The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 450

Sein and Sophia were genuinely bewildered.

‘The Black Magic King is completely overwhelming him.’

Sophia’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between Veil and the Black Magic King.

The Black Magic King was overpowering the very origin of black magic.

It wasn’t a matter of having an advantage, or the tide of the battle beginning to turn.

It was, quite literally, an overwhelming dominance.

The Black Magic King was toying with Veil like he was a plaything.

The sight was quite shocking.

‘Hasn’t he gotten even stronger than he was three years ago?’

‘……He certainly seems to have grown stronger.’

Three years ago, Sophia and Sein had engaged in a fierce battle with the Black Magic King.

They had succeeded in killing the Black Magic King after a bloody fight.

Having experienced fighting him at full power, they knew very well what kind of power the Black Magic King possessed.

The Black Magic King from three years ago wasn’t this strong.

‘How on earth did he get so strong? He shouldn’t have had any time to build up his power.’

For the past three years, the Black Magic King had been with Sein and Sophia.

The Black Magic King hadn’t done any particular training.

Since he had only been waiting inside in a soul state, he naturally had no opportunity to accumulate power.

And yet, he had become stronger.

He had achieved a rapid growth that was incomparable to before.

How on earth was such growth possible?

‘What? This power is thanks to you all.’

The Black Magic King replied nonchalantly.

‘……Were you listening?’

Sein asked with a surprised expression. He had thought that the Black Magic King wouldn’t be able to hear them because he was focused on the battle.

To think he had been listening.

‘Sein Vinoche, I am not you. I am not so foolish as to close my ears because I am focused on the battle.’

The Black Magic King sneered as usual. Sein’s expression sharpened.

‘……You’re very full of yourself.’

‘I know that well. Yes. I am full of myself.’

The Black Magic King replied with a small smile.

He was very irritating.

‘Tsk. I still don’t like you.’

Sein clicked his tongue.

He glared at the Black Magic King with cold eyes.

‘Is that so? That’s a bit unfortunate. As I’ve said before, I quite like you.’

The Black Magic King slightly raised one corner of his mouth.

It was an expression that made it impossible to tell whether he was serious or joking.

‘……Annoying guy.’

Sein sighed softly, looking utterly annoyed and irritated.

KWA-AAANG-!

At that moment, Veil and the Black Magic King’s magic clashed again with great force.

And immediately after that impact, Veil’s divine power filled the surroundings.

‘Don’t think you can keep blocking me forever. You arrogant fool.’

As if Veil had prepared a trump card, an enormous output of divine magic filled the surroundings.

‘Black Magic King! It’s dangerous!’

Sophia shouted in panic.

No matter how powerful the Black Magic King was, it would be difficult for him to completely block that.

‘I’ll support you!’

Just as Sophia was about to start magical assistance to help the Black Magic King even a little.

‘Don’t interfere, Sophia Anochepri. Your pure white doesn’t suit my magic.’

The Black Magic King refused Sophia’s help.

‘Kyaaak!’

Sophia, who was approaching the Black Magic King, was thrown backward as if she had collided with an electric barrier.

‘Just watch from there. That much is nothing to me.’

The Black Magic King slowly stretched out both hands.

At that moment, the atmosphere began to fluctuate.

‘Hmm. Somehow, the conversation has gone off on a tangent.’

The darkness that filled the world was roaring fiercely.

‘Let’s get back to the point… The reason I was able to become this strong is thanks to you all.’

As if mirroring the gray energy flying towards him, the darkness began to change its form.

‘Are you saying you absorbed our power?’

At Sophia’s question, the Black Magic King laughed as if he was amused.

‘Of course not. If I had absorbed your power, there’s no way you wouldn’t have noticed.’

‘That’s……’

Sophia fell silent.

The Black Magic King was right.

If their power had been absorbed, they would have noticed.

‘If you didn’t absorb our power, then what is it?’

If that wasn’t the case, then why did he say he had become stronger thanks to them?

‘It is said that all the studies and martial arts in this world are connected.’

At that moment, Veil’s divine magic was completed.

The gray stars that adorned the sky all fell down at once.

It was a sight that was akin to a meteor shower.

‘It’s thanks to that.’

The Black Magic King stretched out both hands.

Then, the darkness began to surge upwards.

Like a barrage of missiles launched to counter the falling meteor shower.

‘……What do you mean?’

What connection did the connection of learning have with growth?

‘Your existence was a new form of learning for me.’

And soon, the two forces collided.

Gray and black met, emitting a brilliant light.

As if proving that the two forces were equal, both forces were reduced to light at the same time as the collision.

‘I was able to see you and think about things from a different perspective.’

Watching that scene, the Black Magic King spoke leisurely.

‘I learned frustration from seeing Sein Vinoche’s rigid values. And I learned exasperation from seeing Sophia Anochepri’s foolish actions. In many ways, you were good negative examples.’

‘……What?’

‘What did you say?’

Sein and Sophia’s expressions crumpled.

‘Just kidding.’

The Black Magic King smiled again.

His expression showed that he found Sein’s reaction very amusing.

‘Sein Vinoche. I learned a lot from seeing your sword. Seeing you, who had reached a similar place as me with a completely different power. I really gained a lot of insights.’

The extremes are connected.

For the Black Magic King, Sein Vinoche was an invaluable teaching material.

‘Sophia Anochepri. By seeing your magic up close, I was able to understand the structure of white magic. I realized that the things I had easily dismissed were actually major limitations.’

By seeing it up close, he realized that white magic wasn’t all-powerful either.

‘The result of that realization is the current me.’

The strongest swordsman and the strongest magician.

By seeing and observing the two of them up close, he had gained enlightenment.

The culmination of that enlightenment was the current Black Magic King.

‘The current me will not lose to the likes of Veil. No, I cannot lose.’

A change began to occur in the equal clash.

‘I cannot lose to a foolish origin who only relied on the power they possessed and made no effort or innovation.’

Black began to suppress gray.

The Black Magic King’s magic began to overwhelm Veil’s divine magic.

‘Black Magic King, you……’

Sophia called out to the Black Magic King with a genuinely surprised expression.

She had never imagined that such words would come from the Black Magic King’s mouth.

‘You fool. Have you already forgotten?’

The Black Magic King added even more power to the darkness.

The tide of the battle, which had been slightly tilting, began to turn in an instant.

‘The current me is not the Black Magic King. I am Cain. I clearly told you to call me that.’

The darkness swallowed the gray as it was, and flew towards Veil.

Veil bit his lip and moved away.

However, a perfect evasion was impossible.

The darkness took away half of Veil’s body as it was.

‘Ah. I don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming of this scene.’

The Black Magic King prepared his magic again, aiming at Veil.

‘I, a slave of black magic, will break free from the shackles created by the origin of black magic, and kill the origin of black magic with my own hands.’

It was something he had always dreamed of.

‘And I will stand in this world solely as myself.’

He would break free from the shackles of the Black Tongue, as well as the shackles of the Black Magic King.

He would live as Cain, an ordinary man, a magician pursuing the ultimate in magic.

For the past 100 years, the Black Magic King had only dreamed of that.

‘I can’t stop laughing.’

That dream was now unfolding before his eyes.

The destination was right in front of him.

Now, he only had to put one foot over the line to achieve his dream.

‘……Black Magic King.’

‘……You.’

Sein and Sophia’s eyes widened.

They were genuinely surprised to see the Black Magic King’s innocent smile.

They had never imagined that the Black Magic King would make such an expression.

It was an unimaginable sight.

‘……You. You’ve changed.’

Sophia said with a subtle expression. It was an expression that was sad, happy, bitter, and complex all at once.

‘Changed, you say. It’s hard to deny. I have certainly changed.’

The Black Magic King replied nonchalantly.

‘The existence of you two has moved me. The fatal poison called light has changed me.’

He was aware of it himself.

The Black Magic King, who was the strongest villain in the world three years ago, had now disappeared.

The Black Magic King who remained here was a fake who had been moved by the light.

The Black Magic King had become a hypocrite, something he had so loathed.

He had become an ambiguous being who could be neither darkness nor light.

‘But, strangely enough, it’s not such a bad feeling.’

He had hated hypocrites, but now that he had become one, it wasn’t so bad.

‘I don’t know if it’s because I’ve reached the end of my long, long dream, or if there’s another reason.’

He was just enjoying it.

The current situation.

The present where he was fighting Veil 1:1.

The fact that he could have a conversation with Sein and Sophia like this.

Everything was enjoyable.

‘……Are you regretting your past misdeeds?’

Sein asked with cold eyes.

To be moved meant that he was regretting his past misdeeds.

‘You’re not thinking of spouting such nonsense as regretting, repenting, and atoning for the things you’ve done so far, are you?’

Sein’s eyes grew colder.

His expression said not to talk nonsense.

No matter how moved you are, the things you’ve done cannot be undone.

The misdeeds you committed were not at a level that could be glossed over by saying you would atone for them.

Saying that you would repent and atone was just a deception.

If he were to utter the words of atonement here, he would not be able to hold back.

Surely, a volcano of anger would erupt.

‘No. I do not regret it.’

Fortunately, the answer that Sein was worried about did not come back.

‘Just as the current me is like this. The past me was like that. I do not deny my past self. The things my past self did were all things that were done out of necessity. If I had not done those things back then, the current me would not exist.’

The Black Magic King answered confidently.

He said that he did not regret it.

That he had no intention of atoning.

‘……That’s a relief. I was worried about what would happen if you said you would atone. Now, I can comfortably pass judgment on you.’

Evil must be punished.

That was the way, and the truth.

‘Look forward to it. When this is over, I will surely deliver divine punishment upon you.’

Sein glared at the Black Magic King with murderous intent.

The Black Magic King lightly accepted Sein’s gaze.

‘Yes. I’ll be looking forward to it.’

With a relaxed smile, he focused on binding Veil again.

As the half of Veil’s body that had disappeared was restored, the other half of his body disappeared this time.

‘I hope that day comes. The day when I can fight you again with all my heart.’

‘……Black Magic King?’

Sophia’s eyes narrowed.

As she had known the Black Magic King for a little longer than Sein, she was able to grasp the hidden meaning in the Black Magic King’s words.

‘You don’t mean……’

‘Sein Vinoche. Sophia Anochepri.’

The Black Magic King interrupted Sophia’s words.

‘Do you remember the contract we made before, on the day Shin Hayul asked for information to attack the Black Fortress?’

‘Of course, I remember.’

That they would hand over the sovereignty of their bodies when the Black Magic King desired it.

They had made such a promise in exchange for handing over information.

‘I want the fulfillment of that contract now.’

‘……Now?’

Sein asked back with an expression that said, ‘What kind of nonsense is that?’

The Black Magic King already had sovereignty over their bodies, so what was he talking about asking for sovereignty here?

‘Yes.’

The Black Magic King erased Veil’s body again.

Veil’s body was only repeating destruction and regeneration.

‘From now until the end of the battle, no matter what happens, do not come outside.’

‘Aren’t we already doing that?’

Sein couldn’t understand the Black Magic King’s words at all.

What on earth was he thinking, making such a proposal?

‘Answer me. Say that you will do it.’

‘……’

‘……’

The two fell silent.

They had no idea what his intentions were.

‘Answer me. There’s no time.’

At the Black Magic King’s urging, the two slowly opened their mouths.

‘……Okay. A promise is a promise. We will do so.’

‘I will do that. In the first place, there’s nothing we can do by going out now.’

At the two’s answers, the Black Magic King smiled slightly, as if he was satisfied.

‘It’s a promise. No matter what happens from now on, you must never come outside.’

It was then.

‘This is my fight, and my challenge.’

Veil’s body twisted.

It wasn’t that the Black Magic King had twisted it with magic.

His body just began to twist like a pretzel without any warning.

‘Is it starting?’

The Black Magic King smiled.

Looking at Veil’s appearance, his eyes shone like a child who had a theme park in front of them.

And at that moment, Veil’s body glowed.

At the same time, the murky gray divine power began to turn pure white.

‘As expected, even his innate aura is different.’

Real divine power, different from the mediocre divine power he had shown so far.

It began to devour the darkness that filled the surroundings.

‘This is the real god.’

Veil’s twisted body began to take the form of a complete human again.

He had huge wings on his back, his hair had turned pure white, and his eyes were engraved with holy marks.

‘Is it the End God?’

The End God.

A real god, not a half-god like Veil, had descended upon this land.