[Translator - Night]

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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 message 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 same time, the gazes of the three silently swept across their surroundings.

After a brief moment, their eyes gleamed 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 method 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 method 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 seemed 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 consume 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 mean he could recklessly spam spatial magic either.

‘At most three times.’

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 became apparent that Pentarion’s eyes inside his helmet were moving busily.

“Dividing attention, huh. Such an old-fashioned method.”

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 mean instant death the moment it touched.

As the distance between the four—who skillfully evaded the lightning—began to widen.

“First… the troublesome brats.”

The lightning that had been targeting all four suddenly concentrated only on Sasha and Oscar.

Both spatial magic and wind magic were troublesome 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 moment 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 same method twice?”

At the very moment 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 troublesome 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 same time, 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 seemed 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 movement—about six seconds ago.

For an 8th-level mage, that was more than enough time 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 something like mere 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 movements slowed drastically.

As if time 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 helmet 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 moment, 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 moments 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 me off to this extent?’

The moment 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 emerged.

“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 shame.”

Pentarion’s golden helmet and armor slowly turned to dust and scattered.

The golden trees and soil around them, as well as the people who had become statues, began returning to their original forms.

Watching this, he muttered.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“What a tremendous shame.”

“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 moment of his life.

“Right. It’s because you held onto such thoughts until the moment 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 meet the limit of lifespan and die. But demons… they are loved by time. In the end, they will be the ones who win.”

“How foolish. Was it something 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 something.”

“……”

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 something 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 become 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 chimed in.

“Because of that, we had to sign a whole bunch of those confidentiality agreements or whatever.”

“Exactly. The one who made the mess is someone 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 meant there was now an enormous amount of work to handle on the White Tower’s side as well.

“Who do you think will become the new Yellow Tower Master?”

“Well… shouldn’t you know better than me?”

“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 department? 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 shame.

If it were that guy, it felt like at least some level of conversation might be possible.

Scratch, scratch.

As Sasha quickly reviewed the piled documents beside her, she asked,

“Did Sir Heavenly Sword go back into seclusion?”

“No, apparently His Majesty asked him to do something, so he was grumbling that he won’t be able to for a while.”

“Well, considering the situation…”

For something 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 become troublesome 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 time 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 time in a while.

As he walked down the corridor toward the library, Edna came running from the opposite side.

“Oh, Edna! I was just about to come see you. What timing, running into you like this.”

“Oscar!”

“…Hm?”

Up close, something about her seemed 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 something happen?”

“…They’ve… arrived.”

“Arrived? What has?”

Judging by her reaction, it didn’t seem like something trivial like a delivery.

After swallowing her breath several times, she finally completed her sentence.

“On this planet… two of my kind have descended.”

[Translator - Night]

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