< 83. Confrontation and Declaration (1) >
*
The night sky, noble under the moonlight, began to crack. At first, it was just a small fissure, but soon it spread like a spider’s web. The moonlight split into two streams, refracting subtly as if shattered glass had been placed over a painting.
– Whoosh…
The wind howled. The citizens of the city sensed the anomaly when the streets and the sky began to glow brightly. The light refracted and scattered, burning white as if a polar day had occurred.
– Rumble…
It was no ordinary event, so the citizens gathered in small groups on the streets, gazing at the sky. The light in the sky twisted and spread like a child playing with paint.
“Waaah…”
– Bark! Bark!
The citizens whispered quietly as they watched the sky. The cries of frightened children and the howls of small animals, more sensitive than humans, filled the city.
Everyone instinctively felt it now. Something, something was coming. Like the warm smell of rain before a typhoon hits. Something akin to a natural disaster was descending upon the city.
*
Fernandez stared at the remains radiating deathly magic, falling silent for a moment. The magic was so powerful that even the magic stones emitting a dark green light began to fade.
The remains, still seated, looked down at Fernandez. Blue flames flickered.
[I sense a familiar energy. No, a complex one. Petitioner, are you acquainted with the fifth pillar?]
“Paphtet is dead.”
– Swoosh.
Fernandez raised his greatsword, pointing it at the remains.
[You cannot kill the dead again. Paphtet, that young wraith, disappeared uselessly, as expected.]
The remains’ eyes turned to Fernandez’s sword. Slowly, the remains stood up, towering a head taller than Fernandez.
[I sense more than just that incompetent one. Interesting.]
A battle was inevitable. Until he could gauge the enemy’s strength, he needed to temporarily evacuate Kirhas and Abel. Fernandez whispered to Sadia.
“Sadia. My comrades should be at the pyramid’s entrance now…”
Before he could finish, Fernandez’s head jerked up. Beyond the deep underground, filled with magic stones and the powerful presence of the conclave wraith, he faintly sensed a stirring magical presence in the distant sky.
Fernandez’s eyes glowed a deep blue. Amid the swirling magic currents inside the pyramid, he felt an alien energy.
If it could be felt here, then above ground… Fernandez chuckled. The metallic resonance of the Empire’s Destruction Magic Academy. That’s what he sensed now.
Countless pieces of information tangled in his mind, then neatly stacked and organized.
‘It was a trap.’
– Iron Side’s goal wasn’t just to seal the Necropolis.
‘Unsealing the Necropolis and disrupting the rear… Not a bad plan. If they wreak havoc behind the frontlines, it would be effective.’
– Except they didn’t account for variables.
Faijashi looked at the sky with a twisted smile. Fernandez followed with a faint smile.
‘Right. Except for not accounting for us, it’s a decent plan.’
If the Legion of the Necropolis appeared behind the frontlines, Kirzat would face a two-front war in an instant. If they advanced during that gap, the Empire’s offensive would be unstoppable.
Iron Side’s plan was to set the stage for the unsealed Necropolis to run rampant. A clean, calculated move.
Except for the idea of using Fernandez as a sacrificial pawn. A brilliant strategy.
“Sadia, take my comrades and evacuate now.”
“…Understood.”
Sadia swallowed as she watched Fernandez reading the flow of magic. She couldn’t sense anything beyond the remains’ Pharaoh-like magic, but Fernandez’s gaze was fixed on something beyond.
Under the strange pressure, she answered without thinking and quickly ran off. As she disappeared, Fernandez turned his attention to the remains waiting quietly before him.
[Finished with your antics?]
“I propose a truce, Conclave.”
[Oh?]
The remains shrugged, intrigued. The artifacts around him swayed with his movement.
[You propose to me… Bold. I like it. But it’s impossible.]
The artifacts floating near the remains drew strange patterns in the air. The remains’ blue flames flickered as he chuckled. His skeletal fingers twisted, carving a beastman into the air.
[I am Altarak, King of Mahras. Who dares propose to me? Who dares not answer my summons? Mortal, petitioner. Do you have the standing to negotiate with me?]
– Whoosh!!
An overwhelming pressure bound Fernandez’s limbs. It was a magic that invoked the fear of death and the instinctive desire for life. Fernandez stood still, sword in hand, and sighed. A peaceful truce was out of the question.
“Standing.”
Conclave, Conclave… Fine. Even if it takes a detour. Fernandez twisted the tip of his sword under the electrifying pressure. A torrent of magic flowed through the blade, wrapping around his forearm. His left hand, turned behind his back, slowly traced a beastman.
The gazes of the two mages crossed. Each…
The era had already passed, but as a strongman who once ruled this world. If each has their own purpose, just take it by force!
“Let’s discuss.”
With those words, Fernandez and Altarak’s beastman simultaneously drew their weapons in the air.
*
– Kugugugung!!
Right after Sadia fled the stone chamber like escaping, the vibrations erupting from inside the chamber shook the pyramid. She suppressed the urge to look back and ran down the corridor.
Why did she tell me to run? The Necropolis Conclave, five priests from the forgotten legends of the Empire of Ashit era. Shouldn’t we join forces to face such strong opponents?
‘Or am I just a burden…?’
She wasn’t the type of combatant active on the front lines. More like an administrative staff handling dirty work the Sultan couldn’t directly touch – behind-the-scenes manipulation, assassination contracts, sabotage, intelligence gathering, and public opinion manipulation… But, but.
As a sufficiently trained mage, as a long-serving Shaksisi agent. It was a blow to her pride. She bit her lip.
– Kugugugung!!!
“Ah!!”
She stumbled from the intense shockwave that hit her from behind and rolled. Her knees were scraped and bleeding. It seemed she had sprained her foot. Clutching her throbbing ankle, she frowned.
‘Am I this incompetent?’
She had never belittled herself since joining Shaksisi. Even if she couldn’t achieve glorious feats like the Immortal Battalion, she was the Sultan’s sword. The Sultan’s sword! As she slowly tried to get up, she noticed a shadow right in front of her.
“Are you okay?”
A clear voice was heard. Lifting her head, she saw beautiful turquoise eyes. It was the young beastman attendant of that young knight.
“…Your master has a message.”
“Speak.”
From behind the beastman, a voice like a song was heard. A strange, very old-fashioned accent. Soon, dazzling golden hair filled Sadia’s vision. A pale finger appeared before her eyes.
“First, get up.”
Cold, delicate fingers grasped Sadia’s hand. Soon, a strong force lifted her up. In her confusion, she staggered and looked at the person who had lifted her.
Beautiful blue eyes, a pale chin, and soft golden hair spread out like a sunset wheat field… A very static, classical beauty, as if from a child’s picture book.
“Now, child. Deliver the message.”
“Are you Albert’s companion?”
“Companion? Hmm. Not yet. Just a companion for now.”
The woman smiled with a subtle expression.
“Call me Abel.”
“I’m Sadia Amal… Ah, this isn’t the time. We need to leave here right now!”
At her words, Abel glanced down the long corridor towards the stone chamber where Fernandez was. The vibrations shaking the pyramid, the thick magic swirling in the air. A killing intent.
Abel soon shook her head with a soft smile.
“How could I do that again.”
“…?”
“No, isn’t that right, Kirhas?”
“Yes, Abel. We can’t do that twice.”
Even the beastman girl, whom Sadia had thought was just young, nodded with a smile. They passed by Sadia and headed into the corridor.
Into the deathly aura scattered by the Conclave. Into where Sadia had fled as if enchanted. As if they had no fear of death.
‘Do they not know what death is?’
That can’t be. Those who haven’t faced death’s crisis couldn’t step into this ruin’s entrance. Sadia blankly watched them walk into the corridor where explosions rained down.
*
‘Faijashi, tell me the remaining power of the Bronze Throne.’
-Do I look like your assistant?
Faijashi grumbled but dutifully extended three fingers. Fernandez glanced at Faijashi’s fingers as he completed the spell.
Black magic swirled around Altarak’s body. A spell from the Empire of Ashit era, something he couldn’t comprehend—
All roads lead to one. The myriad returns to one? No, rather call it convergent evolution. And as the mage standing at the end of that convergence, Fernandez skillfully grasped the spell’s pulse.
Altarak’s first beastman was destruction, gathering, binding. Almost simultaneously, he had grasped three beastmen, and even the dignity of manipulating such magic without losing finesse. He was an outstanding mage.
So, treat him accordingly. Fernandez’s lips twisted into a smile. How desperately he had longed for such a high-level magic battle.
This sense of omnipotence.
‘Ah, good.’
The opposite of destruction is creation. Gathering is distorted, and binding, well. The reverse of binding is still binding. Fernandez’s beastman quickly formed and dissolved.
Like a surgeon’s scalpel. Without a single error, yet without a single hesitation.
Perfectly timed, without losing the rhythm.
[You kept up with my speed…?]
“Now it’s your turn to keep up.”
The duels of renowned swordsmen are not flashy. Flashy swordplay is for amateurs. True swordsmen read their opponent’s moves, counter them, and simultaneously prepare for the next counter, and the next.
Similarly, battles between mages follow the same pattern. They observe the opponent’s beastmen, predict the magic, and prepare counter-magic. Like a swordsman’s counter, they track the precise spell counting with their eyes, sometimes sensing it with magic.
Thus, Fernandez and Altarak couldn’t manifest any magic. Whenever one prepared a spell, the other prepared a counter-spell. Both sides’ magic was neutralized before it could form.
A battle requiring reflexes, magic sensitivity, and an innate sense for magic battles.
Regarding that ambiguous ‘sense,’ Fernandez. No, in his prime, Faijashi had never lost.
[This guy!]
Altarak groaned. Fernandez, who had only been countering his magic until now, began to form a beastman he had never seen before. He had lost the initiative!
-Two left, Fernandez.
‘Enough.’
He had used one of the three chances granted by the Bronze Throne to neutralize Altarak’s magic. Fernandez whispered without stopping his hands.
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