As the castle descended into chaos, the guards frantically tried to extinguish the fires. Many soldiers died amidst the falling debris from the ceiling, while Simon and Urien had already made it out.
"{Get out of here! Now!}"
Hearing Jack’s voice in his mind, Simon quickly nodded. As thunder cracked, he rushed to the front of the horse-drawn carriage.
"I’ll make sure to get far away from here!" Simon said as the carriage sped up, with rain pouring down heavily.
Jack nodded, and after scanning the surroundings, he swiftly flew towards the castle courtyard. Passing over the castle walls, Jack spread his raven wings and glided down to the ground.
"A raven?" said the black-robed sorcerer, holding a blood-stained leather book in his hands. Jack instinctively took a step back.
The sorcerer chuckled. "You’re quite the interesting raven..."
"A raven with its own consciousness, intelligence, and the ability to use mana..."
Licking his lips with delight, the sorcerer continued, "I’m going to have so much fun dissecting your lifeless body. I can’t wait, but I hope you die before exhausting me."
But before the sorcerer could say anything more, a punch to the face sent him flying backward into the wet bushes, where he groaned in pain.
"I’m too young to die just yet, old man," Jack said with amusement, looking at the sorcerer. "And why do you always indulge in pointless monologues?"
"Isn’t that rather foolish? Especially for sorcerers like you who work for the Mage Tower."
"I’m not as weak as they are!!" The sorcerer got up, his face contorted with anger before twisting into a vile grin. "It’s a sin to even touch me. You filthy animal!!"
Raising the book, the sorcerer laughed. "It’s impossible to defeat me! I’m powerful!"
Jack’s raven eyes narrowed as he saw the sorcerer lifting the book. He could sense that it was a cursed grimoire.
Grimoires, though rarely encountered even in the world of otome games, were well-known artifacts. They were magic books created during the age of the gods, possessing a partial consciousness.
But what made them dangerous wasn’t the spells inside; each grimoire acted according to its creator’s desires. If the creator was malevolent, the grimoire could be extremely perilous.
After defeating Morgana, King Arthur had nearly all the grimoires burned. Although a few still existed, they were no longer as incredibly powerful as those from the golden age.
Yet Jack could feel that the grimoire in the sorcerer’s hand was no ordinary one. Strangely enough, the grimoire didn’t frighten him.
’It feels as though it’s calling to me...’ Jack thought, unsure why the grimoire’s consciousness was giving him such a feeling.
The sorcerer smirked arrogantly. "Do you see this book?! This is Vortigern’s grimoire!"
Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. He knew exactly who Vortigern was.
Vortigern had sacrificed thousands of people to the Legendary White Dragon in Albion’s history, receiving a powerful dark magic grimoire in return.
Before uniting Albion, Morgana had secretly conspired with Vortigern to kill Uther Pendragon.
After entrusting the newborn Arthur to Merlin, Uther had fought against the rebel armies and perished in a crushing defeat.
During the following 16 years, Vortigern had planned another coup against Morgana but was caught off guard and forced to flee Albion.
At 16, King Arthur formed an alliance with 12 kings to oppose Morgana, establishing his authority on his father’s lands and declaring war against the Albion Empire.
A bloody civil war ensued, with Arthur and Morgana constantly battling and wearing each other down. Meanwhile, Vortigern grew more powerful.
Biding his time, Vortigern raised a large army from the people of the new continent he had fled to, whom he considered barbarians, and sacrificed thousands to the White Dragon.
In exchange for these sacrifices, he received a powerful dark magic grimoire. Confident, Vortigern waged war on both Morgana and Arthur, the leader of the 12-King Alliance and ruler of Camelot.
Yet, despite his confidence, Vortigern was eventually slain by King Arthur, though not without difficulty. His grimoire was teleported away by Vortigern’s final magic.
It was said that the grimoire, known as ’Vortigern’s Cursed Book,’ fell into the hands of Mordred, who then launched his rebellion, leading to the death of an already weakened King Arthur.
However, the grimoire’s fame didn’t solely come from its association with Vortigern. It was renowned because it was the dark magic book responsible for King Arthur’s death.
Even though Mordred wasn’t as skilled with a sword as Arthur, defeating a weary King Arthur was still a daunting task.
What empowered Mordred to slay King Arthur was Vortigern’s Cursed Book, every dark sorcerer’s dream.
Turning his attention back to the sorcerer, Jack wondered how this man had come across such an artifact. He must have been incredibly lucky.
While the sorcerer rambled arrogantly to himself, Jack decided to gather more information. Fortunately, the sorcerer seemed overly prideful and rather foolish.
"How did you come to possess something like that?" Jack asked. The sorcerer grinned. "You don’t need to know. After all, you’ll be dead soon."
"Dark Magic #25: Reality Breaker!"
As Jack resisted the Anti Mana Field, which had an effect within a 100-meter radius, a sudden burst of white light illuminated the castle.
The light, which obscured both the ground and sky, irritated Jack’s eyes, causing him to shut them. Upon closing them, he suddenly felt different.
Instead of being at the castle, which seemed on the brink of collapse, he found himself somewhere else. He opened his eyes and surprised.
"Ohh..." Jack found himself in a beautiful place covered with roses and bathed in the unique radiance of the sun in the sky. "Holy Shit..."
"Surprised, aren’t you?" The wizard’s voice echoed around, and Jack quickly looked around but still couldn’t see him.
The wizard’s voice reverberated around. "Don’t waste your effort. You won’t find me here. This is an entirely separate dimension."
"Impossible! It shouldn’t be this simple to do this!"
"Hahaha, Foolish Raven! You underestimate Vortigern’s Grimoire! This is the power of the Gods!"
The wizard’s laughter echoed, and Jack momentarily felt regret for not attacking him. "What a pity, I should have killed you immediately."
"Dimensional Sanctuary, a dream of every wizard!" The wizard’s excited voice echoed. "Some waste 20 years for just a 10% advancement! But I! I succeeded, Raven!"
Jack’s eyes lit up; after all, he knew about the skill called Dimensional Sanctuary. Wizards, after using all their potential and reaching their limit, suddenly gain an understanding that breaks the boundaries of human potential and transitions to a higher level.
Even the most skilled wizards stayed in the Wizard’s Tower for at least 40 years without leaving.
After breaking human potential, though rare, they live longer (150-200 years) and gain unparalleled experience and knowledge in Mana and wisdom.
Morgana, King Arthur, Thomas, Merlin, Mordred, and the cult master Helion Leif, Aelthor are among the rare individuals who have achieved this.
The wizard continued. "While those fools are still struggling, I have reached the level of the Gods!"
"Really?" Jack said sarcastically. "You did it using the Grimoire. Don’t deceive yourself, old man."
"How dare you—!"
"Even Dimensional Sanctuary must be weak if you’re hiding," Jack taunted the wizard. He continued, "If you’re skilled and powerful, you should fight me. Face-to-face, man-to-man."
The wizard’s voice momentarily stopped, and Jack sealed his lips with victory. After a while, the wizard’s voice was heard again. "As you wish, Raven..."
"Let’s fight."
Jack showed a thoughtful expression when he noticed the cheerfulness in the wizard’s voice but quickly turned his head as he suddenly sensed a presence.
"But not with me, you will fight my warrior!"
When Jack looked at the new arrival, his beak opened in astonishment. "Isn’t that a Samurai?!"
Darkness flowed around the Samurai like sludge, and the darkness seemed to be poisoning the surrounding plants.
The Samurai wore red-black armor and carried a long Katana. His face was hidden. The darkness around him almost enveloped him entirely.
"I don’t know what a Samurai is, but today is the day you die! Raven!" The wizard’s voice echoed again as the Samurai remained motionless. "Warrior, go and kill the Raven! Tear him apart!"
Jack grew anxious when he saw the Samurai suddenly bend his knees and quickly took off. The Samurai appeared before him in an instant, and his Katana struck the dark barrier Jack had created at the last moment.
Yet, the barrier was immediately ineffective, and Jack suddenly turned back to his dark form, with the Katana shredding through his dark form.
"Damn it! Damn it! It’s hurt!!" As Jack returned to his raven form, the Samurai stopped and took a stance. Seeing this, Jack could only sigh.
"Damn, this is going to be a tough challenge..."
******
Author’s Note: The wizard does not possess Dimensional Sanctuary. The Grimoire creates a low-level Dimensional Sanctuary within the owner’s power.
Dimensional Sanctuary reflects true emotions. For example, the wizard is fearful and arrogant. So arrogant that his Dimensional Sanctuary is a false paradise.
The Samurai represents the darkness within him. Because the wizard is a coward, he uses a Samurai for combat instead of himself.
The Samurai’s abilities are as follows:
High combat power, immortality, swordsmanship, foresight, and Dark Manipulation. However, as it is a Dimensional Sanctuary forcibly created by the Grimoire, the Samurai’s immortality, foresight, and dark manipulation abilities are almost non-existent. Swordsmanship is also weakened.
The Samurai’s every attack is predictable, but this does not mean he is weak.