〈 Episode 326 〉 Turn the Table (4)
*
The fallen ancient kingdom, Arcadia.
The once-glorious kingdom that led humanity’s golden age was destroyed by a single human. No one could have imagined that a single human would bring forth a catastrophe that would swallow half the world.
Humans brought the disaster.
Humans created a false god.
The human who created a god that should not exist was dubbed the Braver (？人). Thus, the first Braver lost everything.
The Star was angry with him.
Since the Star was akin to the sky, the Braver incurred the wrath of the heavens. The Braver was stricken with divine punishment (？？).
The Braver lost their name.
By losing their name, they lost their form, and by losing their form, they could no longer possess a body. Those without names are not granted flesh.
An existence that cannot be called by name.
The soul that was shattered by the sword wielded by the First Hero, and the body that crumbled into pieces. However, the existence that never accepted death lurked in the deepest recesses of human history.
He was a prince, a princess, a king, and a treacherous minister who manipulated the king at will.
The Braver, who existed everywhere and nowhere, spent centuries in silence. It was a tedious and dull time, but the Braver harbored a single purpose. To achieve that goal, the Braver endured the monotonous life.
And now.
After centuries, the Braver takes their first step.
Tap, tap.
Footsteps echoed through the top floor of the dark magic tower. The Braver, borrowing a human body, walks. With every step, their form changes. The shadow-wrapped Braver was a dying old man, a boy just beginning life, and a young man all at once.
“How amusing.”
The Braver glances disdainfully at the body they borrowed.
It was the body of an old man. The old man firmly believed that he still had time left. However, that was merely the old man’s misconception.
It was just a game.
The Braver sought to relish in the despair that the girl, who realized that her father and teacher sacrificed himself for her, would feel. They intended to slip through the cracks of the despairing child’s heart and twist her.
‘But right now…’
It wouldn’t work.
She appeared to have already steeled herself.
“How unfortunate, how unfortunate.”
Now that he could not achieve that goal, there was no need to keep promises. The Braver clicked their tongue and changed direction.
“It seems I’ve interrupted, Ashen.”
Now, he could understand the feelings of the pitiful skeleton mage who scratched his skull while bemoaning the Ashen every day. With that thought, the Braver chuckled.
The newly acquired flesh was enticing.
The achievements that this old man had built during his lifetime were not insignificant. The knowledge amassed by a single human was devoured greedily by the Braver.
“It seems you held him in high regard?”
The Braver tilted their head back.
The Braver’s eyes glimmered with joy as they looked at the girl bound in shadow, Resti. Resti clenched her teeth and glared at the Braver.
“That chilling gaze reminds me of that elf. It seems all who bear the Ashen name have such eyes, huh?”
The Braver laughed.
As he laughed, he grabbed Resti’s chin. The glistening eyes of the Braver stared directly at Resti. Eyes that seemed ready to draw her in.
The madness nestled within those eyes whispered.
“The reason I chose this place among the many towers is precisely because of that Grand Magus.”
That damned Grand Magus.
Those detestable eyes.
With a torn smile, the Braver continued speaking.
“Here, in this magic tower he built, with the help of you Ashen Mages… I will once again achieve Yeocheon (？？).”
He released Resti’s chin.
Turning his back to Resti, he moved on.
As he walked, he clenched his hand in the air.
Thunk!
Shadows rippled, and something crawled out from within the shadows. It was a grotesquely twisted upper body of a human. Withering and shriveled, it still clung on to life. A being that could not die clawing at the air.
As if cursing something.
The moment Resti saw that, her eyes widened. Something she could not comprehend. Something that should not exist. Just facing it caused her eyes, nose, and mouth to bleed.
Drip, drip, as blood poured out, Resti’s consciousness dimmed. Her vision grew blurry as she heard the Braver’s whisper.
“Today, at this place, fate will be overturned.”
The table turns.
Fate crumbles.
The Braver spoke thus.
2.
At the top floor of the shadow-tainted tower.
Standing at the peak of the tower that bears the name Ashen, the Braver looked down at the ground beneath the broken window. What displayed in his vision was a world too peaceful.
Unlike the fear that engulfed the ancient times.
Compared to the era when countless heroes were born out of fear, the world now felt painfully dull.
‘In those times, many shone brightly.’
Also.
‘It was an era where all that light was lost.’
A time enveloped in madness.
The Braver longed for that chaotic era.
He reminisced about the time when countless humans were despairing and screaming.
The time to return to that era has come.
The Braver took his first step toward it.
Boom!
As the Braver stomped, the shadow that spread out swallowed the tower. Shadows from the highest floor coiled around the tower like roots.
“On the day the black pillar stands tall in the royal capital, a Guide shall appear to lead you.”
The moment to fulfill the prophecies scattered among numerous betrayers had arrived. The Braver shouted.
【Rise!】
The voice spread.
The seeds the Braver had sown began to sprout.
Outside the royal capital.
Below the royal capital.
Under the flowing waterways.
Numerous beings responded to the revelation.
The small distortions that had hidden within the royal capital for years arose all at once. Hundreds of betrayers, sorcerers who had screamed of the end, rose.
Bam, bam!
The ground shook.
Monsters burst forth from beneath the earth, and a path made from hundreds of humans was opened at this spot. The force of magic poured out.
The royal capital is engulfed in chaos.
As enjoyable as it is to merely witness this chaos, it was not enough. This level of madness could hardly be compared to the despair of the ancients. It was nothing but a distraction.
Crash!
The Braver discarded the twisted upper body he had been holding onto the ground. Then, with his foot on its back, he began to inscribe a circuit into the earth.
Ancient circuits were carved.
While carving the circuits, the Braver muttered joyfully.
“This is the second one.”
Each time a stroke was added to the circuit, the surrounding space twisted. Fate screamed. Muddied water gushed up frantically. The flowing muck overflowed down the outskirts of the tower.
From here on, it’s a race against time.
While inscribing the circuit, the Braver glanced back.
There stood a guest who had come from the cracks of the crumbling fate. The Braver smiled upon seeing them.
“You arrived right on time.”
The ancient magician who had lived for centuries.
One who shared the same goal as him.
With a disdainful look, the Braver addressed the ancient lich, Skebal.
“Do you know your role?”
『I do.』
“Can you do it?”
In response to that question, Skebal silently flared his robe. The sight of the robe made of molten iron plastered with mud caused the Braver’s smile to widen.
“Looks like you’ve sharpened your teeth, huh, Skebal?”
Skebal did not reply to the Braver’s laughter.
The ancient magician who had lived for centuries floated through the shattered window. Skebal did not forget the role assigned to him. He spread his arms wide in the air.
『Today, at this place.』
As Skebal spread his arms, the monsters bursting forth from the ground halted in unison. The knights who had jumped into the fray to stop them also stopped, looking up at the sky.
What floated in the sky was the ancient lich.
One of the four calamities.
In the heart of the capital, humanity was filled with dread in face of the disaster. The monsters rejoiced at the appearance of their sovereign. Amidst the panic and delight, Skebal slowly descended to the ground.
He had a role to fulfill.
Until the Braver completes the spell, he would eliminate all obstacles reaching this place. That was the role Skebal had taken upon himself. To fulfill that role, he had to face a certain being.
One who would rush in here.
The biggest variable in this operation.
『I will kill the Ashen.』
To eliminate that variable, Skebal opened his eyes.
His dark blue pupils glinted sinisterly.
3.
The royal capital was engulfed in chaos.
The city center was in turmoil due to the monsters surging from everywhere and the betrayers emerging. On top of that, a calamity was floating above in the sky. Although Skebal was tracing circuits in midair, there were no knights present who could hinder him.
But they couldn’t just stand back and watch.
The assembled knights began to do what they could. They held the line until someone who could resolve this calamity arrived, minimizing damage. For that reason, the knights moved.
“Block it!”
They attempted to hold back the surging monsters, eliminating the sorcerers and sorceresses that were bending the numbers one by one.
“Hold the line! Keep your formation!”
“Help the knights!”
There were those who assisted them.
The mages from the Black Tower emerged, aiding the knights. They slowly began to suppress the rampaging forces, but there was no end in sight.
They kept pouring out.
The crazed betrayers darting through were not beings the knights could easily stop. As several knights rushed in to pin down a single betrayer, casualties occurred.
Screams echoed.
The stench of the rampaging monsters filled the air.
The smell of blood wafted.
Though the knights gritted their teeth to hold back the monsters, they were gradually pushed back by the endlessly surging forces. Just as the formation threatened to break apart.
Rustle.
Suddenly, flakes of ash began to swirl above the monsters.
Snow has no place in the middle of summer. As the knights blinked in confusion at this bizarre phenomenon, a keen-eyed knight pointed at the swirling flakes, shouting.
“It’s not snow, it’s ash….”
Before that sentence could be completed, the ash flakes swirling above the monsters erupted into a blinding flash. A momentary burst of light swept through the area, followed closely by a deafening roar.
BOOOOM!
The monsters caught in the explosion vanished without a trace.
With the heat remaining, mirage-like smoke rose. As that smoke was brushed aside, someone stepped forward.
Tap, tap.
As the smoke cleared, it revealed a woman with Ashen hair flowing. No knight knew her name.
The heir of the Ashen Mage.
The Guide, Rania van Trias.
She walks straight ahead.
The knights parted silently. She created a path through them. Following the path the knights opened, she walked toward the Ashen Tower.
She walked straight toward the calamity.
As the knights watched her from behind, they brandished their swords against the surging monsters again. A hero was moving to halt the disaster. If so, then they too must fulfill their given roles.
With the hero’s arrival, the knights’ morale soared.
*
Walking through the chaotic royal capital, Raniel’s expression hardened.
The event had erupted even faster and on a grander scale than she had anticipated. With every step she took, ashes danced wildly around her.
She had misjudged and miscalculated.
She would have to take responsibility for that.
After walking for a while, she停 at the foot of the Ashen Tower. She paused, raising her head.
“Ha… seriously…”
Raniel chuckled bitterly.
“Is it you again? I might just get fond of you at this rate.”
『······.』
Skebal silently clapped his hands together.
Hundreds of circuits shone in the air. As the circuits built by the ancient lich glimmered brightly, Raniel’s expression remained unchanged.
Skebal looked down at Raniel.
The Ashen Mage.
The detestable Ashen who had repeatedly thwarted his plans. A sorceress who had only lived a meager amount of time compared to him yet had humbled him over and over. Skebal savored her name.
Raniel van Trias.
Skebal felt anger toward the Ashen Mage.
At that anger, a sense of fear gripped him.
The sorceress who never fell, never died, and never gave up was now to the point where Skebal feared her. He hadn’t recognized that fear until now, but…
『I acknowledge it.』
At this moment, Skebal recognized his fear.
He stretched his arms wide.
『Because I acknowledge it, I will do my best to stop you.』
The voice of the ancient lich echoed.
『I will kill you here, Ashen.』
Under the hero who seems to be willing to burn himself alive, Raniel brushed away the tears from her eyes.
“Kill me?”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“You? Me?”
Not in fear, but in mockery.
“Do you really think you can do that?”
With a scoff, Raniel stepped forward. The swirling ash enveloped the area.
*
