The Kind of Evil

Rasmus closed the book and looked outside the window as the blimp was about to land on the airfield. He never thought he would come back to this floating island again, and it had been a year since he left Gratlan. He put the journal in the spatial ring, still thinking about his father's encounter with Antonius Zevrathi and Aristoria. He never thought the journal would accompany him throughout the journey to Gratlan.

"Here we are..." Erlina sat across from Rasmus and looked outside the window. "What's the plan?" She glanced at Rasmus, still using Vije's appearance and attire.

"We will go our separate ways. The two of you should meet with Carrion's brother first. Aris, Rullein, and I will be meeting with Great Sage Lenin," Rasmus said as he changed his appearance, revealing his trueself. "You should head out first because I don't want you to be seen around me," he added.

Erlina raised her brows, realizing what Rasmus was trying to do, but then she took a deep breath and nodded with understanding. She smiled gently at Rasmus and reached out to his hand, squeezing it firmly and caressing his knuckles.

"Take care and good luck..." Erlina said softly and slowly pulled her hand away from Rasmus's hand before she got up to be with Carrion and Javi.

As soon as the blimp landed, Erlina, Carrion, and Javi unboarded the blimp. Rasmus watched them walk away until they got into a rental carriage and left. He then looked at Aris and Rullein, who were waiting for him, giving them a nod as he stood up. The two of them followed him and unboarded the blimp, and that was when everyone noticed his white hair.

Rasmus didn't care and kept walking toward the Magic Tower that pierced through the clouds. His deeds were so terrifying that nobody dared to stop him and chose to stay quiet and avoid him. They were smart enough knowing that he wouldn't hesitate to kill whoever tried to stop him because they could see the way he walked and the gaze that showed no emotions.

As soon as they entered the City of Knowledge, all the scholars were shocked when they saw the knights that guarded the gate scattered on the ground unconscious. The great mages and sages that realized it was Rasmus, they immediately cast magic formations in the sky, activating the self-defense mechanism.

Lenin was in her office at Gratlan Academy when she felt a fluctuation in Mana. She immediately turned around and looked out the window, noticing that someone had activated the defense mechanism in the City of Knowledge. She immediately released Mana, revealing the complicated magic formation with dozens of magic circles in her office.

The moment she stood at the center of the magic formation, a beam of blinding light was released by the magic formation, creating a wall of light. The moment the light disappeared, she disappeared into thin air. She appeared inside the Magic Tower in her office, and then she immediately jumped out of the window, free-falling and using wind magic to slow down the fall when she was about to land.

Lenin was ready to see what kind of threat that made the mages activate the defense mechanism. When she saw it was Rasmus, Aris, and a man behind him that she didn't recognize, she took control over the magic formation. Her gaze was cold and her expression was unreadable.

"Count..." Lenin said, her voice cold and cautious.

"Great Sage," Rasmus lowered his head to pay respect to Lenin.

Lenin couldn't see the Mana within Rasmus's body, Aris's, or the man behind him. She remembered that she could see the capability of Rasmus in containing Mana. She remembered that he was already on the same level as Sage. She didn't like it at all, not knowing how stronger Rasmus had become, and it made her anxious. Not to mention, the man behind Rasmus that seemed strong that her instinct told her that he could be as strong as Aris, just like Videl.

"You're here to talk, Count? Or for something else?" Lenin asked as she crossed her arms.

"If I came here for something else, I don't think I'll come here without spilling a single blood, Great Sage," Rasmus answered with a stoic expression. "But seeing that everyone is so scared, and you seem anxious as well, Great Sage, are you going to send me away without knowing what I'm planning to do in this continent?" He asked with his brows raised.

Lenin narrowed her eyes and glanced toward all the gazes that wanted him to leave. She snapped her fingers and deactivated the defense mechanism in the sky, shocking everyone in the city. They looked at her with a confused look on their faces, questioning her decision, however, they knew that she was the Great Sage, her actions and decisions were unquestionable.

"Come, let's talk..." Lenin said as she turned around and walked toward the tower.

Rasmus followed Lenin while hatred filled the air around him. When he entered the tower, he saw Novia, standing there with a cold and hateful gaze. He stared back at her without showing any emotion, and that was enough to make her look away and walk beside Lenin.

"Can you please tell that man behind you to stop absorbing the Mana in this tower? I would really appreciate it if you did because this whole island might collapse if he kept draining the Mana," Lenin asked as she kept walking, not bothering to turn around to look at Rasmus.

Rasmus glanced at Rullein, seeing how she bit her bottom lip in a blissful expression. When their eyes met, he raised his brows, and that was enough to make Rullein stop absorbing Mana. At the same time, that was enough to convince Lenin that the man who followed Rasmus wasn't a human because the amount of Mana that the man had taken was more than she could take.

The five of them entered Lenin's office and Lenin allowed the three of them to sit on the couch. Novia and Lenin sat across from them, staring at those three like a walking catastrophe, a plague that would take anyone's life without hesitation or mercy.

"(A force of nature...)" Lenin thought as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Before we talk, who is he, Count? Another one that you recruited?" Lenin asked, staring at Rasmus with a stoic expression.

Rasmus looked at Rullein who sat on his left, a handsome man with slick black hair and bright orange eyes. In a blink of an eye, Rullein's body turned into a thick big cloud of black smoke, maintaining only her glowing orange eyes as the black smoke floated in the air. Both Lenin and Novia were shocked immediately pulled away out of instinct and fear when they felt it, the immense amount of Mana. They felt like the air in their lungs was being sucked and unable to breathe.

"This is Rullein, a Dark Spirit," Rasmus introduced as he pointed his left hand the the thick black smoke. "That is Yur..." he paused as he glanced at the window.

Lenin and Novia furrowed their brows as they turned their heads toward the window. An owl broke the glass and entered the tower, shocking both of them deeply. It wasn't the fact that an owl could fly at high altitude, but because the Magic Tower itself had a powerful barrier made of pure Mana with advanced magic formations on each floor. A Mana barrier that could withstand Rasmus's nuclear magic easily, but an owl could break in like it was nothing.

The owl landed on Aris's lap and revealed Yur's human appearance, a small child with curly and puffy hair like clouds. Lenin and Novia were speechless, couldn't process what had just happened and all the information that Rasmus had revealed.

"Yur is a Great Spirit," Rasmus said as he looked at Yur, who seemed interested in Lenin by the way Yur looked at her.

Lenin and Novia heard about Great Spirits, the ones that were said to be the protectors of nature. A nature judgment that would befall whoever tried to destroy nature, beings that could create tsunamis, avalanches, and storms that could wipe out any living beings and reshape the world by their will. However, when they looked at Rullein, they were puzzled because they had never heard of Dark Spirit and its existence.

"(Is this some kind of joke? Having Aris by his side is already impossible to stop him, and now there are two more powerful beings by his side? Is humankind really have no chance against him?)" Lenin clenched her fists on her lap, staring at Rasmus with a conflicting gaze. "(How can humankind stop this man when nature itself is showing its favorability to him?)" She closed her eyes, laughing at the sick joke in her heart.

Lenin cleared her throat and tried to calm her heart and mind.

"Dark Spirit? What's that if I may ask, Count?" Lenin asked.

"That's why I came here, Great Sage. I will tell you everything about what had happened in the past few months," Rasmus answered as he grabbed the teacup and took a sip of the warm tea. "This is going to take a while," he smiled.