Chapter 63

Chapter 63: The Path of Magic (2)

The back of my right hand was still hot from the residual heat of the Sacred Mark that had gone berserk.

However, as someone who had once taken countless lives with this hand, I knew this sensation well.

I knew that what was being transmitted to my right hand right now was not only the residual heat of the Sacred Mark, but also the warmth of life that was slowly cooling.

I slipped my relatively intact left hand into my pouch and hung the pendant around my neck.

Polymorph.

“Hoooo…….”

Only then did I let out the breath I had been holding and relax the muscles I had kept tightly tensed.

Now Valak had no choice but to pay the price.

With this, all contracts held by the Contractors who had contracted with Valak would be terminated, and all the Demonic Aura spread around this area would disappear as well.

‘Did I… somehow manage it?’

I had won the bet based on the contract with Valak.

With this, Lucia’s death did not become the ‘Spark of War.’

‘…This is surprising.’

The thick smoke that had filled my vision sank downward, and my sight began to clear.

Before long, I saw my right hand embedded in the very center of Lucia’s chest.

THUMP… THUMP…….

The blood flowing from her body surged in time with her struggling heartbeat and ran down my right arm.

‘To think she recovered at ultra-high speed even after I slammed a rampaging Holy Light Lance straight into her.’

In the process, the Holy Light Lance failed to withstand the rapidly accumulating impact and shattered.

However, thanks to that, the durability of the ‘Demonic Armament’ covering her chest had weakened, and because of that, I had been able to stab my right hand straight into her chest.

To be honest, I had attacked with the full intention of killing her.

When I was facing three Special Grade Corrupted Bodies at the same time, would I ruin everything with some worthless sympathy?

On a battlefield where lives were at stake, if such emotions caused even a moment of hesitation… the price was often one’s own life.

Either I died, or the enemy died.

That was the ‘Path of Magic’ I had walked in my previous round.

Since I had lived a tightrope life like that right up until the moment before I regressed, I could only deal with Lucia in such a rough manner.

That was why.

‘Well, even so…….’

As a Black Mage who had mastered Black Magic, I trusted the instincts of the two Corrupted Bodies.

I trusted the instincts of the two Corrupted Bodies who had acted as though protecting Lucia, even though they had no reason left.

‘Even after taking that hit, only her chest was pierced a little, and her heart is still beating. I suppose I can at least try?’

No matter how much Lucia had begun rampaging as a Special Grade Corrupted Body, she could not have received my attack with her body this intact.

Normally, Lucia’s body should have been torn apart long ago without even having the chance to recover.

“Thanks to that, things might turn out even better.”

The right arm I had thrust out with all my strength was tightly bound by the tails of the Corrupted Bodies.

Looking at what was attached to the ends of the two tails…….

“Wouldn’t you agree? Both of you?”

A gentle smile unlike me rose on my face as I rolled my eyes left and right.

“Grrr…….”

“Grrh…….”

The two Corrupted Bodies who had been caught in the range of my attack along with Lucia were lying sprawled on either side of me, their tails still binding my arm.

-No……. My contracts…….

‘What? You still have not gone away?’

-My contracts that I have concluded over several years……!

‘If you lost the bet, stay quiet like a loser. How pathetic…….’

-Eeek! If only you had not existed……!

‘Are you really in a position to curse me right now? Soon, I will be the only Contractor left contracted to you.’

-You damned bastard!

‘If you want to keep getting a price from me in the future, should you not behave yourself?’

I wickedly raised the corner of my mouth.

‘Does it not feel bad to be ripped off by a demon?’

-You X-bastarㄷ……!

My Thought-Message with Valak was cut off, and the Demonic Aura swirling around my body faded as ‘Full-Body Demonic Armament’ was released.

Because I had won the bet, the contract I had concluded with Valak was being carried out.

CRACK.

Due to the backlash of ‘Full-Body Demonic Armament,’ my body trembled so violently that it stiffened like a statue.

SLITHER…….

The tails of the two Corrupted Bodies that had tightly coiled around my right arm loosened without strength.

Because of the termination of their contracts with Valak, the Demonic Aura inherent within the two Corrupted Bodies was gradually disappearing.

The same was true for Lucia, whose body my right hand was embedded in.

The horns that had grown near her ears fell away, and even the Demonic Armament that had risen over her skin was subsiding.

Once the Demonic Armament disappeared completely, that fraudulent regenerative ability would also vanish.

Her heart was still beating faintly, but once the ‘Demonic Armament’ fully disappeared… Lucia would immediately die.

‘Isn’t this exactly what Holy Power is for?’

At the same time the Demonic Armament disappeared from Lucia’s skin, I immediately raised the Holy Power of the Sacred Mark into my right hand again.

WOOOOONG…….

Auto-Casting.

Healing Wave.

FLASH!

The Holy Power emitted from my right hand seeped into Lucia’s chest.

THUMP… THUMP… THUMP……!

Lucia’s heart, which had only been weakening, began beating powerfully.

New flesh sprouted from Lucia’s chest, which had been hideously gouged out by my attack.

The ‘Healing Wave,’ deployed based on a vast amount of Holy Power, stopped Lucia’s bleeding, but this was only a temporary measure.

As someone whose entire body had stiffened from the backlash of ‘Full-Body Demonic Armament,’ I could do no more than administer first aid that slightly extended Lucia’s lifeline.

…Well, that would have been the case if I had been alone.

“Hey, you bastard!”

“Brother Damon!”

Oh, they arrived sooner than I expected.

FLAP! BOOM!

A brief gale blew away all the remaining smoke, and Levia landed in front of me.

“What in the world did you do?”

She was in the form of a dragon that looked intimidating at a glance, but agitation carried through her tone.

“Good heavens… Senior Lucia? She turned into a Corrupted Body, so how did she return to normal……?”

Yulia, who had gotten down from Levia’s back, also looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“Should I say I was lucky?”

“Wh-what?”

“I got swept up in Demonic Aura and flung all the way out here, and then ‘Aron Bayonel’… that guy showed up, just like that.”

“Aron……? Aron Bayonel?”

Yulia was greatly surprised, but Levia, who knew my identity, narrowed her eyes.

“What? Are you joking?”

Levia seemed about to say something, but when she saw Yulia in front of her, she soon shut her mouth.

“Ah… so that is how you are going to play it?”

“Pardon?”

“No, nothing. So what happened?”

Realizing my intention, Levia feigned ignorance and looked down at me with a nuance that said, Go on, make an excuse.

“Before that, could you help me a little? Maybe it is because I kept coming into contact with Demonic Aura, but my body is not moving properly.”

I cast my gaze toward Lucia, over whom ‘Healing Wave’ was rippling.

***

Because a bright light shone before her eyes, Lucia opened them.

Dazzling morning sunlight struck her eyes.

“Ah!”

A young but lovely exclamation came from above her head.

“Fortunately, you were treated well. It is a good thing we acted quickly.”

“…Yulia?”

Yulia had both hands placed on her chest and was wearing a faint smile.

“What in the world…….”

Why am I lying down?

Her thoughts, which had stopped, began to move again.

The memories that had been scattered into fragments gradually fit themselves back together.

Lucia, who had been trailing off in bewilderment, traced through her memories.

“…Ah.”

She let out a faint gasp.

She had become a Corrupted Body and lost her reason, but the scenes she had seen remained intact in her head.

Because of that, she could not understand the situation itself.

She pressed down with both arms and barely raised her upper body, which had no strength in it.

“Why… am I alive?”

“Even if you ask me that…….”

Since she had become a Corrupted Body that caused corruption with Demonic Aura around her, she should have become an existence that deserved to die.

Her body lacked energy, but aside from a slight stiffness in her chest, there did not seem to be anything seriously wrong.

It made no sense.

“Aron……!”

“You remember, then? Senior, you became a Corrupted Body and fought Aron here.”

Right. 

Her memories were not clear, but she remembered Aron driving a lance forged from Holy Power into her chest in order to kill her.

Her fragmented memories broke off there.

I should have died after taking that.

So why am I breathing and speaking right now?

Why… even after becoming a Corrupted Body and doing something like that, is my life still intact?

“Is this… a dream?”

“…Pardon?”

“Then is this my life flashing before my eyes?”

“No, it is not?”

She had heard that one’s life quickly passed by like a panorama right before death, but.

Yulia treating me with Holy Power. 

She wondered if all life flashbacks were this strange.

“Hooo… I suppose I cannot blame you for misunderstanding.”

Yulia, who looked dumbfounded, tapped her own chest.

“Aron inflicted a fatal wound on your chest, Senior.”

Yes, as expected, I was not mistaken.

Since I was hit by something like that, it was only natural that I would die.

“As soon as he subdued you, Senior, Aron disappeared.”

“…He disappeared?”

Lucia withdrew her resigned expression and blinked foolishly.

She could not help but ask again, because ‘Aron Bayonel’ was here right now.

“Puhahahahaha!”

Aron, who had Polymorphed into ‘Damon,’ burst into loud laughter while lying beside her.

“Kekeke… A dream? Ah, this is killing me. I guess it really does not feel real that you are still alive?”

While occasionally coughing up blood mixed with his words, at that.

“Cough… Kack! Uegh…….”

“You certainly have plenty of energy, do you not? Even though your condition is poor.”

“A dreaaam? When you say X-shit like that, should I laugh or cry? Huh? Cough…….”

***

“Ugh… shit…….”

After barely managing to suppress my laughter, I frowned.

‘Damn it, my body is still in terrible shape.’

Even the slightest stimulus sent intense pain through my body, so I had been lying on the dirt as if dead for nearly three hours.

Even after three hours had passed, the blood flow raised beneath my skin had still not fully subsided, so it seemed I really had overused that curse.

Though I had not expected to end up as a plaster statue lying there until the morning sun rose?

Still, thanks to resting like this, my condition had improved a great deal.

I barely raised my upper body, which had lost all strength.

“Brother, you endured because you have a lot of Holy Power. If anyone else had received Demonic Aura like that, they would have died already.”

“What does it matter? As long as I am still breathing, it is enough.”

Lucia, who had been watching the two of us converse calmly, asked an obvious question.

“What… happened while I was a Corrupted Body?”

“I will explain that.”

Yulia told Lucia what had happened while she was unconscious.

“…And then Headmaster Levia and I arrived here too, and I let Damon rest while I treated you, Senior.”

“Uh…….”

After listening to Yulia’s explanation, Lucia narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

‘What in the world is that supposed to mean, Aron?’

‘Then what? I am wanted. Would I be crazy enough to tell her the truth?’

I answered in place of words by glaring at her slightly.