Balak stared blankly up at the sky.
He sensed that the end was approaching.
He couldn’t stop the family civil war.
That original sin was his own.
It was the price for neglecting Eliya.
Everyone, including Narcissi and her descendants, hated Eliya.
Not simply because she was a bastard.
But because of the wizard’s qualities.
Eliya inherited the power passed down from the progenitor.
And it wasn’t even ordinary.
It was the insane flame deemed a re-emergence from the mythic age.
A dangerous force closest to the source of Bevel and Helios.
Narcissi and her children feared her.
And they resented her.
If left to grow, she would surely take the head of the family.
Balak predicted even more accurately.
That power would shake the world.
The family tried to kill Eliya by any means.
Balak couldn’t allow that to happen.
He hid her, along with Maria, Eliya’s biological mother, near a village close to a place called Batrahem.
That village, isolated yet warm, was difficult for outsiders to find.
But it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.
And until that time came, Balak couldn’t think of a clear way to protect Eliya.
Narcissi struck first.
She paid Ramek to assassinate Maria.
Afterward, she forcibly brought Eliya, who was left alone, back to the family home.
Having secretly visited the assassination site, Balak couldn’t forget that moment.
The scruffy little girl.
Little Eliya looked up at him with a terrified face.
It lingered in his mind, but at that time, Balak consciously ignored it.
He had to turn away.
He had to make a choice, since things had escalated to an irreversible point.
For the happiness of the larger family.
He believed that to choose meant prioritizing the majority’s interests.
If sacrificing Eliya could provide temporary comfort to the entire family, he thought that was a reasonable balance.
He believed that if they toppled the Empire, everyone would be rewarded.
Back then, Maria, upon hearing that, spat in Balak’s face with a fierce curse.
That was the first time she’d been so passionately angry.
Afterward, she told Balak to handle it himself and left.
He vividly recalled her hateful black eyes and the biting words she shot at him.
She said she would take care of Eliya, so he shouldn’t even glance this way anymore, as it disgusted her.
The dancer, even though of commoner status, boldly condemned Balak.
Originally, Maria had a strong personality.
Balak was drawn to her assertiveness, which didn’t match her status, but he couldn’t understand her at the time.
Why was she so angry when he had a way to repay everything?
Afterward, Maria became somewhat calm and composed, but that was just cynicism.
She didn’t particularly understand or forgive Balak.
She simply gave up.
Because she knew what kind of person Balak was.
The reason she stayed quiet was, perhaps, to avoid causing trouble for Eliya or drawing attention to herself.
There was no way a mere dancer would properly care for Eliya.
Even so, Balak couldn’t interfere.
He was blinded by the belief that everything would be resolved once he achieved his great undertaking.
Looking back now, it was an escape from an irreversible situation.
A desire to be compensated for his buried life.
A childish ambition to relieve the humiliation he felt when he saw his father bowing his head in front of Helios when he was young.
Ah, how foolish humans can be.
Only after everything ended did his perspective widen, and he reflected on his mistakes.
Knowing he had no right to regret, he still struggled to gather it all up.
It was meaningless.
Thus, the ten years he had ignored lay before him.
Eliya had grown on her own, gotten stronger, and brought down the Bevel family.
Now, she was the last one left among the direct line.
Narcissi, Cain, Levi, Jezebel, Aghan, Sara.
They were all dead.
Now only he remained.
Seeing his daughter smile brightly with the intention of annihilating the Bevel family, Balak sensed death approaching.
The time had come to pay the price.
*
“Prince Balak. Why have you come now?”
“…Eliya.”
Balak’s voice had stiffened just as his expression was.
“I wanted to kill you first.”
On the other hand, Eliya smiled at Balak.
“It’s been a while.”
“Indeed. Have you been well since I last saw you?”
“Pretty much. You seem healthier than when I saw you last.”
“Well, I had my reasons.”
Eliya smiled sweetly.
Contrary to the malice she had just shown, it was quite a pure smile.
Balak couldn’t help but smile back.
Though it was a faint smile, one not visible to Eliya.
He didn’t feel the need to say, “I’m glad.”
Because he knew too well how contradictory and disgusting a person he was.
In a half-hearted attempt, Balak softly asked,
“Eliya, do you not wish to end it here? Continuing this war and suffering beyond this point is meaningless for both of us.”
“Why is it meaningless? Is seeking revenge on those who killed my only family not worthwhile?”
“Eliya… she… ”
Eliya cut him off.
“They often say revenge is meaningless. What’s left is nothing but emptiness, and violence and hatred will be passed down. Well, it’s not wrong. However, it’s not an absolute truth either.”
“……”
“Shoving your feelings aside is merely a defeatist cynicism. If I have to suffer every night from those nightmares, I’d rather seek revenge. Success as the ultimate revenge? Well, I could convince myself that’s just a form of nihilistic optimism… but to me, it’s no different than running away.”
Her words did not match her smile at all.
“If you had done your duty, we wouldn’t have come this far. What happened at the family home was closer to torture than family. If only my mother was alive, I could have endured that cruelty….”
“……”
“But you neither protected her nor me, so what happened today is merely the price for that. You know this well.”
Balak gave up on persuading her.
She was a broken child because of him.
Wanting to turn back now was a greater sin.
It wasn’t just Eliya.
Maria was also a person driven by his selfishness.
They were both sins and punishments he had to bear.
“…Alright. I understand.”
Balak’s pupils slowly glowed crimson.
Before leaving, he intended to pass on the knowledge he’d gained as a senior wizard.
Eliya’s eyes, facing him, were already complete.
Fiery orange waves.
Golden pupils like the sun.
“May you find peace, Prince.”
She tossed out an insincere greeting.
“…Take care.”
He hid the greeting that lingered in his heart.
Golden flames and orange flames soared.
The two wizards clashed.
*
Balak was quite the powerful wizard.
While not as good as Eliya, he was still a genius among geniuses.
He was often praised in his youth as the kind of talent that would be unmatched in the Bevel family.
But his power wasn’t limited to magical talent alone.
Decades spent climbing to the head of the family.
He had survived by killing enemies with magic.
Experience was not to be underestimated.
In contrast, Eliya had little experience.
Though she had used much magic during the war, that had been mere one-sided slaughter.
To survive from here on, Eliya needed combat experience. Balak believed that wholeheartedly.
As Balak gestured, crimson rain began to fall from the sky.
It was rain made of fire.
Immediately afterward, the ground beneath Eliya’s feet began to stir.
Lava erupted from the spot she had just been standing.
But Eliya had already teleported out of that position.
The falling crimson rain shot towards her like arrows.
She merely waved her hand and incinerated the flames.
In that moment, Balak felt an urge to rub his eyes.
To suppress fire with fire — it was a mystical sight.
A dizzying space filled with scorching heat and light.
Even within it, Eliya accurately pinpointed Balak’s location.
If she reached out, golden flames dashed beneath.
“…!”
Balak dodged the golden flames and immediately used teleportation.
He reached out to Eliya and stretched out his arm.
Crimson flames roared from his palm.
At point-blank range, the fastest and most powerful magic.
‘Ray Explosion. How will you respond?’
Just as the completed spell was about to be cast, Eliya swiftly stretched out her hand and clasped Balak’s.
Though it was the first hand-holding between father and daughter, there was no warmth of family affection felt at all.
“…?!”
As Balak was caught off guard, Eliya stared at him intently and smiled.
“Boom.”
– Boom!
Those words, like a prophecy, triggered an explosion.
Balak’s cast spell detonated in his own hand.
His stretched-out right arm vanished without a trace.
‘Magic Reflection…?! How did she…! And that reaction speed…!!’
He had no time to feel pain or to be surprised by what had just happened.
“What… is this…”
His view had changed.
The surrounding scenery was dark, and everything felt lower.
Down below, Eliya appeared as a tiny dot.
Balak was plummeting from a height higher than the mountain peaks.
‘External Target Teleport?!’
Teleportation is inherently a spell that allows the caster to move.
To move with another object, they must be together.
Yet Eliya had sent Balak high up using teleportation, all by himself.
Theoretically impossible.
A spell that would typically be regarded as a joke among wizards.
And somehow, she must have sent him soaring into the sky.
In that instant, Balak forgot everything and marveled at that pure talent and power.
At the same time, he felt a sense of fear.
How far could that child grow stronger?
Is she going to become a god?
Next came realization.
The experience he had intended to pass on was trivial.
Before such a wondrous child, it was meaningless.
In the end, he couldn’t do anything. Just like garbage.
Eliya looked up at the soaring Balak.
She predicted that he would try to confuse her before closing in.
Most wizards, overly focused on ‘magic,’ are weak at close combat.
Balak was different.
To survive on the battlefield without assistance, he had to excel in close combat as well.
He was a practical wizard who compensated for weaknesses.
But he had a critical flaw.
It’s simply who Balak was.
He was too well-known.
How he fights. Or how he has fought.
His power and fighting style were already widely known.
Eliya combined all that publicly available information and learned his way then dismantled it.
It’s one thing to learn something; it’s another to dismantle it in practice.
But Eliya accomplished that.
She had grown tired of admiring her own talent.
‘Balak’s reachable height is beyond what teleportation can grasp. With him falling, it’s easy to concentrate magic.’
The battle was nearly at its end.
Eliya extended her hand.
She poured out the magic she had prepared for Balak.
‘Multiple Sun Manifestation.’
In an instant, the sky filled with suns.
Seven suns banished the surrounding darkness.
Local daylight surged forth.
In the center of those suns stood Balak.
‘Fusion.’
The seven suns converged around Balak.
They clashed fiercely, creating sparks.
As their shapes distorted, a massive light began merging.
Balak couldn’t escape.
When he clasped her hand earlier, it wasn’t just magic reflection that she had performed.
She had implanted a magic interference spell inside him.
Temporary, but sufficient to kill.
All Balak had left was to burn alive from inside.
However, he couldn’t let his guard down.
His opponent was an outstanding wizard.
She had to be certain about finishing him off.
The once separate suns had merged into a much larger one.
With her extended hand, she gripped tightly!
Cracks appeared on the golden sun, and light seeped out.
‘Supernova Explosion.’
The flames that formed the exterior imploded like a collapse towards the center.
They collapsed quickly before exploding with a blinding light.
– KABOOM!
An explosion shook the area lightly.
Eliya winced her eyes shut and cautiously opened them.
Night fell where the sun had burst.
It quickly grew dark.
There was a perfect calmness as if the sun had never risen and the ground had never trembled.
Even the startled grass and trees silenced amid the exploding force.
How long had it been?
Then, a thud.
Something fell in front of her.
It was a human body.
A pitiful form with only the upper body and head remaining.
Its arms and legs had burned away.
Even the right arm that barely remained wasn’t okay.
Balak.
He had endured the supernova explosion.
Barely alive, but still alive.
“Hgh, hgh… hgh…”
Balak gasped for breath roughly.
His insides burned up so thoroughly that each breath was painful.
He could already see nothing.
Only his hearing remained.
Stomp, stomp.
Eliya’s footsteps sounded faintly.
Balak tried to lift his right arm.
But it wasn’t able to move properly.
That trembling arm felt like it would break any moment.
‘I must… relay that… to her….’
In the end, he couldn’t reach into his pocket.
Breath that barely continued grew shallow.
His consciousness rapidly faded.
Stomp.
Eliya’s footsteps stopped.
She said nothing.
An empty final greeting, befitting a sinner like Balak.
*
Eliya looked down at the lifeless Balak with indifference.
In truth, he hadn’t endured the explosion.
She knew what shoes he had worn.
‘Shoes soaked in holy blood.’
The shoes stained with the blood of the primal existence.
One of the holy relics that protected the wearer’s life.
Thanks to that, he barely escaped instant death.
‘What was he trying to do at the end?’
He must have tried to weakly lift his hand.
He couldn’t be intending to use magic with that body.
Did he have a hidden artifact?
‘Is there an intact artifact from that magic…’
Eliya rummaged through Balak’s mass using magic.
The precise wind magic was close to telekinesis.
And she found a small bag sealed in an inner pocket.
It was so tightly sealed that it survived the supernova explosion.
‘The shoes soaked in holy blood… made this bag by cutting the leather. What could possibly be inside that’s worth this much…?’
Inside the bag was a key.
A small black key.
It wasn’t an item imbued with magical effects.
She had no clue why he tried to take it out or what door it fit.
‘Since I’m planning to visit Balak’s mansion anyway, I suppose I can check it out then.’
There were no other items.
His limbs burned away, leaving only a charred body.
The once regal figure of Duke Balak, crowned in black, now looked terribly shabby for a last impression.
A laugh suddenly escaped her.
‘In the end, he was a human who only thought of himself.’
This key didn’t seem like his last resort.
She would have to check, but it almost felt like a gesture intended for her.
‘Trying to take the good-parent role at the last minute to avoid the wrongs of the past… so predictable.’
Cain, Levi, Jezebel, Aghan, Sara. Narcissi.
And Balak.
With him gone, all direct lines that ignored and concealed their mother’s death were dead.
She had achieved what she’d wished for all those years.
There was no refreshing sense of liberation.
Neither discomfort nor a feeling of emptiness.
Only a sense of having finally resolved what should have been dealt with long ago.
That was all.
It felt lightly relieving.
Once, she had hoped they would suffer in hell after their deaths.
But now…
She did not want to be consumed by anger towards them.
The intense resentment and hatred she had felt were enough from her childhood experiences.
‘I will be able to stand proudly in front of my mother’s grave. And…’
Eliya smiled softly.
It was time to meet none other than Judas.
Once the peace treaty with the Empire was successfully established, she would spend every day with Judas from now on.
There was nothing more she desired in her life.
Ah, but before that.
The Assassin Guild.
Or rather, the one responsible for Maria’s assassination.
She would surely find him and kill him.
Unlike the Bevel family, whose whereabouts she knew for certain, it was difficult to identify that target, so she had postponed it for now.
But she could take her time to proceed.
Alongside Judas.
*
“It’s the final lesson.”
Gawain blocked Judas’s path.
The remnants of Cain’s faction hesitated backward toward Gawain.
Judas quietly observed, trying to muster the courage to speak.
“…Sir Gawain.”
He couldn’t bring himself to draw his sword.
On the contrary, Gawain was resolute.
He approached Judas confidently, sword and shield in hand.
“I…”
Just as Judas was about to speak.
In an instant, Gawain closed the distance.
Taking advantage of Judas’s moment of hesitation, he struck fiercely with his sword.
Judas barely raised his shield.
– CLANG!
With a heavy impact, another attack followed.
After deflecting, he quickly thrust his sword in retaliation.
But it was easily blocked.
They were in close quarters.
Gawain issued the final warning.
“Don’t hesitate.”
“……”
Judas gritted his teeth.
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