Chapter 37: Enlightenment

“Palace Lord, why is this happening…?”

“Please, let me out! I have a wife and children at home!”

“Aaaah! I don’t want to die! Please, save me!”

After the vast hemispherical space swallowed the surroundings.

In the midst of despair, where my vision blurred into a haze, people struggled in various ways.

Those with deep faith sought their gods.

Those with families cried out to return home.

Those engulfed by fear screamed, hoping for survival.

I looked around at their desperate forms, repeatedly opening and closing my hand, gathering my aura.

“Dammit…”

I cursed under my breath as I watched the scene of 10,000 people being held hostage.

Did this happen in the original story?

No… I can’t remember everything, but I don’t think it did.

The protagonist’s group fights the Tower Lord after the Swordmaster event, much later in the story.

So this is another change from the original.

After all, since I intervened, how could the future unfold exactly like it did before?

In the end, I, like a butterfly flapping its wings, had caused a massive storm to sweep in.

And now that storm was trying to uproot their lives.

At that moment, the Tower Lord spoke to me.

“Quite an impressive sight, isn’t it?”

“Tower Lord. Stop this. What wrong have they done to deserve this? If you want something, tell me. I will do my best to fulfill your request.”

“Heh heh. I told you earlier, didn’t I? What I want is the Duke’s life. If you find it difficult to make a decision, I can assist you.”

Pats-ts-ts-ts…

As the Tower Lord raised his palm to the sky, over a hundred mana bullets materialized above his head.

Each one was a high-density mana bullet, larger than a human head.

What kind of hell would unfold if he started firing those indiscriminately?

I carefully tried to speak to him, not wanting to provoke him further.

“I can’t give you his life. But I can offer you something else. I promise to fulfill your request. I can even provide enough funds to build several towers.”

“To think the Duke would show such a weak side. You’ve changed a lot. I suppose capturing hostages was the right choice.”

“Among them are children who admire knights and mages. Spare them.”

“The one who killed Sir Gawain in front of those dream-filled children was the Duke himself.”

“…”

The Tower Lord sneered as he saw me speechless.

It’s not like he had any special bond with Gawain.

He probably just wanted to see me struggle.

I tried to buy time with conversation, hoping the mages outside would break the spatial containment magic, while keeping an eye on the Tower Lord’s movements.

Sigh… Another mountain to climb.

The Tower Lord floated in the air, generating over a hundred mana bullets above him.

How much potion had he consumed? His mana was so dense it was hard to gauge.

His entire body was wrapped in translucent mana shields, so even if I used my aura, it seemed unlikely I could kill him with a single strike.

I was deep in thought, trying to find a solution, when the Tower Lord seemed to sense my intentions and spoke.

“Are you trying to buy time? I suppose it’s time to stop chatting.”

Pats-ts-ts-ts…!

His cold gaze fixed on me as he expanded his mana even further.

Then, from the mana bullets floating in the air, an even greater noise erupted.

It was the tense sound of mana bullets about to be fired.

A sharp instinct told me I had to stop this.

I immediately dashed toward the Tower Lord, stomping the ground.

Crack!

“Stop it!”

“That won’t be possible.”

Whoosh.

With a casual wave of his hand, the mana bullets that had been flashing with light suddenly shot off in all directions.

Zwaaaa!

The mana bullets tore through the air with a sound that shattered the space, flying toward the spectators in every direction.

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through my mind.

If I let this continue, people would die in droves.

Is there anyone who can help?

I couldn’t sense any other high-level mages or knights in the area.

Then, it’s up to me to handle this.

Ah. That direction…

That’s where the people who supported me were sitting.

That girl had been watching me with the admiration of someone who dreamed of becoming a mage.

And that boy… he probably wants to become a knight.

As fleeting thoughts passed by like a revolving lantern and I regained my senses,

I found myself enveloped in a radiant white aura, flowing slowly through time.

“…Bahamut.”

As I slowly turned my gaze, I saw the Tower Master standing at a distance.

Dealing with him would come later.

The Radiant Aura put a great strain on the body, making its duration significantly shorter than other auras.

So, saving the people came first.

I took in the sight of the mana bombs hovering in the air above the arena.

Ta-at—

I moved first toward the nearest mana bomb.

Holding the dazzling light of the Radiant Aura in my hands.

I shaped it into the form of a sword and struck the mana bomb skyward.

Boom…

‘This isn’t an ordinary mana bomb.’

It wasn’t just a matter of sheer quantity.

The mana bombs, drifting skyward with a slow, explosive rumble, were designed to detonate upon impact with their target.

If even one slipped past me, the explosion’s aftermath would claim at least dozens of lives.

Clenching my lips, I continued striking down the mana bombs headed for the stands.

Boom…

I saved someone who had been searching for God in their despair.

Boom…

I rescued a man who said he had a wife and child at home.

Boom…

I protected someone who screamed for their life.

Dashing ceaselessly in all directions to intercept the mana bombs, my mask was eventually knocked off, unable to withstand my speed.

But I paid it no mind and relentlessly moved, swatting down every last mana bomb.

Boom…

After striking away the final mana bomb from before a young girl’s eyes, I saw her face, now free from the grip of death.

She hadn’t even realized that a mana bomb had been hurtling toward her; her gaze was elsewhere, but fear was woven across her face like a web.

‘Don’t worry.’

I silently promised the nameless girl.

I would ensure she made it out of this place alive.

Not because I was a good person.

Simply because I couldn’t stand to watch innocent people die.

And… because if the heroines had been here, they would have done the same.

That was all.

Gathering my momentary thoughts, I turned toward the Tower Master, gripping the Radiant Blade.

In the sluggish flow of time, he was desperately deploying his mana to reinforce his shield.

‘Tower Master… Do you think I won’t be able to kill you?’

If you try to kill innocent people, I will kill you.

If you try to kill me, I will kill you first.

And so, facing one of the great archmages—

I raised my Radiant Blade high and brought it down with all my might.

Boom! Boom!

Perhaps because I was swinging at the speed of light, even through the spatial isolation spell that dulled my hearing, the sound of his shield shattering was deafening.

With every strike, a layer of the shield broke, revealing the next.

If I put more strength into the same spot, two layers would shatter at once, peeling away like a shell.

Repeating the process methodically, I dug through Bahamut’s mana shield as if excavating the earth.

Boom…!

“Huff… Huff… Fuck…”

By the time only about twenty layers remained of the hundreds that had initially formed—

I realized I could no longer maintain the Radiant Aura.

What should I do?

A daunting challenge lay before me, but I had no time to hesitate.

Time, which had been moving so sluggishly, was rapidly regaining its original pace.

‘He’ll go after the people again. I can’t afford to give him even a moment’s rest.’

Enough.

With unwavering determination burning in my crimson eyes—

As time regained its normal flow, I wished for the power to cut through everything.

In response, the Radiant Blade in my hands dissipated, replaced by a dark-hued blade.

And at that moment, the mana bombs I had struck skyward all erupted simultaneously, shaking the entire arena with ear-splitting explosions.

Kwaaaang!!!!

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Wh-what is happening!?”

The earth-shattering noise sent people into a panic.

They didn’t even realize they had just narrowly escaped death.

When I turned to look at the Tower Master, for the first time, I saw a flicker of unease on his face.

“Duke!”

“Tower Master.”

“So, this is how it’s going to be…!”

“It will not go as you wish.”

Swooosh—

With a resolute declaration, I grasped the sharp, dark-hued aura blade in my hand.

Determined not to give him a chance to restore his absolute mana shield, I swung it down at the Tower Master.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

With each strike of the dark aura blade, layers of the mana shield were severed, scattering into the void as remnants of light.

The Tower Master desperately extended both arms to restore his shield, but I was breaking them down faster than he could rebuild.

His expression twisted as he soared into the air with Levitation, trying to widen the distance between us.

“Let’s see if you can block this!”

Crackle—!

The Tower Master, having lost his usual composed demeanor, shouted as the air trembled with the friction of mana.

Dozens of mana bombs formed in the air—each one so massive that even a single detonation could easily wipe out hundreds.

Ssshhhhh!

With a sweep of his hand, the Tower Master unleashed them in all directions.

Not a chance, you bastard.

I immediately amplified my aura explosively, creating dozens of aura blades within my sight.

Ssshhhhhh—

A secret technique I had prepared for this moment. Sword control through manifested aura— ‘Dual Blade Art’.

As if responding to my desperate resolve, a sufficient number of aura blades materialized, enough to intercept the mana bombs.

“What?!”

The Tower Master’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of the summoned aura blades.

No time to relish his reaction.

The moment the aura blades were formed, I controlled them with my ‘Dual Blade Art’ and sent them flying.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Dozens of aura blades cut through the air with swift precision.

Their target: the mana bombs hurtling towards the spectators.

The blades shot forward like a tempest, intercepting every last one of them in mid-air.

Kwa-kwaaaaang!

“Damn it!”

Seeing all his mana bombs destroyed, the Tower Master’s face lost all traces of confidence.

But the strain of controlling so many blades at once must have overloaded my brain.

I felt a warm, metallic trickle from my nose.

‘Ah… this is killing me.’

What am I even doing this for? What kind of luxury am I expecting from life to put myself through this?

No. Focus. That insane old man needs to be stopped.

I wiped the blood off my nose, only to notice my vision tinged with red.

‘Damn. A blood vessel burst in my eye.’

Absolutely maddening.

And yet, the Tower Master had already begun casting his next spell, prioritizing my destruction above all else.

Saaaaa—

A different flow of mana than before.

A deathly force, rejecting all life, radiated from the Tower Master’s hands.

I instinctively knew—he was preparing his ultimate spell.

This was my chance.

The moment he committed to this attack was the perfect opportunity to end him.

If I didn’t counter this head-on, he would escape again and target innocent lives.

Summoning every ounce of energy left in me, I forged another dark-hued aura blade.

Swoooosh—

The aura blade took shape, and I continued feeding it power, making it grow even larger.

With ten thousand lives depending on my success, time stretched as if it had frozen.

“Desperanto Kala Orte!”

A chant of annihilation resonated through the half-sphere of space.

The spectators cowered, sensing their imminent doom.

The Tower Master hurled the amassed death mana at me.

‘I will cut it down.’

With a declaration that reinforced my mana with even stronger intent—

I swung the colossal dark-hued aura blade in a vertical arc.

A deafening roar shattered the space around us.

Simultaneously, a massive crescent-shaped wave of dark aura surged toward the Tower Master.

Shuaaaaak!

“Damn it! Duke!!!”

The Tower Master screamed in fury.

He frantically extended his arms, layering mana shields upon shields.

But the dark aura, having severed even death itself, sliced through his mana shields effortlessly.

And then—

It cleaved through the levitating Tower Master, splitting him cleanly in two.

The force continued, rending apart the half-sphere of magic behind him, and then soared toward the heavens.