Chapter 304
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 304
Chapter Title: Lesson 59. Trap - 4
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The flagship had been half-destroyed.
Considering it was an S-rank dimensional vessel commanded by one of the Ten Great Families, this was an utterly unbelievable feat.
—Kwaaaaaang!
"Well, that didn't quite work."
Amid the explosion unleashed by the flagship, Ban Yu-won coolly assessed himself as he scooped up Aire and launched into the air.
The final concept he'd infused into his sword: Annihilation.
He'd recreated it more easily than expected, but since he was handling it indirectly through Abel rather than directly himself, he'd figured it would be even safer.
And that made it all the more a failure.
He hadn't been able to perfectly control the energy that sought to annihilate not just the enemy, but himself as well. Lilith had been forced to pour out every last bit of the energy remaining in the core to counter the backlash.
Still, that's a success in my book, Master! It was way more effective than dumping all the core's energy into an attack!
Lilith's voice remained as bright and cheerful as ever, even after improvising to protect both herself and her master.
The moment the fusion ended, Ban Yu-won stylishly landed on the light beast that came screeching in—still cradling Aire—and stored all his familiars except Lilith, who floated up in her doll form to join him.
How the hell does Yeon handle power like this?
His teacher was someone he admired more and more, no matter how many times he saw her in action.
Of course, the experience of just now imitating her wasn't meaningless. With a few more safe practices handling the energy of death through Abel, he felt certain he could one day reach her level.
And he had to.
The dagger the Chancellor had gifted him, brimming with the essence of death.
He had a gut feeling that the time would come when he'd need to use it.
I hope it's not too late by then.
Ban Yu-won let out a quiet sigh as he tried to set Aire down, but she clung tightly to both his arms, refusing to let go.
"Aire?"
"Uh, y-yeah!"
Aire's response was strangely sluggish.
She was the type whose expression never wavered, no matter the situation—always reliable, unlike Asher.
Ban Yu-won watched with concern as she finally released his arms and hesitantly stood up.
"You okay? You seemed off even back in that robot... Did you overdo it with the magic?"
"M-maybe... I feel a little dizzy."
Aire nodded as if she'd timed it perfectly, leaning against Ban Yu-won.
She was so skilled that reading her emotions was usually tough, but right now, he faintly picked up traces of 'shame' and 'elation'.
Maybe she felt embarrassed showing weakness to her equal, her friend Ban Yu-won, but thrilled that the two of them together had smashed a higher-dimensional flagship.
—How dare a mere lowly creature—!
"Anyway, things are urgent right now. If you're not feeling great, take a breather. I need to go."
"No, I'm fine. I'll back you up. I can do it."
Aire snapped out of it belatedly and pulled away from Ban Yu-won, flattening herself prone on the light beast's back.
The light beast was a familiar bearing the concept of a constellation; protecting her while flying through this battlefield would be no issue.
"Alright, then let's move."
And so Ban Yu-won—donning the concept of Divine Wind he'd seized from the previous constellation, augmented with the concept of Wings—wrapped it around his body.
It was only depth 20, but the staggering 300 stigmata he possessed amplified its power first, and the wind generated at depth 650 supported it, instantly birthing a pair of wind wings capable of both offense and defense.
Layer on Lilith's concepts of Breakthrough and Acceleration, and voilà—a fine battle angel was born.
"Here we go."
He whispered to no one in particular and kicked off the light beast's back, taking to the skies.
From the half-wrecked Prominence flagship, several spheres wreathed in red flames burst forth.
—There you are—!
One of them let out a particularly booming voice as it charged straight at Ban Yu-won.
Straining his enhanced authority from afar, Ban Yu-won barely discerned the enemy's core concept. His expression hardened.
Life: 2,800. No great difference from the core concept of the main cannon that had fired at him earlier.
He'd heard higher dimensions were on another level, but feeling it this viscerally in raw numbers for the first time was something else.
I'm not even at 1,400 yet. That's more than double. If he weren't from Prominence—someone with even a faint blood tie to me—I probably couldn't have read his level at all.
A head-on fight was out of the question.
Even drawing Requiem wouldn't cut it.
No matter how great the weapon, it was useless if the wielder was weak.
Still—he'd known this was coming from the start. No backing down now.
I've got my reversal card.
Glancing down at the ground, Ban Yu-won steeled himself once more. As the enemy closed to visual range, he silently drew Requiem.
"You!"
It was the voice of a middle-aged man.
Moderately muscled build, hair and eyes blazing scarlet as if ready to ignite, proving his Prominence blood.
Gigantic claws of flame adorned both hands. If he'd used the Executioner's Longsword, it would've melted on contact—Ban Yu-won's judgment had been spot-on.
"Do you have any idea how much precious Prominence blood you've spilled just now?!"
"Oh? How many did I get? Tell me."
Masking his rising tension with casual indifference, he raised Requiem.
Matching crimson flames head-on would be folly.
Part of the divine wind forming his wings flowed through his arms into the blade, shaping wind edges along its length for added attack power.
The starlight power—suppressing constellations, learned from Sellon—infused it, making the sword gleam as if forged from light itself.
The combo of god-slaying blade and starlight exceeded even Ban Yu-won's vague imaginings. A bit more refinement, and it might permanently alter Requiem.
"Five! Five precious Prominence kin you have no right to touch, you lowly creature born of base blood!"
Flashy acceleration via flames.
Close.
Coming.
—Kwaak!
Ten scorch marks clawed across where he'd stood moments before.
Cleaving empty air, yet it tore with a wet rip, space warping briefly.
Flames lingered, rippling in the wake of the fire claws—a reminder that Crimson Flame was no mere fire, but true authority.
"Killing you won't even the score!"
Kwaang! This time, they collided.
Thankfully, he'd activated Herculean Strength just in time.
"Kuh...!"
"You!"
Ban Yu-won swung Requiem to cleave him, but the claws boasted not just destructive power, but durability too.
Even so, unable to ignore Requiem, the enemy's face twisted in agony at impact.
"This power... that sword of yours? Doesn't suit you!"
"That's why I wrecked your ship too, right? Would've been a shame otherwise."
"How dare you mouth off before an elder of the house!"
Charging with murderous intent, and now 'elder of the house'?
Ban Yu-won snorted derisively, swinging Requiem to shove the enemy back and sliding away himself.
He hadn't shown it, but the heavy impact from the clash—and the soul-searing heat—had nearly choked him to death.
Without the Crimson Flame in his body, without absorbing the concept from shattering that red moon earlier, his lungs might've cooked from this alone.
"And you're barely twenty."
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man—unable to gain the upper hand after one clash—flared fiery wings like Ban Yu-won's wind ones behind him, scowling deeper.
"Enduring my flames? Infuriating. Unacceptable. You weren't anywhere near this level not long ago—Kuh?!"
Aire's sniper shot struck right then.
Having retreated to safety via light beast in the interim, she'd condensed her mana into an indestructible ice bullet and fired.
His flame barrier blocked it, imperfectly; instinct drove him to swing his claws defensively before taking damage.
"—!"
Ban Yu-won seized the opening and charged.
His wind, god-slaying power, starlight—all fused into the peerless sword art Origin Sword, converging on one point.
Yet it couldn't kill him.
"Kr—Haa!"
An explosion like the flagship's erupted.
Without reading the conceptual flow via All-Reading Eyes, he'd have been caught and gravely wounded. But he'd escaped the flagship's blast unscathed; spreading his wings, he fled to safety.
"Right, that explosion from the flagship was protective too. To minimize greater losses."
"Guess we can't afford a long chat."
As the blast cleared, the man emerged annoyingly intact.
A wound scarred his chest from Origin Sword, but far from fatal.
His body's immense-depth Crimson Flame had guarded him like a living shield.
"Impressively fast and sharp, but lacking weight. Talent overflows, but time is short."
Only after tasting Ban Yu-won's strike did the man truly gauge him. Spreading his arms, he extended his claws' length and girth further.
He hadn't been going easy.
Ban Yu-won was simply too perceptive and nimble for his level, dodging as he pleased.
All thanks to All-Reading Eyes... and Ban Yu-won's unique martial art, Origin Sword.
"Definitely need to kill you now. Brother was right—no losses listening to him."
"Brother...?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Craton Prominence, Vice Patriarch of the Undying Flame House."
Vice Patriarch.
Hearing that explained his absurd level, but also made victory feel tantalizingly close, stirring Ban Yu-won's heart.
"Patriarch not coming himself?"
"No need for nobility to stir. The grand plan succeeds today regardless. If not for you."
Tch. Ban Yu-won clicked his tongue.
Craton would never grasp why.
"Should've ended sooner, simpler... You've delayed us greatly."
Kwaang! He blocked Aire's follow-up shot from behind far more easily, continuing.
His gaze swept the battlefield from ground to sky.
Fairy combat units airborne from the surface, beastkin, the golems Aire had left, Shati's demon legion, Asher's genuine dragon-riding soldiers—all intercepting Prominence and their dimensional mercenaries.
Thanks to Ban Yu-won and Aire half-destroying the flagship and crippling command, the enemy was in disarray. Yet their sheer strength held the line.
"Be honored you held me even briefly."
Craton raised both arms skyward. His already massive flame claws expanded massively, like ten laser pillars erupting.
Ban Yu-won hadn't seen anyone short of Union Academy's full professors generate that much energy.
"Leading rabble fairies this far? Commendable. But futile. Prominence flames, once risen, never die—they swell uncontrollably, devouring you all—!"
The laser pillars plunged vertically.
Not at Ban Yu-won, but at the magic circle hidden in the earth.
The Prominence legion—those bearing Crimson Flame—had seduced or coerced fairies into carving parts of the magic circle into their bodies. All were here.
And the activator? Craton Prominence, planner and mastermind of this scheme.
Ban Yu-won confirmed all key figures in position.
Some higher up, but all within the circle's range.
"The ritual begins now!"
Craton bellowed.
Mighty flames from his body flowed through the claws, igniting the magic circle.
Gathering the fairies' conceptual transmutation power for the universe's sole grand sacrifice—to elevate supreme Prominence to ultimate heights!
Ban Yu-won raised one hand.
The Changeling concept, extracted from the fairies used in the circle, rested in his palm.
Pre-arranged to harmonize with the circle, perfectly inverting its effect.
"Watch closely, fairies."
The final conceptual transmutation.
Was for them to become concepts themselves.
Snap—.
Ban Yu-won flicked his fingers.
The concept settled lightly over the planet-spanning magic circle, completing the ritual.
The moment every [Crimson Flame] bearer on Fairytale—save Ban Yu-won—offered themselves as sacrifice.