Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: The Purifier's Secret
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"Are you trying to threaten me?"
Dale shot back, his voice sharp, and the air around them turned icy cold.
"Of course not. This is, after all, her own will."
Mistress Titania smiled as if the notion was absurd.
"Threatening you so crudely, without a shred of elegance, is far from the way of our Blue Magic Tower."
"Then you wouldn't mind if I took her and left this front line behind me right now."
"..."
At Dale's words, Titania fell silent.
"I do not mind. Please, do as you wish."
"Mother!"
After a moment of silence, Titania continued as if it were nothing. Her daughters cried out, unable to hide their shock.
"For the shepherd girl who cried wolf to regain trust, she must have the corresponding resolve."
"And one more thing."
Dale spoke up.
"Tell me how to break the 'suggestion' the Sorceress Council has placed on Lady Sephia."
A suggestion to open her heart to the heir of Black and respond to his feelings.
"Breaking the suggestion is not a difficult task."
Titania answered.
"But breaking it now will change nothing."
"..."
"She has fulfilled her duty, and in a way that even we did not anticipate."
Dale quietly drew in a breath.
"The feelings she has for you, resonating with your world, are already beyond ordinary. Even if you break the suggestion, it will only confuse her further. But if that is truly what you desire."
Titania unclasped the crystal necklace from her neck.
"Show her this gem and recite the passage of awakening."
"What is it?"
"'Silence will remember you.'"
"..."
Accepting Titania's crystal necklace, Dale turned his back without a hint of hesitation, leaving behind the massive Lancaster army that was, even now, advancing on all fronts of the York domain.
* * *
*Nothing would change.* Dale spurred his horse on, crossing the York domain, his shadow cloak morphing into the form of a black robe.
It happened then.
As he cut through the dense forest that crisscrossed the territory, a sharply honed killing intent surged toward him.
It was a bolt of flame magic.
Though it couldn't compare to Dale's own sniper bolts, its precision and destructive power were by no means that of an ordinary mage. It was a killing spell, armed with a golden ratio of various military formulas.
*Red Mages...!*
And they were already operating beyond the fortress where the York command was gathered. He had expected the Red Magic Tower to move with House Lancaster, but he hadn't thought they would have infiltrated this far already.
Dismounting his startled horse, Dale urgently scanned his surroundings for any presence.
But thinking rationally, the number of enemies who had penetrated this deep couldn't be large. It was likely a small mobile unit on a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines. Just like Dale's own Shadow Court.
"Do the knights of the Red Magic Tower have business in the York domain?"
Dale asked as he dismounted. A silhouette emerged from behind a tree, no longer silent. It was a Red Mage, their brilliant crimson uniform fluttering, seemingly with no intention of hiding their identity.
A Knight of the Red Tower, a Purifier.
"Oh, so you're not just a common scout."
Just as he thought. They had mistaken the lone Dale for a mere scout, and their objective was to extract information from him. Then, once the large-scale Lancaster breakthrough had progressed to a certain point, they would emerge from the rear to either clear a path for the 'core forces' or accelerate the ensuing chaos.
"To think the famed Purifiers would execute a flanking maneuver behind the main front line."
Dale asked lightly, probing them.
"Do you have some other vile scheme in mind?"
"..."
The Purifier did not answer. Their crimson uniform billowed as they responded with action, not words. But Dale couldn't fault them for that.
"Lady Orelia."
Dale murmured softly, and the 'Lady Shadow' who had been silent within his shadow surged forward.
"...!"
A Valkyrie clad in jet-black armor was suddenly before them, swinging a crimson sword. A knight who had reached the state of an Avatar had launched a surprise attack they hadn't anticipated.
*Squelch!*
Blood spurted from the crimson uniforms. The Sword in the Shadows. The jet-black Valkyrie swung her blade, and with each slash, blood sprayed endlessly from the Purifiers.
*There are just over a dozen of them.*
Dale thought coolly as he watched them quickly scatter and prepare their flame magic.
"Do not let a single one escape alive."
He commanded, his symbolic shadow cloak finally unfurling.
"The Black Prince...!"
A barrage of shadow bullets rained down in all directions. However, it wasn't enough to eliminate all the enemies who had taken cover behind tree trunks to cast their spells.
Still, it changed nothing.
Dale melted into the shadows, becoming a swarm of darkness that surged forward toward one of the Purifiers hiding behind a tree.
He recalled the time when he, leading a cavalry of hundreds, had been ambushed by a mere twelve Purifiers.
How much time had passed since then?
*Stab!*
He plunged a shadow blade into a startled Purifier who was spewing flames. The blade churned like a shredder, butchering his body as blood and flesh scattered wildly. Dale then flicked his fingers again.
The blue mana swirling at his feet took the form of the <> Sephia had taught him and shot downward.
Without even turning his head, he aimed it at the red magic hurtling toward his back.
Flame Strike.
He slipped between the undeniable strikes of fire, disrupting their mana structure and tangling the threads. But there was more than one flame spell hurtling toward him.
He flicked his fingers again, scattering several blue particles that connected like a spider's web and began to resonate.
"Resonate."
*Screeeech!*
A sound as unpleasant as nails on a chalkboard echoed out. The flame spells surging toward Dale unraveled, the weave of mana collapsing into nothing.
"For the Empire of Ash!"
One of the Purifiers suddenly shouted, his body igniting. A straightforward self-destruction spell. But Dale was faster, surging toward him before his body could erupt.
*Stab!*
He plunged a 'shadow blade' just shy of the man's heart and fired a <> like a bullet into his body. It avoided instant death, but it was close enough that the 'circle' operating around the heart could not evade it.
"Ah, ahhhhhhh!"
The Purifier screamed. The art of the Blue Mage, said to be the natural enemy of all mages—a Dispel—was resonating directly inside the sorcerer's body.
The flow of mana within his body twisted, and his circle began to scream. The body that had been burning as if about to explode was extinguished in an instant.
He turned his head.
Aside from the one before him, the last Purifier had fallen to Lady Shadow's sword.
"N-no matter how much you torture me, it'll be useless!"
The Purifier, his self-destruction spell nullified, shouted as if he couldn't lose.
"Think whatever you like."
Dale muttered dismissively and flicked his fingers.
"Shub."
"...!"
The world's most loathsome existence wrapped several tentacles around Dale as if caressing him... then began to slither its tendrils toward the Purifier.
It was another ability Dale had acquired after reaching the fourth circle.
Devouring the enemy's brain.
Just as the Aura Master from the Order of Saint Magdalena had melted into a part of him at the fight club that day.
*Isn't this dangerous?*
Dale thought for a moment. The swordsmanship of the Saint Magdalena knight was one thing, but for Dale, a wielder of blue and black mana, to absorb a 'Red Mage' was to take on a significant risk.
If he failed to control the attributes, it wouldn't be strange for him to suffer a near-fatal internal injury.
*It's a risk worth taking.*
But there was no need to hesitate. Shaking his head, Dale quietly closed his eyes.
He needed to know the 'operation' this Purifier unit was targeting with their flanking maneuver.
Furthermore, he had to devour the red philosophy of this Purifier, a so-called Knight of the Red Magic Tower, built upon his formulas of slaughter.
* * *
A jet-black fortress stood tall over a world of white and dark winter nights.
In that world of biting cold and darkness, inside the castle's great hall, a single brazier began to kindle an ember.
* * *
York Castle.
When Dale finally arrived, he found the castle occupied by a listless Marquis York, a few vassals, and an unforgettable face.
"Lady Sephia."
"Dale...!"
Dale called her name, and Sephia, unable to hide her concern as his teacher, rushed toward him. Concern as a teacher? No. Dale pulled her arm, and she didn't resist.
He inadvertently recalled the words of Titania of York, of the Blue Sorceress Council.
The suggestion placed on Sephia. Why she had been away from the Blue Magic Tower for so long, and why she had so willingly responded to Dale's feelings. He finally understood.
In his pocket was the crystal necklace from Titania. The way to break the suggestion and return her to normal.
"Are you hurt?"
Just then, Sephia asked, her voice laced with worry for a wavering Dale. It was as gentle and lovely as ever.
"...As you can see, I am fine."
"Yes, I'm glad to hear that."
Sephia smiled, her worries seemingly eased.
"But I am still fighting this war for House York."
Dale continued.
"For House York..."
Sephia trailed off.
"I was also heading for House Lancaster, but an emissary from the Blue Magic Tower informed me of the situation here. Thanks to that, I was able to change course and come here quickly."
"Is there another reason you came looking for me?"
"...The war has dragged on for too long, and I was simply worried about how things were going. Lord Black understood and sent me as a messenger."
Titania had been right. At the very least, the act of seeking him out had been entirely Sephia's decision. The fact that her destination had been changed along the way was another matter.
*If I had continued fighting for Lancaster, were they planning to use Lady Sephia as a shield?*
The thought made it even harder to trust York and Titania.
In any case, the war was not over. And he had obtained the crucial information from inside the Purifier's mind.
*The state of the war is back in the palm of my hand.*
It was a fortunate coincidence. As Dale crossed the domain alone, they had mistaken him for a scout and attacked of their own accord.
"Lady Sephia."
Leaving the crystal necklace in his pocket, Dale spoke.
"Please, lend me your strength for my sake."
He said, leaving behind the ember burning in the world of the cold, white winter night.