The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years-Chapter 611Book 2

Lukas Trowman only conveyed his intention to prevent Destruction and said nothing more. There was no message left for Frey Blake.

Therefore, Residue was not obligated to uphold the connections that he had left behind. There was insufficient reason to do so.

Frey was convinced that Iris was absolutely necessary to prevent Destruction, but there was no guarantee that his belief was the truth.

Run away. Right now, fighting against Destruction is premature.

Would joining this battle increase their chances of victory? Or would it at least allow him to die in Iris’s place?

It would only increase the number of corpses from one to two. More than anything, Iris would not want such a situation.

─These were the excuses that lingered in Residue’s mind until he reached the edge of the sky.

The sky was humid.

A towering giant tree pierced through the clouds. As a consequence of aligning his gaze with it, Residue found himself enveloped by the mist-like clouds.

That tentacle tree was, without a doubt, the end of the First Destruction.

Luca.

One could say it was the true nature of that child with whom he had briefly formed a bond.

…There was one thing he was curious about.

Would you still not attack me now?

At that moment, a thick tree trunk swung and struck Residue.

'I guess not.'

Boom!

The price of realization was quite steep. He had not been entirely unprepared, so he barely managed to block it… No, could he even call that blocking it?

Residue, who had been sent flying into the sky, plummeted back to the ground. The speed at which he fell was precisely five times faster than when he had risen. Indeed, while climbing up had been difficult, falling down happened in an instant. It was a fact he already knew well, but now he had experienced it firsthand.

Coughing up blood, he checked his right hand first. It was in a terrible shape. His fingers were crushed beyond recognition, and his elbow and forearm had been squeezed like lumps of mangled flesh.

It seemed he could no longer expect any mercy from Luca. Having learned from his failure, Residue prepared to ascend towards the sky once more.

“What are you doing?”

Before he could, a cold voice interrupted him.

Iris was standing where he had fallen. She didn’t look unscathed either. Though she bore no visible wounds, she looked as if she had rolled through muddy water dozens of times.

“I asked what you’re doing here.”

Before Residue could open his mouth, she repeated her question. Her eyes held a mixture of coldness and anger in equal measure.

However, the conversation did not continue.

A shadow darkened the ground, and a heavy sound of something slicing through the wind filled the air. Residue and Iris simultaneously leaped away.

A massive tree trunk crashed down on the spot where they had been standing. The trunk lashed out like a whip, violently tearing through the ground.

The earth shattered into pieces. Boulder-sized rocks flew in all directions, and cracks spread across the ground like broken porcelain.

Rumble…

Buildings, already on the verge of collapse, crumbled like a row of dominoes. Those who had not yet evacuated, or who had been hiding, were caught in the catastrophe.

“Ugh!”

This was exactly why she had tried to avoid fighting on the ground…!

Biting her lip, Iris spread both hands.

A family on the verge of being buried under rubble, a man falling into a chasm that had formed from the splitting earth, a woman who had lost consciousness after being struck by debris.

And hundreds of other people who had suddenly found themselves in life-threatening danger, she transported them as far away as possible.

A sharp pain, as if her insides were being torn apart, wracked her body, and a nosebleed trickled down. She had already used her power far too much. Her condition had not been good to begin with, and before facing this, she had also fought a brief skirmish with Retip.

Nevertheless, without so much as a groan, Iris roughly wiped away the blood and glared at the man standing before her.

“Do you even know what that tree is?”

“…The end of the First Destruction.”

“Yes. You know it well. Then why have you come here?”

Residue did not answer easily.

…She was gravely injured. What had happened to her just before coming here? Her entire body was drenched in blood, to the point where it was harder to find an intact spot.

It was difficult to look at.

So, Iris lowered her gaze slightly.

“Are you planning to fight that thing alone?”

“Do I look like I’m fighting it? I’m holding it back. That alone requires my full attention. And let me say this in advance. I do not need-”

Woo woo woo-.

At that moment, a sound like a sob leaked from the giant tree.

A foul, knotted surface, covered in tentacle-like growths, began to ooze a thick liquid. That liquid took on the grotesque shape of melting human forms.

Aaaaaah-!

The instant the screams erupted, an intense light burst forth as well.

Immediately after, a massive shockwave swept in all directions.

Iris, who had been about to deploy her power in haste, suddenly felt a sharp headache and instinctively recoiled her fingers.

‘My ability…’

It wouldn’t manifest.

Had she reached her limit? At a time like this?

Of course, this was an outcome she had foreseen.

The power of space could only exert its full force when wielded by a transcendent being, one whose body transcended the physical realm.

Iris, who possessed a body of flesh and blood, had always felt an unseen burden accumulating within her every time she used her power. Yet, she had ignored it, and this was the price.

Iris watched as the shockwave surged toward her.

Buildings crumbled into dust before her eyes. If she were exposed to that attack in her current defenseless state, not even a trace of her body would remain.

At that moment, Residue wrapped himself around her.

“…!”

The impact was so great that she nearly lost consciousness.

Residue felt as though hundreds of spears had pierced his body as the shockwave engulfed him. His back burned as if it were being seared.

Crash! In an instant, they were sent flying to the very edge of the city, rolling across the rooftop of a building.

“Cough…!”

Residue spat out blood once more. But he had no time to dwell on it. The moment he staggered to his feet, his collar was seized and yanked violently.

“I…”

It was Iris.

The voice that escaped through her lips was searing, filled with a molten rage on the verge of eruption.

“Do you think this is what I wanted?”

Even in Lukas’s memories, he had never seen her this angry.

“Did you expect me to say, ‘Thank you for saving me’ or ‘I’m glad you came to help’? Is that what you were hoping for? Even just now… If you get hurt instead of me, do you think that would make me-”

Her voice, which had been rising, suddenly broke. Residue swallowed his words.

"...I just don't like it. Seeing wounds on that body."

Moisture gathered in Iris's eyes.

“I know. To you, this must look like the obsession of a crazy woman. What matters is what’s inside. Even if that body truly belongs to the real Lukas, you are now an entirely different person. Clinging to an empty shell that means nothing, it’s only natural to find that repulsive.”

But.

Iris bit her lip hard.

“But I can’t do that. Just because Lukas is gone, I can’t treat that body as if it’s nothing more than a husk. I… I’ve made too many mistakes already. When it comes to him, things have always gone wrong. …Right now, the biggest force driving me is fear.”

And then, Iris PeaceFinder finally voiced her true feelings.

“If I fail to protect that body here and now, I don’t know what kind of consequences will come crashing down on me in the future. Do you understand? I…”

Her grip on his collar loosened powerlessly.

Residue staggered as if he might collapse, but he barely managed to stay on his feet.

“I don’t want to regret anything related to Lukas ever again.”

…He glanced toward the other side of the city.

In the short time they had been here, the city had turned into a wasteland.

With Iris PeaceFinder absent even for a moment, the tentacle tree had already doubled in size.

“…If you care for me even a little, then leave this place. I will stop that thing on my own, no matter what. And if possible, I hope you, live a long life.”

“Are you planning to die?”

“And if I am? Do you have the right to stop me?”

"...I was handed over responsibility by him."

“Yes, you understand that well. But it was a responsibility that was forced upon you. You know what I find amusing? Your situation looks even more pathetic than mine. And do you know this? Responsibility must be accepted by both sides for it to be valid.”

Those words struck Residue with an inexplicable shock.

“Forcing something onto someone isn’t the same as passing it on. That’s not what responsibility is. True responsibility only exists when the giver has complete faith in the recipient, and the recipient has the confidence to take it on. Only when those two align does it truly happen.”

“……”

“What do you really want? Does your insistence on saving me come from your own will? Have you lived all this time simply because you inherited Lukas’s body? Carrying yourself as if you’re the most unfortunate person in the world, burdened by all its sorrows? If that was the case, then you should never have accepted it in the first place.”

Iris turned her gaze back to the tentacle tree.

“…You asked me if I intended to die, didn’t you? No. I will not be your death, nor do I intend to die here. So please, don’t pity me, and don’t try to make me into something noble.”

Those were her final words.

Without hesitation, Iris soared into the sky and threw herself into the fissure in space.

Residue realized then, most of the people in this city were still alive entirely because of her.

“…Lukas, the woman who fell for you is truly remarkable.”

Muttering to himself, Residue stood still for a moment before leaping off the building.

Splash.

Then, as he walked back toward the city center, he glanced up at the sky. Outside the tree’s shadow, rain was still pouring over the outskirts of the city.

“What is the right thing to do?”

He trudged through the ruins like a defeated soldier, murmuring to himself.

“I never wanted to be a coward.”

Like Symetra and the lords who fled in fear,

He didn’t want to end up like them.

“I thought it was admirable.”

The humans who charged forward, risking death,

Just as Iris had said, Residue saw nobility in them.

“…I didn’t want to turn away from this body’s responsibility either.”

He couldn’t stand by and watch Lukas’s relationships be severed,

Because there was a chance Lukas was watching all of this unfold.

“That’s why I went there. At the very least, I wanted to save the Black Witch, or fight alongside her, or, if nothing else, die together.”

Wouldn’t that have been a fairly decent ending?

Even if it couldn’t be the best possible conclusion, at least it would be a respectable bad ending.

“But the Black Witch told me. That none of it was necessary. And… what it truly means to pass something on.”

Kukukuk…

Laughter escaped him.

Residue kept walking as he muttered to himself.

“I see. I wasn’t underestimating you. How could I ever look down on your life? …But now, I wonder. Maybe the reason I’ve become so pathetic has nothing to do with you at all.”

At that moment, something caught his eye in a puddle, a faintly glowing object.

A necklace.

The one he had received from Beniang Argento.

Had Symetra died? He didn’t know, and frankly, he didn’t care.

“Even if it had nothing to do with your so-called responsibility, maybe I would have been in pain anyway. Even if this body wasn’t yours, even if it belonged to some completely unrelated third party, I probably still wouldn’t have been able to live peacefully. Without realizing it, my mind had already weakened the moment this body fell into decline.”

Residue picked up the cracked necklace and clenched it tightly in his hand.

“…It feels like every possible choice has been stolen from me. Hey, what would you do? What am I supposed to do? Whose tune am I supposed to dance to?”

Before he realized it, Residue had arrived once more at UMC.

If Iris saw him now, she might not just try to send him away, she might forcibly send him herself. He might even hear far harsher words than before.

Then why had he come back?

Residue surveyed the desolate surroundings.

Being so close to the tentacle tree, this area had been directly struck by the shockwaves. There were no intact buildings left. Everything had been shattered and scattered.

But even in such a place, something still remained.

Frey Blake was there.

“……”

Residue approached and bent down in front of Frey. After aligning their eye level, he silently stared at Frey’s face, which had grown cold.

What happened next wasn’t something he did consciously. He reached out, intending to close Frey’s half-open eyes.

The moment he touched Frey for the first time.

“……!”

A bolt of lightning struck inside Residue’s mind.

-There is nothing.

Memories surged forth.

-I have nothing to say to you.

Frey Blake’s memories flooded in.

-But… there is something I want to show you.

Frey's monologue, which he hadn't heard and couldn't hear, seeped into his mind.

-I don’t know what kind of outcome this will bring.

And then, with overwhelming force,

-But you need to know.

Memories.

*

Just before taking the final step, it wasn’t as if there was no fear.

Life had always been that way.

Giving his all was never enough.

It was never easy, always filled with the unpredictable, and the moment he convinced himself that he could endure, that things would be fine, even greater hardships came crashing down.

So he braced himself for the pain. He forced a smile onto his lips.

He made the expression that he hoped the one watching would remember in the end.

After that, he stepped into the ‘Outside’, into the space beyond.

[───.]

[───.]

And in that place, where all sorts of unknowable things lurked,

Feeling as if they were all watching him,

Lukas Trowman opened his eyes.