A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 33

“I’m here, Aion.”

The air froze in an instant.
The members of the Cassius Kingdom, who had not anticipated her arrival at all, simply stared at Aria in stunned silence.

And then, almost immediately—

“Wooooooooooooo!”
“She’s c-c-come! Aria is, that A-A-Aria is actually h-h-here…!”

Darren and Vera’s bear companions began to circle around Aria as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
The two of them reacted as though they were witnessing a phantom, despite the girl standing right before them.

While the two were making such a fuss, Cassius and Aion said nothing.

Cassius in particular, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs until moments before, now stood at a distance with his arms crossed, merely watching Aria.
As if all that boisterousness before had been a lie.

“…Cassius?”

When Aion posed the question as though pointing out that discrepancy, the shadow that had been cast over Cassius’s face vanished in an instant.

“Oooh! The lost final Knight of the Kingdom has appeared at last! What a long wait it has been!”

Cassius threw both arms wide and strode forward with great strides.

A soft swoosh—

But Aria simply passed by Cassius and stepped directly in front of Aion.
She spoke to Aion without so much as a glance toward Cassius, who now stood frozen in an awkward pose.

“Am I… not too late?”
“…No.”

Two weeks still remained.
With proper preparation, they could achieve real results.

“Where did you learn magic?”
“I just happened to meet a mage somewhere and asked them to teach me a little.”
“So aside from that time, you figured out everything else on your own?”
“Figured out… that’s too grand a way to put it. I just… know enough to use it.”

Aion tilted his head slightly.
This was entirely different from the cool, arrogant impression he’d seen at the estate.

The Aria before him now seemed cautious, almost uncertain.

“Your primary focus?”
“I wouldn’t call it a primary focus, but… Sound.”

Sound Magic.

“That’s high-difficulty magic, though.”
“It won’t be easy… and it’s especially an attribute that isn’t used widely either.”

Cassius nodded and spoke.

“Come now, show me. Give me your best.”

Those words seemed only to deepen Aria’s unease; the skin beneath her eyes grew more hollow.

A soft breath escaped.

When Aria glanced around, she found every eye fixed upon her.
Admiration and longing.
She would be accustomed to such sentiments by now.

Yet woven through those gazes was something entirely foreign—something that made her skin prickle.

Doubt.

Exposed to that sharp, murky emotion, Aria flinched, her frame trembling visibly.

“Um, Aion….”

She whispered so only he could hear.

“What should my target be? How much Mana should I channel? I shouldn’t go too hard, should I? Is there something specific you wanted to see…?”
“…Is this the first time you’ve performed magic in front of so many people?”

Those cool, luminous eyes had vanished; now Aria replied in a trembling whisper, her gaze turned soft and vulnerable as a rain-soaked dog’s.

“…Yes.”

Aion gave a measured nod and spoke calmly.

“Then it can be messy.”
“……!?”
“Whatever you lack, I’ll find a way to cover for it.”

At that moment, Cassius—who had drifted close and was listening in—burst out laughing.

“Ahahaha! You know something of shortcomings yourself, don’t you?”

He wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, still grinning, before his expression turned solemn.

“But those very shortcomings—they’re what make us who we are. Yes! Let us fill in each other’s gaps. Come on, let’s all be gloriously, messily imperfect together!”

Aria studied Cassius for a moment, then turned her gaze back to Aion.
As if she could find steadiness only in looking at him.

She took a slow, deliberate breath and settled into her stance.

A gentle shift in air.

She spread her feet slightly wider than shoulder-width and brought both hands together before her, then closed her eyes.

A long, steady exhale.

Her breathing grew quiet. As she sank into focus, the rest of the group fell silent in unison.

Mana began to gather in her palms.
At first, it flowed fine as thread; then, as the current thickened, it converged into her cupped hands.
For a moment, even the air itself seemed to shift and change around her.

“Everyone, cover your ears, please.”

She spoke with her gaze fixed on the target.

“Because of my inexperience, someone could get hurt.”

Unless the magic ricocheted backward, there seemed no real danger—yet everyone clapped their hands over their ears as though entranced.

Aria extended her right hand forward.

“Forte.”

A high-pitched whine—

Wait. A strange sensation, as though sound itself were being compressed.

It felt as if every sound in the world were being drawn into the hollow of her palm.
Aion stood closest to her, and because of that, the spell’s power reached him indirectly.

‘My heart…’

It was being squeezed.

A moment later, something shot forth from her fingertips.

There was no sound at all.
It was like an arrow carrying sound itself away.

Moments after, a massive crater formed in the center of the simulated Bosco Plain.

A deafening roar erupted—

The compressed explosion tore through eardrums with devastating force.

“A-a-amazing! Aria, that was a-a-amazing!”
“…With a face that pretty and magic that strong… isn’t that basically cheating?”

Vera’s stuffed bear seemed to lose all strength in its legs, crumpling to the floor.

‘…Extraordinary power. But then, why did she seem so uncertain about it?’

While Aion gazed down at the crater in astonishment, Aria timidly, hesitantly posed a question.

“Was that… too much trouble?”

While the others recoiled at the overwhelming destructive force, Cassius quietly approached the crater’s edge.

As he stepped carefully across the fractured ground, his eyes—usually gleaming with madness—had grown heavy and cold.
After studying it for some time, he lifted his gaze.

“Aria.”

His voice was devoid of all playfulness—chill and resolute.

“Yes?”
“Try shooting at me.”

Aria’s shoulders flinched.

“…Pardon?”
“Forte, at full power.”
“No matter that it’s a Spirit Projection Device, firing it at a person….”
“I can stop any attack if I prepare for it beforehand. So go ahead and fire.”

Cassius didn’t take a single step back, arms crossed.
Instead, he pressed down on her like an immense barrier, strangling the very breath from her lungs.

Aria slowly raised her trembling right hand. Then she opened her palm toward Cassius.

But then—

A soft whisper, a gentle fading.

The Mana that had begun to gather dispersed limply.

A small, stifled sound.

She never released the spell. Instead, she clutched her right wrist with her left hand, let her arm drop, and bowed her head.

“……”

Cassius regarded Aria’s drained face quietly.
There was neither surprise nor disappointment in his gaze.

“Your magical skill may have grown, but nothing has changed, Aria.”

As if he had known from the start that she would never fire at a person.

“You’re just as you always were.”

***

The suffocating silence lasted only a moment.

“Well, well, enough sentiment! In any case, this crumbling kingdom has finally found a breakthrough, wouldn’t you say?”

Clap, clap!

Cassius clapped loudly, his characteristic booming and exaggerated voice sweeping the mood clean.

“Today, let each of you sharpen your own weapons! We can work out the specifics of our strategy and coordinate our movements little by little as we go!”

His brazen shift perfectly cut off any further questions from the other team members about the nature of his relationship with Aria.

A few hours passed.

“Now listen, enthusiasm is fine, but rest is also a crucial part of any good strategy! Don’t strain yourselves on the first day—take a moment to catch your breath.”
“……For once, you’re actually saying something that sounds like a leader.”
“I’m always like this!”
“Except for the naked part.”

Once the break was called, Darren and Vera’s bear puppet drifted cautiously toward Aria’s side and began speaking in careful tones.

“Um, A-A-A-Aria….”
“Is anything troubling you?”

In the grassy field of the distant plain.
Cassius and Aion sat side by side, quietly observing the scene.

Unlike the cheerful mood over there, an oddly heavy silence hung between the two men.
The gaze that Cassius would normally have been the first to break into with his usual fanfare had turned cold and distant.

“…So you’ve known Aria for a long time, then.”

Aion spoke first, unprompted.

“……That’s right.”

A brief answer.
Cassius kept his gaze fixed on Aria, seated some distance away, and continued in a low, measured voice.

“Since we were very young.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

“My father was a man who loved talent. Those gifted with every manner of skill and ability would come seeking even a gesture from him. He used to say that the world was full of talented people, and that they made the world better for it.”

Cassius reached down and plucked a single blade of grass.

“But he would always leave me with this counsel: just because there are many talented people doesn’t mean you should covet their gifts. Don’t become someone who sells talent—become someone who buys it instead.”

Whisper—

He let the grass blade drift away on the wind, light and loose from his fingers.

“It was to one of those gatherings that Amelie, Aria’s mother, came one day…bringing her young daughter with her. Perhaps she hoped to catch my father’s eye. But even in that glittering hall of revelers, Aria always stood in some quiet corner. The reason why, I couldn’t quite say…but even as young as I was then, I could sense it.”

Nobility enters the adult world far more swiftly than commoners do.
Growing up breathing that suffocating air where greed and hypocrisy are endlessly exchanged.

“A girl left to languish in one corner while the adults bartered and dealt. And I, too, was placed aside—a polished trophy meant to reflect the family’s prestige. Aria was Amelie’s commodity.”

A dry wind swept through—

—crossing the imagined plain.

“One day, unable to bear any more of the adults’ tedious talk, I slipped away to the garden behind the hall and cast a spell. Back then, I had far less patience than I do now.”

Cassius lightly recreated that spell from so long ago, right before Aion’s eyes.

Whoosh—

A small wind spiraled across his broad palm.
There was nothing remarkable or splendid about it—the most basic magic imaginable.

“Unremarkable skill, unremarkable magic. For me it was simply an ordinary day, nothing more. Except…”

Whisper—

The wind that had danced across his palm scattered away, utterly worthless.

“For one girl who happened to witness it, it was somehow completely different.”

A bitter smile.

“Aria was watching me.”

Cassius fell silent for a moment. As if recalling those young, innocent eyes from memory, a faint smile crossed his lips.

“No…to be precise, it wasn’t me at all. She was watching that small magic dancing so freely in the palm of my hand.”

His gaze turned again toward Aria, seated in the distance.

“In her eyes dwelt admiration and curiosity, even a palpable affection. All those pure emotions lay bare for anyone to see.”
“The mage who taught her magic… surely that’s you?”

At Aion’s measured question, Cassius let out a soft laugh and tilted his gaze toward the sky of Arcane Soul.

Even if it was a fabricated sky, that blue was piercing enough to strain the eyes.

“Children that age tend to love showing off, you see. More so when they’re from a great house—that’s when they struggle most fiercely with how to boast elegantly, without falling into vulgarity.”

Shhh—

He paused mid-sentence and drew his gaze down from the fabricated sky.

“…Yes.”

Gone was his usual exaggerated, expansive bearing—his voice was heavy, grave.

“The master who taught magic to Aria di Valera. That is none other than Cassius de Serbant.”

Shhhhh—

Aion fell silent for a moment, then posed what might have been the most crucial question of all.

“But why do you two…”

Master and student—a bond that seemed little different from the one between Dorothea and Aion.
Yet Aria, seated far away, and Cassius with his back to her, were no longer facing one another.

Rustle—

Cassius planted his hand in the grass and rose to his feet.
His broad frame blocked out the fabricated sun, casting a dark shadow across Aion.

“Aion, Knight of the Cassius Kingdom.”

Cassius looked down at him as he spoke.

Yet in Cassius’s hollow eyes, he could read clearly the murky, heavy emotion that rippled there.

When all the sessions finally concluded, the light of the Spirit Projection Device began to fade.

Whiiiiine―

The connection to the virtual space severed completely, and the silver tubes of the Spirit Projection Device hissed open in unison with a soft mechanical sound.

Fwoosh―

White vapor dispersed thinly into the air. Aion, the first to sit up, was gently rotating his stiff neck when―
Aria lifted her upper body from the projection chamber beside him.

“It was more fun than I expected.”

She swept the disheveled pink hair from her forehead and smiled softly.

Why had Aria come here, what drew her to this place—Aion still knew so little about her.

“To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t come.”

At his candid admission, her eyes widened, then curved upward like crescents as she drew closer to him.

“Sometimes unexpected things happen, don’t they?”

Soft sound.

She tilted her head slightly toward him. A sweet, refined fragrance brushed against the tip of his nose. Aion didn’t shy from that bold smile and asked calmly.

“So, what’s your first impression of the Cassius Kingdom?”

Aria laughed softly, then answered in a playful voice that was somehow ticklish.

“It’s in complete disarray. They can’t function without me.”

At her confident reply, Aion silently nodded.

A subtle warmth passed between them as they walked side by side down the cool corridor of Arcane Soul, and throughout the journey, a faint smile never left Aria’s lips.

But as Aion was watching that vibrant smile, something unexpected occurred.

Thud―

Aria collided with someone from a group turning the corner ahead.

“Ow… Damn it! Who are you!?”
“…I’m sorry.”

The person Aria had bumped into was a male student, and his face was oddly familiar to Aion.

‘…Ah.’

Recognizing who it was, Aion kept his expression flat while struggling to suppress a surge of displeasure.

“You should watch where you’re going! …Huh? But what….”

Only then did he seem to notice Aria’s face. His mind went blank at her beauty, and his mouth fell open as he began to stammer.

“That… we could bump into each other. But… that….”
“Renard, step back.”
“B-but….”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“…….”

Renard de Valois.

— A name.
— …Re, Renard de Valois.

The fool who’d challenged Aion and the Cassius Kingdom during basic combat magic lectures and suffered a spectacular humiliation for it.
And the one lurking behind him….

— Marc de Senel. They say his nature’s dark and vicious. You should be wary of him more than someone like Renard.

Marc de Senel. The very man Dorothea had warned her about. The sort who skulks in Renard’s shadow, conducting himself with barely concealed malice.

Hiss—

He smiled at Aria with evident satisfaction.

“What a fortuitous encounter, Miss Aria. To meet you in such a place.”

Then his gaze shifted toward Aion, standing at her side.
In that instant, his brow betrayed a flicker of unmistakable displeasure.

“……Who are you?”

The Talentless Mage Devours a Catastrophic Future — Chapter 33

Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yeon
Cover Design
Dali

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0034

ⓒ2026, Wang Mozhi

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright law of the Republic of Korea.
No part or whole of this work may be reprocessed in any form without permission from the author and publisher.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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