Boom!

A large explosion occurred.

From the smoke, two people emerged.

"Ugh..."

"..."

The ones who came out of the smoke were Evan, swallowing a groan, and Rudy, wearing a smile as if he found it amusing.

As soon as Rudy burst out of the smoke, he activated his mana.

"Fog."

Then, black smoke spread around Rudy.

Evan responded in kind.

"Grow."

Suddenly, a tree, lush with leaves, grew significantly around them.

Evan hid himself inside the tree.

'Where is it?'

Evan touched the tree, focusing all his senses.

Since the smoke obscured his vision, he listened intently for any sign.

While he was concentrating, he felt a strong movement of mana from afar.

Evan drew his sword.

"Suck!"

The storm of strong mana quickly enveloped Evan, and he brought his sword to meet it.

As the mana storm touched Evan's sword, it disappeared with a bright light.

Not all of it vanished, but he was able to eliminate the mana coming directly at him.

Having blocked the attack to some extent, Evan thought about his next move.

He gathered mana into his sword.

A green aura collected around Evan's sword, and he observed the situation.

Rustle.

That's when he sensed a slight movement.

Evan immediately swung his sword in that direction.

The green mana transformed into a sword strike and flew towards it.

"Ah."

Where the sword energy flew, a wolf with silver fur was revealed.

'It's not Rudy?'

As soon as he made that judgment, a black figure appeared behind Evan.

Holding a scythe, wearing a black hood, it was a demon controlled by Rudy.

Clank, chains shot out from the black figure, binding Evan's body.

Evan struggled, trying to cut through the chains.

"Shall we continue?"

The smoke where the voice came from slowly cleared, and Rudy walked out from there.

Behind Rudy was the shape of a demon, and he had already gathered mana in his hand, ready to attack.

Evan sighed upon seeing Rudy like this.

"Let's stop."

"Okay."

Rudy smiled and waved his hand a few times.

Then, the chains binding Evan were released.

Evan, touching the area the chains had been, looked at Rudy in front of him.

"Now I can't even tell who's the demon."

"What demon."

Rudy chuckled at Evan's words.

It had been about a month since Evan and Rudy started training at the Magic Tower.

Rudy had learned the dark magic left by Robert.

Of course, Evan also underwent various forms of growth.

He delved deeper into nature magic and, with the support of the Magic Tower, explored the unique magic nullification that only he could use.

Despite these efforts, Evan couldn't surpass Rudy.

He marveled at Rudy's rapid advancement.

It had only been a month of research at the Magic Tower.

In just a month, Rudy experienced significant growth.

Not that Evan envied the stronger Rudy.

Rudy's strength was acquired at the cost of great pain.

His power stemmed not from innate talent or mere effort but from pushing his body to its limits to gain it.

The primary drawback of learning dark magic was this very process.

When a spell failed, it resulted in a curse, inflicting severe pain.

The more powerful the magic used, the more intense the pain.

Rudy practiced his magic fearlessly, oblivious to such repercussions.

Consequently, Rudy's body was severely damaged, and Evan witnessed his suffering.

Rudy honed his magic through curses and pain, heedless of the consequences.

From an outsider's perspective, it was a pitiable sight.

The silver lining, however, was Rudy's remarkable growth.

But that didn't mean he had become proficient in dark magic at an expert level.

He had only mastered about ten spells to a degree that they could be utilized in real combat.

While this might not sound impressive, when combined with other forms of magic, it significantly expanded his combat strategies.

"Let's take a break now," Rudy suggested, tossing a towel to Evan and sitting down on the floor.

Evan caught the towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Was that the last one?" Evan asked.

"Yeah. I probably won't learn any more,"

Rudy replied, having decided on the spells he needed to learn from the moment Evan arrived.

And today, he had mastered the last of them.

"So, what do we do now?" Evan asked.

"Now it's time to start moving," Rudy declared.

As he said this, Luna approached from a distance.

"Rudy!" she called out.

Rudy greeted her with a broad smile.

"Luna, you're here?"

"Yeah, have you finished training?"

"Somewhat," Rudy replied.

Luna nodded and pointed behind her.

"Ian's here," she announced.

Ian was standing there.

"The rebels have moved."

"Has the main force moved?"

"Not just the main force, but all the nobles on the outskirts of the Empire have mobilized."

"The others" referred to the nobles who had been on the outskirts of the Empire.

"So, how will the Royal army move?"

"The Royal army will split into two groups, led by me and Astina. I'll deal with the nobles on the outskirts, and Astina will handle the main force."

"So, is Astina heading towards the Academy?"

"No, she isn't."

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Didn't you say Astina would confront the main force?"

"We don't yet know where the rebels' main force will move. Astina will station near the Persia territory and follow the rebels as they move."

It wasn't a wrong approach.

We were somewhat predicting that Aryandor will head towards the Academy, but there's no solid evidence to back this up.

Even if Haruna has seen the future, there's no guarantee it will unfold exactly as seen, with most of the evidence being circumstantial at best.

"And it's not like the Academy will crumble without the Royal army, so this strategy might be better."

The Academy has many professors, and both Evan and I, among others, are planning to go there.

We have plenty of talented individuals ready to fight.

Moreover, the terrain towards the Academy from the rebel side is extremely harsh.

If they try to force their way through, they'll take significant losses.

The Academy could not only hold out against the rebels until Astina arrives but might even manage to win against them.

Of course, things rarely go as predicted.

Surely, the rebels will have some sort of plan.

But predicting those plans now was not possible.

Hence, the idea was to draw as much of the Royal forces as possible.

Having a larger force allows us to respond to unexpected moves...

But we couldn't fuss over it here.

Ian must have thought it all through already to devise this plan.

I had no choice but to nod in agreement.

"Understood. I will keep what you said in mind."

"If the Academy is in danger, I'll use spatial magic to get there if necessary. And if there's trouble at the Academy, forces from the capital will be deployed, so there shouldn't be a big problem."

"Understood. Then we'll proceed as planned."

"Right."

Ian smiled and nodded.

Then he glanced at his watch.

"It's about time to go."

Ian got up from his seat.

I looked back at Luna and Evan behind me.

"Let's go now."

"Yes!"

Ian then moved to step out first.

He paused for a moment in his steps.

Then he turned around.

"Rudy Astria."

"Yes?"

Ian looked at me intently before posing his question.

"Aryandor, can you win against him?"

I've learned a lot over this time.

I've done a lot to be able to defeat Aryandor.

So, can I beat Aryandor?

To that question, I couldn't respond with a confident win.

I've fought Aryandor several times before.

In those battles, I never clearly won once.

While the outcomes of the fights were favorable, I never won in the fights themselves.

But.

That doesn't mean.

I've ever truly lost either.

"I'm not confident in winning. But."

So, there was one thing I could be sure of.

"I'm also not confident in losing."

"Is everyone ready?"

The rebel's stronghold.

There, numerous people stoo armed, and behind them stood giant golems.

But that wasn't all.

In the sky flew monsters like dragons and gargoyles, and in front were undead creatures like skeletons.

"The will of God is with us, and we will win. Those of us who win will change the world!"

It might seem absurd to talk about the will of the God surrounded by undead, but no one murmured in dissent.

Everyone here was united with a single purpose.

To change the world.

To bring down a world dominated by nobility.

Though all were united in this purpose, just one person had a different intent.

"Aryandor."

"Yes."

Aryandor stood at the very front of the people.

"Let's go."

With Aryandor's voice, the troops began to move.