Chapter 74

“Mommy not.”

Hayden looked at Belona as he spoke.

Because Hayden kept whining in his garbled baby speech for her to open the door of the Light Prison, Belona eventually opened it. Then she blinked wide when she heard how clearly he said ‘mommy’.

“You can say ‘mommy’ just fine, huh?”

“Daddy.”

Hayden insisted he could say ‘daddy’ just as clearly and looked at Belona.

“Oh, that’s a pretty clear ‘daddy,’ too.”

“Mommy not here.”

“Mommy’s not here?”

Belona narrowed her eyes. Hayden bobbed his small head repeatedly.

“Hmm, true. But your mom really shouldn’t be coming here.”

Belona knew enough of the situation to understand that if Enria ever stepped foot into the Mage Tower on her own, she wouldn’t walk out unharmed.

Her lover, Groen, rarely defied his father Pahomel—never mind whether the order was right or wrong.

So if he learned she had defied Pahomel’s order to pierce Hayden with light magic, and had taken him out of the Light Prison on top of that, he would probably be disappointed in her.

‘But he’s just a little kid.’

Belona looked at the bright-eyed child staring up at her.

‘Even if he was born with black mana… that’s no reason to kill him like this.’

If Hayden truly became a threat to the Tower someday, there would be time to act then. But there was no basis—nothing but Pahomel’s words—to conclude right now that Hayden was dangerous.

‘But why exactly did he bring the kid and the kid’s mother to the Tower?’

The fundamental question finally surfaced. She had no idea why Pahomel kidnapped Hayden, nor why he wanted to lure the child’s mother with him.

She’d heard that one of them might be the subject of the divine oracle, but even so, killing the chosen of a god made no sense—especially when mages themselves were the ones blessed by that same god.

‘Is Groen aware of the real reason the Tower Lord wants them gone?’

Belona decided she needed to talk to him properly.

***

The monster Enria summoned had a turtle’s round head on its front and a snake’s sleek head on its tail. Both heads shot out giant water blasts—

Or at least, that was the intention.

What came out was… bubbles.

From afar, it looked like a mass of blue water. But the way it burst against Groen’s fireballs—popping, round, soft—looked closer to bubbles than water bombs.

Enria stared in fascination as each bubble exploded and smothered the flames. Her odd turtle–snake chimera blocked and extinguished every fireball Groen hurled at her, so he cast the massive meteor spell he had once used when she and Rahar were together.

Countless fireballs poured down over her head. Enria threw up a barrier of holy power, then quickly layered an earth element shield on top.

It wasn’t enough.

The two defenses couldn’t stop every meteor, and several broke through, burning her shoulders and back.

She healed what she could by re-erecting the barrier and shield while flinging whatever elemental magic she still had. But the burning pain in her back made her feel like she would faint.

Her summoned turtle–snake was also hit—the snake-tail shattered—and it let out a cry of agony. Enria quickly bit her thumb and drew summoning circles.

She drew three circles. Her holy power and the strength she’d received from the spirits nearly drained to nothing.

Four monsters emerged: Two frog monsters she often summoned to protect Caldeon, one new seahorse-like creature, and a massive skeletal fish.

The frogs flapped their tiny white wings as they naturally took positions at her sides.

The seahorse monster created a huge basin of water above them, causing the falling meteors to sink harmlessly.

‘And that bony fish…’

The skeletal fish took position in front of her and raised a colossal wave from behind its back.

It crashed toward Groen.

He dodged easily and counterattacked, but the fish summoned wave after wave in relentless pursuit.

During that repeated cycle, Enria noticed something:

Every time the skeletal fish created a wave, its body reformed from pure, glimmering blue water.

The sight was so mystical, so beautiful, she couldn’t look away.

Meanwhile, the frog monsters croaked loudly, spraying water bombs to intercept the incoming fireballs.

***

Pahomel, who had left Hayden with Belona for a moment, returned to the hideout.

The moment he opened the door, his eyes widened.

He had told her to keep Hayden locked in the Light Prison—yet Belona was standing there holding him in her arms.

‘This is why mages…!’

Even though he was their superior, they’d defy his orders so casually. No wonder he couldn’t control Groen.

The mages of the Tower listened to Groen before they listened to him.

“I told you to keep the child imprisoned!”

Pahomel limped forward, his leg twisted and warped from black mana.

Startled, Belona jumped up with Hayden still in her arms.

“He was too frightened and miserable in there.”

“He may look like an innocent child, but his body carries black mana. And if he really is the child of the oracle—”

“Then shouldn’t we not treat him like this?”

Belona cut him off, baffled.

Infuriated at her questioning, Pahomel instinctively cast black magic—aimed straight at her throat.

But the black smoke flying at Belona evaporated midair.

Hayden had erased it.

The baby in her arms had blocked the attack with his own black mana.

Belona’s eyes nearly popped out.

Not only was Pahomel attacking her with the black smoke—the mark of forbidden magic—

But this tiny child had casually neutralized it.

Black mana spilled from Hayden, rippling toward wherever he looked, responding as if it were part of him.

Enraged that his attack was nullified again, Pahomel began hurling black magic wildly, forgetting Belona entirely and focusing only on killing Hayden.

He thought that since Hayden was still a child, the black mana would fail to keep up with attacks fired fast enough. If he overloaded the defenses, one strike would land.

Belona, horrified, cast light magic to protect herself and Hayden. Her barriers deflected the black blades, though barely.

But Pahomel grew even angrier that a Tower mage would dare defend against him.

Belona couldn’t hide her shock.

This was her lover’s father—and he was flinging black magic at her without blinking.

And more than that—

‘Since when can the Tower Lord use black magic?’

Black magic, which consumed living souls, was reviled by the Tower.

Yet Pahomel wielded it effortlessly.

Even that thick book of unknown hieroglyphic symbols on his desk came to mind—it all aligned too well.

She began to suspect he had found a way to study and wield forbidden black magic.

The possibility that Pahomel might have been killed and replaced by a black sorcerer never once crossed her mind.

While Belona was reeling from that realization, Hayden tried to block the black blades with his mana.

But Belona’s light barrier prevented his black mana from passing through.

The blades stuck to the barrier, cracking it little by little, and Belona kept frantically reinforcing it.

Hayden, unable to use his black mana outside the barrier, finally drew on the holy power he inherited from Enria.

Holy power was known for healing and defense—no one expected it to be used for attack.

But Hayden shaped it into sharp, transparent arrows and fired.

The arrows pierced through the light barrier and flew straight into Pahomel’s chest—right above his heart.

“K—Kaaaaaah!”

Pahomel collapsed, writhing in pain.

Holy-power attacks inflicted agony far beyond what black mana ever could on someone who wielded forbidden magic.