Wuthering Magic: The Return of the Outcast

Synopsis

The Demon Church launches a massive invasion of Rinascita, and many regions fall. The newly crowned Queen Cathesia desperately searches for the legendary Wanderer said to be able to save the kingdom—never realizing that he is Merlin, the magicless "waste" who spends his days in gambling dens and is mocked by the entire capital. A month ago, this very man rode a black-flame dragon into the Demon Church's holy see and slew Satan with a single sword strike. Merlin is the illegitimate son of Duke Conrad and the maid Colette. At the age of six, he was tested and found to possess the golden magic aptitude favored by the gods—and this drew the hatred of his stepmother Maudeline. His mother, Colette, was driven to suicide; he was drained of his magic, his brow mark crushed, and he became the laughingstock of the entire kingdom. On a desperate rainy night, he was taken in by Loserra, a legendary mage from a thousand years past, and learned the forbidden magic unique to the Hermes bloodline. Thereafter, he concealed himself behind the persona of a dissolute gambler, lying low for eighteen years, waiting only for the chance to clear his mother's name. Three high priests of the Demon Church launch a surprise assault on the Magic Sanctum, grievously wounding the kingdom's geniuses one after another. Cathesia publicly declares: whoever drives back the demons may ask anything of her—including herself. Merlin finally acts, cutting down all three high priests with forbidden magic, rising in a single leap to become the youngest archmage in the kingdom, and entering into an engagement with Cathesia. Afterward, he breaks the blood curse the Demon King placed upon the queen, uses the judicial authority she grants him to bring down the Conrad family, and ventures deep into the sealed grounds beneath the royal palace to slay bloodworms and reinforce the seal. However, Maudeline long ago gave her soul to the demons and escaped judgment before the Throne of Truth by means of a demon seed. Merlin summons spirits of the dead as witnesses and digs out the demon seed, forcing her to confess in court and reveal the truth of eighteen years ago. Just as judgment is about to be pronounced, Maudeline summons Astaroth, the Demon Church's archbishop, to massacre the courtroom in a tide of blood. In the desperate straits, Merlin reveals his true identity—he is the Wanderer whom the Demon Church fears by name, and the black dragon breaks through the mist to come. The ghost of his mother, Colette, ignites the Hermes bloodline with her own being. Merlin awakens blue and black twin flames and slays Astaroth in one stroke. After the war, the Demon Church that had entrenched itself for a thousand years is utterly annihilated. But Astaroth's residual black blood seeps into the seal, and the Demon King seizes the opportunity to shatter the boulder and return to the world, vowing to settle a thousand-year blood feud against Loserra, the Hermes line, and the royal bloodline. Merlin ignites the blue and black twin flames, stands shoulder to shoulder with his master, and faces the final battle.