I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 205

***

Diego has assembled the wizards and the Langridge Empire troops sent by Emperor Langridge in the southern waters.

One of the ships docked at the harbor was missing. Ruzef and Diego guessed it was the work of Marquis Rohade. Traces of magic had been found.

They set out with Ruzef bringing in reinforcements to help Margaret and the others, and scouting around the island to find Marquis Rohade.

But the body of Ruzef, who was supposed to deliver the magic stone to Margaret, was never healthy. He was being treated by wizards, but healing with magical power was not as effective as healing with divine power.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Diego asked, and Ruzef took a deep breath, his complexion pale.

“Yes. I’ll be fine. I’m just worried that I might miss the right time.”

Diego nodded, his face grim. He understood what Ruzef meant, even if he didn’t understand the reason. This could be their last chance to end it all.

Then it happened. Suddenly, a portal gate opened in the southern waters of Langridge. The coordinates indicated the Floné Castle.

“So this is where they’re all gathered.”

Diego recognized the man who had opened the portal gate as the Duke of Floné.

Following the Duke were Langridge Imperial troops who had remained at the Floné Castle, as well as private soldiers of Hosue Floné.

That wasn’t the end of it, as another portal gate opened, this time with the coordinates of the Langridge Imperial capital.

The Emperor of the Langridge Empire and his entourage appeared, his red cloak flapping in the wind as he strutted about with a string of people behind him.

The Emperor’s red cloak fluttered in the air as he made his grand entrance. The sight of the Emperor stunned everyone. Diego and Marcel also rushed to greet the unexpected arrival, dropping to one knee to greet him.

“For the light of Langridge! Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor!”

As Diego finished his greeting, the knights nearby all dropped to one knee in unison and shouted,

“For the light of Langridge!”

The Emperor stroked his beard and looked at the Imperial troops and wizards assembled on the shore.

“I have heard the news that you have found Alea Island at last, and I must come.”

Duke Floné hadn’t expected the Emperor’s arrival either, and he stared at him blankly, unable to keep his expression skillfully controlled.

The Emperor smiled nonchalantly and glanced around.

“The joint trial will be held soon, and before that, I must see this historic moment with my own two eyes.”

Duke Floné’s forehead wrinkled.

“A historic moment?”

“After the events at the Floné Castle, and then to come to Alea Island, isn’t this a big deal? Isn’t this the moment when the position of the Holy See and the Wizards’ Association collapses? I need to see it with my own two eyes. This is the day history will change.”

Indeed this is a day that history will change, but to travel to a place where it’s on display just to watch it is outrageous.

The Emperor’s insensitivity to the suffering of the survivors of Alea Island is telling.

Diego’s face remained impassive at the Emperor’s casual remark, but Marcel’s face contorted slightly. The thought of having to follow protocol in wartime was overwhelming.

The Emperor turned his head, his face full of anticipation. The Duke looked in the direction of the Emperor’s gaze.

The journalist of the Burneton newspaper was there, taking notes on their conversation. The Emperor looked at her with satisfaction, then back at Diego.

“You say the man behind the experiment has fled to the island?”

“Yes. His Imperial Highness, Crown Prince Hestia, the Saintess, and Lady Floné are currently on the island, and reinforcements will be dispatched shortly.”

“Hmm. As expected, our crown prince is taking care of himself. Yes, I can trust him. He’s been an extraordinary child since he was a young boy.”

An extraordinary child. Diego swallowed the rising anger.

It was no secret in the Empire of Langridge how indifferent the Emperor had been to his own children. He didn’t even care that the princes and princesses were dying at the hands of the Empress.

The Emperor’s words were all the more repulsive to Diego, who had watched Enoch struggle to survive the Emperor’s indifference and the Empress’s hand as she set her sights on him.

“Then when this is over, we’ll all go to the island together. I can’t wait to see what kind of island it is.”

Diego and Marcel nodded reluctantly at the Emperor’s words. As the Emperor looked around, Duke Floné turned to Diego with a belated greeting.

“Well, it’s good to see you, Sir Diego. I came to see if I could be of any assistance.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to offer your assistance in person. It’s a great addition to the force, and I’m grateful.”

Duke Floné smiled pleasantly at Diego’s polite greeting.

But his happiness was short-lived. The sky suddenly began to darken, and a bizarre form of lightning began to strike.

“We must move quickly.”

Duke Floné spoke up, and Diego nodded, then began to order the plan into action.

***

A flat, mossy stone wall stood steadfastly above the crumbling, mangled ground.

A gust of wind blew through the quiet door, drawing a magic circle in the dirt, and a blue light rose from the ground to the sky, a human form taking shape.

Teleporting to the front of the bunker, Jenas opened the stone wall and descended the bunker’s stairs with light steps. He had been experimenting for a thousand years to retrieve the mana he had collected.

Jenas hummed, remembering the people had dragged to the island.

Once I have recovered my mana, I will collapse the dimension rift, and then I will take Margaret safely off the island. Then I will instruct Marquis Rohade to blow up the island along with the people there.

None of this would have happened if Margaret had surrendered. It was their fault they were dragged to the island because of their stupid rebellion.

The bunker’s basement.

Of the two doors, he stood in front of the Dimensional Door and stared at it in disbelief. It had taken a thousand years to perfect this door.

This ‘door’ had been created in the place where the ‘rift’ was.

The closer you got to the rift, the more intense the magic waves became, making it difficult to fully manipulate. So he and Anata created an intermediate device called a ‘door’. A door to make the dangerous rift more stable.

The first time he and Anata built the island and conducted the experiment, perhaps ten times, they succeeded for the first time in bringing back several items from beyond the dimension.

It was my first success in over a decade, so it was memorable.

But after that, I succeeded a few more times in bringing things back, but I failed many times in bringing living beings through.

The rift was just as unwieldy, and in this time of crisis, I had to abandon my desire to fully manipulate the dimension. The last experiment had failed, and I didn’t have enough mana.

In this case, I have no choice but to use all the mana I’ve accumulated to force the dimensional rift to collapse.

If I can’t have it whole, I’ll have to break it to control it.

Jenas placed his palm over the dimensional door, and a blue circle of magic drew beneath his palm, growing in size in his hand until it enveloped the entire door.

Then the pure white smoke from the magic circle surrounding the door coalesced under Jenas’s palm.

The tangled pile of smoke, like a skein, continued to spin and spin, until it formed into a glass orb, which Jenas caught in his hand.

Jenas looked down at the orb in his hand.

The magical power of countless test subjects collected through experiments over a thousand years. This is all that is needed to collapse the dimensional rift.

“It’s time to end this.”

He muttered as he held the orb.

But just then, Jenas sensed a strange aura within him.

A small warmth rose within him, like an ember that had been extinguished but had barely come back to life.

It was unmistakably Kayden’s.

Could he be trying to wake up? That couldn’t be possible. Jenas nervously recited the initiation spell once more.

***

Kayden could hear Jenas’s humming vaguely. He knew exactly where Jenas was standing.

The bunker.

Obey.

The spell, strange as if it had been layered on top of each other, pounded through Kayden’s body.

It was different from the initiation spell that the Peony Blossoms had created for Jenas, who was trapped in Kayden’s body. This was the initiation spell that Jenas himself had created to deal with Kayden.

-kooong–!

Once again, a violent shock was delivered to his heart. The pain was intense, as if someone was grabbing his heart and yanking it out.

Kayden’s vision was going black. His mind was foggy.

Normally, he should have passed out by now. His body has been modified and brainwashed by the people of the Holy See. It was not easy to go against its will.

But still, Kayden held on.

He had even asked Margaret to wait for him. This was something he had to overcome himself. He couldn’t give in.

Gritting his teeth, Kayden realized that Jenas was holding a clear glass orb in his hand, or more accurately, an orb filled with white smoke.

The aura it emanated was extraordinary. Kayden guessed it was mana, collected over a thousand years of experimentation.

Kayden remembered the conversation between Jenas and Marquis Rohade. He had said he would retrieve the remaining mana. It was, in fact, the only reason he had to reenter the island.

“Trust me. Hang in there, too, you have to put up with being with Jenas for a while.”

“Of course I’m worried and thinking about you. Because you’re important to me. Love doesn’t have to be a rational emotion.”

He kept replaying the conversation he’d had with Margaret earlier.

He recalled every detail of her face, her voice, to keep himself sane.

Staring at his trembling hands, Kayden clenched them into fists. It took him a long time to form the words, his lips barely parting.

[Balhyeon.]

“Ugh.”

Turning to go back to find Margaret, Jenas groaned in pain as a hot seal was stamped on his soul and he slumped down to the ground.

“Damn it, my descendant. I recited the initiation spell, how did you wake up?”

Jenas muttered, genuinely surprised, as he fought through the pain of the seal.

Kayden’s body had been modified to respond to the initiation word, and it was ridiculous for him to be able to overcome it with his mental power.