Among the two options Nike had presented, choosing the teleport scroll had been the correct answer.
The moment Gale tore the scroll, he began falling from high in the skies above Yoshiura.
A harsh rush of splitting air brushed past his ears, and beneath his feet, the nightscape of Yoshiura appeared together with the towering shape of Oiran.
‘Raising the altitude really was the right choice.’
Gale immediately focused mana into his eyes and checked the ward surrounding Moon Shadow Pavilion.
Moon Shadow Pavilion, the highest floor of Oiran, had a ward pattern written with an advanced formula, befitting a place where high-ranking people enjoyed secret meetings.
A ward at that level had most likely been installed through a commission to the Magic Tower.
‘I don’t know who made it, but the pattern repeats at fixed intervals.’
But that too had been made by human hands.
The larger and more complex a formula was, the more it was bound to contain mistakes, great and small, and Gale was not the kind of person to miss them.
“Done...!”
Perhaps he had paid too much attention to the ward.
He succeeded in neutralizing it, but he did not have enough time to lessen the impact of falling from dozens of meters in the air, and when the mana Barrier surrounding Gale’s body collided with the roof of Moon Shadow Pavilion, the ceiling of Moon Shadow Pavilion shattered all at once.
CRASH—!
The impact reached him through the Barrier with enough force to shake his body, and Gale, who had barely caught his balance on the roof of Moon Shadow Pavilion, breathed roughly.
“Ghk, that would’ve been dangerous without the Barrier.”
As the thick dust cleared, Moon Shadow Pavilion was revealed beneath the shattered ceiling.
Inside, a dreadful hellscape had unfolded.
Seeing Ron barely holding on atop the stage splattered with fresh blood, Gale felt a small sense of relief.
Gale immediately went inside and checked Ron’s condition.
“Are you all right?”
He was certainly in no state to be called all right, but fortunately, Gale did not see any wound that looked fatal.
“You should clearly... be in the holding cell.”
“Is that important right now?”
Ron frowned and said,
“Go back. There is nothing here for you to protect.”
“Why would there be nothing? The ground beneath my feet is also the Empire.”
“...You may have to risk your life.”
“I’ve already prepared myself for that.”
After answering, Gale shifted his gaze to the opposite side.
Miguel Wiseburn.
With his sword in hand, he was giving off a fierce aura.
That tingling sensation one felt when facing a strong opponent.
Gale kept every nerve in his body on edge and watched him closely.
‘A Sword Expert after all.’
If the level of a Sword Expert were compared to that of a magician, it could be considered at least 4th Tier or above.
Meanwhile, Gale’s current level was 3rd Tier.
It might seem like a difference of only one Tier, but depending on each person’s experience, artifacts, and the type of sword they used, that difference could vary tremendously, so a gap of one Tier or more was never something he could ignore.
Miguel looked at Gale and said, “For a mere trainee, your courage in coming here is commendable....”
Miguel immediately thrust out his sword and charged fiercely toward Gale.
It felt as though Miguel had appeared right in front of him in the time it took to blink.
“...but this is no place for you to interfere, brat.”
Miguel’s sword flashed.
CLANG—!
Gale unfolded a Barrier and blocked his sword in that split second.
“Ghk...!”
Even before coming here, Gale had planned out several ways to deal with Miguel in his head.
But when the fight actually began, far from landing even a single blow, all he could do was endure the fierce attacks flying at him.
CRACK—!
Just then, Miguel’s sword strike cut shallowly into the Barrier.
Gale’s expression twisted.
As long as his opponent used aura, relying on a Barrier was no different from suicide.
Gale immediately cast his next spell.
“Frost Wall.”
Gale raised a wall of frost to block Miguel’s vision, then leaped backward and constructed another spell at the same time.
This won’t do.
Faster.
Gale lashed himself onward and drove himself into an extreme situation.
Soon, Miguel broke through the frost wall and shouted, “How amusing. To think you can use magic of this level at your age.”
Gale read the trajectory of the thrusting sword and twisted his body, but unfortunately, Miguel’s kick came flying in from that very direction.
CRACKLE—!
BANG—!
The Barrier absorbed the impact one last time and shattered to pieces, but Miguel’s foot did not stop, and Gale, who blocked it, was shoved back hard.
“Your reaction speed is decent, but your body is still too soft.”
“Hah... hah....”
He had clearly blocked it with his arms crossed, yet a terrible pain followed, as if both arms were about to break.
This damned body.
Curses rose unbidden in his mouth.
I don’t want to lose.
Gale longed for victory more than ever before.
After meeting a miserable end under Raskal’s sword, whom he hated so deeply, and returning to the past, losing to these people again was something he hated more than death.
Now, while Miguel was being careless, might be his only chance.
Thinking that, Gale fixed his stance and immediately poured in mana, deploying a thick Barrier.
“Hup...!”
“You cannot block my sword with that pathetic Barrier!”
At that, Miguel approached while emitting an intense aura and swung his sword down from above as though he would smash the Barrier apart.
CRACK—!
The moment his sword lodged in the blue Barrier, Gale desperately drew up his mana.
Two magic formulas had already been prepared in both of his hands.
Gale combined them into one, and a low voice flowed from his lips.
“Fire Buster!”
It was a spell that combined the 3rd Tier spells Fire Blast and Wind Buster, and at this point, it was the most powerful magic Gale could use.
“...Ghk!”
The Barrier Gale had created by compressing its mana structure refused to release Miguel’s sword, and the blazing sphere of flame he had fired burst through the Barrier and reached him.
CRASH—!!
Then an enormous explosion erupted, and a shockwave burst out.
Because Gale had crammed most of his available mana into this spell and focused it on firepower, he too could not escape the impact.
“Kgh...!”
Thrown from the explosion, Gale rolled across the floor and breathed roughly.
His vision was stained red by the blood flowing down.
What happened?
Gale steadied his breathing as he watched the explosion smoke billowing before his eyes.
Then a low voice flowed from within the smoke.
“It seems you put quite a bit of force into that... but I, Miguel Wiseburn, possess an anti-magic body that magic cannot affect.”
No sooner had his words ended than Ron shouted, “Gale! Dodge!”
“......!”
Ron, who had been beside him, threw himself into Gale and slammed into him.
At that moment, sharp sword energy flew toward the spot where Gale had been.
It flashed like a beam of light and cut through everything from the floor to the ceiling.
CRASH, CRASH, CRASH—!!
Then the explosion smoke cleared, and Miguel appeared from within.
As though nothing had happened, there was not a single speck of dust on his clothes.
“Age has made everything weak, whether it is my piss or my sword energy.”
Gale’s eyes widened as he watched him.
A small mirror held in the left hand that did not grip his sword.
The whites of his eyes dyed black.
Gale knew what that meant.
The artifact that had once allowed Miguel to rise to the position of the strongest.
Braggart’s Mirror.
It was an object that turned a lie into truth when one looked at oneself through the mirror and told that lie.
Damn it!
Gale clenched his fist tightly.
In truth, he had known even before fighting him.
At his current level, defeating Miguel was impossible.
Even so, the reason Gale had forced himself to stand and fight Miguel was because he had judged that the moment Miguel was off guard and not using the mirror was his only chance to eliminate him.
But now even that chance was gone.
Gale tried to calmly think of his next move, but he could not come up with a new method.
Just as he was beginning to feel despair, “Listen carefully.”
Ron, who stood in front of Gale to block him, spoke in a low voice.
“I cannot hold out for long. So as soon as you are ready, get out of here and call reinforcements. That is the best thing you can do right now.”
There was not the slightest hint of fear in his back as he said it.
“If you do that, you will die.”
“It does not matter. I have already prepared myself.”
Ron immediately aimed his sword at Miguel.
“Do you intend to obstruct me to the very end, Ron?”
“I will set your wrongs right.”
“My plan will never fail. I need only kill the two of you here and start again from the beginning!”
They closed the distance at once.
Dense aura rippled over Miguel’s sword.
Ron also emitted a faint aura and swung his sword, but he could not bridge the gap between a Sword User and a Sword Expert.
When Miguel’s sword and Ron’s sword clashed.
“Pff...!”
The recoil of that aura caused Ron’s body to begin breaking down from the inside.
After vomiting out a handful of blood, Ron gritted his teeth and endured.
Seeing that, Miguel asked, “I cannot understand. Why do you resist like this when you know you are no match for me?”
When their swords clashed again, one of Ron’s knees buckled.
He immediately rose again, and though his face twisted in terrible pain, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“If I win... I can get it all back, can I not?”
As Miguel pressed down on Ron, he saw it.
The madness seeping into Ron’s eyes resembled his father, who had been mad for gambling.
The moment he saw those eyes, adrenaline exploded through him.
“Hahaha. You have gone completely mad, Ron!”
Miguel, thoroughly excited, struck down at Ron’s sword without mercy.
Each time their swords collided, Ron’s body sank a little lower.
“Where humans exist, evil inevitably follows. Eliminating all of it is true justice! Stand with me, Ron Howard!”
Miguel raised his sword high and swung it down with all his strength.
A massive impact followed, enough to shake the very ground, and as the floor caved in, an enormous cloud of dust rose.
For a moment, silence followed, and from within it came a faint voice.
“Did you... know?”
“What do you mean?”
The dust disappeared, revealing Ron collapsed where he sat.
He looked precarious, like a candle before the wind.
Using his broken sword as a cane, he barely raised himself and spoke in a trembling voice.
“The reason I did not take your family name... is because there has not been a single moment when I thought of you as my father.”
At that moment, Miguel’s face twisted.
“...And you think someone like me would obediently follow you?”
“Ron!”
Ron, who had risen once more, swung his sword at Miguel.
The sight of him desperately resisting, unable even to grip his sword properly and pouring blood from his entire body, overlapped with a memory from Gale’s previous life.
-Staff Sergeant Gale!! Run!
It was the same as back then.
A situation where someone was prepared to die and sacrificing himself for me.
Amid the helplessness that surged over me, the thing I had so desperately wished for was now in my hand.
Even if its price was lifespan, if it could change the predetermined future, there was no reason to hesitate.
Gale called out in a small voice.
“Deus.”
Then, along with the sound of something falling, time stopped, and the world was dyed black and white.
By now, even his appearance was familiar.
Gale looked at the black cloth wavering before his eyes and said, “If it is your power, can you kill that man?”
[A foolish question. Nothing in this world can stop darkness.]
Gale raised the corner of his mouth.
The words of one who had cut half the world apart with a single swing of his scythe could never be false.
“How many years?”
[3 years.]
When Gale nodded, a burning pain flared in his arm, and the engraved number changed.
11,808 DAY
[Contract complete.]
Then the black circle formed inside his chest spun explosively and poured out ominous mana.
The mana that had devoured his lifespan and his rage formed an enormous magic circle, and the moment color returned to the world.
“... Myriad Strings Black Flash.”
Ten thousand black lines were drawn over Miguel’s body.