Episode 52
Three circles encircling Leonard’s heart began to spin, and Dale couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of the crimson magic pouring out of him.
It was like a dam had burst, unleashing a torrent of red magic. This was far beyond what a 3rd-circle mage should be capable of.
Unless, of course, they possessed talent on par with Dale’s.
“Overclock…”
A mage pushing their circle’s rotation beyond its limits—a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble. And then there was the ruby bracelet on Leonard’s wrist. Its nature was unclear, but one thing was certain: Leonard Walter couldn’t handle its power.
“The artifact’s gone haywire, and it’s driving him mad.”
The artifact was undoubtedly a significant factor in Leonard’s erratic state.
Dale clicked his tongue and accelerated his own heart’s circle. A vortex of dark blue magic swirled at his feet, overwhelming Leonard’s crimson magic, which had been pushed far beyond its limits through overclocking.
“How is this possible…?”
The professors and students watching were stunned.
For mages, estimating the RPM of a circle based on the amount of magic generated isn’t difficult.
Whether the eldest son of the Sachsen family had truly reached the 3rd circle, or if he had achieved it through diligent practice, or if his circle’s RPM exceeded 100… Dale was putting an end to their doubts with his extraordinary talent.
The average circle rotation for mages is around 300 RPM.
For those considered talented like Leonard, it might reach around 1,000 RPM. Even with overclocking, they rarely exceed 2,000 RPM.
But Dale’s 1st circle was spinning at 3,000 RPM, generating an “unbelievable amount of magic” that swirled beneath him. A dark blue magic, a blend of blue and black attributes.
The essence of chilling cold and refined darkness.
Everyone present understood then.
The rumors about Dale, the youngest son of the Sachsen family, were no exaggeration.
“How on earth…”
Leonard laughed bitterly, continuing to overclock his circle. A massive wall, insurmountable no matter how hard he struggled, stood before him.
“Give up and discard the artifact,” Dale advised.
“Push any further, and you’ll reach a point of no return.”
The look on Dale’s face, as if he were looking down on him, was unbearable.
“There’s nothing left to salvage!”
Leonard Walter, the proud son of the Empire’s court mage known as the “Bloodfire Walter,” was hailed as the most talented mage in the Empire.
“Ah, what a promising future you have as a mage!”
Even the renowned Marquis Eurys couldn’t help but praise Leonard. The Red Tower Master himself had high hopes for his talent! That was Leonard’s pride, his ego.
The Red Tower was governed by the law of power, and Leonard had that “power.” That’s why he could reign as the king of the academy and was guaranteed a bright future as an elite of the Red Tower.
—Or so it should have been.
The world is unfair and absurd. And Leonard had always been on the “winning side” of that unfair world.
Until the “youngest son of the Sachsen family” appeared before him.
The embodiment of absurdity.
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Leonard channeled the excess magic generated through overclocking into his bracelet. The artifact of the Bloodfire Walter, the “Chains of Inferno.”
“I am the Empire’s greatest genius!”
In a storm of emotions, Leonard shouted. The bracelet glowed, and the red magic swirling around him began to take the form of a spell.
Chains of flame whipped around like fiery whips.
The chains of fire. His heart felt like it would burst from the heat, but Leonard didn’t care. He had talent. He had the ability to wield this artifact. He wouldn’t fall here. He convinced himself, and the chains of fire lashed out.
But the fiery chains, like whips, vanished. They were effortlessly extinguished by the dark blue magic swirling at Dale’s feet.
“A red mage shouldn’t let their fire be snuffed out so easily.”
”…!”
Dale smirked as if it were someone else’s problem.
He had halted the “molecular motion” in the area, effectively blocking the conditions necessary for the flames to burn.
But even for a skilled blue mage, extinguishing a red mage’s flames isn’t as easy as it sounds. It was only possible for Dale, who had a firm grasp of “otherworldly knowledge.”
Heat is merely a measure of the “intensity of molecular motion” in matter.
“How dare you!”
A red mage with battlefield experience would never let their flames be extinguished so easily. Even without precise knowledge like Dale’s, they would never neglect to maintain the heat necessary to keep their flames alive.
But Leonard wasn’t a formal mage of the Red Tower or a Purifier.
He was just a young upstart, inflated with ego from empty praise in his sheltered world.
Moreover, mages don’t train with the battlefield in mind. Practicing magic and “training to use magic in battle” are separate endeavors.
In that regard, Leonard was no match for Dale.
“It’s not too late.”
That’s why Dale continued.
“Give up and discard the artifact.”
He didn’t expect Leonard to heed his words.
“You’re in pain, aren’t you?”
But even now, at the end of overclocking, Leonard’s heart was likely writhing in burning agony. He probably didn’t have the strength to persist any longer.
“Ugh…!”
Indeed, Dale’s prediction was accurate. Leonard’s heart was screaming in agony, as if it were about to burst into flames.
Dale’s only miscalculation was underestimating Leonard’s pride. It wasn’t as easily broken as Dale had thought.
The Red Tower’s indoctrination, the belief in order through power. For them, being weak was tantamount to having their existence denied.
In an uncontrollable full-throttle state, the circle slipped from Leonard’s control… and the rampaging mana consumed his consciousness.
For a moment, the world stopped.
”…!”
He looked around. Leonard knew this place.
Every mage has a world of imagery built from their thoughts.
──This was Leonard’s world.
A world of enlightenment. The abyss of thought.
“Haha…”
In this situation, it could only mean one thing. That’s why Leonard laughed. He placed a hand on his chest, sensing the “fourth ring” around his heart.
The fourth mana ring. The mark of the 4th circle.
“I did it, I really did it!”
In his own world, Leonard couldn’t contain his laughter. At the age of twenty, he had reached the 4th circle! If this wasn’t the “Empire’s greatest talent,” then what was? Leonard thought as he laughed maniacally.
And then it happened.
Whoosh!
Leonard’s world was engulfed in flames.
A hellfire, like the end of the world, consumed his world.
”…!”
Dale gasped in shock at the unexpected turn of events.
Leonard Walter’s body was on fire. Along with the newly formed fourth mana circle around his heart.
Even Dale hadn’t foreseen this.
When Dale had reached the 3rd circle, he had done so by throwing himself against the wall with all his might, “breaking through” it. But Leonard lacked the capacity to handle such a feat.
Thus, the reckless attempt to reach the 4th circle had caused his world of thought to spiral out of control.
Ironically, it was Leonard’s “talent” that led to this disaster.
Magic is the power to overlay imagination onto reality, and when that power spirals out of control, it can only mean one thing.
“The encroachment of the world of thought into reality.”
The surroundings twisted, merging with Leonard’s “world of thought.”
The world was burning. As if trapped in a barrier, isolated from reality. Even the students and teachers of the 3rd circle’s top class were caught in it.
“This is a real mess.”
Dale clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight.
“But it won’t change anything.”
He glanced at the “Shadow Cloak” disguised as a black coat. The one causing the chaos was Leonard, and Dale’s actions were purely “self-defense.”
And then it happened.
“I have to show that brat.”
“That I, Leonard Walter, am the Empire’s greatest genius.”
Just as Dale had once resonated with the world through Sepia, Leonard’s rampaging voice and emotions flowed into Dale.
An insurmountable wall loomed before Dale, an overwhelming sense of despair constricting his heart. It was the weight of the “Black Prince” as felt from Leonard Walter’s perspective.
This was the same despair that Dale’s adversaries had experienced when facing him, and now, for the first time, Dale found himself on the receiving end. He clenched his lips tightly, trying to suppress the turmoil that threatened to overtake him, much like it had with Sepia.
A colossal, indescribable wall stood in his path. It was the first time he truly understood what it meant to face “Dale’s wall” from the other side.
The very facts he had once dismissed so casually now turned against him, piercing him like a dagger.
Yet, despite it all—
“Is this really all there is?”
Faced with the seemingly insurmountable wall of despair, Dale let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“The so-called ‘Black Prince’ isn’t as impressive as I thought.”
He recalled the formidable foes he had vanquished in his past life—monsters beyond description, even by the standards of the strong. As the Empire’s hound, he had hunted countless such creatures.
Having faced the abyss of those monstrous worlds, Dale was not one to be shaken by mere echoes of power.
He looked at the burning figure of “Leonard Walter” and his world before him.
Nothing would change. After taking it all in, he muttered indifferently, as if it were someone else’s concern.
“Why should I care?”