Episode 36
The Grimoire, The Book of Massacre.
Dale found himself within the world of the book—a realm reflecting the twisted thoughts and malevolence of its author, the blood mage Duchamp.
─ Will you reject my contract and become nothing more than a piece of meat here?
The avatar of the grimoire, the Executioner, spoke again, standing against a backdrop of endless mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Dale remained unfazed. This was the world within a book, not reality. Thus, he couldn’t defeat the Executioner, or rather, The Book of Massacre, with brute force or attack magic.
Instead, a chilling cold and refined dark magic began to swirl around his feet. The landscape twisted once more under the vortex of cold and dark power.
What The Book of Massacre presented was the mental world of the blood mage Duchamp, and Dale countered by unveiling his own world.
Gray sleet fluttered down, revealing a blank horizon beneath his feet.
“Your world cannot invade mine.”
This was a mental barrier to protect himself from The Book of Massacre, a deep abyss of thought from which even Dale could not escape.
A clash of ideologies, a battle of worlds. It was undoubtedly a confrontation between high-level mages.
And the world of cold and darkness began to consume the massacre’s realm of corpses and blood.
“But my world is different.”
A world devouring another world.
─ How is this possible…!
A grimoire is the culmination of a mage’s lifetime of thoughts, reaching the pinnacle of their craft. In that sense, The Book of Massacre was essentially ‘blood mage Duchamp’ himself.
A 6th-circle dark mage, a war criminal responsible for countless deaths through forbidden mass destruction magic. Yet, his world was being devoured by that of an eleven-year-old child.
─ Do you think I’ll let myself be consumed so easily?
The Executioner, the avatar of the grimoire and embodiment of Duchamp, leaped towards the void where Dale stood.
A massive wave of blood surged forward.
A crimson tsunami.
In response, the ‘Shadow Cloak’ Dale wore began to flutter.
A tidal wave of shadows.
This was a power that could only be wielded in the ‘world within a book.’
Here, the measure of strength was solely the potency of one’s ideology, the depth of the abyss within one’s mind.
Dale, commanding an army of shadows and endless void, took a step forward, turning his back on the future landscape he would one day impose upon the empire.
It was a realm beyond the reach of a mere 6th-circle psychopath mage.
Darkness enveloped the world.
Crash!
With a sound like shattering glass, the landscape crumbled.
‘Have I returned?’
Finally free from the book’s world, Dale surveyed his surroundings, enveloped in darkness.
“──Brother.”
A voice called out, without a hint of presence, from behind him.
It was the pure, untainted voice of a young girl. He turned his head. There stood a young girl in a pitch-black dress, with curious eyes that knew nothing of the world, and two horns of a black goat protruding from her hair.
“You called for me, brother?”
Meanwhile, in a chamber of the Apostolic Palace.
Cardinal Nikolai bit his lip in anxious frustration.
Even if the eldest son of the Saxon family was the empire’s most talented genius, he was still just an eleven-year-old child. A mere 3rd-circle expert-level young mage. No matter how they called him the ‘Black Prince,’ the odds of returning alive from the Library of Hell were close to zero.
──The church bears no responsibility for what transpires in hell.
That was the agreement sealed through a Geass, and Nikolai never expected Dale to return alive. Moreover, with evidence of the contract in place, the Saxon family couldn’t act recklessly.
Yet, would the ‘Black Prince’ truly enter the Library of Hell without any plan?
The son of the continent’s most renowned dark mage, the Black Tower Lord?
If the Saxon heir were to obtain The Book of the Black Goat as he claimed, Nikolai couldn’t even begin to imagine the repercussions.
It was then that something struck Nikolai’s mind.
“The church bears no responsibility for what transpires in hell…”
The clause of the contract sealed through the Geass. In other words, ‘whatever happens there’ is not Nikolai’s responsibility.
”…I must ensure this is sealed.”
With the hands of a 6th-circle white mage and elder of the White Tower, who pursued the light of wisdom. Resolute, Cardinal Nikolai left without hesitation.
“You know, brother. It’s so boring here.”
The girl with the horns of a black goat spoke.
“And it’s so lonely.”
In the form of a frail young girl, clinging to Dale.
“This place is so lonely, cold, and desolate.”
”…”
But Dale wasn’t swayed by her innocent demeanor. He understood the weight of the being before him more than anything.
The Book of the Black Goat.
A grimoire written by the Immortal Duke Frederick, who sacrificed his young daughter to reach the truth beyond death. The avatar of the grimoire taking the form of a young girl was for that reason.
Yet, this girl was not the Immortal Duke’s daughter.
“Let’s make a contract.”
Dale spoke.
“O Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.”
To the girl with the horns of a black goat.
“You want to play with me too, brother?”
The girl smiled innocently. Dale nodded silently.
“Then show me your world.”
Simultaneously, the landscape beneath their feet twisted rapidly. A blank horizon of gray sleet unfolded, filled with the abyss of cold and darkness.
The girl skipped lightly across the icy ground as if on a spring outing. The sleet falling around her settled on her shoulders.
“This is your world, brother.”
After playing for a while, the girl finally turned around. Dale nodded silently.
“It’s a very beautiful world.”
The girl with the horns of a goat smiled contentedly. Beneath her skirt, countless ‘tentacles’ writhed.
“I really like you, brother.”
It was a dark, cold, and twisted smile.
“Ah, ahhh.”
When the elder of the White Tower, 6th-circle white mage Nikolai, entered hell to silence the matter.
In that hell twisted by unholy thoughts and evil ideologies, Cardinal Nikolai and his church knights were left speechless.
The Saxon heir, the Black Prince, was there.
With ‘the most terrifying being in the world’ by his side.
How could one describe that being?
A mass of writhing tentacles, teeth grotesquely sprouting along them, proliferating flesh. An abomination from another realm.
An abomination stood there.
A being so horrific it induced madness just by being seen.
“You know, brother.”
The girl with the horns of a goat stood beside Dale.
In a pitch-black dress, pure and untainted like a precious child of a noble family.
“What are those?”
Beneath her skirt, countless tentacles writhed.
“Wait.”
Dale quietly reached out to stop the girl.
“Cardinal Nikolai.”
After stopping her, Dale spoke to the cardinal and his entourage, who looked terrified as if they were witnessing ‘the most abominable thing in the world.’
“What brings you here?”
“I, I just…”
Nikolai stammered, unable to continue, and Dale spoke again.
“The contract states that neither party bears any responsibility for what happens in hell.”
As if he had known Nikolai’s intentions from the start.
The content of the deal sealed through the Geass. Nikolai aimed for the loophole in the Geass. No matter how skilled Dale was, he couldn’t possibly defeat the elder of the White Tower and his knights at his current level.
“They say the darkest place is under the lamp.”
Just as holding the high ground gives an advantage in a battle among infantry, the terrain’s advantage is no exception in the world of magic.
And this place, a hell where all manner of unholy thoughts and evil ideologies have pooled and even invaded reality, is a world without light. A stage where Dale, who draws power from darkness, can exert his greatest strength, and a death trap for those who wield the power of light.
“You chose the wrong place.”
Moreover, their opponent was not Dale.
It was the most terrifying grimoire ever created by the Saxon family’s founder.
How an eleven-year-old could control The Book of the Black Goat was, at least for them, not a pressing concern at the moment.
“Oh, it’s a misunderstanding! I was only concerned for you…”
Cardinal Nikolai stammered, trying to find the right words amidst his confusion.
“Hey, big brother.”
The girl spoke up, her voice calm as countless tendrils writhed beneath the hem of her black skirt.
“Can I eat it?”
“Don’t blame me if you get a stomachache.”
Dale nodded in agreement, as if Nikolai’s intentions were of no consequence.
“Okay, sounds good.”
The girl smiled, and the ground beneath her feet darkened. Magic is the power to turn thought into reality, and a grimoire is a book imbued with such a “magician’s thought.”
The forbidden grimoire that holds the world of Frederick the Undying, founder of the Saxon family.
“Have mercy (Eleison).”
At that moment, Cardinal Nikolai of the White Tower made the sign of the cross.
It was not an act of resignation.
The title of a 6th Circle White Mage was not just for show. Moreover, Dale was not the only mage in the world with a grimoire.
The “Book of the Gospel.”
Light began to radiate from Cardinal Nikolai and the church knights under his command.
“Grant us mercy (Miserere nobis).”
As Nikolai’s voice resonated, the consciousness of the knights protecting him began to elevate.
“It is the will of the divine…”
“May the mercy and compassion of the Sister God be with us.”
It was not merely a spiritual elevation. Their bodies, swords, and armor began to transform, becoming something entirely different, bathed in radiant light. Before long, they were no longer mere church knights. They had become “angels of the battlefield,” with six wings and flaming swords.
The magic of the hymn, a proud tradition of the White Tower. An aria filled with light and sacred resonance to counter Dale’s darkness.
Nikolai, before being a clergyman, was a dedicated practitioner of the magical arts. The “Heavenly Hymn” sung by Cardinal Nikolai, a 6th Circle White Mage, continued to echo.
The full might of an elder of the White Tower, who seeks the light (wisdom).
“Not as easy as I thought.”
Dale mused as he observed the scene.
Light and darkness. Thought against thought, world against world.
What unfolded here was undoubtedly a battle between high-ranking mages.