The Book Eating Magician - Chapter 393

Chapter 393

Chapter 393 - Armageddon (5)

‘―Ahhh . ’

Theodore’s voice didn’t emerge .  His lips didn’t open .  He couldn’t move any fingers or feel the flow of mana through his heart . It was unfathomable for a magician who could cast magic .  There was nothing in front of his eyes, and no sound reached his ears . All of his five senses were out of order as he fell into a calm feeling .  No, there was nothing .

‘―Ahh . ’

It was negative and meaningless . The boundaries of Theodore’s consciousness became increasingly blurry .  There was a force that couldn’t be resisted .  The fruits of 30 years of struggle were being released .  He forgot the unimportant memories—the faces of his classmates at Bergen Academy, the contents of books, the information window of the defective goods he bought from the black market dealer . . .

‘―Ah . ’

Even if they didn’t matter, these memories were part of him . The pillars holding up the brick building started to shake .  A page of the book called [Theodore Miller] was torn .  He forgot someone whose name he didn’t know . Then he forgot landscapes and the distances he had walked .  There was no room for resistance . As if an eraser was going through his brain, oblivion spread like wildfire as his 30 years were erased from the edges .

‘Ah . ’

Theodo□ sensed he had forgotten something precious . He had just lost something he shouldn’t have forgotten .  It was like a big hole had been punctured in his body .  Who was it? When he thought about it, he knew he had forgotten someone . He wanted to scream, but his mouth was forced shut and he couldn’t even wriggle around like an earthworm .

A fearful sense of futility filled him .

‘ . . . ’

As this swamp of nothingness rose to his throat, Theo□□ realized he was the only thing left .  Theo□□? No, that wasn't his name .  Th□□□ . The moment he thought about it again, he lost more letters .  Now he was on the brink of losing his name . Then he even forgot the last letter . □□□□ . No, how many syllables were there? Something in the darkness of his body laughed loudly .

.

This was the end . The moment he stepped into the Akashic world, Theodore Miller no longer existed .  It was an ending he had prepared for .

The determination of life, the power of a transcendent, wasn’t worth a penny here . It wasn’t a place where life could survive . In this infinite place, a finite consciousness wasn’t recognized . There were many people who came here, but no one went home .

This was the truth that every investigator was afraid of .

Even if only one drop was drunk, it was a source that could awaken a god’s wisdom . If the density of information was compared, it was no different from a star that had become a supernova while the ego of life was nothing but a lump of sugar . In the case of transcendents like Theodore, they might be the tip of an iceberg . However, the ending was still the same .

Simon Magus, the most powerful figure in the material world, hadn’t been able to bear a piece of this infinite wisdom and had melted away .

[······ . ]

In the myths, there was a superglobal collection of information in which everything in the universe was recorded . If a transcendent obtained it, they could wield the omnipotent power without distinction between past, present, and future .  The Akashic Records, or the Hollow Records—this collection of information was the last target of those who searched beyond the realm of a god, but only one person had reached it .

[ . . . No, he didn’t get there . ]

After that, he drowned . The information contained in the Akashic Records, the life of the universe, was overwhelming to any investigator . The same was true for the swordsman who could cut a star with a sword, as well as the apostles who dominated over dozens of planets .

No matter how strong they were, how could they bear all of the universe? Numerous transcendents had died due to their arrogance .

[It is a shame . ]

It was said that 6,700 stars must multiply by 3,000 times to form one world . Multiplying that world by 3,000 times would form a great wide world, then multiplying the great wide world another 3,000 times would form the cosmos .  However, even the cosmos was just dust .  It was something that could be seen with the calculations . Even if someone managed to reach this infinity, it was impossible to maintain their ego .  Someone eventually called it nirvana .

[Today, I have increased by ‘one’,] the sum of the universe, ‘Akashic’, muttered in a dry tone . [What did you come here hoping to find? Sublimation? Ugly desires? Well, good . No matter what you intended, it is meaningless . Everyone who is sullen, cowardly, humble, or arrogant  becomes a few written letters . . . ]

No one would know this . There was an independent self in the information collection, the Akashic Records which recorded the beginning and end of the universe .  In retrospect, it wasn't unusual since it was a book containing all the wisdom in the world . It would be more strange if such an existence had no will .  Akashic’s white body was like a spirit body, but it couldn’t be observed in any dimension . The form resembled Theodore Miller, because he was the last investigator it saw .

[I will see you . ]

Anything that Akashic, the incarnation of omniscience, wanted was achieved . In the middle of the universe, the black hole that would send everything back to naught was his residence .  He always wanted to observe the person who had become part of ‘Akashic . ’ It was his obligation to any investigators who reached him .

[Theodore Miller . ]

Once he recited this name that was gone, Akashi traveled a few trillion light years to the relevant planet .  It was 10 seconds after Wrath shook off Theodore .  A three-kilometer-wide sphere made of a special metal was falling . Theodore’s previous moves were useless as it fell at a speed of 10 kilometers per second toward the planet .

Akashic wondered about the result and was able to see it immediately .

The moment the metal sphere hit the ground, more than 50 kilometers of the planet would be destroyed and 98 . 128% of the population exterminated . The intelligent civilization would be destroyed without a trace, and it would take at least 200,000 years for the destroyed ecosystem to recover to its current condition .

[It is a common thing . ]

This was his short impression of the situation .  Akashic watched emotionlessly as this world was soon to be destroyed .  The Seven Sins, an autonomous research group which had been made by external investigators—in the whole universe, dozens of civilizations or stars were being destroyed by them this very second .  

To celebrate the end of the investigator called Theodore Miller, Akashic kept watching .

[I am the one who records the end of creation . The weights of all life and death are the same . The truth is to be born and destroyed . It is something I can’t intervene in . ]

He wouldn’t do anything even if he could .  That would be ignorant, the incompetence of an almighty .  It was possible for Akashic to bend a little finger and shake the physical laws of the entire universe, killing all living creatures or saving the dead . However, this action was meaningless . The guardian of the Akashic Records didn’t feel such an impulse .

[Hmm . ]

Therefore, he would observe this material world out of respect for the investigator .

[I will watch . ]

He focused his attention on the planet that the investigator, Theodore Miller, had lived on .

Humans, elves, dragons, spirits, elementals… As all life forms in this material world came into view, Akashic penetrated into the reality of the collective . Unlike an omniscient entity, this was the essence of the Akashic Records . The power of recording observations was more familiar to him than any other authority .

Inside it, he found the name of ‘Theodore . ’

-Theo, where are you? Where are you now? No way . . . right? Sylvia Adruncus, who recently became pregnant, held her belly and thought of Theodore .

Wrath was already close enough to be seen from the surface . A red color in the sky—it was a sight that made everyone on the planet convinced of their destruction .

- . . . Shouldn’t you return safely, Husband? Otherwise, I will be angry .  Veronica instinctively searched for his whereabouts .

-Ahh, Theodore . . . ! This is what you were worried about . . . ! Ellenoa belatedly realized why Theodore had been so nervous, and she looked up at the red meteorite with trembling eyes .

Many other people thought about Theodore—the hero of the northern continent and the greatest magician on the continents .  Despite knowing it was ridiculous, they had faith that he would somehow do something .

-Son, please be safe .  On the terrace of the mansion, Dennis Miller closed his eyes .

- . . . Sigh, if I knew the end would come today, I wouldn’t have slept last night .  White Tower Master Orta sighed .

-Dammit, god dammit! I still haven’t gotten married! Randolph shouted as he swung his double swords .

[Five seconds left . ]

Akashic turned away from Theodore Miller’s acquaintances to Wrath .  

A falling meteorite was one of the most common disasters in the universe .  As soon as the silver sphere with a diameter of three kilometers fell to the ground, this planet would become like a broken eggshell as the boundaries of land and sea disappeared . The magma flowing under the crust would explode like a fountain, and the blue sky would be filled with a red light, creating a hellish landscape .

Despite knowing all this, Akashic didn’t stop it .  No, he knew he shouldn’t stop it . It was just a disaster occurring to a single civilization that Akashic was attracted to through a whim .

Kukwaaaaaang!

One second before the crash, shock waves ripped through the sky . The air was pushed down by the clouds and darkness covered the sky .  The learned and unlearned both knew . . .

This was the end of an absurd fate, the end which any religion described in one word—doomsday .

At the very last moment, Akashic’s little finger moved weakly .

*     *     *

――――――――――――――――!!!!

The meteorite was destroyed . Its silver surface was crushed like an egg, and the entity called Planet Buster was shattered . Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fragments were scattered . Before the fragments reached the ground, they went through an incomprehensible combustion and disappeared without a trace .

This was the futile end of Wrath, the last weapon of the Seven Sins .

[ . . . Hrmm?] Akashic was surprised that he had destroyed Wrath . He was expressionless, but his tone went up one step higher .  It was an impossible level of destruction .  To think that it had accelerated through the distant universe to the surface of a planet, in order to destroy a meteorite? Furthermore, it saved the surface of the planet from the debris and restored the torn atmosphere . Akashic wasn’t something to be led by emotions .

[Why?]

This was a common thing . It was just one planet filled with civilization . He could observe dozen such places if he turned his gaze now .  Had the story of one investigator attracted him? Akashic thoroughly denied this reasoning .  So, why did he watch Theodore Miller’s planet? As Akashic was questioning his actions, the left hand of the omnipotent being gave him the answer .

[―Surprising . ]

Akashic nodded . He was surprised . Despite emotions existing in him, he was close to an inanimate object . In this case, he couldn’t help feeling shocked .  Theodore Miller . . .

Yes, it was such a name . Knowing that he and ‘Theodore’ had been separated, Akashic made a curious expression .

[Answer me . How could you survive inside of me?]

Theodore Miller stood naked but with no injuries .  He had returned from death and smiled bitterly .

“I didn’t survive . I died once, without a trace . . . and then I was reformed . It wasn’t due to my strength . People helped me . ”

[Hoh . ] Akashic was honestly interested . [I can easily find out but I want to hear it from your mouth . Can you tell me how it happened?]

“Yes . It is an honor to teach the Akashic Records something . ”

It was a feat which would never happen again in the history of the universe .