The Most Effective Counter to Chastity: Ederson Lionheart
The most effective way to counter chastity was none other than (3) Ederson Lionheart. Even back in his days as an active mercenary king, he was already a free-spirited figure in the mercenary world, earning the nickname—not just a nickname—of "Bomber." As he aged, had kids, and sought a job that offered stable pay and social prestige, he became an academy instructor.
Correction. Strictly speaking, it wasn't purely for his family. He hadn't meekly stepped into the role of academy instructor just to ease his children's worries and provide family stability.
Limit. It was hard to admit in front of others, but he knew his own limits. The world ranked the mercenary king Lionheart as S+ rank, and while Ederson outwardly denied it with a relaxed demeanor, inwardly he drowned in self-loathing.
"Hmmm? If you want to cross that wall, you're in for quite the ordeal." A true S+ rank—no, one of those beings far beyond what humanity deemed S-rank—the Ash Witch had assessed him that way.
"Fate has many paths, but you won't reach 'our realm' as easily as you think. Talent can only take you to S-rank."
She'd said that. At first, he'd wondered if she was cursing his future gray, but the more he trained, the more he grasped her meaning. No matter how exceptional the talent, there was an uncrossable wall. The mercenary king had failed to surpass it for decades, hiding himself away in the academy's faculty to conceal that truth.
Maybe it was just an excuse. Perhaps it was his own mindset, defining his limits and content to stagnate there.
"Ha."
He'd surpassed his limits. A fiercer vitality surged through him now than in his youth, when he'd rampaged like a lion of the plains among countless females. And it wasn't just mana. His lower half felt it too.
"So this is the power of adult Jerque."
Adult Jerque. Saint Jerque. It had to be named after someone, and whatever this Jerque technique Phoenix mentioned was, it was a revolution—a salvation—for men.
Yeah. You didn't need to grow stronger every moment. Just breaking through at the crucial time was enough.
"One story: you don't have to smash or climb the wall," the Ash Witch had told him.
"How often do you stay 'over here' in life? Most times, you just eat, sleep, make love."
Love. Back then, he hadn't understood why she'd said that.
"You only need to cross it in your most sincere moments. Even if just for a fleeting instant."
Now he got it. Having surpassed his own limits, Ederson's senses picked up everything. Thump, thump. He could see the laws of nature.
"What happens when you reach this side? Hmm... You'll just know when it clicks. The world starts looking different. You'll see robust life forces invisible before. The potent mana dwelling in all life, and something brilliantly shining in its flow."
"Everyone's is unique, but for me, it's like multicolored lights sparkling differently in a gray world. For you... borrowing someone else's example, it'd be like 'color on the wind,' right?"
The memory surfaced. He couldn't help recalling the Ash Witch's advice—because it was real. From his partner collapsed on the bed emanated waves of green wind. Around the exploded carriage, emerald winds like nature itself rippled and danced. Like spirit light, soul light, or mana light itself.
"Vice Dean Ederson."
Instructor Esta approached from behind. Her calm face handed him a cloth, clearly avoiding his gaze, but as he took it, he couldn't help swallowing hard at what he saw.
"Congratulations."
Behind the sparkling pure white of Esta.
"Impressive, Vice Dean!"
Thud, thud.
"A lion's roar that exploded the carriage. So, how was it? Mana drain? Did she take it all?"
She spoke casually of academy matters, but Ederson could now see it.
"You know, sometimes it's better not to see. What you vaguely knew becomes viscerally real once visible."
What the Ash Witch had warned him about.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
Whoosh. Phoenix.
"Um, Vice Dean? Standing there like that is getting kinda embarrassing."
From the beaming academy student—or whatever he was pretending to be—something shone. Even in the world Ederson Lionheart now saw, intense blue flames blazed.
Not mana peeking through the wind's color around him, but a massive phoenix bird engulfed in blue flames, its very existence ablaze.
"Hmmm."
The moment 'it' smiled warily.
"First."
Whoosh. Seven flames ignited, birthing distinct somethings.
"!!"
Illusion? Had to be. But that massive presence—the seven differently colored entities behind Phoenix—clearly revealed fragments of themselves. Silhouettes emerged from the seven flames: a wolf embracing wind; a frozen woman; a nine-headed serpent; a golden orb like the sun in the sky; a three-headed dragon of abyssal darkness; a gray fox distinctly present in the haze. And overarching them all, a phoenix ablaze in brilliant blue flames with wings of two flames.
Below it stood one man.
"What's wrong?"
The man smiled with concern, but within the fiery wings behind him gleamed another presence. Thud, thud. A young man with black hair and eyes sparkling like blue flames raised a hand silently from within.
"You don't look well. Something wrong?"
In the flames, the black-haired youth pressed a finger to his lips and chuckled lowly.
That alone made him realize what to do.
"...No, nothing."
Silence. Closing his eyes, everything returned to normal.
"...Thank you."
Whoever it was for, he could only express genuine gratitude. Ederson Lionheart—for the first time in about thirty years, he could share love with vitality surpassing his youth.
"......."
Thud!
Ederson relaxed and closed his eyes as exhaustion washed over his body.
* * *
Vice Dean Ederson had collapsed. Some might think it was from mana drain, but the on-site staff knew better.
"Stay by his side!"
"To the old school building...! No, turn this place into a field hospital!"
"Someone get Instructor Cardisha here!?"
The staff scrambled to tend to the fallen vice dean. Moving him to a bed was awkward with the traces of his lion's roar still evident, so they laid him on robes spread on the floor.
"Whoa... fuck."
As they laid Vice Dean Ederson flat, one staffer cursed involuntarily.
That's the normal reaction.
Men were like that. For average sizes, they'd mutter "fuck" to suppress jealousy and play it cool. But something so enormous left no room for envy—just awe.
Moai stone worship didn't come from nowhere, nor did Jeju's stone grandfathers litter the island for nothing.
Even in this bread academy world—no, especially because it was—women's busts demanded matching male grandeur. So as they tended him, the staff stole glances, embarrassed yet curious—
Click.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"It's already being recorded live on the magic pad. Snapping a photo with projection magic changes nothing."
"Not embarrassed?"
"Embarrassed? No...! This photo needs to spread to every male student in the academy—no, the whole world!"
One staffer who'd photographed the supine vice dean shouted earnestly.
"It's a historic moment, perfect for my next paper!!"
Historic indeed. Even unconscious, its SS-rank majesty stood tall toward the heavens. Like a man's forearm thrusting a fist skyward between his legs, the staff began swallowing hard one by one.
"Um, Student Phoenix...?"
Then they turned to me, eyes hopeful.
"That thing... think we could get one too?"
Not envy for the unattainable, but fierce hope that they could achieve it too.
"Hm."
To answer.
"Impossible. ...is what I can't say."
Theoretically, anyone could.
"Mana is like muscle."
Train hard, become a gym beast.
"Give your absolute best, put in the effort, and it'll happen."
Refine and cultivate mana properly, and anyone could grow big and busty.
"Starting with purging the toxins in your body."
Ederson Lionheart had "awakened," expelling and removing the "angel power" lodged within him.
Angel power. A substance that regressed masculinity and suppressed mana growth.
Now, true male normalization was at hand.