Chapter 108: The End of the First Semester (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 108: The End of the First Semester (1)
"Aaaaargh!"
Cladi screamed at the top of his lungs. Or rather, perhaps his vocal cords were already shredded, as he coughed up gouts of blood instead.
Cladi lay sprawled on the ground, beaten to a bloody pulp. His eyes were unfocused, and his limbs had been severed one by one.
This was the handiwork of Al'tair and Nox, who were interrogating him. Perhaps because they were assassins by nature, their skill at torture was remarkable. It was enough to send a chill down my spine even watching from a distance.
"P-P-Please, just kill me."
Cladi managed to move his partially severed tongue. A moment ago, his jaw had trembled so violently that he had bitten his own tongue.
Al'tair let out a soft chuckle, his expression instantly brightening as he gave a casual wave of his hand.
The blade of his Cane Sword swept across the back of Cladi's only remaining hand. Slash. Following the sound of tearing flesh, fresh blood spurted out.
Cladi screamed in agony once more. A deafening shriek echoed in all directions, loud enough to burst eardrums.
Nox frowned. Since he was interrogating him from right in front, the noise must have hurt his ears. He roughly grabbed Cladi's jaw with one hand.
"Ugh, mmmph!"
Cladi couldn't let out his scream, keeping it muffled inside his mouth. Suddenly, Al'tair leaned his face right up to Cladi's nose. Then, with a bitter expression, he spoke.
"...I don't like doing this either. Even though I've despised you for a long time, do you think I enjoy this? But if a traitor's end is peaceful, order cannot be maintained. Above all, Cladi, you betrayed humanity. Naturally, the punishment for a traitor must be somewhat cruel."
Al'tair said, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe away the blood.
Cladi tried to protest, his half-severed body trembling. However, with Nox's hand gagging his mouth, he couldn't utter a word.
Thus, a one-sided conversation continued. As time passed, the life slowly drained from Cladi's eyes.
He's given up.
His head drooped lower and lower. For the end of an elder who had lived a life of privilege and respect, it was incredibly pathetic and miserable.
Well, considering what the bastard did, it was perfectly fitting.
He had tried to harm an academy cadet, betrayed humanity, and clung to the demons.
Soliciting murder and committing treason.
Thinking back on it, killing him twice wouldn't even be enough. Just as Al'tair said, even if it seemed excessive, doing this was necessary to nip any future trouble in the bud.
Ah, right.
Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask Cladi. I doubted there was much more to squeeze out of him, but even a dry towel can yield a few drops of water if wrung hard enough.
I took a step toward them.
Al'tair, who had completely wiped the blood off his blade, turned his head. He spoke to me with a gentle smile.
"Ah, it will be over soon. Just wait a moment. This is our specialty. Besides, it's an embarrassing scene to show to an outsider."
"I just remembered something I wanted to ask that bastard."
At my words, Al'tair tilted his head.
And understandably so. He probably wondered what Cladi, who could barely blink, could possibly say. Especially since the guy had already given up on life.
Yet, Al'tair readily nodded. He gestured to Nox to let go of Cladi's mouth.
"Gasp, wheeze."
Only then did Cladi breathe feebly. Blood oozed like juice from his various wounds. I crouched down in front of him.
"Hey."
Cladi couldn't lift his head, as if all strength had left his neck. He merely rolled his eyes up slightly to look at me. Staring into his pupils, which were covered by a grayish film, I spoke again.
"Before you die, let me ask you one thing. Among the elders—no, among the nobles—who were the ones who sided with you?"
"……."
"We have plenty of evidence against you, including this very scene, but we don't have anything on them. If you confess, I'll ask them to give you a quick death."
At those words, Cladi's eyebrows twitched. He must have known it himself—that there was no way he was getting out of this alive.
If so, he would want to end this cycle of pain as quickly as possible. Even this offer of a swift death would feel like a sweet temptation.
Everyone here knew his opportunistic, bat-like nature. Besides, since I wasn't used to torture scenes like this, I felt that this was enough.
It wasn't out of mercy; I just didn't want to have nightmares later.
I looked left and right, silently asking the two assassins for their consent. The answer, of course, was yes.
In fact, Al'tair nodded in agreement, thinking it was a reasonable idea.
Cladi's mouth twitched. A stream of blood spurted from a stab wound near his solar plexus. It seemed his lungs had been punctured, making it hard to speak.
Nox quickly wrapped a cloth around that area to stop the bleeding. Only then did a voice squeeze out from between Cladi's teeth.
"…I-Is that true?"
Thick blood stretched like threads between his upper and lower teeth. I nodded in response.
"I know you're a bastard who deserves to be chewed up and spat out twice. But I'm giving you one last chance to atone. Spill everything."
"……."
A brief silence fell over the area. The thick dust settled, and the moonlight, which had been hidden by clouds, pierced through the pitch-black darkness.
A few seconds passed like that. I was getting a bit annoyed.
For a guy on the verge of death to be taking his time to think—if he delayed any longer, he might stop breathing altogether.
Just as I frowned, about to press him—
"Pahahahahahaha!"
Out of nowhere, Cladi burst into a mad laughter. It was a booming sound, as if he had squeezed out the very last of his remaining life force.
The unexpected reaction caused everyone's expressions to crack. A dying man suddenly laughing like a maniac was bound to leave anyone dumbfounded.
Nox reflexively raised his Crimson Ring Blade. Al'tair reached out to stop him.
I stood up from my crouch and crossed my arms, looking down at him coldly.
Cladi curled the corners of his mouth upward and spoke.
"Did you think that just because my life is hanging by a thread, I would accept an offer from a lowly bastard like you? Not a chance. And I'm going to die soon anyway. Yet you dare threaten me? A mere, lowborn Special Admission Student? How utterly absurd!"
I let out a dry laugh in sheer disbelief. Did he actually have some twisted pride left just because he was a villain? If he had that kind of spine, why the hell did he betray humanity in the first place?
And even in this state, he was still spouting his elitist nonsense. They say people never change. Indeed, I was receiving yet another lesson from the ancient sages today.
"Do you think the elders—no, the entire nobility—will let you and the Auditores slide after I die?! When that time comes, you, Kang Geomma, will be the one begging for death!"
I guess "sick and tired" is the perfect phrase for moments like this. I had gone out of my way to show him some goodwill, and this was how he talked.
They say even a cornered rat will bite a cat.
I let out a deep sigh internally. Then, I stepped on Cladi's only remaining ankle, pressing down firmly.
"I can't even feel pain anymore because my senses are gone! Go ahead, do your worst!"
Cladi bit his lip, trying his best to maintain a defiant expression. I smirked and activated the [Blessing of Transfer] and the [Blessing of Regeneration].
Originally, I was going to reach out with my hand, but touching a worm like him turned my stomach.
Sssss-
Immediately, a pure white energy flowed down from my toes and permeated Cladi's body.
Blisters formed over his shattered and torn wounds, and the severed areas began to heal.
"……!"
Cladi's eyes widened to their limits at the sudden healing. The two assassins standing beside him also stared at me in sheer bewilderment.
Once his cloudy pupils regained some semblance of life, I cut off the blessing. Looking up at me, Cladi's eyes seemed to swirl with a storm of emotions.
I spoke in a cold, flat voice.
"Let's see how long you can hold out."
Instantly, Cladi's face turned pale as death. His brain seemed to have short-circuited, as his eyes and mouth moved out of sync.
I snapped my gaze away and instructed Al'tair and Nox.
"Most of his visible wounds should have healed over. Since he has no intention of speaking, I'll leave the slicing and dicing to you guys. Don't hold back. Like you said earlier, we need to nip any trouble in the bud."
"…Understood."
As I turned around to walk away, a voice pierced my back.
"W-Wait a minute!"
Cladi called out to me in desperation. I turned my head halfway to look back out of the corner of my eye.
Al'tair and Nox were pulling out daggers with jagged, saw-like edges. Cladi was struggling to crawl away from their feet.
Staring at the spot where a bloodbath was about to unfold, I muttered.
"You chose this."
So grit your teeth and bear it.
The scream that followed was much longer than the first.
After about ten minutes, with a wet splat, the noisy echoes finally died down.
* * *
It was thirty minutes after Cladi's death when the Sword Emperor and the Academy Principal arrived at the scene.
A stench of blood, far thicker than the one at the clearing where the five villains had been slaughtered, welcomed them. The two of them let out low groans in unison.
"…Ha."
The gruesome sight looked like the boundary between hell and reality. It dealt a numbing shock even to a Seven Stars Hero who had traversed countless battlefields. Such disturbances were rare.
As the Sword Emperor looked around in bewilderment, Al'tair approached him.
"You've arrived, Sword Emperor."
"…What happened here?"
"Is there really a need to explain? It is exactly as you see. Fifty guards, fifteen villains in total, and Cladi. All dealt with. Of course... some of our own men died as well..."
A momentary look of grief washed over Al'tair's face. Medea cut in, her tone laced with disbelief.
"Does it make sense that the Auditore elite were overwhelmed? No, why were there fifteen villains here in the first place?!"
He took a breath before continuing.
"It seems the one called the Professor, who appeared to be the leader of the villains infiltrated within the academy, sent his entire force here. We were likely played by his petty scheme."
"No, this is insane."
Medea cursed under her breath and clutched her temples. Rather than being angry, she was simply dumbfounded.
It was a repetition of Al'tair explaining the situation, and the Sword Emperor and the Academy Principal reacting with hollow expressions.
After a few minutes, the conversation between the three came to an end.
"This is crazy."
That was Medea's honest impression after hearing the whole story.
In truth, her brain hadn't fully processed the information yet, causing a throbbing headache at the back of her head.
And her reaction was only natural.
Because the words coming out of Al'tair's mouth were beyond shocking.
To summarize the explanation: it was a one-man show by Kang Geomma.
It could be summed up in that single, short sentence.
The gist was that he had practically slaughtered the suddenly appearing villains all by himself. And the proof was the dozens of corpses rolling on the ground.
The Sword Emperor carefully shifted his gaze toward Kang Geomma.
A chilling glint emanated from the youth's eyes. Eyes that were completely cold and weary. An attitude that remained utterly unfazed despite the thick stench of blood.
The Sword Emperor felt a bleak dizziness pierce through his entire body.
Kang Geomma looked like a demon ruling over a painting of hell.
...Just what are you?
There was no need to question his strength. Had he not slain Agor on Avallon Island in the first place?
The Sword Emperor was certain that something incomprehensible resided within Kang Geomma's body.
But this act of violence astonished him in a different sense.
Suddenly, the Sword Emperor scanned the corpses that seemed to have been sliced by a sashimi knife.
The severed surfaces and sword wounds showed absolutely no hesitation or resistance.
How could someone have absolutely no hesitation in taking lives and cutting them down? Even those who had reached the heights of the Sword Principle usually had their emotions reflected in their blade.
The doubts and worries he harbored toward Kang Geomma deepened further.
It felt as if he were facing a primal existence that knew no distinction between good and evil.
Amidst the prolonged silence, Al'tair spoke softly to the Sword Emperor.
"That young man, Kang Geomma, is truly an outstanding talent, is he not?"
Al'tair spoke in a roundabout way, slightly avoiding directness.
"The more brilliant the talent, the more they require a true master worthy of them. Moreover, did you not claim to be his master, Sword Emperor? Of course, since you have just retired from the Seven Stars, you must have been too preoccupied to impart your teachings."
The Sword Emperor, who had been listening in silence, slowly turned his head.
Al'tair stared straight back at him and spoke again.
"The vacation is just around the corner, is it not? Why not take Kang Geomma in during that period? If you guide him well, that child will eventually be able to achieve it. The legacy that has been passed down through the Nibelung family for generations—"
Al'tair uttered his brief final words.