The Price of Knowledge

Chapter 4 – The Price of Knowledge

Kaelis had already been treated and was now resting. Serine stayed behind to watch over her, while Eryx and Thalen hurried back to Caelis. By the time they reached the location, the battle between Caelis and Malgareth had already begun.

Caelis fought using pure martial skill, his movements sharp and controlled. Malgareth, though surprised, managed to block his strikes with visible effort. He caught Caelis’s punch mid-air.

“Is that all the power you have?” Malgareth sneered. “You 

disappoint me.”

Without hesitation, Caelis drove his other fist straight into 

Malgareth’s abdomen.

“You’ll find out how strong I really am.”

Malgareth slid several meters back and dropped to one knee. Blood spilled from his mouth. He wiped it away, stared at the crimson stain on his hand, and then smiled coldly.

“You got me this time, boy,” he said. “But you will never escape 

from here.”

Caelis stretched his shoulders calmly.

“Really? Maybe I won’t leave this place as King Caelis—but I might leave as the new leader of the Ashen Covenant.”

Malgareth rose to his feet, brushing dust from his clothes.

“Overconfidence is bad for your health.”

Caelis began walking toward him.

“Overconfidence? What makes you think that?”

Malgareth pointed toward the ground.

Before Caelis could react, the earth beneath him vanished.

“What—?”

Caelis began to fall.

“What kind of place is this?” he muttered as he descended. “Everywhere I look, there’s nothing… and yet something at the same time. How can something like this even exist?”

From a distance, Malgareth watched Caelis fall and launched a magic attack.

Caelis crossed his arms and reinforced his defense. The spell struck—but failed to break through.

“I’m safe,” Caelis realized. “I need to understand this place quickly. Otherwise, I’ll end up dying here—and adding a very late chapter to my name.”

He landed on a floating platform and immediately shouted,

“Eryx! Thalen! Serine! Kaelis!”

No answer came.

“So I’m the only one here… except Malgareth,” Caelis muttered. 

“Is this his magic?”

Lost in thought, Caelis suddenly felt a sharp pain strike his side.

“What—? I blocked that attack,” he said, clutching the wound and pressing a handkerchief against it. “A delayed spell? No… it came from behind.”

As he struggled to understand this strange world, Malgareth’s 

voice echoed from above.

“What happened?” Malgareth mocked. “Is the mighty Caelis 

suddenly unable to defend himself?”

Caelis looked toward the sound.“There’s no one there. Where is this voice coming from?”

Another spell launched.

“Here goes the second.”This time, Caelis reacted instantly and blocked it.

“I saw that one,” he said firmly. “I’ll keep my eyes on you.”

Malgareth’s voice rang out again, calm and amused.“You stopped two attacks. I’m impressed.”

He laughed softly.

And in that moment—Caelis was struck again.

He staggered, eyes wide, still unable to locate the source.

“What did you think?” Malgareth’s voice whispered through the void.

“That you could stop my attacks so easily?”

Caelis and Malgareth stood within different layers of the same 

twisted world.

Malgareth remained atop a towering rock formation, relaxed and dominant, while Caelis stood below on solid ground, tightening 

the cloth around his wound and steadying his breath.

Malgareth looked down at him with amusement.

“How do you plan to defeat me now, Caelis?”

Caelis straightened.“It’s simple,” he replied calmly. “I just have to beat you at your 

own game.”

Malgareth leaned back slightly, confident.

“Then show me.”

Caelis drew a small dagger and took a step forward.

“Here I come.”

He charged.

But the moment he moved closer, a strange sensation washed over him.

This presence…

Someone else is here.

Not Malgareth. Not me.

As Caelis swung the dagger—

Pain exploded through his arm.

Blood poured from his left hand.

“What—?” Caelis staggered back. “What just happened?”

Malgareth smiled coldly.

“What happened?” he asked mockingly. “I didn’t feel a thing.

Besides—why are you hurting yourself?”

Caelis retreated another step, breathing hard.

“This place… it’s completely different. I shouldn’t act without thinking.”

Malgareth yawned, clearly bored.

“So you’re not going to attack?” he said. “Then I will.”

He casually launched a wave of basic fire magic.

Caelis, still unable to understand Malgareth’s ability, felt fear overtake his thoughts. Acting on instinct, he swung his dagger blindly.

In that instant—

Multiple unseen attacks struck him from behind.

Again.

And again.

Caelis screamed as his body was torn apart by invisible blows. He collapsed to his knees, blood pooling beneath him.

“I don’t understand…” he gasped. “Why… why is this happening?”

Malgareth descended and stood before him.

“What happened?” he said softly. “Did someone here believe he 

could defeat me?”

Caelis bit down hard on his lip, drawing blood, refusing to cry out.

Malgareth crouched and placed a hand gently on Caelis’s head.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll kill you in a fraction of a second. 

You won’t even feel the pain.”

There was a sharp sound.

Malgareth snapped Caelis’s neck.

Caelis’s body fell limp to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kaelis had yet to regain consciousness.

Serine sat beside her, worry etched across her face. Eryx and Thalen, however, were already preparing to leave the island the moment Caelis returned.

Unable to hold back any longer, Serine stood and turned to Eryx.

“Why are you people not worried about King Caelis?”

Eryx answered calmly, his voice gentle.

“The reason is simple. There is no one powerful enough to defeat Caelis.”

Serine frowned, still anxious.

“But earlier you said that no one is the strongest—that there is always someone better.”

Eryx smiled faintly.

“It seems you were paying attention during training.” He paused. “Serine, it’s very simple. We will never find someone better than Caelis, because he is the master of—”

“Eryx!” Thalen interrupted sharply. “Stop wasting time and move 

faster. If we don’t finish before Caelis returns, he’ll be furious.”

Back within Malgareth’s domain—

Malgareth dragged Caelis’s body across the ground and threw him aside.

Caelis was not dead.

But he could not move.

Half-dazed, Caelis struggled to focus.What’s happening…? Why can’t I—

Suddenly, memory returned.

Kaelis… I’m here to save Kaelis.

Caelis let his body go limp, pretending to be unconscious, while his eyes subtly scanned the surroundings. As realization dawned, a faint light began to shine within them.

He began to merge his battle experience with the structure of the 

world itself.

This is a pocket dimension.

But there’s no visible spell framework… no conventional magic.

His thoughts raced back to the ancient records in the royal 

library.

Then—

Something clicked.

“This is Ancient Magic,” he realized. But not just that…

It’s reflection.

His excitement was impossible to fully hide.Malgareth noticed.

“How are you conscious?” Malgareth demanded. “I was sure I broke you.”

Caelis suddenly rolled away, rising to his feet and creating 

distance between them.

Malgareth laughed harshly.

“Come, Caelis! Attack me. Dig your own grave!”

Caelis remained calm. He launched a slow, long-range spell—

simple, almost careless—then vanished from his original position.

“Here it goes,” he murmured.

Malgareth stood confidently, his focus fixed on Caelis alone.

“What is this? Such weak magic can’t harm me.”Caelis calmly sheathed his sword.

“Are you sure?”

In the next instant—

Malgareth was struck by multiple elemental attacks from different directions.

Fire.

Force.

Pressure.

“How is this possible?!” Malgareth roared. “This makes no sense!”

Caelis now sat atop a high platform, looking down at him.

“What happened?” he asked quietly. “Did you trap yourself in your own magic?”

Malgareth stared up at him in disbelief.

“How… how did you understand my power?”

Caelis replied evenly.“Do you really want to know? I possess something called Secret 

Magic. It allows me to understand.”

Already injured, Malgareth collapsed to his knees.“Is there really a power capable of understanding my magic…?”

Caelis stepped down, approaching him slowly.

“You control a fixed volume of space,” Caelis explained.“Within that space, any attack—yours or your opponent’s—can 

be multiplied or redirected at will. Numbers. Angles. Direction.”

He paused. “Am I wrong?”

Malgareth’s eyes widened. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

“How could you understand all of this… in the middle of battle?”

Caelis stopped in front of him.

“You know my magic,” he said calmly. “You just didn’t want to 

believe it.”

Malgareth crawled backward in panic.

“No… no… this isn’t possible. How can you possess Secret Magic—the Master of Knowledge?”

Caelis smiled coldly.

“You’re right,” he said.

“I am the Master of Knowledge.”

Malgareth roared and gathered every fragment of his remaining strength.

In a single moment, he shattered the pocket world—then 

recreated it again within the same second. The transition was so violent and sudden that even Caelis had no time to react.

Both of them began to fall once more.

This time, Caelis did not panic.

Nothing here could hurt him now.As he descended, he folded his arms, his expression calm—

almost as if he were enjoying the fall. His gaze dropped toward the ground below, and what he saw made his eyes narrow.

Malgareth stood at the center of a massive magic circle.It was incomplete—but already releasing an overwhelming 

amount of energy.

With effort written across his face, Malgareth looked up at Caelis.“Caelis… I prepared this spell to defeat the Council. You should 

be the perfect test subject.”

From above, Caelis observed the formation closely.Two immense sources of magic were rotating in opposite 

directions, colliding again and again—each impact bending space and carving new curves from the center.

“I can sense a massive number of elements,” Caelis muttered. “At least Tier Five.”

As Caelis descended closer, the magic circle completed itself.

Malgareth raised his hands.

“Here I come, Caelis!”

Caelis sighed—genuinely disappointed.“You’re using a spell without understanding how it works.”

He pointed toward Malgareth’s feet, where all the magic converged before spreading outward.

“Every spell has a physical state before it manifests its effect,” 

Caelis continued calmly.

“Now watch what happens when that state is destroyed.”Caelis focused his magic on that exact point, forcing it denser—heavier—more compressed with every passing second.

The magic circle began to glow brighter… and brighter… and brighter.

Malgareth froze.

“What… what is happening?”

Caelis replied evenly, stepping backward.“Nothing complicated.”

“A supernova.”

Fear finally appeared on Malgareth’s face.

“W–What? A supernova?!”

Caelis nodded.

“More precisely—a magic supernova.”

The explosion erupted.

A blinding surge of energy consumed everything at the center. Malgareth was swallowed instantly, while Caelis stood at the very edge of the blast radius, untouched.

“As expected,” Caelis said quietly. “The blast covers a fixed 

distance—regardless of spell type or output.”

On the other side of the island—Kaelis stirred and slowly regained consciousness.

As her vision cleared, she saw the massive explosion lighting up the distant sky.

Eryx leaned against the wall nearby.“So, you’re finally back with us.”

He turned his gaze toward the fading glow.

“It seems their fight has ended as well.”With a single gesture, Eryx signaled the others to move.

Back at the battlefield—

Malgareth lay broken on the ground.

Caelis approached him calmly.

“You’ve lost, Malgareth,” he said. “By the laws of the underworld, you now serve under me.”

Malgareth laughed weakly.

“Yes… you defeated me. I’ll work under you—even if I don’t want to.”

He coughed, then smiled faintly. “By the way… your magic—”

Before he could finish—Caelis collapsed.

Before his body could hit the ground, Kaelis caught him in her arms.

“You’re all here now,” she said urgently. “Listen—take Malgareth 

with us. Treat him as well—”

Caelis lost consciousness.Eryx arrived moments later, surveying the destruction.

“What a mess you’ve created,” he muttered. Then he turned to Thalen.

“For now, we return to the capital. Take Malgareth with us.”

Thalen nodded and lifted Malgareth onto his shoulder.

Together, they left the island behind.

To be continued…