The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 348

The Mythical Archmage’s Rebirth-349

It seemed the previous attack had rendered it unable to maintain its form.

The dragon began to collapse rapidly.

The collapsed bones and flesh turned into mana and scattered into the air.

Amidst it all, one thing, a translucent energy that didn’t collapse, flickered.

The soul.

It was the soul of the dragon that had resided in Drake’s body.

“Miho.”

Unlike the body, the soul does not disappear.

Even if the body rots and decays, the soul never vanishes forever.

A separate method is needed to save this soul.

“Send it away.”

Ascension to Nirvana [a state of perfect peace and enlightenment].

The only way to return a soul that has missed its time to where it should be.

A miracle that only the guardian of souls, the divine beast Gumiho [a mythical nine-tailed fox], can perform.

Woof-!

Miho whimpered softly.

As if comforting the wandering soul.

As if singing a song for the departing soul.

She honored the soul that had ended its long life and was seeking a new one.

“It’s my first time seeing it in person. So that’s the mission Miho received from the heavens…”

Mimir murmured, looking genuinely moved.

A divine beast isn’t simply called a divine beast because it’s strong.

It’s called a messenger of the heavens, a divine beast, because it has its inherent role as a divine beast, a mission that no one else can fulfill.

‘Thank… you.’

The dragon’s soul conveyed its last will.

With sincerity, it expressed its final gratitude to Miho for honoring its end.

Woof woof-!

The path of the soul created by Miho’s requiem began to guide the dragon’s soul to the resting place of souls.

As if the last remaining attachment was burning, the spirit body shone even more brilliantly.

The spirit body, transformed into fireflies, scattered in all directions.

Only the symphony created by the spirit body and Miho’s cries filled the space.

“……Hmm. Your fox was capable of such things.”

A woman’s voice cut through the symphony.

A familiar and longed-for voice.

“Indeed, the divine beast Gumiho. The name ‘guardian of souls’ isn’t just for show.”

I slowly turned my head.

A special cross emblem engraved on a blue robe.

Above it was the face of the woman I had been searching for.

As if she had no intention of hiding her face now, she had completely pushed back her hood.

“Hmm.”

Sophia Anescheffri.

Sophia’s face was there.

“Your gaze is quite burdensome.”

However, it was only her face that resembled Sophia. Only her exterior.

Her inner self was reminiscent of someone else.

“…Are you really Sir Sein…?”

Sein Vinosh.

The hero who died with the Black Magic King two and a half years ago.

The pinnacle of swordsmanship.

The look in this woman’s eyes, her actions, and her way of speaking were all Sein himself.

“Well. I think I am, but… I don’t know.”

Sein let go of the sword she was holding.

As soon as it fell from Sein’s hand, the sword turned into mana and began to scatter.

The sword made of mana had returned to mana.

“I wonder if I can call myself Sein Vinosh now.”

Sein chuckled.

With Sophia’s face, she wore Sein’s unique smile.

“I am aware that I am Sein Vinosh. I still possess my skills. My memories as Sein Vinosh are also clear. However.”

Then, her smile began to change.

From a sharp and strong smile to a benevolent and elegant one.

“The current me also has memories that Sein Vinosh wouldn’t know.”

Sein’s expression changed completely.

“… !”

A dramatic change that was astonishing.

I knew whose smile that was.

“Sophia… Ma’am?”

A smile as warm as a mother’s embrace.

That smile was the sun-like smile that Sophia always showed me.

“It’s been a while.”

Sophia greeted me with a gentle smile, just like she had two and a half years ago.

“Has it been two and a half years?”

Then, her expression changed again.

“To be exact, it’s been 2 years and 201 days.”

From Sophia’s expression, it changed to Sein’s expression.

“…Don’t suddenly interrupt. I remember the date exactly too. I was just expressing it casually.”

And immediately, Sein’s expression changed back to Sophia’s expression.

“I didn’t intend to be sarcastic. It seems it sounded like sarcasm.”

“Yes. Anyone could tell it was sarcasm.”

Her expressions and tone of voice kept changing.

It was one person speaking, but the conversation was continuing.

It was as if she was playing multiple personalities.

“If it sounded that way, I apologize. I didn’t know you were so sensitive that you would take my passing words as sarcasm. Perhaps, were you that upset by my earlier words about reflecting? If so, I apologize for that too.”

“…Isn’t that the real sarcasm?”

“Oh. I’ve been caught.”

It seemed like she was acting, but it didn’t look like acting.

That’s because her expressions changed too quickly.

No matter how great an actor is, such acting is impossible.

That wasn’t acting.

“Is it that… Sir Sein’s soul and Sophia’s soul are coexisting in Sophia’s body?”

It was true that the two of them were coexisting in one body.

“Your ability to grasp the situation is as good as ever.”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

The two of them answered in turn.

It was a sight I couldn’t get used to, no matter how many times I saw it.

Those expressions and tones of voice that changed in 0.1 seconds were something I could never get used to.

“Two souls coexisting in one body…”

Then, Mimir, who had been quietly in the back, voiced her question.

An expression that said she couldn’t understand it with her common sense.

“How did this happen?”

I probably had a similar expression to Mimir.

How those two ended up in that state was beyond my imagination.

“As for how we ended up in this state… we don’t really know either.”

“When we opened our eyes again, we were already like this.”

Sophia smiled bitterly, and Sein frowned as if displeased.

“We infiltrated this research facility to investigate how this happened…”

“But there wasn’t any information that was particularly helpful.”

“Ah… So that’s why you attacked this research facility…”

I wondered if there was a reason for Sophia to attack this research facility.

It was to understand their own state through the experiment of creating chimeras by combining different bodies and souls, like Drake and the dragon.

“I understand.”

I felt like the puzzle was finally coming together.

“But…”

However, there was one puzzle that didn’t seem to have a clue.

“If that was your goal, it would have been much better to ask me for help.”

Why didn’t Sophia approach us?

“Why were you hiding the fact that you two were alive from me?”

Why were they hiding the fact that they had returned?

That was the question.

“What. It’s a very simple reason.”

Sein answered dryly, as if it was an insignificant question.

“Because if we approached you, that guy would have tried to awaken.”

However, the meaning behind those insignificant words was quite significant.

“…By ‘that guy,’ do you mean…?”

I had an idea.

In this place, there was only one person that Sein would refer to as ‘that guy.’

Even though I expected it, I didn’t say it out loud.

Hoping that it wasn’t true, I pretended not to know, with a glimmer of hope.

“The Black Magic King.”

But hope was just hope.

“His soul is also residing in my body.”

My guess was exactly right.

“So, Sophia’s body… has three souls residing in it?”

“Yes.”

Sophia placed her hand on her chest and frowned.

“He’s asleep now, but his soul is definitely inside me.”

A look of utter despair.

It was an expression that seemed to blame herself for being powerless in the face of this hopeless situation.

“If the Black Magic King’s soul is with you, it would be even more helpful to ask me for help…”

“We would have told you.”

Sein interrupted me.

“If we approached you, that guy would try to wake up.”

“Ah…”

Sein frowned, looking utterly displeased.

“It’s not that we didn’t want to ask you for help. But every time we had that thought, the soul of that guy sleeping inside us would violently stir. Not just you, but even if we tried to approach anyone around you, he would stir so violently as if he would wake up at any moment.”

It was an expression filled with resentment, anger, and hatred.

“We even tried to inform you of our situation through documents, but it didn’t work. The Black Magic King’s soul sleeping inside us wouldn’t even allow that.”

“No matter what we tried, he reacted immediately if we tried to approach you. Annoying guy.”

“…Yes. That’s a very Black Magic King-like soul, indeed.”

The two of them had the same expression.

A genuine annoyance.

It was an expression that said the Black Magic King’s insidious soul was nothing but annoying.

“So we even thought about just dying…”

“But if we tried to die, then…”

The Black Magic King would try to wake up.

That’s what they meant.

“We can’t die. And we can’t ask you for help.”

“The only option left for us was to find a way on our own.”

The two of them spoke alternately.

“Without letting anyone know about our return, we would find a way on our own to eliminate the Black Magic King inside us.”

“We searched for a way to kill him with our souls intact.”

I wanted to object.

The two of them saying that their own lives didn’t matter made me feel a surge of anger.

But I didn’t show that emotion outwardly.

Because I knew their resolve.

Because I knew the weight of their resolve.

I couldn’t say anything.

“But as you can see, the result is this mess.”

“We couldn’t find a way. In 2 years and 201 days, we couldn’t find any clue.”

The two of them lowered their heads.

An expression that said they were disgusted by their own incompetence.

It was an expression that said they were genuinely ashamed.

“Then…”

Then, Adela, who had been quiet all along, raised her hand and spoke.

“How did you manage to approach us like this now?”

“Ah, you mean the current situation? This is…”

Sein’s gaze turned sharp, as if resenting someone.

“The reason we’re in this situation now is purely because of Sophia Anescheffri’s mistake.”

“…”

Normally, she would have reacted immediately to Sein’s words.

But Sophia didn’t react at all.

“I told you to just kill it. But you said we should keep it alive just in case…”

She was probably talking about the dragon.

Sein had said to kill the dragon, and Sophia had said to keep it alive just in case.

That’s what she meant.

“She even made the fatal mistake of leaving our traces on the CCTV.”

Sophia’s expression momentarily showed.

It was an expression that said she had nothing to say, even if she had ten mouths.

“As a result, we called you here and put you in danger like this.”

Sein’s expression grew more and more grim.

“To save you, who were in danger because of us, we had no choice but to approach you…”

Sein placed her hand on her chest.

She clenched her fist.

As if she wanted to crush her own heart. With all her might.

“That guy’s awakening has begun.”

That guy.

It meant that the Black Magic King was beginning to awaken.

“Even thinking about it again is absurd. How do you plan to take responsibility for this? Sophia Anescheffri.”

“…”

Sophia hung her head low.

She couldn’t make any excuses.

That was her expression.

“…So that’s why you said earlier that you were taking on a risk.”

“Yes. No matter how big the risk is, it’s not as big as losing you.”

Now all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

The reason why Sophia had been hiding her whereabouts until now.

The reason why she appeared in Italy.

The reason why she infiltrated this research facility.

Everything made sense.

“…I have nothing to say, even if I had ten mouths.”

Sophia said in a very dejected voice.

A voice smaller than an ant crawling.

It was the expression and tone of voice of someone who was genuinely ashamed of herself.

“I really… want to crawl into a hole if there is one.”

Then, her expression changed again.

It was Sein.

“Hmm. There’s no need to be so self-deprecating. It’s true that we took on a risk, but it’s not like we didn’t gain anything as a result.”

Sein chuckled and looked at me.

“We were going to visit you soon anyway, weren’t we? It’s just that the plan was moved up a bit. That’s all it is.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Of course, we didn’t plan to meet you so openly. Thinking about it that way, the risk has increased.”

“…”

Perhaps the two of them were planning to send me information in the form of documents.

Because the entity that the Black Magic King’s soul reacted to was ‘me.’

Sending me information in the form of documents would be much less risky than approaching me.

“It’s true that the Black Magic King’s awakening was brought forward a bit because of you, but you don’t have to worry too much about it, Sophia Anescheffri.”

“…”

Sophia’s head drooped quickly, like a wilting sunflower.

“Heh heh. Just kidding.”

Sein laughed brightly, as if Sophia’s reaction was quite amusing.

“This situation has its own advantages. We can convey much more information accurately than we could have with simple documents. So you don’t have to blame yourself too much.”

“…”

Despite Sein’s encouragement, Sophia’s expression remained the same.

She was genuinely frustrated.

“Hmm. She’s completely entered the despair mode. Did I tease her too much?”

Sein stroked her chin, with an expression that said, ‘This is unexpected.’

“Sophia Anescheffri. It was really a joke. There’s no need to be so frustrated…”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, Sein’s eyes widened.

A look of great surprise.

“…It hasn’t even been 5 minutes. Has the time already come? Impatient guy.”

Judging by the nuance, it seemed that the Black Magic King’s soul had reacted again.

“Since there’s no time, I’ll just state the conclusion briefly.”

Sein began to speak quickly, as if she was about to leave this place immediately, while preparing to do so.

“Next. When the sun hides its face once in this world.”

When the sun hides its face.

It meant a solar eclipse.

“The King of Darkness will be resurrected.”

“…What?”

The King of Darkness will be resurrected.

In other words.

“…Are you saying that Veil Stole will be resurrected during this solar eclipse?”

“That is so.”

My lips trembled with shock.

“If it’s a solar eclipse…”

The solar eclipse this year is on October 13th.

And today is April 8th.

“Six months later.”

“…”

There were only six months left until Veil Stole’s resurrection.

That’s what she meant.