The Emperor's Declaration
"Whew, that was impressive."
Erciel caught her breath, her mana drained dangerously low from the fight.
"You were pretty impressive yourself. I caught a glimpse before I went out there."
"Hehe. When a woman like me sets her mind to it, that much is trivial."
At the compliment, Erciel's lips curled up in obvious delight.
What an easy woman.
She really is.
Agreeing with Heukcheon, I looked around. Most of the professors and students alike were exhausted, hiding nothing about it. Demons rarely banded together, but an operation of this scale would have forced them to. Which meant this was either the end of it — or a slightly smaller force would come next.
I was leaning toward the latter.
Still, this much feels safe enough.
Professors were slowly beginning to return from other parts of the school — evidence that the situation was being brought under control. Before long, this whole ordeal would be over.
How's this going to play out?
Honestly, I was curious. If Seo Yebin got properly angry, there was no telling how far the fallout would spread. Maybe everyone inside the school with ties to Villains or the demons would be purged, root and stem. That would render a good chunk of my knowledge useless — but I'd already braced myself for some of that.
Tch. They're swarming in again.
Before I could even ask what Heukcheon meant, an explosion went off.
BOOM!
A massive detonation roared from the entrance. Startled, the professors and students still raised their weapons and aimed at the source.
"Haha, how entertaining. They lent out that many demons, and this is all they managed to accomplish? Perhaps it's time the Cheoncheon Society washed its hands of this."
A middle-aged man with dull blond hair slicked back entirely spoke with a laugh. Behind him stood a dozen or so demons — fewer than before, but right now, everyone here was spent.
Even so, I wasn't worried.
Because the shattered sky was already repairing itself back to normal.
It's almost over.
How's the situation?
All wrapped up. That woman is watching over this place.
Is she now?
Well, the attacker's purpose was just to hold her attention for a short while anyway. He'd have to pull out right before another Transcendent arrived, so this timing was about right.
I pulled a pastry out of my subspace.
"Erciel, want one?"
"…"
Erciel stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
What? It's good.
"Ha. Did you go insane after realizing there's no hope left in this situation? So Korea Hero Academy is nothing special after all."
One of the demons sneered at me with naked contempt.
"And you — still catching my eye, I see."
A calm, level voice rang out.
The demon froze mid-motion.
"Is that so?"
"It is."
A woman was standing there.
Between the demon and me — at some point, without anyone noticing.
All of it had happened in the span of a single blink. Dazzling golden hair. Amethyst eyes that seemed to pierce through anything. A woman in a black uniform beneath a white coat — a being every single person present knew on sight.
Someone even the Seven Fiends would step forward for, if it meant drawing her gaze.
"Did you distinguish yourself?"
"I'd like to say yes, but all I caught was one stray thread. A Villain."
"I see."
"Rather than me, it was Kim Ara over there, and Erciel, who worked the hardest. Kim Seohyun and Hong Yuhwa too."
"I see."
Seo Yebin turned her gaze. Her amethyst eyes came to rest on Seo Gayeon.
"…And this child?"
"I searched her out myself and brought her mana to bloom."
"…"
For once, Seo Yebin looked at Seo Gayeon in silence.
"I wasn't aware such a child existed."
"Her mana only bloomed recently."
"I see."
Seo Yebin's eyes lingered on Seo Gayeon for a long moment before returning to me.
"You always exceed my expectations."
"Does that displease you?"
"No."
Seo Yebin looked at me with a smile.
"Do you desire anything?"
"I don't think so. Not right now."
"Then think on it. Whatever it is, I will prepare it for you."
…That was a far more lavish offer than I'd expected.
Is it because I captured a Villain — or because I awakened Seo Gayeon's Starlight Mana?
Though honestly, the way her eyes had seen straight through to it in an instant was terrifying in its own right.
"By the way — what happens to the exams?"
"Resume them now. My third Star will preside over them, so do not concern yourself."
Clap—
The moment she clapped her hands, a woman with green hair appeared — the third of Seo Yebin's Stars.
The Stars were her hands and feet, beings much like puppets. They had no ego of their own; they were convenient subordinates who served the Emperor's command alone.
Before she earned the title of Emperor, her epithet had been the Puppeteer.
When the woman clasped both hands and bowed her head, light surged up from the ground.
Fwoosh—!
Exhausted vitality recovered in an instant. More than that — the light restored mana and internal energy as well.
It can't reverse the heavens, though.
A pity. But considering Reverse Heaven's power, that was only natural.
"You — what are you…?"
Erciel rushed to my side, stunned.
"The Headmistress said she'd be keeping an eye on you… but this is beyond anything I imagined."
"This is the first time I've seen the Headmistress smile like that either."
Professor Song Rahi and Instructor Seo Wooju had come to stand side by side, speaking in turn.
"Is that so?"
"It's not something to end with 'is that so.' That woman can see through anything."
Seo Wooju looked at me with complicated eyes. The more Seo Yebin wanted me, the more danger I'd be in. That had to be it.
Does he know something about Seo Yebin?
Well, time to take stock of the situation.
Seo Yebin had spoken. Every instructor was taking their assigned positions — to hold the mock duels that had yet to take place. Even with the demons still standing on the far side, that was how they moved.
Behold. That is the power of a transcendent being.
Heukcheon gestured toward Seo Yebin.
The demons were still trembling like leaves. The face of the one who'd worn the most confident smile had gone bone-white — pale to an almost unnatural degree.
So they really were all demons.
S-spare us, please!
Seo Yebin looked at them.
How am I to save those who are already dead?
I beg your pardon?
She asked it with pure, unfeigned curiosity.
And that was the end of it.
The demons began turning to ash, slowly, from their feet upward.
It was the power of [Declaration] — one of the authorities she held. A mere word, nothing more, yet it consigned every living demon before her to 'death.'
AAAAAAGH!
Wh-what is this?!
The demons screamed. Death closed its grip around their throats, vivid and undeniable.
The mock duels fizzled past unremarkably. I scraped out a narrow victory against Saint. Kim Seohyun was matched against Erciel, and Erciel won. Hong Yuhwa faced Park Unhyeok — and Park Unhyeok won.
"Hey, did you see Hong Yuhwa and Park Unhyeok's fight?"
"No joke. I figured Unhyeok would just steamroll her."
I'd thought so too. Honestly, I expected Park Unhyeok to win outright — the difference between a warrior and a mage. Even at range, a mage is ultimately fighting a losing battle.
But Hong Yuhwa's obsessive physical conditioning — all because she competed against me — must have paid off in a big way. There were times she'd doubted herself, but in the end, it worked out for her.
In the original story, she would have taken Kim Seohyun as her rival, neglected her conditioning, and trained only her magic. But I'd started out with physical strength close to Hong Yuhwa's, and though mine had grown enormously since, it seemed she'd undergone a dramatic transformation of her own.
Not bad at all.
Because one day she'll become the Usurper, and that talent draws on the body as much as anything. A kind of magic-swordsman state, if you will.
I was nibbling on the pastry from my subspace, watching the remaining duels, when I sensed someone approaching.
Erciel Merhen, coming my way. She settled down beside me.
"Congratulations on your win."
"Thank you."
"By the way — what is that guy?"
"Seohyun?"
"Yes."
The playfulness in her smile had thinned, something like fear settling into it.
"What is he, to begin with? I thought his main discipline was that draconic martial art he uses, but every time he fights, some new technique pops out of nowhere. I was honestly shocked."
"He's mastered what, nine martial arts by now."
"Nine?"
Erciel's eyes went wide.
But it was too early to be surprised. Nine was just the martial arts count alone. Move on to magic, and to the abilities Kim Seohyun actually possessed, and her arsenal approached the infinite. Beyond her techniques, she wielded poison and illusions, barriers and formations — and on top of all that, even the Mysteries themselves.
The person closest to being a protagonist in this world.
Which was exactly why Kim Seohyun carried a tragedy of her own — a considerable one.
"Next up: Kim Ara versus Park Hanul!"
Kim Ara had been matched against an opponent ranked within the top hundred. But someone far above Kim Ara in the rankings was, paradoxically, the one who looked nervous as he stared her down. Because she hadn't bothered to hide her strength while fighting the demons — and he'd seen all of it.
"Did you see Kim Ara fight that demon earlier?"
"No, I missed it. What did she do to scare everyone like that?"
"She crushed one of the demons. Flat."
"…Yeah, if you got in her way, I guess you'd get flattened."
Kim Ara was tall. An absurd 175 centimeters — but the Giant God's blade was far bigger still. And on top of that, she'd awakened her Giant God's Bloodline.
It would hardly be strange to say the demon had been literally crushed to paste.
Chatting with Erciel, I watched the rest of the duels. Seo Gayeon fought someone in the 700s and scraped out a win, then received treatment from the Star, thanks to Seo Yebin's favor.
"That healing ability is incredible."
"Envious?"
"Nope. I'd rather not get on the Headmistress's radar."
Erciel said it with a wry smile, and I couldn't have agreed more. I nodded and looked across the field.
Saint was there. The confident smile he hadn't lost even while facing the demons was gone from his face. Instead, he was watching the Star with dark, unreadable eyes.
Because that woman was Saint's blood relative.
He'd said he came to test Korea Hero Academy — but that was a lie. Saint's true purpose, having come from the nation called Heaven, was that Star.
Seo Yebin.
The ill-fated woman who, through the authority granted to the one titled Emperor, had become a Star herself.
The dark side of Korea Hero Academy.
The Emperor. A Transcendent, a woman who commanded the world itself — and yet the reason she attached herself to a mere school for training heroes. In truth, it made no sense for a Transcendent to linger at a school. She was a being who had once held the whole world in her palm. If she'd wanted to build a faction, countless talents would have flocked to her banner.
And yet she refused every single offer.
Instead, Seo Yebin took the post of Headmistress at Korea Hero Academy and faithfully fulfilled that role — singling out, from among stone and jade, only the very finest 'jade.'
There's a reason for everything.
…Because every one of the Stars she possessed had once been students of Korea Hero Academy.