Chapter 235
Chapter 235
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 235
Chapter Title: The Last
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Boom!
The explosion rocked the hall, turning it into a scene of utter chaos. People dashed toward the exits to evacuate, while mages rushed in from the opposite direction. The massive, tangled flow of the crowd shook the surroundings into disarray.
“Kyaaah!”
“Make way, hurry! Damn it!”
“It’s fine. Please stay calm and exit slowly.”
“It’s dangerous. One at a time, please!”
“Uwaaah! It hurts! It hurts!”
“Careful, be careful—ugh!”
People collapsed helplessly everywhere, and screams echoed from all sides. The chaos was far from ordinary—too raw and unfiltered for reactions from such high-ranking nobles.
Romandro drew a deep breath and shouted.
“The Magic Department will suppress it. Maintain your composure and preserve your dignity!”
“Isn’t it a magical beast? A magical beast!”
“Everyone, stand aside! Exit in order of rank!”
And rightly so. This was the great Variel Empire, a nation with virtually no magical beast incidents compared to others. These were people who had enjoyed the finest lives in peaceful times.
They had merely consumed tales of magical beasts as mere gossip fodder. Some among them had probably even subtly doubted their existence.
Swoosh!
Boom! Kaboom!
Ian’s attack targeted Arsen’s heart precisely.
But the child deflected it with a small gesture. The clashing forces repelled each other and dissipated. Like golden sand scattering in the air. Arsen watched it and smiled meaningfully.
‘What is it?’
Had he held back his power? Because of the oracle’s light nearby? Or the priests? The priests were still alive. Ian might have hidden another intention. Or perhaps he was truly overwhelmed. Either way, it worked in his favor.
Ian peered at the demon’s face and smiled along.
“How foolish. You still think you can escape alive.”
At Ian’s glance, the mages began drawing magic circles. At every window and the grand doors—any path leading outside—they inscribed spell formations. Like erecting invisible walls.
“I warned you myself several times. If you’re a magical beast, I will kill you. This place will be the last ground you tread in human form.”
Ziiing! Zzing!
The mages activated the magic circles, and the priests joined to infuse them with divinity. These were magical beasts recorded since the founding of the empire. Simply piercing the heart wouldn’t suffice.
Above all, if it left a curse upon dying? Another magical beast could infiltrate the imperial family at any time. The best course now was to completely excise and burn the rotten tree at its root.
“Ah!”
Each time light settled into the spell formations, Arsen felt his breath constrict. As the magical beast tried to flee in panic, Ian swiftly created dozens of concentric circles.
「Binding」
The activation formula flashed, grinding the floor to pieces. Mana surged from the shattered cracks, soon locking onto Arsen’s position from the ceiling.
Boom! Bang!
As Arsen tried to extinguish the light, Ian unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks. Just enough to seize attention, deliberately slow.
Arsen quickly scanned his surroundings and spotted Dillaina, who had fainted and was being supported by her guards. They were just about to leave the hall.
“Mother!”
A sharp, piercing wail rang out. Dillaina’s head snapped back. As Jin turned in alarm, Arsen gazed at them with teary eyes. The guards panicked and tried to drag her away, but they couldn’t move, as if bound by something.
“Mother. Are you abandoning me? Just like you did to Jin, are you going to abandon even what’s left of me?”
“Ah…….”
“Arsen! Please, stop!”
As Dillaina writhed in agony, Jin bellowed in fury. It was rage suppressed and festering his whole life. Ah, so that’s it! Arsen cried out in ecstasy, as if he had found his prey.
“Jin! Want me to tell you something fun?”
Swoosh!
Slash!
Arsen’s gaze fixed on Jin. It was the moment Ian tried to condense his mana to block the demon’s whisper.
One of the Three Great Commanders, Beols, shot in from somewhere and slashed his sword across Arsen’s face. Arsen twisted his head to dodge, but his right ear was torn off.
“Aaack!”
“You filthy beast, do you know where you are? Disrupting the imperial palace and threatening His Majesty the Emperor—!”
“Commander Beols! Get back! No!”
Beols pursued the tumbling Arsen, trying to drive his sword in. But the strike halted in midair. Arsen clutched his right ear, panting and shedding tears.
‘Black tears?’
“How dare you! How dare you! Th-this—! Uwaaah!”
Ziiing!
The magical beast’s guttural roar exploded in an instant. Beols convulsed all over. It was the vibration from his body moving on its own and his will fighting to resist.
“Beols!”
Brainwashing was the erosion of the self. That was why it was one of the things Ian guarded against most.
The silver lining was that it inhabited a child’s body, not a full adult, so the outburst’s intensity was limited. It couldn’t brainwash numerous people at once until it caught its breath.
That was why he had tried to bind it without provoking it……
Swish.
The sword aimed at Arsen had somehow turned toward Beols’s nape. The child spat curses of venom, rolling back his eyes.
“I’ll tear you to shreds!”
Crack!
Beols stabbed his own neck.
Arsen, drenched in the gushing blood, laughed as if on the verge of death. It was a horrific, gruesome sight, yet his voice was so melodious it felt dissonant.
“L-Lord Ian. What do we do?”
“…Everyone, don’t stop. Keep drawing the spell formations. Guards, escort Prince Jin.”
“Your Highness, you must go. Please release Lady Dillaina.”
“L-Listen to me, hear Mother out. She can do it.”
“He’s bound by an unknown force. Come this way!”
At Ian’s command, the guards scooped up Jin. The dress fabric he clutched so tightly finally slipped from his grasp. As Jin shed tears, trying to etch his mother’s image into his eyes until the last moment—
Zing!
Even the guards’ footsteps halted. They staggered and toppled forward, and Jin tumbled to the floor.
“Jin! Listen carefully to what I say from now on! I never used my power on your mother!”
Jin flinched as he tried to rise. A flicker of fear crossed his face. What was this demon, wearing my face, saying now?
“Your mother abandoning you was entirely her choice. Even without me, you would have been discarded—so don’t blame me. Poor little brother.”
“…Lies.”
“It’s not a lie. Have you heard about Ian’s mother, Philia? I used the same power, but Philia resisted to the end, so I failed. If Dillaina loved you even a little, she wouldn’t have treated you that way.”
Boom!
Ian slammed a beam of light into his crown, as if telling him to shut up. But Arsen, now fully roused, swatted it away with all his might and shouted again. His face was purely innocent, as if declaring his absolute innocence.
“One more thing!”
“Your Highness, it’s a lie. Cover your ears and go.”
“Ian, that one’s imperial blood too! Hahaha!”
“……!”
Such an abrupt, baseless claim. Everyone knew Ian’s father was Der and his mother Philia. Even the mages ceaselessly drawing spell formations stopped in shock.
Ian compressed his mana to its limit with a stoic gaze. As if he should just blow its head off.
“Jin, you didn’t know? Why would Ian help someone like you? He has his own motives! Once he kills me and leaves you alone, he’ll show his true colors! He’s even more dangerous than me, so watch out! Ahahaha!”
Boom!
Ian’s attack pierced Arsen’s nape. The child hunched over, spewing black blood, but his laughter didn’t stop. Astonishingly, his voice remained clear as ever.
“Don’t believe me? Shall I show you?”
“Gasp! Ugh!”
“Uwaaah!”
“L-Lord Ian, this—uuugh.”
“Fall back, now! Grk!”
Arsen melted away. He had used up all his power maintaining human form. Only a head and a throbbing heart remained atop the oozing slime.
“Only imperial blood receives the blessing and resists mental domination! Look! Jin, my brother! See who stands unharmed before this demon’s breath!”
The mages all collapsed forward, writhing in pain. The priests, shrouded in divinity, had long since fainted.
Jin backed away, looking around. Only Jin and Ian breathed freely amid the demon’s exhalation.
“Lord Ian?”
“…Your Highness.”
Instead of answering, Ian grabbed Jin’s shoulder and pushed him back. As Jin retreated slowly, step by step, he realized he was outside the door.
“Lord Ian!”
“I’ll see you later. You there, anyone!”
“Your Highness, this way!”
“Lord Ian! Wait!”
Creak.
Thud!
Jin tried to shake off his guards and approach Ian, but he couldn’t. Because of the coldly shut door. Or perhaps because of Ian’s inscrutable gaze.
“Hahaha!”
Each time the lone head of Arsen laughed, the heart throbbed violently.
Ian walked through the fallen people. With each step, ripples formed, drawing new spell formations. Unlike the mages who inscribed them one by one, he created them merely by recognition.
Ziiing.
“As expected of a magical beast, ugly to the end. I can’t send you off gently. Feel every pain you can before you go.”
“H-Hahaha!”
Arsen began to gasp. As Ian picked up a sword from the floor, even his face started to melt. Preparing his own desperate final stand.
“I’m glad I met you now. If time passed, your malice would only grow worse, causing more trouble. But no. You should have died the moment you were born ten years ago. No, you should never have been born.”
“…Ian. Let me tell you something too.”
Poison rose from the oozing slime. Ian frowned at the thickening aura. Repulsively foul.
“You will never get what you want. I know it. The next Variel calls for Jin.”
That was why it had descended as Jin’s brother. A warning that if Ian coveted the throne, it wouldn’t go his way.
Ian gripped the sword firmly, as if it were obvious, and advanced again.
“Good. I think the future Variel needs Jin too.”
“……!”
Arsen shouted urgently, wrapping himself in even more poison. Too potent to dispel with mana. It must be Arsen’s essence—the bottom of the curse stretching back to the founding.
“G-Go ahead, try stabbing me! If you kill me, you die too. If you die, Jin won’t last long either!”
Ian silently gazed at the throbbing heart. If he died, Jin’s position in the palace afterward was predictable. Haiman and the hyenas would devour the young prince.
But if he failed to deal with Arsen here?
‘Time is on Arsen’s side.’
It would regenerate and bind Jin again. It would decay Variel further. Another magical beast would infiltrate the palace beyond Arsen.
“…Magical beast. That’s not even a choice.”
Ziiing. Zzing!
Ian drew forth his full power. The magic circles etched throughout the hall ignited simultaneously, converging on his sword. Like the flow of the cosmos, immeasurable lights swirled ethereally around him.
“Th……!”
It was the moment Arsen’s poison surged defiantly against its end.
Creak.
Thud.
The hall’s door opened. Ian turned, sword raised high.
“Quite the fiery party in broad daylight.”
It was Gail. Arsen’s demonic energy permeated the hall, yet he entered without issue. Flicking his mana cigarette, he greeted them.
“Mind if I join?”