Native World of the Wizards, Endless Sea.
On a desolate island, perpetually shrouded in dense fog so thick one couldn't see their own hand, something stirred.
With a dim, grayish light flickering across the island, space itself began to distort. The boundary between the physical world and a hidden dimension overlapped, and from the emptiness of the beach slowly emerged a black metal coffin.
Whoosh... whoosh...
A sound like a flowing stream echoed continuously from within. Slowly, a thin black mist began seeping out—produced by an excessively fast-flowing liquid.
Thump. Thump. Thump...
Time passed. Eventually, accompanied by a dull, drum-like rhythm, the coffin creaked open from within.
Out stepped a figure—skeletal, gaunt to the point of appearing no more than skin and bones. The heavy, drum-like sound was coming from his chest—it was the thudding beat of his heart.
His hollow eyes scanned the surroundings, then turned upward toward the sky. Slowly, his mouth opened.
Instantly, energy from tens of thousands of kilometers in all directions surged toward him, guided by a prearranged wizardry, pouring into his open mouth.
The dense fog that had lingered unbroken for tens of thousands of years dissipated for the first time, revealing the once-hidden sea to the outside world.
As energy flooded into his emaciated body, his skeletal frame began to rapidly regenerate—like a balloon inflating with air. Flesh and muscle reformed swiftly, restoring his appearance to that of a man in his twenties, forehead marked with eerie runic patterns.
His lifeless eyes regained clarity and light, no longer dull and listless.
Countless memories began to return—but oddly, he had no recollection of how he ended up in such a state.
After a moment of contemplation, a few hypotheses surfaced in his mind.
As his thoughts took shape, a glowing screen appeared before him, displaying the last three days of footage before his death. He watched it all at lightning speed—thousands of times faster than normal—absorbing every detail.
Then, utilizing his authority over the world itself, he transmitted a message across dimensions:
"I just died—but part of my memory is missing. I suspect that I intentionally sealed those memories before death, believing they might hinder my resurrection."
Not long after, several wills converged at his location. One of them, stern and composed, asked:
"Do you have any theory as to what kind of method the enemy used?"
He replied calmly,
"The only methods that could lead me to such a decision are likely one of the following: mind control, personality override, or mnemonic infection."
"From reviewing my private footage, I was only given ten seconds from the moment I was affected to when I activated the self-destruct and cast the Soul Rebirth Spell. There were absolutely no warning signs—every layer of protection was bypassed as if it didn't exist."
"Knowing my temperament, for me to choose a self-destructive escape, I must have determined that waiting even a second longer would make the Rebirth Spell useless."
"Furthermore, I ordered the destruction of the Aelthorpe Star and the extermination of all life aboard it. That implies I had concluded all the wizards there were beyond saving. The nature of the attack couldn't have been targeted—it had to be some form of wide-area effect."
"Under these circumstances, we must take even greater precautions to conceal the locations of our true bodies."
After hearing this, the speaker—who was evidently the Council President—materialized in a human-like form and said gravely:
"If even an eighth-tier wizard like you lasted only ten seconds, then either a ninth-tier wizard was involved... or it was the work of some unique weapon. If needed, we might consider testing them with Karrlu's Wrath."
Another member asked:
"Didn't we use Karrlu's Wrath just tens of thousands of years ago to wipe out the Trelos race? Is it ready to be deployed again?"
The Council President responded,
"At full power, it annihilates the bloodline of any target within 147 generations—provided they're under Tier 5 strength. While it hasn't fully recovered, it's currently capable of wiping out up to 50 generations of such bloodlines. That should be sufficient."
However, the wizard who had just returned from death— Hewlett—shook his head and disagreed:
"There's no need to rush. We should probe further before making that move. Karrlu's Wrath is a weapon of extinction—it should only be used when the time is absolutely right."
Despite his deep hatred for the Gaiensar Civilization, he didn't believe in recklessly deploying one of their faction's ultimate assets.
Seeing that even the most affected party was advising restraint, several other members—who were already hesitant—also voiced their concerns and support for caution.
After hearing everyone out, the Council President finally said,
"Very well. We will not deploy Karrlu's Wrath for now. Instead, we'll allocate more resources to intelligence gathering and prepare to awaken the Primordial Ancestor—just in case."
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
"…"
The motion passed unanimously.
After another brief silence, the President spoke again:
"To compensate for hewlett's loss, I propose that after conquering the Gaiensar Civilization, we extract two trillion of their citizens and convert them into Soul Ascension Elixirs as reparation."
The other council members hesitated, but one by one nodded. An eighth-tier wizard giving his life warranted this level of compensation.
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
"…"
At that, a rare smile appeared on Hewlett's face.
Given the Gaiensar Civilization's trait of universal cultivation, harvesting two trillion of their population for soul elixirs wouldn't just restore his loss—it would likely push him even further along the eighth-tier path. To him, that was immensely important.
As for his current condition—severely injured and at less than a tenth of his full power—he wasn't too concerned.
After all, he had been a peak eighth-tier wizard for millions of years. His accumulated knowledge and contingencies were immense—he had at least ten thousand backup plans for emergencies, and his hidden defensive measures were more than enough.
It was precisely because of this that the council didn't see the need to assign anyone to look after him—even though technically, he was still a critically wounded wizard.
They were all ancient monsters themselves.
Every one of them had lived for millions of years and mastered every survival trick in the book. Resurrection through borrowed bodies, targeted reincarnation, and even faking death for thousands of years were all common tactics among them.
When the others had finished speaking, the Vice President stepped forward.
"Since they've already dared to attack one of our senior members, this is no longer just an act of hostility—it's an open declaration of war. A direct attack on the Wizarding World is likely imminent. Rather than let them strike first, I suggest we plan a preemptive assault."
"Seconded! Any being that dares tamper with our minds commits the greatest, most intolerable provocation. Even if we don't unleash Karrlu's Wrath right away, we must make them pay in blood!"
"Seconded! I fully agree."
"Seconded…"
And so, the proposal to launch a direct assault on the enemy's homeworld was passed on the spot.
___
T/N:
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