I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Great Hero (2)

After the academy incident had been resolved, a great change swept the world.

It was the first time such a large-scale act of terror had occurred at the academy, which boasted a history of several centuries.

"Young master. What's going to happen to that academy now?"

Rio, who was sitting at a desk in the dormitory, asked Louis, who was reading a newspaper.

"They'll probably have to take all the responsibility. Since both the principal and the vice-principal were in that state."

"So, is the academy going to close down?"

"That's not the case."

Naturally, some opinions tried to pin all the blame on the academy, but conversely, there were quite a few voices expressing understanding.

It was truly an unavoidable situation.

After all, the main culprit of the incident was a "Swordmaster" whose body had been taken over by none other than an "Great Devil."

An ancient demon and a legendary hero united.

There was no need to think long to imagine the disaster that would follow if the two powers were combined.

Thanks to that, there was at least some comfort for the academy, feeling they'd simply met the wrong opponent.

"It's a place boasting a tradition of centuries. It won't collapse just because something happened once. Besides, with the exception of the Great Devils or dark magic organizations, everyone is a victim."

There were people who suffered in the incident, but Laika Bisted was also no exception to the damage.

Laika Bisted, who had been controlled by the Great Devil, had taken responsibility for what happened because of him and had stepped down from all his positions.

Although he had lost both power and status, his life was far better compared to when he was being controlled by the Great Devil.

Unlike when he was forced to do things against his will, now he could finally rest in peace.

'Though, things will get complicated for us over here.'

The true culprit, Great Devil Duramon, had been eradicated, and even Wigmon, who was called the devil seed, had been eliminated.

The special task force of the 7th Legion that resolved all of this received great attention.

Everyone already knew that the special task force was a monstrous group with extralegal authority.

But no one had expected them to be strong enough to take down two Great Devils.

'That was only because those guys were weakened compared to usual, which made them easier to defeat. Still, people are making such a fuss over exaggerated rumors.'

You just had to look at the newspaper Louis was reading to see for yourself.

They were heaping praise on the special task force, calling them a monstrous force with enough combat power to overwhelm even Great Devils.

Journalists in every world were the same, writing sensational articles just to rake in views.

'What's this now?'

At that moment, Louis narrowed his eyes at a certain passage in the article.

It read as follows.

—The holy light that descended upon the academy incident. Witnesses at the time testified, "A great light split an evil tree in half."

—Among the special task force, a member using sacred light and golden aura was sighted...

—A prophecy that a Saint and Hero would appear at the academy. Could this have really come true?

After reading all those lines, Louis let out a sigh.

The members using the sacred light and golden aura were none other than Pram and Rio.

It was merely because they used such powers through the magic power inversion, but people seemed to be dramatically misunderstanding the situation.

'It was a special measure to avoid revealing how evil their powers actually were.'

Since the academy was sometimes attended by people from the Holy Nation, their evil powers needed to be concealed.

That was why the essence of inversion was applied to their powers, and yet he never imagined it would be misunderstood quite like this.

There were plenty of priests and White Knights nearby who wielded similar sacred power, after all.

'Of course, most of them were killed because they couldn't overcome the monsters of the demon realm.'

Perhaps because Pram and Rio were the only ones to survive the monsters, they were drawing even greater attention.

He could even understand why the newspaper articles were written with such optimistic exaggeration.

"But young master, what'll happen to the academy now? There's neither a principal nor a vice-principal at the moment."

"I heard new ones were appointed recently. Like I said before, you don't need to worry about it closing."

Those previous principal and vice-principal were just folks who managed to nab those jobs without any real ability, just connections.

The new appointees have reclaimed their original positions, which were unjustly taken from them by those guys.

"That's a relief."

At the news that the academy wouldn't shut down, Rio visibly relaxed.

So Louis asked her,

"But why are you asking about that?"

"Because if the academy shuts down, the letters I'm sending now won't be delivered."

"Letters?"

Was Rio actually writing letters?

She was someone who only knew how to swing a sword.

"Who are you writing to?"

"Friends I made at the academy. I just want to see how they're doing, at least to ask after their well-being."

Listening to her, Louis realized how much Rio had changed.

This was a girl who once stained her blade with blood and etched letters into human flesh, and now here she was inscribing words onto paper with ink!

Indeed, since her time at the academy, Rio had learned a great deal.

She gained an understanding of what social relationships are and learned that not everything can be solved by the sword.

The very fact that she'd made friends now was proof enough.

No, more than anything, he was proud simply that she had become able to write on her own!

"But it's hard to figure out what to write. I've only managed one line so far."

"How did you write it?"

Louis leaned over to check out the single line Rio had written.

—Hi, everyone. It's me, Rio. Someday, I want to visit you with my sword.

The moment Louis saw it, he made a sour face.

"Usually, you have to write more in a letter. A single line isn't enough to call it a letter. Isn't there some way to make it longer?"

"No, more importantly, I think there's something wrong with your opening line?"

Just that sentence alone made it clear something needed pointing out.

"Length aside, what's with, 'I want to visit you with my sword'? What does that mean?"

"If I'm not at the academy, they might get bullied again. So I have to be by their side, sword in hand."

Thankfully, she meant she wanted to use her sword to protect her friends.

But...

"If you ask me, it sounds more like a murder threat—you're saying you're coming for them with a sword."

"Murder threat? Why would I hurt my friends?"

Rio said this with a genuinely confused look.

She truly seemed to have no intention to harm anyone, but didn't see the problem with her wording.

"Rio. Let's write it again from the start."

"Huh? But the paper...!"

Louis balled up the ruined sheet and handed her a fresh one.

"Why do I have to rewrite it?"

"If you send it as is, you'll not only be misunderstood but also bring disgrace on yourself as a member of the special task force."

"......?"

Rio still looked like she didn't get it.

Louis could only sigh heavily in frustration.

'Princess Estelle, I'm sorry. I think I failed in her education.'

But in fact, he should be grateful for the situation.

This was a girl who only ever spoke about killing—now, she was speaking about protecting.

"Young master!!"

Just then, Victor burst through the door to the dormitory, out of breath.

"What's wrong?"

What had happened to make him so frantic all of a sudden during free time?

"There's trouble at the outskirts of the fortress! I think you'd better come quickly!"

What in the world had happened?

Louis rose to his feet.

Rio also set aside her letter writing and followed after Louis.

As they headed to the place Victor indicated, Louis heightened his hearing to the max.

He was trying to get a sense of the situation through his sense of hearing.

"Has she gone crazy?"

With a look of shock, Louis rushed to the scene.

On the ground lay the decaying corpses of soldiers scattered everywhere.

"You bastards!!!"

And standing above, releasing Great Devil power and screaming, was Pram.

"Who did it?! Come out, right now!!"

Louis approached the usually calm Pram, who was now shouting furiously.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, young master."

Pram, startled to see Louis, immediately threw herself into his arms, on the verge of tears.

"Waaaah! Young master, what should I do?!"

Of all things, Pram was currently unleashing the magic power of Great Devil Palmon.

It looked holy due to the power inversion, but in reality it was a force that rotted anything it touched.

If it had been anyone but Louis, they would have died instantly.

"I lost it!"

"What?"

"The pendant you gave me as a gift...!"

Was she talking about the Moon Goddess Pendant?

Even when sleeping or bathing, she always wore that pendant, but now it was gone.

"I'm sure those bastards stole it! Some of them were brought here recently for stealing jewels."

Pram gestured to the soldiers gathered nearby.

Their faces were all rough-looking, but they were trembling in fear of Pram.

"Listen, guys. If you confess who took it, I'll let you off."

When Louis said so, the soldiers protested, questioning why they should believe him.

Considering Pram had killed indiscriminately already, they had every right not to trust him. Still, Louis persisted.

"Just confess honestly. Do I have to find it myself?"

With that, Louis approached a scrawny-looking soldier.

The moment he tore into the soldier's pocket, out came the very pendant Pram had been searching for.

It reeked of her scent, so it was trivial to find.

"G-give it back! That's a keepsake from my father!"

The soldier begged, but it was a lie.

Louis's sense of smell never lied.

In short, this soldier wasn't right in the head.

"Whatever."

With a single sweep of Louis's leg, the begging soldier lost an arm.

Despite the soldier's screams, Louis paid no attention and returned the pendant to Pram.

"Keep it better from now on."

"Thank you so much, young master!!"

"But could you stop releasing your magic power?"

"Oh, sorry..."

Only when Pram belatedly stopped releasing Palmon's power did Louis finally feel at ease.

Nonetheless, Louis still felt a bit exasperated.

"All this chaos just to find a necklace?"

Louis gestured at the corpses strewn on the ground.

A man who seemed to be the officer in charge of those soldiers was wailing, "My precious men!!"

"'Just' a necklace? Young master, you know how important this is to me."

"What's so important about it...?"

"It's important! It's the first gift I ever received in my entire life!"

While Louis was left slightly bewildered, Pram's face was full of sincerity.

"After my parents died along with our domain, I never got another present again. After that, everyone I met in the 7th Legion was no better than a rotten squid."

For Pram, adjusting to life among the so-called people who were anything but, was grueling.

The only ones resembling true humans were her squad members.

And the young master stood out most among them all.

"Unlike those others, young master, you're a human being. No matter how monstrous your strength, to me, you are the only person who matters. That's why your gift is more precious to me than anything."

Louis got chills as he listened to Pram say these words.

She exuded as much threat as Rio when she sometimes revealed her killing intent.

"That's why, if anyone even lays a finger on it, they all die."

"That's still an awful waste of soldiers..."

"So what? They're trash anyway."

Pram's continuing defiance was giving Louis a headache.

How could someone seem to regress instead of grow after four years?

"Pram, did you forget? You're two years older than me."

"So?"

"Please try to be more like a elder sister. Elder Sister!"

"No."

Louis's mind cramped up once again.

So she was planning to stay a kid forever?

He pointed to Rio and said,

"Can't you at least try to learn from Rio? She only used to know how to swing a sword, but now she even writes letters! Try to grow like Rio does!"

"Rio only changed because she learned a lot at the academy. Honestly, I wish it was me who went, not Rio."

Pram, expressing envy as she looked at Rio.

She too wished she'd had a chance to make friends at some school-like place.

Louis seriously considered it, too.

Should he really confine her to some kind of educational institution?

"If that's what you want, don't worry, Pram."

Just then, Silia appeared, and the soldiers froze instantly.

Those not involved slunk away like frightened goldfish.

"Elder Sister, what's up?"

"Well..."

When Louis asked, Silia hesitated for a moment.

Looking like she was struggling to find the right words, she placed her hand on Pram's shoulder and spoke.

"Pram. Have you ever thought about becoming a Saint?"