The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 324

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-325

It was like a premonition of a person in a vegetative state about to awaken.

Starting with his fingers, his body began to tremble slightly.

‘He’s waking up? He had injuries that could have killed him at any moment. There’s no way he could get up already.’

Watching this, the Black Magic King frowned.

Shin Ha-yul’s body was like a torn rag.

If it hadn’t been for Sophia’s devoted healing, he would have died on the spot.

Even though he had been treated to some extent, his injuries were still at a level that required several months of recovery.

It didn’t make sense that he could regain consciousness like this.

‘Is it just that his fingers moved due to muscle contractions and relaxations as his bodily functions recovered to some extent?’

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense for him to wake up.

The twitch of his finger just now was likely a natural phenomenon caused by his blood circulation returning to a somewhat normal state.

The Black Magic King carefully observed Shin Ha-yul’s entire body with a wary gaze.

‘I guess so.’

After his finger twitched, Shin Ha-yul’s body showed no further movement.

His body, as well as the mana within him, remained largely unchanged.

His breathing, pulse, and mana flow were all the same.

Shin Ha-yul was still unconscious.

The Black Magic King’s expression relaxed.

‘That could have been troublesome.’

If Shin Ha-yul had woken up, it would have been quite a headache.

Even in a half-dead state, he was a successor of the Vaitener style [a martial arts style].

He would have been more than capable of hiding behind Sein and protecting Sophia.

If that were the case, the Black Magic King’s plan to create an opening in Sein by targeting Sophia or Shin Ha-yul would have been impossible.

The battle would have returned to a stalemate.

A situation where Sein had no way to kill the Black Magic King, and the Black Magic King had no way to kill Sein.

The battle would have continued as a war of attrition, just like before.

Then what would have happened?

Would Sein have collapsed from exhaustion, and the Black Magic King would have finally claimed victory?

Or would the Black Magic King have collapsed first from mental exhaustion, and Sein Vinoche would have claimed victory?

No one knew.

Neither Sein Vinoche nor the Black Magic King knew how long Sein Vinoche could last.

Neither the Black Magic King nor Sein Vinoche knew how long the Black Magic King could last.

This was because it was the first time Sein was using this power.

And it was also the first time the Black Magic King had fought like this.

Neither of them had a way to know the details of their own and their opponent’s power.

No one knew who would tire and collapse first.

That was why the Black Magic King gave up on the 1v1 with Sein and switched to a plan of targeting Sophia and Shin Ha-yul.

The Black Magic King wasn’t foolish enough to get hung up on a battle where he didn’t know if he would win or lose, just because of his pride.

“How unfortunate.”

The Black Magic King muttered mockingly, a relaxed smile on his face.

“If Shin Ha-yul had woken up, who knows what would have happened.”

“……”

Sein’s expression, which had brightened for a moment, darkened again rapidly.

Sein had the same thoughts as the Black Magic King and reached the same conclusion.

Shin Ha-yul would not wake up.

There was no way he would wake up.

Therefore, the situation had not changed.

The situation was still bleak.

It felt like a flickering flame of hope had been extinguished by someone’s stomp.

“I unintentionally gave you quite a bit of time.”

Mana gathered again in the Black Magic King’s hands.

“You should have had enough time to think. Now, choose.”

The Black Magic King’s lips twisted into a sneer.

“Shin Ha-yul? Or Sophia Anescheff?”

The Black Magic King cast magic at both of them simultaneously.

A curse aimed at Shin Ha-yul, and a curse aimed at Sophia.

One was a curse of binding and shackles, and the other was a curse of body snatching.

Which curse would Sein Vinoche cut off?

It was impossible to cut off both curses at the same time.

‘Sein Vinoche’s weakness is that he can’t cut two things at once.’

Whether it was because he was still immature or because of the unique nature of the Mind Sword, Sein Vinoche could not cut two things at once.

If he could, he would have cut the darkness protecting the Black Magic King’s body and the Black Magic King’s real body at the same time.

The fact that the Black Magic King was still alive was proof that Sein could only cut one thing at a time.

“I’m looking forward to it. Which one of the two will you abandon?”

The curses rushed in quickly.

The Black Magic King engaged in trash talk again to shake Sein’s mind.

Sein’s brow furrowed slightly.

And immediately after that.

Sein swung his sword.

The Mind Sword, which had become as familiar as breathing.

With it, he cut off the curse aimed at Shin Ha-yul.

And then.

“I knew you’d do that.”

He took one of the curses with his own body.

“What a foolish woman. If you had abandoned Sophia Anescheff, all of this would have been resolved.”

He cut off the binding curse aimed at Shin Ha-yul and took the curse aimed at Sophia with his body.

“If you had killed Sophia Anescheff with your own hands, it would have all been resolved.”

“……”

Sein Vinoche endured the curse, trying his best to maintain a relaxed expression.

“Abandon Sophia Anescheff? Why would I do that?”

He smiled desperately, enduring the pain as if his entire body was being crushed.

“Because of your pathetic curse?”

He held out his sword.

“Don’t think that you can break my conviction with a curse of this level.”

The tip of his hand trembled slightly.

The tip of his sword, which had never trembled before, trembled very slightly.

“Keep going. I won’t be bothered even if I take your curse hundreds or thousands of times.”

The Black Magic King laughed as if he was enjoying it.

“Hundreds, thousands of times…”

Looking at Sein’s trembling sword tip.

He laughed obscenely and brightly, as if watching a saint fall from grace.

“I admire your spirit, so I’ll make you a promise.”

He smiled and prepared another curse.

“Ten times.”

In his left hand, he held the binding curse to use on Shin Ha-yul.

In his right hand, he held the body snatching curse to use on Sophia.

“If you endure my curse ten times, I will consider myself defeated.”

A curse that was even more powerful than before was aimed at the two of them.

“I look forward to it. Please, don’t collapse in one go.”

Watching Sein Vinoche swing his sword, the Black Magic King smiled the brightest smile he could muster.

* * *

Sein Vinoche was kneeling, slumped on the ground.

As if he had squeezed out everything he had.

As if he didn’t have the strength to move even a finger.

He was sitting on the ground, looking down at the floor.

“How unfortunate.”

The Black Magic King looked down at Sein Vinoche and twisted the corners of his mouth.

“If you had endured just one more time, you would have won.”

Sein Vinoche had endured the Black Magic King’s curse a whopping nine times.

A whopping nine times.

He had clearly cut off the curse aimed at Shin Ha-yul with his Mind Sword, and endured the curse aimed at Sophia with his bare body.

“…Not…over…”

Words leaked from Sein’s mouth.

“It’s not over yet?”

The Black Magic King asked back with a smile.

“It’s not very convincing when you say that with such a dying voice.”

His knees were trembling like aspen leaves, his head was drooping like a withered sunflower, and his hands were hanging down like dried seaweed.

“Even in that state, you don’t let go of your sword.”

He was holding onto his sword as if he couldn’t let go of it.

But that was it.

He was just holding it.

It would be easier to take the sword from the current Sein than to take candy from a baby.

“The more I look at you, the more I like you. It’s too bad to kill you like this.”

The Black Magic King stroked his chin as he looked down at Sein.

He was greedy.

A level of greed he had never felt before.

As much as his desire for the 10th Circle [the highest level of magic], he was greedy for her.

“But I have to kill you. With that level of willpower, it wouldn’t matter what I said.”

Perhaps it was because he knew he couldn’t have her that he wanted her even more.

The Black Magic King clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed.

“Farewell. The time I spent with you will remain in my memory forever.”

The Black Magic King reached out his hand to Sein.

“I’ll kill you as comfortably as possible. This is my last mercy.”

Out of respect for the genius swordsman who had shown him a great sword.

He would grant her the most comfortable death possible.

The Black Magic King’s mana took on a gentleness for the first time in his life.

The black mana slowly enveloped Sein’s body.

Just as Sein’s body was beginning to be dyed with death.

Thump!

A huge pulsation sound was heard.

A sound like a heartbeat.

But it was a sound that was too clear to be a heartbeat.

A sound as if mana was pulsating.

At the same time as that sound echoed in the Black Magic King’s ears.

‘Mana has stopped.’

Mana stopped moving.

Not only the mana surrounding the Black Magic King, but also the mana surrounding Sein.

As if time had stopped, everything stopped moving.

‘This is…’

It wasn’t just mana.

The walls of the tower that were collapsing due to the aftermath of the battle.

The debris that was falling from it.

The dust that was scattering as the debris fell.

The wind that was blowing fiercely due to the aftermath of the battle.

Everything stopped moving.

“The Mandate of Heaven and the Defiance of Heaven.”

In a world where everything had stopped.

A man’s voice was heard.

“The center of two opposing laws.”

A voice that shouldn’t be heard.

The voice of a person who shouldn’t be awake right now.

“In the Vaitener style, we call that center ‘Neutrality’.”

Shin Ha-yul.

He muttered coldly.

He walked towards the Black Magic King, as if chewing and swallowing all the anger in the world.

“You…”

The Black Magic King slowly turned his body and glared at Shin Ha-yul.

His words were as slow as his movements.

It was as if a video was being played at 0.5x speed.

“It seems you can move.”

Shin Ha-yul approached the Black Magic King and clenched his fist.

“Whether it’s because you succeeded in stepping into the 10th Circle, albeit imperfectly, or for some other reason…”

Squeeeeeze-!

As if condensing the anger he was swallowing into his fist.

He clenched his fist with all his might.

Watching this, the Black Magic King took a defensive stance.

He tried to gather the darkness and change its form, just like when he defended against Sein Vinoche’s attack earlier.

However.

‘Mana isn’t listening to me.’

The darkness didn’t listen.

As if it had no intention of listening to the Black Magic King’s orders.

Mana showed no signs of moving.

“But that’s all. The freedom you can gain with that imperfect state is limited to that.”

Watching the Black Magic King panic, Shin Ha-yul took a big step forward.

“Now, mana won’t listen to you.”

And then, he swung his fist with all his might.

Thwack-!

The Black Magic King’s body was hit by Shin Ha-yul’s fist and flew far away.

Even the speed at which he flew was slow.

It was as if the laws of physics in this world had changed.

“Get up.”

The Black Magic King slowly flew through the sky and fell to the ground.

Shin Ha-yul glared at the Black Magic King and said.

“Get up.”

Hot eyes that seemed to be engraved with anger.

A ferocious expression as if he was going to kill him right now.

“I’ll return to you the atrocities you committed against Sein.”

Mana rotated within Shin Ha-yul’s body.

The Mandate of Heaven [a concept of divine right].

Some of it in the forward direction.

The Defiance of Heaven [a concept of rebellion against divine right].

Some of it in the reverse direction.

The two conflicting forces collided as if they were rubbing against each other.

They roared quietly between chance and necessity.

“Don’t think you’ll die comfortably.”

The center of two opposing concepts.

The very center of the righteous path and the evil path.

A utopia that should not exist.

Neutrality, because it does not lean towards either side.

“I’ll make you die as painfully as possible, while you taste the fear of losing your magic.”

The ring of neutrality, which had achieved perfect neutrality, forcibly put all the laws of physics in this world into a ‘neutral’ state.

A state reached temporarily with the help of Ignis’s rampage and Tay Rovin’s assistance.

Vaitener Style 7th Circle, Master.

Perfect Neutrality.

In the center of a world that had achieved perfect neutrality, cold anger surged.