After a couple of seconds, Conny lost consciousness.
However, Shang didn't kill her.
"Good work," Jerald said.
Shang looked at Jerald. "Are you sure she was lying?" he said.
"I've been in this political game for long enough, and I can feel when someone is being deceptive."
"90% of what she said was probably the truth, and there probably is a Magic Circle in there with a lot of power."
"However, I think that she uttered two lies."
"Detonating an entire city would be too risky and unbelievable. It would be very difficult to frame us for the destruction. After all, we would have no reason to. The common people might believe it, but the experienced Mages wouldn't believe it. They would know that all of this seems suspicious."
"Because of that, I'm certain she lied about what manner of Magic Circle is in there."
"I don't think it's a large-scale explosion, but a focused release of destructive energy."
"The Council has many ways to gather information, and they probably also know that you have some sort of power that helps you in dealing with Magic."
"And exactly that is what they bet on."
"They want you to enter since you would seem to be the best person for the job."
"Their plan wasn't to frame us but to kill you."
"They know that you are the most important piece in this war. If you die, we have no chance of winning the normal way."
"The second point where she lied is probably her trust in the Council."
"I'm certain that what she said about her family is true, but I think she didn't bet on us. Instead, she trusts the Council to let her family live after she accomplished her mission."
"You would enter the city, go to the Magic Circle, and she would detonate it remotely."
"Her family would be safe, and she would have accomplished her mission."
Shang took a deep breath.
This plan was truly devious.
Even he had fallen for it.
He would have entered the city to deactivate the Magic Circle, but he would have died during the process.
Luckily, Jerald was very experienced in these sorts of things.
"Of course, I could also be wrong, but I doubt it," Jerald said.
A second later, Jerald cast a Spell, and some Natural Mana entered Conny's head.
"This will ensure that she stays unconscious during all of this."
Then, Jerald took out the golden crystal again. "Shang, please enter the city."
Shang knew what Jerald was planning, and he slowly walked to the city.
The golden crystal activated again and recorded Shang entering the city.
After that, Jerald deactivated the crystal again.
Then, he smirked as he put the scene he had just recorded between when Shang had landed and when he approached them.
Like this, it would look like Shang landed, entered the city, came out, and approached them.
Jerald entered the city together with Shang.
He wasn't supposed to get involved, but if the Council decided to intervene softly by creating a powerful Magic Circle, he would also softly intervene by accompanying Shang.
The two of them reached the house under which the Magic Circle was located and got rid of the house.
A couple of seconds later, several Magic Circles were revealed, and when Jerald saw them, he smirked.
"Abyss Cometh," Jerald said. "That's the Spell that has been stored here. It's one of Susan's most powerful offensive Spells."
"Even I would lose nearly 70% of my Mana if it hit me."
This meant that Shang would die without a doubt.
His armor didn't matter against such a powerful Spell.
"But it seems like I was right," Jerald said. "Abyss Cometh is a very powerful Spell, but it only encompasses a very small area."
"Want me to deactivate it?" Shang asked.
Jerald looked back at the distant warriors.
A couple of seconds later, the warriors left until they were outside Jerald's Spirit Sense.
"I told them that the specifics of your power need to remain confidential," Jerald said.
"I'm 80% sure that you can deal with the Magic Circle, but 80% is lower than 100%, right?" Jerald said with a smirk.
Then, Jerald activated Mana Shield.
"Just wait here."
Jerald slowly floated towards the Magic Circle as Shang watched, and when he was just ten meters away from it…
TCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
An intense, black flame shot out of the ground and encompassed the surrounding 15 meters. It sounded shrill and ethereal.
In a way, it sounded like the ghost of a huge circular saw cutting through metal.
After just half a second, the black fire vanished, and Jerald was revealed.
"Very powerful," he said. "It actually managed to consume 80% of my Mana."
"Seems like Susan has been working on her Darkness Concepts."
The surrounding 15 meters had vanished, but the house on top of the Magic Circle had been wide enough that no other house had been affected by it.
Jerald floated back and landed beside Shang. "You got rid of the Magic Circle," he said.
Shang nodded.
After that, the two of them turned around and exited the city again.
They stopped beside the unconscious Conny, and Jerald woke her up.
Conny slowly regained consciousness, and her eyes opened in shock and horror.
She immediately jumped up, looked at her surroundings, and activated Mana Shield.
Then, she noticed that her connection to the Magic Circle had been broken, and her eyes opened in horror.
She immediately noticed that Shang was beside her, and pure terror and sorrow entered her eyes.
She had failed!
Her family!
No!
"Count Sword dealt with the Magic Array," Jerald said with a smirk. "Aren't you happy?"
Conny only looked with shock and horror at Jerald.
She could tell by his smirk that he knew exactly what her real plan was.
"It seems like you have no other choice but to trust me now," Jerald said. "After all, we have the recording, and the tragic retelling of your story will be distributed over the entire Kingdom."
"Even the Council will believe that you have betrayed them."
Conny couldn't formulate a proper thought.
"For the record, I do believe the thing about your family," Jerald said, "And I do believe that you have accepted this mission for their sake."
"But the recording will do the trick. The Council can't afford to kill your family like this, even if they believe that you have betrayed them."
"Even more, if you were to run to the Council and tell them about the truth, they would just kill you and frame it on me."
"But I don't need to kill you."
"After all, I am the only person that can reunite you with your family."
"You're stuck with me now if you like it or not," Jerald said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
