#25 Night of the Great Battle (6)
#25 Night of the Great Battle (6)
'He came after all.'
It galled him that a mere Skull Wolf had kept him from finishing. He'd only reached the fourth verse—the magic still needed time to fully stabilize.
'At least I dropped the Disciple of the Spear Saint.'
The Three Swordsman had carved a path straight through his mana.
"Agail!"
His foolish sister's voice rang in his ears. She was shouting his name, eyes resolute as she urged him to surrender.
"This is truly the end."
"Anella."
"This is my final warning. Stop this now."
"You should have said that five years ago. You, of all people, would have understood."
The siblings had drifted apart long ago. Their views ran parallel, never converging. Gu Jin-ha leveled his sword at Agail.
"Agail Morest. Cease your incantation and surrender. This is your last warning."
"Ha."
Agail let out a scoff.
"A warning?"
He raised a hand, his sneer icy.
"What could the likes of you possibly do?"
Threads of violet mana tangled together. With a flick of Agail's fingers, the energy surged toward Gu Jin-ha. An illusion flickered—but Gu Jin-ha had already been struck by this once. If you knew it was coming, you could block it.
"Hup!"
His rapier, driven by absolute focus, pierced the very heart of the mana. The core of the threads. A calm, precise counter that struck the flow at its exact grain.
"I will take that as your answer!"
He now regarded Agail as an outright enemy and raised his own mana. He closed the distance in a breath, pressing Agail with delicate swordsmanship and precision. It looked like a reckless tightrope walk across the boundary of life—but every motion was calculated, the product of exhaustive experience.
The Three Swordsman, Gu Jin-ha, specialized in one-on-one duels. His bewildering technique forced Agail into a relentless retreat.
"—Ngh!"
The hem of his robe tore, and blood scattered. In that same moment, his fingers intertwined to form a hand seal.
'Of all things.'
Agail frowned. There was only one reason he was struggling so much. He was forced to form hand seals with only one hand.
"Keep chasing him!"
Like a feral dog, Gu Jin-ha hounded Agail without pause.
Judging that he could no longer complete the remaining spell under this relentless pursuit, Agail unleashed the magic in an incomplete state.
"Adormiți în oglindă!"
Even so, it was a fifth-verse incantation. The magic that crashed toward Gu Jin-ha was not to be underestimated.
'I was waiting for this.'
Both sides knew magic was in play—Agail who was casting it, and the two who had come to stop him. The moment Gu Jin-ha glanced back, Anella nodded.
"Ruperea fanteziei!"
A third-verse incantation she had prepared in advance. Illusion Breaking—a secret technique she had crafted for the sole purpose of shattering illusion magic.
'Did it work?'
No.
Gu Jin-ha flung himself aside. He'd meant to meet the magic head-on, but now he realized how foolish that would have been. Agail's magic tore through Anella's Illusion Breaking like paper. The chilling grand magic grazed just above Gu Jin-ha's head. It didn't even touch him, and yet a swarm of phantasms assailed his senses. Sounds echoed from all directions, and nausea churned in his gut. The world spun one way while he felt himself revolving the other.
Like a screw forced in backward—
"Get a grip!"
Anella shouted and snapped her fingers, and his muddled mind snapped back into place.
'I knew it was coming.'
Gu Jin-ha ground his teeth. The spell hadn't even connected, and he'd been prepared for it. The very idea that knowing it meant he could block it had been a miscalculation.
Agail had miscalculated as well.
'She prepared something like that.'
Magic designed solely to shatter illusions. The spell he'd painstakingly prepared had been rendered useless. The potion had closed his wounds, but what was lost would not return.
But.
"Agail. Your hand—?!"
His sister's belated shock made him smile, a bitter taste on his lips.
"That means playtime is over."
Mana coiled around his empty wrist.
With enough mana, nearly anything became possible. He could not regenerate a wrist, but—
'I can make one.'
The coiling mana took shape. Agail flexed the newly formed hand.
'It's unwieldy.'
He would need to recalibrate the senses, and the alien sensation was deeply unpleasant. But if it meant he could form hand seals with both hands again—
"—Ngh!"
The rapier moved frantically. Violet thorns surged upward, and rotting, crumbling chains lashed through the air. Gu Jin-ha dodged the thorns and deflected the chains, but one still grazed his shoulder.
'He's weaving a second-verse incantation simultaneously?'
With nothing but hand seals? Gu Jin-ha shook his head in disbelief. Agail's caliber as a mage was beyond any measure he could put to it.
There was no longer any room to chase him down like before.
'He's insane.'
The skill and the sheer capacity. Both exceeded Hong Yuri, Dawn's finest mage.
'So this is a Square?'
The weight of that power sank in anew. Steadying his breathing, Gu Jin-ha raised his rapier so it stood perpendicular to his elbow.
'The real fight starts now.'
The violet mana clasped in Agail's two hands began to take form. When it solidified into a thorned whip, Anella bit her lip.
'Without an incantation, and faster than me!'
The gap between her and the brother she'd reunited with after three years had only grown. The reason was simple: a difference in talent. Anella stared up in stunned disbelief; Agail looked down on her with a cold expression.
"You haven't changed. —Obsedat de fantezie."
He formed hand seals, chanted the spell. And he spoke to her at the same time. Proof that he still had strength to spare. The vile sense of inferiority surged up to the back of her throat once more. A fluttering coat blocked her view.
"Ignore it and keep chanting."
The moment the whip lashed out, Anella's eyes went wide.
An erratic, grotesquely unpredictable trajectory. Gu Jin-ha parried every single strike. His coat hem never stopped rippling.
"I will not let a single one reach you."
The mana encasing his sword tip was tightly localized, and all the more concentrated for it. Agail stood on a peak as a mage that left no comparison. But the Three Swordsman stood on a peak of his own as a swordsman, and he met every spell, blow for blow.
"Deveniți o închisoare care vă reține."
Agail felt genuine admiration.
Dawn's Team Leader 3. He was not as manageable as expected. No matter how Agail attacked, breaking through head-on seemed unlikely. And Anella was preparing her Illusion Breaking. The Three Swordsman would dodge the magic, and even if he were caught, Anella would wake him. It would simply repeat the same result as before.
'Then I'll change the method.'
Agail placed the spell he had been manifesting on standby. Spell Retention—a technique of the finest mages. Anella had known for a long time that he could do such a thing. But what truly shocked her was the new magic that began to take shape.
"Sicriul pentru îngroparea morților."
"You can't be serious—"
"Trandafirul negru este un lucru al morților."
"No! Stop it!"
The mere act of speaking mid-incantation made her head ring with piercing pain. But Anella could not keep herself from shouting.
"That spell! You have to stop that one, no matter what!"
Her face darkened as she continued her own chanting. He had kept his word. Not a single one of Agail's spells had reached her. But he had no strength left for anything beyond. He was barely managing to swat away the magic Agail wove with his hand seals. Anella bit and bit at her lip until the skin frayed.
Then.
'I have to... stop it myself!'
Could she? Anella felt as if she were being put to the test.
"Plâng în fața mormântului"
Already the third verse. Her body trembled beyond her control.
Lacking Agail's mastery over mana, Anella could not retain a spell. She had no choice but to release her own magic incomplete—and Agail knocked it aside as though he had anticipated it. In that fleeting instant, Anella saw the corner of Agail's mouth curl upward.
'Ah.'
She'd been baited. No—she'd been reckless.
Regret struck her too late. Violet mana inherently carried the attribute of illusion. What if she had calmly completed the spell?
'If I had.'
She had lost the tactical duel. If only she could have used Illusion Breaking to destroy the hand forming those seals, the Three Swordsman could certainly have stopped Agail!
'I...'
Ruined it again.
The same outcome as five years ago. She hadn't grown at all. She had fixated only on what was right in front of her. Her impatience had tripped her up, leading to an irreversible mistake. Her heart slowly crumbled.
"Frigul care îți umple locul vacant."
The fourth verse at last. Anella felt as if her spirit were breaking. In the cold that saturated the air, a black rose began to bloom. She sank to the ground, her expression one of utter despair.
'It's... over now.'
Despair descended.
The little brother she had failed to stop that day had become a monster.
The Disciple of the Spear Saint had fallen, and the Three Swordsman's feet were tied. And she was miserably, pathetically inadequate to stop her brother.
She never should have come. What had she been hoping for?
'The delusion that I'd caught up to Agail over the last three years?'
It was a fantasy.
You could walk all day, but some people simply ran past you—or flew—mocking your effort as they went. Agail was that kind of person.
Knowing that, why had she chased after him? For their mother? The vain hope that he surely wouldn't kill her? The hope that he might, just maybe, listen—?
'Did I really believe some kind of miracle would happen?'
Anella's self-mockery was bitter.
A miracle is called a miracle precisely because it never occurs.
"O liniște nesfârșită va cădea...?"
And at the same time—a miracle is also called a miracle because it can overturn everything.
***
Shattering the illusion, the Wolf finally returned to reality. As he rose from his crouch, the fairy dragon nuzzled his cheek in greeting.
"Right. It was you."
"Kyururuk?"
"Wait here a moment."
The creature that had been wagging its tail in delight now staggered. Seeming unable even to fly, it settled onto the ground and panted.
'That's understandable.'
The central passage.
The fairy dragon must have brought him here. Thanks to that, he hadn't been caught up in the fight while trapped in the illusion. The creature seemed aware of its own condition, folding its wings dejectedly.
"Don't worry."
He glanced toward the battle further down the passage. He watched for a moment, then met its eyes.
"I'll finish this quickly and be back."
With those words, the Wolf dashed into the darkness. The young dragon, which had followed as if to see him off, tilted its head.
"Kuruk?"
It sensed an energy that was the polar opposite of its own. Curious, the fairy dragon approached. A woman lay prone on the floor, groaning in agony.
"Kyuruk?"
The fairy dragon's eyes sparkled. The rot eating away at the woman's wounds looked, to the young dragon, like an exceptionally delicious snack.
***
The Wolf cloaked himself in shadow.
No matter how formidable Agail was, spotting him in the midst of a ferocious battle would be difficult.
"Frigul care îți umple locul vacant."
As the incantation continued, the woman's face steeped in despair. Agail's violet mana spread into blackness, like a drop of ink dilating through water.
'A little longer.'
Just before he had been pulled into the illusion, the embers he had stirred up with the gale had spread throughout the hideout. These flames burned nothing but himself. Cloaked in black embers, he leaped toward his target.
"O liniște nesfârșită va cădea...?!"
Just as the distance narrowed, he unleashed a gale. The released wind fanned the embers shrouding his body into a roaring fury. Agail noticed too late—the black rose, swallowed by embers, failed to bloom and faded into nothing.
"Alpha?"
Gu Jin-ha's eyes flew wide. The woman, whose expression had been so dark, rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't believe it.
"Grrrr."
A bleak killing intent. The Three Swordsman kept the Wolf fixed in his sights, rapier raised. The two of them seemed on the verge of clashing any instant.
In the moment they acknowledged each other.
"Ha."
A hollow, incredulous laugh severed the tension. The Wolf and the man both turned their heads.
"What? Was my wrist not enough of a toll for passage?"
The Wolf swallowed a murmur inwardly.
'I didn't think he'd pull that off.'
Agail had clad himself in a thread-thin layer of mana over his robe and, as if molting, slipped free of the embers.
His conception of and insight into mana were on an entirely different plane. Still, it wasn't entirely without effect—Agail swayed for a moment.
'Perhaps.'
A gleam of possibility passed through the Wolf's gaze.
It wasn't injury or pain that had him unsteady. It was mental exhaustion.
"Let's end this now."
As if sick of it all, Agail spat the words and re-summoned the magic he had held in reserve. Anella cried out in alarm.
"S-stop him!"
Too late. The moment Agail snapped his fingers, both of them froze. The light vanished from their pupils, as though their reason had been extinguished.
"This is growing tiresome."
Agail spoke as he watched them.
"How is it that you are not falling into the illusion?"
Right. Both of them.
Anella and Gu Jin-ha were imprisoned in illusions. But the Wolf revealed thick, concentrated murderous intent.
***
[Agail Morest (Human)]
[Height 182.1 cm] [Weight 74.6 kg]
[STR 389] [AGI 396] [VIT 416] [MP 704]
[Skill List]
[Greed (B)] [Great Magic Power (B)] [Stowage (E)] [Dark Vision (F)]
Magical power exceeding seven hundred. And despite being a mage, every one of his stats surpassed Lee Baek-seom, who had been nothing but a tail. The sole consolation was that Agail's mana was scraping the bottom of the barrel. His pallid complexion was proof. Especially after forcing through the fourth-verse incantation.
'Still, this is unfavorable.'
If not for the embers, the fight wouldn't have been possible at all. Putrid fluid seeped from Agail's hideously burned shoulder.
'Gu Jin-ha. Can I wake him?'
It would be difficult. Unlike the fairy dragon, I didn't know how to intervene in an illusion.
'Then I wait until his mana runs dry.'
The shape of the fight was a war of attrition.
The condition was surviving until Agail's mana was spent.
Agail's hands moved rapidly. He had overcome a fifth-verse incantation, and his fourth verse had been blocked. Rationally, he concluded that illusions would not work on the Wolf.
"Lanțul corupției."
Agail summoned three chains at once. The ominous chains tangled together into a mace. The massive weapon smashed into the floor, which crumbled with a violent crack.
'That's vicious.'
It didn't stop there—the broken ground began to rot.
'Even Regeneration would struggle against that.'
A single connecting blow would mean death. What a maddeningly troublesome opponent.
"Nicely done!"
Troublesome—the Wolf wasn't the only one thinking it.
"Fereastra de foc."
A spear of flame blazed into existence. As expected, Agail's black flames devoured it instantly. Illusions didn't work on the Wolf, and fire was nothing but fuel.
'The entire hideout is already his domain.'
Wherever you looked, black flames flickered.
In the pitch-dark fire, the Wolf rampaged as if he owned the place. Agail's headache intensified. Mental exhaustion was setting in.
'I have no choice.'
Even if he killed this Wolf, the Three Swordsman and his sister would soon break free of the illusions. A forced decision. Agail flung himself through the shattered floor into Sector B.
'I'll settle this later.'
If he survived this, he could scheme again anytime. Passing through the corridor, Agail grimaced at a repulsive sensation beneath his feet.
'......?'
The Elixir research chamber.
Agail's heart dropped. The place where the Imitation Elixir should have been was completely empty.
'Where is it?'
A footstep shattered the silence. Only then did Agail realize: the liquid soaking his feet was blood and brain matter. And he registered the black fur scattered across the room.
"Ha."
Agail let out a hollow laugh and covered his face. The chuckle grew, swelling into manic laughter. He laughed for a long while, and then slumped as if he had become a different person.
"So. Are you telling me you did all of that?"
In response, the Wolf opened a space before him. Agail's eyes flipped. It had been shown for only an instant, but it was unmistakably the Imitation Elixir.
"......."
Agail felt something inside him boil over. The reason illusions failed. How the Wolf possessed such intelligence and strength. Every question evaporated in an instant. What other reason could the Wolf have for deliberately showing him the Imitation Elixir?
"I promise you this."
Goaded, Agail summoned the last of his mana. The situation and his pride would not permit retreat. The black mana Anella had so feared crept forth. The embers that had flared with such force died away before that ominous energy.
"I will not let you die easily!"
What blazed in his bloodshot eyes was madness.
Though he had scraped the bottom, the power was still overwhelming.
It was killing intent steeped in mana—rage he could not contain, a promise to tear the Wolf apart this very instant.
But the feeling was mutual.
'You're not the only one.'
The emotions still roiling inside him.
Surging fury, the scene in the breeding pens. People crawling on the floor without eyes or tongues.
Please save me. Don't abandon me. He could still see them reaching out their hands until the very last moment the door closed. A sight he might never forget. The Wolf no longer suppressed what he felt. In the hour before dawn—the deepest dark—in the hideout's depths, the rage-filled Wolf wished with all his might.
—For a jet-black flame that could kill this man.
Amidst the seething killing intent, black ghost fire (C) slowly began to kindle in the Wolf's empty eye sockets.
[Remaining Skill Points: 1]