Mage Franc (3)

To think I'd end up striking another contract with a demon.

Not that I had a choice. I'd never expected an upper-rank demonkin to come after Franc so openly.

You might wonder whether I could offer up my life a second time, having already sacrificed it once. But demons, as it turned out, would take whatever you handed them. Whether they were just easy marks, or whether an Immortal's life held the same value as an ordinary person's, a contract with a demon was a useful tool for someone like me.

"Do you truly believe you can stand against me in that state?"

And from what the black mage had said, the Demon King had deliberately set out to kill Franc.

If you asked why Franc, of all the Hero's many companions, any number of reasons came to mind. For one, Franc's character wasn't nearly as rotten as the Sword Saint's or the Spear Saint's. When the Hero's party started falling apart, she wouldn't have stood by like the professor — she would have stepped in and mediated.

On top of that, the professor who became Archmage in Franc's place was already a mage on the verge of Transcendence. By her own account, rather than claiming the pinnacle for herself when she was only a few steps short, it would have been better to pass that peak on to a promising mage and create two Transcendents instead of one. But there had been no such prodigy, so she had been forced to become the Archmage herself.

...Which raised the question: how had the Demon King's army known all this and targeted Franc specifically? As if they could see the future.

And for that matter, why had they left the Sword Saint alone — a man whose character was garbage but whose talent was second to none? If they were going to kill the promising ones, why not kill them all?

There was too much I didn't know. Maybe because before the regression, I hadn't cared about anything except tearing down the royal family.

I cut the thought short and turned my head.

The demon I'd contracted with this time was Renove, the Demon of Silence. It took the form of a figure whose mouth was bound tight with bandages. Because it never opened its mouth, the terms of the contract remained hidden — that was its defining trait.

The reason I'd chosen this particular demon was simple. I didn't want Franc to hear the terms of my contract and start wavering.

I'd already staked my life and received payment from a demon long ago. The deal this time was for enough vitality to let me move, plus a modest amount of Magi. But that was nowhere near enough to take down an upper-rank demonkin. I needed to wager something riskier than a mere life if I wanted the power to act in earnest.

So why throw myself into a fight I couldn't win?

Because I had a method.

"Franc."

"Yes?"

I pressed the Origin of the Star into her hand. I didn't hand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it over completely — I just linked my mana so she could use it. Franc looked at me as if to ask why I was giving this to her.

"You've been watching. You know what this artifact does."

"Of course I do."

"It amplifies mana. In that case, rather than leaving it with someone who doesn't have a scrap of mana to his name..."

Her pupils trembled.

"...you'd better be the one to use it."

"Y-you don't have to give it to me!"

"I'm not giving it to you."

She'd startled at the thought of me handing over something so precious. As if I'd just give away a treasure like this. She couldn't handle its full power anyway. I was simply going to make use of her abundant mana.

"Get a hold of yourself."

"What are you planning, Argal?"

"I'm going to amplify your mana and take down that upper-rank demonkin."

"Th-that's—!"

Franc looked anything but confident. I'd been watching her this whole time, so I knew just how difficult and terrifying mana amplification really was.

If I'd had my way, I wouldn't have put this burden on her. I wanted to deal with that demonkin myself. But it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impossible. My body was too far gone — wrecked the way Besia's had been when she'd been tortured with magic in that underground prison. One more push and I was dead. Stabbing myself with the dagger again would be meaningless. If I burned through what little life force I had left, dropping dead on the spot wouldn't even be surprising.

And if I died here, Franc would be left completely exposed. This was the only way. If I wanted to wrap this up cleanly, I needed her power.

"It's the only way we survive."

Franc bit down hard on her lip. An almost unbearable weight settled on her shoulders. She didn't have the Spear Saint's bizarre temperament, the kind that could pull off acrobatics even in mortal danger. She didn't have the Sword Saint's iron will or transcendent talent, either. A situation that demanded she stake every life present on a single spell was more than her experience could handle.

"Heh heh. How fascinating. A mage who knows how to contract with demons as well. In that case, I've prepared something a little bigger."

The demonkin hadn't just been sitting there watching us. Wary of whatever I still had left, it gathered Magi to hurl a massive bomb our way. Black magic circles bloomed across the surroundings.

The moment Franc saw them, she started pouring mana into the Origin of the Star. Unlike me, who had no mana whatsoever, the artifact began spinning from the very first second.

"Don't get excited. Steady. One step at a time."

"Nngh...!"

"I can hold off the black magic. What you need to do right now is fire the strongest spell you have — one that will kill that demonkin in a single blow."

I supported her with everything I had. I advised her on the flow of the magic, catching every miscalculation in the amplifying mana, one by one.

A massive detonation of Magi roared through the air. Blocking that single strike had burned through half the Magi I had. The upper-rank demonkin had heard every word of our conversation and still made no particular move to stop us, already preparing its next attack. It was getting careless.

Even greater Magi began to gather. Franc, growing frantic, finally made a mistake in the amplification. She was supposed to feed in a constant, measured stream of mana — but whether from the urge to go faster or something else, she poured in far too much at once.

The spinning of the Origin of the Star gradually slowed. A thin, dying whine replaced the roar. Franc's hands trembled violently.

This was the worst possible outcome. The amplification had stalled out before she could even cast a spell.

"Th-this... what do I... what do I do..."

"Pull yourself together, Franc. There's another way."

I encouraged her, slowly, steadily. I'd expected this, honestly. Between the mental strain and her lack of experience, she'd failed.

No helping it, then. I was going to have to use a method I'd hoped to avoid.

Black magic had any number of applications. Raising corpses. Laying curses on others. Projecting raw, overwhelming force. And among them was a particularly vile power: Mental Domination.

"What kind of way?"

Franc welcomed the idea of another method. The pressure had clearly been more than she could bear. Then so be it. I hated using this, but nothing else was more certain.

"I'm going to move your body and your mana."

"W-what?! That's possible?"

"It is. Provided you allow it, of course."

Dominating another person's mind meant looking inside their head. Which meant I would come to know Franc's memories.

"Your memories will be laid bare to me."

"...I-it's fine. If that's what it takes for us to survive this."

She felt a flicker of resistance at the thought of me seeing her memories, but she knew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this wasn't the time to quibble.

I'll make sure of it, Franc.

I prepared the black magic at once. A magic circle formed behind her — black magic that looked ominous even at a glance. Franc trembled with unease, but she clenched her jaw and trusted me. We'd come this far. I had no reason to stab her in the back.

Soon, the spell was complete. I'd poured every last drop of Magi into it. This was the final card I could play.

Her mind and mine connected. Franc's body went limp.

The demonkin, watching my black magic, muttered something suspicious.

"Your black magic is no ordinary thing. Are you sure you shouldn't have been a black mage instead of a regular one?"

"Enough noise."

"...That shouldn't be possible."

It wasn't my mouth that opened. It was Franc's.

Our minds were fully linked, and her mana began to move entirely under my control. Black magic advanced enough to shock even an upper-rank demonkin.

"Mental Domination? I haven't seen that since Saryeong-wang used it. And you reproduced it?"

"This isn't the time to run your mouth."

Mental Domination wasn't a power you could use lightly. As potent as it was, the side effects were equally severe. Everything bled into my mind — Franc's memories, her physical sensations, even her personality.

I set those memories aside for now. They weren't important at the moment, and they were things Franc had never spoken of aloud.

I lifted her small hand over the Origin of the Star.

What mattered most was the abundant mana dwelling in a mage's body. After three days of forced marching, Franc's mana was considerably depleted as well. But compared to my body, which didn't have so much as a speck of mana, it was vastly better. Which meant I was all but guaranteed to win.

The control I displayed was on another level entirely. What happens when I — once a Transcendent — take the helm of a far superior vessel?

I showed them right here.

The Origin of the Star began to spin as though it were blazing.

A deep, bone-shaking hum filled the air.

"Did you think I would just sit here and watch?!"

No. You've already given us more than enough time. Trying to stop us now — what would be the point?

In that brief span, a colossal volume of mana — more than I could have produced amplifying for ten full minutes — flooded every inch of Franc's body. Her eyes turned blue. A power moved through her that outstripped even the omnipotence I felt when I drove a dagger through my own hand.

As if, for just a moment, I had reclaimed the capabilities of the Transcendent I had been before the regression.

I flicked a finger, light as air.

Snap.

Every last drop of mana dwelling in Franc's body turned its hostility on that single demonkin. No magic circle needed. A storm of mana poured down upon it.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It began to pulverize that dense, hardened body. At first the demonkin's screams could be heard, but past a certain point it was nothing but a lump of meat, and then even the corpse was gone beyond recognition.

...The power of Transcendence. It had been a long time. Could the me of now ever reclaim this strength?

With the upper-rank demonkin dead, the Mental Domination unraveled on its own. It was never a black magic meant to be sustained for long. When the connection with Franc broke, she recovered her briefly severed consciousness and took in the situation.

"D-did the demonkin really die?"

"It did."

"We survived, right? We did? Right?!"

"That's what I said."

"You're amazing, Argal! I didn't get to see how you took that thing down, but you're really, really amazing!"

Franc threw her arms around me, squeezing tight as she poured out her joy. Before I could share in it, a few thoughts crossed my mind.

...If there was one thing I'd felt while controlling her body, it was this: she had the makings of a Transcendent. Even with me at the controls and the Origin of the Star amplifying her mana, wielding power that approached Transcendence shouldn't have been possible. Her body needed that level of talent for it to work at all.

I even considered using this method again later to draw out transcendent power — but Mental Domination was not a force to be abused. It had a fatal side effect. Repeat it often enough, and eventually the two minds would assimilate until you couldn't tell who was who.

This time only. The first, and the last.

None of which stopped Franc from still being unable to contain her joy. A moment ago she'd been certain she was going to die, and now she was alive.

But that wasn't the case.

A sliver of Magi, thoroughly concealed. To me, who knew exactly what that sensation meant, it was a fact that spelled despair.

"Once we all make it out of here, we can all...!"

"Franc. You need to keep your head on straight."

Sensing the weight in my voice, Franc reined in her good mood and thought it over, then interpreted my words in the most optimistic way she could.

"Right. We haven't even escaped yet."

"No. That's not it."

...This was too cruel. Even for an Immortal like me, it was almost more than I could take.

I'd thought the contract I'd staked my life on would be the end of it. It wasn't.

Of the three upper-rank demonkin, we'd killed one together. The other two were coming straight for us.

I felt an assassin's shadow at my back.

I'd used every last resort I had. And now an even greater obstacle stood in our way. I had nothing left.

I had to make a decision.

"What? Why are you giving this to me...?"

I hung the Origin of the Star around her neck. If she didn't at least have this to work with, she had no chance of surviving on her own.

I shoved her away.

The instant she tumbled backward, killing intent hidden to the absolute limit finally revealed itself.

A sharp dagger punched through my heart. The assassin who had been lying in wait had shown itself.