When A Mage Revolts

Grant had already stood up and walked to the door of the confessional, fixing his eyes upon Kubei coldly. His expression did not look too good; the surprise attack this time seemed to have been planned for a long time. Because of that, a disgruntled emotion showed in his eyes after his plan had failed.

"...Who are you?"

Kubei hesitated for a few seconds, asking this question beforehand as he activated the deep sea domain.

Having designed a secret plan in the confessional and risked death by pretending to be asleep, it was obvious that the opposite party had steeled his heart to kill him. Because of that, it was very likely that Abel had failed in possessing the body, but such things... No one could be certain of.

Hearing that, Grant gave a cold snort, saying, "Who do you think I am? Looks like Cain hasn't had much of a success over on your end either. Old antiques from seven thousand years ago, still using the same tricks from seven thousand years ago, and yet they don't know that the world changes."

Kubei was somewhat astonished.

Abel had failed, apparently. However, judging by Grant's tone of voice, he did not seem to attach any importance whatsoever to Cain and Abel. He was not even the least bit astonished. Could it be that...

"You knew about their existence a long time ago?" He asked as such.

"That's right." Grant did not deny it. He was even a little furious. "If it wasn't because I had to extract him from my soul, I wouldn't have run off deep into the Mountains of Magic Beasts specifically and given you the opportunity to snatch the kingdom away, finally resulting in all that's before our eyes now."

This answer was slightly out of Kubei's expectations.

...So that explained it.

Everything connected once more. When he had rescued the King from St. Peter's Cathedral, there had been no news about Grant entirely. At the time, he had thought it would be a trap, a smoke bomb, but he had never imagined that Grant had done it to get rid of Abel.

"In actual fact, Abel is now in your hands." Grant continued to speak, however. His tone of voice was full of resentment and derision. "After I'd extracted his soul, I'd sealed it into the body of a priest and locked him up with Anti-Magic metal, shutting up him in a secret chamber in the Palace. I used the most despicable method of the Church to humiliate him, until he broke down completely, unable to withstand it any longer."

"..."

Kubei was stunned. There was an immediate association in his mind as he realized what 'the most despicable method of the Church' was.

Stung, his eyes stung...

He was slightly unable to continue listening.

"That is what he deserved. Those two old geezers1 have destroyed our lives." Nevertheless, Grant did not stop. He continued to speak. "It was their secret guidance that has pushed us into this position. Originally, we wouldn't have come to this today."

Having heard this, Kubei frowned.

"...What are you trying to say?"

"The kingdom is already yours. Let us go. From today onwards, the Church will no longer regard the mages as enemies. Both sides can live in harmony."

Immediately, not only Kubei, but even Miles who was detoxifying himself in the corner let out a scornful laugh.

"Do you really think we're still able to turn back?" Kubei shook his head. The scene of a few minutes ago was still vivid in his mind. "I'm very sorry, my life has not been destroyed. The one that has been destroyed is you, and you shouldn't be pushing all the responsibility upon Cain and Abel."

Miles chimed in as well. "That's right! These three poisonous needles are still here! You'd struck to kill just moments ago, and now you turned around and ask for a reconciliation. Do you think we're crazy?"

Hearing that, Grant's face became overcast once more.

"...It looks like we won't be able to escape from the fate that has been written after all."

Bang! The moment he finished speaking those words, his entire body unleashed Holy Light in great amounts. Accompanied by a loud noise, he crashed through the roof of the church and flew straight into the sky. Seeing that, Benjamin turned his head to ensure that Miles was alright before dashing into the sky as well, catching up at his highest speed.

The both of them increased their speed continuously, flying higher and higher. Very quickly, they were close to a hundred meters high in the sky.

Meanwhile, the battle of Karl village beneath them was slowly drawing to an end. The soldiers were already fighting near the square; all the remaining few of the Church's army troops were now defending stubbornly within the square, relying on their last bit of ideals to persevere. When Kubei and Grant had taken off into the air, their momentum and power had been gigantic; everyone's attention was immediately drawn to them.

"It's the honorable Director! Are they going to fight to the finish there?"

"Awesome, His Highness the Pope will save us!"

"The Pope? The Pope hasn't been the honorable Director's match for a long time now, today will be the day the Church dies!"

Even Elizabeth looked to the sky. Suddenly, she waved her hand and gave an order. "Stop the attack! It's enough, fighting until here. We'll surround them first. The answer to this battle... is still on the two people in the air."

Because of that, the battle slowly ceased. Everyone stretched their necks as much as they could, raising their heads and doing their best to look at the two blurry figures in the sky. In actual fact, most of the people could not see anything clearly, but they did not shift their gaze; everyone was extremely focused. They did not even dare blink their eyes.

It was because they knew that this would be the end to all the conflict in the Kingdom of Helius.

Very quickly, everyone could see the shadows of those two people in the sky move.

"You... barbarian!"

With a loud thunk, Kubei was the first to attack. The water elements on his body condensed into armor, and all the energy converged onto his fist. He closed in on Grant at high speed before crashing his heavy fist down; in the blink of an eye, the halo in front of the other person's body was smashed.

Grant could only back off in a sorry state, cursing as he did so.

"It's been so long, and you still haven't figured out a way to crack this technique of mine?" Kubei gave a cold laugh, immediately going after him. "Or is it to say... that you're nothing without those priests being your back up?"

With a fist that still came without fancy moves, he smashed a punch over and broke through the layers of shields on Grant's body, making immediate impact upon his body! In the blink of an eye, a ruby ring on Grant's left hand shattered and turned into an invisible energy, transferring Grant entirely to a place more than ten meters away from his original spot.

When the transfer was over, Grant spat out fresh blood. He quickly cast a Holy Healing Charm to treat his internal bleeding.

Kubei moved as though he was his shadow, however; he was behind him after a second.

"You have quite a lot of life saving objects. Too bad, you don't seem to have those crosses that transfer you over long distances anymore." Saying thus, he raised his fist and landed his third punch. This time, the sapphire ring on Grant's left hand shattered and formed a layer of shield, blocking this blow in an unexpectedly forceful manner.

Because of that, Grant was able to buy some time, retreating as he healed his wounds. Not only did he distance himself, he even summoned three runes from his hands that flashed with white light.

As fast as he could, he aimed the runes at Kubei.

"You're a spellcaster, and yet you learn those low and degrading methods of battle, what kind of a mage are you?" He shouted those words as he crushed one of the runes. Instantly, the pieces of the runes turned into numerous light silks and shot towards Kubei.

Hearing that, Kubei let out a disdainful, cold snort.

The water elements in front of him gathered and quickly turned into an extremely thin piece of ice mirror, blocking Grant's attack. When the light silks hit, they were just in time, making direct impact upon the projection of Grant on the ice mirror. After that, the ice mirror flashed with a faint light; half of the light silks had been directly reflected back, and were aiming for Grant!

With an expression of shock, Grant hurriedly flew to the side fast, dodging those light silks.

Kubei did not take this opportunity to draw closer.

"You like using the methods of a spellcaster in a battle? Alright, then we'll use the method of spellcasters in this battle, and let you see what a real mage is." He lifted his left hand as he spoke. All that could be seen was a triangular, blue rune, flashing and vibrating slightly in the palm of his hand.