Regret
Bagan was chasing after Miren Kaibolg. The man had fled alongside Toprak Urwurt, the lord of Urwurt territory. Bagan figured it was because Toprak was a young and clueless lord, and Miren couldn't afford to have his true identity exposed.
"Still, he's an academy graduate and must be in his mid-twenties. Is this what they call a figurehead?"
In reality, Toprak existed only as a lord in name. All the actual work had been handled by Miren Kaibolg, making him the true master of Urwurt. Bagan believed that if he didn't catch and deal with Kaibolg quickly, the world would plunge into chaos because of Hwanju. He pressed the pursuit harder.
The place they fled to was obvious. Where else would the greatest concentration of troops and the most comfortable residence for the lord be? Naturally, it was the lord's castle. In any territory, the largest and most splendid building was always the lord's castle or main residence. Urwurt was no exception, so the place they intended to hide was the mansion within the castle grounds.
For Bagan, who was leaping and bounding across the buildings, the path was but a single stride. He worried he might even arrive ahead of the two. When he reached the mansion, the guards out front were on high alert.
"Who goes there!"
They were naturally wary, but Bagan had no time to spare. He immediately subdued those who approached to check his identity.
"Sleep."
They were ordinary soldiers with no resistance to magic, so no further measures were needed. Stepping over the fallen guards, Bagan entered the mansion as if it were his own home.
Now that he was so close, he strolled down the corridor at a leisurely pace. Yet Sally's voice cut through his thoughts.
"I smell the stench of filthy sins inside."
"Bingo. They got here first?"
Bagan finished speaking and headed straight for the room where the scent of sin emanated. A reaction came immediately.
"You! You came with Gruon!"
He recognized Bagan at once.
"Miren, what is the meaning of this?"
Toprak couldn't comprehend how Bagan had breached the lord's mansion or the situation unfolding so rapidly.
"Th-that is. D-don't worry, my lord. Everything will be resolved with me here."
Miren Kaibolg was doing his utmost to reassure Toprak. But to Bagan, the sight was utterly repulsive. The way he kept up the act of a loyal butler to avoid exposure, even while radiating such a sinister aura, was sickening.
"Cut the crap. Hey! Miren Kaibolg, I'm not here to beat up the lord of Urwurt or whatever."
"Then what! State your purpose!"
The man still didn't realize his identity had been exposed. Bagan found it laughable and laid bare his true nature.
"A black mage of Demonia, Miren Kaibolg. So this is where you've been pulling these stunts."
At those words, the man's aura grew so menacing it could never belong to an ordinary butler. Toprak stared at him in confusion. Miren tried to deny it anyway.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
But he was gritting his teeth. Given the circumstances, Toprak could no longer believe he was innocent.
"I-isn't that right? Miren! You've sworn lifelong loyalty to me!"
"Ah, aha! That's right. You did say that. Loyalty, was it?"
Kaibolg didn't stop there. In the end, he committed the act.
"Guh!"
He took Toprak hostage. He didn't forget to draw a magic wand the size of a baton from his robes.
"I don't know who sent you, but you'd best not say you came to kill me. I've been through plenty myself."
As he claimed, he was no ordinary black mage. Black magic was power that defied the laws of mana and violated taboos. It was power that desecrated life and denied all orthodox magic. That was why it was shunned. Among such black magic, what he wielded was poison and curses.
Uncurse Field.
Whoosh!
Bagan turned the surroundings into a curse-deflecting zone. Since he could handle poison with Release, he had effectively severed the man's hands and feet.
"Will you be all right?" Sally asked.
She knew he would be fine, yet she couldn't help worrying. The blessing she granted when facing evil had already altered his body. Vitality surged through him, and his mind cleared.
"It's me."
"Yeah."
That single reply told Sally everything. This was Bagan. Even Palamus, who had researched black magic to its peak in an attempt to bind him, had failed to defeat him. Bagan might seem unreliable at times and occasionally think in ways no one could fathom, but in his own domain, he never lost. Especially when dealing with evildoers, none could match him. That was why she trusted him.
Arien showed no sign of intervening either. The two watched silently from behind as Bagan slowly approached the man.
"You planning to kill that guy?"
He meant Toprak, whom Miren held hostage.
"Don't move! Come any closer and I'll kill him."
Bagan stopped for the moment.
"Well, it's an unnecessary sacrifice, but if he dies, I'm grateful. Means I won't have to deal with any more nuisances while I take care of you."
Bagan didn't care whether Toprak lived or died. There was no connection between them, and right now the man was the enemy leader. Besides, preventing a future disaster was worth the sacrifice of a single life. That was how Bagan saw it.
But Toprak wanted to live.
"P-please spare me. M-Miren! Save me!"
He pleaded desperately.
"Stay still!"
Miren seemed conflicted. Should he fight Bagan, or flee using Toprak as a hostage? But Bagan could wait no longer.
Thud!
He took another step forward. Miren reacted violently.
"I-I told you not to move! Curse Paralyze!"
He cast a paralysis spell classified under curse-type black magic. Ordinary Paralyze could be used by any mage, but Curse Paralyze could cause cardiac arrest upon being struck. Yet the magic failed to activate.
"Wh-why!"
Miren was visibly shaken.
"D-don't come any closer!"
He kept repeating the same words, but Bagan had no intention of stopping. To Miren, the slowly approaching Bagan must have looked like a demon.
"Poison Snake!"
When curses didn't work, he switched to poison magic. Hiss!
The poison spell couldn't be stopped, but—
Slow.
Bagan dodged it with ease. He could have taken the hit, but there was no need to suffer an avoidable attack. The realization that his black magic was ineffective drove Miren into despair.
"Enough. Die."
Bagan had never intended to let him live. From the moment he broke the taboos of magic, Miren was a criminal. Sally had also detected the stench of sin, so executing him on the spot was the right choice.
Slash!
Bagan's mana sword severed the man's body and head in an instant. Toprak, released from his grip, gasped for breath and stared at Bagan. Still dazed, he received no glance in return. Instead, Bagan looked at Sally and nodded, saying it had been a while since they'd used spatial magic. Sally was already prepared and opened a gate to space at once. A beautifully decorated door appeared in midair, and Bagan and his companions vanished. Miren Kaibolg's decapitated corpse disappeared along with them, leaving Toprak foaming at the mouth before fainting. He had no way of knowing what had happened—it felt as if he'd seen a ghost.
Gruon, facing off against Urwurt's soldiers, unleashed the largest spell among his germination magic, driving every visible soldier toward death. Yggdrasil was magic that summoned a massive tree and drained life through its roots. In other words, Urwurt territory, where the tree had already been summoned, had all its nutrients stolen and could no longer support farming. The blackened, dead earth made that clear.
"No matter who you are! I will not forgive you for destroying our home!"
Jamie was furious beyond measure. The people of Urwurt had already suffered from his past negligence, recklessness, and greed. Now Gruon was trying to repeat the same tragedy. They had worked so hard to restore everything to its current state—Jamie couldn't lose Urwurt again. To him, Urwurt was the land where his family lived. That was why he had to do everything in his power to prevent the past from repeating.
"We have to cut the roots! If we don't deal with the tree first, we won't even be able to approach!"
Drawing on his experience as vice-commander of the Silver Eagle Legion, he commanded Urwurt's forces with skill. Jamie had also been the strongest warrior in De Pruna, surpassing even Daphne, who specialized in defense. There was a reason he was called the mightiest soldier. Facing magic was difficult, but if anyone could do it, it was him. Especially when fighting to protect his family, he had no choice but to push himself harder.
"Stop struggling! All of you are traitors!"
Gruon manipulated the roots to threaten them further. At first, they had been surrounded by soldiers in a dangerous situation, but the moment Gruon used magic, he turned the enemy forces into a disorganized mob. His will to punish the traitors infused the roots of Yggdrasil, making them even more menacing.
Crack! Crunch!
The roots were gradually being destroyed by Jamie's sword, but the disorganized enemy soldiers were losing their vitality and becoming crippled, unable to breathe. Daphne also steadily blocked any soldiers who managed to slip through the roots.
"Aaaagh! Die!"
"......"
Clang! Thud!
Her style was to block attacks with her shield first and then counterattack, so no strike landed effectively. Her silent, expressionless demeanor, as if nothing mattered, made her seem like an impregnable fortress. With her there to handle any soldiers who broke through the roots, Gruon could stand so calmly in the middle of enemy lines. Even Arien, who had yet to move, remained at his side. Jamie couldn't even begin to measure how hopeless this situation was.
Gruon's magic was ultimately neutralized by Jamie and the former Silver Eagle Legion soldiers. From Jamie's perspective, it was fortunate that only the area where the tree had grown had blackened, giving him a sliver of hope. But when he looked back and forth between the exhausted Gruon and the emaciated Urwurt soldiers struggling to breathe, his face twisted with rage.
"Why are you so selfish! You claim to want everyone to live equally, so why attack your fellow humans!"
"Spare me your sophistry! The lord's sins are the territory's sins! The territory's sins are the nation's sins! You failed to understand that will, so this is the result."
Even as they argued, they looked ready to tear each other apart.
"Meldin, the one who did that to Lady Daphne, is already dead! So why must these people bear the burden!"
"Are you trying to justify your insubordination, desertion, and illegal smuggling with that nonsense? Know this clearly. Why the soldiers of Urwurt, now facing death, had to fight. Why I started a war against the Sog Kingdom. It's all because of you!"
Gruon's words forced Jamie to look around. Seeing the scene as Gruon described, Jamie felt overwhelming guilt, as if everything truly was his fault—even if it was Gruon's calculated trap.
"Then be satisfied with just me. Don't increase the sacrifices any further... I'll take all the blame."
Jamie now intended to sacrifice himself to stop the war. But there was something he didn't know. The war had been inevitable from the start.
"Unfortunately, a war cannot be stopped by the worthless life of someone like you."
"Please! Stop this!!!"
Jamie lost all reason and charged at Gruon. But before he could reach him—
Growl! Boom!
Arien, transformed into a bear, struck him down faster than Daphne could even raise her shield.
"Ugh......"
Clinging to his fading consciousness, Jamie could only gasp for breath. Gruon approached and spoke.
"This is the fate of a traitor. The soldier Jamie who once brought glory to my heart disappeared long ago. So die."
The words pierced Jamie's ears and tore at his heart. If he died, who would look after his family? He regretted everything he had done to survive with that thought. From invading Urwurt in the past to all the acts he had committed in atonement. He even began to wonder how he could have wasted his life so thoroughly. And finally, he pitied Kaina, who would lose both her father and her husband.
Yet if his life could save his family, Jamie was content.
My son, Abram Nocturne—flee with Mother and live far away.
He desperately wanted to tell them that. Thud!
At that moment, Gruon's root pierced Jamie's chest. Thus ended Jamie's life.