Chapter 226 - 164

Return of the 8th Class Mage 164 Heartless (2)

“You had done a lot, and your drive is impressive, which shows that you’re my son. Is this why they say blood is thicker than water?”

The purple sealing orb disappeared, and Fran Page’s actual form, which had been sealed there for a long time, fluidly came down to the ground. His hair, the same color as Ian’s, blew in the wind.

“However, this situation is disappointing. I had not hidden anything as your father to my only son. I had shown you everything I had and gave you all of my knowledge and power. I had given you everything.”

Ian heard those despicable words again from Fran Page’s mouth, ‘father’ and ‘son.’ He hated those words more than anything else.

“How can you do this to your father by blood? Will you go against filial piety and stand on the lizards’ side? I cannot acknowledge that.”

Father, parents, and filial piety. Words that touched Ian’s soft spots came out again, and he reached his limits and growled in a low voice.

“I warned you not to say the words father and son.”

“I had tried to make you happy, but what’s the use now?”

“…That’s true.”

They now faced each other as enemies, and there was no need for Fran to accommodate Ian anymore. Ian had to agree and spoke on.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

However, Ian’s response did not stop there, as the ‘Thousand Mouths’ that could manifest the power of language which Ian had used thousands of years ago appeared above his head.

“This is the end.”

Ian was poised to fight, and a breathless tension followed within Ian, all the dragons, and Fran Page with his body.

“Ian, I’ll give you your last chance.”

Fran spoke in a quiet voice.

“It’s not too late. Come over here now. Protect your world by taking my hand.”

His voice sounded desperate, which Ian could not decide whether it was sincere or a pretense. However, Ian was certain that Fran’s tone was created, as Fran was used to and specialized in hiding emotions or exaggerating them. Ian spoke in a firm voice.

“My world is not protected as long as you exist.”

The thousand mouths began preparing to speak, and the dragons finished their battle formation. The situation could explode at any moment.

[You have a lot to speak, humans!]

A familiar dragon broke into the conversation, and it was the young Herpi Dotos, the gatekeeper. Since Ian had beaten the dragon once, he rushed into the fight trying to redeem his honor.

[Stop! Herpi!]

While Reseesee Radenju shouted quickly, it was impossible to stop Herpi Dotos since he had already gone too far.

“That tendency to be volatile…”

Fran reached out with his hand speaking in a sneering voice as Herpi Dotos came flying in a large curve. His left palm was spread out towards Herpi Dotos’s head.

“You still are the same.”

Herpi Dotos’s claw sharpened like blades as he flew at Fran with agility unexpected from his heavy frame. Since magic and his breath would not work, the dragon seemed to have decided using his overwhelming physical conditions. It actually could have worked.

(Let me destroy.)

However, with that one sentence, a shock wave that shook the axis swallowed Herpi Dotos as it left Fran Page’s palm.

“Hmm.”

Fran had already finished off a dragon right at the beginning, but his expression was not bright. Actually, Fran furrowed his brow like he was annoyed. The reason was simple.

“Since when have you become so close to those lizards that you would protect them with your own body?”

Herpi Dotos’s body would have been ripped apart, but he was still alive because someone had absorbed the shock wave beforehand.

“Ian.”

Fran called that someone’s name and the one who had saved Herpi Dotos was not Reseesee Radenju nor Atar Haka, but the hastily made ally, Ian Page.

“It’s not that we’re close.”

Some of the thousand mouths Ian called transported, and others activated the shields to block the shock wave successfully. The scale of the barrier looked like a ‘waste,’ let alone a success. While Fran’s shock wave had been astounding, the shields seemed excessive.

“I had told them that the sacrifice would be little, and no sacrifice would be even better. Things might have gone wrong from the beginning.”

[……]

“Be careful, small lizard.”

Herpi Dotos swallowed silence at Ian’s words. While he would have shown his anger at being insulted as a small lizard, but he found it difficult to respond in any way now.

‘In that short moment…’

The dragon could not help it, and it was not because Ian had saved him. Fran Page was the problem.

‘My, my claws…’

Ian had protected Herpi Dotos from the shock wave almost perfectly. That was true.

‘My wing…?’

Some of Herpi Dotos’s claws were broken, and his left wing was ripped. There were unidentified wounds on Herpi Dotos’s body without the dragon realizing what had happened.

[Ugh….!]

The wounds were not only broken claws and ripped wings, but small and big cuts were all over his body. They must have been made with only a sliver over the shock wave, where the echoes had touched.

‘It, it can’t be true…’

What did the wounds mean? If it had not been for Ian’s protection and Herpi Dotos had faced the shock wave head on, Herpi Dotos, the young gatekeeping dragon, would have disappeared without a trace.

‘I would have died. This is the power of Fran Page, who had massacred half of my ancestors.’

While Herpi Dotos would have died a meaningless death, it had become an experience because the dragon survived. It was a chance for young dragons to feel Fran Page’s strength that they had known through stories and records. Also, there was one more thing.

‘Ian Page, his bloodline’s powers.’

Herpi Dotos had already experienced Ian Page’s powers a few days back. The dragon had not acknowledged Ian at the time because of his pride. However, this time it was different, as Ian had blocked Fran Page’s astonishing attack and saved his life.

[…Thank you, Ian Page.]

“Saving you is nice since you seem more polite than before.”

Herpi Dotos and Ian had met the first time when the mana heart had been broken when Herpi Dotos treated Ian like a wanderer, and the tables had turned since then.

[Thank you for saving that child.]

Reseesee Radenju and the dragons came closer to Fran Page, and while the young dragons were surprised at Fran Page’s powers, the rest of them who had already experienced Fran Page were focused on Ian.

[Your prowess seems deeper than what we had expected.]

Not only Reseesee Radenju but also Atar Haka, the second in command who was known for agility and stealth, would have been unable to save Herpi in that situation, as everything would have ended when they decided to do so.

[We owe an unpayable debt to the Fairy Queen, who had allied us with such a presence.]

Reseesee Radenju thought of the fairy queen before moving to a formation with the rest of the dragons. Since they confirmed that Ian was much stronger than they had expected, they could aggressively go on.

[The human who at one time had the noblest soul, who had been the teacher and leader of all. We wish to purge your fallen soul today, me, my dragons, and our strongest ally, Ian Page. If you have one shred of rational thought remaining, please do not resist and accept this act.]

“Fall? Did you say fall”

Fran showed murderous intent at Reseesee Radenju’s polite words.

“You will purge me yourself? That’s an honor. The mighty lizards’ leader will save this crazed human being!”

Fran was a completely different person from when he talked with Ian, and that murderous and mad man had to be the actual Fran Page.

“You old lizard, you speak too brazenly. Your odor is repugnant from living too long.”

Fran even held his nose, and his madness went in deeper.

“I had given you lizards who had been stuck in a mountain despite your size power, and you dare betray me?”

The deeper the madness grew, Fran’s unique golden aura turned black. His mana started to transform due to strong demonic auras.

“Ian!”

Ian quickly protected himself from Fran’s madness as it tried to reach him. He felt the ends of inexplicable chaos just by facing it, and Fran Page now seemed to be a storm of madness and a whirlpool of chaos.

“If you will stand by those lizards to the end, I will not stop you. However, can you stand the cruel price of that choice?”

Fran asked Ian or tried to convince him before falling into utter madness. However, Ian’s answer was the same.

“I’ll say it again.”

Ian spoke clearly as he used blue aura, the purest form of mana for a magician, to drive the demonic aura away.

“My world finally becomes peaceful when you disappear. So, Fran…no, Father.”

Ian called Fran as his father for the first time. While he shuddered at the repulsiveness of calling him by that title, Ian could not ignore the sad reality until the last.

“Let’s finish this.”

Ian spoke the last sentence like an announcement, and the blue aura exploded everywhere. The clash between the fallen demonic aura and the pure mana started out intensely from the beginning.

“Haha…”

It may have been an unexpected response, or perhaps Fran had known it all along. His smile was gloomy and crazy and he glared at Ian.

“Father?”

Fran’s eyes were mixed with black madness and golden intelligence until now. However, now even the whites of his eyes had turned dark.

“You believe I did not know what you have been doing the past ten days? Do you think you have deceived me? You’re mistaken. Ian, you’re only a tool I had made so the seal that held me would be broken!”

Fran’s voice started turning eerie and bleak.

“The value of you as a tool ended now, like your mother. She had been only a vessel to bring the tool to this world, and now the job is done. It took so long.”

His voice was surreal enough that if a demon had come to this world, his voice would be like that.

[So, the tool that used up all its usefulness. Wake up from your deep sleep and awaken as yourself! You, as the perfect ‘spiritual form’ that I had left in the outside world, the ‘final soul’ that only I in this state can wake!]