Chapter 87
"Hmm."
Serne smiled.
The Legion's skeletons and corpse spiders surrounded her without leaving a gap. She was outnumbered 27 to 1, but she showed no sign of agitation.
"Well, this is a delightful amusement. I’ll face you, Legion Commander."
She extended her slender, long index finger in a straight line.
Rustle.
At the tip of her finger, an eerie white feather appeared. Simon focused intently, watching her every move.
‘That must be Serne’s special ability.’
A power said to be possessed only by a select few on this continent.
Neither black magic, nor holy magic, nor pure magic, something beyond classification: a supernatural power. A different league from the Black Hand used by Haren Koak. She gently rolled the feather with her hand and threw it.
‘Fast!’
Simon clenched his teeth and drew his short sword to swing it.
Clang!
Metal collided with feather, but it was the metal that shattered. Still, perhaps the direction was barely deflected, as the feather grazed Simon’s cheek and embedded itself in a tree behind him.
Thump!
In that brief instant, Simon felt a pain as if burning in the sulfuric pits of hell, before snapping back to reality.
It had lasted less than a second, but his entire body’s cells and organ systems were reacting, pumping endorphins to dull the pain.
‘What the hell is this?’
Cold sweat poured down his back. Serne spoke.
"This is my power. I can imbue emotions into these feathers."
Simon turned to look.
The tree pierced by the feather twisted its branches. As if sensing itself being consumed by pests, it was synthesizing a substance to repel insects and releasing a scent to attract natural predators into the air.
Simon caught a whiff of something like tree sap. For a plant to react like this...
"I can instill anything—primary emotions like joy, rage, or delight, even things like fear, desire for dominance, or exhaustion."
New feathers rose from her hands. Six feathers danced atop her palm.
"If the opponent’s human, even a single feather can make them crawl like a dog. Want to see?"
The real assault began.
Feathers shot out at a terrifying speed, and Simon barely leapt into the air to dodge them. Each time a feather struck the ground, a loud noise erupted.
Rustle!
She grasped one feather that bloomed from her fingertip. It darkened completely, then fired off at twice the previous speed.
The black feather reflected in Simon’s eyes just as he landed.
Slash!
Just then, Feer leapt in front of Simon and split the feather with his greatsword.
[Khehehe! You alright?]
"As expected, the reaction speed of an Ancient Undead is terrifying~"
Serne muttered. Feer readjusted his pure white greatsword.
[What will you do, boy?]
Simon stood up with a serious face.
"I’ll fight."
The moment he said that, Feer shot forward like an arrow.
Serne smirked and threw a feather.
Feer’s body flashed as it rose, then sharply curved downward. She raised a feather held in her other hand over her head.
Clangclangclangclangclang!
Sword and feather collided, sparking violently. Before they knew it, the feather had transformed into a defensive magic circle.
"I’ve been wandering around without a care, but I didn’t expect to face an Ancient Undead here?"
[Hmph!]
Fierce flames burst from Feer’s eyes.
Boom!
Feer’s greatsword tore through the barrier, and Serne retreated backward through the opening.
‘Web!’
As Simon widened his eyes, the dispersed corpse spiders simultaneously fired their webs.
Serne evaded with graceful steps, hands casually clasped behind her back. Her movements were like she was floating slightly above the ground.
‘Spearmen, advance!’
Shhhaaa!
Skeletons hiding in the bushes thrust their spears. Five spears passed through her torso’s path, but she dodged by falling to the ground as if lying down.
"How annoying."
Papapapapapah!
Feathers erupted from her body and shattered all the surrounding skeletons. Then a mountain-like slash from Feer came crashing down behind her.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
Relentless and precise coordination.
As she fled into the air to avoid the firepower, corpse spiders rushed her from front and back, swinging like pendulums. She quickly shot down the spiders with feathers and ascended even higher.
‘So she doesn’t just imbue emotions into feathers.’
Simon, watching, bit his lip.
"You really are on another level, Legion Commander!"
Serne waved her hand like a conductor. The bodies of the feathers fluttering in the wind disassembled into darkness, and the darkness reshaped into magic circles.
Over 20 simultaneous incantations, something even full-fledged necromancers would balk at, were mere hand gestures to her.
Each feather: an attack, an emotional transmitter, a magic circle.
She summoned twenty magic circles and smiled.
"Dark Flare."
"...What?"
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
Twenty dark flames burst from the magic circles, turning the ground into rubble. Skeletons and corpse spiders were obliterated by overwhelming firepower.
Boom!
Simon barely avoided a direct hit, but over half of his barrier gauge was depleted.
‘...All of that was Dark Flare? That’s insane!’
Special case No. 2, Serne Eindark, had already far surpassed student level.
[How lukewarm.]
At that moment, Feer appeared behind Serne in midair.
KWAANG!
With a crash, her body fell to the ground. And faster than her fall, Feer, who had already landed, was waiting to swing his greatsword.
Slam!
Serne blocked it by transforming a feather into a shield, and Feer launched a crazed barrage.
"Urgh!"
Serne barely blocked each blow by sacrificing feathers, then retreated far back and opened her palm.
The scattered feathers in the air turned into dark magic circles, encircling Feer.
[Hrrrgh!]
Feer’s eyes flashed.
The pure white greatsword traced a single arc, leaving countless slashes in the air. Soon, all the magic circles filling the sky were ripped apart.
[You’ve certainly surpassed the student level!]
Feer kicked off the ground and leapt up.
[But you're still just a student!!]
The pure white greatsword came crashing down, aimed at Serne’s forehead.
Stop.
"Got you."
The greatsword halted by a hair’s breadth. Twenty feathers were embedded throughout Feer’s body.
"I lured your attacks while secretly raising the feathers I’d planted earlier."
She gracefully approached and tapped his skull with a finger.
But Feer didn’t react at all.
"Twenty feathers of lethargy. Normally, my powers wouldn’t work on the undead, but since you’re an Ancient Undead, you survived. You’ve existed for so long that you think and feel like a human."
She turned to look at Simon.
"Now then, Legion Commander? Your trump card’s been sealed. That means…"
Simon grinned.
"That’s just your wishful thinking."
[Hehehe! Khehehehe!]
As Feer’s laughter rang out, Serne turned around.
The feathers that had been stuck to Feer’s body were falling off one by one.
[Indeed, I do possess emotions, girl! But do you think I’d be shaken by something like this!]
Ruuuumble!
Jet-black darkness erupted explosively from Feer’s body.
[My will… is not weak!!]
Feer, who had broken through Serne’s power with willpower alone, gripped his greatsword tightly.
Serne quickly stepped back, sending out feathers to form a defensive magic circle.
[I’m holding nothing back now! Die!]
Feer’s greatsword scattered light in all directions.
<Wild Fang>
KRAAAAAASH!
The slash tore the world in half and caused a massive explosion. It was larger than any strike Simon had ever seen from Feer.
‘Guh!’
The fierce shockwave tore trees and plants out by their roots.
Simon shielded his face with his arm and stared straight ahead.
‘…Feer! It’ll be bad if you actually kill her! She’s the successor of the Ivory Tower!’
[You worry too much.]
Feer said as he slung his greatsword over his shoulder.
[That girl’s a monster beyond what you imagine.]
Rumble...
Just as Feer said, as the smoke cleared, Serne appeared.
Simon was startled. Three wings were attached to her left shoulder.
"It’s been a while since I’ve shown this form."
And it was a single wing, there was no wing on her right side.
This was the true identity of her power. The pitch-black aura radiating from her was incomparable to earlier.
‘Feer. Can you use that technique one more time?’
[Khehehe! Of course!]
‘If I draw Serne’s attention...’
"But hey, us."
Serne pointed behind them as she spoke.
"Are we just going to keep fighting like this?"
Simon’s eyes widened.
Feer’s recent slash had cracked the barrier Serne had set up around them. Once a barrier begins to collapse, it shatters completely with cracking sounds.
This was bad. With the barrier broken, they were now within the observation radius of the observers above.
‘Damn it, return!’
Simon pulled an imaginary lever.
The skeletons and corpse spiders of the Legion surrounding Serne swiftly disappeared into subspace.
Serne also seemed to judge that showing her wings wouldn’t do her any good and withdrew them back into her body.
‘Feer, you go in too.’
[Even me?]
Feer frowned.
[This isn’t about being discovered! That woman’s feathers can easily turn humans into wrecks!]
‘It’s alright. I have an idea.’
Simon fiddled with the artifact necklace that Neftis had given him.
‘I’ll keep the subspace open. Go in for now, and if I’m in danger, come out.’
[Hmph, be careful!]
Feer also entered subspace, and Serne’s barrier vanished completely. Perhaps because the area had been turned into a wasteland, the sky’s observers began to fly about.
"Phew."
Now, only Simon and Serne were left. Simon lightly straightened his school tie.
"With this, the last option you mentioned is off the table, isn’t it?"
The option of eliminating Simon so no one could take the Legion, that was no longer possible. Keyzen’s eyes were glaring down from above.
"That’s true. Then how about this?"
Serne pulled out a feather and touched it to her cheek.
"Out of spite, I’ll toy with you however I want, then get disqualified from the test. I’ll erase your memory afterward."
"Hah."
The wind blew. A single feather fluttered and landed at Simon’s feet.
—From now on, you’ll live a miserable life in Keyzen.
As the feather transformed into a magic circle, her voice echoed.
—Misfortunes will pile up. You’ll fail exams, botch your practicals, and eventually be expelled from Keyzen. When their protection ends, I’ll come for you. How’s that? Isn’t it a legal and clever persuasion method?
Simon gave a dry chuckle and placed his hand on his waist.
"Persistent, aren’t you? You’ve done this to others too, haven’t you?"
She simply blinked with a smiling face, as if asking what he meant.
It was obvious. She’d sabotage promising students destined to become Keyzen’s core, make them fail, then scoop them up for the Ivory Tower once they were disheartened.
A classic talent poaching strategy.
Of course, if caught, it’d be a serious issue, but she probably didn’t care whether someone got expelled from Keyzen or not.
According to Maelyn yesterday, Serne was studying here due to a pact with Keyzen.
Special admission is undoubtedly a huge privilege, but from a diplomatic perspective, this situation was delicate. A major organization like the Ivory Tower being forced to send out their heir—no less—was unusual.
To put it bluntly, it felt like a prince or princess being taken as a hostage.
It was only natural that Serne would dislike Keyzen. Her goal was likely full independence for the Ivory Tower.
‘Feels like I’ve gotten tangled in something messy.’
Keyzen isn’t just a school.
It’s a place brimming with talents destined to rule the Dark Alliance and the continent in the future.
To lay the foundation for the continent, to sketch the blueprint, various interests and political intrigues are bound to fester within the school.
Simon would be caught in many power struggles in the days to come.
And each time, he’d have to figure out how to respond wisely. It was yet another assignment laid before him.
"Serne."
"Yes?"
"There are people who won’t bend to your kind of methods."
Simon slowly took a stance.
"Your way just makes more enemies."
"And who do you think you are to lecture me?"
Serne raised her arms. Twenty feathers flowed from her arms, caught in the wind, and gathered at the center.
"I’m the next Lord of the Ivory Tower. One who will divide the continent in three, and open a new era."
She pointed with her finger, and the feathers shot out like bullets.
Just as Simon was about to dodge using the darkness beneath him—
Whoosh!
The air distorted, and someone stepped in front of him.
The person made a simple motion, as if brushing their arm aside.
PAANG!
With just that—
The feathers that had charged in, threatening to shred everything, vanished without a trace.
"I feel like I just heard something interesting—"
Just the voice alone radiated overwhelming pressure that shook the body.
"Who’s getting expelled from Keyzen? Who’s losing their protection?"
With black hair flying and terrifying crimson eyes flaring wide—
"I’ll protect Simon. You Ivory Tower’s lapdog."
The one who intervened—
A leading candidate for Keyzen’s next leader, and a rising pillar of the Dark Alliance.
Loraine had entered the battlefield.
Superb.