Remembrance

“Go. Leave now—I’m enough on my own… him, I only need a moment…” Luna said.

Eugene stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the figure in the distance…

That familiar, hypocritical face—he remembered it all too clearly.

At last… he had found him again.

“Eugene?…”

Luna looked at him in confusion.

Had he been frightened senseless at a time like this?

No… impossible.

He was a high-tier mage.

There was no way such chaos would rob him of all awareness.

He must be thinking about something.

“I know him…”

He could hardly believe it.

That man… was the one who, after that duel, had drained away his cultivation with dark magic.

Back then, he didn’t understand what had happened.

In an instant, his strength had plummeted.

He couldn’t even cast a fireball anymore…

And that meteor-like fireball from before—

Now it was completely beyond his reach.

Even if he exhausted all his energy, he wouldn’t be able to cast it again.

Even now, after constant training, he had only barely returned to his former level.

Just a high-tier mage.

And Savage…

It was said he had joined the Church, becoming a cleric somewhere.

That day had ended with Savage crushing him with a falling-star spell, leaving him nearly crippled.

And just like that… it ended.

He had almost become a cripple.

A true cripple.

His elemental affinity had dropped so low, he wasn’t even equal to a mage apprentice.

“What’s wrong with you…”

Luna asked, a trace of concern in her voice.

In the past, his eyes had always carried a gentle, yielding look.

A gaze accustomed to compromise…

Like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Only at the brink of life and death would he suddenly sharpen.

But now…

She saw something terrifying in his eyes.

It was rage.

The same rage as three days ago—

When he stood on the execution stake, as if he wanted to destroy the entire world.

Yet… it was slightly different this time.

A desire…

To tear someone apart.

“At last… I’ve… found you… Savage…”

He spoke word by word, each syllable firm and heavy.

“You know him…?”

Luna seemed to understand something.

Savage and Eugene…

They were mortal enemies.

Even the badge he had dropped that day now made sense.

Why had he alone discovered her whereabouts?

Why had he been the one to carry out the judgment?

In the distance, Savage turned his head.

He seemed to sense that burning gaze.

Like a scorching current—

Impossible to ignore.

Their eyes met.

“… ”

They stared at each other, motionless.

The air fell silent.

Yet within that silence…

Lurked something terrifying.

Like the stillness before a storm.

The calm before thunder.

Then—

He smiled.

Like a kind older brother from next door.

A genuine smile.

Free of pretense.

As if he were greeting a younger sibling.

But…

The blood-soaked crimson robe…

The dried clots…

The fresh stains on his face…

Made him look like a grotesque, reddish-brown monster.

Only his face remained recognizable—

That hateful, terrifying face.

“Long time no see…”

He mouthed the words silently.

Like chanting a strange incantation.

Just like the bead he once took out…

“Buzz—”

Without hesitation, Eugene instantly summoned a massive granite shield.

Towering like a fortress.

Encasing him like an egg-shaped barrier.

Many years had passed.

His elemental affinity had changed.

But…

His spiritual power had not been drained.

Now, he was a high-tier mage with near–Archmagister-level mental strength.

And Savage…

After selling his soul—

Had become something else entirely.

A creature wearing his former body.

He hid behind Savage’s identity, yet wasn’t truly Savage anymore.

A monster.

Using others’ magic as nourishment.

Since the moment he turned to dark magic before that duel…

He had ceased to be human.

Dark magic had devoured him—

Everything he was.

He was nothing but a walking corpse.

Who could have imagined—

That a Red-Robed Bishop would be an undead?

A revenant.

A monster mimicking life.

Perhaps even Savage himself didn’t know what he had become.

Deep within the Church…

There were likely many like him.

If the upper ranks were already corrupted—

What about the countless clergy below?

The Church appeared to have eradicated dark mages.

But beneath that sturdy facade…

It had already collapsed.

If the Church were a tree—

Then the Red-Robed branch was diseased.

Rotting.

And who could say the Blue, Black, and White branches weren’t the same?

If all four branches rotted…

What would happen to the trunk?

The Vatican—the heart of the Church?

A tree without nourishment…

Would fall.

And the Pope…

Was the root.

Perhaps even the root… was already corrupted.

Was the Church itself nothing more than a gathering of dark mages…?

A terrifying thought.

Yet…

The tree had not yet fallen.

Which meant—

Things were not beyond saving.

At least for now.

“I… have returned…”

Eugene replied silently, shaping the words with his lips.

Now—

He would become the exorcist.

The one to release that broken soul.

Crimson lotus flames…

Purifying all things.

“No… I’ll handle this.”

He said.

This was the Goddess’s choice.

That man was no longer himself—

Only a mind controlled by dark magic.

A true monster.

Those two tails behind him…

Proof of his mutation.

The crowd had fled.

Only one corpse remained in the square—

Milian.

Covered in blood.

Motionless.

She had died in fear.

No pain.

Only terror filling her mind.

Savage had already drained every drop of her magic into the Soul-Devouring Orb.

Through this slaughter—

He had pushed his Archmagister power to its limit.

Just one step away from becoming a Saint-tier mage.

A Magic Saint.

Ironically—

Since he first used the orb on Eugene…

His spiritual power had never grown.

It remained at the level of a high-tier mage.

Even if he knew forbidden spells…

He couldn’t truly cast them.

Only by overloading his mind…

Could he force them out.

Such was the nature of dark magic.

He raised his tail high.

Using it to draw a forbidden array in the air.

Dipped in Milian’s blood—

It traced crimson lines that floated like ink on invisible paper.

“Lestrafu… Bonado…”

He chanted in a harsh, incomprehensible tone.

Like the wailing of the dead.

Even from afar, Eugene felt it—

Like countless insects crawling inside his ears.

Allen clutched his head, dizzy.

“He… is… Savage…?”

The pain in his skull felt like it would split open.

“Yes.”

Eugene replied calmly.

“… ”

Luna stared silently.

This was necromancy.

Recorded in detail in the underground library of Demon Castle.

Lilith knew parts of it—

But rarely interfered with such magic.

Her ears twitched.

Uncomfortable…

But not unbearable.

He was summoning something.

A new monster.

A Corpse Guardian.

The street ahead was filled with thick, gelatinous blood.

Prepared…

For the ritual.

In the sky—

Countless black dots appeared.

Dense as a swarm of locusts.

Like a dark cloud, rushing toward Savage.

They weren’t insects.

They had limbs.

They were human.

Corpses.

All the bodies from the street…

Drawn together by crimson light.

Like a rolling snowball—

Flesh binding flesh—

Centering around Milian.

A massive corpse guardian…

Was forming.

“Some things… must end…”

He had lived in confusion.

Never understanding why he kept learning magic—

Even after losing everything.

After that duel,

He lost all privilege.

His talent. His future.

Gone.

Shattered.

His family was cast out.

His father, already frail, couldn’t bear the fall—

And died on the journey.

His mother, broken, followed soon after.

When he returned with food—

They were already corpses.

Damn dark magic…

He had nothing left.

At fifteen—

He walked away alone.

But now…

He had a purpose.

Behind him—

The girl he loved.

Beside him—

People who cared.

He was no longer that lost child.

He had something to protect.

Starting from zero…

Had led him to this moment.

He would burn Savage—

With crimson karmic flames.

For them.

Even if Savage were a god—

He would kill him.

Those he wanted to protect…

Her smile at the Lantern Festival…

In the crowd, he searched a thousand times—

Only to find her in the fading lights.

That feeling…

Was beautiful.

“You handle Savage… I’ll deal with that mass of flesh. Can you do it?” Luna asked.

“Of course.”

He smiled.

He had grown.

“Allen… wait for me…”

He took a small object from his shirt pocket—

And placed it around her neck.

It was…

The coin he once threw away.