Everything was lost.
The appearance of the Royal Knight had ruined everything.
Roderick went over how they had ended up in this situation.
‘Fernan Pellenberg.’
Yes, it was all that guy’s fault.
‘Wasn’t he under hypnosis?’
There was no way Daniel had lied, and he also couldn’t have been mistaken about believing he was under hypnosis without actually being so.
Then, had he really been under control and managed to break free?
‘How the hell did he do it?’
He knew that holy water created by the Dragon God Cult could break hypnosis.
But that required the victim to be aware they were under control—an impossible thing.
If someone didn’t even know they were hypnotized, how could they use holy water?
“Tch…!”
His thoughts were abruptly cut off when a blade grazed his cheek. A chill ran down his spine.
“…Damn it!”
This was no time to be distracted by speculation. His opponent was someone against whom, unless he used his full strength, there was no guarantee of survival.
Luina Bercheff.
One of the culprits, along with Fernan, who had ruined his plans.
“Fine…”
He growled under his breath as he gripped his spear tighter.
Behind him, explosions resounded nonstop, and with each one, the vitality of the monsters diminished. The situation was unfavorable, and at any moment, the Royal Knight could strike him from behind.
But at the same time, that was an opportunity.
“Do you really think you can beat me without Aint Armian, you brat?”
The cursed light of Armian was far away.
The Royal Knight was also not within immediate reach.
In front of him were only Luina Bercheff, Rob Kaelin, Fernan Pellenberg, and a couple of guards.
He and Daniel could take down those four. Even if their plan had changed and that weakened them a bit, there was still a real chance.
“Even if I fail in Esrin, if I take you all down, it’ll still be a good deal!”
“You’re dreaming. The one who will die here is you.”
Luina’s blue eyes never left him. The tip of her sword had him cornered, as if it covered every possible angle.
─!
He deflected a slash aimed at his legs with his spear. He stepped into the broken guard and swept the air violently.
Clang, clang, clang!
Three clashes in the blink of an eye.
Roderick inhaled deeply and wrapped his body in dark magic, hurling himself like a war chariot into the storm of slashes.
The steel dulled against his body hardened by mana. Taking advantage of the gap he forcefully created, he thrust his spear.
────!
The shockwave separated them. Luina stepped back a few paces. Roderick didn’t hesitate and went after her.
But what he thought was an opening was not.
“…!”
Dark magic and aura clashed, devouring each other. However, instead of prevailing, the blue aura overwhelmed his.
The counterattack made him retreat hastily, but now it was Luina who was pressing the attack.
─!
──!
Roderick twisted his body urgently, interposing the spear, blocking as best he could, but each impact smothered him with its growing force.
Slash!
A clean cut opened the back of his hand.
The searing pain of feeling his skin split through his defensive magic made him scream.
She was like a lioness: fast, agile, fierce, and skilled.
For the first time, Roderick imagined defeat.
“How can a mere Academy student…?!”
He knew Luina Bercheff was strong. She had won the jousting tournament and had already surpassed the limits of any student.
Even so, he was convinced he could defeat her.
As long as Aint Armian and his cursed light weren’t there, there was no reason to lose.
There shouldn’t have been.
“…This is impossible!”
She didn’t respond to his desperate cry, instead answered by plunging her sword into his side.
The pain snapped him back to reality.
He could deny it all he wanted, but reality didn’t change if this kept up, he would die.
At the hands of Luina Bercheff.
‘Me? Here? To these people?’
It couldn’t be!
He gathered all his dark magic into the spear and hurled it with all his strength.
────!
Luina couldn’t take it head-on. She deflected the blow with her sword and retreated several dozen steps.
In that brief opening, Roderick drew another spear and, with his other hand, opened a book he always carried as a “memento of his mother.”
“This world doesn’t move with the sword alone…”
At that instant, something struck the book from below and sent it flying through the air.
“…!”
The book floated, and when he looked up, Roderick met the gaze of the intruder.
“…A golem?”
Kyuu!
The small golem smiled mischievously and caught the book in the air. Upon landing, it grew from just a few centimeters to over thirty, and charged straight toward Fernan.
“…”
Roderick could only stare, stunned.
“That golem can change size…? Does it… have consciousness?”
By the time he reacted, it was too late—he had lost the book.
“M-My book…!”
But it was useless now.
“Well done, Wooden.”
— Kyuu!
The book was already in Fernan’s hands.
“Just as I remembered. Until it was used, it emitted no magic and appeared blank. Fascinating.”
“You bastard! That’s mine, give it back!”
He tried to lunge, but Luina stepped in his way.
“Do you think we’d give it back just because you asked?”
Fernan closed the book and tried to store it in his subspace.
However, a strange crunching noise stopped him.
“…It won’t enter subspace.”
Not unusual. Some objects with enormous magical charge couldn’t be stored. The same happened with magic stones made from Rosalia.
“Worth studying further.”
He looked up at Roderick.
“Luina.”
“Yes.”
Fernan smiled coldly.
“You can kill him. Even if we capture and torture him, he won’t tell us anything.”
He was no longer of any use.
“Who the hell gets to decide whether I live or die?”
“Then I’ll do it without hesitation.”
Luina adjusted her breathing.
“…!”
The air changed suddenly, and Roderick felt it in his bones.
His instincts screamed that the difference between them was insurmountable.
Until now, she had only been toying with him.
“Damn it…!”
─!
─!
──!
In just three clashes, the spear flew from his shattered hands.
“Th-this is impossible…!”
Not even if his plan hadn’t failed could he have won without the book.
Luina raised her sword and plunged it into his chest.
────!
The blade pierced armor, skin, bone, and heart.
“Ghhhk…!”
The pain rendered him speechless.
‘Is this… how I end?’
He searched for Daniel with his eyes. Maybe he was still holding on, maybe he could help.
But no.
Daniel was barely hanging on, on the verge of collapse.
‘Damn it…’
Roderick understood that this place was his grave.
‘At least I’ll take him with me…’
He gathered the last of his magic in his heart, clutching the sword embedded in his chest.
But.
“…!”
Luina let go of the sword without hesitation and kicked him, sending him rolling across the ground.
“Well done, Luina.”
Fernan looked at him with disdain.
“All corrupts end the same way. Pathetic, easy to finish.”
He wanted to scream no, but his magic was already out of control.
His body exploded.
And still, he failed to injure anyone.
***
Fernan flipped through the book again and again. But the blank pages never suddenly filled.
“Just as I thought, there’s nothing written.”
“Exactly. That’s why it’s proof that it’s the book.”
Both Fernan and Hyde had reviewed it when Count Daniel put them under hypnosis. That it was blank was precisely what confirmed its authenticity.
“Is that the book we must obtain at all costs?”
Luina, who picked up the hilt of her sword shattered into dozens of pieces by the explosion, asked.
“It is.”
“But it’s empty.”
“However, you saw how the dark magic overflowed a moment ago.”
“I saw it. It’s curious… anyway, I’ll have to get another sword.”
“I’ll make you one.”
“There’s no need. I can’t always rely on your help…”
“What if it’s a sword mixed with adamantite?”
“Then I’d be grateful. Someday I’ll repay that debt.”
A craftsman always desires better tools, and the more distinguished a knight, the more they crave a superior sword and armor.
Luina couldn’t reject the temptation of wielding a weapon forged with the hardest metal in the world.
At that moment—
──!
The magic shield shattered.
A huge gash opened in Count Daniel’s chest, and he went rolling across the ground.
Rob crushed him against the floor with his foot.
“He’s down, Senior.”
“Too easy. He got distracted by you and the others and didn’t react.”
Just as he said, Count Daniel’s eyes weren’t on Rob Kaelin, but on Fernan.
“That book isn’t yours…!”
The count spat blood as he screamed.
“Hand it over right now! If you don’t want to die!”
“What a terrifying threat, traitor. But tell me.”
Fernan looked at him with mockery.
“In that state, what do you think you can do even if you want it? Could you defeat Rob and reach me?”
Get past Luina and Hyde? And assume he would just sit there and wait to be killed?
The count gnashed his teeth.
“Fernan Pellenberg…!”
“Yes, I’m Fernan Pellenberg. The human who hates the corrupts the most.”
“Do you know how much we’ve lost in our great work because of you?”
“And am I supposed to pity you?”
Fernan let out a disbelieving chuckle.
“Spoken by the one who least should. I still remember how you tried to destroy me with slander and ruin me.”
He withheld the rest. He shouldn’t talk about the prophecy book in front of those who didn’t know it.
“You’ll regret this… In the end, this world will belong to the demons!”
“That will never happen.”
He would never allow such an atrocious world to come, where even money lost its meaning.
“Bastard!”
The count suddenly spat something.
It was a poison concentrated with dark magic, but Hyde intercepted it instantly.
“A pathetic final attempt, sir.”
Rob raised his sword and cut off the corrupt’s head.
There was no suicide explosion.
____
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