Chapter 399 - Prologue
The terrain of the Slothful Rift, the artificially manipulated underground space, was vast enough to evoke the image of a colossal arena. A thick stench of blood brushed against the tip of the nose.
It wasn't only the smell that suffocated.
Everywhere lay the marks of collapse.
Because it was an empty cavern, it didn't stand out at first glance, but those with knowledge of elemental magic could faintly sense that a fierce battle had once taken place here.
Gulp.
At the forefront of the Society's elite, Unia and Cain tensed.
They observed the situation within a most unfamiliar, dark atmosphere they had never encountered before.
Harsh breaths pierced the ears.
"Haa, haa...!"
The eyes of Rayshen, who had just let out a wild shriek, darted about.
His head was trampled underfoot by Experiment No. 77, Verden, who possessed power that defied common sense.
Adrian Chambers, the Heavenly Sword, once among the Central Continent's Four Greats.
Dozens of mage forces who clearly were not Black Hour.
And lastly, Sarokan and Barkent, stripped of most of their equipment... forced onto their knees with limbs bound.
I can't possibly escape alone.
All paths of retreat had been sealed.
Like fitting together puzzle pieces, every possible means had been stripped away, one by one.
All of it, planned.
He didn't know when it had begun, but everything here was a trap.
A snare, meant only to capture and kill Rayshen.
How Verden and Adrian had survived, he could find out later.
What mattered now was evading their hostility.
He had to find a way to inform Bohemirn Magic Tower of the abnormal situation.
No matter what, I must somehow survive, and Sarokan or Barkent must die.
Only then would the forced magic circle vanish, and the tower master realize.
Rayshen willingly abandoned curiosity, the thirst for knowledge, and questions without hesitation. He cast away himself as a mage.
Only for survival.
It was a moment where instinct and reason tangled.
"Outwardly you pretend to give up, to surrender, but deep inside you're desperately struggling to live, Rayshen, that is your true nature. But the idea of using the forced magic circle is far too obvious."
Verden sneered.
"Do you really think Balrog would come to rescue you if one of you died? I doubt it. Shedger's been dead for days now, and yet it's still quiet."
"?!"
Rayshen's eyes widened slowly.
Shedger was dead.
But Bohemirn Magic Tower hadn't responded.
There was no way his obsessive master could have simply overlooked such a thing.
Which meant───
"You, you... d, don't tell me you erased the forced magic circle...?"
"That is precisely why Adrian is alive."
Verden flicked a finger.
One of the Society's mages brought over three of Panian's Moles that were unconscious, and Adrian stripped Rayshen of his armaments.
"They've been widely used in alchemy experiments, so you know them well. How Panian's Moles are so resilient in nature, why they have virtually no predators."
Mana flickered in Verden's hands.
"So what happens if I take beasts like that, and newly implant into them the forced magic circles I've extracted from you?"
"W, wait a second."
Rayshen struggled desperately, but it was meaningless resistance.
"From now on, those things will be your lives. At least, in Balrog's eyes."
A blue light condensed at his fingertips.
Formed through
Simultaneous dismantling.
It was a highly advanced magical technique demanding several times the usual concentration, yet Verden felt hardly any fatigue.
Emotion itself was a vast source of power.
Snap. In order, the seams broke apart.
To the bearers, the shock alone was an agony enough to bring death.
"...!!…··!!!!"
Unable even to voice the pain they had never felt in life, their eyelids flickered ceaselessly as they alternated between fainting and awakening.
Pathetic.
Adrian, when removing the two forced magic circles carved into his head and torso, had never once lost consciousness.
Blue eyes flickered.
Verden confirmed that the junction between body and circle had been completely destroyed, then manipulated mana to bind and in one motion tore apart the Coercion.
Crackle.
"───Aaaaaaaaaarghhhhhh!"
At last, Rayshen's wailing scream resounded.
***
The separation of the forced magic circles was successful, and the implantation phase proceeded even more swiftly.
The entire process was completed in less than ten minutes. Verden, entrusting the Panian's Moles to Heras, exhaled heated breath.
"My lord, one is dead."
Barkent, unable to endure the torment, had died foaming blood.
Like Shedger.
Not unexpected, but they were pitifully frail.
Then, Rayshen, choking, weakly grasped Verden's foot.
"Ver, den... please... a deal... let's make a deal..."
"A deal?"
"What you want, isn't it revenge...? Not me, but Master and Senior, the Bohemirn Magic Tower itself is your target...! Then I'll help, I'll help you. Master's Coercion is gone, so I can do anything...!!"
Rayshen was Balrog's second disciple.
As a prisoner for extracting the Tower's secrets, there was no one better.
Moreover, if Verden himself inscribed a new Coercion to control his body, Rayshen could be made into a fine puppet to accelerate the assault on the tower.
Not killing him right away, but using him... rationally, it was an attractive option.
Even so, Verden dismissed it without consideration. For unlike Balrog and the rest, he had his own line, his own standard.
And above all.
"Rayshen, you are worthless to me."
From the bottom, up until here.
Verden had never lived so complacently that he needed the help of the likes of Rayshen.
This place had always been an execution ground, a grave.
"Think again, urk!"
With a simple kick, Rayshen rolled across the ground.
There was no retraction.
Having given him a decisive answer, Verden signaled with a firm jerk of his chin.
Adrian placed his hand upon the Demonic Sword, Cadence.
Death loomed near.
"...Verden, and Adrian."
With nerves severed all throughout his body, Sarokan slowly lifted his head. Even as killing intent threatened to cut his breath at once, he remained expressionless.
A dignified bearing.
Unlike Rayshen, he showed no intention of betraying the Tower.
"The tower master will surely put you bastards to dea───"
Slash.
A cold blade light cleaved Sarokan from crown to groin in a single stroke.
Swiftest of draws.
Only in death did Sarokan perceive his end, collapsing as his body split in two.
"How dare such a wretch."
Adrian growled irritably.
On the unbloodied demonic sword, the bisected corpse faintly reflected.
Thus Rayshen's direct guards were all slain.
"Hhh..."
Seeing the scene, Rayshen shuddered in fright.
Never before had his life been threatened so closely. His breath halted. There was no one left willing to die in his stead.
His heart pounded to the point of bursting, blood flowing from his wounds.
And finally, instinct overwhelmed reason.
"Hhhaaaaaaaaah!"
Ignoring the side effect of shortened lifespan, he bit down on the last elixir hidden inside his molar.
Rayshen's grievous wounds healed in an instant, and with a scream, he shot into the air.
"Where do you think...!"
"Let him go."
With a word, Verden restrained Unia and the rest of the Society.
No pursuit.
None was needed.
It was time to bring the finale.
***
My head felt like it was about to explode.
Nothing could be controlled as I wished, yet I could not stop.
"Please...!!"
Staggering through the air, Rayshen used all his strength to climb higher.
Toward the ceiling of the hollow cavern.
His movement was like that of a terrified beast, disregarding whatever magic might fly at him from behind.
He had to return to Bohemirn Magic Tower.
To take refuge under his master, one of the Transcendents of the Western Continent, and preserve his life.
It was a desperate longing, a single-minded will for survival.
At that moment.
Rrrrrrrumble...
From the skies visible beyond the cavern,a massive thunderclap from the edge of sight shook the entire airspace.
Raging currents strong enough to uproot trees swirled, wrapping the skies, within the storm that seemed like a towering spire, countless bolts of lightning surged.
"A, ah..."
Seeing it, Rayshen froze in midair, unable to go further.
This enormous current of magic power... that chilling, electrifying déjà vu. He had never seen it before, yet somehow grasped what it was.
He had encountered it in theory.
Rigid with fear, Rayshen turned at once to look down below.
An impossible reality reflected in his eyes.
Blue eyes, inscribed with a magic circle, stared straight at him.
Rayshen sobbed, faltering.
"Th, this isn't right...!"
Distrust that filled to his throat burst out with a cracked voice.
"This makes no damn sense at all!!!!!"
It was as if his lungs were being torn out, he could not breathe properly.
Terror, or despair.
The slimy emotions that had devoured countless unofficial test subjects now returned to Rayshen.
"Rayshen Tailroad, let me make you one promise."
Verden declared.
"Your master's end, will be more miserable than yours."
Dark crimson magic power surged.
As unknown ruin shattered the wall of tiers completely, the heavens split open.
The divine punishment of Jincheon.
A deep blue brilliance illuminated the firmament.
A guillotine's blade, the seventh-tier magic descended upon the sinner.
In that moment, everything in sight turned blindingly white.
Kwa-gwagwagwagwagwa───!
Overwhelming thunder and pressure smote down Rayshen, and everything it touched.
Life, of blood, bone, organs, and magic, evaporated in an instant, and his final scream, like a will, vanished without a trace beneath the thunder.
It was truly a crucible of destruction.
Ssshhhht...
When at last the light subsided, what remained was nothing but the underground cavern aligned straight with the surface. Within the scope of the heavenly punishment, nothing lived.
As though nothing had ever existed.
Verden clenched his fist.
At last, one.
Finally, he had stepped upon the true prologue of revenge.
***
It wasn't without variables along the way, but in the end, the plan reached its ideal conclusion.
"..."
Verden raised his gaze to the sky.
The storm that had gathered slowly began to scatter. After savoring the lingering moment, he turned and began walking.
Unia and Cain, standing in his path, quickly stepped aside.
Members of the Society like Heras stood sweating coldly.
For the magic Verden had just displayed carried meaning far beyond reverence.
Advancing forward, Verden reached the edge of the cavern.
There, with her eyes unfocused, leaning weakly against the wall, Isabella sat. He spoke to her.
"Did you enjoy the show?"
Isabella was at a loss for words.
The question was too casual. After slowly blinking, she said.
"You... what are you?"
"It would take long to explain. But at least, it's certain I'm not your enemy."
Not an enemy.
Though just words, Isabella felt a strange relief.
Her vision grew increasingly blurred.
Though she possessed an abnormal regenerative ability that allowed her to live even with her heart torn apart, that didn't mean she was tireless.
"Can I, just... sleep, for a bit?"
"Don't worry, rest well. We can talk later."
Isabella gave a faint nod.
Soon, she fully closed her eyes, exhaling faint breaths as she fell asleep.
Adrian approached, whispering softly so as not to disturb Isabella's slumber.
"My lord, what will you do with this woman."
"I hear she tore apart Rayshen's heart, while resisting Coercion."
'Oh', Adrian breathed pure admiration.
From experience, he knew resisting the compulsion of a magic circle was near impossible.
Though in her case, it was not only her body, but her mind that had been subjugated.
"Then, will you take her in as an ally?"
"That will depend on her own will."
"You'll have a successor then."
Adrian spoke with certainty.
Verden merely answered with a light shrug.
In any case, someone was needed to actively aid Isabella's recovery. It would be inconvenient in many ways for Verden or Adrian to tend to her directly.
Who would be suitable?
In truth, only one person came to mind.
Turning his gaze, Verden gestured toward Unia.
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