“Despair-Inducing Noose” was carrying out operations in various ways to conquer Crown Hall.

 

Why does the Empire continue to exist?

 

It was due to the ‘unconditional’ competence of the royal bloodline.

 

Since humans are imperfect beings, there can always be a genius even under the most unfavorable conditions. If generations pass, a mutation is bound to occur at some point.

 

High-ranking black magicians could afford to wait. Since they could use various evil techniques that activate by crushing the souls of others, they could extend their lifespan by dozens of times.

 

Historically, many kingdoms have come close to the brink of destruction at the hands of black magicians because they targeted their vulnerable times. A foolish king, a king with only pride, a king who is incompetent but full of ambition.

 

It is impossible to block the blade that pierces in at such times.

 

However, the Empire is different. They seemed to have no concept of an ‘incompetent imperial descendant’. All the imperial descendants who were born were geniuses, and even if they had personality flaws, they were never incompetent.

 

Is it the power of bloodline? Does their blonde hair have such great qualities?

 

No. Even if you steal the seed of the royal family and create a child, they are only born with blonde hair and blue eyes, not with talent.

 

Then…

 

The secret of that competence must be in the capital, Crown Hall.

 

Is it the blessing of the goddess, the effect of some ancient artifact, or the technique of an unknown great magician? I don’t know. I don’t know, but it is certain from the circumstances that it definitely exists and is hidden in the center of Crown Hall──the Imperial District.

 

If you can break it. Or, if you can bring it.

 

You might finally be able to tilt the Empire that seemed like it wouldn’t collapse even after thousands of years.

 

Basically, black magicians rarely cooperate with each other, but the anticipation of the word ‘Empire collapse’ was too great. It was enough that they wouldn’t mind investing some of their power.

 

That’s why ‘Despair-Inducing Noose’ was able to carry out various plans to attack and capture Crown Hall with the support of other Named black magicians.

 

The magic that turns citizens into living spies was also a gift from another Named black magician. He thought he should use this gift appropriately.

 

He approaches an idiot who can be manipulated at will. It would be easier if he were a noble, and it would be best if he were greedy and thought with his lower body.

 

And by using an artifact that can manipulate others at will as bait, he would borrow their influence to spread magic in Crown Hall.

 

The plan was progressing successfully. So far, he had obtained a lot of information, and he could expect meaningful information in the future. Also, now he could go one step further.

 

It is to cause confusion by using those who are hypnotized. If sudden terror occurs from all sides, it will be very embarrassing.

 

“Despair-Inducing Noose” attached three useful guys to the Viscount for this task. They were the escort, the guard, and the control tower that actually carried out the work instead of the incompetent Viscount.

 

All three were black magicians, and all of them were transcendent-class powerhouses who could use souls as fuel.

 

Among them, one of them had reached the realm of transcendence in his own abilities. If he could sacrifice the souls of others while he could already use transcendence. Its power was unbearable for those at the same level.

 

Above all, the stone statue.

 

The ability to hypnotize is just a side effect of the magic engraved on the surface of the stone statue. The true meaning was in the stone statue itself.

 

There was a reason why magic was not engraved on precious metals with high magic conductivity, but on rough stone statues. In case of emergency, you can use the power of the stone statue.

 

So, when uninvited guests visited the mansion, they were not nervous.

 

“That’s ‘Puppet’ Loreida. And that one looks like an agent of the Information Bureau. He’s got guts.”

 

“The agent seems to be quite strong, but that flashy guy is nothing. We can kill him if we combine our powers. And that kid… is he a servant? I don’t feel anything.”

 

“A kid? Where’s the kid? This one? You demon, if you call that level of chest a kid, how big do you like them?”

 

They even had time to joke. There were four enemies, but there were only two guys to watch out for. The black magician, who had reached the realm of transcendence, lowered his voice while fingering the bowstring.

 

“Quiet. If the Viscount is defeated, we will attack because he is strong. Kill everyone except one.”

 

“Yes, sir, I’ll break it and go down.”

 

The dual swordsman spat out saliva and drew his sword from his waist.

 

Crash-! Roar!

 

The dual swordsman smashed the floor and jumped down. Until that point, the black magicians thought they would be able to finish off the intruders in one breath. If there was any time left, they even thought of capturing them and enjoying them later.However , when an indescribable flash of light flashed in the hands of the twin-tailed female.

 

“This… The purple magic tower…!!”

 

The archer, the most powerful warlock among them, was ‘erased’ in half with a last word as if he had noticed something. They realized that this was seriously wrong.

 

There was a monster lurking among them.

 

—- —- —- — —-

 

I blinked to focus. Obviously, the guy with the dual swords swung his sword as he fell and unleashed magic in a hurry. When I came to my senses, I saw that Pingvalez was blocking my path.

 

“You…”

 

Pingvalez’s forearm was cut and bleeding. Judging by the amount of blood he was bleeding, it looked like the cut was deep enough to expose his bones.

 

She summoned her chains and wrapped them around her arms, speaking without looking back.

 

“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?”

 

“…Thanks.”

 

All my thoughts came to my mind. If I had been a warrior and not a wizard, Yuri Lanster wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Or, if only I had prepared some immediate defense magic.

 

But now was not the time to indulge in such thoughts. I quickly moved my eyes to grasp the situation on the battlefield.

 

One guy is muscular and carries a large sword on his back.

 

A slim guy wearing dual swords.

 

And the guy with the bow… Died. It looks like his mind was completely shattered by the interception by the purple magic tower lord, Yuna. She was lying face down, drooling.

 

I bet you never thought there would be purple magic tower liquor mixed in. This fight was already our victory. Because there is asymmetric power.

 

In fact, the guy with the dual swords was sweating coldly and squinting at the corpse of the guy with the bow.

 

“What, are you dead… ? What, damn it… ! Why?!”

 

“….”

 

Let’s think about it. If the magic tower lord uses his magic, the battle will end like this. However, we needed information.

 

Given the circumstances, there is a high probability that the Viscount is an empty shell, so whoever suppresses those attackers will be able to meaningful information. We need to extract information by interrogating them.

 

So I asked.

 

“Lord of the Magic Tower, is it possible for you to subdue him while leaving information behind?”

 

“Um…”

 

At the point where I’m thinking about it, I’m out. Due to the nature of the magic tower’s inability to control its strength, it was possible to capture it at best and not have anything left. If the brain is bleached clean , no matter how much you interrogate it, no information can be retrieved.

 

So to speak, aiming was the problem. I’m going to fire a cannon, but you have to aim well so your head doesn’t fall into pieces. So.

 

“Is this possible if you tie your feet securely?”

 

“Yes. If you say yes, I will cleanly remove only the limbs. Ha, but if anyone is in danger, I will shoot them right away.”

 

Confirmed.

 

“Junior, I will deal with the one using the great sword alone.”

 

“…Are you saying that the wizard fights alone without a vanguard? ‘Puppet’ Loray.”

 

“You don’t have to worry, Agent. He’s taking this on because he’s confident. He doesn’t look as strong as you.”

 

“In that case, I and the crazy wizard will subdue or kill the twin swords as a team of two.”

 

Distribution is complete. The senior with the facial scar moved away while pouring a spell to keep the great swordsman in check, and Pingvalez rushed towards the pair of swordsmen.

 

The blood flowing from the cracks in his chains kept hitting my eyes.

 

I gritted my teeth and prepared the magic.

 

—- —- —- — —-

 

The warlock held the great sword glared at Lorey. I knew about her because she was included in the list of people of interest given to me in advance.

 

“Rei from ‘Puppet’… I’ve heard her her name a lot of her. I heard she mainly takes requests for dungeon exploration?”

 

“Do you have an exploration request to entrust? However, the situation is not good to accept the request.”

 

In response to Loray’s sly reply, the warlock grabbed his greatsword and raised it to the upper level.

 

“It’s easier to deal with idiots who are adventurers and all that than mercenaries. You’re just a group of people who talk about golems and grappling. Have you ever killed a person?”

 

“It’s probably more than you think.”

 

“Let me check for myself. Burnt offering, 『Burning mental barrier』-!!”

 

Wow!

 

A poor soul stored in the great sword let out a terrible scream and was torn to pieces. Dark, dark magic spread out, and the warlock used it to complete his magic.

 

A pitch-black flame flickered in the warlock’s eyes.

 

“…That’s the enemy tower’s mental protection spell.””That’s right. It’s a magic that burns away all attempts to harm the mind. “Puppet” Lorelei… Just the nickname is obvious. Wouldn’t you use an illusion magic that manipulates other people’s bodies as you please?”

 

Boom, boom. The large greatsword cut through the air with a menacing sound.

 

“The magician of the Purple Magic Tower is really easy to hunt… Because I can block it so easily with just a few souls-!!”

 

“Dispersing Illusion.”

 

Thud, thud, thud. Lorelei calmly chanted against the black magician who was charging with a heavy build. Since mental interference didn’t work, she used magic that distorted light and affected vision.

 

There is no awkwardness in the illusion of a skilled magician. Lorelei elaborately crafted the illusion based on the solid basics she had built up through hard work.

 

As the light spread, Lorelei’s figure split into three. The movements of each illusion were natural, and each moved simultaneously in different directions. The black magician could not tell the difference between the real and the fake.

 

“Heup!”

 

Woosh-!

 

The greatsword cut one of the illusions in half.

 

Swoosh-! Ting!

 

Lorelei threw a dagger at the gap. However, the black magician blocked it by pouring magic power into his entire armor. He said, cutting down another illusion with his greatsword.

 

“If you’re waiting for my magic power to run out, you’re wrong. I have ten souls stored in my greatsword! I can fight all day with this. Your neck will fall off before that… Only!”

 

“……”

 

There was no weakness to the black magician who poured out his magic power like a waste. Even if you don’t work hard and study for efficiency, you can easily win by simply increasing your output.

 

The evil deed of burning other people’s souls, just by enduring that one thing, you can wield such great power.

 

Then, where is the reason to be afraid?

 

The black magician poured all his magic power into the greatsword. The blade was covered with such thick magic power that it was invisible. It may not be sharp or sophisticated, but it can crush people too easily.

 

The illusion was no longer there. Lorelei, who was standing there blankly, must be the main body. The black magician swung his greatsword at Lorelei.

 

And in front of him, Lorelei quietly raised her finger.

 

“One, to be exact.”

 

“Die──!!”

 

Whizz- Kwaaang!!

 

The greatsword fell. Next to Lorelei’s inch. On the wrong floor.

 

Cold sweat ran down the black magician’s cheek.

 

“…What, what. I clearly…!”

 

“A spell that blocks attempts to harm the mind, was it? It won’t work. “Puppet” is not a magic that takes something away.”

 

The feeling was strange. My arm didn’t feel like my own arm. Something was strangely twisted. I’m sure I cast a mental protection spell.

 

“What did you do…!”

 

“Puppet” doesn’t mean making the other person a puppet. The puppet is not you, but me.”

 

The black magician tried to pull out his greatsword. However, no matter how hard he tried, his arm would not move. Instead, Lorelei in front of him raised her arm. Lorelei said quietly.

 

“This magic is a gift to me.”

 

“…!!”

 

Only then did the black magician realize the identity of the discomfort. Lorelei had ‘gifted’ him the sense of his own flesh. The arm he had been trying to move until now was not his own arm, but Lorelei’s.

 

From Noble mtl dot com

 

The black magician judged quickly. If this arm is Lorelei’s arm.

 

“Then…!”

 

Then, if you move Lorelei’s arm, you can hit Lorelei. The black magician moved his arm to make a fist at himself.

 

Puck-!

 

“Ugh…!”

 

The black magician ended up hitting himself in the face. This is because Lorelei released the ‘puppet’ and her senses returned to normal.

 

Lorelei laughed.

 

“Now, which one is your arm? Think carefully and let me know.”

 

“Ugh, uwaaa──!!”

 

It was a swamp of terrible psychological warfare. You never know when or how you will be ‘gifted’ with a sense. You can’t tell if the arm you’re about to swing is your own arm or Lorelei’s.

 

When you stretch out your fist, you don’t know if you will hit Lorelei with your own arm or hit yourself with Lorelei’s arm. In the midst of the intricately distorted chaos, the black magician danced to Lorelei’s will.

 

At the end of the puppet show, only the black magician was left, who had passed out with his fists repeatedly stuck in his face.

 

Lorelei finished the battle and stretched. He was able to win easily because he was an ignorant bastard. If he had been a guy who had polished his senses even a little bit, he would have needed a more complicated psychological battle.

 

“Then, where is your junior…”

 

Lorelei turned her head. The dual swordsman was about to explode, emitting light.”?”

 

—- —-

 

aaa-!!

 

“Holocaust, ‘Strengthening Mental Barrier’, ‘Strengthening Body’.”

 

The soul’s scream rang out, and a huge amount of magical power surged from the body of the dual-sword user. The buffs that the guy had on his body were very basic.

 

A technique that increases performance by hitting magic power without any special process. That’s why there were no particular weaknesses. It felt like it was being pressed down with a can spec.

 

“‘Trojan Horse’, ‘Time Perception Distortion’, ‘Tickle’…”

 

I’ve been shooting magic at his mind since before. Not by using a trick to build a mental barrier, but simply by quantity. It felt like it was filled with dirt, so it wasn’t easy to break through.

 

Even if you persistently gnaw at it and somehow get through it.

 

“…Huh, do you think it’s going to work?”

 

It broke when he shook his head once. The guy was doing a real-time mental cleansing. Since he was pressing down with his weight class, there wasn’t much I could do.

 

“Eclosion – ‘Desire Restraint: Foreplay’.”

 

Chaaang!

 

Yuri Rantester manifested the eclosion as a continuous form. It seemed that in addition to using it in one breath like when he broke the golem, there was also an application that took it over a long period of time.

 

“Heup!”

 

Wheeeng-!!

 

Yuri Rantester swung the chain wrapped around his arm. The silver chain drew a semicircle, and the table and chairs caught in the chain were smashed to pieces and flew away.

 

The dual-sword user was not among the broken wreckage. He lowered his posture as if he was sticking to the floor and shot low like a cockroach.

 

Paat-! Kagagang!

 

The blade rose upward like a salmon swimming upstream. Yuri Rantester deflected the sword strike with his forearm wrapped in a chain and kicked the floor as if aiming for his face.

 

Paak!

 

The dual-sword user’s body floated up when he was hit by the kick, but I saw him raise one hand and block it. It wasn’t a valid hit. That guy, he used Yuri Rantester’s attack to lift his body on purpose.

 

“Yuri, block it-!”

 

“Het!”

 

Sssssssssss! Kaang!

 

The dual-sword user’s body spun rapidly in the air. The two blades spun like a blender, and Yuri Rantester’s iron chain was cut off and blood splattered.

 

“T, this bastard!!”

 

The tower master pointed his finger. Wooowoooong. The light that extracts information gathered at the tip of his finger, but the dual-sword user seemed to be wary of the tower master. He constantly moved his body so that Yuri Rantester was in the line of fire.

 

He knows who’s the most dangerous here.

 

I need to create a variable. I summoned a hologram.

 

“‘Hologram: Butler Legion’!”

 

“What the hell is this… Huh?!”

 

The dual-sword user tried to ignore the approaching hologram as an illusion, but after being hit by a butler punch, he realized that they had physical strength.

 

“What kind of strange magic… Get lost!”

 

Chajajajak!

 

The holograms that were holding onto the dual-sword user’s body were instantly defeated. But I bought a turn. I quickly turned my head.

 

The existing illusion magic didn’t work well. He blocked it with his weight class by hitting magic power, and even if it was pierced, he immediately applied mental cleansing.

 

No matter how much debuff you apply to an enemy who drinks a debuff removal potion every second, it’s useless.

 

If it was an environment where I could attract the faith of others like ‘Answering the Gate’, I would have been able to exert enough deterrence, but there were no weak guys here who would suck up faith.

 

Somehow, the senior with the facial scar was so malicious about illusion magic, but when you meet a counter, it’s a headache.

 

I needed a different magic.

 

Not magic for TRPG, something else.

 

Since I was reincarnated into this world, I haven’t really thought about hurting others. I’ve never thought of magic for direct killing.

 

It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t need it. I was protected by the tower master, so I didn’t have to go into such a fierce magic⋯⋯ I thought naively.

 

But now I think I need something like that. Magic that blows people’s heads off.

 

Before more wounds are added to Yuri Rantester’s beautiful body… Magic that can pierce that bastard.

 

If the mental barrier that hits magic power is a problem, I’ll pierce it with a single point of concentration.

 

If mental cleansing is a problem, I’ll just neutralize it once. Like the tower master’s magic.

 

I’ll make it.

 

I twisted the magic into a spiral. The end is sharp and pointed, so that it can pierce the barrier and reach deep into the brain.Magic contains emotions. I have data. The emotions of despair and anguish of the trio that were immersed in the Cthulhu session and extracted. The emotions of the Second Prince’s heartbreak. I infused all of that mental anguish.

 

“What are you doing… What the hell!”

 

“Mage, I’ll protect you, so do whatever you need to do! Whatever it is!”

 

Let’s focus. Let’s carve it out delicately.

 

It’s a simple but effective arrow. However, there’s no need to deflect the protest. This is to devour the hearts of people, to relentlessly hunt down prey.

 

“The shadow cast at your feet, the darkness peeking through the closet crack, the solitude of the pitch-black night.”

 

A pitch-black arrow that shutters the heart.

 

“‘Heartbreaking Profound Arrow’.”

 

Shot to death.

 

—- —-

 

“This happened, Your Highness.”

 

“Oh, I see. So… the black mage whose heart was shattered decided to self-destruct, resulting in an explosion that blew up half of the mansion. Fortunately, the Purple Magic Tower Master twisted the direction of the explosion, so there were no casualties, but he was arrested by the Order of the Knights who came running after hearing the commotion… and I just bailed him out?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Second Prince Irid closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought, and finally came to a conclusion.

 

“Kneel.”

 

“Yes.”

 

I quietly bowed my head and prostrated myself.

 

Still, it wasn’t all for nothing. I got the hostages, including the self-portrait, the evidence, the hypnosis app, and some suspicious and interesting items…

 

But if I say that now, all my credit for calming him down will be used up. I wanted to receive praise and rewards. I’ll just casually mention it once the Second Prince’s anger has subsided.