Chapter 214 : Chapter 214
Chapter 214
The Four-Fiend General Karkarsso was known to have died 53 years ago.
Even I, a regressor, had never thought I would meet him.
“…Are you Karkarsso?”
“I was, once.”
Belrsasal smiled, distorting the black light behind his head.
“Now, I am Belrsasal. It seems I will be in the future as well. I've grown quite fond of this name.”
The name Karkarsso was fake anyway.
The old man cackled like a goat.
“Didn't you die 53 years ago?”
“Ah. I pretended to be dead. And I infiltrated the West. It was the Great Emperor's command.”
“……!!!”
Speaking of the Great Emperor, it could only be the Great Emperor Continua.
It was a name I had long forgotten, but one that sometimes surfaced to torment me.
I gnashed my teeth, thinking of my damnably great father.
One of Belrsasal's clones, Minister of Finance Adrak, asked carefully.
“Is it okay to say that, Belrsasal?”
“An all-out war is imminent anyway, Adrak.”
Belrsasal furrowed his wrinkled face.
“More importantly, you bastards, this is uncomfortable, so return to your original forms.”
As soon as his words fell, the clones changed their forms.
Every single one had the exact same face as Belrsasal.
The thousands in the crowd were terrified, seeing the thousand hairy old men who had suddenly appeared among them.
Belrsasal let out a cheerful voice.
“Oh, Your Majesty.”
Belrsasal is the Prime Minister of Schmeizen, Minister of Justice, and Chief Secretary.
He is the man who deceived the queen for 14 years, claiming his clone was Yulan.
He was once one of the Ten Great Generals of the Cordis Empire, the Four-Fiend General Karkarsso.
“Aida, my cute Aida!”
His voice was benevolent.
“Why did you do this? Why did you hold such a useless trial?”
He was like a grandfather addressing his granddaughter, and the Widow Queen seethed with rage.
How could he be so shameless and brazen?
Even while sensing her contempt, Belrsasal continued speaking.
”Do you truly not know why I went so far as to create a clone that looks just like you to try and drive those bastards out of this country?”
“…As I thought, the one who visited the prison for three whole days was all you.”
“Yes, it was all me. You bastards are a calamity. A mass of calamity forcing Aida to face her harsh destiny!”
I was so dumbfounded I lost my words.
Belrsasal just looked at the Widow Queen.
“It was all for you. If you had just remained a puppet, there would have been no reason to remove you. This country would have been peaceful.”
“…Shut that mouth, Minister.”
“Oh, I am not the Minister anymore. Thanks to you exposing my deception, I have no choice but to return to my original identity.”
The old man stroked his goat beard.
“It means I have no choice but to fulfill my duty as the Four-Fiend General appointed by the Great Emperor Continua.”
“…….”
Aida moved her hands instead of speaking.
The ground rose up and lunged at the minister.
But Belrsasal's black light crushed the ground, turning it back to dirt.
His attitude was one of finding it utterly ridiculous.
“Truthfully.”
Belrsasal's voice leaked out from within the pile of dirt.
“There was no need to reveal everything like this. I was in the West for 53 years, and I have many strategies and countermeasures you can't even imagine. Yes, in truth, it would have been wiser to stay hidden. But……”
Belrsasal gnashed his teeth.
“…My pride was thoroughly wounded by the name of that damned Hermai.”
The mage once called Karkarsso let out a furious roar.
His clones knelt as if in awe of his main body.
The crowd was seized by deep despair, and even the clouds trembled.
“Hermai Merhes!”
It was a shout close to a scream.
“While I was devoting my loyalty to the Great Emperor's command, that old man was just filling his own belly in the homeland! And then that bastard acts all high and mighty as if he's superior to me!”
A thick hatred struck my skin.
Belrsasal and Hermai are the only two Six-Star Mages in the Empire.
Their age, the time they became mages, and the time they reached six stars were all similar.
That is why he felt an inferiority complex.
There are many titles that adorn Hermai Merhes.
The Great Emperor's confidant, the Grand Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic, the administrator of the Succession War…….
Belrsasal wanted all of them, but they all went to Hermai.
Even though they are the same Six-Star Mages! He couldn't help but be furious. He couldn't help but be jealous.
“But as of today, I have completed the Great Emperor's command. Now is the time to prove that this Belrsasal is the greatest mage since Sen Sorti, no, even greater than Sen Sorti!”
“…Minister, Minister Belrsasal.”
“What is it?”
Among Belrsasal's clones was a middle-aged man.
It was the man he kept as his secretary.
The middle-aged man whispered softly.
“…There was a command from His Majesty. It would be best not to make things too big here……”
“Aha? What did he say?”
“That since an all-out war is imminent, you should first return to the homeland……”
The Widow Queen realized that Belrsasal's secretary was a Cordis spy.
I could even tell that the middle-aged man was the Deputy Director of the Cordis intelligence agency.
“…Yes, so the Emperor said that. Then I must return to the Empire. Though it is regrettable.”
“Yes. His Majesty will bestow a great reward.”
“But, you see……”
Belrsasal stroked his goat beard.
“When you say His Majesty, who are you referring to, Deputy Director?”
“…It is problematic for you to reveal my identity so publicly.”
“I've already revealed I am the Four-Fiend General, so what's the big deal about revealing you're the Deputy Director of the Cordis intelligence agency.”
Belrsasal snorted.
“More importantly, which His Majesty are you talking about?”
“…Of course, the great Ferbias……”
“Fe-rbias-?”
The old man who resembled a goat grimaced.
“Who would recognize that brat who thinks he's all that as Emperor?”
“……Pardon?”
“Deputy Director, remember this well. To me, there are only two Majesties. The great and mighty Great Emperor Continua, and my cute Aida, just these two!”
A magical light flashed from Belrsasal's hand.
“So a brat like Ferbias can go eat shit!”
A pyong sound was heard.
No, I really thought such a ridiculous sound was heard, and then the middle-aged man turned to dust.
The Deputy Director of the Cordis intelligence agency lost his life far too vainly for his position and became a pile of dust.
“Aida, this old man has thought about it for a long time.”
His voice was gentle.
He did not look like a man who had just turned a person to dust.
“I was in the West for 53 years by the Great Emperor's command. I can understand. He was always that kind of person.”
“…….”
“But the other Cordis bastards are just despicable. That brat Ferbias even seated another kid in the 4th seat of the Ten Great Generals, not even knowing it was my seat, did he?”
The old man clapped his hands with a smack.
“Then my loyalty ends here too. With the Great Emperor having retired, I have fulfilled my duty. Truthfully, I thought he would call for me when he retired, but to just keep me here!”
“…Then what, does that mean you'll become a real Schmeizen citizen and live here or something?”
“That wouldn't be so bad, but you all exposed my true identity, didn't you? Then I have no choice left.”
The old mage cackled.
A sinister aura dripped from his every action.
“I intended to live satisfied as a servant, but both masters I served abandoned me.”
He shook his head as if disappointed.
“What should I do with this feeling of betrayal and disappointment? Ah, how about I stop living foolishly now? How about I just take what I have in my hands and do what I want? Even an old man needs a deviation now and then.”
A black light flickered.
I felt a sense of déjà vu.
This Black Light was of the Underworld.
The real Yulan trembled, recalling the memories of his long confinement.
“Shion of Merion, you were like a heavenly revelation to me. You sealed the Underworld whole, without taking the remains of the ‘Black Light of the Abyss’, didn't you?”
“…That bastard was too dangerous. Even if made into an Ancient Weapon, it would have revived at any time.”
“Correct. The ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ is especially insidious and dangerous even among the Ancient Gods. That's why the Cordis Empire pushed it onto the West as a calamity instead of making it into an Ancient Weapon.”
Behind Belrsasal's head, six halos flickered.
Each one resembled an eye.
The sight of him wreathed in six blackly shining eyes was reminiscent of the Black Light of the Abyss.
“But you and the White Lord defeated that ‘Black Light of the Abyss’, and left the Underworld completely intact. Allowing a passerby to reap a windfall.”
“…I closed it again with the seal of the Eight Gods of Hotus?”
“Undoing the seal and taking the Underworld was not a difficult task.”
Anyone at the level of a Six-Star Mage can do it. I was at a loss for words.
‘…This is bad.’
I sensed an unexpected reality approaching.
This didn't happen before the regression.
Back then, Belrsasal lost his life to the White Lord and the Widow Queen.
Therefore, I thought that if Amethus, the Widow Queen, and I joined forces, we could easily overpower Belrsasal.
But before the regression, Belrsasal had never taken the power of the Underworld.
It was only natural, as Obro Denoebang didn't even know of the Underworld's existence.
The Six-Star Mage Belrsasal.
Added to that, the Ancient Weapon ‘Moon-Shadow Cranium’ and the spirits and remains of the Black Light trapped in the Underworld.
‘…This is the first time since the regression that a situation has been this unpredictable.’
The old mage, backed by the Underworld, laughed boisterously, completely elated.
His clones laughed along with him.
The crowd froze, and darkness fell thickly.
“Oh, finally a free body. Now, what should I do? What must I do for this old soul to find joy……”
Belrsasal chattered alone in the silence.
On his head, which had risen into the air at some point, goat-like horns were sprouting.
“Mm, yes, that's it, of course.”
Yes, that's it. Over a thousand clones nodded at the same time.
They gradually mashed into a single mass, then melted and returned to Belrsasal.
“I must prove that I am superior to Hermai Merhes. My pride won't allow me to fall behind such a hypocrite. So, how to prove it? What must I do so the whole continent knows I am a more outstanding mage than him?”
Should I kill tens of millions at once? Or collapse the Drako Great Mountain Range? Killing Emperor Ferbias would be nice too, but the Great Emperor would be displeased.
“Ah.”
The old man laughed like a goat.
No, his head had, at some point, become that of a goat.
“I just have to become a Seven-Star Mage.”
That's right, I have plenty of clones, I have the Underworld to offer as a sacrifice, I don't need to be bound by Cordis's affairs anymore…….
“I just have to become the King of Magic by sacrificing the Underworld and Schmeizen to an… outer being, greater than the Eight Gods and the Ancient Gods!”
***
“What?”
I raised my voice in bewilderment.
Belrsasal summoning an outer being was something I had never heard of or even imagined.
“Amethus!”
“Yes.”
I sensed that I shouldn't let him talk any longer.
A thick blood vein popped out on my neck.
It was the third Ars, ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’.
At the same time as I brought out the Iron Bloodline, Amethus flew up.
The Widow Queen also caught on and moved the ground.
She didn't forget to evacuate Yulan and the people.
“How annoying.”
Even while facing me, Amethus, and the Widow Queen at the same time, Belrsasal looked weary.
The mage with six halos blocked our attacks without difficulty.
“But Shion of Merion and the last Aretion. You are quite strong. If I didn't have the Underworld, I would have lost.”
“…….”
“Especially you, Amethus, you're surprising. Would you believe me if I said the Great Emperor also knows your name?”
A Fwe-hehehe- laughing sound was heard.
It was a sound Amethus and I had heard before.
[Hmm, so you are Karkarsso. A mage like an arrogant goat…….]
“Your resurrection is fast, ‘Black Light of the Abyss’.”
[Hmm, hmm, thanks to you infusing me with so much power, I was able to revive quickly.]
The Black Light of the Abyss, which had lost its life to Obro Denoebang, cackled nonchalantly as if such a thing had never happened.
The sky turned black, and six eyes appeared.
Sixty emaciated grips, six hundred serpents resembling centipedes that crawl on the backs of their hands instead of their palms. Six hundred sixty-six in all.
[I truly thought I was dead, but hmm, that drunkard swordsman is not here.]
The fact that Obro Denoebang was not here gave the resurrected ‘Black Light of the Abyss’ a sense of relief.
He began to stain reality with the Underworld without hesitation.
The Black Light of the Abyss distorted the black sky, that is, its own face, and looked at me and Amethus.
[Then shall I take out my anger on that swordsman's friends?]