Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: The Revived Genius Mage
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“Before I kill you, I have a few questions.”
Somehow, it felt like I’d sensed this creepy, unsettling mana somewhere before. No wonder it gave me chills and déjà vu.
It’s that guy from the barrier.
His skin was pale white, marking him as an imperial, yet even now, captured alive by me, a sleazy grin lingered on his face, which was baffling.
“The scheme in the north... and turning the Republic into this mess... that was all your doing, wasn’t it?”
“Our doing?”
“You couldn’t have lived that long all by yourself.”
According to what Alakish said, it took the Duke about 500 years.
“Heh, heh heh heh heh heh. You’re so naive, not even knowing the ‘ma’ in magic yet. And scheme? Hmm, guess the fledglings these days call a little prank a scheme?”
Miria approached cautiously, on guard, while Aki clung tightly to the guy’s shoulder, huddling up.
“What are you talking about? Turning the Republic into this?”
“It’s a long story. Anyway, the one who wrecked the Republic and ushered in the era of the Seven Scriptures, Six Gates, and Three Emblems is probably this bastard.”
“This great senior’s name isn’t ‘this bastard.’ It’s Jernix. A bit different from a thousand years ago when Ryuken killed me, but I’m still alive.”
“What... Jernix?”
For a moment, my senses went haywire.
Did I hear that wrong?
No, but he added more, piecing together the puzzle like he was laying out the backstory. Maybe sensing my bewilderment, Miria asked.
“Jernix? Who’s that?”
“Jernix... a genius mage who became an archmage at twenty-two, but he’s been dead for over a thousand years.”
“Watch your words, junior. I reached the 5-star realm at nineteen. And check the history books. You’ll see I’m listed as missing, not dead.”
“Bullshit. If you’re really Jernix, how the hell are you still alive?”
“Heh heh heh heh. That damn old geezer, your esteemed ancestor Ryuken Ludwig, killed my body once, but the Abyss valued me highly and resurrected my brain like this.”
It was nonsense.
Because Ryuken and Jernix were famously master and disciple.
And Ryuken killed him once?
“The Black Church gained a valuable asset, and it worked out for me too. I didn’t get much chance to fool around with women while studying magic. I was just starting to live it up, so how could I close my eyes in regret?”
“What a creep...”
Miria muttered coldly in disdain, and he snickered. I said.
“Prove it. Prove you’re Jernix.”
“Prove, prove, prove.”
Pipi landed on Rain’s head, and a sly gleam flickered in Jernix’s eyes.
Strange...
Is this sun parrot the same one from back then? No, impossible. No one achieves immortality without dipping into the Abyss.
“Right after my resurrection, the Black Church recruited me and assigned me the Duke mission. Grand title, but all I did was give a little push on the back.”
“What back?”
“To those craving power, I gave power. To those wanting money, I gave money... Not hard at all. The Republic fell apart in less than a century.”
Miria replied in shock.
“Impossible. The shrine maidens would’ve stopped it.”
“Manipulating shrine maidens was nothing. Fride smoking looked sexy as hell, and she was tough with the Fire Dragon around, but still.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Shut, shut, shut.”
Rain and Pipi suddenly unleashed a voice so icy it made my eardrums ring, startling both Miria and Aki.
But Jernix kept babbling on, unperturbed.
“The Dragonkin Republic was built on the belief that humans had awakened to values of freedom and harmony like the gods. What the Fire Dragon didn’t know was humans’ ugly nature—unlike the gods.”
“......”
“Think the shrine maidens stopped me? Hah, even Tureina, whom you all praise as great, was in my palm. She wanted to awaken a frozen little brat, so I helped a bit, and she flipped, learning black magic.”
The moment those words left his mouth, I felt my body stiffen.
It was like silence descended on the world, even as the self-proclaimed Jernix kept yammering endlessly.
My breathing grew ragged. Blood didn’t reach my head. My body moved on its own, grabbing his collar.
“What bullshit is that? Tureina learned black magic to awaken a frozen kid?”
My physical eyes saw him, but my mind’s eye saw beyond—to the girl with sky-blue hair hidden in the echo of my soul.
It was the moment the suspicion—not quite suspicion—I’d buried deep in my heart since meeting Ribeni resurfaced.
Still, my head spun: Impossible, she’s dead... that thought swirled chaotically.
“A shrine maiden’s human too. She succumbed to instinct. Soon, chaos will awaken from her hands and dominate the Akrad Continent.”
“Answer my question, you—”
“—As your senior, let me give you a lesson. A mage’s tongue only wags when they’re preparing something.”
Heh, Jernix smirked with just his lips, and the next instant, his lower body grotesquely swelled, sprouting tentacles of dark matter.
The chains of Jesa’s Binding had been severed somehow—5-star magic, no less.
By the time Miria instinctively sensed danger, recoiled, and reached for her sword hilt, the tentacle had already pierced halfway through that helmet’s visor.
“I’ve read your shallow tricks from the start, you bastard.”
In a flash, blinding white heat scorched my retinas, incinerating the tentacle’s source in a blaze of soaring firelight, leaving not even ash.
The tentacle that reached my eyes lost power and slumped limply, soon crumbling into countless particles of impurity.
The boy stared at the scattering embers and ash filling his vision, gasping deeply.
‘This feels off... The mastermind who manipulated the barrier for 500 years, killed Alakish, and split the Republic—dead this easily?’
That wasn’t the only ominous thing.
Tureina touched black magic to save a frozen kid? And he taught her?
“Miria, where’s the North Republic’s shrine maiden right now?”
The sudden question left her dazed, but she soon answered seriously.
“I don’t know exactly. One of the three great cities, probably?”
Of the seven great cities, the North Republic—those on the Akrad Continent—are these three.
Blue City, <Terbenopl>.
Indigo City, <Aristapo>.
Purple City, <Aurelinopl>.
Closest from here, and per Miria, Juliana—the shrine maiden—mostly stayed at <Aurelinopl> in the midstream of the Bellisor River.
If it’s a shrine maiden, Tureina’s disciple Juliana, she must know something.
“Then we part ways here. I’ll head to <Aurelinopl>. You collect your reward when those witches wake up.”
No telling when that’ll be.
The barrier’s commander was still unconscious, right?
That was a 5-star ice spirit possession, and this controlled a whole village—three-star difference maybe—but I had no time to wait.
‘Parting’s a shame? Yeah, that’d be a lie.’
So much I wanted to ask, to know. Is she really Rista reincarnated, or just a lookalike?
But now... it’s fine.
Fride said she didn’t want to chain me to the past in my new life. But now I think:
‘If she’s really Rista revived... as long as she’s alive somewhere, that’s enough.’
Wanting more would be greed. Even if real, no memories means little difference, and I don’t want to drag her to danger.
“No.”
As I reached for Aki, Miria didn’t hand her over easily—instead, she strode past me toward the pier where the riverboat was moored.
“I’m coming too.”
What...? I blurted blankly, and Miria glanced back over her shoulder.
The eye visible through the broken visor was cold as ever, but felt a touch softer than usual.
“I have something to confirm too. And just get used and walk away empty-handed? Feels too unresolved; I couldn’t do nothing.”
* * *
In some desolate spot on the Adrion Continent, where polar heat beat down and a wind vane spun with a barren, dry whine amid a sandstorm.
In the Abyss Era, before an ornate screen in Alvrazm style, a young man in lotus position removed his eyepatch emblazoned with a triangle containing seven eyes.
At that moment, the puppet doll before the altar split into five pieces and burned.
‘That guy’s several times stronger than last time... Weird thing is, his fighting style’s just like that kid Lin from before.’
Heh, so what.
The stronger now, the better.
That way, I can fully enjoy stealing that fresh body with Ryuken’s bastard’s eyes wide open.
‘Still... with that level of skill, he’ll die to Tureina, so growth ends there?’
Bad matchup, I guess?
Heh, I’ll know the results soon enough. Whichever dies.
Just wait enjoyably while handling the old hag’s task.
* * *
In the southeastern Crimson Mountains, the noblest peak, Myth Peak, was shrouded in night fog.
Hundreds of years after the Red Dragon Legion left the range, the once-elegant summit had rotted from the soil itself, corrupting the oaks that blanketed the area into festering decay.
Twisted roots and branches formed grotesque, tumor-like shapes across the ground.
At the cliff’s edge stood the temple’s altar, where the Beltar Divine Stone once burned brighter and hotter than flames. Through this stone, shrine maidens had received the Fire Dragon’s revelations across the Republic’s long history.
But now, as the veiled shrine maiden before it chanted an unknown incantation, something filthy bubbled within the stone like a heartbeat, staining it dark blue.
“All black witches of <Vetli> serve you, Navoriaks, one of the Triple Sages of the Queen of Time.”
Soon, a mad hue rippled across the stone’s surface.
It was three eyeballs.
No light entered... yet the grotesquely split trio gleamed sickly yellow within, pouring absolute words not into ears, but straight into the brain.
「Bal surudui gun de kan…… Ahh, the time when all eyes open draws near.......」
“Command me.”
「The time to awaken slumbering time has come...... On the day light hides its trace...... Pile the blood of light upon the Queen’s altar...... That day, the false veil lifts...... And your destined dream shall be realized, Doha, buretaris.......」
The weathered-veiled shrine maiden, Tureina, lit her pipe, and the delirious colors on the stone faded.
Only then did the man standing beyond the temple pillars step forward. Cloaked in dark blue robes, his face hidden by a somber iron mask.
Oddly, his left arm wasn’t human—demonic qi writhed in black light, shaping it into an arm.
“What command did the Three Eyes issue?”
Tureina was silent for a moment—or an eternity—lost in thought.
The body of Lin she’d reclaim as resurrection’s price, no, restore with his soul intact... She’d seal her master the instant she confirmed him alive.
She’d waited these long years preparing that ritual. From the moment she learned black magic to save her master.
“Summon all the black witches scattered across the continent. It’s time to prepare the ritual in earnest.”
“The ritual...? But we haven’t received word that 4, 5, and 7 have secured the True Dragon’s remains.”
“Just do as I say. Don’t worry about the True Dragon’s remains. I’ll handle it myself.”