Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 659

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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 658. The Doll’s Doll
“Ugh, bleeegh.”
One of the Ruswena Soldiers couldn’t hold back and retched violently. It was the first time in his life he’d smelled something so foul. Even the stench of rotting corpses didn’t compare to this.
The Soldiers covered their noses with their sleeves and continued backing away step by step. Those unaware of the situation urged them to stop pushing, but upon seeing the Countess, they hesitantly shuffled backward in her wake.
“I, why, why is this happening?”
“Countess?”
“Aaaaah! Why is this happening to me!”
“Countess! Please, do not come any closer!”
“I’ll kill you! What did you just say?”
The Countess glared with a fistful of her own hair clutched in her hand. Her appearance was exactly what one would describe as melting away. Her scalp had become mushy, her hair had withered like rotted scallion roots, and pus oozed from various places, emanating a horrific stench.
The Countess hadn’t even noticed that her pupils had turned black. Resembling a demon’s visage, the Soldiers kept their distance while brandishing their weapons.
“Ah, good heavens. This, why is this, why is it like this…”
The Countess suddenly felt that her hands resembled Vitor’s. That Mage who had used forbidden magic to burn Hielo.
“…Why? What on earth for?”
The Countess’s hands trembled violently, and the Dolls connected to her simply stood motionless.
“There, there! A, a Mage is coming!”
“It’s the Bariel Mage!”
At that moment, at a Soldier’s cry, the Countess whipped her head around.
It was Tomi. Without a moment’s hesitation, he charged at the Countess, and she startled in alarm, hastily regaining control of her slack puppet strings.
Kwaaaang-!
A fist reinforced by magic unleashed heat without mercy.
The Ruswena Mages, who had been standing dumbly, reflexively generated a barrier to block before the Countess, and Tomi continued pushing his strength to break through it.
Ziiing, zing-!
The barrier facing his fist trembled violently and emitted light. Through the gap, Tomi saw the still vacant eyes of the Ruswena Mages and naturally furrowed his brow.
“The Puppeteer of Toollun!”
“Kuh, kuhkh!”
“I’ll tear you to shreds!”
“Shut up! You’re nothing! How dare you!”
The Countess, who had been kneading her own face this way and that, let out a shriek.
There was no major problem in moving the Dolls. However, because her flesh was melting away, controlling them itself had become burdensome. The Countess wound the puppet strings tightly around her hands and made an assumption.
‘Is it because of the forbidden magic?’
There was no other explanation. After all, she had activated magic that was literally ‘forbidden’ by a third party’s will.
Though there was some logic to it, it still didn’t make sense. To her, the Mages were Dolls. Whether their flesh was cut or torn, she felt not a single ounce of pain transmitted to her.
They were connected only by a single thread, so how could the side effects of forbidden magic possibly flow into the Countess herself?
“Damn it, uaaaah!”
The Countess cried out and roughly yanked the puppet strings. The Ruswena Mages reflexively crossed their forearms, and the barrier grew denser.
Now forbidden magic was absolutely off the table. With just two uses, her body had deteriorated to this extent—she couldn’t know how it would be destroyed on a third attempt.
Shwaaaak!
The Ruswena Mages standing at both ends stopped maintaining the barrier and charged at Tomi instead. It was a judgment that eliminating the opponent would be more efficient than engaging in a costly test of strength.
Tomi saw the Mages charging from both sides simultaneously and braced his body.
But then—
Whoosh!
A fluttering robe swept past Tomi’s side.
Along with the familiar scent of tobacco came Captain Heil, and the Magic Department colleagues surrounded Tomi, erecting a double barrier of protection.
Zing!
“Captain! Everyone…!”
“Ugh, what’s that smell? Tomi, are you alright?”
“I’m not alright. Isn’t it too late?”
“This guy has the exact same personality as his senior. Nakina said the same thing.”
“What about the Senior?”
“Got beaten by Idgal and is recovering.”
“…What?”
“Focus!”
As the Mages chattered away, Heil barked sharply. They immediately fell silent as if nothing had happened and each took on one Ruswena Mage. Though they had been pushed back moments ago, that was no longer the case. Now was the time for counterattack.
As the tide of battle turned, Countess Darsi’s lips trembled as she frantically manipulated the puppet strings.
“She’s a Puppeteer.”
“My, what’s with that appearance? Is she a demon?”
“Calling a person a demon? Though I must admit, she does look like one. Are you perhaps a demon?”
“Shut your mouths! Filthy Empire dogs!”
“Oh, she speaks. Not a demon then. Take her down, take her down.”
“Captain Heil, should we capture her alive?”
“No! We cannot capture her alive! We must kill her without fail! She’s a dangerous one who dabbles in forbidden magic!”
Tomi gritted his teeth and amplified his magical power, striving to shatter the Ruswena Mages’ barriers.
The Mages also assisted by channeling their power or providing support from the sides, but with the portal continuing to pour forth enemies, it was difficult to exert overwhelming force.
Martin, assessing the situation, issued orders to the Soldiers.
“Idgal arrows! The Dragon and black armor upward!”
“Coming.”
The Soldiers began moving in perfect unison like an ant colony to capture the Bariel Mage. Armed with Idgal arrows and spears, they closed the distance, while the Dragon pressed from above, leaving no space to escape.
‘I’ll make them regret crowding in like this.’
Martin swung his baton grandly, commanding the front lines without a single gap. Not a moment of carelessness could be afforded. This was a golden opportunity to eliminate the Mages in one strike.
“Hold the Mage Knight in place! Don’t let it come this way! Everyone, prepare to fire!”
“Preparing to fire!”
“Spearmen forward, charge!”
“Aaaaah!”
Countess Darsi’s eyes darted about frantically. The battlefield had descended into chaos in an instant.
She calculated with all her might. While the Ruswena Soldiers and Dragons pinned down the Bariel Mage, it would be most efficient for her to eliminate Ian Hielo.
There were already two Mages who had used forbidden magic. She must exploit this. To turn the tide, nothing was more certain than taking Hielo’s head.
Whoosh!
She moved the two Mages steeped in forbidden magic. Ian watched with cold eyes, but his gaze was fixed not on the two Mages, but on Countess Darsi herself.
Realizing this, the Countess trembled violently, deliberately moving her fingers with exaggerated fluidity. Then she shrieked in a shrill, tearing voice.
“Kwaaaaagh!”
The collision of two forces. In the dizzying chaos where life and death intertwined, Countess Darsi could only lament and gaze upward at the heavens.
O God, why do you inflict such trials upon me? Her eye socket had split so severely that the inner flesh of her eyeball lay exposed.
Zing—
Then, a tremor of power flowed through her body. It was not felt by Countess Darsi alone, but reached the Bariel Mages and the Soldiers as well.
Finding the source of this power was not difficult.
“…Ian?”
Ian, who was facing the two forbidden Mages.
He brought his hands together, then gently opened them. Following his gesture, a mystical aura dispersed like mist, and subsequently dozens, hundreds of concentric circles were drawn, radiating light.
Unlike his usual method of simply ‘commanding’ magic into existence, Ian was now drawing the magic circles himself and controlling them.
“Ian!”
Nakina cried out, but Ian continued drawing the magic circles without even turning around.
Something was wrong. For a single spell, it was far too complex, far too many….
‘Could it be….’
Was he attempting to activate two spells simultaneously?
Nakina simply watched Ian’s figure swaying in the wind.
Then, a faint doll separated from his body. Though translucent and filled with the color of the sky, it was unmistakably recognizable. Nakina gasped and covered her mouth.
「Doppelganger」.
A spell that divides the physical body into two. It was a high-level magic known to be nearly impossible to separate and control.
Even if one succeeded, each doppelganger created would halve the original body’s power, preventing the full display of one’s true strength.
“….”
Ian’s doppelganger opened both eyes. Then, stretching languidly with its translucent form, it smiled with unbridled joy.
“What, wha—”
Ian could smile like a baby? Nakina’s shock was brief before the ‘real Ian’ reached out his hand again. This time, it was a spell she recognized. It was—
「Temporal Theft」.
A spell used when temporary overwhelming power was needed, drawing ability from one’s future self. It was the very magic Ian had unknowingly activated during the Cliffford War, resulting in terrible consequences.
‘After all, I won’t exist in the distant future.’
In the far future—after returning to the world he had seen—Ian Hielo might not even exist in the current Bariel. And even if he did, he would be a God, so such a burden would mean nothing.
Ian drew power from the future through Temporal Theft and shared it with his doppelganger.
Zing! Zing!
The halved power surged back to fullness, making it as though two complete Ians now existed.
The translucent Ian’s doppelganger smiled and took a combat stance toward the forbidden Mages.
“Let’s go.”
At Ian’s murmur, the doppelganger nodded.
They shared thought and will. The two tore through the air simultaneously from left and right, diving toward the forbidden Mages, and in an instant, a light brighter than the sun erupted, erasing the world in a flash.
Boom! Crash!
“Ah.”
Nakina turned her head and closed her eyes.
Insane. By her understanding, using two high-level spells simultaneously and in harmony was impossible. The moment she grasped the true meaning of Ian’s existence came suddenly, again and again.
“Ugh—”
Tomi, Captain Heil, and the other Mages squeezed their eyes shut against the blinding light. The violent shockwave and tremors from the magic made it nearly impossible to move.
Captain Heil furrowed his brow and barely managed to open his eyes, then froze.
‘What is this?’
The Countess, presumed to be the Puppeteer, stared blankly up at the sky. The light was so brilliant that opening one’s eyes should have been difficult, yet she remained motionless without so much as a blink.
“-…ing.”
And she murmured something like a prayer, her voice trembling. Her condition was strange.
Heil tapped Tomi on the shoulder and nodded.
“Let’s regroup.”
“Yes, Captain. But—”
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
The Countess shrieked, her arms shooting up. Her neck was rigid, her waist bent—she looked like a doll strung on invisible threads.
“No! No, this cannot be!”
“Why? Why is she like that? Captain, something’s wrong with her.”
“Your Highness, please save me! This cannot happen!”
“…Your Highness?”
There was only one person the Countess would address as “Your Highness”—the King of Torlun. Her hands trembled violently as she seized a doll, and Tomi instinctively grasped her intent.
“…Forbidden magic.”
“What?”
“Damn it!”
As Tomi rushed forward, Heil and the Mages scrambled after him in panic.
The Countess seemed to have neither the will nor the composure to stop them. The Bariel Mage passed right before their eyes, yet the Ruswena Mages simply stood there staring blankly.
“Your Highness! Please save me!”
The Countess wailed, pulling the doll’s strings. Then forbidden magic erupted from another Ruswena Mage. Witnessing something they had never seen before, Heil and the Mages gasped and froze.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
A scream drenched in agony.
In that instant, a horrifying thought flashed through Heil’s mind.
‘Could it be…?’
Could the King watching from Torlun have ordered all the other Ruswena Mages to be ‘forbidden’?
But the Countess had refused because of the side effect of her skin melting away, and ultimately…
The moment this realization struck him, Heil shouted.
“Fall back!”
Shhhhwwwaaack!
“…!”
The Countess’s body melted away while still alive, dissolving in an instant. Only one eye, half-melted and flickering rapidly, seemed to cry out in pain.

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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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