The Knight Who Devours Magic

Chapter 7: Magic?

"There's a limit to how far you can go……."

Kwadadadadeuk.

"Kkeu, geureureuk."

Muno smiled grimly as he watched Eli's red eyes fill with terror.

The burning pain in his pierced side boiled into rage in his head.

And.

Chwareureuk.

The black chains fully absorbed that rage and slowly tightened around Eli's entire body.

Kwadadadadeuk.

"Kkeuaa……!"

Hmph, such a loud scream.

Chwareuk.

"……Heup!? Heup!"

Kwadeuk.

As the chains finally sealed the man's mouth, he could clearly see the process of the vile malice in those red eyes turning into terror.

That sight seemed to cool his rage-filled head a little.

'Let's not kill him in one go. Slowly, in the most painful way possible. Starting by crushing his fingertips……. No, should I start by burning him?'

I heard burns are the most painful…….

The moment he was smiling, imagining all sorts of cruel things.

Muno saw his own face reflected in the masked man's red eyes.

That expression, smiling brightly while imagining torturing and killing a person in all sorts of ways, was truly…….

'……Ugly.'

Is that me?

Suddenly, his mind snapped to attention, and the strength in his chains naturally slackened a bit.

Thud.

"Kkeueuk. Kkeuk……."

Perhaps because his airway was slightly cleared, a groan mixed with bloody foam escaped from Eli's mouth as he writhed on the floor, his whole body bound.

Of course, that didn't mean he felt any pity.

The pain in his side, where the bleeding had only been stopped by forcibly contracting his muscles, was still there.

Gadeuk.

Thud.

"Your punishment will be decided by Father. But before that……."

Muno, who had stomped on Eli's chest, stared intently into Eli's terrified eyes.

After confirming his own calmed face within them, he lifted the man's body again.

Chwareureureuk.

"……I'll just break your limbs."

"Kkeuheuk."

The four chains lifted the man into the air and twisted his limbs, bending them in different directions.

Kwadadadeuk.

"Kkeuaaaaak!"

The scream once again stimulated the murderous intent in his chest, but.

'I won't kill him. However…….'

The eerie expression he had just seen bothered him, so he set a limit for himself.

But the chains still fully absorbed that murderous intent and pulled mercilessly as if to rip his limbs off.

Udeudeudeuk.

"Kkeuaaaaak!"

If he left him like that, the training hall would become a sea of blood and the man would become a corpse with only a torso left.

'Stop.'

Thud.

Muno threw Eli's body, with his limbs' bones broken, onto the training hall floor.

But just then.

"Brother?!"

A surprised voice echoed from the entrance of the training hall.

A familiar voice that struck his ears.

"Lian?"

When he turned around, his younger brother was standing there with a late-night snack, for some reason without a servant.

"Ha……."

I'm screwed.

'What did I just show a child…….'

The moment he was about to blame himself inwardly.

Lian's gaze swept over his side where blood was flowing.

"An attack!? What bastard dares!!?"

Chaenggeurang.

Lian threw down the tableware and, drawing the sword from his waist, charged straight at the writhing Eli.

Muno, who had been momentarily dazed by the unexpected reaction, quickly understood the situation.

'Ah, this was that kind of world…….'

And.

Tang.

Moving a step ahead, he blocked his younger brother's sword, which was about to plunge into Eli's neck.

"Eok?"

The moment Lian stared blankly at the sword that was lightly deflected by the chains.

He immediately closed the distance, let out a small laugh, and patted his younger brother's head.

"Temper, temper, Lian. You don't have to be like Father in that regard."

"B-but, he's the one who attacked you, brother……."

So you're going to kill him?

Psik.

He was indeed a nobleman of this era, but to him, he was still just a cute younger brother.

"There's something to find out before we kill him."

"Yes?"

"That guy, it's Eli."

"Yeees!?"

The swiftly moving chains ripped off the mask of the fallen man.

It wasn't that he was doing this simply because he didn't want to see a twelve-year-old kill someone.

"Sir Eli, why……?"

"A 2-star knight, suddenly ambushed me. It doesn't make sense."

Now that his head had cooled, he felt that something was definitely strange.

'No matter how much he hates me, would he go so far as to try to kill me?'

It's not that he underestimated human hatred. But usually, greed takes precedence.

However, Muno couldn't think of any benefit Eli would gain from killing him.

Considering Eli's personality that he had seen so far, it was definitely a strange thing.

"You're listening, right? Eli."

KWANG.

Udeudeuk.

"Kkeuaak!"

The moment Eli screamed as his waist was crushed by the stomping foot.

Muno, who had confirmed a slight glint return to the man's fading eyes, smirked.

"As I thought……."

It bothered him a little that Lian was looking at him with sparkling eyes in that situation, but now was not the time to be concerned with such trivial matters.

"What's your scheme, Eli? Why did you ambush me? I didn't think you were this stupid."

He bent down and looked directly into the man's eyes.

"Muno, Drasen, bring him……. With his life intact……."

"What?"

The words the man spat out with hazy red eyes were completely incomprehensible.

'What's with this guy.'

Anyone could see that he was not in his right mind.

And as Muno looked into those dazed, unfocused eyes, he once again felt something stimulating him.

The black light faintly visible in the man's red eyes was giving off a contradictory feeling of being endlessly unpleasant yet desirable.

'Desirable? What is?'

The dark murderous intent and violence simmering deep in his chest began to stir again.

'Strange.'

The moment that thought came to mind, Muno's consciousness had already split in two.

'Hm?!'

In a pure white space of consciousness, he recognized his own split form.

'Hoh? So this…… is possible.'

It wasn't a particularly unfamiliar experience.

Right after being reincarnated into this world with memories of his past life, he had gone through a brief period of happiness followed by a long period of suffering.

The baby, who knew that another world existed, had learned how to separate his own ego to avoid being brainwashed in the terrible environment.

And in the end, while isolating his rational ego within his consciousness, he had begun to reveal only the minimum intelligence to the outside, which only expressed anger towards those who persecuted him.

He was expressing it plausibly now, but in reality, it was.

'A state of madness, a mixture of schizophrenia and trauma…… I guess.'

That ego, which should have self-destructed while suffering from severe mental confusion, had been slowly recovering under the warm care of his adoptive parents.

However, from then on, the battle with the demon implanted in his head had begun.

While Han Munho's ego took charge of that internal battle, Muno's ego, with only minimal cognitive abilities, was revealed to the outside, showing a deficient appearance.

And now, he thought his consciousness had been completely integrated after devouring the demon in his head…….

'Was I wrong?'

He wondered if it was because of the fragments of terrible memories that he still couldn't fully recall.

But then he soon realized that it was a little different from that.

His ego now was not divided into Muno and Han Munho.

One was Muno, with gray hair and gray eyes, in his original form.

But the other one.

- Grrrrrr.

Another ego, baring its teeth, with not only its hair and eyes, but its entire body dyed black.

That appearance, like a mass of violence and murderous intent, was hard to accept as his own.

But he immediately knew what its identity was.

'Demon Devourer.'

The trait that had allowed him to devour the demon, and the direction of his evolution.

A power that even his father had described as an incomprehensible ability that surpassed the limits of Corporeal Arts.

But that too was ultimately a part of the life he had lived and.

'Another me.'

……It was.

The moment he recognized that, the black ego that had been exuding killing intent then bared its teeth in a smile and nodded.

And.

Seureureuk.

At that moment, the two egos mixed into one, and he returned to his current appearance of black hair and black eyes.

In that process, Muno confirmed that the different feelings he had received from the two egos were due to a specific energy.

The identity of the unpleasantness he had felt a moment ago, and yet, on the other hand, the energy that had felt desirable.

'……Demonic energy ?'

The moment he realized that, Muno returned to reality from the pure white space of consciousness.

"Brother? I don't think this guy is in his right mind."

Only then did his bewildered younger brother's eyes come into view.

"Huh? Uh, uh. Yeah, anyone would think so."

Fortunately, it seemed that almost no time had passed.

When he looked down at Eli again, the faint energy visible in the man's eyes was clearly distinguishable.

- Energy that should not exist in this world. Therefore, a power that I must devour.

The identity of the energy, which was still unfamiliar but would become familiar, and had to become familiar.

The other ego, the Demon Devourer, had wanted to tell him that.

But if that's the case, then this is…….

"……Magic?"

"Magic!?"

Lian, who had been listening quietly, jumped in surprise.

But he had no mind to answer.

Could it be that a magician was involved in this?

'Why me of all people?'

A chilling premonition flashed through him, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

- Magicians must not know about your trait. Absolutely not.

His father's words flashed through his mind.

"Brother, is this really magic?

How on earth did you know? How could a magician be in our territory……."

Once again, his younger brother's urgent voice woke him from his daze.

It was no wonder Lian was surprised.

This Iron Kingdom was a representative enemy of the mage Empire, a country where one could be executed just for being a magician.

'Right.'

That thought calmed him down again.

There was no way his trait, which he had only told his father about, had already leaked to the outside.

And the fact that a magician was involved in this matter was not necessarily something to be considered ominous.

"Lian."

"Yes, brother."

"You report to Father."

"Pardon? Me?"

"Yes. The disposal of this man is for Father to decide."

Muno said so and prodded Eli with the tip of his foot.

"Bring Muno Drasen……."

He let the nonsensical mumbling of the man who was out of his mind, repeating the same words, go in one ear and out the other.

"Then, brother, you……?"

"I'm going to investigate this guy's background separately. Before all traces disappear."

Even now, the traces of demonic energy he could feel were gradually fading.

But naturally, his younger brother did not understand.

"Pardon? Traces?"

Muno didn't bother to answer.

If a magician was really involved in this, and if someone was targeting him.

'I might be better than Father at dealing with magicians.'

It was common sense on this continent that a prepared magician was a more fearsome opponent than any other user of supernatural powers.

Depending on the situation, even his father, a 4-star knight, could be in trouble against a low-level magician.

But he felt that he would be different.

- You, will become the natural enemy of magicians.

"Muno Drasen……."

Muno moved his chains and wrapped them around the man's body again.

Then, this time, just by being conscious of it, the faint demonic energy remaining in the man's head began to be sucked in.

"Bring……? Keoheuk!?"

Eli's eyes, which had been spouting the same words, widened for a moment.

"Kkeureureuk"

The man then trembled, foamed at the mouth, and his head slumped down.

"Brother, you said you were going to interrogate him, why did you just kill him……?"

"No!"

What does this kid take me for.

"Tell Father that I…… dealt with the magic."

"Brother, do you know magic too?"

"No, it's not like that. He'll understand if you just say that."

"Wow……."

Muno slightly averted his gaze from his younger brother's sparkling eyes and glared at Eli, who was sprawled on the floor.

Even if he was under a spell, Eli's crime of carrying out the attack could not be erased.

Unless he was a high-level magician said to exist only in the mage Empire, he wouldn't be able to forcibly brainwash knights who were Corporeal Arts users who had broken through the limits of their species and evolved.

- The main trick magicians use is to stimulate and control the dark parts of a person's heart.

- That is why our kingdom despises and ostracizes magicians.

'This guy must have been overflowing with hatred or dislike for me from the beginning.'

Recalling his father's words again, Muno glanced at Eli and immediately turned away.

"Then I'm counting on you, Lian. We have to finish this before the night is over."

"Yes."

Perhaps the magician was still in the territory.

With a grim determination, he followed the faint traces left by Eli, no, by the demonic energy.

But once again, Lian's voice caught him by the ankle.

"Brother, but I……."

"Hm?"

"……I know this isn't the right time, but I felt I should deliver the message."

"What is it?"

"Mother is looking for you. She says you keep running away when you should be preparing for the party. So……."

"Hm!? Ah, over there, the traces……!"

Pababak.

At that moment, Muno immediately ran out of the training hall with all his might, chasing the traces of demonic energy.

"……I came to get you…… heol."

Before the echo of Lian's voice could even fade.