroll.
That’s why, even as I was drenched in cold sweat with tension and Mephistopheles gritted his teeth in rage, the whole conversation felt strangely out of sync.
What was the root cause of all this?
It was probably that lunatic. Someone who felt no weight to the concept of death.
We were experiencing an unprecedented act of terror, but to him, it wasn’t that at all.
To him, this place reeking of death was no different from his own living room.
“Hmm?”
Just then, as Faust went on speaking entirely on his own terms and Mephistopheles spewed actual nonsense in return,
I turned my head at the sensation of someone tugging on the hem of my pants.
“Jo… han…”
“Yuna.”
I immediately bent down and embraced Yuna, who had crawled across the floor.
It seemed Mephistopheles’s power, which had kept time frozen while he argued with Faust, had faded. Time had begun to move again.
“It’s okay now. Get some rest. I don’t think he’s planning to hurt me.”
“……”
“If you’re really worried, you can just keep holding on like this. It’s not like you or I can actually do anything, right?”
“Mm…”
In the end, Yuna gripped my clothes tightly and bowed her head.
Holding her in my arms like that, I turned my gaze back to Faust.
Thankfully, Mephistopheles remained on guard beside me, still watching Faust carefully, but it didn’t really seem necessary anymore.
If this guy had planned to kill or kidnap me, he would’ve done it already.
Of course, the terrifying part was not knowing when or how he might suddenly change his mind…
But if that happened, well—there was nothing I could do.
I’ll probably have to survive by making a contract with Mephistopheles or something.
“So, what is it you want to say to me, Great Sage?”
“Your tone suddenly got polite.”
“I’ve realized there’s no benefit in being combative right now.”
If I see a way out, I’ll cling to it. Even if it means groveling.
That’s the kind of person I was.
“I want to ask you about the ability you possess.”
“Man, I don’t get why everyone’s so interested in an ability I can’t even use.”
My ability… [Thought Splitting].
It sounded good just from the name, sure…but right now, I couldn’t use it.
“Or what, is this a recruitment offer? You want to turn me into a link?”
“That’s something that can be done after you’re dead. So there’s no need to kill you here.”
A link created through the Sage’s cycle binds the soul itself.
Such links could contain the awakened abilities held by that soul.
That giant scythe Melana swung probably used to be someone’s ability too.
But thankfully, it didn’t seem like he planned to kill me right now.
“No, killing you now would be a waste. We’d like to avoid damaging your memories as well.”
“What… are you even talking about?”
That’s when Mephistopheles who had only been growling until now finally spoke.
In response to Faust’s words, he asked, as if something struck him as odd.
“Could it be, Johan Damus… you even managed to deceive my old friend with that ability?”
“Deceive? Me? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that…?”
Mephistopheles abruptly turned his head and shot me a glare mid-sentence.
Even Yuna who had been looking down glanced up at me with a disbelieving expression.
Everyone here was sharp. And out of all of them, Faust was probably the most perceptive.
He really does live up to the title of Great Sage.
“What are you using your awakened ability for right now?”
How had he known? He spoke as if it were obvious….my secret, the one even Yuna had never seen through.
Yes, I…
“What are you analyzing?”
It wasn’t that I couldn’t use my ability.
I couldn’t use it because I was already using it.
***
I often had dreams.
In those dreams, I would stare blankly at blue flames as they burned.
In the dream, the boy gazed at the blue fire blazing before his eyes.
That beautiful blue flame was a cruel fire, one that burned using people’s souls and talents as fuel.
And yet…
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
Within the blazing fire, stars shimmered. I could see countless stars embroidering the sky, painting a picture of the Milky Way.
I had been captivated by that starlight.
I slowly reached out to the beautiful Milky Way that didn’t fade even under the blue sky and the intense light of the sun.
I stretched out my small hand, hoping to catch those brilliant stars.
But the vessel that was me had been far too small, and it would take me an eternity to gather each of those stars, one by one.
So, I had split myself.
To grasp each star in that Milky Way, I buried myself in that single moment and kept on living.
It had already been more than ten years since I began deciphering the magic she had left behind.
***
“Transcendence Syndrome refers to the fate of those burdened with excessive talent. And I understood it. Because I had once suffered from it myself.”
“……”
The Great Sage Faust was someone who had once suffered from Transcendence Syndrome.
Whether he overcame it through his own strength or was cured by making a pact with Mephistopheles, I didn’t know.
What mattered was that he understood Transcendence Syndrome as well as I did.
“At first, it was just curiosity. I became interested when the spy I planted failed to fulfill their role. Yes, back then, it was nothing more than a passing whim.”
Under Chain.
That organization had been watching me from the very beginning, unexpectedly.
But as Faust said, it must have only been to the extent that I caught their attention.
Their plan was likely scrapped because of the presence of a noble who had fallen into Class F.
“But what truly interested me was the fact that the one protecting you was none other than the famed assassin, Safe Clown.”
I felt Yuna tremble slightly in my arms.
In a way, she could be considered the root cause of all this.
Well, it didn’t matter now.
If Yuna hadn’t helped me in the first place, I would’ve already been captured by Kult and had my head cracked open.
“That’s why I passed the chain on to Melana.”
“……And that’s when you confirmed Mephistopheles’ presence, didn’t you?”
“My old friend doesn’t choose just anyone to make a contract with.”
Yeah, I hadn’t done anything of my own volition, and yet somehow, I’d become a shady guy full of secrets.
Too much time had passed for me to complain about it now.
Besides, there were things I had directly gotten involved in myself, so at this point, I didn’t really have the right to say it was unfair.
“That’s when I looked into you. [Thought Splitting] …it is a remarkable ability, without a doubt.”
“……”
“But after a certain incident, you stopped using it. An ordinary person might assume that the trauma from that event left you unable to use your ability anymore…”
But Faust who knew what I had seen thought differently.
“You didn’t lose your ability that day. You’ve simply never stopped using it since.”
Transcendence Syndrome.
Also known by another name. Archmage’s Disease. This condition leaves behind something unmistakable at the final moment.
“Was the magic you saw that day beautiful?”
Yes, it leaves behind magic.
The moment one’s ability was perfected into magic marks the end of Transcendence Syndrome.
All the magic in this world was born through such cases of Transcendence.
Of course, many spells likely perished without ever being recorded.
Unfortunately, the magic I was analyzing now was one of those.
A Milky Way that existed only within a single scene in my mind.
That was the magic she left behind.
“Transcendence Syndrome is a disease that kills people due to the overwhelming scale of their talent. I reached my limit around the age of fifteen. Do you understand what that means?”
Faust who was considered the greatest mage in history once stood on the brink of death from Transcendence Syndrome at the age of fifteen.
Ariel Ether, perhaps the strongest ally of Lobelia, faced death at eighteen.
That in itself was proof of just how extraordinary their talents were.
“Only five years old. To reach death at the age of five must mean…”
“Stop.”
I spoke, clutching my pounding head.
“That’s enough.”
The pain made my teeth grind.
“Death may mean little to you, but it’s not the same for me. Please, try to respect that difference.”
“Hmm…”
“And I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can answer your question.”
“Why not?”
“Because I still don’t even know what it is I’m analyzing.”
“In other words, the magic is that complex. Then, when do you think it will be complete?”
“I’m not sure.”
Ah, the fatigue was setting in.
Not just physical exhaustion, but mental fatigue was pushing its limits.
Pushing my body and mind any further doesn’t seem like a good idea…
“It might not be enough even if I spend my whole life on it. You’d know if you looked into it. I’m not exactly what you’d call gifted.”
“I see…”
Was it academic passion? Or some kind of longing? Faust nodded with a somber expression.
“Then let’s meet again when the time comes. I’ll be waiting beyond death.”
The monster that had brought death and attacked the cradle left with those parting words.
It was like death itself—
Sudden, without warning, and without meaning.
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