Chapter 45

BOOM!

Purifier’s suicide attack, sacrificing his own flesh as the explosive charge. Amid the swirling blast, Dale and Sepia chanted ‘Armor of Frost’ without a moment’s hesitation.

It formed an ice shell that intensely strengthened molecular bonds, maintaining its ‘frozen state’ even within the raging flames. While it couldn’t fully absorb the explosion’s shockwave, it provided just enough defense to narrowly avoid fatal injury.

After all, it was the water magic of Dale, hailed as the empire’s greatest genius, and Sepia, the elder of the Azure Magic Tower.

But the Saxon cavalry, protecting themselves with mere ‘steel armor,’ were not so fortunate.

The swirling heat began to melt their steel, scorching flesh, blood, and bone.

The Purifier’s self-destruction wiped out dozens of Saxon Knights, the pride of the Saxon House.

Only one of the twelve explosives had detonated. And within the raging storm of flames, the remaining ‘explosives’ began to move.

Determined to complete their mission, the ‘Purifiers’—shadows of flame—charged toward Dale.

Unfettered by Sepia’s discordant dissonance, they unleashed instant incantations, spewing streams of fiery tongues.

‘So that’s how it’s going to play out, huh?’

But Dale, too, was a battle-hardened warrior who had seen it all.

Facing the surging flames, Dale too moved the ‘shadow’ beneath his feet. Following the fluttering shadow cloak, he generated blades of darkness and easily leapt away, dodging the Purifier’s fiery blast. After evading, he charged back toward the enemy, plunging the shadow blades downward.

Thud!

‘That’s two.’

Swoosh!

The moment the shadow blade plunged toward the Purifier’s chest, it split into multiple blades, tearing his body apart.

Like the blades of a high-speed shredder, it tore the heart and entrails, the shoulder blades, limbs, and neck to shreds.

Immediately afterward, the Purifier’s body exploded in a violent blast.

Unlike before, the explosion’s power was relatively diminished. Because the ‘form of the explosive’ that should have detonated was not intact.

This marked the second explosive to detonate.

‘This isn’t an opponent who would listen to reason anyway.’

Amidst the swirling flames, Dale focused his composure. He glanced briefly at Sepia behind him.

“Be careful.”

At least he didn’t need to worry about her.

“Watch out, Dale.”

Once again, several Purifiers began surging in from all directions. They weren’t about to use mere offensive magic.

Even for them, it would be difficult to pierce the shield raised by two water mages in this place where blue dissonance resounded.

“……!”

BOOM!

Multiple explosive devices simply began detonating simultaneously, surrounding the two.

A single explosion possessed that level of firepower, and the scale of explosions triggered simultaneously by multiple Purifiers was beyond comparison.

A strike that burned itself without fear of death.

A deafening roar echoed. The infernal conflagration began to rage.

An explosion powerful enough to swallow Dale, Sepia, and all three hundred cavalrymen under Dale’s command.

A shockwave swept through, dizzying the brain within the skull. Within the raging explosion, Dale’s body lost its substance and collapsed into the shadows.

The ability of the Shadow Cloak: Wraith Form.

Sepia, too, was using her own magic to protect her body. After all, a blue tower elder whose specialty was defense wouldn’t fall to a mere suicide blast like this.

“……!”

But save for Dale and Sepia, the other knights were not so fortunate. Without even a moment to scream, their bodies burned away and crumbled.

It was nothing short of a hellscape.

From dozens of knights, the casualties had now swelled to over a hundred.

Amidst the ceaselessly raging storm of flames, Dale, now part of the shadow horde, released his phantom form. Shielding himself with an icy armor, he stood behind a single Purifier.

Puff!

He plunged the shadow blade straight down, spinning the blade of darkness at high speed like a shredder. Tearing and tearing again, until the body was so horribly mangled it was unrecognizable.

Flesh, blood, and bone were scattered.

‘Still a few remain.’

After mincing one body into ground meat, he turned his head without a flicker of emotion.

Sepia shielded her body with a barrier of cold air. Behind her, melted iron fragments and pieces of flesh lay scattered chaotically in all directions. The remains of a body shattered beyond recognition. They signified only one thing.

The Night Raven Knights of House Saxon, sworn to loyalty to Dale.

“……”

Seeing this, Dale bit his lip until it bled.

“Your mission has failed.”

Three Purifiers remained. Looking at them, Dale spoke calmly.

“Because you will never be able to kill me.”

Leaving behind incalculable damage and sacrifice… yet confident in the ‘victory’ firmly grasped in their hands.

“Heh, heh heh heh.”

Seeing this, one of the Purifiers bursts into laughter. It was a twisted laugh, drenched in madness.

“D-d-do you still call this a ‘victory’ after seeing this?”

Pointing at the Saxon knights strewn everywhere.

“You, you Black Magic Tower may deal in ‘death’…”

Pointing at their shattered armor and scattered fragments of flesh.

“Oh, oh, oh, as if we would fear that mere thing called ‘death’!”

With voices filled with madness, the Purifiers began charging once more.

“We are prepared to die! We are prepared to willingly burn our flesh before death!”

Like true fanatics.

“Hail Empire!”

Just as they charged forward, kicking off the ground, ready to explode their bodies once more.

“──So you were prepared to die?”

A voice rang out.

It was the voice of a man who felt incredibly familiar.

Simultaneously, the bodies of the remaining Purifiers exploded in unison.

Self-destruction.

Flames raged, and Dale and Sepia once again generated armor of cold, wrapping it around their bodies. And just as the raging inferno finally began to subside, seeing what remained there, Dale gasped.

A self-destruct spell that blew apart their own bodies.

And yet, the Purifiers—who should have been obliterated, leaving not even a trace behind—were still alive.

All too perfectly intact.

“Contrary to what people think.”

Simultaneously.

“Resigning oneself to death is easier than one might think.”

The voice continued.

“The act that truly requires immense courage is something else entirely.”

The man was there.

He was a man clad in a black robe.

“I’m prepared not to die.”

Moreover, how he had survived the self-destruction… The living Purifiers tilted their heads in momentary puzzlement.

His body remained intact despite the explosion. That was never their intention.

“Do you have the resolve not to die?”

The man asked the Purifiers once more.

It was the voice of the continent’s foremost dark mage, the man standing at the pinnacle of the Black Magic Tower. At that voice, the Purifiers turned their heads in unison. And there was no hesitation or hesitation in their actions.

He charged straight toward Dale’s father.

To once again explode the body of the blazing, fiery flame.

BOOM!

Another explosion erupted. A massive blast powerful enough to engulf the entire area. Hell’s flames raged.

But something was strange.

There was an explosion, yet it caused ‘no damage’ whatsoever. Even the targets of the blast remained unscathed.

The Black Ball swung its arm once more. Then, the ‘shadow of flames’ that had just engulfed them began to fade.

As if extinguishing a candle, it faded away without a trace.

The Purifiers sensed the gravity of the situation and looked up. Toward the man clad in black robes they now faced.

Before them stood the continent’s foremost dark mage, Lord Black.

“Still haven’t realized?”

Lord Black spoke.

“That I have not granted you permission to die.”

Realizing the meaning behind those words, the Purifiers’ faces drained of color for the first time.

“Here, there exists no ‘way to reach death’ for you.”

The Black Mages of the Black Magic Tower, who delve into the truth beyond death—the man standing at its very pinnacle… was not permitting their deaths.

“Curse: Abomination.”

The Black Mage continued. Spinning eight circles to generate black magic, he channeled the words of the curse and thrust them downward.

Simultaneously, dark winds began to swirl violently from all directions.

An invisible, powerful gravity enveloped the Purifiers like an overwhelming force. They were drawn to each other like magnets, their bodies melting and dissolving, beginning to fuse into ‘a single form’.

“Uh, ah, uh…?”

My body felt heavy. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t. Even my voice wouldn’t come out properly. My vision twisted strangely.

“Uh, ugh, ugh, ahh…”

“Uh, uhh, uhh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The voices of my comrades could be heard right beside me. Right beside me? No, it wasn’t beside me. It was closer. Close? No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t even close.

Only then did one Purifier realize.

The voices of his comrades were coming from inside him.

He looked down at his own body. Looking down, he understood. It wasn’t his body. It was just one large mass of flesh. The remaining three Purifiers, fused into one, a rounded, molded mass of flesh.

It was a ‘repulsive fusion,’ just as the name implied.

Six eyes were spinning round and round, surveying their surroundings. Three mouths emitted strangely twisted voices. Six ears listened to those sounds. Thirty fingers writhed about at will. They clung haphazardly to the ball-shaped mass of flesh, without any order whatsoever.

Could one truly call this a ‘person’?

It resembled a mass of materials prepared by the Creator to mold a human being.

“The act of living.”

The black sphere continued speaking toward that mass of flesh.

“It’s far more painful and exhausting than anything that requires preparing for death.”

He said it matter-of-factly.

“I’ll ask again.”

In a voice devoid of even a trace of emotion.

“Are you prepared to not die?”

That man was never the Grim Reaper. He was not a being who brought death in its easily recognizable form.

Before the Black King, ‘death’ was nothing but a luxury.

Pain beyond death. Dale understood its meaning and felt a chill run down his spine.

For he had finally witnessed the true form behind the name, the Black Duke.

The flesh-masses began to mumble desperately. At last, the fanaticism vanished from their faces, replaced by expressions of terror and dread. Though not even the semblance of a face remained.

At least one thing was certain: even those prepared to die were not prepared not to die.