Fire Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-438

Charles and Duke Michael remained on the bailey for the next few hours and helped the injured Knights first. Because of the Curse spell, Duke Michael started to show more respect towards Charles.

Although some servants noticed something was off, none of them put too much thought into it. In truth, Charles's curse spell didn't completely enslave Duke Michael. The main reason was his ambition.

On the other hand, Melody exposed her druid identity and caught everyone's attention. She constantly examined the severely injured knights and healed them using some nature magic. It restored the injured knights' health to peak level and even fastened the tissue regeneration process. Although most servants were shocked by her unique magic spell, none showed hostility or fear towards her.

Meanwhile, Charles and Duke Michael shifted their attention towards the dead knights and decided to do the funeral ceremony before dawn. Along with the other knights, Charles and Duke brought the dead bodies out of the Castle and did a large-scale funeral ceremony near the lone hill.

By the time Charles and others returned from the hill, it was already around midnight.

At that moment, the young butler Jeremy and a few other servants also returned from the nearby Arena City along with seven Church Priests and a squad of Light Knights. They then took over Melody's job and started healing the wounded knights.

In the meantime, servants, the remaining Knights, and maids returned to their quarters to take some rest.

On the other hand, some elite knights and the Light Knights moved towards the castle walls and towers and took over the guarding job.

Charles looked at those Light Knights and sighed heavily. Then, he glanced at the nearby Duke Michael and spoke.

"Send letters to your commanders and tell them to come here with their army by the end of this week. Also, don't forget to send the apology letter to Baron Daniel. We must pull him to our side." His voice turned deadly serious.

Then, he turned around and started walking towards the Castle's keep.

Soon, Charles, Duke Michael, Melody, Butler Jeremy, and a few servants entered the Castle's Keep and soon arrived at the Grand Hall.

The ceiling was around twenty feet high and designed with portraits of fruit and flowers. Charles also saw the portraits of twelve young children with wings, and they seemed to be encircling around the chandelier.

Looking closer at those portraits, he noticed that those children appeared real, and they seemed to be looking down at him from every angle. Their eyes seemed creepier.

Charles also sensed some strange energy from above, looked up at those portraits in surprise, and soon squinted his eyes.

'Divine power?' His eyebrows rose upward. Although they appeared at a minute level, he still managed to perceive them.

'It seems I need to have a long chat with Duke.'

He nodded inwardly, shifted his gaze towards the nearby servants, and then spoke.

"From tomorrow onwards, you guys need to do double the work. Hurry up and go. I've something important to discuss with Lord Duke." He paused for a moment, looked at the Butler Jeremy, and then added.

"You too. Go and take some rest."

"Y-Yes, Your Highness." Butler didn't say a word and nodded his head.

Then, he and other servants bowed their heads towards Charles and hurriedly moved towards the right side hallway.

On the other hand, Charles went towards the nearby sofa, sat on it, and looked at the ceiling.

"What are those portraits, Mr. Duke?" He asked.

Upon hearing those words, Duke Michael showed a surprised look on his face and soon spoke.

"It's a secret history, Your Highness. I once read about it in my family's ancestral hall. One of my ancestors mentioned in a book that these twelve babies are our almighty Goddess's creations. Before she disappeared from this realm, she turned these babies into twelve divine artifacts and blessed them with unique abilities. They are the Divine Artifacts." Saying so, he took out the Heater Shield from his space ring, gave it to him, and then added.

"This is one of the twelve divine artifacts, Your Highness."

On the other hand, Charles caught the Heater Shield, touched the four unique symbols, and cast [Arcane Eyes] skill.

'Shield of Fallen Angel... It has four abilities: Divine Ring of Fire, Radiant Guard, Black Cloak, and Fallen Armor. Hmm, the lizard symbol emits chaos fire energy, the Mammoth symbol emits pure light energy, the rat-symbol emits strange darkness energy, and the snake-human symbol emits ice elemental energy.' He also sensed some retaliation from the artifact's soul and snorted inwardly.

After probing the artifact for a while, he lifted his head, looked into Duke Michael's eyes, and asked.

"Mr. Duke, I like this Divine Shield. But I'm not a shameless person to take away your precious treasure." He paused for a moment and then asked.

"What is the price for this artifact? I'll buy it from you."

Although Charles could order Duke to give this artifact to him, he decided not to use any forceful method. After studying the curse spell for a long time, he learned that some requirements were needed to be met to strengthen this spell in the opponent's dark space. If he used any forceful method on the target, his Rank-5 curse fire spell might backfire and nullify on its own.

'I don't want to leave any loopholes.' He thought to himself.

On the other hand, Duke Michael showed a troubled look on his face and went silent. Although he swore his allegiance to Prince Julius and was even willing to sacrifice his life for him, there was something else in his heart that stopped him from making any rash decision.

It was his greed and ambition.

Noticing the silence, Charles turned his face solemn and then added.

"How about I give you two divine artifacts in return? Mention two of the other eleven divine artifacts and their current locations. I'll try my best and get them for you. But it will take one or two years, though."

As Duke Michael heard those words, he couldn't help but get tempted by this deal.

He stood in silence for a whole minute and finally spoke.

"I don't want our Goddess's divine artifacts, Your Highness. I want the coin necklace in the Demon Sorcerer's possession."

His eyes were filled with full of greed and jealousy.

In truth, what Duke Michael saw during the earlier battle made him realize that his Goddess's Shield artifact was way weaker and inferior when comparing it with the mysterious necklace!

He wanted a powerful artifact. Not only that, but he had another goal in his mind.

He wanted to become a Ruler! The reason he chose to support Prince Julius and even nurtured a powerful Druid was for his plan. As long as he managed to break the barrier and enter the realm of Awakens, he could create a kingdom without any obstacle. It was also the reason he became firm on getting his hand on the pioneer knight's legacy.

Meanwhile, Charles was stunned inside.

'This guy... It seems I'm still not in full control over his main consciousness. If I want to strengthen the black flame streak in his Dark Space, I need to get that artifact, huh. No, his ambition seems to be too high. I need to subdue him; otherwise, he might destroy the link one day and stab me in the back. I made a mistake.' A grim look appeared on his face.

After some thoughts, he let out a deep breath and then nodded.

"As long as you co-operate with my plan, I'll get it for you." While speaking, he focused his full attention on the Goddess's Shield, condensed his wisdom power into countless needles, and directly attacked Duke Michael's soul imprint!

A moment later, shock appeared on Duke's face.

Before he could even say a word, Charles released his wisdom power, enveloped his body, and wholly bound him.

Simultaneously, he cast [Burning Thoughts] spell, invaded his mind, and wholly erased his current thought!

At that moment, Melody also raised her hand suddenly and cast her Druid magic spell on Duke!

"Nature's Spikes!"

A second later, more than five darkish green vines popped out of the tiled floor, slithered towards Duke's body, and strangled him eventually!

At the same time, the strange dark needle-like spikes came out of those vines and stabbed him all over his body.

Not only that, but Melody's nature spell also released some pollen into his blood vessels and started affecting his body from the interior!

By the time Duke Michael managed to return to his usual self, he was restrained entirely from all sides.

Stabbing pain came from all over his body, causing his eyes to widen in shock. He also noticed the dark vines and soon realized that his trusted aide had betrayed him!

He stared at the second prince and then turned his gaze towards Melody.

"W-Why?!" He shouted from the top of his lung.

At that moment, there was only one thing that appeared in his mind.

Confusion!

He still didn't understand why Prince Julius and even his loyal partner attacked him all of a sudden.

On the other hand, Charles erased Duke Michael's soul imprint and stood up from the sofa.

Then, he took a step forward, took the space ring from his hand, and spoke.

"I don't like it when my servants demand too many things from me. I want a loyal servant like her, but not a greedy man with a different goal."

As he said those words, he shifted his attention towards Melody and added.

"Finish him off." His voice appeared cold and emotionless.

Although Duke tried to create a dark elemental shield around his body, Charles controlled the surrounding air and broke the shield with pure force.

On the other hand, Melody showed a complicated look on her face and nodded. Although she had been working under him for more than a century, it was more like a mutual partnership. So, the small amount of her loyalty towards Duke also vanished without a trace.

A second later, she moved her hand towards her waist, unsheathed her sword, and created a master-level sword aura with her wisdom power.

Then, she raised her sword, aimed at his neck, and slashed her sword.

The next instant, a neat cut appeared on Duke Michael's neck. Soon, his head and body got separated and fell on the tiled floor with a loud thud!

Meanwhile, Charles caught a drop of his blood and created an identity imprint in his mind.

Then, he erased the soul imprint on the space ring and stored the Divine Shield into it. After that, he moved towards the twitching body and stored them into the space ring.

Following that, he turned his gaze towards Melody and gave her another order.

"Clean up the blood. If someone asks about Duke's whereabouts, tell them that he is meditating in the basement."

Saying so, he turned into a humanoid flame, disappeared from there, and entered the Astral Plane.

Then, he looked at the surroundings and soon saw a foggy humanoid soul was trying its best to attack Melody from the Astral Plane. Unfortunately, an invisible barrier obstructed Duke Michael's soul from touching any physical objects.

Shaking his head, Charles zeroed his gaze on the soul, cast [Fire Seed] spell on him, and started erasing his memories.