Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

“Henry…!”

Batz and Kinless were in shock. However, the shock soon turned into alarm, and eventually into delight.

“Ha, what a joke.”

Kinless was the first to laugh, because he thought that what Henry had done was similar to a rabbit sticking its head into a tiger’s mouth. He thought it was ridiculous that Henry had revealed himself like that and tried to face them, alone for that matter.

Kinless swung his sword.

The sound of a blade slicing through flesh could be heard. Kinless had sliced into the right minister’s neck, blood gushing everywhere. However, the right minister's head was still attached to his body.

After swinging his sword, Kinless kicked the right minster, sending him flying into the distance.

The right minister landed on the ground and rolled over helplessly, but he never took his hand off his neck.

“Gh-gha…!”

Kinless didn’t cut the right minister's neck all the way on purpose. He had instead given him a deep cut as a way to have him suffer before he died.

The right minister pressed his hands tightly on the wound, blood dripping from between his fingers, the pain almost unbearable.

However, Henry didn’t even look at the right minister. He had exhausted his usefulness. As a traitor, this was the miserable end he deserved. He would spend his last moments in this world reflecting on his sin of daring to betray Henry.

Kinless shook the blood off his sword. He then pointed it at Henry and said, “His Majesty has told me about you. You’re the disciple of that dead wizard, and you have the same name as him, right?”

“And?”

“They say that a cockroach lays eggs even after it dies. That wizard sure is pesky even in death.”

Kinless insulted the late Archmage in front of Henry. However, because there was really only one Henry Morris, Kinless essentially spat right into Henry’s face.

Henry let out a heavy sigh.

Kinless Sel was an idiot political knight, just like Salmora, who had been killed by Von, and he had been on Arthus’ side for a long time.

This was the same for Batz, who was standing next to Kinless in a composed manner.

They were also on Henry’s hit list that he made right after his reincarnation. Thus, Henry had no intention of giving them a swift, painless death.

Henry then took out a Teleportation Scroll and said, “I don’t have much time, so I’ll get straight to the point. What I have in my hand is a Teleportation Scroll, and right now, you guys are in Salgaera, which is in the north of the continent. This means that if you fail to defeat me, you’ll never be able to return to the Sore Empire.”

“What? Hahahaha!”

Kinless burst out laughing at Henry’s explanation. He wondered if Henry thought that they wouldn’t be able to defeat him, which was why he was trying to provoke Henry further.

However, Henry disregarded their mocking laughter and continued, “You can laugh at me all you want, but you won’t have much time because the battle in the Sore Empire started the moment you were teleported here.”

“What?”

It was a concise and straightforward provocation.

No matter the numbers or resources, an army was helpless without a commander.

“Damn it!”

Batz and Kinless stomped at Henry’s provocation and drew their swords.

One’s emotions played an effect on their Aura, and given how worked up Batz and Kinless were, they unleashed a tremendous amount of Aura.

After awakening the 7th-Circle, Henry had been too busy preparing for the war to focus on training, which was definitely a problem.

Even though Henry had mastered swordsmanship as an Archmage, he still hadn’t regained his former 8th-Circle power. Thus, the fact that he had been neglecting his training meant that he didn’t think it was urgent to regain his past power.

Because of that, Henry had decided to fight the two commanders by himself and use this opportunity to become stronger.

Henry then made the Teleportation Scroll he had shown the two commanders float in the air. Then, he drew his sword and shouted, “I’ll keep my promise, so try your best and defeat me!”

The two knights exploded with rage and charged at him like bulls.

* * *

There was a flash of light.

As soon as the light flashed, Yuha, who was watching the imperial army’s barracks, ordered his adjutant, “Prepare the entire army for battle right now.”

Yuha’s order was quick and to the point. He had been waiting for this moment.

Hearing Yuha’s order, Alfred drew deeply on the cigarette in his mouth and quietly told the other spiritualists, “...You guys should get ready too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Despite the fact that Henry had brainwashed him, making him addicted to the Pink Swamp, this didn’t mean that Alfred couldn’t think at all.

As he had been instructed by Henry, Alfred commanded his spiritualist army to fulfill his assigned duties after Yuha gave out his order first.

Different tasks were carried out in secret. Everything moved according to Henry's plan.

“Sildia.”

After moving to the highest point of the rampart, Alfred summoned Sildia, the highest-level wind spirit.

The hawk of the wind appeared quietly before his eyes.

Following Alfred’s lead, the rest of the wind spiritualists summoned their own high-level wind spirits, all of them having distinctive characteristics.

Some spirits looked very similar to each other, but most of them were rather unique. Unless they were low or mid-level spirits, they all looked slightly different.

After the wind spirits were summoned, a strong gust of wind blew. With that, all one hundred spiritualists flew into the sky.

As Yuha watched the spiritualists rise in the sky, Alfred murmured, “...We’ll get going first.”

After a quick goodbye, Alfred, along with numerous high-level wind spirits, moved forward with a puff of pink smoke.

Yuha then ordered, “Once we’re done preparing, we’ll charge too.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Sore Empire’s army of ten thousand soldiers marched, and with that, the world’s quietest ambush had begun.

* * *

“Hold.”

Henry cast Hold on Kinless, who was swinging his sword at him.

“Agh!”

The mana of a 7th-Circle wizard could stop the movement of a peak-level knight even though it was only for less than a second. However, in a fight between experts, even a second felt like an eternity.

In that split second, Henry summoned an icy sword and sent a wave of frost in a diagonal line at Batz.

The icy current collided with Batz’s Aura and left a massive layer of ice on it, scattering ice crystals in all directions.

It was heavy.

At first, Batz had thought that Henry was just a young, inexperienced wizard, even though he had reached the 7th-Circle. Based on what Arthus had told him, Henry had just passed the age of maturity. However, his moves were like that of an experienced Sword Master, full of dignity.

Furthermore, throughout the entire fight, Henry’s footwork confused Batz even more. How could a wizard use footwork? He had never heard or seen such a thing in his entire life.

Batz couldn’t help but doubt his own eyes as he swung his sword.

Normally, to win against a wizard, one would have to attack relentlessly in order to prevent the wizard from casting spells. However, the wizard in front of them was casting spells in the blink of an eye, distracting them, and evading their sword attacks with flashy footwork, all at the same time.

Henry didn’t use the Colt Sword on purpose. Instead, he was using a sword made of ice, and the way he was using it reminded Batz and Kinless of swordsmanship.

The longer they tried to figure Henry out, the more they seemed to fall behind.

In addition, Kinless was extremely frustrated because of the frequent interruptions, such as the Hold Henry had cast on him.

Batz decided to change up his strategy. He regained his composure as he swung his sword, grabbed Kinless, who was livid, by the collar, and dragged him back.

“Kinless, stay back,” urged Batz.

“But…!”

“Just do as I say!”

In terms of skill, Kinless and Batz were equals, but the reason Kinless was the third sword and Batz the second was because the latter was better at controlling his emotions.

Kinless gritted his teeth and took a step back.

“Kinless, his movements are strange. You’ve noticed it too, right?”

“Yeah, he definitely doesn’t move like an ordinary wizard.”

“Right, so let’s stop playing around and get serious. They say that even a tiger goes all out to catch a rabbit.”

“Okay. I’m a bit embarrassed by this, but I’ll use my decisive skill.”

“I’ll also use my decisive skill.”

Stepping back, the two of them agreed to fight Henry with all their might, just as Batz had suggested.

Henry realized that the two commanders got serious.

The fact that the two peak-level knights, who had only been using their main skills up until this point, were willing to swallow their pride and use their decisive skills meant that they acknowledged Henry’s strength.

After distancing himself from them, Henry raised his right hand and said, “Sword on.”

With green flames, the Colt Sword appeared from thin air.

“Armor on.”

Green flames appeared once again. Henry also summoned the Colt Armor.

“...!”

Henry was now covered in white armor.

Seeing this, Batz and Kinless were completely astonished.

“A sword and armor? Can it be that he knew how to wield a sword all along?”

“A wizard who knows how to wield a sword? I’ve never heard of such…”

Because they only knew that Henry was a direct disciple of the late Archmage, Batz and Kinless had never expected him to know how to use a sword.

Therefore, given that they were fighting him for the first time, they could only guess at Henry’s skills, but couldn’t confidently believe he could use a sword. However, now that Henry was wearing armor and holding an actual sword, they could put their doubts to rest and confirm that he knew swordsmanship.

“Ha.” Kinless chuckled drily. He then raised his sword high in the air.

As Kinless swung his sword, his Aura, which had been steady until this moment, released smoke, as if water had spilled on a hot stone.

Batz’s Aura also vibrated.

“Kinless of the Hot Sword, and Batz of Vibration,” Henry called out their full monikers. The two had been his political adversaries in his previous life, but he had watched them long enough to know what kind of power they possessed.

Henry stomped and cast a spell, “Magic Armor!”

This was the magic armor of a 7th-Circle Archmage, the best there was on the entire continent.

Soon, all three of them had finished preparing for the second fight.

Henry raised his Colt Sword into the air, and…

Black clouds formed over the sky.

The thundercloud was so large that it could cover the entire snowy mountain.

“Given that this is my official introduction to you guys, I’ll make sure to show you how the continent’s greatest magic swordsman fights.”

After Henry issued his warning, a bolt of lightning, larger than a giant’s arm, struck Kinless and Batz.