Chapter 357
“If it’s not Lanya, it’s impossible.”

In this situation, Lanya was the wild card.

Everything about her was connected to Hepfelman. That meant she also knew everything about him.

She could become a deadly dagger.

—Order Hepfelman to attempt a topological inversion.

Lanya’s eyes flickered at the message from Chris.

Topological inversion.

It was a conceptual duel among white mages.

The goal was to analyze the opponent’s magical topology and collapse their entire magical concept.

To do this, one had to fully grasp the opponent’s magical constructs and neutralize their magical resistance. Unless there was a significant difference in skill, it was nearly impossible.

—Not confident? Pathetic. If you can’t do it, just quit.

Lanya clenched her fist.

If not now, she would never get another chance to avenge her parents.

“I can do this. With the talent they passed down to me!”

Her concept reached into Hepfelman’s topology.

For a moment, the vastness of his topology made her feel suffocated and overwhelmed, but she didn’t stop.

“I can do this.”

Everyone knew this method.

It was hateful and repulsive, but she had built her topology the same way.

“Hah, how dare you! Ridiculous.”

Hepfelman sneered upon sensing Lanya’s attempt.

“All that I have granted you, I will now take back!”

His concept also reached into Lanya’s topology.

Both knew each other’s topologies inside and out.

Now it was a matter of whose concept was superior.

“This won’t be easy.”

After clashing with Hepfelman’s concept, Lanya felt a heavy weight on her chest.

It wasn’t that her conceptual control was lacking.

The problem was the solidity of the topology.

Though both had similar topologies, Hepfelman was a 9-star transcendent, so the size and depth of his was vastly superior.

In other words, if Lanya had to deal 100 points of damage, Hepfelman could break her with just 10.

No matter how skilled she was, the gap was insurmountable.

Then, Chris’s voice came through.

—Remember what I told you earlier. The negation of negation is affirmation.

“!!”

It was the advice he gave when she was studying the grimoire Hepfelman had given her.

Thanks to that hint, she had avoided the traps hidden in the grimoire.

But that didn’t mean she had fully mastered Chris’s advice.

She understood it.

But she hadn’t thought to try it.

“I have to completely overturn my topology.”

It was a gamble.

One with a slim chance of success.

Most likely, she would lose everything.

But—

—Was it too much for you after all? What did I expect?

“!!”

Chris’s voice struck a nerve, and a surge of anger flared within Lanya.

“You annoying bastard. After I take out my enemy, you’re next! I’ll show you the taste of this genius mage’s power!”

Rumble.

Lanya’s topology began to shift.

It was like turning a clock backward.

Her topology was being elevated.

Chris had mentioned negation because it represented a higher-dimensional topology.

The problem was stability.

Hepfelman and others hadn’t tried this method because it was too much to handle.

“Negation of negation is affirmation.”

Lanya gritted her teeth, enduring the feeling that her topology was about to collapse.

Like a clock’s hands reversing and eventually finding their proper place, her topology had to settle.

It wasn’t easy. It felt like it could fall apart at any moment.

Especially now, when she was also fighting against Hepfelman’s concept trying to destroy her topology.

Then Chris’s voice cut in again.

—Seems your talent alone isn’t enough. I’ll guide you, so follow me.

“Lanya could do this on her own.”

In her previous life, she had escaped Hepfelman’s schemes by discovering this method herself.

Compared to Chris, she was lacking, but Lanya was still a top genius.

She would eventually succeed even if left alone, but Chris was a bit greedy.

“This is the chance to fully elevate Lanya to 8-star.”

An opportunity that wouldn’t come easily.

The moment she reestablished her topology, she wouldn’t stop there—she would ascend to a higher realm.

—Follow closely.

—W-wait! What is this?

Lanya cried out in surprise.

It was an extremely risky method.

—It’s possible. After all, everything exists within your topology.

“!!”

Lanya’s face went blank, as if struck by lightning.

Everything was ultimately contained within her own topology.

This was something she had vaguely realized when glimpsing the 8-star realm.

But now was different.

The moment all topology negated itself.

Yet she understood that all of it was still her own.

Her world changed.

“W-what?!”

Hepfelman gasped in shock.

A formless energy radiated around her.

Though not fully formed, it was a domain of control.

Lanya had reached 8-star transcendence!

“Th-this is impossible!”

Lanya’s eyes coldly fixed on Hepfelman.

“Shut up, you maggot.”

“!!”

Rumble.

Lanya’s concept began to dismantle Hepfelman’s topology.

The situation had completely reversed.

Until now, they had been dueling with full knowledge of each other’s topologies, but now Lanya had transformed her topology and reestablished a new one.

Moreover, her domain of control, though not yet fully realized, made her a ‘master of topology.’

She could manipulate all white magic topologies like extensions of her own body.

“Grrrgh!!”

Hepfelman desperately tried to push back Lanya’s concept.

At that moment, the terminal connected to the Celestial Realm was restored, emitting a powerful constellation energy.

“It’s useless.”

A chilling voice descended.

Chris had silently appeared behind Hepfelman.

Thud!

The Celestial Radiance Sword materialized and pierced through Hepfelman’s body.

“Ugh.”

Hepfelman staggered to his knees as a great shadow fell over his topology.

It was Lanya.

“W-wait… st-stop… you’re my disciple…”

“Disgusting. Shut up.”

Hepfelman’s topology began to collapse completely.

At the same time—

“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”

Flames of constellation energy surged, engulfing his body and melting it away.

The end of Saint Hepfelman.

---

The events of that day shook not only the Mage Tower and the Round Table but the entire Alliance.

One of the giants supporting the Alliance had fallen.

After the battle, Chris uncovered evidence of Hepfelman’s numerous human sacrifices, shocking everyone.

“This can’t be. I never imagined a Saint would do such things.”

“Why? Saints aren’t perfect, are they?”

“True… The Dark King, the Fairy King, the Mercenary King—all had notorious reputations behind the scenes.”

Not all Saints were noble.

They were like sacred pillars of the Alliance, so no one dared speak ill openly, but it was an open secret that some Saints had committed many wrongdoings.

Then this incident happened.

“Is it the Hero again?”

“Yes. If not for the Hero, the Round Table and Mage Tower would have suffered massive bloodshed.”

“I don’t know how many times this has happened now.”

“The Hero is truly the one who will save our Alliance in place of the Saints!”

Following the feats in the Holy Empire and Karn Empire, the Hero had already built an incredible reputation despite having appeared only recently.

Everyone in the Alliance cheered.

In response, Chris thought quietly.

‘The time has come.’

Golden Cross.

Holy Empire.

Karn Empire.

Round Table and Mage Tower.

These were the Alliance forces Chris had brought under his influence.

They were practically the majority of the Alliance.

‘…It was a hell of a struggle.’

Chris recalled the past and briefly wore a solemn expression.

He really had worked hard traveling across the entire Alliance.

‘Damn it, it pisses me off. Why do I have to go through all this? What happened to my dreams of wealth and glory?’

There was no choice.

If he didn’t prepare properly for the coming apocalypse, all the wealth and glory would be meaningless—the world would be destroyed.

He couldn’t bear to see the world fall apart before he had even enjoyed it.

‘So, I have to make these suckers in the Alliance stronger.’

All the effort to bring the Alliance forces under his control was to create pawns who would fight in his place during the age of destruction.

Chris secretly ordered the Alliance forces, including the Karn and Holy Empires, to prepare for war.

‘The moment I bring down the Four Kings’ Castle, the situation will change drastically.’

Later, the day came for him to leave the training grounds.

Late at night, Chris set out.

‘No need for a noisy farewell.’

He had only taught them out of necessity, and there was no one worth saying goodbye to.

He had been so harsh that many had gritted their teeth at him.

Just as he was about to leave the training grounds—

“Wait a moment, please.”

“??”

Chris tilted his head in confusion.

A cocky-looking man.

Aiden of the Martial Arts clan.

Once hailed as the Round Table’s rising star, only to be thoroughly crushed.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes. What do you want?”

“……”

Aiden said nothing.

He just gave Chris a disrespectful look, as if displeased.

‘Is he trying to pick a fight one last time?’

Chris chuckled softly.

During the training period, Aiden had shown remarkable growth.

He had always been arrogant, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he did something reckless.

“I don’t like this.”

“Fine, then come at me. Since it’s the last time, I’ll smash you to pieces…”

“Trying to sneak away like this without even a proper farewell ceremony?”

“…What?”

Aiden glared at Chris with eyes blazing fiercely.

“How could you not even give us a chance to thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown us?”

“…”

Chris was at a loss for words.

He wanted to ask, Are you crazy? But there was no hint of joking in Aiden’s expression.

“Yeah, that’s right. Who just sneaks off like this?”

“Honestly, you’ve been a pain from start to finish.”

From the shadows, others stepped forward.

To Chris’s surprise, they were the heads of the round table.

“…What are you all doing here?”

The round table leaders scowled deeply.

Their faces seemed to say, Do I really have to explain?

“You may be annoying and hopeless, but it’s true that you’ve done us a great favor.”

Chris’s kindness wasn’t just about freeing them from Hefferman’s grasp.

Thanks to the teachings he’d given, each of the leaders had broken through their limits and achieved great things.

“At first, learning from you bruised our pride and left us feeling awful, but now we understand. It was all because you cared about us.”

“…That wasn’t really the intention.”

“No need to be shy about it. Like Sir Evan said, you’re not exactly the most straightforward.”

“…”

Throughout the training period, Evan had been preaching Chris’s nobility.

At first, no one believed him, but after hearing it so many times, everyone started to wonder, “Could it really be true?” and ended up almost brainwashed.