Chapter 443
Fwoooosh!
The black flames of the Darkness engulfed the surroundings. Malcolm was panting heavily behind a pillar.
‘Damn it!’
Ever since the Skull Drones appeared, he had been pushed back unilaterally. With a single burst of flame from those skull heads, five to six Doppelgangers were swept away, and if they so much as touched the fire clinging to the floor, their forms were dispelled.
The greatest weakness of the Doppelganger—area-of-effect attacks.
Simon’s Skull Drones burned the fourth floor with black flames, gradually tightening the encirclement.
“Hiding won’t help you, Malcolm.”
Simon’s voice rang out.
Behind the pillar, Malcolm gnashed his teeth and opened a subspace. He pulled out four small potion bottles and rolled them across the floor.
‘Run your mouth all you want!’
Clack, clack.
Only the arms of Doppelgangers sprouted from the floor, moving the potions along.
Out of Simon’s line of sight, hidden behind the veil of black fire, the Doppelganger arms carefully passed the bottles hand to hand.
‘Throw!’
At Malcolm’s signal, the arms hurled the potion bottles at once.
Clang!
Crash!
The bottles shattered, coating every Skull Drone with a crimson liquid. Simon, who had been controlling them, flinched and momentarily halted.
‘How’s that?’
Peeking out from behind the pillar, Malcolm smirked.
‘It’s an enhanced version of the Kabara Potion! It won’t stop their movement entirely, but it should interfere with his control……!’
But Simon only smiled calmly.
Sssss—
Sssssss—
He withdrew the Cloud without hesitation. The bones fell clattering to the ground, and the Skull Drones dissipated.
‘……What trick is this?’
“Found you, Malcolm.”
Startled, Malcolm snapped his head around. Simon had appeared behind him.
Thwack!
Malcolm hastily raised his elbow to block Simon’s outstretched right hand.
But it wasn’t Magical Combat. A magic circle inscribed on Simon’s palm activated.
‘A curse!’
Horrified, Malcolm staggered back.
‘What curse is it?’
Before he could even process it, his head went hazy, and his strength drained from his body. Suddenly, drowsiness and exhaustion overwhelmed him.
‘Sleep!’
Malcolm twisted his lips in frustration.
“You bastard……! Just because you’re Student Council President, you’re trying to imitate Phantasus…… is that it?”
Simon only smiled faintly.
“More than that, Malcolm, I don’t want to say that you lacked effort.”
“What?”
Quickly weaving a Cancellation curse behind his back, Malcolm spat his retort, all while trying to buy time.
“I told you before, don’t pity me!”
“It’s not pity. At some point, you stopped relying on that staff you always carried and started producing Doppelgangers with your own power.”
“…….”
“And then you showed me the clumped Doppelganger earlier, the arms-only Doppelgangers, and even a high-level Toxicology concoction potion.”
Simon shrugged.
“In my eyes, you’re working harder than anyone.”
Malcolm swallowed dryly.
His face burned, as if he had been stripped bare.
“It’s just a matter of timing.”
“……What nonsense are you spouting.”
“Doppelgangers that rely on numbers are overwhelming at the start of the semester, but by the end, when everyone’s skill has evened out, they fall short. That’s inevitable, as long as you keep Doppelgangers as your main strategy.”
Simon shrugged again.
“But you’re not going to stay weak forever, right? Just as others learn your counters, you’ll devise countermeasures. Keyzen is long. Only a year has passed, and we still have two left. If you endure, endure, and keep enduring—”
His voice echoed.
“Your time to rise will come again.”
Malcolm felt something tickle in his chest.
It wasn’t that he was weak, it wasn’t that he lacked talent, it was merely a matter of timing.
Such a foolish perspective, yet one he had never heard before.
But he shook his head violently, forcing denial.
“Bullshit. You’re spouting utter bullshit. What I was waiting for wasn’t your self-righteous lecture!”
Opening his mouth wide, he pressed the magic circle he had been hiding onto his own body.
“To complete Cancellation……!”
But then—
“Huh?”
Though the effect of Cancellation should have activated, the curse didn’t break.
‘Impossible!’
Malcolm’s eyes snapped up.
“I let you finish preparing that Cancellation, Malcolm.”
At some point, Simon had already inscribed another Sleep curse on both hands.
“My Sleep won’t be broken by Cancellation.”
“Damn it!”
He had been thoroughly outplayed.
It was as if this guy stood at the top of his head.
Always several steps ahead.
On top of that, he excelled in Summonology, and now wielded a high-level curse immune to Cancellation.
Just how strong could he become?
Whoosh!
Malcolm, his Darkness depleted, threw a punch. Simon easily tilted his head to dodge, brushed past his arm, and spun, striking his back with his palm.
“Urgh!”
Malcolm staggered, nearly collapsing, but managed to steady himself.
Perhaps because the Sleep curse had seized his nervous system, even pain felt dull now.
Sleep, three stacks.
“Damn it!”
Malcolm clasped his hands and tried summoning Doppelgangers.
But his concentration, wrecked by drowsiness, could only manage three.
They were destroyed in an instant by Simon’s basic Magical Combat.
‘Damn it! Damn it!’
Unbelievably strong.
It wasn’t like he was using spectacular or dazzling techniques.
Just a solid, fundamental fight, from beginning to end, with no chance of matching him.
This was Keyzen’s second-year top student, the Student Council President.
Simon Follentia.
A completely different man from his first year.
‘I also!’
Malcolm clenched his teeth, charging in.
‘I wanted to be strong!’
But his body betrayed him. His brain screamed commands, yet his muscles, slackened to the extreme, refused to obey. Flailing, he dropped to one knee, only to have Simon’s palm slap his arm.
Four stacks.
“Urghh!”
His eyelids had already fallen shut three times.
‘He’s enduring better than I expected.’
Even under Sleep’s fourth stack, Malcolm fought back, sheer hostility keeping him awake. Simon now moved in to finish it.
“Khaaaap!”
Malcolm twisted his body, aiming a kick, but Simon casually brushed it aside with the back of his hand, closed the distance, and pressed a palm to his face.
“Cool your head for a while.”
Sleep, five stacks.
With those words, Malcolm lost consciousness.
* * *
—Your father is Margel Randolph. A great man who leads an organization.
Malcolm learned this on his thirteenth birthday, that his true name wasn’t Malcolm Brown, but Malcolm Randolph.
And that the father he thought dead was actually alive.
—Welcome, my son!
Malcolm went to meet his father.
A middle-aged man ruling over burly men in suits, all rough and intimidating. Malcolm, just a countryside boy filled with inferiority and frustration, was ecstatic to learn his father was alive, and not only that, the boss of the organization.
Above all, Margel had called him son.
—A successor out of nowhere?
—I cannot accept this!
Of course, some gang members resisted, but Margel simply laughed as he stroked Malcolm’s head.
—There is no successor but Malcolm.
His eyes gleamed as he locked gazes with his son. Then, in a voice only Malcolm could hear, he whispered.
—Do not disappoint me, son.
Thus, driven by inferiority and a desperate will, Malcolm devoted himself fanatically within the organization. He did everything his father asked.
He underwent illegal surgery to unleash his Core, became a necromancer, and mastered the Randolph family’s hereditary black magic, the Doppelganger.
—Father! Look!
When Malcolm first succeeded in creating a little Doppelganger identical to himself, the dignified Margel had lifted him high into his arms with a laugh.
—Did you all see that? As expected, he is my son!
Malcolm felt as if his heart would burst with joy. His father, Margel, became his absolute idol.
He completely forgot the days spent in the countryside with his mother. All he cared about was doing his best to adapt to the organization.
The people of the organization were violent wolves, and he realized that if he wanted to become their leader, he too would have to become a wolf.
He had to become cruel.
Crueler than the wolves themselves.
Every time he committed some ruthless act, and the gang members lowered their heads to him in awe, Malcolm felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
His reputation only grew. Word spread widely that he could already use Doppelganger at a high level for his young age.
—Malcolm, go to Keyzen.
—What? I don’t need to go to some school to become a great boss!
—You’ll be going as a special admission. It has value.
The corners of Margel’s lips curved upward.
—Go represent the organization, and kick the pompous noble brats of the continent in their asses.
So, once again, Malcolm followed Margel’s orders and entered Keyzen.
But inside Keyzen, the noble peers of his age pointed fingers when they heard the name Randolph.
—Filthy criminal!
‘I came here representing the gang. To insult me was to insult the organization, and my father.’
With that conviction, Malcolm committed acts of cruelty even within Keyzen, and those who resisted him disappeared.
In time, he connected with second-year seniors and even royalty. He fought to bring the gang from the shadows into the light.
But then.
—The winner! Simon Follentia of Class A!
Everything he had built—his notoriety, his charisma—collapsed all at once.
And then came the Liquid Bomb incident.
When the first semester ended, Malcolm felt too ashamed to face his father, Margel, and so he visited his rural hometown where his mother lived.
And there, a problem arose.
—Who are you? You!
In his mother’s house, a strange man was living.
—Who are you?!
—Who are you… wait, ugh!
Malcolm subdued the man and threw him to the floor.
—Stop, Malcolm!
His mother rushed out. And then explained the situation.
She had remarried this man.
—W-why?
Malcolm’s body trembled violently.
—Then what about me, and father……!
His mother let out a long, heavy sigh, and finally told him the truth.
—I’m truly sorry, Malcolm.
Malcolm watched as his world crumbled.
—I never loved your father, not even for a moment.
Though she put it indirectly, Malcolm understood everything, knowing the nature of the organization.
In his younger days, Margel had plundered countless cities, and violated countless innocent women.
His mother had been one of those victims, and Malcolm himself was nothing more than one of the many seeds Margel had scattered.
She had only raised him because she couldn’t abandon a child she bore in her womb, and later handed him over when Margel demanded him.
At last, Malcolm recalled his mother’s reactions from childhood, and shivered.
That day when he beat up local kids, the way she had looked at him as if he were a stranger, now he understood what it had meant.
—Father!
Malcolm immediately returned to the organization, seizing Margel by the collar.
—You deceived me! All those stories about my mother were lies? You called me your proud son!
At that moment, Malcolm finally saw Margel’s expression behind the mask.
—For your mother’s life, you had better do well.
With just those words, the blazing fire of his rage was doused as though with a bucket of water.
Malcolm returned to Keyzen. With his mind shattered to pieces, his grades continued to plummet.
His father had only used him.
His mother had only raised him reluctantly, without love.
‘I…’
In his dreams, Malcolm agonized endlessly.
‘What am I?’
Then, his eyelids opened, and at last…a clear sky came into view.
“Waaaaaah! Huuuuh! Hic! Sob!”
A familiar face.
A childhood playmate from his hometown, crying loudly. He had once been this small himself.
This was the past.
The little boy was covered in injuries. Injuries inflicted by Malcolm himself.
“Malcolm!”
Malcolm’s eyes widened.
‘M-mother?’
His young mother came running frantically. She bowed repeatedly before the boy’s parents, begging their forgiveness.
When the boy and his parents left, his mother turned toward him.
‘……Urgh.’
Malcolm couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes.
The son of a criminal, unwanted yet raised, had beaten another child. Surely her gaze would be filled with disgust, seeing him as a monster, silently cursing him as his father’s son.
“Malcolm, look at me.”
“……”
With difficulty, Malcolm raised his head.
‘Ah.’
She did wear a stern expression.
But.
“Promise me you’ll never hit your friends again.”
She was crying.
“Come here, Malcolm.”
His mother pulled him into a warm embrace.
His heart was filled with peace.
This was without doubt a memory of the past. Now that he saw it again, he was certain.
Father had abandoned him.
But his mother, not even once…had ever abandoned him.
Clap!
At the sound of hands clapping, Malcolm startled and opened his eyes.
Before him was Simon Follentia.
Crouched down, expression indifferent, palms pressed together.
“What the! Ugh!”
At some point, Malcolm had been tied to a pillar with rope. A magic circle was drawn on the rope, preventing Darkness from flowing.
“Looked like you were having a nice dream.”
At Simon’s words, Malcolm flinched, his face flushing red. Only then did he realize he had been crying.
“Y-you bastard!”
“I wanted to just let you sleep, but we don’t have much time.”
Simon lowered his hands, his expression turning serious.
“Malcolm, tell me how we can stop the Nagas.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters