Those with enough talent to manipulate mana reach the 1st Circle.
Those who have no difficulty using that mana to manifest magic can form a 2nd Circle.
And the world says that among them, those born with a little more talent reach the 3rd Circle.
[5th Circle...?]
The 3rd Circle is an invisible wall that separates the realm of talent from the realm of effort.
Only the chosen can cross that wall, and even among them, an insurmountable gap emerges.
[What....]
In that sense, those who wield the 5th Circle are treated like monsters.
They are so powerful that mediocre 3rd- and 4th-Circle mages cannot even meet their eyes.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they have reached the apex of the magical world.
[Are you saying you're the same bastard who's outside?]
The man was such an existence.
He possessed enough power to make even Dailius, who devoured souls, retreat in fear.
[This is impossible!]
But this wasn't what Dailius had intended.
The one he had seen outside was a brat with a single Circle.
A newborn calf of the Daylin Family.
That was the Wirn Dailius had seen in the outside world.
[How can you have five Circles?!]
Yet the man within the soul world—
No.
Wirn from his previous life, wearing the appearance of his thirty-year-old self, was an entirely different existence.
There was no trace of the inexperienced brat.
The bastard before him was staring straight at him while saying things he couldn't understand.
With the eyes of a predator looking at prey.
So it was only natural for Dailius to deny reality.
Sssss!
At that moment, the Darkness on the ground seeped into both of Dailius's legs.
[You bastard!]
Dailius drew up his power the instant he saw it.
He roared in fury at the realization that the Darkness was trying to consume him.
HUM!
Demonic Energy erupted from Dailius's body.
FLASH!
Demonic Energy the same color as Wirn's Darkness spread through the surroundings.
As the Demonic Energy swallowed the Darkness, the space divided into separate domains.
[I will not fall so easily!]
—GROOOAN...!
The moment that space was created, an enormous Wraith appeared within the world filled with Demonic Energy.
It was a wave of Wraiths made from the souls Dailius had devoured, all bound together one after another.
SLOSH... SLOSH!
The wave spilled across the ground and swallowed its surroundings.
It resembled Darkness that devoured everything.
[If I cannot devour your soul, I will cover your world with Wraiths.]
Hundreds of Wraiths rushed toward Wirn.
The concentration of Demonic Energy within them was completely different from the pathetic creatures he had seen in the temple.
They had absorbed Demonic Energy from Dailius's body and had been reborn as far more powerful Wraiths.
That was why he believed he had a chance.
After all, these Wraiths were a ‘masterpiece’ Dailius had spent most of his time creating.
“....”
Swish.
But—
SNAP.
The moment Wirn snapped his fingers toward the wave—
GURGLE... GURRRRGLE.
A massive hole opened beneath the Wraiths.
WHOOSH!
The wave was sucked into the hole.
[What?]
Dailius stared blankly at the sight.
The presence of the Wraiths, which had felt so abundant only moments before, vanished as though it had never existed.
[I cannot feel the Demonic Energy... either?]
Even the power that only demons could use—
‘Demonic Energy’—
was no longer under his control.
CRUNCH!
[AAAAARGH!]
The instant he realized that, the Darkness engulfed Dailius.
The Darkness he had driven away using Demonic Energy appeared once more.
But this time, it was no ordinary Darkness.
[My body... My body!]
The more the Darkness stained his body, the more his flesh disappeared.
Realizing this, Dailius flailed his hands through the empty air.
Step.
Wirn approached him.
Then he looked down at Dailius, who was being dragged into the ground, and gave a mocking smile.
“Too bad. If we'd fought outside, you might've lasted another minute.”
[You bastaaard!]
Dailius's eyes widened.
He wanted nothing more than to tear the human before him apart.
Grrrk... Grrrkk....
But reality was different from what he desired.
Dailius's body continued to be dragged into the abyss.
His vision was gradually dyed in Darkness as well.
And when the moment finally came that the Darkness swallowed him completely—
***
Dailius's voice could no longer be heard.
As though he had never existed in the first place.
FLASH!
At that moment, a crack formed in the world, and a small opening connected to the outside appeared.
“Is that it?”
Wirn stared intently at the opening.
‘If I could leave with this body....’
As he thought that, he carefully sent mana through the opening.
It was powerful mana created by five Circles.
HUM.
However, even that powerful mana vanished without a trace the moment it touched the opening.
As though declaring that it could exist only within this place, it collapsed in the blink of an eye.
“Tsk.”
He had wondered if it might work, but it had been hopeless from the start.
‘Can't be helped.’
If Wirn could take the Circles from his inner world outside with him, he could take revenge on the Empire immediately.
But that would be an act that defied the very laws of the world.
“Phew....”
Perhaps because he was seeing his old body again after sixteen years, his feelings were strangely complicated.
‘Take care.’
It was a shame, but he had no lingering attachment.
He wasn't foolish enough to remain trapped by the power of his previous life.
So when he left the domain of his inner world, the real world that had originally existed came back into view.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Wirn stopped short.
The old man who had told him that he was destined to become a vessel had entered his sight.
More precisely, he discovered the man's final state, his body plastered against the floor.
Step. Step.
Wirn approached the old man.
He didn't feel particularly sorry for him.
If Wirn had lost to Dailius, he would have met an end even more horrific than the old man's.
—HUM....
‘Nothing particularly unusual stands out.’
Wirn sent mana into the old man's body.
He wondered whether the man possessed a Circle or something similar.
But he couldn't detect any such power within the dead man.
‘How did he control Demonic Energy?’
The question remained.
That old man had undeniably wielded Demonic Energy.
Wirn had clearly seen that power, which possessed qualities similar to Darkness.
He definitely hadn't been an ordinary person.
After all, manipulating Demonic Energy was on an entirely different level from using magic.
...CLATTER!
Just as Wirn began considering other possibilities, a sound came from the book beside the corpse.
“...Right. There was this.”
Wirn turned his gaze toward it.
A book stained with blood.
He remembered that the old man had used it.
—HUM!
“What?”
At that moment, the Mark, which had been quiet until now, suddenly flared up.
It strongly warned Wirn that the book was ‘food’ meant for it.
In other words, it was telling him not to touch it.
“Hmm....”
Wirn rubbed his chin as he considered its demand.
The struggle for control between him and the Mark still wasn't over.
‘I have to choose.’
Should he hand over the book and allow the Mark to grow stronger?
Or should he destroy it so that no one could obtain it?
Wirn seriously contemplated the two choices.
“Fine. If you want to eat it, then eat it.”
But he quickly reached a conclusion.
Even if the Mark consumed the book, he was confident that he could continue maintaining control.
So Wirn allowed it to devour the book.
He had already judged the thing to be useless to him anyway, since it was a tool meant for those who wielded Demonic Energy.
GAPE—!
The moment he placed his right hand on the book, a mouth formed from the Mark's power in midair.
GULP!
The book on the floor was swallowed by the Mark.
GLOOP.
The mouth created by the Mark heaved violently up and down as though digesting it.
Wirn watched the scene without saying a word.
HUM.
At that moment, the Circle inside Wirn's body rotated fiercely.
Then Darkness that Wirn hadn't consciously summoned flowed across the floor.
...FLASH!
And the glowing Mark fell silent.
“What? That's it?”
Realizing what had happened, Wirn frowned.
He had been fully prepared because he expected some sort of unexpected change, such as its power suddenly running wild like last time.
“Seriously?”
But the Mark did nothing of the sort.
After swallowing the book, it became quiet again as though nothing had happened.
It wasn't even emitting any power.
“What a damn freeloader.”
Wirn clicked his tongue at it.
He wanted to remove the thing immediately, but doing so would require cutting off his own hand.
It would be like splitting open his stomach just to remove his navel, so for now he had no choice but to leave it alone.
RUMBLE—!
At that moment, a loud noise came from the ceiling.
CRASH—!
“Young Master!”
Then Kemen broke through the ceiling and landed in the room where Wirn stood.
“Are you injured anywhere?!”
“Oh. You're here?”
Wirn leisurely answered Kemen's urgent question.
Then he looked at Kemen's condition and smirked.
“You look worse than I do.”
Kemen was covered from head to toe in dirt.
When he had first arrived, he had looked every bit the mage.
Now, he resembled a drunkard who had been rolling around in the street.
“Ahem....”
Kemen looked embarrassed by Wirn's remark.
“Everyone has made it out of the mountains. Once you and I return, Young Master, that will be everyone.”
“Really?”
“Yes. However... where exactly is this place?”
He looked around the place where Wirn stood.
“Don't know. I opened my eyes and found myself here.”
Wirn had no intention of giving him a detailed answer.
Especially not about killing a demon or obtaining the book.
‘Until I figure out what kind of changes it'll cause, it's better if I'm the only one who knows.’
There was nothing to gain from revealing an uncontrollable fortuitous encounter.
Besides, this wasn't an ordinary family.
So even if it was Kemen, Wirn was certain that showing him everything would be a poor choice.
“Hmm? That old man....”
At that moment, Kemen noticed the dead old man.
“He was annoying me, so I took care of him. He wasn't anything special.”
“What?”
“He was just some old geezer.”
Kemen froze at Wirn's next words.
“Young Master... this man was one of the Elders who betrayed the Daylin Family.”
The old man Wirn had dealt with wasn't merely a crazed fanatic.
He had been someone who operated in the underworld of the Daylin Family.
“Why are you only telling me that now?”
“You spoke before I had a chance to explain.”
Kemen sounded aggrieved at Wirn's complaint.
“But how did you kill him...? He could not have been an easy opponent.”
Kemen asked seriously.
He knew very well that someone belonging to the Council of Elders could never be weak.
“I just handled him.”
“So you're saying you have no intention of telling me.”
“Right.”
“....”
Kemen looked troubled by Wirn's answer.
“I cannot lie.”
He understood that Wirn didn't want this matter exposed, but this wasn't something he could simply turn a blind eye to.
It made no sense to bury the death of someone who had betrayed the family as though nothing had happened.
“So I will only report that you dealt with him, Young Master. I do not know anything beyond that anyway.”
“Then Father might give me something?”
“You have accomplished something significant, so it is possible.”
At the mention of a possible reward, Wirn nodded.
Then he stared at the dead man.
‘No one knows that I absorbed the book.’
He had killed the old man.
But that would be the full extent of what everyone else learned.
Everything after that would remain Wirn's secret alone.
In that case, revealing part of the truth and getting something he needed from the Family Head wasn't a bad option.
“Let's do that.”
So Wirn accepted Kemen's suggestion.
—HUM.
At that moment, Kemen took a small pouch out and placed it on the floor.
POOF!
The pouch instantly expanded to a much larger size.
Swish.
Using mana, Kemen levitated the corpse into the air.
Then he placed the old man inside the pouch.
—HUUUM....
The moment he closed the Subspace Pouch, it shrank back down until it was small enough to fit in his palm.
“That is finished.”
Once the task was complete, Kemen gave Wirn a slight bow.
It was a silent signal that it was time to leave.
“Let's go back.”
Wirn understood the gesture and stared at Kemen.
“But how do we get out?”
“We have to break through the floor and climb our way upward.”
“What?”
“Teleportation magic does not work here. That is why I also used mana to break through the ceiling and come down.”
“....”
Only after hearing that answer did Wirn understand why Kemen had arrived looking like a beggar.