Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Faculty Exchange Match
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The atmosphere in the Erebos Royal Academy parish had been far from normal these past few months.
The priests at the grand cathedral were all tight-lipped, and the parishioners who came calling would sense the heavy mood and turn right back around.
Part of it was that the unprecedented Full Moon Festival fiasco had happened just two months ago.
But the root cause stemmed from the cathedral's poster girl, Elise Aurora de Lua.
"That girl Elise... went and modified her vestments on her own?"
"Yes. She shortened the hem so much her bare legs are showing."
Archbishop Balua rubbed his throbbing temple as he listened to the report from the High Priest.
Saintess Candidate Elise's rebellious streak was growing worse by the day.
She skipped mass, rejected invitations from the academy, and now she was even wearing some mysterious earrings from who-knows-where. And to top it all off, she'd gone and altered her vestments to expose bare skin.
"She's doing every single thing I told her not to..."
Ever since the end-of-month evaluation last time, Elise had fallen apart.
Like a cart tumbling down a steep hill, she was rapidly losing her qualifications.
"...This is driving me mad."
Archbishop Balua was at his wit's end, practically jumping out of his skin.
Saintess Candidate Elise. He'd invested twenty years to mold her into the perfect servant of God.
Elise was the flawless vessel. Balua had sensed it even before she was born.
He was the one who'd asked House de Lua to bring their yet-unborn child to the cathedral, and he'd overseen every aspect of her life from childhood to raise her as a saintess.
He'd even turned down a cardinal position to focus on making Elise a saintess.
And now, all that effort was twisting into something unrecognizable.
"Is there no way to bring that girl back to her senses?"
"We've... begged her earnestly, but she won't listen at all."
It was true.
The cathedral's internal discipline couldn't control her. So he'd considered using the academy's disciplinary procedures.
But Elise had brushed off even his own shouting as archbishop and his house arrest orders with a scoff. There was no way she'd repent over some token academy punishment.
Besides, her status as the sole Saintess Candidate was both a shackle and an undeniable right she held.
Even from the academy's perspective, disciplining a Saintess Candidate required serious resolve.
"...We might have to revise the plan."
If things kept going like this, Elise would become a useless vessel.
Balua wasn't some potter with the obsession to smash broken pottery and remake it.
The return of God.
For the grand plan he'd prepared for decades, he needed to at least patch Elise up enough to serve as a vessel.
"No choice, then."
Maybe contact headquarters.
That was when Balua sighed.
"Archbishop!"
—Clang.
The cathedral doors burst open as a priest came rushing in, panting.
"...Didn't I tell you to announce yourself before entering!"
Balua flew into a rage. He was already distraught, and now this breach of protocol. The cathedral's discipline had clearly hit rock bottom.
But the gasping priest continued awkwardly.
"S-Sorry. But a major problem came up, and I had to report it..."
"What is it?"
"The faculty exchange match."
"Exchange match?"
The Erebos Royal Academy's annual event.
For the Divine Studies Faculty, it was just something to participate in for appearances' sake.
But right now, the Divine Studies Faculty's representative was, naturally, Saintess Candidate Elise. A chill ran down Balua's spine.
"Don't tell me that girl Elise caused some incident."
"Yes... She's going all out in her match against the Knight Faculty representative."
"...What."
Balua's face twisted.
*
The grand training grounds were eerily silent, without even a single cheer.
A massive roar drowned out everything else.
——Boom!
A fierce battle that kicked up clouds of sand.
The Knight Faculty's representative, the future Sword Saint Sophia Aquilova, darted across the field with insane mobility, hunting for openings.
Meanwhile, the Divine Studies Faculty's representative, the future Saintess Candidate Elise de Lua, stood firm and dominated the stage with her divine power.
Elise wielded a massive divine barrier, while Sophia challenged it with her small frame alone.
It evoked the fight between David and Goliath.
——Scraaaape!
The divine barrier closed in from all sides, poised to crush Sophia, but she slipped through every one by a paper-thin margin.
'How did things end up like this...'
The faculty exchange match.
What was supposed to be a celebratory event for all three faculties had devolved into a frenzied bloodbath.
"...Is this really okay?"
The fight was brutal enough to raise such doubts.
Getting crushed under that giant divine barrier wouldn't end in minor injuries.
The announcer noticed and cast an anxious glance at the field.
The faculty staff debated whether to intervene.
But the problem was that both fighters were burning with fighting spirit.
They looked dead serious, making arbitrary interference impossible.
Clang!
Sophia punched away an incoming divine barrier.
Refusing to draw her sword even in that situation was sheer madness.
No, it wasn't just Sophia—Elise was the same.
'Whoa...'
I clutched my head.
'Divine Barrier is just a protective shield skill...'
Divine Barrier.
Elise's signature basic skill.
It created a structure to shelter from boss AoEs and granted health recovery to nearby party members.
Thanks to its excellent effects and versatility, it was famous as a staple skill...
'You could use it as a blunt weapon too?'
At least, I'd never heard of stacking multiple barriers and using them like a hydraulic press.
How was Elise, who had no attack skills, supposed to face Sophia?
That had been my initial question.
But the moment I saw Captain Elise wielding her shield as a bludgeon, even I found myself gripping my fists and watching intently.
"We're evenly matched. You should just give up."
Elise murmured softly and flipped her palm, sending the barriers twisting at bizarre angles toward Sophia's rear.
But Sophia used the oncoming barrier as a springboard, leaping high to evade every attack.
Tap.
A movement that clearly transcended human limits.
Elise frowned, and so did I as I watched.
"Hmm..."
I scowled.
The audience had forgotten to cheer, just gawking at the two human weapons clashing.
However.
'Were these two always this strong?'
No matter how I thought about it, this was nothing like their original selves.
Okay, Sophia could be explained as getting badass from my advice. Maybe thanks to the Tear of the Sun. And apparently, she'd reached top of her faculty without even using a sword.
The problem wasn't Sophia.
"Elise."
Why was Elise fighting so well?
At Act 2's point, Elise wasn't this proficient with divine power.
In fact, her awakening event only happened in Act 3, when the Divine Studies Faculty and Archbishop Balua were revealed as the villains.
So at this point, she shouldn't handle divine power this masterfully. In the actual game, her stats were capped, classifying her as just a buffer or healer in Acts 1 and 2.
"What the hell happened..."
Did Sophia's changes create a butterfly effect on Elise too?
I was desperately trying to figure it out when—
Boom!
Sophia's attack warped the divine barrier once more.
Elise seemed displeased with this war of attrition.
Or maybe her divine power was running low.
"...This won't do."
Elise spread her arms wide. The barriers spread out, forming a massive encirclement.
It dwarfed anything she'd used before, filling half the training grounds.
"...Tch."
Sophia clicked her tongue. Even she couldn't physically dodge this barrage.
"If you surrender now, I might go easy on you."
"...Nonsense."
"Yes, nonsense. I wasn't planning to demand your surrender anyway."
Elise's taunt seemed to ignite Sophia's fury.
Sophia slowly lowered her stance, kicking back her left foot and twisting her waist.
Then, her right hand gripped the sword hilt.
In other words, iaijutsu.
'No fucking way.'
She was drawing the cursed sword?
In front of everyone?
The future Sword Saint?
Against a saintess, no less—not even a villain or monster?
Flick.
While I panicked, Sophia thumbed her nose.
The inky blade emerged, filling the training grounds with an ominous aura.
The Ink Sword was a cursed sword, infamous for devouring its wielder. It was so dangerous that only someone as skilled as Sophia could've gotten permission to own it.
And now it was being drawn in the most pointless place imaginable.
In the original story, it never came out except in desperate crises.
Shing.
Worse, the problem was that the Ink Sword wielded demonic energy.
Which made it the polar opposite of Elise's divine barriers.
Not like water and oil.
Like gunpowder and fire.
In other words...
Rumble...
The divine barriers converged to a single point, and the Ink Sword spewed demonic energy.
The moment they touched...
——KABOOM!
An explosion roared.
So massive it felt like the world flipped upside down.
The spectator stands were magically protected, but even they cracked from the shockwave.
The crowd tumbled from their seats, so the state inside the grounds was obvious without looking.
The sand cleared, and one of the faculty staff shouted upon seeing the scene.
"...Damn it! Call the healers! Critical injuries!"
Everyone sprang into action at once.
The result: mutual defeat.
Double KO.
"..."
Two idiots lay embedded in the opposite walls of the training grounds, battered to hell.
Idiots? More like...
"...Fuck."
*
The next day, a familiar guest visited the chapel.
"Master, I totally schooled that smug white-haired girl yesterday. You're gonna praise me, right?"
"..."
"Ah, my arm's broken, but it's fine. I can swing with my left hand too!"
"..."
"...Master?"
*
"Heard about it?"
"What now."
"They say the Saintess Candidate's under house arrest again."
"..."
Yeah.
Should I just kill myself?
Or maybe ask Ciris to do it for me.
