Chapter: 99
The “Despair Carving Trap” was conducting operations on various fronts to conquer Crownhall.
What is the reason for the Empire’s existence?
It stems from the ‘unconditional’ competence of the Imperial bloodline.
As imperfect beings, humans are capable of producing diverse talents even under protective wings. Through generations, a mutation must inevitably occur at least once.
High-ranking Black Wizards could afford to wait. By utilizing various malevolent sorceries that break others’ souls, they could extend their lifespan manyfold.
Historically, several kingdoms have faced the brink of annihilation at the hands of Black Wizards, who prey on their vulnerable periods. Foolish kings, prideful kings, and worthless yet ambitious kings.
During such times, any blade thrusting in would be impossible to defend against.
But the Empire was different. The concept of an ‘incompetent Crown Prince’ seemed to not exist. Every born Crown Prince was a genius, and while they might have character flaws, they had never been truly incapable.
Is it the power of bloodline? Do their golden hair and azure eyes indicate some great trait?
No. Even if one were to steal the seeds of the Imperial family to create a child, they would only be born with golden hair and blue eyes, but not the talent.
Then…
The secret of their competence must be within the capital, Crownhall.
Is it a blessing from the goddess, the effect of some ancient artifact, or perhaps the sorcery of an unknown archmage? Unknown. But it undoubtedly exists, and it is reasonable to conclude that it is hidden in the heart of Crownhall—the Imperial Quarter.
If it could be destroyed or taken…
They might finally tip the Empire that seemed indestructible for millennia.
Fundamentally, Black Wizards rarely cooperate with each other, but the expectation that comes with the word “collapse of the Empire” is far too great. It is worth investing a certain amount of power.
Thus, the “Despair Carving Trap” launched several plans with the support of other named Black Wizards, aiming for a raid and theft of Crownhall.
The magic to turn citizens into living spies was also a gift from another named Black Wizard. He thought he should make good use of this gift.
They would connect with a fool they could manipulate at will. If they were a noble, it would make things convenient, and if they were greedy and thought with their lower half, they would be optimal.
Then, using the artifact capable of controlling others as bait, they would leverage influence to spread magic in Crownhall.
The plan was progressing successfully. They had gathered much information thus far, and further significant insights could be anticipated. Additionally, they could now take a step further.
They aimed to create chaos by utilizing the hypnotized individuals. If sudden terror strikes occurred from all directions, it would be incredibly perplexing…
For this endeavor, the “Despair Carving Trap” attached three usable individuals to the Baron—a guard, a supervisor, and effectively a command center to take the lead in place of the incompetent Baron.
All three were Black Wizards and all strong enough to use souls as fuel.
Among them, one had reached the realm of a true Black Wizard. Already able to use the powers of a Black Wizard, if they sacrificed someone else’s soul to amplify, their might would be beyond what a being of the same level could withstand.
Above all, the statue.
The function of hypnosis was but a side effect of the magic carved onto the statue’s surface. The true significance lay in the statue itself.
The craftsmanship of the statue was deliberately crude, without engraving magic onto high-conductivity precious metals. There was a reason for this. In case of emergency, they could use the power of the statue.
So when uninvited guests arrived at the mansion, they felt no anxiety.
“That’s ‘Puppet’ Lorei. And that one… seems to be an agent from the Intelligence Agency. Not bad at all.”
“The agent looks formidable, but that skinny guy over there doesn’t seem like much. Three of us could take him down. And that little kid… is she a maid? I can’t feel anything from her.”
“A kid? Where are you seeing a kid? You think that little thing counts as a kid, huh? What, are you into massive girls or something?”
They had such leisure to share jokes. There were four enemies, but only two were noteworthy concerns. A Black Wizard who had reached the realm expertly readied his bow and spoke in a lowered voice.
“Be quiet. If the Baron is harmed, we’ll attack. Leave only one alive.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll break them down.”
The twin bladesman spat disdainfully and drew his swords from his waist.
Schwiiiiing!! Thud!
The twin bladesman smashed the ground as he came charging down. Up to that point, the Black Wizards thought they could quickly finish off the uninvited guests. If they had time to spare, they planned to capture them and enjoy some fun afterward.
However, when a blinding flash erupted from the Twin Tail girl’s hand…
“Th-that’s… from the Purple Tower!!”
The strongest among them, the archer Black Wizard, seemed to notice something and was ‘erased’ in half as he spoke. They realized that things had gone terribly wrong.
A monster was hiding among them.
===============================================================
I blinked to regain focus. Clearly, the one with twin blades had fallen while swinging his sword… I hastily cast a spell. But when I came to my senses, Pink-Balrez was blocking my path.
“You…!”
Pink-Balrez’s arm was cut, and blood streamed down. Given the blood loss, it looked like the cut might have reached the bone.
She summoned chains that coiled around her arms and continued without looking back.
“Are you alright? Any injuries?”
“… thanks to you.”
A whirlwind of thoughts emerged. If I were a warrior instead of a wizard, Yuna wouldn’t have been hurt. Or if I had at least prepared some immediate defense magic…
But now wasn’t the time to be lost in thought. I shifted my gaze to assess the battlefield.
One muscular guy with a great sword on his back.
One slender fellow with dual blades.
And the archer… well, he’s dead. It seemed Yuna from the Purple Tower had completely obliterated him. He lay there, drooling in a heap.
He surely didn’t expect the Purple Tower’s presence. This battle was already ours. The disparity in power was too great.
At that moment, the twin bladesman began to sweat profusely as he side-eyed the archer’s lifeless body.
“What? He’s dead…? What the hell…?! Why?!”
“………”
Think about it. If the Tower Master casts her spells, this battle will end. However, we needed information.
Given that the Baron was most likely a mere shell, subduing those attackers would yield more meaningful insights. We might force-key information from them through interrogation.
So, I asked.
“Tower Master, can you subdue them without leaving any information behind?”
“Well… hmm…”
That state of pondering was a definite ‘no.’ Given the Tower Master’s tendency to lose control of her strength, capturing them could result in nothing remaining inside their heads. If their brains were too thoroughly wiped, we couldn’t extract any information regardless of how hard we interrogated.
In simpler terms, it was about precision. If we were to shoot a cannon, we must ensure we aim it so that their heads do not explode.
Hence…
“If we can secure their feet well, it might be possible?”
“Yes. If you can manage that, I can cleanly erase their minds. Bu-but if anyone seems in danger, I will shoot immediately.”
Confirmed.
“I’ll handle the guy with the great sword alone.”
“… Are you saying a wizard will fight solo without any front line? ‘Puppet’ Lorei?”
“You don’t need to worry, Agent. I’m confident in this; that man doesn’t look as strong as you.”
“Then, I’ll take the twin blades with this crazy magician… we’ll subdue or kill him as a pair.”
With the distribution done, the Scarred Face Senior began casting restraint magic on the great sword user, moving to engage, while Pink-Balrez charged at the dual bladesman.
As the blood oozed from the gaps in the chains, I clenched my teeth and prepared my magic.
===============================================================
The great sword-wielding Black Wizard glared at Lorei. He had been included in the high-alert individual list I passed along, so he was well aware of her.
“‘Puppet’ Lorei… I’ve heard a lot about your name. I hear you primarily deal with dungeon exploration?”
“Got any exploration requests? But the situation isn’t exactly right for that.”
Lorei’s cheeky reply made the Black Wizard lift his large sword upward.
“Those adventurers are easier to deal with than mercenaries. You lot are just mucking about with golems, living plush toys. Have you ever killed anyone?”
“More than you’d think.”
“Shall we find out for ourselves? Burn offering, ‘Flaming Mental Barrier’—!!”
SCREEAAAAM!
A poor soul inside the large sword let out a horrific scream as it was torn apart. Dark, thick magical energy spread out, and the Black Wizard completed his spell using that.
Black flames danced in the eyes of the Black Wizard.
“That’s… a protective spell against mental attacks.”
“Yes. It’s a magic that burns away any attempt to harm the mind. ‘Puppet’ Lorei… your nickname says it all. I suppose you will employ some sort of illusion magic to control others’ bodies?”
Whoosh. The heavy sword sliced through the air with a threatening sound.
“The Purple Tower’s magic is incredibly easy to hunt… just a few souls, and I can block it so simply—!!”
“‘Dissolving Illusion.'”
Thud thud thud. Facing the charging Black Wizard, Lorei calmly began her incantation. Since mental interference was ineffective, she used magic to distort light and affect sight.
There was no awkwardness in the illusions cast by a skilled wizard. With solid fundamental skills built on effort, Lorei carefully crafted the illusion.
Light spread out, and Lorei’s figure split into three. The movements of each illusion were natural, each moving in different directions simultaneously. The Black Wizard couldn’t distinguish the real from the fake.
Whoosh!
Boom!
The great sword cleaved through one illusion in half.
Crack! Thud!
Seizing the opportunity, Lorei hurled a dagger. However, the Black Wizard shielded himself by flooding his armor with magic. As he sliced through another illusion with his large sword, he sneered.
“If you think I’m running low on magic, you’re mistaken. I have ten souls stored in this large sword! I could fight all day. But before that, your head will roll—!”
“……….”
The Black Wizard had no weaknesses. There was no need for him to strive for efficiency or study; merely increasing his output secured him the advantage.
The evil act of burning others’ souls provided him with this enormous power without a shred of guilt.
So, what reason would he have to hesitate?
The Black Wizard infused power into the great sword. The blade itself became so heavily coated with dark magical energy that it nearly obscured its visibility. It may lack sharpness or precision, but it could certainly crush a man with ease.
There were no more illusions left. The quiet Lorei standing there must be the real one. The Black Wizard swung the great sword toward Lorei.
But in front of him, Lorei quietly raised her finger.
“One moment, let me correct you.”
“Die—!!”
Swish! KABOOM!
The great sword came crashing down. Next to Lorei—just an inch away—on the wrong floor.
Cold sweat trickled down the Black Wizard’s cheek.
“What… What the hell? I clearly—!”
“You were talking about a spell that prevents mental harm? It wouldn’t work on me. ‘Puppet’ isn’t a magic that robs someone of control.”
Something felt odd. Her arm didn’t feel like her own. Something was strangely twisted. She must have set a mental protection spell.
“What have you done…?!”
“‘Puppet’ doesn’t mean making someone a puppet. It’s you who is the puppet.”
The Black Wizard attempted to lift the great sword again. But no matter how hard he tried, his arm wouldn’t move. Instead, Lorei’s figure raised her arm.
Lorei calmly stated.
“This magic is a gift to me.”
“………!!”
At that moment, the Black Wizard finally realized the source of his discomfort. Lorei had ‘gifted’ him the sensation of his own flesh. The arm he had been trying to move was not his own—it was Lorei’s!
The Black Wizard quickly assessed the situation. If that arm was Lorei’s…
“Then…!”
He could make Lorei’s arm hit herself! The Black Wizard controlled the arm to deliver a punch at his own face.
BAM!
“Ugh…!!”
The Black Wizard slammed his fist against his own face. Lorei had released the ‘Puppet’ spell, returning his senses to their original state.
Lorei smiled.
“Now, tell me, which one of these is your real arm? Think carefully and let me know.”
“Ugh, AHHH—!!”
It was a relentless psychological warfare. When and how would he know when to ‘gift’ sensations? He had no way of knowing if the punch he swung would hit Lorei or himself.
In the complex chaos, the Black Wizard danced according to Lorei’s will.
At the end of this puppet theater, only the Black Wizard lay there, unconscious after continually punching his own face.
Lorei finished the battle with a stretch. It was easy to win against an ignorant foe. If he had honed his senses at all, the psychological warfare would have been much more complicated.
“Alright, let’s see how my junior is doing…”
Lorei turned her head. The twin bladesman was about to self-destruct, radiating light.
“What?!”
===============================================================
“Aaahhhhh—!!”
“Burn offering, ‘Mental Barrier Enhancement,’ ‘Physical Strengthening.'”
With the wailing of souls, an enormous amount of magical energy surged from the twin bladesman’s body. The buffs he had cast on himself were very basic.
Performing this technique without any special processes, merely adding raw magic for enhancement meant he possessed no particular weaknesses. His brute strength was a formidable force.
“‘Trojan Horse,’ ‘Time Perception Distortion,’ and ‘Ticklishness’…!”
I had been continuously hammering magic into his mind. But rather than build a sophisticated mental barrier, I had merely pressured him continuously. It felt like piling up dirt sacks to create a wall, making it incredibly hard to break through.
Even if I nibbled away at it, if one or two somehow got through…
“Hmph, do you really think that’ll work?”
He flicked his head to shake it away. The bastard was currently performing a mental cleanse in real time. With raw power weighing down on me, I had little way to counter.
“Transformation—’Core Restriction: Foreplay.'”
Chaaaarrr!
Yuri Lanster continuously activated her transformation skill. Like when she had smashed through the golem, she had demonstrated that she could use it with an extended duration.
Whoosh!
Wielding the chains coiling around her arm, Yuri Lanster swung them. The silver chains drew a semicircle, and tables and chairs caught in the coils shattered into pieces.
There was no sign of the twin bladesman among the wreckage. He had sunk low to the ground, like a cockroach, almost glued to the surface.
Pwaaat! Clang!
The blades shot upward like a salmon swimming upstream. Yuri Lanster swept a kick toward the face, using her chain-wrapped arm to deflect the blow.
THWACK!
The twin bladesman’s body was sent flying, but I saw him raise one hand to block the attack. It wasn’t an effective hit. He had intentionally used Yuri Lanster’s assault to propel himself up.
“Yuri, block it—!”
“Huh?!”
Crack! Bang!
The twin bladesman’s body spun violently in mid-air. His twin blades whirled like a blender, and Yuri Lanster’s chains were severed, blood flying everywhere.
“You… you bastard—!!”
The Tower Master aimed a finger. Whoosh. A flash of light gathering at her fingertip suggested she was ready to excise information, but the twin bladesman seemed to keep moving his body, constantly positioning himself so that Yuri Lanster would be in line for the shot.
He knew who was the biggest threat here.
Variables had to be created. I summoned a hologram.
“‘Hologram: Butler Legion!’”
“What kind of ridiculous game is this…?!”
The twin bladesman tried to disregard the approaching holograms as illusions, but after getting hit by a single butler punch, he realized that they indeed possessed physical力.
“What kind of absurd magic is this?! Get lost!”
Rumble!
The holograms restraining the twin bladesman’s body were instantly shredded. But I had gained a turn. I quickly had to think on my feet.
Conventional illusion magic wasn’t effective enough. He was simply suppressing it with raw power and rinsing his mind clean if anything got through.
Against an enemy who consumed debuff-cleansing potions every second, it was futile to use even more debuffs against him.
If I had an environment conducive to something like ‘Reply Transfer,’ allowing me to boost the beliefs of others, that would have brought sufficient restraint, but there were no weak, unspecified masses here to devour that belief.
No wonder the Scarred Face Senior had ridiculed that illusion magic. Countering it was a real headache.
I needed another kind of magic.
Not for TRPG, but… something different.
Since reincarnating into this world, I had rarely considered harming others. I had never thought of killing magic.
It had felt unnecessary since I had been protected by the Tower Master, and I naively believed there was no need for me to step into such nefarious magic.
But now, such magic might be necessary. A spell to sever a human’s head.
Before any more injuries marred Yuri Lanster’s beautiful form… I needed magic that could pierce through that jerk.
If a mental barrier loaded with power was the problem, I’d aim to pierce through it with concentrated precision.
If mental cleansing was the issue, then I’d need to disable him all at once—just as the Tower Master’s magic did.
I would create it.
I spiraled the magic into a point. The end would be sharp and pointed, capable of breaking through barriers and reaching deep into the brain.
With emotion infused into the magic, I had data. The emotions of despair and agony that were filtered through during the Cthulhu session of my trio, feelings of heartbreak from the Second Prince. I stuffed all that mental anguish in.
“You… what are you doing…? This is ridiculous!”
“Trust me, I’ll take care of it! You just do your thing, whatever that is!”
Concentrate. Carve out delicately.
It’s a simple yet effective arrow. But there’s no need to twang the bowstring. This one’s intent is to consume human hearts, pursuing its prey with relentless fierceness.
“The shadows cast below, the darkness peeking from the wardrobe cracks, the solitude of a pitch-black night.”
A black arrow that shatters the heart.
“‘Heartbreaking Arcane.'”
I shot it to kill.
===============================================================
“Such a thing has occurred, Your Highness.”
“Oh, I see. So… the Black Wizard, whose heart was shattered, decided to self-detonate, causing half the mansion to explode. Fortunately, the Tower Master redirected the explosion so that there were no casualties, but he was apprehended by the Capital Knights who rushed to the uproar… and I’ve just pulled you out of that situation?”
“Right.”
Second Prince Irid closed his eyes for a moment in deep contemplation, finally reaching a conclusion.
“Get down.”
“Yes, sir.”
I quietly bent my head and lay flat.
Still, I hadn’t walked away empty-handed. I had secured the Baron and hostages, evidence, the hypnosis app, and other suspicious yet amusing items.
But if I spoke up now, all credit for calming his rage would be squandered. I wanted praise and a reward. Once the Second Prince’s anger faded, I’d casually lay it all out.
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