Amid the chaos of holy knights and familiars locked in battle, the flames flew directly toward Sion’s head.
Toward the head of the staggering genius who was beginning to regain consciousness.
The young mage moved before he realized it.
“Dodge!”
He shouted and shoved his senior aside.
FWOOSH—
The flames veered off course and struck Sion’s leg.
They also ignited the shadow beneath him. The magic circle of summoning and binding began to burn, releasing clouds of black smoke.
“You bastards……!”
Paimon faltered in alarm, but Sion, now released from his restraints, moved faster.
He summoned a fierce blaze and began burning away the magic circle beneath his feet.
“Sion, get out of there!”
FWOOSH!
The young mage’s shout and his senior’s Fireball came almost simultaneously.
“!”
When the Fireball struck him, Sion looked almost relieved.
As though he had expected it.
As though he had known they would stab him in the back like this.
“Uh…….”
The young mage opened his mouth.
He had to say something more, but no words emerged.
FWOOSH.
The flames rapidly consumed the magic circle.
Sensing that the summoning was about to end, Lucifer opened the serpent’s jaws wide.
“No!”
As though responding to the prince’s voice, Sion staggered and threw himself forward.
Julian stepped before the serpent’s mouth and rolled the dragon egg toward Sion.
The enormous serpent swallowed Sion whole.
“Hey!”
<No, you don’t, dwagon!>
The dragon egg stopped before the young mage and shouted with a thunderous voice, releasing a burst of light.
At that same moment, the prince and the demon charged into the summoning circle.
***
“You insolent human! Stop!”
Paimon tried to drag Julian down the moment they entered the summoning circle.
Julian seized the demon by the collar and stubbornly forced himself into the darkness within the serpent’s mouth.
“!”
What Julian had not known was that the summoned serpent’s jaws did not lead to its innards.
They led to a colossal pit.
His feet suddenly left the ground in the dark void.
Julian lost his grip on Paimon’s collar and plummeted into the endlessly deep chasm.
“Heh heh…….”
Paimon laughed unpleasantly in his beautiful voice.
“Lowly human, you will regret willingly stepping into my liege’s Authority.”
Paimon’s triumphant voice grew increasingly distant.
“Your pride will cast you to the bottom of this endless pit!”
Pride.
Every Demon Lord possessed a symbolic Sin: Pride, Deprivation, Wrath, Greed, and others.
They also possessed the Authority to rule a hell befitting that Sin.
Lucifer’s symbol was Pride.
The hell governed by his Authority was the Bottomless Pit of Pride.
It was said to be a chasm as deep as Lucifer’s fall from the Celestial Realm into the Demon Realm.
‘Fuck. Was I too greedy?’
Julian regretted his actions as he fell.
Sion Etain.
Julian could not allow the demons to take a valuable talent whom he intended to select as an academy scholarship student and place at the forefront of the war against them.
Then there was the dragon egg that Sion Etain had rescued from Lucifer.
It was an extraordinary existence that Demon Lord Lucifer and Demon King Paimon had failed to consume despite five years of effort.
It had even spoken when Sion was swallowed, which proved that it possessed a will of its own.
It was clearly close to hatching.
After what seemed like an eternity of falling, Julian’s collar caught upon the edge of a cliff.
He hung there, gasping for breath.
‘I have to save him regardless.’
Dragons were known for rewarding favors generously.
If Julian brought back Sion Etain, who had helped the dragon, he might receive a considerable reward.
Such as becoming the headmaster.
Becoming the headmaster.
Or receiving authentication as the headmaster.
‘Besides, I have my pride.’
The Liberation Army had been watching while they fought together.
What would happen if Sion was betrayed by the Etain mages before their eyes, taken by a demon, and Julian failed to rescue him?
‘What would that make me?’
He had loudly declared that he would become the future headmaster and that he would soon admit them all as freshmen.
How could they trust him if the first candidate for his scholarship program was snatched away before his eyes?
‘Is this much bravado and pride not part of my professional ethics? Am I not allowed even that much? Is it truly so greedy for a headmaster to rescue a talented student?’
How was that Pride?
What were the standards, anyway?
These demon bastards understood nothing about humans.
The more Julian thought about it, the more unjust it seemed.
The more unjust it seemed, the angrier he became.
“Now that I think about it, this is all because of that treacherous mage from House Etain. Who attacks an ally in the middle of a battle?”
Even upon reconsideration, it was absurd.
Julian had expected problems because the Liberation Army was a ragtag collection of people recruited and conscripted from every corner of the Empire.
However, he had never imagined that political conflicts from the outside would lead to an act of betrayal directly before a demon.
“I cannot leave those Etain mages alone. I will tear out every seed of betrayal and completely reform their minds……”
“You are entirely correct.”
A familiar voice came from above.
“However, could you not devise that plan after we return?”
Julian looked toward the voice.
“Theodore?”
Within the endlessly deep pit, his personal guard was sliding down the cliff wall with the Holy Sword embedded in the rock.
“Your Highness, reach this way!”
Seeing Theodore desperately descending after him, Julian stretched out his hand.
“Holy Chain!”
A radiant chain of divine power curved through the air toward Theodore.
Theodore hurriedly shouted.
“Your Highness, beneath the chain! There is something there!”
“Fuck!”
Julian hastily withdrew the chain.
It narrowly brushed against an orb-like object floating beside him.
“What is that?”
Julian threw the chain of light toward Theodore again and crossed over to the cliff wall before asking while catching his breath.
“I am not certain. I saw several similar objects while descending……”
The two clung to the outer wall of the vast pit and connected themselves with the Holy Chain.
Once Julian was satisfied that they were securely linked, he summoned a light of divine power and slowly moved it toward the floating object.
“An egg? No, is it a cocoon?”
“It appears closer to a cocoon.”
Julian wanted to examine it more closely, but finding Sion Etain took priority.
The two began descending the enormous pit as carefully as rock climbers.
From time to time, Julian summoned lights of divine power to examine their surroundings.
“There is another cocoon over there.”
“I can still see through that one. There appears to be a person inside.”
Strange cocoons floated here and there.
They hung in the air throughout the pit, both near the walls and over its center. Their sizes and colors were all different.
The two observed the cocoons as they steadily made their way downward.
“This truly has no end.”
Julian complained.
“They say this pit is as deep as Lucifer’s pride. How prideful does someone have to be to create a pit this deep?”
Theodore also asked anxiously.
“Will we be able to find Sion Etain here?”
“We have to.”
Julian continued.
“This is Lucifer’s hell, so I suspect that the more prideful someone is, the deeper they fall. Sion Etain probably did not fall very far.”
Theodore looked confused.
“Is he not a genius mage? He is called the Flame of Etain and a future Archmage……”
“That is true, but I heard his family discarded him and sent him into the Academy Liberation Army.”
Sion Etain.
He had originally been a boy of unknown origins from the eastern Empire until the renowned magical House Etain discovered him and taught him magic.
The genius soon revealed his dazzling talent.
Before his voice had even begun to change, he became a Battle Mage known as the Hound of Etain.
His achievements during a monster subjugation campaign earned him the epithet ‘Flame of Etain.’
He captured the attention of the Empire’s magical community and was openly described as a future Archmage.
House Etain engaged him to its only daughter and designated him as its next Head of House.
However, not long ago, the current Head of House had unexpectedly fathered a son late in life.
In an instant, the boy once called the future of House Etain and its flame magic was cast aside and sent into a devastating fall.
“I wondered why they sent such a valuable talent into the Liberation Army. House Etain intended to kill Sion.”
“Yes. What I find strange is Sion’s behavior. With talent of that caliber, other organizations must have approached him. Why did he remain with House Etain and come here simply because they ordered him to?”
“I have an idea.”
Julian murmured as he stared into the abyss beneath them.
He could sense magic power from somewhere.
Narrowing his eyes, he examined the center of the chasm.
Even within the darkness, he could see a fiercely burning flame.
“Theodore.”
“Yes?”
“You are good at anything involving physical ability, are you not?”
An ominous feeling seized Theodore at Julian’s question. He hurriedly returned the Holy Sword to his waist.
Julian gestured with his chin toward the flames in the center of the abyss.
“Let us go.”
He kicked off the cliff and leaped.
***
At the center of the colossal pit, a burning battlefield floated in the darkness.
Uh…… Ugh……
A commander made a strangled sound as he stumbled backward.
A monster…… He is a monster!
He pointed at the young boy, who barely reached his chest.
The boy answered listlessly.
“You ordered me to do it.”
Monster!
“……You threatened to kill me and send my head back to House Etain if I failed.”
The commander had threatened him until he obeyed, yet now he called him a monster.
The red-haired boy exhaled slowly and looked across the battlefield.
Everything had burned away.
Only fading embers and pitch-black smoke remained.
It was the fire he had created.
They were the people he had killed.
“Ugh…….”
The boy retched.
However, the Battle Mage’s robe was far too large and heavy for him. Sweat and battlefield soot had hardened it until it felt like tree bark.
Unable to bend at the waist, the boy vomited stomach acid while standing upright.
“Ugh…….”
Leaving him behind, the commander shouted to his soldiers.
W-we won!
ROOOOAR!
The victorious cheers spread across the battlefield, leaving the boy alone.
It was the same in the next battle.
And in the battle after that.
I heard House Etain had developed a taste for raising young mages, but it seems they intend to extract every last drop of value from them. To send a child this young as a Battle Mage…… I will not forget this insult.
Although the boy worked for House Etain, no one respected him as one of its mages.
Because he was a child.
Burn those deserters! What? Prisoners? Ha! The money it cost to bring you here might cover their meals. Do you understand? Earn your keep!
Nevertheless, he had to perform well as a representative of House Etain.
He was an expensive Battle Mage dispatched by the family.
“I have to do well.”
“Why?”
An older boy with golden hair and golden eyes had suddenly appeared upon the battlefield.
“If I do not perform well, they said House Etain will reduce the size of the magic school.”
“Is that school important to you?”
“It is.”
The boy clenched his fist and nodded.
“It is the place that turns commoners like us into mages. The others who entered with me are there, and so are children from my hometown. They might be expelled while they are still studying.”
“…….”
“I have to do well.”
Crushed beneath the weight of responsibility, the boy summoned flames that burned his heart black.
With those flames, he swept away the enemy soldiers.
Then his allies trembled and pointed fingers at him.
Oh God, how can anyone be so cruel? He might as well be a demon of flame!
How can such a young child be so cold and merciless? House Etain is raising a monster.
That tiny brat never lowers his head to anyone. He is already intoxicated by his abilities and consumed by pride!
They were all the same.
The duties belonged to him.
The sins belonged to him.
The achievements belonged to them.
“Big brother, I kept doing everything they told me.”
The boy spoke.
“This is strange. Why does it have to be like this?”
“…….”
I never decided any of this.
I merely did my best to obey every order.
“Why am I the only one being blamed? Why does everyone demand that I somehow solve everything?”
The golden-haired, golden-eyed older boy remained silent.
“Why?”
The ones who answered the boy’s desperate cry were the corpses he had killed.
Within the flames consuming the battlefield, the blackened bodies danced as they burned.
They answered as though singing.
Did you not know? It is because you are weak.
Just as we were weak enough to be killed, you are weak enough to be used.
FWOOSH!
The boy summoned even more flames.
Black ashes from everything that had burned swirled and danced above his head.
It is because you are a tool.
He summoned fire.
Again.
And again.
Only after everything had burned away and no one remained to answer him did the boy release the breath he had barely been holding.
He murmured.
“……So that was it.”
I am merely a torch that the powerful move from place to place.
If they point here, I burn this place.
If they point there, I burn that place.
I am nothing more than a walking mass of fire.