My King

To enter the Mage Tower for filming, Angell had to lead the team himself.

Even Branch President Hume of the Magic Association dared not wander through the Mage Tower district at will.

Beyond the issue of access permissions, the area was filled with countless Defense Arrays and magic traps, both in the sky and underground. These were masterpieces meticulously crafted by countless mages over thousands of years; even an Archmage could find themselves in a wretched state if they accidentally stumbled into a sector that didn't belong to them.

Yet, Angell was exceptionally familiar with the Mage Tower.

He led the film crew through the public areas to the abandoned Mage Tower in the east, manually dismantled several ancient Magic Circles, and then turned to order the Rune Apprentice he had brought along to set up a new defensive formation.

"...Bury the No. 6 and No. 7 Rune Stones in the southeast corner, but be careful of the Explosion Array above them... Hang a Magic Circle at the location of Tower No. 3; you don't need to worry about what's underneath, that array is already shattered... Yes, the crew should stay within the area marked by the yellow runes, though you probably wouldn't be able to walk out anyway."

Branch President Hume listened from the side, unable to help but ask cautiously, "Senior Angell, you seem very familiar with this place?"

...Senior?

Angell glanced at his wrinkled junior. "I was a member of the 'Abandoned Society' for a while."

"The Abandoned Society?"

"A club made up of a bunch of people with a death wish. We investigated abandoned Mage Towers that had lost their masters, contained the dangerous items inside, and registered them," Angell said. "It wasn't a big club. Besides, aren't there all sorts of organizations within the Mage Towers?"

...I suspect you and I are not in the same Mage Tower.

Branch President Hume wanted to ask more, but he heard a tremendous noise from the air. The people around them couldn't help but look up at the sky, letting out screams.

"A dragon!"

"A real dragon!"

"Why does it look like it's flying toward us?!"

"Ahhh, it's coming down!"

Branch President Hume looked up in terror and, sure enough, saw a massive red behemoth charging straight in their direction.

Why is there a dragon?

No, danger—

Hume thought in a panic. He was, after all, just an office worker lacking actual combat experience, so when he saw the Red Dragon diving from the sky, his entire body stiffened, unable to move.

However, out of the corner of his eye, Hume saw Angell perform a spellcasting gesture, and the shadows beneath the Mage Tower began to writhe as if they had a life of their own.

They transformed into countless hands of Black Shadow, grabbed the Red Dragon, and violently dragged it into the Explosion Array on a nearby Mage Tower:

"BOOM—"

The Magic Circle exploded with earth-shattering force, sending up billowing clouds of smoke and dust.

But when the smoke cleared, the giant Red Dragon was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a handsome man dressed in shimmering, sparkling attire came charging toward Angell.

"Angell, my little cutie, long time no see—Oof!"

Angell raised his long leg and, without hesitation, stomped his foot onto the man's sparkling face.

Hume was left stunned.

"Who is this..." he asked, trembling.

Could it really be a dragon?

Angell, however, said quite strangely, "You don't know? This is the husband of Archmage Avelie, whom you worship."

"—" Hume's brain clearly crashed.

"My darling and I got married too early, and we didn't make it public, so most people don't know about it," the sparkling man said, seemingly unbothered. He took the opportunity to hug Angell's leg and rub against it. "Only our mutual friends would know."

"Then it's truly an honor!" Angell added another kick.

He got angry just thinking about it.

Although Angell didn't have any designs on Avelie, as a man who had been single for two lifetimes, he was actually quite happy when a woman finally showed interest in him—only to discover that the interest came as a buy-one-get-one-free deal! Did he look like some kind of marital sex toy or something? Angell felt that not blowing up this couple's Mage Tower was a testament to his own restraint.

Angell stomped on the Red Dragon Mage a few more times before he felt satisfied.

"By the way, why did you come? Where is Avelie?" Angell finally remembered to ask.

"Avelie darling is still sleeping in, and I was worried about delaying your business, so I brought the items over first." The Red Dragon rolled his eyes, offering a highly suspicious explanation.

That woman is basically the incarnation of fire elements; she shouldn't even be able to sleep for three hours a month, so how could she be sleeping in?

Angell thought it was strange, but he didn't want to pry into the affairs of this perverted couple. He simply reached out his hand and said, "Then hand it over! The pass."

"Alright." The Red Dragon placed his claw onto Angell's outstretched hand.

Angell smiled, punched the Red Dragon in the face again, and then tossed him to Hume and Mandela, leaving those two to handle the communication regarding the Mage Tower pass.

Once Angell was free, Mithril finally poked its little head out from the hood of Angell's Black Robe.

"You know quite a lot of people!" it said, sounding surprised.

It had assumed that this social-phobic person wouldn't have any friends in the Mage Towers!

"It's unavoidable for work," Angell said, feeling weary. "After staying in the Masterless Tower for so long, all sorts of strange people keep showing up at my door. It's impossible not to know them."

"Even if you say that... wait, the Masterless Tower?!" Mithril gasped.

It was the first time it had heard of it. "Have you been in the Masterless Tower the whole time?"

"Ah, did I not mention it? But there is nothing strange about that, is there?"

"No! It is strange! Very strange!" Mithril said. "I heard that only an Archmage-level super genius would receive an invitation from the Masterless Tower. Aren't you only at the intermediate stage, Meow?"

"...Ah, that? That is just a rumor!" Angell said. "Think about it carefully. The Masterless Tower has no master, so who could possibly send an invitation in its name? Therefore, anyone can enter the Masterless Tower."

"Meow, you are lying, Meow!" Mithril refused to be fooled.

If anyone could enter the Masterless Tower, it would not be the Star Glory Tower.

Just because MeowMeow has never been to school does not mean you can trick me, Meow!

Angell chuckled and patted the cat's head. "It is the truth... However, although the Masterless Tower has no master, the magic core inside has been preserved, so it selects people based on two criteria."

"The first criterion is known to everyone. As long as you enter the Mage Tower area and your talent reaches the high stage, you will be invited by a Magic Puppet sent out by the Masterless Tower to enter and study knowledge."

"The second criterion is to find the clues to the test left by the builder of the Masterless Tower within the Mage Tower area. If you solve the puzzle, you can also obtain permission to enter the Masterless Tower."

Speaking of this, Angell was actually a little proud.

"Although I am the only one who has used the latter method to enter in the last three hundred years, it does indeed exist."

You are really quite something, Meow!

Mithril snorted coldly. Although it felt that this master was perhaps a little bit impressive, it did not want to praise this guy at all.

Just then, someone suddenly asked:

"...Then, there is no Invitation Letter?"

Angell and Mithril turned their heads to find Jack standing there, staring at Angell with bottomless eyes.

Who brought this Black Sheep along? He cannot help at all!

Mithril thought strangely.

Jack repeated his question: "The Masterless Tower... no, Invitation Letter?"

"There is none, if you are talking about a mage's invitation letter," Mithril said. "That tower has never had a precedent for sending letters. Even if you are chosen, it is the... Magic Puppet inside that comes out to greet you."

"If you are interested in the Masterless Tower, you should probably study for a while first," Angell said with a smile.

But Jack shook his head and reached out to grab the corner of Angell's robe.

"Save... him."

"?"

"Save... Silverleaf!" Jack pleaded.

"Silverleaf?"

Angell looked at Jack in confusion. On the other side, the Red Dragon walked over.

"Angell, it seems you are missing four people! I cannot register them here."

Silverleaf walked through the Mage Tower area with the letter from the Masterless Tower, followed by Mira, Gru, and Allen.

"Silverleaf, did you actually receive an invitation from the Masterless Tower?" Gru looked at the letter in Silverleaf's hand. Although his face showed envy, he was not surprised. "As expected of our Chief Student! So, what are you still hesitating about?"

"Who can say for sure!" Silverleaf replied vaguely in a detached tone.

He was looking at the back of the letter.

This Invitation Letter was a magical item. After entering the Mage Tower area, a Map appeared on its back, flickering to guide Silverleaf forward.

Silverleaf looked at the indicator without a hint of joy, only knitting his brows.

Sharing the same expression was Mira, who stood to the side.

Mira clutched her sister's letter in her arms but did not want to look at it, only tilting her head to gaze at the towering Mage Towers.

The Mage Tower area was extremely dense.

When mages built their towers, they did not space them out very much—or rather, perhaps the early mages had kept their distance to maintain a safe social gap, but later generations of mages built their towers nearby for reasons like "not wasting energy," "wanting to be closer to their teachers," "inheriting estates," or "we are a married couple." Some were even built directly atop the ruins of abandoned Mage Towers, causing the entire area to grow like a self-expanding city, becoming taller and denser until it almost formed a single entity.

The eastern area Angell had chosen was more sparse because it consisted entirely of dangerous, abandoned Mage Towers.

But now, Silverleaf and Mira were in the western area, where the Mage Towers were all occupied and packed tightly together. Most of the mages kept defensive Familiars; they peered at Silverleaf's group with uninhibited gazes from small windows or hidden shadows, whispering in ways that made one feel uneasy.

Mira could not help but move closer to Silverleaf.

Just then, Allen suddenly let out a "hee-hee" laugh, though no one knew what he had seen.

Mira was startled by him.

She felt that this Screenwriter was the most terrifying existence of all.

"What are you laughing at?" Mira asked vigilantly. "And why did you follow us here?!"

"Just sightseeing! Isn't everyone here to take a look?" Allen smiled. "You aren't making a decision today, are you?"

"...I didn't even want to come!" Mira said.

"But you came anyway," Allen said, hitting the nail on the head.

Mira bit her lip.

"However, hesitation is only natural," Angell said, his insight into human nature sharp. "After all, these are the demands of your kin. You cannot say your choice is definitively correct, nor can you ignore their requests. Even if this world truly possessed a scale to weigh every decision, you still couldn't claim the lighter side is unimportant or disposable. In the end, swayed by external forces, everyone ends up stumbling down a path they dislike. Everyone is like that..."

This guy is so noisy!

The three Rune Apprentices thought, brows furrowed.

Even Gru, who yearned for the Mage Tower most of all, felt hesitant the moment he actually stood here. The last thing they needed right now was a human-shaped rap track playing on a loop beside them.

"Shut up!" Mira snapped, unable to bear it any longer. "I would never—"

"Mira! Is that Mira?!"

Just as Mira was about to scold Angell, she heard a woman's voice calling out from ahead.

Mira's face turned deathly pale. She looked as if she had encountered a ghost; she didn't even dare to turn her head to look. Angell, however, followed the sound and saw a tall woman hurrying out of a Mage Tower. She shared seven or eight points of resemblance with Mira, though she appeared much more feminine. Especially in her lace-trimmed skirt, she looked like a doll that had been placed in the wrong part of the Mage Tower.

The woman clearly didn't notice Mira's resistance as she walked quickly toward them.

"Mira, I knew you would come! You're at such an age now; you should think about yourself and the family! It's rare for someone to not mind your absurdity and be willing to accept you. You wouldn't refuse, would you—"

"Don't come any closer—"

Silverleaf drew his Magic Wand and pointed it at the woman, blocking her advance.

The woman froze, a look of Wrath appearing on her face. "Who are you!?"

But before Silverleaf could answer, the woman roared at Mira, "Mira! What is the meaning of this?"

"She... is indeed my sister," Mira said timidly.

Though Mira desperately wished this woman were a complete imposter.

"I don't care if she's your sister, the question is how did she know to wait here?" Silverleaf held his wand steady, watching the woman vigilantly. "We only came to 'take a look' today; we weren't prepared to make contact with them!"

"...Sister! Why are you here?!" Mira asked, reacting belatedly.

She hadn't wanted to come in the first place, let alone notify her sister.

Mira suddenly realized, "Could it be this letter?!"

She pulled her letter from her pocket and discovered it contained a Map similar to the Invitation Letter Silverleaf held. However, Mira felt none of the admiration Silverleaf had shown for his; she felt only shame and annoyance.

"You're spying on me?!" Mira accused.

Based on Mira's understanding of her own kin, she didn't believe this letter was merely a Map.

The woman's expression was awkward at first, but then she became self-righteous. "I'm doing this because I'm worried about you! You haven't replied to any letters lately! You didn't even say hello when you came to the Mage Tower! How could I not worry that you were up to some foolishness again?"

"That doesn't mean you can do this—" Mira's face flushed red with agitation.

Amidst the sisters' argument, Gru suddenly realized something.

He pulled a letter from his own person as well.

Looking at the same Map on the letter, Gru scanned his surroundings warily. "—Professor Ral, you wouldn't happen to be here too, would you?"

He was clearly calling out to the person who had introduced him to the Mage Tower.

At Gru's call, three men actually walked out from that Mage Tower.

Or perhaps, they had never intended to hide their tracks from the start.

After all, they were just three Rune Apprentices.

Silverleaf frowned as he sized up the group. Including Mira's Sister, only one was wearing mage robes, and their auras were far removed from those of genuine mages.

"Children, you seem to have misunderstood," the man in the mage robes said. "I bear you no malice. It is simply that the interior of the Mage Tower is quite dangerous. To prevent you from getting lost, all Invitation Letters contain tracking magic. It is not intentional surveillance."

"Is that so?" Gru hesitated upon hearing this.

"Three people? All of you?" Silverleaf raised an eyebrow. He waved the Invitation Letter he held, which was supposedly from the Masterless Tower. "I didn't know the Mage Tower held unified admissions!"

The other party was not stumped by Silverleaf's retort. "Unified admissions are, of course, impossible! But since you have arrived at the Mage Tower, you will receive unified hospitality, because there are always naughty children running around with Invitation Letters."

"So, the one in my hand really is a letter from the Masterless Tower?" Silverleaf asked.

"Of course."

"The Masterless Tower of the Star Glory Tower?"

"Of course."

"Do you swear?"

"..."

Silverleaf looked at the man who had suddenly stalled and let out a cold snort.

"In the five years we spent in the City of Academies, we never received a single invitation. When we were herded like sheep onto the Train, there were no invitations. During the first period we worked at the Alchemy Workshop, there were still no invitations. Yet, only after Mr. Angell donated a Magic Well to the Charity School did we receive an invitation from the Mage Tower?"

Silverleaf demanded, "What do you want? The runes for the Game Table? Or the secrets of the Mana Base Station?"

"You..."

The man in the mage robes wanted to argue, but another man wearing gold-rimmed glasses stopped him.

"As expected of the Chief Student; your analytical skills are truly excellent," the man said. Surprisingly, this man, who seemed entirely devoid of talent, appeared to be the leader of the group. "But, isn't it reasonable? There is no reward without effort. Our invitation is proof of your value."

"That's right!" the man in the mage robes nodded and looked at Gru. "Gru, didn't you want to enter the Mage Tower? This is a great opportunity."

Mira's Sister also opened her arms toward Mira: "Come here! Mira, stop being willful!"

Gru and Mira looked at their mentor and kin, then exchanged a glance.

"I refuse," Gru said.

"I refuse," Mira also said.

They drew their Magic Wands, aiming them at the crowd opposite them just as Silverleaf had done.

Silverleaf curled his lips slightly: "There are some bottom lines that one cannot retreat from!"

"Does your bottom line include your 'brothers and sisters'?" The Man pushed up his glasses.

Silverleaf's eyes widened.

The mage behind the man flicked his robe: "Brats, don't you understand yet? There is no room for you to choose here!"

Following his words, a Magic Circle lit up beneath the feet of the three, and golden lines extended from the formation, winding their way toward the three children.

"Let go!" Mira tried to cast a spell in a panic, but she was instantly choked by the golden lines and fell unconscious.

Gru didn't last a moment longer than Mira.

Only Silverleaf stood amidst the golden lines, letting them spread over his body without struggling, merely whispering:

"Why? Time and time again... I clearly don't want to anymore..."

"His mana is a bit off." Seeing Silverleaf's condition, the mage stepped in front of his leader.

"Such a fragrant scent." Mira's Sister, however, wore an intoxicated expression.

"Fragrance?" The man looked at Mira's Sister in confusion, only to see the woman rushing toward him with an unnatural flush on her face. "What are you doing?!"

He struggled to shake the woman off, but his body felt weak and burning hot.

This feeling is...

The man looked up, instinctively glancing at Silverleaf in the center of the Magic Circle.

He saw the serious Chief Student exuding a scent of sex appeal that transcended gender; two massive Sheep Horns sprouted from his ash-gray hair, and a demon tail with a heart-shaped tip swayed behind him.

The man recalled an image he had seen in the Demon Bestiary.

"Succubus—" he muttered.

The succubus was walking toward him step by step, but the boy's eyes lacked the bewitching charm described in the books, overflowing instead with killing intent. In his hand, he held a sharp Dagger.

"Mother was like this..."

"The Dean was like this..."

"The teacher was like this..."

"You are still like this..."

"Time and time again, over and over, I clearly didn't want to anymore..."

The succubus boy accused them with a tearful voice, raising the Dagger in his hand—

At that very moment, darkness covered the boy's eyes, darkness muffled the boy's ears, and darkness embraced the boy's body.

The darkness said gently:

"If you don't want to, then don't do it—"

*

Allen stood in the rift, watching this play like a bystander.

No one noticed him, no one thought of him; it was as if he had never existed in the first place.

This was Allen's "magic."

In truth, Allen wasn't sure if this was actually magic, as his Mana Appraisal had been a failure. He couldn't even enter the Magic Academy in the City of Academies, let alone a Mage Tower.

But Allen did indeed have "magic."

Since he was a child, he could see sneaky Black Shadows behind living things and hear their furtive giggles.

Those things seemed to be a part of the human heart.

Filthy and dark.

However, Allen's father forbade him from speaking of it. "You'll be sent to the Asylum," he had threatened.

That didn't seem wrong.

Recently, Allen had met the Rune Apprentice Silverleaf and heard from him that this was likely the constitution of a "Witch." Women whose mana became unstable and who fell into madness would see another world, but sometimes, this phenomenon appeared in men. Moreover, men had even less endurance than women; men with this constitution were almost immediately consumed by madness.

Allen seemed to be a natural-born male "Witch."

Ah, ah, I really am crazy, aren't I!

But so what? The entire world is actually crazy!

Allen thought to himself.

He had long felt it was a pity that what he saw, no one else saw, and what he heard, no one else heard. If he spoke of it, he would be sent to the Asylum, and then even fewer people would know what he had seen.

Allen thought of a way.

He wrote down everything he saw and heard into novels; wouldn't that allow him to convey it?

Just as Allen had hoped, these novels were published soon after submission, and he received countless Reader Letters.

People praised him fervently, calling him a "Genius Writer."

On the day he received those first Reader Letters, Allen laughed maniacally for a long time.

Ah, look!

Even though no one says it, this is actually what they love!

And so, to let more people experience what he had seen, he wrote novel after novel. He even personally visited the Asylum his father had always used to scare him, though it was actually no different from the outside world.

If only there were more and more material.

Besides, compared to novels, a Movie seemed like a better medium.

Allen had been thinking about this for some time. As for the minor struggles of the Rune Apprentices regarding their employment, they were, in Allen's view, trivial matters not worth mentioning; he even hesitated over whether to use them as material.

In fact, they were indeed not worth mentioning.

Everyone feels that choosing their future is of great importance, but reality teaches them otherwise. In truth, they have no choice at all; ideals and futures are nothing but delusions, eventually leading them to fall into the worst possible outcomes.

Ah, just like this—

Like this?

Allen stared blankly at the darkness before him, watching as it engulfed those people...

What followed was an act of inhuman cruelty that even Allen, the "Genius Writer," could not describe with his pen. He was confident that if he were to describe even a tenth of the horror, the article would be banned from every Newspaper and journal, and it would leave every reader with severe psychological trauma. When it came down to it, was this something a Black Robe—or rather, a human—should be capable of? Allen felt his Brain stop thinking; all the tortures he had ever read about now seemed like a joke.

"Ugh!"

Allen covered his mouth, trembling uncontrollably.

He watched in terror as the Black Robe, having done all this, glanced coldly in his direction. It said nothing to him, merely drawing back the darkness.

After the darkness faded, the Succubus youth called out ignorantly, "Mr. Angell..."

"It's over now."

Allen saw the Black Robe place the hand that had just (indescribable) on the youth's head.

The youth looked blankly at the Black Robe, then at the enemies who appeared intact but were actually (indescribable), before squinting his eyes in comfort, feeling the warmth of the palm.

The Black Robe promised the innocent youth, "They will never cause you trouble again."

"Mm! Thank you, sir." The youth smiled.

The youth did not ask further.

Clearly, after the events that had just transpired, the Black Robe's words were absolute, omnipotent, and worthy of total trust in the heart of this Succubus youth. He believed the Black Robe could handle everything, so he no longer needed to know the fate of those filthy things.

In fact, he wasn't wrong.

After all, those people looked intact, but in reality, they were already...

"Ugh!"

Allen covered his mouth.

*

Half an hour later, on set.

"Do we really have to film this scene this way?" The Cameraman looked at the camera with disgust. "This is the most important scene; if we film it like this, there's no changing it later!"

"Wait a moment, let me discuss it with Mr. Angell and Mr. Allen." Director Peter was also hesitant.

He had actually wanted to find those two for a while, but ever since arriving at the Mage Tower, the producer and the Screenwriter had gone missing, making it impossible for him to hold a meeting.

However, it wasn't impossible to film the scene this way.

Director Peter had a premonition that if this scene were decided as it was, the film would definitely be a masterpiece.

But he didn't really want such a gloomy work to be something he had directed...

Just as Director Peter was hesitating, he suddenly saw Allen appear like a ghost.

"Mr. Allen, just in time, I..."

"I'm sorry, could this shot be changed like this?" Allen interrupted, holding out a new script to Peter.

Peter's heart skipped a beat.

He had recently developed something of a phobia toward Allen's scripts.

However, as a responsible director, he braced himself and took a look, his expression shifting into one of pleasant surprise.

"Good! This shot is excellent! It's a complete reversal!" he exclaimed.

He then handed the script to the Cameraman.

The Cameraman had initially looked disgusted, but after adjusting according to the new instructions, his face was filled with emotion.

"I can finally get a good night's sleep."

He said as much, and for the first time, he praised Allen: "You truly are a genius, Mr. Screenwriter."

"No, I am nothing," Allen said, his expression dazed. "Before absolute darkness, I am nothing! I am so insignificant; how could I have thought I was capable of describing darkness in his masterpiece? It is like a little demon boasting of his mana before the Demon King. What I should be doing is prostrating myself at his feet, kissing the ground he walks upon, and using my own flickering, burning light to praise his darkness! He is my sovereign, my Deity—"

The cameraman stared blankly at the muttering screenwriter.

"Is he alright?" the cameraman asked, concerned.

Director Peter glanced at the screenwriter, unfazed: "It's fine, a common phenomenon. Everyone who writes has something wrong with their head."

"While he hasn't changed his mind, let's hurry up and finish filming! Perhaps we need to add a few shots for continuity," Director Peter said happily. "But for such a heartwarming work, I already can't wait to see it appear on the big screen!"