Chapter 151
The Marquis of Langham said nothing in response.
“Anything more to say?”
[Heh heh, no. Then I shall proceed as you instructed. Await good news.]
Just as mysteriously as it had appeared, the doll vanished.
Left alone, the Marquis’s eyes darkened with a cold, sinking chill.
Endlessly deep.
Like the abyss of a bottomless pit.
A voice laced with madness slipped out.
“…If I’ve become this monster, it’s all my father’s fault.”
By the time Christian arrived at the Duchy of Schupen, a strangely adorned carriage was making its way north.
It was drawn by a headless ghost horse—the Phantom Steed.
A sight to behold, for only necromancers trained in the ‘Death Mage’ arts could command such a creature.
That meant those aboard were from the Sovereign’s Castle.
“This is tedious. Stuck playing coachman to this nonsense.”
[Heh heh, please bear with it. Normally, I wouldn’t stoop to using such a carriage, but we have to transport a certain ‘item.’]
“An ‘item,’ huh?”
The necromancer muttered in a strange tone.
[Yes, it’s something my master, Mr. Märchen, is eagerly awaiting.]
Inside the carriage sat the doll who had spoken with the Marquis of Langham before.
Even more astonishing was the figure bound and lying before the doll.
It was Eshed.
“Ugh, ugh.”
Eshed struggled with eyes wide in terror, but the dark magic binding him rendered him immobile.
[Shh. Stay quiet and savor whatever time you have left. Pure terror like this is only possible while your sense of self remains intact. Once you become a doll, even your identity won’t be your own.]
“…Honestly, you curse mages are the worst.”
[Coming from a necromancer who treats evil spirits and corpses like lovers, that’s rich.]
The black-robed necromancer controlling the Phantom Steed chuckled.
“True enough. I was just thinking how much I wanted to turn this guy into a Death Knight.”
[Heh heh, don’t get any ideas. He’s a rare specimen we’ve been lucky to acquire.]
“Wasn’t he supposed to be the heir to the Dark Mage’s dukedom? What a tragic fate. But I guess that’s the lot of noble bloodlines who lose out in the competition. Makes you wonder if being born into a noble family is really worth it.”
[Especially when you look at the bloodline of the Bloodblade Mages. The fate left for those preyed upon noble families is nothing short of brutal.]
“Heh heh, speaking of which, I recall our family elder recently turned a pure-blooded Bloodblade Mage into an undead. If we could use the Archduchess Idrinne as material, we could create the strongest undead caught between life and death.”
[Archduchess Idrinne is slated as material for our curse mages, so you might want to drop that idea.]
“Well, we’ll see how it plays out. Our necromancers aren’t about to give up on a specimen like Idrinne. From her perspective, whether she ends up with us or your curse mages, death might be the better option.”
They bantered idly, yawning.
Suddenly—
Whoosh! Thwack!
An arrow shot through the Phantom Steed’s body.
Infused with potent magic, the arrow caused the Phantom Steed’s spirit to scatter like smoke.
“!!”
[!!]
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the black-robed man and the doll stepped out of the carriage.
A strikingly beautiful woman with jet-black hair stood aiming her bow at them.
[Oh? Who might this be? An unexpected escort, it seems.]
“Do I know her?”
The necromancer tilted his head, asking the doll.
[She’s the first princess of the Dark Mage family. Her name was quite lovely—Yulian, was it?]
As the doll said, it was none other than the First Princess Yulian.
[Here to rescue Prince Eshed? Such touching family devotion.]
The doll’s mask stretched into a twisted smile.
[But why come alone? Isn’t that a bit reckless?]
“……”
[We have no reason to treat you like a princess. You should be prepared for a terrible fate.]
Though Märchen, the doll’s master, was in a close relationship with the Marquis of Langham, there was no need to show respect to his daughter, Yulian.
The necromancer shared the same sentiment.
“Good. We’ll hand her over to our Death Mage faction. She’ll make excellent experimental material. I’ve been curious what would happen if we turned someone with dark magic into an undead.”
[Heh heh, that won’t do. With a body like hers, our curse mages could make good use of her.]
“You already have one of your own. That one’s ours.”
Their conversation showed no doubt of victory.
Understandable.
Yulian’s apparent rank was only upper 4-star.
Meanwhile, the two from the Sovereign’s Castle were both 5-star elites.
To be precise, the necromancer was mid-5-star.
Märchen’s doll, the ninth numbered and messenger, was weaker than the third number Christian had met but could still wield lower 5-star power.
To challenge such foes was like sticking one’s head into a tiger’s mouth.
Yet Yulian’s gaze showed no flicker of hesitation.
She simply looked at them with indifferent eyes.
“Is Eshed still alive?”
[Heh heh, alive, yes. But is that really your concern?]
“It is.”
Yulian nodded quietly.
“Killing Eshed is a task I must do with my own hands.”
[!!]
The two from the Sovereign’s Castle frowned at her unexpected words.
[Hmph, whatever you mean, it’s none of our concern.]
“Enough talk. Let’s finish this. I’m bored.”
The necromancer yawned and waved his hand.
A multi-layered magic circle appeared in the air, summoning the demons of Gehenna.
Powerful demons befitting a 5-star black mage.
“Use them for experiments. Don’t touch her body—just shatter her mind.”
With that chilling command, the demons surged toward Yulian.
Like a violent tide, countless demons swept over her.
Then, an unbelievable event occurred.
Flash.
A beam of light burst from Yulian’s body.
At the same time—
Kraaaash!!
A fierce blaze erupted, sweeping through the area.
Astonishingly, the flames incinerated the incorporeal demons as if they were paper set aflame, their screams echoing.
[!!]
“What… what is this?!”
As the flames died down, an even more incredible sight appeared.
Behind Yulian, a massive phoenix spread its wings and soared.
Any mage would instantly recognize it.
“A P-Phoenix? What the—?”
The highest elemental spirit of fire.
But that wasn’t all.
The wind began to howl.
A heavy, storm-like gale whipped around the necromancer and the doll.
And beside Yulian appeared the Wind Wolf.
“T-The highest wind elemental spirit, Ariel Wolf, too?!”
The necromancer exclaimed in disbelief.
“H-How can a Dark Mage princess wield elemental magic from the Crusade Alliance?!”
Their reaction was understandable.
Elemental magic was a power reserved for only the most exceptional within the Crusade Alliance.
“This isn’t the power of light.”
“What?”
“Look closely at my spirits.”
The necromancer and doll exchanged confused glances.
Indeed, the summoned spirits were strange.
Not pure flames or wind, but cloaked in pitch-black darkness.
Like dark elementals.
“This is the power of the Obsidian Spirits? No, it’s different from the dark elementals the Obsidian ones command. Though they bear darkness, these are spirits of light.”
They were clearly spirits of light, yet shrouded in darkness.
An impossible paradox.
Suddenly, the necromancer’s eyes widened as he grasped the truth.
“C-Could it be… you’re… fallen…?”
“That’s enough.”
Yulian cut him off.
“Anyway, it won’t matter much to you soon.”
“!!”
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
With those words, fire and wind surged forward like a rampaging storm, engulfing them.
The area was reduced to ruins.
The two from the Sovereign’s Castle were left without so much as a corpse.
An overwhelming victory against two 5-star elites.
It meant Yulian’s power was on par with a 6-star.
Summoning two top-tier elemental spirits simultaneously was a feat only a 6-star master-class elemental summoner could achieve.
‘Though there was a doll, I asked “that person” for help, so I don’t have to worry about my identity being revealed to the Sovereign’s Castle.’
An unfathomable story.
The information confirmed through the doll was immediately shared with its master, Märchen.
Yet there was someone capable of stopping it? Who was this “that person” Yulian had in mind?
Yulian approached the carriage.
Inside, Eshed was pitifully bound.
“Y-Yulian… p-please… me…”
Yulian looked down at him with an expressionless face.
Feeling the ominous change in her demeanor, Eshed’s unease grew.
“I honestly don’t hold any personal grudge against you, Eshed. You’re a despicable human, but there are plenty of trash like you in the world.”
“Y-Yulian…?”
“But—”
Thrust.
Yulian plunged a dagger into Eshed’s chest.
“Ku-ugh…?”
Eshed’s eyes shot open, and Yulian spoke softly.
“So, this is simply because you were born with the bloodline of the Dark Mage.”
Thud!
Yurian plunged the dagger down again.
More violently this time.
She repeated the same motion.
Blood splattered, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t even try to dodge the flying blood.
How much time had passed?
Yurian’s white clothes were soaked completely in blood, and the light in Eshed’s eyes had faded.
He was dead.
Clang.
The dagger slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor. Yurian let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, ha.”
Tears—meaningless, incomprehensible—streamed down her face.
Biting her lip hard, she turned away, when suddenly a voice echoed from the empty air.
“Are you alright, poor child?”
“!!”
Yurian whipped her head around, and there stood a strange figure, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. Her entire body was wrapped in thin chains.
Looking closer, the chains weren’t just loosely wrapped—they pierced through skin and bone countless times, entwining her very being.
A horrifying sight.
Inside the chains was a woman of astonishing beauty.
An otherworldly beauty, almost not human.
Her sharply pointed ears marked her as non-human.
A fairy, an elf.
And judging by the jewel embedded in her forehead, she was a High Elf—the primordial kind.
A being with a lifespan exceeding a thousand years, a supreme Ain species comparable to dragons.
A High Elf pierced through and bound by chains—such a bizarre and unsettling image.
But the most striking detail was the color of the jewel on her forehead.
Not radiant light, but stained with pitch-black darkness.
This woman was a fallen High Elf.
“I am honored to meet you, Great One.”
Yurian knelt before her.
“Demon Lord of the Clear Stream.”