How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 525

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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 Noble Family (525)

Did you not know?

The voice overlaps several times. Leonard gazed at the crimson orb stretching across the horizon before the great nature he had created. Beneath the vast green tinged with red, he sees the scorching color that burns the earth. Though a cool breeze passed between his forehead and sleeves, he seemed to foresee everything. The screams of people could be heard…

[Your Highness.]

[Your Highness!]

Leonard slowly closed and opened his eyes. His eyelashes made his vision blur with light. He felt the deep primal scent of earth and trees gradually permeating deep into his lungs. Someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Prince. Eastern Nuremberg is spreading! You must stop!”

Leonard looks down at the soldier gripping his collar. He was detached. He was there but not there. He sees the glittering light in his eyeballs and a blue circle floating in the air without touching any surface. And he sees the skin of hands pale as a corpse, dried lips.

“Your Highness, this is happening because of your unique ability.”

A single word uttered by the terror-stricken mage dropped an ice-cold droplet into the Prince’s mind. Leonard raised his head. Grass that had grown between the buildings of downtown Nuremberg turned the massive structures that had sat atop those seeds into clusters of enormous fragments. Even in the moment he realized his error, he remained under the same stoic composure and expressionlessness, and he sees that those buildings had previously been in Vitriol. Because he had returned everything to nature, because vines and branches and stems formed several layers over the grass growing on the roads, nature’s return protected the world from the Vitriol that the Bishop of Eichstätt was launching. Therefore, even if he had been in his right mind, Leonard would have continued to do so. If not to this extent— the solid downtown ground, formed by hundreds of years of maintenance work, instantly becomes a cluster of stone fragments scattered underfoot. The cracked earth is newly hardened with vegetation. This is natural law. Nature does not long permit what strays far from its plan. Several subordinate mages are evacuating people. Street lamps, paved roads, shops, warp signs… Everything returns to mere ruins in the lushness of vegetation that would have taken decades if it had been natural. Whether his vision had moved away from his body or his body had moved away from his vision was unclear. Leonard slowly changed his wand to a staff. And struck down. The leaves and branch tips that were there swiftly shrink back to their place, as if passing over the path they had grown from, over the time they had been pushed back. He strides forward in that state. The sound of everything moving in reverse would be more similar to the sound of sand and earth sedimenting tens of thousands of years ago than the sound of marble weathering. The plants that had gained life through Leonard once again return the path of existence to where they came from. He realizes. Wrong, Leonard had done that. The primal verdure twists and disappears, leaving ruins of the downtown destroyed by the aftermath of aerial combat in its place. Having calmed their lives with a single act of will, in the desolation where the vegetation had receded, he thinks he might not be suited as a healer. He felt neither sad nor joyful. In a place where emotions could not wield his ego, he believed he could provide great utility to many people through combat magic, which meant he would not neglect military national power. However, unlike his childhood resolve, today he prayed that he could combine all the power he possessed to restore even one grain that forms eternity, as if he could have saved his beloved friend in time that had already passed. And today, he thinks he stands facing his past self in eastern Nuremberg, completely destroyed by his own power.

As if the strength that kept him standing turned to ash and scattered, he feels he is in the midst of a trial. He raises his head and closes his eyes. The boy who drank werewolf blood is our Christ of all people, and under that resonant voice he sees the suffering prepared for his friend. Yet still he stood firmly on the ground with both feet. Not once did he waver.

Pleroma dragged back into their fold those who struggled to escape that fate. By what right? They dared not deserve it. Leonard observed the blood pooling beneath his skin where needles pierced, the blood drawn out entering another’s mouth, and recalls it today. He was not displeased today either, but rather willing. He is satisfied that his blood can extend his friend’s life and make him strong. This is not false satisfaction like personal pleasure arising from a source he dare not even imagine and cannot think of no matter what reasons he creates, or a reaction to relieve his friend’s guilt. He is grateful that despite the sorrow and storms shaking his friend inside and out, he can rise without stopping. Knowing how to rise in the end, even if one falls and lies fallen for a long time, is more precious than enduring without collapse. The strength he emanates is proof that he is winning against a life that did its best to bring him down. And before such conditions are added, he is satisfied in the sense of feeling joy and gratitude for the fact that he is alive today. Whether he was Pleroma or not, nothing was more important now than the person he was. But as a friend he asks. Do you know him? As Prince he presses once more. You were angry now, and in a place where emotions cannot wield the ego, you must ask yourself every minute and second whether you pursued the truth that would set us free.

He feels the world’s wind is not moving. He opens his eyes and sees history repeating. The outbreak of madness and faith is reproduced twisted here today as well. Christ thrown into the dirt atones for Adam’s descendants. His flesh, breath, blood, nobility— in the way that was unforeseen but prepared when John’s baptism flowed down over Christ’s head as sunlight penetrated the particles of the river, cast away. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” The Father reveals the Son of God to Pleroma. This is their propaganda today. Or a lie they truly believe. Thus they gain the legitimacy of the church— “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” / They therefore had to become Peter. We have never seen Peter seek out Christ to hang him on a cross. Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men…” They push God’s back to avoid becoming Satan. Hurry and hang on the cross and die, free us and let us be together in your embrace. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Pleroma says his friend is the Messiah of this troubled age without revealing what the biblical manuscript discovered before the Dead Sea of the Ottoman Empire says, or whether it is accurate. What about Mikhail Ismailov? They deceived us. They tested someone and are still doing so. This is, today is, and tomorrow is, from some unknowable moment until the end, every moment we are being tested. What do they want by doing this?

Leonard feels the wind of the desolate downtown blowing head-on. He has reached a conclusion. The crystal-clear purpose that his friend must have reached as well.

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Leonard wanted to laugh. Yielding intuition to duty goes only this far. There was no need to question further. This was all injustice. He himself could not yield a single step from such injustice. Now it is clear he must kick off from the ground. Then where to?

6:17.

Leonard had been aware all along that not much time had passed since their words ended.

The Bishop of Eichstätt was fast. Fast, and with the intention of destroying everything before his Vitriol could take effect, he was covering everything with Vitriol. In a situation without an Arcane Mage, the choice to cover everything with plants prevented the Vitriol from dispersing beyond that area. Thanks to some of his subordinate mages nimbly backing up Leonard, unnecessary casualties did not occur. As it should be. Because he had no intention of dragging it out even one second longer. No need to go to 30 minutes. Until 24 minutes, he’ll handle it within 5 minutes. A sound is heard.

[…over 10 personnel unavailable.] Well, that’s because of the unique ability resembling his sister Sarah Hohenfelss.

“Report the situation.”

[Your Highness, the Bishop of Eichstätt refuses to move east. The unique ability you used from the rear reaches north, making our movement difficult.]

“Good.”

Leonard grips his staff with both hands and slowly moves his hands to both poles. Following his touch, bright blue mana surges up.

“Evacuating people now is inefficient. Put up barriers on nearby buildings and call out the estimated location of the bishop.”

[Confronting 15 mages between the intersection of Ostandstrasse and the branch line and in front of the river.]

Not far. Leonard channeled mana into his legs and kicked off the ground. In less than 30 seconds he feels rain falling from the sky. Only then does he stop. Leonard looks at the Imperial newspaper that had been flying around and was now pressed to the ground, turned to pulp.

[[Emergency] Pleroma Claims Christ’s Presence “Lucas Ascanien is Christ”]

He raised his head again. Light scatters from behind the intersection of railway and road. He gauges the speed and distance the light follows. And he lands at the next point the light will reach. He faces one wearing sacred fluttering bishop’s robes. He has the railway behind him and the river in front. The Bishop of Eichstätt was blocked in front of the river. The Bavarian Royal Army could not drive him deeper east. That clergyman is smiling.

KWAANG— BANG—!

He spreads his hands and speaks amid the roar of bombardment directed at him. With that alone, he defends all the Royal Army mages without running or counterattacking. Light passes through.

“You are one of strong spirit.”

That’s correct. Since unnecessary humility is a lack of judgment, he personally acknowledges that the observation was accurate.

And you are not particularly so.

Leonard does not deal with those of low mental character. Is the Bishop of Eichstätt one of low character? If so, he would not be standing in this place. Leonard does not know how to deal with weak humans who break easily, but he knows how to soothe those of high character but low hardness. Having spent a lifetime with a friend who had to live such a life, he could not not know. Since all are close to the heart, softening the blade of lamentation to direct it to higher places or cutting off breath are not far apart. The Bishop of Eichstätt kneels as if bowing and speaks.

“Dear Prince. Let me greet you as a long-time vassal.”

“…”

“I have lived in Bavaria since the 14th century. Back then our Hohenfelss served the Wittelsbach who were electors. And today I live in an age when those Wittelsbachs, far from being exterminated, have become kings, and I stand before the youngest Wittelsbach pondering how we should kill each other.”

Leonard thinks only the two of them remain in the world. He had purpose only in the Bishop of Eichstätt’s heart. All surrounding noise grows distant. He closed his eyes before his enemy, and the enemy speaks calmly. A warning voice from an artifact reaches Leonard’s ear. He turned off the sound. He could handle it without instructions, and it was rather a hindrance.

“What do you think?”

“Truly joyful to meet a long-time vassal.”

Leonard opens his eyes and charges while raising his hand. He raises earthly arms toward the Bishop of Eichstätt, grasping him with thousands of fingers. Screams and roars now approach his eardrums. Even the artifact at his ear and the urgent voices of nearby mages. But the plants he controls are invisible and do not actually exist. The widened eyes of puzzled subordinates flash by. Conversely, the moment the Bishop of Eichstätt’s eyes narrow and tilt, a sword made of mana is grasped in Leonard’s hand. The Bishop of Eichstätt’s eyes widen belatedly. The bishop strikes the ground with his foot, scattering fragments in all directions as he runs backward, and Leonard raises his hand and clenches his fist.

KWAGWAGWANG—

Plant barriers surge over the river like waves under northwest wind. The mana that had always been quiet and cool like the Baltic Sea surface takes on different properties under his unique ability. But since it rose from the river, it did not surge where the bishop was. The mages turn faces of shock toward Leonard. The Bishop of Eichstätt charges at Leonard in that gap. Leonard looks at the tall mansion in front of the river and spreads his hand upward.

KWAAAAANG—

The moment the barrier struck down at the mansion by the river, the bishop who had been beside Leonard disappeared. Leonard blocked the castle fragments flying toward him and ran there. And he approached the bishop held down by nearby subordinate mages.

“Young man, you are mistaken.”

The real bishop speaks with his face pressed to the ground. Leonard looks at the old man with truly a young man’s face and steps on his back. The bishop continues speaking.

“On the day Christ becomes Christ, the thousand-year kingdom will open and those like us who knew His will first and helped Him become who He is will receive proper treatment. Whether that will be salvation or judgment, no one knows, and we do not do such things out of arrogance that we will be saved or expectation that we will surely be saved. That is because we are clergy. But what about you?”

“…”

“Do you think you can receive salvation even after doing this?”

Leonard smiled. The bishop does not know what he is saying, Leonard knows this fact. Because the bishop does not know what Leonard concluded in his heart long ago. He draws his sword.

“No matter what humans do, they cannot go against fate. Everything will flow according to Christ’s will, so what are you so angry about?”

KWAANG—

An explosion sounds the moment he strikes the sword toward the heart. The bishop no longer moves. Blood gradually spreads from below. Returns to earth. Only silence flows. Leonard touched the artifact.

“Your Majesty the King, reporting from the Bavarian Royal 2nd Infantry Regiment. April 15th, 18:22, we have killed the Bishop of Eichstätt.”

There were no words about waiting for the next order. He continues speaking.

“Please inform me of Nicolaus Ernst’s location.”

“Report the location of Nikolaus Ernst.”

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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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