A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 78

Episode 78. The End of a Nightmare (5)

The moment Raven Mask’s body slammed into the Fountain, Dezir Armang recognized it as Romantica’s Snipe.
The shot had struck true. While it hadn’t completely subdued him, the impact was severe—he was favoring one leg, and the defensive enchantments woven into his garments showed substantial damage.
More than anything, his face was exposed.
With the mask torn away, what lay beneath was grotesque. Vivid burn scars covered most of his face. There was barely a patch of unmarred skin anywhere—only a handful of spots where flesh still showed through. It was the face of a corpse ravaged by flame.
He raised his left hand, shielding his exposed face with his palm. Between his fingers, his eyes gleamed with a bestial, unsettling light.
“That scar of yours….”
As Dezir Armang advanced on Raven Mask, the man thrust his hand toward him.
Bang!
Space Magic detonated. The space before Dezir collapsed.
Dezir was forced to retreat hastily.
“Not a Third Circle marksman… a Fourth Circle sniper.”
Grind—
Raven Mask gnashed his teeth, his gaze fixed on the direction from which the shot had come. He sensed the Wind-attuned mage targeting him.
Rage consumed him. He extended his hand toward where the snipe had originated.
“Stop him!”
In that instant, Fram charged toward Raven Mask.
Raven Mask twisted his body toward Fram, unable to ignore the threat.
Crack—crash!
Fram drove off the ground, evading the attack to the side, but even the glancing contact degraded the defensive power of his Closeline.
Azest too launched herself at Raven Mask.

[Mage Blade: Ice Wave.]

As the Tesseract shifted its structure instantaneously to deploy a defensive field, Azest’s blade was forced off its trajectory.
Though Fram and Azest landed no decisive blows on Raven Mask, their efforts were far from wasted. He found himself compelled to focus entirely on the group before him.
He aimed for Azest and swept his right arm horizontally.
Snap.
Space Magic collapsed the ground where she stood. But Azest was no longer there.
His movements, stripped of composure, had grown predictably simplistic—and evading such attacks was effortless for her.
She had already leapt skyward. Landing gracefully beyond Raven Mask’s head, she spun back toward him and drew her blade across his legs in a sweeping arc.
Crash—ring!
Flames erupted along the path of her strike. The Tesseract had instantly shifted from attack to defense, blocking her blow.
As the Tesseract rotated once more, the earth beneath Azest’s feet began to fracture.
Bang!
The ground where she stood exploded. Caught within the blast radius, Azest was hurled skyward amid the debris.
As she hung suspended in the air, Raven Mask unleashed his magic toward her.
Escape was impossible.
In that moment, someone used the risen ground as a springboard and launched upward.
It was Fram.
As Azest crossed her arms, Fram kicked them aside—and the recoil sent him flying backward.
Between Fram and Azest, Raven Mask’s magic tore through empty space.
They landed in unison and charged at Raven Mask once more.
While evading the relentless barrage of magic, Azest began calculating a counterspell.

[Ice Lance.]

A Second Circle offensive spell.
A lance of searing cold shot toward Raven Mask.
Boom!
It connected.
Azest’s magic drew Raven Mask’s attention while dust rose from the fractured earth, obscuring his vision—and in that moment, Fram repositioned to attack from Raven Mask’s blind side.
He pulled his sword hand back as far as it would go, like drawing a bowstring.
A technique honed through countless repetitions.
Fram’s form blurred. His blade, accelerating to supersonic speeds, tore through the air with a piercing shriek.
Shhhring!
The robe tore, and a long line of blood was drawn across his body.
Azest had already circled behind Raven Mask. Raven Mask had no choice but to thrust the Tesseract backward in panic.
Clang! Clang-clang!
In that way, Fram and Azest took turns striking at Raven Mask.
In mere seconds, dozens—hundreds—of blade strikes crossed.
He was toyed with mercilessly.
Raven Mask held one hand over his face, so his movements were more constrained than before. Yet despite being pushed back, he kept his face covered, as if unwilling to expose such a shameful vulnerability.
Wounds began to accumulate across Raven Mask’s body. Unable to bear it any longer, he let out a roar of fury.
“These wretched Hebrion lapdogs!”
An outcry trembling with immense hatred for Hebrion.
At the same moment, the Tesseract moved in a completely different manner than before, combining its forms.
A blood-red light exploded outward. He poured out all the spare Mana he had been holding in reserve for his fight with Jord.
Sensing the threat, Fram and Azest stopped their strikes and retreated.
The Tesseract spun madly through pure magical manipulation alone.
‘Ah, so he was still hiding his strength until now?’
Azest gritted her teeth. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was no way to stop this.
Light gathered. And then.
“What…?”
It flickered out lifelessly. The Tesseract, which had been continuously generating new combinations, began to shatter into fragments and vanish.
“…It’s over.”
Dezir spoke as he steadied his breath.
“…Over, you say?”
“Yes. You’ve lost.”
He had calculated every possible permutation that the Tesseract possessed.
With this, all means had been suppressed. Any magic he deployed afterward would be subject to Reverse Calculation. There was nothing left for Raven Mask.
“….”
He stared at Dezir. In that locked gaze, Dezir could feel the hatred burning in his eyes.
“Why did you do all this?”
“…This world is riddled with absurdity. You, as a student of Hebrion Academy, should know that well.”
Raven Mask looked at the Closeline worn by Dezir and his companions.
“It’s not just Hebrion Academy. The Hebrion Empire, and indeed the entire world, is the same. Foolish nobles impose their own standards, their irrationality, on everyone.”
Dezir could say nothing.
His words were absolutely right.
They pierced through reality with stark simplicity.
A world run by nobles.
The students of Beta Class at Hebrion Academy received no proper education simply because they were commoners. That was precisely why Dezir had formed his party.
“This world is a crumbling sandcastle. Its nobles are the inhabitants of that castle. Someday it will all collapse. And I declared that very thing.”
That logic.
That reasoning.
It was a slogan raised by a certain faction not long ago.
“…A remnant of the Revolutionary Army.”
Twelve years ago, a student of Hebrion Academy raised the banner of the Republic Party and founded the Revolutionary Army.
They called themselves the Republic Party, but people called them the Revolutionary Army.
And then came the Civil War of the Hebrion Empire.
The conflict, divided between nobles and commoners, brought tragedy to countless lives. And the Civil War ultimately ended in victory for the Royalist Faction, and the Revolutionary Army was executed.
“This world’s structure is fundamentally flawed. You can’t deny that.”
“You’re right. But whatever your intentions, that doesn’t justify any of this. Look around you! Is this the answer you found?”
“The sacrifice of the few for the many. The collapse of the Western Kingdom Alliance is merely the beginning. I will tear down this irrational world completely and create true equality!”
Fram, listening to this, was horrified.
“Dezir, there’s no need to hear any more. Arrest him at once.”
At Azest’s words, Raven Mask spoke calmly.
“You cannot stop us.”
At that moment, just as Tadenewf appeared, the sky that had been stained with darkness suddenly brightened once more.
“Did we defeat the demon!?”
Dezir flatly denied Fram’s question.
“No, that’s….”
Rumble.
It was flames. It was lava. It was a massive explosion.
Volcanic ash poured down from the sky like snow. They looked up.
Hundreds of streaks fell from the sky like stars dropping to earth.
It was a landscape that seemed to presage the end of all things.
“The Eruption Phase…….”
Dezir murmured in disbelief.
“It seems even the Mage Tower Master cannot stop that demon without preparation.”
Raven Mask smiled toward Dezir and continued speaking.
“I’ll return to you the very words you spoke a moment ago.”
His body began to blur. The calculation process did not proceed.
Fram and Azest rushed to seize him moments too late, but his body was already dissolving into particles.
Memorize.
Without time even to counter-calculate, the final spell he had stored manifested.
“It’s over.”
Raven Mask vanished, leaving only those last words behind.
Black particles drifted through the empty air.

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