It is said that the world was originally one. Like amphibians breathing with their moist skin in the rain, there was a legendary era when all beings could feel the mana abundantly mixed and exuded in all directions with their bare skin.
Even humans, the lowest of the intelligent beings, overcame the limits of their natural lifespan and weak bodies, ascending to the ranks of demi-gods or celestial spirits.
However, demons and celestials endlessly struggled over humans, and the numerous minor conflicts stemming from their great contention triggered the "Primordial War," which set the order of the world like the flapping of a butterfly's wings in the north.
The once united world was ultimately divided into four separate worlds, with each race moving to different dimensions of the new world according to their beliefs and pursuits.
In the human realm, most of the other races had left, and two vast kingdoms emerged around lands that once served as bridges to ancient tribes, along with a few small kingdoms of other races that refused to migrate. As time passed, humans prospered while the other races declined and disappeared.
The kings of the remaining two kingdoms had revered magic and thrived for thousands of years, but as time passed, their sharp zeal wore down, and they lost their original spirit.
After a period of futile competition within their own clans, the two kingdoms repeatedly changed their dynasties and names until one day, they were helplessly conquered and destroyed by an invading foreign tribe.
On the day the Arpad clan invaded and occupied the two countries of the Drnash clan and stormed the old royal palace,
"From now on, anyone who studies magic in this land will be executed without question."
Aebron, who would later be called the "Warrior King," banned the Drnash clan from using magic and burned their magical books.
Proud of their horsemanship and swordsmanship, the Arpad clan ruled everything under the doctrine of the sword. This marked the beginning of the Kingdom of Rilten, which would later develop into a pivotal state on the Shurakilmrod continent.
Only after a long time had passed, and the two peoples had gradually merged, did Aebron's descendant kings realize the immense value of the magic their ancestors had buried underground.
It began when they witnessed the power of combat mages during frequent territorial disputes with neighboring countries.
Magic was emerging throughout the continent's way of life. Some nations moved beyond small mage guilds and established the concept of the magic tower.
Although they could not openly admit that the founding ancestor’s intentions were misguided, the descendant kings still officially upheld the doctrine of the sword. However, the royal family and influential nobles of Rilten began inviting foreign mages to teach their magically gifted children.
With royal support, scholars emerged to study the lost magic of the Drnash clan.
Meanwhile, the commoners, who bore the strongest Drnash blood, forgot magic entirely. Even if a child with innate magical talent was born, commoners had to toil in menial labor until death, unable to nurture their abilities.
Any ancient relics of the old Fairy Kingdom or countless secret tomes authored by ancient mages that were occasionally unearthed during land cultivation were often confiscated by landlords or lords. What more could they lament?
“You’ll catch a stray sword if you recklessly try to surpass the inherent limits of your birth. A sword has no eyes, so don’t expect it to be any different for you.”
The descendants of the once-glorious magical race were content. It was enough to fully enjoy the sunlight and moonlight and choose the freedom of a commoner who could appreciate the wind rippling through the wheat fields.
However, the fragile peace, like walking a tightrope, was shattered with the advent of the Monster Flooding Period, triggered by a sudden dimensional rift.
The vulnerable commoners, who had cut off their own burgeoning potential, were the first to die as shields.
Until a child born into a miserable and tragic situation grew up and shattered fate.
Until they revived magic, guarded the world’s keystone, and seized everything by taking control of the political realm.
But paradoxically,
The grand journey of an individual who returned from death began as a deeply personal vendetta.
Act 1: Abyss
The newly risen Empire of Rilten.
Notices of the capture of the Tower Master, who had been wanted for treason, were posted in every administrative district, large and small.
“Despite clear evidence that the criminal murdered Prince Trassian, His Majesty graciously offered him a chance to explain himself. However, the criminal refused to appear in court, fled, and occupied the Hadrianus Wall area on the frontier, killing innocent soldiers.”
Heavily armed soldiers announced the emperor’s decree to the gathered populace.
It was the official downfall of a singular figure who had saved the kingdom from near destruction by monster hordes, serving as both Tower Master and Chancellor, and had elevated it to an empire
“How can the crime of killing nearly five regiments of the Imperial Army be considered light? No matter how indulgent the traitor, even if he was His Majesty's friend and a hero who saved the nation, he must be judged.”
Among the gathered populace, those quick-witted enough focused on the fact that the Tower Master was so powerful he could annihilate five regiments of the Imperial Army alone. The even sharper ones saw another implication.
‘With the Tower Master gone, no one can stop the emperor now.’
While those with vested interests in the Tower Master mingled among the crowd, each harboring their own thoughts, Arthur Luenti, the captured Tower Master, was being thrown down before the throne.
***
Clang—Crack!
Heavily armored knights flung the broken body of the prisoner before the throne and pressed down on him. Each time a gauntleted fist rose, flesh and blood splattered onto the polished marble tiles.
Arthur’s body was already so battered that he could no longer move.
His lips, once red with vitality, were pale and drawn from the long period of evasion. His black hair, which had not grown beyond his nape, was now long, blood-soaked, and tangled. The mysterious and graceful impression that once made even his enemies pause was nowhere to be seen. Most importantly, his arms, as vital as life itself to a mage, were broken and twisted behind him. Even the Tower Master, who could crush armor like a cork stopper, could no longer cast any threatening spells.
Yet, despite the excessive force used against him, both the knights applying it and the gathered officials observing the trial held their breath in fear.
They were overwhelmed.
Even as broken ribs pierced his internal organs and fragments of shattered bone shifted painfully within his swollen flesh, the prisoner raised his head high and glared at the emperor with an undaunted spirit.
“My friend. How did you come to be in such a wretched state?”
Only Emperor Azar met Arthur’s defiant, icy blue gaze with composure. The emperor’s gentle, melodic voice, reminiscent of the mythical angel who recited poetry to a god suffering from insomnia, resounded through the high ceilings of the audience chamber as he began the predictable charade.
“I clearly instructed them to bring you here with the utmost courtesy.” As he waved his hand, the bowing guards withdrew to a distance. “I fear that the royal family might be misunderstood for not treating the benefactor of the empire with due respect.”
From his lofty throne, backlit by the breaking light, the young emperor looked down upon everyone with a serene and immaculate demeanor, like a saint. His platinum-blond hair, impeccably neat without a single strand out of place, his slightly plump and elegantly lined lower lip, his slender and beautiful jawline, and his deep purple eyes, resembling amethysts.
Arthur couldn’t help but laugh inwardly. His acting is always impressive, no matter when you see it.
From the day they first met ten years ago to this very moment, Azar’s expression had always been the same.
If it weren’t for the paralyzing poison bit gag that made it impossible for him to move his tongue, Arthur would have flayed that hypocrite’s face and displayed it.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.
“You cannot enter without permission.”
“Move aside! How dare you stop me when the murderer of my child has been captured?”
The woman who was let in by the guards, who could not stop her, was the biological mother of the unofficial prince, who had been found dead one day.
“Your Majesty, please clear Trassian’s name!” She rushed to Azar, falling prostrate before the throne in a desperate plea. “Although he was not born of an official marriage, is there anyone in the court who doesn’t know he was Your Majesty’s child?”
She immediately turned her bloodshot eyes to Arthur. The rage of a mother facing her child’s suspected murderer was fierce.
“How could you? How could you harm a mere one-year-old child? And you call yourself human? He posed no threat just because his mother was a mere maid!”
The former maid’s words, lacking courtly etiquette, were direct. As she vented her suppressed emotions, she finally voiced the blasphemous rumors that everyone had been studiously ignoring.
“It’s true, isn’t it? You made a pact with a demon through black magic to summon the late Empress’s soul!”
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Everyone’s eyes flickered nervously around.
“How could I not understand your grief?” Azar descended from the throne and embraced Trassian’s mother. “Though I couldn’t give him the title of prince, he was still my precious child. I wanted to grant him the position of a wealthy provincial lord and ensure his lifelong prosperity.”
“The culprit is definitely Marquis Luenti! It was a gift sent by him that caused Trassian’s death!” The woman’s shoulders shook as she sobbed in Azar’s arms. Azar gently patted her, comforting her, and then turned to Arthur.
“My friend, as you can see, I am a father who has lost a child before being your comrade. How can I take your side?”
…What a farce.
Arthur already knew the truth about the gift they were talking about. He knew that it was Azar who had killed Trassian and spread rumors about Arthur.
Since the Empress’s death, Azar had lived alone. There was no noblewoman who could surpass the late saintly Empress. However, one day, the politically calculating emperor suddenly took a lowly maid with no backing and had a child with her. He doted on that child exceptionally.
Everyone failed to see the hidden agenda behind the emperor’s unusual affection for his child.
Arthur, who had been biding his time for revenge, noticed the oddity and planted ‘listening ears’ throughout the palace, but he couldn’t stop Azar’s insane act.
Even though Azar was desperate to frame Arthur, Arthur never imagined the emperor would go so far as to kill his own child to fabricate a pretext.
Only after Trassian suddenly died did Arthur, who had suspected everything, quickly leave the capital and retreat beyond Hadrianus Wall in the southernmost part of the empire.
If Arthur had fortified himself in the Magic Tower and gathered all the mages, the situation would have been the exact opposite.
“I cannot plunge this empire, built after subduing the Monster Flooding Period, back into despair.”
Arthur couldn’t destroy the strongest magical nation on the continent that he had built with his own hands.
The defense system that spanned the entire empire was the product of the Magic Tower. If the Magic Tower and the empire were to split and clash, the consequences would be irreversible.
And if it’s you, who knows me well, you would have anticipated my decision and set this stage, Azar.
Arthur’s thoughts were cut off as Azar, having consoled the sobbing woman, returned to his previous demeanor.
“Bring forth the evidence.”
At Azar’s command, a guard stepped forward with a small, ornate box.
“This is the gift Marquis Luenti sent to Trassian. It contained a cursed artifact.”
The guard opened the box, revealing a sinister-looking object. Gasps rippled through the audience.
Arthur’s eyes hardened. It was a masterfully crafted trap, designed to leave no trace of Azar’s involvement while framing Arthur perfectly.
Azar continued, “As a father, this grieves me deeply. But as an emperor, I must uphold justice. Arthur Luenti, for the murder of my son and high treason, you are hereby sentenced to death.”
The room fell silent as Azar’s words echoed. Arthur’s fate was sealed, but he remained defiant, his eyes never leaving the emperor.
“Take him away.”
As the guards moved to drag Arthur out, he mustered his remaining strength to speak through the paralyzing poison’s effect.
“This isn’t over, Azar. You may have won this round, but the truth will come out.”
Azar watched as Arthur was taken away, a slight smirk playing on his lips. The game was far from over, and he knew it.
In the end, Arthur chose to stand alone against the army, swallowing his rage. He knew the outcome of the exhausting skirmishes, wary of even the water he drank and unable to sleep properly.
"Your Majesty, we have brought forth the witness."
A new figure entered the throne room.
"Were you the one who wrapped the gift to be sent to Trassian?"
"Yes, it was on the orders of Marquis Luenti."
It was the secretary Arthur had dismissed long ago for his suspicious behavior.
"Testify in detail before all present. What was in the gift that killed my child?"
"It was a soul gem box, Your Majesty. When Your Majesty was subjugating monsters in the west, the Marquis abused his authority as Tower Master to secretly acquire this magical item. The Magic Tower had classified it as a first-class prohibited item."
No, it was Azar who had obtained the soul gem box. Arthur had recognized the ominous aura surrounding it and had taken it from Azar, storing it in the Magic Tower's special vault. If it had found its way back into Azar's hands, it meant there was a traitor within the Magic Tower.
"So it was a forbidden black magic item. But why would the greatest mage on the Shurakilmrod continent send such a dreadful thing to my young son?"
"It's because of the unique magic within the box. It contains a resurrection spell." The rehearsed testimony continued. "If the box consumes the souls of a hundred people, it can summon the voice of the deceased. If it consumes a thousand souls, it can summon the body of the deceased. Furthermore, if the souls are of noble blood, like royalty or nobility, it can completely resurrect the deceased with just ten souls."
"Then who was the Marquis trying to resurrect? Was it his adoptive father, who died before his son ascended to the marquisate? Or his half-brother, the late Prince Luenti?"
"Your Majesty, though everyone knows the answer, I cannot bring myself to say it."
The emperor's face twisted slightly. "I do not believe the rumors concerning the Empress, as a husband and a friend."
"Your Majesty! The rumors are all true. Marquis Luenti harbored one-sided lust for the late Empress. From the time she stayed with the church as a saintess."
Gasps rippled through the audience. The accusation was blasphemous and scandalous. Azar had masterfully manipulated the situation, framing Arthur as a villain who attempted to resurrect the Empress through dark means.
Arthur clenched his fists, his mind racing. The depths of Azar's betrayal and the intricacy of his plot were staggering. He had orchestrated everything perfectly, painting Arthur as a dark mage driven by forbidden desires.
You lying snake, Azar, Arthur thought bitterly. This is your revenge, isn't it? For my suspicions, for the distance I kept. But I will not fall alone.
Though his body was broken and his spirit weary, Arthur's resolve hardened. He would not let Azar's machinations go unchallenged. He would fight to his last breath, even if it meant sacrificing himself to expose the truth.
As Arthur was dragged away, he managed to catch Azar's eye one last time. The emperor's calm, calculating gaze met his, and for a fleeting moment, a silent understanding passed between them.
The game was far from over.
Then the secretary urgently bowed and pleaded.
"Marquis Luenti planned to revive the late Empress and escape with her. Right after Prince Trassian met his end, the Marquis immediately fled to Hadrianus Wall. If he had nothing to hide, why would he leave the capital?"
A collective sigh echoed through the hall, followed by murmurs that soon turned into harsh rebukes of Arthur’s foolishness.
Amid the chaos, Arthur recalled a particular moment.
"Even if I told you to cleanly settle the line of succession, I didn’t tell you to go this far, Azar."
When Arthur discovered that Azar had fed all his half-siblings to the soul gem box.
"The crime of killing a body can be judged by humans, but the crime of annihilating a soul cannot be repaid even in death. If that gem box, which has already devoured eight, is discovered in the temple, you’ll fall completely."
"I just wanted to see my mother one more time, Arthur!"
Back then, Azar clung to Arthur, sobbing. His face was pale, not like a victor of a long battle but like a defeated man driven to the brink.
"My always-worried mother will finally see her son become the emperor she wished for, so let me just tell her to rest in peace! I’ll bear all the sins.... Please, I beg you!"
Arthur smiled bitterly.
Damn it. I should have reported him back then. Then there wouldn’t have been a ninth.
"Please, my friend. At least offer an explanation. How much more do you intend to humiliate me?"
Azar’s sorrowful voice brought Arthur back to the present.
...Explanation?
Even if his mouth were free, he would never justify this false accusation. No, he would rather use his broken arms to strike Azar with all his might.
It was Azar who took her away, killed her, and ultimately had her embalmed and placed under the tombstone of the Halden royal family.
Arthur gritted his teeth, thinking this. Moving his dislocated shoulder brought out silent screams, but he endured, managing to get the tips of his hands to touch.
"I can’t believe it.... That you coveted my empress and killed my son...."
Azar’s performance, steeped in profound betrayal, reached its peak.
Arthur, through sheer force of will, interlocked his hands despite the pain. The air in the room grew tense as those watching sensed something was about to happen. Azar's eyes briefly flickered with unease, though he quickly masked it with a look of pained nobility.
Arthur knew that his only chance to reveal the truth lay in one final, desperate act. He gathered the last remnants of his strength, focusing his energy on a spell he had never hoped to use. It was a forbidden magic, one that could momentarily restore his ability to speak by transferring pain elsewhere in his body.
As he chanted silently, his vision blurred with pain. But the spell worked. His mouth moved, and he felt the paralysis lift.
"Azar!" Arthur's voice, hoarse and filled with rage, cut through the hall.
The crowd fell silent in shock.
"You are the one who killed Trassian. You used him to frame me, just as you used your siblings to fuel your dark ambitions. The soul gem box was yours. You orchestrated this entire farce to eliminate me and consolidate your power."
Azar's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he regained his composure. "Lies! The traitor speaks lies to save his own skin. Do not be swayed by his deceit!"
Arthur continued, his voice gaining strength. "You cannot silence the truth forever. The Empress, the soul gem box, Trassian's death—it all points back to you. I may die today, but the truth will not perish with me."
The gathered officials and nobles exchanged uneasy glances. Doubt began to creep into their eyes as they looked from Arthur to their emperor. Azar felt the tide shifting and knew he had to act swiftly.
"Guards, take him away! Execute him immediately!"
But before the guards could move, one of the high-ranking officials stepped forward. "Your Majesty, perhaps we should investigate these claims further. If there is even a grain of truth, we cannot afford to ignore it."
Azar's face darkened. "Are you questioning my judgment?"
"No, Your Majesty," the official replied, bowing deeply. "But the gravity of these accusations demands scrutiny."
Arthur, his strength fading, felt a grim satisfaction. He had sown the seeds of doubt. Whether or not they would grow in time to stop Azar was uncertain, but it was a start.
As the guards finally dragged him away, Arthur met Azar's gaze one last time. "This isn't over, Azar. The truth will come to light. And when it does, your empire will crumble."
Azar watched Arthur disappear, his mind racing. The game was indeed far from over, and the pieces were still in motion.
“You were always my dear friend. Why did you do it? If you desired the throne, you could have spoken to me openly. Why harm an innocent one-year-old child…?”
You hypocritical bastard. If I had wanted the throne, I would have targeted you, not your son.
Arthur's voice, enhanced through mental communication, resonated in everyone's mind. Before anyone could fully grasp the situation, a fiery arrow shot towards the emperor.
Arthur had just surpassed a significant limitation. Casting magic without incantation was a theoretical realm, one that would astonish other Tower Masters on the continent. His attack was precise and should have hit its mark.
“Ah!”
One of the imperial guards quickly jumped in to shield Azar.
“Protect His Majesty!”
The guards immediately swarmed Arthur, and his head spun as he was brutally trampled.
But Arthur didn’t stop.
This whole charade is so obvious, I can’t stand to listen to it any longer.
For his final words, he intended to unleash his full fury on Azar's face.
You idiots can go on scheming and plotting amongst yourselves. Looks like this is the end for me. I’ll be waiting for you in hell!
Indeed, it was the end. The paralyzing poison, which he had been suppressing through sheer willpower, finally overwhelmed him, spreading through his entire body and pulling his consciousness into darkness.