/
Joshua quietly examined the Dark Sphere.
The Annihilation Dark Sphere operated by overwhelming attraction, crushing its victims’ entire bodies. Now that Jerath had been swallowed, there was no way out. The steadily disappearing demonic power made Jerath’s fate abundantly clear.
Unlike Joshua, who was feeling empty after how easily his revenge had gone, his servant’s battle raged on.
Their swords crashed and boomed every time they met.
Duke Altsma’s sword lived up to its nickname, Wolf Fang. Each blow was as arrogant as a wolf’s roar. Its mad, fierce power seemed to destroy everything around it, like an overlord crushing his enemies.
The other death knight—who Joshua thought was Kasselon—wielded his sword with honesty and integrity. Like its name, the Sun Sword, it was as if he was insisting that the sword should be wielded with precision and order. If it hadn’t been for the taint of demonic power, it would have been the epitome of nobility.
The Wild King used his sword to launch himself into a midair spin. Upon their seventh clash, his opponent capitalized on the momentum of the rebound and charged at the Wild King. Raising up his sword, the enemy death knight sent his sword through the Wild King’s right shoulder blade.
But the Wild King’s voice was unfazed.
The mortal wound wept black demonic power; it was a critical strike. Despite that, the enemy death knight did not stop there.
A shriek of abused metal assailed their ears as the enemy death knight pressed his sword deeper into the Wild King’s shoulder, seemingly determined to cut the latter’s arm right off.
Just then, the Wild King sounded out.
- Take it.
The sound of tearing flesh and severed bones accompanied a long flying object in the air. It was the Wild King’s left arm.
The Wild King had actually made the bold choice to sacrifice his flesh in order to cut into his opponent’s bone, all to end the battle sooner.
The sudden loss of his limb shifted the Wild King’s center of gravity. Instead of opposing it, however, he went along with the movement, twisting his hips and turning his thrust into a cut.
Thus, as soon as his feet touched the ground, the Wild King swung his sawtooth sword with all the might of his remaining arm, the blade biting into Kasselon’s waist.
No
he didn’t just cut into his opponent. He ripped the death knight in half.
The death knight’s upper half separated from his lower half with a sickening crunch of breaking bones.
The Wild King shook his sword, flinging the bifurcated body away. The body oozed demonic power, evidence of the black magic that had animated it.
- You are too righteous.
The Wild King muttered as he stared down at the enemy death knight. The death knight stared up with dimming red eyes.
- Kill me.
The words and the voice uttering them made Joshua’s eyes widen. It wasn’t Duke Altmsa that had spoken.
“No way—?”
- I just
 want to see how far my swordsmanship can go
 I want to find my mom
 I just left the Imperial Palace

“It really was Third Prince Kasselon!”
Joshua strode forward with newfound certainty.
The Third Prince’s life seemed to flash before his fading eyesight.
“No
!”
— Get started before it's too late.
“Huh?”
Joshua hesitated.
— You've done it before, right?
Joshua’s eyes widened even more. He didn’t need any more explanation from Lugia—he knew what he had to do.
“But he—”
— Are you gonna spew nonsense like “But he’s the prince”? Wake up. A death knight’s contract is a mutual agreement. If the other party does not have the determination to see through it to the end, the contract can never be established. In other words, he’s like this because he wanted to be.
Hearing Lugia’s words, Joshua turned to look at the Wild King. Duke Atlsma calmly nodded, unperturbed by the demonic energy leaking out of his body.
The Third Prince’s body languished on the ground until Joshua made up his mind and reached out his hand. Demonic power flowed like water from Joshua's fingertips, coalescing into a black ball of energy. It drew a unique mark that resembled a spear thrust through a full moon.
It was a new contract for a death knight.
“Are you willing to sign a contract with me? I can't promise you that I can fulfill all your wishes, but you can’t find the truth by destroying everything. I can tell you one thing, though.”
Joshua articulated his remaining words with determination, “I will give my all to help you.”
A strange light flashed through the death knight's eyes.
Words meant very different things depending on who said them. The speaker’s power had an immeasurable impact on the listener.
The feelings of the death knight—no, the feelings of Kasselon

Theft is never good, try looking at [ pawread dot com ].
- I’ll believe you.
The demonic power that was hovering above Kasselon suddenly surrounded him, but Joshua wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
Kasselon’s torn body was coming back together. But behind that, another figure was coming to view, no doubt conjured by the demonic power.
— This is what he was like when he was alive.
Was it because the figure was affected by demonic power? He looked to be about twenty years old with blond hair but eyes black as the abyss. Joshua was certain, just as Lugia said, that the figure was the death knight as he was in life.
It was the Third Prince, Kasselon.
Bronto's energy sparked in reaction. But before Joshua could even react to that, the reborn Kasselon dropped to a knee. He didn’t care that he had been a prince when he was still living.
- What do they call you?
“Joshua
 Joshua Sanders.”
Kasselon nodded.
- It's funny that I’m taking a knight's oath with this body, but

Kasselon quietly pressed his fist against his heart.
- As my new master, Joshua Sanders
 I will serve you forever.
Just as Kasselon finished speaking, Bronto’s energy slipped out of Joshua’s body and wrapped around the death knight.
Thunder roared.
****
“Damn
”
A foul word slipped out of the kneeling man’s mouth.
He was about thirty. He had a happy-go-lucky face and light green hair, but his good looks were bruised up. Blood dripped from the tip of his chin and ran down his neck to the ground, and his robe was dirtied all over.
Where was he anyway?
The staff, his symbol as a mage, gifted to him by the Tower Master on his tenth birthday, worth thousands of gold, was lying on the floor in pieces. His two colleagues, one man and one woman, were also lying on the floor, unconscious.
Thetapirion Whitesox was his name. He was one of the Seven Mages, the holder of the Storm seat.
“Son of a bitch—Evergrant!”
The man named Evergrant smiled, while Theta screamed and shouted.
“A person like you actually became a beginner Class 8 Mage
”
“Talent doesn’t choose its recipients
 Even if God gives talent to a poor thing like you, nobody can complain about unfairness.”
“How dare you stab Gramps Tower Master in the back!”
Theta’s outcry ended in a bloody cough.
“The Tower Master
you mean this old man, right?”
With a relaxed smile on his face, Evergrant brought something floating over to his side. It was a shabby old man with a reputation that didn’t match his looks.
The master of the Magic Tower.
Ian tun Murray looked ragged and was breathing heavily while being unconscious.
“You
 You bastard—”
Theta's eyes were bloodshot.
“It’s karma. He exiled his friend and branded him a traitor for his own self-interest.”
“You
 What are you saying
”
“Is that all? No, as if that wasn’t enough, he ended up killing his friend’s family
”
“Cough!”
Ian tried to speak, but it was buried by a pained moan. It was remarkable that he even had that much strength while experiencing mana reflux.
“But
 I understand why he did that now.” Evergrant flashed a sinister smile. “Because that’s just how the world works. If you don't betray, you will be betrayed. That only leaves you one choice, doesn’t it?”
“What did you say, you son of a bitch?!”
Theta’s voice was shaking as old memories resurfaced.
“Soon, I’ll teleport you away, and I will pin all of this on you, the traitor. But before that, I should get rid of your mana hall.”
Two more mages stood on either side of Evergrant and sneered at Theta. Evergrant reached out his hand to touch Theta and the mana around him twisted.
‘Is this the end?’
Theta didn't have enough energy left to move even a little bit of mana. All he could do was close his eyes and accept the end. Yet, something unexpected happened.
Evergrant heard a strange sound coming from his arms.
“The life vessel
 has cracked?”
Confirming the origin of the noise, Evergrant’s face distorted into an expression of panic.
“Get down!”
A cold blast of mana hit them from the back.
Someone had gambled on a minor casting delay.
Theta flattened himself against the ground by instinct as the 6th Circle ice spell, Ice Storm, went off right before him.
Soon, pure white frost filled the inside of the top floor of the Tower where Theta and Evergrant were located.