Chapter 168.1: Coming to a Close (1)

168 Part 1

Return of the 8th Class Mage 168 Coming to a Close (1)

“…Aha!”

Fran Page had felt some surprise at Ian’s antics, but he scoffed after discovering the draught. He did not avoid it or tear himself away. Fran was just looking down on him.

“Yes, you have spoken among yourselves that you’ll overtake me to make me swallow that potion. You’re going to enter my mind world. All right, that’s a great plan. However, will that be possible? Do you think I’ll open my mouth?”

Fran was in perfect condition rather than being unable to battle, and it would be impossible to force him to swallow the potion.

“Ian, I do not know how you came back, but resistance is futile. You will know that better than anyone else.”

“Well…”

However, Ian did not step back even a little and even seemed to have found confidence in Fran’s words. His faint smile was evidence.

“Do you know that I’m more than what you have made of me? I have too much burden to live as one of your metaphysical forms. While that had not been my intentions, things happened that way.”

His ego as Ian Page had become much stronger than Fran Page’s form. Fran also had noticed that fact, since their faint connection had been completely severed.

“I know that.”

“Also.”

Ian let go of Fran’s collar and uncorked the vial.

“Oh, you’re going to feed it to me?”

“No.”

Ian’s next act was unexpected as he turned the vial upside down, so the liquid fell.

“You’re going to announce your surrender?”

“That was a lie.”

The drops stopped in mid-air, and they were sprayed over Fran in an instant. However fast Fran was, he could not avoid all of the drops.

“What are you doing?”

The back of Fran’s hand was wet with the draught, and he asked in an annoyed tone.

“I told you that it was a lie. This draught is not for drinking.”

“What?”

“If I must categorize this…”

A sudden change was happening to Fran as Ian began to talk.

“It’s more of an ointment.”

As he had said, grotesque bubbles burst out of the potion on Fran’s hand.

“What did you…!”

“From now,”

The bubbles spread all over Fran’s body, and the speed astonished even Fran.

“I’ll take away your immortality.”

Like that announcement, Ian’s own metaphysical form in the vial entered Fran’s mind world. There were tens of thousands of Fran Pages locked in pink membranes in his mind world, and the environment was similar to what Ian had seen in his own mind world. Actually, except for the number of souls trapped here, they were the same.

‘It’s beyond imagination.’

Fran Page had overused his power over time to fragmentize that many dimensions and used them as extra lives.

‘This madness ends now.’

Ian’s metaphysical form began to collect mana in Fran Page’s mind world, and while not as much as his original self, he could use a substantial amount of magic.

“Spirit Cutter.”

Spirit Cutter was a spell that cut down spirits literally. As Ian activated the spell, gray magic blades appeared in his right hand. It was high-class black magic he had learned when destroying the Immortal Troops of the Eastern Plains.

With a grunt, Ian swung the long blade widely, and the training he received from Oliver now saw the light. Loud booms rang where the Spirit Cutter swept, and they were cries Fran Page’s souls made as they disappeared. Since hundreds of souls disappeared with a slice, the sound had to be loud.

“Please rest, souls poisoned with madness that have fallen to become expendables!”

Ian cut, cut and cut Fran Page’s souls again, and shouts rang everywhere.

[Please let me live! Please!]

[I did not do anything wrong!]

[We were only consumables!]

Fran Page’s souls cried at the injustice they suffered, but Ian did not stop.

[Stop! Stop right now!]

[You bastard who does not know your benefactor!]

[You damn..]

The reason was simple. A mind world was the heart of a soul that possessed the body, and these souls have been left alone for a long time in such a space. They had to have been affected negatively, and they were Fran’s souls, to begin with. There was a high possibility that they had fallen at the moment the dimension had been fragmented.

Ian let out rough breaths as he could not count how many souls he had cut. Ian’s speed decreased, and he looked worn out.

“I have to end this as fast as possible…”

His opponent was Fran Page, who was the greatest magician and the source of all evil. He would find a new countermeasure, and he had to remove all souls before Fran could do so.

“Stop.”

While there were thousands left, Ian could already hear Fran’s voice. Not only that, but a human form came in from the innermost corner of the pink mind world, as Fran’s mind also entered.

“I was light on you since you’re of my blood. I gave you special treatment, but you’ve gone too far.”

Fran mumbled gloomily as he spat out each word.

“I’ll send you off without any pain, and your other form goes first!”

Fran showed his true colors, and he did not move like a mage. He closed the distance between him and Ian with low and fast footsteps like a well-trained knight, and not unlike Oliver. He took out a magic blade like a knight would unsheathe a sword.

That blade went through Ian’s abdomen. Even as he did not feel pain or bleed since he was a metaphysical form, his body now became faint as it would disappear at any moment.

However, as a metaphysical form was made of one’s soul and memories, Ian could feel a hollow pain.

“Please wait outside since I will kill you myself. Do you understand?”

Fran almost held victory in his hands, and he spoke with confidence. However, Ian’s response had been unexpected, as he raised his lips in a smile.

“You’ve hit the button.” His words were full of nuances.

“Let’s see the end. Fran Page.”

“……?”

(Spirit Explosion.)

Cracks appeared in Ian Page’s stabbed form, and the faint body looked like it would explode at any moment.

‘Self-explosion?’

Fran immediately understood the situation. Ian had a way he could attack all souls in Fran’s mind world with one sweep. However, he had not done so at the beginning since he wanted to lure the soul in control of Fran’s body to the mind world to hold him off for a while.

As the explosion shook the axis of the mind world, Ian’s original self, who had received his form’s memories, moved on to the next step.