Nemesis - (1)
The sky ripped open with a thunderous roar, and a colossal shadow swallowed Erebos whole.
I lifted my head and took in the monstrous form.
“…Nemesis.”
The Academy’s Divine Throne arc consists of six chapters, each with its own representative boss. Even the first two acts alone featured Shade and Predator, while the third act—though slightly derailed—saw the final boss Archangel’s authority manifest through Archbishop Valois’s body.
And now, the fourth act. With the battle having spread across the entire Academy, the final boss is the entity known as Nemesis.
“…Seeing it in the flesh makes it even more unappetizing.”
Yes. The writhing mass of flesh before me, grown enormous after devouring the ruins of the clock tower.
“M-Master… What is that…?”
Even Sophia stood with her mouth agape at its overwhelming size.
It dwarfed the half-destroyed clock tower and was easily twice as large as the Spiral Tower of the Magic Department.
Its size wasn’t the only horrifying thing.
Its appearance was grotesque beyond words.
A massive lump of flesh that looked as though thousands upon thousands of corpses had been forcibly fused together. Black veins pulsed ceaselessly across its surface, and malformed limbs sprouted from its amorphous body, flailing through the air.
Most terrifying of all was the enormous single eye embedded in the center of its torso. Its murky yellow pupil rolled endlessly, searching for its next target to destroy.
Whoever among the Shadows created this thing in their right mind must be an avid fan of cheap slasher films.
“…Tch.”
That wasn’t what mattered right now.
The condition for Nemesis’s appearance in the game: the retirement of more than half the mid-bosses.
Yaksha had already been slain by Sophia, and Cho Hyun had never become a villain to begin with, so one of either Yeongrang or Baekmyeon must have been subdued.
From this point on, the enemy was no longer the Shadows.
It was that grotesque, writhing mass of flesh.
“…Lady Helena, what is the status of the evacuation?”
When I asked Helena, she shrugged her shoulders and answered.
“The residents of the lower village have all been guided outside the Academy grounds. The maids from Ophelia Hall are leading them, so they should have reached the safe zone safely.”
“That’s a relief.”
“The students have also taken shelter in the underground air-raid shelters beneath each faculty building. The professors have erected barriers, so as long as the monster doesn’t directly destroy the buildings, they should be safe for now.”
After hearing Helena’s report, I let out a sigh of relief.
Even if this was the game’s progression, I didn’t want unnecessary casualties.
The worst-case scenario had been avoided.
With civilian casualties minimized, all that remained was to deal with the monster.
Now that Nemesis had appeared, we had no choice but to face the final boss battle to end the fourth act.
“…Lady Sophia, prepare yourself.”
“Yes.”
Even without any explanation of what to prepare for, Sophia had already raised her black sword, ready for battle.
“You…”
Helena called out to me in a trembling voice.
“Surely… you don’t intend to slay that monster?”
Helena’s tone was one of disbelief.
Well, it was a natural reaction.
Anyone who thought they could defeat such a creature would be the strange one.
“Something like that.”
“But… that thing…”
“I know. It’s one hell of a big monster. However…”
I curled my lips into a slight grin.
“Slaying monsters happens to be my specialty.”
No matter how formidable Nemesis was, or how it was called the ultimate experiment, I had already defeated it dozens of times in the game.
Its patterns, weaknesses, and strategies.
Everything was etched into my mind.
Of course, the game and reality were different. Variables always existed.
But this world was also filled with variables.
Sophia, who was already drawing out her sword aura.
Ottilie, waiting for my orders atop the ashen tower.
“Meat!”
Even Void, who was licking her lips while staring at Nemesis for some reason.
All of them were variables I had created.
“We have to try.”
We could win.
I was certain of it.
*
Erebos Royal Academy Main Building, Headmaster’s Office.
Headmaster Cornelius sat on the terrace, staring blankly at the hellish scene unfolding before him.
“What… what in the world is happening…?”
This was the Academy he had dedicated his entire life to building.
A cradle for nurturing the kingdom’s future talents, an ivory tower of intellect.
He had lived with that pride alone, yet the sight before him now was utterly devastating.
The once-proud clock tower had been split in half, now a grotesque ruin. The beautiful campus grounds were engulfed in flames.
At the center of all that destruction stood a colossal monster, towering as if to pierce the sky.
“Headmaster! You must evacuate! This place is dangerous too!”
One of the staff members shouted urgently, but Cornelius couldn’t move his feet.
What difference would running make?
If Erebos fell, his own life would fall with it.
“It’s over…”
If that was the case, he might as well burn alongside Erebos.
Cornelius tightly shut his eyes.
Yet his resolve was rendered meaningless.
——KABOOM!
With a deafening explosion, a portion of the monster’s body burst apart.
“Hmm?”
Cornelius doubted his eyes.
One of the monster’s countless legs had been severed, spraying black blood.
Clang!
A crimson-haired swordswoman led the charge, swinging her blade. Crimson sword aura danced as it carved through the monster’s flesh.
Following behind her, a brown-haired mage rained lightning and flames from the sky.
A white-haired nun held back the monster’s counterattacks with a massive golden barrier—
And in response, countless dolls moved as if alive, diverting the monster’s attention.
“…This is…”
He knew them.
The top students of each faculty.
Weren’t they the very same people involved in that unprecedented farce recently dubbed the Great Escape Incident?
Yet right now, Cornelius found them more reliable than any of the professors.
More than anything, there was one figure who stood out even among them…
——.
A silently launched fireball burned through the monster’s tentacles.
Extremely reinforced gravity magic weighed down the monster’s body.
Not only that—he was also preventing damage from spreading to the surrounding buildings through defensive magic.
The golden-haired priest soared through the air like he was swimming.
“…Leo.”
When Cornelius had first heard about the priest Leo from Everett and Chiron, he had assumed there must be some exaggeration or misunderstanding.
After all, how could a mere priest in his twenties have reached the realm of Archmage and raised a failing knight department student to the level of Sword Master? It couldn’t possibly be true.
But now Cornelius was witnessing it with his own eyes.
The sight of Priest Leo commanding the three top students while unleashing the highest-tier offensive magic.
“…Ah, hahaha.”
Cornelius trembled.
Though clad in priestly robes, that power was unmistakably the essence of magic.
A being who possessed holy power, magic, and strategic brilliance—an unprecedented monster in Erebos’s history.
“Kuk.”
Cornelius clenched his fists.
While they were fighting so desperately, he couldn’t just stand by and watch as headmaster.
“Summon Professor Everett! No, gather every available professor right now!”
Cornelius roared like thunder.
“Protecting the students in the shelters is important, but right now we need to support them! Whether from the Magic, Knight, or Holy Departments—anyone who can fight, bring them out!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The assistant professor rushed out, and Cornelius turned his gaze back to the window.
“That priest… is our only hope.”
Cornelius was certain.
As long as they were here, Erebos would not fall today.
*
“Huff, huff…”
Baekmyeon ran.
Dolls didn’t need to breathe. So this ragged breathing was purely psychological.
The plan had failed. Yeongrang and Yaksha had been subdued. Only Baekmyeon remained.
“This can’t be happening…”
Baekmyeon gritted his teeth.
Three Shadow executives had gathered. They even had the ultimate entity, Nemesis. The surprise attack had succeeded.
Yet they were being pushed back without even managing to capture a single Academy.
Without achieving their original objective.
“How… how did this happen…”
The face of the golden-haired priest surfaced in Baekmyeon’s mind.
“That priest… It’s because of him.”
The golden-haired priest’s face appeared in Baekmyeon’s mind once more.
From beginning to end, he had been the problem.
Switching out the Wedge, defeating Yaksha, and now holding back Nemesis—it was all because of him.
“I’ll kill him… I definitely will…”
By any means necessary, he had to die.
Kill him, and earn recognition from the Lord.
To do that, he had no choice but to flee for now.
Tap, tap-tap.
Stepping on branches, he plunged deeper into the forest.
If he could just make it outside the Academy’s barrier, everything would be fine.
Just as he thought that and kicked off the ground—
Whoosh—.
A chilling sound echoed in his ears.
Baekmyeon thought it was just the wind.
But only after his body lost balance and collapsed, only after seeing his two legs cleanly severed below the knees, did he realize it had been the sound of a sword being swung.
“W-What…”
Being a doll, he felt no pain.
But being subdued was a serious problem.
“…I’ve caught him, Your Highness.”
A voice came from within the bushes.
Soon, a figure emerged under the moonlight. Golden hair, violet eyes, a woman with refined features clad in armor.
“…Beatrice Ludenfeld…”
A despairing groan escaped Baekmyeon’s lips.
The kingdom’s greatest sword.
The pinnacle among Sword Masters. The knight closest to Sword Saint in the present era.
Why was that monster, who should have been in the royal palace, here?
“Your escape skills are quite impressive. Even abandoning your allies.”
Baekmyeon’s question was soon answered.
Because a woman with light-pink hair emerged from behind Beatrice.
Since she covered her mouth with a fan, he couldn’t see her expression, but Baekmyeon instinctively knew she wore a mischievous smile.
“…First Princess.”
“Thank you for recognizing me.”
First Princess Siris Anastasia Lysander. She slowly approached and looked down at the fallen Baekmyeon.
Then she spoke in a mocking tone.
“Judging by your state, it seems your plan has failed. You’ve lost as many allies as you could, the Wedge was fake, and now this.”
“…What?”
At the mention of the Wedge, Baekmyeon’s expression hardened.
The one who had switched out the Wedge in the main building’s basement.
It hadn’t been Priest Leo.
In hindsight, it made sense.
The royal family had made their move.
“Why… Why would the royal family want that power…”
“That power, you say? What was I supposed to do when the Wedge embedded itself in me of its own accord? Because of that, I’ve had to repeat the same life eight times. Do you have any idea how painful that is?”
“…What?”
Baekmyeon couldn’t comprehend Siris’s words at all.
But Siris hadn’t spoken expecting him to understand.
“Well, it was fun while it lasted, Baekmyeon. Your tedious game of tag ends here in this cycle.”
“Cycle… What are you talking about?”
Before Baekmyeon could voice his confusion, Siris gave Beatrice a signal with her eyes.
Beatrice raised her sword high.
The sword aura shone brilliantly.
Baekmyeon realized that this sword aura wasn’t much different from the holy flames the Saint candidate had used earlier.
“W-Wait! A deal…!”
Baekmyeon cried out desperately, but Beatrice’s sword showed no hesitation.
——Flash.
A single strike.
Baekmyeon’s head soared into the air.