Exist.

There is a mage.

In the literal sense of the word......

When he heard the name, Tails' heart jumped, and an inexplicable cold feeling spread across his back.

Exist......

He gently picked up a piece and pulled it off the board.

There was suddenly one less swordsman in the chess game.

Tails took his right hand and covered the swordsman with his fingers.

The swordsman disappeared before his eyes.

He gently opened and closed his palm, back and forth several times, and the swordsman was hidden or visible in his field of vision.

The prince looked up and looked back at Ashida, who was watching with interest as he fiddled with his pawns.

"So I guess, like L, you don't know what that B is?" This time, Tails was not as surprised as before, and he said incredulously, "Including this weird threshold?"

"Is there a mage?"

Ashida just leaned back in her chair and looked at him wordlessly, seemingly completely uninterested in answering.

"Okay. ”

Tired of himself, Tails put down the piece and unconsciously moved it to the next square.

"According to you, that b, who started a war, made enemies of the world, destroyed the magic tower and the final empire, and split the known land in half?"

"Why?" said the prince, holding his glass of water, cautiously, "why did he do this? Why did the magicians declare war...... How did it happen?"

Ashida rubbed her fingers slightly, and one of the guards began to move around his chessboard.

"I thought that six years of special political career should give you some inspiration. ”

"The causes of the war are complex, and no one can figure it out to this day, and there is no need to do so—because when we reacted, the reality was already like this. ”

Tails took a sip of water and frowned—again this inexplicable style of speaking.

"Perhaps we should be more interested in discussing the appearance of 'how war happens,'" Ashida said lightly, "why war happens." ”

Tails pouted, whistled silently, and picked up one of his opponent's pieces.

"Well, why did the war happen?" the prince raised his hand, and he understood what the other party meant, "Why did the magician break with the world?"

Ashida didn't answer right away.

The Qi Magician gently stretched out his fingers, and it was very rare to "personally" pick up the chess pieces and take the next step.

"I'm sitting here now, leisurely moving my chess pieces, watching the sun rise and set, listening to the breathing and conversations of countless Northlanders. His tone was calm, his fingers were gentle, and in the afternoon sun, he gave people a sense of laziness.

"Smack!"

With an abrupt crisp sound, a pawn was pushed down on the board by Ashida, startling Tails.

At the same time, Ashida's eyes flashed with blue light in an instant, and the momentum of his whole body also changed, and he became fierce.

He bit the word and said, "But in the next moment, I will be able to drain all the air in the world." ”

"Or dilute the air in the world to the point where you can't breathe. ”

Tails was startled, and he didn't even care that the water cup in his hand splashed, and he unconsciously asked, "What?"

Ashida ignored him, but the color in his eyes couldn't help but remind Tails of another magician:

"Imagine, in the next second, from here to Longxiao City, to Exter, to the Western Continent, and even the whole world......"

"All life on land, no longer able to breathe, will come to an end in an instant. ”

"As long as I move my fingers," Ashida said in an unnatural tone of fanaticism, staring at him closely, "no one lives, nothing remains." ”

"How does it feel?"

Tails looked at his teacher who was not quite normal at the moment, he thought of the dragon city and the shield area that night, and remembered the pain and despair of countless residents clutching their throats in the air, in the silent hell, trying to take a breath of air.

A few seconds later.

"The whole world?" said the prince's voice hoarsely, "can you do it?"

Ashida was still staring at him, but the horror in her eyes slowly dissipated.

"It's not just me," the magician put back on the back of his chair and said lightly, "Every magician in the world can easily ...... in their own way, in an instant, in the palm of his hand."

"Destroy the world. ”

Tails' pupils twitched slightly.

"What?"

He lost his voice.

"Then why hasn't the world been destroyed yet?" Tails opened his mouth for a few seconds before reacting, "And why is the end of the battle ......?"

Ashida knocked on the chessboard and interrupted him:

"Because not every mage is willing to pay that price. ”

Tails was then stunned: "At what cost?"

At that moment, the chess piece in the magician's hand paused slightly.

"You'll know," Ashida shook her head and took another step on the board, "when you become a magician." ”

Tails sighed, holding back the irritability in his heart.

"Really?" the prince asked dissatisfiedly, "I'm beginning to wonder, do you really want me to be a magician?"

"Of course," Ashida looked back at the chessboard, still calm, as if he hadn't said anything just now, "if you come with me now, you'll know more, and I swear I'll open all my secrets to you without reservation." ”

"No need to talk. ”

Tails sighed and wisely pulled the topic back: "So, each of you has the ability to destroy the world in an instant......"

He leaned back in his chair, massaging his sore neck from the long leaning forward, and affirmed, "But you're not going to do that, are you?"

Ashida shook her head.

"But the world doesn't think so. ”

"Tails, this world, they don't hate us," the Qi Demon Master said slowly, "They are afraid of us. ”

"I'm so scared that I want to forget all of us, and I want us to disappear into the memory of history. ”

"What they refuse to forgive and find difficult to accept is not our actions," Tails vaguely felt, and under Ashida's calm face, there was a disdain hidden in the other party's words, "but our presence." ”

"It's possible for us to destroy everything in an instant. ”

"It's a calamity. ”

The prince lowered his head, and his expression became solemn.

I see.

No matter which magician it is......

They all have the power of that scale, and they are all existences that can overturn the chessboard in an instant.

"I think their fears are justified. Tails sighed lightly and glanced at Lord Justin and Waiya, as well as the countless soldier guards outside the terrace.

"This is where we stand and where we stand," Ashda followed Tails' gaze and looked outside, "Be careful, Tails, your two identities represent not a trivial matter. ”

"It's a thousand-year-old contradiction between the world and the magician. ”

"Once they find out you......"

The magician shrugged his shoulders in a rare way.

A breeze blew across the terrace, blowing Tails' hair a bit.

"Do you still have that confidence?" said Ashida, who seemed to regain his idleness, and said lightly, "As a king, find a way out for the magicians so that we can gain a foothold in the world?"

Tails gritted his teeth, feeling that his head was a little big.

"Of course. He said stiffly.

"It's because of the difficulties that it's more worthwhile to do, isn't it?"

How else could he say?

I'm sorry I was wrong, it was my youth and frivolity that I couldn't do enough, and now I'm giving up - is that so?

Tails shrugged inwardly.

Ashtarton stayed in place, his gaze lingering on him for nearly ten seconds.

"Ah, I'm looking forward to that day. He spoke softly.

"Ha," Tails was a little uncomfortable under the strange gaze of the other party, and had to turn his attention back to the chess game: "Wait, I will succeed......"

But Ashida interrupted him.

"Nope. ”

"I'm expecting it, Tails," he said, shaking his finger, still staring at the prince oddly, "not your ultimate success. ”

The magician's tone changed, strange and eerie:

"It's that you're caught between the magician and the human, between the scourge and the world......"

"Caught between one's own essence and the gaze of others, between the inescapable future and the inexorable past......"

"In the end, it is torn apart by contradictions, destroyed by conflicts, and swallowed by regret......"

"The future that finally compromises us. ”

The two sections of the board fell silent again.

There were only two people left who looked at each other.

Tails held back the twitching of his face and stared at Ashda for three full seconds before he embarrassedly spit out two words:

"Thank you. ”

It's really comforting.

"If, on that day, you see a new way out in a new vision, and a direction that only you can grasp," Ashida's words were not finished, and he said softly, "Don't hesitate any longer, accept yourself, and grasp the rudder that turns your destiny around." ”

The magician's gaze was like two sharp swords, piercing into Tails' pupils.

"Remember my words. ”

"Word for word. ”

"Engraved in the bottom of your heart. ”

"Tails Bright Star. ”

The prince let out a long sigh of relief, only to feel extremely embarrassed, and did not know how to react.

Engraved in the bottom of my heart?

This one......

"Ah, there's another question," Tails laughed dryly, and raised his finger unnaturally, "how did B and his five companions get defeated?

"One of them has been sealed away by you," Ashida responded to the question with a very succinct response, "Others, the end of more than six hundred years ago is similar......

Seal.

Tails shook his palm, remembering the lovely and terrifying girl and the scene when she finally turned into ashes.

At that moment, the magician lowered his voice and looked a little lonely: "Otherwise, this world probably wouldn't be what it is now." ”

Ashida shook her head, "In those days of the end battle, I felt as many knocks as I breathed,"

Say it as if you need to breathe.

Tails secretly slandered.

"If one day, the bmen come to you, remember," Ashida looked up and nodded at him, "They're almost all insane. ”

"Maybe not necessarily your enemy, but definitely not your friend – think Giza. ”

Tails looked down in thought.

"So, you're not one of them?"

"No, it's not. ”

"A few people, including me, thought B's response was too drastic and called them 'radicals,'" Ashida snorted, "and accordingly, we were called 'moderates' by them—even worse." ”

Radicals.

Moderate ones.

Tails remembered the confrontation and quarrel between Ashida and Giza in the shield area, and he was a little abrupt.

"Radicals vs. moderates...... The mages are divided into two factions, opposing each other?"

"If only it were that simple. Ashida shook her head again.

"The Moderates are not a united, orderly, and common camp like the Radicals, we are just a group of scattered magicians who refuse to choose war. ”

"Even after the war, we were scattered and fought on our own. ”

Ashda held the chess pieces in her hand, and the atmosphere suddenly became solemn.

"And the real opponents of the radicals ......"

"In the battle of the ends, there are two other magicians," the magician said calmly, "and they chose to stand on the other side of the battlefield, facing and confronting B and his followers, both magicians and ordinary people. ”

"Six against two, war was the situation for a time. ”

Tails took a deep breath, his heart fluttering.

I see.

Two magicians who stood up for the world.

Confront the radicals.

The books in the Necajou library, the scourge of what the little girl said "stand by our side......

It turned out to be ......

"The Empress. ”

Tails spat out a strange word.

This time, it was Ashida's turn to raise her eyebrows, slightly moved.

"You know them?"

Tails looked up and looked at Ashida with affirmative eyes.

"It's two empresses, right? There has never been a title of 'empress' in the history of the Ancient Empire and the Final Empire, but I hear it on all occasions, and once or twice in the books," Tails recalls the few occasions when he had heard the word, "and even some of the great nobles in both countries knew of their existence—it sounded high-minded." ”

"So, the so-called Empress is actually a magician," Tails said tentatively, "it's the magicians who are on the side of the world in the battle of the ends, and they help us - I mean they are on the side of the world, and they defeat the radicals led by B, so they enjoy a transcendent status, and are even called empresses." ”

Tails let out a sigh, "So, there are still magicians who can coexist peacefully with the world, right?" ”

However, when his voice fell, he found Ashida looking at him intriguingly.

Tails glared: What?

Until Ashida shook her head again.

"Not true. He coldly denied Tails' words.

This made the prince stunned.

Wrong?

But the Empress ......

"The two magicians on the other side of the battlefield thought they were still one of the human race. ”

"So I'm always against the radicals," Ashda sighed, shaking her head, "just two poor people confusing the past with the present." ”

"We usually call them 'confusers'. ”

Confusing?

Tails kept the word in his heart.

Self-perceived ...... Are you a human magician?

Tails' expression was calm, but he drew a big question mark in his heart.

But Ashida didn't stop there, as if the confusing was just a minor episode, and only listened to the magician continue:

"As for the two empresses you are talking about......"

At that moment, Ashida clenched her fist violently!

"Da!"

With a crisp sound, a red king jumped abruptly on the chessboard, took three steps on the empty chess path, and knocked a knight out of the chessboard!

Tails frowned.

“...... It's a worse existence. It was only then that Ashida's words reached his ears.

The out-of-game knight rolls off the chessboard and shakes powerlessly back and forth on the table.

The prince looked up with a full of doubt, and suddenly his whole body tensed.

I saw that the eyes of the Qi Demon Master were shining with a strange blue light, covering his original pupils, but he couldn't hide his killing intent and cold aura:

"The so-called two magical queens ......"

"Bloodthorn, with Black Orchid. ”

"They're really magicians......"

"It was a sudden change of stance at the end of the war......

"It was a betrayal of all his peers overnight......"

"It's the ...... that brings the end of all magicians"

Ashida bit the word out between her teeth:

"Betrayers. ”

Even in the face of Giza, Ashida's words had never been so cold and chilling.

Full of hatred, disgust, jealousy, and ...... Fear?

Tails stared blankly at him for a moment before he came to his senses.

"Two Empresses...... How did they betray you?" the prince took a breath and adjusted his heartbeat, which was accelerated by the other party's abnormality: "They, more terrible than the legendary anti-demon forces?"

The magician snorted, and the blue light in his eyes gradually disappeared:

"Ha, they're much more terrifying than the legendary anti-demon forces......"

"Anti-demon forces are dead things after all......"

"And they ......"

Tails narrowed his eyes, feeling a little apprehensive inside.

Terrifying than the legendary anti-demon armament......

"And they ......"

At this point, Ashida's words paused lightly.

His gaze turned back to Tails.

Ashida changed her words: "You really want to know?"

Tails' eyes widened, and he shrugged his shoulders in a "yes" expression.

"Of course, didn't you say that we should distinguish between our enemies and our companions?"

"That's not all...... Tails pressed his chin and frowned as he thought about the information and intelligence just now: "As I said before, the radical, the moderate, the confusing, the two 'empresses'...... So, what do the confusing think?"

"Who are the remaining mages, what are their names, their thresholds, their abilities, and ......?"

Tails grabbed his chin and muttered, "What you've been talking about...... Who is Toros?"

Ashida curled the corners of her mouth again in a rare way.

"It's going to take a lot of time to finish all this," the magician seemed to return to the calm man's appearance, and continued to bewitch him: "How about it, do you want to follow me? Accept your own essence and embark on the path of the magician wholeheartedly, and you will be able to acquire this knowledge more systematically, efficiently, comprehensively, and conveniently." ”

Tails froze.

"Thank you for inviting me again, but I still think," Tails sighed, once again ignoring the mage's earnest gaze, "A delicate heir to the kingdom is better for our future than a trainee mage mage who hides everywhere and sees no light." ”

"So," Tails raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue, "the betrayal of the Two Emperors?"

Ashida smiled faintly.

"Oh well. The magician shook his head slightly, then slowly bowed his head.

"Now that you know about the existence of the two Magic Empresses," Ashida sat up straight, her eyes sharp and her expression solemn, "It's time to tell you......"

"The most interesting part of our lesson today ......"

"When I was a mage apprentice, the most fascinating part ......"

Tails held his breath and waited for the magician's answer.

Twin Emperors.

The Magical Queen.

In the battle of the end, he betrayed the existence of all mages.

The character who made Ashida jealous of this.

How, exactly, was it betrayed?

How terrifying is the power?

"Class. ”

Ashida said indifferently.

Well?

Tails didn't react for a moment.

However, in the next second, the figure of the magician completely disappeared into thin air.

Silence returned again at both ends of the board.

Until the sound of the prince's inhalation came slowly.

Tails blinked in disbelief, staring blankly at Ashida's seat.

Under...... Class?

The prince sat stunned for a minute.

However, apart from the chess game on the chessboard, which had unwittingly become a general, Ashda did not leave even a trace.

As if he had never come.

Tails stared at the empty seat in amazement and opened his mouth wide in surprise.

It's like seeing the indifferent and hypocritical smile of the magician.

He remembered Ashida's previous words.

[The most interesting part of our lesson today......]

[When I was a mage apprentice, the most fascinating part ......]

And then......

[End of class.] 】

(End of chapter)