How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 188

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (188)

“….”

He stared at me intently before opening his mouth.

“I can understand people’s emotions and thoughts more easily than others.”

“I see.”

“From what I can tell, you don’t seem to agree with my thoughts. Am I wrong?”

As expected, since he’s been using his ability for more than just a day or two, he can easily read his opponent’s thoughts even without using his ability.

I was thinking of playing along and gathering some information if I could fool him.

Well, it doesn’t matter. If he kicks away the opportunity, it’s only his loss.

I shook my head.

“I don’t agree. You do exactly what you call sin while believing you’ve done nothing wrong and that only your thoughts are correct. Do you expect my agreement to such contradiction?”

“….”

“However, if you don’t tell me to adopt your Human ideology, I’m willing to work with you. Even if our intentions differ, I can still help you.”

He nodded.

“Unfortunately, it seems difficult to find common ground. An ability user capable of giving me baptism without my knowledge would have been good to keep close.”

In the end, he can’t yield even an inch from his own logic.

This is why Ludovica prioritized dealing with the Antagonist without asking me anything, even knowing there were more than a few suspicious aspects.

He speaks as if it’s common sense, but common sense doesn’t work on him.

It’s better to eliminate such a person as quickly as possible.

‘Though it was somewhat unexpected that Ludovica knew my target was the Antagonist….’

Thinking about it, it’s natural.

The Antagonist would have known changes were happening to him and been on high alert within Primrose Pass. Ludovica, the personnel assigned to monitor him, would have noticed that the Antagonist was acting differently than usual.

In that situation, an idle fellow appearing in priest’s robes at just the right time… could never be unrelated to Primrose Pass affairs.

Especially since Ludovica knew ‘the Antagonist is tracking us,’ meaning he knew I was being pursued from the moment I entered Primrose Pass. Through that, he would have realized there was something between me and the Antagonist.

Thanks to that, I could save time and come straight here, so as I thought earlier, his situational judgment was worth rating highly.

Then, the Antagonist stood up from his seat and spoke.

“I simply cannot understand why someone who became New Humanity would stand beside Old Humanity. Anyway….”

He tapped the floor three times with his staff.

The room disappeared and the Primrose Pass street from before appeared. Before I could recognize and defend against it, something strongly pushed my back.

Kwaaang—!

I tried to get up, but someone was trampling on my back. Vitriol wrapped around my finger joints, tightening, then took away my staff.

The Antagonist’s feet approached in front of me.

“If you use that excellent talent that gave me baptism without anyone knowing to stand beside the rebellious tribe, I have no choice but to stop it in Christ’s name. Someone is already creating cracks in my space anyway.”

I rubbed my fingertips against the floor.

Small sparks flew.

‘Good.’

Since Narke is helping, the timing is appropriate.

This is how it should have been before.

Of course, Leo finding me in the previous timeline was probably also thanks to Narke.

“Are you satisfied that you can use magic?”

“….”

“It’s too early to be satisfied, Mr. Jeremaiah. Shall I tell you a secret?”

He whispered in my ear.

“This isn’t my body.”

“Hahaha….”

“Even if you can use divine power to brainwash me, I won’t tell you anything. Even if you attack, what’s the problem when this isn’t my body?”

Thud—!

The Antagonist’s staff struck down right next to my face.

Whether he was bending down to speak, his voice now came from quite close.

“Unlike your relaxed expression, your heart is beating too fast. You’d better control even your heartbeat. It’s too easy to read.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Then you must also know what you’ve been doing in front of Pleroma all this time.”

What did I do?

I was just staying quiet, but is it my fault they thought of scouting me first?

I didn’t answer. The Antagonist spoke with a smile.

“Let me make a guess. Why did you give my body baptism? Also, how was such an ability user in the Papacy?”

“….”

“You probably gave baptism to meet me. Whether the surname Caetani is real or fake, you’re at least truly a descendant of clergy. That’s how you could be recruited into the Papal Guard despite acting like such a wastrel.”

As expected, this guy’s insight is worth rating highly.

He doesn’t remember the past timeline.

Nevertheless, he realized I gave baptism to meet him.

‘By the way, he naturally thinks that way about why I’m a priest.’

Ludovica probably thought the same. Despite seeing my conduct that deserves excommunication, accepting me as a priest is because they think I got the position through blood relations, being of clergy lineage and conveniently able to use divine power.

“Papal Guard, you say. When was that?”

“Hehe… Sometimes I lose track of time.”

“You should make mistakes about things worth mistaking. You’re about ready for the grave now.”

At my sarcasm, he just smiled before opening his mouth.

“Now you must want to know who I originally was?”

“….”

“No answer.”

Kwaaang—!

“…!”

He slammed my head into the floor. I felt pain in my right forehead.

‘This bastard keeps doing this from before….’

Soon I felt like my hair was being torn out. He wrapped my hair around his hand and lifted it to meet my gaze.

“Habitually stop. It’s become an occupational hazard.”

An occupational hazard for gaining agreement?

That behavior from the previous timeline, immediately resorting to violence when things didn’t go his way, comes out exactly the same.

No need to look far for savagery.

It’s right here, so why go all the way to Old Humanity.

“Even if you want to eliminate me, you won’t be able to. This world will be made up of countless me and my descendants in the future. Could you possibly eliminate all my descendants, as numerous as those stars?”

“No.”

“Of course you couldn’t. That’s why you’re tormenting me now. Because you want to eliminate me right away.”

Isn’t the torment something I’m receiving….

I snorted at his words.

“If you’re still so at ease, try casting magic once. Try saying ‘Enter through the Narrow Entrance.'”

He pulled my right hand that had been covered in Vitriol and put the wand in my hand.

As I just looked down at it, the weight on my back increased further. I felt like my ribs were being crushed as I looked down at the wand. Though it was clearly my back being stepped on, I had the illusion that my fingers were breaking again. I gripped the wand tightly and raised my wrist.

—Enter through the Narrow Entrance.

At this short incantation, his eyes went blank.

“Tell me your name.”

“Hahaha… What a modest question. Haven’t I been saying Abraham from the beginning?”

Suddenly I got goosebumps and laughter burst out.

He was speaking accurately with a half-crazed face.

He had to. He wasn’t possessing Marco’s body. Though the result looks similar because his ability is strong, telepathy and possession can’t be the same ability.

My magic only attacked Marco’s mental strength, not the Antagonist’s mind.

“Good ability.”

“You’re not discouraged even seeing it doesn’t work?”

His eyeballs rolled in all directions and his jawbone creaked. I could see him spreading his stiffly clenched finger joints one by one as if calculating to grip his staff.

I released the mental manipulation magic cast on him to secure at least my own mental health.

His eyes, which had lost focus and looked ghostly, regained their sharpness. Apart from the external changes, nothing had changed as he said.

“Would you like to try attacking? Of course, if you do that, you’ll only be wasting your mana. It’s not my body, and I don’t feel the pain given to me. In an emergency, I can just have another body rescue this one.”

“Rescue, you say.”

Rescue.

He ignored my muttering and continued speaking.

“Or are you planning another miraculous method like when you baptized me to meet me?”

The Antagonist rose from his seat and gestured to his subordinates.

“We need to repair the space too, so let’s start preparing.”

Vitriol slipped from my hands.

Someone put restraints on my hands.

Thankfully, like with Asman, it was a single-hand restraint. It wasn’t connected to the other hand.

Whether it was the same person as before or not, someone sliced my sleeve lengthwise with a knife. A needle pierced the vein inside my elbow.

They’re clearly preparing to give me a revelation. Though it’ll be blocked at the consent stage anyway.

Instead of the Antagonist, someone who was clearly his highest-ranking subordinate spoke to his underlings.

“Search his body. From his reaction, he seems to have something.”

One of the Antagonist’s subordinates rummaged through my robe pocket. A medicine bottle fell out of the pocket.

“What’s this?”

“Sir. I think you should check this.”

“Hmm.”

The Antagonist, who received the bottle from his subordinate, burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! I understand Pleroma carrying this to slip into others’ drinks, but why would a Catholic priest have this? For suicide? Or were you planning to make me drink it?”

“…”

“You seem unaware, but qualified individuals like me don’t die from drinking this. We might experience brief confusion, but that’s all. On the other hand, someone like you, an unconfirmed individual without Vitriol… you’d have no choice but to leave your fate to the god of probability.”

He muttered while fiddling with the bottle.

“And this amount is exactly for one person. Did you believe I wouldn’t bring subordinates? You couldn’t have come out that stupidly, so I don’t understand what you’re relying on to be so relaxed.”

I hardened my expression.

The Antagonist, who had been watching my expression with interest, laughed heartily and threw the bottle in front of me.

Thud—

“Since this must be your secret weapon, why don’t you drink it yourself.”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone grabbed between my jawbone and neck and applied pressure. I felt another person grab my legs. I pulled my neck back with all my strength. Perhaps my reaction was too violent, as someone pressed my head firmly to the floor.

I tried to breathe quickly and shake my head. The Antagonist’s smile flashed at the edge of my vision.

A water-like liquid dripped toward my mouth.

“Cough…!”

“You never know. If you go berserk and survive, you might easily agree with what I say…”

The Antagonist was speaking leisurely when he wiped the smile from his face.

He shot up from his seat.

“What’s happening right now…”

Thud—

From far away came the sound of someone collapsing. Those around me stopped their actions and collapsed heavily to the floor.

I tried not to breathe in, but due to the air that had already entered, my core began to rampage wildly. Wittelsbach’s mana suppressing my core intensified.

—I curse the dominion of illusions that deceive the dazzling senses!

I smiled watching the Antagonist urgently chant his spell. Neither his earlier composure nor his laughter could be found in him.

The Antagonist, having grasped the situation, tried to snap his fingers to immediately leave the area, but he remained in the same spot.

“What did you do…!”

It couldn’t possibly work.

Because…

‘It worked.’

I had blocked everything.

This was what I had asked Ludovica to do.

To dissolve the berserk drug into the air of this street.

And the berserk drug bottle used by Pleroma.

Of course, this glass bottle was a decoy. What fell into my mouth wasn’t medicine but just water.

And earlier, the Antagonist told me that ‘qualified individuals might experience brief confusion but won’t die.’

It didn’t matter if they got up soon.

That brief confusion was enough for me.

And the last thing I asked Ludovica and Narke to do was to twist the mana of this space to prevent warping.

Ludovica was a high-ranking Pleroma, so she could easily access the drugs, and she knew this street best, making her perfect for making my plan succeed.

I tried not to breathe the air while chanting a spell.

—So, son of man. Though you may dwell among thorns and thistles and live among scorpions…

My wrists felt like they were burning. The restraints’ mana was searing my hands.

Wittelsbach’s healing magic spread throughout my body, resisting the berserk drug. It was a moment when I felt grateful for Leo’s grand plan. Without this, my purification magic would have had its limits.

I got up and searched the clothes of the person who had put the restraints on me. In the jacket’s inner pocket was a release tool identical to the one used on Asman.

Click— Snap—

I slowly released the restraints and continued chanting purification magic internally while looking straight ahead.

The Antagonist was covering his nose and continuously chanting spells. I stared at him as he emitted black smoke from his entire body.

Marco Schreiber’s core was fluctuating. The moment I realized this, Vitriol came rushing at me.

Crash—!

I grabbed my staff that had been lying far away and deflected his attack.

Even without me attacking him separately, he was losing consciousness on his own.

“You’d say that no matter what I do, you can just find a new body, but that’s not what you want. That’s why you said you’d have another body rescue Marco Schreiber’s body. Isn’t that right?”

Give a revelation to another body and live in that body?

He never said this, but if he came out with this, it would be a bluff.

After building his life long enough to be called the Antagonist in that body, could he really live well in another body now?

If I went back to 21st century Korea in this body and stood before people, would they accept me? They’d think some crazy foreigner was impersonating me.

It’s the same thing. To the Antagonist, Marco Schreiber’s body was no different from his own.

I looked down at him and said.

“I told you what I had prepared.”

Before, Marian Baum told me this.

If I become contaminated together with the victim’s core, I’ll be trapped in my own inner self, not enter the victim’s inner self like Count Ernst.

I don’t know why only I have this ability different from others…

But the time had come to use it.

The Antagonist had collapsed to the floor like the other Pleroma members, barely able to move his mouth. I read his lip movements.

What are you trying to do.

After reading that, I smiled and answered.

“You don’t need to know that.”

I placed my hand on his core and pushed divine power into it.

My vision turned black.

“Wait for me.”

* * *

[…Breaking news as of 3 AM on December 31st, year 87. French forces have crossed the southwestern border of the Empire and occupied southern Alsace-Lorraine of the Empire. From this time, citizens of Berlin cannot approach the Prussian Rhineland, Grand Duchy of Baden, and Kingdom of Bavaria.]

About ten years ago.

“…”

My vision was dim.

I slightly lifted the rimless glasses perched on my nose.

My hands were full of wrinkles.

“Haha…”

I slowly turned my head and checked the face reflected in the window.

Success.

Marco Schreiber’s face was before my eyes.

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