He’d ripped a wall-mounted candlestick free with inhuman strength. The noble who’d finally drawn blood tossed his head back and laughed.
“Kyah!”
“What on earth is happening?!”
“Get away!”
A circle formed around the violently transformed noble.
Fortunately, only one person so far seemed intent on killing. He was the one who’d buried his nose in a flowerpot, claiming he liked the scent.
“Isn’t there any healer here?!”
People began searching for mages. Pale with shock, Jeril pushed through the crowd. Karon and members of the Order followed close behind.
[Karma: +1]
[Karma: 35]
The head of the noble holding the silver candlestick, dripping blood, shone eerily. The karma value had increased. It was the natural consequence of having harmed others.
‘I should knock him out instead.’
Jeril’s gaze met Karon’s. Having heard the whole story while running, Karon brought the flat of his blade down on the neck of the noble who was about to swing the candlestick again. Silence fell instantly.
“Your Grace…!”
“Right, Duke Lepert is here!”
“Your Highness, where did the Emperor go?”
Ignoring all the commotion, Karon looked back at Jeril.
“We need to isolate people before it gets worse. Is there anywhere in the palace suitable for that?”
“No. We have to go outside.”
One member of the Order moved to open the ballroom doors. Or rather, to try to.
“It’s stuck!”
Even when people shoved, the ornate doors wouldn’t budge. Jeril’s face flushed with fury. This was deliberate.
Now she realized: what happened in the Mekel region had been an experiment.
“The real target was the capital.”
…How could it be so easy? Could people really be slaughtered this simply?
“Move!”
A roar echoed. Karon had created an explosion. A reddish aura burst up from beneath the doors.
Chelsea joined in. Two enemy mages unleashed consecutive spells and the Imperial-crest-embossed doors began to crack.
Relief began to spread across the nobles’ faces.
“Kyah!”
“Let go of me!”
“Die!”
“Count, what are you doing?!”
“Please—!”
Hell had broken loose.
In the slow-motion blur of the scene, most nobles were glowing with madness. The situation had reversed. Now the only sane ones left were Jeril, Karon, and the Order members.
…Where’s Leon?
With panic on his face, Karon called for his younger brother.
[I’ll be at the entrance.]
“Leon!”
No reply. A creeping, old trauma wriggled up in Jeril’s mind.
“…No.”
Hearing her trembling voice, Karon raised his head. The gleam in his eyes was gone—black and dead. His heart gave a sick jolt.
…That look was new.
As he gathered himself and assessed the situation, he set off enemy-magic fireworks.
“Leon Rubian, come to where the sparks rose!”
The bombardment of near-explosive fireworks froze the crowd for a moment.
Cutting through the brief silence, a familiar voice called from afar.
“Hey, I’m here!”
In the chaos, Leon came running. Jeril grabbed him. Her trembling fingers cast a purification spell over him.
“What happened?”
“No time to explain. We have to get out—”
Bang! No sooner had she spoken than the doors were shattered.
Thanks to Karon being flung partway through, Chelsea had practically smashed the heavy doors on her own and was gasping for breath.
‘I was wondering where he’d gone all of a sudden.’
She didn’t like being tethered so close to her lifeline.
Stepping out of the ballroom, Jeril’s eyes were met by a blinding scene.
[Karma: +1]
[Karma: +5]
[Karma: +3]
[Karma: +8]
The karma score was climbing too quickly to count.
“Leon. Cast a barrier so people can’t get back in.”
Gasping for breath, Jeril requested it. A hazy wall rose from the ground and everyone breathed a temporary sigh of relief.
A noble wearing a stunned expression dashed toward them from the garden.
“What—the same thing here too…?”
Jeril grabbed his arm to evacuate him, but his words grated on her.
“What do you mean it’s like this here too? What do you mean exactly?”
“Uh, I’m Viscount Melkier…”
“I don’t care about your title—what do you mean?! Outside too…?”
At Jeril’s cry he nodded frantically.
“Y-yes. Suddenly blue spots appeared and people started acting like monsters…”
“……”
“I ran thinking I should tell the palace, but what is this?”
All eyes turned to him. The viscount, seeing the bloodied and exhausted faces of those gathered, just rolled his eyes.
As Jeril mulled over the viscount’s words, the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth.
‘It’s not limited to the banquet hall.’
…The whole capital might be in this chaos.
‘Are they really trying to kill everyone? Are they insane?’
Jeril racked her brain urgently. There had to be a solution.
“Rubian!”
Tearing through a gap in the still-unfinished barrier, a man hurled a shard of glass that narrowly missed Jeril. A bullet from Karon struck the shoulder of the man who had been charging with a broken wine glass.
Karon flung the staggering figure back into the ballroom and asked,
“What are you thinking?”
“…How to fix this situation.”
“I don’t know the solution, but it definitely started from the dirt in the flowerpots.”
“The soil?”
“The smell gave me a headache. At first I thought it was a simple poison, but over time I heard voices in my head.”
“You mean the soil caused the madness?”
Shevi, who had been listening, opened a pouch and took something out. It was soil reeking of a foul odor.
“I was going to take it for analysis.”
“Jeril, can’t you cast wide-area purification magic on people?”
Chelsea asked as Jeril clutched the soil and attempted a cleansing. Jeril shook her head and showed what was in her hand.
“Look. The stench has weakened.”
“Then isn’t that enough?”
“It’s weaker, but it hasn’t disappeared.”
“…This isn’t something normal magic can fix.”
Jeril nodded and bit her lip. It meant a stronger-dimensional purification was needed.
‘But…’
Sensing Jeril’s hesitation, Leon stepped close.
“No. You could die.”
“If we do nothing, we die anyway.”
“You’ve never used it before.”
“I haven’t used it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t.”
“Then why haven’t you used it? Because it strains your body. How is that different from being unable to use it?”
Blue magic’s purifying arts are broadly two kinds: healing and purification. Healing restores visible wounds; purification restores contaminated things to their original state.
Jeril was thinking of attempting a purification using blue magic.
“I’m against it.”
Leon frowned, remembering how as a child he’d tried blue purification without knowing what he was doing and ended up sick for a week. Jeril lightly tapped his disgruntled head.
“You can object all you want.”
“You…!”
“Shevi. I need a favor.”
To succeed, they needed others’ help. It was impossible to cast purification on everyone in the capital.
“Break all the windows in the palace.”
“Understood.”
There was no hesitation—an indication of absolute trust in Jeril.
She addressed the rest. This was the real problem now.
“…Who climbed onto their roof as a kid?”
Fortunately, someone could use levitation magic.
From the top of the palace, the capital looked like chaos.
Karon grabbed Jeril’s swaying waist and muttered,
“There’s no separate hell.”
The blue mage’s sensitive senses picked up the smell of blood carried on the wind. Jeril’s face hardened and she looked up at the sky.
‘Clouds are heavy.’
One condition had been met.
“Kal, can you see where the water mains run?”
“I can. Should I blow them?”
“Yes.”
He had an inkling of Jeril’s plan. With a gesture from Karon, explosions rang out across the city. Violent enemy magic ran rampant through the streets. Water mains at various points collapsed and jets of water shot up.
Leon said, paler than before,
“If this keeps up, there’ll be a flood.”
“That’s the point.”
Before long the water was up to people’s calves. Jeril scanned the crowd and spoke to Karon and Chelsea.
“We need to heat the ground so the water turns to steam. Can you do it?”
“Theoretically, yes.”
“Burn the ground from the inside.”
“Good. Start now. Leon, help them.”
Feeling the hot aura rising, Jeril took her position.
…She intended to bring rain.
Rain infused with blue purification magic.
