Possessing Nothing

Arbeth, who was working on the magic circle, felt the fluctuations of mana that vibrated in the air.

Realizing that this huge fluctuation in the mana wasn’t coming from the magic circle, he trembled slightly. He raised his gaze and focused his mana into his eyes, as he couldn’t believe what he saw.

“It wasn’t a rat…”, he raised his hands, muttering the words.

Arbeth took his hands and pointed at the circle murmuring a spell. The spell was to make sure the circle would be completed properly and gather mana and fear without him having to directly work on it as he had to prepare himself for the incoming opponent.

“Stand in the middle.”, Arbeth commanded Aine.

As Aine was currently imprinted with the seal of obedience, she nodded her head emotionlessly and stood in the middle of the magic circle, as instructed.

As she walked over and stood in the center of the magic circle, Arbeth cast another barrier spell that was amplified to be stronger than most as he needed to protect both Aine and the magic circle in case problems arose.

Even after casting the barrier spell, Arbeth continued to work on the magic circle as much as he could before the opponent came. Although this was the first time since becoming an Arch Lich, that he felt a presence of another Wizard of his caliber approaching him, he stayed focused on getting the magic circle done.

The most important part of the circle was the pre-preparation and he had already completed it. All he was doing now was hastening the process.

The reason Arbeth chose the location of the magic circle to be in the central square of the city was because of the ambient mana that surrounded it.

He looked pleasedly at the black, spherical barrier surrounding Aine and the magic circle and raised his finger to touch the sphere.

A tiny black dot from the sphere touched the surface of Arbeth’s finger and was absorbed into his body.

“It connected…”, Arbeth grinned devilishly and muttered to himself.

What happened was that the mana between him and the circle was connected to each other and he could access the mana of the city now.

Arbeth briefly wondered if he really had to go this far.

The sheer amount of mana that Arbeth had in his mana pool that was collected over hundreds of years, was so vast he didn’t have to ever worry about running out of mana in a battle.

But he had time anyways before the unknown wizard approached, so it was better to just be safe in case something went awry. There was nothing wrong in being prepared when it came to fights between fellow wizards.

However, Arbeth didn’t just stop there and continued to prepare himself appropriately.

Arbeth darted his lips in succession and murmured a spell. It was a spell that expanded his mana to encapsulate and mark an area as his ‘territory’.

There were two major things one needed to be wary of, when fighting wizards.

One, do not ever enter a wizard’s territory. And two, don’t give a wizard time.

Arbeth was simply checking off the boxes in preparations as the spell he cast was to set up his ‘territory’, giving him a great advantage.

He also had a hunch, guessing the identity of the Wizard approaching him. He thought it was probably a Tower Master.

Not far away, Envirus lowered himself from the levitation magic and noticed the presence of Arbeth’s large mana fluctuations.

Envirus noticed the fluctuation of magic and thought of the only person who could reach that kind of level as a Dark Wizard.

No, he was sure of who it was.

Envirus was inwardly convinced that it was him. The two-faced wizard who gave up his humanity hundreds of years ago to become an Arch Lich.

“Arbeth.”, Envirus muttered the name to himself in a low voice.

Arbeth would not know the identity of Envirus. It was only natural since Envirus had thrown away his old identity and withdrew himself from the world a long time ago to escape the boundaries of fate.

But there was no need for that now, as Envirus had met Lee Sungmin, a man whose destiny was so strong it drew him back into the world’s flow of fate.

What Lee Sungmin possessed was not a destiny that encapsulated one individual in the flow of fate, but his very existence had such a strong impact that it could change and alter the flow entirely for every being he came across.

The fate of the entire world was tangled with Lee Sungmin’s existence.

Envirus eventually approached him after hesitating for several years, but he didn’t regret the decision.

In the end, no mortal would know the flow of fate from here on out. There was no need to have worries or trivial questions when it came to the overwhelming existence Lee Sungmin had in the realm of fate.

For a moment, Envirus hesitated. He was questioning whether even his very movements and actions right now were something to be predetermined.

‘Is this my destiny?’ Envirus chuckled with a saddened expression at the thought.

“Laplace.”, Envirus muttered as his expression loosened.

A shadow from under his feet expanded and a man materialized out of the shadow.

The man who appeared looked like every other broker from Erebrisa, but he fundamentally had a different presence than Neville or any other broker.

Laplace stood there for a moment and raised his lowered head as his gaze met Envirus.

[You called me.], Laplace opened his mouth and continued to speak.

[To obtain what you entrusted us to hold onto for you, correct?], he spoke emotionlessly.

“Yes.”, Envirus replied stoically.

[Do you know what that means?], Laplace put a hand over his mouth trying to contain his laughter from spilling out.

Envirus nodded slowly.

A long time ago, Envirus had met with the mysterious group known as Erebrisa.

Not the brokers, but those who created Erebrisa itself. Upon meeting them, Envirus did business with them.

[It’s been 100 years.], Laplace spoke as he spread his hands wide.

A white current of mana flowed out from the tips of Laplace’s fingers, and a dimly lit sphere floated over Laplace’s palm.

This orb was what Envirus had left to Erebrisa to hold on to for him 100 years ago. Envirus looked at the Laplace confusedly as he did not immediately hand over the orb.

[Do you know what it means to get this back?], Laplace asked Envirus examining his expression.

“I do.”, Envirus nodded in reply.

[I don’t understand you. All that trouble you went through to escape the flow of fate, and yet you still want this back, knowing what will happen?.], Laplace spoke seemingly in a mocking tone.

“That’s correct.”, Envirus responded in a tired voice, preparing himself for Laplace’s endless talking again.

[You should know this deal was a ridiculous request in the first place. At the time, the Queen of Spirits asked us directly, so we accepted it warily. However……I don’t make these kinds of deals anymore and that goes for all of Erebrisa, so don’t plan on asking again if you change your mind in the future.], Laplace spoke in an irritated tone, recalling the reckless deal he made in the past with Envirus.

“I know that, as well.”, Envirus let out a sigh expressing he wanted to be done with this talk, and Laplace shut up.

Laplace slowly floated the sphere towards Envirus’ open hands.

[You must have given up your tirade, huh?], Laplace asked in an informal tone of speech.

“It’s because I couldn’t help it.”, Envirus responded as well in a casual voice.

Envirus opened his mouth wide and then he stuck the sphere in his mouth. Laplace shook his head, clicking his tongue.

[I don’t know if I’ll see you again, so don’t die. If you do, the Queen of Spirits will be sad.], Laplace disappeared, leaving the words behind.

The light emanating from the sphere also disappeared as Envirus swallowed it whole.

It was none other than part of his soul that Envirus left with Erebrisa’s founders. This was the only method Envirus could safely escape the flow of fate and it wasn’t easy to hide himself even with giving up part of his soul. He had to withdraw himself from all society and use a different identity for the few that knew him.

But now, that life of seclusion was no more, thus he had no need to keep his soul with Erebrisa any longer.

After meeting Lee Sungmin, Envirus albeit hesitantly, decided to pick himself back up and come back into the world of Eria from seclusion.

That long period of time that he built up while staying away from society and escaping the flow of fate, was what resulted in having the law of causality so distorted when it came to his existence.

‘There’s not much time left.’, Envirus thought as he merged his split soul back together.

There was a faint trace of emotion that finally appeared on Envirus’ stoic face.

Envirus looked down at the wand he held in his hand and realized there was no need for the phony piece of wood anymore.

Envirus took the wand in both of his hands and broke it.

An enormous amount of mana poured out of the broken wand that had been stored inside it and returned into Envirus’ body.

It had been 100 years since Envirus last felt his true power. He titled his head up towards the sky with complicated eyes.

The fate, which Envirus was trying so hard to escape, was a torturous death.

‘One day for sure.’, Envirus thought to himself with the complicated emotions.

Every human knows they have to die at some point as long as they are alive. But, knowing your own death and when you’ll die was not something that was easy to handle for anybody.

That was the case for Envirus as well.

Leaving part of his soul and escaping that flow of fate, was Envirus’ last resort in escaping that fate, but it came with a price.

It meant losing all the mana and magical prowess that he had built over the years slowly.

During that time of 100 years, Envirus had to relearn magic from scratch. In the past he was at the level of Henemy, The King of Monsters, and the Head of Predator.

‘Not quite there yet, I’m sure. But… it will come back slowly’, Envirus thought to himself with a bitter smile.

What he was thinking of, was the fate that he tried so desperately to escape. He was going to die eventually no matter what.

“……That’s not possible!”, Arbeth suddenly paled and jerked his head at the massive influx of mana coming from the direction of Envirus.

The opponent wasn’t yet visible, but Arbeth was feeling certain. Until a while ago, the presence that was approaching here was not that powerful, it was strong compared to the standards of Eria, but to Arbeth it wasn’t something he was too worried about.

It seemed enough to be at the level of an Archmage, but this was a completely different level of existence.

He did not know what suddenly just happened to cause this massive influx of mana, but one thing was for sure, it was a level that was currently higher than Arbeth.

It was completely unbelievable.

None of the wizards in all of Eria were stronger than Arbeth till now, that goes for even the wizards who had given up their humanity to live longer under the context of conditional immortality like a Lich.

Arbeth boasted about being a Tower Master in the past as no more than childsplay in front of this existence.

‘No way.’,

Thinking of who could possibly be the person coming, Arbeth’s face contorted with unease. There was only one person who could possibly be at this level, but even then they weren’t at this level.

However, it had been 100 years since the person he was thinking of had completely disappeared from all of Eria and was presumed to be dead.

But now this person was showing up? Of all times?

Arbeth could not understand what was happening, but hastily finished his remaining preparations.

If the opponent was really him, Arbeth had to be prepared for the worst of all outcomes.

Arbeth’s prediction was correct.

Arbeth narrowed his eyes when he saw Envirus approaching the square.

Arbeth smiled, his teeth curving up to the corners of his mouth, half in excitement, half in nervousness. It was different from the face from the one Arbeth remembered, but 100 years had passed, so he could understand that much.

But even though his face had changed, Arbeth could immediately recognize it.

It was because of the unique tattoos on both of Envirus’ arms.

“Cain…”, Arbeth muttered with a devilish grin.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been called that.”, Envirus replied in a low tone.

The name Cain was the identity of Envirus prior to the deal he made with Erebrisa, helping him seclude himself.

Envirus looked at Arbeth with a bitter smile. As he thought, it was Arbeth, one of Predator’s 5 elders and the leader of the Undead Monster Faction within Predator, who was here.

The tattoos on Envirus’ arms began to wriggle and writhe around.

“What the hell are you doing here?”, Envirus asked Arbeth with more emotion than he had ever shown in 100 years, although it still wasn’t much.

“And what the hell have you been doing for 100 years?”, Arbeth quipped back.

They asked each other different questions but neither of them had any intention of answering each other. They were pointless questions in the first place.

Arbeth immediately attacked. The magic that he had prepared prior launched itself at Envirus.

Originally, one needed to cast a spell through a magic circle and a chant, but the chant was omitted due to the preparations.

Quaaaaaa!

A black flame struck out at Envirus. The spell was known as ‘Hellfire’, a fire that did not stop burning until the mana of the caster ran out.

As Arbeth did not need a chant, it was the same for Envirus.

Having regained his memories and mana he once had as Cain, the wizard who stood atop all wizards in the pursuit of the pinnacle in magic.

Envirus moved back to dodge the flame and extended his hand at Arbeth with his palms facing outwards. A black geometric tattoo wriggled from Envirus’ left forearm.

It wasn’t just a simple tattoo. A small list of countless runic characters were engraved on his skin that flew out and formed a magic circle.

A white barrier was created through Envirus’ magic. Slowing the flame’s procession with the barrier, Envirus turned the index finger of his right hand, which stretched out and pointed towards Arbeth

The chilling fog came out of his finger and wrapped itself around Envirus.

Pavavabak!

Hundreds of small needle-like ice arrows appeared and collided with the flame.

Arbeth didn’t get cocky and waited patiently for the vapor of the collision to disperse. The flame, which had been blocked by the shroud of fog, spreaded to the side and vaporized all the ice arrows.

Without stopping there, Arbes changed the shape of the black flame.

Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The earth shook and the ground cracked beneath the visible surface as an earthquake occurred. The ground cracked open, and tens of black vines sprouted from the ground.

Vines full of poisonous thorns tried to wrap themselves around Envirus’ body.

There was no chant whatsoever from Envirus.

Among the many talented wizards in Eria, this was a specialty that only Cain could pull off.

Although it could not match the strength and power of the Dragon’s language of chanting, Cain was the only one who could perform magic without a chant among all wizards that existed in history up to date.

It was possible because of the runic tattoos on his arms. All the runic characters in the Wizard’s language were inscribed onto his body, allowing him to come up with any combination of chants needed silently.

When Cain entrusted part of his soul to Erebrisa, this specialty of his was lost.

Only

Instead of it, he used a wand containing the mana he had obtained through countless years as Cain, and relearned all the spells he knew back then as ‘Envirus’.

However, ‘Cain’ and ‘Envirus’ abilities were completely different. Cain moved his hand without any unnatural movements.

Parsasak!

The vines, which were about to tie him up and constrict him with poison, were crushed apart and shredded to pieces.