Caelum’s Preparation (2)

Caelum closed and opened his eyes against the bright light stabbing them. The surrounding scenery was no longer the cloud-top castle where he had been moments before.

Having lived long as a representative, Caelum felt he could tell where he was just by looking around.

“Is this… should I call it a coincidence? Near the dungeon I arranged for my representative… heh heh.”

When he considered cases where he was the representative, entering the Garden of Gods usually meant staying for at least an hour.

The gods as a race didn’t send out their representatives the moment they entered the Garden of Gods.

So it would take roughly an hour or more…

After sorting his thoughts quickly, Caelum’s divine form vanished, leaving only white snowflakes swirling where he had stood.

Those guarding the entrance to Kim Han’s mansion were the elders of the magic tower.

It was hard to imagine someone of elder rank at the magic tower taking gate duty, but this was not coerced; these elders had volunteered.

An elder of the magic tower knew what their tower lord had done, and so they knew better than anyone how great the debt they owed Kim Han was.

So they took on the main gate guard duty to repay, even in small part, an unrepayable debt, and while on watch they spread their mana widely to prepare for any contingency.

Like the situation unfolding now.

“Who goes there!”

…Alarm… Highest alert! Communications… enemy intrusion!

One elder immediately cast alarm and defensive spells, while another mage thrust his staff forward, preparing offensive magic.

A presence that made hands tremble just to look at—power unlike anything felt even from the tower lord.

It was similar to that distant, faint terror felt when Kim Han and the one called Master sparred.

“Oh my, oh my. I intended to handle this quietly, but it’s gotten noisy.”

The handsome man with teal hair looked quite excited, even reckless—smiling as he gave the elder mages time to prepare their spells.

“Designate area. Fire Breath—!!”

“Limit range. Wind Cannon—!!”

“Oho? Fire and wind… a fine combination.”

Blazing flames met the wind, swelling into a piercing magic that swallowed the man.

Even as the magic consumed him, the man continued explaining and commenting as if he were an insufferable know-it-all.

“I’d prefer Wind Breath with Fire Cannon, or Fire Breath with Wind Breath; pity…?”

But those who had launched the spells ignored his commentary and vanished into the mansion using fly magic.

They obscured sight with fire magic and muffled sound with cannon magic; moreover, the raging mana from those spells hid the mana flows generated by using fly magic.

A vein popped on the completely mocked man’s forehead, but he forced a smile and feigned calm.

Then he roughly swung his left arm, scattering the flames that kept trying to burn him.

“Good, so this is how it turns out? To this god of the skies, Caelum?”

The citizens of Exorsus looked strangely at Caelum as he muttered to himself.

Perhaps sensing that continental gaze, another vein bulged on Caelum’s brow and a deafening boom rang out.

Divine power burst outward from Caelum like an explosion, swelling into a typhoon.

It was fortunate the elder guarding the gate had kept his magic at a distance; otherwise the shockwave might have burst them all apart.

Wiping surprised chests, the continentals cast hostile looks at the young man attempting to invade Kim Han’s mansion.

Caelum was deeply displeased that his plans kept going awry.

There was a reason he had waited for Kim Han to be away: if he had met Kim Han during his training period, they would reach an awkward stalemate and only time would pass.

Above all, thinking of how harsh Kim Han had been to his representative, he could not predict how things would go; this was the first reason.

Also, his fighting style wasn’t brute brawling. He prepared plots and traps unbeknownst to the opponent and made them flounder within.

A representative who strikes the back of the head at the last moment and severs the throat—he was a god.

So he had come secretly, and some trashy continental not only interfered with his plan but dared to stare impertinently!

He sneered contemptuously at the wide gate and the runes plastered over it; could such trivial magic circles truly stop him?

“Tch.”

Kra-ang—!

He had imagined the gate shattering from the excess mana, but unexpectedly the gate remained intact.

“Pff—!”

A mocking sound came from somewhere, but Caelum, taken aback by the intact gate, lacked the energy to be angry at the mocking continental.

At this rate, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the gate and its magic circle had vanished together…

“Huh? Look at this?”

Caelum’s divine form, which had been widening its senses, slowly rose into the air—and only then did he see the true nature of what had stopped his attack.

A net of divine power encircled the entire mansion—a dense web formed by countless interwoven magic circles.

“Playing tricks, are they.”

It wasn’t really magic in the usual sense. If one had to explain, it was ordering mana, and the mana obediently following.

The mana around Caelum, following his command, collided with the web of divine power.

Sshaaa—! Crackle—

Each clash of mana and divine power sounded like dry wood splitting.

Caelum issued a firmer ‘command’ against the unexpectedly strong magic circles, and a gale of mana and force surged forth.

At that moment, a beauty who had been in a meeting in the wide garden around the magic tower west of Exorsus sprang to her feet.

“Miss Violentia…?”

“W-what is…! Wait here!”

Leaving only a hurried voice, Violentia’s form turned into bright motes of light and vanished.

A small house in a corner of the mercenary-guild-filled southern street. A man, shirtless and sweating through his training, suddenly stopped moving.

He turned his head so fast toward the north his neck might have snapped; his face plainly said, “This can’t be!”

“…?!”

The man who had vanished from the yard was briefly seen atop a distant roof before disappearing again—he had gone north.

A quiet house near the northern gate.

Its garden was beautifully tended, and a handsome man sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

The man with long hair—hard even for women to grow—opened his eyes.

His pupils trembled; his face read disbelief.

Jumping up, he grabbed not his usual three swords but the single blade resting on his knee and launched himself.

Like a bird in flight, he sped toward the northern residential district of Exorsus.

The only library in Exorsus.

Inside, besides the lone librarian, there was someone else who looked to be robed.

A place that saw no visitors except Kim Han had recently been visited steadily by a single representative.

Today, too, the sound of pages turning came with its usual rhythm.

Rustle—

Rustle—

As if in competition, the librarian and the representative turned pages.

Turn—!

Turn—!

Their simultaneous page-turning stopped, and both turned their heads in the same direction.

The sound of a chair scraping; the representative rose and quietly opened the library door and stepped out.

The lone librarian locked the door and went into a room.

“Damn it. Break!”

Caelum, commanding his mana to batter the defensive magic, finally began issuing orders aloud.

Under the firm command spoken in divine language, the defensive magic finally cracked and began tearing apart here and there.

It repaired itself, but the rate of destruction outpaced restoration.

After a brief struggle, the defenses collapsed like ruins, and Caelum descended slowly onto the white marble avenue with a satisfied smile.

Kim Han’s house was more beautiful and impressive than Caelum had imagined.

The vast garden, the massive accumulation circles placed throughout it, the beautiful grounds and mansion were luxuries even Caelum hadn’t enjoyed in his heyday as a representative.

Seeing that the scoundrel Kim Han lived well filled Caelum with rage, and he seethed at the sight of those vermin still exuding aggression despite witnessing his immense power.

“Who are you!”

Instead of answering, Caelum manifested magic.

Contrasting the torrent of divine power, twelve black orbs, each slightly larger than an adult’s fist, hovered in the air.

The mages of the magic tower chose to attack rather than ask questions.

As many spells as there were mages rained down, and magic also began pouring from the twelve orbs.

The mages’ spells arrived first.

The area-limited Anti-Magic Field—difficultly cast by the five tower lords, a circle that freezes mana—was the first to hit Caelum.

A procession of dazzling spells followed.

But neither the orbs nor Caelum paid the slightest heed to defense.

From the twelve black orbs poured spells of the twelve-branch school—magic said no single person could master them all—simultaneously.

Not only the twelve-branch school, but even long-lost ancient magics revealed themselves.

The summoning of a violent evil spirit: ‘Jin Summon.’

The mage who calls on force rather than mana to completely block physical attacks: ‘Wall of Force.’

‘Pixie,’ which increases the caster’s luck.

‘Spell Reflection,’ which not merely neutralizes but fully returns spells.

‘Heroism,’ which boosts a target’s combat, defense, and command capabilities.

Enthralled by the display of lost magics, some mages forgot they were in battle and watched in a trance.

“Th-this is…”

“Oh my…”

And watching that reenactment of lost magic in a daze became the last thing they saw in life.

Unlike those who fought desperately to block it, these mages had their breaths snuffed out by the magic.

The garden was torn up in places, pools of blood formed, and blood spattered the walls.

Most of all, Caelum, pleased to see the white marble avenue stained red, hummed as he moved.

Toward the place Kim Han usually stayed—the mansion where Unos was imprisoned.

Normally one couldn’t see into Kim Han’s mansion from outside—not only due to high walls but because Kim Han had bought up surrounding houses and lowered them.

To peer over the wall one would have to use fly magic and observe from above, which is basically announcing, “I’m spying on you!”—so no one attempted it.

But just now, as Caelum displayed immense power and vanished into the mansion, three shadows moved at once.

A striking beauty with flowing black hair rose into the air, while on the south and north walls respectively climbed a shirtless muscular man and a handsome man with neatly tied long hair.

As the fight inside progressed, the three’s expressions grew increasingly stern.

But it lasted only a moment.

At a simple gesture from Caelum, the woman floating by flight magic fell helplessly to the ground, and the two men on the walls coughed blood and were thrown outside the mansion.

The three recovered quickly but could not bring themselves to spy on the mansion again.

Against their will they clenched their teeth to steady trembling bodies and finally turned away from the mansion.

As they moved away from Kim Han’s mansion their shaking subsided, and the three headed to their respective abodes—wearing the sternest faces since entering the Battlefield of the Gods…

Citizens gathered around Kim Han’s mansion, where the three representatives had disappeared, wore worried faces and hurried to devise measures in their own ways.

“Ah! Hey, John. You said you know the gardeners, right? Shouldn’t you go tell Kim Han?”

“Yeah, I was about to go.”

“Really? Then take this horse and go.”

“If someone objects to you sprinting on horseback, show them this token. Say it’s an order from the south gate commander.”

“Well, about that…”

So John, cradling a bundle of tokens, mounted his horse and galloped toward the square.