Her body trembled slightly.
'What is this?'
Only one person was within her sight.
Just a single man.
Yes, just the Auditor of the Imperial Tower.
The magic he wielded was ice-based, nothing extraordinary.
Yet, as soon as Jaekiel took a step, Teddy felt tension flood her body.
'…Is the tower trembling?'
No, it wasn't the tower—it was her own body.
Realizing this, a shock ran through the back of her head.
Teddy, having delved deeply into black magic, had naturally encountered all
sorts of brutality and found it to be an immensely enjoyable amusement.
In other words, she didn't see magicians as magicians.
She only saw them as materials for black magic research.
So she could tell at a glance whether someone was low-quality material or
valuable high-grade material.
She had never worried that the material might be stronger than herself. Such
a thing was impossible.
The assumption that she would always win was firmly rooted in her.
However.
'What is this? Why?'
Her instincts slowly began to warn her.
They screamed that this Auditor was exceedingly dangerous.
It took time to calm her trembling body. Her stiffened muscles didn't move
well.
It was something she couldn't comprehend with her mind.
Teddy recalled Jaekiel's information once more.
'Commoner, no academy training, no experience… '
No matter how she looked at it, he was a novice with little real-world
experience. If anything, his performance in Luiple could be considered his
first outing and accomplishment.
Yes, he was just a novice.
Yet her senses kept denying that.
They insisted he was no novice but a seasoned veteran with far more
experience than Teddy, someone so dangerous he could turn her into an
experiment.
…How is this possible?
A magician acting like a predator against Teddy?
'Did the Imperial Tower possibly hide information? For a mission?'
But that was unlikely. Teddy had also used dark channels to gather all sorts
of information, and Jaekiel really was a commoner with no experience.
Teddy went to wipe the sweat from her forehead, but flinched.
The droplets that had been rolling down were already frozen.
'The cold wasn't this intense earlier.'
Teddy took a quiet, deep breath.
If you try to understand everything with just your mind, you won't survive
long in this world. Sometimes, you have to trust the signs your instincts
point to.
Snap!
Teddy snapped her fingers, and immediately, three large objects resembling
boulders fell from the air.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
But they weren't boulders; they were three enormous men landing heavily
on the ground.
Teddy sent them a telepathic command.
─Snuff him out. And don't let your guard down.
The men cracked their necks and laughed.
─Lady Teddy, what are you talking about? Against a mere magician with
only one soul.
As the statement implied, they weren't beings with just one soul. They were
monstrous creations, with the souls of many magicians crammed into
powerful bodies.
Indeed, their faces and bodies bore needle-like stitch marks all over. They
were Teddy's masterpieces.
The masterpieces chattered freely.
─Lady Teddy didn't say that out of fear. It's because if we don't control our
strength, we'll crush him completely. She wants the body preserved.
─That's right! Let's play with him a bit before we kill him!
The three masterpieces began advancing swiftly toward Jaekiel, and the one
in the middle spoke first.
"Hey, did you say the Black Tower would be weeded out today?"
Jaekiel didn't even glance at the masterpieces. He only looked at Teddy
beyond their shoulders.
"Auditor, why are you acting out without grasping the situation? If the
tower explodes because of your arrogance, we'll all die. You can't handle
that, can you?"
Jaekiel finally clicked his tongue.
"Is that the typical chant of black magic?"
"…Hmm?"
"Babbling on and on; it's quite long. When does the magic start?"
The masterpieces' eyes sharpened.
"Still not understanding your place and provoking us…"
They continued to mumble, but Jaekiel began to close the distance with
each step.
A magician specializing in long-range combat advancing towards them—it
was a sign of overwhelming confidence.
"…Auditor, where should we start tearing you apart?"
Jaekiel spoke nonchalantly.
"You were ordered to kill me anyway."
The masterpieces froze at his shockingly cold tone.
"Just carry out your mission. Why hesitate?"
Hesitate?
They hesitated?
"…"
The masterpieces suddenly reflected on their actions.
Thinking back, it was true. Teddy had given the order to kill, and the
masterpieces had been excited at the thought of tearing the Auditor apart.
They should have just done it.
Whether the Auditor begged for his life or not, kill him.
No matter what the Auditor did, kill him.
'…Why didn't we approach first?'
Did they hesitate?
Truly themselves? Teddy's masterpieces, hesitating?
That couldn't be.
─He's a strange one. Let's rip him apart quickly.
─Agreed.
─Let's go right now.
The masterpieces, having exchanged telepathic messages, immediately
began to gather dark energy, the density of which was visible to the naked
eye.
Though there had been many strange things, none of the three patchwork
beings realized anything was wrong.
Does a human get angry when an ant provokes them?
No, they would find it curious.
They might even find it amusing. A lowly creature, which they could easily
crush, showing such an attitude—it would be entertaining.
But the masterpieces never realized that they had already been shaken by a
few of Jaekiel's words.
Swoosh.
As the ice spearhead pointed toward them.
"Heup!"
The masterpieces activated their black magic first.
The dark energy, combined from the three of them, formed a massive snake
shape, which shot upwards and then plummeted down as if to swallow
Jaekiel whole.
Kraaack!
But the snake couldn't close its mouth after opening it.
Crunch! Crack…
A long ice pillar had wedged itself inside the snake's mouth, preventing it
from closing.
The masterpieces' eyes widened.
'It's holding?'
It withstood the combined energy of all three of them?
Confusion and displeasure simultaneously dug into the masterpieces'
minds. But they weren't foolish enough to stop fighting over just one
strange thing.
They immediately went for the next strike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
They slammed dark energy into the bridge of the snake's nose, trying to
force its mouth closed.
Crunch, crack…!
But they couldn't break even a single ice pillar. The masterpieces gaped at
the sight.
─How is it holding?
─No, the fact that it's holding isn't what's important!
Yes, the real issue was something entirely else.
─… Our energy isn't seeping in!
Dark mana, unlike ordinary mana, normally seeps in, yet it wasn't
penetrating at all.
It couldn't infiltrate Jaekiel or his ice, making follow-up attacks impossible.
It just slid off like it was touching lifeless, inorganic matter—how could
this be?
─What on earth is happening?
─Why is this…?!
They were not just one person, but three.
No, they were weapons forged from the souls of dozens, so it would be
more accurate to consider them as dozens of individuals.
And yet, they couldn't handle a single auditor?
It was something that should never have happened.
"Hoooo!"
"Hyaaaah!"
In the end, the masterpieces began to scream aloud as they exerted their full
strength, but Jaekiel remained unperturbed.
As if he were entirely detached from the situation.
The masterpieces, changing their strategy, began causing explosions all
around them. This was black magic that cared not who was nearby—truly
cruel and destructive.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yet not a single one of the random explosions caused harm to anyone.
Whenever the dark energy-filled orbs exploded, ice covered them like a
plastic bag. No matter how many times they burst, the ice barrier remained
intact.
Bloodshot, the masterpieces' eyes burned with anger.
"Always defending, you arrogant bastard!"
The three masterpieces simultaneously bit their tongues.
They quickly accepted that ordinary black magic wouldn't work and
reversed the flow of energy in their bodies.
Self-destruction.
They intended to take the Imperial Tower's Auditor down with them.
"Grrrrr!"
"Grrrrr!"
The masterpieces' bodies began to boil all over, and they rushed towards
Jaekiel, their steps powerful enough to create deep indentations in the
ground.
Kraaaaack!
They were so fast it looked like massive boulders being fired at the Auditor.
Whooooosh!
The sound of their passage through the air was deafening.
But then, a sudden sound was heard.
The Auditor murmured a single word.
"End."
And at the same time, they saw it.
In that split second, when time seemed to slow down, they saw an ice spear
spinning like a disc, rushing towards them.
They caught only a brief glimpse, yet the spinning was so fast that the spear
seemed more like a disc—a blue full moon.
Slice!
The sound of something being sliced was heard.
What was cut?
They couldn't tell.
Whooooosh!
They continued charging towards Jaekiel.
Now, Jaekiel's face was right in front of them. If they grabbed him and
exploded, it would be over.
As they steeled themselves for this.
"…?"
Their charging bodies suddenly veered off course.
It wasn't magic, nor did they consciously change direction, but suddenly,
they passed over the Auditor, tracing an arc.
As if the world's horizon had shifted.
Slowly.
Very slowly, the positions of the ground and ceiling reversed.
What was going on?
No telepathic messages were sent.
In a world where heaven and earth had swapped places, where gravity and
physics seemed twisted, the masterpieces faced this bizarre situation.
Soon, a particular scene entered their vision.
"…"
A scene they should never have witnessed.
"…!"
The upper bodies of all three were so cleanly severed, hanging pitifully in
the air, entangled with each other.
It wasn't the world that had flipped; they had been cut and flipped.
Over each other's shoulders, they saw their lower halves, still firmly
planted on the ground, looking up helplessly at their severed upper bodies.
'…He cut us before we even took a step?'
"What is this…?"
"When did this…?!"
"Uh…?"
They couldn't suppress their confusion and cried out, but that was the end.
Crack!
As the three upper bodies crashed to the ground, all that was heard was the
sound of ice shattering.
Jaekiel had not allowed them to self-destruct.
There was no sound.
Their mouths were frozen shut, leaving them unable to utter any last words.
Their bodies were frozen solid, so no blood spurted out.
All that remained was a pitiful death.
"Oh…"
Someone couldn't help but voice their amazement.
Snap!
But their lips were lightly frozen shut, sticking together.
"Quiet."
The Auditor muttered softly.
"The Princess is watching too. Mind your manners while observing."
The true execution had only just begun.