161 The Last Trick
Daniel walked towards the revealed hidden door, seemingly indifferent to the impending clash between Christopher and Magnus.
"Where are you going, Magitek!? By the law of the Hightower, you are duty-bound to protect me!" Magnus shouted, stepping back from Christopher's advance.
Daniel turned his head towards Magnus with a smirk. "Apologies, Lord Alchemont, but I believe you and I belong to different factions. Besides, I recall that you can only use your authority to force a mage from another faction to protect you if two conditions are fulfilled. First, you must not have attempted to kill them within 72 hours before making the request. Second, none of the mages from the same faction must be available within immediate contact range," Daniel said before unleashing a fire explosion bullet that blasted the door open, revealing what lay beyond.
Behind the shattered door stood an unfamiliar man to Daniel, in the middle of the hidden chamber. Surrounding him were numerous human corpses, forming small hills, with their blood converging into the center of the chamber, forming a large demonic magic circle.
Daniel compared the man before him to the picture Greed had provided on his phone and realized he was looking at a younger version of Lucian, or at least someone who had somehow regained their youth through nefarious means, likely related to those demonic rituals.
"You must be Lucian Blackscar," Daniel stated as he approached, noting the smirk on Lucian's face, born out of apparent confidence.
"I admit, Artificer or not, you are a very powerful mage," Lucian said, maintaining his confident smile.
"It seems you're quite confident in your survival. What makes you so sure?" Daniel began, sensing that Lucian was concealing something crucial, which he needed to uncover sooner rather than later.
Lucian checked his watch and smiled. "You just lost the right to kill me," he revealed, showing the time to Daniel. However, Daniel checked his own watch and saw that he still had about 2 hours before midnight, the time when Lucian's Councilor status would be reinstated.
"Oh, trying to bluff me, Lucian? I recall that the reinstatement of your status will use the local time," Daniel retorted, displaying the time on his phone, which indicated it was 2 hours before midnight.
Lucian asked, "When was the last time you read the Hightower law?"
"Yesterday evening. Why? I don't think there will be any changes," Daniel replied, feeling a bit uneasy. Something felt off, and Lucian wouldn't be this confident without a foolproof plan or a trump card.
"Too bad... The law changed this morning, and it will now use the time of the far east branch in Japan, which is already past midnight," Lucian revealed with a mocking smile.
Hearing this, Daniel's face grew solemn. He didn't say anything but aimed his large caliber gun at Lucian's head.
"You're lying," Daniel stated firmly before pulling the trigger.
lost his life. He loved his life and definitely didn't want to die.
17:13
Regret flooded Lucian's mind, but the anticipated pain didn't come. The bullet Daniel had shot at his Bang!
Lucian's face showed both surprise and horror, as he never expected Daniel to actually fire the gun. What he said was true, but he also knew that Daniel could argue in court that he was unaware of the recent change, which had occurred abruptly, courtesy of his boss asking Envy's for a favor to intervene in this abrupt change of the Hightower law.
Of course, Daniel might face harsh consequences later, but that was a problem for Daniel after he lost his life. He loved his life and definitely didn't want to die.
Regret flooded Lucian's mind, but the anticipated pain didn't come. The bullet Daniel had shot at his head was stopped just a few millimeters before penetrating his skull, seemingly blocked by some kind of magic. Startled, Lucian fell to the ground, fearing that the bullet might still continue its course and blast his head open.
"Daniel, please don't. He told you the truth. By the law of the Hightower, you can't kill him," a sweet and familiar woman's voice echoed within the hidden chamber, emanating from behind Daniel.
Daniel turned his gaze towards the source of the voice and saw a stunning woman with purple hair, dressed luxuriously, walking towards him from the entrance of the hidden chamber.
"Grand Councilor Envy..." Daniel uttered the name of the newcomer who had intervened in his revenge.
Envy walked toward Daniel and positioned herself between him and Lucian, attempting to protect them both. However, her main concern was shielding Daniel from the overwhelming anger in his heart that might drive him to do something rash, like killing a Councilor.
"Daniel, please, don't. Lucian is more important to the Hightower alive than you might think. If you kill him, you will face the full might of the Hightower's law enforcement, including the Enforcers from the Golden Scale faction! You already have many enemies within the Hightower, and they won't let this chance to implicate you slip away!" Envy earnestly tried to persuade Daniel from committing a crime while Lucian continued to smirk, taunting Daniel without restraint.
"How important is he to the Hightower? If I were to trade some of my artifact technology in exchange for his life, would the Hightower allow me to kill him?" Daniel asked skeptically, as he couldn't believe that Lucian's life would be valued more than those valuable technologies.
Upon hearing Envy's explanation, Lucian shuddered. He knew mages could be a heartless and practical bunch. The moment they realized that Daniel's technology proved to be more useful to the Hightower as a whole, they wouldn't spare him a second thought about protecting him.
"As of right now, from the perspective of two out of three Grand Councilors and the majority vote of the High Councilors, yes, he is more important to the Hightower than your Atlantean Artifact technology," Envy answered with a sigh, accepting the result of the majority vote in the Hightower. She had expected this outcome, considering that the majority of the mages were from the Path of Knowledge Faction, which consisted of nearly 60% of the mage population.
Hearing this, Lucian let out a resigned sigh and immediately stopped his provocations. He knew better than to push Daniel too far, as that might lead to Daniel trading all of his technology to the Hightower for the right to kill him. Such an outcome would be disastrous for him.
Daniel smirked and looked at Lucian, who was still fearful about the uncertainty of his life.
"Just his life, right? No matter what state he's in, as long as his life is preserved, then I won't consider breaking the Hightower law," Daniel asked again.
Envy let out a sigh before attempting to dissuade Daniel once more. "The Hightower Council prefers for him to be left in one piece and his mind intact too."
"Fine… left in one piece and his mind intact," Daniel repeated before walking toward Lucian, who started to retreat.
"You! What are you trying to do!? Magitek!" Lucian asked in panic, but Daniel didn't respond as he sank his mind into the mindscape, searching for a card that might help him in this situation.
In truth, Daniel didn't mind leaving Lucian alive, as he had already spared Victor with certain conditions, ensuring that Victor would not turn against him in the future. He had later discovered that the reason for Victor's A-hole behavior was due to a ritual that Lucian performed on him, making Victor the bearer of the Seed of Sins, which later led to a fateful night that had greatly affected both Daniel and Koyuki's lives.
Now, Daniel's actions were nothing more than venting his anger on Lucian, as he couldn't kill Victor without breaking his promise. So, Lucian became his current target, and if he were to spare him, he needed to make sure that Lucian couldn't retaliate in the future.
Daniel didn't answer Lucian's question, and Lucian quickly turned to Envy, seeking her help.
"Grand Councilor Envy! Please! Do something!! He's trying to kill me!" Lucian begged, fearfully glancing at Daniel, who began gathering his mana.
"I don't think he will kill you, Mr. Blackscar," Envy said calmly, observing Daniel and trying to anticipate his next move.
At that moment, the mana gathered to its peak before launching from Daniel's outstretched hand toward Lucian. He felt a massive amount of pure holy mana entering his body, immediately starting to restrict all of his power. The magic vein that had always responded to him was abruptly stopped, and it refused to heed his calling. The sensation of mana and his understanding of how magic worked began to deteriorate and slowly vanish. It was as if he had been transformed into a mere human, devoid of the power to wield magic.
Card: Seal of Eternity
Picture: The image portrays a demonic being transformed into a feeble monster after losing all of its power.
Rarity: Rare
Type: Enchantment - Attachment
Mana Cost: 3 Light, 1 Non-Element
Description: Enchant Creature
This enchantment is [Indestructible].
Enchant Creature loses all of its abilities.
Flavor text: After the blinding light, the once dreadful archfiend had become a weak monster, even weaker than the human he once loathed.
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