World's Strongest

Gram’s entire body seemed to stiffen rigidly.

‘How?’

Chris had been consistently watching all situations from the empire.

Since he became a duke—the pillar supporting Rakis—there was never a case of him visiting foreign countries alone.

Being a duke was a position that must guard against unexpected situations for the nation, and since Chris even supervised the military, they watched his movements even more closely.

He’d received reports of his whereabouts until just three days ago.

He was still living a duke-like life, going back and forth between the estate and imperial palace.

Gram was confident.

That when this encirclement Pernok dug would operate normally to drive Vans into the abyss and kill even Owen together, all glory would come into his hands.

That when Chris learned this fact would be after everything ended.

Therefore, he’d calculated one month and fifteen days.

Yet Chris appeared on exactly the one-month mark.

Though unbelievable, it was clearly him.

‘Still can’t feel his mana, and that attitude of looking down on everyone…’

Gram hadn’t directly competed with Chris.

He’d only seen him unfold Magus Arts once against a great army.

Chris, who normally lived like a human without mana, burst enormous mana that made Gram despair only at that moment.

Then, Gram realized.

That as an S2 Magus, he absolutely couldn’t feel an S3’s mana and limits.

Therefore, it was natural that Chris appeared like an ordinary person.

Because he couldn’t even follow Chris’s toes, he couldn’t even grasp the fact that mana existed.

Chris called that ‘grade’.

He recalled the sight of Chris advising that if an S2 existence wanted to reach S3, they must accumulate grade befitting it.

Crack.

Gram bit his molars tightly.

On the day he received the ducal position that should have been his originally, Chris gathered the 13 Lords to give teachings.

Naturally, Gram was included among those targets.

“The marquis’s gravity will boast overwhelming majesty in wide areas, but it’ll be vulnerable to attacks that concentrate on penetrating one part. How about condensing this widely spread space into one to confine individuals as targets? Then it might become somewhat useful.”

He didn’t want to follow.

He wanted to ignore such advice.

But after competing with Breia, he found himself following Chris’s advice without realizing.

As a result, Gram smoothly proceeded with adjusting gravity’s range, which was pointed out as a weakness, and received evaluation that he reached the end of S2.

‘Even standing on the same battlefield now, you don’t show your Magus Arts.’

This was the first time facing Chris on a battlefield.

Therefore, though he wished he could see even a fragment of the Magus Arts he possessed, he still felt nothing.

He only remembered the characteristics of this long needle that pierced through Owen’s and his own taut mana.

Chris’s unique weapon.

When he contained mana in the long needle and shot it, that speed truly resembled lightning and pierced through all mana.

But that wasn’t Magus Arts.

It was merely a basic operational method of containing mana.

“Were you so wronged at having your ducal position taken from me?”

At the indifferent attitude as if knowing all situations, Gram forced a smile.

“Did you know everything and were watching until now?”

“There was His Majesty’s intention to regard you as a fellow Rakis noble and generously forgive some laxness. And I judged your Magus Arts necessary for the empire. There was no reason not to follow.”

“It sounds like you’ll now disobey His Majesty’s command?”

“Do you know why I dispatched half the Magi to each nation?”

“Kekeke, you wanted to put that Vans bastard on the throne.”

“That’s merely one of the two reasons I originally planned.”

Chris turned his gaze toward the path heading to the hill.

“Now that Vans wanders the border between life and death, I’m maintaining autonomous action for the other reason.”

Chris turning his gaze slowly to Gram wore a faint smile.

“For decades, not a single decent war occurred in this world. Rakis seized titles through fierce competition internally, but whether that would work on the world’s Magi was unknown. Therefore, while helping Vans, I wanted to confirm.”

“Don’t tell me you judge nobles dispatched to foreign countries as mediocre? You?”

“Magi are precious resources. Even if they committed acts close to failure, I had intention to bring them back to the empire. Though I commanded Breia to bring back nobles alive, I didn’t even think most would have died.”

Chris pulled out a long needle from his pocket.

“Thanks to that, I clearly distinguished who was weak and who was a traitor. I also found new talent to replace you.”

“Talent?”

When Gram turned his gaze to Owen, he widened his eyes.

Come to think of it, why didn’t Chris head straight for Vans?

Why did he intrude starting from this battlefield?

‘This bastard, don’t tell me…’

Rakis’s great undertaking.

The new era the Hegemon Emperor once dreamed of.

“Hahaha! I will surely unify this world with the 13 Lords! Yes, I’ll finally become the first unification emperor!”

As if drawn to the enormous ambition, strong ones gathered, and now half were reduced.

If new ones must fill those positions, it was establishment of a system that far surpassed the existing 13 Lords.

“If I’d been even fifteen days late, things would have gone awry.”

Gram ground his teeth and shouted.

“You always look down on others…!”

Bang!

Something grazed past Gram’s hair.

And the moment it touched the sixth castle wall, it caused a massive explosion.

Only after the castle wall crumbled down did Gram realize a long needle had grazed past.

“Gram, I’ll give you one last chance.”

Cold sweat flowed down Gram’s forehead.

“Will you start again from the count position in the newly reorganized 13 Lords. Or will you die on this spot together with your futile hope.”

If he preserved his life at the grade of title demotion, he’d be fortunate enough.

Chris would make him properly pay the price of betrayal.

Perhaps he’d continue pushing Count Gram into the middle of death grounds to fight until his life ran out.

‘Go down even lower?’

A life more humiliating than death.

Though Gram might die, he didn’t want to live another life licking beneath Chris’s feet.

Rummmble!

Mana surging explosively in one moment manipulated gravity in the area.

Though even Owen couldn’t maintain posture and frequently staggered and sat down, Chris showed no movement.

“As expected, you’re easy to read because you’re faithful to desires.”

It was the moment Chris looked at Gram with cold eyes.

Swoosh-!

All Magi’s gazes concentrated on one place.

The place where Vans drove forces.

From there, mana reaching S2 surged.

* * *

Pernok clearly felt it.

The intruder’s existence that interfered in Owen and Gram’s confrontation.

The mana that burst momentarily made him shudder even from afar.

‘Who is it.’

No clear existence who would interfere in this war came to mind.

‘Is it Vans’s hidden card.’

While trampling Vans breathing shallowly, Pernok examined the hill situation. Perhaps thanks to Vans sprinkling flames, forces couldn’t concentrate on the hill and formations were disrupted.

“Your Highness!”

Someone presumed to be Vans’s adjutant rushed in while raising mana.

He was like a moth jumping into flames.

Slash!

While Pernok lightly cut him away, he shouted to the confused crowd.

“Release formations and enter annihilation battle!”

As forces on the hill descended with shields in front, Vans’s forces tried striking back as if they’d waited.

Even considering just numbers, it exceeded five times. Three thousand’s actions seemed reckless, but if a Magus joined, the story changed.

BOOM!

Pernok burst nature type magic while stirring enemy lines.

“Ma, Magus unit establish formations!”

“Seal the Magus!”

“Escort His Highness!”

Before long, half the enemies surrounded Pernok.

They judged that pushing with numbers would sufficiently suppress.

If it were an ordinary Magus, they would have lacked strength in the situation of clashing with Vans and even handling a great army, but Pernok differentiated from the ordinary.

While absorbing spiritual power and mana of those killed on the battlefield, he raised his condition higher than before fighting Vans.

Around the time he acutely received even the battlefield’s shouts and killing intent, familiar faces burst in from behind.

“Follow His Highness Pernok!”

“Don’t leave a single one alive!”

It was the sixth castle’s main force centered on Sallio.

As the main force reaching eight thousand joined, the situation worsened in one breath.

“Re, rear…”

Forces on the hill pushed with shields from the front, and trained elites rushed like beasts from the rear.

And when Pernok who jumped into the center danced with swords, no fierce generals could make any proper judgments.

Only after Pernok took the breath of two thousand people did the battlefield become calm.

“S-spare me…!”

After cutting the royal mage’s neck and looking around, Pernok’s flag was flying.

Guild masters rushed forward.

“Congratulations on the great victory!”

“The royal army also came nearby!”

“If we just catch Owen, the royal capital is right before our noses!”

But Pernok didn’t relax tension.

The situation of Owen and Gram’s mana running parallel lines was suspicious.

If that spine-chilling one he first felt was at the sixth castle, the process of handling Owen might become difficult.

“Lead forces and return to the sixth castle!”

“Yes!”

The moment a resounding shout was heard, Pernok shouldered the faintly breathing Vans and rushed to the sixth castle.

After arriving at a place wide as wilderness before long, Pernok faced a peculiar existence.

‘No light at all?’

A man standing blankly between Owen and Gram’s brilliant lights.

He with a cold expression showed no light of any talent.

“Duke Chris!”

Only after Gram’s scream-like words burst did Pernok realize the reason.

There were occasional cases where Observation Eye didn’t properly identify targets.

That he possessed ‘grade’ that couldn’t be grasped with incomplete Observation Eye.

To grasp those with grade, he must raise the synchronization rate more.

“Chris…”

He’d heard the reputation keenly.

That Pernok hurried to wrap up work was also to not create situations where he, called the world’s strongest, would interfere.

Yet now he was before his eyes.

There was no time to think about how he came here.

What surged in his head was only one thing.

In the lower realm, he met an existence with grade for the first time.

The fellow S3 Magus Arisha was also in the process of acquiring grade.

But Chris already possessed completed grade.

Though difficult to judge hastily because Observation Eye couldn’t grasp him, at least compared to Netherworld’s absolute beings, he was absolutely not lacking.

‘Was it long needles.’

Pernok glanced alternately at the needle stuck in the ground and the needle that collapsed the entire castle wall, then gathered his gaze on Chris.

“Vans becoming that state is deserved.”

From eyes where even mana couldn’t be felt, he felt a strange majesty that made Pernok’s fine hairs stand on end.

“Though I heard S1, S2 is right before your eyes. Such talent is rare. I think I understand why Gram lent strength to you. So regarding that talent as precious, I’ll make one proposal.”

Chris said while examining Vans drooping limply on Pernok’s shoulder.

“Hand Vans over to me, and entrust all treatment of traitor Gram. Then I’ll spare you for the time being.”

“Your delusion is severe. I’m not the one deciding who spares whom.”

Pernok’s main force was arriving.

Another retreat route was blocked as Flemyr and the royal army approached.

Then Pernok lowered Vans before his eyes while simultaneously cutting that neck and kicked it before Chris.

“This place is my territory.”

Pernok didn’t know about Chris.

His information was hidden tightly enough that even Gram didn’t know.

But Chris had no intention of retreating, and the moment Pernok wrapped up this situation, he obtained everything in the kingdom.

If he took fright at the opponent’s reputation first and easily gave up the victory rolling into his hands, all Netherworld’s absolute beings would mock.

The trap he’d continuously created to sweep away Vans and that faction together.

If Rakis’s War God confident in strength was added there, it would be icing on the cake.

“I eliminate future troubles.”

Pernok and Gram.

The sixth castle’s main force.

Flemyr and the royal army.

Tens of thousands of forces and mages surrounded this place.

Now that the enemy general rolled into the middle of a death ground.

He must stake victory on this moment.