ARPG: City of the Dead Mage (END)
Cassian Valerius. Are you dreaming a nightmare right now?
It must be that.
Otherwise, none of this makes sense.
I threw myself in to save you, and you stupidly crawl right back in and get caught.
Not content with that, a mere ten-year-old girl shows up all alone.
Were all your efforts meaningless?
Is this story's end truly the City of the Dead Mage?
No.
Kagak!!
An immense concentration of mana forms a protective barrier, shining as clear as the sky, splitting between you and Vedas.
“Lu, Lucy!?”
All this mana came from Lucy.
The girl had hidden her power so completely that even you, a 7th Circle mage, hadn't noticed it.
Just as Mary had learned the secret of her own birth, Lucy had discovered hers too.
Inevitable.
That extraordinarily bright girl must have realized sooner than anyone that she was different from other children.
You gaze at the girl with eyes half-filled with shock, half with fear.
The fear stems from knowing this tiny girl will surely make the same choice as Mary.
“Grandpa, kill me.”
The blue-eyed girl's eyes are shining.
She speaks clearly in her childish voice.
“The Day of Loss was my fault. My existence. The perfect mage. Not that monstrous woman. I'm the center.”
“Wha—what...? Lucy! You little bitch, what the hell are you—!!”
Vedas has realized what the girl intends to do.
“Yaaaaaaaah!!!!”
She flings the captured Mary aside carelessly and charges with a scream.
It's the first time you've seen her panicked.
“If I die, the mana returns. Ascension ends too. You can do it, Grandpa. That woman's actually weak.”
“Lucy...”
The girl's eyes remain serene.
Her childlike hand grasps yours.
You feel a faint but incredibly pure mana flowing into your circuits.
Now, your task is clear.
“Save my sister.”
“Lucy, no—!!! Misterrrr!!”
It's not just your heart screaming.
Mary's despairing voice pierces your ears.
Even so, you reach out to the girl.
“Kid...!!!!”
In that moment of life and death, Cassian saw two ash-haired girls overlapping with someone from his past.
Claudia. His beloved daughter.
And the child she carried.
If Claudia had lived, if she'd given birth normally... that child would be a bit older than Lucy now.
Claudia hadn't committed suicide.
She died to protect.
Her father and her child.
If captured by the Liberation Front, her baby's fate was obvious.
That child, already a proper mother,
Would have gently stroked her belly, apologizing to the baby she'd never let see the world—for being such a worthless mom.
Even though she herself was the worthless one.
Her brilliant daughter taking her own life, her grandchild perishing unseen in flames.
It was all because he hadn't cleared away the threats around him in time.
“I won't let her sacrifice herself on her own terms again.”
Cassian staggered to his feet.
Cassian Valerius!
You know what you must do.
This is mere thrashing about!
“Mary, Lucy. You're already family to me.”
Cassian prepared his final spell.
Even if he hadn't used it in ages... his body, his mind, remembered it.
- Doesn't it kinda look like charcoal burning away, tap tap?
- Hey now, you brat. Calling your old man's one secret spell 'charcoal'!
- Why? It's good though? I love Dad's charcoal-grilled meat best.
Each stroke of the magic circle brought back memories, carving pain into his heart.
- Last time you said stew was delicious?
- Dad's cooking is all delicious.
- Hmph, such a smooth talker.
Still, he draws the next stroke.
To fulfill the duty left undone.
Cassian, the library's 'Observer' failed to mention one fact.
This world's synchronization rate is at maximum.
This is no longer a game. It's near reality!
Your body is already in ruins.
You may never use magic again!!
Every mage is bound to their own world and laws, living for them.
“My world shattered fifteen years ago. Maybe that's why I couldn't use this spell anymore—because I'm no longer a mage.”
At last, a tiny flame bloomed on the old man's palm.
Smaller and feebler than any spell he'd ever cast, yet burning more dynamically than any other.
A living flame.
Oh, Cassian Valerius. Pitiful mage.
Then prove it.
Prove how great the world that once defined you was.
Whether it can shine brilliantly even from the ashes of total ruin.
Whether you can twist even a predestined end.
'I,' not the Observer, shall watch you...
Pakang!! Cracks formed in Lucy's barrier, and it soon shattered to pieces.
Vedas's relentless attacks were to blame.
“Stop your pointless struggling and just die already——!!!”
But Cassian doesn't falter an inch.
He chants while staring down the surging darkness.
“Nothing goes your way, homunculus.”
A crimson-glowing magic circle enveloped the entire waterway.
The thorns, poised to launch, ignited the moment they touched it, burning to ash in a roar.
Vedas's eyes widen hugely.
8th Circle...!? Impossible!! You were just a 7th Circle mage...!!!”
“Looks like becoming a dumb homunculus made you forget a mage's resolve?”
Cassian laughs freely as he draws the final stroke.
“Every mage hides at least one secret they can't tell others, right?”
“No——!”
Valerius Secret Spell
Embers
[CODE 101. CODE 101.]
[Critical anomaly detected in user's body. Executing emergency shutdown sequence!]
Chiiiiiik!!!
As the Cube door opened, flames of immense heat surged out.
“Ugh, what the hell...!!!”
“......”
Soon, my master, who'd been waiting since earlier, summoned a waterfall from the air and extinguished the blaze in an instant.
With settings near reality and no monitoring active,
I'd left control to Wiki and killed time playing Path of Gold with Claude.
Then steam suddenly billowed from the Cube.
Wiki wasn't responding, so I sensed something was wrong and rushed upstairs.
Thank goodness my master woke up in time.
With that relief, I finally remembered the person I'd forgotten.
“W-wait a sec! This can't be bad, right?!”
I'd confirmed the heat was gone and was about to enter and rescue Cassian when
Cassian Valerius, court mage and 2nd Magic Corps commander, staggered out of the Cube.
“......A-are you okay?”
But Cassian didn't even respond.
He stared blankly at his hands, glanced around once,
Didn't look angry.
Seemed like he was searching for something, but confirmed its absence and just kept walking.
My master, Claude, Liana who'd arrived late, and the rest of the game dev club all stepped back to clear his path.
Me too.
What was that expression?
No feedback, no impressions, not even questions about the 'fake news' sweeping the capital—that was the whole point of him playing.
“......Ha.”
As Cassian finally left the library, my master, who'd been staring blankly at his back, spoke up.
“Why's he acting like that all of a sudden? Is he gonna run straight to the palace like this?”
“No, that's not it. He awakened.”
“Huh?”
“That guy's not 7th Circle anymore. The empire's got another archmage.”
“Whaaat?!”
I let out a dumb squeak without thinking.
Awakening isn't supposed to happen this easily, right?
That's why we play tier games like quasi-8th Circle or top-tier 7th Circle.
The gap between 7th and 8th Circle is that vast.
And he bridged it.
In just one day?
What godlike playthrough did this guy do?
“Hold up, everyone—assemble!!”
I needed to check the logs for City of the Dead Mage, untouched since launch.
“Commander Valerius? His Highness the Crown Prince was looking for you just moments ago...”
Cassian Valerius stopped his urgently approaching adjutant with one hand.
Don't bother me.
The adjutant nodded in understanding and watched the commander trudge toward his quarters.
Cassian lived in a small annex within the garrison.
No family to care for anyway.
As he entered the chilly, silent annex, childish laughter echoed in Cassian's ears.
He sat on the bed, clutching his head.
Recalling his final memory.
Vedas was engulfed in flames and reduced to ash in an instant.
Even a homunculus famed for regeneration was mere kindling before the eternally burning embers.
And at that moment,
Cassian sensed it was time to return.
His mind was fading.
“M-mister!!!”
“Grandpa...!!!”
The two girls rushed to Cassian.
Lucy looked incredulous; Mary buried herself in his arms, sobbing.
Cassian embraced them both.
Warm. Another sensation he'd forgotten.
“Listen well, Mary, Lucy. My time here is short.”
“Wh-what?! Don't die! No!!”
“Who's dying? I'm fine. Anyway, listen! I'm not originally from this dimension.”
“Wh-what's that supposed to mean? Mister, you're not delirious and babbling, are you!?”
“You brat! Listen seriously! Looks like my allotted time's up. Or maybe saving you two was the goal from the start.”
Cassian looked up.
One tear-streaked twenty-year-old who wasn't quite a girl. And one truly precocious little girl even in this moment.
“Farewell. We might meet again someday.”
“N-no, Mister. No!”
He wasn't truly dying.
His body was slowly turning to light, starting from his legs.
Seeing it, Mary hurriedly offered the gun at her hip—not the gifted one, but her original.
“Take... take this! You have to come back and return it!”
Cassian tried to refuse even that, but she shoved it into his chest. No choice.
Fine. A memento from this world can't hurt.
But of course,
He couldn't bring the gun he'd taken.
Stepping out of the massive pod, Cassian first searched for any trace.
Gone. As expected.
He walked on like that.
Blank-minded, as if waking from a sweet one-night dream.
“......Ha, just a few minutes passed.”
He missed them.
Precious bonds met in a world where he'd had no ties or expectations.
Just a few days, yet it ached so deeply.
Then.
Jijik, tsutsut.
A spatial distortion appeared in Cassian's vision.
A hallucination?
He closed his eyes, then opened them.
“......!!”
There, on the empty table, lay a long staff.
Cassian knew what it was.
“Summerfield.”
The mana rifle Mary clung to even after getting a new one.
Another illusion?
Didn't matter.
The old man cradled the rifle preciously and murmured,
“I... will definitely return it.”
My precious daughter.