Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

“Let’s go back.”

- Yes, master.

Henry had unknowingly killed the Demon King that had been trying to descend. Even though that hadn’t been part of the plan, Henry was thinking of celebrating this with Iselan, as he had taken care of a huge burden for him.

Henry got lost in thought as he looked at Brillente, the creature that had turned from a large demonic beast into the next Demon King.

Brillente was nothing compared to the Demon King Henry had taken down in the past. This one had been significantly weaker, and Henry couldn’t help but think that Golden Jackson could’ve lived if that Demon King had been as weak as this one.

‘If he'd been as weak as this one, none of that would’ve happened.’

The name of the previous Demon King was Vegarus, and unlike Brillente, he had possessed unparalleled mastery over dark magic and an extraordinarily strong physique. Moreover, he had been able to command all the demons out there.

Because of how fearsome he was, it took Henry and Golden Jackson days to take him down, and in his dying moments, Vegarus managed to cast a powerful curse on Golden Jackson, so powerful that not even the best priests of that era managed to cure him.

The curse had eventually killed Golden soon after he had taken the throne as the emperor. Having remembered what had happened during his previous encounter with the Demon King, Henry’s eyes glinted with a sudden sadness. However, he suppressed any tears that might’ve come out. The past was done and dusted, and he had to live in the present.

- Yes, master.

“Do you think you can take care of this?” asked Henry while pointing to Brillente’s corpse by his feet.

At Henry’s question, Klever’s eyes trembled, and his voice was shaky because he was in disbelief.

- Master… Are you serious…?

“Should I take back what I said?”

- No, master! I am forever grateful for your benevolence!

Henry wouldn’t get much out of a dead Demon King. Sadly, Brillente hadn’t been able to offer Henry anything but his corpse, and Henry wouldn’t have much use for it. To him, it was just rotting flesh.

However, it was a one-of-a-kind delicacy for Klever. He immediately took his slime form and eagerly devoured the corpse as if scared that someone might take it away from him.

“Nice. I’m glad you like it.”

As Henry observed Klever eat away, he began preparing for their departure. As the first human to ever step foot in the Demon Realm, everything was still very fascinating to him, and he still had a lot of questions he wanted answers to.

However, Henry knew that he couldn’t stay for too long because he had many things to take care of in the human world. Thus, he suppressed his innate curiosity as a wizard as hard as he could and made plans to come back again to properly explore this realm.

‘I’ll memorize the coordinates here for the future.’

Even though Henry was great at keeping professional and personal matters separate, he wasn’t willing to give up on exploring the Demon Realm so easily. He wanted to come back sometime in the future once the human world was at peace so he could freely explore this realm without having to worry about anything. Thus, he went ahead and swiftly calculated the teleportation coordinates for his current position.

‘Easy enough.’

Henry used his usual formula and managed to calculate the coordinates in a matter of minutes. After double-checking them, he turned to Klever.

“Finished already?”

- Mmm… Nom, nom.

Klever nodded with his mouth full. His words were muffled because of the enormous amount of food filling his cheeks, but Henry assumed he was saying yes.

Klever looked like a hamster who had stored sunflower seeds in its cheeks. Henry assumed that the corpse had a lot of meat and that Klever had just dug in mindlessly while he wasn’t paying attention.

“How much rest do you need?” Henry asked.

- Mmm… It’ll take… nom… some time.

“Alright, take it easy then.”

- Mmm, thank you… nom… master.

After mumbling some more, Klever expressed his gratitude again, and Henry allowed him to return to his realm.

With that, Henry was ready to go. He closed his eyes and took three steps forward to cast his silent teleportation spell, which had become part of him at this point. But for some reason, his surroundings didn’t change.

“Hmm?”

Something wasn’t right. Henry tried again, thinking he had made a careless mistake, but the outcome was the same.

‘Why is it not working? I haven’t done anything differently?!’

For someone like Henry, failing to cast a spell was, by all accounts, impossible. One of the many things Henry hated the most was failing to cast a spell because of a calculation mistake.

Henry couldn’t help frowning.

‘Why isn’t it working?’

He knew he was able to concentrate his magic in the Demon Realm. He had already checked to see that his magic flow, absorption, and everything else related to magic worked, so he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t teleport despite the fact that everything seemed to be working just fine.

He got lost in thought, and after a while, he tried to cast another spell.

“Blink.”

Henry cast a different movement spell, one that allowed him to instantly teleport to a spot that was within his sight.

As soon as he uttered the spell, Henry teleported to where he had looked, which made him even more confused. There were clearly no issues with his moving with magic, and he thought that Blink and Teleport worked in a similar way.

But at that moment, something sparked in his mind.

‘Wait… Is it because I’m in a different dimension?’

Henry recalled that the reason he hadn’t been able to close the Demon Realm Gap in the past was because it was essentially a portal to another dimension, and despite having reached the 8th-Circle, Henry didn’t have the ability to separate dimensions.

However, just before getting whisked away into the Demon Realm by Brillente, Henry had felt like he had almost managed to close the dimensional gap by adding divine power to the spell he had prepared. He couldn’t tell whether he had actually succeeded because he hadn’t had the chance to check.

As Henry looked up, he saw the majestic purple Milky Way shining in the dark, space-like sky. However, he couldn’t tell whether it was day or night in this unfamiliar realm.

He turned his gaze, only to see the Demon Realm Gap through which he had been brought here. He hadn’t been able to put his attention to it because he had been busy fighting Brillente, looking over Klever as he was devouring his food, and calculating the teleportation coordinates.

Henry had thought he would be able to just teleport back to where he had come from, just as he normally did. However, the more he realized he wouldn’t be able to do so, the more nervous he became.

This meant that he would be trapped in the Demon Realm indefinitely. Henry felt chills down in his spine as this grim realization dawned upon him.

‘I have to find a way.’

From a scholar’s perspective, Henry’s situation would’ve been great because it meant that he could stay and take the time to explore the unknown depths of the Demon Realm. But even though Henry was a scholar and wizard himself, he also bore the responsibility for everyone associated with him.

He had to escape the Demon Realm at all costs.

However, things weren’t exactly on Henry’s side. He had no prior knowledge about the Demon Realm, and Klever had to rest up to digest what he had eaten. After pondering for a while, Henry decided to at least move around. He figured that sitting still and thinking of what to do wouldn’t lead to anything.

With that, Henry started his exploration of the Demon Realm.

***

After Henry left for Caliburn Fortress, the people left in Monsieur discussed plans on how humanity could start anew, just like Henry had suggested during their meeting. The groundwork for the plans were actually set already; they just had to carry out the intricate parts of the plan.

However, before they could put anything in motion, they had to take care of their highest priority, which was dealing with the blind believers scattered across the continent.

- KWAAA!

A cry suddenly came from within the Snow Spire. It was the blind believers who were confined in the basement prison of the spire.

“It’s truly ironic how things turned out,” said Lore as he looked at the blind believers.

“We have no other choice, sir.”

“You’re not wrong but… Tsk, tsk, Arthus… He sure left something in this world.”

Lore couldn’t help but mock Arthus once again. What he had done to fulfill his greed had changed the continent, and it seemed like it was never going to be the same. To the survivors, the aftermath of Arthus’ actions was like a curse, as he had died without taking care of what he had brought into the world.

It was indeed a curse, as not even Henry’s divine power and Saint Irenae’s, which was almost on par with Henry’s, had any effect on the blind believers. Because of that, the wizards had come together.

The reason the blind believers had come into this world was somewhat connected to Janus’ Deprivation of Death, but it was primarily Dracan’s breaking the rules and using dark anthropology to create them.

Knowing that, Henry had told the wizards that it was magic that had transformed those people into Arthus’ puppets, and it had to be magic that turned them back to normal. And so, it was the wizards’ duty to help those people and bring them back.

- KIAAA!

A blind believer charged at Lore as though they wanted to rip him apart. However, Lore and his people hadn’t locked them away just to keep them alive.

The blind believers inside the cells were test subjects. The wizards had come to the conclusion that they had to do their research by experimenting on these monsters, given that Dracan had managed to create them in the first place through endless experiments.

But even though Lore and his people were justified in making experiments on these blind believers, it was difficult to do so because they had always frowned on human experimentation.

Knowing this, Lore let out a heavy sigh.

“What about Argus?"

“The thing is… He’s still preparing mentally for this.”

“Ah… There’s no need to rush.”

Argus Druid was one of the Seven Sages and a master of biology. Humania Druid, his son, was the vice school head who specialized in anthropology.

When the idea of human experimentation first came up, the two vehemently opposed it. The wizards who embarked on the path of anthropology did so because they wanted to bring good to humanity, and they put their love for humanity above all else.

Thus, even though it would be for the sake of humanity’s future, it would be extremely difficult for such people to perform experiments on the blind believers, given that they were still technically human.

Nevertheless, in order to start the research on how to turn the blind believers back to normal, the knowledge of anthropologists was essential.

- Kieee…

As Lore listened to the cries of Arthus’ followers, he lamented,“It’s a pity that my abilities fall short."

“Sir, you don’t have to think that way. Not even the god of magic managed to fix them, so I think it’s better for you to avoid such a negative mindset. It will only hurt and weaken you.”

“Ha… Perhaps you’re right, but I still can’t help but think how nice it would be if I could also do something. Ugh, if only we could turn back time… Then we wouldn’t have to do any human experiments. If I could go back in time, I would eradicate the roots of evil itself.”

“Haha, that seems far-fetched to me, sir. Not even the Grand Wizard, who has reached the 8th-Circle, can manipulate time… Since not even he can do it, don’t you think it’s impossible?”

“Huh… I respect your opinion. In fact, I think most people think the same. But I still believe that magic can solve everything in this world. I have full faith in its potential.”

“Well, when it comes to magic, I couldn’t agree more, sir.”

Amidst the grim reality they were facing, the two wizards dreamed about how different things could’ve been and would be if magic could indeed solve everything.

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