Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 2019 Seed of Tragedy

Philippeʼs memories continued.

What Adam witnessed next was far worse.

The young man who had once stood atop the cliff and spoken of claiming the fertile lands soon gathered an army.

Men flocked to his banner, drawn by the promise of new land, new opportunities, and a future that Philippe had convinced them awaited across the endless grasslands.

Then the slaughter began.

At first, there was a purpose behind it. Philippe and his people needed land. The indigenous tribes already occupied the plain, and as cruel as it was, driving them away or eliminating them became a means for Philippeʼs people to survive and establish their settlements.

But that justification did not last…

The more victories Philippe won, the more land he claimed. And the more blood his soldiers spilled, the easier it became for them to spill even more.

One village after another disappeared.

Adam watched Philippeʼs army descend upon tribes beneath the cover of darkness. He watched tents burn as terrified people fled into the night. Warriors were cut down before they could mount any meaningful resistance. Those who attempted to defend their families were hunted without mercy.

In front of Philippe and his armies, who were trained in the art of warfare and wielded magical weapons, the indigenous people never stood a chance.

There were no glorious battles, no honorable wars.

Only slaughter.

The tribes fought desperately, but they had neither the numbers nor the organization to resist Philippeʼs growing army. Every defeat weakened them further. Every village that fell gave Philippe more land, more resources, and more followers.

The women suffered a fate no less terrible.

Adamʼs expression darkened as he watched soldiers drag them away from the ruins of their homes. Some were enslaved. Others were subjected to horrors that Philippeʼs conquest had unleashed upon the land.

Even the children were not spared.

Adam watched in silence as the innocent were killed alongside their parents, their existence treated as nothing more than an inconvenience standing in the way of a new kingdom.

In the beginning, the violence had been justified as necessary. A means of survival. A means of securing a future for Philippeʼs people.

But eventually, the killing became a sport.

Some soldiers began competing over who could kill more. Others hunted the scattered tribes across the plains for amusement, treating human lives as though they were no different from wild animals.

And Philippe?

He watched his kingdom grow. With every tribe that disappeared, his power increased. His people worshipped him.

To them, Philippe was not a butcher. He was a conqueror. A visionary. He was the man who led them across vast distances and gave them fertile lands where they could build homes, raise families, and prosper.

They celebrated every new settlement, every new fortress, and every new piece of land taken from those who had lived there long before their arrival.

And while Philippeʼs people grew stronger, the indigenous tribes slowly vanished. One by one.

Adam watched as entire communities were wiped from existence. Some tribes fought until the very end. Others fled deeper into the wilderness, hoping to escape Philippeʼs expanding kingdom.

But there was nowhere to run. Philippeʼs armies continued to grow. And so did his cruelty.

The young man Adam had first seen standing atop the cliff gradually changed. With every victory, his ambition grew greater. With every enemy crushed beneath his feet, he became more ruthless.

Eventually, all that remained of the indigenous people were scattered remnants.

Then even those remnants gradually disappeared.

Adam watched everything with a dark look on his face. For once, he didnʼt feel the urge to smile. He remained silent as understanding dawned upon him.

”The first domino,” he murmured.

The first act of cruelty that had set everything else in motion. The hatred, vengeance, bloodshed, and tragedy that unfolded thousands of years later… it had all begun here.

With a man looking down from a cliff and deciding that the people already living on those lands had no right to remain there.

With every tribe that was eradicated, Philippeʼs kingdom grew larger. His people praised him. They called him their savior. They crowned him king.

But behind the glorious founding of the Valouis Kingdom, behind the stories of conquest and prosperity, he could see the countless bodies that had been buried beneath its foundations.

”This is where it all started,” Adam muttered under his breath.

His eyes narrowed as the pieces slowly came together.

”Philippe must have believed that every last one of them had been eradicated,” he continued, speaking to himself.

But clearly that had not been the case.

Some had survived. Somehow, somewhere, remnants of those tribes had endured. They had hidden, scattered, and patiently waited in the shadows while the Valouis Kingdom grew upon the corpses of their people.

For over two thousand years!

And when the time was finally right, they had found Jacob de Vile.

They had given him the means, the knowledge, and perhaps even the opportunity to exact vengeance upon the descendants of those who had slaughtered their people.

Adamʼs expression darkened even further.

”So this was their revenge.”

The surviving remnants of an entire race of humans had waited for more than two millennia for the opportunity to strike back. And when it finally came, they had helped Jacob bring ruin upon the very humans whose kingdom had been built atop the bones of their ancestors.

”A vengeance that had taken two thousand years to bear fruit…”

Adam slowly shook his head and sighed.

Philippe dʼAubigny had believed he was eradicating a people. But he had only planted the first seed of a tragedy that would continue for thousands of years to come.

A frown appeared on Adamʼs face and he wondered:

”The gypsies have already gotten their revenge. The Valouis Kingdom has been reduced to ruins, its people turned to monsters.”

His frown deepened.

”So why is it that theyʼre still helping the Vampire King?”

It just didnʼt make sense.

Why were the gypsies still around?

Why were they the ones beguiling Magi and Paladins from the outside world into this secret plane?

Adamʼs eyes narrowed.

”Thereʼs something else going on here,” he muttered solemnly.

The more he learned, the deeper the mystery became.

”What exactly are they trying to achieve?”

But most importantly…

Adamʼs expression turned utterly grim.

”How did the devils get involved in all of this?”