Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

“Then let’s get going.”

Henry offered to start moving, but Ganisel shook his head and said, “It’s fine. I won’t go to the heavens.”

Henry was taken aback by Ganisel’s refusal, so he asked, “Why?”

“I’m grateful for your kindness, and I’m very happy that I’ve made a connection to a human like you. But I still feel that it’s only right if I take revenge into my own hands.”

Henry smiled at Ganisel’s answer. This fallen angel was smarter than he had thought.

Ganisel had gained an ally who could bring down the heavens if he wanted to. However, he didn’t have to resort to his help right away; he could keep Henry as his backup plan. It would take some time, but if Ganisel just waited a little longer, he would eventually be able to exact his revenge on his own and reclaim his honor.

Henry nodded as he understood Ganisel’s intentions.

“Well, if that’s what you want, then it can’t be helped. But are you going to be okay? I have things I need to take care of, so I soon have to return to where I came from.”

“I’m okay, but I’d like you to treat my wings. Of course, I’ll still be weaker than before while they heal, but I believe I’ll be able to claim the throne if they’re completely restored.”

Seeing Ganisel’s strong will, Henry agreed to heal his wings. He raised his hand and activated his Circle, causing it to spin. Normally, he would’ve cast healing magic immediately, but he decided to warm up his new Circle on purpose because this was the first time he was using magic after becoming a 9th-Circle.

The ninth ring spun in harmony with the other eight, getting to a pleasant rotation. No one else had ever felt this uniquely pleasant sensation before.

After taking in the harmony of his Circles, Henry finally cast a healing spell.

“Suture, regenerate, recover.”

Having awakened the 9th-Circle, Henry could shorten the chanting of spells because the extra ring made casting magic more efficient in many ways.

As the magic words activated, the six wings in Henry’s hand were drawn to the affected area on Ganisel’s back like a magnet.

The recovery process began.

Henry used as much mana as needed to treat Ganisel. Of course, given that his mana pool was essentially infinite, there wasn’t any reason for Henry to cut back on the amount he used, but still, Henry sincerely offered Ganisel as much as he needed.

While healing Ganisel’s wings, Henry had an interesting thought.

‘Priests essentially use divine power to heal people, given that they borrowed that healing power from a god. But I’m also a god, using magic to heal a patient, so does that make me a priest too?’

This idea came to him from out of nowhere, and even though it was silly, Henry still chuckled.

“Why are you laughing?”

“It’s nothing, I just thought of something funny.”

“I see. It looks like my wings are completely attached, so this should do.”

“Really? That was fast.”

“My wounds are healed, but I haven’t regained all of my strength. Don’t worry though. I’m sure I’ll return to my past self soon enough.”

“Great. As the next Demon King, you should at least have that much strength. But just in case, are you sure you’ll be okay on your own while I’m gone?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been alone ever since I was banished to the Demon Realm, so this is nothing new to me.”

“That’s good to hear. Oh, now that I think about it, we haven't officially introduced each other. I’m Henry, Henry Morris. I’m a wizard from the Eurasia continent.”

“Henry Morris… I’ll make sure to remember that. You already know my name, but I’ll formally introduce myself again. My name is Ganisel, and I’m a former archangel of the heavens.”

“Okay, Ganisel. I won’t ask you why you were banished from the heavens. I’m sure you had your reasons for whatever you did. Oh, and by the way…”

Henry pulled out a piece of paper after they were done introducing themselves. It was a caller scroll that he often gave to his comrades and subordinates.

Henry imbued this particular caller scroll with several new spells. He then held it out to Ganisel and said, “Keep this just in case. You can summon me at any time by tearing this scroll.”

“Oh? Thank you.”

“Great. Then I think I gave you everything I was supposed to. Now I should really get going. I’ll come back later once I’ve solved all my problems, but until then, I hope you manage to fully become the new Demon King.”

“Thanks. Good luck, Henry.”

They shook hands amiably. Then, with his newfound knowledge, Henry opened the dimensional gap and walked out of the Demon Realm.

***

The air was distorting at the edge of the Demonic Beast Forest, and a man eventually emerged from there.

It was Henry.

‘Ugh, I feel like throwing up.’

Henry had succeeded in returning to the human realm. However, despite thoroughly going over everything he had learned, this was still new to him, so his first attempt at using dimensional power hadn’t been perfect.

He was overcome by motion sickness, or rather, by dimensional sickness. He was the first human to ever suffer from motion sickness due to traveling between dimensions.

Henry sat down and rested for a while, waiting for the nausea to subside. He drew in as much air from his home realm as he could, savoring the thing he had missed so much.

“Ugh, this foul odor…”

Henry thought he had set his coordinates to a mountain range or an area with actual fresh air. However, he found himself at the edge of the Demonic Beast Forest, in the First District.

He was in the land of death, where even the most resilient creatures died because of the toxic air.

Of course, the toxins in the air didn’t affect Henry, so got up and scanned his surroundings as soon as he felt better.

He had a general idea of where he was, so he started walking toward the Demon Realm Gap right away.

The giant crater had once been filled with Black Amniotic Fluid, but now it was empty with only the Demon Realm Gap in it.

Unfortunately, the Demon Realm Gap was still there because Henry’s spell had failed. But in hindsight, it wasn’t that surprising that he had failed. At that time, Henry had known nothing about how dimensions worked, so he had tried to seal off the gap with unorthodox methods.

However, Henry now had a complete understanding of how dimensions worked, which made him realize just how trivial his spell had been.

‘I’m a little embarrassed.’

It was as though he had tried to drive a nail home with a saw instead of a hammer, so it was only natural that he was embarrassed.

In any case, Henry had ultimately acquired a good hammer for this job, and he got ready to start nailing.

Snap!

Just like that, the Demon Realm Gap that had been open for centuries disappeared at the snap of Henry’s fingers.

Henry didn’t need any spells or divine power because dimensional power was not magic nor divine. It was merely a mysterious force granted by the Demon God.

“It was so easy…”

The Demon God could’ve easily gotten rid of this dimensional gap, and Henry was angry at the fact that it had been left unattended for hundreds of years.

However, the Demon God wasn’t the one who had created the Demon Realm Gap, so Henry couldn’t blame him because he had no power over the human realm to begin with.

Henry looked at the spot where the Demon Realm Gap had been seconds ago and felt bittersweet. How many people had died because of this one damned hole…

In any case, it was all over.

The Demonic Beast Forest, known all those years for being the land of the dead, would soon cease to exist, for it would soon be covered by mountainous vegetation and regain the green ecosystem it once had.

Henry went on his way. He felt like he had spent several days in the Demon Realm, but given that time passed differently there, he couldn’t tell how much time had passed here, in the human realm.

‘I’ve probably broken my promise.’

Henry had promised to return to the fortress before sunrise, but given that he had spent several days in the Demon Realm, he assumed that he must’ve broken his promise.

Henry walked back to the fortress, thinking about what excuse he could lay out. He chose to walk instead of teleporting because this was probably the last time he would ever walk through this forest, and he wanted to take in its final moments.

As Henry looked at the desolate Demonic Beast Forest, he thought to himself that he would build a city here in the future if he ever got the chance.

After all, only the vitality of the living could revitalize dead land.

Henry kept on walking while thinking about various things, and he eventually arrived at the entrance of the fortress. However, the gates were firmly closed.

Henry lightly leaped into the air and landed on the ramparts of the main gate, but…

“Huh?”

The soldiers on guard duty were all sleeping.

‘Were they that tired?’

Henry decided not to wake them. It was already dawn and there wouldn’t be any demonic beasts emerging from the forests, so the guards didn’t have anything to look out for.

Henry came down from the ramparts and quietly strolled through the fortress, still not using teleportation. He chose to walk for the same reason as before—to take in the scenery one last time.

Now that the Demon Realm Gap was gone, the fortress would also be demolished, so Henry decided to take his time and explore the fortress while everyone was asleep to get the last of it.

Henry walked for quite a while. He himself had served here for a year, so certain parts of the fortress evoked a strong sense of nostalgia.

At the end of his memory lane, Henry finally found himself in front of Iselan’s room. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the door, so he assumed that Iselan was still asleep.

‘I’m sure he got enough rest.’

Given how long he had been away, Henry figured that Iselan had to have gotten enough sleep, so he decided to wake him up. He wanted Iselan to be the first to know of his return before daylight, as the rest of the soldiers would go ballistic if they found out he had returned.

Henry quietly entered Iselan’s room, but he was astonished to find Iselan still sleeping.

‘The sleeping magic?’

Iselan seemed to be under a spell, and Henry recognized that it was his own sleeping magic.

It had to be.

There was no way a wizard would recognize their own magic.

Henry frowned as he realized that the sleeping magic was still in effect. He hurried out of Iselan’s room and searched for the others within the fortress.

Not far away, he spotted a soldier sleeping against a wall.

Henry hadn’t noticed it on the soldiers from earlier because he had been strolling around deep in thought, but now he could clearly sense the sleeping spell he had cast before setting out for the Demonic Beast Forest on this soldier.

“Ha…?”

Everyone within the fortress was in the same state. Henry’s wide-area sleeping spell, the gift he had offered the soldiers for defending the fortress all that time, was still in effect.

‘How is this possible? I made it so that Sleep would wear off naturally after 12 hours, so why? No way…’

Henry came to a sudden realization. He knew that time passed at a different rate in the Demon Realm, so the only way to explain why everyone was still sleeping was that time passed much more slowly in the human realm.

‘...So that’s how it is?’

The Demon King that appeared every few years, the never-ending stream of demonic beasts—Henry finally understood all of it, including why demonic beasts would keep emerging no matter how many of them he would kill.

‘This is ridiculous…’

Henry laughed in disbelief.

The more he learned about the Demonic Beast Forest, the more ridiculous it seemed to him. But in a way, he was glad to have learned all of this because he had sworn to Iselan that he would take care of all of his worries by the time he woke up.

In other words, Henry had managed to fulfill his oath, which he had taken as a deity, thanks to that ridiculous Demon Realm time zone.

Henry decided to wait until everyone woke up, and he was excited to see Iselan’s reaction after he woke up. He sat down and admired the beautiful sunrise.