I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills

Ixion’s conference hall.

The meeting temporarily adjourned due to the appearance of the Mad Sword Emperor.

“Kid, are you really the Mad Sword Emperor?”

The first to speak was Black Swan, a dark-attribute high demon.

She stared at the Mad Sword Emperor with a deeply skeptical gaze.

However, the Mad Sword Emperor, unfazed by her gaze, snorted.

“Then would I be a fake? It’s more ridiculous that you’re so doubtful in the first place. Don’t all of you have at least one way of reviving yourselves?”

As the Mad Sword Emperor shamelessly scanned the World Eroders, some nodded in agreement.

After all, everyone present had their own survival strategies.

“Isn’t it possible that a necromancer brought you back to life?”

This time, it was an old gentleman who raised a question.

“Ha.”

The Mad Sword Emperor let out a short laugh and then fixed his gaze on the old gentleman.

“Why don’t you check for yourself?”

“I shall.”

The old gentleman, unbothered, approached the Mad Sword Emperor.

He then struck the floor with his staff, producing a reverberation that spread past the Mad Sword Emperor.

Moments later, the old gentleman’s expression turned subtle.

“Indeed, you’re alive.”

The Mad Sword Emperor was truly alive, not a mere corpse.

Of course, that alone did not dispel all doubts, but at least it confirmed that he was not Ebelasque’s corpse.

“My apologies. One tends to grow more suspicious with age, don’t you think?”

As the Mad Sword Emperor shot him a look as if to say, “See, I told you so,” the old gentleman tipped his fedora and sincerely apologized.

“Then step aside, old man.”

The Mad Sword Emperor brushed past the old gentleman and walked inside.

Receiving the attention of everyone in Ixion, he turned his glare toward the Black Witch.

“So, Black Witch, I think I need to hold you accountable for the loss of one of my precious lives.”

Anger raged in the Mad Sword Emperor’s eyes.

Due to the Black Witch’s mistake, the Mad Sword Emperor had died.

Thus, he had every right to demand responsibility.

The Black Witch remained silent for a moment before nodding slightly.

“Sorry.”

“Ha, damn, you bitch.”

The Mad Sword Emperor’s fury was justified.

Even among the World Eroders, no one could deny his anger.

Had they been in his position, anyone would have expressed rage.

And this fact began to create subtle cracks among the World Eroders.

The World Eroders gathered under Ixion were not assembled out of mutual trust.

They had convened solely for the common goal of creating the God of World Erosion.

And at the center of such a gathering was none other than the Black Witch.

The fact that one of the World Eroders died due to her mistake was enough to cause cracks within Ixion.

“Quit your incessant barking.”

The one to shift the atmosphere was the Beast King.

With a thick finger, he picked his large ear and then blew on it.

“Didn’t you fail to survive because you were lacking in the first place?”

The opponent faced by the Mad Sword Emperor was undoubtedly someone no one could dismiss.

However, in the eyes of the Beast King, one of Ixion’s strongest forces, it was an issue that could have been resolved without the Black Witch.

The Mad Sword Emperor, locking eyes with the Beast King, ground his teeth in frustration.

Yet, the Beast King casually stroked his white beard, unfazed by the furious glare.

Everyone knew that no matter how skilled the Mad Sword Emperor was, he would fall short before the Beast King.

The Beast King’s statement also influenced the other World Eroders.

They were all confident in their own abilities.

Naturally, they had no desire to defend the Mad Sword Emperor, as doing so would hurt their pride.

After all, they believed they could have escaped from that predicament themselves.

Caught off guard and painted as someone who shifted blame due to his inadequacy, the Mad Sword Emperor’s response reflected his indignation.

However, there was no one left to defend him now.

“Having barely escaped with your tail tucked, why don’t you go back to your seat and stay quiet? A man who can’t even prove he’s not a corpse has no business here.”

At the Beast King’s sharp rebuke, the Mad Sword Emperor had no choice but to retreat to his seat.

As some of the World Eroders chuckled briefly at the sight, the room soon fell silent, as they couldn’t completely disregard his feelings.

‘Damn it, I managed to make them think I’m not about to die immediately. Are you satisfied now?’

The Mad Sword Emperor, now sitting in the corner, voiced his thoughts inwardly.

[Yes, well done.]

The voice of Kraush echoed in his mind.

Through the necromancer arts of Ebelasque, all the current developments were being relayed to Kraush.

Thus, the Mad Sword Emperor exaggerated his gestures even more.

By being overly dramatic, it was easier for Kraush to observe the World Eroders through him.

And thanks to this, Kraush gained one piece of information.

The Hell Fairy.

Through the Mad Sword Emperor’s eyes, Kraush had seen who she was.

‘An unknown figure.’

The Hell Fairy was someone Kraush had never encountered in his memories.

That fact alone posed an even greater problem.

Kraush had meticulously investigated Ixion’s remnants and their roots alongside the Skyborne Generation to expose every aspect of their organization.

Yet, nowhere in the records was there any mention of the Hell Fairy.

This was baffling, especially since Ixion’s members seemed to interact with her as if she were a familiar presence.

‘A figure connected to the imperial family, yet there’s no information on her?’

Kraush couldn’t wrap his head around this situation.

‘The Mad Sword Emperor’s incident definitely occurred in the previous iteration as well.’

Had the Hell Fairy been involved in the Mad Sword Emperor’s incident back then or not?

There was no way to confirm.

It was frustrating.

Since Kraush hadn’t lived with the assumption of returning to the past, the information he had from moments when he hadn’t been vigilant was severely lacking.

However, one fact was certain.

The Hell Fairy was a newly introduced variable in this iteration.

If she was active at this point, she was undoubtedly a variable.

‘It’s possible that the Hell Fairy only formed ties with the imperial family in this iteration.’

As Kraush’s thoughts reached this conclusion, one thing came to mind.

The reason for such a significant change within Ixion.

‘Regression.’

The regressions of Kraush, Arthur, and the three women.

This was the product of those regressions.

Kraush was confident.

At least Mary and Sigrid were not involved in this incident.

He had been keeping a close watch on the movements of those two.

That left one person, a figure he had already suspected before.

‘Abella.’

The Red Witch, Abella.

She, who had reached the pinnacle of magic, continued to be a thorn in his thoughts.

‘If the Hell Fairy is connected to Abella…’

There was a possibility that Abella was deliberately extending her influence into Ixion.

The one problem was that Kraush couldn’t discern what Abella might want from Ixion.

‘Abella has always had different goals from ours.’

She had never focused on preventing the world’s destruction.

Most mages were madmen, after all.

For her, destruction was merely an inconvenience that prevented her from delving deeper into magic.

Losing everything due to destruction wasn’t something that concerned her much.

There is only one reason why she joined the Sky Generation to prevent destruction.

Simply because Arthur sought to prevent it.

She was an ardent admirer of Arthur and heavily dependent on him.

Though she demonstrated overwhelming skill in magic, her inner self was rotten to the core.

Arthur skillfully exploited that rotten core, ensuring she would focus on him alone for the rest of her life.

But now.

‘In this world, the Arthur that Abella knows does not exist.’

The Arthur who whispered love to her and constantly supported her no longer existed.

The Arthur in this world was not the Arthur in her memories.

‘From the moment the false Arthur appeared, Abella has undoubtedly been near the current Arthur.’

Had Abella seen the current Arthur and been satisfied?

Or had she been unable to accept him?

‘If that’s truly the case…’

The appearance of the false Arthur.

The absence of the real Arthur.

Could all of this be Abella’s doing?

The current Arthur might be in an irreparable state.

As Kraush’s thoughts reached this point, his face gradually darkened.

Because an extreme idea had begun to take root in his mind.

‘It’s truly, truly an extreme thought, but…’

A chilling realization dawned on Kraush.

He wanted to believe that this could not be true.

‘But if it’s that crazy woman, she just might do it.’

If the real Arthur no longer existed in this world, then perhaps Abella was aiming to create the God of World Erosion to bring him back.

Others might dismiss this as an excessive leap in logic, but if it was Abella, she could very well do it.

After all, she had always been a madwoman.

The Hell Fairy might even be a move Abella prepared in advance.

‘Then I need to find the one providing imperial information to the Hell Fairy.’

Kraush thought of one person who knew the most information about the imperial family.

‘Sizerly Ephania.’

The empire’s fourth princess, a brilliant and mischievous girl.

Sizerly.

‘She’s in the empire right now, isn’t she?’

Perfect timing.

It seemed Kraush needed to create a way to contact her.

The problem was figuring out how to establish such contact.

Kraush immediately thought of one person.

‘Mary Diana.’

That girl was under Sizerly’s leash.

And through that leash, it would be possible to contact Sizerly as well.

The imperial family’s seal wasn’t a one-way connection.

Mary would likely have at least one method to reach Sizerly.

‘I’ll have to meet Mary again.’

In any case, Kraush had already planned to meet her, whether sooner or later, to unlock the final dial on Mary.

Kraush finished reviewing the tasks ahead of him.

Then, he lifted his head and stared straight ahead.

‘What’s needed now…’

Was to uncover even the slightest clue about the Hell Fairy’s true identity and assess Ixion’s next steps.

Kraush resolved to focus solely on that goal.

* * *

Until Ixion’s meeting concluded, no significant discussions took place.

The focus of the conversation was primarily on gathering information related to Kraush.

Along with the revelation that someone had inherited the Sword Emperor’s legacy.

‘The Sword Emperor’s legacy, Sigrid must be making her move.’

Kraush quickly deduced who was tied to the Sword Emperor’s legacy.

Long ago, before the current Four Above the Heavens rose to prominence, there was the Sword Emperor.

The only one who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him was none other than Fighting Emperor Durandal, now the principal of Rahern Academy.

The Sword Emperor had left behind a special legacy, and Kraush judged that Sigrid must have absorbed it.

‘It’s not like I could handle it anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.’

Still, the thought that it had fallen into Sigrid’s hands left him with a vague sense of annoyance he couldn’t quite shake off.

“These guys seem to be fixated on me, don’t they?”

The returning Mad Sword Emperor scratched his head furiously, grumbling in irritation.

Just as he said, Ixion refrained from discussing any detailed future plans.

The reason was simple: they couldn’t fully trust the returning Mad Sword Emperor.

Kraush didn’t have high expectations for this meeting, either.

After all, the Mad Sword Emperor’s role was sufficient as it stood.

“So, what now? Ixion is bound to start targeting you seriously.”

Crimson Garden posed the question, and Ebelasque chimed in with agreement.

“Ixion is dangerous. Some of them are truly beyond what anyone can handle.”

A barrier had been hastily put up to deter them, but it was only enough to temporarily avoid the gaze of the World Eroders.

What was needed now was the strength to protect oneself.

The power to drag Ixion down and annihilate it completely.

“Curse Master Veltua Lacroix.”

The world’s greatest Curse Master, and the only one capable of crafting the most powerful curses.

“We need to find that old man.”

Ironically, the old man was likely somewhere close to the empire.

‘And then there’s Mary’s Accel.’

Skills and curses, it was time to start collecting both.

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