When the Sun Eclipses the Moon
Madam Diana leaving the Tower empty...
Louis, a senior mage of the UK Magic Tower temporarily placed in overall command, ran a hand lightly through his hair.
This is the first time she's been gone this long.
She had vacated the Tower plenty of times before, but traveling all the way to a foreign country and leaving it unattended for this long was virtually unprecedented. Which was why Louis's shoulders now bore their full weight of responsibility.
If anything happened to the Tower, Diana was not within reach of an immediate return. For all intents and purposes, he was holding the de facto authority of Tower Master in her stead.
And on top of that—
"She's even granted me the authority to deploy the Argos Guard..."
The Tower's guardians. He had been given permission to mobilize the Argos Guard, every one of whom was an S-rank hunter. He had kept this post countless times before, but never once under conditions like these.
"She truly has entrusted the Tower to me!"
Louis's eyes gleamed.
"I, Louis, shall do everything in my power to protect the Tower until Madam Diana returns."
That said, fools who attacked the Magic Tower were rare. Even without a World Ranker present, the senior mages and the Argos Guard stood watch. And they weren't even the Tower's strongest asset—there were also the elders of the Council of Elders, whose centuries of wisdom and magical mastery easily trounced even most top-tier hunters.
A fortress more impregnable than any guild. That was the UK's Magic Tower headquarters. Unless someone was profoundly stupid or profoundly powerful, they wouldn't dare so much as glance at it—let alone attack.
Vuuuum...
Which meant, conversely—
Anyone who attacked the Tower...
"...What is this?"
...had come prepared to tear it down.
"This feeling, what on earth—"
A skin-crawling sensation brushed across Louis's senses. It was a stifling sense of closure, as if the Tower had been severed completely from the outside world. His throat tightened, and the mana mixed into the air trembled with an unstable flicker.
"What's happening right now—!"
"Lord Louis!"
Just then, a mage burst frantically into the office.
"What is it?"
"Y-you need to come outside immediately!"
Something was clearly very wrong. He rushed outside—and was confronted with a scene he could scarcely believe.
Faaahhh!
A golden barrier dome spread in a perfect circle around the Tower. Like a high-tier ward, everything beyond that shimmering membrane had been cut off entirely from the inside.
"All electronics are dead, and the MNS is completely down!"
"......"
If this was a true barrier, then of course the MNS—the mana network—would be severed along with everything else. Vrrrmmm! The Tower's mages hurled spells at the golden curtain, but it didn't so much as shudder.
"Who dares place a barrier over the Tower—!"
Louis ground his teeth. This was no ordinary ward—it looked like a top-tier barrier on the scale of grand magic itself.
"Analyze the barrier and prepare counter-spells! Lower and mid-tier mages, defend the Tower against any possible attack! All senior mages, assemble in the laboratory!"
Louis rapidly assessed the situation and issued his orders. A barrier thrown over the Magic Tower was, in all likelihood, an act of terror. Dividing the personnel between defense and dismantling the barrier was the most efficient response.
How dare they pull something like this, timing it for when Madam Diana is away!
I will make them pay for this, and pay cruelly.
The moment he narrowed his eyes and hardened his resolve—
"L-Lord Louis!"
A mage thrust out his hand, pointing at a figure crossing the barrier.
"Someone's approaching!"
A man strolled toward the Tower as casually as if out for an afternoon walk. His bronze skin and bleached-white hair were deeply unsettling to behold.
"So the report was true. I don't sense that woman's mana."
"You there! Who are you!"
"In that case... perhaps I can claim 'it' more easily than planned."
"Answer! Or we attack!"
The lower-tier mages stirred their mana and advanced on him. The man looked down on them as though they were insects.
"I see. In that case, allow me to enjoy myself a little."
The next instant—
Shff!
A light resembling the sun itself flashed.
Thud! Thud!
Human heads hit the ground. Blood erupted like molten lava from the cleanly severed necks of the mages.
"Gaaahhh!"
"They're dead!"
Somewhere in that instant, the invader had taken two swords of pure light in hand and was now wearing a cruel smirk.
"Truly refreshing."
A Cardinal of the Church of Advent. Marca gazed up at the towering Magic Tower.
"...Pointlessly tall. It will collapse all the same, so it hardly matters."
"All mages! Defend the Tower against the invader!"
Even if they were only lower-tier mages, a mage of the Magic Tower was at minimum equivalent to a C-rank hunter. And this man had slaughtered several of them simultaneously before anyone could even register what was happening.
At least S-rank or above—!
Louis gritted his teeth and unfolded his magic circle. Dealing with that monster took priority over breaking the barrier now.
"Loose!"
With the senior mages at the fore, the mage formation loaded their spells in unison. Even an S-rank couldn't dodge all of this.
"Curse the folly of challenging the Tower alone!"
Every spell was fired at the intruder. Vrummmm! A colossal explosion erupted, billowing up a thick fog of dust. However well he'd blocked it, he'd be at least gravely wounded.
"I'll finish this myself!"
Louis closed in to sever the man's throat, a high-powered spell already gathering in his hands. And at that exact moment—
Shff.
The light closed the distance and stole his right arm.
"Kaaaaghhhh!"
Agonizing pain flipped his brain inside out.
"Admirable effort."
Marca crushed Louis's severed arm beneath his heel as he spoke.
"But not enough. I know this isn't all you have."
"He—he attacked Lord Louis!"
"Protect Lord Louis! Defend the Tower!"
The senior mages readied their spells once more—but no flicker of interest crossed Marca's face.
"Well, I haven't even finished the appetizer."
"N-no...! No! Don't—!"
In the blink of an eye, it began. A tragic, merciless massacre.
Sun's Twelve Swords
Third Sword: Crimson Gale Onslaught
Screeeee!
As the crimson wind howled, the mages' bodies began to come apart, splattering gore in every direction.
"Kgh...!"
"Aaaaghh!"
"S-spare me...!"
Organs scattered through the air, and blood painted the ground a vivid red. The senior mages were reduced to mounds of meat in an instant.
"Hh... huaaaaah!"
"Run!"
The others who had watched the senior mages die without even being able to resist began backing away in furtive, shuffling steps.
Shluk!
The throat of the last remaining senior mage was sliced open. Marca tossed the man's head at Louis's feet. It was the mage who had come running to report this very situation to him.
"Mages are such fragile things. The sword sinks into them far too easily."
"You... what are you?! Why would someone with that kind of power do this?!"
"A man about to die asks a lot of questions."
Marca moved his sword of light.
Shk!
Louis's head left his body.
Pschoooo!
His torso toppled backward, spraying blood. Marca seized the hair of Louis's head—consciousness still lingering faintly within it—and locked eyes with him.
"A follower of the one who shall become God."
Death crept steadily over what remained of Louis's mind.
"D-Diana... ma'am... for... give..."
Unable even to close his eyes, Louis breathed his last.
"Tch. Bland."
Marca flung the head carelessly to the ground, then declared to those who remained:
Today would be the day the long, long history of magic came to its final period.
Cheonseong Resort. The VIP suite.
"Mnngh... mm...?"
"Oh, you're finally awake."
Perhaps because she'd suffered no serious injuries, Diana came back to her senses quickly.
"Where is... KYAAAH?!"
The moment she saw me sitting beside her, she let out a piercing scream. Then she clutched her chest and flattened herself against the wall.
"W-why are you here!"
"Because this is Cheonseong Resort?"
"That's not what I'm asking! D-don't tell me... while I was unconscious, you—!"
"Oh, come on."
Did all Tower Masters come down with the same case of paranoia?
I heaved a deep sigh and turned my head slightly to the side.
"It's not like I'm the only one in this room, you know?"
Ji Yeon-ha, seated right next to me, gave an awkward smile.
"So I was getting that vibe too, was I...?"
"Pretty much."
"...Sorry."
Once it became clear I hadn't done anything untoward, Diana's face flushed a faint pink.
"Ahem. Ahem."
"Well, now that you're back with us..."
I grinned and rose from my seat.
"Yeon-ha, could you step outside for a moment? The two of us need to have a little talk."
"Huh...? Oh, sure thing, sugar."
Ji Yeon-ha gave a polite little bow and slipped out of the room.
"Now it's just the two of us."
"D-don't try anything funny, or I'll kick you..."
...Where, exactly?
"That's not what this is about, so stop with the nonsense. You're not even my type to begin with, Madam Diana."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
She scowled as though her pride had genuinely been crushed.
I didn't say anything wrong, did I?
High-strung, haughty types like her wore me out. Her looks were one thing, but a person's inner beauty mattered far more than the surface.
"This conversation keeps wandering off track. Let me get straight to the results."
I declared, loud and clear:
"I won our duel."
"Ngh...!"
Apparently remembering the final moments of the match, Diana gritted her teeth.
"P-proo—"
"Every bout within the arena, along with its course and outcome, has been recorded. If you'd like, I could distribute this file worldwide and let the public judge its fairness for themselves. What will it be?"
Diana's face drained of color. If footage of her utterly humiliating defeat spread, her standing as a World Ranker—no, as the Head Tower Master—would be trampled into the dirt.
Besides, she even used Moonlight Magic. She can't claim she wasn't fighting at full strength.
Which left her exactly one choice.
"...I lost."
"Hm? What was that? You're mumbling, I can't quite hear you."
"I LOST! I admit defeat! You win, take it all, ptui!"
Admitting defeat before things got any worse.
"Smart choice. Drag it out any longer, and even I can't promise what I might have done."
"Eeek...!"
Diana shrank back in naked fear.
"Wh-what are you?! How do you have that kind of power?!"
"Well, somehow things just turned out this way."
"'Somehow'? You don't reach World Ranker-level strength through coincidence! Tell me, right now! What did you do?!"
"...And why would I owe you that answer? If anything, isn't that authority mine now rather than yours, Madam Diana?"
The loser accepts whatever terms the victor sets. That was the stake this duel had been fought over.
Anything at all...
A whole flurry of entertaining ideas came bubbling up. The Head Tower and Diana were a card with no shortage of uses. If I played this contract right, there was a great deal I could squeeze out of it.
Mm.
I could already feel the drool pooling.
"Heh heh heh... now, how shall I cook this up...?"
"Hiek! Y-you're after my body after all!"
I was still deep in my pleasant daydreaming when—
"T-Tae-hyun! Madam Diana!"
Ji Yeon-ha burst frantically back into the room.
"Yeon-ha? What on earth has you so shaken—"
"A report just came in—no, forget that, just watch this!"
She grabbed the remote and switched on the TV mounted in the suite. The screen flickered to life on an emergency breaking-news broadcast.
On the screen, something enormous was visible, encased within a vast golden barrier. Judging by the surrounding scenery and the crowds—
...The UK?
Why was something happening in the middle of Britain being broadcast as breaking news in Korea?
"The UK Magic Tower headquarters has been caught in an unidentified terrorist attack. Due to a barrier that deployed without warning, no one can currently enter or leave the premises. The survival of the mages inside has yet to be confirmed..."
...What?