When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin returned to the space of consciousness.

A pitch black world with blue light. It seemed that the place here had not undergone much change, but as before, all contact was cut when he tried to communicate with the three runes that had been merged into one. The entire space of consciousness no longer resonated with him, as though this place did not belong to him at all.

Beams of white light appeared around him; wherefrom, he did not know. They turned into small and narrow lattices, trapping him inside.

"...What's going on?"

Benjamin was startled and confused.

He had just detached himself from the illusion, with a deep, lingering fear still in his heart. Being in that state, like a walking corpse, horrified him. When he had regained consciousness, confusion followed after that. What had just happened? Did the System crash? Why had he suddenly returned to the modern world, and moreover, why was he unable to recall anything, like a fool?

That illusion... seemed to be filled with all sorts of hints. He did not know what this meant.

"Really stupid. Why won't you just stay in your memories obediently and enjoy yourself? Why must you come out and face the cruel reality?"

All of a sudden, a voice spoke behind him. In his ears, the voice sounded unusually familiar. Was this not the voice in the illusion that had advised him to sleep? However, he had regained clarity by then. He even felt that the familiarity of this voice was not merely limited to that; it was possible that he had heard it before, a very long time ago.

He spun around quickly.

All he saw was an old man standing in the darkness of the space of consciousness, wearing robes that were especially primitive. He was watching him with an expressionless face.

Benjamin was stunned.

"You are..."

"Yes, we meet again." The old man nodded, speaking in an indifferent tone of voice. "Or perhaps you've long forgotten me. After all, it's already been a very long time since you stabbed me with the knife in the illusion."

Benjamin's expression hardened. "...Cain."

This was a scene that he had never imagined.

That earliest ancestor of mages from ancient times, the old chap who had died who knew how long ago, had now appeared in his most private spiritual world. Benjamin even felt somewhat creeped out. How did this fellow come in? What did he do? He... What on earth were all these things?

Fury had even emerged from his heart. However, it was very obvious that his rage would not be able to solve any problem.

Taking a deep breath, Benjamin stabilized the shock and alarm in his heart, and did his best to regain his composure.

"...It was that time, then. That time, in the Abandoned Valley of Gods. You secretly snuck in and hid." He narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "I shouldn't have gone into that place back then. Who would've thought? The amazing ancestor of mages would become a despicable revenant creature."

His heart was continuously sinking into the bottom of an abyss.

Without a doubt, Cain was the initiator of all this. He had caused the System to crash and cut off Benjamin's connection with the spiritual world. He had even used an unnamed force to keep him trapped, before tossing him into an illusion and attempting to lure him into staying there forever.

This was... a spiritual possession of his body.

Benjamin felt absolutely terrible. He did not know why neither the System nor he had not noticed anything in the slightest. This was his territory! How could such a huge intruder hide out here for so many months and years, and even carry out all of this in secret?

However, Cain shook his head after having listened to him.

"No, the Abandoned Valley of Gods was merely where I showed myself for the first time." He let out a scornful laugh, saying, "I've long existed in your spiritual world. It's just that you're too dumb and have never noticed it."

"How can it be possible?"

"Haven't you thought about how, back then, you'd escaped the memory search of the Church?"

Benjamin frowned. "That... was clearly the System."

"What do you think that so-called System is? Mixing two utterly lifeless machines from another world would be able to birth a completely new sentient being?" Cain put on a look of pity, saying, "Without me, that bit of wretched spiritual energy you had at the start would never have been able to support the two existences of consciousness."

No, it could not be...

Benjamin felt incredulous.

Cain raised his chin up and continued to speak. "That's right, I was the one who pulled you into this body. That foolish witch had been too heavy-handed and had beaten the real Benjamin to death. I had no other choice but to find a suitable soul from another world, and finally, I found you."

At that moment, Benjamin was absolutely stunned on the spot.

...How could it be?

From the beginning until the end, he had always thought that his journey through space and time had been a coincidence, but now... Now, he did not know what to say anymore. He had not even recovered from the shock completely yet, because the impact of this revelation was just too great; he felt that this must not be real, that Cain was lying to him.

Perhaps... Perhaps what his eyes were seeing now, was actually also an illusion!

"Come out! System! You come out!" He suddenly had on a panicked expression and walked to the side of the railings, bellowing into the darkness that looked endless.

The space of consciousness was extremely quiet; not a sign of the System could be seen.

"Do you still not understand? Your so-called System and I are actually one and the same." Cain shook his head, saying scornfully. "While you were travelling through space and time, those two machines had rolled in accidentally and integrated into one body with me. At the time, I'd lost huge amounts of spiritual energy due to spellcasting. Sometimes, I had been conscious, but sometimes I'd lost control, which was what led to the 'System' that you see behaving as though it's crazy. However, as time passed, my energy was slowly restored, and the entire plan was once again within my grasp."

Benjamin was unable to accept it.

"You, you're saying... that you're the System?"

Cain nodded.

"No, I don't believe it." Benjamin shook his head, however, His tone of voice became unusually determined at that moment.

Seeing that, Cain suddenly let out a derisive laugh. His mouth opened and closed, as the robotic voice of the System came out from his mouth in an unnatural, strange manner. "It's very difficult to believe, huh? The crazy System that you'd been with day and night is actually the one controlling everything from behind the scenes. The taste of betrayal is upsetting, but this is the truth. I'm not lying to you."

Nevertheless, Benjamin continued shaking his head, backing off while clenching his fists tightly.

"Foolish man from the otherworld, who do you think caused you to grow so strong and powerful?" Cain's voice had returned to normal. "I helped you open up the space of consciousness, helped you assimilate into the world at the fastest speed, helped you breakthrough the bottleneck... Without relying on my powers, you'd have already died to the backlash the moment you summoned that giant waterball. It's not as simple as splitting a crack at all!"

"You shut up! I..."

Cain waved his hand and interrupted him. "What's it about you? Do you know who you are?"

"I, I am..."

"You've not known who you are since a long time ago." Cain's tone of voice became cold. He spoke in an acrimonious way. "I've continuously exerted hints in your mind so that you wouldn't reveal any flaws, making you forget your previous memories so that you'd accept your new identity sooner, turning you little by little into the true Benjamin Lithur. You think you control everything, but actually, you're just a string puppet in my hands."

Benjamin did not say anything. He grabbed his head in agony.

His name was... His name was...

He had clearly just awakened from the illusion moments ago, but why was it that, all of a sudden, he could not remember anything?

"Are you suffering? Do you wish to end all this?" Cain's voice guided him gently and patiently. "I can send you back into that world. You don't have to be Benjamin Lithur anymore. You can stay in the world that truly belongs to you and forget about all the troubles and the pain here."

Hearing that, Benjamin opened his eyes fiercely and raised his head. "No!"