The chancellor let out a deep sigh.
“Haa…”
The chancellor, who had sighed deeply, pressed his temples that were throbbing with a headache.
“Perhaps stress can kill a person more easily than old age…”
“…So, what exactly happened?”
“Non-elemental basic attack-”
“No, no, just use the old language. It’s more intuitive and easier that way.”
“I sent three students flying with a Power Wave.”
“What happened to the students who flew away?”
“All of them have bruised tails and waists. One who landed badly has a mild concussion.”
“Concussion…”
With a troubled mind, the chancellor paused mid-sentence and let out another deep sigh.
‘Maybe I’ve sighed more recently than all my sighs before. Is it just me?’
While thinking this, the chancellor’s gaze fell on the two people sitting opposite him.
One was Arthur, who was drenched in cold sweat.
The other was Professor Laycard, who had brought Arthur.
“…Professor Laycard, you may leave.”
“Huh? But…”
Laycard, who was about to argue, closed his mouth upon meeting the chancellor’s stern gaze.
Quietly standing up, he bowed to the chancellor and exited the office.
As the door closed, the chancellor’s office was left with only the two of them.
A heavy silence filled the room.
It was the chancellor who broke the silence.
“Have a cup of tea.”
At the chancellor’s gesture, a teacup flew over.
Arthur, holding the warm teacup hesitantly, began to speak.
“Uh, Chancellor, it’s that-”
“How did you use magic?”
“Using black magic…”
“Indeed, if it’s black magic, it’s quite a plausible occurrence.”
The chancellor looked at Arthur, who was slumping his shoulders in resignation.
Already thin, Arthur looked even more fragile now.
“…Lift your head. I don’t intend to scold you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Obviously, those guys must have provoked you first. You’re not the type to instigate trouble.”
It was definitely the result of someone aggravating Arthur’s already sensitive nerves due to Lily’s absence.
The only concerning part was that the two were from noble families…
‘Well, I can always use Recall Magic to obtain evidence.’
“By the way, black magic… where exactly did you learn it?”
“From the Necronomicon.”
“Oh, I see. So that’s what it was.”
Arthur glanced at the chancellor nervously.
In the magical empire, and in fact, across the entire continent, black magic’s reputation was at rock bottom.
Most black mages used human life force as a sacrifice, naturally leading to mass slaughters.
So Arthur naturally thought the chancellor would disapprove…
But to his surprise, the chancellor’s reaction was surprisingly calm.
Upon seeing Arthur’s expression, the chancellor chuckled slightly.
“Why, did you think I would criticize you for using black magic?”
“To be honest… yes, I did.”
“I don’t specifically consider black magic itself to be problematic. In fact, I think it’s quite capable.”
“Uh… really?”
“That doesn’t mean I advocate mass murders. I only believe in giving legitimate strength to those who are powerless.”
“Does that mean power itself has no inherent good or evil?”
“That’s correct. The important thing is the person wielding it. You’re not the type to harm others.”
The chancellor, lifting his teacup, asked.
“So, what did you use as the sacrifice?”
“My life force.”
“PUH!”
The chancellor, who had been taking a sip, sprayed the tea all over in astonishment.
Though he thought Arthur wouldn’t harm others, never did he expect him to use his own life force…
At most, he thought Arthur might have shed some blood, but nothing more.
Forgetting about the spilled tea, the chancellor raised his voice.
“You don’t have a lot of life force-”
In the middle of preparing a lecture about the importance of life force, the chancellor suddenly recalled something Lily had mentioned.
“Golden Honey Mead.”
“She’s been giving it to me diluted every meal.”
The chancellor, clearing away the spilled tea with a magic sweep, nodded to himself.
‘Ah, with Golden Honey Mead, it might not be entirely impossible…’
“Do you know about Golden Honey Mead?”
“Huh? How does the Chancellor know about that-”
“Lily mentioned it. Anyway, do you still have some left?”
“I had a cup this morning before coming here…”
“Of course, you left some behind. There’s no problem then. Golden Honey Mead is an excellent remedy for restoring life force.”
With it, Arthur might even have an excess of life force since he won’t need to give any to Lily after every meal.
“Now, what we need to think about is-”
Anticipating the chancellor’s words, Arthur interrupted.
“Quantification. Even if recovery is fast, using too much at once isn’t good.”
“Exactly, therefore, knowing the total amount of your life force will be necessary.”
Upon hearing the chancellor say the same thing he was thinking, Arthur realized his thoughts weren’t wrong.
And he also remembered that the person in front of him was a great mage who had lived for hundreds of years.
“By the way, Chancellor, do you know any magic to measure the amount of life force?”
At Arthur’s query,
“Of course. It’s simpler than you’d think.”
“……Really?”
Arthur, who had asked out of curiosity, was surprised by the unexpected answer and stared blankly.
Then slowly, his expression brightened.
‘That’s right, a great mage!’
Though he had been confused after seeing Lily mostly break things recently, the person in front of him was someone who had earned the titles of Sage and Great Mage through hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge and remarkable magical prowess.
Seeing the admiration rising in Arthur’s eyes, the corner of the chancellor’s mouth twitched.
“Hem, would you like to see it?”
“Yes, what kind of method is it?”
“It’s a magic that shows life force as light. There should be a small glow around the chest area.”
Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but recall a previous incident.
The brilliant, somehow familiar light that had flowed from the chest.
Lily had said it was due to an excess of life force.
‘Could this magic make the door Lily sealed open?’
If that’s the case, without Lily to absorb his life force now, he wouldn’t even be able to walk around outside.
“Uh, Chancellor, does this magic directly draw out life force?”
“No. It just visually shows the life force that is currently at rest. It’s kind of similar to dyeing.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, Arthur looked at the chancellor.
“What should I do?”
With merely a flick of his fingers, the chancellor transformed the chair Arthur was sitting on into a flat bed-like surface.
“Lie down for a moment.”
Doing as told, Arthur lay down as the chancellor placed his hand on his chest.
“When I activate the magic, you should see light emanating from your chest. It might seem smaller than you expect… but with the Golden Honey Mead, it shouldn’t be too small. Let’s take a look.”
As the chancellor summoned mana and activated the magic, Arthur felt a warm sensation seep into his chest.
“This is my mana. Don’t resist and accept it.”
As Arthur relaxed and waited, after a while,
“Take a look.”
As the chancellor removed his hand, a brilliant light emanated from Arthur’s chest.
“…”
At this sight, the chancellor tilted his head in confusion.
‘Clearly, it should appear as a subtle glow. Why is it so intense?’
Contrary to the chancellor’s bewilderment, Arthur felt a sense of familiarity.
It was the same brilliant, warm light he had felt the last time.
“Alright, this is your life force. It’s smaller than you might expect-”
The chancellor couldn’t help but stop mid-sentence.
Because,
Whoosh-
The light that had begun from Arthur’s chest started to spread.
The brilliant light overflowed from the chest and spread to the limbs.
In a flash, it reached the tips of the fingers and toes.
“What… is this…”
Cold sweat broke out on the chancellor’s forehead.
Not only was the light intense, but it was spreading to the limbs?
‘Even I, who consumed the Great Old One’s slime, couldn’t fill my chest completely. So what about this kid…?’
With no further place to spread, the light began to ascend toward his neck.
Past the jawline, it illuminated his face and finally reached the tips of his hair-
Whoosh!
A strange vibration erupted from Arthur’s body.
“What… what is this?!”
Each time the vibration resonated with the air, the light grew even more intense.
Whoosh!
The light grew so bright it was almost impossible to look at directly.
With the room completely filled with light, the chancellor tightly shut his eyes.
“Damn it, what is this?!”
Just as the chancellor, cursing under his breath, was about to cancel the magic,
BOOM!
A massive tremor shook the entire room.
Thrown off balance, the chancellor fell to the ground as screams could be heard.
“Ah! Earthquake!”
BOOM!
BOOM!
Realizing the tremor was occurring simultaneously with the vibration, the chancellor promptly canceled the magic.
Whoosh…
As the chancellor canceled the magic, the light and vibration gradually subsided.
As the vibration weakened, the tremors naturally faded away as well.
Once the light dimmed enough to be tolerable, the chancellor slowly opened his eyes.
Approaching the window, he saw…
“…Hmm.”
The academy grounds were completely in disarray.
Panic-stricken students were running towards the large training grounds, and the floors, which the chancellor had painstakingly fortified with various magic enchantments to ensure an absolute durability, were now cracked.
“Exactly what is this…”
Following the cause, the chancellor’s gaze landed on Arthur.
Arthur, who emitted a faint glow from his entire body, was clearly not in a normal state.
And with his eyes tightly shut, he seemed to have passed out.
“Arthur! Arthur! Wake up!”
Shaking his shoulder, Arthur slowly opened his lids.
“Umm…”
The chancellor, upon meeting Arthur’s eyes, muttered quietly.
“What the hell…”
The chancellor noticed that Arthur’s eyes were filled with brilliant light.
—
Elsewhere…
Dark, and darker still.
An endless abyss of darkness consumed the space.
It felt as if an abyss lay wherever one looked, and an unsettling sensation that someone was watching pervaded the area.
This was truly a space worthy of its name, the “Absolute Abyss,” ominous to the extreme.
A place where ordinary beings could neither reach nor survive without going insane.
Yet, in this space, intangible entities filled the void.
Massive entities that emanated immense presence.
Had a human entered this space, they would have been crushed under the overwhelming pressure.
In this place, one of the few entities with physical form existed.
Among them, a woman biting her crimson lips, reading the thoughts swirling around the space.
Lilith awaited anxiously for the meeting to conclude as quickly as possible.
However,
BOOM!
The powerful vibration resonating through the darkness immediately dispersed the thoughts that had filled the space.
Though invisible, the gaze of countless entities converged on one point.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The center of the Absolute Abyss.
A throne, bizarre and beautiful beyond human comprehension,
The Throne of Chaos, was vibrating.
BOOM!
BOOM!
At that moment, a presence’s thought echoed in the meeting hall.
“-Ah, Father…?”
This triggered a flurry of thoughts from all directions.
In the midst of the chaos, Lilith’s head turned.
The faint vibration felt along with the tremors seemed familiar to her.
‘…Arthur?’
