Bermuda [bl]

Half of the island was on fire, and half was frozen. The two fought almost nonstop for nearly half a day, as if they were the only ones left in this world.

The once brilliant morning sun had already set far beyond the horizon, and a vast red sunset draped the sky.

Throughout the battle, Hugo observed Leonardo's momentum. As time passed, the guy clearly showed signs of fatigue. His speed was still fast, but compared to the beginning, it had slowed down noticeably.

The guy had tremendous mana and speed, and he could be called the strongest among the fire mages he had faced directly, but to Hugo, he had one weakness. Stamina.

One of the reasons Hugo was called the best ice mage was his strong endurance and physical strength. If Leonardo's opponent had been someone else, his stamina wouldn't have been so inferior, but facing Hugo head-on, it was woefully lacking.

Normally, mages strong enough to be mentioned by name have a well-developed physique proportional to their mana. However, Leonardo had a relatively light body weight compared to the mana he possessed, and his build was not that large either.

Therefore, the difference in weight class and physical strength with Hugo was inevitable, and he was only making up for that gap with speed. It was only natural that his stamina would be depleted faster.

That's why, as the battle time lengthened, Leonardo showed signs of his mana control ability and concentration gradually decreasing. The frequency of his precise and meticulous attacks decreased, and the depth of the incoming attacks became shallower.

Meanwhile, what Hugo found a bit strange was that, perhaps due to the depletion of his stamina, the guy's mana, which had been greatly emitting, seemed to repeatedly increase and decrease.

As if sensing the subtle signs in his analytical gaze, the one fiercely engaged with him momentarily widened the distance.

Hugo stared intently at Leonardo, who was positioned in the vast twilight, then briefly turned his gaze to the dazzling sun setting behind him. Looking at the darkening sky, he felt that he should cover the questions swirling in his mind for now.

Hugo soon smiled and said,

"It's time to finish this. I'm not a leisurely person, you know."

At his words, Leonardo let out a hollow laugh as if it was ridiculous and retorted,

"That's my line."

Shards of ice gathered in Hugo's hand, forming another great sword. Leonardo flinched for a moment at the cold chill, incomparable to what had come before, but he too once again concentrated raging mana in his hand. Blazing flames and strongly bursting black sparks wrapped around him.

Hugo looked at it with a disbelieving laugh. It was still an amazing mana, even after seeing it. It seemed to have reached its limit, but the mana concentrated in those two hands that had immediately changed stance was impossible to gauge precisely.

Watching his golden hair swaying in the backlight and his shining golden eyes, Hugo thought,

'If I get hit, I'll die.'

But even knowing that, Hugo was enjoying this moment.

"Let's end this."

At Hugo's words, the two charged towards each other again.

As the sword like a blazing sun and the sword like a bitterly cold north wind touched, the air between them couldn't withstand the friction and exploded. In the vortex of the fierce explosion, Hugo tried to seize a single opportunity while blocking his attacks.

Leonardo was getting anxious now. It was because such a formidable opponent was truly a rarity.

Even that opponent showed no signs of collapsing. The man, as solid and cold as the deep sea, was strongly pushing him into those frozen waves, as if he would swallow him.

Hugo knew that Leonardo was clearly exhausted, but surprisingly, while his attacking strikes had decreased, there were hardly any openings in his defense.

Just when he thought he had found a momentary lapse in concentration to penetrate, the guy would fiercely block it as if nothing had happened, and at the same time, shove the dark red flames in front of his eyes. Was he born with this, or did this guy possess not only volcanic mana but also innate combat skills and instincts?

'But I still have a job to do.'

Without missing the chance, Leonardo quickly closed the distance. When the sun sets, the flames he emits would be relatively disadvantageous. His position would be exposed, and the air would become colder. So Hugo knew that Leonardo had no choice but to hurry.

When Hugo deliberately pressed down from above with his weight, the relatively lighter Leonardo was pushed back far. He gritted his teeth, focusing on his center of gravity to support his body.

And at that moment, Hugo felt the taut tension of the sword blade in contact loosen slightly. The cool corner of his mouth lifted a little.

Startled by that smile, Leonardo immediately pushed the greatsword away and tried to distance himself, but he was already within his range.

While holding back the retreating sword with one hand, Hugo grasped the Council's specially manufactured dragon capture gun that he had received from Commander Halipe.

Leonardo saw it just as the fired bullet was disintegrating in the air, approaching him. In an instant, a net extended from it, enveloping his body.

He tried to cut it with the sword in his hand, but the moment the mana sword touched the net, Leonardo's mana was pathetically drained. Soon, as the net tightened around his body, he felt all the strength leave his body and crashed to the ground, unable to fly anymore.

Even as he fell, Leonardo quickly looked up at Agrizendro, who was watching from above, glaring as if to kill him and shouted, "You bastard!"

The profanities scattered into the air, and soon a thud was heard from the darkness below.

* * *

Hugo breathed a little heavily as he looked at the smoke rising from where Leonardo had fallen.

His left arm, which he had used to hold the guy back to fire the round, was tingling. Hugo clenched and unclenched his left hand a few times, then slowly descended to where Leonardo had fallen.

A panting sound was heard from the middle of the large crater where dust was rising. As he approached closer, the guy was writhing, caught in the net.

Since darkness had already fallen on the ground, Hugo conjured a wind to blow away the dust and floated a light orb to illuminate the surroundings.

As the light ball drew near, the guy turned his head, seemingly dazzled. He occasionally struggled, but soon gave up, seemingly exhausted.

Just as Hugo slowly approached Leonardo and was about to turn his face, which was caught in the net, towards him, flames suddenly flared up around Leonardo and quickly subsided.

Momentarily startled, Hugo quietly said, observing the traces of the fiercely burning then extinguished flames,

"You still have the strength to resist, impressive."

The net that enveloped his body was a specially manufactured net for capturing dragons, with magic stones embedded at the intersections, and the extracted components from the magic stones were permeated throughout the net.

In other words, it was an item made with the utmost care to render any mana useless, so even a huge and powerful dragon, if caught in this net, would not be able to move easily.

But just now, this guy had created fire, even if momentarily, to threaten him. Hugo thought he had completely drained his strength during the half-day battle, but it seemed he was wrong.

Leonardo, who had his back turned and was panting heavily, raised his head to look at Hugo when he heard his voice, then immediately lay back down facing the sky.

His bound chest was heaving rapidly, but the fierce aura lingering in his grim expression seemed ready to pounce at any moment.

"You cowardly bastard, and you call yourselves the Council?"

Hugo's brow furrowed. He had rarely faced the vulgar curses directed at him, and hearing the guy's voice clearly insulting him was grating on his nerves.

"...Your mouth is quite rough."

"Fuck, what the hell is this dog-like net?"

"The small weights attached to the net are all made of magic stones. Struggling and thrashing around will only cause your mana to be further drained, so it's better to stay still."

Even as he kindly warned him, Hugo carefully scanned Leonardo's face, which was starkly revealed under the light orb. The guy's face was the same as in the photos, but the photos couldn't fully capture him, Hugo thought.

Hugo had seen his photos many times before. Not only that, he had also caught a glimpse of him from a distance in the past, and he had heard countless descriptions of his appearance from those who had actually met him.

Each time, they all unanimously said, "Leonardo Blaine is quite a beauty."

Even in the darkness, his golden hair and eyes glimmered faintly.

This was the first time he was seeing him up close properly, and the Leonardo he faced in reality was a beauty that would fall short of any praise. Despite being covered in dirt, his rare perfect golden hair and golden eyes, along with his pure white skin and long eyelashes, completely shattered Hugo's preconceptions about fire mages.

Fire mages were generally known to prefer warmth, even heat, so the common image was of them having darkly tanned skin and walking around shirtless, like macho men. But he didn't know that the pinnacle of that would be such a pretty guy. To have such an appearance and possess such an explosive and wild mana.

Leonardo glared at Hugo, but soon his expression became strained as he panted and closed his eyes. Judging by his distorted face, he must be in great pain.

However, Hugo was also not in a situation to use force on the guy right now. He was quite tired from the prolonged battle, and even though he was restrained by the net, he didn't know when the guy might counterattack again.

Since the signal from the net round would immediately reach the headquarters, the members were already waiting at a certain distance, having pinpointed the location. It would be best to wait until they arrived, as they would likely judge the situation as resolved and head here by now.

Hugo sighed and plopped down next to the bound guy, saying,

"You've been running around well. If you had just obediently reported to the Council, it would have been better for both of us, wouldn't it?"

At that, Leonardo, who had his eyes closed, half-opened them and glared at Hugo as if he had heard something unbelievable, retorting,

"Ha, if I obediently report, then what? Do you know what you'll do with me next?"

"...It seems you've received the summons notification."

"It's plastered everywhere, in people's homes, newspapers, big-city signs, warships, all kinds of places telling me to report. Isn't it strange if I don't see it? Are you guys stalkers?"

At his scathing words, Hugo let out a chuckle.

"You're laughing?"

Leonardo glared at him fiercely, as if asking how he could be laughing, but Hugo didn't really care.

Instead, the things the Council had done over the past 3 years to catch the guy in front of him flashed through his mind like a panorama. And now, after coming all this way, he had finally caught the guy, but it still felt like a dream.

As Leonardo said, for the first year, the Council had sent summons to demand his appearance at every place registered under his name. They not only published it in newspapers but also posted large banners in major cities, urging Leonardo Blaine to report to the Council.

Hugo had worried back then whether the guy would even see this, and if all this effort was in vain. But it seemed his concern was unfounded, as the guy had simply ignored it while witnessing the Council's futile efforts.

It hasn't been that long since he directly confronted the guy, but after clashing magic for over half a day, Hugo felt that he was stronger and more beautiful than imagined, and more human than he had thought.

It might be because of his unique appearance, but there was a certain gap between the legendary villain-like rumors about him and the actual person he met.

Before setting out to search for Leonardo, Hugo didn't have any positive feelings towards him. He was confident that the 'idea' Abraham Langaster had mentioned wouldn't change even after meeting him.

But now, Hugo felt a little excited.

'Is it because the guy is stronger than imagined? Because he's giving me enjoyment?'

If Hugo wasn't the Council's Commander, he might have thrown away the capture rounds and fought the guy with all his might until one of them fell, without stopping. But he was well aware of the weight of his position and had a strong sense of responsibility, so that didn't happen.

Shedding the firm tone he had used so far, Hugo looked at the Leonardo lying next to him and spoke to him gently, as if admonishing him.

"The reason we want to measure your mana is to protect this society from you, and to protect you as an imperial mage. We want to assess the level of your mana, check if there are any risks of mana outbursts, and determine what your attributes need, in order to support you. You don't have to be so suspicious."

Hugo's words were true. The Council's mage management system was necessary not only to prevent them from harming society, committing crimes, or posing threats, but also to facilitate the smooth activities and protection of individual mages.

In Leonardo Blaine's case, he was a source of power that was feared by all institutions and organizations, while they also desired to possess it. And as such, he was easily entangled in danger.

Listening to Hugo's words, Leonardo scoffed as if he had heard something unbelievable.

"Bullshit."

Hugo didn't feel the need to retort to that. But Leonardo continued relentlessly.

"You can't trust any government agency."

At his sharply worded statement, Hugo soon turned his head. The cold sea breeze blowing from all directions in the wasteland swept between the two.

Looking far into the horizon where darkness had fallen, Hugo spoke as if seeing the difficult future that awaited the guy.

"Well, even if you don't trust them, there's nothing to be done. As long as you live in this land, you have to cooperate."