What They Call an Academy
“Kallion.”
I was the first to step forward. The opening volley was the densest, so it had to be stopped cold. This wasn’t an attack meant to kill—it was an intercept.
Grrrk…
The instant the countless fruits had formed, Kallion’s eyes flared with a searing crimson-black light as he condensed every scrap of mana he possessed. His jaws yawned wide, and raw power poured out.
“Demi Breath.”
Demi Breath
A split-second of ringing silence—then a colossal mass of energy screamed forward on a shockwave, slamming into the incoming spells.
KRAAAAAAANG!!!!!!
The delayed detonation literally shredded the magic. The nearest black girls burst apart like overripe fruit and vanished. In perfect sync, Riri stretched out an arm; blue lightning crackled at her fingertips.
“Chain Lightning.”
Chain Lightning
She had hesitated a beat, but for the first time she spoke the spell’s name cleanly. To her it was probably just linking two puzzle pieces, yet the result was far beyond imagination.
JZEEEEEAK!!!
A grating, bird-of-prey screech filled the air as serpents of lightning writhed and lashed in every direction. If the earlier aurora had been a single-target nuke, this was pure area denial—built to erase a horde.
She had dialed the power down in the rush, but the chained bolts still punched through black girl after black girl, electrocuting them into ash and never stopping until nothing remained but drifting cinders.
Two skills. Half the black swarm blotting out the sky was simply gone.
Yet the tree answered as if reclaiming what it had lost. Fresh black fruits swelled from the roots, burst, and spat out even more of the girls.
This time the ratio shifted. As though the tree had finally noticed us on the ground, it poured a massive amount of the orb’s liquid into one enormous fruit.
THUD!
The fully grown fruit slammed into the earth like a dropped melon. It split open, and a pack of wolves poured out.
“Kung! Kung-kung!”
“Grrrr…!”
“Awooooooo!!!”
Dozens—maybe hundreds—of wolves, yet we didn’t flinch. Luicia flicked her slender blade in a half-circle, and Ban Taewung lowered his sword into a ready stance. Both fixed the oncoming tide with ice-cold eyes and poured mana into their steel.
“Sia.”
“Yes.”
No grand speeches. Two words were enough. Their mana began to braid together—radiant platinum and unyielding black-gold. Foreign mana that should have repelled instead fused; only the identical gold portions mutated into sparks that crackled outward in every direction.
On that cue their blades traced elegant arcs. Luicia’s sword swept from high to low, Taewung’s from low to high, crossing in perfect diagonals that looked for all the world like they were about to cut each other down.
No—once they leapt into the heart of the enemy line, the blades turned not on the foe but on each other.
CLANG!!!
““Twin Blade Clash!!!””
Twin Blade Clash
Steel met steel, and a colossal shockwave exploded outward. The aftershock alone sent razor-edged blades of wind streaking straight into the enemy ranks—guided, without a doubt.
They looked like they were simply clashing swords, but in truth each was shearing the sword aura wrapped around the other and flinging the fragments like shrapnel.
This was a sword dance. A meticulously calculated dual form that carved through enemies at perfect angles. The destructive force born from two mana streams colliding was redirected entirely onto the foe. Only absolute trust made such a stunt possible. And they proved it—again and again their blades rang together without a shred of hesitation.
CLANG! KRAANG!
CHAAANG! SKRAAAK!!
Whenever a blade threatened to shatter they flowed with the impact, swords flashing in dazzling patterns. Each collision birthed a fresh shockwave; the shattered aura shards became new sword-qi that streaked unerringly toward the enemy alone.
KWAGAGAGAGANG!!!
They denied every approach while striking from every direction at once, as if they had erected a bunker right in the middle of the enemy formation. In seconds the surroundings looked like they had been carpet-bombed.
Once the wolves had been scythed down to a manageable number, Riri flicked the spell loaded on her fingers.
WHOOOOM! KRADDDDK!
A wave of freezing air swept the ground, and the world vanished under ice. As if that were the finale, Taewung and Luicia both stomped mana into their feet and crossed their blades one last time.
JZEEEEEANG!!!
Spiderweb cracks raced outward from them; everything frozen detonated in a chain reaction. Not a single scrap of black wolf remained. Only clean, glittering earth lay exposed.
The entire sequence had been flawless—no wasted motion—and it spoke volumes about how long these two had fought side by side. This went far beyond “good teamwork.” One wrong angle and they would have carved each other open, yet they had elevated that danger into pure technique. Even comrades who had rolled through years of battlefields together couldn’t pull this off.
You couldn’t copy it even if you wanted to. It was a technique that existed solely for the two of them.
“Nice fight!”
“That was great.”
They high-fived like they had just finished a light sparring match. My brow twitched of its own accord. My mouth pressed into a flat line as if I had bitten something sour.
Flirting. In the middle of a battle like this. These two really never quit. Still, thanks to them the path was wide open. I vaulted onto Growl’s back and ordered the charge.
“You got anything like that?”
“Yep. Super~ huge ice sword.”
Still perched on Growl, Riri answered without a shred of fear left in her. She leaned fully against me, arms flung wide, miming a massive sword swing. Taewung’s presence had cranked her tension even higher. The way she bounced back so fast reminded me of pre-rehab Kallion.
“Keep that ready.”
“Who for?”
She meant who the spell was for. The answer was obvious. Handing a giant sword to a non-swordsman like me would be pointless.
“Ban Taewung.”
“’Kay.”
Her wording was blunt and crude, yet the magic circle forming in her hands was more complex and powerful than any spell I had seen from her yet.
“Hey, Tae!”
“Uh—yeah?”
I sprinted past and thrust out a hand. He looked startled for a heartbeat, then grabbed on and scrambled up behind me on Growl. Luicia shouted something at me from the ground; I answered by sending Kallion to cover her rear.
THUD!
More fruits were already dropping from the sky, birthing fresh wolves. I didn’t need another spectacular wipe—just stalling for time was profit enough.
“We’re about to run. Get ready to swing the second we land.”
“…Target’s that tree, right?”
“Yeah. You and her—finish prepping, fast.”
“Hwehng.”
I grabbed Riri by the scruff and swapped places so she was nestled against Taewung. He startled, then instinctively cradled her. The moment he saw the circle blooming in her hands he poured his own mana into it without question.
PZZZT…!!
Sparks flew as the two mana streams collided. Growl flinched at the chaos on his back; I stroked his spine until he settled. It’s fine. Even if you get hurt, I can heal you.
“…Whine.”
My reassurance only made him more anxious. His pace surged. The instant I thought we had hit top speed I condensed shadow into a trap—the same jump pad I had once used on the woman with the burning carriage.
This time it wasn’t for unbalancing anyone. Pure launch. A real jump pad. I flung the shadow ahead; the skill Trap Installation kicked in and a quivering shadow platform snapped into existence, so taut it looked ready to catapult anything that touched it.
I slapped Growl’s back once. He understood.
“Kung!!”
TADAK!
Growl rocketed into the air. His landing point was dead-center on the shadow pad. The moment his full weight hit, crushing pressure slammed through us and the world flipped.
I reshaped a shadow blade into a broad shield and slapped a second jump pad onto its face.
CHAAAAANG!!!
“Do…ne.”
On cue, a terrifying chill began to frost Taewung’s sword. Riri, completely spent, face-planted into Growl’s fur and managed only a limp thumbs-up.
I glanced at the dense magic circles crawling along the blade, then locked eyes with Taewung.
The tree was still far. But we had already crested the parabola. From here it was pure freefall.
I lifted the shield—perfect size, perfect height. Taewung rose the instant he saw it, poured mana into his legs, and stomped hard.
“Go.”
“Taewung—launch!”
I swung the shield with everything I had and triggered the pad. Fully set, Taewung shot away like a bullet.
The recoil sent us plummeting, but the old lighten-weight-plus-shadow-crow-step combo with Kang So-seon let us touch down safely.
Only Ban Taewung remained, still climbing into the sky in real time.
“Kihiiik!”
“Kihiiii…!!”
The shrunken black girls ringed the tree and began chanting defensive spells, desperate to stop him. Individually weaker now, but dozens, hundreds, thousands of them stacked into a wall of real thickness.
“Pointless.”
Riri watched with a bored expression and shook her head. Instead she looked almost proud, eyes fixed on the circles covering Taewung’s sword. Quietly she pressed her hands together and clapped once.
CLAP.
““De Glacia.””
De Glacia
Even across the distance their voices resonated, layered with mana. In that instant the blade in Taewung’s hands exploded in length.
It wasn’t just longer. The colossal ice greatsword radiated condensed cold simply by existing, blasting or freezing anything that drew near.
As if he had expected exactly this, Taewung angled the sword backward, used the jet of freezing air as thrusters, and casually performed the insane feat of leaping again mid-air.
Black-gold mana bloomed around him as he gripped the giant sword with both hands. Hidden magic circles surfaced across the ice.
Tick. Tick.
Like the perfectly tuned gears and springs of a clock, the circles linked, assembled, and began to move. The black girls screamed in recognition—copies though they were, they understood the formula’s effect first.
They poured out magic in a desperate barrage, but the diluted quality that came with mass production was nowhere near enough to pierce Taewung’s defense.
He neither dodged nor blocked. He simply endured. He didn’t even need to take the hits. The ice sword itself was already flooding him with freezing damage in real time, and that alone made the mana aura around him erupt skyward.
WHOOM!
“Kyaaaaaaa!!!!”
“Kyaaaang…!!”
When Taewung finally reached the tree the black girls shrieked in pure panic. His expression never changed. No—calm wasn’t the right word. It was cold. Icy rage burned in his eyes.
CLACK.
Conditions met. The skill activated. All that remained was his will to use it.
“Reverse Counter.”
Reverse Counter
Their very existence had been forged by forcibly draining the lives of his friends. Pure, unmistakable malice stood before him. To right a scale already tipped, to repay that debt this very second—Taewung swung without a shred of hesitation.
WHOOOOOM!!
TING!
For something so massive, the sound that rang out was crystal-clear.
CRACK.
Space itself split.
The pure-white frozen air twisted diagonally and tore; the rent edges slid downward before freezing solid mid-fall. Everything else around it restored itself as though time had rewound. The only thing left misaligned was the tree.
KRADDDRK.
From the severed plane the wood turned pure white in an instant, becoming ice. Taewung swung again; the ice shattered like glass and vanished without a trace.
CRASH!
The ice portion of his own sword shattered the same way, returning the blade to its original form. Taewung simply let himself fall with the momentum.
His arms were frozen stiff; overusing mana left his head spinning. The price of wringing out every last drop for a single perfect strike.
Above him the magic circles in the sky were already fading. Watching the barrier dissolve, Taewung couldn’t help a small smile.
THUD!
“Honestly—pushing yourself until it comes to this again!!”
“Sia… haha, sorry.”
The one who caught him was none other than Luicia Valentia. She effortlessly princess-carried the much larger Taewung, landed lightly, and immediately glared at me.
“What if Taewung-ssi gets seriously hurt next time?!”
This pattern again. People don’t change overnight. Honestly, her acting exactly like usual was almost comforting. Not that it stopped me from being annoyed.
“I can regrow a severed arm. A few scratches are nothing. And Ban Taewung isn’t a kid. Stop wrapping a grown man like a baby left by the water’s edge—it’s creepy.”
“Urgh…! That’s not the point! What do you think a person’s heart is for?!”
I answered with cold logic as usual; she ground her teeth and fired back pure emotion. The actual party in question, Taewung, was sweating bullets trying to mediate while Riri still lay sprawled on Growl’s back, mana completely drained.
Wait—was she really exhausted from mana? Or just addicted to how soft Growl’s fur felt? Growl himself looked equally unsettled by the sensation, ears folded flat as he gave me a pitiful stare.
I ignored Luicia’s continued complaints, walked over, and hauled Riri up by the scruff. She swallowed a string of drool with a soft slurp.
“…What’re you doing?”
“Fluffy.”
“Just get down already.”
I peeled her off Growl and set her on the ground. She pouted, eyes narrowing sleepily at me.
“Stingy.”
“Then become a summoner yourself.”
“…Hiiing.”
Knowing it was impossible, she drooped and trotted over to Taewung, rubbing against him like a cat re-marking a master whose scent had faded.
“Riri…! What do you think you’re doing out in public?!”
“Luicia too.”
“Ah—wait, where are you touching—nnngh…!”
Or maybe she was just hunting for lost body heat. Taewung wordlessly ruffled her hair and accepted it; she immediately buried her face in Luicia’s side and stomach and started rubbing with zero mercy. I sighed.
These people never give me a quiet moment. With the magic gone I finally peeled off the stifling mask; shadow slid down my hand like liquid.
“Barrier’s breaking.”
“Oh—it really is.”
All three looked up and exhaled in relief. As the barrier collapsed, the illusion that had painted the surroundings shimmered and vanished.
The eerie daydream sensation shattered at once. The noise and screams flooding in dragged us back to reality whether we liked it or not.
Right. Where there’s chaos, someone has to clean it up. And given what just happened, the cleanup would be uglier than usual. Look—our protagonist’s face was already hardening.
“Bring the wounded over here…!”
“Check for mental contamination first!!”
“Cardiac arrest!! Defibrillator—no, get a priest!! Hurry!!!”
With the veil gone the full view of the training field hit us. It looked like the rear of a battlefield. Bodies that might as well have been corpses littered the ground; screams of people racing to save them filled the air.
“Uwaaaagh…?!”
“S-save me…!”
“Darkness!!! It’s so daaaaark!!!”
“What are you doing?! Grab them and purify them already!!”
Some still hadn’t broken free of the hypnosis; the moment they stood they attacked whoever was nearest, creating even more patients. Pure chaos.
Judging that the death toll would climb if left alone, second- and third-years who had been training nearby poured in to help.
“Subdue them first!!”
“Purification comes first. Holy water! Run to the cathedral and bring every drop they’ve got!!”
“Where’s the support-department professor?! What? Already treating people? Damn it!!”
“Stop standing around like idiots! Get the sword-swingers who can’t do anything else to haul supplies!!”
Even the ones who had been relatively unscathed—ourselves included—were thrown straight into cleanup without a second to breathe.
“Taewung! Luicia! Are you okay?! Any injuries?!”
“Ah—Eri.”
Someone spotted us from afar and closed the distance at high speed. Black hair cut in the classic Japanese hime style streamed behind her. Onohara Erika arrived half-pale, already checking Taewung and the others over from head to toe.
“I should cast a healing formula first—no, purification ritual first? What do I do? What do I do?”
She fretted, pulling talismans and a string of ritual bells from her robes. Luicia stepped in before the sight became too pitiful—roles completely reversed.
“Erika. Calm down first. We’re fine.”
“Ah… y-yeah. You’re right. I’m just so glad you’re safe.”
Not a shred of calculation—pure, unfiltered worry. It came through so clearly that even without words her face alone was enough. Taewung and Luicia both smiled warmly and soothed her.
When we first met I had pegged her as the big-sister type, but right now she looked more like a small animal you wanted to protect. Gap moe, I think they call it.
I was watching them from a half-observer’s distance when the fine hairs on my neck prickled. Killing intent? No—something a little… sticky. What now?
I turned. A woman with pale hazelnut-brown hair and orange eyes was staring straight at me through half-lidded lids.
Ah, crap.
I had planned to ignore her even if we crossed paths, but that razor-sharp gaze forced me to look. Second- and third-years had shown up, so I had half-expected a meeting, but locking eyes this blatantly made pretending not to notice feel awkward.
Still, I am a man who gets things done when he decides to. I slowly shifted my gaze, deliberately unfocusing as if I had been looking past her the whole time, then turned away again like I had seen nothing.
The body language was painfully obvious, but as long as I owned it, it was fine.
“…Hmph!”
Kang So-seon puffed both cheeks like a squirrel stuffing its face full of acorns and whipped her head away. She was sulking. Definitely sulking.
I still didn’t react. Acting that blatant was just another way of begging for attention.
“Uh, Shinwoo… isn’t that person staring at you?”
“Must be my imagination.”
“No, she’s nodding at what I just said…”
“I said it’s your imagination.”
The densest guy alive suddenly develops perfect situational awareness at the worst possible moment. He kept muttering that it really didn’t seem like imagination.
Persistent little bastard.
I couldn’t keep standing there forever, so I moved. Preferably somewhere with fewer people.
Kallion had somehow hit level 10, so it was time for an evolution. I dismissed both Growl and Kallion, then slipped away the moment the others started talking to Taewung.