Click-clack. Click-clack.
The sound of footsteps stopped, and emerging from the shadows was...
A Jiangshi with blue skin, her voluptuous figure clearly outlined by the tight, oriental-style dress she wore.
Facing White Night, the Jiangshi sneered bitterly.
"That's..."
White Night, her eyes wide with terror and astonishment, muttered in a trembling voice.
"...Is that me?"
It felt like watching oneself step out of a mirror.
Frozen in shock, White Night screamed in desperation.
"What is this? Who are you! I'll kill you right..."
As she shouted, trying to use magic, White Night realized that no magical power was gathering.
Confused, she examined her physical condition and then understood why she had been unable to move all this time.
"...Huh?"
She had no 'body' at the moment.
She was now just data in the shape of a skeleton, displayed on a small magical panel.
"Huh? No... What? This is..."
"Yes."
Ash, looking on with a pitying gaze, brought a glass to his lips.
"White Night, from your replication, you two, Black Night and Soya. I switched your Jiangshi body and electronic brain."
"...?!"
"All this time, you've been copying and pasting your consciousness into various bodies, right? Switching them was also possible."
A cruel smile curled on Ash's lips.
"Why? You envied another version of you, didn't you? Jealous of another you who conquered the electronic brain world, what you considered the final destination of your research. So, I swapped them for you. You should be thankful."
"This, what... This doesn't make any..."
Trembling in the screen, Black Night abruptly turned her gaze.
And glared at the other self she had switched bodies with - Soya.
Everything now made sense.
The reason she fell for simple magical tricks today must be due to the other self's interference operations.
From the principles of charm spells to the art of transferring consciousness to a new body.
It was all leaked to the human side by another version of herself.
"Why... another me?"
Black Night vented her frustration, unable to comprehend.
"You succeeded, didn't you... You achieved the ideal immortality we sought!"
"..."
"But why? Why go to the lengths of giving up that immortality, to do something like this?"
After a brief silence,
Soya, who had been silent for a while, slowly opened the mouth of the Jiangshi and said.
"I thought reaching the electronic brain world as a Lich was the final stage of escaping the finite cycle of life."
"But why!"
"Yet, once I reached there, I realized it wasn't an infinite or eternal space."
Transforming oneself into data to gain immortality in the electronic brain world seemed feasible.
But it wasn't. It was just another form of escapism, built within the physical confines of a magical tower.
A world that would vanish like a mirage once the tower collapsed and the system shut down.
"In the end, I realized that this life, too, would wear down and fade away... That's what I came to understand."
A Lich is a magician fleeing from death.
From a frail human body to an undead skeleton, to a Jiangshi, and then data in the electronic brain world...
Continuously shifting forms, but nowhere was there eternity, only an extension of a pitiful life.
True immortality wasn't to be found in such places.
"That's when Ash proposed to me. He was setting this trap to kill you and asked if I would cooperate."
Soya glanced briefly at Ash and slowly nodded.
"If it meant setting a trap to ensure your death... If it meant I could be the only one again, then giving up the electronic brain world seemed like a fair trade."
After all, whether data or a Jiangshi, both were finite.
In order to return as the sole entity, Soya, the cyber Lich of the electronic brain world, willingly abandoned her domain.
As a result, their bodies were swapped - Black Night ended up trapped within a small mechanical device.
"Now, with this Jiangshi body, I will pursue a new form of immortality."
With a trace of pity in her gaze, Soya whispered to her other self.
"You will be trapped in that completely sealed world... Slowly disintegrating. Another me."
"No, no, no, no...!"
Black Night struggled in vain, but the device she was trapped in had no connection to the outside world.
Had it been the system she had built inside the magic tower, she could have freely wielded the mountain of powers bestowed upon the tower.
But the magic tower had already collapsed, and the mechanical device she was in had no magic-sensitive tools installed.
All that remained was her consciousness, unable to do anything.
"No, no, no, no!"
Ash slowly picked up the mechanical device, holding Black Night inside, as she let out a wrenching scream like nails on a chalkboard.
"I hope you hold no regrets, Black Night. Both of us, we tried to use and consume each other."
Looking into the mechanical device containing Black Night, Ash spoke indifferently.
"However, unlike you, who only researched within the life of the magic tower, I, having been muddied and rolled in the dirt here and there... was just a little more adept at such dirty trickery. That's all."
"No, Ash! Please! No-"
"Don't worry too much, brain in a box."
Ash's fingers, smiling softly, slowly moved towards the power button of the device.
"I'm not a mad scientist, but maybe I'll send some electrical stimulation occasionally... wouldn't I?"
"Just a moment! I beg you! Ash! Listen to me..."
Click-
Ash's finger pressed down on the power button, and the screen went off.
At the same time, darkness descended in the electronic brain world inside the small device.
Plunging into a world of complete and utter darkness, where nothing existed... Suddenly, Black Night realized.
The one she had danced with was not an ordinary human.
But a demon-like - the commander of the enemy forces.
***
Click-
A tablet PC-like device on Earth was turned off.
"Sigh."
I exhaled a short sigh and placed the machine on the table.
Then, the Jiangshi who had approached me slowly opened her mouth.
"Thanks to you, now I am the only one."
"..."
"I've eliminated another me, and the Lich Legion has virtually been annihilated, losing both its legion commander and top Liches. You've perfectly executed my request."
The Lich, now inhabiting a new Jiangshi body - Soya, spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Though I've lost the magic tower... well, a tower can be rebuilt."
"..."
"Thank you, Ash. I'll continue to cooperate with you."
Soya, still adjusting to her new body, stood rigidly and then turned to leave.
"The party is over, I'll be on my way."
"Wait a moment."
I called out to Soya.
"Now that you've given up the electronic brain world, what kind of immortality will you pursue?"
"..."
"You've realized, haven't you? No matter what kind of immortality you pursue in this real world, you'll never achieve it."
Soya slowly stopped.
I gazed at her back, speaking softly yet with certainty.
"You're aiming for ascension too, aren't you?"
"..."
"You've made a pact too, right? With the Outer Gods."
In the game, if you were hostile towards Soya, she would use instant death abilities. Summoning a massive eye to kill your hero in one hit.
In other words - she, too, had made a pact with those Outer Gods, the eyes.
"In the end, you too will betray us, aiming to destroy this world and stand with those beings from the other world?"
"..."
"To do that, you had to eliminate another version of you, right?"
By the time I had read Black Night's mind, I had already gathered all the necessary information.
In the end, Soya too... intended to kill each other to stand on the same level as those Outer Gods, to earn that right.
"Black Night and Soya, you two are ultimately copies of the same entity, White Night. So, your thought processes are bound to be the same."
"..."
Without answering, Soya slowly reached out her hand and pushed open the closed door of the special room.
Then...
Click! Click! Click!
My heroes, who had been waiting outside the door, revealed themselves.
All fully armed, clad in armor, with drawn weapons pointed in this direction.
As soon as the door opened, they simultaneously aimed their sword tips at Soya's throat. Dozens of blades touched her neck.
"..."
A deadly silence ensued.
Clink-
I finished my whiskey on the rocks and spoke coldly.
"You could claim you're not involved. But from our perspective, we can't afford to take any more risks."
"..."
"Sorry, but I can't let you go, Soya."
"...You've been calling me by a strange name since a while ago."
The voice of the Lich Grand Sorceress, filled with a malevolent aura, exhaled a short sigh.
"I am White Night."
Zing-!
Explosive magical power burst forth from her body. My heroes swallowed their groans and had to step back.
"The Great Sorceress of the Lake Kingdom, the longest-surviving Grand Sorceress in the history of the continent. And yes, as you said, the only being who will ascend to divinity and take her place among the stars. White Night."
Whoosh-!
A gust of wind enveloped the entire banquet hall due to the magical power emanating from her body.
Facing the swirling wind, I calmly set down my empty glass. White Night, who had turned back around, faced me.
"The kind of immortality obtained in this lower world means nothing. Look at those lives cocooned at the bottom of this lake, lingering like bugs. That's not the immortality I'm after."
"..."
"I will ascend to heaven. I will stand at the same level as those beings from the other world."
"Boldly admitted."
"In order to do that, I had to eliminate another me, but you've taken care of that problem for me."
Darkness from the other world began to gather behind her like clouds.
"If you choose to be my enemy, then I have no need for you, Ash."
Then from that amassed darkness, a giant eye was about to-
Whoosh-!
-It didn't open.
The encroaching darkness from the other world suddenly dispersed. The howling wind ceased, and the ominous atmosphere subsided.
"...?"
White Night muttered in confusion, failing to comprehend the situation.
"What? Why? My magic power..."
"The body you're using right now is that of a Jiangshi... and you were the one who taught us how to make Jiangshi talismans, remember?"
I slowly stood up, casually slipping my hand into my pocket.
"Before the body swap, we reverse-engineered it and made some modifications. We put restrictions on the use of magical power."
"That's nonsense...! Don't talk rubbish! That's not possible for modern humans!"
"Don't underestimate modern humans, ancient monster."
This world is a magical civilization.
While you were cooped up alone in your magic tower, did you think the people outside were just playing around?
Even if it's a never-seen-before magic, if we can understand the formulas and language, we can reverse-engineer it to steal the underlying principles.
'Besides, we have Junior.'
Junior, a genius who, after seeing Celendion's vampiric magic reversal just once, managed to copy its principles and made it her ultimate skill.
The sorcery system of the East fundamentally differs in its basic formulas, so we had to mobilize all the magicians affiliated with the front, including Junior, for reverse engineering and reconfiguration.
Yet, we succeeded.
'A magician is a tactical weapon comparable to a fighter jet.'
And a fighter jet, as much as it is overwhelmingly powerful, is also a delicate and fragile weapon.
Compared to other contemporary weapons, it has vulnerable defenses and disastrously low fuel efficiency.
Powerful once it begins flying, but if it hasn't started flying yet, it can easily be brought down.
Magicians and fighter jets have a lot in common.
So - if you tamper with the fuel tank and prevent it from even starting to fly.
What remains is just a costly hunk of metal, unable to fly, with defenses as thin as paper.
"You've neglected your history lessons, White Night."
I gestured towards the foolish Grand Sorceress looking at me with a pale face.
"When you invite foreign forces into a civil war, the outcome is mostly the same."
Their own battles should be ended by their own hands.
If they fail to do so and seek outside help, the smiling outsiders...
"Will devour them."
The same applies to these two sorceresses.
Each brought in 'me' as a foreign force to eliminate the other.
They thought they could use me just enough and then discard me.
But, they underestimated me.
Taking steps towards the enemy commander, I declared coldly.
"It's time to pay the price. Sorceress."
--TL Notes--
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