Camilla, cloaked in pitch-black mana, clearly displayed her hostility.
All the knights remained tense, paying close attention to every gesture she made.
“You’ve always been this way, Balthasar.”
Camilla’s anger was evidently directed at the Emperor.
“When you decide someone is an enemy, you mercilessly chop off their head. Nothing has changed since I first saw you twenty years ago.”
“Do I have any reason to show mercy to an enemy?”
“Is that enemy your enemy or the Empire’s enemy?”
“I am the Empire.”
“Am I also an enemy since I am your wife?”
“There is no tolerance for a black magician.”
The Emperor calmly responded, suppressing his emotions.
“I realized your purpose. You urged me to taint the Empire with magic. You intended to weave black magic into that gap, didn’t you?”
While wizards keep their achievements to themselves, black magicians seek to spread destruction and fear far and wide.
The Emperor was well aware of the clear distinction from experience.
“When I rejected magic, you tried to make Acella the next Empress to fulfill your intent. When that fell through, you clung to George, but he was exiled. Now, as a last resort, you plan to harm the Crown Prince Gunter and assassinate me to plunge the Empire into chaos and infiltrate it, did you?”
Camilla fell silent, struck at her core.
Everything she had done, including playing along with the nobility like Gothberg and George from Togin Palace, was all to gain power for a greater ideal.
An ideal to spread only black magic.
The Emperor’s cold rage surfaced.
“What a despicable witch.”
At those words, Camilla’s eyebrow twitched.
“…You were the one who brought me to the Empire.”
“Indeed. It was a mistake.”
“In the land where I was born, the term ‘witch’ didn’t refer to a woman who uses magic. It referred to those who practice black magic, regardless of gender.”
Camilla continued, suppressing her anger over the past.
“I have always identified myself as a witch. I did not lie.”
“You speak with treachery.”
“I have done you a favor. Knowing your hatred for black magic, I tried to help the Empire with magic. Thus, I dedicated everything to create that.”
Camilla pointed at Acella.
Acella tensed and swallowed.
“But right after, what did you do? You stopped the war and degraded me by calling magic dangerous. You didn’t acknowledge any of my dedication.”
Camilla raised her voice as if feeling wronged.
“What was I supposed to do? This was all a result of struggling to survive. I wanted to live, even by relying on the power of the nobility and the royalty.”
Camilla pleaded towards the Emperor.
“Do you know how much I had to fret over hiding the fact that I am a black magician? How much I…!”
Bang!
A massive ice spear fell at her feet, halting Camilla’s words.
“Enough.”
Multiple layers of magic circles were inscribed at the tip of Acella’s wand.
Of course, they were aimed at Camilla.
“Yammering on and on. What’s with all that rambling? In the end, you were trying to harm the Empire and assassinate Your Majesty.”
“Acella…! You…!”
“Your Majesty, it’s all lies. Camilla is someone who deceives even herself for her objectives. I know it well.”
“Mm.”
It was Acella’s statement after spending the most time with Camilla.
She had seen through Camilla’s lies from the start.
The Emperor found it convincing enough to trust.
“It makes much more sense that all your actions were due to an ideal to spread black magic in the Empire. I wonder if any further conversation is necessary.”
“Correct. I have given you too many opportunities to speak.”
The Emperor agreed with Acella. He had almost fallen for Camilla’s rhetoric, if only for a moment.
“Acella…! You ungrateful wretch!!”
Acella coldly stared at the wrathful Camilla.
“How dare you…!”
At first, there was a hint of sympathy or sorrow.
Emotions that Acella absolutely did not possess towards others.
But now that she realized Camilla was complete evil, it felt rather unjust for all the time she had suffered.
A surge of anger flared up.
The Emperor raised his arm.
“Subdue her.”
Following the order, the knights charged at Camilla in unison.
“Hmph!”
Camilla, her eyes blazing with fury, swung her arm.
The remains of her fallen disciples turned to ashes and disappeared.
Whoosh!
Drawn by the blood of the sacrificed, a circle was sketched and horrifying tendrils slithered up from hell.
Slap!
Camilla swung it like her own arm.
“Graah!”
“It’s dangerous! Absolutely do not make contact!”
A knight’s arm, which was scraped by the tendril, burned up instantly, transforming into Camilla’s mana.
In the Imperial Palace, which should have been the safest place in the Empire, the most horrific battle in the world began.
*
And the moment I witnessed the tendrils, I dashed towards Acella.
‘This is a bit dangerous. Hell tendrils are 6th tier black magic that can only be used by making contracts with demons.’
Camilla was a far more dangerous individual than I thought.
A 5th tier wizard, and considering that’s her side gig, it’s natural that her main business of black magic is at an even higher level.
It felt like hearing that a long-standing manager had been secretly making hundreds of millions in stocks.
‘I really misjudged her back then.’
Back then, I was fortunate to hold back because I knew Camilla was plotting to devour our family, but it felt like poking a hornet’s nest.
Hmm, then Acella’s curse must have been so potent that it could potentially kill even Camilla.
What on earth does she have?
Well, I’ll think about that later.
[No. 101: Magic Explosion 11% → 42%]
Oh boy. The chance of a bad ending was soaring high.
It also meant that Acella was included in Camilla’s target.
She’s certainly an emotional woman for someone with such skill. She’s expressing her anger without holding back.
Boom!
The black magic she wielded shattered the ground, flinging the knights away.
“Gah!”
Tanya wrapped sword energy around her blade and sliced through a tendril. However, from the severed section, two more sprouted, threatening us again.
These tendrils multiply endlessly unless removed all at once. It’s a tricky attack.
“Royal Princess!”
I reached Acella to protect her.
“Ras?!”
“You need to get out of here. Camilla is more dangerous than you think. Your Majesty, please as well.”
“Gothberg.”
The Emperor surely understood the dangers of this situation, yet he boldly drew his sword.
“I will not flee. Even though Camilla was deposed from being the Empress, she is still my wife.”
“Your Majesty.”
Acella also pushed against me with her arms.
She looked up to meet my gaze.
“I won’t run either. I will put an end to this with my own hands.”
“You can’t do that. You’ll surely regret it later.”
“Who do you think I am? Just this much, just this much.”
Despite her firm words, Acella’s arm holding the wand trembled.
How false bravado.
“Of course, I will defeat her. I can’t let the palace turn into a den of demons.”
I subtly pressed down on Acella’s shoulder to ease her tension.
“Huuh.”
Acella loosened up and took a deep breath.
Momentarily closing her eyes, she spoke.
“Nonetheless, I have to be the one to face her. Only I can cast magic to break through that level of black magic.”
Acella’s words seemed like sound reasoning.
‘Alright.’
Camilla’s black magic was offensive in nature. She had made a pact with demons at the cost of her own life force and activated it with previously gathered mana as offerings.
‘I remember she used Clone Magic for her spells.’
Seymour had mentioned that.
Just as Acella had talent in space magic, Camilla was said to be the only practitioner of Clone Magic.
However, it had already been a decade since she last used it.
“Seymour.”
Suddenly, a breakthrough came to mind.
I recalled the last gift he had given me when he left the Imperial Family.
I carefully pulled out a small box that I had tucked inside my gown.
“Prince, that…”
Acella seemed to have recognized it.
“You received it too?”
She rummaged through her pocket and pulled out her own box.
The boxes we held looked like they would fit together perfectly.
“If there’s ever been a time when high-level magic was needed, it’s right now, right?”
“Yes.”
Acella nodded in agreement.
We faced each other with the boxes in hand.
Click, both lids opened simultaneously, and brilliant light burst forth from within.
I couldn’t help but smirk because I immediately recognized what they were.
“A magic storage and a mana storage.”
Both items were legendary artifacts.
These were far too expensive to merely give as parting gifts.
Acella also realized what it was, and a smile crept onto her lips.
Boom!!
“Acella!!”
Camilla lunged at us with tendrils as her legs, soaring through the air in an overwhelming momentum that sent knights flying.
Swish!
Yet Acella’s ice grazed her cheek.
Red blood flowed. Camilla’s expression twisted like that of a fiend.
“Acella, how dare you look at me with such a face! You ungrateful trash who forgot the grace of someone who raised you for a lifetime!!”
“Prince, give me that.”
Acella stepped one foot forward.
She aimed her staff at Camilla.
A massive amount of mana stored by Seymour flowed into her.
The Emperor prepared to wield his drawn sword.
Thud, thud, Camilla rushed at Acella with even greater ferocity.
[No. 101: Magic Explosion 42% → 96%]
“Royal Princess, leave this to me.”
I stepped into the gap just before the collision.
I snatched Acella’s wand and artifact and dashed towards Camilla.
“What, hey, Ras!!”
I ignored Acella’s panicked shout.
No matter how tough she pretended to be, it was obvious Acella hesitated to kill Camilla.
A mother is a mother, after all.
That last hesitation would surely lead her to be killed by Camilla.
With such a high likelihood of dying, I couldn’t just stand by.
Even if I succeeded, she’d rationalize it away and become that wicked woman.
This is a role that fits me perfectly as the reckless fool.
“Gothberg?!”
Surprised that I suddenly intervened, Camilla scowled.
I swung my wand and activated the artifact.
Whoosh!
The magic stored within Seymour surged, instantly tracing out the magic circle and transitioning into a casting.
The circle was seven.
A magic that the legends and sages achieved, now etched in history at 7th tier magic.
I wasn’t particularly interested in magic, but this might just be a little cool.
With a smile, I greeted Camilla.
“Goodbye, Mother-in-law.”
“You—!!”
“Summon of the Great Spirit.”
Boom!!
A pillar of flame burst forth from the ground, engulfing the black tendrils in the blink of an eye.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.