C1000
With a roar, Lokta transformed into a Blue Dragon and exhaled a freezing breath, turning the knights charging towards Evelyn into enormous ice sculptures along with the castle walls.
[Uncle...]
Evelyn sent a mana message to Lokta, who had risen high into the sky to avoid the magic and sword strikes.
[Please, try not to kill too many people in the kingdom.]
While it was true that the citizens of the Lothair Kingdom had insulted the Para and thrown stones at them, they were all simply deceived by the king and nobles. Their goal wasn’t massacre, but revenge. She needed to direct her sword only towards the true culprits: the king, the Sage, and the nobles.
[Of course, I understand.]
Lokta nodded slightly.
[I’ve already instructed the others to avoid unnecessary slaughter, so don’t worry.]
He advised her to focus solely on the battle at hand as he trampled on the newly arrived knights. The knights crushed under Lokta’s feet turned into crumpled pieces of metal that were thrown into the corners.
“Erasing the Lothair Kingdom…”
The Sage smiled wryly as he watched the withered king die.
“I’m sorry, but killing that old man won’t make the Lothair Kingdom disappear.”
He shook his head, saying that the concept of a kingdom doesn’t disappear so easily.
“For a prime minister, calling the king an old man…”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow at the Sage.
“Finally, you’re showing your true colors.”
She scoffed, knowing from the beginning that the Sage controlled the king and this country.
“You’re right, the concept of a kingdom doesn’t disappear easily. However…”
Evelyn’s eyes turned cold as she curled her lips.
“If the king, you, and all the nobles die, things will eventually change.”
She revealed the anger she had accumulated for over a decade, vowing to destroy this kingdom.
“Me-Merlin…”
“What the hell are you doing!”
“You’re not like this!”
The mages who had been congratulating her moments ago were now shouting with trembling hands.
“Merlin!”
“What have you done!”
“Controlling monsters and dragons? You’re not a priestess of the Destruction Dragon, why!”
The people who had broken down their emotional walls to become her friends shouted for her to come back.
“Damn bitch!”
“To think you were one of those Para…”
“Devil! Have you hidden your identity all this time to take revenge!”
“Kill her! Kill her immediately!”
The masters who had taught her magic in the tower and shown her the life of nobility were now insulting her.
“That’s right.”
Evelyn openly scoffed to hide her wavering emotions.
“It was all my plan. I hid my identity and hid in enemy territory to strengthen myself for revenge. For my relatives who died without knowing anything!”
She slammed her foot on the ground, declaring that she had only lived for revenge until now.
“Step back if you don’t want to die. As a villain who mocked the kingdom…”
Evelyn steadied her trembling heart and looked at the Sage.
“I will kill that monster and bring down this miserable kingdom.”
She clenched her mana-infused fist, remembering her mother who had crushed the Sage’s face.
“You’ve grown splendidly. The rain of revenge always seems to nourish the seeds robustly.”
The Sage curled his lips into a smile, unfazed by Evelyn’s cold gaze.
“However, ten years is a short time. Even for a genius, not much can be changed.” (E/N: meanwhile, Raon goes from not even having aura to transcendence in about 12 years or so)
As he extended his hand playfully, a white light emerged and spread across Merlin’s entire body. The magic was so fast that even the high-ranking knights couldn’t react, but Evelyn seemed to have perceived it as she opened her hand and concentrated mana.
The mana blooming from Evelyn’s fingertips raised shields of flames and ice, completely swallowing the Sage’s light magic.
The Sage’s magic melted without even touching Evelyn.
“Using the harmony of the elements to completely erase the impact, what an interesting method.”
He nodded with interest and brought two fingers together. Magical power bloomed from beneath the Sage’s feet and spread in all directions. An invisible pressure began to dominate the space, threatening to crush Evelyn’s body.
“Yes, I fell for this spell before.”
Evelyn didn’t lose her smile even as she endured the Sage’s spell pressing on her entire body.
“You haven’t changed much.”
This spell was what the Sage had used when Lokta ran away with her ten years ago. She remembered it clearly, having experienced it once before.
“Like my mother, I don’t fall for the same trick twice.”
Evelyn finely cut the mana on her fingertips, creating an invisible blade to sever the spell’s flow. The pressure of the Sage’s spell disappeared in an instant as Evelyn’s mana blade intensely cut through it.
“Huh?”
The Sage lowered his eyebrows as if he were stunned.
“That’s right.”
Evelyn smiled and clasped her hands, causing the natural mana to move violently and turn into invisible chains that wrapped around the Sage.
“What is this…”
As the Sage opened his eyes wide in surprise, the mana chains grew thicker, crushing his shoulders and ribs. His bones and internal organs were completely pulverized as the Sage hung limp in the air as if he were dead.
When Evelyn clenched her fist, the Sage’s body crumbled like dry leaves and sank to the blood-soaked ground.
She sprayed blue flames on the Sage’s crushed body, burning it just in case he revived again.
“Urgh…”
“The, the Sage was defeated like that…”
“Impossible!”
The knights and nobles shouted as they saw the Sage’s burning body. They seemed unable to imagine that the man called Sage could die so easily.
“You better worry about yourselves instead of this monster.”
Evelyn sprayed the mana she had concentrated in her hand into the air. The blue light connected like constellations, piercing the hearts of the nobles and knights surrounding her.
“No!”
“Bl-block it!”
“Use aura to block the magic!”
The knights desperately tried to stop her, but the magic that transcended their level pierced their auras and shattered their throats and hearts.
“How can even an Archmage use that magic…”
“He must have borrowed power from demons! It doesn’t make sense otherwise!”
“De-devil…”
“We should have killed all the Para…”
“Demonic sons of bitches. The Sage was right when he said the Para were demons…”
The knights and nobles died cursing Evelyn, saying that what they did that day was right.
“Me-Merlin. Even if your tribe suffered like that, nothing will be solved by that revenge!”
“That’s right! It will only perpetuate hell!”
“This is just a massacre! Please stop!”
“Defeat the monsters! Devil!”
The people of the kingdom either bowed their heads begging for the war to stop or hurled insults. It got on her nerves. The humans who had ignored and dismissed the deaths of the innocent Para were now screaming and begging for their lives at the spark that had fallen at their feet. Their hypocrisy was so repulsive that it made her laugh.
“As you say…”
Evelyn nodded as she stepped on the blood-soaked ground.
“I’m a devil. I summoned both the monsters and the mobs that attacked you.”
So far, she had only killed those involved in the massacre of the Para. Of course, there might have been innocent people among them, but she admitted to being a devil because she couldn’t stop the fight that had already begun.
“But it was you who summoned this devil to this world.”
She ripped the throats of the nobles who had been mocking and muttering with double standards. Meanwhile, the Sage had broken through the flames and revived, now rotating his shoulders.
‘He’s alive again.’
She wasn’t surprised. She had been sure of this after seeing that the Sage’s mana didn’t decrease even when her mother crushed his face.
“You’ve certainly changed.”
The Sage nodded calmly, not losing his composure.
“But in the end, you will fall. Like your mother.”
He curled his lips into a cold smile and brought his fingers together. The Sage’s spell traveled across the ground and summoned a massive plant in the center of the royal capital. The plant’s tendrils wrapped around the monsters and warriors who had broken through the castle walls, turning them into red lumps of flesh.
The Sage didn’t stop there, summoning red-skinned monsters from the corpses to block the path of the other monsters.
“Waaah!”
“Sage!”
“Please, save us!”
The citizens of the kingdom praised him, ignoring the fact that the Sage had died and come back to life. It seemed they had already chosen a new king.
“Actually, it was a bit troublesome…”
The Sage lowered his voice so that only Evelyn could hear.
“Thank you for taking care of it for me.”
As his fingertip moved, a hole opened in the neck of the king who was behind Evelyn, and a flood of blood gushed out.
“Kuhk…”
The king reached out to the Sage before his breath was cut off and he collapsed. The end of the man who had desired youth was more horrible than anyone else’s.
“So you planned to devour this kingdom from the beginning.”
Evelyn twisted her lips as she looked at the dead king.
“But it won’t make sense. Because this kingdom will disappear today.”
As the plant’s enormous tendrils tried to reach Lokta in the sky, she formed a magic circle and made white snow fall. The fine snowflakes touched the gigantic tendrils, instantly turning the palace-sized plant into a block of ice.
“I’ve accumulated enough favor…”
The Sage smiled and brought his two fingers together.
“Now, let’s truly begin.”
He nodded as if saying this was the real beginning and opened the world of imagination. The sky opened, and heroes of myths descended.
Shinryeo, who was said to have reached the realm of the gods through martial arts; Yeomra, who crossed the demon realm with a human body; and Jecheon, who was said to have shattered the heavens with a single staff, all raised their weapons towards Evelyn with glowing red eyes.
Black cracks also opened in the earth, vomiting the seven great demon kings and demonic beasts from the demon realm. It seemed as if all the myths and calamities of the world were spilling out here. The Sage was not only operating the ultimate spell, but also preparing the fastest magic using light. It was a clear intention to kill Evelyn with certainty.
‘False, but real.’
Evelyn brought her two fingers together and harmonized the mana of her heart with the mana of nature. The moment her will touched the mana connected as a single line, the mythical and calamitous monsters charging towards her separated as if a white line had been drawn.
Spatial magic. Originally a teleportation magic that changed one’s position, it had been enhanced to become a cutting magic that sliced through space itself.
The Sage behind the wave of spells was split in half without even knowing what had hit him.
“Sp-spatial cut?”
The Sage exhaled harshly, seeing that not only his body, but also the space behind him had been cut. However, his body began to return to its original form as if rewinding time.
“Huh…”
“Sa-Sage?”
Even the people now seemed to feel something strange about the Sage’s resurrection, their jaws trembling.
“Don’t worry. I will take care of that devil as quickly as possible.”
The Sage smiled and waved his hand, then suddenly froze.
“Huh?”
He widened his eyes as he saw that his right pinky finger had disappeared.
“Looking for this?”
Evelyn curled her lips as she rolled what seemed to be the Sage’s finger in her hand.
“Now I understand. The method of your resurrection too.”
The Sage had simultaneously used magic to delay his body’s time just before death and a regeneration spell to create a phenomenon like resurrection. It seemed impressive, but in reality, it wasn’t a great skill.
“You…”
The Sage widened his eyes as he watched his finger melt into Evelyn’s magic.
“Yes. Now you’ve finally stopped using that disgusting polite speech.”
Evelyn nodded, saying she liked it better now.
“It was disgusting to hear you use polite language while your words were so vulgar.”
She shook her head, mocking him.
“...I will kill you.”
The Sage brought his trembling hands together, seemingly in rage, to draw the magic circles for magic and spells again. As the sky opened and the earth began to split, Evelyn also brought her hands together to form a magic circle.
“That’s…”
Numerous magic circles rose behind Evelyn’s back, forming a shape like butterfly wings.
“My line.”
As she gestured with her hand, high-level magic erupted from the magic circles and rained down on the Sage. The Sage raised mana shields and erected spell walls to block Evelyn’s magical bombardment, but her magic never ended.
Finally, the Sage’s defenses broke, and Evelyn’s magic poured onto his body.
The Sage’s arms were severed, his legs exploded, and a black hole opened in his abdomen.
“Keuuu…”
He tried to regenerate his body, but Evelyn interfered with the mana to block the regeneration. Evelyn approached the Sage who had fallen to the ground and was struggling.
“Ten years may be a short time for a monster like you, but for a girl who only swore revenge, ten years was a hellishly long time.”
She exhaled a cloudy breath as she pointed her finger at the Sage’s head.
“I would like to inflict more pain on you, but I don’t know what I could do to someone like you, so…”
She was about to say she would kill him immediately and use spatial cutting magic when, suddenly, a woman with golden hair and red eyes exuding a soft fragrance rose above the fallen Sage’s head.
“...Mom?”
The golden-haired, red-eyed woman who appeared before her was Cela. She was looking at her with the same eyes as when she had said goodbye for the last time. This wasn’t an illusion created by magic or spells. It was truly Cela.
“Mom!”
Evelyn stopped her spatial cutting magic and approached Cela. Seeing the person she had longed for even in her dreams again, she couldn’t think of anything else.
“I-I’ll save you right away!”
Just as Evelyn was about to tear away the mana from Cela that seemed to be connected to the Sage,
[No!]
Before Lokta’s shout could fully resonate, a white hand burst into Evelyn’s abdomen.
“Ah…”
Evelyn rolled her eyes to look behind her. The Sage, who had somehow moved behind her, had regenerated only his right arm and was now piercing her abdomen.
“Haah, it was good that I left a shell.”
The Sage muttered that it was good he had kept Cela’s corpse, exhaling as if he were tired.
“Kuhk…”
Evelyn bit her lip as she looked at the Sage’s hand that had pierced her abdomen.
“I said children follow their parents, right? In the end, it’s the same conclusion.”
The Sage smiled as if everything was over and began to regenerate his damaged body.
"..."
Cela hugged her with both arms, preventing her from moving. Her embrace was cold like ice, proving that the word ‘corpse’ wasn’t a lie. But the soft fragrance flowing from her hair was enough to remind her of those happy times.
“Mom…”
Evelyn hugged Cela with both hands and smiled without a wrinkle.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry.”
It seems I won’t be able to keep our last promise. A massive mana began to concentrate over Evelyn’s hands.
“Wait! Stop!”
The Sage shouted, feeling the flow of mana that even he found difficult to handle.
“Let’s die together.”
With Evelyn’s final thought, the entire Lothair Kingdom was enveloped in a red light.
-
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