Chapter 133
Chapter 133
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 133
Humanity was getting by just fine.
In the process of civilization advancing and technology progressing, the environment was destroyed and people suffered losses, but they saw it as fertilizer for evolution.
Until that day arrived.
They just accepted it.
The end of the world or the demise of Earth.
Call it whatever you want.
Extinction, apocalypse, end times, rapture, Armageddon, Ragnark, and so on.
They were all right.
One day, incomprehensible monstrous beasts set foot on this land and devoured everything without distinguishing friend from foe.
Even humans.
As a result, humanity lost thirty percent of the global population in less than a year.
Poorer nations suffered especially hard, lacking the means to protect their people and burdened with oversized populations.
Even accounting for that, thirty percent in just one year was an unimaginable loss.
Some island nations were wiped out entirely, their survivors scattering to other countries.
Nations went beyond mere alliances, adopting coexistence to prolong their survival.
Then came the indiscriminate onslaught.
After billions fought desperately, humanity finally succeeded in one defense. With a moment to catch their breath and reflect, they were horrified by what they saw...
What, another old tale? If youre gonna spout nonsense like that, get lost.
Who the hell are you telling your big sis to get lost? You wanna get smacked?
Im better at fighting.
True, but thats beside the point. How can someone from the land of propriety and manners act like that?
Seung-woo ran a hand through his hair at the absurd remark.
From beneath his unkempt locksuntouched even for a trim amid the relentless enemy assaults and back-to-back battleshis hollow eyes emerged.
His pupils, devoid of even a glimmer of light, held no spark of life.
It was the transcendent poise of one who wouldnt care if death came at any moment.
Is there any point in upholding etiquette in a ruined world?
...Anyway, you know the military state was established after that, right?
Dont change the subject.
The military state.
A nation of soldiers, in name.
In reality, it was no nationjust an organization rivaling one.
You know the early days of the military state were total chaos, right?
...So what?
Come on, if you dont react by tonight, Im not leaving your barracks.
Eve flopped onto the barracks floor.
For a fleeting moment, her childish antics furrowed brows.
But realizing her words held not a shred of exaggeration, I dredged up long-buried memories.
Mm... The military state was formed by merging armies from various nations under the banner of greater purpose and survival, so in the early days, they couldnt avoid language barriers and racial discrimination.
You know your stuff. These days, nations cant protect their citizens, so national identity has faded. But back then, it was different.
Its ridiculous. To think theyd wage war on fellow humans over something as trivial as race, before even properly fighting the monsters.
Billions died at the hands of those monsters.
As nations crumbled, soldiers whod banded together for survival began clashing over childish divides like skin color and languagenot ideology or belief.
In a powder-keg situation where monsters could strike at any moment.
The one who overcame that chaos and unified the fractured military state was...
Without Players and their abilities back then, humanity wouldve been wiped out in the second year of war without even putting up a real fight.
Yeah, the records confirm it.
By the time nukes and modern tech hit their clear limits.
Humanity began awakening to concepts like mana and abilities.
An invisible, intangible force: mana.
Unique personal powers fueled by that intangible force: abilities.
The so-called first-generation Players forcibly pieced together the splintered military state with power surpassing humanity. Bowing before overwhelming might, the unified military state endured battlefields, ringing out defeats and victories.
In that process, they learned bone-deep that petty things like race and language didnt matter.
Back then, the military state was survival of the strongest.
And it still was.
This world still runs on the logic of the powerful. The old, worn-out upper echelons have shifted their power from force to authority, but people still crave mighty heroes.
...So what?
Hey! Baek Seung-woo! You messing with me right now?!
She shouldve gotten the hint ages ago after all that.
Yet the Sword Saint turned his head away in denial.
If youve got that power, resist! You can do it. So why arent you?
No need to stir up more chaos.
...What?
These guys resisting so doggedly is a first in seventy years of war. Civilian panic is at an all-time high because of it. In that situation, Im not valuable enough to uproot the rot just for myself.
The Sword Saints power, achievements.
And prestige could topple the entire upper echelon and seize total control.
There were the Eight Stars, peers in rank.
But they were merely top experts in their fields, not absolute in raw force.
No one in the military state could match the Sword Saint in combat.
Thus, he stated firmly.
Despite his childlike age, his old-soul speech didnt suit him at all, but he strove to maintain decorum to the end.
That was the weight of his position.
Eve, mind your boundaries. And from now on, in official settings, address me not by name, but as Sword Saint.
W-What...? You serious?
Great Mother of Magic, Eve. Though were childhood friends and brothers-in-arms from our boy-soldier days, this position belongs to a fellow Eight Star, the [Magic Saint], and as the who pursues knowledge and wisdom, I receive you thus.
So please, keep to the lines and uphold decorum.
We represent the hundred million soldiers of the military state, after all.
He didnt need to voice the rest; it rang clear in Eves mind.
So... you get it, right?
Just run away now.
You know thats not an option. Why pretend otherwise?
What duty or responsibility does a brat like you even have?! Rebel, throw a tantrumdo whatever! Youre at that age!!!
Duty and responsibility.
What a profound topic to toss out.
There are those who sacrificed for me.
!!!
Corpses always pile at my feet. Now and forever.
Soldiers were ready to lay down their lives to protect him.
It was a proven fact, backed by dozens of examples.
Because they didnt want the human Baek Seung-woothey wanted Sword Saint Baek Seung-woo.
Im... less a person now, more a propaganda weapon.
Hey, isnt that too harsh on yourself? Calling yourself a weapon?
Dont ask what you already know.
...Doesnt mean you have to think that way.
The revered commander was gone.
Even the proud name given by his parents was just a backdrop propping him up.
Before long, he was known by his title.
The Sword Saint felt hollow about it.
Yeah.
Then run already. Ill tell the others you died screaming on the battlefield. Making clones and illusions is no big deal for me!
But you know I cant.
Hurry!!!
Eve, now issuing commands over pleas.
She unleashed psychokinesis to force movement with her hands and word magic with her mouth.
But
Pakak!!
With a mere burst of mana from the Sword Saint, Eves mana shards scattered like shattered glass. Half-formed spells fractured sharply, reflecting light as they splintered irreparably.
Yes, just like my life... No turning back.
So I must see it through to the end.
That was his mission, built on soldiers hands and comrades sacrifices.
Thus, the Sword Saint could no longer choose his own clothes.
Always white.
Pure white was the only color permitted to the Sword Saint.
Maybe red as an exception.
...Its been a week already in nothing but white. Whites getting boringcant I wear black?
No black.
Why not?
Blood doesnt show as well. Youre young, but you know soldier and civilian morale matters in wartime, right? This is just to boost it.
Its the commander-in-chiefs order, but also a personal request for you.
Please, Sword Saint.
No grounds to refuse after that.
Though justification hardly matteredhe knew what the middle-aged commander-in-chief wanted.
I am the sword. The military states sword.
The worlds sharpest blade.
A guillotine that severs necks and reaps lives.
Any insolent demon blocking the Sword Saints path shall atone with death.
Puk!
A disarmingly mundane sound for thrusting a sword.
Like skewering meat at a butchers, the casual swing disemboweled a monster the size of a mountain.
Slicing flesh, shattering bone.
In the process, the Sword Saints armor soaked in blood, its pure white proving its innocence through crimson.
Hes... insane.
Pure white armor dyed red.
Caked in uncountable blood, no amount of washing would restore its original hue.
Proof of how zealously hed been slaughtering monsters.
Evidence of humanitys hope toiling so hard fueled even greater fervor. The more his white was speckled crimson, the safer the world became.
Clad only in pure white and blood-red, the Sword Saint periodically stained his armor red anew.
The white wore out so fast.
Twice a month at least.
Three times a week at mosthe donned fresh armor.
Each time, crowds cheered; battlefields echoed with screams and death rattles.
Time passed. Having endured countless calamities in human flesh, the Sword Saint became the military states top power.
On the fields, his majesty and form earned new names.
Sword Ghost.
And Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Unofficial nicknames for the Sword Saint, unrecognized as formal titles.
Civilians didnt know, but soldiers sharing the fields did.
The sole hope born of this hellish warto end the hellish warwas, in the end, another monster.