NoveLight ™
Leon quietly let his magic flow into the magic circle on the first page.
As the gentle current of mana spread and began to circulate through the book, an unfamiliar voice echoed in Leon's mind.
It was a raspy voice.
Leon grabbed his head as a sudden headache hit him.
The voice was clearly coming from the other side of the magic circle that Leon had just connected to. The speaker seemed to realize that Leon was a stranger.
Quickly, Leon cut off the flow of mana.
That was the last thing the voice said before falling silent. Now that everything was quiet again, Leon started thinking.
‘Was that a way for the blood mages to communicate?’
It seemed like the blood mages were using rune magic circles for communication. Most people wouldn’t have noticed unless they were specifically studying rune magic these days.
Just in case there were any traces left on him, Leon activated the "Radiance of Creation" and checked his body. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual. It looked like the magic circle was only used for communication.
Leon breathed a sigh of relief and committed the patterns of the magic circles in the book to memory. After all, the book was going to be handed over to Astellia soon anyway.
Aside from that, the book contained the ritual procedures.
They would tie a living person to the altar and slowly drain their blood, as if someone—or something—was absorbing it.
‘But who’s taking the blood?’
Was there really an ancient mage that these people were trying to resurrect? It sounded like a ridiculous story, but according to the records, it seemed that there really was some kind of entity receiving the offerings.
Leon closed the book after processing the information.
It didn’t contain any specific details about blood magic itself.
Meanwhile, Elder Chil had also finished his investigation and approached Leon.
Elder Chil’s eyes fell on the book in Leon’s hands. Noticing his gaze, Leon silently handed it over.
“This seems to be a book about the ritual they were performing here.”
“I see. That matches with what the last blood mage said before dying, asking about their 'priest.'”
“The priest…”
It wasn’t clear whether this priest had been working in another region or had been here with them, but they couldn’t afford to search for him right now.
“Shall we find the rest of the team if there's nothing more to investigate?”
“Yes, let’s.”
Leon and Elder Chil checked the other tunnels connected to the altar.
Some of the magicians were still fighting blood mages, while others had fallen into traps and died shortly after getting separated.
Fortunately, Jerdin and Pauline were still alive, having held their ground against the blood mages until Leon and Elder Chil could help them.
Out of the original 51 magicians, only 27 survived.
Elder Chil gathered the remaining forces and led them back to Astellia.
Astellia
Upon returning to Astellia, the task force disbanded, and Leon immediately retreated into his orb.
Inside, Kito was waiting for him.
Without a word, Kito spat something out from her mouth.
What remained was a grotesque, unrecognizable corpse.
The head was gone, and the arms and legs had melted away. Only the torso was left.
‘Did she… leave this behind because I asked for the core?’
“The core isn't there,” Kito said, transforming back into her human form and handing Leon a purple crystal.
It was the same crystal used to store the core from a dark mage they'd defeated before.
“The core disappears quickly after death, so there was nothing I could do about that.”
As Leon grasped the crystal, the gray streaks inside it were absorbed into his wooden sword.
The core of the high-level blood mage had been consumed by the sword.
While this happened, Kito continued speaking.
“I left the body for a different reason.”
Leon, catching on to what she meant, immediately searched the corpse’s chest.
His fingers touched something—a pocket of subspace.
When Leon pulled it out, a playful woman’s voice echoed in his mind.
[Wow, finally! It's been ages since I've eaten this much!]
Though startled by the sudden voice, Leon quickly composed himself. He’d been expecting something like this.
[Calm down for a moment. I’ve got a lot of questions.]
Leon began asking his prepared questions.
[Are you a spirit sealed within the sword? Or does the sword itself have its own consciousness?]
[Of course, I'm the sword itself,] the voice answered proudly.
[Really? Then explain the contract you mentioned in more detail.]
[Are you interested?]
The voice grew excited, but Leon wasn’t ready to make any contracts yet. The former owner of this sword had called it the First Sword of the Demon King, a cursed sword that had even absorbed the Demon King's core. There was no way he could enter into a contract lightly.
It was possible the information was wrong, but still...
[The contract’s not that complicated,] the voice resumed, now more casually.
[Once we make the deal, I’ll recognize you as my master.]
[Master?]
[Yep! I like you.]
[Why?]
[You want the truth?]
[Obviously.]
Leon’s tone was one of incredulity, but the voice just giggled.
[Honestly? It’s because when you die, your core is probably going to taste amazing.]
[...I see.]
The playful tone remained the same, but it felt eerily threatening. The sword didn’t even try to hide that it had no problem consuming Leon’s life.
[But don't worry! I won’t harm you while we’re under contract.]
[And what happens to me once you’ve absorbed my core?]
[Who knows? Maybe you’ll just die,] the voice answered matter-of-factly.
Leon sighed.
He could easily imagine just dying, but having seen souls bound to crystals as wandering spirits, he couldn’t take this lightly.
[What’s in it for me if I make this contract?]
[You’ll be able to use all my powers. Of course, to unlock my full strength, you’d need to find my final shard.]
[Full powers?]
[You've already enjoyed some of them. I can disrupt the flow of magic, drain mana from wherever I’m cut, and completely kill off anyone whose core I consume. There are enemies who may come back even after death, but not with me. And once we’re contracted, you’ll be able to summon me anytime, anywhere. No one else will be able to use me.]
That last part meant the sword would become a weapon exclusively for Leon.
[What else?]
[You’ll be able to tap into my dark mana.]
[Dark mana?]
[My black mana, duh.]
[What’s so good about that?]
[It’d be better if you could fully unseal me, but for now, you could use my mana instead of yours, and my sword abilities could work from a distance.]
[Hold on…]
Leon paused the conversation and relayed everything to Kito.
“She said she could absorb your core?”
Kito snorted.
“A typical cursed sword. Rotten to the core.”
[Can’t you shut that beast up?] the voice suddenly interrupted, causing Leon to frown.
“What did it say?”
“...Nothing.”
Leon held back from repeating the comment, but Kito seemed to sense what had been said. She calmly replied:
“She’s probably badmouthing me. Typical cursed weapons—contracts with them are always risky.”
[Come on, let’s make a deal! I wanna chat with that beast!]
Leon, feeling a headache coming on, decided to end the conversation with the sword for now.
[How long are you going to stay awake?]
[After that meal? I’ll be around for a while!]
[Can I at least shut you up when I want to?]
[Aw, come on! I’m bored!]
From the way it sounded, it was possible. Leon sighed and cut the connection to the sword, like breaking a bond with a familiar.
The voice went silent, just like that.
“You're going to keep using that sword, so I won’t say anything, but you really need to be careful about that contract,” Kito warned.
Leon nodded in agreement. The contract with Kito had been incredibly advantageous for him.
‘But that was under the condition that I would find Kito’s core.’
If Kito had stayed trapped, she might have been wiped out when Teneral invaded Widia. The situations were too different to compare.
“I’m not planning to make any contracts just yet.”
“You also need to decide whether you’re going to release the sword’s full power.”
Leon agreed. He couldn’t trust the sword entirely, and he had no idea what would happen if it were fully unsealed.
He’d have to be prepared for anything before moving forward with that decision.
Leon turned his attention back to the subspace pouch he’d taken from the blood mage’s corpse.
The contents were simpler than he’d expected.
‘Not even a single mana stone.’
Only three items fell out of the pouch.
The first was a red spellbook. Two characters stood out on its cover:
[Heavenly Blood (天血).]
Leon realized that he’d achieved his goal. He had successfully obtained a blood magic tome.
Despite his growing excitement, Leon restrained himself from opening it immediately. There was still more to inspect.
The second item was a black sigil, its engraved symbol hauntingly familiar.
‘Teneral…?’
Leon rummaged through his belongings and pulled out another black sigil he’d been keeping.
It was from the dark mage he had defeated, a sigil he’d never used due to the possibility of it being cursed or tracked.
Comparing the two, he noticed subtle differences in the designs, but overall, they were very similar.
It was clear that this second sigil represented a higher rank.
‘Could they be related?’
Teneral and the blood mages could either be working together, or there was a much deeper connection between them.
Feeling uneasy, Leon set the sigil aside and picked up the last item: a piece of parchment.
It looked like a letter addressed to someone.
‘No, it feels more like a contract or a mission request.’
Leon began reading the parchment carefully.