That's not possible

The unexpected sight disturbed the hundreds of men and women around us. I saw parents shielding and averting their children's eyes from the scene, while they themselves were unable to look away. Gasps and whispers were loud enough to be noises. The city guards were pushing past the crowd to make it to the scene. The man who performed the voluntary murder stood before Devon's body, trying to hiding the sexual pleasure he received from it.

Amidst that relaxed chaos, Edith and I were the only ones who were in a completely normal state of mind. Although I did have a burning desire to inflict intolerable amounts of pain on that horny mage for decapitating my companion, I had enough self-control to not act on it yet. If we killed him right after this incident, anyone with average IQ can connect the two matters.

Anyway, back to the show, which is not over yet. The interesting detail that most people missed was the blood that was still pouring from Devon's neck, which means that his heart was still pumping blood. Then again, nobody needed to notice this detail, because just as the city guards reached the stage, Devon's decapitated head started rolling on the floor unnaturally. It wouldn't be accurate to say that the head was moving towards the body, rather the body and head were being pulled together; the body being more massive, only the head moved.

At this point, there was only silence as the crowd noticed and watched the creepy scene. Blood smeared onto the clothes as the head overcame momentum, air resistance, and not to mention common sense, to park itself where it belonged. Some part of me worried that Devon may not survive a clean decapitation, but the immortality skill was broken beyond acceptability.

The nerves reattached, the bones mended, and the spine connected. The man who was definitely dead in the eyes of over 600 people lifted himself from the floor that was slippery from his own blood. Aside from the head literally rolling on the floor back to his body, his skin repairing itself was also kind of creepy. "Harh..." Devon tried to speak, but he couldn't effectively use his vocal chords. I was sure it was only temporary, so I didn't worry. He brought his hand up to his neck and felt it up all the way around. With a smirk on his face and covered in blood, he spread his arms and bowed to the audience.

…

Things went very well, as the plan was executed perfectly so far — we had successfully initiated the greatest scam in the history of Eden. Before we go forward, let me give you a quick walkthrough of what was planned. When I found out about the poor quality enchantments in the market, I was careful about inviting political conflicts while thinking of a way to exploit it. But remember, this was back when I had no intention of provoking the red mages. So as you can guess, my new motivation for becoming rich was the complete opposite. I wanted to take over all the political grounds that were currently in control of the red mages.

With that being said, is this scam purely to make vast sums of money? No. If that was the case, scamming is unnecessary. The first type of enchanted robes that Devon showcased, which is unlimited in terms of usability, was a genuinely revolutionary product. I could effortlessly become the richest merchant in the nation simply by selling those. The scam, which was the enchantment called 'Another Life,' was primarily to weaken the red mages.

Imagine from their standpoint. They are a religious underground group with lots of influence within Eden. They basically have all the money they could spend, yet they don't have the strength to fight the king. Sure, they have his beloved daughter on their side, but she was clearly their last resort, because otherwise they would have exploited her the moment she joined them. So, with the introduction of something like a resurrection enchantment, they are definitely going to put their funds on it to strengthen their army. And since the resurrection enchantment is bullshit, they're basically going to hand me a ship ton of money for practically nothing.

Of course, this scam was stupidly risky. Which is why, I had to include some very important tiny details as a part of it. If you paid attention during Devon's presentation, you should already be aware of them. Firstly, the enchantment was said to work only once per person and the enchantment itself could only be used once before the item (robe) becomes worthless. This means, the red mages are not going to carelessly test this enchantment on themselves if they plan to use it in an actual battle.

Secondly, the enchantment was said to not work on someone that is already dying. So, there won't be any complaints like, 'I put this robe on my grandma in her deathbed, and she still ended up dying.' Thirdly, absolute faith in the one true God was said to be necessary. This was to further attract the red mages into buying, and it also serves as an excuse if someone unwarrantedly dies; they could be alleged as non-believers. For the same reason, they also won't be able to test this enchantment on animals.

Anyway, Devon lost his voice for a couple hours, so no pre-orders were taken yet. However, the other enchanted robes were still allowed to be sampled by the public. For an entire hour, people willingly took offensive attacks on themselves one after the other. They had to learn to release mana into the robe for the enchantment to work, as opposed to requiring no action from the user. But that was stupidly simple to do, so there was no problem. Electricity, heat, and cold — the enchantments appropriately resisted them all with the same efficiency each time. People were clearly impressed.

The stage was then dismantled, and in its place, a small shop was assembled with a large sign that read 'Opening tomorrow - 4:00 PM'. We had already acquired the license for that spot at the marketplace beforehand; part of the procedure to set up a business there. After that, there was nothing left to worry about for the day.

That night, in the spirit of celebration, I bought loads of alcohol and had it delivered to our inn — free drinks for everyone in Devon's name. You can imagine how popular Devon became after his presentation. The inn soon became packed with people around the city as the word spread. Although me and my companions were incapable of getting drunk, it nevertheless signified euphoria from our success. Being as happy as I was, I stood up and loudly said, "Let us offer a toast!" The room became silent, and I raised up my beer glass. "Here's to the prosperity of Eden, and an ideal future."

"Cheers!" everyone, including my companions exclaimed in unison; they were drunk enough to not question what I meant by that. The lanterns that lit the inn burned all night as there was never a moment without people drinking inside. I honestly look forward to the day when such delight becomes a constant in my life. Or am I confusing peace with happiness?

For the next week and a half, all things proceeded smoothly and within my expectations. And yes, that precisely means that something totally unexpected happened after that period. But we'll get to that. Because, although things were smooth-sailing prior to that, doesn't mean it's irrelevant. And as the narrator, I'm obliged to give you the details.

First things first, the corpses of the red mages were finally discovered by the city guards. When the public received this news, I was already prepared to make use of it. Using my followers, I spread rumors that those who died were non-believers and were smitten by the one true God. To some extent, I prioritized this stunt when the bodies would be discovered. Because currently, the red mages clearly have more influence in Eden than me. So, if they were to start a rumor like they died by the hands of those who are against the one true God, it would be impossible to control or alter those rumors with my level of influence. What I'm saying is, I have to always remain one step ahead of the red mages to be in control of certain situations.

Needless to say, a lot of prominent faces in the city were among the victims. Since one of them was the governor of the city, it caused a shift in the political terrain. A temporary replacement, one of the royal ministers, agreed to run the city until an election that will be held in 2 weeks time. And I was not going to let the red mages put another one of their sheep in that position. The sheep that win the election will be mine whatever it takes.

The preparations for that were already in order. In the process of spreading false rumors about the red mages being non-believers, my followers were also secretly expanding in numbers. "If their false God is the one who blessed the powerful, he is also the one who cast aside the powerless. Lord Zenith will establish balance and allow you all to stand tall, for you outnumber the extraordinary," were Devon's exact motivating words to my followers. In short, we have the numbers, so an election won't be difficult to rig.

Next up, our business started off with triumphant success. On the opening day, we hit the monthly limit of orders within the first 2 hours. The way we planned to manufacture the products was in weekly batches. One batch could have at most 15 sets of UU (Unlimited Use) enchanted robes with the buyer's preferred enchantment. The monthly limit of orders is basically how many weekly batches can be produced within the current month.

However, the production of AL (Another Life) enchantment was not done in the same way. We had to be more careful in selling those, even if it meant compromising huge monetary gain. In the timeframe that we sold 45 UU sets, we only received 2 orders for the AL sets. But this was not only expected, it was also intended.

You see, the price for the UU set was fixed at 30 GCs (Gold Coins), which is already expensive To give you some perspective, our luxury room at the inn was priced at 2 GCs per night; we were living there free, since the innkeeper is a follower of mine, but that's besides the point. On the other hand, the price for the AL set was fixed at 140 GCs. It may seem like a reasonable price if your perspective is on how valuable life is, but that's not the case practically.

Eden is a kingdom that has been peaceful for over 24 years. There were no wars to threaten the life of its citizens since then, and as far as they know, such a conflict may never arise. So, it's no surprise that they would not want to immediately invest a fortune in an enchantment they may never use in their lifetime. If anyone were to invest funds on getting their hands on the AL sets, it would be those who are aware of the civil war that is on the horizon. And the two parties — excluding us — who fall into that category are the king's army and the red mages.

Based on my motivations, I wanted to create an environment, where it would be easier for the red mages to buy the AL sets in bulk. And the best solution for that was to deliver the AL sets through the Temple of the one true God. So, on the second day of business, we visited the temple for the first time. We made a deal to offer 12% of the profit from the AL sets in return for storing and delivering them to the buyers. Basically, we would send the finished goods to the temple, where they would store it in a seemingly divine room and deliver it to the customers when they come to get it. This gave the impression of those goods being special when they are completely ordinary; exactly how holy water works.

The most important thing however, was that since the temple is 100% under the influence of the red mages, establishing this partnership was a way to attract them into buying the AL sets at discount. Whether it was going to work as well as I intended or not, we were yet to find out.

6 days into business, we received an offer for a contract from the government. It was brought to us by a high ranking official, but the offer probably came from the king himself. The reason for that assumption is that the contract was specifically for the mass-production of UU enchantments, and not the AL units. It would make sense if the king was aware of the temple's involvement in the AL trade, and doesn't intend on alerting the red mages while he strengthened his own army. Furthermore, there was a request to make these products separate from the ones sold in the market. In other words, these UU units needed to be military-grade.

You see, the UU units being sold in the market only included one of 3 basic enchantments, as showcased during the demonstration; it is chosen by the buyer when placing the order. Compared to when it was showcased, some minor improvements, such as reducing the bulkiness of the physical mechanisms within the robe, were made for the final consumer product. However, for a military-grade unit, there needed to be more areas of improvement.

If I wanted to, I could spend some time experimenting and come up with an enchantment that would be overpowered enough to take over the world. But, I don't want the responsibility of keeping that kind of power under check. So, we simply decided to combine the 3 available enchantments and boost the efficiency overall. We accepted and signed the contract in Devon's name. There was no rush though. As per agreement, we had exactly 1 month to complete the development and deliver the first prototype for testing.

In return for this, we not only received a huge payment of 3200 GCs in advance, we also acquired citizenship in Eden. Originally, it was only offered to Devon, but upon learning that Edith and I were partnered with him, we got the same treatment as well. This was a big step forward for us. Because until then, we were staying in the kingdom with a merchant's visa, which was required to be extended on a weekly basis at the cost of 1 SC (Silver Coin). Although the cost wasn't really an issue, being a citizen had other benefits we really needed. For one, we could now buy our own land within the kingdom. And that was the first thing we did. We spent almost all the money we had, but it was worth it.

Let me first provide you with a means to calculate monetary worth, because the currency system in this kingdom is not the greatest. We will use 'UC' as the universal currency unit going forward. 1 GC will be 1000 UCs, 1 SC will be 100 UCs, and 1 CC (Copper Coins) will be 10 UCs. Simple, right?

After a week of successful business, we had a little over 5.6 million UCs. We spent 4.2 million UCs and bought a large enough land for a big mansion and an even bigger neighboring factory, fairly close to the academy, by the banks of a river — we would call it the Z estate. Usually, such large scale construction would be a task given to a professional architect. But Devon insisted on doing it by himself. He apparently already had everything, from the floor plans to the interior design, prepared for my mansion; he did tweak it a little after being inspired by the designs and architecture used in Eden. He had been honing his skills in this area — both magic and manual — even before I arrived on earth. All for the prime purpose of pleasing me. So, I happily entrusted this task to him.

During this timeframe, we visited the library 5 times. It was an agreement made with princess Loeya, to have a check-in every other day at noon, until Edith and I enroll into the academy. It was to regularly ensure her safety from the red mages. Although it wouldn't make any sense for them to actually try and harm her, it's better safe than sorry.

On the 10th day since we initiated our money making scheme, Edith and I paid our customary visit to the library. Edith didn't call for professor Feiling this time, as we had recently obtained study materials to independently prepare for the entrance exam. So, we didn't have any use for him anymore. Those study materials were actually recommended to us by Martin upon my request; I didn't want my dear companion to go through hour-long tutoring sessions every two days.

When she mentioned this to Feiling, he wasn't thrilled. But he wasn't particularly unhappy about it either. "That's fine. If you get stuck somewhere, or need an explanation for any of the topics, you can always reach out to me," is how he responded.

Anyway, this time, both me and Edith waited for princess Loeya by the same history section; it became my regular spot at some point during my repeated visits. "Master Zenith, I don't appreciate that girl making you wait like this," Edith said, 2 minutes into waiting. "If you give me permission, I will scar her with a burn mark. It will serve her as a reminder."

She was being completely serious by the way. "Denied. Edith, we are supposed to protect her from any and all harm, not cause it," I replied in a calm tone.

Soon, princess Loeya showed up and took her seat before me on the table. It was her first time meeting Edith. "Loeya, I want you to meet Edith," I introduced her. "She is a very valuable companion of mine."

"Pleased to meet you, Edith," she responded respectfully. But there was a slight haste in her voice, as if she had something important to say. She turned to me. "Zenith, I have some news." Our past check-ins were mostly just her keeping me updated on her own safety; if she felt threatened by someone, she would let me know. But this time, there was actual intel on the red mages' activities. "They are transporting another batch of captives to be sold as slaves tomorrow night. They were keeping this information a tight secret because of what happened in the eastern forest. But fortunately, I was too clever for them and managed to extract it. I want to save them all this time. And I need your help."

When we formed our little alliance, I told her that I would offer her the strength that she lacked to essentially be a vigilante. I knew she had very straightforward morals and beliefs, in the sense that she would want to fight the injustice and wrongdoings of the red mages. But the thing is, morality is a human concept and I couldn't care less about it. So, the only reason for me to get involved in matters like fighting illegal slave trading, is if it somehow benefits my overarching goal. Luckily for the princess, it does this time.

Prepared and leaned forwards, I simply asked, "Where and what time?"

…

The next night, at around 11:30 PM, Edith and I left the inn, headed to the location that princess Loeya specified. It was quite far away, so we had to take our carriage; yes, the one that we stole before we arrived in Eden. On our way, we stopped near the academy dorm and picked up princess Loeya. Originally, we didn't want her to come along, but she insisted a lot. She was wearing an oversized black cloak with a hood, at which we Edith and I stared disapprovingly.

"What?" she frowned. "Why are you two not disguised? If they see you, it won't be long before they identify you. Wait here, I have spare cloaks in my room. I'll go get—"

"That won't be necessary," I stopped her from going back into her dorm. Honestly, it's ridiculous how effortlessly the royal princess is able to sneak out of her residence. "There won't be any survivors to tell the tale." Assuring her that, I signaled Edith to get going.

With two lanterns hung on the roof of the carriage, the two horses pulled us through the streets lit only by the lanterns and moonlight. The horses were as healthy and fast as ever, thanks to the innkeeper regularly feeding and maintaining them. ETA: 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a barren land, privately owned by someone, a shabby but secure warehouse sat in the middle of it. However, surrounding the land, there was nothing as far as eyes can see. At around the same time I started from the inn, a familiar man in an even familiar red robe arrived at this wasteland. I don't know his name, but he was the one who slashed Devon's head off on-stage. He approached the warehouse as if he owned the place, and once at the doorstep, he banged on it 3 times with his magic staff. "Open up loonies!"

A woman in her mid 30's, also wearing a red robe, opened the door. "You were supposed to say the password at the door, not some random rubbish," she complained. "It's a direct order from lord Heath."

"Yet you opened the door for me, love," he chuckled as he barged in. "Passwords can be stolen. Whatever 'random rubbish' I say is much more authentic."

Shaking her head with a slight smile, she locked the door, and trailed him inside. Over 30 red mages were guarding the place on high alert. Men, women, and children totaling 56 were held captive within that warehouse. They were all locked up in a spacious room with 4 of the red mages guarding them. They were well aware of the fact that they were going to be transported and sold as slaves outside the kingdom.

If you set aside the argument of right or wrong, this business is sort of like a high-risk and high-reward kind of deal. The reason why it's risky is obvious; slavery and slave trading is abolished in Eden. The reason why it's tremendously profitable is because of the stupid concept of class system.

Almost all the kingdoms have this system in place, which determines social hierarchy. And what's especially absurd about this is that those at the higher class are obligated to represent themselves as being at that level. For example, in your timeline, every rich person owns more than 1 expensive car or mansion for no good reason. In this world, it's even worse. In kingdoms where slavery is a norm, the higher class people are obligated to own expensive slaves. And all exported slaves are expensive, especially when they come from Eden.

Transportation was scheduled to arrive at 1:00 AM for picking up the captives and taking them outside Eden's borders. The red mages have partnerships with slave traders from outside the kingdom, who will buy the captives at pre-negotiated prices. But with there still an hour left for that, "I've hand-picked two items from the shipment and put them in a separate room," the middle-aged lady said, still trailing the man with questionable kinks. "I think you'll like it."

"Siblings?" he asked.

"Even better. Childhood sweethearts."

Apparently, this guy arrived at the warehouse early, not to guard the place, rather to enjoy himself. He is the one responsible for kidnapping 90% of the captives each year, and he is also the reason for the red mages' established partnerships with slave traders across the continent. What I'm trying to say is, they let him get away with fooling around every once in a while.

The lady then led this man to a room further into the warehouse, secluded from the room where most of the captives were held. With a disgusting smile, he opened the door and stepped in. A boy and a girl were laying down on the untidy floor with their hands and legs tied up. "I'll leave you to it then," the lady left the room, closing the door behind her.

Tears overflowing, those teenagers were definitely terrified. "I heard you two are sweethearts to each other," the red mage who stood above them didn't stop smiling. "I want to know who will feel the most pain losing the other. Care to help me find out?" Only the sounds of their crying was returned in response. "Oh, I'm afraid you have no choice."

"P—Please," the boy uttered, barely audible with his cries overlapped.

"Please what? What are you asking of me?" he questioned back, seriously expecting an answer he desired. A brief period of muffled cries followed. And slowly but surely, the boy crawled forward and answered.

"Please let her go… I will do what you ask me. I promise."

Overwhelmed with emotions, the girl immediately cried out, "No! N—"

Slash!

The sicko kept his eyes fixed on the boy, as the girl's head dropped down to the floor. Absolute silence, as the decapitated head rolled over and stopped at the boy's right hand pushed against the floor, his friend's wet cheeks touching his pinky finger. Then the body dropped, breaking the silence with a thud. There is a fatal limit to which a human body can handle fear, and the boy was very close to hitting it. He was too afraid to acknowledge the fact that his friend had died.

A pair of eyes was still staring at him, until the scream inevitably escaped the boy's lips. The red mage displayed an unnaturally satisfied smirk, as he turned around and left the room. He closed the door behind him and sat on the other side, just listening to the boy's screams.

"What the hell are you doing?!" That same lady came rushing over. "Why did you leave him alive? What if someone hears him?"

"Shh," he put his finger on his lips, and whispered, "It'll be fine, love. Let him release it all, I want to hear it all."

I think we can all agree that this guy is fucked in the head. But if I were to assume that none of the red mages have an unexpressed problem with his actions, responses, and behavior as a whole, then they are just as messed up. I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that the leaders of the red mages included alternate timeline versions of Hitler and Ted Bundy.

I suppose I should feel a little guilty for not showing up on time to rescue those two. But I'm not going to lie and say that I did. We arrived at that location at 12:20 PM, parking our carriage as far away as possible; I didn't want our only mode of transportation to somehow get caught in the crossfire. I activated my pigmentation skill and altered my appearance; same as how I changed it during the eastern forest incident.

"What's our plan?" princess Loeya asked just as we prepared to go into the private property.

"I believe I already told you," I replied. "No survivors, and that's it."

She gave me a confused look, which I didn't understand until she asked me, "What about… the captives?"

I will admit that I overlooked that minor detail. "Alright, here's how it's going to go," I quickly revised the plan and gave out orders. "Edith, you will launch the first attack at the warehouse and lure out all of the red mages. Keep the fight outside, and focus on your battle alone. Meaning, if anyone slips through and comes for me, you don't worry about it for a second. Got it?"

Edith acknowledged with a nod. "Understood, master Zenith."

I turned to princess Loeya. "Loeya, you will use that distraction to go around and infiltrate the warehouse. Rescue all the captives, but not at the risk of your own life. If you can't save them all, you don't have to." I paused for a second to let her take that in. "Please don't argue, just go with it." She also acknowledged with a nod, but I had a feeling she was not going to follow that advice when it matters.

Anyway, we moved forward and approached the warehouse. We got close enough to faintly hear that poor boy's screams of despair.

Arriving here with Edith, I had no intention of helping out in the fight, because I knew Edith alone would be an overkill. However, I did plan to make use of the situation to experiment a new variant for my pre-existing growth spurt skill. I even bought an apple along with me, which was currently in my grip.

The reason why I didn't just create a new and better offensive skill was because when I was going over the study materials for the academy entrance exam, I learned a few things about efficiency in magic growth. One of those things was that practicing one main skill will help in improving mana control and level far more efficiently than if you were to practice multiple skills parallelly. So, I decided I won't be inventing a new offensive skill until I find a more reliable way to boost mana control and level, which is what I had been experimenting on for the past 10 days.

I hate to admit that I had no luck with it. Even after consulting Martin, I didn't get a helpful answer. But I didn't give up, because I had a strong feeling that such a cheat-like method can truly be worked out. If you want a perspective on just how much time I spent on this, failing, look no further than my current status.

> Level: 56

> Mana Capacity: 54000

> Mana Control: F+

> Skillset: … Seal (Complexity - S , Activated) …

> Character Trait: Logical, Malevolent, Opportunistic, Calculating

> State of Mind: Excited

The level improvement you see was purely a consequence of me experimenting on an idle level boosting method. My mana control naturally dropped because I didn't perform any magic skills as my level one-sidedly improved. But that's not an issue, because I can easily raise it while experimenting my new growth spurt variant during this operation.

"Alright Edith, let's start," I gave the green signal. And effortlessly, with not even a hand motion, a bright blue ball of flames appeared in front of Edith and shot towards the locked door of the warehouse, creating a small shockwave where it started. The door pretty much disintegrated, and the fire that caused it disappeared into thin air. Now that's what you call a perfectly controlled magic skill.

"Intruders!" one of the red mages inside the warehouse announced loudly as she witnessed the front door vanish. Tens of red mages came out running, like a disturbed anthill, with a shared death wish. Edith has been holding in her fighting spirit for far too long. This would be the first time I witness her in all her glory. You're about to see what a mage with S+ mana control, level in the thousands, and mana capacity in the millions, can do.

Calmly stepping towards the enemies, she initiated her first combat phase. Pure yellow flames specifically enveloped her hair, eyes, hands, feet, and formed a pair of wings on her back. Admittedly, constantly releasing mana and making it burn around specific parts of your body is very impractical in terms of combat efficiency. However, as an intimidation tactic, it is effective enough to make your enemies crap their pants.

Imagine a tall Godlike being with fiery wings, and a glowing fire in her eyes, wearing crimson clothes under the night sky, walking towards you. The red mages still suppressed their fears and launched their attacks. And that led to Edith initiating her second combat phase.

> Skillset: Immortality (Complexity - S) ; Fire Magic (Complexity - A+) ; Body Strengthening (Complexity - A) ; Agility (Complexity - A)

She used her agility and body strengthening skills, and with an uncontrollable grin, launched at those poor red mages. Only dust remained in the place she accelerated from. The first person she came into contact, she kneed him right in the middle of his eye brows. The other red mages still had their eyes forward, because their reaction time was so off compared to the speed at which Edith attacked. And so, the first dead red mage already fell to the ground with his skull shattered to the point it was visible with his skin deformed around it.

I should let you know at this point, in case you haven't already guessed it, her magic skills are mostly only used for enhancing her manual skills. Her fierceness and incredible battle spirit all comes from her proficiency in various martial arts. In this world, or at least in this kingdom, the concept of martial arts don't exist. Because, the supremacists here think that magic is the most powerful weapon and is all that you need to stand atop others. That's precisely why they will fall.

> State of Mind: Disbelief

The little princess standing beside me was clearly awestruck by what she was witnessing. "Go, Loeya," I interrupted her and gave a nod to carry out the infiltration. She got a hold of herself, acknowledged, and left my side.

More red mages started rushing outside, but the numbers made no difference against Edith. It continued to be a one-sided massacre. Ice magic, wind, lightning, sound, whatever they threw at her, it did not matter. Because one, she can endure all attacks because of immortality, and two, she was too fast for them to land an attack on her anyway.

Her fighting style was mainly Taekwondo, which involves a lot of jump and spin kicks, and Muay Thai, which involved a lot of kneeing and elbowing. But situationally, she would switch her combat style to stay on top. When the red mages grew numerous and surrounded her, disallowing her to move freely, she initiated her third combat phase. She used her fire magic to burn them out of her personal space. It wasn't pretty at all. At her level, fire magic when used as an offensive attack is in the form of a blue flame, which represents its high temperature. So, I'm not exaggerating when I say that some of the red mages got a literal hole burnt through them, with their melted internal organs dripping outside.

Despite all this, she was still significantly handicapped. If you think about it, the literal fire in her eyes is not only impractical, but it also severely obstructs her vision. And since fire is burning all around her, isolating surrounding sounds is also tricky. She was fighting purely on instincts. I don't know if it's because of that, but she was not letting anyone through for me to take care of. A little disappointing.

Less than 10 minutes had passed, and there was Edith, standing in all her fiery glory, while 9 red mages crouched before her, helpless. Their comrades, either injured beyond saving or straight up dead, were laying all around them totaling 23. The smell of burnt human flesh overwhelmed the smell of the wasteland. It seemed like all of the red mages within the warehouse was now outside—

"What the hell is going on here?" the loud voice of the sick bastard questioned with a nasty and confused frown.

Seeing him there was a surprise for me, but also a great pleasure. After 10 days, I had forgotten about my desire to make this guy suffer for decapitating my companion. Insignificant as it may be, this frozen timeline was favoring me for once. How wonderful.

Edith turned to look at him, but before she could make a move and end him instantly, I stopped her. "Leave him to me." My coat tails flapped in the wind as I made my way towards him. My skin and eyes glowed with the light from all the fire to my left.

"Who do you think you are, clown?" he arrogantly used his slash magic against me. I had already seen that skill before and knew its effects, so it was nullified by the virus. "Oh? Are you wearing enchantments to protect you, little bitch? Go run home to your mama, I don't even want to bother hurting you."

Let's take a moment to realize that this guy was inside that warehouse for 10 minutes while his companions were being massacred. That's how preoccupied he was, satisfying himself over the little boy's agony. He didn't even realize something was wrong until now. Add on top of that, poisonous levels of arrogance in my presence. He truly is the most despicable scumbag I've met in this world so far.

I gripped the apple in my hand, and proceeded to release my mana into it— "Huh?" I heard a faint sound of bone cracking, a solid attack landing on a body. And in front of my face, for a split second, I saw the wings made of flames, and then gone.

I looked to my right and saw Edith crash-falling on the ground with the momentum still rolling her away in an unsightly manner. The flames that enveloped her extinguished, and blood dripped from her nose and mouth. With a frown, I looked to my left and almost said, what the fuck.

> Level: 2587

> Mana Capacity: 5700000

> Mana Control: S+

> Skillset: Immortality (Complexity - S) ; Cause & Effect (Complexity - S)

> Character Trait: Loyal, Cunning

> State of Mind: Interested

It was not Edith or Devon. It was a blond man whom I had never seen before, wearing a white & gold cloak over a matching set of formal clothing. He approached me with a frown.

"That's not possible," I mumbled to myself.