Chapter 91: A Desperate Situation. #2

The blade fell vertically, dragging black mana with it. The spreading black mana engulfed the sky, casting an eclipse.

Kaaaaaaaaaah-!

A vast mana storm shook the earth. Space warped, tearing through the void, and a booming sound echoed through the heavens. The distortion spheres that had spread in all directions were unable to withstand the impact and collapsed.

“Insane…”

Overwhelming.

Was this what one who had reached transcendence sounded like?

“Duke Aegis.”

Then, a familiar voice spoke. Yohan turned his head in the direction of the sound, where Fedelian and Cassis were walking.

The rooftops of the buildings were suddenly filled with men in black robes. They were the shadows of the crown prince.

Thud.

With each step of the soldiers and knights, their armor and helmets clashed fiercely, creating a harsh echo. Above them, the banner of Tenerife fluttered wildly.

Soon, the streets were filled with soldiers from Tenerife’s side, including the Royal Knights, judging by the emblems on their armor and banners.

“…What brings you here, noble one?”

Dragonian tilted his head slightly. His expression didn’t change, but the glint in his eyes revealed his displeasure.

“I thought I was supposed to deal with this one.”

“Do you intend to take him on alone?”

“No way.”

Fedelian laughed bitterly.

“There’s another one who doesn’t like him.”

He gestured to Cassis beside him. His purple eyes twinkled.

“Long time no see, Yohan Harssen.”

“I’m Yohan Lahrhardt now.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Cassis silently drew his sword. Purple mana coiled around his blade.

“Yohan Harssen, you die here today.”

Fedelian shrugged.

“You have a short temper.”

Then he drew his own sword. The blade glowed golden as mana coiled around it.

“….”

Yohan narrowed his eyes.

Two expresses, one transcendent knight.

A ridiculous match.

It didn’t even seem to be a one-to-one match.

Cassis and Fedelian, the two of them together, that’s for sure, with Dragonian ready to join the fray at any moment.

Fedelian smirked.

“I’ll torture you until you beg me to kill you, but you better not expect to go easy.”

“Haha.”

With a mocking snort, Yohan stiffened and looked up at him. His blue eyes flashed coldly.

“I sensed it from the first time I saw you, Fedelian. You’re the same as always, a despicable, narrow-minded creature.”

Fedelian’s eyebrows twitched.

“…What are you talking about?”

“Like a bratty kid.”  

Yohan lifted one corner of his mouth in a smirk.  

“Isn’t that right? As if it weren’t bad enough to fight one-on-one, you bring in Cassis Lenochonen and even plan to get help from the Grand Swordmaster, Duke Aegis.”  

Then, with a wide grin, he hurled his scorn at Fedelian.  

“Even if you don’t like me, I guess you don’t have enough confidence to win on your own?”  

“….”  

Fedelian’s golden eyes darkened.  

“Let’s see if you’re still saying that later.”  

Unable to contain his anger, Fedelian launched himself forward, with Cassis following close behind. Two elite knights targeted a single mage.  

Yohan forced his battered and frayed mana circuits to spin once more. Blood dripped from his nose, and his head throbbed with searing pain, but he didn’t so much as blink.  

The two closed in and swung their swords. Mana-clad blades crossed mid-air and surged toward Yohan.  

Yohan murmured softly.  

“Volcanic Abyss.”  

The moment the floating grimoire began to glow—  

Rumble—!  

Suddenly, tremors erupted. The earth quaked, and buildings collapsed. Cassis and Fedelian, mid-swing, lost their footing, their blades slicing through empty air.  

“What the…!”  

In Fedelian’s brief moment of shock, the ground split wide open, and thick, black smoke billowed out. Then, as if a long-suppressed force exploded, a massive volcano rose from the earth.  

Boiling, jet-black mana surged like lava, covering the ground, while red-tinged smoke spiraled from the volcano’s summit into the sky.  

“Is something like this even possible?!”  

“This power… Is it arcane magic?”  

There was no time to linger in shock. The immense force emanating from the volcano roared through the air, dominating everything around it.  

The vibrations shaking the ground intensified, and the erupting lava and black flames spread outward, consuming everything in their path.  

Flames and smoke rained down upon the surface, the seething mana reducing the royal capital to utter ruin.  

“Arghhh!”  

“No, no! Aaaagh!”  

“Gyaaahh!”  

The shadows and Tenerope soldiers caught in the searing lava screamed in agony. It was a requiem crafted by Yohan.  

“Ha, the more I see, the more astonishing it is.”  

Fedelian let out a bitter laugh. The air itself seemed to boil. Without the martial aura protecting his body, he would have already been reduced to ashes.  

Cassis, though outwardly calm, betrayed his inner turmoil with his deep, unsettled amethyst gaze.  

Even Dragonian was no different. His hardened expression spoke volumes as he stared at the blazing black volcano erupting from the ground.  

Yohan chuckled lightly.  

“Round 2 begins.”  

*      *     *

Blades of light rained down from every direction, each slash followed by the piercing scream of air being torn apart. Yohan, with his mastery of Mana Perception, discerned every movement in the chaos. With precise control, he synchronized his mana to form distortion spheres in midair.  

One such sphere, linked to Yohan’s mana, absorbed his form and propelled him forward. He disappeared into a blur, leaving behind only afterimages.  

Swish!  

Two blades cleaved through empty air, missing by a hair’s breadth. Though blinded by obsession, these lunatics had the skill befitting a battlefield ghost and an elite knight.  

“Whew…”  

Yohan exhaled deeply. Despite his narrow escapes, the situation wasn’t favorable. No matter how close he was to the threshold of transcendence, it was too much to handle two elite knights simultaneously.  

The one saving grace was that Duke Aegis had yet to join the fight.  

Of course, things weren’t entirely smooth for his opponents, either. The erupting black volcano hindered their movements, spewing lava and scorching heat that disrupted the flow of battle.  

“….”  

“….”  

As Yohan predicted, Fedelian and Cassis were growing increasingly frustrated. The black volcano was a serious obstacle.  

No matter their approach, the oppressive heat restricted their movements. The arcane power radiating from the volcano caused disruptions in their mana blades and martial arts techniques.  

“Damn it,” Fedelian cursed, biting his lip in frustration. Despite having the advantage in numbers, they couldn’t even pin down this rat of an opponent. It grated on his nerves.  

Whoosh!  

Suddenly, rupture points rained from the sky—spheres of explosive mana that Yohan had preemptively launched. The falling mana clusters struck the ground with precision.  

Boom!  

A storm of dirt and debris erupted, blanketing the battlefield. Visibility was obscured, and the ground quaked violently, making it hard to maintain balance.  

Fortunately, the attacks weren’t overly powerful, a result of Yohan’s mana circuits being nearly at their limit. Even so, a direct hit could easily obliterate a body.  

Though they barely managed to fend off Yohan’s bombardment using their mana blades and martial arts, both Fedelian and Cassis bore grim expressions.  

“…This is a nightmare. Got any plans, High Duke?”  

“If I had one, don’t you think I’d have used it already?”  

No strategy was proving effective. The black volcano obstructed their movements, and Yohan used it as a pivot point to dart around the battlefield with high-speed mobility, launching devastating magical strikes all the while.  

At this point, could anyone still call him a mage?  

He seemed more like a walking weapon of war.  

“Duke Aegis!”  

Fedelian’s voice thundered through the sky. Dragonian cast a glance downward at him, his expression impassive.  

“Did you call for me?”  

“Do you have any way to deal with that volcano?!”  

“Of course, I do.”  

“Then do something, damn it!”  

Though it stung his pride to ask for help, this was no longer a matter of ego. The situation demanded it.  

The Inspectors were coming.  

The Imperial Inspectors were being handled by the Adamant Knights led by a Dragoonian, but these were elite inspectors. Reinforcements were bound to come.

“Then.”

The Dragoonian, perched on the roof, raised his sword to the sky. A pitch-black aura erupted from the blade, creating a massive storm of magical energy.

Wooong!!

Mana began to converge at the tip of his sword. The transcendent power distorted the air, tearing through the void. The sheer force pressed down on their shoulders.

“This is…”

Yohan’s eyebrows furrowed. He had to stop the Dragoonian. Without the Black Volcano, the fight would become untenable.  

If he were at full strength, it might be possible, but facing two elite knights while already drained from battling the Dragoonian was a losing proposition.

‘Quickly!’

Yohan desperately pointed his fingers at the Dragoonian. A sphere of energy formed, swirling with the force of a rupture point. There was no time to gather more mana—it had to be fired immediately.

BOOM!

A cone-shaped beam shot toward the Dragoonian. Just then, Cassis leapt high into the air. The sword in his hand glowed with a purple hue, and with a flash, the arc of his strike split Yohan’s beam in half.

It was too late.

“Three Blades.”

Thud! 

The Dragoonian landed heavily, his feet crashing into the roof and sending debris flying in all directions.  

Then, with his sword drawn back fully, he thrust it forward. The pitch-black mana converged into a single point and was unleashed like a beam of light.

KRRRAAAAA!!

“Ugh!”  

“What the…!”

A storm of force swept through the area, throwing all three of them off balance. The sheer pressure of the wind made it nearly impossible to stay upright.

The beam pierced into the Black Volcano.  

BOOOOM! 

With an earth-shaking roar, a catastrophic explosion erupted.  

“This is insane…!” Yohan’s face turned pale. The Black Volcano was collapsing from the inside. Its surface cracked and crumbled like a sandcastle swept away by a violent wave.

KRRRAAAAA!  

Fragments flew in all directions, and a massive storm of magical energy swept across the battlefield.  

Crackle, crackle…  

The Black Volcano was utterly destroyed.

“Well, that clears the obstacle.”  

Fedelian smirked as he raised his blade. Cassis, too, activated his mana blade to its fullest, exuding a deadly aura.

“…”

A shadow fell across Yohan’s face. The situation… was bad. Very bad.  

The Black Volcano, which had allowed him to hold his own against the two, was gone. His mana circuits were in tatters.  

Even if he managed to deal with them, the Dragoonian remained an unsolved problem.  

No other inspectors were in sight. The Adamant Knights were nowhere to be seen either, likely held up elsewhere.

‘Do I have no choice but to use that?’

Though his mana circuits were shredded and his body weighed down with fatigue, there was no other option.  

The situation had spiraled into utter catastrophe.  

Yohan formed a hand seal.  

His lips parted, and a low murmur echoed softly in the stillness.  

“Sim Sang Gae Mun (Opening the Door of the Mind).”  

The chaotic mana, which had been thrashing wildly from the earlier clashes, abruptly calmed. A chilling aura froze the air, enveloping the surroundings in an eerie silence.  

“This is…!”  

“No way!”  

Fedelian and Cassis were overtaken by shock. Even the Dragoonian, for all his composure, widened his eyes in disbelief.  

“Man Sang Yeo Ui (Ten Thousand Phenomena, As I Will It).”  

The mana surrounding Yohan began to whirl, a tempest of power gathering at his core. The ambient mana in the air was drawn toward him, and every ripple of energy in the vicinity was suppressed. The world itself seemed to hold its breath, falling utterly silent.  

“—!”  

“–!”  

Fedelian and Cassis shouted something as they launched themselves forward, their feet pounding against the ground.  

“In this space formed by my mind, my will shall reign supreme.”  

Before they could reach him, a pitch-black shadow descended from the heavens, swallowing the entire area in its embrace.