Infinite Mage

“Master…”

Thadd hesitated to speak. Was Alpheas still the same person he used to be? Humans hold hope because they don't know the future. But Alpheas's memories held no hope. Any happy memory was buried under terrible pain.

Alpheas closed his eyes again, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“Master, are you alright?”

“Thank you, Thadd.”

Relieved by Alpheas's kind tone, Thadd sighed.

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course. Sorry for being harsh to you earlier. But that was the old me.”

“No, I'm the one who should apologize. I thought it might be better for you to stay as you were, fearing something might happen to you…”

Alpheas patted Thadd’s shoulder reassuringly.

“It was a decision true to your nature. Maybe it would have been better that way.”

“Then, Master…”

Thadd became anxious again. Maybe he should have persisted with his initial thought. It could have been an unrepeatable chance for Alpheas to escape his past.

“Yes. Memories I never want to recall. But…”

Alpheas looked at Erina’s portrait, recalling the moment they first met at the ballroom and how he confessed his feelings, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

“Even in a life filled with pain, there are moments worth living for.”

“I see.”

Thadd finally felt at ease. Alpheas was still the same person he knew, unchanged in any way.

The woman named Erina, who had shaken the entirety of Alpheas's life, remained in his heart as a painful but unforgettable memory.

“Master, the one behind this incident is Arcane. Currently, Teacher Ethella is…”

“I had a hunch from the start. It’s not the time for explanations. Let’s move.”

Alpheas walked towards the door, Thadd following him. The first crisis might have been averted, but the real problem was just beginning. The entire student body was under Arcane’s influence.

‘I just hope it’s not too late.’

After learning about Alpheas's past, Shirone and his group were speechless for a while. It was a shockingly tragic and sad love story.

“The Headmaster had such a past…”

A certified 4th-grade mage and the headmaster of a prestigious school, anyone would think Alpheas led a successful life. But after hearing Arcane’s story, it was clear that young Alpheas was extraordinary. He proved the Photon Theory at a young age and was a Gold Circle awardee. His experiment on memory transfer was a progressive idea just beginning to be explored in the magical society.

“Certainly, Alpheas was a genius. But he was weak. Had he endured a little longer, the world would have been different. He ruined everything with a mere sentiment. I can never forgive him for that.”

Shirone had a lot to think about. Arcane was known as a villain, but he was also a mage. At least in Erina’s experiment, he was nothing but a helpful collaborator.

“That’s true. Headmaster Alpheas destroying your research might have been hypocrisy.”

Arcane's murderous intent softened, allowing Shirone to approach him a bit closer.

“But even then, I would have made the same choice.”

Arcane frowned in displeasure, but Shirone wasn’t being stubborn.

“If sacrificing one person could save ten thousand, it might be a rational choice. But I wouldn’t sacrifice that one person.”

“Then ten thousand will die.”

“That’s a risk we have to take.”

Shirone spoke with conviction.

“Ten thousand might die. But we shouldn’t interfere beyond our human limits. It's arrogant to weigh human lives. Even if it leads to more sacrifices, we just need to do what we can. Eventually, there might come a day when we can save ten thousand without sacrifices. What you’re trying to do isn’t different from a tyrant trying to stand above humanity.”

Arcane realized that Shirone stood at the opposite extreme of his beliefs. Sacrificing a few for the many is not an option? Some might call it virtue, but if such a situation really arose, not many people would agree. Humans are creatures that wander between good and evil, looking for what benefits them. But Shirone stood at the farthest end of goodness. Both a cruel murderer and a savior saint are inhuman, and both are persecuted by the public.

‘Your life won’t be easy either. Dying here might even be a blessing for you.’

A mage bases his choices on intelligence. Arcane believed in the efficiency of evil to advance humanity. To him, Shirone was a future threat that must be eliminated.

“We are incompatible breeds. Regrettably, I have to kill you.”

Shirone stepped back in surprise. Arcane, who had seemed weakened, was now exuding the aura of a true archmage.

“Surprised, boy? Magic is a mysterious thing.”

According to the Magic Association's research, the mental fatigue a mage experiences when casting pure magic is equivalent to the focus an ordinary person maintains for 48 minutes on a single task.

However, Arcane defied such arithmetic calculations and quickly gathered his strength.

"Let's end this. There will be no pain."

Shadows surged from Arcane's body, covering the sky with a black curtain. Its massive size astonished everyone. It was on a completely different scale from the dark powers exhibited by Canis.

As Arcane raised his right hand, the curtain morphed into the shape of a fist. Shirone admired its purity. The size of the fist indicated that if it fell, it could obliterate half of the basin.

'I can't block it. Nor can I avoid it.'

If quantified, the power of a unit cube (1 cm in width, length, and height) of dark powers is about 0.1N, slightly better than an ant's jaw joint. But beyond a billion units, it can exert a tremendous force, enough to sweep away everything on the surface of the earth.

"Stop this nonsense, Master."

Everyone's gaze turned to the cliff. Alpheas stood there, hands behind his back, followed by a beam of light roaring in, with Thadd landing beside him.

"Teacher Thadd!"

Shirone and his companions brightened up. Just the arrival of Alpheas and Thadd felt like gaining a mighty army. Thadd looked up at the dark power and cast Fire Sun. The stream of flames spiraled upward, forming a huge fireball.

"Wow…"

The surrounding scenery turned into a blinding white light, making it impossible to open their eyes. But Arcane countered the blinding light with his dark magic, staring directly at it.

"Hmm."

Stretching his palm towards the Fire Sun, the darkness in the sky mimicked the movement, engulfing the giant fireball.

Chiieeee!

Shirone shivered. He had never seen anything burn with such a massive sound. Darkness enveloped the world again as Thadd grimaced and transformed his Spirit Zone into an offensive form.

"Damn! Annoying old man..."

Alpheas stopped him with a hand gesture.

"Let it be, Thadd."

"But, Master..."

"This is my battle. A matter between me and Arcane. Leave it to me from here."

Alpheas walked leisurely forward, and Arcane, extinguishing the Fire Sun, reshaped the dark power into a curtain and spread it across the sky.

"You've aged, Alpheas. Well, even a time mage is just a human before the years."

Alpheas ignored Arcane's first greeting in 40 years. At least not yet... it wasn't time for two foolish old men to settle the past. Looking past hundreds of students, the injured Yiruki, Nade, Shirone, and finally at Ethella, he saw bruises spreading over her pale skin.

"You've had a hard time, Ethella. It's my fault for being irresponsible. I have nothing to say but sorry."

"It's not your fault, sir. I failed to protect the students."

Alpheas shook his head. Ethella, who excelled in magic, martial arts, and mental techniques, had seemed bewildering when she came for a teacher interview. But today, he couldn't be prouder of his decision to hire her. Without her, the students wouldn't be safe as they were now.

"Headmaster, please be careful."

Shirone looked worried. If Arcane had been exhausted, Alpheas, a 4th-grade certified mage, might have had a chance. But Arcane was undoubtedly at his peak now.

Alpheas smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. There's no magic that defies the law of equivalent exchange."

"But Arcane must have regained his mental strength..."

"Yes. He must have recovered. But that too is magic."

"Magic?"

"Abyss-type magic controls memories. Arcane created it and is the best at using it. Right, Master?"

Arcane snorted dismissively.

"Not senile, I see. By the way, the magic you experienced was Abyss Nova, far more advanced than mere memory manipulation."

"It was impressive magic. Thanks to it, I could relive old memories."

"Don't pretend. You must have been crying out of fear. You always run away in the end. And you were probably weeping like a baby."

"You're right. But Master, you've weakened too. Struggling against a hundred-year-old child and resorting to Abyss Memory, of all things."

Arcane didn't get angry. If Alpheas was calm, so was he. A 40-year-old grudge couldn't be resolved with mere words.

Alpheas turned to Shirone with a pre-storm calmness.

"Shirone, casting magic requires intense concentration in a moment. It’s like using an hour’s worth of focus in a second. That’s why Arcane did this."

Tapping his temple, Alpheas continued.

"He cast a spell on his own head. A memory erasing spell."

"Ahh..."

That was a possibility. Erasing the memories used by the brain eliminates mental fatigue. Although it would undoubtedly overload functionally, it was a viable way to recover mental strength once.

Alpheas understood Shirone's feelings. Viltor Arcane, a dark mage who had survived a century on the battlefield, was not someone to be underestimated, regardless of past grudges.

"Yes. Bold and brilliant. Arcane lives in such a world. Remember that. A combat mage who doesn’t have at least one last resort isn’t truly a combat mage."

Join our discord at https://discord.com/yT4GsFAYRf

***

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Link to donations in the discord!