Chapter 92: Fierce Battle

Brent did not continue with the story of how his mother consort had died at the hands of the other two royal consorts. The painful memory and the ordeal made even his body, that of a third-rank wizard apprentice, tremble faintly.

“After my mother died, I had no choice but to keep myself alive in disgrace. I endured in silence, watched silently as they continued vying for my father’s favor, watched silently as my brothers and sisters shared in his affection. I was like a wandering orphan; in that vast royal palace, there was nowhere for me to belong.”

“I had thought I would go on living like that forever...” Brent’s tone was thick with hatred, and the warm gentleness he had once carried had turned cold and grim. “Until, three years ago, I obtained a wizard’s hidden legacy! I came into contact with the power of wizards, that legendary, transcendent power!”

“At first I was thrilled, but I was also terrified. I feared everything I had would be discovered by others, that my hope would be shattered again, that everything would be taken from me once more!” His voice had grown hoarse. “I hated them all, including my father!”

Brent closed his eyes, and two lines of tears slid down his cheeks.

Hudson’s body visibly shook.

“I found a way to secretly cultivate the power of the wizard, but I was afraid my actions would be exposed. So I used the means contained in that hidden legacy to turn one attendant into my likeness... and then I concealed myself behind the scenes together with the maid who had stayed at my side for more than ten years.”

At some point, Brent opened his eyes again. The tears had long since evaporated without a trace. He glanced at the man lying unconscious on the floor, then looked toward Linwell. “Unfortunately, it seems both of them ended up in your hands, Mr. Linwell.”

Linwell knew that the maid Brent referred to was the masked woman he had previously slain.

From beginning to end, Linwell did not interrupt Brent’s account. Instead, he seemed like a trusted confidant, the finest of listeners.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Linwell, for making you listen to my rambling for so long.” A look of apology appeared on Brent’s face, utterly free of any pretense. “I’ve kept these words buried in my heart for too long. Now then, Mr. Linwell, is there anything you would like to ask or say?”

Linwell looked at Brent and paused. “What happened to the missing members of the royal family?”

Hudson and the other royals instantly fixed their eyes on Brent, waiting for his answer.

“Dead.”

Brent’s voice became quiet again. “I killed them myself. Especially those two wenches—I tortured them to death bit by bit...”

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet at once, and nearly everyone felt a heavy suffocation settle over them.

“I tortured them to death... truly tortured them to death...”

Brent kept repeating the words, as though reliving that scene. Madness surfaced at the corners of his eyes, as if he were still immersed in the process of tormenting them at the time.

Brent pressed a hand to one side of his face, his body trembling softly. He was laughing—first in a low murmur, then suddenly breaking into unrestrained laughter.

His voice echoed through the castle, and everyone felt their scalps prickle with dread.

Thud!

Brent suddenly dropped to his knees. The eerie laughter instantly turned into wailing sobs. He clutched his head with both hands, tears and saliva dripping from his face.

But soon Brent was laughing again—crying and laughing at once.

Then, all his sounds came to an abrupt halt.

He stood up, looked around, and gave a sudden smile, baring his teeth as he enunciated each word: “You... all... must die!!!”

With a thunderous boom, a violent wave of force spread outward from Brent’s body, sending a ring of translucent ripples surging in all directions.

Except for Linwell and Bansaine, everyone was slammed into the walls by that power.

“Where is your setup?!” Linwell had been talking with Brent all the while, but he had also been watching Brent’s movements. He turned back toward Bansaine and roared.

“Seed! Grow! Bind!”

Bansaine brought his palms tightly together and shouted, the wizard power within him flowing rapidly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One towering ancient tree after another burst from the ground, spreading outward in concentric rings like a cage, directly splitting the enormous castle apart into shattered stones.

The towering trees lashed their branches and wrapped Brent within them.

“Aaaahhh!!!!”

Bansaine’s face turned deathly pale, and blood began seeping steadily from his nostrils, ears, and mouth.

This was the result of forcibly overdrawing his wizard power; it was clear that the casting of this spell had exceeded what he could endure.

“Linwell, hurry! I can’t hold him down! He’s trying to break my binding! It’s the power of a third-rank wizard apprentice!”

Bansaine screamed hysterically.

Linwell flashed forward instantly, but he was still a step too slow.

An explosive force shattered the great wooden sphere enclosing Brent, and his figure appeared once more before Linwell and Bansaine.

“Die!”

Linwell chose to strike first. He knew that the wizard’s hidden legacy Brent had obtained was far from ordinary; it even contained something like an imitation space. He could only subdue Brent before the man unveiled his trump card.

Linwell could sense that although Brent was a third-rank wizard apprentice, his aura, like the masked woman’s, was unstable. Judging by his true strength, Brent was at most somewhere between a second-rank and a third-rank wizard apprentice.

“Star-Dark Quicksand: Chains!”

Granules of black sand condensed into thick chains, once again binding Brent’s freedom.

“Star-Dark Quicksand: Shapeshift!”

Linwell surged forward, gripping a spike formed from the Star-Dark Quicksand, and thrust it toward Brent’s heart!

“Come on!!”

Brent roared, and immediately two streams of pale green liquid flowed from his eyes, viscous and grotesque, like melted candles.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Linwell’s Star-Dark Quicksand chains were actually corroded away by the pale green liquid.

Brent regained his freedom once more!

But he was still a step too late. The spike in Linwell’s hand had already reached Brent’s front. If it moved just a fraction farther, it would pierce his chest.

Brent forced his body to twist.

His upper body and lower body were like a wrung-out rope, his entire frame coiling in a bizarre contortion. His heart, which had nearly been pierced, and his back directly swapped places.

Thud!

The spike formed from Star-Dark Quicksand pierced Brent’s right chest.

“Aaaahhh!!!”

Brent let out a shrill, agonized howl. That ghastly green liquid appeared once again from within his body, mingling with vivid blood, and turned the Star-Dark Quicksand inside him into nothingness.