“You killed Jeras and his subordinates, shook the nation with the bone flute. You saw through Mombi’s identity, destroyed our old capital, and now you’ve even conquered this tower and come before my eyes,” Lotbart Rognir continued speaking in an extremely calm manner. “Truly remarkable achievements. Unparalleled majesty. You’ve done well to come this far with barely a handful of people. Regardless of likes or dislikes, I can’t help but acknowledge at least that much.”

He showed no signs of impatience.

Despite everything he had built up so far crumbling down, he remained rational even in front of Adelaide, who could be called the culprit.

As if to say that this itself was the qualification of a king.

“Adelaide von Lennart. I know about you. I investigated you. A girl who lost her family and fell to ruin due to the plan we devised. Your anger towards me could indeed be called just.”

Like a wise and benevolent king, he affirmed Adelaide’s actions.

He judged her desire for revenge as righteous.

“However… even if the direction is correct, the blood spilled while walking that path cannot all be justified. Countless lives ended due to your actions. Among them were many who had no connection to your father’s death and were just living as members of the tower. Is that all? You shattered a city, so innocent residents living there died, and because your actions caused a war, the damage from that is also enormous.”

But it was a cunning deception.

While not denying the goal itself, it was rhetoric that condemned the sins she had committed and pointed them out.

“How far do you intend to go? How far will you advance? Your father and your domain’s soldiers were annihilated, so do you also intend to annihilate our bloodline? Like my granddaughter you just passed by, will you slaughter even children who know nothing?”

Adelaide did not answer Lotbart’s words.

She just silently listened to his story.

She neither showed anger, telling him to stop talking nonsense, nor did she crumble with guilt upon encountering a truth she had been turning away from.

Rather because of that, Lotbart raised his guard.

And finally, Adelaide opened her mouth, “If it were Sir Knight, he probably would have started fighting right away without listening to your story.”

A sudden statement—difficult to understand without context.

“But I didn’t want to do that. I felt like I wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. So, from now on, I’ll explain what will happen if you fall to me.”

Though formally addressed to Lotbart, the content was closer to talking to herself.

“I don’t intend to annihilate all of your blood relatives. If there are people who surrender, I’ll accept them. They will take on the role of announcing the truth about Friedel’s tragedy and apologizing for those sins.”

Her hand holding the sword was limp, and no tension could be felt from her body.

“Your name will be passed down for generations as the culprit who coveted the throne with short-sighted vision, only to lose even the wealth and glory already in hand, and robbed your descendants of the chance for glory they might have had. Even if a day comes when your descendants rise again, they won’t praise you. Rather, they might spit on you as the culprit who brought down those who were doing well.”

With the lightness of casual chat during a morning walk, she asserted Lotbart’s future.

“‘If only that old man hadn’t done unnecessary things’ ‘If he had just stayed still, he could have lived comfortably as the head of the tower’ ‘Why do we have to suffer like this because of such a guy?’ ‘Everyone curses us, is there any need to go around saying we’re that fellow’s descendants? Why don’t we change our family name while we’re at it?’”

Violet eyes gazed at Lotbart with a languid light.

“You will remain in history not as a king, but as a traitor. The name Rognir will be remembered as a symbol of shame, not glory. Your descendants will not acknowledge your achievements or efforts, and will just use you as a scapegoat, calling you an incompetent, pathetic, and ugly old man. Do you think my words lack reality?”

Lotbart did not answer.

But his eyes sank gloomily.

The rational old man, because of that, acknowledged that the words uttered by the girl before him were not simple empty talk, but a reality that could sufficiently occur.

He absolutely could not accept such a future.

“It seems you’ve realized it’s not the time to worry about others.”

As if understanding the answer from his silence, Adelaide smiled.

It was a smile that somehow felt sorrowful.

“If you know what position you’re in, struggle—I’ve come to smash that head-on.”

And that sorrow changed into a ferocity like that of a beast in an instant.

“…Have I awakened a sleeping lion?” Lotbart, lamented, then immediately raised his right hand and stabbed his left chest.

With a squelch, fresh blood overflowed.

The blood that flowed onto the throne was absorbed into the crystal pillar behind without a single drop falling to the floor.

The crystal pillar, stained red, seemed to melt for a moment, then soon after swallowed Lotbart’s body as if it were alive.

Crystal melted into his emptied heart, and eventually his flesh itself merged with the crystal pillar as if mixing.

Lotbart carelessly threw the red flesh that was once his heart onto the floor.

《Good. I acknowledge my mistake. But that’s all. You may lead to my death, but you won’t be able to make even a small scratch on Rognir’s glory—!!》

Lotbart’s voice echoed, filling the entire floor.

Lotbart’s mana, having become one with the crystal pillar that was the core of the tower and the focal point of the ley lines, had swollen to over a hundred times its original state.

With each of his steps, each of his gestures, a red chill swirled ominously.

Adelaide, responding, had already drawn up her mana.

Golden flames and violet lightning intertwined, containing unimaginable strength from such a small frame.

As the old king of the tower and the young lion clashed, a tremendous shockwave echoed through the tower.

Boom!

***

The monopoly of mages by the towers was at a serious level.

Even a 2nd rank mage could receive treatment equivalent to a knight in other domains, and 3rd rank mages were hard to find even in count families.

Yet in the towers, 2nd rank mages were just tripping over their feet, 3rd rank mages were treated like somewhat outstanding professors, and even 4th rank mages numbered in the dozens in each tower, to the extent that rumors circulated that 99.9% of the continent’s skilled mages were gathered in the towers.

No, to be honest, if we base it on the time before the Witch of the South began large-scale cultivation of wizards in the Empire, it wasn’t even a rumor but just a fact.

With such repositories of talent, towers and towers clashing head-on meant that high-level magic that ordinary people would never see in their lifetime was rampant everywhere.

Large flames or storms of cold were at a boring level, and all sorts of phenomena occurred, like carelessly thrown magic swords flying through the sky at will piercing enemies, enemies turning to stone en masse when a mage removed their blindfold and glared, or enemies intoxicated by hallucinations and illusions stabbing their own necks in a state of confusion.

One of the characteristics of mages, excellent killing power but relatively weak defense, also contributed to maximizing the damage on both sides.

As high-level magic that even knights, skilled in strengthening and protecting their bodies, had to be prepared to die if caught up in it was poured out like blind arrows here and there, the battle lines on both sides melted at a terrifying speed.

Ordinary soldiers had no meaning other than meat shields, and while the Protection side soldiers, armed with all sorts of magic tools, endured a bit better, the Control side’s firepower was that much higher than Protection’s, so the overall damage was similar.

Inevitably, expensive golems, magic dolls, homunculi, and spirits had to take on tanking roles instead, but to the mages, this was like using banknotes instead of newspapers to block wind holes in a wall.

“What are you all doing?! Quickly raise the undead! There are corpses scattered everywhere!!”

“Why do you think we accepted you necromancers?! When else would you be useful if not now!”

Therefore, the Control mages earnestly urged the necromancers.

Unlike the Tower of Protection, where most members were enchantresses and enchanters, the Tower of Control was a hodgepodge of all sorts of schools mixed together.

Among them were a small number of necromancers mixed in, and they had to make pitiful faces at the reproaches of their colleagues and superiors.

No, damn it, I just revived 10 bodies! Don’t you see they burned up as soon as we sent them out!

You think it’s easy to use magic because corpses are scattered around? You crazy bastards. Why can’t you burn the enemies scattered all around like this? You think magic just happens and undead just pop up with a flick of a finger?

It was undeniable that a battlefield with corpses scattered about and death energy rampant was the best environment for necromancers.

There was no need to procure materials from elsewhere, and the mana emitted by dead vengeful spirits greatly reduced mana consumption for necromancers while also having the effect of increasing the strength of undead.

But there was a limit to even that.

In a situation where wide-area dealers who could sweep away dozens of soldiers with a single attack magic were everywhere, the undead couldn’t perform a role beyond moving kindling. What could they do when they just melted before even swinging a sword once near the enemy?

No matter how good a necromancer’s efficiency was in a situation with corpses scattered around, in this situation, they couldn’t perform a role beyond pouring water into a bottomless pot.

Even if they tried to fight with methods other than summoning undead, like curses or poison energy, the problem was that all the enemies were mages.

Unlike ordinary people, because they had a lot of mana in their bodies, they easily deflected light curses, and higher curses that would work on such people required preparing proper altars, going through procedures, and performing rituals for several days, so they weren’t something that could be used urgently on such a battlefield.

While they were ruminating on the sorrows of being the weakest school.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ advises that if the battlefield is in chaos, it’s good for the transformation witch to rampage, so they should organize things a bit!]

“Alright. I just need to clear the surroundings roughly, right?”

A wave of black mana covered the battlefield.

“Huk!”

“T-this is…!”

The first to realize its identity were the necromancers of the same trade.

Other mages tried to ask what on earth it was seeing their reactions as if they had seen something unbelievable, but that was unnecessary.

Just a few seconds after the mana spread, the corpses lying at their feet collectively rose.

The corpses—littered throughout the entire battlefield—numbers in the tens of thousands.

Emotions of shock gushed out simultaneously from both the Control and Protection formations.

“Ah, I misjudged the power. The range was too wide.”

As the Black Witch casually waved her hand, the Protection side corpses all ran along the ground, smoothly moved to the side of the battlefield, then neatly laid down their bodies in a place where they wouldn’t interfere.

In contrast, the Control side corpses rolled their eyes and began mercilessly clawing and biting those who were once their comrades.

The flustered Control mages swept away the undead with magic, but they didn’t stop moving, even in a state where only parts of their arms and legs remained.

As only one side’s tanks started being unilaterally reinforced in a situation where both sides’ firepower was about even, the battle line that had been in a stalemate suddenly started being pushed greatly to one side.

Dorothea used the spare undead to guide the overall flow of troops to where she wanted.

Then, a huge empty space was created between Mombi and the White Knight master-servant pair rampaging in the center of the battlefield.

Mombi seemed to notice the situation and tried to dig into the middle of Protection’s formation, but the Tin Knight appeared in front of her and blocked the way.

Mombi’s blade-like nails and the Tin Knight’s sword clashed.

***

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