Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Shadow Devil" was a famous legendary monster. Many years in the past, he had always chosen the northwest part of the Main Plane in which to appear. Green Fog Forest in the southern part of the Ashes Woods was his main base of operations, from which he would occasionally go out to raid and stir up havoc.

This guy mainly did two things: One was raiding villages, killing the residents and turning them into his own shadow soldiers; the other was receiving sacrifices from those followers of evil and granting them poisonous weapons filled with shadow magic.

It went without saying that all of these were bad things.

As for any good things he did… Sorry, but even the most erudite scholar wouldn't be able to think of anything good.

So sticking it with the title of "devil" might have been exaggerating its strength just a bit, but in respect to how evil it was, the name really did fit it perfectly. It didn't paint a false picture at all.

The masses had sharp eyes; it might have been given a wrong name, but its nickname was an accurate one.

On the other hand, Shadow Devil hadn't actually caused any trouble in the human realm these past few decades. Regardless of the people it had once hurt, the people swearing eternal vengeance, or the people who'd borrowed its strength before and hoped to get some benefits out of finding him again—none had been able to meet him.

This was only natural because back when it made the suicidal decision of bothering Sui Xiong, Sui Xiong hit him with a "Tathagata God Hand" and left him half-dead. Having basically lost the ability to move, Shadow Devil had been staying in this abandoned palace ever since, unable to go anywhere at all.

"Half-dead" wasn't a metaphor or an exaggeration; it was a real, honest fact. Sui Xiong's single, open-handed strike had been imbued with powerful life energy. It was enough to make a dead soul like Shadow Devil have a little bit of life of his own, thus becoming literally half-dead and half-alive.

Life energy was a good thing, and it allowed most living creatures to live long, healthy lives, as well as allow the mournful spirits of the dead to move on. But for a thoroughly terrible, absolutely evil undead magic beast like Shadow Devil, it was a powerful poison. Just look at how he had barely moved an inch decades after getting hit with that one strike. He basically used all the strength he had to dispel the life energy from his body.

Sui Xiong was a generous person, or at least that's how he viewed himself. He believed that being alone was a scary thing, so he'd personally found Shadow Devil a companion—the most annoying chatterbox in the world, one of the great monsters of the Ashes Woods almost as famous as Shadow Devil himself, the Death Knight, Greg.

Greg really was a good guy. Although he was quite formidable, he never abused his power. He was always pondering on things like "who am I,""where did I come from,""what is my purpose," and other similarly profound questions. He also loved to discuss these questions with every intelligent creature it came across, and he never tired no matter how long the discussion went on.

Sui Xiong had chatted with him for a few days and nights, and Greg hadn't shown a single sign of exhaustion or boredom. So Sui Xiong had especially sent him to keep Shadow Devil company, believing the two would certainly be happy with the arrangement.

Yes, at least Greg was definitely happy because the minute Sui Xiong let out that roar, he caught sight of Greg's figure.

This undead knight dressed in armor and carrying his own head was currently sitting on the floor right in front of the palace entrance. He was idly chatting with a monstrous half-black, half-white creature. Or maybe it wasn't idle chatting; a "serious discussion" would be more appropriate.

They'd already been talking for many years. If Sui Xiong hadn't come and interrupted them, they might have even continued until the end of time.

To be honest, Sui Xiong felt this wasn't too bad of an ending for Shadow Devil and Death Knight, but when all was said and done, there were still a few things that needed proper settling.

Years ago Shadow Devil had taken advantage of his being gone to attack the Church of the Void Mask, killing many believers, including Satan. Sui Xiong never forgot this incident, and all this time had wanted to give a well-deserved punishment for it.

The way he saw it, the most fitting punishment would be for its original victim to personally put an end to it!

His original plan had been to wait for Satan to enter the Legendary Realm, then come to harvest the half-dead Shadow Devil. But Satan felt that pursuing greater heights was more important than seeking revenge, so the whole affair was delayed.

Now Satan had pretty much reached the highest level he could go, so it was about time to settle this grievance once and for all.

Having roared out in lieu of a greeting, Sui Xiong slowly headed forward with Satan, who now understood what was going on. The two walked at an unhurried pace towards Shadow Devil and the Death Knight.

Upon seeing them appear, vivid horror showed itself on Shadow Devil's thin, haggard face.

He had been stuck with the Death Knight these past few years, listening to him ask his damned "who am I's" and the like, practically dying of irritation. More than once Shadow Devil had even thought to himself, "I might as well just f*cking die." But now that he was staring death in the face, he suddenly realized that he wanted to live after all. Even if he had to keep being stuck with that horrible bastard Greg, that was still better than actually dying!

As he watched Sui Xiong and Satan walking slowly towards them, Greg got up to greet them.

"Who am I?" asked the headless knight.

Sui Xiong didn't answer. He waved a tentacle, and a ball of cold air appeared from nowhere, enveloping Greg and instantly turning him into a rock-hard block of ice.

This wouldn't cause any real damage to Greg; the move was just meant to make him quiet and keep him from getting in the way.

They were doing serious business right now, so Sui Xiong didn't have time to chat with.

Satan naturally recognized Shadow Devil. Looking at the half-black, half-white figure slowly backing away from him, he couldn't help but laugh.

"I remember you," he said. "You killed me once, back then."

Shadow Devil let out a low shriek of fear. He wanted to say something, but all these years stuck listening to Greg had caused great damage to its intellect, especially his ability to speak. At this moment, all he could manage were indistinct, meaningless roars.

"You certainly cut quite the tragic figure," Satan calmly said. "Back then, I'd always considered myself an intelligent man, one who could avoid any danger simply relying on my own knowledge. But once I was killed in that surprise attack, I realized that simply having knowledge wasn't enough and that great strength was truly more important… So I should actually be thanking you."

The calmer he was, the more nervous Shadow Devil became.

This magic beast had lived a few thousand years and had met all kinds of different people. He naturally understood that someone being able to stay calm at a time like this would also have a will so resolute that they wouldn't waver even if the earth split open beneath their feet.

"In the past, I'd thought more than once about what I'd do to you once I reached the Legendary Realm, how I'd get my revenge, how I'd annihilate you, even how to mock and revile you before giving the final blow… It wasn't until later that I realized there was no point to any of that," Satan said. "The only reason I'd been so fixated on getting my revenge was simply because I was weak. Once I became sufficiently powerful, you were no longer worth my attention."

He smiled as he continued saying, "You might not believe this, but these past ten-or-so years, not once did I think of seeking you out for revenge. I've been busy every day, pondering on how to become stronger, thinking over how to pursue higher realms, considering methods to promote my magical levels… I really have been very busy. If His Majesty hadn't brought me here, I might have even forgotten you entirely."

Shadow Devil wailed aloud; he sincerely wished that Satan would forget it.

Although his injuries had yet to heal and his strength had been reduced, Shadow Devil's vision hadn't gotten any worse. Satan wasn't hiding his strength right now either, so his Legendary Peak realm could be seen at a glance.

Faced with an opponent like this, Shadow Devil would have retreated even if it was at full strength, not even stopping to hope that it had a chance of winning—or to put it another way, being able to manage a smooth escape could be considered a victory in itself.

As it was right now, both injured and unable to move, the only future it could see for itself was certain death.

Satan laughed again, shook his head, and began to recite an incantation.

Colorful rays of light rose up from his palm, turning into something like a rainbow, then twisting and condensing before finally becoming a multi-colored light ball.

This light ball looked quite pretty, but even Sui Xiong, standing a good distance away, could clearly sense that it contained terrifying power.

Without a doubt, this was an incredibly powerful legendary spell.

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The power of legendary magic was extraordinary; after Shadow Devil was hit by that rainbow light ball, his body abruptly froze entirely as if he had turned into a statue.

Satan was also a little tired out after casting this spell. He didn't even bother looking at the results of his attack. Instead, he turned around and walked over to Sui Xiong.

"Done?" asked Sui Xiong.

"Mhm, it's over," Satan said.

"This spell is pretty interesting," Sui Xiong laughed said. "What's it called?"

"I haven't thought of a name for it yet," Satan replied. "I might just call it 'Satan's Rainbow Magic Sphere' or something."

Sui Xiong went silent. He felt this name… really lacked even the slightest hint of artistry. It was terrifyingly tacky!

Just then, the part of Shadow Devil's body that had been hit with the rainbow light ball suddenly exploded. This explosion was so powerful that the shockwave from it instantly destroyed a large portion of the palace, sending countless scattered pieces flying into the air just like a tiny mushroom cloud.

"Huh!?" Sui Xiong obviously wasn't hurt by the shockwave, but he was shocked. This spell was incredibly impressive and formidable! Definitely formidable!

Just then, a brilliant idea flashed through his head, and he said, "How about you call it 'Satan's Infernal Magic Sphere' instead?"

Satan stared blankly at him for a moment, not understanding why his spell would be considered "infernal."

He didn't have any intention of fixing that though, and after thinking over it, he accepted Sui Xiong's suggestion; although, he did make a tiny change to it.

"In that case, let's take my name out," he said. "Just calling it 'Infernal Magic Sphere' makes it feel a little more imposing."

And so, it was decided.

As they were leaving, Sui Xiong also picked up the frozen ice block that was Death Knight and those few pieces that remained of the exploded Shadow Devil and took them along with him. Later after they returned to the human realm, he'd have his subordinates take Shadow Devil's remains to put on public display; the other one could give a witness testimony that one of Satan's spells had blown both Shadow Devil and his palace to smithereens.

Although, getting this guy to speak normally for a "witness testimony" wasn't exactly easy.

News of the incident spread quickly, and spread along with it was a banner that Sui Xiong had written himself to display at the scene. It read: Ten years is nothing for a nobleman's revenge.

Some people asked what a "nobleman" was supposed to mean. The clergy in charge of propaganda went to ask and afterwards stuck a note next to the banner.

A nobleman was a very high-level gentleman.

Was His Majesty, the Void Mask talking about himself? Some people asked this.

The clergy replied that this was referring to the head mage, Lord Satan.

Others looked at the image and asked what was up with that impossibly powerful spell. When they learned that it was a legendary spell created by Mage Satan himself, people immediately began inquiring if the master was still accepting students or if perhaps he might occasionally teach a class to the Mage Corps.

Still, others quietly asked when the master had created this spell. Was it a long time ago or just recently?

The clergy went and asked and then gave out answers to each of these questions: Master Satan had taken in a few students over the past few years; he was currently busy with a big project, so while he might not be accepting apprentices right now, he was willing to teach a few things to anyone who showed outstanding talent. Once the master was finished with his project, he would return to take charge of the Mage Corps again, at which point he would open regular classes. Finally, this legendary spell was created over the past few years, but as for a long time ago? The master had yet to enter the Legendary Realm then.

After receiving these answers, over the span of a few short days, the Church of the Void Mask's Mage Corps received over 200 applications for enrollment.

When Satan received the news, he simply shook his head and let out a bitter laugh, but Sui Xiong was a little bewildered—this wasn't the result he'd wanted!

According to Sui Xiong's plans, killing Shadow Devil and displaying his "Ten years is nothing for a nobleman's revenge" right now would create a powerful and ferocious persona for himself, which would then help promote the belief that he was particularly terrible and ruthless. First, this would raise the price those Legendary Masters would have to pay if they made trouble for Sui Xiong, and secondly, this would make those shadowy figures behind the scenes show some interesting expressions once Sui Xiong cheerfully let them go.

He'd never imagined that not only would it fail to produce this effect, but it had actually gotten Satan a whole bunch of students—or rather, fans.

Could this be called winning with a lucky stroke?

Sui Xiong wasn't exactly unsatisfied with this result; he just felt it was a little… unexpected.

This was just like if you happened to see bubbles coming up from a pond and decided that there must be fish down there. You throw out a net only to discover that you'd caught not only fish but also shrimp and crabs as well.

A happy accident!

Until now, the Republic of Northwest had always been relatively lacking in magical talent. Even after decades of educating and recruiting, they'd never been able to match up to other countries, and this was largely because of the Mifata Federation and the Mystery Gods.

Actually, if the growth of Wall, the God of Knowledge, hadn't convinced a lot of scholarly spellcasters to begin thinking that growing under the God of Knowledge's flag wasn't a bad idea, the number of spellcasters in this northwest territory would have been even lower.

Sui Xiong had often worried over this, but he never thought it would be so easily solved.

Once they heard that the Republic of Northwest had a genuine legendary great magician, the kind that could even research and invent his own legendary spells, many vagrant and half-vagrant mages were immediately moved.

No matter how good the Mifata Federation was, no matter how much the Country of Casters was a mage's holy land—none of that really mattered. They could go there, sure, but even if they did, they wouldn't be able to find a teacher willing to instruct them.

In the mage profession, once you reached a certain level, then unless you were a bonafide genius, you'd need to find a teacher to continue making progress. Those Legendary Masters who'd fought twenty years to reach their position either had unusual bloodlines, were being watched over by gods, or were those pure battle mages that were popularly nicknamed "Spellcasting Barbarians."

In any case, for an ordinary mage, being unable to find a teacher was absolutely unacceptable. But finding a high-level teacher was easier said than done!

To be able to teach mages who'd already reached a certain level, a teacher would have to at least be at a high level themselves. However, what high-level mage would spend their energy teaching a bunch of strangers from who-knows-where?

The Mifata Federation was the Country of Casters, where geniuses came out by the dozen and outstanding talents gathered in swarms. Even if these mages were willing to sell themselves to get help, the high-level mages would still prefer to raise recognized fellow countrymen.

So after living in the Mifata Federation for a while and working as hard as they could, many mages still managed to gain nothing at all.

This time, they were surprised to discover that the Republic of Northwest held an incredibly powerful spot in the high-end spellcaster sphere—inventing legendary spells was definitely not something a genius could just hole themselves up and complete, nor was it something that could be made possible just through battle experience. This was something that could only be done through reliance on communication and cooperation among outstanding mages, as well as a good amount of assistance and aid.

This meant that the Republic of Northwest not only had an official spellcaster-oriented Legendary Master, it also had a reliable research team and sufficient high-level magic materials.

At the very absolute least, they definitely had to have a really top-notch library!

To put it another way, if you joined the Republic of Northwest, you'd not only get the chance to be taught by a legendary great mage (and even hopefully become Master Satan's personal disciple), you'd also be able to use those high-level magic materials to make up for your own deficiencies.

After confirming this last point, there was no questioning what choice they would make.

After getting personally examined by Wall, those mages stepped into the great library and saw all the precious works Satan had collected. Their eyes lit up. They borrowed the books that they'd only dreamed of being able to read, and they'd even shed silent tears from how moved they were. How they felt right now needed no explanation.

This incident also brought Satan enormous popularity. Barely a few days later, the name "Wiseman of the Northwest" began to spread along with the incomparably powerful legendary spell Infernal Magic Sphere…