Chapter 155: The Mysterious Man

Xenia looked at Vikarmern with a clear expression of discomfort.
There were no servants in the room.

It was because Vikarmern had dismissed them, saying he didn’t want them to overhear the story.

Now, to be alone and talking with him—it was hard for Xenia to imagine what he might say.

“This conversation is the last courtesy I’m extending to you as your real brother.”

Xenia glared at Vikarmern with sharp, hostile eyes.
Despite her warning, Vikarmern remained silent.

With a sigh, Xenia expressed her frustration.

“You said you had something to say—how long are you planning to keep your mouth shut?”
“……”

Seeing him remain completely silent, her brow twitched.
Then, she stood up from her seat.

“Fine. If you’re not going to talk, I’m leaving. You probably just came for money anyway—it’s obvious.”
“Xenia.”

At that moment, Vikarmern finally opened his mouth.
He exhaled a long breath before continuing.

“You’re being targeted by a group that worships the Mysteries—the Mystics.”

Xenia, who had stood up, turned to look at Vikarmern.
What he said was so unexpected that it caught her completely off guard.

“What are you talking about?”
“You’ve heard of the legend of the hero’s reincarnation, right?”

The legend of the hero’s reincarnation was well known.
She remembered it clearly, having heard it like a fairy tale when she was young.

“You are one of those reincarnated souls—Zeryon.”

Xenia had a blank look on her face.
It was the face of someone who couldn’t make sense of this ridiculous nonsense from someone who had suddenly appeared.

“I know I’m not a trustworthy person. But no matter what, we’re blood. I came here to make sure the Mystics don’t get to you.”

Vikarmern looked at Xenia with eyes full of sincerity.
Xenia gazed at him for a moment.

For someone who suddenly appeared, his words were absurd—but somehow, that made it easier to believe.
There would be no other reason for Vikarmern to come back.

Xenia let out a sigh.

Because she had a hunch.

‘Father.’

Xenia was the only person in the world capable of using Divine Magic.
Perhaps because of that, her father had recently been claiming that Niflheim was of Zeryon’s bloodline.

He claimed that Xenia’s ability to use Divine Magic was proof.

Given that the Count was loudly making such claims everywhere,
It wasn’t completely out of the question that the Mystics would target her.

Annoying as it was, her brother was still her brother.
Maybe this was his way of doing the bare minimum.

Even if I hate him, just once more.
Xenia repeated that thought to herself as she looked at Vikarmern.

“You really didn’t come here asking for money?”
“I may look like this, but I live just fine without money. I only ended up like this because of what I had to go through to get this.”

Vikarmern reached into his coat and pulled out a small gem.
The blue gem had a mysterious glow, shimmering from within.

“This can hide the presence of your soul. It’ll help protect you, at least a little.”

So this was because she was his little sister.
Xenia noticed the scars all over Vikarmern’s hands.

They were marks that showed the effort he had put in.

“Give it to me. I’ll use it well.”
“Yeah. Tell Father too.”
“Okay.”

It was just then—

Freeze—

Her outstretched hand froze in place as she turned to look at Vikarmern.
Vikarmern, still in the position of handing her the gem, looked at her.

Her brother, Vikarmern, was someone with almost no magical talent.
Because of that, he was constantly looked down on by their father and suffered endless verbal abuse.

「You are not my father. I will never call you Father for the rest of my life.」

The day Vikarmern left.
Xenia clearly remembered the words he shouted.

The tears that filled his eyes and streamed down his face were a sign of both resolution and declaration.

It had only been a little more than half a year since he left.
If it had been ten years, maybe—but not now. There was no way Vikarmern would call that man ‘Father’.

Xenia and Vikarmern’s eyes met for a brief moment.
Then Vikarmern subtly furrowed his brow.

“…Looks like I slipped up.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, a staff shot out from Xenia’s sleeve.
She instantly gripped it in her hand and activated her magic.

The Niflheim family’s specialty was ultra-high-speed lightning magic.
As if to prove it, high-powered lightning magic burst forth from Xenia.

BZZZZZTT!

Just before the lightning struck Vikarmern—

Fsssh—

The magic vanished right in front of his nose.
Xenia’s eyes widened.

He clearly had some way of neutralizing her lightning magic.

A dangerous opponent.

No matter how much of a genius she was, Xenia was still young.
Unlike the reincarnated heroes who retained memories of past lives, she was a case of pure talent only.

A chick that just cracked from its shell might one day become a phoenix flying through the skies—but for now, she was just prey for the hawks.

“Now, I’ll…”

At that moment, the fake Vikarmern snapped his fingers.

“…return the favor.”

CRACKLE!

Lightning magic, identical to Xenia’s, burst from him and came crashing down on her.
Xenia hastily cast a defensive spell, but still went flying and slammed into the wall.

There was no shock to her body—
Her defensive magic held firm.

However, even with that much force, the wall was unscathed.
Normally, it should’ve crumbled, but not even a crack appeared.

Given the commotion, it wouldn’t be strange for the Count’s knights to come rushing in—
But the silence outside was deafening.

‘He did something.’

Xenia swallowed hard and stood up.
She realized that this room had been isolated from the outside world.

‘It’s not magic.’

If it were magic, she would have seen through it.
The fact that she couldn’t meant only one thing.

‘Mystic power.’

There was no doubt now—he was a member of the Mystics.

This was bad.
Xenia knew very little about Mysteries.

Mysteries were twisted beings that had failed to become gods.
Each possessed a different kind of power, and without expertise, there was no way to predict them.

‘So far, I’ve confirmed he can create isolated spaces—and he probably used the same mystic power to absorb and reflect my magic.’

He must have trapped her lightning in the space around him, then opened it again to release it back.
A simple theory—if one had the ability.

‘It’s not that my magic was neutralized.’

Xenia, having quickly worked it out in her head, gathered her lightning magic again.
Without hesitation, she fired another bolt.

And once again, the lightning disappeared before reaching the fake Vikarmern.
But Xenia didn’t stop there.

She continuously fired bolt after bolt of lightning magic, relentlessly attacking him.

The fake Vikarmern watched her calmly as she raged.

But Xenia never wavered.

‘Even mystic powers must have limits to what they can contain.’

Identifying those limits was her first objective.

‘I can’t get swallowed up by his calm demeanor.’

Xenia—destined to someday lead the Niflheim Count’s family—
She was not someone who would crumble here.

A relentless stream of lightning magic.
Xenia optimized her mana usage, forming countless spheres of lightning around her.

Those orbs burned her mana as they continuously fired lightning.

BZZT—

And then, after relentless repetition—
Lightning began to surge uncontrollably around the fake Vikarmern.

He had been storing all the magic in another space,
But the limit had finally come.
The space distorted, and lightning began to leak out.

“You really are Zeryon’s reincarnation.”

To contain this much mana—
Yes, she truly did seem like Zeryon reborn.

“But now what are you going to do?”

CRACKLE CRACKLE—!

At that moment, blinding arcs of lightning surged all around the fake Vikarmern.

It was the aftermath of Xenia’s frenzied barrage of lightning magic.

The compressed power burst forth from the ruptured space.

The lightning magic that had originally been aimed at the fake Vikarmern was now turning toward Xenia.

How would she respond to this?
The fake Vikarmern wore a twisted smile, as if genuinely curious.

CRACKLE!

With that final grin, the high-powered lightning magic came roaring back at Xenia.

Just before her body was swallowed up by the blast—

In the fake Vikarmern’s eyes, her hair shimmered for an instant with starlight.

Xenia glowed brilliantly, enveloped in that starlight.

Behind her—
The celestial gate that had remained shut until now opened wide.

Within the gate were countless constellations etched in light.
With her pale hand, Xenia tapped one of them, awakening it.

Before the lightning magic,
A constellation representing a mirror reflecting the night sky and holding the world rose up.

In the mirror raised by a woman crafted from glass, the lightning was reflected.

Celestial Magic · Heaven’s Mirror

Xenia pointed her staff at the fake Vikarmern, as if to say,
You’re not the only one who can return an attack.

Celestial Magic · Star Genesis

The lightning magic, reflected in the mirror, transformed into starlight and surged forth.
A star-lit onslaught barreled toward the fake Vikarmern.

No matter how he manipulated space with his mystic power.
There was no way he could handle this.

The fake Vikarmern let out a dry, bitter laugh.
And then—his body was consumed by starlight.

* * *

When the storm of starlight had passed,
The guest room was completely devastated.

Though the fake Vikarmern had isolated the room with his mystic power.
Even that space had been shattered, causing a disturbance.

From far off, servants could be seen running toward the scene.
For some reason, there were no knights of the family in sight.

It was possible the fake Vikarmern had done something to them.

Xenia let out a deep breath.

It’s done.
That could be investigated later.

She lowered her staff.

“You’re late.”

She was just about to scold the approaching servants—
When suddenly, her body twisted to the side.

Splat—

In that moment, blood gushed from her side.
A half-crumbled fake Vikarmern, his face and body mangled, appeared at her flank.

Xenia’s eyes trembled faintly.
In his hand was a dagger—
And it was already embedded in her side.

She had been maintaining a defensive spell the entire time.
And yet, the dagger pierced it without issue.

As she struggled to endure the pain and move—

Thunk!

The fake Vikarmern yanked the dagger out.
Removing a blade is often more dangerous than stabbing it in.

“Kyagh!”

A wave of pain surged through her, accompanied by massive blood loss.

“Still just a fledgling, aren’t you?”

The fake Vikarmern didn’t stop there.
He shoved his hand into the open wound, prying it wider.

“Aaaaghhhh!”

Xenia screamed in agony.
Servants rushed toward her in a panic—
But the fake Vikarmern was faster.

“If you were truly Zeryon, I wouldn’t still be standing here.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out the same blue gem as before.

A mystic artifact—Soul Hunter.
The same mystic power that had once stolen Narea’s soul.

He was just about to push the blue gem into Xenia’s open wound—

Snap!

Suddenly, his body was slammed hard to the side.

BOOOOM!

The fake Vikarmern was sent flying and tumbled violently across the floor.

Through the smoke that rose from the impact,
Xenia forced her eyes open, trying to push through the pain.

There, before her—
Stood a man with striking black hair and black eyes.
Something about him gave off the aura of a foreigner.

She didn’t know who he was,
But the man gently embraced her, shielding her.

“Rest now.”

With those kind words,
He turned to glare at the fake Vikarmern, who was staggering back to his feet.

“I’ll give him the punishment he deserves.”

For some reason… she couldn’t take her eyes off him.