Chapter 257
Idrine glanced around and let out an impressed sigh.
“A remarkably advanced sealing formation is concealed here.”
“Could you recognize it?”
“If I hadn’t heard about it beforehand, I wouldn’t have noticed a thing.”
Chris looked slightly surprised.
This sealing formation was set up using relics he kept in the Dark Magic Archive. Unless one had a deep understanding of dark magic, it was nearly impossible to detect its presence—but Idrine had.
‘When Marquis Langham reveals his demonic power, we planned to activate the sealing formation to bind him, and then the five commanders, including Marquis Shupen, would join forces to strike.’
Idrine nodded firmly.
“Thinking about helping a friend in danger makes my heart race.”
“…”
“Ah, ah, sorry. I’m just excited because this is the first time I’m stepping into a friend’s affairs—felt like I was talking like one of those elementary students from the Alliance Academy again.”
Chris’s first friend seemed thrilled and excited about everything.
He shook his head and thought, ‘But why is it so quiet?’
Langham should have appeared by now, but there was no sign of him.
An ominous silence.
Just as Chris frowned, a sudden commotion broke the stillness.
“P-Prince!”
It was Saenin, the youngest of the five commanders!
Chris’s eyes widened in shock.
Saenin was covered in blood.
“What happened? Weren’t you supposed to hold position at the barrier until I gave the signal?”
“W-While waiting, an incident occurred.”
Saenin coughed up blood, clearly gravely injured.
“Langham attacked us while we were stationed at the barrier.”
“…What? Langham wouldn’t do something like that.”
It was unexpected.
Langham was still aiming for the head of the family.
If he attacked the barrier, he wouldn’t just lose that chance—he’d become an enemy of the Dark Magic Clan.
“He killed all of us stationed there and declared he would kill the Nordian head of the main family himself, then claim the headship.”
“!!”
“Langham’s power is… different. Far stronger than before. Even Marquis Shupen and all five commanders combined were overwhelmed.”
Chris’s expression hardened.
Something clicked in his mind.
‘It’s the forbidden magic of the Demon Magic Clan.’
The Demon Magic Clan worshipped demons.
They could summon demonic power to amplify their strength.
‘That’s why we set up the sealing formation—to prepare for something like this.’
Chris’s sealing formation used both holy and demonic relics, weakening demonic power.
But Langham had caught them off guard and attacked the barrier.
“Father is using his power now, but he can’t hold out much longer. Prince, you must bypass the barrier and escape.”
But Chris shook his head.
“That’s not an option.”
“Prince! Don’t let your father’s sacrifice be in vain!”
“Who said I’m going to let him die?”
Chris retorted coldly.
“Saenin, have you forgotten who I am?”
Saenin swallowed hard, intimidated by the fierce determination in Chris’s gaze.
“Do you have some secret plan like last time against Patera?”
“This time, no tricks. We have to face it head-on.”
Saenin’s face darkened.
But Chris spoke firmly.
“Saenin, our Dark Magic Clan is not weak.”
“!!”
“No matter how much forbidden power Langham has taken in, if we unite, we can defeat him.”
Saenin swallowed again.
Given the power Langham had shown earlier, it seemed impossible for their forces to match him.
‘But if the Prince is with us, maybe a miracle can happen.’
Chris glanced sideways.
“Yurian.”
With a flash, Yurian appeared from her hiding spot nearby.
Having heard about Langham, Yurian’s usually gentle eyes were now icy cold.
“Things have gone awry, but that doesn’t change our goal. Today, we cut down Langham. Sister, please carry out the role I told you.”
Yurian nodded briefly.
“Ending Langham’s life is my duty.”
Then she vanished again.
Chris turned to Idrine.
“You…”
Before Chris could speak, Idrine hurriedly interrupted.
“I’m coming too. We are true friends… Ah, no, that’s not important. Anyway, I’ll lend the power of friendship!”
Chris nodded.
“Let’s go.”
They rushed toward the barrier with all their might. Upon arrival, Chris had to swallow a curse.
‘Damn it.’
The once sturdy barrier was crumbling to rubble.
Falling from the collapsing wall were Marquis Shupen and the five commanders.
“Ugh!!”
“Father!!”
Shupen, lying on the ground, looked shocked to see Saenin and Chris.
“Why are you here, Prince?!”
“Why? To fight.”
Chris quickly checked on Shupen and the others.
Though badly injured, none were dead. They could still fight.
At that moment, a figure appeared atop the still-standing tower of the barrier.
Langham.
The faces of Shupen and the commanders hardened.
Chris felt it too.
His aura was completely different.
Like a giant casting a shadow over them all.
“Christian, huh? You came looking for death. Perfect. Now I don’t have to chase you down.”
Dark energy surged from Langham’s body.
Not dark magic—but demonic energy.
“Christian, I won’t kill you here. I’ll keep you alive, drag you before your father, and behead you in front of him. After your father’s face is drowned in despair, I’ll behead him too.”
Chris let out a bitter laugh.
“What nonsense. A fool who’s swallowed demonic power.”
“!!”
“Even a moody teenager is more mature than you. No wonder you lost everything and ended up begging demons for power.”
Langham’s eyes grew even colder.
“Shut up.”
A storm of demonic energy burst from Langham, draining the color from Shupen and the commanders’ faces.
“Prince, you should run now.”
Shupen said resolutely, but Chris shook his head firmly.
“This is an order. No more pointless talk. As Prince, I will punish the disgrace of this family today.”
“Do you have a way to fight him?”
Shupen asked, the same question Saenin had.
“No brilliant plan. But we can win.”
Chris looked each of them in the eye.
“But remember this: everyone here must follow my orders to the letter. If you do, we will win.”
“…I don’t know what you’re thinking, but understood. We’ll follow your command, Prince.”
Thud.
Langham leapt down from the tower.
Dark spirits began to be summoned, swirling around him.
Their power was far stronger than when they fought Sherard before.
More precisely, they were tainted with demonic energy.
“Wheel of Death. Die.”
The dark spirits spun around Langham like a wheel.
A seven-star forbidden dark spirit spell, a vortex of spirits overwhelming the enemy.
With the demonic energy infused, it had the power of an eight-star absolute domain spell.
Chris quickly issued orders.
“Marquis Shupen, take the front! Deploy the Domain of Protection! Lords Leon and Duke, disrupt the spirits with the ‘Elegy’ curse black magic! Lords Saenin and Hammel, support Marquis Shupen! Count Hyunkel, prepare piercing destructive black magic!”
The commanders hesitated but obeyed Chris’s commands.
Boom!!
The dark spirits crashed into Shupen’s protective barrier, draining his strength.
He barely held on with Saenin and Hammel’s help.
“Now! You two, cast the Elegy curse!”
Leon and Duke exchanged puzzled looks but unleashed the Elegy curse.
Elegy was a curse that unsettled the enemy’s mind with a sorrowful sound.
‘Will it work on dark spirits?’
Then something astonishing happened.
The dark spirits began to wail in agony.
“What?”
“These spirits aren’t stable. Because their power was forcibly amplified by the instrument, they have weak points. Count Hyunkel, fire the destructive black magic at the coordinates I’m marking!”
Chris pinpointed the center of the Wheel of Death, and Hyunkel’s destructive spear pierced the core of the spirit swarm.
[Kiiaaaak!!!]
The dark spirits scattered, all showing shock.
If it were just them, this outcome would have been impossible.
Chris had seen through the enemy’s weakness perfectly to make this happen.
Langham scowled.
“Tricks. But how long do you think you can hold out?”
“Well, that’s your problem, isn’t it?”
Chris smirked.
“You don’t really think you can use demonic power forever, do you?”
“!!”
“Shall we make a bet? Which will break first—your vessel under the strain of the instrument, or us?”
Langham’s face hardened.
That was right.
Demonic power wasn’t infinite.
The more you use it, the more it strains your mind, body, and soul—until eventually, you just can’t hold on any longer and collapse.
“But true devil contractors are different.”
That is, those who don’t simply absorb power, but are favored by the devil itself.
They receive a special “blessing” from the devil, allowing them to wield far greater power with much lighter restrictions.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re easy to deal with.”
Especially when the opponent is Langham.
Even if he only accepted the devil’s power out of greed, he originally possessed abilities equivalent to an eight-star rank. So Langham’s current strength was terrifying.
Granted, his power was achieved through all sorts of dark arts, so there were some unstable elements.
“But I’m no pushover either.”
If it came down to raw strength, Chris and his group would probably lose.
But Chris had watched countless battles between the hero party of his past life and the devil’s minions.
Because of that, Chris understood better than anyone in this world how to fight those who wield devilish power.
“Come at me, you pathetic, rebellious little daddy’s boy. I’ll show you just how insignificant you really are.”
“Shut up, I said!”
The clash resumed.
Langham poured out even more intense power than before.
But Chris found every opening and blocked each attack.
“Thank goodness the domain of Marquis Shupen specializes in defense.”
The other four commanders also worked well together.
“They’ve all improved since I taught them, better than when we fought Patera.”
And on top of that, there was a powerful new ally.
“Ria.”
No—Idrinne.