✦ Chapter 89 – The Punishment (6) ✦
「Translator – Creator」
𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝
“…………!”
Teddy Divine gulped, her throat bobbing.
Ezekiel had ordered her to take her own life.
It was a demand that forced her to acknowledge her guilt, her insignificance, while simultaneously elevating the authority of the Imperial Magic Towers.
Could there be anything more shameful?
Teddy Divine, the Black Tower Master, had moments ago worn a confident smirk. Now, her face was slick with sweat, her composure shattered.
Still kneeling, she scooted back, her fear palpable; the once haughty Black Tower Master had become a pathetic, groveling mess.
“I was mistaken! I got it all wrong! Please, just give me another chance! We’re a Magic Tower too. We would never do anything truly evil!”
Her eyes darted around frantically, searching Ezekiel’s face for any sign of leniency, desperately seeking an escape from this predicament.
But the Inspector’s expression remained impassive.
“…N-No!”
She desperately glanced at the spectators, but a wave of despair washed over her.
There was no one to come to her aid.
No one to defend her.
This was the consequence of her actions, the price she had to pay.
Teddy Divine clasped her hands together, rubbing them together in a pathetic display of supplication.
“…The Black Tower has been oppressed for far too long. We needed results, achievements, to prove our worth, to ensure we weren’t left behind! We had no choice but to turn to… to research on the deceased! Right?”
“You call that an excuse?” Ezekiel scoffed.
“Previous Black Tower Masters achieved great things without crossing the line. You were simply too greedy.”
“Please, I beg you! Spare my life! Surely, even with the Imperial Magic Tower’s authority, you can’t… you shouldn’t… ”
She pointed a trembling finger at Ezekiel, her pathetic expression twisting into one of anger.
“You… You… Inspector…!”
Tears welled up in her fear-filled eyes.
“If you kill all these innocent Black Tower mages, you’ll be cursed! You know why? Because I… I will curse you, even in death! I’ll haunt you as a ghost, I’ll use necromancy to torment you!”
Suddenly, her anger dissipated, replaced by desperation.
Dragging her impaled leg, she crawled towards Ezekiel’s feet, clutching his calf.
“No, no! Please, Inspector! Imperial Magic Tower Inspector! Please, have mercy!”
“I was foolish and arrogant! I’ve lost my mind! Inspector! Please, I don’t ask for anything else… Just spare my life…!”
Desperation, a primal fear of death, filled her voice.
“You’re an Inspector! You can’t just ignore a Magic Tower in need! There’s no Tower more pitiful than the Black Tower! None!”
However, Ezekiel’s expression remained cold, unmoved.
Was it because of this unyielding demeanor that Teddy’s desperation escalated, her voice growing louder?
“Inspector! I’ll become a slave to the Imperial Magic Tower! I’ll do anything you ask, anything but die! I can still be of use to you…!”
Ezekiel didn’t respond.
Instead, he pressed his other foot onto her head, pushing her down, grinding her into the floor like a bug.
“Ugh…!”
He nudged the ice spear towards her with his foot.
Clang—!
The metallic sound resonated through the hall, a clear and chilling messag — pick it up and end your own life.
“There are no exceptions, no second chances. Haven’t I made that clear?”
“………….”
Tears streamed down Teddy’s face, her expression a mixture of despair and disbelief.
“How could this…”.
Her trembling hand flew to her face.
“How… how could this be happening…?”
She dug her nails into her cheeks, drawing blood, leaving deep, red welts.
“I’m begging you, laying everything down, and you still want me to die! How could you…? How could you?!”
Suddenly, she went silent, her hand falling limply to her side.
The Black Tower Master was no longer crying, no longer whimpering.
She simply stared at the floor, her eyes vacant, hollow.
“…Fine.”
She slowly raised her head, her eyes devoid of emotion, their gaze fixed on Ezekiel at an unnatural angle.
“If you’re determined to kill me, then so be it…”
Rumble—!
At that moment, corpses began pouring out from the walls of the Tower, their mana cores spewing dark mana that Teddy absorbed into her own body. It was a terrifying spectacle, the speed and intensity of the absorption beyond anything she’d ever attempted before.
Gulp—! Gulp—!
Her body contorted, unable to contain the immense influx of power. Dark veins bulged beneath her skin, her muscles twitching spasmodically.
“Gasp…! Pant…! Gasp…! Hehehe—!”
A twisted smile spread across her face. Her eyes rolled back, completely white.
“Grooo—! Raaaaaaagh—!”
She roared, a torrent of black mana erupting from her body.
And the world around Ezekiel transformed.
.
.
.
.
.
”………….”
Ezekiel quietly surveyed his surroundings.
The exchange meeting hall had vanished, replaced by something… different.
He stood on a vast stage, concealed by a heavy curtain. Tiered seating rose before him, a single spotlight illuminating the curtain. It resembled a grand opera house.
In this sudden and strange opera house, there were only two occupants—
—Just Ezekiel and Teddy Divine.
‘It’s illusion magic.’
Easily, he assessed the situation. It appeared that Teddy had cast an illusion on Ezekiel in a final act of desperation.
Shhhhk—!
The curtain was drawn back, and the lights illuminated the stage.
At the center of the stage, under the spotlight, stood Teddy, gracefully posed. She was dressed extravagantly, much like an opera diva, complete with a flowing dress and a wide-brimmed hat.
She slowly opened her eyes.
“Who would have thought it would be like this… To absorb the mana cores of the corpses collected over ten years is so exhilarating? I can feel such immense power, almost too much to bear….”
A melting expression, as if reaching an apex of sensation, spread across her face.
“…At this moment, I am finally complete!”
Her gaze turned towards Ezekiel, intense, almost manic.
“Inspector, have you heard of the term ‘Transcendent Realm’?”
The Transcendent Realm, a state of being visible only to those who had reached the pinnacle of magical power; it was the unique, profound secret technique, the ultimate expression of a mage’s power, attained only after reaching the peak of their abilities.
“Thanks to you, pushing me to the brink of death, I was able to absorb all of them! A proper thank you is in order! This is the true secret of the Black Tower!”
Snap—!
Teddy snapped her fingers.
Growl—! Growl—! Growl—!
At the same time, corpses began to appear from all directions, shuffling towards them. It was an illusion, so their numbers were practically infinite.
“This is my Transcendent Realm,” Teddy declared, placing one hand on her chest and raising the other towards the ceiling, as if she were about to conduct an orchestra. “Consider yourself lucky. You have front-row seats to my premiere.”
Groooaaaaar—!
The horde of corpses surged forward like a tidal wave.
However, Ezekiel’s reaction remained indifferent.
“Quite the audience you have.”
He murmured quietly as he formed ice in thin air, its shape almost rivaling the theatre’s ceiling—a giant bell.
In the next instant, Ezekiel channeled his mana, gathering all his strength, and slammed his fist into the ice bell. The timing was perfect; the horde of corpses had just leaped into the air, mere inches away.
DONG—
The ice bell resonated with a deafening sound; the shockwave was so powerful that it visibly rippled through space, sweeping across the area in an instant.
“Groan…”
“Huh…?”
And that was it.
Every single corpse collapsed, like puppets with their strings cut; the only sound that filled the vast opera house was the thud of bodies hitting the floor.
But it wasn’t just the corpses that were affected.
The illusionary space itself began to crack and crumble, like a shattered mirror, pieces of the fabricated reality breaking off, dissolving into nothingness.
Teddy’s grand illusion, fueled by the very essence of her being, was falling apart, completely and utterly undone by a single, devastating blow.
“…What…?”
Teddy’s face contorted in disbelief.
“This… This can’t be…” she stammered, unable to comprehend what had just transpired.
“Ten years… Ten years’ worth of corpses… Ten years of preparation… Why…?”
With a flick, Ezekiel kicked up an ice spear from the ground.
Whoosh—!
And the next moment…
Thud—!
…it impaled Teddy’s throat with a clear purpose.
The Black Tower Master was now dead.
Her head, severed cleanly from her body, rolled across the stage, her eyes still wide with shock, unable to grasp the suddenness of her demise.
Ezekiel stood over her corpse, his voice a low, chilling whisper.
“Your performance seemed to be rather dull,” he said.
“The audience has fallen asleep, and none seem to be waking up.”