Chapter 25: One Flower, Two Graves

Tomen hadn’t imagined the word “Abyss” would come from the young man’s mouth.

He quickly racked his brain.

How should he respond?

Should he feign ignorance?

Or should he boldly lean on the Abyss’s authority?

– You don’t seem inclined to talk.

– But you’ll want to soon enough.

Tomen, still calculating, swallowed hard at the young man’s words.

Something bad was about to happen.

At that moment—

Thud!

“…?”

Something protruded from his chest.

Tomen slowly looked down.

A flower?

A vivid blood-red flower.

What is this…

Why a flower, of all things?

Was this the young man’s doing?

Then, the flower began to grow rapidly.

At the same time, Tomen felt his consciousness fading.

Whoosh!

A sound came from behind, and Tomen instinctively turned.

…Lyren?

Lyren stood where the sound originated, holding a flower identical to the one piercing Tomen’s chest.

The young man’s voice rang out.

– Wow, you have a Flower of Rimian?

– But you’re trying to escape by sacrificing your father?

Tomen realized, through the young man’s words, that Lyren was responsible for the flower in his chest.

Why…

He was desperate to know why Lyren had done this.

But he lost consciousness before he could find answers.

As Tomen blacked out—

Whoosh!

The flower in Lyren’s hand vanished, and a sorcery circle appeared at his feet.

The flower that had grown from Tomen as a sacrifice disappeared, forming a protective barrier around Lyren and the sorcery circle.

“Phew.”

Lyren let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the circle and barrier.

– Why do you think you can escape?

At the young man’s voice, Lyren turned to face him.

The young man was grinning broadly, as if nothing was amiss.

Lyren smirked back.

“You know what the Flower of Rimian is, yet you’re bluffing? That’s pathetic.”

The barrier created by the Flower of Rimian was strong enough to withstand attacks from 7th Circle Archmages or Swordmasters.

Even if the young man was a 7th Circle Archmage, breaking through was impossible.

“More importantly, who are you? How do you know about the Flower of Rimian?”

The Flower of Rimian was a rare spatial transfer artifact, even within the Abyss.

It wasn’t given to just anyone, and few even knew of its existence.

That the young man knew about it was astonishing.

“I heard both were at the Tower…” Lyren muttered, speculating about the young man’s identity.

“There’s no way a new 7th Circle emerged in the meantime… Wait! You’re not from Gardion Tower, are you?”

Lyren grinned, as if he’d figured it out.

The young man responded.

– You like talking to yourself, huh?

– Why do you think I’m bluffing?

– Think I can’t catch you if you escape?

– That thing isn’t invincible.

Lyren’s smile froze.

The Flower of Rimian was considered an invincible artifact.

Or rather, it was known to be invincible, but it wasn’t.

Only one person had ever breached its barrier: Gaon, the first Tower Master of Gardion Tower, decades ago.

How does he know that?

Lyren was bewildered.

It shouldn’t exist anymore.

He had checked all the books in Gardion Tower and erased any mention of it.

The erasure wasn’t limited to the Tower—it extended to the Varta Kingdom, the Seionia Holy Empire, and beyond.

So how did this young man know?

At that moment—

Whoosh!

The sorcery circle began to glow.

Lyren furrowed his brow slightly.

It was time to go.

I need more information.

He could have left earlier but stayed to extract information from the young man.

Guess there’s no choice.

Continuing the conversation seemed unlikely to yield satisfactory answers.

“See you next time.”

For some reason, Lyren felt they’d meet again soon.

He saluted the young man and activated the sorcery circle.

Whoosh!

Light burst from the circle, and Lyren teleported.

“…?”

Lyren was stunned.

The teleportation had worked, but not to the intended destination.

It was the worst possible place.

“How…”

He stared at the young man standing right in front of him.

The young man smiled faintly. “I told you, it’s not invincible.”

He then erased his smile, as if it had never been there, and spoke.

“Sleep.”

With the incantation, Lyren fell asleep and began to collapse backward.

But then—

“…!”

Lyren’s eyes snapped open, and he regained his balance.

Gaon wasn’t fazed.

As expected of a cadre.

He had anticipated this.

“Bind.”

Gaon cast Bind, and Lyren’s movements froze.

Gaon injected Pacheongi into Lyren’s body to check for restrictions.

Tch.

As expected, and unfortunately, Lyren’s brain and heart were under restrictions.

This’ll make getting information tricky.

Would Lyren willingly spill secrets?

No, of course not.

Gaon had encountered many Abyss cadres before.

They were fanatics, even without restrictions.

To extract information, Gaon would need to inflict pain so severe Lyren would beg for death.

The problem was that the heart’s restriction activated under “pain.”

Excessive pain would trigger it, causing his heart to explode.

But removing the heart’s restriction would activate the brain’s.

Removing the brain’s restriction first was uncharted territory for Gaon.

Well, I’d have to try eventually.

It wasn’t a situation to avoid just because he hadn’t done it before.

Deciding, Gaon sent Pacheongi to Lyren’s brain and began analyzing and dismantling the restriction.

After a while—

Tch.

Gaon grimaced.

The brain’s restriction activated, followed by the heart’s.

Lyren groaned, his body trembling violently.

One or two more tries, and I could do it.

With a regretful expression, Gaon detonated the Pacheongi inside Lyren.

Boom!

The internal explosion killed Lyren instantly.

Whoosh!

Lyren’s body burst into flames—not Gaon’s doing.

Staring at the burning corpse, Gaon thought, What did he mean?

It wasn’t a complete loss.

Before attempting to escape with the Flower of Rimian, Lyren had mentioned that “both” were at the Tower.

He likely meant 7th Circle Archmages.

The issue was that Gardion Tower currently had three 7th Circle mages.

Why had Lyren said “both”?

And how did he know they were at the Tower?

…Betrayal?

Betrayal was the first thing that came to mind.

But Gaon couldn’t be certain.

Seventy years ago, the Abyss had spread false information this way to sow confusion.

This could be another misdirection.

I’ll find out when I meet them.

Gaon turned to the Rud Tower mages, who were trembling in fear.

No worries with these guys.

He gave them a choice: death or a mage’s oath.

The oath had two conditions:

1. Do no harm to Gardion Tower or the Alion family.

2. Slay a monster or demonic beast every two weeks.

The conditions were harsh, but none chose death.

All took the oath.

However, Gaon didn’t intend to release them immediately.

Some might not deserve to live, so he planned to leave their handling to Rotes.

Gaon dispelled the Wall of Ifrit.

The flames, which seemed eternal, vanished instantly.

“Follow me,” he told the mages and began walking.

They hesitated, glancing at each other, before following.

Almost done.

The battle wasn’t confined to within the Wall of Ifrit.

Fighting had occurred outside as well, and it was nearly over.

As expected, the Alion family had won decisively.

With Rotes, a 5th Circle High Mage, and Taylor, a 4th Circle mage, plus Gaon’s buffs on the knights, the Sailer family’s forces stood no chance.

Gaon arrived just as the battle ended.

Rotes, Taylor, and Oris approached.

“Good work,” Rotes said, glancing at the Rud Tower mages.

He frowned at a few of them.

“They’re prisoners. They’ve taken the oath,” Gaon explained, recounting what happened inside the barrier, including the Abyss.

He omitted the betrayal suspicion, as it wasn’t confirmed.

Abyss 3rd Branch, Branch Leader’s Office.

Crack!

Kemmel, the 3rd Branch Leader, furrowed his brow at the sound.

Who died?

The sound came from the soul stone display, which held only the soul stones of cadres.

One of them had died.

With an irritated expression, Kemmel turned to the display.

…Breck?

He was stunned.

Breck, disguised as Lyren, the Sailer family’s heir, had died.

It was an entirely safe position.

He didn’t even use the Flower of Rimian?

Breck had possessed the rare artifact, making his death unthinkable.

Kemmel had assumed the deceased would be a cadre operating in a mana-demonic energy coexistence zone or on a special mission.

“Adir,” Kemmel called into the air.

Swish!

A figure wrapped in black bandages emerged from the floor.

“What was Breck’s mission?”

“Absorb the Sailer family, destroy the Alion family, and recruit Rud Tower.”

“Hmm.”

Kemmel let out a low murmur.

It matched what he knew.

“Any recent reports?”

“They said they were going to support Rabes.”

“Rabes? The demonic rift?”

“Yes. They also planned to kill Gardion Tower’s mages there.”

“Gardion mages? Why?”

“There were several conflicts. It’s in the reports you haven’t read.”

“Anything in there that could’ve gotten Breck killed?”

“No.”

“Find out more. Report as soon as you have information.”

“Yes.”

Adir vanished back into the floor.

Kemmel grimaced, thinking, This is going to be a mess…

Breck’s death was unfortunate, but a bigger issue loomed.

Breck wasn’t an ordinary cadre—he was the grandson of Lilith, the 3rd Elder.

Lilith’s love for her grandson was extreme, enough to give a mere cadre like Breck a Flower of Rimian, typically reserved for branch leaders.

No matter how Breck died, Lilith wouldn’t stay quiet.

She’d likely try to kill everyone involved.

Who the hell killed Breck…