Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Volume 2
Chapter 26 : Teacher
As the breeze of the world began to stir once more, the aged look in Professor Prang’s eyes turned instantly cold.
A terrifying aura, one that seemed impossible for an old man to possess, rose from his gaunt, withered body.
Above his head, an ancient and unadorned crown condensed out of faint light, then drifted swiftly upward like the first clear breath of air that had risen at the birth of the world.
At last, it reached the center of the hemispherical barrier, where it seemed a phantom throne had long since been forged.
The moment the crown fused into that throne, an illusory figure appeared seated upon it, casting an indifferent gaze down upon all things in the world.
In that instant, the world in Professor Prang’s eyes became utterly different.
With the authority of the second layer of the grand ritual fully released, everything within the bounds of Saint Maria Academy became clear to him down to the finest detail.
Trees, weeds, fish, insects, the silent academic buildings hidden in shadow—every minute change in every single thing escaped neither his sight nor his awareness.
Everything emerged within his mind.
Everything, at this moment, seemed to rest in the palm of his hand, ready to be controlled at will.
“Hah...”
That exquisite sensation of being able to command all things allowed Professor Prang, whose original body had long since begun to decay with age, to feel vigorous vitality surge through him once more.
It was as though he had returned to his younger self.
Unfortunately, the girl that younger self had once met... was already gone.
Professor Prang raised a hand, and the twelve black towers roared to life.
Endless Mana, drawn through the grand ritual, poured into his body, which had only briefly regained its vitality.
A faint light seemed to ignite in his aged eyes.
Then, a perfectly segmented hexagonal structure descended from the heavens and rose from the earth, layering upon itself again and again like a colossal millstone capable of crushing all tangible things, grinding down toward the saintess with the pure white wings at her back.
“Wuu—”
Within the Saintess of Purification’s grief-stricken wail, there suddenly mixed a shrill screech, as if some existence were using her body to display its fury and madness toward the lowly worm before it.
The Saintess of Purification raised her hand, clenched it into a fist, and struck.
There was no technique in it, no form, no martial pattern at all.
For a saintess, the motion was far too crude, more like a shrew brawling in the streets.
Yet when that small fist came crashing down, the layered structures shook violently.
Those perfectly interlocking hexagons were actually bent outright by a terrifying force beyond description.
Even the surrounding space began to tremble and warp, letting out a grinding shriek like metal being torn apart.
“So even after becoming a saintess revered by tens of thousands, the way you fight is still this simple and brutal.”
Professor Prang let out a bitter laugh.
It was just like back then, when he had been forced to clean up the messes left behind by her fights and brawls.
“In that case...”
Professor Prang spread his arms wide.
Behind him, golden lines stretched and converged, forming an intricate and mysterious pattern.
An instant-cast magic array.
A thing that should have been inscribed with Mercury and beast blood upon gold and gemstones was instead constructed directly in empty space by Professor Prang through utterly inconceivable mastery of magic.
Vast Mana gathered upon it, gradually brewing into storms and seas of flame that embodied pure destruction.
Professor Prang’s face was cold as he delivered his decree.
“Go.”
And so, under the support of inexhaustible Mana, countless immense and terrifying spells were unleashed without interruption, forming a saturated magical bombardment that illuminated the entire night sky.
Compared to the magic attacks launched earlier by more than a hundred students together, the magic array Professor Prang alone had constructed now made them seem like a drizzle before a storm that raised a tidal wave.
This was the terror of a great mage standing at the peak of Truth.
So long as he had sufficient Mana to support him, one man alone could rival an entire army of mages.
Naturally, the Saintess of Purification did not dare block this one with her hands again.
If she swallowed candy like this head-on, the very least outcome would be having her insides burned clean through.
The wings behind her spread wide, then folded inward, perfectly sheltering her figure within.
Pure white light expanded outward like a holy domain, rejecting the entry of all that was impure.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
It was as though ten suns had risen at once, and the blazing radiance turned the night sky as bright as day.
Even though it was a holy domain woven from divine authority, a god could not truly descend here after all.
Before such sheer and overwhelming power, the holy domain could no longer sustain itself.
Clear cracks began to spread across it, and then... it was completely pierced through.
Endless heat and light poured into the holy domain, surging toward the delicate figure protected within those white wings, as though they meant to burn her entirely into ashes.
Professor Prang raised a hand to hold down his hat, preventing it from being blown away by the scorching shockwaves and violent wind.
He narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the scene obscured by the searing radiance and the spatial distortion produced by the fierce explosions.
That attack just now could be said to have exhausted everything he had learned in his lifetime.
In a single strike, it had consumed nearly thirty percent of the Mana the academy had drawn from the ley lines.
Let alone a Crowned One—even that undead gravekeeper from the Church, if it had taken that attack head-on, should have been reduced to flying ash.
And yet, for some reason, the unease in Professor Prang’s heart did not lessen in the slightest.
If anything, it only intensified.
As though something even more dreadful was about to happen.
At his level, every omen had its cause, so he did not dare relax.
The magic array behind him lit up once more, ready to unleash a second round of bombardment at any moment.
Then suddenly, his vision blurred for an instant.
Professor Prang’s heart tightened.
The magic array was preparing to fire...
But then he froze.
It was as though the very thought of activating the magic array had suddenly been erased from his mind.
In that brief moment of mental stagnation, the space before him was suddenly torn open.
The Saintess of Purification stepped out from within space itself.
It was obvious that the blow from before had not left her unscathed.
Her pure white wings were shattered, leaving behind only half-broken remnants that trembled pitifully.
Her hands were charred black, no longer fair and flawless, and that perfect, beautiful face was now covered in cracks like shattered porcelain.
But the moment she appeared, the whole world seemed to dim.
Even the brilliant light produced by the explosions now seemed unworthy of mention.
Because in her hand, she held what seemed to be the most radiant light in all the world.
It was a sword.
A sword with no exquisite patterns engraved upon it, no dazzling gemstones adorning it.
It looked utterly ordinary, like a half-finished weapon.
And yet, from the moment that sword appeared, nothing between heaven and earth could outshine it.
“What the hell, the Holy Sword?” a certain bear beneath the academy cried out in shock.
But no one heard him, and no one cared.
Because where all eyes were gathered, the Saintess of Purification raised the Holy Sword in her hand and thrust it toward Professor Prang’s heart.
In that instant, it was as if everyone’s breathing had stopped.
Endless hexagonal structures unfolded in layers before Professor Prang in an instant, trying to force the Saintess of Purification back.
But before the light of the Holy Sword, everything was completely purified.
The layered structures controlled by the grand ritual had no effect whatsoever before collapsing back into pure Mana.
Pfft.
The sound of flesh being torn rang out, and blood splashed through the air.
Professor Prang lowered his head stiffly and looked toward his own chest.
The Holy Sword had sunk into his body. Boundless light poured into him, bringing with it a searing pain like fire.
He coughed up blood, and even at his mouth and nose there seemed to be light.
He should have died.
With a vital point pierced by the Holy Sword, even with the protection of the grand ritual, he should have died.
But he did not die, because the Holy Sword had pierced... his right chest.
He looked up in astonishment.
In the Saintess of Purification’s hollow left eye, a trace of life seemed to have returned.
And so, within that cry that still sounded like a bleak wind howling through darkness, there was a soft, sorrowful call.
“Tea...cher.”