The Mage of Primordial Chaos

Chapter 516 – Lydia’s Tale

"Y-You… how did you find me…?" The old woman snarled, fingernails shaped like claws.

"That is none of your concern," I replied coldly, summoning my Chaos katana in one hand while still holding her up with the other. "You're a dead woman anyway."

"Heh… heheheheheh…" The woman laughed like a maniac. "You really think so…?"

I narrowed my eyes. "… What?"

"Look behind you, dumbass," she said with a crooked grin, and my eyes widened slightly as I felt a knife enter my back.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" The woman I was holding suddenly vanished into thin air, and from behind me, the real one laughed in smug triumph. "IDIOT! You really think I didn't notice you, huh?!"

But contrary to what she expected, I smirked.

"… Oh, no, I knew you noticed us already. I was just baiting out your real self."

"Wha-?!"

The woman froze mid-sentence as she noticed the sharp tip of the silver spear pointed at her neck, burning with ominous black and red energy. Behind her stood the wielder of the weapon—Mei Gui, eyes cold and charged with indignation.

"H-Heh… so what if I die? You're going down with me… my knife is already in your body! It has pierced your heart! My mission is complete! Lord X will finish what I started! You, and everyone who uses magic, shall perish with despair!"

"Oho… is that so?" I chuckled, and calmly walked out of her knife without any problem. There wasn't even a wound on my body, much less spilled blood or damage.

"W-W-Wha… Impossible… is that… the Water Empyrean's power?!"

"Yes… it is," I said, turning around to face her. "But in any case… your journey ends here. Any last words, before I send you to your grave?"

"…"

The old woman fell silent, stunned, and her expression was an empty one. Her eyes, originally wicked, now carried nothing but desperation. She had lost hope, and accepted her fate.

She collapsed onto the sand, and Mei Gui quickly followed with her spear so that it was always by the woman's neck, just to make sure she didn't try anything funny. But by the looks of it… it would seem the woman had truly given up.

"… I'm sorry… Diego… I'm sorry."

I narrowed my eyes. "Diego?"

"I'm sorry…" The woman suddenly began weeping loudly, and I blinked in surprise.

"H-Hey now…"

"WAHHH… I'M SORRY, DIEGO… I wasn't able to get revenge for you… my son… my son… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"… Tell me about your son," I said. "What happened?"

I didn't expect her to actually answer me, but to my surprise, she did. Perhaps it was due to her desperation and giving up, but she felt like actually opening up about her past—and I wasn't complaining. After all, she was about to die anyway. There was nothing to hide.

"Diego… was my son. He was an inventor."

I arched an eyebrow. "An inventor?"

"Yes… he was a genius. He made many Magic Artifacts. The one I tried to trap you with… that was one of them. His inventions were all incredible. They earned him prizes, fame, and recognition from experts in the field. My son… he was brilliant."

"Huh. Where is he now?"

"Where is he now… heheheh…" the old woman laughed softly, then snorted.

"… He's dead."

Silence.

I kind of expected things to turn out this way judging from her tone of voice and the way she spoke about her son, but to hear it put so bluntly was still… disturbing. But rather than sadness, the old woman's voice only held anger and hatred. All of her sadness was long gone, cried away with the tears she wept when she first received the news. Now, all that remained was a deep, dark fire of hate. But the question was… for what?

"… How did he die?"

But instead of answering my question directly, the old woman asked me a question right back.

"… What do you think my son's goal was in his research?"

"Goal…? Uh… I don't know. I thought he just invented because he liked doing it."

"… His goal was to invent an artifact that could keep a person alive forever."

So… like the Empyreans' power…?

"… Ambitious," I remarked, but the old woman shook her head.

"No… he wasn't. He didn't try to invent that for himself… he tried to invent it for me."

"What…"

"… When he was younger, he used to ask me," the old woman explained. "'What is your dream, mom?' And I would answer, 'the ability to live forever'. Any other kid would've just laughed it off and called that impossible. But Diego… you know what he responded with? He told me he would make an artifact that could let me live forever. I didn't believe him at first, of course. He was only six at the time. But he never gave up on that. He never thought of that as a mere joke. And one day… he succeeded. Only… when he tested it on me, it cost him his life."

"… How?" I muttered, utterly bewildered at this story.

"What my son made was not a free immortality-granting artifact. All it did… was transfer one's lifeforce to another. He forgot one of the founding principles of magic artifact invention—to output something, one must input an equal amount of energy to supplement the output process. If It wasn't for magic… if it didn't exist… my son never would've thought living forever to be possible. He never would've given his life for this accursed invention!"

So that's why she hates magic so much…

"But that doesn't mean magic is evil, does it?" I said, trying to convince her. "Your son was blinded by his own success and pride, and forgot one of the basic founding principles of the invention of Magic Artifacts."

"… Heh. So, it's my son's fault that he died? It's my son's own fault that he wanted to give his mother immortality?!"

"Well, that's…"

"Cut the bullcrap… if you're going to kill me, so be it. I have failed. But I promise you… soon, all magic will come to an end. ALL of it!"

"… I see. So, you're insistent to the bitter end. Very well."

Turning to Mei Gui, I gave a nod, and she swung her spear.

The process was quick and painless. The old woman's head rolled to a stop in the sand, and her body fell forward, blood gushing out of the stem of her neck. Her story was a painful one, but since she had used such a dirty tactic to try and kill us, I didn't bother burying her. So far, all I'm getting was magic had one way or another taken away a loved one from these Four Cardinals, but perhaps the remaining two would be different.

Was magic the true culprit for both of these incidents, though? Not exactly. In both this old woman's case and Daiki's, there were many ways to avoid the tragedies from ultimately happening. Magic is like any other tool—the tragedies and evils committed with it are to blame on the people involved, not magic itself.

Of course, my father's goal for erasing magic was different, but that was another story. Either way, I needed to prepare myself for tomorrow. We were going to be heading deep into the heart of an ex-volcano. It was now inactive, but it was dangerous all the same.

The remaining two Cardinals were also the more powerful ones—one of them was that buff-looking demon, and the other was a strong succubus by the looks of it. I only glanced at her briefly during the raid on Fragment, but I still remember the amount of power being exerted from her body.

After settling things with the old woman, Mei Gui and I teleported back home to the private beach. When the girls arrived, they were quite surprised to see us there before them, but after explaining how we used Space Magic, they understood.

After that, Qing Yue, Ling Xin, and Axilia made dinner, and we prepared to rest. As I closed my eyes, however, I ended up being pulled to the Infinite Realm—once again, against my will.

"… Dude. You really need to warn me before doing this," I muttered as the familiar clear blue sky and mirrored image beneath my feet came into view. Sylvoir's figure appeared in front of me, and I blinked at her.

"Now is not the time, Xuan Kai. I know this will sound repetitive to you, but… there is something important we must discuss."

"Hm? What is it?"

Sylvoir looked at the place where all the obelisks were, and I followed her gaze. To my surprise… there stood the fifteen other Founders, all gathered here together for this meeting. Now I was convinced. What was going to be discussed here… was truly important.

"… Go to your obelisk, Xuan Kai," Sylvoir said, and I obediently did as told. Once there, Sylvoir walked up to her own obelisk, and began the meeting.

"Apologies for the wait, everyone. However, I have gathered you all here today to alert you of alarming news I recently discovered from the Terron Records."

"Again?" Sino, the Dark Elf Founder, arched an eyebrow curiously. "What is it this time?"

"… It's the Hex," Sylvoir said darkly.. "They… are back."