Chapter 546: Undercover
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 546: Undercover
"Finally... it is complete."
Hidden magic patterns snaked beneath the earth and stone. Smelted magic materials were anchored precisely within key zones. One could feel a powerful surge of mana, like a subterranean current, rushing beneath their feet, yet it was held firmly in check by a sophisticated secondary layer of magic arrays. It was transformed into a placid lake, one that would not rouse anyone's suspicion.
Under the joint efforts of eleven members of the Royal Mage Corps, the entire arrangement was as perfect as a work of art.
A masterpiece like this could surely erase even a so-called Prince from the face of the world.
"Wonderful, simply wonderful."
Cotton leaned down, his face flushed with excitement as he stroked the exquisite and profound arrays. The fanaticism in his eyes was once again so full it nearly overflowed.
He had lurked for so long, waited for so long, and worn a mask for so long. This opportunity had finally... finally fallen before him.
He had remained stagnant in his current position for far too long—long enough to become utterly weary of it. He was tired of dealing with those old fossils above him and tired of leading the fools beneath him. Now, he could finally take a step forward. No... if he achieved a merit of this magnitude, he might even have the chance to ascend to an even higher seat!
Yes, that was what the Inner Council had promised him. Resources, status, prestige—all of it was within his grasp. As long as he completed this task and became the greatest contributor to Second Prince Andrew’s ascension, then whether it was reaching a higher tier of magic...
Or that once-unreachable position of Guild Master...
None of it would be a mere pipe dream anymore.
"Excellent, excellent, truly magnificent! I promise you all, once this is finished, you will receive everything you desire. This is the promise of the Inner Council!"
Cotton announced loudly to the participants.
The crowd cheered, though their faces still bore the traces of exhaustion from setting up such a massive formation.
Cotton nodded in satisfaction. His gaze swept over every face; he knew that after tonight, these people would be the foundation of a circle he could trust most.
However...
Cotton’s brow twitched slightly when his eyes landed on a certain individual.
"Seniel."
"...Present."
"You look like you have something on your mind. Is there a problem?"
"No... it's nothing."
Seniel forced a smile. "I'm just a bit tired. I've consumed too much mana."
"Exhausted after setting up just this much? You need to train harder, kid." The Second Captain, Nell, sneered from the side. His fierce gaze looked as though he intended to give Seniel a harsh "re-education" later.
"..." Seniel, who still harbored psychological trauma regarding this, felt his cheek twitch as he hastily pulled his head back.
"Alright, there's no need to be so strict tonight." Cotton stopped Nell and said with a smile, "You too, Seniel. Hurry up and take this chance to rest and recover your mana."
"Yes, sir."
Seniel obeyed submissively.
Watching the completely compliant Seniel, a flash of mocking laughter flickered in Cotton's eyes.
Among all these people, the one he trusted least was this Seniel.
Because everyone else—himself included—no matter their goals, interests, futures, or even their fates, were already deeply bound to the Inner Council and the Second Prince.
But this Seniel... according to Robin's intelligence, the only reason he had become a dog of the Inner Council was... money.
That was right. For a mere bribe, he had taken such a massive risk to defect to the Inner Council. He was nothing more than a short-sighted fool driven by self-interest.
But... it was just as well that he was a selfish, cowardly idiot.
Fools like that happened to know exactly what they should and shouldn't do. Therefore, he would surely "believe without a doubt" in the little "white lies" Cotton had told him earlier.
"There should still be a bit of time left."
Cotton pulled out his beloved gold pocket watch and glanced at it.
"To be safe, let's perform a trial run."
Cotton had always been cautious. Even though he had supervised the entire setup of the array, he would not relax in the slightest until he saw the First Prince reduced to ash within it.
"Get ready, move!"
"Yes, sir!"
As everyone took their positions, a faint blue magical glow flickered. The profound patterns hidden beneath the ground began to operate rapidly.
First to activate was the array used to conceal their presence. Although they knew it was nearly impossible to hide such a thing within the city districts, they had to maintain absolute secrecy until the target stepped into the trap.
Next was the array used to blockade the area. It would prevent the target from escaping while sealing the power of destruction within the zone, making the array's lethality even more terrifying.
Finally, there was the most important part—the core: the multiple combined array destruction ritual set up by these eleven mages.
As mana was gradually poured in, the patterns at the center of the array brightened bit by bit. A sharp light gradually intensified in Cotton's staring eyes.
Even though it was only a trial run, as the array began to function normally, he could almost see the scene of the First Prince standing within this formation, being turned to ash by a torrent of destruction.
A high and mighty Prince, dying at the hands of a nobody like himself... Just the thought of it was exhilarating, so...
Crack.
Suddenly, the sound of something shattering echoed in Cotton's ears.
The sound was extremely faint, nearly impossible for an ordinary person to hear. But to Cotton's ears, it was like a sudden, jarring discordance from a pipe organ at the climax of a concert.
It was so very clear.
The smile on Cotton's face froze instantly.
Realizing what had happened in a flash, his eyes widened, and his gaze swept rapidly over the magic patterns, which were already shaking and vibrating violently. With his magical expertise, he naturally discovered where the problem lay almost immediately.
Or rather, whose hand it came from.
"Sen! iel! How dare you!" Cotton's expression turned suddenly hideous.
How did he dare? How could he possibly dare?
Did he not know that tampering with the array at this moment meant... death for himself?
"Third Solo!"
The angry roar was drowned out by the melodious sound of a flute. A sudden radiance descended from the sky, guided by the music, transforming into blades of destruction.
But those blades were not aimed at Cotton. They merely grazed past him, piercing accurately into... the magic patterns beneath the ground.
The complex flow of mana was instantly severed. The array, already trembling due to Seniel's covert tampering, began to shake even more violently. If Seniel's previous trick was like throwing a small stone into a set of perfectly meshing gears, then this sudden strike was like directly destroying several of those gears.
The array teetered on the brink of collapse, reaching the edge of destruction.
The massive amount of mana stored within was now in a state where it could erupt at any moment.
Cotton's eyes turned bloodshot instantly. At this stage, how could he allow the array he had painstakingly constructed to be destroyed? With a wave of his hands, precise magic threads quickly condensed in his palms. Under his masterful control, over a hundred mana threads connected to the severed patterns. He was actually attempting to bridge the mana pathways of the array by himself, briefly maintaining its stability.
But...
Seniel, who had planned this long ago, could not possibly let this chance slip by. He took a deep breath, ignoring the bone flute in his hand that had become scalding hot, and once again poured all his mana into it.
The flute's sound soared.
A thin white mist gathered like a rising tide. Within the rolling fog, bone soldiers clad in armor and wielding cleavers seemed to gallop forth from the other side of the mist, riding spectral skeletal steeds.
"Stop him!"
By now, the others had reacted quickly. Various mana fluctuations rose as terrifying spells began to coalesce in the hands of these elites at near-instant speeds.
However, the bone soldiers, with emerald fires burning in their eye sockets, suddenly threw their heads back. A sharp, metallic screech rang out, and almost everyone felt a sudden piercing pain in their brains. The magic gathering in their hands was interrupted for a split second.
"Death... Concerto!"
Seniel gave a wretched smile as blood trickled from his nose. His brain throbbed with a tearing pain, and the precious bone flute in his hand shattered directly from the strain of his two overextended uses.
He knew that even his strongest move could only buy a split second against this group of Royal Mage Corps elites.
But that was enough.
After all, the strongest among them, Cotton, had no room to strike at this moment while he was struggling to maintain the array's stability...
"Wait, wait!"
Cotton, realizing the situation at the same time, fell into a panic. He spoke rapidly:
"Seniel, Seniel! We can talk! Whatever it is you want, I can give you money, I can give you anything! Stop, we can talk, we can—"
"Sorry, we can't talk."
"Wh... Why? Isn't what you want just—"
"Because..."
Seniel smiled, staggering as he propped up his battered body, and said to Cotton:
"Because I'm an undercover agent."
"Undercover?"
Cotton's eyes widened. Before he could even process the meaning of those words, he saw Seniel raise his hand and give a light wave.
Clang—
The sound of clashing blades hummed. The bone soldiers swept past, plunging their green-flamed blades into the array.
A brilliant rainbow light erupted from the ground before it could even give birth to destruction and death.
Like fireworks, it illuminated the sky of the Lower District, beautiful beyond compare.
*
"Cough, cough..."
As the pervasive dust settled with the night breeze, Seniel struggled to prop himself up. He used the last remaining sliver of mana to circulate through his body and check his condition.
It was bad.
His mana was nearly empty, his spiritual power was exhausted, and under the impact just now, many of the bones in his body were fractured.
His chest hurt, it felt tight, and breathing was difficult. A broken rib might have punctured his lung.
But everything was still much better than he had imagined.
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. Although the massive mana stored in the array had been released in that instant, mana that hadn't been converted into destructive force by the array was, in the end, just mana. The power of the eruption was only equivalent to an ordinary gas explosion.
Though it had still blasted a huge crater into the road, fortunately, this was a crossroads and relatively spacious, so it hadn't affected the nearby civilians.
As for those civilians... Seniel saw a few candles flicker on and then quickly go out. People living in the Lower District knew very well what they shouldn't see.
That was good.
Very good.
"Cough, cough..."
Seniel once again painfully coughed up blood containing bits of tissue. He reached out with difficulty, fumbling around until he finally pulled out a magic scroll to begin healing his injuries.
Of course, he also knew that doing this was futile, because...
"Seniel!!"
In the large crater created by the mana eruption, Cotton's expression was ferocious. He took one step after another, his aura terrifying, like an approaching predator.
He had been at the very center of the explosion, yet he bore no injuries at all. Only his clothes were stained with dust, making him look a bit disheveled.
The others were also gradually surrounding him, radiating killing intent, leaving the already heavily injured Seniel with no chance of escape.
"Ha, you... you're even stupider than I imagined. Do you know what you've done? Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Cotton roared at Seniel like a madman:
"Everyone was going to have a bright future, but you... it was you... you ruined everything, all because of an irredeemable fool like you!"
"Save it. I know I'm an irredeemable fool."
Seniel struggled to pull the corners of his mouth into a smirk.
"But I'm an undercover agent. And undercover agents... aren't we supposed to cause a little trouble for you?"
"Trouble? Heh, it certainly is a trouble."
Cotton stepped closer and grabbed Seniel by the collar.
"I don't know who sent you, but let me tell you, your goal won't be achieved. Even without the array, with ten of us mages attacking together, that First Prince still has no chance of survival!"
"Is that so?"
Seniel smiled, revealing teeth covered in blood.
"It doesn't matter."
"What?"
"I said, it doesn't matter."
Seniel tilted his head back, looking at the night sky, which wasn't too bad tonight. He said:
"Whether the First Prince dies or not has nothing to do with me. As long as I stopped what you were doing just now, my goal is achieved."
"So, it doesn't matter."
"..."
Cotton's mouth hung open slightly as he stood stunned for a good while.
Seemingly finally understanding what Seniel meant, he followed with a mocking laugh:
"You're even stupider than I thought, Seniel."
"Thanks."
"Then, since you've at least acted like a man, I'll give you a quick end."
Mana gathered in Cotton's hand, transforming into a sharp blade. He looked into the eyes of the man he had misjudged and said his farewell:
"Goodbye, Mr. Undercover."
Puchi.
Without any hesitation, the blade of mana tore through flesh, bringing death in an instant.
Amidst the splashing blood, Seniel's eyes suddenly widened.
But... it wasn't because of the terror of impending death. It was... shock.
An absolute shock that made him, who was almost out of strength, suddenly snap into focus.
"Eh?"
Equally shocked was Cotton. He slowly lowered his head and looked at his own chest.
At this moment, a sharp blade of mana was piercing through his body from behind.
"Wh... Why?"
Cotton followed Seniel's disbelieving gaze and slowly turned his head to look at the person behind him—the one person he had never expected.
"Nell?"
"Sorry, Cotton."
Nell, the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, known for his loyalty and rigidity, gave a slight smile.
"I'm an undercover agent, too."