Chapter 34
Chapter 34
“You bastard…!!”
It snarled in fury, but I didn’t waver.
‘90%. Almost done.’
But then, it said something I hadn’t expected.
“Don’t think this is how it ends… Even if I’m destroyed… I’ll take all of your lives with me.”
“!!”
The moment I realized what it was trying to do, my eyes flew wide.
‘No!!’
It was too late.
Goooooo!!
As the Fragment’s body began to convulse, a dreadful energy started to pour out of it.
‘It’s going to self-destruct! I have to stop it!’
But how could I possibly stop it?
No matter who I was, that was impossible.
Sure enough, a message appeared.
-Probability of stopping the Fragment’s self-destruction with current abilities: 0%
‘I know! Don’t rub it in!’
Sometimes, this win-rate analyzer really knew how to piss me off.
‘A sudden self-destruct? Why are Great Existences so damn extreme?! I’m sorry for being so rude, Lord of the Phantom Dream. Couldn’t we call it a draw?’
Of course, no answer came.
Just then, Former President Randolf suddenly cried out something I couldn’t make heads or tails of.
“O nameless Ascendant watching over us! I beg you, please help us! Save these students, at least!!”
‘…What’s that old man babbling about all of a sudden? An Ascendant?’
I blinked.
‘Does he think it was an Ascendant who helped us earlier? I’m not an Ascendant, you know?’
But at that very moment—
A way out suddenly occurred to me.
I repeated the win-rate analyzer’s message in my mind.
‘It said I can’t stop it with my current abilities.’
Which meant—
‘I need to acquire the ability to stop that self-destruct.’
To put it more specifically—
“If I use an Ascendant’s power, I can stop that self-destruct.”
Anyone who heard that would tell me to get a thorough psychiatric evaluation. It was crazy talk.
It was nonsense so absurd that there was no point in even debating whether it was possible.
But I kept following that outrageous train of thought.
‘It’s not impossible. This is the Dreamworld. In theory, anything can happen here. I can “imitate” it.’
More than anything—
I turned my gaze toward the Dreamworld.
“…100%. The ownership of this world has completely passed to me.”
The Fragment was trying to self-destruct, and had therefore lost its hold over the world.
‘That doesn’t mean I can do anything and everything without limit, though. I can’t do something that surpasses the limits of my vessel.’
In other words, I could do something like cure my Mana Insensitivity, but I couldn’t forcibly raise my level or anything like that.
But—
‘Even so, there’s one thing I can imitate among an Ascendant’s Miracle Magic.’
Because this was a space within the Phantom Dream.
And because the Fragment, which would be the target of the spell, was itself a Phantom Dream-like existence.
Most importantly, because I was the master of the Dreamworld.
‘I can imitate the Ninth-Star manipulation-type Miracle Magic, “Primordial Void,” used by the “Sculptor of the Radiant Veil.”’
For reference, the “Sculptor of the Radiant Veil” was the title Toxic Young Lady Joanna would acquire after awakening in the future.
In other words, what I was trying to imitate was a Miracle Magic Joanna would use far in the future, after reaching the realm of an Ascendant.
‘…Though I don’t know if Joanna will be able to grow into an Ascendant this time.’
I glanced at Joanna with a worried look.
After gaining control over the Dreamworld, I could share my vision even from a distance. Joanna stood rigidly, her eyes blank.
It was a stark contrast to Katrinne and Libel, who were fighting the Monsters with all their might.
‘…My plan to get Joanna enrolled at Rubiness Academy is completely ruined.’
I lamented.
Not all sixteen protagonists could become Ascendants.
If they weren’t properly “raised,” many of them would either “fall behind” or “be corrupted.”
The only ones who would grow on their own, even if left alone, were the two leading protagonists, Katrinne and Libel.
Even they would need to work especially hard to reach the ultimate realm of an Ascendant: the Heavenly Rank.
‘If this really is Hard Mode, I’ll need to raise Joanna to at least an Eighth-Star Rank archmage—and not just any archmage, but one who has reached the final stage, the “Seeker.”’
It was daunting.
In any case, that was a problem for later.
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
‘Primordial Void is the ultimate Miracle Magic, returning a designated existence to nothingness.’
As it happened, I knew every detail about the Primordial Void spell. There was a reason for that.
The reason I’d originally played Hero Academy was to impress a client.
After hearing that one of my clients was a huge fan of Joanna, I’d studied her character hard on my own.
‘The first activation condition is to understand and dominate the world.’
By becoming the master of this Dreamworld, I’d fulfilled that condition.
However, I hadn’t fulfilled the second condition: “possessing the right to intervene in the target’s origin.”
‘That’s fine. The Phantom Dream never existed in the first place. The Lord of the Phantom Dream’s origin is no different.’
In other words, what I was trying to do was simply make something that had never existed in the first place cease to exist.
It was completely different from erasing an actually existing target, as the real Primordial Void would.
That was why I called it an imitation.
‘That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, though. Even as an imitation, it’s still a Ninth-Star spell.’
Fwaaaaaash!!!
My perception expanded.
Everything in the Dreamworld entered my awareness.
Complete understanding.
It was possible because I could see through the essence of all magic.
To understand something meant that I could completely dominate it.
As its perfect master, I issued a command to the Dreamworld.
“I, your rightly named master, hereby command you.”
…Truthfully, there was no need to actually say such a cringeworthy incantation out loud, but even in a crisis, the Black Flame Dragon couldn’t resist indulging in its grandiose theatrics.
“Vanish into nothingness and the void, you insignificant creature.”
Gooooooom.
A tremendous roar rang out, as if the world itself were being shaken.
I was forcing the Fragment back into the nothingness from which it had come.
But then something unexpected happened.
Snap!
The spell suddenly stopped.
For no reason at all.
As though someone had deliberately blocked it.
I realized why soon enough.
‘…Because my rank isn’t high enough!’
What I had just done was an act that interfered with causality, even if I had only imitated it in a limited way within the Dreamworld.
It was something permitted only to an ‘Ascendant.’
‘…Like I’d know anything about that!’
I gritted my teeth.
At this rate, I’d be caught up in the self-destruction and die anyway.
This was no time to worry about some trivial(?) rule of the world.
‘I have to fool it with a loophole.’
I’d been the Sales King. I was good at finding ways around the rules.
I compared the situation to how things had been when I was on Earth.
If being an Ascendant was a ‘qualification,’ and the thing checking that qualification was an ‘assessment system,’ then I needed to take advantage of a ‘blind spot’ in that system.
‘Let’s pretend I have the rank.’
The key was to ‘pretend.’
I began to imagine.
I imagined myself becoming an Ascendant.
Going beyond being an expert in magic (Fourth Star Rank, Expert),
beginning to walk the path of magic as a high-ranking mage (Fifth Star Rank, Supreme),
possessing a firm world of my own as an Archmage (Sixth Star Rank, Owner),
eventually completing a magic entirely my own (Seventh Star Rank, Master),
and, in the end, transcending even that (Eighth Star Rank, Grand).
Then I imagined myself challenging the ultimate and ascending to the heavens.
‘It’s only an imagining, though.’
I was a Grandmaster of Magic.
I could instinctively tell what I would be like if I truly possessed that kind of rank.
The strange thing was, it didn’t feel foreign to me at all.
It was as if this were the rank I was meant to possess all along.
As though entranced, I resumed the spell I had stopped.
This time, the world didn’t forbid me, either.
Gooooooom.
The Fragment began to crumble into dust and scatter.
It was a solemn, majestic sight.
Everyone there watched in awe.
‘Aaagh. I’m alive. Why is becoming a professor this hard? From now on, I’m absolutely going to keep my head down and live quietly, like a mouse.’
But, contrary to my wishes, things began to take a strange turn.
Messages like these popped up one after another.
-You have defeated a Fragment of a Great Existence!
-Everyone in the world will praise this achievement!
Up to this point, it was fine.
It had been a huge incident, after all.
All I had to do was make sure no one found out I was the one who’d done it.
But then—
-You have experienced an Ascendant’s Rank!
-A special experience has been engraved upon your soul!
-You have acquired the additional trait ‘Ascendant’s Rank (Incomplete, Temporary, Partial)’!
: Under certain conditions, you can temporarily manifest a limited Ascendant’s Rank!
‘…What is this?’
…That made no sense.
I’d ended up with an absurd trait out of nowhere.
And so, that eventful Practical Examination came to an end.
The entire Empire was thrown into an uproar.
After all, a Fragment of a Great Existence had awakened.
But what astonished people the most was what happened next.
“An unknown Ascendant saved Rubiness Academy?”
“That’s right! Former President Randolf says that an Ascendant’s great magic annihilated the Fragment!”
“Good heavens, do you know which Ascendant it was?”
“Not at all. They say it might be a newly emerged Ascendant! Their magic was unlike that of any known Ascendant.”
A new Ascendant!
It was news enough to turn the world upside down.
This was a being who could even upset the balance of the continent.
People were saying things like—
“Surely it must be an Ascendant from our Empire, right? What a cause for celebration! Perhaps we can even conquer the Demon Realm where the Demon King resides!!”
“Not just the Demon Realm! We could conquer those ‘Rans,’ too!!”
“Long live our new Ascendant!”
And the man who was the subject of all those rumors about the great Ascendant—
‘…I’m screwed. How did it come to this?’
…was clutching his head.
‘This is all that old man Randolf’s fault.’
I let out one deep sigh after another.
Randolf seemed so deeply moved by the new Ascendant who had saved them that he went on and on, without end.
-The Ascendant’s great magic split the Dreamworld. What a majestic sight!
-They must surely be an Ascendant of righteous disposition. Ah, how can we ever repay this debt?
It wasn’t merely that he’d drawn attention.
He was so focused on me that he barely paid any attention to Katrinne and Libel.
He even vowed(?) that he would find me no matter what, and the threat sent a chill down my spine.
‘…I have to hide it. No matter what. The moment they find out, the life I dreamed of will be over.’
The good news was that it seemed unlikely anyone would discover what I’d done this time.
How could anyone connect an Ascendant to the pathetic Ban the Trash?
Just as I’d expected, Former President Randolf didn’t recognize me at all.
“It’s been a while, Ban.”
“Yes, Former President.”
“I’m no longer the president, so just call me Randolf. In any case, I hear you’re going to be joining us as a new Temporary Professor?”
“That’s right.”
“Hm. Well, thanks to your having expanded the security staff in advance, we were able to protect the students without losing a single one. As the former president, I’d like to express my gratitude.”
There had been plenty of debate over whether I should be appointed, but my work expanding the security staff and protecting the students had been recognized, and I received a final passing verdict.
Still, Former President Randolf frowned, apparently still displeased with me.
“I acknowledge what you’ve done this time, but keep this in mind. You are still only a ‘Temporary Professor.’ I’ll be keeping an eye on you from now on.”
At the sound of his stern voice, which still regarded me as the Ban the Trash of the past, I felt satisfied.
Very good.
Very good indeed.