Chapter 66

The spirits and spirit users, having fled from the Spirit Village, settled into the secondary palace provided by Caldeon at the Grand Duke’s mansion. The mansion, temporarily hidden by Tearen’s illusion magic, was isolated, feeling like a deserted island. Since they didn’t know the extent of Panz’s power, having absorbed nearly half of the Spirit Village’s spirits, safety was paramount, making this necessary.

The mansion’s servants, unaware of the situation, were surprised by the sudden influx of spirits and spirit users but helped them make their stay as comfortable as possible.

Enria, having successfully treated the injured spirits with Hayden’s help, began to worry that Hayden’s ability to freely use both black magic and divine power at such a young age might lead him to spontaneously use the Absolution ability. This concern arose because she still had no idea what the conditions for using the Absolution ability were.

Enria concluded that since she couldn’t stop Hayden from using his existing powers, she should focus on preventing any situation that would necessitate the use of the Absolution ability.

“The Spirit Village gates will open soon. Panz won’t just rest there.”

“To attack the Spirit Village… is that monster planning to destroy all the spirits?”

“It’s a possibility. If all spirits disappear, it would make his power unique.”

While Graum, Silri, and Lonn sat on the sofa, continuing their serious conversation, Blizzan stood by the window, deep in thought. He occasionally opened his palm, summoned his fire attribute, and then extinguished it. Enria, who had been silently watching Blizzan’s actions, finally couldn’t hold back and cautiously asked him, “Blizzan, is something wrong?”

Blizzan turned his head to look at Enria.

“…Should I call it wrong? The fire attribute feels a bit strange.”

“Strange? In what way?” At the mention of the fire attribute being strange, Enria asked with a worried expression, and the eyes of everyone else in the reception room turned to Blizzan.

Blizzan paused for a moment, then stepped away from the window and walked toward the sofa, saying, “It’s not certain, so just keep it in mind.” He then opened his palm, created a flame, and asked everyone to gaze at it for a moment.

Everyone’s attention focused on the flame. The flame, flickering precariously in the windless reception room, briefly stopped its movement. The blue center of the flame instantly turned pitch black, only to revert to blue and continue flickering.

“Did you see it?”

“Ah, black…”

“The center of the flame suddenly turned black. What kind of omen is that?” Enria answered Blizzan’s question, and Roseanne also asked him with a worried face.

Blizzan clenched his fist to extinguish the flame and paused briefly.

“Surely…” Suddenly, Silri’s face turned completely white, as if he realized something. Blizzan looked at Silri and gave a subtle nod.

“It seems Panz intends to resurrect the God of Evil.”

At that, the faces of the other spirits and the people present instantly hardened. Enria’s face also went pale as she desperately ran through the plot of the original story in her mind.

In the original story, the Black Mage used his own body as a vessel to resurrect the God of Evil. He resorted to this last measure after his plans using black magic kept failing.

‘But this time, will Panz become the vessel for the God of Evil’s resurrection?’

If so, the crucial question would be whether Panz would completely sacrifice his life or merely aid in the resurrection while keeping his own life intact. In the original story, the Black Mage became the complete vessel for the God of Evil, which transformed the evil entity into a terrifying villain capable of freely wielding black magic.

If Panz also completely sacrifices his life to the God of Evil, the God of Evil would become a monstrous villain capable of dominating even the fire attribute. To avoid that, they had to prevent Panz from resurrecting the God of Evil.

“If Panz becomes the vessel for the God of Evil’s resurrection, the world will head toward destruction uncontrollably,” Enria continued, looking at Blizzan. “In my past dream, the Black Mage became the vessel for the God of Evil. At that time, the God of Evil wore the Black Mage’s shell and used every ability the Black Mage could use.”

Enria, explaining the original story by framing it as a dream, warned that if Panz becomes the vessel for the God of Evil’s resurrection, the evil god might gain control over both the spirit’s power and the fire attribute simultaneously. She wore a worried expression, stating that their current strength might struggle to handle that.

As soon as Enria finished speaking, a heavy silence spread across the room.

“Ultimately, eliminating that fire spirit is the most important and urgent task.” Caldeon said, and Rahar and Tearen nodded simultaneously.

“As we already experienced in the Spirit Village, our current strength alone is not enough to oppose Panz.”

“If we could find a weakness, we might have a slight chance of winning.”

“That bastard wouldn’t have a weakness like that.” Undy, Eva, and Lonn each chimed in. Silri, who had been contemplating something, finally looked at Enria and asked, “But, was there anything mentioned in the prophetic dream about why the Black Mage resurrected the God of Evil?”

Enria nodded and replied, “There was only one reason why the Black Mage resurrected the God of Evil.”

“What is it?”

“To dominate the Empire and the world with black magic.”

At Enria’s answer, the expressions of Silri and the other spirits simultaneously hardened.

“The Black Mage wanted the black magic he controls to be superior to all other magic. That’s why he took control of the Tower of Magic first.” She mentioned that in the dream, the Black Mage did not recruit Panz to his side and added that although the events were moving in a slightly different direction from the dream, the outcome seemed to be similar.

Graum frowned deeply, muttering in frustration, “I knew humans were foolish creatures, but to attempt to resurrect the most dangerous God of Evil merely to make their own power supreme. How utterly stupid can this race be?”

“We already know about human foolishness. Panz, who is even more foolish, betrayed us and joined hands with that foolish human to endanger other humans, even though he was created to protect them.”

Silri concluded that the biggest problem was Panz, who was more foolish than the foolish human who swayed him, and he clicked his tongue in disappointment.

Enria, listening to their conversation, suddenly remembered something and looked at Caldeon.

“The magic of the Tower of Magic can be nullified by the Absolution ability. Even if Hayden can’t use the Absolution ability, perhaps merely having the qualifications to use it might be helpful.”

“I will absolutely forbid that ability from being used until we find out what conditions are attached to the Absolution ability.”

At Caldeon’s firm statement, Blizzan frowned and asked, “The world is about to be destroyed, and you’re saying you only care about your family right now?”

He added that if a moment truly came where the Absolution ability was necessary, they would have no choice but to use it, causing Caldeon’s expression to turn instantly cold.

“I don’t care about the world. The most important things to me are, naturally, only Enria and Hayden.”

“If the world is destroyed, your Enria and Hayden will also be in danger.”

“I will protect them no matter what, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“No, how can you protect them if the world is destroyed?” Caldeon scoffed softly at Blizzan’s exasperated question and replied, “I’ll protect them somehow, so mind your own business.” Caldeon truly was a man with whom no one could reason.

***

While Caldeon’s party and the spirits were putting their heads together to defeat Panz and the Black Mage, the plague and disasters began to spread throughout the Empire.

Just as Enria predicted, the Black Mage caused a plague in the Imperial Palace and the capital, and disasters in other regions, as soon as he regained his power.

Fortunately, the barriers put up by the Saintesses of the Grand Temple around the Imperial Palace and the capital prevented the plague from spreading too rapidly.

However, since it was a contagious disease transmitted between people, it was difficult to completely block it, no matter how carefully the barriers were placed.

The spirit users and spirits who were staying at the Grand Duke’s mansion headed to the sites of the disasters caused by black magic to stop them.

Roseanne, Tearen, and Rahar went to the Imperial Palace to work on preventing further spread of the epidemic. They decided to focus on finding and eliminating the Black Mage’s main body by any means, as he continued to gather human and spirit souls.

Caldeon and Enria rushed to the Monster Forest after receiving a report from Fyoren that he had detected the Black Mage’s move to reopen the path there.

Fyoren, who was investigating Pahomel, the Master of the Tower of Magic, confirmed that the real Pahomel was already dead and that the Black Mage was using his body to control the Tower of Magic.

During his investigation, he detected the fact that the Black Mage had destroyed all the barriers placed on the Monster Forest and intended to reopen the failed path using black magic, prompting him to quickly notify Caldeon.

Caldeon told Fyoren to immediately contact Pahomel’s son and inform him that the current Pahomel was the Black Mage, saying that merely tying up the Tower of Magic’s movements would give them a chance of victory in the upcoming battle.

Fyoren assured him that he would handle Groen’s persuasion and quickly disappeared.

As everyone began to fight their hardest in their respective positions, Enria’s heart trembled with the realization that the many events of the original story would soon unfold.

Fortunately, her son, Hayden, was safely protected by Windel, Silri, and Blizzan in the Grand Duke’s mansion, which was covered in illusion magic.

She thought she only needed to fight the Black Mage, who was trying to reopen the path in the Monster Forest, alongside Caldeon. Of course, Caldeon would have preferred Enria to be protected by Windel and Silri as well.