Chapter 224

“Ray…”

The bond of consciousness connecting them snapped, and the blood-red orb left behind in the Blue Tower’s chamber murmured weakly.

The blue-clad figure, Arachne, remained silent, observing without a word.

Blood-Red Orb, Viscount Yuris, turned his head directly toward Arachne.

“It’s truly regrettable, Yuris.”

“……”

The last mercy I can show you is to let you escape this place alive.

“Do you intend to remain a standard-bearer of lies and shadows, obeying until the very end?”

“Do you wish to know why I remain loyal to the Shadow Lord?”

“……I have no particular desire to know.”

Viscount Yuris shook his head coldly.

“War will begin, and within that war, we will now be enemies.”

The blue-robed mage smiled sadly, while Marquis Yuris remained silent. For the first time, his shoulders trembled faintly.

“The Shadow Lord is correct.”

“What is it?”

“That I was nothing but a third-rate villain.”

As he spoke, the Crimson Prince began to laugh. He chuckled like a madman. After exaggerated gestures like a third-rate actor, the laughter abruptly vanished.

“And this petty villainy ends here.”

Bloodred spoke with a face devoid of even a trace of emotion.

“One last question. Will you betray the shadows and lies and fight alongside me?”

“Unfortunately, I cannot.”

Arachne said, and the Crimson Ball nodded. Simultaneously, characters of blood began to etch themselves into his flesh.

“Then, as your sovereign said, there’s no reason for us to retreat like third-rate villains and wait for a better time.”

“Oh my.”

“I won’t bother with empty threats about becoming enemies when we meet again.”

The continent’s foremost dark mage began accelerating his eight circles once more. To eliminate the blue magic tower master before him with all his might.

But it was at that very moment.

“Regrettably, even now, we are not seeing each other.”

“Do you think I’d fall for your cheap tricks?”

“The fact that we’ll become enemies when we meet again—that too is a story for when we meet again.”

Arachne smiled as if amused.

“……!”

At that very moment, the landscape beneath the Crimson Duke vanished.

The Crimson Duke, Viscount Yuris, stood upon a barren expanse. To the uninitiated, he must have appeared like a madman muttering to himself in the void just moments before.

The northern empire, the land of ice. The blue magic tower he thought was there did not exist. There was no tower anywhere.

A cold wind blew across the barren land of emptiness.

That same hour, at dawn, in the bedroom of the Saxon ducal castle.

The most crucial thing for a spy of the Blue Mage Tower was to never be aware that they were a spy.

Moreover, even the rulers of the Blue Magic Tower were no exception to that rule.

“Ah…”

Elena, the Duchess of Saxony, jolted awake. Beside her, her beloved lay asleep.

“What’s wrong, Elena?”

“Just now… I had a nightmare.”

Soon Elena smiled as if nothing had happened. The Duke of Saxony, looking concerned, reached out and wrapped his arm around her neck.

Nothing had changed. Beside her lay a man beyond compare in loveliness, and her son was the ‘Black Prince,’ unmatched by anyone in the empire.

“I dreamt of our son.”

“Was it a nightmare?”

“Yes.”

The Blue Mage Tower, master of lies and intrigue, had a far simpler reason for its loyalty to the Shadow Lord than one might imagine.

The Blue Magic Tower never existed from the start. No, strictly speaking, it did exist, but it was never anything with form or substance.

From the start, there was no Arachne spinning her web in the damp chamber of the Blue Magic Tower.

Even the Blue Tower itself was not real. For nothing had ever been built upon that land from the very beginning.

When the offspring of noble families came to learn the magic of the Blue Magic Tower, blue-robed masters always appeared at the opportune moment. Yet even those masters could never truly be called blue magicians in the proper sense.

After all, they’re nothing but puppets dancing to their tune, just like Sepia.

The Blue Magic Tower existed solely within their minds.

Only when the Blue Magic Tower Lord and the Sorceress Council define themselves as the Blue Magic Tower could the Blue Magic Tower truly exist.

An existence that was everywhere and nowhere.

Yet here, in this very place, Blue was undeniably present.

“There’s no need to worry about Dale.”

“Heh heh, you’re right. There’s nothing more foolish than worrying about your own son.”

Elena smiled as she spoke.

Dale of Saxony, her beloved son. A mother’s love for her child never changes. Even if that child were to point a sharp blade at her.

From the moment he was born, that child bore the inescapable destiny of becoming the Shadow Lord.

Elena, the Blue Mage Tower Master, buried her head gently in the Saxon Duke’s chest.

“He truly is our proud and beloved son.”

As the child who would one day inherit the dark legacy of shadow, death, deceit, and treachery.

And that child was finally, in the truest sense, attempting to leave his mother’s embrace.

As a mother, it was something to be celebrated, yet at the same time, it was also deeply bittersweet.

After Ray Yuris died, the 『Book of Cold Ashes』 dwelling within his heart went berserk, finally revealing its true nature.

Yet fueling that grimoire’s rampage was also the magical power of Dale, who had simultaneously awakened his sixth circle.

A grimoire is, by its very nature, a vessel containing a mage’s thoughts. It is not particularly strange that an entity that should have died long ago would manifest as the incarnation of a grimoire.

That is not the true Demon King, but merely the essence of the ideology he left behind.

Therefore, its value can never be diminished.

The existence of a mage is defined solely by consciousness, and the grimoire is the very product of that consciousness—the essence of demonic genes itself.

The King of Ashes raised his head. It was undoubtedly the Demon King Valour.

The cold lord of ashes, ruling over a world of blazing ashes.

“Why did you awaken me, foolish mortal?”

“Do you wish to fall back into eternal slumber?”

Dale retorted. Simultaneously, aura surged within his body, revealing the blade’s true form.

A black knight clad in the armor of the Night Crow Knight. Yet the Demon King was no fool, unaware of what lay concealed within.

The world of ashes began to tremble violently, filled with hostility as if ready to blow him away at any moment.

“Hero of another world…”

“Yes, now do you remember a bit of the past?”

Dale repositioned his grip on the hilt of the Peacemaker. Seeing the light of peace begin to shine from its blade, the ashes of annihilation finally began to swirl around the Demon King.

It was a storm of ashes possessing destructive power incomparable to what Ray Yuris had demonstrated.

The epithet “King of Ashes” was no falsehood. Even the hero hadn’t defeated the Demon King alone. It had been a hunt involving the entire Sacred Sword Order and countless other uncountable powerhouses of the empire.

“You are now nothing more than a fragment of consciousness dwelling within the grimoire. When my supply of magic power ceases, you will fall silent once more, sealed away and buried deep within the church’s foundations.”

“Through the eyes of this child who possesses me, I have seen many things.”

The Demon King spoke. For heroes of another world, death was not the end—and the Demon King was no exception. For what dwelled within the Book of Cold Ashes was clearly the Demon King’s consciousness, his very self.

“And you, I came to know the existence of the Shadow Lord all too well.”

“It was fortunate that Ray Yuris couldn’t summon the incarnation of the grimoire.”

“So that’s why you killed this poor child?”

The Demon King sneered.

“This child is right. You are a fraud. And this poor child never knew the truth until the very end, struggling all his life against the wall of talent and inferiority before ending his life miserably.”

“…….”

“The title ‘Lord of Lies’ was surely meant for you, hero of another world.”

The Demon King spoke. As the only being in this world who knew Dale’s true identity.

“I did not awaken you to engage in trivial talk of truth or falsehood.”

“Then why did you awaken me?”

“The land of darkness beyond the Demon King’s domain, from which you fled.”

Dale spoke.

“I escaped from the Eldritch in Saxony who were there.”

“…….”

“Won’t you join hands with me and reclaim that land?”

The hero from another world asked. At last, the world of ashes surrounding the Demon King began to stir.

“I will ensure you are rightfully seated as the ruler of that land.”

“What do you hope to gain from this?”

“We must overthrow the usurpers who now occupy that land.”

Dale said. The lords of ancient Saxony, including the immortal Frederick.

Against them, the hero extended his hand to the Demon King.

“Very well.”

The King of Ashes laughed coldly and shouted.

“But before that, the debt between us remains unsettled.”

“Yes, that’s how it should be.”

Watching this, the hero from another world gripped his sword tighter.

Simultaneously, the world of frozen ashes began to swirl once more, stirring up a whirlwind of ash.

“Mother!”

The moment Elena appeared in the central courtyard of the Saxon ducal castle, her daughter, Liza, ran toward her with a beaming smile and embraced her.

Sepia, standing beside her, smiled happily and said.

“Your daughter’s progress is remarkably swift. It’s as if blue magic were her very nature.”

“Heh heh, I’m glad you said that.”

Hearing that, Elena smiled.

The Sorceress of the Blue Magic Tower, the female wizard of legend.

“Because she is the daughter of that proud one.”

Elena said this, hugging her beloved daughter, Lize, and smiling quietly.

“Sepia, could you step aside for a moment?”

“Certainly.”

Sepia stepped back without a second thought. Watching her retreating back, the emotion vanished from Elena’s face for a moment. But it was only for a moment.

Elena turned her head toward Rize, and there were the girl’s eyes, shining with innocent radiance.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Rize?”

“A great wizard like you, big brother!”

Rize answered Elena’s question without a moment’s hesitation. Hearing this, Elena smiled gently.

“I too am very much looking forward to seeing just how great a mage our daughter will become.”