Chapter 150
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 150
The earth beneath Jenath's feet surged upward in a massive arc toward the sky. This was unmistakably magic.
"Your Grace! Your Grace, are you—!"
I looked around frantically for Rujeep, but fortunately Yuanna and Anata had already retrieved him from the ground where he lay collapsed.
"Margaret!"
Kaiden had cast magic. I hadn't even channeled my mana to him separately.
I watched as brilliant yellow sparks crackled like lightning from Enoch's blade, my eyes widening in shock.
'Ah. So the sealed mana has finally been released.'
Only then did Jenath's earlier words make sense to me. Why he had taken on the appearance of an adult.
"You're only just realizing it now? The sealed mana has been unlocked. This Island's structure is all organically connected, you see. Since the Monster's progenitor was born within the Island, it became one of the components comprising it."
Jenath continued his explanation in an excited, almost gleeful tone, as though recounting an amusing tale.
"When one of those interconnected structural components disappeared, it created a fracture in the rules of the Island that my sister and I worked so hard to establish. Isn't that fascinating?"
'What...?'
Could that be why he had instructed me to eliminate the Monster's progenitor?
So I had been dancing in the palm of Jenath's hand all this time.
I had suspected he harbored ulterior motives from the moment he told me how to kill the Monster's progenitor. But to think it was actually true.
Right. From the beginning, this was a conversation between the experimenter and the subject. We, the subjects, were fundamentally at a disadvantage.
While I was absorbed in these thoughts, Jenath suddenly leaped skyward again.
A magical circle materialized a fraction too late where we had been standing, and the earth erupted in a violent explosion.
Boom!
"Put Margaret down."
Kaiden approached from a distance, his silver hair whipping violently in the fierce gale. Jenath, observing him with an expression of amusement, spoke.
"If you come at me like that, Margaret will get hurt. Is it enough if I simply return Margaret to you, regardless of her condition?"
Only then did Kaiden's gaze, fixed upon me, waver with a sharp, piercing intensity.
Seeing that reaction, Jenath burst into laughter. I seized the moment to struggle free from his embrace.
He looked down at me and sighed. In that same instant, something like a pristine white rope materialized and bound my body tightly. Damn it!
Jenath observed me as though I were some curious organism, then posed a question.
"I wanted to have a proper conversation with you in my true form, but circumstances don't seem favorable. Shall we step away from the others for a moment?"
It was like some outdated senior at a university retreat hitting on a junior with archaic pickup lines. Absolutely ridiculous.
I attempted to attack him using mana as Asdal had taught me, but it proved futile. Right—I could never be his match.
I hadn't survived this long just to meet such a pathetic end.
Jenath created a magical circle beneath his feet, one that radiated such overwhelming power that no one could possibly pass through it.
Those standing at a distance seemed to be calling out to me desperately, but there was nothing I could do.
'No, was there ever anything I could have done in the first place?'
With a grand sorcerer of Jenath's caliber now possessing mana, it would be difficult for the others to rescue me.
But since I had successfully rescued Anata, they would surely find a way to escape.
'I was prepared for this. There's no reason it has to be me who escapes the Island.'
And so I was abducted by Jenath, along with Silver Earthworm.
* * *
Langrid Empire, Flone Duke's Mansion.
Rosemary, the youngest of the Floné Duchy, had been bustling about since morning.
Someone who seemed to know something about the disappearance of her beloved second sister, Margaret, was visiting the mansion early in the morning.
Rosemary dressed in her guest-receiving gown and glanced at Baila, who had been Margaret's dedicated maid until last year.
"Baila, you said this person is from the Biltheim Family?"
Baila nodded calmly in response to Rosemary's question.
"Yes, they should be arriving soon. Innis is waiting—shall we head there now?"
My eldest sister was always so diligent.
Rosemary nodded vigorously, opened the door, and stepped out. Then she moved with hurried, quick steps.
If it looked like I was running, Innis would surely scold me, so running was out of the question.
While moving hastily with such thoughts, it happened.
Flash! A deafening boom!
Rosemary stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor and peered out the window.
Dozens of lightning bolts split the sky above in a fierce descent, looking almost like divine punishment. She had never seen anything like it.
In a world already turbulent enough, now even the heavens seemed ominous.
"That doesn't look like ordinary thunder and lightning."
Baila answered quietly to Rosemary's murmur.
"After the Seven Missing Persons incident, a world war erupted... The world is in such turmoil. I'm starting to wonder if the entire continent will truly perish."
The Seven Missing Persons incident.
Crown Prince Asdal of the Hestia Kingdom and Crown Prince Enoch of the Langrid Empire. The disappearance of the heirs to lead two powerful nations had thrown the world into great chaos.
Moreover, the Holy Maiden who appeared for the first time in a hundred years and the Tower Masters of the Langrid Empire—all the key figures vanished on the same day and hour. Political conspiracy was widely suspected, but there was no evidence.
The absence of such powerful heirs caused shifts in political forces, and conflicts arising from the movements of the Temple and the Tower of Magic continued, eventually leading to continental war.
War typically requires long periods of preparation and must go through various diplomatic procedures like ultimatums, yet all nations skipped such processes as if they had been waiting and launched fierce battles.
It was a war started by hyenas eyeing the void, seeking to carve out their own place.
Until the missing returned, or their remains were found, or the truth of the incident was properly revealed, there seemed to be no end to this chaotic era.
Boom! A deafening crash!
At the loud thunder that rang out again, Rosemary flinched and hunched her shoulders.
"Look there. The world might actually be perishing."
Rosemary pointed out the window. Suddenly, the shape of the clouds in the sky looked strange—as if the world itself were developing cracks.
Could a dimensional rift be opening? With such an absurd thought, Rosemary bit her lower lip hard.
The end times. The world might truly be heading toward destruction.
"I don't care if the world perishes—I just want to see Margaret's face one more time."
Because they shared similar temperaments and neither would yield, Margaret and I never had a day without quarreling.
But such arguments were only possible because of the assumption that Margaret would always be by my side. If I had known she would disappear from my life so suddenly without warning, I would have been kinder to her.
Rosemary's throat tightened, she pressed her lips shut, and swallowed her tears. After a long moment, she spoke to Baila with a face full of grim resolve.
"Let's go. Innis will be waiting."
I will find my second sister. I absolutely will.
* * *
"What are you?" Kaiden cursed.
Kaiden quickly activated the magic circle, but the manifestation failed. The magic unraveled immediately.
The earring burned hot enough to be unbearable. The roiling magical power that had been churning loudly was scattered by the strange wavelength emanating from the earring.
Swept up by the violent force tearing through his insides, Kaiden coughed up blood in a violent heave.
Hack, hack.
Kaiden collapsed onto the floor, spitting out a clot of blood, then drew a deep breath.
Before him, a pair of pristine white shoes—clearly belonging to an adult man—stood imposingly.
"You've endured quite a lot."
Though the voice sounded almost encouraging toward the fallen man, it dripped with unmistakable ennui.
Kaiden fought desperately to hold onto his consciousness. He couldn't afford to lose himself so pathetically.
With bloodshot eyes and gritted teeth, he forced his head up. He thought it would be better to tear off his entire ear than to remove the earring—but even that was beyond him.
Yet even that proved impossible, as the magical force repelled his hand before he could act.
"What the hell are you pulling on me?"
"Hmm. You withstood that power? More impressive than I expected. Our descendant has grown quite splendidly."
Jenath's admiration left Kaiden without even the strength to curse back.
Kaiden finally collapsed to the floor.
As if he'd been waiting for this moment, Jenath pressed his shoulder down with his foot and smiled with arrogant satisfaction.
"To create a body that could survive a thousand years without sustenance and never age with the passage of time, I even dabbled in dark magic. The price was that my body became too frail to contain far greater magical power than I possess now. That's why I needed a young body with hot blood like yours."
Jenath methodically examined Kaiden's body from head to toe, as if appraising merchandise.
"Among the bloodline of the Rohade Family, there was no child whose compatibility with me matched yours. The quantity of magical power, the ability to digest it, a sturdy physique—could there be a more perfect vessel for my use?"
Jenath seized Kaiden by the collar and lifted him. He slowly lowered his head toward Kaiden.
Complex magical formulas began to swirl within Jenath's crimson eyes as he stared directly at Kaiden.
No! No!
Kaiden felt his entire body becoming paralyzed under Jenath's gaze.
He struggled desperately not to be dominated, but he had no way to resist someone who had spent centuries laying traps for this very moment.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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