The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 36

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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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Episode 36. Confession
Bang!
The black steel fist that seemed about to shatter Moeno’s skull in one stroke was caught lightly by the Silver Gauntlet blocking its path.
Despite the clamorous sound, Klam received Muno’s full-force punch without much effort.
He then gently pushed Muno’s hand away and patted his shoulder.
“Calm yourself. Execution must ultimately follow His Excellency’s wishes.”
Tsk.
“Understood.”
Though Muno had been seething moments before, his expression as he turned away had already settled back to its usual calm.
The rage that had boiled up the instant he heard Moeno’s absurd excuses was already buried beneath the murderous intent of the Demon Devourer.
While he separated the Demon Devourer from his conscious mind to control it, that very anger subsided in a heartbeat.
‘This isn’t normal either.’
Muno found himself biting his lip and sinking into thought despite his will.
For the first time, he felt the side effects of the specialty he’d gained through childhood’s painful experiences.
It was somewhat disorienting, but now was not the time to worry about such things.
“By the way, Muno—what did you mean by that just now? That you were one of those worthless ones?”
Ah, damn.
“…That, I’ll explain later. More pressing is this man here, wouldn’t you say?”
“True enough.”
When Muno deliberately changed the subject, Klam fortunately nodded without resistance.
Soon after, Tinel opened his mouth with a cold expression.
“Moeno. If you want to die cleanly, you’d best spill everything you know. Unless you want to save what family remains.”
Moeno, who had been frozen by Muno’s murderous intent, flinched and turned his gaze toward Tinel.
The punch Muno had thrown but been blocked from reaching seemed not without effect—the bloodshot eyes still gleamed with madness, but his quivering lips bore the look of someone choosing their words carefully.
“I’d rather you didn’t have to fetch Gunter from Draasen, Moeno. I don’t want to throw an old comrade to a ‘disassembly specialist.'”
Huh?
When Tinel’s words that followed came out, Moeno visibly flinched while Muno let out an involuntary laugh.
The threat had landed squarely.
‘Really? That Gunter fellow… What in the world has he been doing all this time?’
As Muno, who had treated the man like a friendly neighbor, imagined the sinister underbelly of such a person, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Moeno forced himself upright and looked around.
“Nngh…”
He saw the retainers of Konnel, who had received his gaze, turn their eyes away in unison, and he gnashed his teeth.
Among them were even his own children and his wife.
Was it because the Veil had shattered and magical energy was pouring out, or because of his own pathetic state wallowing on the floor of the great hall?
The drastically altered attitude of his household made him keenly aware of his circumstances once more.
‘If only it weren’t for that bastard…’
The enraged Moeno glared at Muno again and ground his teeth.
But soon after.
“…Promise me, Tinel. That you’ll spare my children.”
From his lips poured a voice that sounded as though he’d abandoned everything.
In this age where collective punishment was the norm among nobility, even that was an extraordinary condition.
Tinel nodded with a heavy face.
“His Excellency is merciful. You know that, don’t you?”
“Only to his own. But cruel to traitors.”
“Knowing that…? Hah. I’ll advocate for it actively. Trust me.”
Even having heard those words, Moeno’s lips continued to tremble soundlessly for a time.
He looked around nervously as though searching for something, then lowered his head into the sea of hostile, childlike gazes surrounding him from all sides, and finally spoke.
“…Gaion first approached me ten years ago, just before the matter of the Cult Organization member’s life and death became a topic of concern. He came to me saying I had talent, when I was an Ability User…”
The story that began this way from Moeno Konnel was nothing short of a desperate confession of self-betrayal.
Born weak on this Lantra continent where the superhuman held sway, unable to inherit his house’s secret techniques, made a viscount solely because he was an only son—Moeno.
He had always carried in his heart an inferiority complex at being an Ability User and anxiety that he might fail to maintain the family line.
That was why, when Gaion first told him he had talent, he harbored doubts yet ultimately couldn’t help but fall under his spell.
And.
“What he taught me, saying it was the foundation of Spirit Arts, was actually the foundation of Magic. I didn’t know at first…”
When he faced a Foreign Spirit to awaken magical power, he couldn’t help but realize it, no matter how much he disliked it.
“Or perhaps I would have accepted it even if I had known.”
“What?”
“Tinel. Creatures like you could never understand my heart. People overflowing with talent like that test subject over there or that accomplished Spirit Arts user—you could never comprehend it!!”
Moeno, who had burst out in anger once more, soon faltered as sharp gazes rained down upon him.
“An experimental subject?”
Tinel tilted his head, muttering the words, and it was then that Muno felt an inexplicable pang of guilt.
Moeno, as if suddenly aware of his own circumstances, bowed his head low once more.
“At first, I was simply overjoyed to have gained such power. Besides, Gaion said he knew ways to hide magical power—that I wouldn’t be discovered as long as I avoided the priests and Spirit Arts practitioners.”
“Hmm?”
Watching the priests and Spirit Arts practitioners furrow their brows, Moeno let out a hollow laugh.
“Back then, that ‘Concealment’ was only strong enough to fool ordinary people and Body Reinforcement martial artists. Yes, that was true—right up until that suppression operation ten years ago.”
Around the time Moeno first awakened his magical power, a series of disappearances began occurring throughout Trian.
The entire territory of Trian fell into a state of dread, and when Enok Trian began investigating the cases in earnest, Moeno could do nothing but tremble with anxiety.
Even before the term “Mage” had surfaced, he instinctively knew the incidents were the work of Gaion and his associates—the very ones who had extended their hand to him.
But by then, he had already crossed a river from which there was no return.
“I had no choice but to cooperate. Otherwise, I would die, or my house would fall. So I spread false information to keep his eyes off the truth, and yet…….”
“You bastard……!?”
The moment Klam reacted as though seized by a fit, Tinel raised his hand to stop him.
And watching his former comrades, Moeno sighed.
“I did what I had to do to survive. But in the end, none of it mattered. Not long after, he launched a sudden assault on the Laboratory that Gaion had mentioned. Honestly, I’m still curious where he got that information.”
“The Laboratory? Not their main base?”
At Tinel’s stern tone, Moeno let out a dry chuckle.
“It was an important stronghold for the Organization, but not the main base. More than that, where ‘that person’ is……—hack!? Urghhhh!?”
And then, just as Moeno was candid in his confession, his body suddenly convulsed violently.
“Grrrrgh!?”
His eyes bulged as though they might burst from their sockets, and his head began to swell incrementally.
“Seize him!”
With Tinel’s cry, a whirlwind erupted from Lasmia’s entire body and shot toward Moeno.
But before that.
Whirrrrrr.
A Black Iron Chain that had materialized from nowhere coiled around Moeno’s body.
“What kind of deception is this……!”
Muno smirked and moved to absorb Moeno’s magical power directly.
The attention of those around them was a concern, but he could not afford to let Moeno die before hearing the most crucial information.
But then.
Wheeeeeee!
A moment too late, a pale white wind enveloped Moeno’s entire body and wrapped around the chain.
The effect resembled Magic, yet the warmth and gentleness that emanated were distinctly different from Mana—a power that felt far more tender.
‘So this is Spirit Arts…….’
As the thought struck him anew, Muno’s eyes met Lasmia’s.
Her eyes had suddenly widened, and she stared at him with an intensity he couldn’t fathom, but now was not the moment to wonder why.
‘What now?’
If he absorbed the Mana while the Spirit Arts clashed with the chain, Lasmia would notice immediately.
Fortunately, Klam resolved the situation for him.
“Lasmia, leave it! It’s a Magic-Using Artifact! Let Muno handle it!”
“Ah. Yes, understood.”
Wheeeeeee.
The pale wind scattered in all directions.
‘Now!’
Mana poured unrelentingly from Moeno’s body, and the Demon Devourer began to cry out in exultation—
Yet Muno’s expression was far from pleased.
‘What?’
Even as he drained the entire Mana of a 3-Circle Mage, he felt far less increase in power than before.
He had learned through experience that Mana already spent on Magic—even when absorbed—merely replenished what he’d burned through.
But now, even as he drained the primal Mana from the Circle seated deep within Moeno’s heart, the increase in his strength was negligible.
The Demon Devourer, which had transcended its rank by consuming one 2-Circle and one 3-Circle Mage, now regarded a single 3-Circle as mere pittance.
But the more pressing problem was this.
‘This isn’t Moeno’s Magic at all?’
The Mana that was causing Moeno’s eyes and head to swell resisted the pull of the Demon Devourer.
What composed that Magic was only a fraction of Moeno’s full strength—
Yet that meager Mana, as though mocking the Demon Devourer’s power, remained utterly unaffected and continued forcing Moeno’s head to burst.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
How could this be?
Why couldn’t he overcome such feeble Mana?
Bewildered as she was, reality left no room for denial.
“Damn it. I can’t stop it! Scatter!”
Muno, unable to discern the nature of the spell, bellowed his warning.
In the same instant the knights positioned themselves before the non-ability users, raising their shields and pressing down their armor—
“Aaaagh!”
Splorch!
Moeno’s final scream was swallowed as his head exploded in a burst, its remains scattering in all directions.
Fortunately, no added magical force detonated with it—no secondary explosion to speak of.
Yet those baptized in blood and gray matter in that single moment could only wince at the horrid spectacle.
Among them, some retainers unaccustomed to bloodshed found themselves retching rather than mourning the tragic end of their lord.
“Ugh!”
“Blehhh.”
“Uuugh… what in the… what is that…?”
“Ghastly…”
And among them stood—
“Aaaahhh…”
A noblewoman who, witnessing her husband’s gruesome end, rolled her eyes back and collapsed.
“Mother!”
Hearing the cries of the baron’s sons, who appeared to be on the cusp of adulthood, Muno could not tear his eyes from Moeno’s headless corpse.
“Why…?”
Since awakening his ability, he had harbored absolute conviction that he was magic’s natural predator, perfectly resistant to mana.
Yet for the first time, that certainty had shattered.
And more troubling still—
“Murdering a man to keep secrets… that’s just like them. Damn it all.”
As Tinel had said, the tail of their quarry, which they’d thought nearly caught, had slipped from their grasp once more.
“Hah…”
A Silver Gauntlet settled gently on his shoulder as he exhaled.
“What happened, Muno?”
“There was… my ability and the artifact’s power proved useless against a particular form of mana. It was extraordinarily faint, but it seems that’s what detonated the baron’s head.”
“He harbored a different mana within his body?”
“Yes. I cannot determine what spell it was, but…”
“Never mind. If you knew that, you’d be the mage. In any case, what do we do about this? Tinel, should we report first?”
“Mm. We must. Everything that follows depends on the Exarch’s judgment. The disposition of House Konnel as well.”
Tinel’s gaze fell upon Moeno’s sons, who held up their collapsed mother.
Even should they receive clemency, those sons would never inherit this fief again.
But the more pressing matter now was—
“Finding these remnants again… and if it’s not their headquarters but a Laboratory instead… surely not…”
It seemed Moeno’s parting words—whether or not Muno’s theory about higher powers backing the Cult Organization had reached Tinel—were clouding his thoughts.
“There is a method.”
“Hm?”
“They will target me regardless, so you need only use me as bait.”
At Muno’s sudden proposal, Tinel’s attention swung back.
“What do you mean?”
“They attacked me first in Draasen, and it was I who exposed Moeno’s hidden mana just now. They will continue to pursue me going forward. I recommend making active use of me as their bait.”
“Hah…”
Should one praise this young man’s spirit, or reprimand it?
As Tinel frowned amid his bewilderment—
Lasmia, the Spirit Arts practitioner who had been lost in contemplation, called out to the youth who had spoken such an outrageous proposal.
“Muno, or rather, Master Muno—might I have a word with you?”

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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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