The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind

By the time when Citrina was about to perform her elementism on Dartrin Street, Desian had already grasped all of Elaina’s situation.
If he didn’t handle it properly, it would arouse her suspicions.
A paladin appeared in front of Desian. This knight was the right person to keep an eye on Elaina and the other paladins.

“I have a report for you.”
“What is it?”

The paladin’s body jumped off the floor. This man who guarded the boundary on Genfiros’s orders breathed sloppily.
Desian looked into his hopeless dark eyes and whispered.

“Tell me what you know.”
“Genfiros, the leader of the paladins, has begun his address.”

He handed over the video sphere in his gnarled hand.
‘Elementism is witchcraft, and only those things blessed by a priest are worthwhile.’ This was how he began his speech.
Reporters from various news sources scribbled down his words with mesmerized faces.
Desian pressed on the screen to turn it off. He casually puffed on a cigar.

“So he’s claiming that elementism is black magic.”
“Yes.”
“The target is clear, isn’t it?”

It wasn’t a question.
It was a very academic claim. It was not the kind of rhetoric that would sway public opinion.
However, the attitude of the people who seemed to be Genfiros’ followers was bizarre. They reached out excitedly to grab Genfiros’s hand as if he were a god. It was almost as if it was witchcraft.
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“It’s ridiculous.”
“Yes.”

Genfiros was an old man who reigned like a god in his own world. There was something divine in his expression as if he would win every time. Nevertheless, he had chosen the wrong opponent this time.
How stupid.
Desian leaned back casually in his chair.

“What about Citrina?”
“There’s been no contact with her.” The knight stated.
“No contact…”

Citrina would also be aware of the widespread allegations that elementism is witchcraft. Rumors had a way of traveling quickly, and even quicker to the people involved.
But even after all that, Citrina hadn’t contacted anyone.

‘I half-thought she would stay by my side.’

There were so many emotions that Citrina brought out in him.
She was not the sort of person who relied on others. Nevertheless, Desian Pietro would do all within his power to help her this time, as he did every time.
He would give her every victory. And yet…

‘At the end of all time, you will need me, Rina.’

Desian slowly opened his eyes.

“Let’s go to the tower.”
“We’re not ready to go yet…”
Desian lazily grabbed him by the throat. It didn’t take much force, but he began to gurgle.
Desian turned away slowly, his eyes unmoving. The knights would come from the rear.
The vanguard would be one man.
Desian Pietro.
He was alone, but he had no intention of losing.
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Desian blinked again briefly.
Instead of the duke’s dark office, he saw a dilapidated, deserted tower. The abandoned tower was brutally distorted, a grim reminder of its past infamy.
Desian walked through the leaning doorway of the tower, feeling the cursed words he had placed inside.

‘All those who enter shall rot and die.’

This was a ban even warlocks could not escape.
Desian placed a moderate binding when he dealt with the dark tower previously.
It could control the minds and spirits of warlocks who returned to the tower.

‘It’s still breathing. It’s been acting like a parasite to the tower, like a rat.’

It didn’t feel like it was living or breathing.
Besides, no other life force approached the tower. It had been abandoned even by its allies.
Desian walked leisurely up to the second level of the tower, reaching a hallway.

“Come out.”

Light shined in the darkened room, and something like a corpse crawled across the floor. There were three of them.
These were the ones he hadn’t killed but kept alive. They had run off to the Holy Kingdom, and after that Desian ignored them.
This was because they were a nuisance.

“Khh, khheeuk.”

The man who was near death made a strange noise. Desian shuffled over to them.
One of the three dying men had an arm haphazardly cut off.
The other had smashed toes.

“What a spectacle.”

The three warlocks that were on the verge of dying from blood loss were the ones who had held onto Toloji’s ghost and tried to revive it somehow.

“You, you…”

Desian laughed bitterly at them.
The person’s life force had slowly been drained by the curse placed on the tower. Death had already taken him. However, one clutched the hilt of a sword tightly in his arms.
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“Who sent you here?”
“I, I can’t tell you.”
“Codename.”

Desian slowly mouthed the word. The corpse’s face contorted into an unsightly shape. His lips grew grotesquely large and the tip of his tongue lolled out by the edge of his mouth.
Desian looked at the grotesque human body and spoke lowly.

“You should speak.”

At Desian’s graceful taunt, the truth burst from the man’s throat.

“Cai, sairan.”
“The Holy Kingdom?”
“Th, that’s right. Th, there was a request to wipe out the other species.”
“Why?”
“That, well.”

The man snorted.
In short, this man was the tail rather than the body. [T.L. Note: Meaning the warlock is just a pawn in someone else’s scheme] He didn’t need to hear more.
Desian looked at the ugly face in front of him and suddenly found himself missing her [Citrina].
It seemed he was seriously sick if that is what came to mind at this time.
Desian grinned and looked at the man.

“Is that it?”

Desian asked in a conspiratorial voice. The man’s tongue curled to the back of his throat. A deep curse had been placed on it so that he could never speak of this again.

“…We had decided to use the other species as experiments! It has nothing to do with you.”
“Did you know that there was a curse placed on the tower?”
“There’s no need for such a thing! To, Toloji-nim will surely be resurrected!”

It was such a stupid belief.

“Are you going to make more killing weapons?”
“Th, that…”

The truth that Desian had accurately guessed spilled out of his mouth.
The man’s voice sounded as if he was spitting blood. And he wanted to make killing weapons.

“Disgusting.”
“It, It’s almost over. Keurgh.”

The reason they had come to the magic tower was simple. They had come to pick up some drugs, retrieve the methods for drawing magic circles, and their twisted models for body modification that Desian had destroyed.
It was reckless. It was nothing more than a moth jumping toward a flame. Killing humans was their only goal and ambition.

“Alright.”

Desian lifted his foot and lightly flicked one of their necks. The neck was crushed under the shoe heel with a sickening thud. The flesh was crushed.

“Eeurghh!”

His throat was torn and the man died with a single movement.
Desian only felt that his shoe was dirty. He slowly reached down and grabbed the one man’s treasured sword.
The sword reeked of evil.
It was a sword that seemed to be enchanted by the devil.
Desian held it in one hand.
The weight of the sins it had committed were too light for him.
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‘I have to go back.’

The ringing in his ears started once again. He killed a human again. There was no guilt.
He had something to protect.
It was only natural to kill.
After killing the three, Desian Pietro walked out of the tower door.

-step, step-

His footsteps mixed with the ringing in his ears to create a strange sound.

‘You’re going to rebuild a killing weapon?’

Desian walked outside with a cold expression on his face. There was a time when he too lived as an unwilling test subject, craving only the death of others. But he was not like them.
Desian Pietro was saved by Citrina Foluin.
From the first moment he laid eyes on her.
Therefore, Citrina was his god. Now, his every action was in service to her.
In the distance, knights on horseback approached. Desian slowly hid himself in the deathly darkness.
As Desian Pietro left the tower, the knights appeared. They began to tear down the tower, which was already a ruin. They sprinkled holy water over the dead bodies.
All three stories of the tower were cleared out. The sight of the duke’s knights circling the dark, infamous tower was almost sacred.

“The search is over!”
“Now let the demolition begin.”
“The source of evil is gone!”

Finally, over twenty knights circled the tower.
The swordsmen drew out their bastard swords. The bracelets on their wrists glittered in the darkness.
Sword after sword slashed through the warped doorways and cracked walls. Ralph began filming the tower, video sphere in hand.
Desian watched from the distance.
Yes, it was all staged.
Light opposed the darkness that was in stark contrast to the divine.
It showed that it was elementism.
This was a divine rebuttal to Genfiros’ words.

‘I will not back down from this now, but..’

To tell the truth, it didn’t matter to Desian if the other species were eliminated or not.
Desian watched the tower crumble to dust at his feet.
It was the end of the tower and of black magic.
However, Genfiros’ evil was only about to begin.
Of course, the ending was set in stone.

“Let’s keep a low profile for now.”

Desian turned around.
Ralph’s video would circle the entire empire. He would make it so.