The Dead Hero
As if crude jokes no longer fazed him in the slightest, the Archmage gave his staff another short flourish.
The mana he held within him instantly formed seven orbs. They rose as the symbols of the Seven Stars, looking almost like a gesture of respect toward the Magic Towers.
"Wow."
"As expected of the Archmage."
Admiration burst from among the mages. To wield magic while handling all seven elements at once was no longer mere technique—it had entered the realm of art.
Lee Dam, however, only snorted.
"Nothing fresh about it. Damn, once you get old you only know how to do the same old shit."
The Archmage's expression did not change. Provocations of that sort were clearly nothing new to him.
"If you lack confidence, you may surrender now. Of course, you would still have to face punishment."
"Heh heh, look at this old fart trying to mess with me?"
"……."
The Archmage decided there was no further room for conversation. After going this far, failing to teach her a bitter lesson would only tarnish the dignity of the Archmage. Showing mercy and compassion now would only become poison.
"So you throw away even this final mercy."
"Hey, gramps. This is the trend these days."
With a sharp chak!, Lee Dam thrust her right arm skyward. Intense mana swirled around the raised arm like a violent vortex. Moments later, iron gauntlets came hurtling toward her at tremendous speed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They locked their joints into place on their own, attaching themselves to her right arm. Lee Dam grinned in satisfaction. The other mages watching could only marvel once more.
What she had just done was not some elaborate spell. She had not prepared the pieces to seek her out and assemble from a distance on their own.
She just yanked them over with raw mana.
They call her a genius among geniuses, but just how far does her mana control range even go?
She fitted them so finely and cleanly. The delicacy of her mana handling is just—
The Magic Tower's delinquent. That was the epithet most often attached to Lee Dam. And yet, no matter how much of a thug she acted, there was one fact no one could ever deny.
Lee Dam was one of the rarest geniuses even within the Magic Towers. No—when one considered how recently she had begun studying magic, she was a being of overwhelming talent that no one could hope to match.
Beldora, in particular, sometimes found herself thinking: perhaps it was not that a human had become a genius of magic, but that mana itself had become human and simply lacked common sense. If the god of mana ever took human form, it would surely look exactly like that. And if the god of mana ever held affection for a human, that human would without question be the woman named Lee Dam.
"I will not deny that you are a genius."
Even the Archmage offered honest recognition of the magic she had briefly displayed. That was precisely why he grew all the more resolute.
"Which is why, as someone who stands above you, breaking you once is also part of my duty."
"You've been breaking people your whole life, so of course you're good at it."
"In the end, you refuse to lose even a single word."
It began with fire. One of the Seven Stars of the Magic Towers—flames came flying. To the mages of the Fire Magic Tower, the very density with which the Archmage handled fire was extraordinary. The flames were so complete that one could have called him a fire mage without shame.
Lee Dam clenched her fist hard and charged straight at them.
"Has she lost her mind?"
"L-Lee Dam—! Stop trying to look cool!"
Iron Magic Tower. Bare-handed combat ranking. Official last place: Lee Dam. She had lost more than a few times after picking fistfights and throwing punches. Of course she would later thrash the other party with magic, but that was not a fight so much as a tantrum.
In any case, she was abysmal at fighting with her fists, yet her personality would not let her back down even an inch. It looked as though that same habit had kicked in again this time—
Clank!
Long, fierce jets of steam erupted from the back of the gauntlet. Lee Dam was no longer running. It was more as if the gauntlet was flying and dragging her along with it.
"Rideeeeer Puuuunch!"
Her bizarre, scream-like cry was swallowed and vanished beneath the sheer speed of the gauntlet. The fireball had already been struck by the gauntlet, spreading outward in a circular ring before vanishing. Even so, Lee Dam's gauntlet did not stop.
Even the Archmage seemed startled by this one; he hastily launched orbs of earth, wind, and lightning. The wind blades shattered against the front of the gauntlet, and the lightning shocks only hurt Lee Dam without stopping the gauntlet itself. Only the earth orb—symbol of solidity and hardness—managed to halt the gauntlet's violent charge.
Pssshhhhh!
Steam billowed as the gauntlet ceased functioning. It clattered to the ground in pieces, disassembled exactly as it had been before attaching to Lee Dam's arm. Looking at them now, they seemed less like a gauntlet and more like bent scraps of iron.
"Ah, shit. That fucking hurts."
Having taken the lightning magic, Lee Dam brushed off her scorched robe and grumbled. It was a blow that should have knocked her unconscious on the spot under normal circumstances. Proof that she had wrapped her body in a barrier of mana.
"Hoo, fuck. Wherever you go, it's always the big-headed bastards that are the problem. When your balls shrivel up with age, just stay home and grow some cherry tomatoes, you son of a bitch."
"That mouth of yours truly never rests."
"Some people have to open their mouths before the truth finally comes out."
At Lee Dam's words, the Archmage's brow twitched.
"Must've been real convenient for you. Wave the word 'balance' around half-assedly and everyone just falls in line for you."
The Archmage's brow furrowed. His staff moved, and this time an orb of darkness came flying—but Lee Dam's mana barrier unfurled and blocked it.
Kuuuung!
The dark orb burst, blanketing the surroundings in a black veil. Amid the billowing smoke, Lee Dam's voice rode the wind even more clearly than before.
"The truth is, that 'balance' was just for protecting your own seat. Even the 'peace' was only peace for your position."
An orb of water shot precisely into the black smoke. Taking the Archmage's attack while blind would be dangerous—and that was exactly what he was aiming for.
I'll have to kill her.
A regrettable accident no one would see. A bitter loss of life blooming inside the dark smoke.
Tsk.
He had made a promise with Councilor Fontaine of the Boulian Republic, but the Archmage now revoked it. He had agreed to send Lee Dam to the Republic, yet if he carelessly let her live, the balance could break.
Kwaaaaaang!
A violent explosion sent water droplets flying in every direction, driving away the black smoke. In the midst of something that felt almost like rain, Lee Dam stood for the first time with blood streaming from her.
"Ah, shiiit. That fucking hurts."
Her robe was torn, blood from her forehead veiled her eyes, and her waist was bent as if exhausted. Yet she was clearly still alive.
"……."
He had meant to kill her. He had fired with genuine intent to end her life. A woman who had not even studied magic for a full year had withstood the magic of the man regarded as the continent's strongest mage, who had devoted his entire life to the art.
His teeth ground together.
Astonishing talent. In the future she would surely become an unprecedented mage who surpassed even him. If that bud was not crushed here—
The final remaining orb. The iron orb flew toward Lee Dam. It transformed into the shape of a sharp spear as it came, aiming to pierce straight through her slender neck—
"You bastard."
It stopped dead.
Right in front of Lee Dam's throat, the iron spear halted in midair and began to tremble violently.
"……!"
The Archmage's eyes flew wide open.
"You're using iron in front of me?"
Slowly. Very slowly. The spear's trajectory began to reverse. The iron spear that had turned a full one hundred eighty degrees was now pointed at the Archmage.
"What?!"
"……!"
"N-no. This… this can't be!"
Shock, admiration, and the shattering of common sense erupted from every direction. It meant that the great and mighty Archmage had just had the initiative of his own magic stolen by a mage of less than a year.
"……!"
His teeth clenched hard. The hand gripping his staff had gone white from the force he was applying.
"This war should have ended a long time ago."
Lee Dam, spear in hand, advanced. Each time she planted the shaft and took a step, the ground rang with a heavy thud.
"If the Magic Towers had truly wanted peace, the war would already be over."
Her steps staggered, soaked in blood. Yet her gaze never wavered even a fraction.
The Archmage cried out urgently.
"If that happened—! Whose side would the Magic Towers take?! Whom would we save, and whom would we abandon?! A mage is one who pursues knowledge upon the foundation of balance! Our knowledge exists for completeness and wisdom—it is not a weapon! It is merely a tool for understanding the world! To swing it recklessly is—!"
"Understand the world?"
Thud.
"Did you understand the people who've died so far?"
Thud.
"Children grow up, the old die, cities vanish."
Thud.
"Mothers fear giving birth because of the future where their children will be sent to the battlefield."
Lee Dam's steps were heavy.
"The reason you never wielded power was simply that you lacked the courage to take responsibility."
Each time she walked, the ring of the spear shaft striking the earth was long and deep.
"Hey."
By the time Lee Dam stood before the Archmage—
"You were wrong."
With those words, she collapsed to her knees right where she stood. The faint smile on her lips did not fade even as she fell.
"……!"
In truth, from the moment the water orb had struck, Lee Dam had already been in no condition to remain standing. The trail of blood along the path she had walked said everything.
I won…….
No—did I win?
Following the trail of blood, the crowd came into view. The mages who, until the duel began, had looked upon him with respect and admiration.
Mages were beings who always sought. In other words, they were monsters who pursued knowledge, driven by an unending will to improve—constantly questioning, then questioning again, as they pressed forward.
"Ah……."
The light in their eyes had changed.
Respect.
Admiration.
Awe.
Faith.
And somewhere among them—
Doubt.
A single black droplet fell among the pure white emotions and began to spread rapidly.
[You were wrong.]
Lee Dam's voice lingered in his ears to the very end. Looking at her collapsed form bleeding on the ground, the Archmage felt a throbbing headache.
In the long, long history of war, one thing history proved was this: the moment a single person—a hero—created the greatest ripple was when they died.
"Ha… ha……."
Not because of victory.
Because of defeat.
The butterfly's wingbeat she had unleashed would one day return as a storm.