Ascension Of The Failed Mage

"Now then... shall we get started?" Noir whispered, drawing closer.

'No... not like this. I can't let it end like this!' The shady man desperately thought to himself.

If he was fated to die, unable to do anything about it, there was no use clinging to his life in such a miserable way.

'If I'm going to go out, I'm taking you with me!' He growled.

Instantly, a bright light began to radiate from within the man, causing him to throb violently in Noir's grasp.

"This is... to think you had something else up your sleeve..." Noir spoke in astonishment.

The man quickly gripped Noir tightly, ensuring he had no leeway to escape. His body was injured, and his pummeled face was barely recognizable from the way he looked in the past.

"You're going down with me!" He called, giving a maddening laugh as the light emanating from him shone even brighter.

In a moment, he would explode.

"... [Null]," Noir whispered.

Immediately, the bright light vanished.

"W-wha—?!" The shady man let out in shock.

His last resort, a method in which he would destroy his opponent through the sacrifice of his life, had failed.

Even though he had lost, he always assumed he could just end Noir if he wanted to, as long as he forfeited his own life. But, to think that also wasn't an option.

"So, you were relying on this? Pathetic. Do you have any other tricks to show me?"

The shady man shuddered at the scary sight Noir was displaying. Was this really the end?

"Don't worry... I won't let you die. At least not until I have received everything I can from you... even to the tiniest detail."

"Eeek!" He squeaked.

His man finally gave up. There was no other truck he had up his sleeve.

"This Tier 9 barrier, by making my own version, I altered its functions. No one will be able to interrupt us here. So, just hang on. You won't be able to escape, anyway." Noir smiled, standing up.

The shady man didn't even think to escape. His shivering body merely remained stuck in its position. Trauma was written all over his face, as he mumbled some unintelligible words through his bloodied mouth.

Tears fell, mixing with the red hue that dyed his face. Nothing was left for him, but an expectation of despair.

Noir moved away from him, returning to Ciara's side.

The dark gleam in his eye was already gone, replaced by his usual stoic and calm expression.

"It's over. Are you still feeling bad?" He asked.

Ciara truthfully didn't know how to answer the question. Noir was a different person now, but just moments ago he was truly a monster... just like she had been!

Ciara remembered how she too had exhibited traits of dominance and mercilessly dealt with her opponents.

Seeing the same with Noir now, she felt somewhat scared, and at the same time relieved.

She wasn't alone in her frenzy, at the very least... Noir was the same.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine. Thank you." Ciara muttered in response, slowly rising as she took Noir's outstretched arm.

She grunted as he pulled her up, allowing her to find balance in his arms.

"It's alright now." He added.

Ciara wondered who he was truly talking to. Her... or himself.

>BZZTZZZZZZ<

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound appeared, causing Noir and Ciara to wince for a moment.

The glitchy noise emanated from the already defeated man's location, causing Noir's eyes to widen in surprise.

"He still had another trick up his sleeve?"

However, Noir's fleeting thought was proved to be false, as the shady man's expression was also that of shock.

He didn't know about the existence of the buzz, nor its origin.

"W-what is...?!" He slurred.

Noir instantly dashed away from Ciara, causing her to nearly lose balance, and rushed toward the shady man, who was already being enveloped in the glitch that had appeared.

"You're not getting away!" Noir said.

However, even with his speed, Noir was not fast enough to reach the shocked man before the glitch fully enveloped him.

'Shit!' Noir's head rang.

He noticed that the very air around the glitch dissipated the moment they touched it. Realizing that the same fate would befall him should he come into contact with it, Noir decided to avoid the strange phenomenon.

He quickly twisted his body while in pursuit and stopped midway.

Using the force he had already built up, he turned in the opposite direction and barely missed the glitch.

"Tch! I can't believe I made such a mistake!" Noir gritted his teeth, watching the glitchy phenomenon slowly disappear as suddenly as it appeared, and along with it, the man who was supposed to be captured.

Ciara was petrified, feeling a choking aura around her as soon as she saw the glitch. She couldn't understand how Noir was able to move under such pressure.

The feeling it gave off was more than even the Tier 9 magic surrounding them, it was deeper and more powerful.

"A magic higher than the 9th Tier... such a thing is possible?" Ciara whispered.

Realizing that there was nothing he could do about it, Noir moved back to Ciara. He had miscalculated, and that ended in his loss.

He didn't consider the possibility that the opponent, or whoever was backing him, had transcended the normal Tier level.

"So those are the opponents I'm up against...?"

"W-what was that?" Ciara stuttered.

Noir knew the explanation for the phenomenal Ciara just saw was very complicated, and it would be exhausting visiting such an issue, so he merely ignored her.

There were more important things to consider at the moment. He would have liked to discuss it with Ciara, but it didn't seem like she was in the right headspace for such a lengthy conversation.

'It appears I've finally been exposed. What should I do?'

**********

"Urarghhhkkk!!!" The shady man yelled, coughing little drops of blood as he came out of the mysterious glitch.

He was dropped on the hard, tiled ground, feeling the freezing embrace permeate his tired, bleeding body.

"U-uh...?" He mumbled, looking around him.

The location he appeared in had the look of an office. It was dark, making his vision slightly impaired. Due to the exhaustion he had received, he wasn't in the best of condition, so he strained himself to gather his senses.

"This... this is...?!" Suddenly recognizing where he was.

"Welcome back, you look like a mess." A deep voice cut in.

The wounded man's eyes bulged. He instantly knew who was speaking. Slowly, he recovered from the disoriented feeling he had after coming out of the glitch and everything slowly started making sense.

He was currently at the office of one of his acquaintances... they both worked for their boss... 'That Man'.

"You... you were the one who saved me...?" The shady man muttered, slowly rising from the ground as he took the seated position.

"Of course. I couldn't afford to let you leak valuable information to the enemy." He replied sternly

The shady man became upset. This was what pissed him off about the man who was seated behind his desk. He was always fond of looking down on him.

"I would never do that. I was even willing to die than say anything!"

The man who spoke suddenly stood from his seat, revealing his tall, limp stature.

"Then, why didn't you?"

His question made the wounded man hesitant to respond. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he couldn't... Noir had interfered and—

"In the end, you got yourself into a mess and your incompetence even caused you to fail in the basic task of taking your life. This is why I said you should be careful." The man continued.

"Yeah, I got it. I'm an incompetent idiot, right? It's easy for you to say... you weren't there. You didn't fight him." He groaned, still feeling the stinging pain left behind as an aftereffect of the battle.

"Oh? So you're saying he's that strong. He couldn't even capture you from the transportation spell I used. Do you really think he'll win against me?"

Suddenly, a strange pressure filled the whole room, sending the shady man trembling.

His body quaked violently, making him regret ever being defiant.

"Ahh... fine. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just stop!" He screamed.

The pressure didn't cease. It kept burdening the shady man, causing him to vomit even more blood.

"Urk! Why would you even save me when you were going to treat me like this?! You bastard!" The shady man shouted, falling to the ground with weakened limbs.

Suddenly, the pressure stopped. The whole room fell silent.

As he raised his head, the scared shady man saw the stern-faced person standing directly in front, harboring the same condescending gaze he hated.

"You must have misunderstood something... I didn't save you." The stern-faced man stated.

'W-what is he talking about?!' The shady man asked within himself.

"I merely prevented any information from being leaked from your end. It was something I couldn't afford to happen."

"T-then-"

Wasn't it practically the same thing?

"However, you've become a loose end, and as such... you need to be eliminated."