"Ah. He got away..." Lukas mumbled when upon glancing back at the place where Farren was, saw nothing there.

What was left of his trace was the severed hand which was also blown away to the side from the explosion. Lukas then tried to track his presence down but it had already vanished.

He threw a look towards the two subordinates who hadn't had a chance to run off. Well, what's left of them, that is. What remained of them is a gory mess. Good thing that his flames are always acting as a barrier for him. Burning all the things that would try to hit his body, just like these men's chunky meat, perhaps.

"You let him escape. I'll grade you poorly for that," Janus snickered at the back.

Lukas clicked his tongue, "Tsk. Shut up."

He had forgotten that this stupid mage is watching the whole situation, just as he said.

Lukas marched forward, not minding all the gore and blood scattered about. He wanted to see if there are still remnants of that crystal they used and if he could somehow retrieve something useful.

Janus also stepped forward and looked around.

"A magic-user but they are all fake. Hmm..."

Lukas was surprised by his sudden casualness but shrugged it off.

"Their mana seemed artificial. My anima hates it," he commented as his eyes darted from side to side, looking for things.

"Oh?" was his only response.

"If it's artificial, then there may be more of them," he added.

Lukas then kicked a rock. His search was fruitless. There are no remnants of crystals nor he could sense it anymore. The bodies could not be identified either because they are beyond recognition at this point.

He wasn't expecting a battle to happen when he confronted those rats, and even more so that they would be also using magic as them. He had expected a one-sided scuffle but it turns out that he's wrong.

'What even was that?'

Lukas then glanced at his gloved hands and frowned when he noticed the holes on them.

'So that was the reason...'

When that guy touched him at first, he felt nothing because of the gloves, but after some time, he suddenly got bombarded by a forceful pressure in his head. A lot was happening at once, he could hear countless screams and cries. All of it is from women and they are all pleading one thing. He could hear despair, anguish, and resentment in them. He could feel it clearly as if they were his own emotions.

He felt nauseous like chucking all of his guts off. His anima almost went berserk from it and so is he, and one of the reasons why his power went mad.

"The crystal acted as their core but it was fragile," he murmured absentmindedly.

He could still picture the dark crimson color of their mana and how creepy it felt. It was so eerie that even Lukas felt disgusted looking at it.

"Mhmm," Janus hummed.

Lukas's forehead creased as he thought, "How did they make artificial magic in the first place?"

He then glanced at the indifferent Janus who immediately felt his gaze and turned to look at him.

"What?"

"You are the master of the tower of magic, do you know anything about this?" He inquired, looking solemn.

Janus shut his mouth and tilted his head sideward in an act of appearing innocent. Lukas saw through his act and sneered.

"Ah, right. You were a shut-in," he remarked, just to rile him up.

He is sure that Janus is hiding something, else, why would he behave like that?

"Hah, that is true," he didn't even try to deny it.

Lukas gazed at him with a serious glint in his purple eyes.

"Still, magic is your field and the tower was responsible for it, no?"

Janus breezily offered a radiant smile, as if telling him to go fvck off, which is true.

"You might have forgotten that the tower is not affiliated with the kingdom's affairs," he pointed out.

"Unless you're part of it," Lukas insisted.

"Now, mutt, don't throw baseless accusations without any proof," Janus countered, still smiling radiantly but the warning is present.

"Then how do we explain this?" Lukas rebutted, not even slightly intimidated. He felt the surge of his mana output as if he was trying to subdue him. But alas, it was useless against such Lukas.

Upon knowing that, Janus stopped doing it.

'Haahh... There really is no helping it when that power comes directly from that being.'

"Shouldn't you be glad that you encountered them? At least now, you are aware that shady things are going on," he said.

Lukas clicked his tongue for the second time, "Tsk."

He had a point but his suspicions still stand. Janus is still going to be the target of his doubts.

Out of nowhere, two figures appeared beside Lukas. It was the Greywolf twins, Yvan and Ylmer. They were in the shadows, observing the fight, and had been keeping an eye towards the intruders.

"Master, we tried to follow the person who escaped but he suddenly vanished," Ylmer reported.

His twin, Yvan, then did the same and informed him of what he had felt.

"I detected a dark spell when it happened, master."

A dark spell... It must have been the work of that fourth rat. This just meant that whoever this person might be, he is probably stronger than his opponent earlier. If he can use dark magic, then that person is a genuine magic-user like them. Only, his magic is of dark origins, just like his...

'This is getting out of hand...'

There is no pun intended there, by the way.

Anyways, originally, his mission was to search the palace surroundings for suspicious people. There is no shortage of enemies that are always on the loose, trying to tear the empire and the throne down. Especially at such important events. The anti-royalists faction could be planning something to sabotage the crown.

That was the reason why the emperor sought his prowess, together with the crown prince. The plan was already set in advance and they only need to lure them in on a pretense that the security outside is lax.

Who would have known that this type of situation would arise? The appearance of artificial mages...