Eps 195
Infinite Mage
Eps 195 Ilhwa Elixir (4)
Peope's faces froze over hearing Shirone's words.
She couldn't understand the phenomenon unfolding within her. As hope for survival emerged, the strong emotions that had dominated her began to dissipate like bubbles.
"Are you mocking me? What do you gain by humiliating me?"
"Mocking? Don't make me laugh. It's only natural to spare someone who asks for their life. Because I, too, want to live. I understand the value of others' lives because I value my own."
Shirone hadn't decided to release Peope yet. What decision he would make at the final moment was still uncertain.
However, he thought of Canya and Lena. He couldn't let them die like this.
"I'll count to three. One."
His hand holding Peope gained strength.
"Two."
“Spa- Spare me.”
Peope said in a low voice.
As if he hadn't heard her, Shirone didn't loosen his hold. Just as he was about to say three, Peope, with her eyes tightly shut, shouted.
"Save me! Please spare me! I don't want to die!"
Shirone let go of Peope.
Having regained her freedom, she flew up with her wings trembling. Her face was as red as the sunset as she snapped back.
“Do you think you can do something like this and get away with it?”
“What have I done?”
"You tried to kill me!"
"It did. And that's exactly what you did to Canya and Lena."
Peope could not refute.
Born as enforcer of the law from birth, she never thought deeply about the lifespan of divine subjects.
But, having her life in someone else's hands made her realize it was a complex issue.
Death is frightening, and life is sweet. It was the same even for a fairy living for ten thousand years.
“I think what Canya’s mother did was wrong. Return her lifespan as well."
Peope got irritated when they pressured her before she could organize her thoughts.
"I told you! Only the upper ranks of the 72 fairy classes have the power to alter the lifespan records. It's impossible to reverse a judgment that's already been made."
“Then first, reconsider Canya and Lena’s verdicts. You can do that, right?”
Peope pondered, resting her chin on her hand.
"Fine... I'll reduce the lifespan deduction to just one year."
Shirone chuckled.
It is a matter of joy that Canya and Lena's sins were lightened, but the gap in judgment was too large. It seemed as if there had never been any standard from the start.
"Are you some kind of junk dealer to make judgments on a whim?"
"It’s a mess even if I cut it down! Want me to raise it back to 20 years?" (“이게 줄여 줘도 난리야! 그럼 확 20년으로 올릴까?”)
"That's not the point. Doesn't it seem odd? There should be a standard for applying penalties."
"That's where I come in. I am the standard because I'm the enforcer of law! You really are quite ignorant, aren't you?"
Shirone stopped speaking. He had to acknowledge that fairies diverged from humans at some fundamental point.
Fairy thinking is more inclusive than human thinking. While humans can dissect love into countless concepts, for fairies, love is simply love.
Peope was an enforcer of law and therefore did not doubt her own thoughts. Now that she knows how scary her death is, the verdict was just a year off.
She couldn't make specific judgments like two years and three months or seven years and six months, which also made sense.
As thousands of years pass, her thoughts might deepen, but currently, she was only one year old.
“That’s enough, right? I'm leaving. Fairies have a lot of work to do."
"Where do you think you're going? Shouldn't you also resolve the issue with Canya's mother?"
Turning to face Shirone, Peope glared sharply.
“How can I solve that? I wasn't even born at that time. Besides, my position is the youngest of the 72nd class of fairies, so I don’t have the authority to amend the records of lifespan."
"Then at least tell us a way. You're a fairy, so you must know something. I absolutely cannot let you leave until you tell us."
Peope had a temperament as expected from a fairy of spiral, but perhaps because she was young, she was not difficult to handle. Extracting information from her seemed like it could pave a way to save Canya's mother.
"Hmph, do you think I can't leave if you block me? And nobody can interfere with the affairs of the fairy realm. It's determined by law."
"I don't know what law that is, but you also know it's unreasonable, right? Life is precious. Can you just deduct someone's lifespan by 20 years as you please?"
Peope's eyes welled up with tears.
The truth is, she don’t even know herself. To judge the righteousness or wrongness of the law on a personal basis seemed to require living at least 600 years.
"Why do you keep doing this to me? I'm just doing what I'm told!"
"Weren't you the one who proudly claimed to be the enforcer of law? Where's all that confidence gone now, running away?"
"Ah, really! What do you want me to do? What do you want to know?"
"Start with what the Elixir of Ilhwa is."
"The Elixir of Ilhwa? It's a sacred technique. It purifies the laws of divine subjects into a new life."
Peope responded fluently, as if pleased to finally know something to say.
However, Shirone could not feel anything beyond the packaged righteousness from her words.
"How am I supposed to understand if you explain it like that? Explain it in detail. What it's for, how it's performed, the mechanism of the technique, things like that."
"Ugh, really bothersome..."
Peope held her head with both hands.
The Elixir of Ilhwa is just the Elixir of Ilhwa. She had never reflected on the information she knew as inherent knowledge.
There was only one method left.
Remembering memory transference, her eyes lit up.
"If you really want to know, there's a way to explain it clearly. Use mental resonance. Fairies can transfer memories to others. I'll show you my memories of the Elixir of Ilhwa. That should do, right?"
Mental resonance is dangerous. Although Peope didn't seem like she would do anything malicious, she was still not an ally.
Arin spoke through Psyche Channel.
- It's okay. I can control someone like Peope.
- Are you sure? Even if our defensive capabilities are strong, there's still the concept of Rule Eater, right?
- Because Peope is emotionally immature, the unique pattern of Rule Eater may be able to be read through Initial State. Then, we can incapacitate her with a Mental Shock before they activate it.
It seemed Canis and his group had also experienced Rule Eater before.
Feeling the enormity of Rule Eater, Shirone conveyed his approval to Peope.
"Alright. Show me the memories related to the Ilhwa Elixir."
"Got it. Then, let's start."
Peope cast the magic for memory transference.
As Shirone and his group's minds were sucked into the memory, the scene from a plaza a year ago appeared. It was where a giant statue stood, and the divine subjects were so quiet, not even breathing could be heard.
When Shirone called his friends who had arrived at a different location, they came through the divine subjects like ghosts.
Although it was someone else's memory, it was as clear as reality.
Existing as a memory entity, Shirone could scrutinize anything he wanted. It was fascinating that even when he got up close to a divine subject's face, they did not notice.
Shirone and his group headed towards the statue.
As the crowd barrier disappeared, an astonishing scene unfolded.
Several hoses were connected to the giant statue, linked to eight glass orbs arranged around it. The orbs were large enough for a person to enter.
The divine subjects were silent, but a few were crying. The mix of reverence and despair created an unsettling atmosphere.
Kerugians were running around the statue, preparing spells. Eight divine subjects, appearing to be in their fifties and sixties, except for one young woman, walked out from the group.
Shirone saw tears in their smiles.
Shaking pupils, trembling corners of the mouth, cold sweat on the forehead.
They were clearly contemplating death.
The subjects entered the glass sphere without any clothes on.
As the orbs filled with black liquid, their families ran forward, wailing. Meanwhile, other divine subjects started lying flat on the ground, chanting for Anke Ra.
Kerugians pulled away the families who were beating on the glass, calling out for their mothers, fathers, and grandparents.
The subjects submerged in the rising water smiled.
Was it drowning?
It was a cruel sight.
With that in mind, Shirone looked inside the glass sphere and stepped back in horror.
It wasn't drowning. Their bodies were dissolving in the liquid.
It was the most bizarre sight he had ever seen.
He was curious about the composition of the liquid and seemed to understand why it was black. If the families had seen this process, they might have gone mad.
The liquid from the glass sphere was sucked through the hose. There was an unpleasant sound as if excrement was pouring out of the intestines.
The voices of the subjects shouting Ra became louder.
As the water level in the orbs lowered, the clear interior was revealed again, without any residue.
There was nothing.
The people who had been smiling just moments before had been sucked away through the hoses.
Shirone turned his gaze to where the hose was connected. His body was already trembling, but he had to see it with his own eyes.
Statue of a giant.
There, at the bottom of the statue, the eight people were being poured out.
Then, what exactly was it? What was filling the statue now?
The eternal Ra.
Sounds praising Anke Ra pierced the sky.
Suddenly, the giant statue began to vibrate intensely.
At that moment, the divine subjects fell silent.
Not a single drop of water remained in the glass orbs. It was all stuffed into the statue of a giant.
Like a mold.
Shirone shook his head. That couldn't be. But once the thought had arisen, it couldn't be stopped.
A mold into which melted humans were poured. Then, what was being created inside...
The giant's statue opened along a seam, revealing itself.
A massive foot emerged and shook the ground.
Shirone shuddered at the sight of the giant covered in jelly. It was hard to call it human because the expression was off.
Arin muttered through Psyche Channel. The reason she couldn't sympathize with the giant's mind was that multiple spirits were mixed within one body.
Then, what state were the spirits contained in the body in?
Were they the spirits of eight people, or had they completely transformed into something else?
The subjects begged for mercy.
Born from the law and upholding the law. The giant.
Thus, the giant had the right to punish those who violated the law.
Even if someone were trampled under the giant's foot at this moment, it would not be the giant's fault.
People who made eye contact with the giant fell down foaming at the mouth. It was the Eye Technique, Pressure.
Aah.
Shirone was trembled.
The origin of Schema. The primal Schema was the phenomenon of human diagram mixed with the Ilhwa Elixir overlapping.
Following the giant, Shirone overheard the conversations of the divine subjects.
The giant would leave Heaven as it is and enter Purgatory. There, it would punish the heretics threatening Heaven and then return to the fifth Heaven Matei upon the call of Ra.
Families cried out with tears.
Mom! Dad! Grandfather!
As if responding to the voices, the giant twitched. However, it didn't turn back, and instead, as if nothing had happened, continued walking towards the gates leading out.
@
As the landscape in Peope's memory burned away like paper on fire, the scenery of the house was revived.
Shirone and his group looked around.
Peope was nowhere to be seen. It seemed like she had run away during the playback of the memory.
But having learned what the Ilhwa Elixir was, they couldn't afford to be concerned.
Subjects of the Ilhwa Elixir are dissolved in liquid. Then, they enter a mold and go through a special transformation process, reborn as giants. People's spirits are mixed, and through this process, Schemas occur.
That was the meaning of the stimulant that Canya purchased.
It was a wish to help someone gain even a little bit of consciousness in the unknown darkness.
Godlock was right. It was no different than administering an anesthetic to a dying patient in pain.
“This cannot be…”
Tess's face was pale without a trace of blood.
The giant's ability, Schema. And their own ability, Schema.
When her thoughts reached that point, she ran to the corner and threw up. The food she ate a little while ago spilled out.
No one scolded Tess.
Everyone felt nauseated.
As Rian approached, Tess raised a hand to stop him.
Of course, Peope's memory was not more revolting than the scenes of the battlefield. However, it was a mental nausea that overwhelmed them.
Schemas are the art of giants. But why can they open Schema? Could they have a separate lineage of giants like the Nephilim? But giants did not have reproductive organs.
"You understand why I didn't say anything, right?"
Canya muttered with a sad expression.
Some say it's a blessing, others a curse.
No one wanted to talk about this event, which was controversial even among subjects and heretics.
"According to the law, humans were born from giants. So, returning to giants is what the Ilhwa Elixir is about."
Even if Canya's words were true, he couldn't accept them. The Ilhwa Elixir he witnessed was a monster that could not be disguised by any form of makeup.
In the end, he realized.
The Ilhwa Elixir practiced in heaven was a magic that used human flesh and organs as materials to mold giants.
|Note
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