Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

After dropping Hector off at Monsieur, Henry teleported again, this tto St. Hall. Fortunately, the Holy City was among the places that had escaped Arthus’ wrath.

Henry had teleported to St. Hall in order to get help for the people in Enkelmann; he would’ve done it sooner but he had been delayed by a series of incidents.

Instead of teleporting inside St. Hall, Henry teleported in front of their gates. This city had a unique set of laws, namely the Holy Code, so Henry had to be respectful. Of course, the Holy Code didn’t mean much, given that the empire had crumbled, but Henry had to abide by it since he was the one asking for help.

At any rate, Henry easily entered through the main gates and proceeded to look for Saint Irenae, not Pope Ross, since she was easier to talk to.

The Saint was praying at the time, so Henry found her quickly. As he took a seat, Irenae noticed Henry’s pallor and called out, “Archmage?”

“Yes?”

“Could you giveyour hand for a moment?”

Henry held out his hand without question, and Irenae grabbed it.

A warm light flowed out from her hand and enveloped Henry completely, starting from his hand. This was a fast-recovery power that only the Saint could perform within the Church of Peace.

Henry could instantly feel his exhaustion melt away, and with that, his anger and stress were also abating. This was the best thing he could’ve asked for at the moment.

Having been healed, Henry said ruefully, “What a shame.”

“What is?”

“If… If I had asked the Church of Peace for help from the beginning, instead of dispersing my forces, we wouldn’t be in this disastrous situation.”

“Disastrous…?”

At Henry’s helpless statement, Irenae looked at him confusedly, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

“I suppose the news hasn’t reached the Holy City yet. Saint, while this place was fortunate enough to escape Arthus’ wrath, the other cities and kingdoms were not so lucky,” said Henry.

“Most of them have been destroyed,” Henry said bluntly.

“...!”

At Henry’s shocking statement, Irenae covered her mouth with her hand, her fingers trembling slightly. She was genuinely shocked.

“The majority of the Central Powers, including the capital, the Highlander region, Vivaldi, and Amaris, have been left in ruins. We’re currently using Monsieur as a temporary base to tend to the injured.”

“Oh… Oh my…”

At Henry’s solemn voice, Irenae couldn't help but burst into tears. She felt a pang of guilt for not having sent reinforcements to the other regions. She now realized that all the destruction and suffering could’ve been averted if the Church of Peace had sent its troops from the beginning throughout the continent.

And now, Irenae was confronted with the consequences of her poor judgment. It was too late to do anything now, for no amount of support could reverse the disaster that had befallen the continent.

Irenae felt all sorts of emotions—guilt, anger, regret, hopelessness… She couldn’t contain her tears, so Henry tried to comfort her.

“Don’t cry. You have done nothing wrong.”

“But…!”

“It’s fine, Saint. I was foolish, so I alone am to blfor this. I’ve cto you to make things right.”

“I’ll help you in any way I can! Please tellwhat I can do!” Irenae exclaimed wholeheartedly. She was eager to do anything to help because she thought this was the only way to alleviate her guilty conscience and appease the spirits of those who had perished.

She had barely managed to get the words out as she kept sobbing and hiccuping. Henry waited until she managed to calm herself, and after a while, when it seemed like she had run out of tears, Henry said, “Saint, will you go to Enkelmann withfirst?”

Henry asked the Saint to go to Enkelmann with him, but as soon as Henry uttered the nof the city, the Saint urgently said, “Enkelmann?! I have something to tell you about that.”

“About Enkelmann?”

“Yes, it’s about Arthus, to be exact.”

Irenae wanted to say something she hadn’t gotten around to due to the circumstances.

Henry, puzzled by this, thought for a moment, then suggested, “Then, if you don’t mind, let’s talk about this somewhere else.”

“Why can’t we talk here?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust this place, but there may be people listening here that I don’t know about.”

“Alright, then we can talk about this in Enkelmann.”

“Thank you, Saint. Then will you be reporting this to the Pope first?”

The Saint could only move with the Pope’s permission, but now that she felt guilty because of the Pope’s bad decision, she felt that she could no longer trust him, or rather, she didn’t want to stir up a conflict by openly disagreeing with him.

“No, I won’t report this. Archmage, you should be able to get us out of here quietly, right?” Irenae said firmly.

Henry was glad to hear this. He nodded in appreciation of her consideration.

“Thank you. We’ll get going, so will you grab my hand?”

Irenae took Henry’s hand and both of them disappeared with a flash of light.

***

“Is this…?”

Arriving at Enkelmann with Henry, Irenae teleported into the sky, overlooking the entire city. She covered her mouth as she was in shock at the size of the massive iceberg below her and the citizens frozen inside of it.

“This had to be done, otherwise it would’ve gotten out of control,” lamented Henry.

Irenae nodded in understanding.

The two soon landed on the ground. The frozen city, full of corpses and zombies, glowed transparently in the moonlight.

- Khu khu khu!

Just then, Elagon, whom Henry had ordered keep the city frozen, flew incredibly fast and clung to Henry as soon as he reappeared.

Seeing Elagon, Irenae asked, “Archmage, this child is…?”

“I guess this would be your first tseeing him. His nis Elagon, and he’s not a human, but a high-level spirit.”

“Ah, he’s a spirit.”

Irenae smiled awkwardly at Elagon and waved, but Elagon seemed to tense up against her. However, he soon let his guard down at the warm, holy aura that she emanated, and he slowly approached her.

- Khu?

Elagon held out his hand to her as a gesture of kindness. He looked like a five-year-old being affectionate to his mother.

Finding Elagon endearing, Irenae grabbed his hand.

- Khu khu!

Holding Irenae’s hand, Elagon actively tried to show off that he had been diligently defending the city. He was just like a child seeking praise from his parents.

Recognizing Elagon’s intentions, Irenae patted him on the head and gave him the praise that he wanted.

“You were protecting this place, weren’t you? I’m so proud of you.”

- Khu!

Elagon put his hands on his hips, smiled brightly, and flared his nostrils proudly. He truly looked like a kid who was happy to impress his parents.

“Saint, then where should we start?” asked Henry.

“Hmm, first we’ll need to determine if the citizens of Enkelmann are really undead like you said.”

“Then I don’t think it’s a good idea to unfreeze the entire city, so… Let’s just unfreeze one citizen for now and see their condition.”

Henry and Irenae cup with a number of possibilities about the undead Enkelmann citizens. However, after pondering on it for a while, they confirmed what they had already suspected—these people had been turned into zombies. Their behavior, including those kept at the hospital in Monsieur, was exactly like that of zombies.

Henry moved to the outskirts of the city and broke a man free from the ice he was stuck in. The man was still frozen though, and he looked like a fossil.

Henry dropped the frozen man far away from the city and rapidly unfreezed him.

As Henry’s hot mana enveloped the man, the ice was melting rapidly. The man gasped for air as soon as he broke free from the ice.

The man started groaning just like any zombie would.

Soon, all the ice melted, and the zombie naturally let out all kinds of loud noises as his body temperature returned to normal. His muscles grew less stiff, and he could finally move his limbs.

“Hold.”

“...!”

However, Henry quickly cast Hold on the zombie, binding him tightly to prevent him from moving.

As the preparations were complete, Irenae approached the zombie, who was held in place with his jaw wide open, and made a cross with her hand.

“In the nof the Goddess, I command you, Turn Undead!”

Turn Undead was a Holy Code that returned the dead back to where they belonged. As she activated this Holy Code, Irenae released her divine powers and emanated a bright light.

If this man really were a zombie, this Holy Code, Turn Undead, would turn him into ashes.

A sound like wind sweeping through the sand could be heard, but that was it.

The bright light soon faded, and both Henry and Irenae cocked their heads as they looked at the man. He hadn’t turned into ashes; he was still in his zombified form.

Henry didn’t doubt the Saint’s powers, but seeing that Turn Undead had no effect on the man, who was clearly a zombie, both him and Irenae were baffled.

They knew that Arthus and Dracan used black magic, but if the Saint’s Turn Undead didn’t work, it meant that the citizen in front of him wasn’t a zombie transformed by simple black magic.

A myriad of thoughts raced through their heads once again.

“Do you think it's magic?” asked Irenae.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the Hold spell that I am familiar with literally holds its target in the sposition, and if the undead, which was supposed to turn into ashes, was affected by Hold…”

“Ah, you do have a point.”

Despite being a Saint, Irenae understood the fundamental principles of the Hold spell. Henry snapped his fingers, releasing the man from the spell.

Just then, freed from his magical bonds, the zombie lunged at Irenae with its mouth open.