13. Academy Terror WWE
13. Academy Terror WWE
"......Let's set that aside for now. We're short on time."
".........Yes."
"So you really did watch everything. Hiding somewhere, like just now?"
"That's right."
"You have every right to feel betrayed."
Adam looked troubled, but at the same time he didn't seem to care all that much.
In spite of herself, Rus felt a surge of emotion.
All the worry and heartache I went through because of you.
And that's how you react───
"Then, shall I tell you everything?"
"......What?"
"Didn't you say it yourself? To spill it all. I'll tell you everything."
──In that moment, Rus's thoughts stopped.
She had indeed said that. It was a conversation she was obliged to have. But it was almost comical, the way she'd insisted he speak directly, only to be caught off guard now that she was about to hear it.
Yet it couldn't be helped. This was the first time she was hearing Adam's true feelings, even counting her previous regression.
He might lie. But when it came to Adam, she could gauge the truth well enough that it didn't worry her much. If anything, if he persisted with lies even in a situation like this, that would be the ultimate betrayal.
'The Dark Sword alone caused massive changes.'
But perhaps this was the biggest change of all. The true feelings of the man she'd once thought was simply a kind Finance Director and mentor.
Why, as Finance Director, was he terrorizing the academy? Why had he made contact with the Wish Order? Why did his actions contradict themselves so wildly?
The fact that she could hear all of it from Adam's own mouth made Rus swallow hard.
"To put it simply, it's about money."
"......Money, you say?"
"That's why I instigated the terror attack with the Order. Naturally, that alone must be hard to understand."
"No."
"Pardon?"
"I understand."
It was obvious. Anyone who saw how the Finance Director was living these days would agree.
In the first place, wasn't it the Order that had suddenly broached the topic of a terror attack?
'That bitch Milia clearly sweet-talked him.'
She must have promised money in exchange for cooperating on a terror attack. One look at the dormitory he was stuck in made it perfectly clear what kind of treatment Adam was receiving from the Chairwoman and the academy.
Rus ground her teeth for a moment, but soon her anger shifted into a slightly different feeling.
The fact that Adam had told her the truth without a single lie.
The secret, quiet superiority of knowing Adam's secrets.
'He found out I'm a woman too.......'
She could trust Adam. Maybe Adam felt the same way? Thinking back, had he permitted her to move in precisely because he already harbored goodwill toward her?
Forgetting for a moment that she'd proposed a rent he couldn't possibly refuse, Rus briefly sank into that fantasy before snapping back to her senses when she noticed Adam's particularly odd gaze.
"......Thank you. For being honest with me."
"No, I still haven't said every──"
"I'll hear the rest at the dormitory. Since, after all, we're living together."
"Even that, if you're actually a woman──"
"First, I'll be back."
He seemed to want to say more, but even if she'd wanted to, she couldn't listen. Not because she didn't want to, but because there was no time.
The details could wait until they were back at the dormitory after this was over. Regardless of the content, the fact that Adam had spoken his true feelings was enough.
Feeling more fulfilled than she had since her regression, Rus silently gripped her sword and fixed her gaze on the direction Malton had flown off in moments ago.
"You son of a bitch......!!"
"It won't take long."
"Student Rus! Wait──"
Leaving Adam behind, she launched herself toward Malton. Buried momentarily in the rubble, Malton was emerging with a furious face, demolishing everything around him.
'Just what you'd expect from a 7th Rank of the Order.'
If he'd been a proper 7th Rank, he'd have burst out of that debris in an instant. He was this imperfect precisely because he was from the Wish Order, which boosted its ranks through underhanded means using the Dark Sword's power.
Rus was already a highly seasoned 6th Rank. At least where fundamentals and technique were concerned, she didn't imagine for a second she'd be outmatched.
But.
"You goddamn bitch!!"
Crunch!
The only thing that bothered her was that Rigid Energy.
As if to prove he was a 7th Rank, no matter how incomplete, the Rigid Energy gathering in both of Malton's hands was devastatingly destructive. She'd been able to overpower it head-on moments ago with the Dark Sword's power, but.
'If I feed it any more blood, it'll fully awaken.'
Originally, she would have killed Malton even if it meant doing just that, but the situation had changed.
The regression alongside the Dark Sword had caused the Order to decline heavily. Letting it be discovered that she possessed the Dark Sword here would be a colossal blunder.
Of course, if she killed Malton cleanly enough, it might be fine.
'But Adam might notice.'
It was best to block off even the slightest possibility. Rus voluntarily sealed off the Dark Sword's use.
And naturally, she had no fear of losing even without it.
"Hup!!"
Boom!!!
Malton slammed his Rigid Energy-laden fist into the ground, using the debris to blind Rus. He was clearly wary of the unidentified method she'd used to overpower his energy head-on just moments before.
Whatever his imperfections, he was a battle-hardened veteran. With Rigid Energy as a weapon, even a single clean hit would mean the end.
Rus dealt with it very simply.
Wooong.
It wasn't only her vision that was obstructed. If anything, Rus's senses far surpassed Malton's.
Thus, there was no need to retreat or be wary of a surprise attack.
'He's still right there on the other side.'
Sensing her opponent's presence, effectively seeing through the wall of debris, all she had to do was release her Sword Aura toward that spot.
Like that, the Aura-laden strike from Rus's worn sword cleaved right through the debris and the spot where Malton's presence was felt.
"Got you......!!"
"............."
Immediately after, Malton burst out from the rubble where he'd hidden.
Instead of preparing another attack after striking the ground to block her vision, he had immediately hidden in the surrounding debris. It was an unsightly display, but he didn't seem to care at all.
The presence Rus had thought was Malton earlier was also.
'He shaped Rigid Energy into a human form.......'
He'd simply mixed Rigid Energy and ki into a shape resembling himself and used it to deceive her.
It was a trick she'd have spotted clearly if she'd examined it closely, but in a death match where split-second judgments were everything, seeing through such a ploy instantly was no easy feat.
Because he was an incomplete 7th Rank, the Rigid Energy he could wield was meager, yet he'd dumped most of it into that feint, boldly deceiving her while saving just the absolute minimum to deliver a fatal blow.
He was, without question, the first genuinely strong opponent Rus had faced since her regression.
"......Too bad for you."
"What!?"
"I've already seen that trick once."
In her previous cycle, Malton had been one of Pope Milia's limbs, the Holy Knight Commander who had swept across the continent.
Back then, Rus had fought alongside the Empire in a joint front and had faced Malton directly.
At that time, Malton had been an archbishop, and through the Dark Sword's sustained power, he'd become an almost fully realized 7th Rank. Naturally, he'd been far stronger, faster, and more cunning than now.
The ace in the hole that version of Malton had used was exactly this Rigid Energy clone.
It was a technique she already knew because she had regressed.
Clang!
So, naturally, she also knew how to counter it. She continued the trajectory of the Sword Aura thrust and swung it directly toward Malton.
That alone was enough to neutralize his ambush. Since the tactic relied on the opponent dropping their guard after cutting down the clone, it was surprisingly easy to react to if you never relaxed your vigilance.
Originally, it was something Malton employed only as his very last resort.
'Which means he's that cornered.'
Not because he was facing Rus.
But because he couldn't afford to drag this fight out any longer.
"Damn it, how on earth......? A 6th Rank at your age, and what's more, have you been in a war or something!?"
"Unnecessarily sharp."
"You goddamn pest."
"......How about surrendering? You're far past the point of running away."
"Utter horseshit. A bitch with eyes like yours would never let me live."
Unnecessarily sharp, indeed.
Since she fully intended to kill him, he'd seen through her in turn. With even his trump card ambush a failure, Malton was now searching for any chance to flee rather than continue the fight.
"Over there! Rigid Energy was detected over there!"
"If it's 7th Rank, it has to be the terror mastermind! Capture him no matter what!"
"Damn it, how did the rest of them all slip out......? We at least have to get this ringleader!"
The Third Guard Unit's voices rang out from the surroundings. They couldn't defeat Malton, but they could at least buy time.
Then the Third Guard Unit Commander or the other units that had left the grounds would return. Either way, Malton was out of options.
And so Malton made his choice just as fast.
"Damnation!"
"......Where do you think you're going."
Rus locked her gaze on Malton, who had unhesitatingly gathered Rigid Energy into his legs and leaped.
She was about to give chase, utilizing her Sword Aura in the same way, when──
"Huff......huff......Rus, Student Rus! Student!"
"A-, Adam!? Wait, it's dangerous here......!!"
"No! You don't need to chase him any further! Just let him go!"
"What......?"
Adam, who was supposed to be in the building, was groaning and clambering over the wreckage.
Panicked that Malton might seize Adam as a hostage at any second, Rus froze, but Malton was already fleeing with no thought of hostages, scorch marks practically on his soles.
Seeing Malton—who, rotten as he was, still lived up to the title of 7th Rank—outrunning the pursuing Third Guard Unit, it was clear: catching him now was too late.
For a moment, resentment and reproach flickered in Rus's eyes.
"Huff......huff......That really takes it out of you."
"............."
"Um, Student Rus?"
"......It's nothing."
Seeing Adam, sweat-soaked and flapping his collar, those feelings evaporated in an instant.
For some reason she couldn't fathom, Rus turned all the way around to hide her reddening face, then glanced back at Adam with a faintly reproachful tone.
"More importantly, why did you come? I could have beaten that guy thoroughly."
"Ah, it wasn't that I was worried about Student Rus. I trusted you'd win anyway. The reason I said not to chase him is something else."
"......Something else?"
She felt a sting of disappointment at the words "wasn't that I was worried," then her lips curled up at the words "trusted you'd win."
Swinging between despair and bliss at every single word from Adam, Rus found herself asking again.
Something else? Was there a reason to let Malton escape?
"Is it, perhaps, because of the money you mentioned earlier......."
"That's not it. Actually, I should have told you sooner, but you rushed right out, Student Rus."
"What?"
"The very fact that Malton was trying to abduct me was the point. A trade, I suppose you could call it?"
The point? A trade?
Wait, the fact that Malton had tried to kidnap Adam was something he'd been aiming for?
"Don't tell me you were planning to leave the academy altogether? To join the Order for the money?"
"Am I insane? It's because being kidnapped wouldn't be a problem regardless. I needed to separate Malton away somehow."
"Separate him?"
"Yes. A universal cheat key who can resolve anything, be it kidnapping or whatever, is currently on her way."
As in the past, Adam often used words she couldn't quite understand. Still, from the context, she could infer what he meant by "cheat key."
In truth, she would have understood even without hearing Adam's words.
Because a presence that hadn't been there moments ago was now radiating with overwhelming intensity.
"Ah, she's here."
"This is......."
"Now all we have to do is wait."
A power beyond measure, the kind she'd seen once before during the uninhabited island midterm exam.
Pure, devastating, and utterly absolute.
......8th Rank energy.
*
"Damn it, damn it......!!"
Malton ran. He'd become a laughingstock, and though a seething urge to kill that unidentified female student burned inside him, his will to survive burned hotter.
The Archbishop and the other Order members would have already fled the academy under the guidance of that bishop-candidate bitch. Unlike them, Malton had moved separately to attempt the Finance Director's kidnapping, so he had to find his own way out of the academy.
He decided to simply leap over the wall and escape.
"Catch him!"
"Damn it, he's impossibly fast!"
"Stop him, somehow!"
The Third Guard Unit pursued him, but they were no match for Malton, who was pouring every ounce of strength purely into flight.
Unless the Third Guard Unit Commander—flagged as a person of interest in the plan—stepped in, there was no way he'd be caught. And even if the commander appeared at this point, Malton already had the academy wall right in front of him.
The wall was nothing more than a boundary separating the academy's interior from the outside. Malton leaped straight over it with ease.
"Ha, haha!"
He still had a long way to run, but for now, he was out of that academy. That alone made Malton burst into laughter.
Now he just had to keep going. The Archbishop would reprimand him, but the failure of that bishop-candidate's scheme was a far bigger issue, so he could bury it easily enough.
If anything, he could even put pressure on them, claiming he'd been trying to cover for her failed plan.
'If the worst comes to it, I'll just flee to the Holy Kingdom.'
The Order was crumbling anyway. Malton, who prioritized self-preservation above all, was already contemplating an escape to the Holy Kingdom.
If he went to the Holy Kingdom and informed on the Order, he could expect a handsome reward. If his path to becoming Archbishop fell through, it was worth serious consideration.
And so, as he ran blindly onward──
".........Huh?"
At some point.
He realized he had stopped.
He was running. He had definitely been running.
Yet his legs would not move.
And then.
"......Ah."
Beyond the horizon, a wave was surging toward him.
He knew. He knew how absurd that was. This was inland territory; in this direction, there wasn't even a lake, let alone a sea.
And yet, a wave was coming. Even more, from the entire visible horizon, waves as tall as houses were closing in.
It did not take long to realize that it was not, in fact, a wave.
Just as the surrounding space had shattered when Malton used Rigid Energy──
The wave, too vast to take in at a single glance, was entirely Rigid Energy.
The sheer, overwhelming excess of it was shattering space itself, creating the illusion of a tidal wave.
"Did you actually think you'd get away?"
"Ah, aaah......!!"
"As if I'd ever let you."
Just as people do not compare a cup of water to the ocean.
Before that wave of absolute power, Malton's existence was utterly powerless.
If he had been a complete 7th Rank, a minimal resistance, a desperate flight might have been possible. But Malton's feet were already frozen rigid with terror; they would not move.
A wave of Rigid Energy that would pulverize trees, rocks, whatever it met, without discrimination.
Facing a tsunami, Malton, now just a mere human,──
"The Mad...... Dragon."
He understood why that being had earned such a moniker in ages past.
Dragons had gone extinct over three hundred years ago. In the era when that monster was active, dragons didn't even exist, so he'd always thought the name Mad Dragon was rather grandiose.
But no. The dragons were gone, but the terror and majesty they inspired lived on in human memory, and──
──If there were a dragon in a mad rampage, this was surely what it would look like.
Only by comparing it to the existence of a dragon could that monster's danger be adequately conveyed.
In the days when that monster, the Chairwoman, was called the Human Butcher, the soldiers who barely survived had coined that moniker to warn their comrades, their families, to flee from her as quickly as possible.
The wave was now so close that no matter how high he lifted his head, he could not see its end, and the Chairwoman, having walked over at a leisurely pace, smiled and closed her fist.
"Well then."
"Sp-, spare......!!"
"Farewell."
With that single motion, a colossal fist of Rigid Energy materialized in the air, and pure destruction, fused with the wave of Rigid Energy, detonated against the earth.
There was no sound. The energy swallowed the screams of some Holy Knight Commander and the very sound of the earth rupturing.
All that was left.
Was a single, enormous basin carved into the ground.