469 - Regressor of the Fallen Family

Chapter 469: "Is it Really Him?" Luisa was just as bewildered. Ronian was one of the superhumans of McLine, currently at war with the Empire—an essential force that could not be spared from the battlefield. But if he had forsaken his nation's war to come here and rescue her... Thump. '...No way!' Am I starting to lose my mind as well? She lightly patted her flushed cheeks, trying to dismiss the foolish thoughts, but as the distant explosions from the cave grew nearer, she couldn't help but feel her anticipation rise. Her heart seemed to beat faster for no reason, so Luisa glanced at Ban Johni beside her. Fortunately, Ban Johni, who didn't pay her any mind, merely gritted his teeth. "That fast?" As his expression hardened, Luisa's sense of anticipation only swelled. "Prepare for battle, everyone!" Ban Johni, who had shouted with his face twisted grotesquely, suddenly looked at her with a gleam in his eye, then unexpectedly bowed his head. "Elder, there is a superhuman enemy among them. If I have been rude before, please forgive me and lend your strength to ensure we can defeat them." An unforeseen situation. She felt the urge to strike down his bowed head but they were too close apart. Moreover, among the 200 or so black magic swordsmen he led, roughly half were with this advance party. She didn't have the strength to contend with all of them. For now, she had no choice but to pretend to cooperate... "Of course." She knew that lying was a deadly poison for a mage, but Luisa nodded calmly. And at that moment, she felt the sixth circle within her chest dim. This one statement cost her the equivalent of a month's worth of training, but it seemed to be a worthy investment. "Thank you, Elder," Ban Johni said, his face paradoxically more sullen despite his words of thanks. 'This bastard...' He must have calculated this. A mage who knows that lies are poison cannot lie, and even if they do, it tends to show. However, there was something he missed—her peculiar nature. 'This guy doesn't really know me.' As a princess of the royal family and also a mage of the Cassel Tower. How many times had she lied to maintain her dual identity? "If you had trained persistently without being swayed by your circumstances, you might have become a mage before coming of age. Such a waste, such a waste. Haha." Even the tower master, now her arch-nemesis, had remarked so. Of course, after becoming a mage, the penalties became more severe, so she tried not to show herself in official settings. In fact, the only time she had blatantly lied after becoming a mage was when she first met King Logan. Advertisements Yet her lifelong acting skills hadn't vanished overnight. "Leave the rear to me." With a statement devoid of sincerity, the circle dimmed once more. But Luisa's expression didn't flicker, and seeing her, Ban Johni's face worsened. "That's... unfortunate." His now undisguised intentions almost caused her to scoff. "What?" "Nothing, nothing at all. Anyway, let's eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible. ...But at this point, if a superhuman has come..." Ban Johni shook his head, lost in thought, while Luisa watched his back with a chilling smile. 'If the ones arriving now are indeed McLine's elite, you're dead by my hand.' Her clear hostility towards him did not stem from grandiose notions of justice to punish evil. Whether voluntarily or involuntarily, she had once used humans as sacrifices for her magic too. She felt she had no right to condemn Ban Johni's atrocities. But Johni harbored an obsession with appearances, exhibiting particularly cruel behavior towards attractive people. It wasn't once or twice that he couldn't control his murderous intent when looking at her. As long as she remembered that chilling feeling, coexistence with him was impossible. If not for the necessity of learning the ceremony's location, she would have killed him when he came to her secluded place alone with her father. While Luisa was sharpening her mental knife, Ban Johni turned to her with a stern face after making a decision. "Whatever the enemy, do not let them reach the altar. Protect the crystal chamber where Prince Baros is resting as a potential vessel." Yes, I’ll make sure to destroy that crystal chamber for you. With those words that brightened Luisa's eyes, Ban Johni began positioning the black magic swordsmen to thoroughly block the cave entrance. How much time had passed? She saw the rearguard, including Gerard, running towards them looking considerably weary and harried. "Commander! It's the temple, the temple people!" "Damn it! Of course, at this point, it could only be them." Ban Johni seemed to have suspected this, but the unexpected turn of events left Luisa flabbergasted. 'The temple? Why?' Never mind that they weren’t from McLine, but if it was the church’s kingdom, what was she to do then? Even if she struck Ban Johni down, as a mage of the Cassel Tower, falling into the hands of the church’s kingdom could lead to a fate worse than death. While a severe conflict brewed in her heart. [Luisa.] A messaging magic from her father whispered in her ears. "Enemy, they’re here! Huff, huff." For a mage who hadn't yet become a mage, Gerard’s figure, panting and collapsing, wasn't surprising considering that even a 5th-circle mage had stamina no better than that of an average man. But the voice she heard contrasted starkly, being composed. [It seems the temple knights have followed your mark. It hasn't been long since the initial explosion, and yet they have already caught up with the rearguard.] With those words, Luisa made up her mind. And in that instant. "Down with the evil mages!" Advertisements With hair and eyebrows as white as snow, he stood there after battling within the cave, his armor pristine and glowing, silver aura radiating off him. As the Holy Knight Stephan Royer's cry echoed, nearly two hundred paladins charged into the plaza. Yet the retaliation from the black magic swordsmen was formidable. "Now we're on the upper hand!" "Counterattack!" Troops that seemed to serve as escorts to people resembling kings of various realms or relatives of the empire surged forward in an offensive assault. "Invisible Fog!" "Target on Saint-circle. Berserker!" "Curse!" "Entangling Chaos!" Some turned transparent, cloaked in gray mist, or emanated a red aura as they slashed madly, casting spells to confuse minds or summoning gray thorny brush to hinder the paladins' movements. The black magic swordsmen charged the paladins with a dazzling barrage of spells. Their combined assault, appearing as if an equal number of swordsmen and sorcerers were attacking jointly, vividly showcased why they were considered Cassel Tower's elite. Unfortunately, they were at a disadvantage. "Oh Lord!" "We offer ourselves unto you!" Humming vibrations filled the air. Invisible to ordinary people, divine power staunchly shielded the paladins from Cassel Tower's magic, forcing a battle of pure swordsmanship. Moreover, leading the paladins were superhumans wielding holy auras. At the forefront, a middle-aged man with a small but sturdy appearance, Astro Heisen, pressed the black swordsmen backward, his large kiteshield enveloped in a silver divine glow. Behind him, Anthony Everett swung an immense lance greater than his lean figure, unleashing silver streams as he pierced through the magic swordsmen. The combined onslaught began overwhelming the black swordsmen. However. "Don't make me laugh, servants of a false god!" The moment a dwarf wielding a blood-red aura stepped forward, the tide shifted once again. The dwarf, Ban Johni, was so small in the chaos that even his head was barely visible. He adeptly used his stature to dart through enemy lines, targeting only the ordinary paladins rather than the superhumans. "Urgh!" "My, my body." "Poison!?" Anyone touched even once by his blood-red aura seemed to be paralyzed, as though inhaling a potent toxin, quickly becoming prey for the other magic swordsmen. That was when Luisa stepped in. Thud. As she stepped forward, her magic stirred, causing Ban Johni, who was spearheading the melee among the magic swordsmen, to suddenly freeze. "Dark Mist Barrier, Soul Corruption! Freeze!" "You madwoman!" Advertisements Her spell enveloped Ban Johni in a dark azure mist that struck at his soul, while an icy aura began to immobilize his entire body from the ground up. Macro magic, one of Cassel Tower’s arcane secrets and Luisa's specialty, enacted strong binding that even aura users found hard to shake off. As his movements ceased. "Into God's embrace!" Anthony Everett, once touted as the successor of the divine sword and now the holy lance, seized the opening and charged. With a brilliant white-hot lance, his form rocketed forward as if on horseback, slamming into Ban Johni. BOOM! Thud. Splurt. A devastating blow was dealt to the dwarf repelling the advance. Sent flying with a gaping wound in his abdomen, the injury seemed fatal, yet Ban Johni twisted midair, eyes aflame with wrath, as he lunged at Luisa. "You dare betray the Tower!" A torrent of killing intent flowed from him, the gap in his belly barely hindered his now-thicker blood-red aura. But Luisa only chuckled coldly, snapping her fingers. The coup de grace of her Macro magic. "Demonic Manifestation." Instantly, the dark red mist enveloping her transformed into a bizarre form. Her slim frame grew into a menacing figure with two horns curling from her forehead. Her slender, yet formidable gray skin emanated power. Beneath her back stretched bat-like wings, larger than her body, with eyes ablaze like black fire. Luisa, turned into an enchanting demon, swung her hand wreathed in dark red energy at Ban Johni’s sword. BOOM! "Ugh!" While not naturally skilled in martial arts, Luisa's strike held enough power to repel the already severely injured Ban Johni. Coughing up blood from the impact, Ban Johni gritted his teeth, taking out his final resort. "Let us martyr ourselves for Him! Protect the sanctuary!" His cry sounded like a magical incantation. In an instant, the aura of the black magic swordsmen surged ominously. RUMBLE! They suddenly wielded power capable of overwhelming the paladins. ‘Damn it…’ Realizing some of the energy from the magic circle on the ground was flowing into them, Luisa slammed the ground in response. SMASH! Even her magically enhanced strike as strong as an aura user left the magic circle unscathed. Advertisements Ban Johni's figure, veins bulging grotesquely across his body, boasted with a sinister voice. – Here is our sacred ground. No one can defeat us here! It was then Luisa finally grasped the tower master’s intention. ‘I made the right choice.’ No matter Ban Johni's roots as a magic swordsman, how could he know Cassel Tower's magic better than herself? The situation seemed to have been meticulously orchestrated to exclude her from the beginning. ‘And yet, they dare speak of betrayal?’ It was infuriating, but overcoming the current crisis took priority. "We need to buy time! Retreat!" She feared people might hesitate to listen to someone in demon manifestation, but thankfully, Stephan Royer supported her call. However. "Are you that Lady Luisa? The repentant sinner?" With that single utterance, Luisa understood the context of why they were here. A repentant sinner...? Who decided she was a sinner? Annoyance flared within her, but she didn't have the luxury of venting it. – Ev-everyone, ki-kill, the en-enemy... Ban Johni's eyes rolled back as he started babbling in a grotesque voice. "There’s no need to retreat! Show these wicked ones the true power of the gods!!" In that moment, with a fierce shout, a brilliant white light burst forth from Stephan. Stephan Royer, the Holy Knight, exercised his renowned ability: Blessing of Light. The staggering paladins straightened, their bodies enveloped in a sacred glow. "Slay the enemies of the divine!" Led by the three vice-captains of the crusader order radiating the brightest light of all, the paladins charged forward. Even as Ban Johni and his monstrously mutated black magic swordsmen fought with madness, their resistance didn't last long. "Grrk." "Ughh." "This can't be..." The magic swordsmen, who had fiercely driven the paladins back, began to collapse after reaching a certain threshold. ‘They overloaded themselves with too much power.’ Luisa quickly identified the reason, feeling a mix of satisfaction and pity. Especially when she heard: – I...just wanted to be taller... Hearing Ban Johni's final, pitiful murmur, she felt a slight twinge of sympathy. "Sinners to hell!" Advertisements Slice. However, with one swift command from Stephan, Ban Johni's head was severed. "What in the world...!!!" The air reverberated with an enraged voice, and suddenly, a diminutive elder materialized in the space above.