Chapter 261 : Chapter 261
Chapter 261
Hermai Merhes felt simply wretched.
He was firmly believing that his adopted son and head disciple, Cornelius, had died.
No, in fact, there was no reason to doubt.
Cornelius was pushed by political strife and deployed on a dangerous mission in the West, and that mission failed spectacularly.
It failed so spectacularly that the Whale of Hobel Bay, Niko Nereyades, lost his life, and the Great Emperor's daughter, Santia Hostanio, went missing.
Niko died.
Santia went missing.
Yet Cornelius is alive?
It is a laughable sound.
It is nothing but a vain hope.
‘Still, if he were alive, then how good would that be…….’
The heart of a father chewing on his son's death cannot be expressed by mere bitterness.
Is a heart tearing something like this, even though I have lived a long time, suffering is always newly tormenting, how did this happen…….
It hurt so cuttingly that he could list such lamentations endlessly.
‘……That likely won't be the case.’
Hermai lifted his eyes to look at the sky.
The day is clear.
That is why it pierced him.
Wrinkles are crinkled around the old man’s eyes.
The exhaustion of life, which even a six-star mage could not prevent, permeated deeply into every furrow.
‘My son, my son Cornelius…. You have gone, so until when must I….’
Strictly speaking, it is Ferbias’s fault.
However, the fact that he had to follow his orders did not sit well with him.
Killing the innocent Secundus was equally unpleasant.
But what could he do?
Ferbias is the Emperor and Hermai is the subject.
The laws of the Millennium Empire are solemn.
‘Come to think of it, seven years ago… during the Succession War, that fellow Ferbias brainwashed Cornelius and caused an incident.’
Thinking of the Grand Convergence, anger surged anew.
Hermai Merhes flew up high.
If he followed his heart, he wanted to burn Ferbias to a crisp, but that was impossible.
Since he could not dare to burn the eldest son of Great Emperor Continua, he decided to pour out his emotions on the blameless Secundus.
Whether right or wrong, it meant he had decided to uphold the Emperor's will.
“This Hermai’s life is also truly….”
The old mage bestows mystery and miracles upon the world with a complicated heart.
“…Unfortunate, indeed.”
Magic of the six stars,
‘Great Thunderbolt of Reviving Blade Wheels’.
Lightning struck down.
Streak after streak of lightning struck down from the dry sky without a single dark cloud, becoming thousands of blades, and the blades spun round and round, becoming sharp wheels.
Thousands of lightning wheels cut sharply in all directions and rushed towards Secundus.
“Uwat!”
Even the Tamerarious Secundus could not help but scream.
He tried to block the lightning wheels flying towards him, then gave up and quickly threw his body.
No matter if he possessed a body uninjured by spears and swords, he would not be able to block Hermai’s great magic with his bare body.
As expected.
One lightning wheel he could not fully dodge grazed Secundus’s forearm.
It only grazed him but blood flowed, and lightning permeated through the flowing blood.
The marrow of his forearm tingled all over.
Secundus’s short hair stood up even straighter and sharp neuralgia scooped out his marrow.
“-Eu-! That hurts-!!!”
Even though he let out a shout, the lightning wheels did not disappear.
Thousands still remained.
Secundus finally felt the need to grip a weapon.
He glanced at the Nine-Lines General stuck in the wall, then picked up a halberd.
“I’ll borrow a weapon, Nine-Blood General!”
……It is Nine-Lines General.
A small murmur seemed to be heard from the wall, but he did not pay attention.
It was that kind of mood.
Lightning wheels fly in.
From all directions towards Secundus, thousands of wheels, crackling fiercely, flew in.
The atmosphere burned, making breath short, and turned everything it touched mercilessly into ash.
Secundus stabbed the center of one lightning wheel with the halberd.
Since it was made of lightning, there was no way it would disappear just by stabbing.
Instead, it tried to flow along the metal spear.
However, Secundus was even quicker.
Before the lightning could flow along the spear, he slammed the lightning-laden spear blade into the ground.
Like that, he sent the lightning wheel flowing into the ground.
Hand movements faster than the flow of lightning, it was a skill close to Divine Art.
“…Hm. Even so, there are too many.”
However, the lightning wheels are in the thousands.
He thought there might be about three thousand three hundred.
There is no way he can send each and every one of the three thousand three hundred lightning wheels flowing into the ground like that.
“But I have to try it first to know.”
Holding the halberd,
He pulled his arm back all the way.
It looked like he was about to thrust immediately.
In other words, he has already thrust.
Ninety-nine horns shaking off lightning,
Debius Ninety-Nine Forged Horns.
Stab.
Absorb the lightning.
Slam into the ground and let it flow.
Repeat this ninety-nine times.
Ninety-nine lightning wheels disappear.
“Ha-!”
Blood flowed from Secundus’s forearm.
There is no way the arm that performed the Ninety-Nine Forged Horns would be fine.
Tendons creaked and blood vessels burst.
But there are still many lightning wheels.
They rush in with lightning-like speed.
Because they are lightning.
He repeated the Ninety-Nine Forged Horns about thirty times.
The skin, unable to withstand the friction, peeled off.
Even though it is skin that spears and swords cannot pierce.
“Aeu, it stings.”
Secundus shook his hand.
There were thousands of lightning wheels.
However, now there are none.
He sent them all flowing into the ground in a tamerarious manner.
The ground that had the magic of the six stars flowed into it became imbued with a tingling sensation.
It is to the extent that the fallen ones convulse with a tremor.
Secundus looked at his messy, torn grip then clenched his fist tight.
“Attacking abruptly without even a greeting. Look at my hand, it has become a mess.”
“Won't it heal quickly anyway, Your Highness?”
“Call me Grand General, Grand Dean.”
“I refuse, Your Highness. I prefer this way.”
“Heh!”
Secundus burst into laughter.
“Anyway, it’s been a while, Grand Dean Hermai.”
“Yes, it has been a while, Your Highness Secundus.”
“Have you been well?”
“I live somehow. Since I cannot die. How do you live, Your Highness?”
“I was joyful. I almost hit it off with some beautiful woman too.”
“Oh! This is very welcome news. I was extremely worried since you haven't held a wedding yet….”
“But it’s all a bust. It seems I will die today.”
“Oh dear. That is unfortunate news.”
“And I will probably die by your hand?”
“Yes. It seems likely. Truly, unfortunately.”
Hermai Merhes muttered.
“You have to kill me, Grand Dean Hermai?”
“Yes, that is so, Your Highness Secundus.”
“By chance, may I kill you too?”
“Oh. Of course. It has been so hard lately that I wanted someone to kill me.”
“Even if you say that, you won't die easily, right?”
“Naturally. That is Your Highness's share.”
Hermai Merhes, six-star mage.
Grand Dean of the Imperial Academy of Magic and Imperial Chief Mage OPTIMUS MAGUS.
Across all history, if Sen Sorti is the first, the very next is Hermai Merhes’s place.
“But you will have to think about it, Your Highness. Until I reached this age, would there have been only one or two fellows who wanted to kill me? There were truly many. Besides, they weren't ordinary fellows-”
“Does that perhaps include my maternal grandfather?”
“You mean Deballo? Yes, he tried to kill me sincerely for about three years. Saying I stole his credit. When I faced Deballo hiding in my bedroom holding an axe, I was truly horrified.”
“……Yet you are skillfully alive?”
“So please think about it.”
Hermai was the master of the cloudy sky.
The cloudy sky was his cradle.
Dark clouds are his outer coat, thunder is his breathing sound, lightning and thunderclaps are his accessories.
Behind his head, the Six-Origin Halo is circling roundly, and also like lightning.
It is dignity befitting the name of the Imperial Chief Mage.
“Despite all those threats, that old man is living soundly over 400 years old …what would that mean?”
Magic of the six stars,
‘Great Thunderbolt of Screaming Roars’.
Hu, crying.
Hu, clamor.
Tying the two that are the same yet different into Kyuhwan.
This meant wailing.
Lightning cried.
Lightning clamored.
Lightning and lightning tangled together and wailed.
U, uu, it cried. Ah, aa, it clamored with a shrill sound.
And then finally, it wailed with a twisted voice from deep within the uvula.
Secundus seemed to hear the wailing saying My son, my son.
Hermai’s heart was lightning.
The life of 400 years passed like an arrow.
It flashed and shone, but now it is not visible.
Therefore, the scars of life were also tingling, and also shining, and while it was heat that stimulated the marrow to make one dance, it was pain one did not want to experience anymore, and yet it was lightning that did not leave.
One cry in one lightning.
Thousands of cries in thousands of lightning.
Since thousands of lightning became thousands, the cries became millions, soon hundreds of millions, soon immeasurable…… countless lightning cries.
The lightning cry, ‘Great Thunderbolt of Screaming Roars’, tried to swallow Secundus.
It wanted to swallow and melt him to make him into a single cry.
But Secundus did not want to cry.
If he does not want to cry, no one can make him cry.
Because he is ‘Tamerarious’.
“Hm…!”
Ruminating on his Ars, he simply faced the lightning.
He let the lightning cry swallow him.
“…Eu-hm-!!!”
The crying was tingling.
The clamor was tingling.
The wailing was so tingling that it was hard to endure.
However, he endured.
Because he wanted to endure, he simply endured in a tamerarious manner.
Crossing his arms with his burly forearms, he let the lightning cry swallow him.
“…Your lightning is quite stinging, Grand Dean.”
“……Oh, Your Highness!”
Hermai let out an exclamation.
The magic with the name of Great Thunderbolt attached is Hermai’s pride.
Even compared to other six-star magic, it boasts a class and power one level higher.
To withstand that with a bare body!
Considering Secundus Debius’s age is barely over thirty, it was an amazing thing.
“Ah, this old man keeps thinking of seven years ago. At that time, if Your Highness Secundus had won in that Succession War…. If that had happened, Cornelius too….”
“Stop it, Grand Dean.”
Secundus was in a terrible state.
It was natural since he endured the lightning cry, ‘Great Thunderbolt of Screaming Roars’, with his whole body.
Every single blood vessel in his whole body had burst, so his skin was all mottled.
His two eyes were red without whites, and even his teeth were dyed with blood as if they were originally dark red.
The smell of burning flesh vibrated.
“What is the use of speaking more about past matters?”
“…It is regretful, Your Highness, it is regretful. Your Highness should not die like this in a place like this….”
“Grand Dean-!!!”
Secundus Debius shouted.
“Did I not tell you to stop!!”
He realized his eyes were ruined.
He had no choice but to know because he couldn't see well.
Also, his ears couldn't hear well, and perhaps his brain had burned too, the thoughts felt like they were snapping off.
However, he still remembered what he must not tolerate.
“Do you dare intend to pity this Secundus Debius---!!!”
For the tamerarious man, it was an act more unbearable than anything.
With an appearance that had burned up, with skin that had become black ash, and with a blood-stained shout surging from within, he yelled at the top of his lungs.
“I am Debius!”
Eyes and ears have gone blind and deaf forever.
However, his voice was still resounding.
“The blood of a lion flows in me!!”
All was his choice.
Becoming Ferbias’s subject, the seven years of loyalty and disappointment dedicated to him, the attempt to chip away at Ferbias’s power, returning even knowing he would die, even the tamerarious struggle, all, entirely, were Secundus Debius’s choice.
It is his possession that he absolutely cannot give up.
“Therefore! You cannot pity me. If you intend to pity me, you must offer your head! If you cannot do that, then shut your mouth--!!!”
“……Oh, ooh!”
Hermai raised his hand.
“Your Highness! You are truly Debius. Among all the Debiuses I have seen, you are the true Debius next to Deballo. This Hermai Merhes respects you. Therefore….”
The old mage raised his left index finger, and snapped it with his right hand.
And then he pulled it right out.
Blood and agony followed from the spot where the finger was pulled out.
However, Hermai wept, filled with deep emotion.
“…Please accept the respect I offer.”
The pulled-out finger became lightning.
This finger does not return.
Hermai offered his greatest respect by sacrificing his own blood and flesh.
Magic of the six stars, “Great Thunderbolt of Avici Yama Pado”