Return of The 8th Class Mage

Return of the 8th Class Mage 167 The Awakening of the Ego (2)

[I’ll gladly lay down my life.]

[Please trust them just this once.]

[Human, Ian Page.]

At the end of the strange yet familiar scene and voice was a silence. Ian did not even hear the party guests’ whispers, let alone the conversation between the emperor and the lord regarding the Fairy Queen.

“I, I...”

Memories came back alive in the silence, and while they had been scattered and incomprehensible, they now gathered in one place to form a shape.

‘I’m Ian, Ian Page, a mage who had returned back thirty years in time. I had grown much faster than before and had been connected with all sorts of inhuman creatures.”

The memories that had been hidden beneath the rewritten ones now came up against the surface. Once they were released, they spread like fire on oil.

‘At the end, I had allied myself with dragons to remove Fran Page, my mad father, the origin of all evil those close to me, and I suffered. Before I felt the headache, I had been doing...’

The confusion that he could not manage tormented Ian. It was a process of two Ian Pages, who had lived two completely different lives, merging into one being without reorganizing their memories. Even one wrong move would drive Ian insane, and Ian started using his mana breath. He did not care for the eyes of the party guest.

With a loud intake, the two sets of memories became organized bit by bit. One was the Ian who had returned in time and had been chosen as Fran’s most perfect specimen, and the other was the Ian who had been a failure in Fran’s eyes but had lived the most positive and peaceful life out of all Ians. Their lives and memories now came together.

“......”

All confusion lay low, and Ian realized that Fran Page had given what he mistakenly considered a gift to Ian.

‘Fran, you made a mistake.’

The sole mistake Fran had made was ‘Ian Page’ himself. One might think that this was too sudden, but it was simple logic. Fran had given his chosen one too much.

‘I have lived twice, found things around me to protect, and have powers beyond the human scope. This Ian Page does not belong to you now.’

Ian had too much to be a mere metaphysical form of Fran. He now had an ‘ego’ that could not be controlled with changes in memory and environment. His ego, a step above the perfection Fran wanted Ian to be, was now carved in Ian’s soul.

‘I will return.’

While Ian did not know a specific way, it was not impossible. If Fran Page had done this, Ian could do the same. As Ian now remembered the ‘power of language,’ nothing was impossible for Ian.

‘The Ian in this world would be asleep in his mind world. If I got out, would he get back his body on his own?’

Ian could not know now, but there was no time. Even if there were problems, they would need to be solved after wrapping up all problems that had to do with Fran Page in Ian’s original world.

‘First.’

Ian looked around quickly, and perhaps because of his excessive mana breathing, everyone participating in the party was looking at Ian.

“......”

Ian did not know what would happen, and he needed someone to protect Ian’s body of this world.

“Ragnar.”

Ian chose Ragnar because he was the closest to him, and because Ian felt some sadness. While they had tried to kill each other in Ian’s world and to see him did not make Ian happy, they seemed to be inseparable childhood friends in at least this world.

‘Well, that had been true in my first life. We were best friends then. How had things come to this?”

Ian smiled bitterly, and Ragnar of this world asked him a question.

“Something is wrong with you, isn’t it? That’s true? Answer me now!”

“Ragnar, listen. I may faint soon.”

“What are you talking about...?”

“Of course, I’ll wake up quickly, so don’t worry. I’ll entrust you my body and also myself. Also...about those fairies.”

“Fairies?”

“Let them go.”

“......”

“If you say the name Reseesee Radenju, they won’t act in revenge. So, make apologies for everything, give them many jewels, and return them to where they live. You must do that, do you understand me?”

“I’ll talk it over with the emperor, but why are you saying that? What problem...”

“Then, I’ll see you later.”

Ian tapped Ragnar’s shoulder and activated the power of language in the air.

(The spirit of language, I do not belong in this world. So, please return me to the world where I belong, to where I should exist.)

A request became a spell through the power of language and had become authorial power.

(I still have something I need to do.)

With that sentence, the spell was complete. A ray of light thousands of times stronger than the teleport spell fell like lightning out of the sky, and it was headed for Ian Page and the strange spirit inside him.

***

With a loud bang, the stench of blood spread in the violet space where Fran Page and his puppet Ian Page wreaked havoc.

[Ugh! This is...!]

Reseesee Radenju swallowed bitterly at the doomed situation. It had taken only a second for the dragons to be cornered after they found an advantage in allying with Ian.

“Lizards, what happened?! Where has your confidence gone? Didn’t you promise me that you’ll purge my spirit? When will you keep that promise?”

Fran shouted as he stamped on a massacred corpse of a black dragon. He seemed to be the incarnation of the madness now.

“You lizard bastards that do not know how to return favors! That’s why you’re only beasts! I’ll make your race extinct, to the last seed!”

As one could estimate from this messy situation, the dragons were suffering. Fran, after recovering his body, would have been overwhelming. But now...

[Ian Page! Come back to your senses if you can hear me! Until when will you remain his puppet! Did you only amount to that much?]

The black dragon Atar Haka shouted as he avoided Ian’s attacks. While he did want Ian to come to his senses, it was a shout in desperation, as the situation was that bad. If things went like this, the dragon race would become ‘extinct’ like that mad Fran Page’s announcement, and dragons would completely disappear from this world.

“Shut up, you crow dragon.”

Ian, or Fran borrowing Ian’s voice, spoke in return, and the sneering and condescending tone was definitely Fran’s.

“Oh, run, and run. I’ll rip your mouth open myself!”

Fran left one sentence and returned to his own body to hunt down dragons, and Ian’s body also targeted the dragons with empty eyes.

[Damn!]

Atar Haka let out a despairing exclamation. Extinction was now a mere step away, and no matter how hard he thought with all the wisdom and experience he had as a dragon, the answer did not come to him. The situation was much worse than when they had sealed Fran Page before.

[Ugh...!]

It was that moment when Ian, Fran’s puppet, did not let Atar Haka’s moment of weakness go away. Ian appeared in front of him in an instant and held out his palm. There was no way of avoiding it, let alone time to think. Atar Haka murmured in surrender.

[My wrong decision and choice had speeded my entire race’s doom. I regret what I have done...]

Atar Haka humbly accepted the death that will come from Ian’s palm. However, no matter how long he waited, the dragon was still alive.

[......?]

Atar Haka looked at Ian and noticed that something was strange. Had not the human’s eyes been hard like a doll’s just before?

[You...?]

However, Ian’s eyes now held the vitality of someone alive with a soul. Was he under Fran’s control? That did not seem to be the case, as his eyes were not mad like when he had been under Fran’s orders.

“Shh. Please be quiet.”

Ian had come back to his body after traveling many dimensions and was now asking a surprised Atar Haka to be quiet. It was the beginning of the counterattack.

‘At least not that much time had passed.’

There had been many hardships as Ian had wandered over several dimensions. He had accepted new memories and experiences spanning over decades that had belonged to the Ians of those worlds. 𝐟𝓇ℯ𝐞𝚠𝚎𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵe𝚕.co𝚖

‘The timing’s adequate.’

While the experience had been unusual, Ian felt like his throat was burning from the time it took him to return to his original dimension. However, that seemed unnecessary worry, as the time difference between dimensions worked under principles Ian could not understand. f𝙧ee𝘄𝐞𝚋𝐧૦ѵeƖ.c𝘰𝓶

‘Does he know yet?’

Ian first observed Fran, and he seemed to be unaware of the change. Was it because he was still engrossed in hunting dragons? He was now careless.

‘I’ll get him quickly.

The plan was simple, and Ian had to use the draught that Douglas had made after receiving the Artisan Baion’s essential knowledge on Fran. Now it would be possible, but there was only one chance.

“What are you doing, Reseesee Radenju? Aren’t you cornered? Don’t wallow and accept death cleanly as the leader! That would the best ending for you!”

Fran Page looked monstrous as he heated up, and the demonic aura he spread was beyond limits. His eyes were steeped in black, and also his skin. Not only that, but his hair was like the legendary Medusa, and his voice was not that of a human’s. The individual that had pretended to be kind was nowhere now.

‘Is he not even a human being now?’

It was not true. Fran Page had not been a human being in the first place and had already thrown that away. He required no pity.

‘Let’s go.’

Ian disappeared to arrive in front of Fran Page in less than a second.

“What...?”

Fran could not help a flinch, as Ian Page, who had been reborn as his metaphysical form, now appeared right in front of him. Fran had given Ian no such commands.

“H, how...?”

“Somehow.”

Ian answered coldly to a surprised Fran’s question. He grabbed Fran’s collar with his right hand and took out Douglas’s draught with his left. His actions were like lightning.