The Academy’s Hard-Headed Swordmaster

The audience went wild after hearing the song. Families, friends, and lovers who came together began to bite, tear, and scratch at each other.

Kyle was no exception.

He used his Aura to seize and incinerate the unknown energy rising within him, then glared at Aria.

‘What is this?’

The ability to control people. It wasn’t magic.

It hadn’t been before, and even now, he couldn’t feel a single ounce of Magic Power from Aria.

It wasn’t Aura or Divine Power either. Neither of those abilities could control so many people.

In other words, this was Force. A supernatural ability that one is born with. An ability Kyle had only seen once before.

“Ky, le…”

“Yuri, are you alr─”

Kyle froze, his eyes fixed on Yuri, who had come to the performance with him.

Unable to instantly control her, an Expert-level Magician, Yuri’s blood vessels bulged and throbbed, threatening to burst.

Resisting the control with all her might, she spoke to Kyle, her voice strained, “If… you… collapse… the… main…”

“─Just hold on a little longer.”

Hearing her words, Kyle immediately leaped towards Aria, who was singing on stage.

Aria grinned at the sight of him flying towards her.

‘I’m sorry, Aria, but this crosses the line.’

Just as Kyle was about to reach her, chains flew from somewhere and bound his limbs.

“Ugh─!?”

The chains clinging to his arms and legs instantly froze, completely merging with his body.

Turning his head in confusion, Kyle spotted Yuri, chanting with her staff from the spot he’d just leaped from.

“Ț̴̡̛̳̫͕̦̥̭͍̭̺͙͚̍̈́̔̇̍̉́͝ͅͅh̶̢̠̣͖͔̰̻͛͜͜m̸̨͍͈̤̜̙̗̼̙̜͎͆̒͆͜ͅa̷̛͉͉̩͓̠̯͔̐̑͌͂̏̅̍̂̍͒̃̐̕͜h̸̢̰̩̰̖̮͙̘̪̩͗̑̂͊̽́o̷̡̰̠̝͙̒̂̾” “̸͎̱̻̣̫̜̪̥͉̔̿̑̈́͜Ĩ̵̙̞̣ç̴̭̻̤̘͙̩̹͉̥̲͇̓̄̈̈́͛͌͑͊̚̚͠ļ̷̰̮̞̰̜͈̤͚̻͓̫͐̑̅̾͝͠͠e̷͓̯͚͖̓̊c̵̨̘̟͇̤̰̰͙͙̘͙̼͛̅̓̇͝͝͝ư̷̡̧̝͖̬̼̣̦̤͋̇̌̈̑̈̽̀̉̓̄͜l̷̥̝̋̓̓̀̔̈̇̽͊̃̈́̒͘͝”

Double Casting.

It was a secret technique left behind by an unknown Archmage, a special skill that allowed even a 4-star Magician to be incredibly troublesome.

Indeed, having bound Kyle’s limbs in an instant, Yuri succeeded in throwing him out of the concert hall.

As he was flung away, Kyle cautiously glanced back at Aria.

Unfazed by his gaze, she continued to sing.

Her song spread throughout the entire Academy.

Aria’s song spread through the hall.

* * *

Thrown out by Yuri’s magic, Kyle immediately sought out Sera.

Since she wasn’t inside the concert hall, he assumed she hadn’t heard Aria’s song yet.

Indeed, Sera was outside the concert hall, happily licking a strawberry lollipop.

Landing abruptly in front of her, Kyle scooped her up and fled.

“Kyaaaak─!?”

“Shut up! You might bite your tongue!”

The important thing now was to get as far away from the concert hall as possible.

He didn’t know the range of Aria’s ability, but he knew the people outside the concert hall who hadn’t heard the song were fine.

Reaching a location as far from the concert hall as possible, while still allowing him to observe the entire Academy, Kyle gently set Sera down.

“Waaaaah… Wh-What was that all about!?”

“Sera, this is important.”

“Uh, uh? What… Wait, there’s no one here. Don’t tell me, no way? Huh? It’s not like that, is it?”

“I need you.”

Seeing Kyle approach as he spoke, Sera squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable. But no matter how long she waited, nothing happened. Puzzled, she cautiously opened her eyes.

Kyle stood before her, looking at her with an exasperated expression.

“Wh-What!?”

“─You said nothing would happen at the Cultural Festival, right?”

“Um… yeah, I did.”

“Then what’s that?”

Kyle pointed towards the Academy and the concert hall. Following his finger, Sera looked towards the Academy in the distance.

There were… things that looked like zombies attacking people.

“…What is that?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

“No no no, seriously, what is that?”

Sera stared at Kyle in disbelief.

Kyle began to explain what he had witnessed, without exaggeration.

Aria had revealed her true name, suddenly gone berserk, and people had started to rampage.

Yuri had been controlled and attacked him, and so on.

After hearing everything, Sera’s face was etched with shock.

“She’s already gone berserk? But why?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Aria Vesta wasn’t supposed to go berserk until her third year…”

“…You knew she would go berserk?”

“Of course! I told you, I know everything. Aria going berserk was supposed to happen two years from now!”

According to the original game’s storyline, two years later, in her third year, Aria would use her ability to dominate the entire Academy and become a disastrous witch who would overthrow the Empire.

The Player would then use all the skills and opportunities they had accumulated over the two years to either stop Aria or befriend her and prevent her from going berserk in the first place.

Of course, the former was extremely difficult and resulted in massive damage even if successful, so most Players chose the latter.

“There was no scenario where she went berserk in her first year, so I was planning to deal with other things first and then befriend her…”

“Then why is she doing that now?”

“How am I supposed to know!? No, more importantly, we need to block off the faculty office now!”

“Why the faculty office?”

“Why? Because─.”

‘Crackle, sizzle-.’

Hundreds of magic speakers installed within the Academy began to vibrate.

From beyond the speakers, Aria, who had seized control of the Academy’s central hub, began her greeting.

[Hello everyone. Are you enjoying the Academy Cultural Festival～?]

“…Hey, that.”

“─Cover your ears, now!”

[Shall we turn up the heat a bit more? Here we go! ─If the morning comes to you.]

Aria’s singing voice began to envelop the entire Academy.

* * *

“Hmm hmm～.”

Having finished her song, Aria hummed as she began to choose her next song. What would be good? Hundreds of songs she had learned flashed through her mind.

In truth, it didn’t matter what she sang. Her singing was captivating enough to enthrall anyone.

“Hmm hmm, then, straight to the next song─.”

“That’s enough.”

“…Huh?”

Aria, about to start her next song, looked back, her expression like she was looking at a malfunctioning Magic tool. Standing there was the Academy’s principal, his white beard bristling.

A 5-star Magician. One of only two Master-level powerhouses in this Academy.

Seeing the principal moving normally, Aria realized that her ability couldn’t control those at the Master level or higher.

“Principal! Long time no see. It feels like the first time since the entrance ceremony.”

“You seem to find this amusing.”

“Ahaha, they say laughter brings good fortune. Why don’t you laugh too, Principal? Honestly, your face is a little scary right now.”

“Are you enjoying this? This current situation?”

At the principal’s words, Aria tilted her head, her smile unwavering. Enjoying it? Of course, she was.

“I love it. I love it very much.”

“─I see.”

The principal, as if he’d heard enough, raised his staff and began to chant a spell. A sharp wind prepared to lash out at her.

In a situation where a single gesture could mean death, Aria smiled nonchalantly.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Cease your ability this instant.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen. These people are my hostages.”

“…Hostages?”

“Yes. I’ve given them the command to commit suicide if you kill me or harm me in any way.”

The principal stared at her in shock, as if questioning whether she was serious. Commit suicide if harmed? That meant she had tied her life to everyone in the Academy.

Hundreds of students resided in the Academy. Most of them were children of prestigious noble families. Moreover, there were even members of the Imperial family among them.

What if they all died or were injured? He wouldn’t be able to save his own life.

Furthermore, it was currently the Grand Cultural Festival.

The Academy was open to the public.

Numerous nobles and VIPs had come to the Academy to watch the students’ performances.

In other words, by revealing her hand, Aria had forced the principal to protect her.

“So, how about it? Are you going to fix this quickly? I need to sing.”

“…I can’t do that.”

“Huh? If you don’t listen, someone’s going to die.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I don’t know how to fix Magic tools. That’s the Magic Engineering Department’s job.”

“The Magic Engineering Department… Hmm, what was the Professor’s name again?”

Aria sent out a mental wave, summoning the Professors of Magic and Magic Engineering, both under her control.

The enthralled Professor of Magic Engineering trudged over, repaired the Magic tool the principal had broken, and then left.

In the end, the principal could only watch as Aria continued to sing before him, controlling the people. He knew that minimizing the damage meant taking the risk and killing her now, but he lacked the courage to do so.

However, there was one thing he could do.

‘Silence.’

The principal secretly hacked the Magic tool, preventing the sound from escaping. However, if the sound disappeared completely, Aria would notice his interference. So, he manipulated it so that a voice identical to hers echoed from outside the windows.

It was incredibly complex magic that left him drenched in cold sweat, but he managed to pull it off, proving that he hadn’t won his position as principal in a poker game.

This was the best the principal could do.

‘Someone… someone who can find a way to resolve this situation.’

He needed someone who could come up with a solution he couldn’t even imagine.