[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 350: Wind and Lightning (9)
A world dyed in gold.
Amidst the lightning bolts that had, in the end, achieved an eternal instant.
Oscar sent a ssage spell to the three.
—It seems they’ve restricted the types of magic that can be used as the cost of constructing this world.
At the sa ti, the gazes of the three silently swept across their surroundings.
After a brief mont, their eyes glead as if wondering why they hadn’t noticed it until now.
—But, Oscar. Even that itself might be Pentarion’s trap.
—I know. That’s why we need to verify it from here on.
The thod of verification was simple.
They only needed to drive Pentarion into a specific situation and see how he resolved it.
—Wouldn’t creating such a situation itself be difficult?
—It won’t be easy.
But it wasn’t impossible either.
Oscar looked at each of the three in turn as he spoke.
—The thod is simple. We make Pentarion feel a threat to his own life.
—…Isn’t that the difficult part? He’s spamming brute-force lightning without even giving us a chance to approach.
—I’ll force that opening, even if I have to.
Andre, who seed to understand what he was about to do, frowned.
—You… are you really going to be alright?
—Yes.
What Andre was worried about was, naturally, that Oscar would consu more than a certain amount of mana and turn into gold.
However, Oscar’s mana capacity had already surpassed that of an ordinary mage.
Of course, that didn’t an he could recklessly spam spatial magic either.
‘At most three tis.’
With that number, even this body would begin to undergo golden transformation.
After that, it would be up to the others.
After all, as the only Level 7 among them, the only thing he could do was create such variables.
—Let’s go.
With Oscar’s signal, the four of them burst outward as if splitting into different directions.
Just as it beca apparent that Pentarion’s eyes inside his helt were moving busily.
“Dividing attention, huh. Such an old-fashioned thod.”
Kwarrrrrr—!
Lightning poured down from the sky like a torrential rain, chasing after the four.
Though beautiful in appearance, each individual bolt was an attack that would an instant death the mont it touched.
As the distance between the four—who skillfully evaded the lightning—began to widen.
“First… the troubleso brats.”
The lightning that had been targeting all four suddenly concentrated only on Sasha and Oscar.
Both spatial magic and wind magic were troubleso for a lightning mage to deal with.
“This is bad.”
In the blink of an eye, all space to evade the attack vanished, and death descended.
At the mont Sasha, flustered by the sudden dead end, turned to look this way—
『Blink』
At just the right timing, threads of space wrapped around the two of them respectively.
The place where Oscar appeared was, once again, right above Pentarion’s head.
However, what awaited him was the opponent’s cold voice.
“Lacking in creativity. Do you think I’d fall for the sa thod twice?”
At the very mont of his appearance, lightning that had already been waiting pierced through his body.
At that sight, Andre’s eyes widened in shock, but—
“That guy… he’d be quite troubleso to face as an enemy.”
Only Heavenly Sword let out a hollow chuckle.
Laughing when an ally had just died?
At that incomprehensible reaction, Pentarion frowned and looked at Oscar once more.
‘This is….’
The body that had been pierced by lightning scattered like smoke.
“A clone?”
The words slipped out of his mouth as he sprang up from the throne.
At the sa ti, Oscar—who had moved beneath the throne near the pillar while concealing his presence—drew up his mana.
Then, his swiftly thrown fist struck the base of the pillar.
Oscar-style martial arts, Secret Technique Chapter 1.
Sound of Waves.
The destructive mana contained within his fist spread throughout the entire pillar in an instant.
Crack, crackle!
The golden pillar and throne, which had seed eternal, began to collapse.
“…How dare you!”
Enraged, Pentarion was about to unleash another stream of lightning, but he suddenly hesitated.
‘Wait, the White Tower Master?’
Just before she had been pierced by lightning, she had escaped using spatial movent—about six seconds ago.
For an 8th-level mage, that was more than enough ti to chant a large-scale spell.
“Hoo, hiding my presence while preparing that was quite a hassle.”
She stepped slowly out from between the frozen lightning bolts, her small lips moving.
“Fall of the Moon.”
Kwaaaaaaa!
A massive sphere of wind rose in the sky and slowly descended toward Pentarion.
Feeling as though a literal moon were falling upon his head, he twisted his face.
“With sothing like re wind!”
Pentarion hastily scattered hundreds of lightning bolts.
Not a single one was anything but lightning.
However, the lightning was helplessly deflected by the overwhelming rotational force of the wind, its trajectory twisting away.
“Ugh.”
Realizing he could not stop it, Pentarion hurriedly tried to escape.
『Etiquette of the Royal Way』
His movents slowed drastically.
As if ti itself had been stretched like taffy, everything except his thoughts slowed down.
“Do not run about so frivolously, Pentarion Ereus.”
“…Andre Bright!”
The light within his helt flared as if it would burst.
As befitting the Chief Court Mage and a master of barrier magic, Andre had restricted his speed.
But at this mont, what Pentarion feared most was not his slowed body.
‘Where is Heavenly Sword?’
He could sense Oscar, Sasha, and even Andre.
But the presence of Heavenly Sword, who had been standing right there just monts ago with a hollow laugh, could not be felt.
Within this space filled with his own mana, Heavenly Sword had erased his presence with astonishing perfection.
‘He can shake off to this extent?’
The mont the emotion of fear suddenly crawled up his spine—
Crack!
Space twisted, and Heavenly Sword burst out right in front of him.
Subspace.
Having hidden himself within it, he drew his sword the instant he erged.
“It’s over.”
After swinging his sword once, Heavenly Sword sheathed it without hesitation.
He stared at Pentarion, who stood motionless, and asked.
“Any last words?”
“…What a sha.”
Pentarion’s golden helt and armor slowly turned to dust and scattered.
The golden trees and soil around them, as well as the people who had beco statues, began returning to their original forms.
Watching this, he muttered.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“What a trendous sha.”
“What is it that you regret so much?”
“If I had known it would end like this, I should have made my decision sooner.”
Heavenly Sword clicked his tongue at him, who showed no remorse even at the final mont of his life.
“Right. It’s because you held onto such thoughts until the mont of your death that you’ve ended up like this.”
“…And you think you’ll be any different?”
The corner of Pentarion’s mouth, which had always drooped downward, rose faintly.
“You don’t have long left either. Even if you’re called humanity’s strongest, you’ll et the limit of lifespan and die. But demons… they are loved by ti. In the end, they will be the ones who win.”
“How foolish. Was it sothing as trivial as that which you feared so much, to struggle like this?”
Heavenly Sword looked at him with pity.
“Even if you live just one day, live with dignity. If you kill your own soul to prolong your life and live as a coward, then what reason is there to keep breathing and existing?”
“…I shall watch from the heavens, to see how long you can uphold that belief.”
“Then watch—and learn sothing.”
“……”
There was no reply.
There was no longer anything that could be called light in Pentarion’s pupils.
As if his soul had already departed, only empty void remained.
“Tch.”
Heavenly Sword clicked his tongue as he looked at him.
“What a foul aftertaste.”
“You have done what is right.”
At Oscar’s words as he approached, Heavenly Sword scoffed.
“Hmph, who said I did sothing I couldn’t do? I’m just saying it leaves a bad taste.”
“……”
Why wouldn’t it?
Though they had walked different paths, they had crossed paths frequently as central figures of the Empire for decades.
Now, there were barely any humans of their generation left.
A farewell like this was bound to leave a bitter aftertaste.
“…We should report to His Majesty.”
The death of the 15th Yellow Tower Master, Pentarion Ereus.
Though his end was not a good one, a great star of the Empire had fallen.
* * *
To state the conclusion first, the events of that night were never revealed to the public.
That the Yellow Tower Master had defected in pursuit of immortality and tried to beco a demon.
That he had even attempted to kill the Emperor and flee in the process.
It was impossible to even imagine the shock the citizens would feel if such facts were reported.
“…He caused all that chaos and still gets a state funeral. What a peaceful death, what a peaceful death.”
At Oscar’s grumbling, Sasha chid in.
“Because of that, we had to sign a whole bunch of those confidentiality agreents or whatever.”
“Exactly. The one who made the ss is soone else, and the ones cleaning it up are different people.”
But even so, it wasn’t quite right to keep complaining.
The one who would be most heartbroken by this incident would be the Emperor himself.
For him to personally decide on such a course must have involved much deliberation.
“That old man really is a fool. A fool who only cares about his people.”
“…Master, you know you shouldn’t say that outside, right?”
“Of course.”
It had been two days since they returned to the White Tower with the Mad Fiend, yet the aftereffects still hadn’t faded.
After all, it had been a tense battle where they had risked their lives.
Moreover, although the betrayal had not been revealed, the news of the Yellow Tower Master’s death itself had been reported.
Which ant there was now an enormous amount of work to handle on the White Tower’s side as well.
“Who do you think will beco the new Yellow Tower Master?”
“Well… shouldn’t you know better than ?”
“Hmm, I think it’ll probably be one of the elders.”
If it were the elders of the Yellow Tower, they were the ones who had supported and revered Pentarion Ereus.
No matter who it was among them, it would be equally unpleasant.
Letting out a deep sigh, Oscar asked.
“What about that Tony Havertz or whatever? Isn’t he the head of the magic engineering departnt? He was also Pentarion’s disciple.”
“Hmm, wouldn’t his chances be low? He’s Level 7, but he’s too young.”
“You did it when you were even younger.”
“Well, my situation was… special.”
What a sha.
If it were that guy, it felt like at least so level of conversation might be possible.
Scratch, scratch.
As Sasha quickly reviewed the piled docunts beside her, she asked,
“Did Sir Heavenly Sword go back into seclusion?”
“No, apparently His Majesty asked him to do sothing, so he was grumbling that he won’t be able to for a while.”
“Well, considering the situation…”
For sothing to be called the death of a single person, far too many changes would follow.
From the reorganization of power among the magic towers on a smaller scale, to the restructuring of power within the Empire on a larger one.
‘Above all, it was the Yellow Tower Master who supported the imperial noble faction.’
Now that they had lost that strong backing, how they would move was also a sensitive matter.
If they conveniently attached themselves to the Emperor as if nothing had happened, that would be fortunate, but…
‘If they find a new backing, it’ll beco troubleso again.’
After all, the fastest way for a new power to stabilize itself was to create an external enemy.
That was probably why even Heavenly Sword couldn’t go off to train peacefully.
For the ti being, it would be best to stay by the Emperor’s side and observe the situation.
“Let’s reduce outside activities for a while and just focus on what we’ve been doing. Don’t stir up unnecessary trouble.”
“Yes, I’ve already issued the orders.”
“Good job.”
“Hehe.”
After briefly playing along with Sasha, who was diligently working, Oscar left the room.
It had taken quite a while, but with his revenge complete, he planned to go see Edna for the first ti in a while.
As he walked down the corridor toward the library, Edna ca running from the opposite side.
“Oh, Edna! I was just about to co see you. What timing, running into you like this.”
“Oscar!”
“…Hm?”
Up close, sothing about her seed off.
Her forehead was covered in beads of sweat from how hard she had run, and her pale skin was even more drained than usual.
“Did sothing happen?”
“…They’ve… arrived.”
“Arrived? What has?”
Judging by her reaction, it didn’t seem like sothing trivial like a delivery.
After swallowing her breath several tis, she finally completed her sentence.
“On this planet… two of my kind have descended.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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