Astrid's 10,000 strongest soldiers have arrived outside of Oviedo Forest and are waiting for the war to start. Sebastian appears in the center, flanked by his Familiar Sedit and two General Knights. He signaled Sir Alfred to release the sorceress mother and daughter and position them in front of the gate.

The eerie howling of the rakshasa monsters indicates that their territory has been breached. When the dark sorcerers saw one of their kind being held captive in front of their gate, they became so enraged that they ready themselves to attack the Duke's military with their forces.

Sebastian was whistling a pleasant tune while appearing eager to destroy the sorcerers. He casts a lashing spell onto the mother and daughter prisoners. A scream of agony can be heard, yet he continued to beat them with a hefty object.

When the dark sorcerer's soldiers can no longer bear to see their people being tortured, they open the gates and begin their advance.

Sebastian smiled insanely as he regarded his opponents with contempt.

"You have three minutes to deliver your master to me. Otherwise, you would all die here."

The dark sorcerer's servant laughs at the Duke's words, but stop as they see Sedit violently slice the captive sorcerers and remove their cores.

"Still not?"

The Duke was ready to thrust his sword into the ground to cause a quake when the Dark Master unexpectedly appeared. His face was concealed by a mask.

"Duke Sebastian Nicholas Astrid, the fearsome Guardian of Kratoryah. What do I owe for the privilege of being visited by a powerful being of this realm?"

"Hah! I want that you turn over all of your servants to me. Oh, and that includes you."

"Hmm, your request is not so simple. Before I will allow you to wipe out our clan, you must first kill me."

The Dark Master then used a dreadful spell to penetrate its enemies' minds and drive them insane, but Sir Alfred cast a magical shield to counteract the spell.

Sebastian signaled to Sedit to use his chain spell to encircle and trap the enemies. However, the Dark Master summoned a thousand empty vessels and triggered their control to assault the Duke's forces after observing the Familiar's actions. Both parties engaged in a series of attacks as the fight began. Since it is an empty vessel, no matter how hard the soldiers strike it, it will not die because it functions as a hive. You must eliminate the central command to destroy them.

Sebastian grabbed control of the situation and leapt to the place where the Dark Master was standing in order to destroy the central command. They began exchanging attacks, but Sebastian was able to shatter his mask and expose the Dark Master's face.

"Are you shocked that it wasn't who you expected, Duke? You see, it wasn't me. The true master was in the capital, and he could have already captured your treasured wife right now, ha ha ha ha!

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Dark Master's right-hand man. Even if you utilize the teleportation device, the fact that the master has already taken your wife will not change. Ahhh! We deceive the guardian, and he foolishly falls into our trap!"

The Dark Master's apprentice proceeded to mock him as if he had already won the battle while laughing hysterically.

However, his joy was short-lived as the figure in front of him returned to its original form.

Garaitz chuckles playfully as he unleashes a lethal blue flame from his sword and leaps to pierce the dark master's apprentice in the core.

He then approached him and whispered in his ear.

"If you believe that His Majesty is a fool for believing in your master's ploy, then you have no idea that you've been played. You believe you can surpass the Guardian's intelligence. Then you are an idiot!"

Garaitz scoffed and completed the attack by paralyzing the opponent with Aldoworf's newly constructed device. The device can absorb and trap black magic, preventing the enemy from counterattacking. When the dark master's apprentice was restrained, the empty vessels fell to the ground.

Garaitz, the knights, and their soldiers successfully caught the sorcerers, while the rakshasa monsters retreated in fear of having their souls devoured by the Familiar.

***

Outside of the Carlyle Palace, Sebastian surrounded the area with his most elite Wizard warriors. He already knew that the Dark Master Sorcerer lived in the palace. The information he obtained was from the journal Simon gave him. Thanks to that guy, he was able to devise a plan that will trap the Dark Master and lure him out from his lair.

As he approached the palace's main entrance, a knight raced to his side and knelt before the Duke. He was trembling so severely that he thought the announcement would result in his death.

"Your Majesty, the Duchess...she was taken from her chamber, and we found a note from..."

The knight could not even finish his sentence when the Duke grip his neck till he was flailing for his life. Aldworf interrupted the Duke because the knight is about to die at any moment.

"Your Majesty. Please spare the knight's life. We have to read the letter's content!"

Sebastian recovers from his rage and looks at Aldworf with a sense of madness in his eyes. With that expression, the Master Wizard understood that his master would ruthlessly destroy all he encountered.

Sebastian opens the letter and reads the content.

'The Duchess life is in my hands. If you want to save her, bring yourself ALONE at the place where it all started. – Your Brother'

He crumpled the paper so fiercely that it burned in his hands.

"Aldworf, I want all the spies from Astrid Castle to be burned alive. No life shall be spared."

Sebastian hurriedly left the place to save his wife.

As soon as Sebastian reached her mother's abandoned property, he felt as if he had returned 15 years ago, when he attempted to save the little Rachel. The fear of losing her made him want to throw up in wretch.

'"Please be alive, wife. I will take all of your pain and suffering away from my wicked family. You can punish me for eternity, take it all out on me, because I deserve it. Just live, please!"

He won't be able to forgive himself if even a small part of her body is scratched. He will kill everyone brutally because this world doesn't deserve his mercy.

Sebastian was surrounded by the Dark Master's army, and he was led inside. He knew exactly where to go, to the room in the dungeon where everything began. When he opened the door to the chamber, it was dark, but Sebastian could see everything clearly.

"Greetings, my dear brother. You have arrived at last. There is no need to turn on the lights because you can see everything from here."

Before he went on, the Dark Master chuckled and laughed in a sinister way.

"I believed the darkness would help the Duchess think about the past and bring up her trauma."

Sebastian grumbled in anger as his eyes turned fiery red while his hands gave off a fire that could burn everything in the chamber.

"If you do that, brother, you'll burn your beautiful wife. Ha ha ha ha! You would not want to do that, right? She's too valuable for you to die in your own fire."

"What do you want?" Sebastian's angry voice shook the walls with its roar.

"Tsk tsk, let's talk about what I want, but first I want you to meet her." The Dark Master flicked the mana light and pulled the cloth veil off the confinement box.

Sebastian's heart almost stopped when he saw his pitiful wife with her mouth gagged and the crown princess standing behind her with a poisoned knife aimed at Rachel's core.

As he draws nearer to where she is, he is suddenly surrounded by the sorcerer's best soldiers, but Sebastian kills them all quickly with his chain spell.

"Sebastian! If you step further, I will pierce Rachel's nearly ruined core. As you can see, she has offended me too much. Everything was mine, but this wench only needs to return and take it all away from me!"

Ara's voice had so much madness in it. At this point, she will die with so much happiness in her heart. 'Because killing Rachel will atone for my sins of taking my mother's life.' Only Rachel's death can forgive her sins, it's a twisted point of view but it's the only way to make her feel better.

The love triangle drama going on in front of the Dark Master Sorcerer made him laugh so hard.

"Sebastian my brother, make no mistake. As the saying goes, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' This miserable woman is so greedy and jealous of your wife that she will kill the Duchess without a second thought."

"Don't call me brother! What the fuck do you want to release my wife?"

"What do I want? There are only two things I want you to do. First, get on your knees before me. I'll tell you about the second one when you're done."

Sebastian knelt without hesitation before the Dark Master.

"Yes... That's right... Ahh Mother! Behold the proud Guardian who is kneeling before me. No Guardian has ever bowed before a lowly being. You should be proud with this son."

The Dark Master laughs incessantly like a lunatic. He then approaches Sebastian's kneeling position and removes his mask.

"Your Majesty, look at this face. Here is the face of your brother, whom you looked down on."

Then, he kicks Sebastian in the chest and grabs him by the chin.

"Remember this face that will always haunt you! I won't forgive you because you killed our mother."

He kept kicking Sebastian's body as if hitting him would release all of his anger.

Sebastian did not avoid the kick and punch. He was more willing to be used as a punching bag.

"Are you done Victor? What is the second wish you desire?"

Victor's anger grew because he didn't get the response he wanted from Sebastian. His brother was a very proud person, but he put aside his pride of being a Guardian to save his wife's life. His doing all of that just for her.

"Hah! I'm not surprised that you were able to figure out who I am. The second thing I want is for you to destroy this empire, including the monster realm. I want you to embrace your dark side and help us take this world from the celestials. This realm originally belongs to our clan. That is the last wish our mother wants."

When Sebastian looks at Rachel, she shakes her head and weeps, indicating that she does not want him to agree with his brother's wish.

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*Author's note: Guys thank you so so much for all your overwhelming support. I couldn't believe this novel made this far. 😘🥰😍🫶🏻

*P.S. Please don't forget to hit vote if you like this chapter 😘😉

*Soundtrack: Demons - Imagine Dragons