Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Episode 62
The fight was one-sided.
Magic of the Transcendental level was originally magic for facing a legion.
No matter how many times mid-level magic was spammed, it was meaningless.
"Ugh?!"
Professor Aira, who had deployed ice magic, stepped back from the heat spewing out like steam.
"Ugh."
The divine embodiment enveloping Marie was emitting rising smoke.
Marie, who should have been protected inside, was also panting heavily.
Everyone was growing exhausted.
They were reaching their limit.
Nevertheless, Prudence Loa's flames were instead increasing their momentum.
He didn't unleash any particular attacks, but merely being there was pushing us into a corner.
Advanced-level magic [Mage’s Gearwheel]
To counter Prudence Loa's flames, the Gearwheel made purely of water-attribute magic, creaked and spat out spells.
It wouldn't last long.
From the start, it was an inefficient magic that poured out numerous spells in a short amount of time, but now it was forcibly meshing the gears while fixing the attribute.
Whether it was my mana or the structural collapse of the gears themselves, it was certain that it wouldn't last long.
We had to settle things before that.
"Professor Aira."
"Ugh, O-Oz..."
"As you can see, in the current situation, you are the only one who can defeat Professor Prudence Loa."
"O-Oz..."
"I am at my limit just maintaining this magic."
Professor Aira looked around the battlefield with tearful eyes.
In reality, I couldn't move. The heat of Prudence Loa's flames had already grown uncontrollably.
The moment these Gearwheels stopped would be the moment we would burn and disappear.
"Can you do it?"
"Yes...!"
Professor Aira nodded with a determined expression.
At the same time, she stopped restraining Prudence Loa and deployed her magic.
All I could do was protect Professor Aira.
I increased the output of the cogwheels.
Pajik─!
The Gearwheels rotated with a sound as if they would break, and they poured out magic even faster.
But this wasn't enough.
"Marie."
"U-huh!"
Marie, who was continuously and forcefully emitting demonic power to erode and extinguish Prudence Loa's flames, answered with difficulty.
"Can you open a path? It'll only take a moment."
All that was needed was for a path to Prudence Loa to open.
That would be enough.
"Okay, I'll try."
"Sorry... and thank you."
Professor Aira had finished her preparations.
In the time I had bought, she too had surely done her best.
Now, all that was left was to seize a single moment of opportunity.
"Open the path right now."
"Okay."
Marie walked out from inside the demonic embodiment and raised her staff.
The demonic embodiment, the moment it set Marie down, immediately lunged towards Prudence Loa's location.
"...Hear me, lingering spirits trapped in regret, wandering the earth."
A sinister voice began to flow from Marie's lips. The whites of her eyes once again turned black, darkening the surrounding colors even further.
"The King of the Underworld commands."
Her sorcery. [Necromancy]
"Burn those lives and open the path."
Crack.
The moment her command was given, numerous deceased broke through the floor and raised themselves up.
They immediately followed behind the divine embodiment, clearing a path.
"With this much, you cannot block my flames..."
"No."
As expected, Prudence Loa's flames incinerated everything.
But ashes always remain.
Those ashes, resembling the color of Marie's eyes, formed a straight path.
"It will be enough."
"......"
"That will be enough. Professor Prudence Loa."
My [Mage’s Gearwheel] was limited to blocking the heat.
Marie's necromancy was limited to opening a path.
But that was enough.
"Heh..."
Prudence Loa, who had been pierced through the heat and steam, let out a sigh.
"Was that the magic that Professor Merlin had worked on over her entire life?"
Professor Aira's research involved weaving together numerous component formulas to deploy advanced-level magic.
And her research had already reached the completion stage, and she herself was already a high-ranking mage.
In that case, would she have only created magic that wove together merely basic and intermediate levels?
No, that couldn't be.
"Indeed, with just that, you would be qualified to be called an elder..."
I knew.
The [Pinaka] she created was merely the first step in her plan.
Her research included not only basic, beginner, and intermediate levels, but even advanced levels.
A wide-ranging component formula created by binding together three advanced-level magic spells and numerous basic, beginner, and intermediate magic spells emitted a light strong enough to push back even Prudence Loa's flames.
The range was narrow, but its power was unmatched, a spear of destruction that devoured even flames that were thought to be insurmountable.
Highest-level magic [Trishul]
Her fruition pierced through Prudence Loa's heart.
The flames of [Prometheus] could never regenerate again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Prudence Loa knew.
He would die today. He had known that even before committing the deed. No matter the outcome, the fact that he would die would not change.
"Heh heh..."
Prudence Loa's boasted transcendental-level magic, [Prometheus], had lost all its heat.
The flames he had thought would never extinguish from his heart were slowly dying out.
Now, only embers remained.
"Do you have any last words?"
Prudence Loa raised his head at the voice that came from above him. It was only then that he realized he had been lying face down.
"...It was a long struggle."
Prudence Loa said, looking up at the three people who had defeated him.
His vision was already blurring, and he couldn't distinguish who was who, but it didn't matter.
"Thanks to you, I will finally put an end to my struggle."
"Why did you do such a thing...?"
Oz asked, as if he couldn't understand. He couldn't fathom why he would go to the trouble of releasing the 'Outer being'.
There was no need to adhere to such a forceful method.
"It was because of my arrogance."
Prudence Loa tried with difficulty to raise himself up.
But it seemed his arms no longer had any strength, and he kept burying his face in the ground.
"And didn't I tell you?"
When Oz, unable to bear it any longer, propped Prudence Loa up, he leaned against Oz and said,
"I saw the seeds of war."
"Even so, to force such a thing on everyone..."
Prudence Loa, leaning against Oz, looked at the palm of his hand.
As always, that hand was stained red with blood.
However, this time, his own blood would also be mixed in.
"Heir..."
Prudence Loa said in a voice only Oz could hear.
"That monster devours humans and takes their form."
"...!"
Oz stiffened at Prudence Loa's words. Even though he was enthusiastic about experiments, this meant that he had already identified the existence of that monster.
The insight of an elder-level mage was beyond imagination.
"If left alone, it probably would have been revealed even if it wasn't by me."
The existence of the monster could not be concealed.
This was because there were researchers from outside in Tia's laboratory.
It would have been impossible to silence them regarding such a critical matter.
That is why Prudence Loa committed the deed.
"If the existence of that monster becomes known to the world, war cannot be avoided."
Prudence Loa thought.
To correct the world, struggle was necessary. But there also needed to be time to prepare for it.
That is why he bought time.
It wasn't just time to become accustomed to the monster's existence.
"The students are still immature."
He wanted to postpone the war itself, which would soon erupt.
He wanted to give the students even a little more time to prepare.
Prudence Loa, who had shed much blood as a revolutionary, knew best how brutal war was.
"It is my selfish wish, but I believe they need to become accustomed to it. In a world of concealment, deception, and cover-ups, I believe they need time to become accustomed to it..."
Prudence Loa coughed up blood in the middle of speaking, then continued.
His appearance looked as if he were trying to burn his last embers.
"Heir... Oz, can you give them time?"
"Isn't that not something I can give...?"
"Then can you, for the sake of these still immature ones, make the right choice?"
"Aren't I also still an immature child...?"
"Then it cannot be helped."
Prudence Loa intuitively knew that his end was approaching.
Therefore, using that last moment, Prudence spoke.
"Struggle."
So that someone like himself would never appear again.
If you are immature, hone yourselves through endless struggle.
Do not stop without knowing anything, and constantly doubt.
Understand the world, clarify it, remove the unnecessary, and discover the truth.
Prudence's short words contained a multitude of meanings.
"Now, move towards the place you were trying to go..."
Prudence Loa collapsed, no longer able to support himself.
Oz, watching Prudence's final moments, felt his back grow hot.
On his back, in the center of the [Starry Sky Robe], Prudence Loa's red handprint remained.
Just as he had carried on countless wishes, this time his wish was carried on.
Oz turned away from Prudence Loa's corpse.
"Oz?"
"Marie, you did well. Professor Aira? Could you please take care of Marie?"
"...You intend to move immediately?"
"Yes."
Oz relentlessly rushed towards the end point of this incident.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Clang!
The ice of Baekyang that had been enveloping Eleanor shattered into pieces.
"Kugh!"
Eleanor was struggling to block the attack of the 'outsider' that had swallowed Decentura.
If not for Baekyang's sorcery, she might have already been defeated.
"Haa... haa..."
But the sorcery that Baekyang had cast had just ended.
The defense skill cast by an SR-rank guardian had been dispelled.
That was how much she was struggling.
But that wasn't because the monster was strong, but rather because Eleanor couldn't bring herself to swing her sword at the monster.
Eleanor could instinctively tell. She could feel it through the power of the key residing within her.
That monster was not the Decentura she knew. It was merely a monster that had devoured her, her enemy.
Eleanor gripped her greatsword again. No, she tried to.
"Princess...?"
"Ugh?!"
But she couldn't swing that sword. The monster was cleverly exploiting Eleanor's hesitation.
Eleanor knew this fact as well, but she couldn't help but hesitate.
The past mistake she had turned away from flickered before her eyes, suffocating her.
'At this rate...'
Crack──
Creak───
Eleanor began to hear a sound near her ears, as if someone was forcibly trying to open a lock that wouldn't budge.
'...I'm going to disappear again.'
The key was twisting.
The [Key of Understanding] had the power to dye everything as one.
But conversely, there was also the danger of becoming distant from everything.
Her key, as if possessing a will of its own, was trying to erase its existence in the face of its owner's danger.
"Ughhhhhh!!!"
Eleanor bit her lip to steady her increasingly weakening self.
Crimson blood flowed down her chin, but she paid it no mind.
She decided not to look away.
She decided not to run away.
"Princess... why... the sword... to me...?"
"Decentura."
If that monster was the one that had swallowed Decentura, shouldn't she be the one to liberate Decentura?
Eleanor raised her greatsword.
"I loved all the dresses you recommended to me..."
"Aaaaaaah!"
Thwack!
Eleanor swung her sword ruthlessly at the monster.
There was still a tremor in her hand, but it didn't hinder her attack.
The monster screamed.
At that pained appearance, Eleanor wanted to tightly shut her eyes, but she endured.
"Even when I was sulking after being scolded by Father, seeing your foolish antics made me laugh."
Snap!
Eleanor's attacks continued relentlessly. She was still weak, but her will was incomparably stronger than before.
"The bread you used to bake was so sweet and soft, it was really delicious."
"It hurts... it hurts...!"
Eleanor spoke as if savoring her memories with Decentura.
There were too many memories.
That's why, when she realized those memories had disappeared, she couldn't help but shed tears.
Even now, those tears blurred her vision, but Eleanor didn't close her eyes.
Even those tears were memories, so she didn't want to easily let them flow away.
"Even if you have forgotten..."
Bang!
Eleanor kicked away the monster that was trying to thrust its terrifying teeth at her.
While the monster lost its balance and flailed, Eleanor raised her greatsword high and declared,
"I remember everything!"
So, it's okay now.
Click, click.
Eleanor heard a sound within herself, as if trying to fit a key into a lock.
In time with that sound, she gripped her sword even tighter.
"Open──"
She didn't even know why she uttered those words.
She didn't know if what she was currently holding was just a simple sword.
Eleanor merely wished for Decentura's salvation. She wanted to understand the pain she had felt and be with her.
And in response to her wish, the [Key of Understanding] reacted.
"──Warmth of Kindness!"
Slash──!
Soon after, the greatsword imbued with golden light cut the monster in two.