Became an Archmage That Possessors Were Obsessed With

47 – Wind of Change

Viscount Theron looked at the sky. At the same time, he felt excruciating pain. He resisted using magic, but it was futile.

His hand began to melt. The pain that made him feel like his body was being torn apart surged. People around him screamed. The surreal sight of humans and different species mixed together entered his eyes.

In agony, Viscount Theron shouted at Macduras.

“Kael! Your name was Kael! I don’t know why this is happening, but there was a misunderstanding between us…”

He tried to persuade Macduras, but it was meaningless. Macduras’s expression was filled only with a vacant emptiness, devoid of any emotion.

Macduras looked down at the man kneeling in pain and spoke.

“Do you still see me as Kael?”

At Macduras’s gesture, the red rain falling from the sky began to stop. And even that only happened around Macduras.

“Who… who are you…?”

Count Theron was not a fool. This space was now a place where the trauma of a man named Cae lingered. The ability to use power in this space was his own power at the time.

Simply put, Macdarras was able to use his strange power in this space because it was originally his ability.

In other words, the man who had killed millions of people in this mysterious space was now standing right in front of him.

He had to kneel. He had to somehow avoid this situation. The disaster that could be solved by a mere nobleman’s plea was not enough.

Count Theron knelt down and begged.

“I was wrong. I truly was. I will never again flaunt my power or authority to others recklessly.”

The man begged, clasping his hands, but Macdarras approached him and spoke.

“Why are you changing your attitude now?”

“…”

“Until just now, didn’t you threaten to kill me or make me a cripple?”

Macdarras stared blankly at the red sphere in the sky and spoke.

“Everyone commits sins and makes mistakes.”

“W-well… Yes. I, too, deeply regret my reckless behavior in front of the great sorcerer… My… My son will be punished severely. So… Please have mercy…”

“Mercy, you say.”

As Macdarras reached out his hand, thin, sharp needles emerged from the sphere.

“It’s too late to ask for mercy. Don’t resent me. If I were weak, you would have surely killed me.”

“aaah!”

Count Theron screamed and started running away. However, before he could take a few steps, his leg was pierced by Macdarras’s magic. He limped and tried to crawl away, scratching the ground with his arms, but it was a futile struggle.

The reason Count Theron did not retaliate was simple. He knew that with his meager magic and level of mana, he couldn’t even reach the tip of the man’s hair in front of him.

He had to escape. He had to get out of here somehow. Although physically dying in the trauma space was not possible, the pain he felt was definitely not fake. If he continued to be attacked like this, he would undoubtedly lose his mind and go insane.

“Stop… Stop…. Stopppp!”

The screams of Count Theron echoed. MacDerris looked at him and spoke.

“Do you think I will show mercy? Look around you. This is not a falsehood, but something that exists in my true memories. These countless people also pleaded for their lives. But I killed them all. Do you know why I killed them? Because they couldn’t communicate. It wasn’t the kind of thing that could be resolved through conversation, so I used force. Unfortunately.”

Count Theron began to beg, tears streaming down his face.

“I will live quietly… I won’t step foot anywhere else. Please… Please…”

“It’s too late. You had multiple chances, and you missed them all.”

The sphere began to glow brightly, and Count Theron’s screams continued for a while after that.

—

Thud.

Count Theron fell. Levya, who had been watching from the surroundings, and the companions of Count Theron all stepped back together.

“What happened…?”

Seeing Count Theron fall, the knights and mages who had come with him panicked and began to assess the situation. But it didn’t take long for them to make their judgment.

Because MacDerris, who had traveled to the trauma space with them, was looking at the fallen Theron with cold eyes.

“That bastard! How dare he do this to Count Theron!”

One of their companions used magic, but MacDerris swung his sword and dismantled the magic.

And he cut Count Theron’s wrist.

Count Theron regained consciousness in pain. But MacDerris looked at him and spoke.

“They’re causing a disturbance. Isn’t it your job as the master to handle it?”

“Everyone, step back!”

When Theron shouted, MacDerris spoke to them.

“Why do you follow Count Theron?”

“…”

As the men remained silent, MacDerris asked the question again.

“Why do you follow Count Theron? If you don’t answer honestly, I will kill this man in front of you and kill all of you as well.”

A moment of silence passed. But as the cold aura began to emanate from MacDerris’ sword, one by one, the people felt that his words were not lies or empty threats, and they began to confess.

“I… I needed a large sum of money…”

“I… I was caught in a vulnerable position…”

Their stories were long and detailed, but there was no sense of inspiration. There is no person in the world without a story or a villain. Everyone lives with their own unfortunate stories. So that cannot be an excuse.

“It must have been nice to crush weak individuals with your numbers and power. You must have felt a sense of belonging and disgusting superiority from that position of power. After having all that fun, when the situation became unfavorable, you had no choice but to follow, right?”

MacDerris was the first to step forward and swiftly rushed towards the men who were wielding magic, thrusting a knife into both of their wrists.

The man screamed, and MacDerris whispered in his ear.

“You will never be able to use magic again. Since you said you did it by force, I personally stopped your wicked deeds. How about that? Are you grateful?”

The magician could only nod his head, even as he screamed. MacDerris’ sword was pressed against his throat.

He started to feel a mad sense of terror.

This man did not fear numbers, power, authority, or even violence. He casually severed the arm of a nobleman, parried magic with his sword, and committed criminal acts in broad daylight without a care.

In the world, there are those who fear the law and, conversely, those who cannot be controlled by the law.

To the magician, MacDerris was the latter.

If he were to cross paths with this man, even the feeble protection of the law would be useless.

“T-Thank you…”

He was grateful that the knife pierced his arm and not his throat. The men who had just been chasing him as if to kill him now fell into silence, unable to even attempt an attack. Whether it was their comrades or their superiors who fell, or whether their turn was coming soon, they could do nothing.

MacDerris wiped the blood off his sword and then turned to Lord Theron and his companions to speak.

“It sickens me to torment weaklings. Get lost immediately. If you dare blabber about today’s events or seek revenge against my friends, I promise I will find you all and kill you. The country won’t be able to protect you either. If you think it’s an empty threat, ask Lord Theron. It will make it easier for you to decide how to act.”

Theron crawled away from the spot, barely managing to stand up, and kicked his son, Teveston, before shouting in a stumbling voice. It seemed like he had lost his mind.

“You…you idiot…son of a b*tch.”

Leaving Teveston unconscious on the ground, Lord Theron and his group departed, leaving bloodstains all around.

Levia and Raykan looked at MacDerris in silence. Finally, Levia took his hand and spoke.

“Thank you…for saving my brother…I will repay this kindness for the rest of my life…”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t do it on purpose in the first place.”

“I will definitely show my gratitude…”

“No need.”

With those words, MacDerris got up and left. Rayna followed him from behind, saying something, but he didn’t pay much attention.

He simply said goodbye, suggesting they meet again at the academy tomorrow.

Levia stared at MacDerris’s back as he left. Her heart was pounding like crazy.

“Why…am I going crazy…”

The man who had just been an uncomfortable person now seemed a little different.

That evening, in the doomed novel’s gallery, a new post appeared.

[Willow Buds]

Title: I think I’m starting to like my uncomfortable male friend… How should I approach him…

The winds of a significant change had begun.

That relationship, whether it’s the right time or not.