Chapter 1329: Artifice
The Ersatz assassin was completely caught off guard as the golden circle seemingly swallowed his targets all in one go.
"HUH?! Where did they go?!"
One second they were here, and the next, they were gone! Even the Magical Monsters in his army was at a loss for words. They tried to scratch at the ground, trying to see if they were hiding under the floor. But unfortunately for them, their presence was entirely gone.
And in the next second, the Ersatz assassin suddenly heard a sound echoing off into the cavern.
"HEHEHEHEHEHE..."
Unbeknownst to him, there was a devilish shadow now slowly inching forwards, before eventually encompassing his entire being.
"Wha— haa! Help!"
The Ersatz assassin could do nothing but scream as the shadow engulfed him into the ground, disappearing and leaving the Magical Monsters trapped in their lair, not knowing what else to do.
Meanwhile, back in the Sacred Tree, Levi and Theresa both felt their hairs stand on end as they realized what they had just witnessed.
"Magic," the muttered to themselves. Michael, that golden-haired boy from the Reborn company, had used magic.
And not just any kind of magic, but large-scale teleportation magic! This was absolutely impossible for normal magicians and wizards. Even Mystic Masters famed for their mana capacity could only, at most, transport about a thousand people within a short distance.
But Michael’s teleportation magic... that had gone over and beyond that limit.
First of all, together, the Vanderbilt army and the Goldstone Coalition must have numbered in the high five figures, reaching almost a hundred thousand men. That alone made any kind of teleportation magic simply impossible.
But then, that wasn’t the only thing that complicated the magic circle. It was the fact that both armies were seemingly teleported at the very same time!
The complexity and difficulty of executing such a spell was well beyond the means of normal humans. It’s simply supernatural. Perhaps, a Nascent Spirit cultivator who was in the high-stages of their realm with a specialty in teleportation would be the only person who could do something as powerful as this.
But even then, it wouldn’t be as... easy. It wouldn’t be as flawless. The Nascent Influence that would be needed to pull off such a feat would be almost equivalent to the Nascent Influence that disappeared magic from reality in the first place.
This was simply too much. Too impossible for them to even comprehend.
"Michael..."
Seberus, the Mystic Master himself, approached Michael and simply shook his head. "You’ve really outdone yourself this time. Haaaa.... Makes me wonder why you’re still not a 9th circle wizard."
Seberus knew that he wouldn’t even be able to repeat what Michael had done, even if he had the mana capacity to do so. "Such a waste! Are you really not going to be a Mystic Master?!"
Michael patted the old wizard’s shoulder. "I don’t think that’s what we should be worrying about right now."
Now, they had completely eradicated the presence of the Ersatz in the demi-human kingdom.
And all it took was using his large-scale teleportation magic. He knew that he’d be essentially telling on himself, that in a world without magic, he was still a wizard.
But that was a problem to deal with in some other time.
Meanwhile, as Michael continued to clean things up, having his Mini Drones scour the entire kingdom for more of those Ersatz assassin, one Red Mankey looked towards their Monarch.
A Nymph, the Monarch of the demi-human kingdom looked absolutely stunning, seemingly made out of leaves and branches and vines itself.
Rowan approached the Nymph. "Monarch, are you okay?"
The Nymph looked at Rowan, with a look of wonder and appreciation. Then, a knife suddenly manifested in the Monarch’s hand and lunged towards the unsuspecting Red Mankey.
Rowan’s eyes widened, not expecting the Monarch to suddenly attack him.
And just before the knife was about to plunge into his chest, someone pushed him away.
Rowan watched helplessly as the knife plunged into his brother’s back, having sacrificed himself in order to save his only living family member.
"BROTHER!" Rowan screamed.
Before the Monarch could do any more damage, Shadow tendrils appeared on the ground and restricted her entire body like a straight jacket.
"Let go of me!" the Monarch screamed, voice sounding male and distorted.
Michael appeared in front of the so-called Monarch, his eyes narrowing at the Nymph.
"Tsh." He clicked his tongue, before using his Nascent Influence.
Suddenly, a large shockwave emanated out of his body, hitting the Nymph directly and making it cringe backwards.
Michael’s power overwhelmed the reality in the Monarch’s figure, with its disguise starting to fall away like sand.
Beneath that Nascent Armor, an Ersatz Assassin had finally shown itself.
"A chameleon-like Nascent Armor. Pretty useful," he said. "Fudge. Want to take care of this one?"
A devilish shadow appeared underneath Michael’s feet. "Hehehe, Master. I shall accept your gift."
"I want you to tell me if they know about other assassins who could disguise themselves as other people," he said to Fudge.
"HEHEHEHEHE.... No secret shall be left in the dark..."
Soon after that, Fudge disappeared into the ground, but not before swallowing the Monarch impostor into the ground for interrogation and questioning.
Meanwhile, Rowan held Loren on the ground, crying his heart out as his brother bled out right in front of his eyes.
"No, no, no, brother... why did you..."
The Red Mankey coughed blood. "Haa... I told you... didn’t I? I’d protect... I’d protect you in the end."
"No! NO! Don’t close your eyes! Brother!"
Watching this, Michael couldn’t help but be shocked into silence. It took him a few moments before he woke out of his stupor and used his magic to create a golden circle underneath the two Red Mankey brothers.
Green motes of light appeared on their skin, giving them vigor and life to repair the damage that had been done to them.
Life returned to Loren’s eyes.
Michael couldn’t help but stare at the Red Mankey. After all, he was able to regain his sanity even while using the Artifice!