Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 52

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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 52
Her mind reeled so violently that dizziness seemed an inadequate word for it. A sharp ringing pierced her ears.
The unstable Barrier wavered precariously, then crumbled to dust and vanished entirely.
Yet even as the spell broke, Mana continued to pour from the Core, flowing steadily into Caliona’s grasp.
Though the Barrier had shattered, the diminished Fireball still twisted its trajectory aside at the last moment.
It swept past them both, trailing menacing heat across their shoulders.
Zed, too, was hurled backward after deflecting the Fireball and taking the Water Magic spell full-force.
“Ugh, cough—!”
Liriope lurched forward, blood welling up in her throat.
“Liri, Liri—! I, I, I—what have I—?”
Her sister’s voice spilled into her awareness, tangled in shock, bewilderment, and dread.
Given Caliona’s nature, she should have rushed to steady her fallen sister without hesitation.
Yet she stood frozen beside Liriope, unable to reach out her hand despite her obvious distress.
Perhaps she sensed something of what had just transpired.
“Liri, no. No, I didn’t—I didn’t want this. I didn’t. Something’s been wrong with me, wrong since not long ago, and I don’t know why—ah, ah…”
Caliona clearly didn’t grasp all the details, yet she seemed acutely aware that she herself had wounded her sister.
[This is exactly why a broken vessel cannot be trusted!]
Ode’s furious voice crashed through her reeling mind.
[Greedy instinct to fill an imperfect Core at any cost—constantly eyeing the Mana of blood kin with the finest compatibility, waiting to steal it away!]
Liriope gasped, the taste of blood thick in her breath.
[Before the Time Regression, she drained your Mana the same way. If not for me assisting with Mana Transmission this time, your Core wouldn’t have settled properly enough to stop her from plucking it so easily. Back then, the moment the Coronation ended, extracting Mana from your fractured Core would have been easier than eating soft rice!]
Her Core, suddenly overloaded once more as it had been before, throbbed with anguish as though it might splinter at any moment.
“Dino—! No, get up! Get up, I said!”
In the chaos, she heard Kasel’s cry of despair from nearby.
Turning her head slightly, she glimpsed a young boy with chestnut hair, half his body charred black.
Zed’s misdirected Fireball had unluckily engulfed Dino.
“Cap—Captain… it hurts, it… it hurts…”
Yet mercifully, he was still alive.
“Ah, ah, Liriope! Are you—are you alright? No, no, you can’t die, you can’t, you can’t! You can’t die—”
Milena, seeming frantic out of her mind, came rushing toward Liriope.
“Milena, you—support Liri for me. Please.”
“Y-yes, okay, I will, I will!”
At Caliona’s words, Milena quickly helped Liriope to her feet, weeping.
“Sister, we—we need to go. Both of us, let’s leave this place now—”
She didn’t know.
In truth, Liriope could give all her Mana to Caliona if her sister needed it.
So even if, as Ode said, her sister had drained all her Mana before the Time Regression, she harbored no resentment.
This time too, if her sister wished it, she would willingly live a Half-life again.
But if that happened…
Then the vow she’d sworn to Ode—that she would accomplish it in this timeline—would be broken.
And the reality that awaited them would once more be that dark forest, rain falling endlessly.
A hell that only Liriope would survive to face alone.
So to escape that hell, was she supposed to ask Caliona to live a Half-life instead?
Even while knowing better than anyone how such an existence gnawed away at one’s soul…?
“Hurry, we have to leave. Sister, we can think about the rest after we get out—”
When the mind was muddled, one had to release the chains of thought and make no decisions.
Simply move forward, watching only the path ahead.
If one looked closely at the black lake, tree roots protruded slightly from the water’s surface. One could step on them to reach the tree rising at the center.
“It’s here! Like you said, there’s a small hole in the tree—! Damn it, Dino! Can you see this? We can really escape from here now—!”
The Note had been marked: <Beneath the Largest Tree, a Lake>.
It didn’t refer to the black lake surrounding the tree.
Beyond the tree’s hollow, descending below, lay another small Golden Lake.
That was the true exit from the Outer Sanctuary leading to the Inner Sanctuary.
“Hhh… huff, gulp, huff—”
“Ah! That bastard—he followed us here too?”
But the moment Kasel spotted the tree’s hollow and spun around to face his companions with elation, he let out a cry of shock.
Liriope also whirled around at the horrible, rasping breath she heard behind them.
There, crawling across the tree roots with barely a skeleton left of his body, Zed had drawn close—nearly upon them.
“Inside! Everyone, get inside now—!”
Kasel, carrying the severely wounded Dino on his back, was the first to plunge through the hollow.
Milena supported Liriope and pulled her toward the opening while weeping and apologizing to her.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t kill Zed properly—because of me, you got hurt. I’m so sorry! But please, don’t hate me—”
“What are you saying? It’s not your fault. Stop talking nonsense and just get inside—hurry.”
But in that moment, a sharp shriek pierced the air behind Liriope.
“Aahhh!”
Her head turned reflexively before thought could catch up.
What she witnessed then was Caliona, at the rear of their group, being seized by the ankle and dragged away by Zed as she fell.
“Sister!”
Liriope shoved away the Milena who was supporting her.
“Wait, Liriope—!”
“Go on without me!”
Milena reached for her again, but Liriope instead pushed her toward the opening in front.
Milena’s unfinished cry rapidly faded into distance.
Soon came a splash, and light flickered twice from within the hollow.
“Sister, take my hand—!”
“Liri!”
Liriope stumbled toward Caliona and thrust out her hand urgently.
Caliona reached back toward her in turn.
Though the accident was sudden and unforeseen, at this distance Liriope was certain she could pull her sister to safety.
She trusted it without doubt.
Yet their hands never met. Instead, Caliona suddenly hesitated, and then hurriedly pulled her own hand away from Liriope’s approaching grasp.
It was only an instant—almost reflexive hesitation—yet the consequences were immense.
Even the magic Liriope desperately attempted as a last resort failed to manifest, leaving only terrible pain in her sister’s heart.
Splash.
“No, sister—!”
And so, before Liriope’s eyes, Caliona was dragged into the Black Lake by Zed and swallowed by its depths.
“No, sister, sister, sister…”
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real…
“Uh… uh, ah…”
An incoherent, strangled sound clawed up from her throat.
Liriope crawled frantically across the ground toward the lake that had consumed her sister.
The depthless water lay impossibly, terribly still…

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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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