The Fall of the Sword Princess
The Fall of the Sword Princess incident came without warning.
It was an ordinary day, just like any other. I had been sitting in class, listening to the lecture as usual. The only difference was that Tana was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Tana?”
“No idea.”
Cheon Yu-ha looked at the seat beside me with a puzzled expression. The spot where Tana normally sat was now completely empty.
“Is she sick or something?”
“She didn’t look sick yesterday. And if she were, she would’ve at least texted. At minimum, she’d ask someone to record the lecture for her.”
She had a point. Midterms were coming up soon. In the game, maybe not, but from what I’d seen of her so far, Tana was always the diligent type who paid close attention in class. Even if she were ill, she would have wanted those recordings.
But there had been no contact at all…
Something felt off.
“What’s that smell?”
“Ugh, seriously.”
“What the hell is this?”
The murmurs spreading through the room made me scan my surroundings. From various spots in the lecture hall, black bubbles were rising toward the ceiling. They collided with one another, burst against the ceiling with wet pops, and left behind a sticky black residue in their wake.
One. Two. Three. The number kept growing.
“What is this stuff?”
One wide-eyed cadet reached out toward a bubble floating near the ceiling.
“Don’t touch it!”
I shouted the moment I realized what those bubbles were.
But it was too late. Startled by my yell, the cadet turned his head—and his hand made contact. That was when it began to move.
The instant it touched his finger, the bubble swelled exponentially. By the time it had grown larger than the cadet himself, it swallowed him whole. He didn’t even have time to resist. In a single gulp.
The cadet trapped inside thrashed for a moment before his eyes slowly closed.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
The students who had been watching screamed and bolted for the exits. They shoved one another in a desperate attempt to escape this place.
Too bad. There was no paradise waiting for them outside.
The scene beyond the lecture hall was even worse. Far more bubbles had gathered out there. The sticky black substance clinging to the ceiling was now slowly dripping downward, forming thick pillars.
We were trapped between a rock and a hard place. The bubbles inside the hall were multiplying rapidly, and outside was already completely submerged in them.
That was when a flash of blue light cut through the air. Cheon Yu-ha’s sword sliced the bubbles apart.
The ones touched by her blue mana split cleanly in two, like tofu under a knife.
“Get a grip!”
Her shout with sword in hand snapped the terrified students back to their senses. They had taken classes precisely to deal with abnormal phenomena like this. Panicking now was beyond ridiculous.
Once they realized that, organizing them became much easier. The leaders of each group began directing their members. Those who could use magic drove the bubbles back with spells, while cadets wielding weapons protected the mages with aura and sliced through the threats.
A formation took shape naturally. At its center stood the professor.
Not every professor was a combat specialist, but they were adults. And adults had the experience needed to guide and calm frightened students.
“Slowly! We can’t clear every path, so let’s focus on opening just one!”
Under the professor’s command, a route began to form.
…And I watched the entire spectacle unfold.
“You know something, don’t you?”
Cheon Yu-ha had already sheathed her sword and approached me. She was giving me the same suspicious look she’d worn back at the café.
“What makes you think that?”
“You yelled at him not to touch it. Right at the start.”
“It just looked dangerous. That’s all.”
When I tried to play it off lightly, she let out a heavy sigh and swept her hair back. Then she slightly adjusted the angle of her sword so that it pointed in my direction.
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“…This situation is probably Tana’s doing. Or more precisely, something Chairman Erhen set in motion.”
“What?”
Seeing her completely lost expression, I frowned. I had to admit it. I had been complacent. I’d assumed the variables I’d created were insignificant. I’d believed that after receiving evidence from Tana and speaking with her, no one would notice that her heart had changed.
Even though the demon I’d seen in the game was never that simple.
This crisis had occurred because of my carelessness. Despite all my preparations, the moment the incident erupted I hadn’t been able to respond immediately. It was clearly my mistake.
I ground my teeth. Clenching my fist, I gripped the sword at my waist.
“…Looks like there’s a lot I don’t know about.”
Having read my expression, Cheon Yu-ha took a small step back.
“Chairman Erhen forced Tana into a contract with a demon. And during that process, I received one request from her.”
“A request?”
Without a word, I pulled out the napkin I had kept in my pocket and handed it to her. The moment Cheon Yu-ha read it, her face hardened.
Please kill me.
There was no way anyone could stay calm after reading those words.
“……So you’re going to kill Tana?”
Her voice trembled. Though they had only known each other for a single semester, they had clearly grown close. They talked, laughed together, and had even gossiped about me behind my back.
I wasn’t thrilled about that last part, but regardless—Cheon Yu-ha wasn’t the kind of person who could coldly stand by while someone she had befriended died. If there was any way to save her, she would. Even if there was no method, killing her would be the absolute last resort.
That was the kind of person Cheon Yu-ha was.
Which was exactly why I said:
“No. We’re going to save her.”
She was an indispensable asset in rescuing Tana.
“How?”
She looked up at me with an expression that said of course you’d say that. I lifted my gaze toward the path that had yet to be cleared.
Thanks to the Eye of the Transcendent, I could roughly predict where Tana would be. The place where the formless energy forming the bubbles was growing thickest. That was almost certainly where Tana Erhen would be.
If we went there, the subjugation of the Fallen Sword Princess would begin.
“We go to where Tana is, subdue her, and make her drink this.”
When I took out the Holy Water, Cheon Yu-ha’s eyes widened. As the granddaughter of the Sword Saint, she understood exactly how valuable Holy Water was. And she understood why I would be carrying it.
“I’m going to have a lot of questions for you later.”
But she didn’t ask them now. As if there were more important things to focus on.
“First, let’s save Tana. I’ll answer everything properly afterward.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
The moment she finished speaking, her sword glowed blue. She lightly sliced through the bubbles in front of us. Looked like she was in good condition.
“So we’re heading straight to Tana?”
“No. There’s someone we need to pick up first.”
“Pick up? Who?”
There was one person. In a situation this heavily tainted with demonic energy, the most reliable madwoman I knew.
The request I had received after nearly dying. It was time to use it.
Holy Power Infusion
Bubbles clung to my fist. The black foam swelled rapidly, trying to devour my hand, but—
Bang!
The moment golden holy energy swirled around Elesia’s hand, the bubble burst without resistance.
“Filthy thing.”
She frowned as she looked around. The entire area was saturated with unclean demonic energy. Ordinary students might not have noticed, but as someone who wielded Holy Power, she instinctively understood. These bubbles were connected to a demon.
And not just any demon. This was on a completely different level. It wasn’t a simple contract—this felt like an actual demon noble had manifested.
Here? Inside the academy? Slipping past the eyes of the dean and the professors?
“External support is probably going to take a while.”
She had already confirmed it with her Holy Power. A barrier had been erected that prevented anyone except the first- and second-year students currently inside the building from entering.
Since the barrier was infused with a demon’s power, even if the dean stepped in personally, it would hold for at least thirty minutes. And thirty minutes was more than enough time for countless people to die.
But there was something strange.
‘They don’t die even after being swallowed by the bubbles.’
She had assumed that once someone was absorbed, they would thrash for a bit and then perish. But that wasn’t the case. They were simply forced into a deep sleep. She had no way of knowing what horrors they might be experiencing in their dreams, but at least there was no visible physical damage.
Elesia continued popping bubbles as she thought. If a demon had made a contract and come to the academy, there had to be a clear objective. So why wasn’t it killing all the students?
Killing them would only increase the demon’s power. Souls and fear were their greatest sources of strength, after all.
Even as these questions swirled in her mind, her feet kept moving forward. The Holy Power flowing through her body was naturally guiding her toward the demon. They were polar opposites, after all.
Gwooooooo—!
Just as she was advancing while bursting more bubbles, the foam suddenly gathered and formed a giant tall enough to touch the ceiling. A body made entirely of condensed bubbles wouldn’t die from a simple punch.
There had to be a core somewhere allowing it to regenerate, but she couldn’t see it.
Even if Elesia drove her fist through the giant’s body, it would simply absorb more bubbles from its surroundings and grow massive again. It was clearly trying to block her advance.
“How annoying.”
Knowing that, Elesia still couldn’t deal with the giant. If she poured out her Holy Power, it would melt in one go, but in this confined space the bubbles regenerated endlessly.
In other words, she was stuck here. Unless she was willing to take damage and push forward anyway.
“Haa…”
Elesia finished her brief deliberation and gathered Holy Power into her fist. Standing around doing nothing wasn’t her style. Even if she took some hits, moving forward was better.
Just as she was about to throw the punch—
“Found you!”
Slash.
A slash of unknown origin flew in from behind her. The sharp strike instantly severed the giant’s core.
Grrrrrrrr…
The giant’s body collapsed. She immediately spun around.
There stood her proud junior. Her very proud junior smiled brightly and said,
“Shall we go beat up my friend?”
“……”
There was one fact that most people didn’t know. Elesia was fully aware that what she did was insane. She did it anyway. Because acting crazy kept annoying things from happening.
That was why Elesia rarely used the word “crazy” for ordinary situations. After all, her own behavior far exceeded that level.
Yet after hearing her junior’s words, she unconsciously blurted out:
“What kind of insane nonsense is that?”
It was a reaction born of genuine shock.