By Zephyria Half of the island was burned, and half was frozen. The two fought for almost half a day without rest, as if there was no one left in this world but each other facing each other.
The brilliant morning sun was already hanging far beyond the horizon, and a vast red sunset was cast over the sky.
Hugo watched Leonardo’s momentum throughout the battle. As time went by, he definitely showed signs of fatigue. The speed was still fast, but it was clearly slower compared to the beginning.
He had tremendous magical power and speed, and he could be said to be the strongest of the fire mages he had directly fought, but Hugo felt that he had only one weakness. That was stamina.
One of the reasons why Hugo was called the strongest ice mage was his strong endurance and stamina. If Leonardo’s opponent had been someone else, his stamina would never have been inferior, but now that he was fighting Hugo head-on, it was woefully insufficient.
Usually, mages who are strong enough to have their names mentioned have a fairly developed body in proportion to their magical power. However, Leonardo weighed less than his magical power and was not very large.
Therefore, there was bound to be a big difference in physique and strength compared to Hugo, and he was only making up for that gap with speed. It was only natural that his stamina would be consumed more quickly.
Perhaps that was why, as the battle time grew longer, Leonardo’s magical power control and concentration gradually decreased. The frequency of accurate and meticulous attacks decreased, and the depth of the attacks became shallower.
In the meantime, what Hugo found a little strange was that, perhaps because his stamina was running out, his magical power, which had been greatly emitted, seemed to decrease and increase again for a while.
Perhaps sensing a strange feeling from the perspective of analysis, the guy who had been fiercely fighting suddenly created distance.
Hugo stared intently at Leonardo, who was located in the middle of the vast twilight, and then briefly turned his gaze to the dazzling sun setting behind him like a halo. Looking at the increasingly darkening sky, it seemed that he would have to put aside the questions that were arising in his head for a while.
Hugo then smiled and said.
“Let’s end it soon. I’m not that free.”
At his words, Leonardo let out a ridiculous laugh as if he was dumbfounded and retorted.
“That’s what I should be saying.”
Ice fragments gathered in Hugo’s hand and created a huge sword again. Leonardo flinched for a moment at the coldness that was incomparable to what he had felt so far, but he also concentrated the seething magical power in his hand once again. Flames blazed and strong black sparks swirled around him.
Hugo smiled absurdly as he watched it. It was a magical power that was amazing even when he saw it again. It seemed like he had almost reached his limit. He couldn’t even guess how much magical power was concentrated in those two hands that had immediately changed their stance.
Looking at his golden hair and clearly shining golden eyes rippling in the backlight, Hugo thought.
‘If I get hit, I’ll die.’
However, even though he knew that, Hugo was enjoying this moment.
“Let’s finish this.”
Starting with Hugo’s words, the two rushed towards each other again.
As soon as the sword like a burning sun and the sword like a chilling north wind touched each other, the air between them could not withstand the friction and expanded and exploded. Hugo blocked his attack in the midst of the fierce explosion vortex and aimed for a single opportunity.
Leonardo was now impatient. That was because it had been a long time since he had faced such a powerful opponent.
Moreover, the opponent showed no signs of falling. The man, who was as solid, hard, and extremely cold as the deep sea, was driving him hard as if he would swallow him into the frozen waves.
Hugo knew that Leonardo was definitely tired, but surprisingly, although the attacks he was making had decreased, there were few gaps in his defense.
When he tried to dig into a momentary gap because his concentration seemed to be disturbed, he blocked it fiercely as if nothing had happened and at the same time held a crimson flame in front of his eyes. Whether he was born this way or not, this guy not only had volcanic magical power but also had a natural combat ability and sense.
‘But I have to do what I have to do.’
Not missing the gap in his thoughts, Leonardo quickly charged in at close range. Flames that emitted light when the sun went down were relatively disadvantageous. This was because his location was exposed and the air became cold. That was why Hugo knew that Leonardo had no choice but to hurry.
When Hugo deliberately put his weight on top and collided strongly, Leonardo, who was relatively light, was pushed back. He gritted his teeth and focused on his center of gravity to support his body.
And at that moment, Hugo felt that the taut tension of the touching sword blades had loosened a little. The cold corners of his lips turned up slightly.
Leonardo, startled by the smile, immediately tried to fend off the greatsword and move away, but he was already within his range.
Hugo held the Council’s specially made Dragon capture gun that Haliffe had received from the battalion commander while supporting the sword that was being pushed away with one hand.
Leonardo saw it when the fired bullet was flying towards him and being dismantled in the air. The net that stretched out from within instantly wrapped around Leonardo’s body.
He belatedly tried to cut it with the sword in his hand, but the moment the magic sword touched the net, Leonardo’s magical power miserably subsided. As the net tightened around his body, he felt all the strength in his body drain away and could no longer fly, plummeting to the ground.
Even as he fell, Leonardo immediately raised his head and shouted, glaring at Agrizendro, who was looking down at him.
“You son of a bitch―!!”
Unspeakable curses were scattered into the air. Soon after, a thud― was heard from below, hidden in the darkness.
* * *
Hugo breathed a little heavily and looked at the smoke rising from where he had fallen.
His left arm, which had been holding the guy with one arm to shoot the bullet, was tingling. Hugo repeatedly clenched and unclenched his left hand a few times, then slowly descended towards where Leonardo had fallen.
He could hear panting in the middle of a large pit where dirt was rising. As he got closer, he was tossing and turning while caught in the net, gasping for breath.
Darkness had already fallen on the ground, so Hugo blew wind to blow away the dirt and dust, and floated a sphere of light to illuminate the surroundings.
As the light ball got closer, the guy turned his head as if he was dazzled. He occasionally struggled, but soon stopped as if he was exhausted.
Just as Hugo, who had slowly approached Leonardo, was about to grab his shoulder and turn him around so that he could see his face caught in the net.
At that time, flames flared up around Leonardo and quickly subsided. Hugo, who had hesitated for a moment because of that, looked at the traces of the flames that had blazed fiercely and then went out, and said in a low voice.
“It’s amazing that you still have the strength to resist.”
The net that wrapped around his body was a specially made net to capture Dragons, with magic stones embedded at each intersection, and ingredients extracted from the magic stones were soaked throughout the net.
In other words, it was a fully prepared item to make any magical power useless, so even if it was a huge and strong Dragon, it could not move easily if it was caught in this net.
But just now, this guy created fire in that state, albeit for a moment, and threatened him. He thought he had exhausted all his strength by fighting him for half a day.
Leonardo, who was breathing heavily with his back turned, raised only his head and glanced back at him when he heard Hugo’s voice. Then he lay down on his back towards the sky.
His bound chest rose and fell rapidly, but the momentum in his ferocious expression was very fierce, as if he would rush at him at any moment.
“You cowardly bastard, are you even the Council?”
Hugo’s brow furrowed. There had not been many times in his life that he had directly faced vulgar insults directed at him, and it bothered him to hear his voice clearly insulting him.
“…You have a rough mouth.”
“Fuck, what the hell is this net?”
“All the small weights attached to the net are made of magic stones. The more you resist and struggle, the more your magical power will be absorbed, so it’s better to stay still.”
Even while kindly warning him, Hugo slowly scanned Leonardo’s face, which was clearly revealed under the light ball. He was definitely the same face as in the photo, but rather, the photo did not capture all of him. Hugo thought.
Hugo had often looked at his photos. Not only that, but he had also seen him vaguely from afar in the past, and he had heard countless times about his appearance from those who had actually met him.
Every time, everyone said in unison. ‘Leonardo Blaine is quite a beauty.’
As if shining in the darkness, his golden hair and eyes sparkled faintly.
It was the first time he was seeing him properly this close, and Leonardo, whom he actually faced directly, was such an outstanding beauty that no amount of praise would be enough. Despite being covered in dirt, he had rare and perfect blonde hair and golden eyes. And his fair skin, long eyelashes, and overall beautiful facial lines shattered Hugo’s preconceived notions about fire mages.
Fire mages usually like things that are warm, if not hot, so they usually have a strong macho image with tanned skin and shirtless bodies. But he never knew that at the very top was such a pretty guy. To have such an appearance and possess such explosive and wild magical power.
Leonardo glared at Hugo, but soon closed his eyes, panting as if his strength was failing. Judging from his distorted expression, it seemed that it was not easy.
However, Hugo was not in a situation where he could do anything to him right now. He was quite tired from the long battle, and even though he had been captured by the net, he didn’t know when he would try to counterattack again.
When the net bullet was dismantled, a signal would immediately be sent to the headquarters, so the members would have already identified the location and were waiting at a certain distance. It seemed best to wait until they arrived, as they would probably judge that the situation was over and were heading here by now.
Hugo sighed and sat down next to the bound guy with a thud and said.
“You’ve been running away well. Wouldn’t it be better for both of us if you had obediently attended the Council?”
Then Leonardo, who had been closing his eyes, half-opened his eyes even in the difficult situation and glared at Hugo as if he was talking nonsense and retorted.
“Ha―, if I obediently attend. What do you think you’ll use me for next?”
“…It seems you did receive the attendance order notice.”
“Other people’s houses, newspapers, big city signs, warships. You plaster all sorts of places with demands for me to show up, it’s weirder not to see them. Are you guys stalkers?”
At his words, which sounded like he was fed up, Hugo chuckled.
“You laugh?”
Leonardo glared at him with a fierce look, as if asking if he found the situation funny, but Hugo didn’t really care.
Rather, the things the Council had done to catch this guy in front of him over the past three years flashed through his mind like a panorama. And now he had come all the way here and finally caught him, but it still felt like a dream.
As Leonardo said, for the first year, the Council went to every place registered under his name and sent summons demanding his attendance. In addition to newspaper advertisements, they also posted large posters urging Leonardo Blaine to attend the Council on the signs of major cities.
Hugo watched the Council’s actions and worried whether he would even see them, whether all this was in vain. But as if Hugo’s worries were unfounded, he had been watching all the Council’s efforts, even if he didn’t listen.
It hadn’t been long since he had directly confronted him, but after fighting for more than half a day, clashing with magic, Hugo felt that he was stronger and more beautiful than he had imagined, and more human than he had thought.
Perhaps it was because of his unique appearance, but there was a discrepancy between the rumored villain of legend and the one he actually met.
Until he set out to find him, Hugo had no positive feelings about Leonardo. He was so sure that the ‘thought’ that Abraham Lancaster had mentioned would not change at all even if he met him.
But Hugo now felt a little excited.
‘Is it because he’s more powerful than I imagined? Because he gives me pleasure?’
If Hugo hadn’t been the Supreme Commander of the Council, he might have thrown away the capture bullets and fought him with all his might until one of them fell. But he knew the weight of his position and had a very strong sense of responsibility, so that didn’t happen.
Hugo looked at Leonardo lying next to him and, abandoning his stubborn tone, spoke to him gently, as if trying to persuade him.
“The reason we want to measure your magic is to protect this society from you, and also to protect you as a mage of the Empire. We want to assess your magic level, whether there is a risk of rampage, and what your attributes need, and then support you. You don’t have to be so suspicious.”
Hugo’s words were true. The Council’s mage management system was necessary not only to prevent them from harming society, committing crimes, or posing threats, but also for the smooth activity and protection of individual mages.
In the case of Leonardo Blaine, he was a source of power that all institutions and organizations feared and wanted to obtain at the same time. And as such, he was also prone to getting involved in danger.
Leonardo, who was listening to Hugo’s words, sneered as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have.
“Bullshit.”
Hugo didn’t feel any particular value in responding to that. But Leonardo continued without hesitation.
“You can’t trust any government agencies.”
At his sharp words, Hugo turned his head. The cold sea breeze blowing from all directions because of the wasteland swept between the two.
Hugo stared at the horizon where the darkness had fallen far away and spoke as if seeing the difficult future ahead of him.
“Well, you can’t help it if you don’t trust me. As long as you live in this land, you have to cooperate.”