“You are blabbering whatever comes to your mind!”
“I’m not. I’m just telling the truth.” Zich raised his chin. He didn’t identify himself as the subject of the story, but everyone knew that he was talking about his story. From behind, Hans kept fidgeting around with Estellade as if he felt guilty.
“So, that guy still became a Karuwiman Honorary Knight after going through all that?” Orland’s face twisted gruesomely. Zich was clearly rebuking him. After experiencing similar childhoods, one became a traitor while the other one became an Honorary Knight. At the stark difference that Zich was pointing out to him, Orland wanted to spit at him. Yet, Zich’s next response completely contrasted his expectations.
“No, that guy also became evil. He became the ultimate villain, incomparable to small fries like you.”
“You bastard! Are you mocking—!”
“However!” Zich cut off Orland’s angry words, “He at least didn’t blame others for his actions.”
It was as if a Great Demon Lord was mocking a small-fry villain.
“A person’s past can definitely influence their actions, or their life can even be controlled by someone else. But the decision to take that path wholly falls on you.” This applied even if somebody else had led the person on the path.
“So, don’t place the blame on your past!” Of course, screwing over the people who manipulated his life without his knowledge was another matter. Zich differentiated between these two matters very clearly.
“…So, you are saying that I am in the wrong.”
People disliked it when their opinions were refuted, especially when it was their life philosophy. Naturally, Orland became upset; but Zich didn’t care for his feelings. Thus, his next response didn’t consider Orland’s feelings at all.
“No, I was just telling you how I feel. You were talking as if you were the most pitiable existence in the world, so I was just trying to show you how delusional you are.” It was ridiculous that someone who had walked the path of the Demon Lord was giving advice to another person about their way of living.
“I’m not the type of person to intervene in how other people live their lives, so you should continue living your own way. Whatever feelings you have or whether you lead a coup, I won’t judge your actions to determine if they are right or wrong. I’m going to live my life my own way, and we can’t avoid clashing if you decide to collaborate with the robed figures. Well, I’ve blabbered on for a long time, but that’s all I wanted to say.”
Zich took back Windur against Orland and got into a fighting stance.
“Come on, let’s just do whatever the hell we want!”
Crash!
Zich shot forward. Imbued with mana, his sword flew towards Orland’s heart.
Tang!
Zich’s sword bounced off. There was suddenly an invisible wall in front of Orland.
“Aren’t you just saying that you will do whatever the hell you want in the end!”
“I’m not! I’m just saying that we won’t achieve anything by showing off our misfortune to each other! It’s all pointless compared to our current situation anyways! I don’t care about your situation, and it’s not like you will sympathize with another person for having a similar past as you either!”
Crunch!
Zich twirled his wrist and swung the sword that had bounced off again.
“Tch!”
Mana whirled around Orland’s staff. Temperature from their surroundings dropped sharply and ice pillars began to shoot up around him. They pierced through everything in their path and widened the area.
“B-Block them!” In a hurry, other mages moved their staffs and responded to Orland’s magical attacks. They were also considerably strong mages, but right now, all they could do was block Orland’s magic with all their might.
‘Hmm. Are they tired?’ Even if Zich had deactivated the defense system, the mages suffered a lot to penetrate through the system; while their magic kept getting obstructed, they continued to move. It was understandable as to why they were all tired.
‘But this guy’s magic definitely became stronger.’
Although he took one of the seats at the end, Orland was a member of the top conferences in the magical tower; thus, if his magic abilities became even stronger now, it was evidently going to be quite troublesome.
“Zich! Is that perhaps…!”
“It’s probably what you think, Lyla.”
If Orland had forcefully unleashed his power, there should be some gaps or awkwardness in his movements. However, there was no trace of that in Orland. ‘He must not have increased his power, and there’s an even lower chance that he increased his original power.’
That meant only one thing: he had brought in a new power from elsewhere.
“You must have stolen something from Elena.” Although Elena’s talent was incredible, she didn’t have anything that could be considered magic at the moment. He was probably stealing something else such as her life force.
“Kill him right now!” Lyla shouted. It seemed like Lyla had reached the same conclusion as Zich. “You damn bastard! You made all that fuss about how your father hurt you, but how much are you planning to steal from Elena!”
“Shut up! I’m different from my father! I was a good father to her normally! I even supported and cheered her on for her dream! I’m just taking something back for what I did for her!”
“Wow! You are able to say such trashy lines without hesitation! Totally my type!” Zich exclaimed.
“Zich!”
“Don’t worry, Lyla. I don’t plan to let this drag on any longer.” Zich fixed his grip on Windur. “Elena is a disciple that Lyla dotes on a lot. So, I can’t allow you to steal from her or do anything that might harm her. So, why don’t you die quickly? Stop tormenting your daughter so much!” Zich ran towards Orland, and Lyla supported him with magic. Hans and Snoc also helped Zich and attacked Orland.
Pop! Pop!
Lyla attacked with magic, and Orland blocked her attacks skillfully. However, he didn’t have a moment of rest as Zich’s attacks came right afterward. Other mages also began to participate in the attacks. They all targeted Orland while avoiding Zich who stuck closely to Orland.
“You bastarrrrrd!”
Pop!
Orland’s mana flowed out again. Powerful spells shot towards Orland.
“Hey! If you use that much power, will your daughter be alright?”
“That’s why you bastards have to quickly die!”
Crash! Zich crushed an ice spike and frowned; the recoil was definitely stronger than before.
‘He really seems to be sucking her life force with no concern for her wellbeing.’
Crash!
The ground was already covered with ice spikes that Orland had made. Each and every one of them was sharp enough to kill a person, so it was very cumbersome to deal with them.
“Hyaaat!”
Slam!
Zich’s attack was blocked by an enormous ice wall. He saw Orland’s smiling face from across the transparent wall.
Crunch!
Zich jumped back to escape the cold air that suddenly enclosed him. The area that he had stood just turned into ice.
“Hyaat!” Hans swung his sword to slice through the ice blocks. However, even Estellade was not able to easily slice through the icy walls.
“Nowem!”
Koo!
Snoc shot out clumps of mithril. However, even those clumps of mithril became frozen solid, and they were not able to make much of an impact on the battle. A few of them even became stuck inside the ice.
‘It’s a bit annoying.’ Zich was trying to find gaps in Orland’s defense when someone came up from below. One of the mages who stayed behind in the conference room had come up.
“W-what is happeni…!” The mage could not continue his words in surprise.
Zich shouted, “What is the matter?”
“Ah, that! Ms. Dwayne! She seems to be having some kind of seizure! It looks very dangerous! Since the defense system seems to have disappeared, I came up to get help but…!”
Zich could easily predict the reasons why the mage had come up to get help. Zich clicked his tongue and Lyla had a murderous expression on her face.
Zich asked, “Is she in a very dangerous situation?”
“She looks like she’s going to die at any moment!”
“I understand.” Zich immediately flung his body towards Orland. Windur’s blade was blocked by an ice wall again.
Lyla shouted, “Surrender immediately! Are you not worried about your daughter’s life!”
“If you guys withdraw, everything will be fine!” Orland ignored Lyla’s concern. Zich continued to swing Windur, and Orland also attacked Zich.
Zich took a step back and tried to find an opening again, but he soon realized something and turned back. A small smile appeared on his lips, and Zich rushed towards Orland again. It was a movement that wasn’t too different from the movements he made before.
“No matter how many times you attack, I’ll block it every time.” Orland raised another ice wall again.
Crunch!
Zich fused an enormous amount of mana into Windur and sliced the ice wall. A small gap appeared in the wall. Zich forcefully pushed his body through that opening.
Orland shouted, “How stupid!”
Flasssh!
Ice spikes came out from the wall and pierced Zich. Even though Zich was able to avoid getting hit in his vital areas, his body was covered in blood.
“Die like that!” Orland smiled as he was filled with joy.
Zich spit out the blood that came up to his mouth and also smiled, “You’re the one who’s going to die, you idiot!”
“What…?”
Crassssh! An enormous flame split the room. The flame instantly melted the surrounding ice and destroyed one of Orland’s legs, pelvis, and upper flank.
“Uh…” Orland fell to the ground while letting out a small sound as if he couldn’t believe what just happened.
Crunch!
Zich crushed all the ice spikes that pierced through his body and gulped down potions. The holes in his body began to slowly heal. After throwing the empty potion bottle haphazardly, Zich quietly turned towards the person walking up next to him. It was Walwiss.
Walwiss had a frighteningly stern expression, and after he grabbed a random staff next to him, he walked towards Orland. No one made a sound. They all just watched the scene in front of them in complete silence.
“Huff! Huff!” Orland desperately tried to breathe; his heavy breathing clearly indicated his deep pain.
Zich scanned Orland’s condition. ‘If he doesn’t get treated, he’ll definitely die.’
A third of Orland’s body had been destroyed, but he managed to still say, “…Huff! Yeah, I forgot about you.”
“…The fact that you forgot about the strongest mage in the magical tower is evidence of your foolishness.”
“That damn nagging…” Orland let out insults and turned his gaze towards Zich. “Did you purposely get hit to turn my eyes away from the master?”
“Well, I have keen senses. I immediately knew that the master was planning something.”
“Tch!” Orland clicked his tongue and looked up at Walwiss. “Why are you looking at me like that, Father? You’re the one who destroyed me.”
“…If I hadn’t heard that Elena was in danger, I would have taken care of this more peacefully.”
“Rather than a stupid son, I guess a bright granddaughter is more important.”
“I never said something like that, you foolish son!”
“Hmm, son. It’s a word that makes me nauseous now.” The focus in Orland’s eyes began to slowly disappear; he was very close to dying.
“…I have potions. They’re the best kind even among the Karuwiman potions.” Zich took out potions from his magic box and showed them to Walwiss. However, Walwiss shook his head.
“Even if we save his life right now, there’s no way he can survive the events that happen after this. Moreover, he has that weird connection with Elena that allows him to steal her mana. I don’t know what kind of connection it is, but if he lives, he can continue influencing Elena with that connection. Normally, that kind of connection ends when the person on the other side dies.”
“I understand.” Zich put back his potions.
“Hahaha! Even till the very end, you’re not worried about your son. Don’t worry, Father. I can guarantee this as someone who stole Elena’s talents. Elena is an outstanding genius, and people with the same amount of talent as her can be counted on one hand in this world. She’s the talented bloodline that you wanted so much. So by all means, feel free to be happy, Father.”
“…Regardless of whatever grudge and emotions you had against me, what you did is unforgivable. Especially considering that you harmed our family members.”
“I don’t want to hear any more of your naggi…”
Walwiss cried, “I’m sorry!”
Orland closed his mouth. Walwiss was bowing his head. Orland could faintly see that something sparkling was coming out of Walwiss’ face.
“I’m so, so…sorry…”
“…It’s 20 years too late, you damn father.” With these last words, Orland’s mouth never opened again.
And like this, the enormous incident that swept the entire magical tower in Sunewick came to an end.