Salinger.
He had been born with the lowliest of astral powers and was fated to be a sinner.
The Water Mirror astral power.
By placing the astral crest on his palms on another person for more than a minute, he could split up their power and take half of it.
……A lowly thief.
……Bearing cursed astral power that would be nothing without others.
But Salinger was not afraid.
He was alone in the Sovereignty, for people resented his ability to steal astral powers, but this did not frighten him.
He had his ideals.
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He would eventually stand above all other astral mages.
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For this reason, he had been branded a criminal who would disturb the peace in the Sovereignty. Countless people had set their sights on him in an attempt to bring him to justice, such as the military police and the astral corps.
He had turned the tables on every single one of them and taken their astral powers as a matter of course.
The transcendental sorcerer.
Though he had gained a moniker that made the Sovereignty quiver in its boots, Salinger understood something.
It didn’t matter how many mages from the military police or astral corps he defeated.
What he needed to transcend was the peak.
He needed to face someone from the royal family, someone who shared blood with the Founder Nebulis. He had to transcend the purebreds, an astral mage’s most powerful opponent.
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Nebulis Sovereignty, central state.
The terminal station, Saclaris Nebulica, was known for its white dome that resembled a cap of snow.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers passed through it.
Wanted criminal Salinger disappeared into the remarkably large crowd and passed through the ticket gates of the station.
“…”
It was six PM.
The dazzling, fiery sun was dipping behind the horizon.
As most of the travelers crisscrossed through, heading home, Salinger silently sat at a bench in the plaza, still as a statue.
He had stiff white hair, and his eyes were sharp. His dignified, chiseled face gave him a movie star–like handsomeness, but his attire was what truly set him apart.
He was wearing a coat over his bare chest.
The intense glow of the sunset illuminated him, putting the beauty of his defined muscles on display. The women in the plaza stole glances at him as they passed by.
“The time seems right…,” Salinger said to himself.
There was a reason why the most feared man in the Sovereignty had appeared right below the Nebulis palace’s noses out in the open at the station.
He was declaring war.
Salinger was afraid of nothing.
Not the military police nor the astral corps, including the descendants of the Founder who ruled over the Sovereignty. The way he had appeared so boldly out in the open communicated his intentions loud and clear.
“Descendants of the Founder, you scoundrels have no qualifications to crown yourselves the royal family of the nation.”
The Sovereignty called itself the “astral mages’ paradise.”
But Salinger did not acknowledge the Nebulis royal family.
They acted as if having the luck of being born into the royal bloodline was an achievement in itself, and they rested on the laurels of the strong astral powers they had been born with. They had no idea what it meant to work your way up in this world.
Salinger didn’t intend to let them look down on him. That was because…
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True nobility lay not in blood but in one’s ideals.
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Salinger had abandoned his own surname.
He was the only one who decided who he was, and he didn’t need a last name to put his bloodline on display.
He would transcend them—
—the arrogant royal family.
“The time is right…”
He stood from the bench and turned.
The burning sunset had reached the gaps between the buildings, and a curtain of black had begun to descend from overhead. That made the Nebulis palace all the more conspicuous as it towered over him, dazzlingly bright.
It was the twinkle of astral power.
For the grandest stage, he would need the grandest plot.
“It would be artless of me to go after the queen in the prologue.”
First, he would take down the three royal families.
Once he took out the bloodlines of the Zoa, the Lou, and the Hydra, he would finally defeat the queen—that would make for the most beautiful story.
So who would he target first?
……Going after the first family I see after sneaking into the palace would be one method, but that would be a fool’s errand.
……Even if I challenge them on my own, I would end up outnumbered and surrounded.
Purebreds were the strongest of the astral mages. That was the truth.
Plus, the palace security was tight. If anything seemed amiss within the castle, their top guards would immediately come running.
“So I’ll start outside of the castle.”
Salinger turned away from the curiously sparkling Nebulis palace and walked away down the nighttime road.
He meandered on and on…
As the cold winds buffeted him, stealing his body warmth in the blink of an eye and making him break out in goose bumps, a smile played on Salinger’s lips.
“I’m looking forward to this.”
The stage had been set.
The grand plot to transcend the royal family had been written. And for the stage of the opening act, Salinger had chosen a glittering gray skyscraper.
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It was the Hydra’s research institute, the cutting-edge astral power engineering and research facility better known as Snow and Sun.