Chapter 627
Simon, Kajan, and Neftis’ closest necromancer aides returned once again to Professor Grerion’s cave.
Simon stared ahead with hollow eyes.
On the chair sat the Saint of Harvest. Her lower jaw and bottom teeth were all that remained; the rest of her head, starting from her upper teeth, had been neatly severed and placed upon a preservation magic circle.
‘For Aunt Israfil to send someone like this…’
Simon’s fist, resting on his knee, clenched tightly.
‘We should have stayed.’
Though it had been the Saint of Harvest herself who sent Simon and Kajan away, Simon still felt responsible.
They should have left the pursuit to others and prioritized her protection above all.
“Don’t worry.”
It was Alastair, the Crow agent and aide to Neftis, who approached.
“Examinations show that her life isn’t in danger.”
It was bizarre.
Her head had been severed, yet her heart still beat, and life activity continued. Not dead, but reduced to something like a vegetative state.
“This must be Ever Kire’s doing.”
Kajan, leaning against the cave wall, spoke.
“If it’s her ability, this sort of phenomenon is possible. Which means the priest we captured wasn’t Ever Kire after all.”
“What on earth—”
Simon glanced back and forth between Kajan and Alastair.
“What is this ability Ever Kire supposedly has?”
“Her power hasn’t been classified yet.”
Alastair’s voice was heavy. It was almost the same answer Kajan had given earlier.
“In all of human history, this ability has never appeared before. Calling it an ‘ability’ is just a convenient label—we scholars consider it a fourth type of power altogether.”
“To put it simply…”
Kajan scratched the scar beneath his eye.
“It’s an ability to make her wishes come true.”
She could alter matter, control people at will. Turn stone into gold, paper into weapons. Whatever Ever Kire desired would come to pass.
A power akin to that of a god.
Hearing Kajan’s explanation, Simon stammered in disbelief.
“That… that’s even possible?”
Kajan jerked his chin toward the Saint of Harvest.
“Just look at what she did to her.”
“...Ah.”
“This ability could even bring down the world itself. Fortunately, there are restrictions on its use.”
Simon nodded grimly.
If there were no restrictions on such a power, the Dark Alliance would have long since perished in Ever Kire’s hands.
“But Kajan,”
Alastair added.
“Don’t you think those restrictions are changing as she grows?”
“Yes.”
Kajan rubbed his forehead with a deep sigh.
“At first, she could only alter things she touched. Now, she can alter things at a distance. Initially, she could only change the hardness of materials. Now she can turn fabric into steel.”
The more Simon heard, the more he realized this power couldn’t be defined in a single sentence.
Kajan looked back at him.
“Her ability keeps growing. But there is one rule that hasn’t changed since the very beginning.”
“What is it?”
Kajan’s fierce eyes narrowed.
“The effects of the ability have a duration. Everything she alters through her ‘wish’ eventually reverts to its original form.”
Simon shot to his feet.
“Then the Saint—!”
“Yes. If Ever Kire collapses, or if we simply wait, she’ll eventually return to normal.”
Simon recalled the notes he had read in Ever Kire’s report.
-Age 17. During the Harvest Festival, treated ability-class students to food. Apologized for having been too sensitive before; students accepted the apology and ate together.
-Age 17. The next day, those students came to their senses to find themselves carving up rabbits from the animal pens with steak knives and eating them raw. They fainted. Ever Kire insisted it was a Harvest Festival tradition.
She had turned live rabbits into food, but once the ability wore off, they had reverted to their true forms. The trauma those students must have felt was unimaginable.
“Of course… that’s old news now.”
Alastair withdrew a black confidential envelope from subspace.
“Even that one unchanging rule has now shifted.”
“......!”
Simon and Kajan hurriedly pulled the classified documents from the envelope.
-Reporter: Ailee Bontmon, 22-year-old female.
-Believed to have lived alone after losing both parents.
-Sudden seizures began. She wept, claiming her hometown and family had vanished. Extreme anxiety symptoms. Three suicide attempts.
-She claimed to have lived in Volendi Village.
-Long-time locals of the region knew nothing of Volendi Village. Suspicious, the local authorities investigated the place she described.
-They found a ruined village that no one remembered. Human body parts were interwoven into roofs and walls like building material.
Simon lifted his head with a horrified expression as though reading a grotesque horror tale. Kajan grimaced, meeting Alastair’s eyes.
“You mean Ever Kire erased this village and its very existence?”
“Yes. And this happened two years ago.”
Alastair stroked his beard, face grim.
“Based on the traces left behind, the habits and quirks of the ability, Headquarters believes the likelihood of it being Ever Kire is very high. If so, there are two possibilities: First, she can now sustain her manipulations for more than two years.”
Simon spoke quickly.
“Or second—she removed the duration limit entirely, making altered reality into true reality?”
“Exactly.”
Alastair gazed at the Saint of Harvest’s split head.
“Fortunately, she didn’t have the leeway to make the Saint’s death permanent. Experts estimate that the ability’s remaining expenditure on the Saint will run out in four days.”
“...Four days. That’s after the Dark Festival.”
And if Ever Kire were to use her wish during the Dark Festival to rewrite reality permanently…
‘It won’t just end in disaster.’
Simon clenched his fists.
They needed more information about her.
Just then, a man in a suit ran in.
“Sir! We have the interrogation results from the captured priest!”
“Well done.”
Another confidential file was delivered. Alastair suggested that Simon and Kajan, who had contributed much to the mission, review it together.
Inside the black file was only a single blank sheet marked with a magic circle. Alastair touched it, and a mana screen flickered to life.
-It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!
The woman in shackles writhed and screamed.
-Why am I on Roke Island? Who am I? I—!
Onscreen, she collapsed into convulsions, shrieking incoherently. Alastair read from the attached documents.
“Her name is Endiel. She was once an outstanding priest active on the frontier. After one battle, she never returned to her unit and was declared killed in action.”
He lowered the papers.
“But she hadn’t died. She was alive—and utterly unaware of what she had done, denying everything.”
Simon bit his fingertip.
“She was controlled by Ever Kire. Which means the real Ever Kire is still somewhere on this island.”
“No time to sit around. Let’s keep investigating, Simon.”
“Yes, sir!”
Simon and Kajan rushed out of the cave.
Alastair called after them:
“I’ll share any new intelligence we gather about Ever Kire. You have my thanks.”
“Please do!”
* * *
Yet…
The joint investigation with Kajan lasted barely ten minutes.
-We found the president!
-Get him!
While patrolling the square, Simon was suddenly seized by Summonology students.
-President! What the hell have you been doing? The match starts in fifteen minutes!
-W-wait, guys!
-Run!
And just like that—
Waaaaaaaaah!
When he came to, Simon was standing in the center of the arena wearing his barrier suit.
The stadium was packed once more, roaring with excitement.
“……”
Simon rubbed his forehead blankly.
‘This is no time for this…’
“Simon Follentia.”
The back of his neck prickled.
Turning, he saw Hector Moore, clad in his barrier suit, glaring at him fiercely.
“Focus on the match.”
Hector’s nostrils flared like a man about to explode.
Simon admitted he had been distracted and forced himself to concentrate.
‘I promised to play one match a day… I’ll just get this Dark Festival done quickly, then go back to chasing Ever Kire.’
-And now, the Summonology Department! Probably the event most of you have been waiting for!
The announcer’s booming voice whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
-In every match so far, he’s taken first place—Student Council President Simon Follentia! And along with him, ranked third overall and department representative—Hector Moore! This is supposed to be a five-person team game, but today they’re going in as a duo! What will they show us in this obstacle course event?
The referee waved his flag and blew the whistle.
Fweeeeeeeet!
-It’s begun!
Fwoosh!
The moment the game started, Simon bolted forward.
‘I need to finish this fast!’
Sh-sh-sh-shk!
Sh-sh-shk!
Poison-tipped arrows rained from every direction. But Simon had practiced dodging this sort of thing countless times in Magical Combat classes.
‘Move like Kajan…’
With minimal, almost lazy-seeming motions, Simon evaded each arrow.
Whish!
Whip!
He didn’t block, didn’t counterattack. With razor-sharp focus, he imprinted each arrow’s trajectory into his mind and let his body move instinctively. It looked as though the arrows bent away from him on their own.
Waaaaaaaaaah!
The crowd erupted.
-As expected of the Student Council President! His fundamentals are so solid, not a single hit lands!
Simon’s gaze shifted to the buzzer in the distance.
The match would end once he avoided the obstacles and pressed it.
The fastest record so far was 16 minutes and 14 seconds, set by the Magical Combat Department.
‘Sixteen minutes is too long!’
Throwing himself into the rain of arrows, Simon thought,
‘Ten minutes! No—five minutes!’
The image of the Saint of Harvest, her face split apart, burned into his mind.
‘Faster!’
Thwack! Thwip!
Arrows struck his thigh and forearm.
‘Faster!’
He recalled the blazing inferno of Keyzen’s campus during the Saint incident of his first year.
‘Even faster—!’
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Grab!
Simon was yanked back by the scruff of his neck just as flames erupted, scorching the ground where he had been standing.
“Hector!”
“You idiot! How many times did that bespectacled guy explain that flames come after the arrows?!”
Hector twisted his hands in a complex pattern, then spread them wide. Hundreds of black scales swirled around the boys like a shield, deflecting the arrows.
“Look at your barrier gauge!”
“!”
It was already less than half.
He’d nearly been disqualified before even reaching the buzzer. Regaining his senses at last, Simon caught his breath.
‘I thought I was focused today…’
But in truth, his focus had been misplaced. He had been concentrating on Ever Kire, not the match.
“Run!”
As soon as the fire trap ended, Hector sprinted forward. Simon followed closely.
Shrrrrrrrk!
The countless scales gathered, fluttering like a black curtain across the air, each collision knocking arrows and spears away.
Grrraaagh!
Rrrrrk!
Now came the monsters. Charging on all fours—hunter gnolls, savage beasts with sharp claws and bloodthirsty instincts.
Hector’s cheeks puffed.
<Dragon Breath>
Fwooooooosh!
He spewed flames across the ground, raising a wall of fire.
<Dragon Fear>
From the other side came a roar infused with terror, freezing the gnolls where they stood.
“Hup!”
He stretched his arm toward the starting zone. The dormant Dullahan there rose into the air.
“Work!”
The scales that had been shielding them now converged on the Dullahan, transforming it into the same scaled Dullahan Simon had seen in the last performance test.
With a massive greatsword, it slashed through gnolls one after another.
‘Amazing!’
Simon shattered a gnoll’s jaw with a kick, glancing back.
‘How can he manage so many tasks at once…?’
“I’m sick of it!”
Hector roared, controlling multiple summons at once.
“I’m sick of you suddenly refusing to show up to matches without warning!”
His punch blasted monsters away in waves of pressure.
“And I’m sick of you spacing out in the few matches you do bother to play!”
He spun, the draconic wings on his back whirring like blades, slicing monsters clean in half.
“I’m fighting here and now, Simon Follentia! Where the hell are you?!”
That one shout jolted Simon’s nerves like a lightning strike.
“You think this match beneath you?! You think your place is elsewhere?! That’s just arrogant pride!”
Slash!
Hector’s rage-twisted face loomed close.
“Tell me! Why the hell are you so out of it?!”
His eyes glinted like a predator’s.
Simon, staring with trembling pupils, suddenly smiled faintly.
Thwack!
Hector flinched and spun around. A gnoll aiming for his throat dangled limp, skewered by Simon’s violet spear.
“You told me to focus, didn’t you?”
Simon grinned, Chaos Spear in hand. Hector beat back the monsters with his wings, and the two boys stood back-to-back, glaring at the horde.
<Simon’s Original – Chaos Spear>
Simon drew five spears at once, grasping them between his fingers, and hurled them skyward.
Purple lightning lanced out with deafening CRACK! CRACK! sounds, obliterating monsters.
<Hector’s Original – Dragon Transformation>
Accepting all the scales and wings, Hector became a black dragon, crushing the monsters with sheer might.
Crunch! Rip! Smash!
Together, they charged headlong toward the buzzer. Arrows, fire, curses, monsters—everything collapsed before their rampage.
Waaaaaaaaaaah!
The crowd roared, heat rising like a furnace.
[Finally, the look I’ve been waiting to see!]
Hector shouted, kicking a gnoll aside.
“I need to ask you one thing, Hector!”
Simon twirled his Chaos Spears.
“If danger ever threatens our school, if our classmates are in peril…”
A rain of monsters on Simon’s flank was blasted away by purple lightning from above.
“…will you stand up for them?”
[That crap—]
Hector soared up and unleashed a breath. Flames engulfed the arena.
[Even if you never asked, that’s my duty! I’m the department representative of 2nd year!]
A smile spread across Simon’s face. He kicked off the ground and launched himself forward—toward the buzzer.
[Keep going!]
Hector conjured volley after volley of darkness-flame spells in the air, shooting down the projectiles aimed at Simon.
Then, thrusting his whole body forward, Hector unleashed his wings, claws, and scales. They streaked like arrows, wrapping around Simon.
<Hector’s Original – Dragon Suit>
Simon abandoned all defense for speed.
The wings behind him flapped, propelling him faster. Arrows rained down, but the scales deflected them away.
“Ooooohhh!”
The crowd leapt to their feet in frenzy. Black scales shattered off Simon under the relentless barrage, exposing his body, but he never stopped.
‘Fitzgerald said it… In front of the buzzer there’s always—!’
Thoom!
A mid-tier monster materialized in front of the lever—Gatekeeper Shafros.
The leader of the gnolls, the strongest obstacle designed to delay contestants by at least five minutes.
Shafros lunged, but Simon unleashed the Darkness he’d been saving.
<Simon’s Original – Chaos Reaper>
From his shadow surged a masked wraith, swinging a violet scythe.
SLAAAASH!
The Gatekeeper split neatly in two. Seizing the opening, Simon lunged forward, slammed the buzzer, and tumbled across the ground.
-Match over! Match over! Maaaatch over!
The announcer bellowed.
-First place, of course!
[1st Place: Summonology Department – 08 minutes 56 seconds.]
-An unbelievable display of synergy from Simon Follentia and Hector Moore!
The stadium erupted in deafening cheers.
“Yes!!”
Summonology students embraced one another, screaming. All around, Simon’s name was chanted.
“Huff…”
Dripping with sweat, Simon finally lifted his head.
The storm inside his mind had cleared—leaving him sharper than ever.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters