Why Always the Academy? - 1
Every time the sword met those jet-black flames, waves of searing heat scattered in all directions. The magical pulses were so violently intense they sent chills racing across the skin, each one thick with murderous intent. The entire area had already been reduced to a wasteland. Injured students lay scattered everywhere. They needed to be saved. They needed to be protected. They were still fragile new sprouts. Any more wasted time and the death toll would climb into the dozens. Yet Han Jiyun had no strength left to spare for them.
“What is this? Why are you so weak?”
The black shadow rippled like smoke before sharpening into a massive blade. It dropped straight toward the crown of Han Jiyun’s head like an executioner’s axe.
Boom!
“Urk!”
The woman who had once vanished after cursing the world and everyone in it. Even when she left she had been honed to a razor’s edge, ready to lash out at any moment. Now she had returned carrying an even denser killing intent.
Her identity was one of those who had once been comrades and heroes, only to become traitors to humanity. An Elder.
“Our little Jiyun, you’ve gotten so much weaker. Is that all your sword dance can do?”
“Shut up.”
“Oh my. Is that how you speak to your big sis?”
At the black-clad woman’s words, Han Jiyun ground her teeth so hard they creaked. Blue energy surged from her blade, slicing through the shadows. The woman, who had been watching with casual ease, stepped back. At the same moment her own shadow split cleanly in two and scattered across the floor.
“What a shame! If you’d swung just a little harder you could have taken this sister’s head clean off.”
“I told you to shut up. And don’t call me ‘sis’ after only a month. I said I’d kill you if you said that again, Hyun Sujin.”
Hyun Sujin. An S-rank ability user just like her. Once, a comrade. In the early days she had been brighter and more righteous than anyone, someone you could rely on without hesitation. In the field of magic she had been practically divine. But after getting caught up in a single incident, she had come to hate the world and its people. In the end, instead of becoming their hope she chose to become their nightmare.
“Stop talking and show me some real power. You haven’t even used half your strength yet, have you?”
“Half is more than enough for the likes of you.”
“Liar. Do you think I don’t know you? I can read every thought in your head right now.”
Hyun Sujin gave a lazy flick of her little finger. A student’s body floated up into the air.
“Keep getting distracted and I might just kill them all, you know?”
“…You rotten bitch.”
“Thank you for the compliment. I’m so touched I could cry!”
Han Jiyun bit down on her lip until it bled and scanned her surroundings. Several students sprawled across the ground had black threads wrapped around their bodies. They looked like ordinary strings, but the moment they were pulled, a bloody mist would erupt.
Those threads, that shadow—when they used to pierce monster bodies they felt so reassuring.
It had been the same back then. Using monsters as hostages, ordering the rest to charge in. Hesitate and your kin died. Charge and your kin still died. Now she was doing the exact same thing to people instead of monsters. And if this was the Hyun Sujin she knew, the woman would absolutely follow through on every word.
“It looks like you’re holding back because you’re worried about these children… I did warn you, Jiyun.”
With a bright, lovely smile, the demon who had crawled out of hell whispered softly.
“If you don’t fight properly, I’ll dismember them one by one.”
She clenched her teeth, but there was almost nothing she could do. If she unleashed her full power the way Hyun Sujin wanted, the injured would be swept up in the aftermath. Yet stalling for time didn’t seem like something the woman would allow. There was only one choice: buy as much time as possible until reinforcements arrived. Fortunately the principal was nearby. If she could just stall long enough…
“There you go again. I can see exactly what you’re thinking.”
Still floating in the air, Hyun Sujin let out a soft chuckle and continued.
“If you’re waiting for Ma Hakjun, that old man, don’t bother. Do you think we’re stupid? With him here, of course we deployed someone specifically to keep him busy. We matched the force exactly to the old man’s level, so you should be able to buy a little time.”
Han Jiyun, who had been about to spit out a curse, froze mid-breath. Something strange had caught in Hyun Sujin’s words. At first she had assumed it was a simple surprise attack. She had thought the goal was the academy’s collapse. But the woman had just said it herself—they could buy some time.
Not an assassination attempt on the principal, but simply preventing him from reaching the battlefield?
Now that she thought about it, there were other suspicious points. Hyun Sujin kept telling her to fight with everything she had, yet the woman herself refused to use her full power. She demanded full strength while using hostages to make sure it never came. It was as if she were saying, You and I are going to stay right here together for a long, long time.
“…Ha. You rotten bitch.”
“Hmm?”
“You had another scheme all along. This wasn’t just a simple raid.”
“Wow. Our Jiyun’s gotten sharper, hasn’t she? Sis is so moved she might actually cry.”
Shwaaaak!
The shadow transformed into a black blade that streaked toward Han Jiyun’s shoulder. It moved so fast it was nearly invisible, yet she blocked it without difficulty. Sure enough, she could feel that once again no real power had been put behind the strike.
“Well done. In that spirit, this big sis will kindly explain something. You know how villains always do it, right? They reveal their entire plan. I’ve always wanted to try it once.”
“What…”
“They say a very attractive gem entered the academy this time.”
The statement seemed completely out of nowhere, but Han Jiyun instinctively understood what the “gem” meant. It referred to the new students who had just enrolled.
“Fools claim their value is low, but we saw it. The potential sleeping inside that gem. The condensed, concentrated feast of blood waiting to bloom! So we’re going to take it. We’ll laugh at the academy’s pathetic barriers, smash through every last one, and snatch it away. Yes! Just like a phantom thief—casual, elegant, without a care in the world.”
Han Jiyun’s mind spun desperately. Who could this student be? Who was important enough that the villains would mobilize an Elder just to kidnap them? Among the first-years, who was the relatively undervalued—
…No way?
The face of one female student rose in her mind. She had inherited the blood of a great family but lacked overwhelming talent. Because of that, the world had even treated her as a defective product in crude terms.
“She’s that Kang Minsung’s granddaughter, right? Ahh, I’m so excited. I wonder what kind of reaction that pathetic doting fool will show when he hears his precious granddaughter has been kidnapped by villains? What he’ll say to Principal Ma Hakjun, what kind of reckless actions he’ll take afterward? I’m dying to know. Ahh, it’s too much fun!”
Han Jiyun bit her lip again. Could the professors hold out until outside support arrived? With Hyun Sujin tied up with her and the remaining powerhouses occupied with the principal, it wasn’t impossible. If they could just endure a little longer, these attackers would ultimately fail to achieve their goal and be forced to retreat—
“Oh, Jiyun. Just so you know, I’m not the only one who came.”
“…What?”
When Han Jiyun’s eyes widened in disbelief, Hyun Sujin burst into laughter.
“You idiot. Did you really think only one Elder would show up for something this crazy?”
At those words, Han Jiyun had to admit she had been completely outmaneuvered. There had never been a single instance of two Elders moving together. They were the kind who couldn’t even cooperate, let alone get along. That was why the Association, herself, and even Ma Hakjun had all let their guard down.
“Now you finally look desperate. Hehehe. Jiyun, let’s make a bet. Here’s the deal. If you do what I ask, I’ll step aside right now. I won’t interfere anymore either. How about it?”
Smiling, Hyun Sujin slowly raised her hand. The student bound in black threads was dragged upward with it.
“The condition is simple. Kill this student with your own hands.”
“Hyun Sujin!”
“No time to think? The pitiful seconds are ticking away, Jiyun! Tick—tock—tick—tock—”
*
“Kim Suhyun?”
“N-no! I’m not—”
Thud!
Instead of an answer, a spear flew in and punched straight through her stomach. The girl coughed up dark red blood and collapsed like a broken doll. The man holding the spear looked like a corpse that had drowned and been left to rot in water. His face was deathly pale, and water dripped endlessly from his entire body. He dragged one leg behind him as he searched for his target.
“Kim Suhyun?”
“If you’re looking for Kim Suhyun, she went that way just now!”
At the male student’s shout the man slowly turned. Security officers and professors tried to block his path, but a single thrust ended them all. Ordinary ability users could never hope to stand against an Elder in the first place. Dragging his soaked body along, the man eventually spotted another female student and opened his mouth.
“…Found you.”
The thing he was looking for—the object someone desired—was right there. He wanted to finish quickly and leave. He wanted to escape this disgusting place as soon as possible.
“Ah, aaaaah!”
Kim Suhyun seemed to realize she was in danger. She spun around and tried to flee. But her leg had been injured in the earlier explosion and refused to move properly. No matter how hard she ran, the distance between her and the spear-wielding man grew shorter and shorter.
“Haa! Haah!”
The more she moved, the more blood poured out. The bleeding was gradually turning her limbs to stone.
“Help me! Please save me! Somebody, please save me!”
Her cries for help received no answer. It was terrifying. Too terrifying. The man with the spear was like a ghost, dripping with the aura of death, dragging his leg as he drew closer.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
She must have lost too much blood. Her legs gave out completely and she collapsed on the spot. When she looked back, the man was already right in front of her. Close enough to reach out and touch.
Whoosh—
Suddenly Kim Suhyun felt her body being yanked forward. Between her and the spear-wielding ghost, a man had stepped in.
“Move aside.”
The ghost pointed his spear with a gloomy voice. If you move, you won’t die. So get out of the way. The first and last chance he would give to live.
But.
“Sorry. I don’t think I can do that.”
The man blocking the way rejected the offer without hesitation.