A Dangerous Invitation

It was a space entirely in gray.

The space where the break occurred lost its light.

The characteristics were clear, and looking around, I faced the only entity wearing color.

“It’s you. The inviter.”

The figure wearing a black robe; the moment he threw off the robe, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Has it been a while? Brat?”

“…Cheon Jong-un, what brings the Black Tower Master here?”

Cheon Jong-un, moving his steps as if taking a stroll, made a proposal to me.

“Shall we walk for a bit?”

Since the fighting dogs inside this Gate had already been eliminated by Cheon Jong-un, I slowly followed and moved my steps as he said.

“Our treatment is truly harsh; I’ve worked very hard to somehow correct this part. Despite the massive funds and effort invested over several years, many groups have conspired under the pretext of checking us, so the way to shed our infamy is becoming remote.”

It was the infamy received simply for being a black mage.

However, even if we received such treatment, the actions we committed during the war were by no means at a level that could be tolerated.

We utilized the dead and even called forth souls to inflict pain.

We even used power as if the surrounding circumstances didn’t matter and became despicable in any way to achieve victory.

It was a victory won that way, but in the end, we had no choice but to have all our honor taken away by those who used their power righteously, yet we gained peace by winning.

There were those who were satisfied with that, and those who were not.

The person in front of me now was the representative of those who were not.

“Will anything change by doing this?”

“Nothing changes, but it can be a starting point.”

“A starting point… others will call it a ‘shit-point.’”

Cheon Jong-un, laughing with a kh-kh, stopped his steps and asked me with a serious face.

“Won’t you join me?”

“Join you in what?”

“A revolution where we can claim our true rights!”

The right of the winner, the interests regarding what we had to give up, the countless infamies, and the tarnished honor.

At Cheon Jong-un’s talk of wanting to correct all of that, I shook my head.

“I like the way things are now.”

“Even if you settle, nothing will eventually change. Do you know how those who took what was ours are living?”

There was no way I wouldn’t know. Even if I spoke boldly, my insides were rotting.

I was only putting on an ‘act’ of being bold.

“You should know well that the obstacle for a black mage is, in the end, another black mage.”

“That must be why you created this place. Since you must be confident in winning, let me ask. What have you prepared?”

Cheon Jong-un pushed his hand deep into the air. It was clearly sub-space, and after a moment, he pulled out a book that was familiar but in a slightly different form.

“The Necronomicon… Is it the Magic Tower?”

“They made an interesting proposal; they asked me to do one thing in exchange for handing this over.”

“Do you know what kind of person he is?”

“Are you talking about the Cultist of Ruin?”

Having grasped that much, I came to think that the fact he committed such a deed meant Cheon Jong-un might have been waiting for the Necronomicon for a long time.

And I also recognized the fact that one of the individuals considered an obstacle was me.

“It’s not too late even now. If you’ve obtained what you wanted, with that… it wouldn’t be a bad option to try drawing a bigger picture.”

“We’ve missed too many things. I don’t want to miss anything anymore.”

At that moment, Cheon Jong-un explosively released mana.

‘7th Circle Master, you haven’t crossed the wall of the 8th Circle yet…’

A confrontation was certain. However, if Cheon Jong-un had amplified his power by obtaining the Necronomicon, I was also currently armed with the items I had looted from the Cultist of Ruin this time.

“If you don’t join me, I will break you.”

“Rather, you will be the one broken.”

Tranquil mana and explosive mana collided. The total amount of mana did not show a big difference, but I couldn’t help but be surprised as they collided and canceled each other out.

“Were you capable of producing this much power?”

“In terms of power, I pride myself on being the strongest among black mages. Haven’t you been suffering from a lack of sustainability all this time?”

“I know, but to think it was to this extent. It’s surprising.”

It was a situation where one could tell at once how much the Necronomicon reinforced power.

‘To think it’s at this level even though he amplified the total mana amount and the power of mana with an artifact…’

It seemed like it would be a difficult fight, and as tension flowed, we reached the point of manifesting magic almost simultaneously, without deciding who went first.

“Dark Ray!”

“Darkness Fog!”

Black beams of light starting from the Necronomicon stretched toward me.

At the same time, I created a black fog and eroded the area to match the pattern of Cheon Jong-un, whose aggressive tendencies I knew well.

Meanwhile, I raised my hand and created ‘Mirror’ magic with mana to respond to the Dark Ray.

Along with the sensation of my hand being pushed slightly, the light refracted as if glancing off me. However, confirming that a huge amount of mana surged momentarily and the pattern was rapidly etched, I recognized that range magic was being prepared.

So, I also released mana, and at the moment I drew a pattern while pushing it into the ground, a voice was heard.

“Now is the only chance. If it gets more intense, even conversation will be difficult.”

Cheon Jong-un seemed to want to cooperate with me quite a bit. But I had no intention of being involved with the Cultists of Ruin, and furthermore, the world Cheon Jong-un desired would not come.

“Hasn’t the situation where more words are needed already ended?”

“Tch, such a stubborn human…”

At that moment, with the sound of a handclap, the magic that had finished patterning manifested.

A wide-range vortex was created and began to narrow down rapidly. Meanwhile, countless intense wind blades were spewed out, grinding everything within the range, but since it was a magic I had somewhat expected, I also snapped my fingers and manifested the magic I had pushed into the ground.

The ground surged up, and in an instant, a huge pillar pushed out and canceled the vortex as if unraveling it.

I had defended against the Dark Storm with the Stonehenge magic. However, the offense and defense were just beginning.

The sharp wind blades digging between the Stonehenge pillars began to aim for my life, and I quickly etched a pattern onto the Stonehenge and caused an explosion.

Kwah-kwah-kwang!! A roar rang out, and the interior of the Gate trembled.

Checking the ground that was splitting open wide and the ‘Death Energy’ surging out countless times from within, I could tell that he had already prepared something more, and instinctively protecting my mind by releasing mana, I spewed out different types of mana with each hand and quickly drew patterns.

Countless patterns embroidered with magic language drifted in the air.

“Do you think I’ll let you use it?”

It was Cheon Jong-un who instantly narrowed the distance, and a thin, white hand stretched straight out and dug toward my chest.

‘What is he trying to do?’

The mana felt from Cheon Jong-un’s hand was ordinary. However, at a mysterious sense of déjà vu, I hurriedly dodged his hand as if laying my body backward, but my physical ability was not that great.

However, among the magics that could be manifested at such a distance, the number of magics that could directly damage me was limited. So, I quickly used my head and prepared two countermeasures.

Eventually, his fingers touched my chest. At that moment, magic manifested from Cheon Jong-un’s mouth.

“Decrepify.”

It was a powerful curse that could only be applied if contact was made. It was a magic most black mages did not prefer, and though they knew the defense against it, it was a magic they mostly failed to think of and ended up being hit by.

I, too, would have been hit if I had been careless. However, there was a way to respond, and I resisted the power by quickly using ‘Anti-rebound’ magic.

But the anti-rebound impact seeping inside was not light.

“Ugh?!”

A sense of pressure tightening around the whole body—in fact, Decrepify was a curse that reduced all the specs of the curse target by half.

It was a curse that lasted for a short time, but conversely, it was so powerful that the outcome was often decided in that short moment.

“It’s over.”

Was it because I groaned briefly?

He seemed to mistake that the curse had been applied to me.

And the following situation was Cheon Jong-un manifesting magic by stepping strongly on the ground.

At his will, the death energy felt beneath the ground exploded, and although I could tell what it was at once, responding was not difficult.

By hurriedly utilizing one of the two patterns of mana I had been spewing out to the left and right, I used short-distance teleportation—that is, Blink—to escape the range where the explosion occurred, and I activated the pattern etched into the single strand of mana connected to the will of Cheon Jong-un, who remained where I had been.

“Hell Boom.”

With a short activation word, a powerful explosion occurred.

A globe-shaking explosion; Cheon Jong-un’s magic surging from the ground and my magic collided, tearing the entire interior of the Gate into a mess, and while the situation continued as if the space itself would break at any moment, Cheon Jong-un, who had lightly brushed away the dust, asked in surprise.

“What went wrong?”

“If you’re curious, why don’t you try coming at me again?”

“Hah, how absurd. I knew you were strong, but this far exceeds my expectations. Just… what did I miss?”

He had an expression of being unable to understand.

So, checking my condition by flowing mana inside my body, I released mana as it was, and simultaneously, Cheon Jong-un also released mana and prepared a response.

“I know the characteristics of the Necronomicon well. I’ve experienced it often. What are you paying as the price?”

“I have heard. That you are paying your emotions as the price. Eventually, you will become a monster.”

“Perhaps. But I won’t be the only one that applies to. We are all damaged, scrap-metal lives; should we really be broken further?”

“Unlike you, I have no way back anymore. That was why.”

He was a giant who dominated an era. He had achieved brilliant military merits and took the lead for the country more than anyone else.

But what returned was contempt and disdain for his raison d’être.

“The fall of a hero is instantaneous; if one is forgotten by the people, it’s a blessing instead.”

Eventually, Cheon Jong-un, who had no intention of bending his will, began to explosively release a huge amount of power, and at a mana quantity different in quality from before, I also ended up releasing power to respond to it.

Even if it was a fragmented Gate, the range was ridiculously wide. If the place was filled with mana to the point where it screamed and cracks occurred, that said it all. Looking around the interior covered with power like that, Cheon Jong-un said to me with a face full of regret.

“How did we end up like this?”

“You just need to let go of a single strand of small greed.”

“Had I done that, we would never have faced each other like this. I’m sorry.”

In an instant, a huge amount of mana began to be sucked into Cheon Jong-un’s body, and I could understand what that meant through the changing pattern.

‘Is it the 8th Circle…?’

The power of Cheon Jong-un that I felt at first was by no means the 8th Circle. But now, Cheon Jong-un is overexerting himself beyond his limits.

Was there a reason to kill me that much?

It was a truly complex feeling, and I gritted my teeth while quickly shaping the mana I had released.

‘Overexerting magic operation takes time. There is leeway until completion; unless he prepares for it… he should know he has no choice but to be counterattacked by me. Since he and I are similar in experience… but why did he make this choice?’

I couldn’t understand Cheon Jong-un’s current actions at all, and because I couldn’t wait for the 8th Circle magic to be completed, I moved my mana to intervene in the magic Cheon Jong-un was carving and began to Dispel it.

However, as if not to be outdone, Cheon Jong-un spewed out additional mana and began to re-establish the collapsed parts, and as the process of me continuously interfering continued, it led to a war of attrition.

‘It’s regrettable that from the 8th Circle onward, the caster cannot be hit by general magic because of the mana barrier. Since I don’t have the ability to pierce that yet… is this war of attrition the answer?’

Eventually, it led to a battle of whose brain was superior and whose mana was more abundant and grand.