Chapter 270

RMSBS – Episodes 270-276

RMSBS – Episode 270 . The Banquet (1)

The colossal buildings throughout the center of Pittsburgh had been devastated, their hideous steel frames laid bare and mutilated . Pittsburgh could no longer be called the City of Steel .

A man stood perched atop the debris . Donning his mask, his gaze was cast over the roaring flames that had yet to subside . The flames that had engulfed where the Royal Palace once stood .

Pierrot Mask continued to stare at the rubble as he mumbled to himself .

“What a meaningless ending . To fail after driving the world into a corner . ”

He jeered .

“According to my original plan, I had no intention of killing you here . ”

Pierrot Mask had planned on killing Skull Mask from the beginning, but that time was not supposed to have come so soon . He should have lived for a little longer at least .

However, he had no choice but to change his plan .

It was all because of that one man, Desir Arman . The moment Skull Mask had been defeated, the existing plan had truly gone awry .

*Crackle*

A spark of fire fluttered in the wind before landing on his coat . The flame burned slowly on his collar .

Pierrot Mask stared at it for a while and brushed it off with a smile .

“Well, don’t be too upset, old man . Because we’ll be using your failed plan in a useful way . ”

It was at that moment .

“Hurry!”

“He shouldn’t be too far!”

The soldiers’ movements were peculiarly frantic . They formed a siege and were searching for something .

“The target is able to transform his face, so use detection spells!”

A smile crossed Pierrot Mask’s lips . Since the soldiers had started looking for him, Desir must have reached the center of the power source .

He thought highly of Desir . He anticipated that Desir would be able to easily figure out who killed Skull Mask and what that person was after .

Therefore, it was not difficult to realize why he would look for him .

“Looking for this, I presume . ”

He took out a card from his chest .

It looked like a mere paper card on the outside, but it was an A-Tier artifact: a pocket dimension .

Amongst magical equipment, including the various Clothes Lines, there were many items that possessed some form of dimensional pocket functionality, but they all had a major flaw .

Because they were created through magic spells, they were unable to store any mana greater than the mana used in their creation .

An artifact was far superior than magical equipment .

However, despite boasting such capability, mana leaked out of the card little by little . Somehow, the A-tier artifact had been filled with mana beyond even its capacity .

This was the energy source Skull Mask used to fuel his plan . The tremendous amount of mana stored within it was incomparable to any magic stone .

*Rustle*

The moment Pierrot Mask snapped his fingers, the card disappeared from his hand .

He spoke while shrugging his shoulders, as if the person directly involved in this affair was in front of him .

“I spent years with the Outsiders just to get this . I can’t just go and give it away, can I?”

Pierrot Mask seemed quite relaxed and confident, even though there were a good number of soldiers slowly blocking off all escape routes .

It was impossible for them to detain Pierrot Mask .

The battle against the Beast of Revelation had only just ended . All of the soldiers were left exhausted and the majority of their magicians were completely incapacitated after using up all of their mana . Furthermore, it was difficult to even determine how much damage has occurred . Pittsburgh was extremely chaotic with all kinds of people busy with various tasks .

‘Let’s break the tie next time, Desir Arman . ’

As Pierrot Mask took off his mask, his face began to change .

His face soon took on completely different facial features from his original look . He had assumed the identity of one of the many casualties .

*Swish*

His new form began disappearing, soon blending in amongst the soldiers .

* * *

*Knock*

*Knock-Knock*

Desir opened his eyes to the sound of knocking .

The first thing he saw when he woke up was an elegant, white ceiling .

He was confused for a moment about where he was but soon recalled that he had gone to sleep in the Magic Tower’s branch in the Kingdom of Divide .

“Awake, Desir?”

Zod Exarion, the Master of the Magic Tower, opened the door and entered .

Desir got up from his bed . The blanket that was covering him felt itchy as it slid down .

“I didn’t wake you up on purpose . Priscilla said you need to take a rest . ”

Though he used a newly developed spell to reduce the burden of the draconic spell, the burden was still not negligible . The only reason he awoke unharmed was due to the immediate treatment he received from Priscilla upon her arrival .

Feeling very refreshed, Desir asked .

“How long was I asleep for?”

“Around twenty hours . ”

Desir looked out the window . The sun already hung high up in the sky .

For a normal person, it would have just been regarded as oversleeping . However, for Desir, it was different .

“It must’ve been a long time since you slept for that long . ”

Desir nodded .

“It’s been six months . ”

Desir had spent every waking moment preparing for and planning the war against Divide .

After the Great Council, he had been overworking himself by borrowing from his sleeping and eating time .

In preparation for this decisive match, he refined his spells, cleared numerous Shadow Worlds, studied ancient records, and contemplated exactly what Skull Mask’s plan and objective was .

And all of his efforts ended up paying off .

The operation was successful and Skull Mask was now dead .

It had lifted the heavy load that weighed down his mind, offering him a sense of freedom that allowed him to take a long-deserved rest .

An action that most would not consider special, Desir felt slightly overwhelmed at the fact that he could oversleep .

“Has Divide’s surrender gone well?”

“It ended smoothly . The war between Divide and the Allied Forces is officially over . ”

Immediately after the battle with Pittsburgh ended, Divide declared surrender . It was the decision of their military’s commander, Brepon, after their king disappeared .

Maybe he realized something after cooperating with Desir and confronting the Beast of Revelation .

‘It was an inevitable, predetermined result anyway . ’

The defeat of Divide was practically set in stone .

Divide was able to wage war with the entire continent because of the Shadow World creating towers and the homunculi that Skull Mask had created . Now that they were destroyed by Desir, Divide no longer stood no chance .

However, there were still tens of thousands of military troops in Divide, so if the war continued, the Allied Forces still would have needed to pay a price .

Brepon’s bold and swift decision reduced the unnecessary sacrifices of both sides .

“That’s a relief . But it’s still too early to be at ease . ”

The half-year war was over, and Skull Mask was dead, but that did not mean all their problems had been resolved .

“Right . Whatever Pierrot Mask took is extremely dangerous . ”

From what they could gather, Pierrot Mask had stolen whatever Skull Mask was using as an energy source . It must have been absurdly powerful, capable of powering over forty towers .

No one knew what he took it for, but knowing his chaotic nature, it was certainly something dangerous .

At the minimum, Desir was certain that the object was the cause of the appearance of the Shadow Labyrinth . He could not rest easy until he was certain that the Shadow Labyrinth had been prevented, until that object had been retrieved .

Desir had no intention of neglecting even the slightest chance of it returning .

“Developing and distributing the new detection equipment takes priority . ”

Pierrot Mask had the ability to shapeshift into anyone .

It was impossible to identify him with the naked eye, and he could even hold up under thorough inspection . He had hidden himself as the King of Divide for an unknown amount of time, and those closest to him were none the wiser .

“We’re already working on the finishing touches . As soon as the work is done, we will be supplying it to the Western Kingdoms Union on a trial basis, and if there are no problems, we will add this functionality to the Hebrion communication pads too . ”

“That was fast . ”

“Well, you’ve been encouraging the research for a while now . ”

From the moment Desir and Zod learned of his abilities, they had prioritised devising countermeasures against him .

It was because his ability, to completely disguise himself as others, was just too dangerous .

If the equipment was supplied to all countries, it would no longer be possible for him to disguise himself as a high-ranking official and attempt a coup .

“If you could take care of that part, that would be much appreciated . And what happened to the artifacts?”

Skull Mask had possessed numerous artifacts, each of them top-notch .

The artifacts were found strewn throughout Pittsburgh and discussions were underway on how to deal with them .

“We’ve decided to keep Skull Mask’s artifacts in the Magic Tower for the time being . We need time to study them, and figure out what they do . We have no idea how to use most of them . ”

There were no other places in this field that were more capable than the tower . It was a fair decision .

“His artifacts will be of great help in reinforcing our military strength . ”

Zod smiled bitterly .

“There were a lot of interesting things . However, the problem is that it’s difficult to study them . Some of them can’t be analyzed at all . ”

“I’ll help as well . I have some time on my hands . ”

“That’s a good point . I wanted to ask you for help, but… ”

When Zod was talking, Desir’s communication pad rang . After he confirmed the sender’s name, a smile crossed his lips .

“You should rest for the time being . ”

—-

Chapter brought to you by The Patrons .

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ED: Purplemen101

TLC: N/A

QC: Dr Lock