“The conversation was enjoyable. Thank you.”

“Gonadaltes says the same.”

“Hahaha! Thank you!”

The mages left the private room looking delighted.

To think they had been able to speak directly with a great archmage.

And contrary to all expectations, he had been surprisingly kind.

“...”

“...”

Once the noisy mages departed, silence settled over the room.

The insane duplicate said nothing for a while.

No matter how insane he was, he was still a fragment split from an archmage. His brilliance had never disappeared.

At some point, he had realized there was no point scolding or blaming a disciple who absolutely refused to listen.

Instead, the insane duplicate quietly resumed the lesson.

“I shall continue explaining the Dark Emperor’s Crown.”

“Yes.”

“...”

Ilendil was beginning to feel something beyond fear or shock.

Could it be that this junior possessed some sort of relic connected to the insane duplicate?

Otherwise, there was no explanation for why he was being treated so generously.

“The previous casting was performed with assistance from the royal lineage.”

To welcome his vile enemies—no, the Valdrogard students—Lee Han had been semi-forced into casting the Dark Emperor’s Crown.

“...Whaaat?!”

Naturally, this was complete news to Ilendil.

The moment he heard that a second-year student had cast the Dark Emperor’s Crown, he let out an involuntary shriek.

“When?!”

“Quiet down. Do you not know proper etiquette?”

“S-S-Sorry...”

Ilendil immediately shrank back.

Even knowing intellectually that the insane duplicate was more tolerant than expected, facing him directly still inspired overwhelming fear.

“I used it the last time the Valdrogard students came.”

“I... think this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Didn’t I mention it in <Einroguard’s Watchers>? We talked about forbidden ancient magic.”

“...?”

Ilendil tilted his head in confusion before finally recalling the memory.

—Hey. I heard someone used forbidden ancient magic on those magic-school bastards this time?

—Heh. I know who it was. The fifth-year from Blue Dragon Tower. Top of the enchantment magic school. Descendant of a great bloodline. Princess Yukbeltire.

“Y-You!!”

And after remembering even the unnecessary parts, Ilendil’s shock deepened.

Back then, when the topic of ‘who cast the forbidden ancient magic?’ had come up in <Einroguard’s Watchers>, this junior using Gonadaltes’s alias had framed Princess Yukbeltire.

And every member of the Watchers had immediately believed it.

Because honestly, it sounded exactly like something Princess Yukbeltire would do.

Yet the real culprit had been someone else entirely.

A chill ran down Ilendil’s spine.

“H-How could you tell a lie like that...?”

“Huh? I have no idea what you mean.”

“You framed...! You framed Senior Princess Yukbeltire...!”

“I don’t remember doing that.”

Lee Han blinked innocently, as if he truly had no idea what Ilendil was talking about.

For a moment, Ilendил actually found himself wavering.

‘Did he really forget?’

“That’s enough. Your pointless chatter is going too far.”

The insane duplicate cut them off.

The fact that he had tolerated such irrelevant conversation this long was unusual enough already.

“How much do you remember?”

“I remember the overall structure, but beyond that...”

Lee Han glanced around cautiously.

Back then, when the insane duplicate had forced him to cast the Dark Emperor’s Crown, nearly everything had been dictated for him—the structure of the spell, wand movements, ancient phrases carved in Three Kingdoms-era script, flame direction, magical flow.

In truth, all Lee Han had really done was supply mana.

It couldn’t be helped. The Dark Emperor’s Crown was far beyond Lee Han’s current level.

Even if he had wanted to contribute more directly, there had been nothing he could do.

Honestly, the fact that he remembered even the overall framework was proof of how much he had improved.

‘I worked hard memorizing it, so hopefully he won’t get angry.’

“To remember the structure alone is acceptable.”

“!”

At that response, Lee Han immediately realized his mistake.

Judging by the reaction, the insane duplicate probably wouldn’t have cared even if he had admitted he remembered nothing.

‘Damn it. I should’ve said we needed to start from the beginning.’

Advancing the curriculum unnecessarily and increasing the difficulty for no reason.

A painful blunder.

“As I said before, this relic operates on principles similar to the Dark Emperor’s Crown.”

The insane duplicate continued calmly.

His voice remained flat and emotionless, but the contents of the lecture were absurdly difficult.

Had the listeners not been a fourth-year genius and a second-year disciple, they would have collapsed long ago.

Lee Han focused with all his strength, desperately trying to organize the explanation in his head.

‘So basically...’

The portions Lee Han had personally handled under instruction while casting the Dark Emperor’s Crown could instead be replaced through the relic’s own power.

Of course, the connection to the evil deity still needed to be severed and purified first, but even accounting for that, the relic was extraordinary.

‘Honestly, I still can’t imagine casting it alone.’

“Um... I have a question.”

Ilendil cautiously spoke up while reading the atmosphere.

The insane duplicate gave no response.

Unable to watch any longer, Lee Han intervened.

“You may ask.”

“Is it really alright to ask...?”

“If you ask, I’ll relay it.”

“...Once the connection to the evil deity is severed, I’ll need to establish a connection with a new deity. Is there a way to contact the specific deity I want?”

Ilendil spoke slowly, carefully checking the insane duplicate’s reaction after every sentence.

Lee Han repeated the question exactly.

“Is there a method to connect to a desired deity after severing the link to the evil deity?”

‘Am I a parrot now?’

“It is not difficult. This relic was originally designed to amplify divinity and establish contact with divine beings. A symbol with strong divine authority and symbolism will suffice.”

Ilendil’s face brightened immediately.

Originally, Ilendil had coveted this relic in order to obtain divine power suited for restoring and nurturing forests.

Naturally, suitable symbols had already been prepared in advance.

And from the insane duplicate’s explanation, the process itself did not seem especially difficult.

Lee Han brightened as well.

“That works out perfectly. Instead of obsessing over the Dark Emperor’s Crown, we can just use this as a relic for borrowing divine power.”

Even if the relic functioned on principles similar to the Dark Emperor’s Crown, there was no rule saying it had to be used for the Dark Emperor’s Crown itself.

Compared to dangerous and unstable forbidden ancient magic, borrowing the power of a benevolent deity sounded far more practical.

And Lee Han was already fairly familiar with divine magic.

‘The Shisenza Order or Flameang Order probably wouldn’t reject me.’

“Prepare to connect the artificial demigod.”

“...Master?”

There was a saying that if one stared into the abyss for too long, the abyss would eventually stare back.

Just as Lee Han had gradually adapted to the insane duplicate, the insane duplicate had also adapted to Lee Han.

Specifically, he had learned to completely ignore anything he considered irrelevant.

“Master. Didn’t we just establish that we can borrow divine power?”

“I know. But as a disciple of the royal lineage, you should learn how to surpass such ordinary methods.”

‘I really don’t want to surpass them...’

Lee Han made a reluctant face at the suggestion of linking the relic to an artificial demigod created from the dark element, when reconnecting it to a benevolent deity would already make it an excellent artifact.

Ilendil, who had just been classified as “ordinary,” also felt offended.

Naturally, Ilendil did not dare show it.

The opponent before him was far too terrifying.

In the end, Lee Han gave up resisting.

The insane duplicate might have become more flexible in some areas, but there were certain things on which he would never compromise.

Magical instruction was one of them.

“Understood. How do I connect to the artificial demigod?”

“Ordinarily, you would need to create a new one. But a disciple of the royal lineage has no need for that.”

“Ah. You mean the one you made before.”

Lee Han frowned as memories of the recent continental conquest incident resurfaced.

Now that he thought about it, since the insane duplicate had attempted to summon an entire army of artificial demigods back then, there should be plenty remaining.

The insane duplicate lifted the relic and issued a brief command.

Just like when he had summoned the Black Emperor before, an alien order began swirling through the surroundings.

Colliding worlds.

Different laws.

Different systems of order.

Dark-element power poured through the cracks between dimensions.

And then a familiar voice echoed out.

Why did you not conquer the continent?

“...”

Lee Han pretended not to hear it.

But the voice emerging from the relic called out again.

Why did you not conquer the continent?

“My disciple is calling for you. Why are you ignoring it?”

“That’s true... Well. At the time, it simply wasn’t the right moment to conquer the continent...”

Ilendil stared at Lee Han in disbelief.

So there are right moments to conquer the continent?

“You don’t resent what happened last time, do you?”

Back then, Lee Han had fought quite fiercely to stop the artificial demigod army from descending.

He had transformed the opponent into a hamster, pierced it with lightning, and burned it with Jörmungandr’s breath.

‘There’s no way it doesn’t hold a grudge.’

No matter how he thought about it, resentment seemed inevitable.

Yet unexpectedly, the artificial demigod answered calmly.

If the commander judged it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° so, then it must have been correct.

‘What?’

The artificial demigod was strangely reasonable.

Rather than harboring vengeance or rage, it simply acknowledged Lee Han’s authority as the insane duplicate’s disciple.

Lee Han had expected an evil god consumed by destruction and bloodlust...

“From now on, tame this demigod.”

Gods sounded grand and lofty, but in reality, many possessed surprisingly childlike qualities.

Artificial demigods in particular were closer to newborn infants than true gods.

Originally, this artificial demigod had been created to rapidly learn the most efficient methods of destruction for continental conquest.

But because those plans had collapsed, its development had effectively been reset to zero.

Simply summoning an artificial demigod was not enough.

A mage needed to tame that power and wield it precisely.

To control and refine the raw power of a demigod—like polishing an uncut gemstone—that was the disciple’s task.

Naturally, to Lee Han, everything after the word “tame” sounded completely insane.

“Is that even possible?”

“It is. Stop asking foolish questions.”

Controlling or reverse-summoning nearby undead, nullifying attacks, forcing submission—

all of those were results of gathering and refining the nearly omnipotent power of a demigod into precise forms.

Specific.

Accurate.

Without that control, even divine power would simply disperse meaninglessly.

“Once you tame it and grow accustomed to wielding that power, you will eventually be capable of summoning the Black Emperor directly.”

“Wow. That’s incredibly exciting.”

“Displaying excessive excitement before observers is vulgar. Restrain yourself.”

Certainly, direct experience was faster than endlessly studying theory.

The only issue was that the difficulty of the target spell completely transcended common sense.

Honestly, Lee Han was skeptical whether there would even be much difference between repeatedly practicing the Black Emperor summoning under the insane duplicate’s instructions and directly experiencing it through the relic.

Both sounded equally horrifying and time-consuming.

Suppressing a sigh, Lee Han looked toward the ancient relic.

A faint, hazy voice drifted out.

Even if you deny my authority, you will never escape it.

“...Master. This thing doesn’t seem fully purified?”

Lee Han flinched at the sudden voice of the evil deity.

“That is correct.”

“...I assumed you had purified and severed it before handing it over.”

“Why would I do that? It cannot influence you anyway.”

“That’s true.”

‘Why are you agreeing with that?!’

Ilendil swallowed the criticism rising in his throat.

He had never particularly enjoyed social interaction to begin with, but conversations between these two were especially exhausting.

He missed the forest badly enough to cry.

Ilendil silently made up his mind.

Once this matter was resolved, he would retreat into the forest and avoid people for a while.

“Still, Senior, if you’re keeping this inside the forest, you really should purify it. Taming the artificial demigod alone is already dangerous enough. There’s no reason to bring an evil deity along too.”

“...Huh?”

Ilendil, who had been lost in thought, abruptly looked up.

Maybe he had misheard.

But it sounded very much like his junior intended to come to Ilendil’s forest and practice evil forbidden magic there.

...Surely he had heard wrong, right?