“Everyone’s on the move, huh?”

Ezer was pushing north through Marfane to attack Krata from the south, while the Demon King’s Army, after Neville and Athanasia’s groundwork in swaying the people of Yaphenon, was pressing in from the east.

“Hmmm~.”

Perched on a mountainside, Yuru murmured with her eyes closed.

“This is going too smoothly.”

Through the totems she had placed at key locations, she could see Krata being driven back one-sidedly by both forces. Tilting her head, she found it strange.

“He’s not the kind to take a beating like this~.”

Even if Lutan never left Krata, he wasn’t the type to just stand there and be pummeled. For things to look like this could only mean he was deliberately allowing the situation to play out this way.

“Yuru.”

A voice came from nearby.

She opened her eyes slowly to find dozens of robed figures approaching.

“So, you’re here.”

One stepped forward, pulling back his hood—an older man with a thick mane of hair covering one eye.

“Oh?”

Yuru clapped her hands together lightly as she rose to her feet.

“Ah! Tower Master!”

Before her stood the Tower Master of the Red Tower, a mage faction based in Krata’s northeast.

“What brings the esteemed Red Tower Master all the way out here?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

The Red Tower Master’s face twisted into a deep scowl.

“Not only have you broken the mage’s rule of avoiding interference in the world’s affairs—you’ve gone so far as to commit massacres.”

He rebuked her sharply.

“A mage, especially one who leads a Tower, should be pursuing lofty ideals. Do you think it’s acceptable to stoop to this?”

“Ahhh~.”

Yuru sighed faintly.

“So that’s why you’ve come?”

“Have you forgotten to show respect?”

“You’re still hung up on useless details.”

She shrugged.

“The Red Tower wouldn’t act alone, so… let’s see.”

Extending her senses, she swept the surroundings, pinpointing even those suppressing their mana to hide. A wry smile crossed her lips.

“Three hundred?”

“Does that amuse you?” His tone was stiff, “The Red, White, and Black Towers are all here. All the Tower Masters have come.”

“Impressive.”

“All united to stop you.”

The bloodshed in Marfane was one charge they laid at her feet, but it wasn’t the main reason they had gathered.

“You’re aiding the Demon King.”

She had shown a fixation on Clay, who had become the Demon King. From their intelligence networks, the mages had learned the cause behind her actions—and it filled them with alarm.

If Yuru, who was believed to have reached Origin, lent her strength to the Demon King, the world could well be destroyed.

“I’m curious.”

She looked at the Red Tower Master.

“Were you this proactive the last time a Demon King appeared?”

“What?”

“Or is it just that you can’t stand the sight of me as an Origin mage?”

Origin was a realm spoken of only in legend. There were even sayings that if an Origin mage appeared in the current age, they would lead all mages.

“Now that I seem to be aiding the Demon King, you figure it’s the perfect time to get rid of me.”

“Yuru!”

“Shouldn’t you have gone for the Demon King first, if that were really your concern?”

Her question made him flinch, and she laughed.

“Wow~, so that’s what’s in everyone’s hearts, huh? And yet I was the one who let Clay die to prevent a war between mages.”

“Clay was a pawn of the previous Demon King. And now he’s become one himself.”

“If it were me—dying and coming back—I’d just go ahead and be the Demon King.”

She no longer cared for peace in this world.

“When Clay was executed, everything twisted. I learned that ideals mean nothing in the face of death. I guess I paid a steep price to learn that truth.”

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

The Red Tower Master’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re saying you’ll betray the very lines that must be upheld even in death, the pride humanity should keep.”

“Ahahaha!”

Her sudden laughter made the nearby mages flinch. The Red Tower Master simply stared at her, his expression unreadable.

“Ha…”

When she stopped laughing, she slowly raised her right hand.

“I can’t just let that slide.” Her lips curled, “Don’t talk crap, you idiot.”

“What…?”

“I told you—I held back to prevent a war between mages. I already tried it your way. I saw for myself what it leads to. You know what happened? Hm?”

All it led to was losing someone she hadn’t wanted to lose.

“You have no idea what I saw before Clay was executed.”

It had been like a revelation. Something had pulled at her consciousness, drawing her into the mental plane, where she had faced a golden figure haloed in light.

Elhaen.

She had known instinctively who it was. That figure had given her one command:

—Do not interfere with the death of the sinner, Clay.

He had said it was the only way Clay could atone.

—I will personally save him.

The god of humanity himself had promised to save Clay. Confused, she had then been given a warning:

—If you twist this causality, I will destroy all.

Every human in this world would suffer Its wrath for upsetting Its plan—and even Clay’s salvation would be lost.

She had wanted Clay to be saved. Even if he had to die, she had wished for his soul to find peace. Without knowing for certain if he was truly guilty, it had been the only choice she could make.

“You’ll never know.”

She had kept Elhaen’s order to speak of it to no one. Now, it seemed meaningless, but she still didn’t tell the mages before her.

She simply no longer wished to explain herself.

Snap!

She flicked her fingers. The ground split open, earth surging upward.

“Scatter!”

At the Red Tower Master’s command, the mages moved. Avoiding the jagged spikes of earth, they drew back—only to hear Yuru’s voice.

“I’ll make your grave right here.”

Kwaaaa!

Jagged, sharpened boulders erupted from the ground, launching straight toward the gathered mages.

“Damn…!”

The Red Tower Master’s brow furrowed as he hastily triggered an explosion in front of him.

Kwoooom!

The boulders veered off course under the blast’s force. He had barely avoided the incoming barrage when—

Shuak!

—he saw countless more boulders suspended midair, hurtling toward him from every direction.

“Aaagh!”

“Urk!”

“Ghk?!”

Those caught in their trajectory were pierced clean through and sent flying backward. The Red Tower Master unleashed a flurry of explosions to divert the stones aimed at him, but he could not relax—his teeth clenched in frustration.

“Tch…!”

The Red Tower’s mages specialized in fire magic. Yuru was exploiting the fact that fire had limits when it came to instantly stopping high-density, hardened projectiles. She was hammering them with stone attacks precisely for that reason.

“If you think cheap tricks like this will be enough, you’re mistaken!”

The Red Tower Master summoned multiple pillars of flame, hurling them straight toward her position.

The rest of the Red Tower mages followed suit, sending their own pillars in the same direction.

In moments, a ring of searing fire closed around Yuru—tight enough that no one caught within could possibly slip out.

“Atone, Yuru!”

His roar came just as the fire pillars converged, fusing into a single massive whirlwind that devoured everything around it.

Crackle—snap!

Trees caught in the vortex were reduced to cinders, scattering in the air. Heat waves stole the very breath from the wind, and a red curtain shrouded the battlefield.

“It’s—”

“You thought it was?”

The voice at his side made the Red Tower Master’s eyes fly wide as he whipped his head around.

“You’re too slow. This is Red Tower’s problem—so obsessed with raw power, you’ve let speed fall behind.”

“How did you—?”

He hadn’t even seen her move.

“Why? Want to learn?”

Her taunting smile stripped away his composure.

“Don’t—get cocky!”

Vmmm!

A magic circle bloomed right in front of Yuru’s face.

“Maleolus!”

He poured compressed mana into a blazing arrow and fired point-blank at her eyes.

“!”

He thought it had landed—but…

“Rushed it to make it faster, didn’t you? Not enough power this time.”

Yuru stood perfectly unharmed, the fire arrow having failed to pierce her. In her irises, a magic circle shimmered—projecting a pinpoint shield that stopped the projectile cold.

“Impossible!”

His voice cracked. The arrow had hit—yet that was all it had done. She had, in that split second, drawn a magic circle to block the blow exactly where it struck.

To do so required calculation, reflexes, and nerve beyond reason—one misstep and her head could have been obliterated. She had done it flawlessly.

Tak.

Mana flowed into her hand, forming what looked like a gauntlet of pure energy. She caught the arrow barehanded.

“Y’know…”

Crunch.

She crushed the fire arrow to embers with her fist, sighing toward him.

“Don’t you have anything less boring?”

“Combined magic! Use combined magic!”

Realizing individual spells wouldn’t cut it, the Red Tower Master barked the order. His mages closed in around him, their power intertwining into a massive joint magic circle.

Kwooooom…!

An immense surge of mana gathered, distorting the air as a high-level spell took shape.

Seeing it, Yuru—

“What?”

—laughed.

She laughed like she couldn’t help herself, and for the first time, the Red Tower Master felt a chill of dread.

“No…”

Before the thought could finish, the mages’ combined spell took form—a colossal phoenix of flame that launched itself straight at her.

(End of Chapter)

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