Turning-Chapter 830

From the moment he awakened his power, the Sage had seen all humans as raw material—resources to be turned into his slaves.

Yuder Aile was undeniably strong, but he was still human. That meant he had weaknesses. And if the Sage could find one, even for a brief moment—what if he could brainwash Yuder Aile?

If he could succeed in that, then Yuder’s formidable power would become the perfect tool for escaping this place.

Even if not Yuder, the other Cavalry members were easier targets. Any one of them could be taken as a hostage if he could just catch one. His body would pay the price, yes—but it was possible.

Normally, he would never have done something that could damage his precious body.

But the situation had pushed him this far. And now, there was no other way.

“Yes. Rather than sustaining control over so many others, just once...”

Just once. Just one person.

If he could lower Yuder Aile’s guard. If he could get close enough just one time to meet the conditions for forcibly activating his power...

That moment came suddenly.

Someone flickered into view within the Sage’s vision.

A figure appeared where nothing had been—and to the Sage’s shock, it was someone he already knew.

“...Naham-nim!”

Hosanra.

How had this loyal Southern youth, who had given everything for Naham, appeared here now?

The Sage was stunned, and surely Naham must have been just as surprised. The stir on that side also drew Yuder Aile’s gaze, if only for a brief glance.

The Sage seized the opening and shouted:

“Go! You don’t need to protect me! Go, take him—!”

He shouted until he spat blood. And at his cry, the final defensive wall around him—his remaining guards—began to move.

Most of them were non-Awakened knights and nobles, used as human shields throughout the battle with Naham. They were in terrible condition, but the Sage’s order carried absolute weight.

“Ugh... ughhh!”

The non-Awakened began to stagger forward, charging at Yuder Aile one by one.

The Sage assumed Yuder would easily dispatch them and began planning his next move to draw Yuder’s attention again.

But then something unexpected happened.

Yuder Aile, who had shown no hesitation when striking down Awakeners, paused—just slightly—for the first time.

His attitude had clearly changed.

The Sage only became certain after watching Yuder knock a non-Awakened noble unconscious with a care and precision that didn’t even compare to earlier.

“I see. No matter how brazen or powerful he is, he’s still a commoner. It’s harder for a commoner Awakener to handle non-Awakened nobles.”

Why hadn’t he realized it sooner?

A smile spread through the Sage’s tangled beard.

It was a self-serving conclusion, viewing everyone through his own lens, but it wasn’t entirely wrong. Because at that very moment, Yuder Aile was thinking with visible irritation behind his blank expression:

“How annoying.”

The Sage was proving far less impressive than expected, which was a relief. Though the remaining enemies were nobles and non-Awakened, which meant Yuder had to be more careful than when facing Awakeners, that didn’t really matter.

It would just take a little more time. In the end, he figured the outcome wouldn’t change.

But he hadn’t expected a new variable to appear so suddenly.

“Hosanra... how did that bastard get here?”

If Hosanra was here, it meant he had escaped.

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Kanna and the others had surely been guarding the underground well—so what had happened?

That alone was troubling, but what mattered more was the reaction from Naham’s side triggered by Hosanra’s appearance.

Hosanra’s movement ability wasn’t threatening on its own—but combined with Naham, that was a different story. Yuder couldn’t afford to let Naham slip away now. If the two of them joined forces and fled together, it would be a disaster. He had to get over there quickly.

Not because he didn’t trust Kishiar. It was simply better to go as a pair. But that meant he had to deal with the Sage first—and unfortunately, the situation in front of him would take time to resolve.

“If only the ones left weren’t all noble non-Awakened trash...”

The Sage believed Yuder hesitated simply because of status. And he wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t quite right either.

To be precise, Yuder was calculating the fallout that would come after all this was over.

In his previous life, the single act that created the most enemies for Yudrain Aile was executing the fake Sage, Diemon. Yuder had always had enemies—but that incident brought backlash of a different magnitude.

From the Emperor down to nobles, to society’s elite, even within the Cavalry where his influence was strongest—countless people turned against him because of it.

That incident taught Yuder one thing about humans—especially nobles and people proud of their own ability: they hated admitting they had been deceived.

Many of them knew logically that Yuder had done the right thing. But that didn’t mean they wanted to admit the person they had admired was a fraud.

Their faith in the Sage had become a reflection of their faith in themselves. So instead, they blamed Yuder. It was easier. It preserved their pride.

After that, the Cavalry’s status plummeted. Even when the Cavalry helped people, many avoided them or treated them with scorn because the man who killed the Sage was their Commander.

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Of course, the real Sage’s power now was nowhere near as great as it had been then. And the people blocking Yuder were just temporarily brainwashed non-Awakened nobles.

Compared to the Awakeners he had already dealt with, handling these ones was easier than breathing.

So this wouldn’t turn into a repeat of his past life. But the lesson he had learned back then still applied.

Once the brainwashed nobles woke up, who would ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ they blame for their ordeal?

The Sage? Or Yuder Aile and the Cavalry?

In a rational world, they would thank Yuder for saving them. But after exposure to psychic powers, nothing was guaranteed. And it was highly likely those nobles were aligned with the pro-Hern, pro-aristocrat faction—attendees of the second son’s funeral.

If they regained their minds and seized on even the smallest scratch as a pretext, publishing declarations demanding compensation and protesting in front of the Imperial Palace, Yuder wouldn’t be surprised.

That’s why this situation was such a pain. Facing brainwashed enemies who wouldn’t go down from minor injuries—and doing it under time pressure—wasn’t something even Yuder Aile enjoyed.

“Damn it.”

His desire to crush them all and be done with it clashed with the cold judgment that doing so would waste precious energy and leave him exhausted when he needed it most—against Naham.

“Besides... the one who’ll be responsible for any consequences of my actions now isn’t me anymore.”

If things went wrong like they had in his previous life, the one who would bear the brunt of the fallout wasn’t Yuder anymore.

It was Commander Kishiar la Orr.

And that mattered. Immensely.

All other impulses faded before that name.

It was in that moment, just as the golden light in Yuder’s eyes began to dim—exposing the full weight of his displeasure—

“Yuder! Get down!”

At the sound of his name, Yuder instinctively tilted his head slightly to the side.

Something passed behind him, close enough to graze his hair, and shot forward.

Then, a blur—faster than the projectile—cut through the air in the same direction.