Chapter 2

It was not until half a day later that Cain finally managed to sort through his thoughts and regain his composure.

In the meantime, his hot tears had dried, replaced by a cold rationality that once again restored his dignity.

He was the only survivor left in this place, but Cain clenched his lips tightly, determined to ensure that the deaths of those who had sacrificed themselves would not be in vain.

Rustle. Rustle.

Cain’s hand rapidly flipped through the pages of the book.

The first thing that caught his eye was the writing on the very first page.

Take the power of others and make it your own?

There is no denying that this is both an extremely dangerous and fascinating undertaking.

(Excerpt omitted)

…Among the hearts within the altar, find the one that still possesses the greatest vitality and place it at the center of the magic circle.

Then, recite the incantation written below. The power of the dead will gather there.

Cain’s gaze naturally turned toward the altar.

There, he spotted a heart that was still emitting a vivid red glow, almost as if deliberately drawing attention to itself.

Without hesitation, Cain picked it up.

Then he slowly walked toward the center of the magic circle.

At the center was a mark that Duke Forn had made to indicate the exact midpoint when drawing the circle.

“Whew… May your sacrifices not be in vain…”

Cain let out a short breath.

Then he carefully placed the heart on the mark.

Fwoooosh—!

At that very moment, a flash of light erupted.

Simultaneously, all the corpses within the magic circle, except for Cain, shot upward into the air.

Every corpse trembled violently in midair, and black energy continuously flowed out of them, seeping into the heart.

“Ah!”

As Cain watched, the word sacrifice came to mind.

Was this their sacrifice for my sake?

The bodies of his subordinates gradually lost their color and vitality, drying out like mummies. In contrast, the heart began to glow a deep crimson as intense dark energy poured into it.

Then, a black pillar of light suddenly shot toward the ceiling. The wavering surroundings grew still, and the desiccated corpses turned to dust and scattered.

Shhhhhhh…

The heart at the center of the magic circle began to pulsate.

Cain’s gaze returned to the book.

A heart in which all the power has been concentrated is akin to a gigantic mana core. However, since the power of different people has gathered within it, a considerable amount of time will be required to use that power fully.

If you place your hand on the heart, all that power will enter your body.

However, without the appropriate training and awakening, you will not be able to use even one-tenth of that power.

Therefore, follow the cultivation and training methods described below and diligently refine your magic.

“Haah… I will ensure that your sacrifices are not in vain. I swear…”

Cain’s voice trailed off.

Then, slowly…

He brought his trembling hand toward the dark red heart.

It was the moment an unprecedented black mage was born.

Fwoooosh!

“……!”

The moment Cain placed his hand on the heart, an intense force burst forth from it.

It began flowing rapidly into his body through his hand.

An energy that was both hot and cold.

An immeasurably powerful force began pouring into his body at an incredible speed.

Cain felt as though his entire body were being sucked in. He instinctively twisted his body, trying to pull his hand away, but it refused to move, as though it had become fused to the heart.

“Grrrrrgh!”

Before long, that sensation transformed into pain.

The agony began at his fingertips, traveled past his elbow and shoulder, and reached his heart.

It was a pain so intense that it felt as though everything inside him were burning away.

Cain squeezed his eyes shut, but he could not withstand the unbearable agony and let out a groan.

“U, uh… First, please accept this book… I prepared it in case something like this happened. It contains… everything about black magic.”

“Your Majesty!”

“……To put it simply, by using us as the source…”

Within the world of thoughtlessness created by the overwhelming pain, Cain heard the voices of his subordinates crying out again and again.

It was not the voice of a single person.

It was the united voice of all the subordinates who had entered the magic circle alongside him.

He could also see Duke Forn and Duke Aslan gazing at him with pleased expressions on their pale, bloodless faces.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cain’s heart pounded violently.

As he absorbed the tremendous power, the tension throughout his body was reaching its absolute limit.

It felt as though his heart would burst if he took even one more breath.

Fwoooosh!

That was when it happened.

A massive blaze erupted around Cain, who was hunched over helplessly in agony.

It was black energy, but there was no mistaking it—it was fire.

For a moment, Cain thought he was going to be burned alive, utterly unable to move.

But instead of burning within his body, the flames surged outward, infusing him with another kind of energy.

While scorching heat seeped into him from outside, the depths of his chest were freezing over with an extreme cold.

He was experiencing energies of absolute yang and absolute cold simultaneously, both inside and outside his body.

“Haah… Haah…”

His ragged breathing escaped his lips.

The pain continued, making him feel as though his entire body were about to shatter.

His lips, bitten so tightly from the agony, had split open, and bright red blood seeped through them.

Amid the relentless pain, Cain curled up on the floor and endured it all.

If he lost consciousness here and abandoned everything, his subordinates’ deaths would become meaningless sacrifices.

That was unacceptable.

“Gaaaaah!”

Cain let out a furious roar.

Drawing upon every ounce of his strength, he forced himself upright to fight against the pain.

Perhaps because of the energies of absolute yang and absolute yin, the clothes he had been wearing had vanished, leaving him completely naked.

“Haah! Haah! Haah!”

His breathing remained labored, and his heart still ached as though it might burst. But at some point, he began to feel a heavy flow of power moving within his body.

It was probably the power of darkness traveling along his mana pathways.

Thump! Thump!

Fwoooooosh!

“Ah!”

Flash—!

At the moment the flow of power vibrating throughout his entire body reached its peak…

Cain’s body arched backward like a bow.

At that instant, a crimson flash shot out from his body and pierced through the ceiling, soaring into the sky.

And then Cain lost consciousness.

3

Cain did not regain consciousness until three days later.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself in an empty room.

Even the corpses that had remained by his side, determined to protect him even in death, had now turned to a handful of ashes and disappeared.

Grrrrrrr…

“Damn… At a time like this…”

The sound came from his stomach.

It was the desire to live.

Even in a situation where he had lost everything, the fact that he still needed to eat something to survive filled him with sorrow.

But he had to live.

And to do that, he first needed to get out of this place.

Cain was, after all, the Emperor of the Magocracy. Although he was hardly an expert, he possessed some basic knowledge and training in magic.

Before losing consciousness, he had only been a first-circle mage.

In the past, he had barely been able to cast even first-circle magic by borrowing the power of artifacts.

But things were different now.

Cain’s body was currently brimming with dark energy.

“Light!”

Cain cast Light, a first-circle spell that created a white glow.

The spell was activated with remarkable ease.

Moreover, he did not feel the usual emptiness of mana draining from his body.

That meant the mana contained within him had become abundant.

However, this power had not yet become entirely Cain’s own.

Just as the book had stated, without the appropriate insights and training, possessing this power was no different from having strength that he could not actually use.

Creeeeak—

Cain opened the door, which had been secured with a large wooden bolt, and slowly began walking up the stairs.

He did not know what was happening outside, but it did not appear that the Imperial Palace itself had been completely destroyed by fire.

Dust and cobwebs had accumulated thickly across the stairs and passageways, as though no one had passed through them for a long time.

There were not even any footprints.

But traces of the tragedy remained.

This place had originally been a staircase leading to an underground secret chamber, with its inner walls decorated entirely in white.

Yet, all over those white walls, Cain could see marks that appeared to be dried blood.

“Duke Radian…”

Cain bit his lip.

He was a traitor who had leaked the secrets of the Magocracy, Zergard, and handed the country over to the enemy.

Because of him, the central armies stationed in the capital had been rendered useless, and the Imperial Guard had collapsed helplessly.

He was one of the traitors Cain desperately wanted to kill.

But there was nothing Cain could do at the moment.

He was now nothing more than a solitary man, with no one left to protect him.

Clomp. Clomp.

“……!”

Just then…

As Cain was about to climb from the underground passage toward the upper levels, he heard footsteps coming from above and quickly concealed himself in the darkness.

Since he was completely naked, he had no clothing to hinder his movements. However, he had no weapon with which to deal with an emergency, either.

The only thing he carried was the book Duke Forn had left behind.

“I really don’t understand why they keep making us patrol places like this. I’ve told them several times that there’s nothing here…”

A grumbling voice echoed down the passage.

Judging by the absence of clanking armor, the approaching soldier did not appear to be heavily armed.

Cain cautiously poked his head out and looked up the stairs.

A soldier wearing light armor was coming down toward him.

The leather armor he wore bore a clearly visible lily emblem.

A lily.

It was the symbol of the Lohan Empire, the leading nation of the Holy Alliance.

Clench.

Cain’s hands tightened involuntarily.

The Lohan Empire was not only the greatest rival of the Magocracy, Zergard, but also the nation that had taken the lead in brutally massacring the people of Zergard.

The Lohan Empire was the country Cain had vowed to annihilate, even if he had to become a ghost after death.

Swish.

Cain lowered his body and hid even more discreetly in the darkness.

Apparently unaware that anyone was there, the soldier continued walking inward.

Holding his breath and watching the situation, Cain waited until the soldier passed directly in front of him.

Then he pounced.

“Ah!”

The startled soldier twisted his body, but he was no match for Cain’s strength.

Shiiing!

Cain’s hand swiftly reached for the dagger fastened at the soldier’s waist.

With a quick motion, he drew it and plunged the blade into the soldier’s heart without the slightest hesitation.

“……!”

The soldier’s eyes rolled back, and his breath stopped.

It had all happened in an instant.

“Haah… Haah…”

As the tension left his body, Cain exhaled heavily and stared at the soldier with murderous eyes.

Then he immediately opened the book he had been carrying.

The power of darkness requires potent, living energy. Therefore, the power of darkness is also the power of demons that calls forth blood.

The method of extracting power from the dead is simple.

Place your hand over the left side of the chest of a corpse whose body has not yet grown cold, then recite the Annihilation Incantation to absorb its power.

If this life force is insufficient, a person who possesses the power of darkness will lose their reason and run wild.

“Purify me with your hot blood.”

Shhhhhhh…

Cain naturally recited the incantation and placed his hand on the soldier’s body.

At that moment, with a sharp pop, dark red energy was sucked rapidly into every part of Cain’s body.

The soldier’s body then turned to dust and vanished on the spot.

And so, Cain continued walking the path of a black mage, one step at a time.

“I will bear the price of all sins. But I swear… I will reclaim the glory of the empire. I swear.”

Cain muttered as he caressed his bloodstained right hand.

He had now become a Dark Mage of Hell, a black mage from whom there was no longer any place to retreat.

Before long, Cain donned the soldier’s clothes and swiftly moved away, disappearing somewhere into the darkness.

And until the night came to an end, the soldiers of the Lohan Empire never realized that one of their comrades had vanished without a trace.