Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 52: Cassion (3)

‘Why do you like Serzila so much?’

I had been asked such a question once.

It was a question asked by the young Grand Heir.

Elaine had been mature since she was young.

Truly befitting of the one who would become the next Grand Duke of Serzila and the idol of the North.

‘Answer comfortably. It’s just curiosity.’

I remember it not being comfortable.

I, Cassion, had to be conscious that the young Grand Heir was a Serzila with even greater potential than that Grand Duke Aratus.

‘Why are you so devoted? Even though you’re not from the North.’

So for a moment, my mind went blank and then became full. The Otherworld. The Moon Tower. Mission. Prophecy. Fire. Was I discovered? How?

I remember being at a loss for words.

I was choosing the most plausible one among the drifting answers.

But my mouth moved on its own.

‘It’s warm.’

It was a very strange sensation, I remember.

‘The North?’

‘Yes.’

Then, I realized that I was smiling.

‘You are strange too.’

It was from then on.

No, perhaps even before that…….

“You’re a spy.”

A low, cool voice pulled Cassion back.

It was a sensation as if I had fallen into the deep sea.

Harad was glaring at me.

The mage whom that Grand Duke Aratus had granted an annex, and who had begun to blend into Serzila…….

“You bastard……!”

Harad’s gaze was as cold as his voice, no, even more so.

Looking back, it had been like that from the beginning.

From the place where Ios of the Ivory Tower had died, that man had looked at Cassion with those eyes.

To make an analogy, it was a sword.

It was an unfitting analogy for a mage, but at least that’s how Cassion felt.

His eyes were cold and sharp.

He was glaring at Cassion like that.

As if he had already seen through everything.

……That was unpleasant, and ominous.

The black sphere floating in the sky was even more so.

‘A projection.’

As they say, you see as much as you know, and Cassion immediately recognized that the black sphere was a projection.

It wasn't the desperate struggle of a half-baked 4th Rank.

It was a flawless, perfect projection.

‘He burned the watchtower.’

A forgotten fact floated up.

Though his gaze was cold, unfitting for his nature, his Origin was fire.

No, that could not be simply lumped together as fire.

Cassion, who had faced Harad’s projected Origin, unknowingly squeezed his eyes shut. Blisters formed on his skin exposed to the heat.

The heat that had struck the ground bloomed as fire and constricted Cassion.

Each small spark that flew now was far more intense than what Harad had wrapped around his sword earlier.

It was a natural phenomenon.

Magic becomes stronger the closer the Origin is.

The sky stretched. The distant horizon receded even further. It was an illusion created by the heat of the projection.

He thought he had deployed enough mana, but it was more than he had anticipated. He had to coat his entire body with magic to be able to stand under that projection.

Even considering that this place was the sanctuary of the Red Tower, it was an unbelievable phenomenon.

The projected Origin seemed to dominate the sanctuary. It was a threat even to the 5th Rank Cassion.

It meant that Harad had an Origin so vast that it deviated from the truth of Ranks.

“It’s a sun.”

“Nonsense.”

But it was not the sun, Cassion stated firmly.

“The sun belongs to a woman.”

Because the prophecy of the moon had foretold it.

In any case, the mage named Harad was a great fortune for the Red Tower.

For Cassion, he was a disaster.

“This is the last time. Get lost.”

He had intended to break his limbs and subdue him.

Cassion realized that that thought was a miscalculation.

That could not be subdued. It could only be killed.

“This is my last time too.”

For a mere 4th Rank.

Harad’s answer was quite arrogant.

“Die.”

It was fiery.

* * *

‘The content is a bit different.’

Our king belongs to a woman.

The Red Tower has such a prophecy, Herbis of the Red Tower had said.

Here, the king refers to the Origin.

Because the essence of a mage is the Origin.

‘The sun belongs to a woman.’

Cassion had said that the Origin was the sun.

‘The sun.’

That was my Origin.

But I was a man.

‘Cassion must be more accurate than Herbis.’

In the Otherworld, Rank is everything.

The 5th Rank Cassion would know more than the 3rd Rank Herbis.

‘It must be one of the two.’

Either the prophecy is wrong.

‘Or I die.’

There are no identical Origins in the world.

Even if it's the same fire, its nature and size are different.

It was a simple logic.

Only if I die can the sun be reborn.

‘It seems like the latter.’

I didn't know who had made the prophecy, but I thought it was more plausible that I would die.

It was because I was reminded of my past life.

If it hadn't been for the Stone of Regression, I would already be a dead man.

‘If there had been no regression, the next mage with the sun would have been a woman.’

That woman would have become the king of the Red Tower.

It was a relief, I concluded.

Even if I were to die now and the king were to be born immediately, growth takes time.

‘I can rule out the king of the Red Tower.’

Since I had no intention of dying for the time being, one variable had disappeared.

It wasn't something to think about now.

My head throbbed. It was a headache as if something hot was flowing through the inside of my head and cauterizing it.

It was the aftereffect of the crimson flame.

A particularly dense and sticky, 4th Rank fire.

The crimson flame was different from ordinary fire.

It was also different from the crimson flame I had wrapped around my sword when facing Cassion earlier. It was because of the projection. It further enhances a mage's magic.

Such a crimson flame poured down like a waterfall.

It swallowed Cassion, who was rushing towards me.

Cassion split that waterfall in half and came out. The split crimson flame swirled and became one. It devoured Cassion, who was in between, once again.

The swirling crimson flame was cut.

From there, Cassion was glaring at me. His expression was murderous, and his skin was grotesquely distorted. Red and white things were visible here and there. It was blood and bone.

‘So the rabbit really was strange.’

Even if Cassion wasn't at his full power yet, still.

I could hold my own to some extent against a mage of a higher Rank than myself.

The sun was that kind of Origin.

‘The aftereffects are…… at least better.’

It was several times better than when I had faced the rabbit.

It was because this place was the Sanctuary of Fire.

Fwoosh!

The crimson flame cut by Cassion spread out in the air.

It gathered into a crescent shape and drew a line on the ground. It was a line that separated me and Cassion.

As such, the key was the distance.

A knight had to reach a mage, and a mage had to keep a knight away.

I found that annoying.

I had to play the role of such a cliché mage because I had regressed, but…….

“You, you’re a mage. Not a knight.”

That’s why Cassion couldn't close the distance.

It was also why my projection was effective.

The closer the Origin, the stronger the magic.

It means that the 4th Rank projection and the 5th Rank manifestation are not simply levels to show off one’s Origin.

Under the shadow of the sun that has crossed the window of myself, the projection, and emerged into the world, the fire becomes more intense.

And…… the same goes for Cassion.

No, it's more than that. Cassion was a 5th Rank.

“Manifest yourself.”

But Cassion just gripped his sword.

Killing the stealth, the individuality of his Origin, he was acting like a knight, simply condensing his mana.

Even to the point of injuring himself.

“That’s greed.”

A greedy coward.

I had a guess as to why Cassion insisted on the sword.

It was none of my business.

If he didn't want to, I would just force him to manifest.

Blood trickled down from my eyes.

The jet-black sun dropped more crimson flames.

The new crimson flames and the existing ones mixed.

They should have increased, but the crimson flames mixed and gradually decreased. They were overlapping and condensing.

If Cassion had killed the individuality of his Origin with condensation, my condensation was adding to the unique intensity of the sun.

The interlocked crimson flames became a single stream.

It resembled a very ferocious snake, Cassion thought absently.

The mouth of that snake opened in front of his eyes.

No, he was already inside the mouth. That speed. Cassion’s eyes widened. It was a speed that was difficult to explain with just a projection.

Come to think of it, the speed of the projection was also quite remarkable. The experience of someone who had rolled on the front lines for decades was in that young and impertinent man.

“……”

The snake of crimson flames swallowed Cassion.

And…… disappeared without a trace.

Something jet-black and very small was floating in front of Cassion's body.

It was a manifestation, I sensed instinctively.

A mage would have no choice but to know.

That manifested Origin had offset the crimson flame.

No. That’s wrong. It wasn't offset. It was erased.

“A dot!”

An exclamation of admiration burst from my mouth as I recognized Cassion’s Origin.

Stealth is the act of erasing one’s presence.

It was the reason he could disguise himself as a knight.

That dot had erased the presence of the mana.

It was in the same context as the crimson flame being erased.

If its presence disappears completely, it is no different from being dead.

That manifested dot had erased the crimson flame as if it had never existed.

“Amazing.”

I admired it without reservation.

It was because what was in front of my eyes was an Origin.

A dot.

Though it was a very small Origin, an Origin is an Origin.

When witnessing such an essence of a mage, a mage could not help but admire.

It was also a tribute to the mage who had reached the level of manifesting their Origin in the world.

A Rank is a staircase where the height of each step becomes more distant as one ascends.

That gap, the regressed me knew all too well.

“Hiss.”

I swallowed the saliva that had gathered in my mouth.

It wasn't just because the sun was drooling. It was curiosity. The cliché, overused curiosity of a mage.

Projection and manifestation.

The former is the shadow of the Origin, and the latter is the complete Origin.

Therefore, a projection can never surpass a manifestation.

It is the same as how a person’s shadow can never become a person.

That, I affirm.

What kind of obvious statement is that, I had affirmed.

Not anymore.

‘Even now?’

Can’t even I, who has regressed, overcome it?

I wanted to confirm that.

That was why I had forced Cassion to manifest.

‘A dot.’

Cassion’s Origin was very small.

And I couldn't feel anything.

That’s why I was late to notice that Cassion and the dot had disappeared from my sight.

I didn't mind. Whether he was aiming for me or the projection, what I had to do did not change.

Just a little faster.

Creak! The muscles of my entire body twisted. The blood pouring from my eyes covered my face. Boiling blood rose up my throat. As soon as it poured out of my mouth, it evaporated.

The sun is red.

Or yellow, or close to orange.

The world says so…… but I knew that was wrong.

It was because the sun lurked in my heart.

In fact, crimson flame is an incorrect expression.

It's only like that at a low Rank; originally, that fire is not red. On the contrary, it is white.

That white fire writhed in the projected sun.

The true fire of the sun was blooming in the shadow of the sun.

That dazzling white fire shone down on the Sanctuary of Fire.

The disappeared Cassion was stripped bare and revealed to the world.

He was right in front of me.

Cassion’s sword was touching my neck.

It didn't move any further from there. No, it couldn't.

His Origin, the dot, floating in the sky, was being suppressed by the stickily falling white fire.

The dot could not erase the fire.

On the contrary, it was desperate to hold on.

Cassion’s bloodshot eyes opened and blood gushed out.

Receiving that blood, I smiled.

‘It works.’

Even with a projection, I can handle a manifestation.

Though it was a result of the help of the Sanctuary of Fire, and with my life as collateral…… still.

‘Can I kill him?’

I couldn't confirm it with my body.

Just like Cassion, I couldn't move.

My condition was much worse than Cassion’s.

If I let my mind slip for a moment, I would faint or die.

But the white fire did not go out.

It was flowing very slowly, but clearly. It was drenching the dot. The resisting dot had already melted by half in the fire.

If the other half melts, Cassion will die.

Whether that would happen first, or whether this side would die first…… I couldn't calculate. My head wasn't working.

But I had no intention of stopping.

I wanted to confirm the possibility I had glimpsed to the end. In any case, Cassion has to die.

It was then that I heard a sound. It was the sound of the air being torn.

It had started from very far away, and was getting closer.

What that was, I could just barely turn my gaze to confirm.

‘……Elaine.’

* * *

My mind went cold.

-You don’t need to be fiery. Just because your Origin is fiery doesn’t mean you have to be fiery.

A memory from my past life suddenly flashed by.

-Temper your temper. Just because your Origin is fiery doesn’t mean you have to be fiery.

It was a leash.

It was the reason I had stopped being fiery.

-Actually, I hate it. My personality is so bad. I need someone to control me. I want you to be that person.

However, I couldn't always be calm.

This time was the same.

Originally, I had no intention of killing Cassion.

I was just planning to drag out the time.

I came here to kill you.

Though I had said that, I hadn't actually planned to go that far.

It was a statement to erase Cassion’s suspicion.

It was in the same context as not leaving a note for Ellen, and not saying anything to Kubel.

‘Cassion has to die at Ellen’s hands.’

That’s why I had brought Ellen along on this mastermind investigation mission.

I hoped that she would change by seeing and experiencing everything herself.

It was effective.

Ellen was on the verge of believing that Cassion was a mage.

I had also expected that the awakened Ellen would come looking for me like this.

I had even induced that. It was the reason I had stolen Patern.

I would respond with my sword when Cassion fought like a knight, and it was also the original reason I had forced him to manifest.

I had planned to drag out the time as much as possible, wait for Ellen, and show her the evidence that Cassion was a mage with her own eyes.

That plan had only half succeeded.

There, Elaine was running towards me.

‘……Not Ellen.’

Elaine and Ellen.

I could clearly distinguish between the two.

They were the same, but different people.

At least, for now.

Elaine was quickly approaching.

Her expression was incredible. Her sword was also drawn, and it looked like she would definitely kill one of the two.

I was reminded of the hunting day.

That night, Elaine’s voice too.

‘If they and you were to fall into water, I would save them without a moment’s hesitation.’

At least for Elaine, this must be that moment.

“Grand Heir!”

Cassion, who was in the water, shouted.

“This man is seeking asylum……!”

He fought like a knight.

A cunning mage was in front of my eyes. The manifested dot had also disappeared at some point.

It must mean he was that desperate.

I understood Cassion’s feelings. He was a coward.

It didn't look good.

It was just frustrating. I was already in a disadvantageous position, and he had even taken the initiative.

Still, since Cassion had started it, I also had to open my mouth.

“……”

But my voice wouldn't come out.

It was the price for manifesting the white fire.

At some point, Elaine had reached close range.

Her face was one of someone who had made a decision, and Elaine's sword was raised towards me.

It was then that our eyes met.

Suddenly, Elaine's eyes widened.

In those widened pupils, I saw my own face. It was covered in blood. My features were not even properly visible.

Elaine’s sword was swung in that state.

With her eyes fixed on my face, towards Cassion.

“Ah?”

With a face of someone who didn't understand it herself.