***
A few hours after duke Pyrian and the Time mages departed for the Capital, a cloaked figure appeared inside the barred off remains of the auction house. He took off his cloak's hood, revealing his gray hair and neatly trimmed beard. Staring at a strange device in his hands, he muttered.
"Let's see, the signal was last seen.... here."
Standing at what used to be the main stage, the man put on some kind of goggles and tapped a button on it. However...
"Huh? Why is it showing me statics?"
...It seemed that the man didn't like what he was seeing one bit.
The device, in fact, was supposed to replicate spells of the elite Time mages of the Empire, and the man was sure of its effectiveness. After all—
"How could this be? Th- This can't be happening! M- My own invention can't malfunction!"
As the man was about to freak out more and consequently, give away his presence to the guards outside, another robed figure suddenly appeared right next to him.
"Professor Scien! Please calm down! It's not your device that's malfunctioning!"
Hearing this, the first man - Scien - visibly calmed down and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Haaaah... that's good to know. I was starting to doubt my genius for a second there. So, why is my device acting like that?"
"It's for... unknown reasons."
"Unknown...?"
"Yes." The robed woman nodded. "Even the Time mages couldn't reconstruct the scene here for some reasons."
Scien nodded in understanding. "I see..."
He then took out another device and activated it. Instantly, invisible pulses of Mana was spread throughout the auction house. Staring at the graph shown and the device for a few seconds, Scien laughed.
"HAHAHAH! So that's why!"
He then turned toward the robed woman from before. "Elyl, my assistant, do you know the 3 types of Mana?"
"Types of Mana? No... I've never heard of it before."
"Good." Scien laughed. "If you knew about it before this moment then I'd have to kill you for betraying me. It's a research that I've been carrying out alone in secret after all."
Hearing this, Elyl audibly gulped.
Not caring about the fear that he had just caused to his assistant, Scien continued.
"Now, I won't be mentioning Elemental mana since it's irrelevant. According to my research, there are 3 types of Mana: Disruptive, Neutral, and Constructive. Neutral, like the name would suggest, is Mana in its default state."
"..."
"Constructive mana, on the other hand, is Mana used to construct spells."
"I see. So Neutral mana is used for things like Mana reinforcement, and constructive Mana is used for things like elite Time mages' spells."
"Good good! You're learning fast!" Scien nodded approvingly.
Blushing under her hood, Elyl smiled. "Th- Thanks, professor."
Hearing this though, Scien sighed. "I've already told you, call me Head scientist."
"But professor is professor though..."
"What a stubborn girl..." Scien muttered.
He then put such thoughts aside and continued.
"Anyway, we're moving onto Disruptive mana. Basically, it's the Mana used to disrupt or even cancel spells and other Mana types. However, Constructive mana can still overpower the Disruptive mana if there's enough if it. It all boils down to who put in the largest amount of Mana in their attacks."
"Th- That means...!" Elyl widened her eyes in disbelief.
Seeing this, Scien smirked. "That's right! It's anti-magic without the use of Aether."
Saying that, he extended his arms to his sides and looked up to the cloudy sky, basking in the glory that was his genius. However, he was soon brought back to reality by his assistant's words.
"A question, professor!"
"Do ask."
"Doesn't this mean that you can use Mana to... erase anything in this world?"
"Ah, I know where you're going with this! Yes, you can erase things, or more correctly, destabilize the cellular and atomic structure of things so much that they disintegrate. However, even with Disruptive mana, the potency and efficiency of this process is abysmal... that is, until you start using Disruptive Space mana."
"Space mana?"
"That's correct. Through all of my experiments, I've discovered that Disruptive Space mana has 40% efficiency. And the second-best Elemental mana for the process is Time, which only has 0.02% efficiency."
"..."
"However, even if you do start to use Space mana, doing it would take a lot of concentration so it isn't really suitable for combat. That is unless you have a battle art that utilizes Disruptive mana... which is what happened here." Scien pointed toward the crumbled floor of the main stage as he said that.
"But professor, why are you telling me all this and answering my questions? D- Don't tell me... you want to go back to being a professor?"
"No." Scien shook his head and clenched his fists hard. His teeth gnashed in anger. "Those bastard at Hagvrad university mistreated me and stole my inventions just to hand them to some snobby noble brats! There's no way I'm forgiving them. The Darkest night on the other hand, they fund my research and treat me with respect!"
"..."
"Anyway, I got side-tracked for a bit there. The reason why I'm telling you all this is because that's the reason why all I and the Time mages saw were statics. That person, whether he is the reported humanoid monster or someone who wants to hide it, has knowledge on how to use Disruptive mana. And I'm sure that he isn't using a massive amount of Time mana to brute force his way into distorting the Temporal reconstruction."
"I see. You've enlightened me, professor."
"Now that we have basic knowledge of what was done here, the solution is simple. We wrap the Disruptive mana in Neutral mana and..."
Scien then closed his eyes in concentration and spread his Mana out.
"...Convert it into Constructive mana."
Instantly after Scien finished his words, a small transparent sphere around 2 inches in size glowed right in front of him. Opening his eyes again and smirking, Scien grabbed the sphere with his bare hands and showed it to his assistant.
"Isn't it pretty? The thin blue membrane you're seeing on the exterior of the sphere is the Neutral mana. The ever-shifting chaos of red inside the membrane is Disruptive mana. And the swirls of gold that are slowly expanding is Disruptive mana that was converted into Constructive mana."
After a few seconds, all the Disruptive mana was converted and the sphere burst into bright light. Luckily, no guards outside seemed to have noticed it.
Putting on his goggle again, Scien pressed a button and began reconstructing the scene. However...
"Tch, I was too late..."
...There were still some statics left since a large amount of time had passed. But worst of all, those statics covered the most important parts: The faces of everyone present.
However, it wasn't as if there was nothing to be gained from this.
"Let's analyze the data now and see if there's anything worth it." Scien said as he lightly tapped on his own forehead, activating the chip that was implanted inside his brain.
His eyes shifted like crazy for a few seconds, feeding information to his brain and chip. After a while, Scien tapped his forehead again to deactivate his chip and sighed in relief.
"Haaaah... good thing I could find useful information early. The chip would've overheated otherwise."
He then turned toward his assistant. "Elyl, note this down."
"Y- Yes!"
Seeing that Elyl had taken out a notebook and a pen, Scien closed his eyes and spoke.
"The Disruptive mana user has black hair. Judging by his frame, he seems to be between the age of 16 - 20. He's
"All done!"
"Great. Note down these things too. The humanoid monster seems to have silver hair. Judging by the stinger on its tail, it belongs to the wyvern series. Oh, and it most likely look like a typical 3 years old child."
"...And finished!"
"Good job." Scien patted Elyl's head.
Feigning ignorance to his assistant's blush, Scien put all of his equipment back into his Space pouch and spoke.
"Anyway, our job here is done. I'll leave everything else to the Information division. Let's go now."
***
The next morning, duke Freywright Pyrian stood before a majestic golden door. Beyond the door was... certain death. That was, if he acted out of line.
"I can't believe the Emperor would accept to meet me this quickly..." He muttered.
After all, even if a Grand duke like him requested an audience, it would most likely still take a month at the fastest before the request could be accepted.
"Is there anything different this time?" He wondered. But before long, he widened his eyes in realization. "Oh right! It's because I stated that it's a matter concerning his daughter, isn't it? That means..."
'The Emperor is actually a loving father?'
However, the implications of this was horrifying. When Freywright requested for an audience to discuss matters concerning a natural disaster that befell one of his cities, it still took 3 months before he could meet the Emperor. But right when it came to his daughter, the Emperor accepted his request right away.
'That means the Emperor is actually a lazy bum... a doting father that is a lazy bum... fuck! Now I know why people say that this country would have gone to ruins already if it wasn't for the Empress...'
Freywright couldn't slander the Emperor in his mind for long as the majestic golden door before him opened, and an imposing voice rang out.
-"Enter, Grand duke Freywright Pyrian!"
Hearing this name being called out, Freywright cautiously walked through the golden door and into the audience chamber. Looking around the chamber, he could see that it was lavishly decorated. However, the decorations weren't placed randomly and without thoughts.
'Decorations that makes me - Grand duke - feel little while still looking fancy and pleasing to the eyes at the same time... it gives me chills whenever I think about it.'
Thus, he opted to not think about it anymore. However, his eyes couldn't help but to be drawn to the figures that were sitting on 2 thrones.
On the black and red throne was Emperor Razos Silvat, a silver-haired, red-eyed Demon with majestic skeletal wings and a pair of long horns protruding out of his forehead.
On the white and gold throne was Empress Angelica Salvant, a blonde Archangel with ethereal blue eyes, feathery white wings, and a golden halo floating above her head.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Freywright gulped in fear upon seeing both of them. Although he was used to the Emperor's pressure, the aura that the Empress was exuding was on another level. Due to her being at
'B- But why is she here!?'
During the past 50 years, the Empress hadn't showed herself to anyone nor any events, not even to the Grand dukes annual meetings! And now, she was just casually sitting on her throne like that!?
However, Freywright soon regained his calm and came to a perfectly reasonable realization.
'Fuck... I shouldn't have mentioned their daughter at all. I'd rather wait for a month or two than deal with this.'
But alas, what was done had been done. Thus, Freywright knelt down to show his respect to the rulers of the Empire.
"Duke Freywright Pyrian greets the most gracious Emper—"
"Stop. Just get to the main point already." A soft feminine voice interrupted him.
Knowing full-well whose voice this was, Freywright slowly stood up and spoke calmly.
"As you wish, my Empress."
At Freywright's words, Empress Angelica merely snorted. Unlike her husband who always kept chatting to people attending his audiences, she just wanted to get this over with. If it wasn't for her husband nagging for her to join today's audience with the reason being 'But it concerns our daughter!', she wouldn't have gone here and instead focused on breaking through to
Unaware of the Empress' thoughts, Freywright spoke up again.
"But first, I request that only your most trustworthy aides can be kept here. This is a matter that concerns the future of the Empire, so it shouldn't be treated lightly."
Emperor Razos nodded upon hearing this. "Alright. John, Jacob, Cebred, Fyrgus, Eaths,..."
Seeing that her husband would definitely waste a few minutes calling out the names of his closest aides, which numbered in the hundreds, Angelica pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and shouted.
"EVERYONE BUT THE PHOENIX GET OUT!"
"But honey! My closest aides need to h—"
"DON'T LISTEN TO WHAT THIS STUPID DEMON SAID! GET OUT!"
Every servants and knights currently in the chamber hurriedly exited the room. Although some of them were Phoenixes, they knew that the Empress was referring to duke Pyrian when she said 'Phoenix' earlier.
This... definitely caused some confusion. But of course, none dared to point that out.
Now alone in the chamber with both the Emperor and Empress, Freywright hurriedly spoke up, not wanting to anger the Empress any further.
"S- Since the Empress like it short, I'll make it that way. S- So essentially, y- your daughter - Eleanor Salvant - had... a child."
Dead silence.
That was what ensued inside the audience chamber.
However, it wasn't as if nothing was happening. Quite the opposite, in fact. Especially so for Freywright. He had to endure the piercing gaze of both the Emperor and Empress at the same time.
Still looking at the Grand duke before her with that piercing glare of hers, Angelica slowly spoke up.
"...Adopted or biological?"
"M- Most likely biological, m- my Empress."
"Grand duke, do you take responsibility for your words?"
"Y- Yes, I do. I- In fact, I have all my reasonings and evidences complied here!"
Empress Angelica snapped her fingers as soon as she saw Freywright take out some sort of documents. Instantly after that, the documents disappeared from Freywright's hands and reappeared right in front of Angelica.
Angelica quickly skimmed through the documents before throwing them to Razos, who similarly skimmed through it. Then, silence ensued once more.
However, it didn't last for long, as Emperor Razos suddenly broke into tears and buried his face in his hands.
"Hic... I knew that this day would come eventually. Elea's smile always seemed too fake and cold ever since she was little. I- I was scared that she wouldn't be able to marry!"
"Hey what the fuck are you talking about? She's the Imperial princess!" Angelica slapped the top of Razos' head. "Even if she's disgusting and deformed, plenty would still be willing to marry her! And what do you think you're doing? To show tears of weakness in front of a duke!"
Freywright stared at the bickering couple wordlessly, not knowing what to do in this situation. Thus, he could only awkwardly exist here as the third-wheel.
After a while, the Empress stopped bullying the Emperor and they both regained their regal aura and composure.
Briefly glancing at his wife, Razos spoke. "So what do you suggest we should do?"
In response though, Angelica merely crossed her arms together and leaned back on her comfy throne with a pout. "I don't know. What should we do? It isn't as if I was forced into attending this audience or anything."
Razos sighed and then turned his gaze toward Freywright again.
"Very well, I shall decide on what to do with this 'Theodore Gray'. He is to be... left alone—"
"Huh!?" Freywright inadvertently let out a confused sound. "L- Left alone!? E- Even if we all keep our mouths shut, suspicions would be raised sooner or later. Won't the Royal court do something about it if rumors about their princess started to spread?"
"Freywright my buddy, let me finish my sentence first."
Hearing this, Freywright kept his mouth shut to listen to the Emperor's next words.
"Like I said before, he is to be left alone... until the next Grand dukes annual meeting about 3 months from now. There, his fate shall be decided by the Grand dukes."
Razos then rested his gaze on Freywright.
"And you, Freywright Pyrian, you are to make sure that no more people will find out about this until the meeting. Not even the other dukes. Can I trust you?"
"Y- Yes, my Emperor!"
Hearing this, Razos smirked evilly and reached into his Space pouch to take out a—
***
Angelica stared at the two bodies lying on the ground before her with cold eyes.
The bodies were that of Emperor Razos Silvat and Frewyright Pyrian. Judging by the puddles of red liquid nearby, one might be forgiven to think that something really bad had happened to them.
"You should just die already." Angelica muttered as she lightly kicked her husband's body. "I'm running the country for you to do what? Drinking with a duke inside the audience chamber until you're wasted?"
Razos and Freywright was, in fact, not dead. Instead, they had just passed out due to drinking too much. And the red pools of liquid on the ground was just red wine, not blood.
Leaving those two for the Royal knights to discover later, Angelica exited the audience chamber and made her way to her room. As soon as she got to her bed, she muttered.
"Kazumi, come here."
Instantly, a humanoid shadow emerged behind her. Before long, the shadow dispersed, leaving behind a woman in her thirties with black hair and purple eyes. She looked just like an older version of Kasumi.
"Yes, your highness?" The woman said as she knelt down in front of Angelica.
Pouring herself a cup of red wine, Angelica ordered.
"Observe Theodore Gray. I want to know every of his movements. But if he finds out that he's being watched, retreat immediately and cease all operations. I don't want to risk having your identity and existence discovered."
"As you wish, your highness."
As Kazumi merged into the shadows once more, Angelica gulped down the wine in one go and sighed.
"Let's see if he's worthy of my Eleanor. But fuck... I'm really not ready to be a grandmother yet."
***
'Didn't I... die?'
I thought as I finally regained my consciousness, only to find myself lying on something fluffy. Slowly opening my eyes, I was greeted with an unfamiliar ceiling.
'On second thoughts, the ceiling seems eerily familiar...'
Then, I realized where I was.
"The restaurant!?"
"Yes. You're at the restaurant."
I weakly turned my head to the side, meeting eyes with Celi, who was sitting on a stool beside me and peeling some apples. Staring at her wordlessly, my mind fell into disarray.
'She's going to kill me, isn't she?'
After all, I had been deceiving her for the past month or two into thinking that I was a girl. Not just that, I had also prevented her from carrying out her revenge.
'To be honest, I wouldn't have been able to complain if she decided to kill me here...'
And that seemed to be the case judging by the sharp knife that she was holding; A knife sharp enough to slit my throat and end my life in under a second.
'And I'm out of Mana too. I don't even think I can defend myself from anything.'
Thus, I closed my eyes and surrendered to my fate. After a few seconds, I could hear Celi shifting to get closer to me.
'Ah, this is it. I'm going to die—'
"MPHHHHHHH! WHAT!?"
I let out a muffled scream of confusion as I felt something... sweet in my mouth. Shooting my eyes open, I was surprised to see Celi shoving a slice of apple inside my mouth.
"Why are you doing that?" Celi asked as she saw my overreaction.
She then placed her hand on my forehead and muttered. "He's not having a fever. Why is he acting like that?"
Coughing out the apple slice and gasping for air, I immediately turned to look at Celi with a startled gaze.
However, Celi didn't seem to notice my gaze since she was looking at the fallen slice of apple with a pout. "Aww... what a waste."
As she was about to bend down and pick up the apple slice, I hurriedly got up and slapped her hand away.
"Don't. It's disgusting."
"But I spent 15 Bronzes on this!"
"Just don't. I'll pay you back later."
However, it was then that I realized something weird.
"Wait, I... slapped your hand?"
"You did."
'What the actual fuck...?'
Wasn't Celi supposed to have her Skill protecting her at all times?
"Wh- What happened to your barrier!?"
"That?" Celi scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "I'm actually not too sure myself. The barrier just won't be there passively anymore. Instead, I have to constantly supply it with mana for it to work now. And even then, it can only last for 15 minutes at maximum."
"That sounds like a downgrade."
"Yes. But... I can do this."
As Celi said that, she extended her hand out to the slice of apple and did a grasping motion. As soon as she did so, the apple disappeared from its spot and reappeared in her hand.
"Cool, isn't it?" She smirked. "I just reduced the distance between my hand and the apple slice to zero!"
While Celi was happy with her new-found powers, I was frowning.
'So it has already begun...'
The next stage of her corruption, that was. Now, she would only have 3 years left at maximum before she got inevitably turned into a Void lord.
However, I couldn't keep thinking about it for long as I suddenly noticed her doing something disgusting.
"Why are you doing that?"
With her cheeks puffed, Celi answered. "Doing what?"
"Eating that slice of apple! I just coughed it out for fuck's sake!"
"What apple?"
"Your cheeks are puffed and I just saw you stuffing that slice into your mouth!"
"No idea what you mean."
I sighed at this. It didn't seem like that I would accomplish anything meaningful if this kept going on. But setting her weird and out-of-character actions aside, there was something I was curious about.
"Aren't you mad at me for lying to you?"
"...?"
"You know, me pretending to be a girl and stuff."
Celi sighed. "I don't really mind. I'm your apprentice, am I not? So I shouldn't question my 'master' about his... preferences. And you didn't use the uhhh Aryl form to do anything perverted to me so it's fine."
"But... what about me stopping you from getting your revenge?"
Celi's face stiffened at my question. Clearly, she wasn't expecting me to ask that. Swallowing the slice of apple down her throat, she calmly answered.
"At first, yes. But after thinking for a while, I decided that it would be unreasonable for me to get mad. You must've done it for a reason. And... I knew that killing Erals wasn't enough. I'd need to eradicate the entirety of the Darkest night to get my normal life back. As long as those Cultists exist, they'd send people after me and my loved ones."
"I see..."
A perfectly rational and reasonable thought process. One that really didn't fit the naive and emotional Celi I knew. However, I soon accepted her answer as it was. People change. And this was especially true for Celi, whose mind was now slowly being contaminated by the Void.
'It seems like the corruption is going to make her more rational and calm... how scary.'
I'd rather deal with a naive and hot-headed Void lord all day than a calm one. The reason? Why of course it was my experience with [Despair]. Although he seemed really emotional when I finally confronted him, he must have been calm and collected when he planned out the trap that I stupidly fell into.
However, I was soon snapped out of my thoughts by the popping sound of something being uncorked. Turning my head to the side, I saw Celi holding up a bottle of wine.
"Care to have a drink?"
Normally, I wouldn't have accepted it. But after what I had gone through in the auction house, I felt like desperately needed it.
"Yes."
...
"Swo that's h-ow I got hEre." I slurred my speech as the effect of alcohol started to really kick in.
My head felt like it was going to explode, my legs became all wobbly, and my vision was blurry. It was so blurry that I could barely make out Celi's face when she was just merely sitting right next to me.
"So... not... princess... servant... wrong. But... mad... you... wyvern poison... drink."
I could barely comprehend her sentence anymore. But it wasn't as if Celi was at fault. Judging by the fact that the few words I could hear had impeccable pronunciation, it was me who was too drunk instead.
However, the drunk me didn't care about any of that at the moment. I just wanted to voice out all of the thoughts that I had kept to myself for so long. However, it seemed that even I in my very drunk state knew better than to disclose my future knowledge. Well, except for...
"CeLi, let me ask you. Should I. kill so.meonr ju.st becausr they bevomw a bad pwesom in thw f. uture?"
"Weeks ago... no. But... yes... now"
Somehow, I could still understand what she was trying to get across.
"E- Ev. en iif t.hat oerson teustrd ,e and...I jave gottem ckose to rhatt perrson?"
"....might hurt... if... lives saved... yes..."
"I swee."
"But... why... ask...?"
"NoThing."
I could see Celi's blurry figure nodding. I then tried to back away as I felt something pressing against my lips. However, it was already too late as that something poured some sort of warm liquid inside my mouth.
'wInE...?'
I was starting to get even more intoxicated now. However, I still had enough awareness to realize that the 'thing' that pressed against my lips wasn't Celi's lips. Instead, it was just the wine glass that she had been drinking out of.
Unware of the confusion that she was causing me, Celi poured more wine into the glass and drank it herself this time. Wiping her mouth, she spoke.
"...see... I.... Void lord... isn't it?"
Though very intoxicated, I still managed to catch her words.
"Whst? Hpw dud you fonnd out?"
"...obvious... weird power... Erals said... 58th Void... stupid..."
She then poured another glass of wine and forced it into my mouth.
"...any way... cure corruption?"
I was very, very close to passing out right then and there. However, as if urged by an unknown force, I squeezed out the last of my strength to answer her question to the best of my ability.
"I. dim't knOW, aybe vvoscou. nt Nigh.Tshade know b.ut I'm not syee."
I could hear Celi sighing as she heard my words. Even to me in my current miserable state, I could tell that she was disappointed. Then, I suddenly felt her warm hands caressing my cheeks.
"Sleep well... I'm going first."
Then, the world turned black.
***
Araceli stared at the passed-out Theodore before her wordlessly.
"He's weaker than alcohol than I thought. If I knew that he would be this easy, I would have saved money by buying cheaper wine..."
But it wasn't as if she had wasted her money for nothing. Quite the opposite, in fact. She had confirmed she was really becoming a Void lord. And she knew... knew that how terrifying it was to become one.
"That time when I severed Erals limbs..." She muttered while shaking in fright. "...It was scary. Trapped in my own body, unable to do anything but to watch something else pilot my body. I would have been stuck in that state if it wasn't for you, Theodore. Or should I call you Aryl? Yeah, I'll go with Aryl. It sounds like a gender-neutral name."
Feeling Theodore's cheeks, Araceli continued with her monologue.
"It's heartwarming that you worry about me becoming a Void lord and losing myself. But Aryl, I will prove you wrong. I won't become what you think I will end up to be. I'll find a cure and..."
Araceli then clenched her fists in determination.
"...meet you again someday. Hopefully, you will not be the same miserable pile of deceit and lies when I see you again."
Breaking contact with Theodore, Araceli took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. After placing the piece of paper right on top of Theodore's head, Araceli headed out.
But not before heaving one last sigh.
"Haaaah... what a shame. You aren't my type."
***
Waking up with a really fucking terrible migraine, I groaned in pain.
"Arhghhhh! Shit! Why did I even drink again? I fucking hate hangovers!"
After several more minutes of clutching my own head in pain, the headache finally subsided... At least it had subsided enough for me to actually do something without feeling like I was going to die.
Then, I finally noticed something on top of my head.
"A piece of paper?"
Grabbing the paper, I unfolded it and read the contents.
===
Aryl, I'll be leaving with everyone now. They all know of my situation and unanimously agreed that they would help me. Though Nevih is a bit strange. He was more enthusiastic about this than he should have been. Anyways, it have been fun travelling with you. I'll see you again once I'm cured of the corruption.
===
Reading through it again, I laughed bitterly.
"Heh... fun my ass. Only you had fun. And you just basically stole all of my party members."
However, I couldn't get mad at her no matter how hard I tried. Thus, I could only sigh and accept the situation as it was.
"If she succeeds, then there's one less Void lord to care about anyways. Speaking of Void lords... summer vacation is almost over, and I still haven't hunted any."
Thinking for a while, I sighed as I made up my mind.
"Right. [Despair] and [Jealousy] is still in Kerudark. If I plan everything down extra carefully this time, I'll succeed without much troubles."