Chapter 62. The Flame that Opens the Future (3)
The center of the long-abandoned fortress.
Enoch, glancing around the pitch-dark surroundings once, stopped his steps before the fortress’s long corridor.
‘Here, no one should be watching.’
The other family mages seemed preoccupied outside, restraining prisoners and regrouping.
It was natural that there was no sign of anyone.
‘Few lights too.’
The abandoned fortress filled with silence.
The only light was the faint moonlight shining through the windows.
‘Naturally, the torches on the sconces are all extinguished too.’
A corridor stretching long into the depths of the fortress.
The sconces that once illuminated that long corridor were now cold with age, filled only with dust.
Extinguished sconces and the fortress corridor submerged in deep darkness.
Facing it, Enoch gathered his thoughts.
‘First, I need to find out more about the Magical Beastification experiment Tantalus is planning.’
The first task to survive as Enoch was removing the cause of Enoch’s death 5 years later.
Therefore, whatever Tantalus’s objective, his human experiments must absolutely be stopped.
For that, even slightly more information was needed. There was still much unknown about him.
Enoch took a deep breath and focused his mind.
-Flicker
His vision began to be dyed with the shadows of the inner world. White characters floated up again.
? World of Impermanence: Entry preparation complete
But just then.
The moment entry into the World of Impermanence was about to begin─
‘Huh?’
─Enoch’s eyes widened greatly.
Something was vaguely felt beside him.
‘This is?’
There was a glowing red line etched in the air.
Beyond the underground passage before Enoch’s eyes.
A glowing flow of mana leading inside.
Seeing it, Enoch realized.
‘This familiar red mana. Undoubtedly the mana felt from the Empire's Last Sword Saint.’
A faint trace of mana etched in the air, like footprints left long ago by someone.
‘Come to think of it, this happened before too.’
When he first became Enoch.
While inheriting the ‘memories of the original Enoch’ in his training ground. He saw such a flow of mana then too.
He had followed the flow of mana back then as well.
Therefore, even though it was a very faint trace of remaining mana, he knew he had to follow it.
Swish.
Enoch raised his head in the deep darkness.
Beyond the corridor veiled by endless darkness.
He follows the past traces of red mana, emitting a faint light, stretching long somewhere.
Step, step.
As Enoch quietly moved his steps, messages silently floated up around him again.
? Empire's Last Sword Saint: Synchronizing
? Entering World of Impermanence… 80%
And simultaneously, the sound of flames igniting began to echo in Enoch’s ears as he walked forward.
-Fwoosh!
On both sides of Enoch.
The past torches that illuminated the fortress corridor.
- As if time itself rewound.
Every time Enoch took a step.
The past torches lining the corridor began to reignite one by one where his footsteps landed.
Flicker.
The color of red flames transparently dyed the black hair and pupils of the boy walking through the darkness.
Enoch’s eyes narrowed.
‘The inner world hasn’t fully activated yet?’
The World of Impermanence, gradually encroaching on his vision from all sides, literally seeming to merge with reality.
This experience was a first.
‘Come to think of it.’
The message that appeared when he first entered the fortress flashed through Enoch’s mind.
‘Said the synchronization rate with the subject’s memory drastically increased. Is it because of that?’
But there was no time for lengthy contemplation.
Before long, the past experienced by the Empire's Last Sword Saint was being projected beyond his merging vision.
The Sword Saint’s monologue echoed in Enoch’s ears.
[The war with the Magical Beasts was long.]
Countless Magical Beasts rushed towards the Sword Saint standing alone, sword lowered.
Facing the swarm of darkly charging Magical Beasts, the lone Sword Saint’s voice echoed lowly.
[The incompetent people living in my old hometown died again, unable even to resist the Magical Beasts.]
His hometown was once a refuge for the abandoned.
Land of those pushed to the barren and harsh frontiers because they were non-mages, worthless to the Empire.
Even here, they died because they lacked power.
[From the start, regarding the deaths of worthless individuals, the Empire merely stood by, just as it always had.]
-Kieeeeeeeeek!
Eventually, the swarm of Magical Beasts charging towards the Sword Saint leaped.
Letting out metallic roars, the massive monsters, several times the size of humans, swarmed from all sides, attacking.
[I had to find an answer.]
The Sword Saint moved his sword mechanically.
[The flames of vengeance bloomed on my sword, what exactly must they now incinerate.]
-Fwoosh!
The massive body of the Magical Beast charging fiercely at the Sword Saint was split in half by a single blow.
Fierce flames erupted from his sword, cutting down the overflowing enemies, violently crossing the air.
Meaningless flames blazed as if struggling.
[I thought if I kept cutting down the endlessly surging Magical Beasts, someday a ray of light would shine upon that question.]
The wandering sword and fire dance.
Sword strikes cut through space, raging, and sharp storms of flame roared, slashing in all directions.
[However, no matter how much I cut, the answer remained unseen.]
The Sword Saint murmured calmly.
[Instead, in this war, I saw countless people searching for their own answers, besides myself.]
Instantly, Enoch’s eyes widened greatly.
In that war with the Magical Beasts.
The Sword Saint was not alone.
[There, I met ‘two kinds of’ mages who stood together against the forefront of the Magical Beasts.]
Behind the Sword Saint advancing, cutting down enemies alone.
Dozens of massive magic circles simultaneously revealed their presence, rapidly constructing in the air.
[Comrades-in-arms who protected each other for their respective wills, determined to drive out the Magical Beasts.]
The Empire's Last Sword Saint glanced back briefly.
Silhouettes of mages clad in black robes. Magic circles rotated in unison from the tips of their magic gears.
Wooong!
Beside the Sword Saint, a powerful flow of mana instantly brushed past, forming a massive magic circle.
[One group of mages belonged to the Empire’s Main House.]
Hearing the monologue, Enoch’s thoughts momentarily stopped.
Understandably so.
Because the design of the white crest embroidered on the black robes of the mages behind the Sword Saint was none other than….
“To the glorious mages of Elsyde, and my true Follower Families, I command!”
The young man with deep blue hair who constructed the magic circle.
From behind the Sword Saint advancing while cutting down enemies, he aimed his magic gear at the Magical Beasts and proclaimed like thunder.
“Cover the Sword Saint, annihilate the Magical Beasts!”
Following the command, the magic circles activated all at once.
Countless magic spells, trailing tails of light, flew forth, thoroughly bombarding the Magical Beasts surrounding the Sword Saint breaking through the enemy lines alone, beginning to cover him.
[One among them was one of the ‘direct descendants’ belonging to the Elsyde family (家), the Main House governing the nearby territory at the time.]
Enoch looked at the mage within the Sword Saint’s memory.
‘A direct descendant of Elsyde living in the Sword Saint’s era must be one of Enoch’s distant ancestors.’
If so, that young man must also be one of the preceding Elsyde family heads who lived much further in the past.
Surprising, if anything.
‘Elsyde and the Sword Saint were related!’
Beyond Enoch’s surprise.
The eyes beneath the hood of the Sword Saint, cutting down enemies, glanced briefly at the young man with deep blue Elsyde hair.
[At that time, one direct descendant of Elsyde, unable to bear watching the people of this abandoned land being helplessly ravaged by Magical Beasts, independently took the initiative to repel the Magical Beasts leading his Follower Families, joining me.]
Before Enoch could even fully process the quite surprising fact.
The Sword Saint’s subsequent monologue was heard beside him.
[However, it wasn't just Elsyde’s mages who sought to drive out the Magical Beasts from this land.]
“Sword Saint! We too shall join the fray!”
Beyond the Sword Saint’s vision, having just cut down a Magical Beast.
Beyond the desolate rocky cliff, another group of mages revealed themselves.
[Beast-kin pushed to this land for failing to manifest magic, unlike the Empire’s general Beast-kin.]
‘Non-mage Beast-kin?’
[Like other ordinary Imperial citizens, most Beast-kin at the time had succeeded in naturally manifesting magic.]
[Furthermore, Beast-kin were known to possess innately superior mana sensitivity compared to ordinary humans.]
[However, even among such Beast-kin, there existed a very small minority who did not possess magical talent.]
A question instantly flashed through Enoch’s mind.
‘Then weren’t those Beast-kin also driven to the frontier for being non-mages? Yet they participated in the war?’
Just then, the Sword Saint also pondered the same question.
[Thus, the Beast-kin pushed to this frontier land, unlike other general Beast-kin, must have been those lacking the talent of mages.]
[But somehow, some among them ‘suddenly awakened magic’ after the appearance of the monsters.]
Beast-kin gripping magic gears leap down from the cliff.
The Beast-kin land protectively around the Sword Saint, aiming crude magic gears at the teeming Magical Beasts.
Glancing briefly at them, the Sword Saint murmured.
[The Beast-kin who abruptly manifested magic assisted me as powerful mages, engaging in battle against the Magical Beasts.]
One of the Beast-kin shouts with a cornered expression.
“We protect our own home! Anyway, there’s no place left for us in the Empire!”
The Beast-kin, non-mages until recently, desperately grip their magic gears and aim them at the Magical Beasts.
“Kill! If we don’t kill, we lose our place to live!”
The Beast-kin charge towards the swarm of Magical Beasts, venting their anger. Physical enhancement magic circles deploy on their bodies.
They desperately continue a fierce, bloody close combat against the horde of Magical Beasts covering the land.
[The Beast-kin awakened as mages suffered countless sacrifices in the war. However, they made equally great contributions in repelling the Magical Beasts.]
[To an extent unthinkable for those persecuted until now simply for not being mages.]
‘Wait a minute. Surely?’
At the Sword Saint’s repeated monologue, an ominous premonition somehow flashed through Enoch’s mind.
-Turning those who were non-mages into mages.
‘I definitely saw something similar in a previous mission.’
The Exemption Mission conducted previously in Leopold.
There too, they clearly said they turned ‘non-mage’ children into ‘mages’ through ‘experiments’.
‘Could it be related to that?’
Beyond the question swirling in Enoch’s mind.
The Sword Saint’s monologue had already changed.
[The harsh war ended after 2 years.]
Beyond Enoch’s vision, walking down the fortress corridor, a faint streak of light came from afar.
The long, dark tunnel ends.
The war with the Magical Beasts ends.
[Around the time flowers bloomed over the Beast-kin corpses roughly torn apart by Magical Beasts, peace finally arrived.]
? Entering World of Impermanence… 90%
Step.
[The war waged in the land of the marginalized went unknown to the outside world.]
Enoch listened to the increasingly clear monologue, moving deeper into the fortress interior.
[Because it was originally land where people nobody cared about gathered, and the war waged upon that land.]
[Naturally, the fact that victory and peace were won through the immense sacrifice of the Beast-kin also faded into oblivion.]
Tap-
When Enoch’s footsteps stopped, the long corridor had already ended.
Before his eyes lay the silhouette of something.
-A large stone chair.
A throne, broken and cracked here and there.
It was a massive gray chair made of solid stone material, its back soaring towards the fortress’s high ceiling.
The seat where the lord of this fortress once sat.
But now, a throne decayed by time.
Upon the empty stone throne, dust and cracks accumulated over long ages covered it.
Approaching the chair, Enoch realized.
‘This was the place.’
Here, the Sword Saint’s mana was felt.
? Memory Source: Location Reached
? Entering World of Impermanence… 100%
? Empire's Last Sword Saint: Synchronization Start!
Fwoosh!
And the next moment, the World of Impermanence unfolded before Enoch’s eyes with a dull sound.
-Kururururu……
As if the world’s time rewound.
The cracks and dust on the massive throne rapidly disappeared, gradually regaining its former appearance and majesty.
Thus.
When the gray throne fully recovered its glory.
[-My achievements in stopping the Magical Beasts were highly evaluated.]
Enoch momentarily doubted his eyes.
Upon the throne sat the Empire's Last Sword Saint.
One hand resting on his sword.
Lofty as ever.
[I was granted this territory, corresponding to my old homeland, the land I protected, from the Imperial family.]
The Sword Saint, officially granted the title of lord by the Imperial family, now sat upon the large gray stone throne symbolizing his lofty position.
Enoch stood before him, facing him.
[Many things changed.]
However, the lips of the Sword Saint, hood pulled deeply down as always, remained firmly closed.
[But, I still hadn't found the answer.]
Territory, status, whatever.
None of it held any meaning.
[I lived solely, blindly. To exact righteous retribution, thorough payment of debt, from my enemies.]
The Sword Saint lowered his head.
[But they fled to a place my sword couldn't reach. That fact alone remained unchanged.]
The fuel for the flames had already vanished.
The fire bloomed on the sword thus subsided.
The Sword Saint lowered his head.
[…So I thought.]
The Sword Saint’s monologue suddenly reversed.
Enoch briefly tilted his head.
‘So I thought? If so, does that mean reality was different?’
But before the question deepened.
The monologue of the Sword Saint sitting on the throne continued.
[One day, I heard unbelievable news from those who came seeking me.]
Only then did Enoch turn around.
The past Sword Saint sat on the throne, looking at the numerous people who came for a direct audience with him.
Who they were was quickly identifiable.
[My comrades-in-arms, the Beast-kin who fought to protect their homes. They came to me and reported.]
Those prostrating before the Sword Saint were the Beast-kin who once fought alongside him in the war against the Magical Beasts.
However, the Beast-kin all looked indescribably haggard in appearance and attire.
[News that all Beast-kin within the Empire were being massacred by mages belonging to the Imperial family.]
“…Sword Saint. Please, we implore you.”
The Beast-kin, having lost even arms and legs in the war with Magical Beasts, pleaded, prostrating with their unhealthy bodies.
“We have nowhere else to go!”
[Driven to the Empire’s frontiers for being incompetent, they were ones who underwent the 「Magical Beastification Experiment」 proposed by dark mages during the Magical Beast war, becoming mages.]
“Everywhere in the Empire, everyone hates us.”
[And the meaning of being associated with dark mages or dark magic in the Empire was chillingly clear.]
“All our other kinsmen were murdered by mages belonging to the Imperial family. All that remain are our group, gathered and surviving under the ‘Great Chieftain’.”
The prostrating Beast-kin earnestly implore the Sword Saint.
[The final struggle of the incompetent Beast-kin for survival drove even all innocent Beast-kin to ruin.]
The Sword Saint looks down at them, gripping his sword.
[The Beast-kin, already viewed warily like thorns in the side by the Empire's aristocratic mages, the established power, due to their innate superior mana sensitivity.]
Amidst that.
The non-mage Beast-kin who participated in the war by undergoing the taboo dark mages’ experiments merely to protect their homes became a good pretext.
Ultimately, their existence became justification to pin the same crime onto other Beast-kin living normally across the Empire after manifesting magic.
[However, the most shocking truth lay elsewhere.]
He murmured in a sunken voice.
[One of the Beast-kin who underwent the experiment heard the full story of the human experiments from the dark mages at the time.]
The Beast-kin revealed the hidden truth.
Veins pulsed on the back of the Sword Saint’s hand.
[The true purpose of the ‘Magical Beastification Experiment’ the dark mages had been conducting until now was to create biological weapons to counter the suddenly appearing Magical Beasts.]
Hearing those words, Enoch briefly inhaled sharply.
‘…The reason dark mages kept repeating biological experiments was to stop Magical Beasts?’
Questions arose at the sudden information.
However, the Sword Saint’s monologue continued.
[But the absurd feat of turning someone without magical talent into a mage was definitely impossible for mere mediocre wandering dark mages alone.]
His voice repeated emptily.
[There was a powerful ‘backer’ who commissioned the human experiments from the dark mages and even provided resources.]
“Please, accept at least the innocent other Beast-kin as your domain subjects! They are innocent!”
“We beg you! We who underwent the experiments from dark mages will pay any price for the sins committed! Please, at least the innocent children!”
Amidst their resentment-filled pleas.
[The backer who instigated the human experiments from the dark mages was….]
The Sword Saint slowly stood up from his seat.
[The very ones who defined dark mages as evil in the first place.]
Grip.
He strongly gripped the sword hilt in his hand.
[The Empire’s, Imperial Family.]