A Man of Mystery

Xenia regarded Vikamun, her face a mask of ill-ease.

There were no servants in the room.

Vikamun had dismissed them, claiming the story was not for their ears.

Now, alone with him for a discussion?

Xenia couldn’t begin to imagine what he wanted to say.

“The fact I’m even speaking to you now is the last courtesy I’ll extend as your brother.”

Xenia glared at him, her eyes sharp and cold.

Despite her warning, Vikamun remained silent.

A sigh escaped her lips, frustration mounting.

“You claimed to have something to say. How long do you intend to keep your mouth shut?”

“…”

Seeing his continued silence, her brow twitched.

Then, she rose from her seat.

“Fine. If you’re not going to talk, I’ll leave. You probably just need money anyway, predictable as ever.”

“Xenia.”

Finally, Vikamun spoke.

He drew a long breath, then continued.

“You are being targeted by a group that venerates mystery, a mystic cult.”

Xenia, who had been about to leave, turned back to face Vikamun.

The words had caught her completely off guard.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know the legend of the Hero’s reincarnation, yes?”

The tale of the Hero’s reincarnation was a well-known story.

She remembered it clearly, a fairytale from her childhood.

“You are Jerion, one of those reincarnations.”

Xenia’s expression turned blank.

She stared at him, clearly unable to comprehend this sudden, outlandish claim.

“I understand if you don’t trust me. But even so, we share blood. I came here to ensure you aren’t harmed by this mystic cult.”

Vikamun looked at Xenia with genuine concern in his eyes.

Xenia studied him for a moment.

The sheer absurdity of his words, coming out of nowhere, somehow made sense.

There was no other conceivable reason for Vikamun to return.

Xenia sighed again.

Because she had a suspicion.

‘Father.’

Xenia was the only Saint-level mage in the world.

Because of that, her father had recently been proclaiming Nippleheim as the bloodline of Jerion.

Her ability to use Saint-level magic was, according to him, proof.

The Count had been making these declarations far and wide.

Being targeted by Mysticism wasn’t entirely an impossible story, either.

Annoying as he was, he *was* her brother.

Maybe he was just trying to do the bare minimum as such.

Hate him, then again.

Xenia turned to face Vikamun, the words echoing in her mind.

“You’re really not asking for money?”

“Even looking like this, I live without money problems. I became like this to obtain this.”

Vikamun rummaged in his coat and pulled out a small gemstone.

The blue gem possessed a mystical form, its interior shimmering with an ethereal light.

“This can hide the aura of your soul. It will protect you a little more.”

So this is what being a younger sibling meant.

Xenia looked at the scars covering Vikamun’s hands.

Scars that showed the traces of his efforts.

“Give it to me. I’ll use it well.”

“Yes, tell Father as well.”

“Yes.”

The moment Xenia answered,

Abruptly—

She stopped her outstretched hand dead in its tracks and turned to Vikamun.

Vikamun stared back at Xenia, still holding out the gemstone.

Her brother, Vikamun, possessed almost no magical talent.

Because of it, he was always scorned by their father and subjected to humiliating words.

“You are not my father. I will never call you Father for the rest of my life.”

The day Vikamun left.

Xenia remembered his words clearly.

The tears brimming in his eyes were both a resolution and a declaration.

Only a little over half a year had passed since he left like that.

If it had been ten years, maybe, but there was no way Vikamun would call their father “Father” now.

Xenia’s and Vikamun’s eyes met for a brief moment.

Soon after, Vikamun narrowed his eyes slightly.

“I’ve made a mistake.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a wand popped out from Xenia’s sleeve.

In an instant, she grasped the wand in her hand and activated her magic.

The Niflheim family’s specialty was ultra-fast lightning magic.

As if to prove it, high-powered lightning magic poured out of Xenia.

Crackle, crackle!

Just before the lightning magic shot at Vikamun made contact.

Fwoosh—

The lightning magic vanished right in front of his nose.

Xenia’s eyes widened.

He clearly possessed a means to nullify my lightning magic.

A dangerous opponent.

No matter how prodigious Jenia might be, she was still young.

Unlike the reincarnated heroes blessed with memories of a past life, her talent alone had awakened.

A chick newly hatched from its shell might one day become a phoenix soaring through the heavens, but for now, it was just a chick preyed upon by hawks.

“What you gave.”

In that instant, the false Vikamun snapped his fingers.

“I’ll return in kind.”

*Pajijijijijik!*

Simultaneously, Jenia’s lightning magic erupted from him, engulfing her.

Jenia barely managed to conjure a defensive spell, and was sent flying, colliding with the wall.

She felt no impact.

Her defensive magic was sturdy.

However, despite the considerable force of the collision, the wall remained unscathed.

Ordinarily, the wall should have crumbled, yet not a single splinter had broken.

Such a commotion.

The Count’s knights should already be on their way, yet an eerie silence hung in the air outside.

‘He did something.’

Jenia swallowed hard, pushing herself to her feet.

She realized the room was now isolated from the outside.

‘It’s not magic.’

If it were magic, Jenia wouldn’t have failed to see through it.

The fact that she couldn’t pierce it meant only one thing.

‘Mystery.’

He was undoubtedly a member of the Mystics.

This was unfavorable.

Jenia knew little about the Mysteries.

The Mysteries were fallen things that failed to become gods.

The powers they wielded were all unique, unknowable to anyone who wasn’t a specialist.

‘Confirmed: formation of an isolated space, and likely, the ability to absorb and return my magic is also a Mystery.’

The incoming magic was confined within his personal spatial bubble, then the space was opened again to return it.

A simple principle, if one were capable.

‘It absolutely doesn’t negate magic.’

Her mind swiftly processed that fact, and Jenia summoned lightning magic once more.

Without hesitation, she unleashed another barrage of lightning.

As before, the lightning vanished before reaching the false Vikamun.

Jenia didn’t stop there.

She continuously unleashed her lightning magic, relentlessly attacking the imposter.

The false Vikamun watched Jenia’s frenzy with a languid demeanor.

However, Jenia showed no sign of relenting.

‘Even the most mysterious of arts must have its limits.’

The first task was to ascertain just where that limit lay.

‘Don’t become consumed by the opponent’s apparent ease.’

Xenia, the young lady who would one day lead the House of Niflheim.

She was not one to break down at a mere setback like this.

A relentless repetition of lightning magic.

Xenia invoked her mana with maximum efficiency, creating countless spheres of electrical energy around her.

The lightning spheres consumed Xenia’s mana, continuously discharging bolts of electricity.

*Pajik-*

And after much repetition, at long last…

Lightning began to crackle around the false Vicarman.

He had been storing the continuous barrage of lightning magic in a separate space, but it had finally reached its limit.

The space warped, and the lightning magic began to leak out.

“Truly worthy of being Jerion’s reincarnation.”

To possess such immense mana… indeed, she was worthy of being called Jerion’s reincarnation.

“But what will you do now?”

*Jjeojeojeojeok!*

At that same instant, the area surrounding the false Vicarman was consumed in a blaze of electric light.

The lightning magic that Xenia had unleashed with such frenzy.

Its power, compressed, was now spilling forth from the ruptured space.

The lightning magic that had been aimed at the false Vicarman was now targeting Xenia herself.

How would she respond to this?

The false Vicarman wore a revolting smile, as if curious to see what she would do.

*Pajijijijijik!*

With that final sneer, high-output lightning magic was redirected back towards Xenia.

Just as Xenia’s body was about to be engulfed by the lightning magic,

The false Vicarman witnessed her hair momentarily transforming into starlight.

Xenia, cloaked in starlight, glowed with a brilliant radiance.

Behind her…

The celestial gate, which had been sealed until now, opened.

Countless constellations etched upon the celestial gate.

Xenia’s fair fingers tapped one of the constellations, awakening it.

Before the onslaught of lightning magic…

The Constellation of the Mirror, which reflects the night sky and contains the world, emerged.

The lightning magic was then reflected in the mirror held by the woman crafted of glass.

Celestial Art · Sky Mirror.

Returning the favour is not something only *you* can do.

Xenia pointed her staff towards the false Vicarman, as if to declare this fact.

Celestial Art · Star Genesis.

The reflected lightning magic was transformed into starlight, hurtling forward.

The star-blast descended upon the false Vikamun.

No matter the mastery he possessed over the mysteries of space, this he could not withstand.

The false Vikamun offered a hollow laugh.

And then, his form was swallowed by the stellar onslaught.

* * *

Where the star-rage had passed.

The guest chamber lay utterly devastated.

The false Vikamun, with his mysteries, had divided the chamber into an independent space, but even this shattered, stirring commotion in the surroundings.

From afar, one could see servants running toward them.

Strangely, the family knights were nowhere to be found.

What the false Vikamun might have done…

Zenia released a breath.

Enough.

That, she could ascertain from this moment onward.

Zenia lowered her staff.

“Too late.”

Just as she was about to chide the approaching servants.

Her body was abruptly wrenched to the side.

A gush—

In that instant, blood erupted from her flank.

Following close, from the gash in her side, emerged the false Vikamun, his face and body half-collapsed.

Zenia’s eyes flickered faintly.

In his hand, a single dagger, somehow already buried within her side.

She had been maintaining a defensive magic, always.

Yet the dagger had pierced it as if it were nothing, the assault freely allowed.

As Zenia, enduring the agony, attempted to struggle free.

Thwack!

The false Vikamun yanked the dagger straight out.

The blade, more treacherous when withdrawn than when thrust.

“Kyaagh!”

A surge of excruciating pain shot through her, coupled with a torrent of blood.

“Still just a fledgling.”

The false Vikamun did not cease there.

He forced his hand into the wound he had torn open with the dagger, widening it.

“aaagh!”

Zenia screamed with the pain.

The servants rushed forth like madmen, but the false Vikamun moved faster still.

“Just now, had that been Jerion, I would no longer be standing here.”

He reached into his coat, retrieving the blue gem from before.

Mystery, the Soul Hunter.

A mystery, like the theft of Narea’s very soul, lingered in the air.

Just as the false Vikamen was about to pry open Xenia’s wound and force the blue gem inside…

*Crack!*

This time, his body contorted violently to the side.

*KWAhhh!*

The false Vikamen went flying, crashing roughly onto the floor.

Smoke billowed, swirling in the air.

Xenia, struggling to overcome the pain, opened her eyes weakly.

Then, directly before her, she saw a man with striking features: black hair, and dark eyes.

He felt, somehow, like a foreigner.

She didn’t know who he was, but the man tenderly wrapped her in his arms.

“Rest now,” he murmured.

His gaze then hardened as he stared down the false Vikamen, who was struggling to rise.

“I’ll make sure he pays dearly for this.”

For some reason, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him.