Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 469

Louisa frowned, confused. Ronian was one of McLaine’s most important fighters, a superhuman in their war against the Empire. He was always needed on the battlefield.

Could Ronian have left the war, left his *side*, just to save *her*? Her heart beat faster – ba-dump, ba-dump. ‘No, it can’t be!’ she thought.

‘I must be imagining things,’ she told herself. She gently touched her hot cheeks, trying to stop thinking foolish thoughts. But the loud, booming sound from inside the cave grew louder. She felt a rush of excitement she couldn’t explain.

Her heart beat faster, even though she told herself it was silly to hope. Louisa looked quickly at Van Johnny next to her. Luckily, Van Johnny didn’t notice her excitement. He was too busy grinding his teeth, his jaw tight with worry.

‘They’re coming *this* quickly?’ Van Johnny muttered, surprised. His face turned even paler. Seeing his fear, Louisa’s excitement grew even stronger.

‘Everyone, get ready to fight!’ Van Johnny yelled. His face was ugly with fear and anger. He turned to Louisa suddenly, his eyes shining strangely. He quickly bowed his head low.

‘Elder Mage,’ Van Johnny said, his voice urgent. ‘There’s a very strong enemy coming, maybe even a superhuman! If I’ve ever been rude to you, please forget it now. I need your magic to help us defeat these enemies!’

This was not what she expected. Louisa wanted to hit his bowing head hard, but he was standing too close. And there were about 100 Black Magic Swordsmen with him in this first group – half of his entire force. She knew she couldn’t fight them all alone.

Louisa knew she had to pretend to agree with him. ‘Of course,’ she said calmly.

Louisa knew that for mages like her, lying was like a poison. It weakened their magic. But she nodded calmly anyway. As she spoke the lie, she felt her sixth circle of magic inside her chest become weaker, like a light dimming.

Losing that magic power from just one lie would slow down her training by a whole month. But she thought, ‘It’s worth it.’

‘Thank you, Elder Mage,’ Van Johnny said, still bowing. But even with his head down, Louisa could see his face looked annoyed, not thankful at all. His words and his face didn’t match.

‘That fool…’ Louisa thought angrily. ‘He planned this!’ Van Johnny thought he was clever. He knew that mages who understood lying was like poison couldn’t lie easily, or if they did, everyone would see it.

But Van Johnny didn’t understand something important about her – her secret. ‘That fool doesn’t know me at all,’ she thought. She was not just a mage from the Cassel Magic Tower, a famous school for magic. She was also a princess of the Royal Palace, though no one here knew it.

How many times had she lied to keep her two secret lives separate? She remembered the words of the Tower Master, the head of the Magic Tower, who was now her enemy: ‘If you hadn’t been distracted by everything around you and had trained hard, you could have become a mage even before you were an adult! What a shame, what a shame. Hee hee hee.’

Of course, now that she was a mage, lying was even more dangerous. It hurt her magic much more. So, she tried to stay hidden as much as she could. Actually, the only time she had lied openly since becoming a mage was when she first met King Logan, the ruler of her country.

But years of pretending and acting didn’t just vanish. ‘I’ll take care of the back,’ Louisa said. Her voice sounded completely empty, without any real feeling. As she spoke, another circle of magic inside her faded, like a star going out.

But Louisa’s face stayed calm and blank. When Van Johnny saw her like that, his face darkened, and he scowled even harder.

‘Too bad,’ Van Johnny muttered. Now he wasn’t even trying to hide his true feelings. Louisa almost laughed because it was so obvious.

‘What?’ Louisa asked. ‘No, nothing,’ Van Johnny replied quickly. ‘Anyway, I’ll try to defeat the enemy as fast as I can. … But wait,’ he said, thinking aloud, ‘if a superhuman is here, could it be…?’ Van Johnny seemed lost in his thoughts, shaking his head again and again. Louisa watched him, a cold smile growing on her face.

‘If those coming are McLaine’s best fighters, like I think,’ Louisa thought, ‘then Van Johnny, you will die. I will kill you myself.’

Louisa’s strong hatred for him wasn’t because she thought she was a hero punishing a bad guy. She knew she wasn’t innocent. She had also used magic that hurt people, even if she didn’t always choose to. So, she didn’t feel like she had the right to judge Van Johnny for his evil actions.

But Van Johnny, maybe because he cared too much about looks, was especially cruel to people who were handsome or beautiful. Many times, when he looked at Louisa, she could see the strong desire to kill her in his eyes. He could barely control his anger.

As long as she remembered that cold, scary feeling, Louisa knew she could never live peacefully with him. It was impossible.

If she didn’t need to know where he was planning to do his evil magic ceremony, she would have killed him already. She could have killed him when he came alone to the safe house where only she and her father were hiding.

Louisa focused her mind, getting ready to act. Van Johnny, who had finished thinking, turned back to her. His face was now hard and serious.

‘I don’t know who is coming,’ Van Johnny said, ‘but they must not reach the altar over there. You have to stop them from even touching that crystal tube. Prince Baros, the person we need for the ritual, is sleeping inside it.’

‘Alright,’ Louisa thought. ‘I will definitely smash that crystal tube to pieces!’ Her eyes gleamed with excitement at the thought. Van Johnny, not seeing her true feelings, started ordering the Black Magic Swordsmen to form a line, blocking the cave entrance completely.

Time passed quickly. Suddenly, the rearguard soldiers, including Gerard, came running back into the cave. They looked very tired and like something was chasing them.

‘Captain!’ Gerard shouted, out of breath. ‘It’s the Temple! It’s the Temple soldiers!’ ‘Damn it!’ Van Johnny cursed. ‘Yeah, the only ones who would attack now are those Temple bastards.’ Van Johnny seemed to have expected this, but Louisa was completely surprised. This was not what she thought would happen at all.

‘The Temple?’ Louisa thought, confused. ‘Why would the Temple attack?’ It wasn’t McLaine’s forces, like she expected. But if it was the Holy Kingdom, what should she do? The Holy Kingdom, a country ruled by the Temple, was even more dangerous.

Even if she could betray Van Johnny and attack him, if the Holy Kingdom caught her, a mage from the Cassel Magic Tower, her punishment would be terrible, maybe even worse than dying.

Louisa was in a difficult situation, unsure what to do. Suddenly, she heard her father’s voice in her mind – a magic message. [Louisa,]

‘E-enemies!’ Gerard gasped, struggling for breath. ‘Gasp, gasp.’ Louisa knew that mages who were not yet very powerful wizards, even if they were high level mages, didn’t have much physical strength, like normal people. So, Gerard sitting down, breathing heavily, didn’t look too unusual.

But the voice Louisa heard in her mind from her father was calm, not panicked like Gerard looked. [It seems the Temple Knights, the knights from the Temple, followed the magic mark you left. They caught up with our soldiers quickly after the first explosion.]

Hearing her father’s words, Louisa knew what she had to do. Just then…

‘Overthrow the evil wizards!’ a voice roared. Suddenly, a figure appeared – Stefan Lawer, the Knight of the Holy Spirit, a powerful knight from the Temple. He had snow-white hair and eyebrows, and his armor shone brightly, even after fighting in the cave. A silver light seemed to surround him. Behind him, almost two hundred holy knights, also in shining armor, charged into the open space, yelling battle cries.

But Van Johnny’s magic soldiers fought back strongly. ‘Now we have the advantage!’ one of them yelled. ‘Counterattack!’ shouted another. Even the soldiers who had been guarding Gerard and some other soldiers who seemed less important joined the fight, attacking all at once.

‘Invisible Fog!’ shouted one Magic Swordsman. ‘Target the strongest knights! Berserker!’ yelled another. ‘Curse!’ ‘Entangling Chaos!’ Gray mist filled the air, making some soldiers disappear. Others glowed red with energy, attacking wildly with their swords. Some used magic to confuse the Temple Knights’ minds, while others created thorny bushes to trap them. The Magic Swordsmen used all kinds of spells and attacks.

The Magic Swordsmen used many different spells and then charged at the Temple Knights. Watching how well these magic soldiers and swordsmen worked together, you could see why they were known as the best soldiers from the Cassel Magic Tower.

But sadly for the Magic Swordsmen, their magic wasn’t very effective against the Temple Knights. ‘Oh, God!’ cried a Temple Knight. ‘I offer this fight to you!’ A low humming sound filled the air – ooooong. The Temple Knights used divine power, power from their god, which most people couldn’t even see. This power easily blocked the magic of the Cassel Magic Tower and forced the fight to become a battle of swords against swords.

Moreover, those at the forefront of the holy knights were all superhumans who used divine aura.

At the very front was Astro Heizen. He was a middle-aged man, not very tall but strong. He pushed forward to fight the Dark Swordmasters. He held a kite shield, almost as big as his body. The shield glowed with a silvery, holy light.

Behind Astro Heizen was Anthony Everett. He was very thin and carried a great spear, taller than he was. He used the spear to stab through the Dark Swordmasters. Silver light flashed from his spear as he attacked.

Their combined attack forced the Dark Swordmasters to retreat.

But then, everything changed.

“Don’t make me laugh, you servants of a false god!”

A dwarf with a dark crimson aura stepped forward, and the situation changed again.

Van Johnny was very small. He used his small size to his advantage. He quickly moved into the enemy lines. He only attacked the normal Holy Knights, the ones without special powers.

“Ugh!”

“M-my body…”

“Poison!?”

Anyone touched by his dark crimson aura felt weak, as if they had breathed in poison. They quickly fell to the Dark Swordmasters.

Then, Louisa stepped forward.

Thud.

She stomped her foot, and her magic surged. Van Johnny, who was leading the Dark Swordmasters, froze.

“Dark Sky Barrier, Soul Contamination! Freeze!”

“Curse you, witch!”

Dark blue mist covered Van Johnny’s body and attacked his soul. Frost began to cover him from his feet up.

This was a Macro spell. It was a secret magic from the Kassel Magic Tower, and Louisa was very good at it. She used it perfectly. It was so strong that even people who used aura power could not easily break free.

He could not move anymore.

“For the Lord!”

Anthony Everett, once known as the successor to the Holy Sword, the Holy Spear, saw his chance and attacked.

He moved very fast, and his Holy Spear glowed white-hot. He hit Van Johnny as fast as a knight on a horse.

Kwwaaaaaaang!

Thud.

Fwoosh.

This was a big hit to the dwarf who had been winning the battle.

The dwarf flew through the air with a big hole in his stomach.

He looked like he was dying, but he twisted in the air and jumped at Louisa. His eyes were full of hate.

“You traitor!”

He was pouring out a murderous aura and holding his stomach, but his dark crimson aura grew stronger.

Louisa smiled coldly and snapped her fingers.

This was the last part of her Macro magic.

“Demon Manifestation.”

Dark red mist surrounded her and she changed in a flash.

She became a demon. She was still slender, but now she had two horns curving up from her head.

Her skin was gray, but looked strong even though she was thin.

Huge bat wings, bigger than her whole body, opened behind her. Her eyes burned with black fire.

Louisa, now a demon, hit Van Johnny’s sword with her hand, which was covered in a dark crimson aura.

Kwwaaaaaaang!

“Uck!”

She was not very good at fighting, but she was strong enough to push back Van Johnny, who was already badly hurt.

Van Johnny spat out blood and gritted his teeth. He used his last power.

“Fight for Him! This is our Holy Land!”

Was this cry some kind of magic trigger?

The dark aura of the Black Swordmasters suddenly grew stronger.

Kwaaaang!

They pushed back the Holy Knights.

‘Oh dear….’

Louisa realized that some of the magic circle’s energy had flowed into them. She quickly slammed her hand on the floor, but-

Bang!

Even her punch, as strong as an aura user, could not break the magic circle.

Van Johnny’s veins were bulging. He spoke in a strange voice, as if making a declaration.

– This place is our Holy Land. No one can defeat us here!

Louisa now understood what the Tower Lord really wanted.

‘I made the right choice.’

Van Johnny was a skilled Dark Swordmaster, but he could not know as much about the Kassel Magic Tower’s magic as she did.

This showed that she had been left out from the start.

‘And then they accuse me of betrayal?’

She was angry, but she needed to deal with this problem first.

“Stall for time! Evacuate!”

She wondered if everyone would listen to her in her demon form, but Stefan Royer listened to her.

However.

“Are you Lady Louisa? A repentant sinner?”

Louisa now understood why they were here.

They called me a ‘repentant sinner’? That’s ridiculous!

Who decided I was a sinner?

She was very angry, but she had no time to say anything.

– All, ki, ki, kill, th, th, the, ene….

Van Johnny’s eyes rolled back, and he made strange sounds.

“There is no need to flee! Show the heretics the true power of God!!”

A bright white light burst from Stefan’s body as he shouted.

Stefan Royer, the Knight of the Holy Spirit, was using his special ability: Blessing of Light.

The Holy Knights stood up straight and glowed with a holy light.

“Vanquish the enemies of God!”

The Holy Knights, led by the three vice-captains, charged forward. They were covered in the brightest light.

The Dark Swordmasters, with Van Johnny leading them, fought back wildly, but they did not last long.

“Krrk.”

“Kkeueueu.”

“Th, this….”

The Dark Swordmasters, who had been winning, began to fall.

‘They injected too much power.’

Louisa realized why and felt relief, but also pity.

Especially.

– I, I just, wanted to be taller….

When she heard Van Johnny’s last words, she felt a little sad.

“The sinner belongs in hell!”

Sksssh.

Stefan cut off Van Johnny’s head.

“What in the world is this…!!!”

A weak old man appeared in the sky, shouting angrily.