Casey's attack was relentless. It was like watching a rainy season rain with no end in sight.
"Wow."
Even Passius was in awe of Casey's display of power.
The reputation of single-attribute elemental wizards was not for nothing. But it was Casey's mental and magical control over large amounts of water that was most impressive.
Louispold tried to resist with multi-attribute magic on several occasions, but he was no match for Casey's constant supply of water from the underground.
Realizing that this was no longer an option, Louispold formed a tortoise shell-like shield around his black magic. Each time the water bottlers struck the black shell, a clear "snap!" rang out.
"You think that's going to stop them?"
Casey sneered at Louispold and immediately changed her attack.
The normal-sized water spears began to gather in a circle and soon, a gigantic spear was formed.
The water spear had enormous mass and immense magic power. Even the water on the edges was flowing at a tremendous speed.
Seeing this, Louispold's eyes widened slightly.
Immediately afterward, the water spear dropped down onto his shield.
The water spear was unable to completely break the shell and slid down along the surface. However, its power was clearly demonstrated by the crunching sound of some parts of the shield breaking apart.
Louispold's expression hardened as he realized that his shield would break.
The next moment, several more of the same giant water spears fell.
How many swords of that mass could he handle?
While he inwardly admired Casey's strength, the thought that he could control water if he ate her was maddening.
His thoughts turned to hunger and greed, and he acted. Releasing his black magical shell, Louispold lunged at Casey.
He'd lost the battle of magical power at a distance, so he'd chosen a different tactic.
His experimentally transcendent body moved in a way that left an afterimage.
There was a certain calculation in his behavior. They didn't expect him to suddenly engage in close combat, and he planned to catch them off guard.
Louispold jumped over or ducked the streams of water that blocked his path as he approached Casey's position. But he soon realized something was wrong with Casey's unwavering gaze.
"You think I haven't been through this before?"
Casey fought enough melee enemies so she waited for Louispold to approach.
The space between them shimmered, and a thin curtain of water split open. Within it, hidden water soldiers, wielding spears and shields, surrounded him.
Louispold tried to struggle, but even his strongest body was no match for the volume of water.
His limbs were bound and he was stabbed through his heart but he still glared at Casey. His gaze was filled with hostility and greed for Casey's abilities.
Casey forced water into the creature's mouth.
"Cuck! Cuck! Gulp!"
Swallowing the water, Louispold let out his first scream.
The water inside his body had begun to boil. It even synchronized with the blood in his body, causing his entire body to boil.
"Kkkkkk! Khhhh!"
But Louispold's screams slowly faded, and a chuckle escaped his lips.
Casey clicked her tongue in annoyance at the sight.
Despite the extreme measures taken, Louispold hadn't died. If anything, he was resisting the pain and developing a tolerance for it.
Casey decided to change things up as the soldiers holding his body melted away and transformed into the form of a giant.
[KOOOOOO!]
The giant grabbed Louispold and slammed him into the ground but it didn't stop there as it grabbed Louispold again and smashed him through the wall, plunging him into the depths of the world.
The throbbing and crushing sensation in his body, coupled with the constant shifting of his vision, kept him awake as the water giant grabbed him with both hands and opened its mouth to swallow him whole.
The giant's form collapsed, transforming into a giant sphere of water. It was an ordinary sphere on the outside, but inside was a vortex of water.
It was as if a child had put a worm in a small vat and shook it around.
Louispold was repeatedly swept to and fro inside the water prison all the while, Casey's expression did not change.
Even though he should have been dead a hundred times over, he was still alive and well. In fact, he was getting stronger and stronger.
He wasn't even drowning since he had become a being that didn't even need oxygen to live.
As Casey wondered what to do, Rudger gave her the answer as immense coldness began to envelope the water prison.
The water in contact with the cold quickly froze and turned white. But the sphere was too big for Rudger to handle alone.
That's when Rotheron, Chris and the servant wizard joined him.
The three of them used cold magic, Belaruna threw in a reagent of cooling liquid while Veronica raised her aura and focused the cold into the water sphere.
The result was a massive icy prison, over fifty meters in diameter.
Louispold's body was trapped inside like a stuffed insect, unable to move. But no one was relieved.
Casey continued to draw up groundwater and add it to the top of the ice prison, while the others froze it, increasing its size.
If they couldn't kill him, they would keep him in this state forever.
It was then that Louispold's voice echoed through the ice.
"That was good."
His voice echoed in everyone's minds as if it were consuming the space, even though no matter what he shouted inside would never be heard.
"But my patience with you is over."
At the same time, black waves of energy erupted from within the giant icy sphere. It was the same attack that Andrei unleashed when he borrowed and used his demonic power.
As if waiting for it, the others responded by raising their magic and aura, they tried to resist the force as best they could. But Louispold's mental attack was far stronger than Andrei's.
The black waves seeped into the cracks of their minds, digging deeper and deeper. It came into contact with the negativity they'd been hiding, and explosively maximized it.
"What?"
Casey panicked at the sudden blackness of the landscape.
Where was Louispold? Where was everyone else?
At that moment, a figure appeared in front of her. Thinking it was an enemy, she readied herself for battle, then relaxed as she recognized her opponent.
"Grandpa, Virgie?"
A man she had admired since childhood. The man who had inspired her to become a detective, despite her talent, was right in front of her. But her grandfather was looking at her with none of his usual gentleness, just disgust.
"I'm disappointed in you Casey."
"What? Uh, why……."
"Why do you ask? Casey, I asked you to make this world more just."
"Yes, I did my best to……."
"Did you really do your best?"
"……."
Casey couldn't say anything in response to that.
The old man's gaze shifted to the side, and Casey naturally followed suit.
Rudger was there holding the body of a child in his arms, unable to shed a tear of grief.
Casey labeled him evil and chased after him.
"Did you really fight for justice?"
"Ah."
Casey sank to her knees and looked up at her grandfather with a trembling gaze.
The cold eyes staring back at her were not the grandfather she knew.
"I'm disappointed, Casey. I'm so disappointed in you. After all, you were nothing compared to your sister."
"Oh, no, I'm……!"
Just as Casey was about to shout, the old man's skin melted away like clay. His exposed white bones burst into flames and he grinned at Casey.
Casey turned and ran, her eyes unfocused.
"Why are you running? Are you trying to turn your back on the truth, just like you did before?"
A shout erupted from behind her but Casey ran and ran through the darkness as if she couldn't hear him.
When she stopped, out of breath, new people appeared in front of her. It was a little brother and sister.
The same slum kids who cheered after she defeated James Moriarty, and who looked at Casey with delight.
"Liar."
"Cheater."
The two kids spat out coldly, as if they felt betrayed by Casey's acts.
"Oh, no. I'm……."
Casey tried to make excuses, but the two kids were gone and the words that needed to be said were swallowed by the darkness with no destination.
"I'm……."
Casey's head hung low, the tip of a shoe in her vision.
She lifted her head and saw the man in front of her. He was the man who had once been James Moriarty and was now called Rudger Chelici.
He stared at Casey with his usual emotionless gaze. No, actually, the lack of emotion was an illusion. This was a man who, more than most, felt intense compassion for the suffering of others.
Rudger's eyes took on an entirely different look as she realized this. The inorganic pupils she had previously thought of as emotionless were now filled with pity, disappointment, and sadness.
"You didn't save anyone, after all."
The words crushed Casey's spirit.
* * *
Immediately, the ice sphere shattered, revealing Louispold, whose entire body was covered in black magic power.
"You're really no good."
Louispold muttered to himself as he looked at the stunned people on the ground.
Even Casey Selmore, who had been pushing him, had fallen asleep and the same was true of the two Masters, Passius and Trina.
Even so-called transcendents had their weaknesses. Their bodies might be strong, but their minds were far too weak and demonic powers excelled in that regard.
More than that, it was poisonous enough to be worthy of the name demon.
It was not a physical blow, but an attack that shook the opponent's mind, causing all sorts of negative delusions. Even a sixth-rank wizard with a solid mind could not be safe from it.
"Such praised powerhouses, yet they have such a weak mind."
Immense magic power, vast knowledge, and transcendent physical prowess crumbled before the power of the devil.
Louispold was both saddened and amused by the sight.
In his old life, he would have fought tooth and nail against just one of those men but look at him now.
He was victorious, and all the others had fallen to their knees but Louispold was not satisfied.
This was just the beginning. He would grow stronger and he would bring down the Empire and establish the new order he wanted to see in the world.
"To do that, I will need to absorb your power."
Louispold's gaze fell on Andrei.
Andrei was not knocked out by the waves since he was infused with the same demonic power but Andrei was not immune.
In the face of a stronger force, he too was affected by the waves.
To prove it, Andrei's complexion was pale and his eyes were dark with fatigue.
Louispold could sense the uneasy emotions radiating from him.
"It is sad and unfortunate. A father who had to watch his beloved daughter suffer and die from an incurable disease."
At the same time, he could see through the traumatic memories.
"If only I'd known, if only I'd found a cure, if only I'd pushed myself harder in medicine, but regret doesn't bring a dead daughter back to life."
"Shut up!"
"So, in the hope that no one else would suffer in the future, I decided to take a path that people would hate, because nothing is more important than saving lives, no matter how much you're reviled, even if the way you do it is, frankly, a little unseemly, even for us."
Louispold stepped up to Andrei's nose, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up.
"But it's over now. I'm going to drain you of all your power, and then I'm going to eat you up here, then I'm going to kill all of them, and you'll be glad you're not in the way."
Andrei's expression turned to despair.
Louispold pressed in, trying to absorb Andrei's power but at that moment, Louispold's expression turned grim.
"……."
Louispold squinted and looked back.
Where even the Masters had been stunned by the demonic power, a man stood unharmed.
"I'm surprised you didn't collapse under the circumstances."
Especially since he was the one who had annoyed him the most.
"You, the one who tried to kill me before I could open my eyes."
Rudger didn't answer. Instead, he glanced around at the unconscious people around him, then pulled something out of the inside pocket of his coat, it was a pipe.
Rudger struck a tiny spark from his index finger and lit the mouth of the pipe.
Rudger inhaled the poisonous herb and exhaled a puff of pure white smoke as Louispold watched the spectacle with interest.
He wondered why he was suddenly smoking, but this was no ordinary cigarette. The white smoke that flowed out of his mouth was a toxin that contained great energy.
"Are you going to have one last outburst before you die, when all your efforts have failed to kill me?"
Louispold sneered at Rudger, who was raising his power.
The human faces glued to his body laughed at him as well.
"I am now the ultimate wizard. I've swallowed up several wizards and have mastered all the elements, and you, a mere wizard, dare to challenge me?"
At that, Rudger took another drag from his pipe and blew out the smoke.
"You made the wrong choice in stunning the people in this room, for you have reduced the number of witnesses."
"What?"
"I am a teacher at Theon Academy and my job as a teacher is to teach the students."
A blue mist began to form around Rudger and at the same time, his eyes turned red but despite the change, Louispold didn't feel it was serious.
"Hah. You were a teacher?"
"Yes. That's why I'm here today to teach you a lesson."
Louispold sneered at Rudger.
"Really? I can't wait to hear what you have to teach me. Do you think you can teach me anything at your level?"
"Don't worry."
Rudger's eyes gleamed coldly.
"You'll soon see what real magic is."