The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 7

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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 7. Magic?
“There are limits to how far you can push things…….”
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
“Guh, grrgh.”
Muno smiled with bitter satisfaction as he watched Ilai’s red eyes fill with terror.
The searing pain from his pierced flank became fury that boiled up in his mind.
Whoosh.
The black iron chain accepted that fury in full, slowly tightening around Ilai’s entire body.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
“Aaaagh!”
How irritating, all that screaming.
Whoosh.
“……Gasp!? Gasp!”
Crunch.
As the chain finally sealed off the man’s mouth, Muno watched the process unfold in those red eyes—the base malice they had held transforming into pure terror.
The sight seemed to cool his mind, which had been boiling with rage.
‘Don’t kill him in one stroke. Slowly, in the most agonizing way possible. Start by crushing him finger by finger……. Or should I begin by scorching him with fire?’
They said burns were the most excruciating…….
In the moment he smiled, conjuring all manner of cruel imaginings.
Muno saw his own face reflected in the masked man’s red eyes.
That expression—beaming brightly while imagining all the ways to torment and kill a person—was truly…….
‘……repulsive.’
This was him?
Suddenly, clarity struck, and the chain’s grip loosened of its own accord.
Thud.
“Hck. Hck…….”
With his airway slightly opened, Ilai lay sprawled on the floor, his entire body bound—whimpers escaping his lips along with flecks of blood.
Though of course, no pity stirred in Muno’s heart.
The pain in his pierced flank remained, even with the bleeding barely stopped by tensing his muscles.
Crack.
Thud.
“Your punishment will be decided by Father. But before that…….”
Muno pressed his foot down on Ilai’s chest, his gaze fixed on the terror-stricken man’s pupils.
Confirming his own composed expression within those eyes, he hoisted the man’s body upward once more.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
“……I’ll shatter your limbs.”
“Hck.”
Four chains lifted the man’s limbs into the air, wrenching them in different directions, snapping them.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
That scream stirred the murderous intent in his chest once more.
‘I won’t kill him. But…….’
Haunted by the ghastly expression he’d glimpsed moments ago, he imposed a restraint on himself.
Yet the chain still accepted that murderous intent completely, pulling at his limbs as if it meant to tear them away.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
If he left it alone much longer, the Training Grounds would become a sea of blood and the man would be nothing but a limbless corpse.
‘Enough.’
Thud.
Muno hurled the broken-limbed body of Ilai onto the floor of the Training Grounds.
But then.
“Brother!?”
A startled voice rang out from the entrance of the Training Grounds.
A voice that struck the ear—familiar.
“Rian?”
Turning, Muno found his younger brother standing there without a servant in sight, holding a late-night snack.
“Damn it.”
Everything was ruined.
‘What did I just show the kid…….’
In the moment he moved to reproach himself.
Rian’s gaze traced the blood seeping from Ilai’s flank.
“An ambush!? What bastard dares—!?”
Clang.
Rian hurled the dish aside and drew his sword from his belt, charging straight at the sprawling Ilai.
Muno, momentarily stunned by the unexpected reaction, understood the situation at once.
‘Ah, so that’s how this world works…….’
And then.
Clang.
He moved first, blocking his younger brother’s blade before it could find Ilai’s throat.
“Huh?”
As Rian stared blankly at his sword bouncing lightly off the Iron Chain, Muno closed the distance with an amused smile and ruffled his brother’s hair.
“Rein in that hot temper, Rian. You don’t need to inherit everything from our father.”
“But—but he attacked you, and—”
So he’d kill him himself?
Heh.
Truly noble for this age, yet to Muno he remained nothing but an endearing younger brother.
“Before we kill anyone, there’s something we need to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“That man is Ilai.”
“What!?”
The Iron Chain moved with a soft rasp, peeling the mask from the fallen attacker’s face.
It wasn’t merely that he disliked watching a twelve-year-old boy commit murder.
“Why would Ilai—a 2-Star Knight—suddenly ambush me? It doesn’t make sense.”
Once his head had cooled, something struck him as unmistakably wrong.
‘Even if he hates me, would he try to kill me?’
He didn’t underestimate human hatred. But ordinarily, greed came first.
Yet Muno couldn’t fathom what profit Ilai would gain from his death.
Based on what he’d observed of Ilai’s character, this was decidedly strange.
“You’re listening, aren’t you, Ilai?”
Stomp.
Crack.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
As Ilai shrieked, his spine shattering under the downward heel, Muno caught the faintest gleam returning to his glazing eyes.
A thin smile crossed his face.
“As I thought…….”
He noted how Rian’s eyes sparkled as he stared at him—a detail that bothered him slightly, though now was not the time for such trifles.
“What’s your game, Ilai? Why did you ambush me? I never took you for someone so foolish.”
He bent low, meeting the man’s eyes directly.
“Bring……Muno, Drassen……to me. Keep him……alive.”
“What?”
The words that spilled from those hazy crimson eyes made no sense.
‘What is this?’
He clearly wasn’t in his right mind.
And as Muno peered into those vacant, unfocused eyes, he felt something stir within him once more.
That black gleam flickering in Ilai’s crimson gaze unsettled him—an unsettling yet strangely enticing contradiction that sent shivers through his chest.
‘Enticing? What could possibly——’
Deep within his core, that damp, suffocating bloodlust and violence began to writhe again.
‘Odd.’
The moment that thought emerged, Muno’s consciousness split in two.
‘What——!?’
Within a crystalline expanse of pure white, he perceived himself divided.
‘Interesting……it actually works.’
It was no unfamiliar sensation.
From the moment he’d been reborn into this world with his past life’s memories intact, he’d known only a fleeting joy before enduring years of torment.
A child aware that another world existed, trapped in a nightmare, had discovered a way to escape the brainwashing: fragmenting his own mind.
He’d learned to isolate his rational self deep within consciousness, projecting outward only the basest intelligence—a vessel of rage and violence for those who oppressed him.
To frame it now seemed dignified enough, but the truth was simpler.

‘A mind fractured by trauma and madness……that was all.’
That self, which should have collapsed into severe mental chaos, had slowly recovered within the warmth of his foster parents’ care.
But from that point on, the battle with the demon planted in his mind had begun.
While Han Munho’s consciousness bore the brunt of that inner struggle, Muno’s self—possessed of only minimal cognition—had remained visible to the outside world, presenting a diminished facade.
And now, having consumed even the demon in his mind, he believed his consciousness had become completely integrated…….
‘Or had it?’
Fragments of terrible memories that still refused to surface completely. He wondered if that was the reason.
But then he realized it was something different altogether.
His self was not now divided between Muno and Han Munho.
One was Muno in his original form—grey hair, grey eyes.
But the other was.
A low, rumbling growl.
Another self, darkened entirely—not just hair and eyes, but the whole body—baring its teeth.
That visage, as if violence and murderous intent had coalesced into flesh, was almost impossible for him to accept as his own.
But he could recognize its nature immediately.
‘The Demon Devourer.’
The trait that had enabled him to consume demons, and the direction of his evolution.
A power his own father had described as an incomprehensible ability transcending the limits of the Hard Body Technique.
But that too was, in the end, only one part of the life he had lived.
‘Another me.’
That was all.
The moment he grasped this, the black self that had been radiating murderous intent smiled, its teeth bared in acknowledgment, and nodded.
And then.
Slowly, seamlessly.
The two selves merged, and he returned to his current form—black hair, black eyes.
In that process, Muno confirmed that the different sensations he had felt from each of the two selves stemmed from a specific aura.
The true nature of the discomfort he had sensed moments before, and yet simultaneously, the aura that had felt strangely desirable.
‘……Demonic Qi?’
The instant he became aware of it, Muno returned from that pure white realm of consciousness back to reality.
“Brother? This guy doesn’t seem to be in his right mind.”
Only now did his younger brother’s bewildered gaze come into focus.
“Eh? Ah, yes. Well, anyone would see that.”
Fortunately, it seemed almost no time had passed.
Looking down at Ilai anew, the faint aura visible in his eyes became unmistakably clear.
– An energy that should not exist in this world. Therefore, a power I must consume.
Still unfamiliar, but it would grow familiar—must become familiar—this aura’s true identity.
The other self, the Demon Devourer, had meant to convey this.
But if that were the case, then this was…….
“……Magic?”
“Magic!?”
Rian, who had been listening quietly, jumped in surprise.
But Muno had no mind to answer him.
Could it be that a mage was involved in this?
‘Why me of all people?’
A sinister premonition seized him, and a chill ran down his spine.
– Your trait must never be known to mages. Never.
His father’s words flashed through his mind.
“Brother, is this really magic? How did you know? How could a mage possibly be in our territory…….”
Rian’s urgent voice snapped him back from his daze.
Rian had every right to be shocked.
The Iron Kingdom was the Mage Empire’s most notorious enemy—a realm that executed people for being mages alone.
‘That’s right.’
That thought steadied him again.
His trait, which he had told only to his father, could not have leaked out so quickly.
And the fact that a mage was involved in this incident was not necessarily something to fear.
“Rian.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Report this to Father.”
“Me? Really?”
“Yes. Father will decide what to do with this one.”
With that, Muno gave Ilai a light kick with the tip of his boot.
“Take Muno Drasen away…….”
Ignoring the subordinate’s stammering repetition of the same words, letting them pass through one ear.
“Then what about you, sir?”
“I intend to investigate this one’s trail myself. Before the traces disappear entirely.”
The Demonic Aura lingering around him was already growing faint by the moment.
But naturally, his younger brother failed to grasp it.
“Pardon? Traces?”
Muno offered no reply.
If this truly involved a mage, if someone was indeed targeting him……
‘I may be better suited to face a mage than Father is.’
It was common knowledge across this continent that a prepared mage was a more fearsome opponent than any other gifted fighter.
Depending on the circumstances, even Father—a 4-Star Knight—could suffer defeat at the hands of a lower-tier mage.
But he suspected he would be different.
– You will become the natural enemy of mages.
“Take Muno Drasen…….”
Muno stirred the Iron Chain, wrapping it around the man’s body once more.
In that instant, mere conscious intention was enough to draw the faint Demonic Aura lingering in the man’s mind directly into himself.
“Away……? Ghck!?”
Ilai’s eyes, which had been repeating the same words, suddenly widened.
“Grrk——”
The man’s body convulsed, foam forming at the corners of his mouth as his head lolled forward.
“Sir, Father told you to interrogate him. Why did you just kill him……?”
“I didn’t!”
What does this brat take me for?
“Tell Father I handled the magic myself.”
“Sir, you understand magic too?”
“Not exactly. Just tell him I said so—he’ll understand.”
“Wow…….”
Muno averted his gaze from his younger brother’s gleaming eyes and stared down at Ilai sprawled across the floor.
Regardless of the magic involved, Ilai’s guilt for the attack itself could not be erased.
Unless he was one of the high-tier mages rumored to exist in the Mage Empire, no one could forcibly brainwash knights—warriors who had transcended their species’ limits through the Hard Body Technique.
– The dark magic mages typically employ works by stimulating the shadows already dwelling in a person’s heart, bending them to control.
– That is precisely why our kingdom despises and rejects mages.
‘This wretch must have harbored hatred and contempt for me from the very beginning.’
Recalling his father’s words, Muno cast one final glance at Ilai before spinning on his heel.
“Then I’m counting on you, Rian. This must all be handled before the night ends.”
“Yes, sir.”
There was a chance the mage was still in the territory.
With grim resolve, he pursued the faint trace left behind—or rather, left by the Demonic Aura.
But Rian’s voice caught him by the heel once more.
“Sir, I…….”
“Hmm?”
“……I know this isn’t the time, but I feel I should relay the message.”
“What is it?”
“Mother is looking for you. She says you keep running away when there’s a party to prepare. So…….”
“Hm!? Ah, there’s the trace——!”
Bang.
In that instant, Muno threw all his power into pursuit of the Demonic Aura’s trail and bolted from the Training Grounds.
“……I came all this way for nothing……. Sigh.”
Before Rian’s voice had even finished echoing in the air behind him.

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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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