The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 65

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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 65. The Gears of Fate (3)
Evil always targets humanity’s weakest points.
When it attacks those weak points, it can become one with that person — in that respect, evil and a virus have much in common.
On the study desk sat an intricately wrought Silver Candlestick and a Feather Pen, with expensive Wine and a wine glass beside them.
On the top shelf of the display case across the room sat Porcelain crafted using exotic techniques.
At the center of the display case was a Golden Pocket Watch, its internal mechanism so precisely fitted that the gears could be seen turning inside.
Each piece was worth the price of a car.
Beside them sat an ornate velvet sofa, and on the walls hung an Ivory Sculpture of unknown origin and an Hourglass through which black sand flowed.
The owner of all these things.
A long-haired man with hair as black as pitch stood at the study window, gazing out at the view beyond.
From behind him, a woman draped in a Black Robe spoke.
“Bolgran Visar has come to see you.”
Though obscured by the robe, a black mist flickered in the woman’s eyes.
The man picked up the red Wine sitting on the desk. Pop. The cork opened of its own accord.
Tilting it slowly, he poured a small amount into the wine glass, and the deep burgundy liquid sloshed gently.
In the man’s eyes, the wine was reflected like crimson blood.
The man, having taken a sip of the blood-like wine, slowly opened his mouth.
“Show him in.”
“Yes.”
The woman withdrew, and shortly after, Bolgran Visar entered the study.
He had no hair. His pallid skin gave him a skull-like appearance.
His gait was unsteady — no, his entire body trembled with fear, quivering violently.
He looked at the man with hollow eyes and spoke.
“I am ashamed to face you, Family Head.”
The being whom Bolgran Visar called Family Head was Draken Barches, the head of the Barches Family.
“I have lost everything. I beseech you to grant me the Seed of Corruption and Magical Artifacts as generous as the vast sea.”
In the moment Bolgran Visar bowed his head in supplication, Black Mana rippled from Draken Barches.
Jet-black Mana of a kind that no ordinary mage could emit.
The black Mana seeped out like fog, swallowing the room. The curtains fluttered, and the Ivory Sculpture hanging on the wall creaked as it swayed.
“Visar.”
“Yes… Family Head.”
Bolgran Visar trembled like an aspen leaf. Draken turned around to face Visar.
Draken’s eyes shone redder than the red Wine, and his pupils were split vertically in thin lines.
Draken’s black Mana enveloped Visar’s body.
Whoooosh.
Visar’s face had already gone ashen.
And, a moment later.
Draken withdrew his black Mana.
“You brought no watchers with you.”
“That is correct. There was pursuit, but I used all my followers as bait and barely managed to escape.”
“What happened?”
Visar, his body battered and broken, recalled that day. Though he hated thinking of it, he steeled himself and spoke.
“Knights of House Karsen moved against us. It appears to have been the Night Owl and the Secret Commando Unit.”
At Visar’s words, Draken’s eyes deepened.
“Zephir, was it…”
Night Owl — that was the epithet of Zephir, the trusted aide of David Carsen.
“Yes. He began his approach, and we were overwhelmed almost entirely.”
Bolgran Visar explained that dozens of layers of Barriers spread out around the family’s residence were shattered in less than ten minutes.
“In haste, I fled and released the test subjects infused with the Seed of Corruption, but there was no time to act.”
“……”
The Seed of Corruption.
It was an alchemy that blackened and corrupted one’s Mana.
When a person accepted the Seed of Corruption into their body, their Mana would lose its light amid excruciating pain.
And the blackened Mana would then dominate the body of its host in turn.
In such cases, nine out of ten would be unable to endure the Mana’s corruption and would rampage until death.
“How many successful Seeds did you salvage?”
“From ten thousand subjects, I recovered some hundred corrupted vessels. Each was Knight-Rank in combat potential, I believe.”
“…A hundred, you say.”
Draken’s eyes gleamed with genuine surprise.
“And yet you lost them all?”
“Indeed, sir.”
As Bolgran Visar had explained, those who survived underwent cellular corruption, transforming into something neither wholly demon, nor beast, nor human.
They became several times—sometimes dozens of times—stronger than before their fall.
It was no mere courtesy to call them Knight-Rank.
“The leashes were fastened?”
“Yes. I’ve confirmed that all of them are in place, even those that had snapped.”
Those transformed by the Seed of Corruption could not escape the impulse to destroy, making it nearly impossible for them to maintain their sense of self.
For this reason, the Black Mage would grant humans the Seed of Corruption and cast the spell of Soul Enslavement upon them.
This way, he could issue commands to his enslaved seeds and sense their life and death as his own.
“A hundred or so seeds. The Night Owl being Zephir… it seems safe to assume that House Karsen is making a move.”
“That’s correct. They are monsters. If things continue as they are, our plans too will…”
“Silence.”
Draken Barches lowered his voice and cut off Visar’s words. Though it was only a single utterance, Visar’s heart seized as if gripped by ice.
Visar immediately prostrated himself in apology.
“I—I apologize. I spoke out of turn.”
“There will not be a second time.”
Visar pressed his forehead to the floor as he spoke.
“Thank you, Family Head.”
Draken turned back toward the window, his gaze fixed on the world beyond. Late October. A blizzard raged across the Northern Region.
“An Expedition will be coming soon.”
His icy voice resonated through the study.
“Aid the Calvas Squad in annihilating the Manbingdong Expedition. Remiel’s Library must be offered as tribute—no mistakes.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“However, you will need to move independently, so I’ll assign one seed to you—a recent creation with exceptionally good condition.”
“I—I am grateful, Family Head.”
Black mist flowed from Draken’s body. It swirled through the empty air before seeping into Visar’s form.
In that instant, sovereignty over the corrupted seed Kuseto Ul Daikah transferred to Bolgran Visar.
“I will not disappoint you.”
Draken took a sip of wine before continuing.
“This is your final chance.”
“I—I will bear that in mind.”
Bolgran Visar withdrew awkwardly from the study.
Silence settled over the office. Draken Barches summoned a figure to mind.
David Carsen.
“Is a man with the power to carve through mountains truly moving now…?”
But why now, of all times?
It was incomprehensible.
No human emotion remained in him. And yet, that was all there was.
***
The highest floor of House Karsen’s grand manor.
David Carsen listened to Zephir’s report in his study.
“I see.”
“Yes. They appeared to be human once, yet no longer. They resembled Demon Beasts more closely, and possessed strength comparable to low-to-mid-rank Knights.”
“You did well.”
“Thank you, Lord.”
Zephir transformed into shadow as always, dissolving through the gap between the walls.
A feat of Concealment beyond measure.
David Carsen sorted through Zephir’s report in his mind.
His third son, Sion Carsen, suddenly transformed.
The organizations and the presence of Black Mana that Sion had reported upon returning from Travis.
And every proposal Sion had made, as though preparing for war.
Black Mages wielding Black Mana, and monstrosities that transcended humanity itself.
If these had no connection, that would be the true strangeness. Everything seemed to intertwine into a single thread.
A time of ominous portent.
David Carsen examined another proposal Sion had submitted.
The acquisition of Count Heintz’s factories, which had produced military supplies, and the development of war weapons using his family’s researchers.
A single conviction lay beneath every proposal.
An absolute certainty that war would come, and an unwavering will to achieve victory in that war.
David gazed past the proposals toward Sion and asked:
“What are you seeing?”
Suddenly, words that Sion had spoken to him came back to mind.
“The Northern Region is rotting from within. It walks the path of decline, step by step. Things cannot continue as they are. The corrupted parts must be cut away. Otherwise, it will be mutual destruction.”
Scratch, scratch.
David Carsen signed the proposal.
He didn’t know what his son was seeing, but if it was for the sake of the Northern Region, there was no reason not to help.
Then a knight outside the door spoke.
“My Lord. Brillis Arcadin, one of the Grand Mages of the Black Tower, requests an audience.”
“Show her in.”
“Yes, sir.”
Official documents had already arrived from the Central Empire, and this was a promised meeting.
Creak—
The door opened. Brillis Arcadin, dressed in a Crimson Robe, entered.
Though she was an old woman who had lived more than three hundred years and was recorded in history books, in person she looked like a woman in her twenties or thirties.
“It is an honor to meet the Grand Master of the continent.”
Brillis spoke with a gentle smile, and David rose from his seat and smiled back in reply.
“It is the honor of every knight to meet a Grand Mage. Please, have a seat.”
At David’s invitation, Brillis sat on the sofa in the office, and David took the seat across from her.
“Now then, what brings you here?”
David had agreed to meet Brillis at the request of the Central Empire and the Black Tower, but he didn’t know what it was about.
Everything had been classified as top secret, so they’d said they would discuss it in person.
Yet he hadn’t expected to be asked so directly, so Brillis’s eyes curved slightly with amusement.
“Just as I’ve heard. You do prefer to get straight to business.”
“If it seems rude, I apologize. It’s simply that you’ve come such a long way, and I thought it better than merely exchanging formalities.”
“No need to apologize. I prefer it this way too.”
Brillis conversed with David and smiled with ease. Though of course, that ease wasn’t entirely genuine.
She possessed an insight called Pure Flame.
And in the eyes that wielded it, David appeared to be… in some sense, a being one couldn’t quite believe was human.
An existence that a hundred Knight-Rank warriors couldn’t possibly overcome.
A legendary hero.
The thought came naturally: *this is what a human becomes when they train their Inner Universe to its absolute limit.*
‘I’ve lived for such an age, and yet to feel such pressure… I even heard he withdrew from actual combat quite some time ago. Remarkable.’
What was overlooked was that David had recently begun training again and had recovered almost all of his former peak ability.
“Very well. Then let me speak directly.”
Brillis explained the outline and purpose of the Manbingdong Expedition, and David listened in silence.
“I represent the Black Tower and the Central Empire. If there is anything you desire in return, please speak freely. And once more, I would be grateful if you would consider that this is a request for the sake of humanity’s future.”
The Central Empire and the Black Tower were not merely asking. It was a clear commission with substantial compensation.
Hundreds of billions of Jeni and Magical Artifacts worth comparable amounts.
Yet they didn’t expect the mobilization of Northern knights to end at this level and entered into negotiation instead.
David sat across from Brillis at the negotiation table and pondered.
‘There are reasons enough to accept. And yet, what is this persistent discomfort and sense of déjà vu that keeps pricking the back of my mind?’
At that moment.
David remembered Sion.
His third son, who had undergone sudden change and acted without hesitation. And he recalled the proposal that his son had raised.
Improvement of the educational environment at the Northern Academy.
“I will accept. However, may I impose a condition on the Grand Mage personally?”
Brillis’s eyes widened in great surprise.
She hadn’t expected that a man as distant as Snow Mountain would make a personal condition.
“Please, speak.”
“I would ask that the Grand Mage serve as a professor at the Seiren Academy in the Northern Region for ten years.”
“…!?”
Brillis’s eyes grew wide as lanterns.
A Returning Sword Saint Devours the Northern Region
Author
: Bang Sim
Production Date
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: (Inc.) Acysis Media
Editor
: Acysis Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work has been published by ACES Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder.
Without permission from our company and the author, the contents may not be used in any form or by any means.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260615032

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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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