Chapter 52: Forced Redemption

The Prince of Winds swept toward Wallace and Roland with the momentum of a thunderbolt, moving faster than a flashing sword!

Roland did not even have time to react!

He did not know how much of an empty title that Arch-Mage and his summon actually possessed. But he was certain that whether this high-level apprentice was a rogue wizard or not, he was still a high-level apprentice!

Before him, a low-level apprentice like himself was simply at the mercy of overwhelming force!

In the blink of an eye, Wallace extended his finger, silently chanted a spell, and pointed at the Prince of Winds. Then, an object flew out from within the Prince of Winds, landing straight into Wallace's hood. Immediately afterward, the Prince of Winds vanished into thin air.

Roland: "Ah?!"

Roland was dumbfounded once again.

When the Prince of Winds first appeared, it had been capable of neutralizing Wallace's "Magic: Hell's Ember"! This proved that the summoned entity possessed genuine strength!

The speed of its attack just moments ago further demonstrated its terrifying might.

Yet in the eyes of wizards from the major schools, it had plenty of magic power but was utterly fragile, because its weaknesses were far too obvious.

Few ordinary people could ever figure out its weaknesses, and even if they did, dealing with this tricky entity was extremely difficult. Therefore, the Arch-Mage had earned numerous reputations relying on this very trick.

However, the person he encountered today was a highly professional, top-tier true fiend!

Though Wallace's magical power was only at the level of a high-level apprentice, his knowledge, magical manipulation, and other aspects were all at the grandmaster level! Thus, with a mere cantrip, he completely wiped out the Prince of Winds.

Today's lesson truly broadened Roland's horizons.

Wizardry was a profession that demanded extremely high professional standards. When realms and equipment were roughly equal, the heritage of different schools, alongside individual knowledge and technical proficiency, could make the gap between wizards even wider than the gap between humans and monkeys!

After Wallace "devoured" the Prince of Winds, the opposing Arch-Mage completely lost his will to fight.

His face turned ashen as he stood frozen in place, muttering nonsense under his breath, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

It seemed that, in his view, the Prince of Winds he had spent his lifetime researching was flawless. Yet the demon had destroyed it with just a single move. This was a massive blow to the Arch-Mage.

With the enemy's willpower shattered, Wallace began the execution.

"Step out!" Wallace said with a sneer in demonic tongue. Instantly, a look of ecstatic joy appeared on the Arch-Mage's face.

While muttering crazily to himself, he began to peel off his own human skin like taking off a piece of clothing, revealing the flesh and bones beneath. Then, the flesh and bones creaked and walked right out of the human skin.

Wallace drew another breath from his hood, and the Arch-Mage's flesh and bones turned to ash, flying straight into Wallace's deep hood.

"Not bad, not bad." Wallace chuckled with a grim smile. "Though the magic power is quite chaotic, it still counts as a fine sacrifice... Hehehehe."

Seeing this scene, the remaining crowd was so terrified that their legs turned to jelly and they crawled all over the ground. Crying out "Evil god! Evil god!!" with tears and snot streaming down their faces, they scrambled away into the distance, looking like a herd of lambs waiting for slaughter.

Driven by extreme terror, a few individuals reignited the survival instinct deep within their hearts, stood up, and fled into the forest.

Wallace sneered, "Hmph, a bunch of clueless muggles... Roland, wait here for me a moment. These people already regard me as an evil god; I need to deal with this."

Leaving those words behind, Wallace grabbed the Arch-Mage's human skin and flew away.

Roland let out a deep sigh, a trace of reluctance flashing across his face.

Chances were that not a single one of these people would survive today, including those shoeless low-ranking common laborers, who would inevitably suffer collateral damage.

No wonder Wallace had said he wanted to let him understand the operational style of the Black Abyss wizards... Previously, he truly lacked a genuine understanding of them.

Today, Wallace had given him three lessons.

The first lesson taught Roland how Black Abyss wizards typically went about their business—they were a faction of evil forces, true black wizards mingling with hell demons.

The second lesson showed Roland the vast gap between wizards.

The third lesson was the one Wallace was currently imparting—the law of the jungle; in the eyes of black wizards, the weak were not human, but mere herbivorous lambs!

No wonder Baron Hall was unwilling to join the Black Abyss Academy.

The operational style of the Black Abyss wizards was far too ruthless and merciless.

Joining such a group was like plunging into the demonic path. In the future, encounters with such indiscriminate slaughter would likely be frequent.

A complex expression appeared on Roland's face.

'Joining a school like this, how long can I live?'

Just then, some of those who had just fled walked back with dull, vacant expressions.

Upon returning, these people began to clean up the battlefield. Among them, a very young guard cautiously ran over to strike up a conversation with Roland.

"My lord, where did those two companions of the Arch-Mage lord go?"

Roland was stunned, failing to understand the guard's meaning.

The guard pointed at the stone circle and said, "Those two arcanists from just now—aren't you companions of the Arch-Mage? You just defeated the fiend together and said you were heading to the White Chess Magic Academy."

Roland frowned, then suddenly realization dawned upon him.

The cognition and memories of these people had been altered by Wallace using a spell!

In their current memories, the court wizards and the nobles had encountered a fiend. Many had heroically given their lives.

However, two white wizards had joined the battlefield in the nick of time, saving the survivors and helping everyone eradicate the evil!

Afterward, Roland carefully questioned the returning people. Now under the spell's influence, they answered every question asked.

Having grasped the situation, Roland's expression grew increasingly bizarre.

From the sound of it, Wallace had killed everyone who had blood on their hands, but he hadn't killed a single one of those mud-legged peasants. Nor had he killed the few young, kind-hearted soldiers. Instead, he had gone to great lengths to tamper with their memories.

What was this demon doing? Eradicating evil?!

Roland's expression was utterly vivid as he thought to himself: 'Isn't Wallace supposed to be teaching me a lesson? Isn't he supposed to be showing me the operational style of Black Abyss wizards? Is this the operational style of Black Abyss wizards??'

'So, Black Abyss wizards usually uphold justice?!'

Wallace did not return until dusk was approaching. His appearance and attire were identical to that of the Arch-Mage; it seemed he had even made a special trip to the territory of those nobles to eradicate the true evil.

Upon seeing Roland, Wallace rubbed the skin and flesh of his face, reverting to his original appearance.

"Everything is taken care of—remember, the two of us never passed through here today."

Roland breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I thought you were going to kill all the witnesses."

Wallace widened his eyes.

"Are you a devil? How can someone so young be so cold-blooded and ruthless? I've killed enough people today, and my stomach is full. Why would I send more people to hell? Besides, we always need to leave a few survivors behind as witnesses, don't we?"

Roland breathed a sigh of relief. This was for the best. Those laborers were quite pitiful, and if he had watched Wallace slaughter so many innocents, Roland's conscience would have struggled to bear it. At the same time, he realized he needed to keep his guard up around such a ruthless friend.

In their conversation, Roland learned that Wallace had just taken all the Arch-Mage's property and, by the way, borrowed a massive sum of money from that so-called "Radiant Magic Guild."

After swindling that sum, he went to the castles of those nobles, spoke with the local lord, and informed him that he needed to take his two sons on a long journey, thus requiring a huge amount of money.

Originally, he had intended to spare the lord's life, but during their conversation, Wallace discovered that the lord was researching some technique of eternal life and was hand in glove with the Arch-Mage, committing all sorts of atrocities. Therefore, he sent him straight to hell.

After dispatching the lord, Wallace hypnotized the lord's wife, opened the granary, and distributed the food to the pitiful people of the town.

Hearing all this, Roland wore an extremely colorful expression.

"Lord Wallace... Is this the style of the black wizards of our Black Abyss Academy?" Roland asked somewhat bizarrely, "Robbing the rich to give to the poor, and upholding justice?"

"Wrong! This is the style of the White Chess wizards! I told you, the two of us never came by here today... Of course, even if we weren't impersonating them, we'd still have to uphold justice from now on."

Wallace stroked his beard and said, "Brother Roland, we've already betrayed the former 'Twilight Wizard Council' and defected to the 'White Chess Council.' Recently, White Chess wizards have even come to reside permanently in the Academy. Thus, our identities are no longer what they used to be. Remember, we are arcanist wizards—a group of arcanist wizards who have joined the White Chess Council!"

It seemed the Black Abyss Academy was currently making a strenuous effort to wash its hands clean.

Therefore, Wallace the demon had indeed driven out evil and upheld justice just now.

Wallace asked, "Do you know what the third lesson I gave you today was?"

Roland: "Uh... Demons sometimes uphold justice too?"

"Bullshit! I was never a demon to begin with; I am an arcanist—don't go spreading nonsense back at the Academy about me being some kind of demon!"

Wallace sighed. "Roland, things are different for us now. We have no way back; we can only merge as one with the White Chess wizards. And White Chess wizards are a group of pure white wizards. We must be a bit more careful in our actions from now on... we even have to work hard to whitewash ourselves."

Previously, the Black Abyss wizards had pretended to betray the Twilight Council and join the White Chess Council with the sole purpose of cooperating with the Twilight Council to annihilate the White Chess wizards.

Yet now, with all their high-end combat strength suffering misfortunes, the Black Abyss wizards had become the vulnerable group.

Originally, they restrained themselves in their affairs merely to put on a good act, but now... they had to turn the fake act into reality.

Recently, the final batch of White Chess wizards had moved into the Academy. They had come to the Black Abyss Academy precisely to help the Black Abyss wizards correct their bad habits!

Back in the day, the Black Abyss wizards wielded terrifying prestige and acted without restraint. But now, they had to dance to the tune of the white wizards and even follow their laws and regulations, acting like a bunch of good kids... To be honest, it was somewhat humiliating.

"Roland, the world of wizards is extremely cruel. White wizards fight among themselves in open and covert struggles, while the conflicts between black wizards stop at nothing... The evil deeds committed by Black Abyss wizards in their lifetimes can never be washed clean."

"It's true that the Black Abyss wizards played the heroes in the ruins once, but the blood on their hands cannot be washed away... The Black Abyss wizards are—cough, the Black Abyss wizards were taught by an ancestor of the Alexandra family, so they still retain a shred of their original conscience. Yet while they might confront fiends out of momentary indignation, they will also slaughter the innocent out of greed."

"As for those Twilight wizards, they are madmen completely devoid of any moral bottom line. If Twilight wizards had come today, not only would everyone present have died, but the souls of everyone in that territory would have been extracted to refine wondrous items! So, do not harbor any illusions about the group of black wizards."

Roland understood.

After a brief pause, Wallace returned to the main point: "The third lesson for today is that in the future, you must be careful when handling affairs. Don't go too far, and don't leave behind incriminating evidence. Otherwise, if the White Chess wizards investigate, no one will be able to save you!"

"Take today's affair, for instance. Even if it's found out that we did it, people won't pursue it too harshly. At most, we'd just be sent into the 'Alaka Prison' for a few years."

"And even if the White Chess wizards came over, chances are they wouldn't be able to resist sending those dogs to hell themselves! Then they'd just frame the whole thing on the Twilight wizards."

At this, Wallace could not help complaining, "You humans are truly ruthless when it comes to harming your own kind! I really can't bear to watch!"

Roland: "......"

Roland thought to himself: 'The Black Abyss wizards becoming a vulnerable group... This is actually a good thing. Otherwise, how many days I could survive in such a demonic sect would depend entirely on luck. Now the situation is different; many timid fellows are even being forced to work hard to uphold justice and whitewash themselves...'

'It seems the White Chess wizards are indeed a righteous faction with strict regulatory oversight. Once I enter the Academy, I at least won't have to worry about being forced by some mentor to cooperate in experiments.'