Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 655

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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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Chapter 655. Reinforcements
With each tick of the clock hand within the magic circle, Vitor’s groans deepened.
I could feel through every organ that my body was crumbling under the weight of forbidden magic. Before the spell dissolved, my only path to survival was to swiftly sever Ian Hielo’s life.
Though I could see nothing, I groped desperately through the darkness, searching for my weapon.
Click, click—
In the silent forest, not even the chirping of birds or the rustling of wind could be heard. Complete silence reigned.
As the clock hand advanced, Ian and Berik’s movements grew sluggish, until they seemed utterly frozen. Surely only they existed here, Vitor thought.
Yet there was one who witnessed this scene—
‘Ugh. Should I… help?’
It was Nabu, hiding within Ian’s shadow.
He had concealed himself without a trace, but now he didn’t know what to do. Vitor’s appearance was so pitiful that it terrified him to intervene recklessly.
‘No, he didn’t ask for help. He clearly told me to wait. Two days ago.’
After dumping all the supplies brought from the Royal Palace’s Magic Department, he had been occupied moving items from the Kalamata Royal Palace.
Then, at the very end, he had received Ian’s order to wait and had been hiding ever since. The situation had become so urgent that he’d nearly forgotten his own existence.
Click.
The light pouring from the magic circle was so intense that shadows appeared sharper than ever. Nabu wrestled with himself internally, then suddenly remembered something.
‘Wait.’
If Ian Hielo and that reckless Berik died here, what would happen to me? Would the northern faction gain control if Bariel fell into disadvantage?
Then I could return home. Nabu placed a hand over his heart.
‘It should be fine, right?’
The contract with Bariel Mage. He certainly told me to cooperate for Bariel’s sake, but isn’t this situation rather special? There was no direct order, and couldn’t Ian Hielo’s death actually aid Bariel?
Nabu, muttering excuses to himself, tilted his head.
‘My heart is racing a bit, but I can’t tell if it’s a magical issue or just nerves. Hmm.’
Then, he found the Idgal fragment that Vitor had dropped. As Vitor staggered to his feet, gripping the weapon with both hands, Nabu squeezed his eyes shut.
It was time to choose.
Help or abandon him!
“Grraaah!”
The opponent’s strained cry followed. Nabu clicked his tongue and flew up from the shadow.
Whoooosh!
‘Forget it!’
Better this than testing my luck and having my heart burst!
Nabu revealed himself using Ian and Berik as shields, then clapped his hands together and invoked a spell.
Vitor, drawing near, instinctively swung Idgal and attacked Ian. The sharp blade flew perilously close, aimed directly at Ian’s pupils.
Screech!
Just as it was about to make contact, Nabu completely seized Vitor’s shadow. Strong light meant equally deep shadows. It wasn’t difficult.
“…!”
Vitor’s entire body suddenly went rigid, and he thrashed about in panic. Unable to see, he couldn’t comprehend that his shadow had been bound.
Meanwhile, time continued to flow, and the clock hand returned to its starting position.
Click!
Whoooooosh!
The magic circle shattered into fragments, scattering like starlight, and Ian and Berik’s movements returned to normal. Their hair and sleeves, which had been frozen in place, swayed once more in the wind, and their footsteps found stable purchase on the ground.
Berik shuddered as if something felt off, then checked on Ian’s condition.
“Ian, are you alright?”
“Of course.”
“Damn it, this feels disgusting. Hey! Nabu! Why are you taking so long to emerge? You were deliberating in there, weren’t you?”
“…What, what do you mean?”
“Whether to kill us or not. Tsk, hey! I could hear your thoughts grinding from here. Ian, once we clean up this mess, let’s bury this bastard with it.”
“That’s unfair! Can’t you see I’m holding the shadow right now? If it weren’t for me, Ian would’ve lost his eyes!”
“Then why didn’t you move faster from the start?”
At this, Vitor’s ears perked up.
Regardless of the situation, there was one more person here. And ‘holding the shadow’—judging by the accent, they seemed to be from the north.
Then…
‘…A sorcerer.’
Vitor ground his teeth and generated brilliant magical power.
Zing! Zing!
If the shadow was being held, all he had to do was eliminate it.
Each time the light flared, the shadow faded, and Nabu’s power grew weaker. Vitor felt his body gradually regain movement and smiled.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Shing!
But Berik immediately drew his blade and severed his neck.
Vitor’s head rolled away, and his body went limp, as if he’d held on until the very last moment.
“Ugh.”
Berik stepped back and frowned. Something felt unpleasant—like cutting through rotten wood. He poked at Vitor’s corpse with the tip of his blade, muttering.
“Is he really dead? Feels anticlimactic.”
“His head fell off. What more do you want? That’s a strange thing to call anticlimactic.”
“Tch. Don’t you ever shut your mouth?”
“I, well, I’ll go back inside then. Ahem.”
As Berik pursued him with his blade drawn, Nabu retreated into the shadows with exaggerated coughs. Berik immediately demanded he come out, stomping his feet, but received no response.
Ian surveyed the ruined surroundings and caught his breath for a moment.
‘Dragons, Black Armored Knights, and mages.’
Ruswena’s main force was definitely nearby. Moreover, Vitor’s consciousness had seemed to return partway through, which suggested the puppeteer was having difficulty controlling the mage.
Ian glanced at Vitor’s cooling corpse, then gestured to Berik.
“Berik. Let’s move.”
“Where to?”
“Where else? We’re leaving the forest. Ruswena’s main force might change course, so we need open ground to intercept them.”
“Got it. We should consider this land completely lost. Those bastards—if you shed tears on someone else’s land, you’ll shed blood tears for it!”
Berik shouted directly into Vitor’s ear, in case the puppeteer was listening. But Ian grabbed Berik by the nape of his neck and soared into the sky.
Shing!
“Oh, I can see it!”
And shortly after—
Berik spotted the Ruswena army gathered in the distance like sesame seeds and waved his hand. I was genuinely delighted to see them.
* * *
“Minister Martin! It’s Ian Hielo and his subordinate!”
“They’re flying this way!”
“W-what should we do?”
Meanwhile, the Ruswena camp panicked upon recognizing Ian’s presence. He was said to be the strongest Mage in Bariel—their fear was inevitable.
Martin swung his baton and shouted.
“Compose yourselves! Reform the ranks! Dragons and Black Armored Knights to the front!”
“Forward!”
Afterward, he glanced at Countess Darsi, whose lips trembled incessantly. If Ian Hielo had emerged from the forest unscathed, didn’t that mean Vitor was dead?
As Martin prepared to voice his reproach, she suddenly seized a dagger and began slashing Vitor’s doll to shreds. Her eyes gleamed with madness, and her violent strikes made her seem like a completely different person.
Thwack! Slash!
“Useless wretch!”
“…!”
Startled by her grotesquely abrupt transformation, Martin flinched before finally speaking.
“Madam.”
“I said I would help! I said I would help! I said I would help!”
“Countess Darsi.”
“Yet you bungled it! Do you have a mind or not? Honestly! This is why incompetent fools are useless. Go eat gruel and drop dead!”
Martin’s words caught in his throat. On the surface, she was berating Vitor, but listening carefully, wasn’t she subtly insulting the Royal Palace of Ruswena?
As Martin’s expression hardened, Countess Darsi lifted her chin, wiped her sweat, and casually turned her head away. As if nothing had happened, her face became innocent again.
“Sigh, I really can’t use him. Vitor, this Mage.”
“…Madam. What are you doing right now?”
“What do you mean? I was merely venting my frustration on an abandoned doll. Is that a problem? Hehehehe.”
Martin wanted nothing more than to remove this repulsive and eerie woman from his sight immediately. However, the other dolls in her hands were far too valuable and precious. Gritting his teeth, Martin made a suggestion.
“Release all the Mages you brought. There’s no other way to stop Ian Hielo.”
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. The dragons and Black Armored Knights seem less effective than expected, so I hope the Mages are at least competent ones. Hehehehe.”
She was indirectly saying that Ruswena’s military strength was in terrible condition. No matter how skilled the Puppeteer controlling from behind, the power would naturally vary depending on the original body’s ability.
Countess Darsi naturally tapped Martin’s shoulder.
“Minister Martin. I only trust you. Please support me well.”
Martin suddenly felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, but he couldn’t pay attention to it with everyone calling out Ian Hielo’s flight trajectory. He simply nodded and instructed Countess Darsi.
“Send them up immediately. By any means necessary, we must capture Ian Hielo.”
“Yes, of course.”
Whoosh.
As Countess Darsi gestured, the Mages standing like wooden dolls slowly moved and flew into the sky. Moving to a single command, their motions were synchronized like machinery.
“Oh, Ian! They’re coming!”
Those guys all seemed crazy, didn’t they? Berik looked up at Ian seeking agreement—
“Huh?”
Ian had simply released Berik’s nape.
Berik’s eyes widened as if they might burst from their sockets. Ian’s calm voice reached his ears.
“I’m above, you’re below.”
“…No! Iaaaan-!”
I can’t fly, you madman! And it’s too high! Berik screamed as he plummeted, and moments later crashed into the heart of the Ruswena reeds with a thunderous boom and a cloud of dust.
Crash!
Martin, observing through his telescope, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
‘What was that just now? Did he fall?’
As the dust gradually cleared, a doll emerged, kneeling on one knee in a perfect landing stance.
The posture was flawless, but the expression was utterly vacant.
And for good reason—
“Holy shit. That actually worked.”
The man himself couldn’t believe it.
Berik sprang to his feet and brushed himself off, then spotted the telescope trained on him. With a smirk, he raised his middle finger.
“How crude—”
The moment Martin irritably lowered his telescope, Berik launched forward at tremendous speed. Toward the main Ruswena forces.
“Enemy approaching! The opponent is a Mage Knight! Black armor, advance!”
“Form ranks left and right! Main force forward!”
“Waaaaah!”
Boom boom boom! The military band pounded their drums with all their might to raise morale, and the Ruswena soldiers charged across the barren reeds.
And there was Berik, charging toward thousands of opponents. I watched the spectacle from the sky above, then turned my gaze away.
Whoosh!
I had given Berik his mission; now I had to fulfill mine.
The opponents numbered one, two, three… five in total. More than I’d anticipated. They must have dispersed their forces, which meant there were likely mages remaining at the Ruswena Royal Palace as well.
Zing! Zing!
Five mages took positions on the right, left, above, and below, encircling me. Then they activated their spell formations simultaneously.
「Moss Paper」.
Thin threads sprouted from all directions, binding my limbs firmly.
I instinctively sensed that while similar to Mangyeop, this was clearly a lower-tier spell with no regenerative properties—it could be broken through simply by severing it.
Just as I was about to respond with an appropriate counter-spell—
Slash!
A gust of wind struck from behind, and all the threads binding my limbs were severed at once. Turning to look back, I found myself facing familiar faces.
Tomi, and Nakina.

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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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