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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Kara, the next head of the Levian family, recalled those who had to be killed.
No matter how much he deliberated, he couldn’t think of sparing the members of Berzet who were bound to the Levian family through the
“Death Pact.”
All considerations led to the conclusion that they must be killed.
Ten people with awakened bloodline abilities of Levian.
The physical and mental suffering they had endured for over a hundred years was not light enough to grant mercy just because the perpetrator had died.
Kara was certain that all nine members, including himself, would share the same thought.
Nevertheless, confirmation was necessary. Kara bowed deeply toward Yuma.
“I will go for a moment.”
“Understood.”
Kara rushed out to the back.
It was to ask for the opinions of the other bloodline awakened members.
Yuma nodded.
Yuma looked again at the Great Demon King Lilith standing alongside him.
“Besides demons, are there other races that could influence the middle realm? I mean similar to the invasion from the demon realm.”
Lilith answered more quickly than expected.
“The Celestial Realm.”
Lilith continued.
“The Celestial Realm certainly exists. Although it hasn’t revealed its presence to the world for thousands of years, it definitely exists. There are few beings even in the demon realm who truly know about those beings called the celestials.”
Celestial Realm.
That was a place Yuma had never heard of in “Loop Blood.”
Yuma listened attentively to Lilith’s words.
“Apostles. The Celestial Realm is where apostles are created. Apostles are said to be beings created to kill gods.”
Yuma immediately voiced his question.
“…Beings created to kill gods? Aren’t apostles beings employed by gods?”
“In the Celestial Realm, instead of gods, there is the Celestial Lord. And the reason the Celestial Lord rules the Celestial Realm is not for its prosperity. It exists solely to serve as the supervisory manager responsible for overseeing the middle realm and the divine realm. The angel I met when I was a Demon King was like that. Unlike the name ‘angel,’ he came abruptly to the demon realm and beat demons to death, which was quite impressively memorable.”
From Lilith’s words, Yuma learned what the role of the Celestial Realm and angels was.
‘Perhaps there’s a reason why they’re keeping quiet now.’
Yuma realized that there was still much he didn’t know about this world.
As Yuma organized in his mind the information he had heard about the Celestial Realm, Kara quickly approached from behind.
Kara spoke to Yuma with a hardened face.
“Nine bloodline awakened members with imprinting abilities… we’ve gathered all opinions.”
Yuma slowly nodded at Kara’s words.
“Yes, tell me.”
“Everyone agreed to kill the nine direct bloodline members of Berzet.”
The opinions of the imprinting bloodline family of Levian were all united.
To completely annihilate the direct bloodlines of Berzet.
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Cloney, a fifteen-year-old magician with black hair and golden eyes, was at the Red Magic Tower.
To be precise, she was training in magic at the “Magic Pillar” inside the Red Magic Tower.
She was training inside “Catecheo,” a magic spire that contained the concept of a pseudo “Akashic Record” developed by Eldrie, the Red Tower Master.
Catecheo was a staircase.
A staircase where one gradually grew and moved forward.
The Red Tower Master, Eldrie, was closely observing Cloney who was standing at the eighth step.
To be exact, he was looking at Cloney depicted in the projection window that displayed the interior of Catecheo.
‘Genius.’
Even to himself, who had been hailed as a genius from a very young age, Cloney clearly belonged to the category of geniuses.
The girl, who had confessed to leaping over two steps of the circle in just half a year, was now trying to cross the line of ascension once more.
‘No magician has climbed these stairs so quickly.’
Even he, who had consistently been called a genius since the age of nine, took at least four days to climb one step of this Catecheo.
But Cloney climbed one step in a day at most, and at her fastest, she defeated her “doppelganger” on the step above and ascended in an instant.
The method of climbing the stairs was simple.
To discover the magical principle embodied by the “doppelganger” materialized on the step above, and to defeat that version of oneself.
Each of these long steps couldn’t possibly represent a circle.
Tiny achievements.
Dust-like achievements.
The steps were divided by such slight differences in achievement.
But the significance of “dust-like knowledge” for a magician was never shallow.
This was because even a tiny trick or technique could sometimes completely overturn the landscape of magic.
Regardless of whether there was one more circle or not, the knack added when using magic.
Just realizing that one thing could double the casting speed, or increase the attack power of magic, or widen its range.
Crackle… crackle
As Cloney stepped onto the ninth step, a girl stood on the tenth step.
A girl who looked exactly like her.
Cloney looked at that girl.
She had to look similar.
It was herself standing there.
A Cloney who had grown just a bit more than the current Cloney.
A slightly stronger Cloney.
Cloney with very calm eyes like the original Cloney, raised her right hand holding a brown magic wand.
Crackle—!
The girl’s right hand moved quickly.
Lightning rose from the drawn magic.
The created lightning distorted the air and struck down toward Cloney.
Cloney observed the formula of the lightning magic performed by the girl.
And she saw through it.
She completely interpreted the process of drawing the magic formula.
She also took a direct hit from the lightning magic on her body.
“…Urgh!”
Lightning coursing throughout her entire body.
It flowed through her whole body. Cloney endured the pain.
The challenger of this Spire could choose the difficulty level they would face.
And among the choices, there was an option where one didn’t have to experience pain.
But Cloney chose the option where she would feel at least some pain.
She believed that if she experienced pain, the probability of gaining enlightenment would increase.
Cloney looked at the girl on the tenth step who could be called her doppelganger or her future.
She had climbed the ninth step.
And she thanked all the doppelgangers that had been on these climbed steps.
All the Cloneys who had been on the nine steps.
They cast attacks created by combining the magical knowledge of the Akashic Record inputted into Catecheo and the original genius Cloney.
Cloney could vaguely guess how the Cloney on the 10th floor had increased the density of the lightning magic nearly twofold.
Cloney trusted her investigative eye.
The investigative eye that could visually confirm the magic circuit flowing through magic.
‘—I need to overlap the magic formulas.’
Cloney’s current circle was the 6th circle.
She could definitely use formula overlapping for the 3rd circle magic [Call of Lightning] that the illusory Cloney before her had used.
Cloney raised her brown wand and performed the formula.
Blue magical light rose in Cloney’s golden eyes.
Originally a “single layer” one-dimensional magic formula.
Cloney drew that magic formula in two layers.
Above the magic formula created with a blue frame was another layer of magic formula.
‘Overlapping formula.’
It wasn’t using magic twice.
It was a single use of magic with higher density.
[Call of Lightning] sent down a clear lightning bolt over the head of Cloney who stood on the tenth step.
Kraaaaang!
The body of the 10th step Cloney, who had been looking at the real Cloney with an expressionless face, was engulfed in blue lightning.
And it evaporated without a trace.
Cloney moved forward.
To grow.
There was no time to hesitate.
The review of the enlightenment was already rapidly taking place in her mind.
‘I was left behind.’
The person Yuma chose to enter the demon realm with was not herself, but big sister Bell.
Yuma said he chose Bell because he needed a guard.
And Bell didn’t think that Yuma’s words were false.
Literally, he needed someone like a bodyguard.
And among Yuma’s companions, Bell was indeed the person who was optimized for that.
But what if she had been capable of close combat and possessed the same combat power as Bell?
Would Bell still have been chosen?
Probably not.
Even if that were the case, Yuma’s time to consider would have been a bit longer.
Next time, she didn’t want to give up her place so easily.
Cloney’s golden eyes shone.
And she took a step forward without hesitation.
Swoosh!
Cloney ascended to the tenth step, and a girl with an identical form to Cloney appeared on the eleventh step.
Cloney desired growth.
As rapid a growth as possible.
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Yuma hurried his steps while listening to Great Demon King Lilith’s words beside him.
Lilith seemed to have recalled a bit more about the Celestial Realm and celestials, and began to tell more stories next to Yuma.
“Among the angels, I heard there are also those who take humans who have awakened the power of 1st rank… by human standards, Grand Master was it? Anyway, those who have awakened such power on their own, they take them to the Celestial Realm and make them stronger. Of course, it’s obvious they’ll make them stronger through some artificial method, so even if they’ve pierced through the pinnacle as humans, they probably wouldn’t be normal humans anymore.”
Yuma tilted his head.
“What does it mean to not be a normal human, to what extent?”
Lilith thought for a moment before answering.
“Literally, there’s a high possibility of not being human. For starters, the probability of losing one’s self is high.”
After hearing those words, Yuma excluded the Celestial Realm from places that could help Bell and Cloney.
‘The problem is time.’
Innate genius.
And endless effort.
Both Cloney and Bell possessed these two qualities.
Yuma was certain that given enough time, both of them could transcend the limits of the human species and see the end of the fields of swordsmanship and magic.
“We have arrived.”
Lilith’s subordinate said.
And those words made Yuma focus on the current situation for now.
A massive fortress came into view for Lilith, Yuma, and Bell.
Numerous ribs were extended in a form of a peak.
The upper body of a giant magic dragon.
Only the strong bones remained after the skin had disappeared.
Magic had been cast on those bones to form a permanent fortress.
Yuma adjusted his grip on the flail in his hand.
And looked at Lilith.
“I’ll open the path, so make sure Levian can eliminate them with their own hands.”
Lilith nodded greatly.
“Understood.”
The faithful hounds of the deceased Berzet blocked Yuma, who was advancing alone at the front.
“We must protect the great bloodline!”
Berzet’s faithful hounds rushed toward Yuma without hesitation.
Black chains surged toward Yuma.
Yuma swung the flail in his right hand to deflect those iron chains.
Kaaaaang!!!
A golden circular impact exploded.
Swoooosh—!
The iron chains that reversed course extended like blades and mercilessly cut through the upper bodies of the demons.
The upper bodies of more than a dozen demons tilted at an angle.
Yuma opened the path like that, and Great Demon King Lilith strongly pressed the ground with her right foot, igniting red fearful flames.
“…Has, has the army of the Great Demon King Lilith’s side really arrived?”
Zargos, Berzet’s first son with navy blue hair and golden eyes, trembled and stared at Rohit, the right arm of his dead father, who was next to him.
Rohit couldn’t give any answer and could only assume a battle stance.
Whoooosh!!
The magic dragon defensive fortress protecting Berzet’s direct bloodline burned away from Lilith’s fearful flames.
The veil was completely lifted.
Lilith looked over her subordinates lined up on both sides, then jerked her chin toward Berzet’s direct descendants.
“Make them all kneel and subdue them.”
The battle was heading toward its final act.
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