Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Each One's Stage (1)
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「Before we get into the story, one warning.」
「Don't ask me how I know this, where my information comes from, or if there's more I can tell you.」
A mysterious elf's words.
「Even if you ask, I can't answer. What I say is all I know.」
Recalling what he had said, Kalt kicked off the rooftop with a sharp thud and leaped into the air. He dashed at full speed from rooftop to rooftop without slowing down.
「Someone orchestrated this situation, and I know the plan they devised. Because I know it, I'll explain how to thwart it.」
His black coat billowed.
Inside the flapping hem were countless magitech devices supplied by the Lord of the Black Mage Tower. Each one was worth a fortune.
「You can probably guess who made the plan.」
Ancient Lich Skeval.
「Right, just as expected. That barrier is his doing. It hasn't changed at all compared to hundreds of years ago, but objectively speaking, he's a troublesome opponent anyway...」
The elf continued his explanation as if it were all a hassle.
「Three steps. If you follow the three steps I'm about to tell you, you can minimize the damage.」
Kalt clung to the top of the clock tower.
He caught his breath and narrowed his eyes. A vast forest stretched out before him. Beyond the forest lay Aphria Academy, engulfed in a black barrier.
「First...」
Kalt reached into his coat.
In his hand was a small orb-shaped magitech device. Originally designed to tear through barriers... but no ordinary device could breach an ancient lich's barrier.
「Use that to pierce the barrier and enter.」
And of course, this was no ordinary magitech. It had been modified by the enigmatic elf with the Black Mage Lord's assistance. The elf had handed it over with absolute confidence.
「It should let at least one person through.」
Kalt decided to trust those words, just this once.
Thud.
Kalt kicked off the clock tower and leaped high.
The forest scenery vanished from view in an instant. The black barrier rushed toward him. Then, Kalt pulled the pin on the magitech in his hand.
Peeing!
Sparks flew with a crackle.
Just before colliding with the barrier, Kalt hurled it forward. The moment the black barrier met the device, a small explosion erupted.
Zzzzt, zzzzt.
As the explosion cleared, a hole large enough for one person appeared. But it began closing almost immediately. Kalt threw himself toward the shrinking gap.
「Once you're inside, find them.」
Darkened Aphria.
Kalt set foot there.
「What you need to find are the children blessed by the stars.」
Kalt suppressed his presence and activated his magitech devices one by one.
A gas mask fitted with demonic energy purification.
Magitech to enhance his body.
Tools to assist every kind of movement.
Royal Guard-issued gear, devices developed by the Lord of the Black Mage Tower, potions touched by the mysterious elf. Dozens of magitech devices bolstered Kalt's body.
'This is Ancient Lich Skeval's domain.'
There was no hero here.
No one to replace the hero. Not even the ashen mage who had always faced down calamities. Standing here was just himself—a mere hunting hound.
'That's why.'
Kalt reached for his waist.
What he grasped was an experimental drug from the Royal Guard. A doping agent designed to enhance superhuman bodies, intended for distribution to the elite.
It was still in development.
Its side effects were unknown.
What's more, it was meant for superhumans. If someone like him used it, who knew what side effects it might bring.
"......"
The red doping agent sloshed in its vial.
Gazing at it, Kalt steeled his resolve.
'I'll use everything I can.'
He would use it. Definitely.
When the time came, he wouldn't hesitate.
Thud.
In the darkness, the hound kicked off the ground.
2.
Reaching for the shadow, Kelrhalhm recalled.
What he recalled were the experiences of the past century.
'Restraint, and control.'
That was Kelrhalhm's life.
He had controlled his madness through restraints. He had lived chaining himself, limiting his actions. That century of life had given Kelrhalhm enlightenment.
Lock something away inside yourself.
Control it by containing it.
When that matched the answer he had arrived at, it presented one possibility. Kelrhalhm had gradually fleshed out that slim possibility over his long life.
'Of course, no certainty.'
He didn't overestimate himself.
He knew all too well how bitter and vicious the price of overconfidence could be—he had tasted it more than enough a hundred years ago.
'That's why.'
Kelrhalhm had created hundreds of restraints.
He had tested which ones were most effective. There were countless restraints, and countless trials and errors.
'I kept searching, and searching.'
In the end, Kelrhalhm found one answer.
Now it was time to test it. Praying that his life held meaning, Kelrhalhm seized the shadow.
Squelch.
The shadow clashing with the light turned its gaze to Kelrhalhm.
Of course, Kelrhalhm was no vessel sufficient to contain it. He had not been chosen by the stars, loved by them, or blessed by them.
But.
If he had once held starlight, then even once.
A hundred years ago, Kelrhalhm had offered his entire lifespan to the stars, and the stars had granted his soul a massive amount of starlight.
'That experience.'
Recalling that experience, Kelrhalhm swallowed the shadow.
The shadow clashing with the light wrapped around his arm and headed for his heart. The writhing sludge engulfed Kelrhalhm.
『A poor choice.』
In that moment, a whisper reached Kelrhalhm's ear.
But there was no time to heed it.
"I impose a restraint."
Enveloped in shadow, Kelrhalhm began imposing restraints.
Groping the gap between reason and madness, he desperately recalled the answer he had found.
'Shadows are the antithesis of stars.'
Even if what he was swallowing now was merely a fragment, the concept touching truth remained unchanged. To swallow it, what must he forsake?
Reason. Sanity. Soul.
Everything that made him Kelrhalhm.
Turn himself into a completely empty vessel. Into a puppet moving by fixed principles. Even if the self known as Kelrhalhm ceased to exist.
「I will live this immortal life you granted me—this endless life of unknown end—solely for you.」
It was a life to uphold that vow.
In this present so like that day, Kelrhalhm reminisced on the past. He stood in the same scene. But this time, he made a different choice.
'That should be enough.'
It was the moment a restraint pierced the soul of Kelrhalhm, now containing the shadow.
『A mere mortal.』
A voice came from beyond the shadow.
『Do you think a pathetic mortal, who must discard something to reach transcendence, can contain a shadow?』
Ancient Lich Skeval.
『Impossible.』
He sneered.
As if he had already tried and failed at the same thing.
『Only those chosen by gods can contain gods. As it has always been.』
Kelrhalhm felt it.
The shadow inside him trying to escape.
The chains could not bind the shadow.
『You will accomplish nothing.』
Because he was not chosen.
Not blessed.
Not loved.
『Nothing at all.』
He would accomplish nothing.
The ancient lich sneered.
In that sneer, Kelrhalhm's lips twisted.
"Maybe not."
Kelrhalhm.
"However."
A mere human.
"That, too, was anticipated."
He did not overestimate himself.
Because he did not overestimate, he planned for failure.
Because he planned for failure, he prepared the next step.
"O stars."
A man who hated the stars called to them.
"I propose a trade."
Balance.
The world froze in an instant.
In the halted world, only the stars and shadow rippled. The scales before his eyes were cracked. The scales shattered a century ago were worn and ragged.
Kelrhalhm traded with the stars.
The stars accepted the trade.
It was a ridiculously simple deal.
"Imprison me."
The measured price was paid.
Stopped time flowed again. A massive hole opened before Kelrhalhm's eyes. It was a passage to another realm. Toward it, Kelrhalhm took a step.
『How?』
Skeval's eyes wavered.
Seeing that, Kelrhalhm sneered.
"I won't let it go your way."
The reason he had barely clung to snapped.
Seized by madness, Kelrhalhm could no longer string thoughts together. But instinctively gripping the shadow, he leaped into the hole before him.
Creeeak!
The hole swallowed Kelrhalhm.
3.
The top floor of the Black Mage Tower.
Cardi stood with arms crossed, gazing out the window.
His eyes were fixed on the black barrier. But what he saw was beyond it. Cardi envisioned what could not be seen.
The clash of light and shadow.
The resulting distortion.
What he recalled was from centuries ago. That day too, Cardi had witnessed a distortion. One incomparably larger than now.
'A distortion that swallowed half the continent.'
What desperate measures had he taken to stop it?
He had tried countless methods.
Used every means at his disposal right there.
'But they were useless.'
All had failed.
All were mere stalling.
In the end, after dragging it out, the only answer was to force sacrifice upon someone.
"...The lesser of two evils."
A choice that barely avoided the worst.
But there had been no other way.
This time too, he would have to make the same choice.
"......"
Cardi silently gazed out the window.
In a situation like the past, Cardi could think of no other method. He couldn't find the best path. He always recalled only the lesser evil.
'What a shitty situation.'
What use was a millennium of accumulated knowledge?
What meaning did a millennium of life hold?
"I thought next time a different choice might be possible..."
"You can't make choices without knowing shit."
It was then.
A voice dripping with exasperation came from behind.
"You."
Cardi turned around.
"Looks like you know a lot again this time."
The girl lying on the bed.
The girl who hadn't even seemed like she would open her eyes moments ago was now sitting up. Sweat trickled along her jawline. Despite her groans, she forced herself upright.
"Hey, Cardi."
The girl perched on the edge of the bed.
She brushed back her disheveled ashen hair. The eyes revealed beyond were resolute.
"Explain."
She reached out, grabbing Cardi's collar and yanking him right up to her face.
"Everything."
Cardi met the girl's eyes up close.
The eyes staring straight at him were blue. Those brilliantly blue eyes seemed like they wouldn't release him until he gave answers.
"I'll find the solution."
She said.
Ashen mage Raniel.
The mage who had always found answers rose once more to find one this time.