Episode 56

Chris swallowed hard.

‘Wait a minute—this mission…’

Only now did he recall what the Dark Gossip had told him.

It wasn’t that the story was new.

It was just such a huge event that he hadn’t connected it to this mission before.

“Chris, what do you think was the most important event that happened in the year 975 of the continental calendar?”

975 was the current year.

Five years before the outbreak of the First Great War.

The Dark Gossip, a nine-tailed fox from the Obsidian Maga clan, flicked her tail coquettishly as she spoke.

“Maybe it was a premonition of the coming storm? The continent has been shaken by all sorts of major incidents—the Bloodsword Maga’s coup, the corruption of the Gold Cross star, the fall of the Crown Prince of the Karn Empire. But I think there was an even more important event.”

“What was it?”

“If you want to hear it, you have to pet my tail.”

“…No thanks. You just want to talk, don’t you?”

“Aw, come on. Just a little petting, please~! You know I love your touch, Chris!”

Chris frowned but gave her tail a reluctant stroke. The Dark Gossip giggled and said,

“The Devil’s Amulet Incident.”

“…What’s that?”

“It was a little-known relic dispute between the Dark Maga and the Venomous Maga clans. At the time, it wasn’t considered a big deal.”

The Dark Gossip yawned lazily, perhaps comforted by Chris’s touch.

“During the relic expedition, the Dark Maga’s forces were wiped out, and the Venomous Maga paid a heavy price too. But that was nothing compared to what came after. The important thing is that this incident triggered a huge butterfly effect later on.”

“What kind of effect?”

“A few years later, because of this incident, the Dark Maga’s Noga Lord was killed—by his own son, Marquis Langham.”

The Dark Gossip’s voice grew drowsy.

“If that hadn’t happened, if Noga Lord Nordian had survived, the Bloodsucking Demon King wouldn’t have been able to seize the Dark Maga so easily. As a result, the Age of Ruin came faster than it should have.”

“!!”

Chris’s eyes snapped open.

That was the incident!

‘I have to stop it.’

This wasn’t just a simple relic dispute.

It was Marquis Langham’s conspiracy.

Langham planned to sacrifice Chris and the others, then use that as a pretext to achieve his own goals.

Goals that would bring about a catastrophic future.

‘What should I do?’

Chris thought hard.

First, he had to participate in the mission. He needed to be directly involved to expose the conspiracy.

‘The problem is, I’m not strong enough yet.’

He was only at the rank of three stars.

Though his progress had been incredibly fast, to true powerhouses, he was still just a kid.

‘Still… there has to be a way.’

Chris’s gaze darkened.

Did Langham know?

Did he know what kind of abilities the very person he planned to sacrifice—Chris—possessed?

Chris began to formulate a plan.

‘First, I need to prepare. I have to get outside.’

He couldn’t prepare inside the Dark Maga’s territory.

‘But what excuse can I use to go outside?’

Chris hesitated.

He couldn’t just leave the mansion without a reason. That would draw Langham’s suspicion.

He absolutely could not let Langham find out what he was planning.

‘I need to find a way to go outside without raising suspicion.’

At that moment, a low voice called out.

“You.”

Chris turned his head and saw a face he’d seen once before.

A cold-looking girl.

The Second Princess, Jupien!

“Did you call me?”

“…Yes.”

‘Why is she acting like she knows me?’ Chris was puzzled.

She hadn’t just called him casually.

Her eyes were full of hostility as she glared at him.

‘Why that look? Oh, it must be because of Loin.’

Chris had heard that Loin and Jupien were close siblings.

In the Seongheuk system, a direct descendant who couldn’t even draw a speck of dark magic was no longer considered a true direct descendant.

Because Chris had ruined the fate of her beloved younger brother, Jupien’s reaction was understandable.

‘Hmm. But Loin wasn’t exactly innocent either.’

Wasn’t it Loin who started picking fights with Chris in the first place?

Honestly, he deserved what he got.

Chris’s tone naturally turned sharp.

“What do you want?”

“…What do I want?”

Jupien narrowed her eyes.

“I hate you. I want to crush you right now.”

“……”

“But since we’re on the same mission, I’ll hold back—for now. But from this moment on, you will obey my orders. Disobedience will not be tolerated.”

Chris smirked.

‘Cute.’

The Second Princess Jupien looked young for her age.

Though in her late teens, she looked much younger.

Her expression was so blank she seemed like a walking doll.

Maybe that’s why, despite her attitude, she didn’t feel very threatening.

‘Not that I actually think she’s cute.’

Suddenly, a good idea struck Chris.

“You say I have to obey orders? No thanks.”

“…What?”

“You may be my superior, Princess, but I’m not so sure you have the right to give me orders.”

Chris shrugged and put on his most obnoxious expression.

“Especially since you’re Loin’s sister… I can already guess your level.”

“!!”

A chill swept over Jupien’s doll-like face, making her expression even colder.

“…You.”

But Chris didn’t stop provoking her.

“Isn’t it true? Since Loin’s such a dumbass, I’m guessing you’re not much better.”

“!!”

Jupien glared fiercely and—

Chaaang!

Drew her sword.

“Take back what you just said.”

“Loin’s a dumbass, that’s a fact. What exactly do you want me to take back? Oh, and by the way, I really enjoyed watching you cry when he beat you up. Maybe you should be the one apologizing to me for raising such a loser as your brother.”

The air around Jupien grew heavy and oppressive.

“…You’ll regret this.”

“Do I?”

“…Prepare yourself.”

Black magic swirled from her sword.

A stable manifestation of dark magic.

It showed she was at least mid-level three stars.

Fwoosh! The black blade shot toward Chris.

But Chris reached out his hand.

“!!”

Jupien frowned.

‘What the—?’

This wasn’t just a sword—it was a black blade formed from condensed dark magic.

If he touched it, his hand wouldn’t just be cut—it would be torn apart.

Yet she didn’t stop.

Despite her doll-like appearance, she was a magic user.

If she got hurt by a foolish move, it would be Chris’s fault. He had no reason to go easy on her.

Then Chris did something she never expected.

“Typical. Just like her dumb brother, nothing special.”

His palm brushed past the side of her sword.

He didn’t touch it directly.

It was a razor-thin margin, a hair’s breadth away.

As his hand slid just past her blade, something unbelievable happened.

“!!”

Jupien’s black blade, solidly formed, trembled violently!

As if trying to revert to its original magical form.

Chris had used his control over dark magic to disrupt her magic!

‘So this is another way to use it.’

Chris silently cheered.

He’d hoped it would work—and it did.

He moved again.

Jupien froze for a moment, feeling her core magic churn wildly.

Chris reached out and touched her still-formed black blade.

Again, he exerted his control.

Fwoosh!

The black blade completely disintegrated!

Of course, it wasn’t just his control alone.

Jupien’s rank was higher than Chris’s, so relying on control alone had limits.

Instead, Chris targeted the blade’s structural weak points.

To form a black blade, the magic had to be anchored by pillar-like cores at intervals.

Chris had precisely identified those support points and interfered with them using his control.

It was like a magic trick.

“…How?”

Jupien’s face went pale.

Though not as skilled as Chris, she was still a top talent of the Dark Maga.

She realized what insane feat he had just pulled off.

‘Impossible.’

But there was no time to be stunned.

Chris struck back.

His hand shot toward her neck.

She tried to dodge backward, but her body froze.

Chris had cast a binding dark spell.

‘How dare you.’

Dark magic wasn’t exclusive to Chris.

Jupien had studied it as deeply as her swordsmanship.

She unleashed three dark spells in quick succession.

A curse-breaking spell to escape Chris’s binding.

A momentary paralysis to stop his movement.

And a destructive spell called Rusted Skin that would rot his hand.

Even a professional dark mage would admire such a combo.

But—

Just as her spells were about to take effect—

Fwoosh!

They were all canceled at once.

Because of Chris.

He had interfered with her dark magic.

This wasn’t control magic.

He had used counter-dark magic to cancel her spells during their casting phase.

Only a mage with far superior magical understanding and lightning-fast calculation skills could pull that off.

And he was doing it while exchanging physical blows?

‘Well, interfering with a mediocre magic sword user’s spells is easy enough.’

To put it simply, Jupien was a magic swordsman—skilled in both sword and magic.

No matter how advanced one’s mastery of dark magic, it could never quite match that of a professional dark mage.

But Chris had no such limitations.

He could wield both the black sword and magic at the highest level.

Thud.

Chris’s hand landed on the nape of her neck.

She had lost.

Completely unexpectedly.

“You… you.”

Jupien’s eyes widened as if they might tear.

For someone who rarely showed much expression, this was an intense reaction—proof of just how shocked she was.

And she wasn’t the only one. The mages watching their fight nearby stared in disbelief.

Chris had actually defeated Lady Jupien in a direct confrontation?

Chris smirked, a cocky, almost spiteful grin.

“To think you’re this pathetic. I don’t see any reason to bother listening to you anymore.”

“!!”

Jupien’s face flushed red.

But she couldn’t say a word.

Because she had lost.

Of course, Jupien had her excuses.

She hadn’t been fighting at full strength. She’d been caught off guard before she could even try anything.

Her specialty—the Illusion Sword Technique, which combined illusions and swordplay—hadn’t even come into play.

If she’d gone all out from the start, she wouldn’t have knelt so easily.

But a loss was a loss.

“I’ll handle my mission on my own, so don’t interfere with me anymore. And don’t bother trying to find me. I’ll be out of the castle for a few days.”

“…Out of the castle? For what?”

Chris answered casually.

“Just going out to have some fun.”

“!!”

“Since the mission will be tough, I’m going to enjoy myself as much as I can before I leave.”

Chris’s excuse for going out.

A reckless excuse.

But it suited him perfectly—he’d always been a bit of a wild card.