Asks death.
If everything has value, then what value does the infinite hold?
Death’s answer is this.
“The lifespan of an immortal holds no value.”
To understand this statement, one needed to know more about black magic.
The criteria for determining the value of black magic is certainly different from other types of magic.
Unlike general schools of magic, where results always exchange for the same value, black magic always requires more value to produce results, and ultimately seeks one value: ‘loss.’
The most important question in judging value in black magic is how great a loss you feel from the sacrifice.
Thus, black magic, which uses the phenomenon of death itself, presupposes loss rather than exchange, so it always demands a value greater than the result.
So then, what is the most ‘valuable thing’ that life can trade?
The answer to that question is lifespan.
Lifespan is, in essence, life itself.
To wager such a ‘lifespan’ means, quite literally, placing everything of oneself on the scale.
Therefore, lifespan possesses high value.
What has been enjoyed, what is being enjoyed, and what will be enjoyed in the future.
All of this is placed upon the path of life, and dedicating one’s life means truly offering everything.
Naturally, it must hold high value.
Because of this, lifespan always retains high value, a common possession shared by all living beings, and has become fuel.
The black flame, which forces that lifespan to be consumed, is a very powerful black magic that devours value and incinerates life, leaving no trace behind.
But what if there is no end to that lifespan?
That would render the value of life utterly meaningless.
The infinite signifies infinite value, but at the same time, it means that it can never be exhausted.
Even if one offers a lifespan of 100 years, 1,000 years, or 10,000 years, nothing is lost.
The concept of immortality is infinite, but the concept of consumption, created with the assumption of material loss, is necessarily finite.
The value of something that cannot cause loss to death is worthless.
——–
Seyeo was well aware of the black flame.
However, what Luke spoke of was a perspective he had never considered.
The black flame cannot burn an immortal?
From the start, the very existence of the concept of immortality in reality is a logical error.
No matter what laws or logic someone brings, if mages were to see it, they would only receive criticism that it is impossible.
Death is the common end that comes to all life.
No one can overcome it at will.
He himself could not overcome it, could he?
Thinking this, Seyeo quietly began to observe the child claiming to be immortal.
“Haha, what a joke… immortality is impossible.”
Immortality is a concept that can never exist in the material plane.
In any way, immortality is bound to fail.
None of the logic present in modern magic can explain a method to completely overcome death.
This is the same for the death that will inevitably come to this world someday.
Yet, what is happening right in front of him?
Despite no particular magical manipulation, it simply burned away!
Seyeo took out the contract magic to check.
From what could be inferred, since no singularity seemed to occur, the words just spoken by that little boy were at least not a lie.
‘It wasn’t a lie…’
Could he truly be an immortal?
There seemed to be no other explanation.
As Seyeo’s expression began to heat with explicit excitement, Luke opened his mouth.
“I just answered your question, so I won’t accept any more inquiries.”
The contract stated that questions were limited to one at a time, after all.
“…And if this is the last hidden card, then I suppose I won’t need to ask you anything further.”
Further conversation was no longer entertaining for Luke.
Initially, it was a conversation begun out of boredom, wasn’t it?
Now, he had lost all the corpses and had just now lost his last card.
If there were no more extraordinary solutions available to him, it was now a time for interrogation, not an equal conversation.
The very act of revealing himself to be an immortal meant that he had effectively cut off any escape route.
As Luke smiled slyly, Seyeo stared blankly for a moment before snapping his fingers.
However, no matter how he looked at it, the corpses he had hidden elsewhere did not respond, nor was any teleportation spell for escape being cast.
Somewhere along the line, there had been a discreet and comprehensive magical disturbance placed in this space without his notice.
Escape, rebellion, and even external communication had become impossible.
Slowly and naturally, like clothes soaking in fog…
“…Could it be that starting this conversation was a part of your plan?”
Luke shrugged silently.
He would no longer entertain questions.
“…Haha.”
He then scratched his head as if he had just received a blow.
“Haha! You’re not as nice as you look, are you?”
He had no choice but to entrust himself to the chill he felt behind him.
-Crack!
———-
Liv landed a delicate and precise blow to Seyeo’s head.
As if struck, Seyeo lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor.
-Thud.
Seyeo thus slammed his head into the ground without any further reaction.
The glasses on his face flew off and rolled across the floor.
Despite being a lich, he could not resist the shock in a place where the use of magic was restrained.
A wizard rendered powerless is subdued so easily.
“Quite impressive, Liv.”
“….”
The teddy bear that had been slaughtering the corpses until just recently, and had found all the hidden corpses and rendered them incapacitated, now put down the stone it had been holding and seemed to bow its head in gratitude at Luke’s compliment.
However, no matter how much it pretended to be a solemn knight bowing, Liv’s appearance as a teddy bear was simply cute and lacked any sense of majesty.
In fact, it was he who put Liv in such a body.
Luke gently patted Liv’s head, who he lifted up.
“You don’t need to salute so stiffly. Your arms and legs are short, and it’s not easy for you.”
“….”
At Luke’s words, Liv quietly nodded.
It seemed a bit embarrassed.
Nonetheless, it did not reject the touch, so it appeared that being patted on the head was not such a bad feeling after all.
“Well then, it’s time to wrap things up…”
Luke suddenly stopped his sentence.
The moment he approached Seyeo, his skin suddenly began to melt.
“….!”
It was not only Luke who was taken aback by that sight.
Liv too began to look at Luke in anxiety, worried that he might have accidentally killed him.
Surely, the command was ‘not to kill’.
Seyeo’s face was melting as if ice cream were melting.
Luke crouched down to grasp his hair and lift his face.
Yet by the time Luke lifted him, Seyeo’s forehead and nasal bones were already flowing down to reveal the bones of his face.
Looking at the melting skin, Luke shook his head.
“The soul has already departed from the life vessel.”
At Luke’s words, Liv knelt down and placed both hands on the ground as if blaming itself.
A great sense of emptiness and frustration emanated from that posture.
“Haha, it’s not your fault. This is something he chose for himself.”
“….?”
Liv tilted its head at Luke’s words.
Is it possible for a lich to commit suicide?
They are undead who must take others’ lives to survive, loathing death so much that they ended up becoming one.
To throw away such a life so emptily was incomprehensible to Liv.
Wasn’t it the lich who had ended up becoming the harbinger of death simply because they wanted to cling to life?
But Luke understood its meaning.
“He must have fled with a false death.”
He must have transferred his soul to a newly prepared life vessel and was seeking a new opportunity.
Like a lizard cutting off its tail to escape.
However, the resources required for a life vessel are no small matter.
Even in a past where death was as common as it is now, it was typical to have only one or two prepared at most.
“Heh, in modern times, to prepare a spare life vessel…”
“….!”
Upon hearing Luke’s words, Liv began to panic, wondering if that meant he had indeed escaped.
It seemed quite startled.
“Don’t worry too much. I wouldn’t have been unprepared for something like this.”
In the past, there were many cases where one would carry out such things to survive, which barely resembled life.
Luke had, of course, also foreseen that countermeasure.
“His soul is still bound by contract magic.”
Contract magic is originally a spell inscribed on the ‘soul’.
The essence of the ‘Oath of Mana’ is a slight twist made with circles and mana.
When he initially signed the contract with that being, Luke had slightly manipulated the gaps to bind the target to Seyeo’s soul.
He couldn’t help but think, ‘Wouldn’t it be meaningless if a mana surge occurred when there is a spare body?’
Thus, even now that he had discarded his flesh, the contract was still valid.
And now it was ‘his turn to ask questions’.
“A simple contradiction will trigger the response.”
Luke grinned.
A question that cannot be answered by a contract inscribed on the soul.
It is akin to poisoning a well.
No matter what life vessel he moves to, that question will inevitably activate when he is in a state of ‘thinking or able to respond’ and since he cannot respond to the question, he will either have to live forever silent without thinking, or abandon that life.
For a mage, losing the ability to speak and think meant complete destruction.
“If he hadn’t fled while still in soul form, he might have been able to respond to the modification of the contract magic.”
In fact, this was a trick Luke had devised to avoid the hassle of destroying every life vessel when dealing with high-level liches.
The soul is originally a trace left after life ends.
Just a trace passing by, merely existing, cannot create anything.
Thus, it is devoid of any will to achieve a phenomenon itself and can never respond to the modification of the contract magic.
Wiping off the unpleasant liquid on his hand onto the floor, Luke said.
“Anyway, Liv. So don’t blame yourself too much.”
“….”
The teddy bear, seeming relieved, began to pat its chest.
Luke nodded at Liv which was watching him.
“Alright, let’s move this now.”
“….”
At Luke’s mumble, Liv stared at him as if asking what he would do.
Surely he wasn’t thinking of carrying this corpse home after walking for a while.
“Of course, I have a plan.”
Receiving Liv’s gaze, Luke took out the Space-Opening Stone necklace from his bag and shook it, then drew out the ‘key’ and said.
“Now, I will open a pocket dimension, so you gather his belongings. Be careful not to let them get contaminated with this unpleasant liquid.”
“….”
Liv nodded.
“Now, it’s time to bring some toys home!”
Luke’s voice, newly filled with research material after a long time, sounded quite cheerful.
