Chapter 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Pure Extreme
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Even if I said it was supposed to be bitter, that didn't mean I had a feel for it.
As a result, my mind naturally drifted to the setting documents I had read during my director days.
If I relied on my experience of clearing the Dream Demon Lord multiple times, crying and eating mustard because of Rex, then Aiden's ultimate technique employed incredibly flashy effects.
‘The name was probably Pure Extreme.’
The one sword technique Aiden had that incorporated properties opposite to his own sword.
Aiden handled aura in a slightly unique way.
He processed it into feathers and scattered them around, something other swordsmen considered a waste.
Typically, rather than scattering sword energy everywhere, they preferred to concentrate everything into the single sword they held.
That dramatically increased explosive power.
Aura that left one's hand once just scattered; it was hard to increase its explosive power.
It could be called inefficient, or a waste.
The reason Aiden insisted on this method was partly because his sword resembled an assassination style close to one-strike kills, and partly because it took the form of a counterattacking swordsman who struck first from a later position after drawing his blade upon seeing the opponent.
It hid its true form with illusionary arts and pierced through from a blind spot in one go.
Its destructive power wasn't particularly high, but since it bet everything on penetration, if it hit, it could ignore the opponent's defense and kill instantly.
This also reflected his inclination not to like clashing blades repeatedly due to the rapier's inherent durability.
Thus, Aiden's sword was sharp but lacked strong explosive power.
‘But Aiden's ultimate technique was different.’
The effect visible in the story cutscene, obvious even to anyone that it condensed power.
The image of him crouching while cornered lingered thickly in my mind.
‘One shot.’
Power gathered and condensed with full strength.
The setting documents also said he filtered the purest mana and accumulated it in his body.
“I need to accumulate it.”
He stopped scattering the feathers and piled them up layer by layer in his body.
Bielle sensed something off and unleashed a fierce barrage of attacks.
White flames, like the dawn's glow, blazed along the sword and engulfed my body.
My golden hair reflected on the blade shone like silver.
Aura billowed whitely from my exhaled breath. Mana, which originally had no form, formed a distinct volume with tangible texture and condensed.
Aiden's sword was sharp but not one with strong explosive power.
So what about this white glow now before me?
The moment Bielle cried out in alarm and executed her prepared long-distance teleport, the pure glow manifesting before me froze.
It reached compression limits and warped space.
As if colors inverted, thick darkness fell around it, and like the precursor to a storm, the air grew still with a single sphere of light at its center.
Even in a place where sound should reverberate loudly, no noise was heard.
The air that should vibrate with sound was erased by the radiant heat of the energy.
The demon's creations, the magic beasts, even the Gigantes dismissed as war weapons.
All of them lost their wits before the overwhelming glow and trembled.
The feathers that had focused on releasing energy outward now sprouted from within me.
Not extending out, but accumulating.
Accumulating, accumulating.
Layer upon layer, countless.
Until I burst.
Around the time my body felt like a balloon overfilled and swollen with mana, or rather after imagining it and suppressing screams rising to my throat multiple times, begging it to stop.
I was probably sweating coldly.
‘Ah...’
What happens if you stuff a pillow beyond its limit with cotton and force it shut?
Most of it might stay shut if you press down with your weight.
But if you stuff in more than that, an amount that weight couldn't suppress...
‘This... I'll die.’
The image of the pillow cover ripping straight open flashed in my mind.
If it were just imagination, it wouldn't matter, but the problem was that pillow cover metaphorically represented my body.
If I didn't release it now, it would burst inside me and kill me.
Crack!
Aiden's favored rapier, prized for its sturdiness, couldn't withstand the rising sword energy and its blade crumbled from the base.
From the cracks in the split sword, light bearing white radiance poured out, as if it had always been that way.
The aura emitting pure light replaced the blade shards scattering with diffuse reflection.
A white sword blade.
Aura blade.
The original blade that couldn't hold crumbled and fell under gravity.
In its place, the white blade flashed sharply.
With no time to panic, driven by the sole thought of releasing it somehow, I thrust the rapier.
A white dot evoking a flickering white sun.
Ultimate technique—Pure Extreme.
Purity at its apex.
Aiden's ultimate technique... and proof of mastery.
A martial art created by one lofty genius looking down serenely upon the world.
Light piercing the heavens without a sound!
Immediately after, countless white lines etched across the bodies of the two Gigantes before the glow.
Wind blew, and flesh tore to shreds along the white lines.
Not stopping there, even the chunks scattered in the air were etched with white lines, as if refusing to leave a single handful, crumbling until no form remained.
All this happened faster than sound.
Things in my vision split one by one.
Even if I wanted to stop, the embodiment of madness that wouldn't halt simply shot straight ahead, wreaking havoc on everything it touched.
A soundless bomb detonated in midair, diffusing energy.
The shockwave sweeping the ground cleared the monsters in the area.
At its endpoint, it amplified savagely as if about to cause a massive explosion, then clashed with the Hell Gate Bielle had created, cracking the sky with a sharp *creak*.
The Hell Gate shattered into fragments like a broken glass mirror, sweeping away the blood-red moon and revealing the bare sky.
Clang!
The sound of a glass mirror shattering.
What appeared was the fading night, a serene dawn.
Beyond the silver-glowing full moon, the sun was rising.
Having witnessed it all, I stood on the ground and gave a wry smile.
I closed my eyes tightly after dryly washing my face.
“...You really made such a flashy technique without thinking about the aftermath.”
No wonder he cherished it until death in the original story; my sigh deepened as much as the ache in my bones.
White glow, shattered sky.
Dawn sunlight pouring from the shattered sky.
Isel scanned ahead with bewildered eyes.
“What the hell was that...?”
She knew the professor was strong.
She knew, but witnessing an off-the-charts strike left her speechless.
The others seemed the same; rather than glancing at the demon creations turned to dust, they stared at the professor standing tall on the ground ahead, gazing up at the sky.
As if entranced by something, Isel took a step forward while watching the professor.
Everyone knew that after this night passed, the next year would dawn.
However, in the most grueling moments, even that thought slips away.
So even if dawn suddenly arrived, it was hard to accept easily.
If Aiden had kept instilling a sense of crisis and held his sword, there might have been a shred of doubt...
But Aiden lay down as if it was finally over, searching for a place to sit.
That languid, utterly serene sight drained her strength as well.
“Pro... fessor.”
Weary, fatigued expression.
Meeting his gaze turning her way, Isel let out a quiet breath.
It seemed she had unknowingly ignored her body's signals until now; as tension released, absurd fatigue seeped in.
“What.”
A broken rapier hilt rolling on the ground.
Aiden tossed the hilt-less rapier grip aside and asked Isel.
Isel staggered over and, instead of answering, flashed a bright smile.
At that clear smile, Aiden seemed to blank for a moment before catching the collapsing Isel.
In her blurring vision, she heard someone click their tongue.
Probably, just before losing consciousness, she caught some scolding laced with concern like, ‘Don't push yourself.’
* * *
As an afterword, the academy was utterly wrecked.
The Martial Arts College goes without saying, and the Magic Department building blazed fiercely.
The Alchemy Department was half-destroyed.
It turned out later, but the Spirit Department had students in collective exhaustion from rampaging spirits.
There were probably more departments besides... or so.
With buildings collapsed beyond repair, conditions to continue classes were impossible.
The university's temporary closure was a given.
“Tired.”
“Enough already, get up.”
Charlotte looked at me with a fed-up tone and stuck out her tongue.
“No.”
There were many deaths, and even more injured.
If I hadn't stepped up, casualties would have been higher.
The public's speculation wasn't entirely wrong... but those packaging it as ‘without me, the capital would have fallen to an unprecedented calamity’ drove me to hole up in the annex.
“Hero, they say.”
“...Fuck off.”
There were two facts I'd momentarily forgotten, but first, Aiden hadn't received his knighthood yet.
Receiving it would restrict his movements, so he used seclusion as an excuse to decline, but this media frenzy gilding his face probably involved some imperial pressure.
“I have no intention of accepting knighthood yet.”
Charlotte crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.
“Aren't they offering top dollar right now? The imperial family is packaging it like, ‘Now's the perfect time; accept the hero treatment and knighthood, we'll treat you well!’”
“Same old opinion-mongering. If I accept knighthood... I'd have to quit professorship, and I'm not ready yet.”
Don't forget.
I've been moving around handling things lately, but ultimately, I'm a body that needs to renew temporary professor status.
Beyond that, it's not my concern.
“...Sigh, then at least eat something.”
I turned my eyes to Charlotte.
There's one more thing I mustn't forget.
‘...Brown chitin.’
If it were a magic beast, I could attack, but since it's not—it's my sister—fat chance.
When I unleashed that final strike, I consumed quite a bit of power.
I'd squeezed out every last drop of reserves to burst it, so it was to be expected, but understanding that didn't aid recovery.
“Bothersome.”
When I woke, what I saw wasn't the cliché ‘Oh? Are you okay?’ pretty caregiver, nor family sincerely comforting me, nor my students or protagonists.
‘Cockroach.’
Waking up and nearly punching for real was a first.
Human Roach Teacher staring at me, clacking her jaw, rolling her eyes wildly...!
I shook my head vigorously.
‘It's gotten worse.’
Though in poor condition and recovering, I was seeing traces of Roach Teacher even where she couldn't possibly be.
Already popping out due to hallucinations, now I'm mistaking people and objects for cockroaches.
On perfectly fine food, Roach Teacher poking her head out like ‘I'm here,’ killing any appetite.
Charlotte sighed deeply.
“So you're really going to lie there all day?”
“I'd like to.”
At least until the Hallucination of Disgust subsided, no, even a bit after.
Anyway, merit rewards were for Charlotte or the family to handle; I didn't need to step up.
My position had risen excessively anyway.
‘Let's rest.’
If not now, when else?
I stretched long and sprawled on the bed.
The soft bed sheets against my body made my eyes droop comfortably.
I'd exerted myself greatly, others knew it, and no one would complain if I just ate without doing anything.
The cause was on my side.
I'm recuperating.
Somehow, Charlotte's gaze toward me seemed increasingly pitiful, but anyway.
Charlotte turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
“The world needs to see this bare face... National-scale scam.”
“I'm not scamming anyone.”
“...Do you know how they're talking about you out there?”
Her seriously grave tone didn't feel good.
“They're saying I brought the disaster?”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
Seems not the thorny ‘you fixed it, but it's your fault’ plot, so why so serious...
“Be careful going out. They're treating you like some savior hero. Almost worship-level, and you hate that stuff.”
Realizing what she meant, I buried my face in the pillow.
“...Too bothersome.”
The imperial family had gilded my face too much.
‘These bastards don't know moderation...’
“And one more thing.”
Charlotte's eyes looking at me grew hazy.
“What now? The academy's going into repairs and suspending classes temporarily.”
My lips moved as I pondered her question.