Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Quasi-Executive Baal (3)
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Markin.
From a rural village far from the imperial capital...
He had blossomed his talents,
not only gaining admission to Frontier Academy,
but also breaking into the top ten among all first-years and entering S-Class—a commoner cadet's success story.
A life anyone would call a resounding triumph,
worthy of praise and admiration.
But those who knew his inner world
could never call it a simple success...
'Mael...'
Markin's younger sister, Mael.
After losing their entire family in an accident,
the siblings had leaned on each other to survive.
But one day...
'Mael...? Mael!!'
She collapsed, unconscious,
and never woke again.
That was when the tragedy began.
'If you want to save your sister, don't defy me.'
Baal,
a member of Ixion,
the infamous terrorist organization known across the world,
held Mael's life in his grasp and demanded obedience.
So Markin,
desperate to save his sister—who was his whole world...
joined under Ixion's quasi-executive,
Baal,
and helped with all sorts of filthy deeds.
'We're kidnapping Isabel Helm.'
And now,
following Baal's orders, he had infiltrated the academy
to assist in sacrificing a young cadet as a demon's offering.
'If anyone comes here, stop them by any means necessary.'
To carry out Baal's command,
he was now blocking the one person trying to pass.
"Step aside, Markin."
The top freshman, Aden.
A fellow commoner like him,
possessing combat sense and instincts that rivaled even the professors,
maintaining the top spot among all first-years.
An opponent I could never beat right now.
How he knew to come here,
why he was panting so urgently,
radiating that sharp, furious aura—it didn't matter.
Only one thing did.
'Once this is done, I'll wake your sister too.'
"I can't do that, Aden... Sorry."
Even if I couldn't win...
This time,
I couldn't back down either.
I drew my dagger,
preparing to block him with everything I had.
"This is your last warning."
And he showed no intention of yielding either,
his voice carrying a genuine final warning laced with overwhelming killing intent.
"Step aside, Markin."
His final warning hung in the air...
'What killing intent...'
Even as a member of Ixion, I'd never felt anything like it.
As the crushing pressure intensified,
I gripped my dagger and lunged—
Kwabang—!
"Kuhk!"
In an instant, the momentum flipped.
Aden exploded forward, his fist slamming perfectly into my gut.
"I said—"
Kwabang—!!
"—step aside."
Before I could recover,
he grabbed my head and smashed it into the ground.
His words were the last thing I heard.
Pain never registered.
My vision went black.
Alchemy Professor at Frontier Academy, Baal.
No,
now mask discarded...
Ixion's quasi-executive, Baal.
He had finally succeeded
in kidnapping the demon's demanded sacrifice
to leap into full executive status
and claim demonic power.
'Finally...'
With the sacrifice before him,
he completed the demon summoning circle.
All that remained was activation.
He poured in the souls he had collected...
'Finally...!!'
The circle devoured them greedily,
emitting a crimson, ominous glow.
And then—
Kwajik—!
Cracks spiderwebbed through the world and space itself.
A sinister aura infused with Baal's—the contractor's—mana began enveloping the academy.
Unmistakable signs of a high demon.
The herald of a demon count's summoning.
By now, the remaining professors,
even the chairman far away,
would sense the summoning...
And the contractor's identity.
But...
'Too late...!'
The barrier over the academy
had already been seized by the demon,
blocking the chairman's magic.
Even if they realized Baal's plan now,
the moment they arrived,
it would all be over.
Nothing left here but ashes...
"Well now... Cadet Isabel...? You're about to become demon chow. Any last words?"
As the demon's form materialized from the circle,
Baal turned, mocking the bound sacrifice.
She looked utterly despairing,
gazing at the emerging demon with terror.
'Sweet...'
Ixion's quasi-executive Baal savored
that delicious reaction of utter hopelessness.
(Is the sacrifice... prepared...?)
Soon after,
the high demon—
demon count—fully manifested
in the academy's old annex basement,
its chilling voice echoing.
"Yes! The blood and body of Helm, as you desired—"
Baal, ecstatic, continued—
Kwabang—!!!
A massive explosion.
An intruder appeared.
'Academy professors...? The chairman...?'
Whoever it was, arriving far too soon and unexpected—
Baal tensed, staring.
As the smoke cleared...
A single figure emerged.
'The top freshman...?'
Unmistakably the top freshman.
Identical to Aden in appearance, but...
'Different...'
Compared to the top freshman,
his eyes were even more vacant,
his build taller, more mature—almost adult-like.
'And the mana...'
Above all,
from the top freshman...
No—from anyone who could manipulate mana,
it should have been palpable.
No mana at all.
Not just him—
the entire space felt like it had become ordinary people.
Mana itself had vanished from this realm.
"Who... who are you...?"
Ordinary people.
As if the demon and everyone here had become mere mortals.
That alien sensation gnawed at Baal,
an inescapable feeling that something was profoundly wrong.
His mana-blind senses concluded it was just a normal person,
but every instinct screamed to flee.
(Wh... what is... that... thing...)
And that dread...
That sensation...
Hardened in the demon's terrified words.
"Who knows... I am..."
Finally,
the figure spoke.
Beeee—
In that instant, as if ears rejected the voice,
pain surged, faint tinnitus ringing.
Then, the being before Baal—after a moment's thought—
"I don't know."
Casually, as if too lazy to think,
"I don't know."
Utterly incomprehensible from a listener's perspective.
"Wh... what nonsense—""No time."
Baal tried to retort,
but was cut off by an irritated "No time."
Beeeeee—!!
'What is this...?'
Baal's every sense...
Horrifyingly...
As if desperate to flee his body,
to escape that existence...
Screamed in unison.
Beeeeee—!!
Hot blood streamed from his eyes,
rejecting perception of the figure... the world.
His ears rang with screams of agony,
tinnitus like wails.
And smell...
As if plunged into war's heart,
only acrid blood and gunpowder.
But it wasn't just his senses warping.
Time...
The world...
The demon beside him too...
Before that colossal presence, like midday dust,
everything twisted.
And—
as the being raised a hand toward them...
(F... flee—
'Wh... what the...'
The laws of the world...
Rules...
Even reality itself...
Bowed to the figure before them.
Then,
'Ah... ah...'
On the being's hand, an incomprehensible glyph emerged,
seemingly containing all things.
And soon—
"Wh... th... is..."
(D... i...
No demon remained here...
No Ixion quasi-executive...
As if they'd never existed.
In the academy's old annex basement,
only one man who had subjugated the world,
and Isabel—eyes red from recent tears, staring in shock.
And so...
As two other quasi-executives kidnapped Isabel at Baal's request,
and Baal imprisoned her in the basement,
summoning the demon count into the academy...
In House Helm...
"Lady Isabel's gone...?"
"Yeah. Not in her room...?"
"Leave it. Probably ran off."
"Still..."
The servants discovered Isabel's disappearance
the next morning,
chatting casually.
"Yeah, must've run away."
"Report it...?"
"Just to the head butler."
Incredibly nonchalant,
as if a noble lady vanishing was no big deal.
And just like that,
as if nothing happened.
Simply,
utterly ordinarily,
no cause for alarm,
the servants returned to their duties, resuming cleaning.
The disappearance of a house's lady,
in any other family,
would trigger a full-scale emergency.
But here, unimaginable as such an incident,
House Helm's day flowed peacefully as ever.