Finishing This

Sorin ran out of the tower using the same trick of earth and air to boost himself off the edge towards the huge pillar before climbing it slowly. He scaled until reaching the very top, where his eyes were widened at the sight.

There were at least a hundred and fifty mages knocked out on the floor; the remainder seemed to have surrendered, but as Sorin also predicted, with the extreme measures towards the end, which began to break apart their no-killing rule, there were at least two hundred common people on the floor; some were slashed across cleanly. Others were frozen till their skin turned pale, and others couldn't even be identified from burns. Some were just stuck between rocks. It was brutal.

At least two hundred people have died from this cause. I will make sure to pay everyone back as much as I can. I will try my best to make this work without putting other people at risk.

He turned his gaze away; he burst with wind towards the main council building, making sure nobody could see him, but one person was leaning near its white doors. Purple-robed and purple-haired in her full display, rather causally even. He planted himself beside her with a glare instantly.

“You've been waiting; let's not delay the fight anymore.”

Ino just sighed out, “The only person who delayed it was yourself. Did you have a fun talk with that maid of yours? She is pretty smart compared to everyone I met here; actually, how much she had to sacrifice for you. To deal with even a witch like me just for you.” She almost fainted into Sorin's arms before picking herself up.

“I didn't even tell you that I was going to meet her, but I suppose it isn't that hard for someone like you to deduce. It doesn't matter anyway. We have to take down Boyle and the council ourselves.” He turned his head towards the white doors made of wood.

Following his lead, Ino leaned off the pillar to stand beside him. “I took out all of Boyle's men; I counted each personally. If I hadn't done that, then maybe a couple hundred more would have died. Where is my thank you, master!”

“You did the bare minimum; you wanted them dead anyway, so do not act like it was for my sake, if anything.” He pushed the doors open, which revealed a pale white hallway with another pale white door. The surrounding walls were also white, an uncanny style. Another feature of this hallway was that each wall had paintings of sorts.

My magic sense is detecting a barrier all around this building, similar to the one around the bridge hubs.

He looked over towards Ino. Her expression soured before looking towards him. “Is this place alive? I don't like it! I don't want to be heading towards a monster.”

Sorin and Ino walked together, glancing over at each painting, which seemed to have a powerful mage Sorin had heard about or a past leader of Acluraria; each was titled at the bottom. Sorin looked for one name: Wulmar.

However, not to his surprise, after crossing half of the paintings, there wasn't a single one named Wulmar; he truly was so despised by the council that he didn't even get a little memorial for all he did. He then looked over to Ino staring towards a woman with the same hair, except she had twintails and a darker shade of a purple robe. The title read Ino Toshklac.

That's the name she inherited, but this is the first I have seen of her second name. It is pretty unique even to the most exotic names around, but what can you expect from a bloodline that has knowledge and the insanity to go with it? I doubt Ino didn't inherit both of those.

“I can't believe they have a memorial to my great-great-something. They really are hypocrites. Not even allowing communication magic or blocking half the magic allowed. The only reason seals are still existing is because of Chikaru. We sure have fallen off.” She then turned away from the painting towards Sorin. “The new era will be beautiful. I will try my best not to ruin your fake utopia, however. Even if our peace will only last a bit, you won't sit back and will eventually stop me.”

“That's right, I won't let that happen, but I have more pressing matters.” They kept walking forward; the rest of the paintings were uninteresting until they were at the next huge white door. “This is the moment we're going to have to give everything we've got.”

Ino nodded in reply, just giving a wide smirk. “You're with the best mage ever; you won't lose. If I do lose, then it would just prove that I'm not the greatest mage.” She then gave a warmer smile. “I may have proven my ideals work, but I will use this to show my power is the greatest too. That way I truly know I can do this.”

She really is more idealistic than me, even in her own way. She doesn't speak big words, but she actually tries to prove them in a real practical sense while I only talk big and let people die and walk over me. I too should prove my ideals to everyone so that I can make an equal world once this is over. Maybe that's why she wants me to take over.

“Stop looking at me and let's do this already!” She rushed over to the door, swung it open, and revealed a massive room with five different seats at the back on huge elevated platforms looking down like the trial chamber. There were no seating areas, however, and a single path forward to a circle for any visitors.

But more importantly, there were five clad in white-robed figures and one in a light gray uniform with red hair. It was exactly like planned from the very beginning; it was just the two and the six in front of them. Boyle being the only real threat in their eyes, the others would somewhat hinder them; it was just more time-wasting.