Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Full Stop
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[You’re going to exorcise me?]
“Yeah.”
The angel, double-checking if she’d misheard, swept a hand down her face in disbelief.
[You?]
Her venomous glare pierced right through me.
[It was just a few months ago that I had to save your sorry ass because you couldn’t even handle the evil spirits properly. And I was the one who gave you that hint about necromancy.]
“……”
[And now you think you can exorcise me? Label me as an evil spirit?]
The angel’s hair spread out, filling the entire rooftop floor.
It was like a sewer pipe had burst, soaking the ground—her hair densely claimed every inch of space without gaps.
[I’ve killed necromancers way stronger than you in an instant. You think taking out someone like you would be hard?]
Growling, she unleashed a dizzying wave of murderous intent. I opened my mouth calmly as I faced her.
“What allowed you to wield that kind of power?”
[…What?]
“I’ve already heard about that necromancer. I know what she was planning to do to this academy.”
I’d said it several times before, but being a necromancer didn’t mean you could see all spirits. That was a blessing and a curse unique to me.
Other necromancers tamed and controlled evil spirits—those with strong grudges that could manifest or cause harm—through pain.
It was a concept similar to summoning, but finding spirits with grudges was harder than it sounded.
From that necromancer’s perspective, this academy must have been an irresistible feast she couldn’t pass up.
She got greedy, trying to claim all the evil spirits wandering the academy for herself.
“She harbored clear malice, so you could tap into that power. She was trying to steal Setima’s souls for her own.”
Thought entities were more influenced by motivations and emotions than you’d think.
They were mental constructs born from desires, after all.
“That’s why you were granted that strength. You had to protect them, so you couldn’t help but be strong.”
[…I’m the same now.]
“No, you’re not at all.”
If anything, the situation was the opposite.
“Right now, it’s not you carrying Setima’s will—it’s me.”
The black sword in my hand was proof, as were the souls of Setima accompanying me, their answer.
[Why…!]
The people of Setima didn’t want what the angel was doing. The moment she realized that, her power would start to fade.
[No! That’s not it! They died so unjustly! So painfully! And you’re saying they don’t still dream of revenge?!]
As cracks formed in the absolute wall of her beliefs, the angel’s wildly thrashing hair began to shrink back.
[The goddess you cried out to stayed silent to the end! More than that worthless goddess’s teachings! More than that damned nonsense about forgiving sinners!]
I plunged the warrior’s sword into the ground, then walked toward her through the opened path.
The warrior and the angel had much in common. He sympathized with her ideology too, but he prioritized the wishes of Setima’s people, so he stayed silent.
[I’m right here, the one you created yourselves! I’ll grant your wishes! For those of you who died unjustly and left no name behind! I’ll leave a scar on the kingdom they can never erase!]
The angel’s desperate, choking sobs were utterly heartbreaking.
Like Icarus, whose wings burned as he flew too close to the sun.
She, too, was steadily heading toward her own destruction.
[I’ll make it happen! Just stay quiet, and I’ll avenge your injustice! But why! Why! WHY!]
“……”
[Why are you siding with that man! Why are you still trying to forgive them!]
“Enough.”
I couldn’t fully understand it myself.
I wasn’t some saint from the scriptures or one of this continent’s saintesses.
Completely grasping Setima’s choice was impossible for me.
But.
“Don’t deny their lives.”
The souls of Setima, transformed into blue flames by accepting my magic, swirled around the angel.
[You all…!]
Twisting their wishes could be seen as dismissing the individuals who made them.
It was just using that as motivation, trampling over the person’s own opinion.
And yet, naturally, Setima’s grudge-bearing spirits.
Were caressing and comforting the angel.
Sorry for being so inadequate.
Thank you for getting angry for us.
And for enduring so much all this time.
[Ah, aaaaaah!]
The blue flames wrapped around my hand. Since she was a thought entity without a soul, unlike other spirits, she wouldn’t find repose—she’d face total dissolution.
“Set down that burden. I have no intention of carrying out revenge since that’s not what they want.”
My flame-enveloped hand rested on the head of the collapsed, weeping angel.
My flames naturally spread along the girl’s hair, brightly illuminating the entire rooftop.
“I declare that their nobility and brilliance will be known to everyone on the continent.”
[…!]
“Deus Verdi. No…”
I slowly knelt before the girl. With an unconscious smile of comfort, hoping she’d find faith.
“As Kim Shin-woo, I swear it.”
[Kim… Shin-woo…?]
“My real name.”
I nodded with a smile, and the girl stared blankly at me before wiping her tears and asking.
[Just tell me one thing.]
“Anything.”
[The child who created me—where is she now?]
The girl who proudly boasted to the warrior about her angel.
In truth, the angel’s form had taken shape thanks to her.
“Her name was Lea.”
The unforgettable name of the girl I met on my first day at the academy.
“She entered repose months ago.”
She was the first to find peace through conversation with me and enter repose.
“I see.”
Plop.
The angel’s drooping head trembled slightly. The hot tears streaming down carried a sense of relief.
“I’m glad.”
“……”
[I’ll trust you.]
The girl’s form burned away and vanished. Soon, the entire rooftop was engulfed in blue flames.
Moments later.
Cracks spread across the darkened sky, and cold moonlight poured in.
Screams from evil spirits echoed from all directions, mingled with the cheers of people.
The fog-shrouded cityscape unfolded, and the familiar rooftop view entered my eyes for the first time in ages.
The blue flames died down.
Setima’s grudge spirits, having comforted the angel, began closing their eyes one by one, departing for repose.
“I won’t sacrifice everything like you to wish for the enemy’s forgiveness.”
I simply followed their wish without argument because that was what they wanted.
“But the direction and convictions you showed in life.”
The flames floating up toward the sky and fading away looked like stars drawing near.
“Were undoubtedly noble beyond approach.”
I tilted my head back, praying for their peace and repose like one in devotion.
* * *
“What? It’s over already?”
Pindenai climbed to the rooftop and eyed Deus, who was exchanging final farewells.
She’d heard a powerful necromancer had died, so she’d come rushing after saving the students, worried he might be in danger.
“Hmm.”
But he was spotless, without a single injury—unexpectedly unscathed.
He even wore a faint, uncharacteristic smile, as if relieved.
“Doesn’t sit right with me.”
Pindenai wasn’t pleased. Her mouth still felt sour from the burned flagpole she regretted losing.
“It’s all done, right?”
She glanced up at the brightly risen full moon, and Deus nodded slightly.
“Yeah, the academy’s evil spirit incident is completely resolved.”
“Hm?”
Something about his words felt off.
Instinctively, Pindenai sensed some clever wordplay, but she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
“All the injured students got treated?”
“At least everything damaged or hurt after the barrier formed should be restored to normal.”
The life-linking barrier hadn’t fully formed before dissipating.
The chaos the spirits wrought hadn’t become reality—it had simply vanished.
“Well, they won’t lose all their memories or anything. Things’ll be pretty messy for a while, huh?”
“Probably.”
Deus didn’t deny it.
In truth, the path ahead for the academy would be a thorny one.
“Well, your master got paid handsomely, so all’s well that ends well, right?”
Pindenai kept awkwardly prodding the conversation for one reason.
She wanted to catch the inconsistency she’d felt in Deus’s first words.
She racked her brain, forcing words out, but no answer came.
But then.
Deus gave a scoffing laugh and revealed the truth.
“The academy’s evil spirit incident is resolved. That’s the source of your unease.”
“What?”
“Pindenai.”
Deus stood by the railing, gazing at her steadily.
His calm, emotionless expression and black eyes were enough to freeze her in that instant.
And his next words went beyond anything she could comprehend.
“Don’t save me.”
* * *
“Waaaaah!”
“Ugh, it’s over! It’s finally over!”
As the barrier shattered and the bright full moon greeted the academy students, they screamed, cried, and gave thanks.
The professors, who had gathered the students in the athletic field and kept fighting evil spirits to protect them, wiped their sweat and collapsed in relief.
“You worked hard.”
“You too.”
Karen, the professor who’d stood at the front lines with her, offered a handshake, and Erika took it with a small smile.
The two had proven today that academy professors weren’t just teachers—they were MVP combat forces with no shortcomings in real battles.
“So, that settles everything, right?”
“Yeah.”
Erika sighed in response to Karen, feeling the lingering weight in her chest fully melt away.
Her relationship with Professor Deus was beyond repair.
‘But at least he’s safe now.’
Considering the possessing evil spirit was fully resolved, Erika felt a measure of relief.
Even if Deus stayed in Robern from now on, there’d be no more possessions leading to suicide attempts like before.
“Whoa.”
Just then, Deus appeared on the main building’s rooftop railing.
Karen let out a hollow chuckle at the sight.
“What, expecting us to bow down since he saved us or something?”
“……”
As Erika newly realized Deus had such a side.
Screeeeeeeeech!
It was a scream etched in her memory.
A grudge-filled wail of rage, embedded in her heart like trauma.
The moment she heard it, Erika Bright found herself charging forward recklessly.
She tried to muster mana, but after battling evil spirits for so long, her depleted mana fizzled weakly, scattering like dust.
And then.
Deus threw himself off the rooftop.
Thud!
Without any interference, he fell.
Right before her, Erika Bright tripped, her white-gloved hand staining with blood.
“Nooooo!”
With the woman’s desperate scream, the academy’s long ordeal came to a full stop.