The Pinnacle of Incompetence

The reminiscence ended.
This was the extent of my memories.
It was a scene I didn’t want to show, and a matter I didn’t want to recall.
The sensation of my neck being cut is still engraved on my neck as a blue tattoo.
“It’s over, right?”

“Do you want to run away?”
“Of course.”
My heart felt like it would leap out of my mouth.
Even though I was feigning a calm expression, this was my trauma itself.
There was no way I would feel good about someone else seeing it, or even witnessing it again.

“Want to see more?”
“What do you mean? My memory ends here.”

“This is ‘my’ memory.”
The Nebula said, and then arbitrarily replayed what came after.

Creak.
The heavy door of the courtroom opened in a hurry.
“Your Majesty!”
“What is it!”
Even at the fierce reprimand, the guard who had rushed in trembled and said.
“The sky…! Please look at the sky!”
“The sky?”
“Why the sky?”
“It’s just clear, what a strange thing to say.”
The crowd rushed to the windows.
They soon covered their mouths and fell silent.
At that reaction, the emperor also led his old body and slowly approached the window.
And he witnessed it.
“What… is this…”
A black tower rising upside down in the sky.
And the grotesque creatures that were rising up from the liquid that was dripping down from below it.
Some were composed only of mouths, some only of eyes, or some looked exactly like humans and spoke grotesque stories.
It was floating above the capital.
“Your Majesty, you must evacuate!”
“Is this the Demon King’s army?”
“It’s different from what I heard!”
“Did the temple really judge that one hero could stop this?”
People were agitated.
The emperor swayed, but soon leaned on his staff and said firmly.
“Silence!”
People’s mouths fell shut.
“Summon the Magic Tower Heads immediately. Especially the White…”
The emperor was at a loss for words when he saw the head of the White Magic Tower Head he had just executed.
At a time like this.
It’s too late to regret after the deed is done.
The king, though foolish yet wise, quickly erased the White Calamity, who had been his most reliable ally, from his mind.
“Summon all the Magic Tower Heads. And the Sword Master and all available troops!”
The emperor’s close aides, who had received the order, began to make contact with their communication artifacts.
It was an artifact developed by the White Calamity he had just killed.
“Your Majesty! The Imperial Knights have been disbanded!”
But since not all people were foolish yet wise.
“What did you say? Didn’t the Imperial Knights not even go near that scenery!”
“Sir Gerald, the commander of the knights and a Sword Master, has fled, and some of the other knights have also fled, leaving only about half of them.”
“The Red Magic Tower and the Blue Magic Tower are not responding!”
“The Yellow Magic Tower has conveyed that they will withdraw from this matter!”
It was truly instantaneous for a country to enter the path of decline.

[A message from the Yellow Magic Tower.]
[We are greatly disappointed by the execution of the White Magic Tower Head, Seonibaek Lin. From this moment on, the Yellow Magic Tower will be independent from the Lexas Empire and return to neutrality.]
[The Yellow Magic Tower only followed the White Magic Tower Head, Seonibaek Lin, so it is none of our business whether you, who do not even know gratitude and have passed a hasty death sentence on a world-class genius and hero without a proper trial, are destroyed or not.]
[End of message.]
Poof!
One of the contact artifacts exploded.
The Yellow Magic Tower Head had destroyed it so that they could no longer be contacted.
The emperor was stunned.
‘Killing one Magic Tower Head has such a huge consequence?’
The king had pretended to be upright and wise, but in reality, he was greatly corrupt.
He had been enticed by various bribes and had killed the White Magic Tower Head, but to think that it would suddenly turn out like this.
“The White Magic Tower has declared that they will help!”
“What did you say? Isn’t the Magic Tower Head there now executed!”
“The vice-tower head, Lilac, has contacted us!”
And all of this was being witnessed by the crowd.
Because the matter was so urgent, he had given the imperial decree in front of everyone, and the scene of it being dismantled was unfolding before their eyes.
“Is it okay?”
“Sir Gerald has fled?”
“The Magic Towers too…”
The people who had come simply to witness the execution of a great magician were faced with a truth that was too heavy.
“I have to go!”
A baron rushed out.
He was a person who had strongly insisted on Seonibaek Lin’s execution with his low title.
He drove a car developed by Seonibaek Lin and sped through the streets.
While he was running away, a loud noise was heard, and then the sound of flesh being torn and eaten.
He had been eaten by the Demon King’s army.
People were horrified.
“I-I’m going to run away.”
“There’s no hero, no Magic Tower Head, no Sword Master!”
“There’s Lilac!”
“Who doesn’t know that that person is only good at political maneuvering and his skills are the lowest among the Magic Tower Heads?!”
A lavender-haired figure entered the courtroom.
“He’s only being praised because he’s a disciple of Seonibaek Lin!”
“I will prove it!”
The countess who was speaking shut her mouth like a clam.
At the entrance of the courtroom, the next White Magic Tower Head, Lilac, was standing with a magic staff more splendid than anyone else’s.
The staff, which was covered in jewels engraved with a magic-amplifying formula, looked like it would cost the annual budget of a county and still have some left over.
It was a stark contrast to Seonibaek Lin, who had used all her magic with a glance, let alone a magic staff.
“I will defeat that Demon King’s army and prove my qualification as a Magic Tower Head.”
“Do you not understand the situation?”
A marquis shouted sharply.
“The fate of the country, the empire is at stake. Do you think you can be a hero like Seonibaek Lin here?”
“I will prove it!”
“This is not the time to be playing your political games and heroics!”
Lilac’s face turned red.
It just so happened that the person who had shouted was a marquis.
Lilac, who had risen to the position of vice-tower head from a poor background, had a side that submitted to his innate status.
Lilac, who had gritted his teeth, slammed his staff down instead of answering.
“Extra Shield!”
One of the jewels on the staff shone and then shattered.
The memorized magic was executed, and the jewel had served its purpose.
A huge, translucent barrier was created above the courtroom.
Lilac said triumphantly.
“This is the top-tier defensive magic, Extra Shield. Now that Demon King’s army cannot come here.”
In fact, this was also a magic that the living Seonibaek Lin had engraved on a jewel for fun, but Lilac still hadn’t come to his senses and was packaging her achievements as his own.
But foolishness sometimes brings misfortune.
All of the Demon King’s army, who felt the emission of a powerful mana, targeted the courtroom.
“Uwoooo…”
“Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak!”
“Hahaha! Hahahaha! Hahaha!”
Grotesque sounds flew towards the courtroom.
Lilac was also flustered by the appearance of the Demon King’s army, the monsters, who were starting to flock much more than before.
A magician who had grasped the situation shouted at Lilac.
“Th-this is not it.”
“Take down the shield right now! Those guys are flocking more because of the shield’s mana!”
Usually, monsters of that form move by relying on the mana that a person holds, rather than their sight.
This was a fact that anyone who had participated in a battle even a little would know.
But Lilac was a hothouse flower.
Meaning, he had no practical experience.
As a result of Seonibaek Lin’s spoiling him, he had become arrogant, unable to grasp his own situation, and lacked the ability to control a situation.
He was not the material for a Magic Tower Head.
But if he were to deactivate the shield right now, Lilac only had large-scale attack magic.
All that was left was magic that would kill everyone in the courtroom.
It was a typical mistake of a magician who was obsessed with showy magic.
“I-if I release the shield now, everyone will die!”
“That’s true, but as time goes on, those guys will flock! The emperor is here, so how can you do such a foolish thing!”
“Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak!”
“Kyaaaaaak! Kyaak! Kyahaaaak!”
“Uwoooo…”
As the argument intensified, more monsters flocked.
In the end, it was Lilac who lost.
And it was also Lilac who made a sudden declaration.
“Then from now on, it’s every man for himself.”
“What?”
“No! Are you trying to kill us all?!”
“It’s not right to act like this after causing a problem!”
“Your Majesty!”
Lilac’s magic staff shone, and the sound of glass breaking was heard from the sky.
The short and powerful shield was released.
The monsters rushed into the courtroom, tearing people apart.
It was a great chaos caused by the pinnacle of incompetence.