Chapter 63 : Chapter 63

Chapter 63 - Carelessness Only Brings Heartbreak

A scream choked with pain.

The hunter chased the scent of blood and the malevolence, running through the citadel.

People were preoccupied with looking up at the sky with bewildered expressions.

They didn't notice at all who was running on the roofs or who had just fled.

Just the relief that the meteor had disappeared.

They embraced each other and rejoiced in the sense of daily life and peace that the clean sky brought.

“W-we're alive...!! We're alive!”

“Waaaaah...! Mommy!”

“O-oh my....”

“But where did it suddenly disappear to...? Were we possessed by something unreal....”

The reason for dropping the meteor.

It was to distance the audience from the stage.

To carry out a perfect murder drama in the chaotic city of the citadel, thousands of eyes were drawn to the sky.

That diversion of attention was a great success.

Judging by how people still hadn't escaped their confusion.

But.

“...Crazy bastard.”

The culprit of the chaos had escaped.

He had disappeared, leaving behind only one leg that had been grotesquely torn off.

A wound on the remaining leg that looked like a gunshot.

The wound was from the piercing blood and was not as large as I thought.

“The reason he had to tear off his leg up to the thigh must be this.”

The hunter observed the traces like a professional habit.

“Abnormally protruding blood vessels from the wound. The Fifth Son's power-infused blood merged with the original blood, causing some kind of problem.”

He looked around the leg.

To see if there were any traces of connected blood.

But the opponent was a meticulous one.

So much so as to use a meteor to isolate the assassination from the audience and bury it.

“Further pursuit will be difficult.”

There were no bloodstains and no scattered magic.

In the end, he returned to the plaza with only the leg secured.

“This was all there was.”

“Hmm.”

The Youngest Son checked the wound spreading on the leg.

“It's clearly blood that separated from the main body. Yet that blood attacked the main body. Isn't it strange?”

“......”

“Strange, um. It is.”

Thank you, Kio.

Thanks to him, the Youngest Son could continue speaking without being awkward.

“The blood exposed to my magic began to change the main body's normal blood to be like itself. Like a Plague Demon.”

“Is that why he cut off his leg? So the blood wouldn't completely assimilate?”

“Yes. It's a simplistic idea, but cutting it off is the most effective.”

“What would have happened if it had assimilated...?”

“What about you?”

I asked Kio a question in return.

“What happens when your magic completely assimilates with a tree?”

“...I can move that tree as if it were my own body.”

“It would be the same for me. Though it's still in the realm of speculation.”

“Hah.”

Halsin let out a scoff.

Noble of Blood. Noble. He'd heard the words many times.

But that power was truly so.

It subjugated and coerced less noble blood, forcing it to its knees.

It was aristocratic.

“So, Halsin.”

While he was lost in thought, the Youngest Son's voice cut in.

“Even if your father-son relationship hasn't fully recovered, does this mean you agree to enter my fence?”

“...How did you figure out that this child and I are father and son?”

“Magic Assimilators are often hereditary. That's the first reason, and the second reason is in your faces.”

The two men looked at each other at the same time, as if it were a lie.

The two faces reflected in each other's pupils.

They were two peas in a pod.

“Does that answer your question?”

“...I understand, for now. But I have no intention of laying down my life for you.”

“It's a relationship of a deal, then.”

Halsin nodded slightly.

For the first time in his life as a vampire hunter.

He completely gave up on the vampire he had marked as prey.

Because something more important was beside him.

However, the father and son were still in an awkward and uncomfortable relationship.

That's why the quest completion message didn't appear either.

‘I did receive the special reward first, but to bring the Magic Assimilators in as full-fledged forces, it's right to clear the hidden quest.’

Then I need to resolve the resentment between the two.

‘And at the same time, I have to resolve it with Eclipse.’

It was a moment that required killing two birds with one stone.

TEOK─

I abandoned the leg and clasped my hands behind my back.

Thanks to the sunglasses, the sunlight wasn't bothersome now.

With his hands leisurely clasped behind his back, he turned his body.

“Follow me. First, we need to formulate a plan.”

In truth, the plan was all set.

The problem was that this plan looked like another cliff in the eyes of others.

“They became complacent and made a mistake. We must not miss this opportunity.”

Halsin and Kio looked at each other before following the Youngest Son.

***

The Gold Mask returned to her family.

With one leg given to the enemy.

“......”

Moirena looked grimly at the result her trusted vassal had brought.

“...I apologize. I never imagined all my moves would be blocked.”

“Who goes to a fight expecting to lose?”

Her voice was calm.

But it was impossible to know if her face was also calm.

For no one in this world could see her true face.

That was why she was anxious and came prepared to offer her life.

With the thought of dying at the Family Head's hands if she had to, she stood here after roughly staunching the bleeding from her severed leg.

Moirena's eyes scanned her surroundings.

“Is this truly. The form of the Fifth Son.”

“That is, correct.”

Even the speaker's voice broke, finding it hard to believe.

The gorge had erased its own form at some point and visualized the caster's eyewitness account.

The image of the Youngest Son, created by illusion, covered all sides.

“That child Jamie. There was a reason he never lost interest.”

She stared intently at the illusion.

Various images of the Youngest Son came into view.

Him fighting with the Magic Sword.

Him sending a scornful smile.

The sudden flying bullet of blood and the pierced leg. The immense pain that spread simultaneously.

The leg was cut off like that.

“Fifth Son.... So you were a person of this caliber.”

She stared at the bloodshot eyes in the illusion.

Depending on the caster's proficiency, an illusion imitates reality and becomes endlessly similar.

It was as if the person known as the Youngest Son was really in front of her.

But it was strange.

This was clearly an illusion that had faithfully reproduced reality.

“That reality feels like an illusion.”

The Fifth Son, who had not even been an obstacle, had grown into an enemy that could not be underestimated in an instant.

He committed all sorts of eccentric acts, but he succeeded in those acts time and again, increasing his weight class to an absurd degree.

He added the weight of an Associate Councilor to the citadel's unchanged power structure and normalized a demonic realm.

And that was none other than Eclipse.

The Family Head would also be extremely pleased.

Was this reality?

Or a terrible illusion?

She couldn't believe anything.

“Gold Mask. Can Jamie obtain information about the incident in the citadel?”

“I set it up so that only the people of D-District could see the meteor. But it's not impossible if the Fourth Son uses the councilors under his command.”

“You did it splendidly.”

“I apologize.... My plan was to lay low in D-District and, upon discovering the Fifth Son, divert people's attention to quickly handle the matter.”

“You talk too much. You were careless, and things happened. That's all.”

She could no longer make excuses and bowed her head deeply.

But it wasn't that she didn't understand the Gold Mask.

“As Mystics settled as an in-law family of Millesdusk, the number of times you had to step up decreased significantly. I understand you miss those glamorous days.”

“N-no, that's not it.”

“I understand you want to show off your skills, but the situation has become difficult.”

“If the Fourth Son holds me responsible, I will volunteer my head. Then the Fourth Son will also appease his anger.”

“You still don't get it. The problem isn't that child Jamie.”

“...Then...?”

The Mystics Family Head's index finger pointed to the area.

The surroundings were all filled with the image of the Youngest Son.

“We are no longer the Mystics, the in-law family of Millesdusk. We are the Mystics, the illusionist family of the East. Do you still not understand this difference?”

“...!”

They could not receive Millesdusk's protection from the Youngest Son's attacks.

Naturally, they could not draw on Millesdusk's power either.

Mystics, which had been raising just one baby bird under the safe nest of Millesdusk, had to prepare for war.

Of course, the target was the Youngest Son.

But being complacent and calling him the youngest was synonymous with saying they wanted to perish.

“From now on, we must see the Fifth Son as a proper blood relative. We have essentially declared war on that direct blood relative.”

In fact, it was the quietest declaration of war.

Because it was a fight no one would know about except for the parties involved.

Moreover, the Youngest Son had no intention of letting the whole world know about this fight.

“The Fifth Son's situation is similar to ours. If this matter reaches Jamie's ears, he'll have to wage war with the Fourth Son's faction as well.”

It was a situation best handled quietly by both sides.

“Given the circumstances. We, who are under Jamie's protection, will move first.”

“Are you planning to attack Eclipse...?”

“A siege is not a clandestine struggle. Besides, Eclipse is not complete enough to warrant a siege.”

“I heard he was making some kind of domain.... Is that even possible?”

“Well. It doesn't matter if it's possible or not. Because we'll make it impossible.”

A domain is a single, giant structure.

A structure that sways if even one pillar is removed.

And Mystics would aim for the most important of those pillars: the construction materials.

“Please give the order.”

The Gold Mask lowered her body as much as possible on her one remaining leg.

“I will pass the details to the Silver Mask and Bronze Mask. For now, focus on your recovery.”

“...Understood.”

The Gold Mask shed tears behind her mask.

She had intended to offer her life if she was asked to.

This failure was no ordinary failure.

It was a foolish result born purely of arrogance.

Compared to her time on the front lines, it had been a boring life of doing nothing but trivial tasks.

She might have naturally lost her qualification as one of the three trusted vassals representing Mystics.

And yet, the Family Head had entrusted her with a task.

That grace was too great.

CLOP─ CLOP─

She mounted a horse to move around.

The place where her leg should be felt unusually empty.

“When we next meet, I will take your leg too.”

That would be reality, not an illusion.

The Gold Mask made a firm resolve again and again as she moved away.

Moirena watched her back quietly.

She had no intention of abandoning her.

In a situation on the verge of a clandestine struggle, any force was precious.

What she was thinking about was how to use her, who had lost a leg.

“Should I ask Silver Mask to give her a piggyback ride?”

If the two were combined(?), wouldn't their combat power double and their mobility be reinforced?

An important virtue of an illusionist.

Free thinking.

It brought an unimaginable accident to certain individuals within the family.

***

We returned to Edwin's office.

D-District was gradually regaining its calm thanks to his swift handling of the situation.

To explain the confusion as an Associate Councilor, Edwin had temporarily left for Pandemonium Hall.

In Edwin's office, without Edwin, sat Jubel and the Youngest Son, Halsin, and Kio.

“A worker like Kio almost died in a place like that. I should have sent him to Eclipse with Josephine.”

“Then the father-son reunion would have been difficult.”

“...Ah. These two.”

Jubel understood without a lengthy explanation.

There was no need to be particularly interested, and being interested wouldn't make him any money.

What he needed to be interested in now was the definite possibility of loss that had arisen.

“Mystics will target Eclipse.”

“They won't target it openly, though.”

“That's what makes it even more troublesome. Since we have to do the same.”

“For now, I'll identify what Eclipse might be targeted for and prepare countermeasures with Marvin.”

Jubel would focus on defense.

Conversely, the Youngest Son focused on offense.

“Then I'll have to stop Mystics' offensive.”

“Do you have a sharp plan?”

“I do.”

Jubel nodded at that.

The Physicians' Council had also collapsed before his plan without being able to lift a finger.

Mystics was much larger than the Physicians' Council, but now the Youngest Son had also grown much larger.

The situation had not changed.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“Jubel, focus on what you just said. The ones who need to help me are these two here.”

The two men's heads turned simultaneously.

They seemed to be waiting for a reason, but the reason was obvious.

“We are going to find the Forest Witch.”

“...!”

“......”

The son was startled, and the father fell silent.

The former had run away from his mother, and the latter was a being he didn't even know was his wife.

“The Forest Witch will fight Mystics on our behalf.”

Halsin asked curtly.

“And you think the Forest Witch will do that.”

“Life is unpredictable. Just like you, who were trapped in a mansion's basement until yesterday, are sitting here.”

But then, a random question came to mind.

“Halsin. Where is Lubosch.”

“Two vampires took him.”

“...What?”

“Didn't you know? They took him away as naturally as if it were arranged. It seems it was a kidnapping.”

The hunter pointed out the window.

“They dragged him in that direction.”

“......”

I let out a sigh.

“You two prepare until I return. If you need anything, tell Jubel.”

Leaving only those words, I jumped out the window once again.

In search of the lost multi-purpose porter.

I certainly intended to.

THWACK─!

“Keoheok...!!”

The adventure ended as soon as it began.

“Was he abandoned?”

“C-could you please get off me first...?”

“He seems to be in his right mind.”

“F-f-first, could you please get off my stomach for a bit....”

I was about to get off anyway.

But something red and brilliant caught my bloodshot eyes.

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