On the kingdom’s eastern wall where the guards were stationed. Two knights were sitting in their chairs in boredom.

“Now that the Red Hunt is over, nothing exciting is happening anymore. All that’s needed is cleanup.” One of the patrolling knights said to his friend next to him.

“Yeah. I’m so bored out of my mind.” His friend replied. “When will the king’s birthday be again?”

“Two months. Why?”

“I might sign up to be a guard there.”

“Are you crazy? You wouldn’t be good enough to protect people of high class.” His friend looked at him as if he were an idiot.

“Yeah, but I want to catch a glimpse of the queen at least.”

“Queen Olivia?”

“No, no. The king’s first wife. They say her voice is like music to ones ears. So melodious that it is known to be derived from her name. She’s one of the top ten beauties. The former-commoner-now-queen, Melodia! Ah, I want to see her perfection with my own eyes!”

“Pssss. You’re stupid. You think they’d allow you near the queen?”

“Only a glimpse is fine.”

The one wearing a helmet saw something strange appear in the sky. It was right over their heads as well.

“Huh? Was Zupiart expected to have a lightshow?”

“I don’t think so.” His friend shook his head.

“What the…” They saw thousands of magic circles hovering in the sky. The magic circles were angled in a way that it was pointing to a single area.

“Am I seeing things?”

“You are definitely not, buddy. Is there a unit of mages testing out a new AOE spell or something?”

“You think only a unit of mages can achieve that? Shouldn’t at least a hundred be needed for that?” The guard rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe it.

His friend sprang up and was about to ring the bell. This might’ve been an enemy attack.

His friend grabbed his shoulder. “Look!”

A white light was being emitted from a certain area in Zupiart. From what he could tell, it might’ve been the source.

“Is that…a single person?”

He saw no other pillars of light. Only one.

“Hah? That’s ridiculous! How can one person be controlling this many magic circles?”

At that moment, the magic circles were fully completed. They were each at the beginner class but the sheer number was what frightened the people who saw them.

“Is that a magic attack?”

One passerby asked.

“If that’s the case, why are those spells pointing to the center of the kingdom?”

“Hm?” A girl came out of the store when she was done shopping. She noticed that the sun was shining brighter than usual. However, what she saw wasn’t the blue sky.

She was wearing the uniform of the academy so she was knew what she was seeing. It wasn’t your average battle between mages. No, it seemed to be a one-sided beating.

“Who…?” She dropped the bags she had in her hands when she saw the beginner class spell [Magic Arrow] form in each of the hundreds of magic circles.

“Enemy attack? No. This feels familiar.” She cast Flight magic and flew to the top of a roof. “I knew it…”

She could see a pool of mana gush into the sky, which was the reason the magic circles could remain in their manifested state.

It was something that required a lot of mana.

She knew only one person it could be. He was recorded in the history books for having the most mana of this age. In fact, it was right below the Great Sage.

“Clyde…?” Isabel looked blankly at the direction of where the chaos was happening.

◇

Back to Clyde and Nate’s location…

The latter couldn’t remain standing as he felt on his butt. His pupils shook. Urine ran down his legs but he didn’t even feel it.

It was like his entire body was paralyzed in fear. When cornered by a greater foe, the prey can oftentimes reverse the situation completely.

This situation, however, wasn’t the same.

“Clyde…?” Helen looked blankly at the hundreds of magic circles. Not only admiration but she experienced fear as well.

Clyde was coldly looking at Nate. As if the world around him was irrelevant to him, Clyde spoke.

His sole attention was on the pissing loser on the ground.

“Do you remember that day we became roommates, Nate? It’s hard to believe that was only two years ago….I thought that day would change my life forever because I made my first friend. Not only was he down to earth but he was a person I could sympathize with.”

‘I was also an outcast.’

“Your family despised you but you held on. That was what made me respect you more than anyone else.”

‘I wish I was the same as you. I wish I was as strong as you, Nate.’

“Those were my evaluations when I got to know you.” Clyde walked forward. Nate staggered backwards in terror. To him, Clyde was literally a dragon bearing its claws.

Any thoughts Nate had about winning against this man had faded away when Clyde released that massive pool of mana of his into the sky to create so many magic circles.

Although the quantity was well over what any capable person could manifest, Clyde wasn’t even breaking a sweat. It was like his power was endless.

It was like looking at Her.

The Great Sage and the first magic caster of this world, Odette.

Nate had read lots of books pertaining to Odette. He read the stories about her life and finished all fifty volumes of her magic theories.

She was the pinnacle of magic.

Nate looked up to her. But he was shallow all this time. While he was wishing to be like the Great Sage, Clyde had thoughts about surpassing her.

That was what separated him from Clyde.

With what was currently happening, no one would laugh if he were to say that he would surpass her one day.

“Do you see it, Nate?”

Nate didn’t even notice that Clyde had already arrived in from of him. His cold, glowing blue eyes looked down at him.

Both literally and figuratively.

“Do you see the disparity between the two of us?” As if he wanted to show his power, Clyde lifted his hand and pointed to the sky.

He formed a fist which made one of the magic circles explode. A mini earthquake, followed by the blinding light.

The shadow behind Clyde made his blue eyes even eerier.

“You are nothing.”

“….”

“I thought that you were someone I could be rivals with, however, I saw how low you could go. Was magic really that big of a deal to you? Why did you work so hard until now?”

“….I…!”

“Shut up.” Two words. Just two words made Nate’s body froze up. “There must’ve been other ways of becoming stronger than relying on what you did before. You could’ve come to me as well. I would’ve helped you without hesitation. You know why?”

“….”

Nate was only looking at the magic circles in the sky in a daze.

“Because I was your friend.” Clyde put his hands near Nate’s stomach. He could feel the violent combusted mana inside Nate’s core.

“You don’t have a lot of time left, huh? Dying a meaningless for petty reasons. How expected of the current you.”

‘Why?’

‘Why was he like this?’

‘Is this the Clyde I’ve known all this time?’

Nate thought as he saw Clyde walk away. The hundreds of magic circles disappeared without a trace. It was like that violent storm of bloodlust was never there.

“I…” Before he walked towards Helen who was standing next to the bystanders, Clyde spoke one last time. “I truly wished we could’ve remained friends.”

But when Clyde looked back, Nate was gone.

He smiled silently.

‘You heard me at least, right?’

He could see a person running away in the distance.

“I’m sorry. This was the only way to show you how meaningless your actions were up until now.” Clyde left the scene without looking back again.