Chapter 93
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Hero Becomes a Slave
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Black magic, by its very nature, had many forms that dealt with the dead.
Necromancy was a prime example.
Beyond that, the curse arts Chris often used also included black magic that manipulated life.
‘The problem is, I can’t use any of them yet. No. Think. There has to be something I can use.’
Chris mentally scrolled through every type of black magic available to him.
But there was nothing.
None of the black magic he could wield would help in this situation.
Then, a voice flashed in his mind.
- If you die, I will resurrect you as an Inferior Species and send you to Idrinne as her plaything.
It was something Simon had said, completely unrelated to the current situation.
But Chris had found a clue.
‘There is a way! I can use the Blood Art to make Evan my slave!’
Among the Blood Arts, there was one that turned the dead into one's own slave.
The ‘Inferior Blood Seal’ Simon had mentioned.
Slaves created this way were called the Inferior Species, and they followed their master without a will of their own.
‘Of course, I can’t turn Evan into a mindless slave, but that’s fine. I’ll just modify the spell formula.’
The reason slaves of the Inferior Species could move even after death was because they received their master's life force.
So, Chris planned to extract and use only the parts of the formula that ‘made the target a slave’ and ‘transferred life force.’
‘Fortunately, I’ve seen the Blood Seal once before.’
Simon had demonstrated it for him.
The ‘Blood Seal’ was one of the foundational arts of the Blood Art, so it was the first thing Simon had taught him as background knowledge.
Of course, he had only seen it that one time.
He had never practiced it properly.
In fact, Chris had only learned the Blood Art for a short while on his way back from the underground garden.
To go beyond simply using the Blood Seal and attempt to modify it was absurd.
‘It's fine. I can do it.’
Whether it worked or not, he had to succeed.
Magi erupted from Chris’s body.
The spell formula Simon had shown him unfolded in his mind's eye.
Chris’s mind instantly dissected the formula’s structure.
Dividing, analyzing, cutting, and reassembling.
Naturally, it wasn't easy.
A spell formula was the sum of countless possibilities.
Extracting only the necessary parts required a perfect analysis of all those possibilities to derive a new sum.
It was something no one but a master of the art would even dare to attempt.
But Chris could do it.
Because he was Chris.
‘If I have to calculate countless variables, the solution is simple. I just have to calculate every single one of those infinite possibilities.’
In a fleeting moment.
Innumerable calculations took place in his mind.
Thousands, tens of thousands, no, even more.
Countless scenarios were processed in his head.
All in the blink of an eye.
This was the secret to how Chris could analyze a spell formula on the spot without being an expert in the field.
‘Done!’
Chris quickly let the blood dripping from his hand fall into Evan’s mouth.
Gulp. Evan reflexively swallowed his blood.
At the same time, Chris activated the spell formula.
The ‘Inferior Blood Seal.’
No.
This was a new Blood Art of Chris’s own creation.
Fwaaa!
Just before the brink of death, a seal that would bind the target's life and make him his slave was engraved onto Evan's heart.
Evan's consent was not required.
The original ‘Inferior Blood Seal’ was not a spell that required the target’s agreement.
‘The spell activated properly.’
Chris let out a long sigh and shared his life force through the seal connected to Evan’s heart.
Woooong!
Receiving Chris's life force, Evan's complexion stabilized to an incomparable degree.
He had passed the crisis!
‘Thank goodness. I somehow ended up making that bastard Evan my slave… but my skill with the Blood Art is so low, it should naturally fade over time….’
Of course, he had no intention of actually making Evan his slave.
In the first place, his Blood Art was so weak that it couldn't maintain the seal for long.
So, this was supposed to be just a temporary contract.
‘Huh? Wait? What’s with that?’
Chris froze for a moment.
‘…Why is the seal’s concentration so strong?’
Chris blinked.
Normally, a very faint seal, one difficult to discern even upon close inspection, should have been engraved.
That was the limit of Chris’s skill with the Blood Art.
But the seal engraved on Evan's heart was anything but faint; it was intensely powerful.
Like a properly engraved ‘permanent seal.’
‘Why on earth? Could it be?’
Chris’s eyes widened as he guessed the reason.
The first reason: the type of magi.
His magi was Dark Magi. One hundred percent pure.
Therefore, it was actually more suited for the Blood Art than the vampires' blood-colored magi.
So much so that despite his clumsy proficiency, the effect was far more powerful than expected.
The second reason, and this was much more important, was the rank of his soul.
‘I have the rank of a half-demon. That’s why the ability to subjugate others worked so much more strongly.’
The reason vampires could make humans their retainers was because the rank of their souls was slightly higher than that of humans.
But the rank of Chris's soul was that of a half-demon, incomparably higher than any vampire's.
Thus, regardless of the clumsiness of the spell, a permanent seal that completely subjugated the target had been engraved.
‘…What do I do?’
Chris swallowed hard.
Making the Hero a slave.
It was an unforeseen accident.
‘Aaargh! What is with today?!’
He tore at his hair for the first time in a while, but for now, there was nothing he could do.
‘…I’ll find a way to remove the seal later. First, I have to save this guy.’
He had barely managed to keep him breathing, but that was all; it wasn't over.
He needed proper treatment, and above all.
‘…I have to get him out of the Dark Magic House’s territory alive. But how?’
An immense difficulty.
Evan was a Shadow of a Noble Sword House; if the Majin of the Dark Magic House saw him, they would never let him live.
The only choices left would be hanging, beheading, or burning at the stake after torture.
‘But it’s not like I can escape with him either.’
No matter how he thought about it, there was no way.
A desperate situation with no way forward or back.
Just then, a signal came from the crystal orb at his waist.
It was a signal that Maisac was heading his way.
‘…Because of this Evan bastard, I’m not in a position to fight Maisac.’
It seemed he would have to postpone dealing with Maisac.
‘There will be plenty of other chances to take care of Maisac anyway.’
But then, a brilliant idea flashed through Chris's mind.
‘Wait. If I use Maisac, couldn't I make it possible for Evan to escape?’
One thing.
There was a way to smuggle Evan out.
By sacrificing Maisac's life.
‘It won’t be easy, but I have to do it.’
Chris fired a signal flare into the air.
He decided to take Evan back to the Dark Magic House for now. He needed to give him proper treatment before helping him escape.
There was a limit to how long he could sustain his life just by transferring life force.
‘The problem is, if I take Evan to the Dark Magic House, there will be a horde of Majin rushing to torture him, let alone treat him.’
The more he thought about it, the more insurmountable the obstacles seemed, and Chris shot a glare at the fallen Evan in a surge of anger.
‘Why did this damn bastard have to crawl into the Dark Magic House of all places? When he wakes up, I’m going to give him a good punch.’
And so.
Operation Save the Hero, a mission he never asked for, began.
* * *
Chris returned to the Dark Magic House without clashing with Maisac's Dark Demon Squad.
He had Evan slung over his shoulder like a sack of luggage.
“It seems Young Lord Christian has distinguished himself again.”
“Amazing. The Dark Demon Squad was deployed, yet he was the first to achieve victory.”
“But why did he bring the Shadow back alive?”
“Isn't it for torture? A Shadow from a Noble Sword House must know many secrets.”
“Heh heh, this will be fun. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of the Alliance dogs get executed.”
Chris swallowed nervously under the gazes of the Majin.
They all had the eyes of hyenas staring at a wounded deer.
‘The Dark Magic House already has bad blood with the Noble Sword Houses as it is.’
The one who hated them most was, without a doubt, the Old Lord Nordian.
Nordian didn't just dislike the Noble Sword Houses; he despised them.
So much so that he once issued an order to kill any member of a Noble Sword House on sight.
Evan's chances of leaving the Dark Magic House alive and well were nonexistent.
‘I have to make it work.’
There was only one way.
Thud.
Chris threw Evan onto the main house's plaza.
He did it roughly on purpose, for all to see.
As if handling a worthless bug.
He could see Evan flinch in pain, but it couldn't be helped.
‘I’m doing this to save you, so please understand.’
“I have something to report. Contact the Head of the house.”
“Yes, but Young Lord? Did you say the Head, not His Excellency Marquis Langham?”
“That's right.”
Everyone looked puzzled.
Even though they knew the Old Lord never involved himself in the family's affairs?
“Because this one is a very important trophy. One that will please the Head.”
Chris raised the corners of his mouth.
“This one’s name is Evan. He is the son of the Sword Emperor, the former head of a Noble Sword House and the Alliance's Strongest Sword.”
* * *
The Sword Emperor.
A 9-Star transcendent, he ‘was’ the strongest in the Alliance.
The past tense is used because he is dead.
‘He died too soon.’
He died before Evan could fully mature, and that was the beginning of Evan's tragedy.
It would have been fine if Evan hadn't been the legitimate heir to the headship.
But Evan was the next head, personally chosen by the former head, which made him a thorn in the side of the schemers of the Noble Sword House who coveted the position.
In the end, due to the machinations of the family elders, Evan was framed for a grave crime and became a Shadow.
‘It’s truly absurd when you think about it. To reduce the son of a giant who supported the Alliance to such a miserable state out of lust for power.’
Chris let out a dry laugh.
‘Then again, I was treated just as unfairly in my past life. My mother and I were branded as tools of the devil despite being innocent. And all because of that man I called father.’
These were all signs of just how corrupt the Alliance had become.
In any case, the ‘Sword Emperor’ also had a connection to the Dark Magic House.
To be precise, he had a connection with the Old Lord Nordian.
In the past, the Old Lord Nordian had been defeated by the Sword Emperor.
The problem was that he had suffered a great humiliation in the process.
The Sword Emperor was not one to treat Majin as people, and he was said to have severely insulted the defeated Nordian.
‘Thanks to that, the Old Lord Nordian grinds his teeth at the mere mention of a Noble Sword House.’
So, now that he had brought the Sword Emperor's son as a trophy, how would the Old Lord react?
Would he order him to be respected as the son of his old rival?
Absolutely not.
Nordian spoke coldly.
“Cut off his head and limbs at once, and send them to the Noble Sword House. They can bury him next to that bastard Sword Emperor’s grave. Seeing his son return with his arms, legs, and head cut off… yes, my old friend the Sword Emperor will be delighted in the heavens.”
“……”