Ch.347Chapter 347. Battle of Eingart Castle (2)

* * *

The war was progressing in an unexpectedly stalemate fashion, with neither side overwhelming the other.

Both camps seemed to be holding back their true strength, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere as if neither wanted to make the first move.

Apart from archers exchanging arrows, the situation was surprisingly restrained, with even mages refraining from casting spells freely.

This naturally led everyone to the same conclusion.

The moment one side first used magic would be the true beginning of this battle.

And in this situation—

“……”

Marilyn Al Caski was holding Reilan’s hand tightly, praying with her eyes closed.

Yupia was positioned at the rear. The soldiers believed that “one mage remains to protect the castle,” but… since she wasn’t a real mage either, this was merely an arrangement to spare at least her from experiencing something terrible.

Marilyn didn’t particularly believe in any god. In a world where religion had collapsed to the point of complete disarray, those who seriously maintained their faith were exceedingly rare.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but pray. If there was an absolute being beyond, she needed to rely on that existence or she felt she might collapse at any moment.

‘Please… give me… determination… courage!’

With her eyes tightly shut, in the middle of the battlefield…

Marilyn recalled the conversation she had with her father.

* * *

It was a few days before the war.

Marilyn was staring at Nathan with a pale face and an expression of shock.

“What? W-what do you mean, Father…?”

“Exactly what I said. For the greater cause… we need to make a decision.”

“D-decision? That’s… that’s absurd…!”

“You already knew, didn’t you? That pretending to be mages has a fatal impact on your siblings’ bodies.”

“B-but… that’s, I was, for your sake, for the suffering people in the continent, and besides, that level of—”

“I’m not blaming you, Marilyn!”

From Nathan’s loud exclamation, she could sense his firm determination to accept no hesitation.

Marilyn, having been close to her father, could easily tell that this determination was directed not only at her but also at himself.

“It’s already done! There’s no going back! Your siblings’ bodies are already breaking down. You and your siblings all know that this method ultimately requires risking your lives!”

“Father…! But, as you said, if we use magic as the strategist taught us—”

—It could mean dying today…!

Nathan turned his head sharply, bowing deeply as he repeated what he had said before.

“It’s already done. Lives… are already at stake. We can’t change the outcome. Even if we delay the timing… considering the number of battles ahead, it would only make a difference of a few months.”

“How, how can you say that…!”

Marilyn knew.

From the moment she awakened to mana, she “knew.” Just as one doesn’t need to learn how to breathe to breathe.

Mages could temporarily transfer their mana to another person’s body through physical contact.

However, giving mana to someone who couldn’t properly utilize it and using that body to cast magic had severe adverse effects. She intuitively understood that repeatedly doing this would shorten one’s lifespan. Anyone who directly manipulated mana would naturally reach this conclusion without having to forcibly learn anything.

Ah, forcibly operating mana in a body that can’t properly store it is dangerous— this realization.

Marilyn had also reached this conclusion. Yet she had to operate mana in her siblings’ bodies.

One mage alone couldn’t succeed in a rebellion, but three mages would be different—

Marilyn had to agree with Nathan’s words.

Marilyn and her siblings, educated by Nathan since childhood, fundamentally did not acknowledge Serpina von Einhart.

Unlike Irian who became the new head of the family, Nathan was a man who strongly supported Sidmid during the Crown Prince War.

As such, even after losing all power and becoming a figurehead, he didn’t give up and waited for his opportunity.

Naturally, he taught his children to hate Serpina. He couldn’t allow them to grow up and foolishly serve under Serpina like Irian did.

Nathan’s judgment was accurate. If Marilyn, who had awakened to mana, didn’t hate Serpina, this plan could never have been implemented.

Here, strategist Meri’s plan was as follows:

Accumulate mana to the limit in the body of a sibling whose limits hadn’t been established, then cause a momentary massive explosion where the enemy mage was located.

A mage couldn’t store more mana in their body than their capacity allowed.

As mana was definitely stored, clear limits were formed.

However, for someone who wasn’t a mage and hadn’t established clear limits—theoretically, they could accumulate unlimited mana.

Of course, continuously accumulating mana would kill them before they could do anything, causing all the mana to dissipate, but it meant exceeding normal limits was possible.

She was an extremely intelligent woman. By understanding the concept of “limits” that Marilyn had explained, she immediately prepared this plan.

This way, they could use incredibly powerful magic. Perhaps even Archmage Reika couldn’t match this destructive power. After all, even she couldn’t gather magical power to the brink of death.

The flaw in this plan was that it was essentially one-time use.

An enemy who experienced it once would surely prepare countermeasures.

Additionally, the person accumulating the magical power would die the moment they used the magic. Obviously, no sane person would continue doing this.

And now Nathan was arguing to Marilyn—

That one of her siblings must be chosen as that sacrifice.

“How… how could I…”

“It’s to drive out Serpina. It’s a small sacrifice for the greater cause. You know that well!”

“But, choosing one of the two, I…”

At that moment.

“You don’t need to worry, Miss Marilyn.”

It was the voice of the rebel strategist Meri and—

“Reilan…?”

Her younger brother, Reilan Al Caski, who had walked in behind her.

“For the continent, Young Master Reilan has made his decision.”

“W-what? Decision? That’s—”

“Sister.”

Reilan approached the flustered Marilyn and firmly held her hand.

“I’ll do it. If there’s a responsibility that must be borne, I won’t avoid it.”

“You… are you serious? But if you do that, you… you will…!”

“It’s okay. I—”

* * *

—I’m truly glad that I can do this instead of you or our sister.

“……”

Finishing her recollection, Marilyn gripped his hand tightly.

Sensing this, Reilan squeezed her hand even more firmly and said:

“Sister. …Please. Without hesitation, do it properly. Understand? Let me keep my honor.”

“…Yes.”

That’s right.

There was no escape.

If so, she had to produce results somehow.

The objective: eliminate Archmage Reika Nighthart.

If they missed this opportunity, they would never be able to defeat Reika. She was a far more powerful mage than Marilyn.

They had already identified her location. The verification process from the high ground was complete.

This distance… I can do it.

‘…!!!’

Marilyn closed her eyes and gathered the mana floating in the air into her body.

Then, she transferred it to Reilan through their joined hands.

At first, Reilan merely twitched as he received the mana… but soon he began to groan, his expression contorted in pain.

“Re-Reilan…!”

“I’m fine…!! Hurry…!!!!!”

This is no time for tears.

An excessive amount of mana had already entered his body.

The die was cast. All that remained was to avoid mistakes. To not let Reilan’s sacrifice be in vain.

“Nnnggghhh…ugh…urrrgh…!!!”

‘…Now!’

Recognizing they had reached the limit, Marilyn, still holding his hand tightly, shouted loudly.

“Reilan!!!!!!!”

“Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Reilan, with bloodshot eyes, began to create a fireball in his hand.

At first, it was just a small ball of fire. But before long, its size began to grow dramatically.

“Aah…aah…aaaaaaah!!!!!”

Reilan sensed that this was the final moment of his life.

He gathered all the mana accumulated in his body… as much as he could scrape together.

If it was to eliminate Reika Nighthart…!!

——Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!

Then, he launched the fireball—much larger than a human body—forward as if throwing it.

“W-what is that!”

“Dodge!”

The fireball burned soldiers as it passed by, flying at tremendous speed toward a specific location.

Toward where the pink-haired Archmage Reika Nighthart stood.

“…!!!”

And as the fireball hit exactly where the pink-haired Archmage stood—

All sounds in the world seemed to sink low, and everyone’s vision was blocked by a blinding flash.

As a storm of light swept through—

—Thud.

Reilan, his hand going limp, collapsed to the ground.

“Sob…!!!”

Marilyn deliberately avoided looking to the side. Though tears were streaming down her face, she needed to confirm if the plan had succeeded.

She looked again at where the fireball had flown. She needed to verify Reika’s corpse with her own eyes.

Soon, as the acrid smoke-like substance cleared…

‘…Huh?’

Reika, far from being a corpse, was kneeling and barely supporting herself.

Blood was flowing from her head, but… this couldn’t be called a “corpse.”

“T-this… i-impossible…!!!”

Marilyn, faced with this unexpected situation, stared wide-eyed at the bleeding Reika.

Could she have used a protection spell?

No, even with a protection spell, no one could withstand magic powered by an amount of mana impossible for a human to gather and remain like that?

In her panicked vision, she noticed something Reika was clutching tightly with both hands.

‘What is… that?’

Reika was gripping something like an elongated rod with both hands, planting it into the ground.

The rod was green. No… rod?

No. That’s not a rod—it’s— just as she thought this.

—Slip.

The pink hair… slid to the ground.

* * *

“Phew……”

My vision is… blurry, and my head is pounding.

Pain was spreading through every corner of my body through the capillaries, but… one thing was certain.

I’m alive.

I survived that magic.

Still gripping my rapier, I looked at the wig that had slipped to the side and said:

“I survived……”

——Once again, I was right.