Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

The Fifth Legion Commander of the Demon King’s Army, Elder Lich, was an undead creature with a skeletal body adorned with various trinkets and a cloak.

She had been bluffed into attempting to move the Life Vessel, but due to the Life Vessel’s life force, she had regained her original form and fought against them. However, she had cast a spell to attack Mira’s psyche, only to end up with a destroyed mind herself.

Even in her ruined state, the Life Vessel’s life force remained intact, and she had been subjected to countless biological experiments in the basement of the Mage Association, her regenerative abilities fueled by the Life Vessel’s power.

Until recently, that is.

“What about the Life Vessel?”

“We left only the minimum amount of Life Vessel necessary to maintain the body and extracted the rest. When we completely removed it, she reverted to an undead form. We didn’t know if her power would manifest in her undead form, and besides, isn’t this form better than a skeleton?”

The White Tower Master stroked his long beard, which reached down to his waist, and laughed benevolently. While it was true that the demonic form was better than a skeleton, that wasn’t the most important issue at hand.

“Why did you bring her here, to the Academy? There are students here. Eres wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“Rest assured, we have her permission.”

“How?”

“Because there is no safer place than the Bellium Academy, where you are, the Dragon Rider is, and the Shadow Dragon is. Compared to the Imperial Palace, guarded by a few Grand Magicians and the Royal Guard, what chance do those humans have against you?”

The Emperor would have been so shocked that he would have seriously considered beheading this man. Yet, the White Tower Master casually spoke those words as if they were nothing. He took a magic tool out of his robe pocket and handed it to Mira.

It was a rectangular tool with two small switches, one on top of the other.

“We didn’t bring her here to the Academy without any thought. This is a tool to control her and a safety device, so you can use it, Mira.”

“Safety device? How does it work?”

“As you can see, there are two switches. The bottom one, when pressed, will activate a disintegration spell on various vital parts of her body, completely destroying her. If the disintegration spell disappears, becomes inoperable, or is altered, the tool will turn blue, so you can judge based on that.”

“……When should I use it?”

“It’s entirely up to you, Mira. Well, you can press it right now if you want. It’s a bit of a waste, but we’ve finished the important experiments, so there’s no regret.”

He had noticed that the joints of her neck, elbows, and knees were glowing blue, and now he understood that it was due to the disintegration spell embedded within.

“I understand. Then, what’s the top switch for?”

“It’s a device to activate the self-awareness injected into the superficial consciousness. When activated, it will return to a dormant state.”

“Self-awareness? Dormant state?”

“I’ll explain it step by step.”

The White Tower Master smiled indulgently, as if it were obvious that Mira would react this way, and began his explanation.

“First, let’s go back to why this guy’s mind collapsed. Elder Lich became a ruin because she looked into your psyche and lost the battle, right?”

To be precise, she had been shocked by the strength of the monsters from Mira’s original world and terrified by the fact that Mira was fighting on equal footing with them, causing her to go insane on her own.

Mira hadn’t told them the truth, so the Tower Masters believed this to be the case.

“The ‘White Tower’ has succeeded in developing a magic that can extract and even clone the collapsed psyche after countless attempts. We, the White Tower, were the first to achieve this.”

The White Tower Master emphasized the words “White Tower” as he glanced at their reactions. Mira was unable to hide his surprise, so he stroked his beard contentedly.

Honestly, this was surprising news to Mira as well.

“Is it really possible?”

“Of course. How could we, the White Tower, lie to you? If we were to lie, we’d rather lie to the Emperor than to you, Mira.”

The Emperor would have considered this treasonous, and yet the White Tower Master casually spoke those words as if they were nothing. He patted Elder Lich’s skull.

“We extracted the ‘original’ self-awareness and injected it into her superficial consciousness. It’s currently in a dormant state, but once activated, it will be able to move immediately. The trigger to activate the self-awareness injected into the superficial consciousness and return it to a dormant state is the first switch you mentioned.”

“……What do we gain from all of this?”

“If the experiment is successful, we plan to inject the extracted self-awareness into a magic stone golem to create a self-moving magic stone golem. Didn’t we leave only the minimum amount of Life Vessel necessary to maintain her body? We disassembled the rest and installed them in a magic stone golem, and the efficiency of the magic stone increased drastically……”

When it came to the results of the experiment, the White Tower Master continued rambling until Mira had to interrupt him.

The only things Mira could understand were that the efficiency of the magic stone golems had increased significantly due to the Life Vessel, and that Elder Lich’s data could be used to make them move autonomously.

For truly autonomous thinking, a trigger word was necessary, and during the activation of self-awareness, the spoken trigger word would be recognized as the master.

“I understand, so that’s enough. But why the Academy? Aside from the safety reason, there must be another reason.”

“Because it will be the first place to be deployed after verification. Didn’t we provide it as a sparring partner once before? You destroyed it, though.”

Mira coughed awkwardly, remembering how he had deliberately destroyed it out of fear that it might be contaminated by the Holy Relics, just like in the original novel.

The White Tower Master laughed heartily.

“Rest assured, no one would dare to hold you responsible. Anyway, since it will be deployed at Bellium Academy, it makes sense to experiment here, doesn’t it?”

“It’s not dangerous, is it?”

“Based on our experiments in the Mage Association and the Tower for a week, he hasn’t suddenly gone berserk and tried to kill humans. Of course, there’s no such thing as a hundred percent, so we gave you the safety device.”

“Alright. Erestika has given her permission, so I don’t have much to say. Go ahead. I’ll send her back in three days.”

“Yes, Mira. We will be waiting.”

The White Tower Master bowed deeply, sincerely wishing to meet him again, and returned to his tower.

Originally, Elder Lich was supposed to arrive tomorrow. When Mira asked what was going on, he decided to show him in person, and although it wasn’t according to plan, the result was the same: he had succeeded in surprising him.

“Psychic extraction……”

He couldn’t help but be amazed. He hadn’t expected them to succeed in such a magic.

He stared at Elder Lich, who stood motionless like a mannequin. Purple hair, purple and black heterochromia, and skin with a hint of peach, resembling a human more than a demon.

He pressed the top switch on the magic tool he had been given. Elder Lich’s stiff posture relaxed slightly, becoming more like a human mannequin or a statue.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes.”

He spoke to himself, but then addressed Elder Lich.

“What should I call you?”

“Elder Lich is sufficient.”

“Okay, Elder Lich. What is your purpose and reason for being here?”

“To experiment and see how much autonomy the self-awareness injected into my superficial consciousness has.”

“You know a lot.”

It seemed like it was time to fully activate the self-awareness. During the White Tower Master’s lengthy monologue, he had memorized the trigger word. This was the real beginning.

A long sentence, which would never be mentioned in daily life unless he deliberately memorized and spoke it, flowed from his mouth.

“……May your mind be filled with thoughts, your heart with flames, and your body with will.”

As soon as he finished reciting the trigger word, Elder Lich’s body twitched, and the stiffness disappeared. She looked around in confusion, her eyes meeting Mira’s.

“You……”

Elder Lich reflexively raised her arm. But instead of the skeletal arm of the Death Legion Commander, who had taken countless lives and commanded the army of death, there was only a soft arm with human-like skin and flesh.

“……It’s not working. The Life Vessel has been drastically reduced in size, so it’s only natural.”

“You’re surprisingly calm?”

“Emotions interfere with objective thinking. All anger will do is make me forget the path I need to take.”

When he had met Elder Lich before, she had gone berserk at the mention of Erestika resembling a succubus, but now, she was surprisingly rational.

“Let’s see how rational you can be. I was told that you would absolutely obey the orders of the person who recited the trigger word…… sit.”

“Ha, I’m not going to listen to such anㅡ what?”

Elder Lich, who had scoffed at his command, now sat on the floor like a dog. Her face was filled with embarrassment and shame.

“What, what are you doing? Stop it! Don’tㅡ”

Elder Lich screamed in protest, but her body obediently followed Mira’s commands.

“What, what is this……”

Elder Lich’s head dropped, and she mumbled in protest. But her hand remained on Mira’s palm. Pook, her head dropped again.

“Kkeuk, kill me……”

“Do you want to die? Alright.”

At his words, Elder Lich lifted her head, her eyes filled with hope.

“Try your best to act cute. Who knows, maybe you’ll be so ashamed that you’ll die.”

“What? What are you talking about……”

Elder Lich was shocked, but her body began to move on its own, despite her protests. Tears welled up in her eyes, which had been so objective that she had forgotten the path she needed to take.

Her expression suggested that she might actually die of shame if pushed far enough.