Chapter 150
“Calm down, Simon! Don’t get swayed by the provocation!”
Kajan’s shout echoed in his ears.
Of course, he had no intention of falling for the provocation. Simon’s gaze, now calmly settled, turned toward the ceiling.
Countless black crosses hung from the high ceiling of the command control room.
That night came to mind. The first time he met Francesca, he had done nothing. He had just fled in a panic, thrown a single pebble, and left all the fighting to Feer.
Compared to that night, how much had he grown?
Sss.
As Simon bent his knees and took a charging stance, Francesca swung her palm downward. The black crosses spread across the high ceiling of the command control room all fell at once.
Thud-dud-dukk!
Thud!
The crosses slammed into the floor, unleashing deafening roars.
“But you guys, aren’t you coming at me way too recklessly?”
As Simon and Kajan dodged the falling crosses, Francesca manipulated the buttons in the command control room.
Countless mana screens unfolded around her. She could see the entirety of the Keyzen Campus at a glance.
“Since you’ve come all this way, I’ll show you something fun.”
“What are you up to!”
“Explosion.”
As she pressed her thumb and middle finger together, both Kajan and Simon flinched and lowered their stances. She leisurely glanced at the watch on her wrist.
“It’s about time I planned, so then.”
She snapped her fingers. Her signal activated the ignition magic circle of the Desolater.
However, of course—
‘……!’
Nothing happened.
In that brief moment of her confusion, Simon rushed in, swinging his greatsword.
Vwooooom!
As she leapt up to evade, Kajan jumped even higher, clenched both fists, and slammed down like driving a giant nail.
Boom!
A shield of darkness blocked Kajan’s fists. In that moment, a poisonous fume burst forth from the magic circles spreading to Francesca’s sides, striking Kajan directly.
“Kajan!”
“I set up the Desolater before class started, and you disarmed them all?”
Backing away from the two, she gave a sinister smile.
“Creepy. Feels like you saw the future.”
Simon remained silent, gripping the handle of his greatsword tightly.
Then, Kajan appeared through the poison smoke with a nonchalant expression, rolling his neck.
‘Hmm, so poison doesn’t work on him? What a bizarre body.’
She had filled this space with a paralyzing toxin, yet not only Kajan, but Simon also seemed unaffected.
A smirk crept onto her lips. If they were the last hope of Keyzen, then trampling them head-on seemed like a satisfying ending.
Vwooooooom!
Countless crosses rose again from the high ceiling.
[Boy! Be careful!]
“Unfortunately for you, no one’s coming. Not even Neftis can break through my barrier.”
What she installed in Keyzen was a holy barrier.
The barrier specialized in defense, cast by a priest, was on a completely different level in strength and security compared to a necromancer’s barrier. Moreover, being made of holiness, it had resistance against darkness.
If a priest and necromancer were of equal skill, the one casting the barrier—typically the priest—had the upper hand.
“Struggle all you want in front of the power of God. Dogs of Neftis.”
Flap!
Kajan, whose uniform was melting from the poison, threw it off himself, revealing his upper body. His wild, muscular torso covered in scars displayed its formidable presence.
“Simon. This is the final battle of this incident.”
He extended his fist toward Simon. Simon gave a slight smile and bumped fists.
This was his first synchronization with Kajan.
“Yes, let’s go.”
The moment their fists touched, their bodies vanished with afterimages, and the black crosses rained down to strike the floor. Their bodies zipped around the command control room like winding trajectories.
‘Internal Darkness Divergence!’
Droplets of darkness fell from Simon’s body. His physical capabilities soared dramatically, and he began evading the falling crosses with ease.
With Francesca in the center, Kajan approached from the left, and Simon from the right.
Boom!
Kajan moved first. Like a nimble beast, he leapt dozens of meters and delivered a kick.
Boom!
As expected, Francesca deployed a shield of darkness to block it. At the same moment, Simon dashed in like a flash from behind her and swung his greatsword.
Slaaaash!
She ducked low to evade, and in that instant, Kajan charged in with a battle cry.
His beastlike punch was blocked by her knife-hand, but Kajan immediately pulled back and unleashed a barrage of strikes, while Francesca responded with magical combat, grinning slyly.
Tak. Tatat. Tak. Tak. Tat. Pak.
The limbs of two powerhouses tangled and clashed. They moved so fast that their actions were nearly imperceptible.
Kajan twisted his entire body like a cephalopod, throwing chaotic attacks, and Francesca countered by striking each incoming fist with her knife-hand. She intercepted the strikes before they hit their target.
Thud!
Then Francesca’s leg slammed into Kajan’s knee, breaking his lower-body balance.
As she extended her fingertip toward Kajan’s heart—
Bwaaaang!
Simon’s blade descended above Francesca’s head. Clicking her tongue, she retreated backward.
“Haaaaa!”
Vwong! Vwoooong!
Unlike Kajan, each of Simon’s swings carried massive weight. His greatsword sliced through the air with lethal force.
Francesca constantly dodged with quick head movements, then drew a blade of darkness from the back of her hand and began exchanging strikes with Simon.
Clang!
As the weapons clashed, the vibration traveling through the blade made Simon flinch.
‘Is she really a Toxicology instructor?’
Her magical combat skills were astonishing enough to make one question her specialization.
No, this wasn’t quite magical combat. It was something different. The martial techniques of priests, specialized in defense and countering.
Chaang!
Francesca deflected Simon’s greatsword, closed the distance, and thrust her blade toward his neck.
Slaaaash!
But Kajan’s fist struck Francesca’s face first like a thunderbolt.
“Keugh! “
With a groan, her body was flung and crashed to the floor.
“You alright?”
“Yes!”
Simon readjusted his grip on his greatsword, and Kajan raised both fists into a battle stance. Francesca stood up, chuckling, and wiped her mouth with a smile.
“Keep going.”
Their forms once again stretched left and right. The flashes of white and black dodged the falling crosses from the ceiling, instantly flanking Francesca from both sides.
“Kgh!”
“Haaaaa!”
The two of them moved their arms and legs dazzlingly. Fists and greatsword clashed, sword strikes and punches wildly tore through the air. Francesca, in the center of the storm of attacks, focused on defense, but wounds began to appear on her body one after another.
Crack!
Kajan’s punch broke through her guard and struck her chin. As her body lifted into the air, Simon’s foot flew in like a hook from behind and dragged her face to the ground.
Thud!
As Simon immediately raised the Greatsword of Destruction, she kicked away his right hand and slid backward.
“Hooop!”
And before she could even fully get up, Kajan had already rushed in close, leaving afterimages as he unleashed a flurry of blows.
Puck! Thump! Crack!
Kajan’s momentum had changed. This time, his attacks landed effectively without being blocked. An elbow struck her nose, and a straight punch hit her abdomen.
As she, still taking hits, tried to grab Kajan’s ankle to counterattack—
‘Open Gate!’
Slaaaash!
Suddenly, a blade of the Overlord shot up from the ground and sliced across her shoulder. For the first time, fury flared in her eyes.
“You bastards...!”
Whoosh!
Kajan launched a punch. She reached out with her knife-hand to strike Kajan’s wrist, but Kajan immediately turned it into a feint and dropped his stance. Behind her appeared Simon, wielding his greatsword.
Bwaaaaaang!
She urgently ducked extremely low to evade. A few strands of her long red hair were sliced off.
‘So close!’
He’d aimed for her neck with that strike, but narrowly missed.
However, she had made a big movement, and the opening was theirs.
Simon lifted a finger, and the Overlord rose from beneath Kajan’s feet, launching him into the air.
Suspended in mid-air, Kajan spread his arms wide, leaned his head back, and bent his legs so far that they nearly touched his back.
Kajan’s eyes flashed.
<Kajan Original – Fang>
Slaaaash!
As he crossed his outstretched arms, ten terrifyingly long claw marks were etched across the air.
The floor and walls of the command control room split, and deep wounds were carved into her body. The highest claw had slashed across her neck.
From her neck, chest, and abdomen, blood fountains erupted simultaneously. Most crucially, her neck had been cleanly cut.
‘It landed!’
Simon clenched his fist tightly.
Kajan, landing back on the ground, was panting heavily as he looked ahead.
Francesca, feeling the unceasing blood from her neck wound, looked up at the ceiling in disbelief.
Simon deactivated his Internal Darkness Divergence and caught his breath. If he hadn’t, his organs might’ve exploded before she even got to him.
‘...These kinds of monsters were pretending to be students.’
She gave a short laugh, then tilted her head with a creak.
“With Francesca’s strength alone, I definitely wouldn’t win. But hey, doesn’t it seem strange to you?”
A sense of dread.
Yes.
It was strange.
“There were necromancers stronger than you two among the ones guarding this place. But now they’re all like this. Why do you think that is?”
Fwoooooosh!
A pure white flame exploded from her body. Simon’s eyes flew open wide.
‘...Holiness!’
The flame of holiness perfectly healed the wounds inflicted by Kajan’s attack, leaving behind only faint scars.
Soon, a white garment formed from the flame fell upon her body as if dressing her.
“You think I’ll just let that happen!”
Dragging his weary body, Kajan charged in. Watching him, she let out a mocking laugh and snapped her fingers.
“...!”
With an explosion, a storm of white flames surged forward, hurling Kajan’s body away. As the white fire clung to him, Kajan—rarely—let out a cry of pain and struggled.
[Actually, I’m not Francesca. My name is Plema.]
Her red hair began to be streaked with white, and her pupils gradually dulled.
[One of the Seven Pillars that protect Efnelle.]
Simon’s face turned pale, and even Feer let out a hollow laugh, as if this transformation was unexpected. White flames swirled entirely around her as she ascended into the air.
She wasn’t someone to be dismissed as just ‘one of Efnelle’s priests’.
The greatest, worst enemy of the Dark Alliance.
[I am the Saint of Purification.]
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