The gentle melody reached the ears of the two individuals who found themselves at a loss for words.
The man, deeply engrossed in playing his musical instrument, seemed completely unaware of their presence. Suddenly, he quickened the tempo.
As the music became more intense, the pool of blood at their feet splashed, creating substantial ripples that synchronized with the rhythm.
It felt peculiar to simply stand there and witness such an indifferent demeanor.
Killian let out a growl, on the verge of transforming into a wolf, but Lennok intervened, gripping his shoulder and preventing him from doing so.
After the not-so-brief performance, the man slowly lowered his violin and rose to his feet.
“I don’t like working.”
“…….”
“I’m only working overtime because the boss asked me to… But I need pleasures like this to breathe.”
Despite his suit, he had a slender frame, and his complexion was unusually pale.
He possessed an ordinary countenance, devoid of any indication of strength or heroism.
Nevertheless, the subtle magical aura emanating from him was undeniably genuine.
Killian remained on edge, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the man, while Lennok shifted his attention to the grim scene that had unfolded around him.
Lifeless bodies, completely drained of their blood.
Bloodstains that extended across the ground like a gruesome carpet.
And the ‘blood vessels,’ eerily intact, hanging from the ceiling.
There was only one conceivable conclusion regarding the identity of the individual to whom these three pieces of evidence pointed.
“It’s no wonder blood wizards aren’t treated well in this city.” Lennok remarked.
“Who would want to deal with you if you kill people like this every time you fight?”
“That’s not entirely wrong.” the young man chuckled and courteously bowed. “It’s my first time meeting you face-to-face. I’m Avid. Avid Yonsen.”
Lennok took a step forward, his stiff shoulders requiring some relief.
“You feel a bit different from the blood wizards I knew in District 44. Are you from a completely different faction?”
“I’d rather you not compare me to those boring fools.” Avid laughed. “They don’t deserve to use this magnificent magic, just scrounging by, watching the city’s mood.”
Lennok shared his sentiments, silently noting that Avid appeared far more sinister than the blood wizard boy he had known, Ryan Aiter. Unlike Ryan, who had relied solely on his blood and lifespan, Avid now seemed nothing short of a murderer.
“Having the power to turn trash into fuel, yet still doing detective work… It’s disgusting. Don’t you think?”
“Well. Without such people, all the blood wizards in this city might have been exterminated long ago.” Lennok responded with indifference.
“……”
“Do you want to end up like the necromancers?”
Dark magic and blood magic—both disciplines had managed to survive in the city by mitigating their inherent cruelty and gaining public acceptance. In contrast, necromancers, who persisted in using others’ bodies without consent, were considered taboo in Vulcan and beyond. Even Avid’s ability to practice blood magic had been made possible by those who had compromised with reality and adhered to the city’s regulations. However, the massacre he had just committed appeared to be an irredeemable act.
Avid shook his head. “Not at all. The shadows of Vulcan are much deeper and darker than you think. Our cartel’s fences are stronger and more beautiful than yours.”
He stretched his arms wide, lifting his head with an air of someone intoxicated by his own words. “We have our own order. Under these clouded skies, we are all free. Because!”
“Why?” Lennok inquired.
“Because we have power.”
A moment of silence enveloped them. The smile on the young man’s pale face grew wider.
“A world more merciful to the deserving than any other. I love this world so much.”
“Hmm.”
Lennok had believed Avid was more rational than Girard, but now it appeared that he was merely a different shade of madness.
No matter how optimistic he had been, engaging in a normal conversation seemed utterly impossible.
Reflecting on the horror he had witnessed in the factory, it had been an impossibility from the very beginning.
“I’ve heard the rough story from Girard.” Lennok began, slowly gathering his mana as he spoke. “To cover up the massive business transfers within the cartel, you chose us as the sacrifice.”
“Ho,” Avid chuckled. “That bat already blabbered that far?”
Lennok paid no heed to his question and pressed on. “Frankly, I thought constructive dialogue was possible here. I thought you, having betrayed the cartel, would want to silence me through a deal.”
“…….”
“But I was wrong.” Lennok admitted.
His gaze shifted to the bodies hanging upside down from the ceiling. He had known that this moment would come, but the intention behind displaying the bodies in such a macabre manner was unmistakable.
“You just planned to silence me completely.”
“Brilliant.” Avid applauded with a double clap. “You’re absolutely right.”
Ziiing!!
In that very instant, dozens of red laser pointers converged on Lennok’s slender form. Simultaneously, figures armed with an array of weapons materialized behind Killian. The workshop was now filled with dozens of formidable magical presences.
It was evident that everyone assembled here was a highly skilled mana user. Lennok’s eyes faintly flickered; as a wizard himself, he could keenly sense it. It wasn’t just a display of individual strength; it was as though they shared a collective consciousness, moving in perfect harmony.
At the heart of this eerie coordination stood undoubtedly…
“Let me introduce myself again.” Avid declared. “Avid Yonsen. A contract employee at the cartel, serving as an executive director and leading the execution squad under President McQueen.”
As he stepped forward, loosening his hands, Avid smirked at Lennok. “There are two things to handle with McQueen’s approval today. First is securing Girard Ojette. And the second is…”
Whoosh!!
From the blood puddle behind Avid, a colossal whirlpool surged. The vortex shattered the workshop’s roof, propelling it into the sky, while rain cascaded down from the overcast heavens.
Kwaah!!
“Executing the arrogant wizard,” Avid concluded, having approached Lennok.
“Perfect weather for dying, isn’t it?”
As if they had been waiting for this precise moment, the two wizards stood drenched in the downpour. Lennok didn’t bother creating a shield to fend off the rain; instead, he gazed silently at the sky. The cigarette in his mouth was completely soaked, extinguished.
“Before we do what we must, let me ask one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Tell me the location of the magic core.” Lennok demanded. “Then I’ll tell you where Girard is.”
“That sort of thing… after tearing off your limbs, you’ll cry it out anyway…” Avid replied with a laugh. “But that’s not a difficult request to grant.”
With a gesture, several organization members hidden in the rain revealed themselves and opened a door at the back of the workshop.
The engine room, responsible for the entire factory’s production, lay before them.
Inside, where the core was typically installed, the space had been dissected, exposing the designated spot. There, the magic core gleamed with brilliant radiance.
It rested within the grasp of a towering werewolf, towering over 2 meters in height.
The werewolf flashed a wicked grin. “Caught me?”
“……”
Avid’s expression faded from his face, and in unison, the organization members surrounding Killian swung their blades.
Sssssh!!
Instead of witnessing Killian’s body being torn asunder, scattering into pieces, it transformed into useless smoke and dissipated.
Only then did Avid, realizing that he had been outwitted from beginning to end, erupt in anger. “This bastard dared to deceive meee!!!”
Tatatatatatat!!
The dozens of laser pointers affixed to Lennok’s body vanished in an instant.
Before he could even draw a breath, hundreds of bullets assumed their places.
These bullets were coated in potent magic and concentrated firepower, spiraling down and shooting forth in a straight trajectory.
Outside the production workshop, flashes of light streaked through the air as a hail of bullets descended upon Lennok.
Even in his blind fury, Avid made no missteps.
At this point, killing Lennok took precedence over the magic core now secured by Killian. After all, the magic core was merely a spoil of war; the primary objective was to defeat Lennok and extract Girard’s whereabouts from him.
However, in that split-second, the magic Lennok had unleashed into the sky, along with his unmistakable intent, now rushed back toward the earth.
What he sought was lightning, and he held a will that outpaced all others.
The lightning that descended from the stormy heavens radiated a blindingly bright white.
Electromagic transmutation.
[White Fall (白落)]
In that fleeting moment, Lennok’s shield emitted a brilliant blue glow, intercepting the onslaught of bullets. Simultaneously, a column of white light descended amidst the pouring rain.
At the same instant, Lennok, who held all that magical energy in one hand, twisted his wrist and whispered. “Facile Displacement (易轉移).”
In that precise moment, within his thoroughly drenched cardigan, the compassion of the archangel burst forth.
Upon the wings, Davi abruptly materialized, dazzlingly displaying his diminutive form.
Lennok, who had intuitively harnessed the potent transference ability imbued within the Compassion of Archangel, immediately channeled that formidable power.
He employed Davi’s computational prowess to overload the artifact with [Union of Azure Whispers (聯靑)].
The arcane magic that had once obliterated the Arasha expedition team in an instant now reversed its course, targeting the Compassion of Archangel.
The essence of Union of Azure Whispers lay in overloading artifacts through the application of magic.
In essence, it meant forcibly stimulating the power source to extract abilities that exceeded the artifact’s inherent limits.
Stepping into a new realm, Lennok pushed the relic’s capabilities beyond their boundaries with his heightened intuition.
All the calculations had been meticulously executed.
The searing-hot compassion of the archangel, released from Lennok’s grasp, spun in mid-air, emitting radiant white waves.
Woooooong!!!
All the bullets hurtling toward Lennok and the raindrops plummeting from the sky vanished in an instant.
With these ‘mediums’ in hand, he scattered them at random within a 300-meter radius, utilizing the potent algorithm-generated random calculations facilitated by Davi.
[Electrofield Resonance (電圍共鳴)]
[Recurrent Attainment (廻踐)]
Crackle…!
The white lightning, originally descending to the ground, now coursed along with the pouring rain, branching and spraying in every direction along with the hundreds of bullets.
The moment the white current, divided from the lightning, began to rotate counterclockwise, it swept across the factory grounds in a massive arc.
The intense firepower, capable of instantly vaporizing humans, transformed into a colossal wave that crashed back upon the cartel’s execution squad members.
The white wave spun, forming an enormous hemispherical dome.
Kwaaaaa!!
“Aaaagh!!”
“Huuuh!! Huuaaah!!”
“Director, what’s thisss!!”
The cartel’s execution squad, numbering well over a hundred members, all highly skilled in magic.
They were a superhuman unit meticulously assembled through strict selection criteria, consisting of individuals unhesitant to kill and thoroughly obedient, honed through relentless training.
These killing machines, who had dutifully served under Avid, ingesting regular doses of the serum he had concocted, now screamed and crumpled helplessly.
“This… This is…”
Struggling to muster a whirlpool of blood as a protective barrier, Avid’s lips began to quiver.
The decision to encircle Lennok from a distance and form a firing squad had been a cautious and rational one, based on past experiences. It involved unilateral attacks from concealed locations, denying any opportunity to use magic, and targeting moments of desperation to cut off the breath in one fell swoop—a calculated approach against a wizard.
However, in this atypical environment of pouring rain, Avid’s brief lapse in attention regarding the magic core and his failure to discern Killian’s illusion right before him, along with his miscalculation of Lennok’s exceptionally rapid spellcasting—all these factors converged in a single moment, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred squad members.
Had they individually leveraged their abilities to confront Lennok to their fullest extent, they might have prolonged the battle. However, from Avid’s perspective, oblivious to what Lennok had discovered within himself, it was a decision he could never have made.
Avid’s unfocused gaze shifted toward Lennok. The moment his eyes met the emotionless gaze of the wizard, a shiver ran down his spine, and he averted his gaze.
Lennok, slowly advancing forward, spoke.
“Knowing it would rain, yet you chose such a day.”
“…….”
“Manipulating the weather is inefficient, but using an existing environment isn’t difficult. You must have known I deal with lightning magic, and if you knew that…”
For Lennok, who had flawlessly executed the desired scenario, wielding his unique lightning magic felt as natural as breathing.
Crafting illusions so impeccably precise that even those with magic-enhanced sight couldn’t discern the ruse, he deceived everyone in attendance.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed the mana discharged into the sky into a bolt of white lightning, channeling the transferred energy through the falling raindrops, generating massive waves of scorching heat.
None could evade the torrents of lightning entwined with the pouring rain.
Lennok, his gaze shifting from Avid with his bowed head, surveyed his surroundings.
Killian, the guardian of the magic core, had vanished without a trace.
It appeared that he had successfully made his escape from the factory premises.
While it had been a prearranged plan, Lennok hadn’t anticipated its flawless execution, and he nodded in satisfaction.
The combination of Nick’s badge, which confounded life signals, and Lennok’s intricate illusion manipulation abilities had been pivotal to the success of the operation. Without either of these elements, the mission would have been unfeasible, which was precisely why Lennok had brought Killian along.
With the explosive strength of a werewolf and the endurance typical of therianthropes, he could make his escape from this location faster than any of Lennok’s other companions.
The mission’s success involved diverting the highly volatile magic core, eliminating the cartel’s execution squad, and preventing further harm.
Now, all that remained was to personally sever the right arm of the instigator who had set this chain of events in motion.
Taking a purposeful step forward, Lennok murmured, “McQueen, was it?”
Crackle…!
Blue light emanated from Lennok’s eyes.
“So the president who led this operation was named that.”
Avid, taken aback, his shoulders trembling, slowly raised his head.
“The cartel is a conglomerate of various subsidiaries. Big in size, but famously fragile in unity.”
“…….”
“If I kill you here and offer the betrayal of your organization as a trade to the cartel, I wonder how the chairman will react?”
Observing Avid’s gradual raising of his head, Lennok sported a faint smile.
His adversary was a sixth-level wizard who had reached the stage of converting other people’s blood into magic.
