Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Chapter 51
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: What Happened That Night (6)
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Gav couldn't regain his senses.
The moment the powerful explosion engulfed his face, survival instinct prompted him to deploy a shield.
However, the explosion shattered even the shield.
'If it weren't for the shield, my head would've blown clean off.'
The excruciating burning pain searing his face made it feel like his brain was twisting.
He wanted to clutch his face and scream right then and there, but Gav was a curse sorcerer.
Curse sorcerers experimented with every manner of curse on themselves.
Having endured agonies far worse than this countless times, those experiences that nearly shattered his mind now allowed him to withstand this pain.
Black soaring through the air generated a shockwave.
Jamie felt his mind clearing.
Gav staggered but somehow moved his legs to regain his balance.
It was a pitiful sight, but what could be done?
The ground into which he'd crashed surged upward.
A pillar dropped from the ceiling onto Gav's chest, bent like a shrimp.
"Not yet."
Stone Breaker
Kwarang-!
The Stone Bridge crushing Gav exploded outright.
Sharp stone shards scattered in all directions.
Over the blood-spilling Gav, Air Press deployed once more.
Air Press
Pebuk-!!
A trail of blood marked the ground where Gav tumbled.
Jamie felt his body recovering at rapid speed as he approached Gav.
Along the way, he unleashed minor spells without pause.
Mages trained Magic Arrow relentlessly on tiny stones to hone their accuracy.
To Jamie right now, Gav was little more than a pebble.
Jamie's spells hurtling toward Gav as he slammed every which way never missed their mark.
"Doom..."
As Gav laboriously raised a hand to invoke his curse, darkness whipped his shoulder.
A gruesome crunch echoed as it twisted completely.
His already dilated pupils convulsed and rolled upward.
"Complacency is terrifying. One slip turns the tables like this."
It had to feel unfair from Gav's side.
He'd unleashed his ultimate curse magic, after all. Unfortunately for him, Jamie possessed an artifact of absolute immunity.
Unfair or not, nothing to be done.
"The world's unfair by nature."
Eight black dots materialized around Gav, linking into lines one by one to form a cube.
The semi-transparent black facets gleamed slickly.
With a gesture from Jamie, the black cube lifted into the air.
Kik-
Black, who'd maintained the auxiliary rites nonstop, alighted on Jamie's shoulder.
"Honestly, I underestimated him at first."
Kik-
Black nodded in agreement.
A black sorcerer who'd failed to reach even 7th class at that age.
To Jamie, utter trash not worth pitying.
His vaunted experience? Laughable compared to Jamie's.
That was why he'd dismissed him.
"But he put up a decent fight."
The curse deflection had genuinely surprised him.
Even if the foe outclassed him now, turning an opponent's spell against them wasn't simple. It demanded grasping the ritual's structure.
A lifetime devoted to curses and mental magic made it possible, yet Jamie still offered praise.
"Curse Master wasn't an empty title."
'Aesthetics of Slowness' had been a real shock, especially.
Without Perfect Cell, it would've been over.
"Well done."
Gav lifted his trembling head.
His burst lips, unyielding through every torment, now parted laboriously.
"H-how..."
A cracked, raspy voice.
Unable even to twitch a finger, one question dominated Gav's mind.
"How did you... counter Aesthetics of Slowness..."
A flaw in the ritual?
No. He wouldn't botch something rehearsed countless times.
Had he uncovered the counterspell?
Ridiculous. No mage, not even the world's greatest, could unravel Aesthetics of Slowness in an instant.
"The world overflows with things beyond your experience."
Jamie raised his left hand, displaying the Perfect Cell.
"Absolute Immunity artifact. Perfect Cell."
"...Absolute immunity? No such thing exists."
Humans immune to specific curses, plagues, or poisons? Sure. But to everything? Impossible.
Even dragons, magic's pinnacle, weren't exempt.
Gav wasn't wrong. But he knew nothing of the legendary black sorcerer from eons past.
"Damn... damn it all."
Gav's head lolled.
No strength left to endure.
'I am... the king of the world...'
The moment he'd first found Bena—what boundless potential he'd seen.
Finally, her Valkyrie awakening... and fate delivered a death sentence.
What a wretched end.
He'd clawed up sheer cliffs, reaching the turning point at last.
Vision faded to black. Ears rang hollow. Nerves deadened; nothing registered below the neck.
"Think you'll die easy?"
In that instant.
Gav locked eyes with a colossal purple pupil gazing down from an illusory realm.
Do you intend to die so comfortably?
Chrararak-!
Chains erupted from the darkness, binding him tight.
"Gaaahhh!"
Thorn-studded links ravaged his flesh.
The sins sown by your greed—as the sower, I reclaim them.
What was this voice?
Gav's brain felt ready to burst.
He'd tested every curse on himself, yet this soul-rending torment shattered his sanity.
You shall exist as a sinner, neither dead nor alive.
No... kill me!
Let me depart this world!
Gav longed to scream it amid the horror.
But the voice forbade even speech.
Ever dying yet undying, become my slave, faithful to my every command.
The thorns burrowed deep.
His heart thrashed wildly.
Gav sensed something detaching from his body.
The translucent form mirrored him perfectly.
'My soul!'
He knew it instinctively.
Gav shrieked denial, stretching for it even as his skin tore.
A purple spear lanced from the void, impaling the soul's chest.
Thump-!
Eternally enslaved to me.
Gav stared blankly skyward.
A pitch-black iron gate hung in the air. It creaked open slowly; writhing black hands emerged.
Henceforth, your name is...
The black hands dragged his soul within.
Nebro. Thus shall you be known.
Gav's flesh utterly disintegrated.
And Jamie beheld the entity kneeling before him.
Blue soulfire gleamed over the pristine skull. A faint breeze fluttered its robe, baring skeletal limbs.
A gemlike red heart pulsed between the ribs.
"Slave, introduce yourself to your master."
At Jamie's command, the skeletal being raised its head to its lord.
He turned slowly to the pink-haired girl behind him.
"What do you think? This is what became of the man who turned your ten years into hell."
"...Not really sure."
Regaining her wits, Bena gazed at Gav—no, now Nebro the lich—who'd lost everything of his former life.
Fully soul-bound, neither dead nor alive... yet no sense of relief came.
"What do you want to do?"
Jamie turned to Bena.
She, fists clenched and face troubled as she stared at Nebro, met Jamie's eyes.
Then spoke.
"Still, only one thought comes to mind. Take me as your disciple."
Unchanged from start to finish.
"I want to watch, feel, and learn much at your side."
"No."
"Why?"
To Jamie's firm refusal, Bena countered calmly, as if expecting it.
"Because you're a Valkyrie."
"What even is a Valkyrie?"
Both Jamie and the newly minted Nebro had called her that.
She had no idea what it meant.
"Fairies from ancient times. Fearless, unwavering, ever proving their righteousness—yet a doomed race that ultimately fell."
"..."
"You're their descendant. No clue how Valkyrie blood endured to now, but you're their heir. Likely the last."
"What does that have to do with not taking me as disciple?"
"Valkyries lack any magic talent."
"...What?"
Valkyries were mighty fairies, but unlike elfkin, they wielded no magic.
Attempts were made, yet none achieved mastery.
The race simply wasn't born to it.
"So what point in taking you as disciple?"
Jamie's stance unchanged from first impression.
She remained utterly talentless in magic.
"No way..."
Bena slumped against the wall, disappointment etched deep.
"Effort doesn't conquer everything."
Jamie's words sealed it; her face fell further.
"But you've piqued my interest."
"...Interest?"
At the word, Bena hugged herself cautiously.
Cheeks flushing, voice shrinking:
"What kind of interest..."
Jamie frowned.
"Drop the creepy assumptions. Interested solely because you're Valkyrie."
"Ah... right."
Bena's face brimmed with letdown.
From their first encounter today onward, that sort of interest was impossible.
Jamie shook his head. Definitely not Valkyrie material.
"Anyway. Master and disciple's a no-go, but traveling together? I could allow that."
"R-really?"
"Yes."
In the past, shared goals but clashing wills kept them apart.
Regret lingered. Had he aided the Valkyries, might odds have improved?
Yet each clung to stubbornness till the bitter end.
No more.
'Must throw everything into this.'
Bena, deliberations done, replied.
"Please take good care of me!"
She bowed ninety degrees.
Jamie smirked at her.
"...Do I really have to stay like this?"
"No choice."
Bena let out a short sigh.
Traveling together was fine, but her current form sparked instant regret.
"Me, a pink squirrel..."
"At least not hopeless at every magic."
"Lucky to excel at one thing."
Bena was currently transformed into a pink squirrel.
No helping it.
With mother Sears, sister Sara, Riki and Anna's siblings, holy enforcer Ras, the Pier Knight Order escorts, and servants aplenty—what would they think bringing home a grown maiden?
"Stay that way as much as possible."
"Don't worry. Transformation magic's my specialty..."
Kkik!
Black, shrunk to her size, buzzed around teasingly.
"Hey! Quiet down!"
Kkik! Kik!
Black ignored her outright.
The pair devolved into childish bickering.
Jamie smirked watching, then eyed Nebro still kneeling.
His first high undead 'lich' this lifetime.
'Tough one.'
He'd played it cool before Bena, but his mana was nearly spent.
Perfect Cell's activation had drained a massive amount already.
Full Body Breathing Method replenished fast, but lichifying a 6th-class mage overwhelmed even it.
'Exhausting.'
Without Defying Heaven's authority awakened, no amount of mana would've sufficed to attempt it.
"Return."
Defying Heaven's gate yawned behind Nebro.
Nebro rose slowly, stepping silently within.
Bena watched his back wordlessly.
Ten years prior, their first meeting surfaced.
For a homeless girl, he'd provided a place to belong.
All part of a vile scheme—making her chest all the heavier.
"Heart hurt?"
"Doesn't hurt. He screwed me over anyway. Just... no relief."
"Let's go. Black, you too."
Kkik!
With Black departed, en route to Piol Count's estate, Bena asked:
"What should I call you from now on?"
"Hm."
After some thought, Jamie smiled.
"Waaah—so cute!"
"So fluffy."
-Master!!
In the jostling carriage.
Jamie, captive to Sara and Anna's hands, pretended not to see Bena stretching long.
"How'd you find such an adorable squirrel?"
"Haha."
Jamie smiled at Sears.
-Master!!!!
Ignoring Bena's desperate pleas, he gazed out the window.
'Fine weather.'
Cloudless azure sky streaked by.
Thus another week passed, and the Welton carriage neared Apton.
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