The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 33



Only Noblemtl

Persona’s inner world.

Her olive mana swirled everywhere.

Persona confirmed that her magic was activated and looked down at the black-haired boy in front of her.

Soon, memories of the boy’s past will unfold before my eyes.

And at the end, the wizard he serves.

There will also be information about ‘Tantalos’.

So before we could destroy this intruder’s ego, we needed to get that information.

-Tantalos, the 13th rank in the Vendetta series of annihilators.

There was a time when the persona itself was dying, completely abandoned by everything.

The only benefactor who reached out and saved her when she was in the pit of despair.

Anyone who touches him is unforgivable.

Even if it is the Zhu family, a powerful pillar supporting the empire, absolutely not.

She looked at Enoch with a smile and said.

“Then first, shall we look at the past memories in your subconscious?”

Persona deployed mana in his hands.

An accident engraved in Enoch’s subconscious, which must be his most bitter memory.

It unfolds the traces of Enoch’s past that are embedded in his mana.

‘First of all, to make sure, we need to shake off the mental barrier.’

Woof.

Persona’s mana danced in the air for a moment, then rapidly expanded to fill the surrounding area.

At the same time, Enoch’s dark blue mana began to ripple and bloom near his body.

Before he knew it, Enoch’s past memories were projected and vividly played out in Persona’s inner world.

[… My lord. Even though you are thirteen this year, you still haven’t been able to manifest magic.]

The Citadel at Midnight.

The top floor of Elseid’s massive fortress.

At the end of the empty, wide stone hallway, young Enoch listened blankly to the voices coming from the master’s room.

[You are clearly trying hard, and you have shown an outstanding ability to learn the theory of magic. However, it seems that you are simply unable to construct a magic circle using only the mana from the surrounding environment.]

In that moment, Enoch’s body, on which she was sitting, flinched and shook.

Persona smiled faintly.

This is probably a memory that is buried in the subconscious of this person, of which he is unaware.

It must be a shock to be forced to face it again.

[I guess. It seems like you have no talent for magic.]

For a while, there was silence in Gaju’s room.

And then, after a while, the cold voice of the head of the household answered briefly.

[It seems like I inherited my wife’s talent, not mine.]

[Then, is that really so? The talent you possess is from the East… But if that’s true, then from the beginning, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t even manifest magic…?]

[This is the Atlas Empire of the Magical Empire. Toas Tabileil.]

The voice of the head of household spoke cut off.

The only thing that a direct descendant of the Elseid clan that supports the empire must possess is a reputation for competence. There is no power that can make that possible other than magic.

A phrase that is considered common sense in the Magic Empire.

The wizard called Toas was momentarily speechless at that argument. But the head of the household continued to speak.

[However, even if Enoch has no talent for magic, he should be given a chance to prove himself.]

[… Since the young master has not yet revealed himself to the world, you are saying that now, at the age of thirteen, just before he is officially announced as a non-magician, is the right time.]

Gaju agreed with a brief silence.

The voice of the man called Toas asked again.

[Then what should I prepare? Since it is something related to Master Enoch, and not someone else, I have to keep it a secret from the world. I can’t leave it to someone else…]

[To prove your skills, we will have an unofficial match.]

[Unofficial Daemura. Have you decided on an opponent?]

[In order to prove that Enoch’s talent is capable enough to be recognized even by other magicians of the family, we have captured an elite magician from the “Imperial Guard” and an unofficial master. We need a suitable location.]

[Yes? Even with the Imperial Guard and the Grand Master, Lord Enoch is still thirteen… …!]

The Imperial Guard is one of the elite groups with fighting skills that can be considered the pinnacle of the empire. But how can you put one of them in battle with a thirteen-year-old boy?

But the rebuttal that Toas reflexively shouted out suddenly stopped midway.

[… I have gone off topic. I will prepare the location.]

The voice in my memory stopped there.

Before he knew it, young Enoch was walking away from the headmaster’s office with his head bowed.

─His small hands were covered in blisters and bleeding from the marks of the sword he had trained with many times.

That wasn’t all.

Also, the wounds on his forearms that burst from forcing his mana to manifest magic.

Swish.

Despite all that pain, Enoch simply calmly bandaged the wounds with bandages that had hardened with his own blood.

So young Enoch walks into the darkness of the citadel and returns to his empty room.

The memory of young Enoch, thirteen years old and battered, was cut off there.

“… You lived fiercely.”

Persona said so and lightly patted Enoch’s head as he sat down.

The boy didn’t react much.

Perhaps he is shaken by seeing past memories that he has buried deep inside.

“It must have been quite a shock. It must have brought up some worse memories than I thought.”

The tone was closer to teasing than sympathy.

But it doesn’t matter anyway.

Soon, if he reforms his ego, this boy will forget even those painful memories.

forever.

Persona manipulated the elaborately shaped magic circle with a relaxed attitude.

‘First of all, it seems that his mind is definitely in a state of turmoil.’

Woof.

First of all, this is not the information you want. You need to read the more recent memories embedded in Enoch’s mana.

‘You just said in your memory that it happened when you were ‘thirteen’.’

From that point on, adjusting the timeline of memory was no longer a difficult task.

‘Before coming here on this mission, you must have received information about Vendetta and Tantalus from your family.’

What we need here is ‘how much the Elseid family knows about Tantalus’. If we just find out that, there will be no more need to see this boy’s memories.

“…huh?”

But then, for a moment, a questioning expression appeared on the face of the persona who was manipulating the magic circle.

Her fingertips, which were adjusting the time zone of the memories recorded in Enoch’s mana, shook slightly.

‘There’s something a little strange?’

Enoch, who is about to be excommunicated, is currently seventeen years old.

And the one we just confirmed is Enoch, who is thirteen years old.

It was only a difference of about four years, but for some reason, the flow of his mana felt now was completely different from when he was thirteen.

No. It’s not that it’s changed exactly, but it’s the same, but somewhere it’s become much denser…

‘What is it? Why can’t I read Mana’s recent memories?’

Persona glanced down at Enoch.

‘It’s as if something is ‘guarding’ this little boy’s inner world… .’

After thinking that far, she shook her head briefly.

No. That’s nonsense.

Someone is guarding my inner world.

I’ve been in and out of the minds of countless high-ranking magicians, but never once has such a case existed.

‘So then, what on earth did this boy do?’

No target has ever reacted like this to a unique magic before.

‘I don’t know why, but work has become a bit of a hassle.’

The persona thought about it for a moment, then made a decision without thinking much of it.

‘If this is the case, I will have to order him to go into his inner world himself, reform himself as my servant, and then confess it with his own mouth.’

It is quite complicated to manipulate the mind without losing the ability to speak, even if one remodels the ego.

So I tried not to do it as much as possible…

But for some reason, since Enoch’s memories couldn’t be read recently, there was no other way.

Woof.

The persona slowly closed his eyes and concentrated.

He created a passageway connecting to Mana’s mind and began to enter Enoch’s inner world.

As always, she gathered her wits and thought about the inner landscape of the other person she would soon see.

─People’s inner world is surprisingly similar to the real world.

All the emotions that person has experienced throughout his life.

All those memories become grass, trees, flowers, birds, chirping, and fluttering butterflies.

That’s how the inner world of others is made up.

The current self is ultimately built up from the accumulated experiences of the person’s past.

All the emotions and memories I have felt while living like that are embedded within me and expressed as natural objects.

Of course, this boy’s too.

If so, it wouldn’t be difficult to change that. It’s something that’s been done countless times before.

‘What kind of inner world do you have? Let’s take a look.’

She synchronized her senses with Enoch.

Swish.

As if a drop of water seeps into the ground.

The consciousness of the persona melted into Enoch’s mind.

Eventually, she realized that she had entered his inner world and slowly opened her eyes.

‘Where, what in my inner world should I touch first…?’

And the moment when the persona’s eyes fully opened.

She was overwhelmed by the sight before her eyes.

─The infinite world was right in front of me.

It is on a different level from this inner world where I maintain my shape by applying mana.

An infinite world of complete pitch darkness.

A small exclamation involuntarily escaped from between her lips, overwhelmed by the world reflected in her eyes.

“……ah.”

The ground you step on is like a clear, clean surface of water, and you, standing there, are translucently reflected.

In the clear and bright darkness, an endless horizon stretches out in the distance, meeting the pitch-black sky.

When I suddenly looked up at the night sky,

The stars were twinkling so brightly that it seemed like they would pour down.

Persona just looked on, speechless.

For a moment, the persona, who had forgotten even his own purpose, was momentarily captivated by that beautiful world. I swear that I have never seen such a clear, complete, and flawless inner image before.

And at the same time, I could instinctively know.

‘…an inner world that I could never handle with my own strength.’

It was a world that could not even be compared to the clumsy inner world she had created.

‘I’ve never seen someone’s inner world revealed [in this way] before.’

Not only was the level of completion high, but even the way this inner world was implemented was something I had never seen before since I first unleashed my unique magic. She swept her creepy forearm once.

‘Even all the body’s sensations were as vivid as reality.’

I didn’t know such an inner world existed.

Persona tried hard to calm his thoughts. However, his overwhelmed thoughts only repeated the harsh reality.

‘Can I dare touch this?’

I have manifested my own magic and seen the inner worlds of countless people, but this is the first time I have seen such an absurd inner world.

I had no choice but to admit it.

No matter how I looked at it, Enoch’s inner world was impossible for her to understand, let alone manipulate.

Because it was clearly an inner world outside of the standard, on a completely different level from the unique magic she used.

however.

No matter how overwhelmed I was by this inner world, I couldn’t stop when I got here.

Persona clenched his fists with great effort and strengthened his resolve.

‘No, it doesn’t matter if it’s possible or not. I have to do it for Tantalus!’

The moment she just raised her mana.

─Whooooooow!

For a moment, an eerie sound burned through the space.

A sword was swung.

The blade, engulfed in red flames, cut off her neck in one stroke.

“…uh?”

The mouth of the persona flying away with its severed head let out a strange sound for a moment. She blankly looked at the master of the sword that had cut off her neck.

Pull the hood down deep enough to cover the eyes,

An unidentified inspector with an ashen beard.

He was looking down at me with his sword stuck in the ground.

And unbelievably.

In his sword, mana roared and burned in the shape of flames.

? “The Last Swordsman of the Empire”

Pale letters floated above the inspector’s head. Persona’s eyes widened in shock upon seeing them.

“you are……!”

The persona muttered quietly, not even realizing that she had been revived like a shadow.

She knew exactly who that man was.

“Obviously, in the past… … but, why in this inner world… … ?”

But before the persona could say anything else, a boy’s familiar voice was heard from across the endlessly expanding space of his inner world.

“Is this okay?”

The boy who had been subdued by us until just a moment ago.

It was Enoch Elseid.

The boy with black hair who had been agitated when he saw the memory from earlier had a faint smile on his face, nowhere to be seen.

The moment she saw him, the persona realized what she had just said to him.

─ [Surprisingly, you’re not trying to resist?]

Looking back, I felt something was off from the beginning.

Enoch’s helplessness as he was easily subdued without even properly releasing his strength. And his appearance as if he was in extreme shock due to seeing his past memories.

Only then did Persona realize that it had all been completely intentional.

“… … Was it all an act?”

She glared at Enoch.

I pretended to be agitated on purpose and drew her into my inner world.

I guess he probably realized that this was a more advantageous position for him.

“From what you said earlier, it seems like you definitely know something.”

Instead of answering, Enoch repeated what the persona had said.

“I think it’s time for us to have a conversation.”

─Shoot.

Above the world where the pitch-black horizon spreads out clearly.

As he walked, white circular waves spread out wherever his feet touched the ground.

Enoch, who had walked out into his inner world like that, stopped behind Geomseong with a calm expression and spoke.

“The demonization experiments you are conducting. Tell me everything.”

Enoch’s dark blue eyes staring at Persona shone clearly in the darkness. Persona asked, unable to hide his dumbfounded expression.

“You, what the heck…”

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

The last swordsman of the empire, silently raising his fiercely burning sword.

Enoch pointed at him from the side with his finger.

And then he said to the persona who was flinching with a bewildered expression, as if it were natural.

“Then… first, I need to learn where this is?”

A long time after the ice age.

The Black Sword that gave Enoch hell.

As usual, it was time for his one-sided massacre to begin.