A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special (WN)

The colossal buildings throughout the center of Pittsburgh had been devastated, their hideous steel frames laid bare and mutilated. Pittsburgh could no longer be called the City of Steel.

A man stood perched atop the debris. Donning his mask, his gaze was cast over the roaring flames that had yet to subside. The flames that had engulfed where the Royal Palace once stood.

Pierrot Mask continued to stare at the rubble as he mumbled to himself.

“What a meaningless ending. To fail after driving the world into a corner.”

He jeered.

“According to my original plan, I had no intention of killing you here.”

Pierrot Mask had planned on killing Skull Mask from the beginning, but that time was not supposed to have come so soon. He should have lived for a little longer at least.

However, he had no choice but to change his plan.

It was all because of that one man, Desir Arman. The moment Skull Mask had been defeated, the existing plan had truly gone awry.

*Crackle*

A spark of fire fluttered in the wind before landing on his coat. The flame burned slowly on his collar.

Pierrot Mask stared at it for a while and brushed it off with a smile.

“Well, don’t be too upset, old man. Because we’ll be using your failed plan in a useful way.”

It was at that moment.

“Hurry!”

“He shouldn’t be too far!”

The soldiers’ movements were peculiarly frantic. They formed a siege and were searching for something.

“The target is able to transform his face, so use detection spells!”

A smile crossed Pierrot Mask’s lips. Since the soldiers had started looking for him, Desir must have reached the center of the power source.

He thought highly of Desir. He anticipated that Desir would be able to easily figure out who killed Skull Mask and what that person was after.

Therefore, it was not difficult to realize why he would look for him.

“Looking for this, I presume.”

He took out a card from his chest.

It looked like a mere paper card on the outside, but it was an A-Tier artifact: a pocket dimension.

Amongst magical equipment, including the various Clothes Lines, there were many items that possessed some form of dimensional pocket functionality, but they all had a major flaw.

Because they were created through magic spells, they were unable to store any mana greater than the mana used in their creation.

An artifact was far superior than magical equipment.

However, despite boasting such capability, mana leaked out of the card little by little. Somehow, the A-tier artifact had been filled with mana beyond even its capacity.

This was the energy source Skull Mask used to fuel his plan. The tremendous amount of mana stored within it was incomparable to any magic stone.

*Rustle*

The moment Pierrot Mask snapped his fingers, the card disappeared from his hand.

He spoke while shrugging his shoulders, as if the person directly involved in this affair was in front of him.

“I spent years with the Outsiders just to get this. I can’t just go and give it away, can I?”

Pierrot Mask seemed quite relaxed and confident, even though there were a good number of soldiers slowly blocking off all escape routes.

It was impossible for them to detain Pierrot Mask.

The battle against the Beast of Revelation had only just ended. All of the soldiers were left exhausted and the majority of their magicians were completely incapacitated after using up all of their mana. Furthermore, it was difficult to even determine how much damage has occurred. Pittsburgh was extremely chaotic with all kinds of people busy with various tasks.

‘Let’s break the tie next time, Desir Arman.’

As Pierrot Mask took off his mask, his face began to change.

His face soon took on completely different facial features from his original look. He had assumed the identity of one of the many casualties.

*Swish*

His new form began disappearing, soon blending in amongst the soldiers.

* * *

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*Knock*

*Knock-Knock*

Desir opened his eyes to the sound of knocking.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was an elegant, white ceiling.

He was confused for a moment about where he was but soon recalled that he had gone to sleep in the Magic Tower’s branch in the Kingdom of Divide.

“Awake, Desir?”

Zod Exarion, the Master of the Magic Tower, opened the door and entered.

Desir got up from his bed. The blanket that was covering him felt itchy as it slid down.

“I didn’t wake you up on purpose. Priscilla said you need to take a rest.”

Though he used a newly developed spell to reduce the burden of the draconic spell, the burden was still not negligible. The only reason he awoke unharmed was due to the immediate treatment he received from Priscilla upon her arrival.

Feeling very refreshed, Desir asked.

“How long was I asleep for?”

“Around twenty hours.”

Desir looked out the window. The sun already hung high up in the sky.

For a normal person, it would have just been regarded as oversleeping. However, for Desir, it was different.

“It must’ve been a long time since you slept for that long.”

Desir nodded.

“It’s been six months.”

Desir had spent every waking moment preparing for and planning the war against Divide.

After the Great Council, he had been overworking himself by borrowing from his sleeping and eating time.

In preparation for this decisive match, he refined his spells, cleared numerous Shadow Worlds, studied ancient records, and contemplated exactly what Skull Mask’s plan and objective was.

And all of his efforts ended up paying off.

The operation was successful and Skull Mask was now dead.

It had lifted the heavy load that weighed down his mind, offering him a sense of freedom that allowed him to take a long-deserved rest.

An action that most would not consider special, Desir felt slightly overwhelmed at the fact that he could oversleep.

“Has Divide’s surrender gone well?”

“It ended smoothly. The war between Divide and the Allied Forces is officially over.”

Immediately after the battle with Pittsburgh ended, Divide declared surrender. It was the decision of their military’s commander, Brepon, after their king disappeared.

Maybe he realized something after cooperating with Desir and confronting the Beast of Revelation.

‘It was an inevitable, predetermined result anyway.’

The defeat of Divide was practically set in stone.

Divide was able to wage war with the entire continent because of the Shadow World creating towers and the homunculi that Skull Mask had created. Now that they were destroyed by Desir, Divide no longer stood no chance.

However, there were still tens of thousands of military troops in Divide, so if the war continued, the Allied Forces still would have needed to pay a price.

Brepon’s bold and swift decision reduced the unnecessary sacrifices of both sides.

“That’s a relief. But it’s still too early to be at ease.”

The half-year war was over, and Skull Mask was dead, but that did not mean all their problems had been resolved.

“Right. Whatever Pierrot Mask took is extremely dangerous.”

From what they could gather, Pierrot Mask had stolen whatever Skull Mask was using as an energy source. It must have been absurdly powerful, capable of powering over forty towers.

No one knew what he took it for, but knowing his chaotic nature, it was certainly something dangerous.

At the minimum, Desir was certain that the object was the cause of the appearance of the Shadow Labyrinth. He could not rest easy until he was certain that the Shadow Labyrinth had been prevented, until that object had been retrieved.

Desir had no intention of neglecting even the slightest chance of it returning.

“Developing and distributing the new detection equipment takes priority.”

Pierrot Mask had the ability to shapeshift into anyone.

It was impossible to identify him with the naked eye, and he could even hold up under thorough inspection. He had hidden himself as the King of Divide for an unknown amount of time, and those closest to him were none the wiser.

“We’re already working on the finishing touches. As soon as the work is done, we will be supplying it to the Western Kingdoms Union on a trial basis, and if there are no problems, we will add this functionality to the Hebrion communication pads too.”

“That was fast.”

“Well, you’ve been encouraging the research for a while now.”

From the moment Desir and Zod learned of his abilities, they had prioritised devising countermeasures against him.

It was because his ability, to completely disguise himself as others, was just too dangerous.

If the equipment was supplied to all countries, it would no longer be possible for him to disguise himself as a high-ranking official and attempt a coup.

“If you could take care of that part, that would be much appreciated. And what happened to the artifacts?”

Skull Mask had possessed numerous artifacts, each of them top-notch.

The artifacts were found strewn throughout Pittsburgh and discussions were underway on how to deal with them.

“We’ve decided to keep Skull Mask’s artifacts in the Magic Tower for the time being. We need time to study them, and figure out what they do. We have no idea how to use most of them.”

There were no other places in this field that were more capable than the tower. It was a fair decision.

“His artifacts will be of great help in reinforcing our military strength.”

Zod smiled bitterly.

“There were a lot of interesting things. However, the problem is that it’s difficult to study them. Some of them can’t be analyzed at all.”

“I’ll help as well. I have some time on my hands.”

“That’s a good point. I wanted to ask you for help, but… ”

When Zod was talking, Des1r’s communication pad rang. After he confirmed the sender’s name, a smile crossed his lips.

“You should rest for the time being.”