Chapter 123 – Conrad’s legacy
A Sanctuary was a place where high-ranking beings such as gods, spirits and dragons descended during the age of creation. It was said that the gods created the world when they descended to places called Shrines in various parts of the world.
One of the representative Sanctuaries was the sacred plateau of Emerdia, where the creator goddess Anastasia descended. In this place was built the Great Temple of Emerdia, the main temple of the Church.
And the Elven capital of Elnasa, where the World Tree took root. The Dragon Claw Gorge in the east, where the Dragon King Fiand resided. And then there was the place where the Demon King slept in the Kingdom of Thane, the sacred mountain of Rebnath.
“I don’t know if it is correct to call the spiritual mountain where the Demon King slept, Rebnath, a Sanctuary, but it is said to be the counterpart of Elnasa, the capital of the World Tree.”
“Huh? But why would the World Tree be the Demon King’s counterpart? Isn’t it Letty, the Brave, who should be his opposite?”
“We don’t know what the relationship between the Brave and the Demon King is like. But the weapon Letty has, the Holy Spirit Sword, was given to her by the incarnation of the World Tree. Only the Brave can wield the Holy Spirit Sword that contains the power of the World Tree.”
At Wynn’s surprised voice, it was Liara who answered, who was giving the explanation of the Sanctuaries.
“Onii-chan, haven’t you heard that spirits are the counterpart of demons?”
“Oh, yes, I heard about that in magic classes.”
The spirits born from the World Tree moved through the air and created various phenomena. The magic that gave magical power to these beings of willpower as compensation and made the mages will materialize was the magic called Creation Magic. It was said that when Anastasia created the world, she used spirits to create various materials. When these spirits were born, in turn their counterparts, the demons, were also born.
“This is one of those places?”
“Tch, tch, that’s right. This is the Sanctuary of Noale, the God of Destruction. This place has become extremely unstable due to the strong presence of the god’s power. Here, even I can summon the God of Destruction. Now, praise me! It is time to complete the magic that Conrad Heisenberg created to defeat the Demon King.”
All the pillars in space flickered with colored lights. The engraved images on the murals and inscriptions began to glow with a golden radiance. And then…
A windstorm blew from the top of the staircase where Reynard stood. The air roared and raged like a tornado, and thunder crashed between the pillars with a roar.
“Guh…” Wynn hunched in place and shielded his head with both hands. The storm and the blowing lightning became even more intense, and he inadvertently took a step back. The wind almost blew him away. He managed to hang on, but it seemed only a matter of time before he was blown backwards.
At that moment… Suddenly, he felt a gentle warmth in his body, and suddenly he no longer felt the effects of the wind.
“Huh?” When he opened his eyes, he could still feel the glare of the intense lightning, but there was a thin film of white light between the place where he and the others stood and the altar where Reynard was. Standing in front of him and the others, Liara stood with her hand on her head.
“Tha-Thank goodness…” Abel’s voice sounded relieved.
Liara had put up a defense spell to ward off the gusts of wind and lightning rain.
“Well, Liara Thane. It would be a shame if you were to die in the descent before seeing completed the ultimate magic that the great mage created for the Demon King.”
But…
“You’re wrong!” Liara shouted loudly. “What you want is to obtain and then recreate the magic that Conrad Heisenberg created. You only want to prove that you have the power to destroy even the Demon King. I see.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“In that case, this magic you’re currently performing isn’t the magic Conrad Heisenberg created to destroy the Demon King. It’s not his legacy! It’s a magic to destroy the world, reformed by Sarah Ferrule!”
◇◆◇◆◇
This may have occurred to him because he was present at the time the Demon King descended. Conrad Heisenberg, the court magician of the Kingdom of Thane, lost his left arm and leg, but he continued to watch his beloved master, Melvick IV, the hero king of the Kingdom of Thane, transform into a non-human being. And then it hit him. The Demon King had descended into this world using the body of Melvick IV, a rare hero, as a vessel.
This phenomenon was the same in principle as summoning magic, which drew power from a higher being or brought down that being itself. If this was the case, if he could summon a being with the same power as the Demon King, using a human body as a vessel, he could create a being with enough power to compete with the Demon King.
Summoning a superior being known as a Divine Spirit was an easy task with Conrad’s power and magical talent. However, the actual development of the magic that would bring the summoned spirit down into the human body as a vessel and connect it to the land required much trial and error.
At first, those who agreed with Conrad’s intentions volunteered for the experiment. They were former citizens of the Kingdom of Thane. On the day the demon king descended, they were lucky enough to be out of the country and escaped disaster. With their help, Conrad decided to summon a Divine Spirit.
But…
The result was disastrous.
The human body could not resist the immense power of the Divine Spirit. The person’s personality was destroyed and they became a cripple. There were those who were able to retain their personality, but many of their memories were destroyed, making it difficult for them to even lead their daily lives.
However, from these results, Conrad became convinced that his hypothesis was correct, that just as the Demon King descended into a human vessel, a Divine Spirit could also perform the same process.
Conrad then repeated the experiment, albeit with a series of failures.
When there were no more volunteers for the experiment, he kidnapped refugees whom no one would miss, even if they suddenly disappeared one day, and conducted experiments and checks. As a result, Conrad was able to move one step closer to his goal of defeating the Demon King.
It turned out that the stronger the magic, the more powerful the Divine Spirit it could house, and the more the body and consciousness could resist. If a person who could use magic, even the simplest, became a vessel, they would lose many more memories than those who could not, but their consciousness would often remain.
Conrad began to ponder this.
Magical power was the source of magic. By offering magical power to spirits as compensation, people could interfere with the world and materialize various phenomena.
If that magical power was used as sustenance. He believed that spirits and Divine Spirits, who were considered higher than regular spirits, would be closer to pure magical power. In other words, if a person had strong magical power in his body on a regular basis, his body and consciousness would also have strong resistance to magical power. If this was the case, then the stronger the magical power, the more powerful the spirits and Divine Spirits could be, even if they were housed in a human body.
Indeed, it was a known fact that those who possessed more magical power, at the same time, had a greater resistance to magic.
“Concession Magic” which bestowed magical power on oneself, others or objects, had a full magical effect when used on the mages themselves, but the effect was considerably diminished when applied on others. This was because the target of the spell was unconsciously resisting, and the magical power of their body was resisting the magical power of the other person.
Therefore, Conrad would first kill the body as a vessel so that it would not resist the magical power, and then remove the heart, which was considered the root of the magical power. Then, as expected, he could bring down the divine spirit without another setback.
However, the strength of the spirit that could be transferred depended on the amount of magical power possessed by the person who was to be a vessel. To transfer a spirit strong enough to defeat a demon king, it was necessary to use a person with greater magical power as a vessel.
However, there was no one else Conrad knew who had that kind of power, other than himself. Conrad did not care what might happen to his life and body now. However, since his body possessed great magical power, his resistance was also infinitely high. Naturally, it was necessary for him to accept death and remove his heart. But, if he died, there would be no one to use magic to summon the divine spirit.
So, applying summoning magic, he decided that he would put his own soul into another person. By transferring his consciousness to another person, he would be able to perform the magic ritual. Next, he would command the divine spirit descended into his body to defeat the Demon King.
To do this, he needed to find a vessel that could contain his soul. A body that could accept a divine spirit powerful enough to defeat the demon king, a body that could accept Conrad’s consciousness. That body also had to be able to withstand great magical power.
It was a tug of war.
However, Conrad solved this problem by sacrificing what he considered sacred and inviolable. That sacred and inviolable being was Melvick IV’s bloodline, Liara Thane.
Although Liara’s magical power was not as strong as his, her healing magic was said to reach the realm of the miraculous. As long as the wound received did not kill instantly, she could heal even fatal wounds on normal people. If it was Liara, there was a strong possibility that she could accept Conrad’s soul, a human, instead of accepting the soul of a strange divine spirit.
After leaving her in a magic circle with a powerful recovery effect and self-healing magic, he would extract her heart and transfer his consciousness. Conrad, determined to get his hands on a sacred and inviolable existence, kidnapped Liara, who was on her way from the Great Temple of Emerdia to the Kingdom of Lyon as an emissary. Just as he was about to do so, he was intercepted by Leticia.
And Conrad knew about it.
He learned of the existence of the Brave. The being who had the power to rival the Demon King, even without resorting to the forbidden magic he had devised.
“Before perfecting that magic, Conrad sacrificed many lives. This is an unforgivable act, but that spell was created for the purpose of defeating the Demon King. And to do so, it was designed to be able to control the being that would descend at will. Human consciousness could not withstand the consciousness of a god. That’s why Conrad wanted to transfer himself into my body. But I think that, no matter how impressive he is as a mage, he could not control such a powerful existence.”
“Tch… you’re right, Liara Thane. I know that even without you telling me. I’ve been chasing the legacy of that great mage all my life. And you’re right, my body isn’t strong enough to accept the God of Destruction.” Reynard, who Liara told that he wasn’t strong enough, showed no sign of being offended by the suggestion, and even smiled in a way that indicated he had some leeway. “Tch, but that problem has been solved too, Liara Thane. You were right. What I’m going to perform is not the magic of Conrad Heisenberg, but the magic of Sarah Ferrule, who adapted that magic.” After saying that, he took out a small bottle. “Kukuku… I have been preparing for this moment for a long time.”
After muttering this, Reynard drink down the contents of the bottle in one gulp.
“Uooo……” Then he pressed his chest, and groaned, cringing in place.
“Did he drink poison?”
“Tch… no… it… is not… poison…”
Mito muttered when he saw Reynard’s distressed expression, but Reynard denied in a raspy voice.
“No… it’s not a poison… ggh…” Reynard spat blood from his mouth. “…Ah…”
And then he fell and ended up lying on the ground.
“What the hell is going on…?”
Wynn, Leticia and everyone else in the room, confused, stared at Reynard as he fell to the floor.
Reynard’s body, lying on the floor, was writhing and convulsing. It appeared that he had been poisoned and was convulsing in a seizure before he died. Reynard’s convulsions gradually subsided and then he stopped moving.
“Everybody, stand back!” A high-pitched shout came from Leticia. She created a ball of light in her right hand and fired it at Reynard, who stopped moving.
Seeing this, Wynn and the others rushed to jump back. As they tried to shield their faces from the light, heat and gusts of wind that would accompany the next explosion, they saw an incredible sight.
The moment the ball of light released by Leticia hit Reynard, it disappeared as if melting into space without making any sound of explosion.
“Onii-chan, that man is accumulating tremendous power.” Leticia, who bit her lip as she saw the ball of light disappear, said to him.
“Yes… I can’t sense any magic, but I think I know what you mean.” Wynn replied, swallowing spittle. His throat felt dry and scratchy. He felt a strong, unpredictable pressure from Reynard, who was not moving a muscle.
The storm blowing through space increased in intensity, and the violent lightning from the friction of the air struck the magical barriers Liara had placed, causing a violent roar. And then…
“Kukku…”
Amidst the thunderous roars, they heard a small chuckle.
The owner of the voice was Reynard. He slowly stood up on the spot. The hood that covered half of his face was blown away by the wind.
“!?”
Wynn and the others gasped when they saw his face. What appeared from under the hood was the face of a young man.
“I can feel the power entering me more and more… Wonderful… so this is the power of a God…” Reynard seemed ecstatic at the magnitude of the power in his hands.
“This is… the power that even Conrad Heisenberg could not control… how could he?”
At Liara’s stunned murmur, Reynard looked at her with a slight smile on his face.
“I told you before, didn’t I? This is the magic that Sarah Ferrule, the Apostate, took from Conrad Heisenberg’s stolen research and enhanced it on her own. It is a heretical method that simultaneously amplifies and suppresses magical power.”
Chapter 123 – Conrad’s legacy
A Sanctuary was a place where high-ranking beings such as gods, spirits and dragons descended during the age of creation. It was said that the gods created the world when they descended to places called Shrines in various parts of the world.
One of the representative Sanctuaries was the sacred plateau of Emerdia, where the creator goddess Anastasia descended. In this place was built the Great Temple of Emerdia, the main temple of the Church.
And the Elven capital of Elnasa, where the World Tree took root. The Dragon Claw Gorge in the east, where the Dragon King Fiand resided. And then there was the place where the Demon King slept in the Kingdom of Thane, the sacred mountain of Rebnath.
“I don’t know if it is correct to call the spiritual mountain where the Demon King slept, Rebnath, a Sanctuary, but it is said to be the counterpart of Elnasa, the capital of the World Tree.”
“Huh? But why would the World Tree be the Demon King’s counterpart? Isn’t it Letty, the Brave, who should be his opposite?”
“We don’t know what the relationship between the Brave and the Demon King is like. But the weapon Letty has, the Holy Spirit Sword, was given to her by the incarnation of the World Tree. Only the Brave can wield the Holy Spirit Sword that contains the power of the World Tree.”
At Wynn’s surprised voice, it was Liara who answered, who was giving the explanation of the Sanctuaries.
“Onii-chan, haven’t you heard that spirits are the counterpart of demons?”
“Oh, yes, I heard about that in magic classes.”
The spirits born from the World Tree moved through the air and created various phenomena. The magic that gave magical power to these beings of willpower as compensation and made the mages will materialize was the magic called Creation Magic. It was said that when Anastasia created the world, she used spirits to create various materials. When these spirits were born, in turn their counterparts, the demons, were also born.
“This is one of those places?”
“Tch, tch, that’s right. This is the Sanctuary of Noale, the God of Destruction. This place has become extremely unstable due to the strong presence of the god’s power. Here, even I can summon the God of Destruction. Now, praise me! It is time to complete the magic that Conrad Heisenberg created to defeat the Demon King.”
All the pillars in space flickered with colored lights. The engraved images on the murals and inscriptions began to glow with a golden radiance. And then…
A windstorm blew from the top of the staircase where Reynard stood. The air roared and raged like a tornado, and thunder crashed between the pillars with a roar.
“Guh…” Wynn hunched in place and shielded his head with both hands. The storm and the blowing lightning became even more intense, and he inadvertently took a step back. The wind almost blew him away. He managed to hang on, but it seemed only a matter of time before he was blown backwards.
At that moment… Suddenly, he felt a gentle warmth in his body, and suddenly he no longer felt the effects of the wind.
“Huh?” When he opened his eyes, he could still feel the glare of the intense lightning, but there was a thin film of white light between the place where he and the others stood and the altar where Reynard was. Standing in front of him and the others, Liara stood with her hand on her head.
“Tha-Thank goodness…” Abel’s voice sounded relieved.
Liara had put up a defense spell to ward off the gusts of wind and lightning rain.
“Well, Liara Thane. It would be a shame if you were to die in the descent before seeing completed the ultimate magic that the great mage created for the Demon King.”
But…
“You’re wrong!” Liara shouted loudly. “What you want is to obtain and then recreate the magic that Conrad Heisenberg created. You only want to prove that you have the power to destroy even the Demon King. I see.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“In that case, this magic you’re currently performing isn’t the magic Conrad Heisenberg created to destroy the Demon King. It’s not his legacy! It’s a magic to destroy the world, reformed by Sarah Ferrule!”
◇◆◇◆◇
This may have occurred to him because he was present at the time the Demon King descended. Conrad Heisenberg, the court magician of the Kingdom of Thane, lost his left arm and leg, but he continued to watch his beloved master, Melvick IV, the hero king of the Kingdom of Thane, transform into a non-human being. And then it hit him. The Demon King had descended into this world using the body of Melvick IV, a rare hero, as a vessel.
This phenomenon was the same in principle as summoning magic, which drew power from a higher being or brought down that being itself. If this was the case, if he could summon a being with the same power as the Demon King, using a human body as a vessel, he could create a being with enough power to compete with the Demon King.
Summoning a superior being known as a Divine Spirit was an easy task with Conrad’s power and magical talent. However, the actual development of the magic that would bring the summoned spirit down into the human body as a vessel and connect it to the land required much trial and error.
At first, those who agreed with Conrad’s intentions volunteered for the experiment. They were former citizens of the Kingdom of Thane. On the day the demon king descended, they were lucky enough to be out of the country and escaped disaster. With their help, Conrad decided to summon a Divine Spirit.
But…
The result was disastrous.
The human body could not resist the immense power of the Divine Spirit. The person’s personality was destroyed and they became a cripple. There were those who were able to retain their personality, but many of their memories were destroyed, making it difficult for them to even lead their daily lives.
However, from these results, Conrad became convinced that his hypothesis was correct, that just as the Demon King descended into a human vessel, a Divine Spirit could also perform the same process.
Conrad then repeated the experiment, albeit with a series of failures.
When there were no more volunteers for the experiment, he kidnapped refugees whom no one would miss, even if they suddenly disappeared one day, and conducted experiments and checks. As a result, Conrad was able to move one step closer to his goal of defeating the Demon King.
It turned out that the stronger the magic, the more powerful the Divine Spirit it could house, and the more the body and consciousness could resist. If a person who could use magic, even the simplest, became a vessel, they would lose many more memories than those who could not, but their consciousness would often remain.
Conrad began to ponder this.
Magical power was the source of magic. By offering magical power to spirits as compensation, people could interfere with the world and materialize various phenomena.
If that magical power was used as sustenance. He believed that spirits and Divine Spirits, who were considered higher than regular spirits, would be closer to pure magical power. In other words, if a person had strong magical power in his body on a regular basis, his body and consciousness would also have strong resistance to magical power. If this was the case, then the stronger the magical power, the more powerful the spirits and Divine Spirits could be, even if they were housed in a human body.
Indeed, it was a known fact that those who possessed more magical power, at the same time, had a greater resistance to magic.
“Concession Magic” which bestowed magical power on oneself, others or objects, had a full magical effect when used on the mages themselves, but the effect was considerably diminished when applied on others. This was because the target of the spell was unconsciously resisting, and the magical power of their body was resisting the magical power of the other person.
Therefore, Conrad would first kill the body as a vessel so that it would not resist the magical power, and then remove the heart, which was considered the root of the magical power. Then, as expected, he could bring down the divine spirit without another setback.
However, the strength of the spirit that could be transferred depended on the amount of magical power possessed by the person who was to be a vessel. To transfer a spirit strong enough to defeat a demon king, it was necessary to use a person with greater magical power as a vessel.
However, there was no one else Conrad knew who had that kind of power, other than himself. Conrad did not care what might happen to his life and body now. However, since his body possessed great magical power, his resistance was also infinitely high. Naturally, it was necessary for him to accept death and remove his heart. But, if he died, there would be no one to use magic to summon the divine spirit.
So, applying summoning magic, he decided that he would put his own soul into another person. By transferring his consciousness to another person, he would be able to perform the magic ritual. Next, he would command the divine spirit descended into his body to defeat the Demon King.
To do this, he needed to find a vessel that could contain his soul. A body that could accept a divine spirit powerful enough to defeat the demon king, a body that could accept Conrad’s consciousness. That body also had to be able to withstand great magical power.
It was a tug of war.
However, Conrad solved this problem by sacrificing what he considered sacred and inviolable. That sacred and inviolable being was Melvick IV’s bloodline, Liara Thane.
Although Liara’s magical power was not as strong as his, her healing magic was said to reach the realm of the miraculous. As long as the wound received did not kill instantly, she could heal even fatal wounds on normal people. If it was Liara, there was a strong possibility that she could accept Conrad’s soul, a human, instead of accepting the soul of a strange divine spirit.
After leaving her in a magic circle with a powerful recovery effect and self-healing magic, he would extract her heart and transfer his consciousness. Conrad, determined to get his hands on a sacred and inviolable existence, kidnapped Liara, who was on her way from the Great Temple of Emerdia to the Kingdom of Lyon as an emissary. Just as he was about to do so, he was intercepted by Leticia.
And Conrad knew about it.
He learned of the existence of the Brave. The being who had the power to rival the Demon King, even without resorting to the forbidden magic he had devised.
“Before perfecting that magic, Conrad sacrificed many lives. This is an unforgivable act, but that spell was created for the purpose of defeating the Demon King. And to do so, it was designed to be able to control the being that would descend at will. Human consciousness could not withstand the consciousness of a god. That’s why Conrad wanted to transfer himself into my body. But I think that, no matter how impressive he is as a mage, he could not control such a powerful existence.”
“Tch… you’re right, Liara Thane. I know that even without you telling me. I’ve been chasing the legacy of that great mage all my life. And you’re right, my body isn’t strong enough to accept the God of Destruction.” Reynard, who Liara told that he wasn’t strong enough, showed no sign of being offended by the suggestion, and even smiled in a way that indicated he had some leeway. “Tch, but that problem has been solved too, Liara Thane. You were right. What I’m going to perform is not the magic of Conrad Heisenberg, but the magic of Sarah Ferrule, who adapted that magic.” After saying that, he took out a small bottle. “Kukuku… I have been preparing for this moment for a long time.”
After muttering this, Reynard drink down the contents of the bottle in one gulp.
“Uooo……” Then he pressed his chest, and groaned, cringing in place.
“Did he drink poison?”
“Tch… no… it… is not… poison…”
Mito muttered when he saw Reynard’s distressed expression, but Reynard denied in a raspy voice.
“No… it’s not a poison… ggh…” Reynard spat blood from his mouth. “…Ah…”
And then he fell and ended up lying on the ground.
“What the hell is going on…?”
Wynn, Leticia and everyone else in the room, confused, stared at Reynard as he fell to the floor.
Reynard’s body, lying on the floor, was writhing and convulsing. It appeared that he had been poisoned and was convulsing in a seizure before he died. Reynard’s convulsions gradually subsided and then he stopped moving.
“Everybody, stand back!” A high-pitched shout came from Leticia. She created a ball of light in her right hand and fired it at Reynard, who stopped moving.
Seeing this, Wynn and the others rushed to jump back. As they tried to shield their faces from the light, heat and gusts of wind that would accompany the next explosion, they saw an incredible sight.
The moment the ball of light released by Leticia hit Reynard, it disappeared as if melting into space without making any sound of explosion.
“Onii-chan, that man is accumulating tremendous power.” Leticia, who bit her lip as she saw the ball of light disappear, said to him.
“Yes… I can’t sense any magic, but I think I know what you mean.” Wynn replied, swallowing spittle. His throat felt dry and scratchy. He felt a strong, unpredictable pressure from Reynard, who was not moving a muscle.
The storm blowing through space increased in intensity, and the violent lightning from the friction of the air struck the magical barriers Liara had placed, causing a violent roar. And then…
“Kukku…”
Amidst the thunderous roars, they heard a small chuckle.
The owner of the voice was Reynard. He slowly stood up on the spot. The hood that covered half of his face was blown away by the wind.
“!?”
Wynn and the others gasped when they saw his face. What appeared from under the hood was the face of a young man.
“I can feel the power entering me more and more… Wonderful… so this is the power of a God…” Reynard seemed ecstatic at the magnitude of the power in his hands.
“This is… the power that even Conrad Heisenberg could not control… how could he?”
At Liara’s stunned murmur, Reynard looked at her with a slight smile on his face.
“I told you before, didn’t I? This is the magic that Sarah Ferrule, the Apostate, took from Conrad Heisenberg’s stolen research and enhanced it on her own. It is a heretical method that simultaneously amplifies and suppresses magical power.”
