The Academy's Deceased Ate It All

Don’t put meaning into a sword.

A sword is just a sword.

Hyun-Woo gritted his teeth as Hyun-Hwa’s words echoed in his head.

She didn’t look at him with disappointment or disdain.

She looked at him understandingly and handed him the sword at her side.

As she did so, Hyun-Woo muttered quietly to himself.

If only I had lost something other than my sword…

Hyun-Hwa couldn’t help but hear the sadness in his voice.

I would have felt better if she had called me incompetent and sneered at me for being pathetic.

The words that were meant to be kind and gentle became shackles.

Then, someone came to his side.

Han Soo-Young.

A family member he loved, cherished, and swore to protect.

She hugged and patted him on the shoulder without saying a word, seeing a side of her brother she had never seen before.

It’s okay.

She, who must have been more desperate than anyone, merely repeated the words.

And in her arms, Hyun-Woo closed his eyes silently.

In his mind, he saw himself in Margo’s dungeon, facing a different ending.

A future in which he had lost everything, was captured by the magic sword Tyrfing and died telling Soo-Young that he envied her.

At the time, he had only vaguely understood.

But now…

“…Hmm?”

The next thing he knew, he was wielding the sword.

A thunderous roar resounded from above.

Hyun-Woo saw Minerva falling through the air with a wound that came from a sword.

“No way….”

As Hyun-Woo muttered in disbelief, someone touched his shoulder.

It was Hyun-Hwa.

“Excellent.”

She said and nodded.

Then she looked at the sword in his hand and said wistfully.

“I can give you that sword if you want it.”

“…No.”

Hyun-Woo shook his head.

A sword is just a sword.

But….

“Let me borrow it for a while.”

Hyun-Woo sheathed the sword.

For some reason, he recalled the time he fought his alternate self.

“Someone!”

Yu-Na’s scream made everyone look up.

They saw two people falling.

They were followed by Minerva’s dragon form.

Ye-Seul to the shadows, disappearing on the spot.

Soo-Young immediately began to form water, and Yu-Na also began to squeeze out her magic power.

Minerva roared once more.

However, it looked desperate. Even as it bled out, the dragon chased the falling people with an urgent expression.

“…No way.

For some reason, Hyun-Hwa thought Minerva’s behavior was abnormal, but there was no stopping them now, so she drew the sword she had brought as a backup.

And they weren’t the only ones on the move.

Myung-Joon and the other Ten Strongest were also moving to do what they thought was best.

Some were trying to intercept Minerva; others were trying to save Ji-Hyuk from falling.

[Huh?!]

Suddenly, an arrow flew out of Minerva’s line of sight, aimed at her.

She ignored it, only to realize in hindsight that the arrow was loaded with unusual power.

She growled in pain as the arrow shattered her scales and pierced her flesh.

Watching from afar, the arrow was shot by Ivan, aided by Evangeline and augmented by Ye-Eun. Belluna gave a slight nod.

“Not bad, my boy.”

She murmured as she casually trampled over the undead that had crawled up from beneath her feet.

Holding the severed head of a Dullahan in one hand, she muttered in a deep voice.

“Still trying to be nasty. I wonder if you’re after one of Minerva’s byproducts?”

“My master will not forgive you…!”

After stomping on its head with a crunching sound, Belluna looked at Minerva.

Even in her wounded, battered state, she was still fighting for something.

She felt a little sorry for her.

“…What?”

Aegis began to glow once more.

Belluna muttered, quite surprised.

“Are you going to burn them both down?”

Minerva would certainly be mortally wounded if she took a hit like that.

But more importantly, Ji-Hyuk, who was only a human, would disappear without a trace.

“Humans are scary.”

Belluna began slaughtering the undead, led by Milited’s henchman, Richie.

“Unlike me, you’re not much of a fighter.”

Well, it didn’t matter since she didn’t intend to run away.

***

[The time limit has been reached, and the King of Thorns is released.]

[It’s time to pay the price for using your power…]

[All stats will temporarily drop.]

[No more Consitution stats to drop.]

[No more Strength to drop.]

[No more Agility to drop.]

[No more Dexterity to drop.]

[No more Intelligence to drop.]

[No more Dexterity modifiers to drop.]

“…Ugh.”

I could tell even read the notification before me.

I can’t do anything about it now.

As it is, I wouldn’t be able to win a fight against a slime or a goblin… no, a baby could even one tap me.

“Ugh, ah….”

I could feel my whole body jerking and twitching from the pain.

Not because it meant anything but because I was trying to move my body to escape the pain.

“…You fool, your limbs are broken.”

Minerva.

Wounded all over, she stood up and looked down at me.

“Why did you protect me?”

Before I could answer, she lifted the guandao and held it to the nape of my neck.

“Answer me! If you hadn’t done anything, I would’ve died, so why did you…!”

She was right.

In midair, instead of finishing her off with my spear or killing her through the fall, I wrapped my arms around her body, taking the brunt of the drop.

The result was this.

“I…don’t know…”

“What?”

“I don’t know…My body moved…after all the weird stuff I saw…”

Pain shot through my body as I spoke.

Looking at me, Minerva slowly withdrew her weapon.

“…Resonance”

She murmured quietly.

“Resonance?”

“Don’t you know?”

I nodded, and for some reason, she let out a small laugh.

“It’s something that even those who have been together their whole lives can’t do, and you and I did it unconsciously in that moment? Now that’s a pleasant story.”

With that, Minerva tapped me in the stomach.

But the problem was that it was enough to make me feel like I would die.

“Aaahhhhh! You, you stop..!”

“Fool. I am your enemy. You don’t mean to tell me that you showed kindness to your enemy and didn’t expect me not to take advantage of it?”

With those words, she shifted until she was directly above me.

She trampled on my outstretched arms with her foot and slowly raised guandao.

“I’ll cut your throat cleanly and take your heart.”

Blood flowed from her mouth.

It ran down my cheeks.

“In this battle… nay, in my life, your neck will be the greatest trophy of all, and I will keep it by my side at night when I sleep, telling stories of the old days with the songs you taught me.”

Why in the world did everyone who fought me have such horrible hobbies?

I tried to move my arm but couldn’t think of it without pain flaring through my body.

Instead, I showed her a single finger.

“…Fuck you.”

“Ahaha. You still say such things in this circumstance.”

She smiled nostalgically and muttered.

“Humans normally cower and beg for my life. Such a shame I couldn’t see it from…?!”

“Ugh!?”

Minerva let go of her guandao.

And she hugged me tightly.

“What the hell are you doing…!”

“Close your eyes, or they’ll burn, and you’ll be blind for the rest of your life!”

Enormous wings sprouted from her back.

Before they covered us, I saw a beam of light.

The Aegis rained down on us.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…!”

Minerva roared as she used her entire body to block the pillar of light that emitted an intense light that could vaporize my existence.

Darkness.

My vision sank into darkness as the light became unbearable.

***

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

Myung-Joon shouted as he roughly grabbed the radio as if he was going to smash it.

– What the hell are you talking about,. Lee Myung-Joon-ssi?

As soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the radio, Myung-Joon recognized that it was an officer of the Association.

– The battlefield seems to be in our favor, so we don’t have time to waste…!

Myung-Joon gritted his teeth and shouted.

“What are you talking about? Out of all times, you did it now, you crazy bastard! Are you blind? You bombarded one of our own with Aegis?”

– Calm down.

“What? Are you…!”

The voice over the radio snapped at him as if questioning his response.

– How else will you kill that seven-headed beast if not now? Now is the best time. If it’s distracted by something, we’ll definitely be able to mortally wound it with artillery fire.

“So now you’re going to bait the kid who fought it with his life and burn him along with it?”

– Victory requires sacrifice, Lee Myung-Joon-ssi. Try looking at the world a little more broadly.

“This asshole should really learn to listen…!”

– Well done, Myung-Joon-ssi. You have expended a lot of energy, so we’ll handle the cleanup. And we offer our deepest sympathies to the victim.

He coughed and coughed and coughed.

– And if you ever do anything weird, even if it’s you…

Myung-Joon smashed the radio.

Then he raised his spear toward Aegis, which was spewing out a pillar of light.

He wondered if he could stop it.

Or was it already too late?

As he pondered this, an unearthly sound reached his ears.

“…Oh, my God.”

A bolt of energy shot through the pillar of light.

Clearly fired by Minerva, it broke through the pillar of light and smashed Aegis.

[….]

Minerva remained frozen in the same stance she’d taken when she fired the bolt into the air.

Her entire body was charred and blackened, and it was clear to anyone who saw her that she had been mortally wounded.

The heat was so intense that it could have melted the ground here in the distance.

And toward that hellish place, Myung-Joon flew without hesitation.

If nothing else, he had to retrieve Ji-Hyuk’s remains.

“…….”

But contrary to his expectations, Ji-Hyuk was still alive and well.

“Ugh….”

“Minerva…Why?”

Thanks to Minerva, who literally used her body as a shield.

“…Because you are my prey.”

Minerva muttered as she dropped to both knees.

“Because no one can kill you but me.”

She slowly fell forward.

Her body collapsed on Ji-Hyuk’s, and a strange smoke began emanating.

It was the essence of the Evils.