Chapter 274: Re-battle (3)

The hallway in front of the VIP guest quarters in the Roselia Grand Cathedral.

Grind—

The sound of teeth grinding echoed softly through the space.

At that, the Imperial delegation, who had been waiting as quietly as mice, swallowed hard in unison.

Dozens of people were standing still in the middle of the hallway, unable to move and only watching the actions of one person.

'What is it? Did someone make a mistake?'

'It's suffocating…'

There had been no problems until they arrived at the holy land through the gate of the Grand Cathedral, and after that when the group finished greeting the influential people of the order.

The sudden anomaly occurred right after that.

"...Your Highness? Are you alright?"

It was when Riley, the Crown Princess, and the representative leading them, suddenly stopped in place.

For a while, she seemed to be frowning with a serious look, but now she was radiating an intense, unpleasant and murderous aura.

"..."

Unable to bear it any longer, a royal knight cautiously spoke to Riley, but she ignored the reactions around her, quietly glaring into the empty air with an icy face.

Silently ruminating on her seething anger.

'So, this is how you're going to do it?'

If things had gone according to their plans, she would have only found out after the situation had somehow ended.

But thanks to the "Chain of the Oath", which allowed her to receive a real-time update on the circumstances, she was already certain who the mastermind was behind the attack on Hesperon.

'Duke Hermanhart.'

The maternal family and supporter of the former crown prince, and the family of the current empress and emperor's in-laws.

There was no one else in the Empire who could dare do such a brazen thing except Duke Hermanhart, who was her greatest rival.

'I was going to show you some mercy.'

Of course, that mercy was based on her own subjective standards.

Even the compromise, which she thought had made a lot of concessions, was an absolute surrender that they could not accept.

If things continued like this, their honor and titles, as well as their territories and assets, would be devoured from all sides. So there was no way Duke Hermanhart, who claimed to be the number one noble family of the Azelion Empire, would just sit idly by.

This scheme was probably a part of a behind-the-scenes operation aimed at making the negotiations a bit more favorable to them.

'I guess they looked down on me quite a bit.'

But, their circumstances were none of her concern.

She was already in a bad mood because of the cause of minimizing the chaos within the Empire. Now, she had a reason to lash out!

"Count Philteim."

"Yes, Your Highness."

When Riley's cold voice flowed into the quiet hallway, the grand mage, who had been quietly following her, bowed politely.

Although she was definitely still just a girl in age, the atmosphere grew heavy with the dignity that she exuded subtly.

"I have a message to send to Marquis Lawrence, right now."

There were two transcendents of the peak level among the members of the current delegation, but she could not use them for personal reasons, as they had participated to safeguard the Empire and increase its prestige, along with being bodyguards.

However, now that the tides had turned in her favor, there were many more who had entered her ranks.

'If they choose resistance instead of obedience.'

It was not difficult to find someone who would move immediately with just one 'request' from her.

Even if that person was a powerful one called a transcendent.

'I'll have to break that stiff neck of theirs, even if I have to force it.'

In the suffocating atmosphere, Riley's eyes shone coldly.

It was annoying.

That was the feeling that Stav experienced as he lost sight of Hesperon again, right in front of his face.

"You're quite good at running away, you rat!"

Crunch—

He swung his sword, which was engulfed in black aura, and gritted his teeth as he slashed down the clusters of black threads that were flying in unexpectedly.

The attack wasn't a big threat to him, but those black threads, suddenly being created out of thin air, were quite irritating.

Whoosh—

Dark magic swirled around him throughout his body, each time his heart beat intensely.

It was an unfamiliar feeling compared to how he always used aura through his aura hole.

But this was the sensation that he now had to get used to.

He had lost his aura, as well as everything else he had accumulated so far. Now, this was his only lifeline.

In order to get revenge on those who had put him in this state.

'What is that guy? It hasn't even been long since then, yet!'

But, the operation faced an unexpected obstacle right from the first step.

Unlike before, Stav, who was now able to wield dark magic, could sense the cause more clearly.

'His magic and combat skills are top-notch, but that's not important. The problem is those bizarre magic tools and that guy's right arm. Even if I say I saw the magic tool before...'

When those who had pulled him out of that hell first offered him revenge, he readily accepted their offer and accepted dark magic.

And, after he regained a certain amount of power as a dark knight, he confidently set out to do this.

How hard could it be to abduct just one lover, instead of the Crown Princess herself, who was under tight security?

Of course, everything went wrong because of that guy, and the situation was messed up, but it could be resolved by preparing more thoroughly this time.

Based on his own experience, the level of that guy was only that of a small fry, right?

Yes, definitely.

That was what he had thought...

"Kuh! What the heck is that? I've never heard of anything like it!"

They had poured time and money, aiming only for this moment, and prepared a space-sealing barrier that even grand mages would have difficulty escaping from.

All that was left was to cut off the limbs of the resisting guy, kidnap him, and then disappear nonchalantly.

Swoosh—

Slash!

Another masked figure was reduced to a puddle of blood.

Those guys weren't at the level where they would die so easily, but the materialized curses wielded by Hesperon had a tremendous lethality beyond that.

It was fatal under certain conditions.

Fortunately, its reuse time was quite long, and the magic-wielding masked figures began to equip themselves with magical defenses against it, which stopped it.

Otherwise, everyone except for Stav would have been annihilated, and they would have missed him.

'But, that ends here!'

However, right after Hesperon's attack ended, a dark gleam flashed in Stav's eyes as he seized the opportunity.

At the same time, the dark magic emitted from his body spread out in all directions, and began to set fire to the surrounding air.

Bang—!

Then, he charged at Hesperon with tremendous speed, smashing the ground.

Stav, as well as the masked figures, were all veterans who had been through all sorts of hardships.

Of course, the mechanism of the ability that Hesperon was using was already roughly understood.

He needed the curses scattered around in order to do that unique three-dimensional maneuvering. And those were being consumed in large quantities each time he used the fatal attack from before. And he could suppress the spread of the curses in the air to a certain extent by emitting and burning the energy in the air.

'I need to capture that guy here! Even if I have to kill him!'

Therefore, now that he had been forced to land on the ground again, this was the perfect opportunity.

It was a golden chance to deal with him, who was growing rapidly in real-time.

'If we miss him here, I don't know how much stronger he will become! I can't let that happen!'

To do so, it was necessary to give it all he had.

Although he had been forced to accept dark magic, Stav was well aware of the dangers of dark magic.

Naturally, he had been constantly wary of it and suppressing it, even after gaining power.

'It'll be alright for just a moment.'

He would make him regret acting so arrogantly.

Thump—

The black corrupted heart pulsated, and dark magic swirled throughout his body.

That destructive energy was embedded in all the cells of his body, broke through the limits of his body, and began to run wild madly.

Thump—

It was a different feeling than when he was using aura.

Unlike aura, which solidly supported the body so that it could contain stronger power, the destructive dark magic did not consider the safety of the owner at all.

It only pursued more power, more destructive power.

Thump—

That unruly power finally reached the tip of his head.

He was able to prevent it from completely consuming him with a realization that reached its peak, but he was unable to prevent part of his thoughts from being corrupted by its influence.

Violence and murderous intent, vanity and obsession ran rampant in his mind.

But, Stav didn't care.

In an instant, he tore through the atmosphere and crossed the space—.

"Hahaha—!"

"Huh?!"

He reached Hesperon's nose in the blink of an eye.

Whoomph—!

One strike, tearing to shreds the black threads that were surrounding the area.

Two strikes, smashing the barrier that had been blocking the space between them.

Three strikes, the collision of his outstretched right hand and his sword caused a huge explosion that vibrated the surroundings.

"Kuh, I should've known that a transcendent was too easy!"

Hesperon, who was thrown backwards, wiped the blood from his mouth and desperately swung his right arm.

Dozens of black threads bound Stav's legs, which slowed his charge, but that was only for a moment.

The threads, which hadn't even lasted a moment against the dark magic that enveloped him, were disintegrated and disappeared.

'Still, I bought enough time with that!'

Hesperon quickly recovered his lost balance using his "Martial Arts", calmly responding to the follow-up attacks.

He desperately held on through that tempestuous barrage, mobilizing all of his resources such as magic, magic tools, martial arts, and curses.

Five, six, seven...

But when Stav's sword reached its ninth strike.

'Ah, this is actually dangerous.'

He could feel his limits now.

He had managed to endure for quite a while, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to endure the tenth.

He had already exposed all of his irregular methods while stalling for time.

The dark knight of the peak level was rushing forward relentlessly from the front to prevent him from taking an opening.

Assassin-type masked figures were closing in from all sides, blocking off his escape routes, and magic-type masked figures were even preparing something at the back.

'This is it.'

In the end, he had no choice but to prepare to unsummon.

'Tsk, still, it was not bad since the earnings from the battle were considerable.'

Come to think of it, it wasn't that long, just about a day and a half, until he could hide again.

Of course, he would have to inform Riley about this beforehand...

With that thought, he was about to finally say something to her and disappear when.

'Huh?'

He immediately flung his body backwards because of a sudden sensation that he felt.

"Kuh, what is this?"

And Stav, who was rushing at Hesperon with ferocious momentum, also sensed it.

A chilling intuition, which stimulated his instincts that had become even stronger than before.

He forced his body to stop and threw himself back, quickly releasing dark magic from his whole body.

Right after that.

Whoooom—!

A violent pillar of fire rose from the spot where he had been charging.

It was not a simple flame, but a super-high temperature inferno where thick magic was mixed, and it instantly incinerated those who were caught in it.

"Damn it! What suddenly!"

Moreover, that unexpected attack was not just aimed at him.

Flames—

Everyone in the space, including Stav, was simultaneously hit by the large-scale magic. Everyone except for a very small number, who were lucky and had a good sense of danger, were reduced to ashes in an instant without even being able to scream.

"Hah, these are really bold guys. Daring to do such a thing in Jeron."

When everyone raised their vigilance due to the sudden change in the situation, a voice filled with enormous magical power echoed from all directions.

At the same time, he felt an enormous presence.

Stav gritted his teeth and raised his head to look at the sky.

"Marquis Lawrence…! How are you here?!"

Floating leisurely in the air was Marquis Lawrence, the Grand Mage, and the master of the Imperial Magic Tower, who should have been quietly confined in the imperial palace at this time.

He had torn through the space sealing barrier that had been prepared very carefully for this operation.

'They said that even grand mages wouldn't be able to notice this side from this distance!'

Stav gritted his teeth as he recalled the briefing he had received in advance from the planner of the operation.

There was nothing that worked properly when it involved this side.

"Huh! Is that really Sir Stav? But, look at you…"

At that time, Marquis Lawrence, an old man wearing an antique robe with a vintage staff, looked down below with narrowed eyes and frowned with a grave expression.

And, after seeing Stav's appearance with his damaged eyes, arms and entire body, he slowly nodded as if he had roughly guessed the situation.

"...I see. So, this is how it ended up. But dark magic, huh."

But the brief glimpse of pity was just for a moment.

He soon tilted his head slightly with an unpleasant expression and slowly extended the staff he was holding in his hand forward.

"I had come here because I couldn't refuse a request... But this is just, even if that wasn't the case, I cannot simply overlook this."

Dark magic, an impure power, and dark mages and dark knights who used it.

All of them were forbidden in the current society, and now that the war with the Undead King was at its peak, they were a social evil that had to be eradicated as soon as they were discovered.

And yet, such people were inside the Empire's capital, scheming something?

Moreover, one of them was an imperial noble who had even served as the captain of the Imperial Guard?

'I almost got humiliated again.'

This was to the point that he should be thanking her, rather than fulfilling the princess's request.

It meant that there was a hole in the defenses of the Imperial Magic Tower, which was in charge of a part of the capital's security.

It also meant that there were still puppets within the Magic Tower, influenced by the outside.

Like during the time of the attack on the Crown Princess last time.

"Come to think of it, I was indebted to that side. Do you know how much I suffered because of you guys?"

Along with Marquis Lawrence's annoyed remark, the air shook and the magic began to boil.

The magic circles that instantly manifested intertwined with each other, implementing their own mysteries.

Whoom—

Of course, the grand mage himself had not directly suffered any disadvantages, but it was undeniable that the momentum of the Imperial Magic Tower, which had been growing rapidly, was broken and it had fallen into a difficult situation with its reduced standing.

In that process, he also had to make a lot of effort to restore his relationship with the Crown Princess Riley, who would become the next emperor.

"...Wow, that was close."

And, in the midst of the tense, volatile situation.

Hesperon, who had slipped his body backward, nonchalantly wiped the blood from his mouth and muttered.

Stav was not in a normal state, and Marquis Lawrence was someone who was already evaluated to be superior to him.

And… the combat mages of the Magic Tower, who were joining one by one and beginning to surround the area.

It was as if the situation had already ended with this.

-Hesperon, are you okay? I pushed them to go as fast as possible, but did you hurt yourself anywhere?

At that time, Riley's cautious voice was heard again.

It was a very soft voice, almost inaudible, probably because she was worried about disturbing his focus at an important moment.

-Ah! I'm fine.

Then, as if to time it perfectly, a system message popped up in front of his eyes.

"The individual has attained an enlightenment by fulfilling a condition. 「Yearning Right Arm」, which has devoured resentment and become satisfied, grows."

"The individual has attained an enlightenment through repeated practical combat. Skills 「Introduction to Magic」 and 「Martial Arts」 are combined and evolve into 「Magic Combat Arts」."

-Hmm, really.

Now, he was truly far removed from a traditional mage, but that did not matter since he was never a traditional mage to begin with.

…No, not only that. When you thought about it, Hesperon's greatest stat was probably...

Kooom—!

"Kuhurgh… Law…rence…!"

Thud—

It seemed to be his connections.