Chapter 868

A massive monster outbreak occurred, an event that could not be resolved by the power of any single person. However, thanks to the miraculous hands of aid that reached out from various corners of Charloin, a major disaster was averted.

Fishermen, worried about their livelihoods as their boats could be damaged by hail, came out and were saved by the Cavalry candidates, who in return helped with the evacuation. Galleum, a priestess residing in a small temple in a corner of Charloin, led her team of healing specialists to selflessly treat the injured on the streets. The temple also graciously offered its limited space for the injured.

The knights and servants remaining in the mansion where Lady Myra, the First Princess, stayed, opened their doors and reached out to help those in trouble. Over time, some members of the faction of the deceased Second Prince, who had not been on good terms with them, also began to assist. They were inspired by Lady Myra's genuine grief over the Second Prince.

Despite the reports of the incident outside, the Lord of Charloin did not emerge. Instead, a senior administrator used his authority to assess the situation and sent help. This administrator had recently decided to extend his influence to both the Duke of Herne and the Emperor's side after a light defeat by Duke Peletta.

The Sapphire Mage Union and the Merchant Guild, who had made connections with the Cavalry after Yuder's tumultuous first day in the south, hesitantly lent a hand. Knowing well the importance of seizing the moment for future acclaim, they overcame their fears to participate.

Lower nobles of the Emperor's faction, who had been quietly supporting the Cavalry from behind the scenes, and Awakeners who had yet to reveal their identities, began to inquire discreetly about how they could assist.

It was akin to watching pieces gradually come together on a game board.

Yet, not everyone encountered fortune due to these events.

During a time when most people were too busy to look around, Diemon, an Awakener once a follower of the Sage from the Star of Nagran, struggled to open his eyes in the darkness.

‘Why am I here?’ he wondered, terrified by his fragmented memory and excruciating pain. He gradually began to understand the situation as he gasped for breath.

‘Ah, yes. It was Nahan... He took me out and was supposed to bring me to the sage, but the sage...'

Diemon's expression hardened as he recalled the sage, who never really paid attention to him even in Nahan's presence. Biting his lip, he looked around. His boiling emotions were separate from his desire to survive.

He was trapped somewhere, gagged, and tightly bound, and he faintly saw others in a similar state. Upon closer inspection, they were Awakeners who had followed Nahan.

‘We've all been captured... Fortunately, we're not dead yet.’

Diemon was lucky to regain consciousness first before the others. Seeing no guards around, he thought of escaping.

"Ugh...uh..."

Despite the difficulty due to his injuries, Diemon thought hard and found another way. He rolled over to a fallen Awakener nearby and pressed his elbow. Reacting to the pressure, the elbow bone transformed into a sharp weapon, jutting out unexpectedly.

That Awakener’s ability, long considered useful by Diemon, proved fortunate that he remembered how to utilize it. Diemon desperately rubbed the rope binding his wrists against the protruding bone. He trembled at the thought of another Awakener waking up, but thankfully, due to the sharpness of the bone, the rope was almost completely severed before long.

Once his hands were free, untying the rest was easy.

"Haah... Ha..."

Diemon rose to his feet, swallowing the pain in his improperly healed arm. Despite sweating profusely from the pain, his determination to survive drove him to search the darkness and find the only exit of the space he was trapped in.

He sensed someone's presence outside the thick door. It seemed the guards were not absent but were instead stationed outside, guarding the door.

Diemon despaired momentarily, but an opportunity soon presented itself.

“...Help! Hurry...!”

“Aaaah!”

With an indistinct explosion in the distance, the building shook faintly. After a few loud shouts, the presences at the door rushed off towards something, leaving silence behind.

Instinctively, Diemon knew this was his only chance to escape. The door, unsurprisingly locked when he tried it, was no obstacle as he limped over to another unconscious Awakener. He was an attacker capable of softening whatever he touched.

"Ugh...ugh..."

Extracting power caused much greater pain than usual. Tearfully and with great effort, Diemon managed to copy a portion of the ability and approached the door.

Finally, after much struggle, his weakened power twisted the solidly locked door mechanism, and Diemon made his escape.

'It's still... the temple.'

Only after stepping outside did Diemon realize they were not far from where the battle had taken place. The Cavalry members must have hastily gathered the fallen Awakeners and placed them here temporarily, though he couldn't be sure.

Hearing the distant sounds of battle, Diemon hurried in the opposite direction. Though he had escaped his immediate confines, finding another exit to leave the building entirely was necessary.

How long had he limped through the corridors? Suddenly, he heard a faint sound like someone pounding on a door.

"...help me..."

It was a very faint voice, but mysteriously, Diemon instantly knew whose it was.

It was the very person Diemon had been desperately thinking about, the one who made him shudder with anger - the sage.

Had the sage also survived, unseen by Diemon? Enthralled, he turned towards the source of the sound. From behind a door similar to the one he had been behind, the pounding and the sage's faint cries grew louder.

With no guards in sight, it seemed the guards had indeed all left to join the battle.

Diemon stood still, listening intently. From behind the door, the sage's fading pleas continued.

"Anyone... please help me... If there are any brothers or sisters who can hear this person's call..."

"..."

"Is there truly no one...? Even members of the Cavalry would be welcome. I possess no attack abilities... It's unjust... If only someone would listen to this person's story, just once..."

It was a strange occurrence. The voice of the sage, once noble and compassionate, now alternated unpredictably between craven and ferocious tones. Diemon's head throbbed with unbearable pain. Within this torment, he recalled the words Nahan had spoken when rescuing him.

"Did you never find it odd? The brothers and sisters who, even as their bodies shattered, devoted everything to the sage, never once contemplating escape. And now, your current state..."

"..."

"Remember the sage's abilities. In that moment, you will realize how long you've been deceived..."

With those words, Nahan lightly touched the pus-filled arm and then Diemon's trembling forehead. For a brief moment, Diemon revisited all he had done since meeting the sage in a fleeting illusion behind his eyelids.

Despite not understanding why it was strange, Diemon wept bitterly, overwhelmed by incomprehensible pain and betrayal. He had been dragged here, all this way.

And now.

Diemon thought he finally understood the meaning of Nahan's words.

His heart ached with immense betrayal and pain, yet even at this moment, his mind, seemingly not his own, whispered desires to answer the sage's call and save him. It felt as if someone else was controlling his body, moving him like a puppet, causing a chilling discomfort throughout.

Yes. This was precisely the ability of the sage, or rather, the one once called the sage.

So naturally beguiling, moving those who believed in him to his will.

Indifferent even if they moved to their deaths.

"...Ugh...!"

The realization was excruciating. As Diemon trembled and gasped for air amidst the searing pain in his head, the cries from within the room suddenly ceased.

"Is someone out there... coming to save, no, to save this person?"

"..."

"Who is it? Please, answer me. I beg you..."

The voice, feigning benevolence, now seemed utterly repulsive. However, Diemon, enlightened like Nahan before him, was no longer swayed by that voice.

Without hesitation, Diemon turned his back. He began to walk away, then paused as if struck by a sudden thought.

'Now that I think about it...'

All this time, consumed by the desire for the sage's love and respect, it never occurred to him that the sage too was an Awakener like him.

And to another Awakener, Diemon could steal anyone's ability.

If he could copy the ability of a man who so easily manipulated numerous Awakeners... even in a deteriorating state, what a useful power that would be.

Diemon swallowed hard, staring at the closed door as if enchanted.

'No. Not just copying the ability, but absorbing it to its limits, making it mine... That would be better.'

He had done this once before, with a boy who had the power to summon and control monsters. While the original bearer of the ability died in agony, Diemon found it pleasing.

To steal an ability and inflict pain before killing the adversary – what better revenge could there be? Perhaps this was the only way to compensate for his face, hideously aged by the side effects of his power. If he took over that coveted ability and the sage died, he would be the only one in the world with such power.

He had no need to worry about revenge from the original power holder or their close associates, and the thought of becoming a new person with this power, living like a sage, made his heart pound with excitement.

Humans often delude themselves into thinking that the limits of their abilities, once reached, could be effortlessly tapped into again whenever they wished. Diemon was no exception to this. He completely forgot that he had aged significantly due to the side effects of his current powers and that he had spent over a month focusing solely on stealing the boy's ability to control monsters.

Diemon turned and walked back towards the door. The sounds of battle outside had not yet ceased.

"Time is... ample."

As he touched the door, the lock began to blur and dissolve amidst his pain. The sage had said something, thinking perhaps someone had come to rescue him, but Diemon heard none of it.

Finally, Diemon pushed open the twisted door with a bright smile on his face.

And the sage, too, burst into a bright laugh.

"Incredible, oh Diemon! You've come to rescue this man...!"

"..."

Behind the two men, each smiling with different intentions, the door, having lost its support, slowly closed.

A moment later, an indescribably horrific sound came from beyond the door, swallowed up by the noise of hail and the monsters' battle outside.

"Ha, ha...."

After what seemed an eternity, Diemon staggered out of the room, now a sea of blood. Behind him lay a corpse, its eyes wide open in a pitiful and tragic death.

'What a resistance he put up... Such a greedy old man.'

The sage's last moments were pathetically trivial and laughable. The middle-aged man, who had arrogantly thought too highly of himself, had screamed in front of Diemon, who was absorbing his powers and breaking his brainwashing, and later begged and cried.

Diemon touched his forehead, injured during the scuffle with the sage. His hand, covered in blood, looked much more wrinkled and skeletal than before he had entered.

Though he emerged as the victor, Diemon had aged decades compared to before he entered. He now looked even older than when Yuder had met him in his previous life.

But still, in the end, he had won.

Once he got out of here, the world would be his for the taking.

Diemon walked away, giggling happily, his legs shaking uncontrollably as he wiped off the blood.

His eyes, which were rapidly aging and clouding over, flickered as he looked for the exit, and his back bent more and more as he walked. The side effects of his powers were continuously manifesting.

Still, Diemon, unable to see his own form, did not care.

The man, chuckling in the darkness, shrank more and more. His white hair thinned, falling out in clumps, and teeth dropped behind him with each step. Growing older and older with every step, he finally shrunk to the size of a monkey. Upon discovering the back exit of the building and swallowing a breath with a bright smile, he...

Died on the spot.