“Let’s get rid of this dangerous thing first.”

Ian took out the explosives from Ledio’s coat with light magic and put them in a dimensional pocket.

“Ian..!”

“Step back. I’ll continue from here.”

Ian stood in front of Ledio and stared at Fran with quiet eyes. This was the beginning of the second battle and the end of a long war.

“You’ll take care of me alone?”

“Yes, me alone, you.”

The atmosphere cooled down amidst light talk.

“Where did the lizards go?”

“Stop faking nonsense.”

Fran smiled coldly at Ian’s growl.

“You got out of that mess.”

Fran had not just transported but tried to slow down Ian and the dragons’ tracking by using an antimagic spell as he got out of the violet space.

“Honestly, I was surprised. I thought you would be tied up in the obstructing current, let alone the dragons who had shown no development all their lives..”

Fran had grounds to be confident. He had thought that dragons and Ian would take at least a half-day to come here and had not expected that it would not last even a few minutes.

“It would have been impossible even right after we had taken off your seal.”

“How much time do you think has passed? Are you saying that you got something new in that short period?”

“..You. You seem to know nothing about fragmented worlds and only know how to turn back time.”

Ian’s voice was filled with certainty. Fran Page was the cause of the dimension fractures, and there would not be a Fran per dimension. The two were different from the beginning.

“What do you mean I don’t know? Hadn’t I sent you to a world where you were living in ideal peace as a failure and human being?”

It had been so, and Fran had transported Ian there as a present. However, Ian did not mean that, as he and Fran had a fundamental difference between them.

“Fragmented dimensions meant places you could take a walk in without any time lag, worry, and confusion, right?”

“You’re not wrong.”

“I was different.”

Ian’s eyes took on a strange light, and they looked way older than his face.

“Unlike you, I wandered about many dimensions I returned here, and it took me more time than you can imagine.”

Fran looked surprised, but he had not understood Ian’s meaning. It was just a response to something he had heard for the first time.

“You would think that I came back in an instant, but I did not. I wandered for a long time and thought things over. And..”

Ian stopped talking for a minute, and his hands shook. Why?

“I understood something.”

Fran became worried about the sentence since it did not seem like mere talk.

“What did you understand?”

“A higher plane than the power of language.”

“..What?”

“The pinnacle of magic.”

Fran’s caution loosened at Ian’s description, and he even smiled faintly. It was evidently a sneer.

“And I wondered what nonsense you were going to speak.”

Fran had plastered on a smile when something astonishing for Fran happened. With a loud bang, a magical explosion rang in front of Fran’s eyes. It would have killed only a bug at most and would not have been surprising in scale.

“....?”

However, Fran was flabbergasted for a simple and exact reason.

‘I did not feel a thing.’

Fran could feel mana. That is, he could feel the size and flow of mana his opponent used for spells. That was one of Fran Page’s special talents and a reason why he had not been afraid of Ian a bit.

‘It’s impossible.’

However, that talent, which was one of the highest blessings a mage could have, did not work. Fran could not help but feel confused.

‘Is it a trick and not magic?’

Fran thought of another reason and tried to believe it was true. He was about to be certain of it. However, another explosion rang in front of Fran, which he could not feel. They rang in a sequence and were far and close near Fran’s face, ears, back of his head, and on top of his hair.

“The power of language has its limits since one needs to borrow magic. However, my understanding is different. I do not need magic and base my powers on nature and can act freely upon my thoughts.”

Fran could not believe Ian’s words but understood something anew. He remembered something he had passed by before.

‘Come to think of it..’

Ian had stopped Alchemist Ledio’s self-explosion with magic and moved the vial somewhere else. Fran had not felt mana even move. Ian whispered to Fran’s frantic mind as he was numb with confusion at being unable to feel mana.

“If I have to give it a name, it will be zero class.”

“Zero..class?”

‘Zero class’ magic. Fran followed Ian’s words like someone whose soul had gone out.

‘If I cannot feel the flow of magic from now on..’

The difference was huge. Fran would be vulnerable to unexpected attacks that came out of the void. What was more, Fran was used to feeling the mana flow like breathing.

‘This is..dangerous.’

Fran’s instincts warned him that this situation was different, and it was inevitable. He had lost the power of immortality, but now he could not feel the mana, which had been a talent he was born with?

“B- but..”

Fran could not acknowledge this situation, and he even stuttered as he experienced a confusion he had never felt before.

“Why..hadn’t you shown this power when you were with the lizards? It would have been a chance?”

The question was viable even in Ian’s ears, and he answered.

“I was not certain.”

“Certain..?”

Ian had not realized what he had found.

“I had not known, but things changed when you went after my family in earnest. My instincts began working when my body and soul were rushed by thoughts that you would destroy everyone I cared about.”

Fran Page had dotted the period in all of Ian’s understanding.

“What I said, should I say it again? You gave me too much. People I must protect, the power I could protect them with, and..”

Ian straightened his shoulders and puffed his chest.

“You even gave me talent.”

Ian’s last words may have sounded arrogant, but no one could deny it since he had evidence.

“You gave me a talent that would overwhelm you, and that was your mistake.”

As Ian’s words ended, the deep caves turned to a plain, where one could do whatever he wished. It was not an illusion, as Ian had teleported them there.

“W- what..?”

Pure magic had overwhelmed Fran, and he had to be astonished as this was the first time such a thing happened in several thousand years.

“I do not know how many times I’m saying this, but I’ll repeat myself once more. Our fight. Our ill-fated relationship, and the tangled time..”

It had been a long time since Ian had returned thirty years from being poisoned by Ragnar, met with the unknown beings, and now faced the cause of all problems.

“.. Today, let’s finish..”

Ian had walked a long road, and now it was time to arrive at the destination. He wanted to end all troubles, fights, and ill fates.

“.. Everything, Fran Page.”

It was not a suggestion, but an announcement.

‘How can I react? Attack first? Defend? If not that..’

Ian reached out with his hand toward Fran, but he did not feel any mana from it. While Fran would have only scoffed, now the situation had drastically changed.

‘Should I escape and gauge his powers?’

Fran narrowed his eyes and focused all of his soul on the tip of Ian’s hand.

“Then..”

Ian opened his mouth, and it was the first choice the mage who had reached a new height made. Ian cut through the air with his hand, and the sound of something ripping was heard. Not only that..

“What..?”

Fran’s groan came out like wind, and one of his forefingers sprayed blood and even fell to the ground.

“A finger.”

Ian’s voice was emotionless, and it reached Fran Page. Fran’s steps moved back quickly as he faced fear for the first time in his life.

“Stop, stop, Ian!”

Fran threw away pride as the one who had been the most powerful, as Ian’s father, and as his original form.

“Let’s talk, let your father..!”

However, it was useless as Ian did not stop and even moved on more harshly.

“Next.”

Ian’s voice was like a reaper, and blood came out again. The amount was even more, as it was not a mere finger this time.

“An arm.”

Fran’s entire left arm was ripped out, and even as he could have removed it smoothly, Ian intentionally increased the pain.

“Ahhhhh!”

Fran’s rare screams, which would become less rare now, echoed around them. He activated some shields. Fran let out rough breaths after hiding like he believed he was safe for now.

“Do you think you’ll be safe there?”

However, Ian asked while tilting his head. If Fran Page had been like the devil before..

“My thoughts are different.”

His son and former vessel, Ian Page, now felt like true evil. It seemed that good and evil were not differentiated in this fight.