Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: The Starting Point of the Wave
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The black liquid pouring from Edward's body swirled around him like a vortex, forming an egg-shaped oval that radiated intense killing intent.
This caused every living creature near Strange Castle to freeze as if time itself had stopped.
Even I, who had faced countless powerhouses until now, found my body completely rigid.
'Could it be.'
Was this guy about to walk the same path as Monestier?
Apostles were said to be born only once every hundred years, so how could two appear before me in such close succession?
'Moreover...'
At this very moment, when we were set to settle our score, the Tower was trying to whisk him away.
'No.'
I absolutely could not let him go just like that.
If I climbed the Tower again someday, I would surely have to face him once more. Before then, I needed to clearly gauge the gap between us.
"Edward, open your eyes. Didn't you say it yourself? Let's fight until one of us drops today."
My mouth could still move.
I spoke toward Edward, drenched in the black liquid, without pause.
"If not today, we might never meet again. Our fight would end here, and I'd claim victory since I already beat you twice."
"......"
"If you hate that, open your eyes and come at me. I don't know how strong that power wrapping around you will make you, but snap out of it somehow and attack me."
By crushing you—the wizard who became an apostle today—and rising above, I'd prove no magic user could stand against me. With that resolve, I unleashed my aura, and my vision flashed white. Somehow, it felt like I'd anticipated what was coming.
The birth of a new apostle felt alien, but the process was all too familiar.
'Am I sensing this just from one prior experience?'
I knew nothing else besides Monestier's transformation into an apostle.
Flash!
'......Exactly like that time.'
Just like when I'd glimpsed Monestier's past in that unknown space—the one everyone dismissed as a shared dream.
"Edward, you motherless bastard! How can you still not open your mana after more than five years?!"
A chubby kid who looked no older than eight or ten at most grabbed a smaller boy by the hair.
"B-Brother, I'll learn it right away, so please forgive me."
The boy with long, neatly combed-back hair clasped his hands together pleadingly.
He looked pitiful, but his sharp eyes and high nose bridge stood out.
'Is that Edward?'
I recognized him instantly. Much younger than now, but his face was identical to Edward's.
"Learn? You must be delusional. This isn't something you learn—it's talent, talent! And you have none, so you can't open your mana!"
The chubby boy slapped Edward's cheek with his thick palm.
Smack!
One, two, three, four.
He kept going with full swings, five times in total, but Edward just took it silently.
He winced in pain and let out faint groans but didn't retaliate or defy his brother out of anger.
He simply kept his gaze fixed on the ground, as if admitting his fault, repeating apologies.
"I'm sorry, Brother."
"Haa... haa... haa... I'll stop here for today. If you don't open your mana by next week, you'll really regret it."
"Yes, Brother."
The chubby boy left.
Only after he was gone did Edward's legs give out, and he collapsed, wiping away tears. Perhaps from the pent-up frustration, they poured down his cheeks like a flood.
"Hic..."
Edward wiped his nonstop tears and returned to his room. He pulled the blanket over his head and groaned endlessly.
His nanny, who had just arrived—perhaps having heard the story—approached cautiously. A woman with red ponytail hair lifted the blanket gently.
"Young Master, did Brother scold you again today?"
Edward slowly lowered the blanket, showing his tear-streaked face.
"Hic, hic... Y-Yeah."
"What was it this time?"
"Mana... I couldn't open my mana..."
"Isn't mana only usable after the ritual? The Family Head said it'll be next month. Just wait until then."
"But... Brother said if I don't use mana by next week, he won't let me off. Yoni, what do I do?"
Yoni, the nanny, tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm— Then tell Brother this: 'Brother must be too dumb to remember, but mana can only be used after the ritual!' How's that?"
"What do you mean? I'd get beaten all day for that."
"Then hit back instead of just taking it."
"I'd really die then. Mother of the brothers, Kangret, wouldn't let me live."
"True, that witch sees you as a thorn in her side!"
Edward jumped up and clamped Yoni's mouth with his hand.
"Y-Yoni, quiet down. Even as a joke, if Kangret hears that, we're in deep trouble!"
Yoni smiled faintly at his panic.
"Your tears finally stopped, huh?"
"...Yeah."
"Young Master Edward, do you know what the late Marchioness Serenia said to me as her final words?"
"Mother? No, I don't. She passed when I was too young..."
I didn't know.
That Edward had a past similar to mine. His mother had vanished when he was too young to remember her.
"Lady Serenia told me she'd only seen you as a crying baby before leaving. She asked me to make sure you smile as much as possible in all the time she wouldn't see."
"......"
"But if you keep crying like this, I won't have the face to meet her even in death."
"...Sorry."
Yoni hugged Edward lightly.
"No need to apologize. Just show me that smile from now on."
"Yeah, got it. I'll smile as much as I can."
Edward forced his lips into a grin with two fingers.
Yoni, not hating the sight, mimicked him.
"Next time the brothers bully you, don't cry—smile and tell them you'll use mana after the ritual."
The Edward I knew was a genius wizard born with historic Glazer talent.
Yet here, he seemed more like a dullard than a prodigy.
'His past differs from the rumors.'
And.
'That woman filled the role of a mother for him.'
Suddenly, day turned to night and back repeatedly in flashes.
Then space shifted rapidly, and the brothers' torment resumed.
Three kids surrounded Edward and unleashed group violence.
Two girls and one boy grabbed his arms and punched his stomach.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Guh!"
Edward spat saliva, glaring at the chubby boy.
"B-Brother—"
"I told you, right? No mercy if you don't use mana by week's end."
"But I haven't had the ritual yet, so I can't use mana—"
"Shut up! No excuses. Hey, Kalifa. Go to the warehouse and bring that guy I punished yesterday."
Kalifa, the girl called, giggled and left briefly before returning.
Dragging in her hand was none other than Edward's nanny, Yoni.
"Young Master..."
She'd been brutally beaten by his brothers—face bloodied, clothes torn to rags.
"Yoni?!"
"That bitch fed you nonsense."
"Nonsense?"
"Yeah, she called me a dumb retard."
"I never said that!"
"Don't lie. I heard it from the guard at your door."
"The guard lied, not me! Yoni was just joking to cheer me up. She never called you a retard!"
"Shut it, Edward! Be grateful I didn't kill her. Wait, with all that blood, she'll die soon anyway—not so grateful now."
The chubby boy stomped over, mana-coated fist slamming Yoni's side.
Thud!
Yoni groaned.
"Hngh!"
But her mind was too faint to open her eyes. Seeing this, Edward glared at the chubby boy with murderous eyes.
"Brother, stop."
"You ordering me around?"
Thud!
"Hngh..."
"Even if I killed her right here in front of you, you couldn't do a thing."
Thud!
"Hic—"
"You're too weak to protect anyone. Or prove me wrong—beat all three of us if you can. Kahahaha!"
The chubby boy shrugged at his two sisters, then mana-infused his fist and smashed Yoni's eye socket.
Splat!
"Kuh!"
Edward could only watch.
Rage boiled like a volcano in his chest, but fear of his tormenting brothers overwhelmed it.
'Please, please, please!'
Don't hurt Yoni.
Hit me instead.
I'll do anything you say!
"Stoooop!"
Edward screamed unwittingly. The startled chubby boy paused, tilting his head.
"What'd you say?"
"...Stop."
"Stop?"
"Yeah, I said stop."
Edward's eyes changed.
His rage-flaming pupils suddenly froze like frost, exuding sharp killing intent.
The three siblings who'd come to bully him froze solid.
Shiii—
Mana dwelled in Edward's arms. What followed was a scene too horrific to imagine.
He mercilessly slaughtered the brothers who'd tormented him, then shredded the lying guard with ice magic.
'It's done.'
This was it.
I didn't care what happened next.
I'd saved Yoni.
With that thought, Edward slumped to the ground. He checked on Yoni, who'd endured the brothers' abuse.
"Y-Yoni, you okay?"
Her swollen eye socket blinded her.
"Y-Young... Master?"
"Yeah, it's me. Edward."
"Young Master..."
"I'll get the doctor—hold on."
"No, Young Master... I know... my condition best..."
"What do you know?! Just wait, I'll—"
Grab!
Yoni mustered her last strength to grip his wrist.
"...Don't go, Young Master."
Edward couldn't leave at her desperate plea. He stayed by her side, watching her die.
"Young Master, don't cry without me."
"......"
"Everyone dies someday. Not just Lady Serenia—me too."
"......"
"So don't grieve that I go first. Just keep looking ahead, grow strong and healthy."
"......"
"That's my wish after all our time together—and Lady Serenia's too."
Edward wiped his tears.
"Don't go, Yoni. Yoni? Yoni?! YONI!!!"
And Yoni passed.
Hagen arrived late, staring silently at his dead children and their killer, Edward.
He didn't question whose fault it was.
He only confirmed who survived—and if Edward was fit to lead the Glazers.
"Please... don't forgive Edward, Lord Hagen. He killed all my children!"
Kangret begged the Glazer Family Head desperately. Punish the one who'd slain her sons and daughters.
But Hagen's response was unexpected.
"Edward is the Glazer heir with innate genius. That won't happen."
"What?! How can you say that? He killed all my children!"
"So? You think a slave-born bitch's spawn shares blood with Edward?"
"...He's still a brother-slayer."
Hagen shook his head firmly.
"Do the crime, face the punishment. From what I heard, those kids tormented Edward plenty."
"Lord Hagen..."
"Enough, get out. I have no attachment to lowborn whelps."
"......"
"Leave this room now, Kangret. I'll ensure I never see you again."
With that, everything went black.
Thus, I clearly understood what these memory fragments wanted to show.
'I see.'
Thanks to this, I'd found it.
The way to deal with the new apostle, Archmage Edward.
Inside the egg of unknown black liquid, Edward—curled like a fetus, eyes shut—twitched.
Rumble...
'Where am I?'
The moment I thought I'd died, black liquid erupted from my body.
I couldn't remember after that, but when I came to, only darkness filled my vision.
Moving my limbs felt sluggish, like swimming underwater.
'Am I dead? No, then I'd have awakened in hell.'
Edward was certain.
Considering his deeds, if gods and the Holy Kingdom's heaven truly existed, he'd end up in hell, not paradise.
After swimming through darkness awhile, Edward stopped.
He surrendered to it, lying back in thought.
'No idea where this is.'
One thing was clear.
His defeat to Berddin again.
Edward ground his teeth recalling Berddin's final blow.
Grind.
"Damn it."
He'd thought he'd win this time.
Not only had he mastered forbidden magic tomes against Berddin, but he'd brought every Glazer artifact heirloom.
Plus endless simulated battles against imagined Berddins from past experience.
'Why can't I beat him?'
Edward raged.
Never once winning against his rival—not only that, failure now meant losing all who followed him, even endangering the family line.
He had to escape somehow.
Fight Berddin again and crush him.
Or Glazer history crumbled—by his hand, the one meant to lead it.
Cornered, Edward prayed to the god he'd denied.
"God, if you truly exist, I have one request."
Grant me power to beat Berddin, to topple Strange.
'I swear I'll do anything for you.'
He confessed to the nameless awe-inspiring being.
Yet he showed no desperation or misery—only rage filled his mind. It was less plea, more deal.
[Arrogant fool.][If God hadn't chosen you, I'd have claimed your life long ago.]
'Who are you?'
[Who I am matters not.][Worship the Father in heaven who sent me for this moment.]
'Father?'
[Thirteenth Apostle by God's will, Demon King Edward.][Show Berddin your power.]
Crack!