I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor

Chapter 21

Liberto gripped the tonfa tightly in his hand, a wry smile creeping beneath the mask of his gas mask.

‘What a disaster.’

The target of this raid was painfully clear.

‘To make the United Synthesis of Humanity pay.’

Instead of blaming the defense forces for their incompetence in failing to protect the planet from cosmic monstrosities, they had been driven out by those vile creatures who sought to bury the situation without a hint of remorse, even after they had risked everything to save the planet’s inhabitants.

Thus, they had launched an assault from hyperspace, despite the odds.

‘If I use that, I might be able to buy some time.’

He steadied his wavering heart as he considered the possibilities.

After all, the main objective was the bridge.

As long as he could hold out until he seized control of the bridge, the goal would be well within reach.

“Calling me a terrorist is a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

With that, he half-intended to conceal his face, half-intended to momentarily shield himself from the unpleasant substances of hyperspace, and he flung off the black gas mask.

Thud—.

Then, the face of a rather handsome blond man emerged.

Though it was unpleasant, he calculated that the notoriety of being a wanted man would prevent them from approaching too carelessly.

“I do hold the rank of lieutenant colonel, you know.”

However, to his amusement, both Obia and Jin Crow paid him no mind whatsoever.

“Proceed to the bridge, Lieutenant Obia.”

“Pardon? Don’t you think you can handle that on your own, Instructor?”

“I know what kind of person you are, but I have no intention of playing along right now. You must understand what it means to be stranded in hyperspace.”

“…No rebuttal. See you later!”

In stark contrast to his intentions, Obia Timist vanished toward the bridge before he could even react.

Thanks to that, Liberto realized anew that things had gone awry, yet he couldn’t help but smile with a refreshing sense of clarity.

“Now it’s truly a race against time.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“No matter how skilled the Quad Gear is, holding the bridge won’t be an easy task.”

The fatal flaw of the ability-based realm was that its sheer destructiveness imposed numerous restrictions on its use in ship-to-ship combat.

And seasoned martial arts superhumans were trained to exploit such gaps with precision.

“What you’re saying is, if I can hold you back, things will become much easier!”

With a leap, Liberto charged toward Jin Crow, as if to prove that his words were indeed true.

The corridor’s floor twists and warps.

In an instant, Jin Crow, eyes locked on the whirling trajectory of the tonfa, twisted his body with a movement close to instinct.

Kwad-d-d-d-ck!

The tip of the tonfa grazed past him, smashing into the wall, shattering the embedded pipes, and a hazy steam billowed forth between them.

“Are you toying with me? Or is the rumor exaggerated?”

Liberto twirled the tonfa with casual ease, provoking Jin Crow, yet the response remained stubbornly absent.

He had known from the start that Jin was taciturn—one might say, lacking in manners—so he paid it little mind.

However, the fragments of his past that he had glimpsed weighed on Liberto’s thoughts, and he resolved to give him no time to think.

“Hmm!”

In a fleeting moment, the world twisted before his eyes.

The step he took, not from another’s violence but from his own will, landed squarely on Jin Crow’s abdomen.

“……!”

He instinctively raised his sword to block, but the attempt was clumsy, utterly lacking in finesse.

Thus, Liberto halted the tonfa.

And in that brief moment, with his brow furrowed, he exhaled and pondered.

‘A trap?’

Perhaps it was due to Jin’s position as an instructor at the Central Special Officer Academy that thorough investigation proved difficult; the information from above was woefully scant.

Yet, one detail stood out: he was a veteran soldier conscripted during the Third Galactic War, starting not as an officer but as a mere soldier.

Surviving the brutal battlefield and rising from soldier to instructor at the academy was enough to make Liberto, despite not yet clashing with him, unconsciously regard him as superior to Obia, the Quad Gear superhuman.

Experience and combat instinct were not merely compensated for by a higher rank in the Gear.

Kwaaang!

Before his thoughts could settle, Jin Crow intercepted the tonfa head-on, and soon thereafter, he was sent flying into the air, crashing against the wall.

“……What is this?”

Liberto narrowed his eyes.

It was a mix of bewilderment and inquiry.

So flustered was he that he waited, hand still gripping the tonfa, until Jin Crow, having collided with the wall, coughed dryly and began to rise.

“Gah!”

Even after that, the scene remained unchanged.

They leaped toward each other, colliding.

The tonfa and the pitch-black longsword tangled in a chaotic dance that, at a glance, resembled a life-and-death struggle, yet in truth, it was something entirely different.

Kwaaang!

Chae-ae-aeng!

How long had it been since the chaotic onslaught began?

At last, Liberto opened his mouth.

“You, your condition is not normal.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You should know better than I do.”

It was far more plausible to interpret that a seasoned warrior, who had survived two decades on the battlefield, was actually weak rather than strong.

How could he have taken on the role of an instructor at the Central Special Officer Academy if he hadn’t at least reached triple, perhaps even quad gear?

In truth, the moment the state of his body was mentioned, there was a fleeting tremor in Jin Crow’s endlessly dark eyes—proof enough of his condition.

As expected.

Jin Crow’s head felt as if it might burst.

‘…Damn it.’

At this point, he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Jin Crow himself was in a position that could hardly be called complacent among the people of this world.

No, rather, it was he who was complacent.

‘Even though I anticipated an ambush, here I am in this state.’

There were still about twenty minutes left of the drug-induced haze, and he could feel the two gears grinding and shifting within him, but it was futile.

Though Liberto had made his assumptions, his condition was indeed poor, and even his swordsmanship was merely a reflection of his body’s erratic movements.

‘What should I have done?’

Should he not have sent Obia Timist to the bridge?

‘No, if the bridge were to be overrun and the Mother AI’s command authority lost, that would truly be the worst outcome.’

Should he have refused the position of admissions inspector?

‘If I had, I might have avoided immediate danger, but the end result would have been the same. It would have only raised unnecessary suspicions.’

Should he have sought power first?

‘I can’t bring in any awakening agents, and it’s still uncertain where to find an Opart that suits my needs.’

In the end, no matter how many times he retraced his steps, the choice he had made was the best he could do at that moment.

It was then.

Did the silent Jin Crow think he had silently agreed? Or did he believe there was a chance he too could be swayed by their own “cause”?

Unlike before, Liberto opened his mouth not with hostility, but with a faint expression of sympathy and kinship.

“I did a bit of digging. Before becoming an instructor, he declared his intention to retire, only to retract it and be selected for the Central Special Operations Academy.”

That was all the information available from the outside.

A soldier who fought in the Third Galactic War.

His peculiar, eccentric personality and demeanor.

Lastly, the application for retirement he formally submitted to the military, which would inevitably leave a trace in his personnel records.

“You know, don’t you?”

He was now certain.

Jin Crow, too, was of their kind.

“The United Human Synthesis is such a place. With bodies in this state, they forcefully press down on shoulders, making one sit in place for their own use—a thorough selfishness. In the end, whether you or us, we are all victims of this twisted state power, albeit through different processes.”

And by now, Jin Crow could not help but sense what kind of delusion and thoughts Liberto was harboring.

“Let us join forces, Instructor Jin Crow.”

“……Hah.”

This was yet another maddening turn of events.

Jin Crow absentmindedly swept his hair back, but as Liberto narrowed his eyes, perhaps thinking he was in anguish, he continued speaking without pause.

“We are not terrorists. If you resonate with our cause, we are willing to support everything necessary for rehabilitation…”

“Your cause. I know it all too well.”

“Pardon?”

To think he would receive a scouting offer from the Red Hand, one of the groups labeled as fools within the narrative.

Could it be that such an unimaginable event had instead cleared his mind?

Or perhaps, it was that fear had dissipated.

With wide eyes, Jin Crow shot back a brutally candid remark at the one who questioned him.

“Fools who throw away their lives, brainwashed by incitement, without even knowing whose interests they represent.”

“……What did you say?”

Was it merely a feeling, or was his language becoming increasingly coarse?

It was likely not just a feeling.

Gradually, it was evidence that Jin Crow’s true self was awakening.

Meanwhile, Liberto’s expression, clueless as to what Jin Crow was thinking, had truly soured.

“……That’s insulting.”

His offer, extended with a semblance of goodwill, had been rejected.

In that case, there was no reason to continue the conversation.

Liberto quickly composed his expression, as if to ask when he had last contorted it, and spat out the words he had murmured in the corridor before.

“If you truly wish to drink the poison chalice.”

Kugugugugugugung!

In that moment, Jin Crow swung his sword in response to the heavy sensation that struck him from the side.

The sharp blade sliced through the air, cleaving Liberto’s crimson afterimage, yet the voice that followed came from the opposite direction.

“However, those who insult us must pay the price. You, the dog of the Human Synthesis Nation.”

The complete absence of honorifics was a clear declaration of enmity.

Perhaps it was this very thing.

Jin Crow, too, felt the pain sharpen his senses, and he swung his sword faster, devoid of anguish.

Kagagagagakang!

The weight of the tonfa coursed through the tip of his blade and into his spine.

He was not overwhelmed as before.

Yet paradoxically, Jin Crow’s instincts screamed warnings of death’s approach.

“Die regretting your refusal of my last mercy.”

At that moment, Liberto appeared directly behind him, whispering as he spun the tonfa in his hands like a wheel, then struck Jin Crow’s body with it.

“…Kuhak!”

To the untrained eye, it seemed merely a swing of the tonfa, but standing before him was a Quad Gear superhuman, a Class 2 fugitive. His attack sent Jin Crow soaring into the air in an instant.

However, paradoxically, it was nothing more than a basic technique devoid of a fitting name, and the hell Jin Crow was about to face was only just beginning.

「Breaking Wheel.」

The tonfa, spinning from his fingertips, created two wheels that struck Jin Crow’s suspended body in the air.

Uddududduk!

A chilling sound echoed.

Skin tore, bones shattered, and the black military uniform he wore was ripped apart at the seams.

“Cough! Kugh!”

The iron plates that formed the lobby floor cracked, and pipes burst in various places.

It felt as if one were facing a storm.

The lobby was instantly shredded as if a bomb had detonated, and at its center, Jin Crow’s body was far from unscathed.

‘What a pitiful fool.’

He felt no pity for the man who, oblivious to the filthy side of the Human Synthesis Nation, was being used as a mere expendable, dying in the process.

From the moment he had kicked away the opportunity given to him, he had ceased to see him as a person.

‘Slowly finish it, and head to the bridge.’

There was no need to inflict unnecessary pain.

He was not a monster.

Just as he was about to deliver the final blow to the one whose breath was slowly fading away, it happened.

KWA-aaaNG!

The fingertips of Jin Crow, who had been writhing as if losing consciousness, weakly swung the sword, and after being struck by the tonfa, he was sent crashing against the wall.

“……!”

Then, his eyes, which had merely been helplessly enduring, opened. Despite the agony of broken bones and torn flesh, he staggered to his feet, and at last, his lips began to twitch.

“……Killed. All.”

It was a voice that was infinitely chilling, one that could not even be compared to moments before.

I looked at him with a sense of unease.

And in that moment.

“……Huh?”

His vision faded to black, and when Liberto opened his eyes again, what he saw was nothing other than.

‘The ceiling?’

KWA-aaaNG!

“Cough!”

Along with the ear-splitting explosion, a pain struck his back, revealing a ceiling that was foreign to him.