I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 641: Revealing Identity (1)

Patricio swallowed hard.

He tried to maintain his composure, but it wasn't as easy as he thought.

'All dead.'

The Kayden Lumos family forces and Brigade Commander Valute.

The Red Mage Alon Pablo.

The Purple Mage Coilwatt.

The Light Guardian Sacred Knight Order and Brigade Commander Bentum, one of the three strongest in the homeland.

Special Operations Division 11.

The Archbishops of the Lumensis Order.

The Hunters Association.

The Golden Rule Mercenary Corps.

In addition, superior priests and superior sacred knights from the homeland.

A large-scale force of more than thousands, all dead.

And they were annihilated by just one person.

"If, if you touch me..."

"If I touch you."

Patricio's attempt at a threat was cut off roughly by Rudger, leaving him unable to finish his sentence.

"Is the homeland going to send more people to judge me? Then let me ask this."

Rudger, with red light streaming from his eyes, asked Patricio.

"Who will judge me?"

"Lu, Lu..."

"Lumensis?"

Rudger snorted and looked up at the black hole still hovering above his head.

To others, it might look like a hole torn in space, but its actual role was that of a door.

The Heaven’s Gate is a path to the heavens but in reality, neither humans nor gods could freely pass through that hole.

For humans to ascend through it, their bodies were too weak and their status too low.

For gods to descend through it, their presence and status were far too immense.

It was like a tiny hole that could only fit a needle.

Still, now that the third seal had been released, perhaps a finger could squeeze through.

Even that would only be possible if one had exclusive access to the gate, but with all sorts of gods crowding around taking number tickets...

It was impossible to exert proper influence.

Conversely.

Despite this lack of proper influence, Rudger had used their power to annihilate the subjugation force.

Even though the subjugation force had also received divine power just like Rudger.

"Lumensis. Are you watching?"

Rudger asked, facing the gate.

There was no answer. But he could feel the gods, who had been constantly chattering until just now, going quiet because that being was formally approaching the gate.

"You've been searching for me all this time, haven't you?"

The chief deity of light and order, the owner of this cage, Lumensis was looking down at Rudger through the open gate.

Rudger wanted to shudder at the sticky greed felt in that gaze.

But he brushed it off with derision, as lightly as dew on the hem of his coat.

"Yes. I am here. I'm not hiding or running away anymore."

In response to Rudger's provocation, Lumensis emanated a feeling of displeasure.

The meaning of that emotion was simple.

He was displeased that the holy grail, which should contain his power, was baring its teeth at its master.

"You wanted to use me as a vessel, erase my personality, and use me as a means of control to rule this cage. But it won't go according to your plan. I'll make sure of that."

"What are you talking about?"

Patricio didn't understand what Rudger was saying.

Rudger kindly explained to him.

"You recognized me as a dangerous being and tried to eliminate me. I carried the blood of the Holy Emperor, but my potential was too enormous."

Rudger was born with immense power.

A constitution loved by the gods and a vessel that could contain that love without breaking.

Could there be a greater blessing in the Holy Empire?

But the Holy Empire didn't want this. A heaven-given talent given to an illegitimate child, not the firstborn.

No matter how important talent was, they couldn't give the Holy Emperor's position to an illegitimate child while other bloodlines were still alive.

It wasn't that the other siblings lacked talent.

The children of the Holy Emperor's bloodline in that generation were composed of the most excellent qualities in the history of the Bretus Holy Kingdom.

If they had been born in the past, they would have had talents worthy of ascending to the position of the next Holy Emperor, even if they weren't the firstborn.

Multiple such talents were born in the same generation, and then a calamity that overshadowed all these talents was born as an illegitimate child.

This was dangerous. It was right to eliminate him.

The numerous assassination attempts surrounding Rudger were for this reason.

Being an illegitimate child, they branded the child's back, fed him poison, and constantly sent assassins.

The entire Holy Emperor's family was like a huge beast's stomach, trying to kill him.

Yet he didn't die.

He even managed to escape from the Bretus Holy Empire.

They continued to send assassins to capture him after he fled, but eventually lost his trail.

But they finally found him as if it were divine guidance.

As if reading Patricio's thoughts, Rudger narrowed his eyes and said.

"Your intention to eliminate me wasn't out of pure faith. It was just out of greed, wasn't it? Just because an illegitimate child had too much talent, you feared he would take your positions. You simply didn't like that fact."

"Th-that's not true! We were following the will of God...!"

"God's will? Are you trying to lie when Lumensis is watching this situation? Didn't you call me the Holy Grail? You must have known what I exist for."

"...!"

Patricio swallowed his breath with a gulp.

He stared at the black hole floating above Rudger's head with trembling eyes.

"N-no, Lumensis. We absolutely did not mean that!"

"There may have been a time when you served sincerely. But the Bretus Holy Kingdom has gained too much power over the continent's long history. Contaminated and corrupted by that power, it finally stagnated and rotted."

Lumensis was not unaware of this.

He was an entity that observed the cage but he didn't feel the need to intervene, and the constraints that prevented him from doing so were also a reason.

Then an incident occurred.

The battle between Saint Arkenis and the Great Demon Surna.

This battle, which happened in the distant past, had taken place in the same location as now.

"The Order lost the power of the Saint, and they somehow covered up that she had made a noble sacrifice at the end of her battle with the Great Demon. And to present even a nominal Saint, they continued to experiment with fragments containing the original Saint's power."

"So what?"

"The Holy Kingdom has now become an entity that only craves power. They tried to manipulate even the Saint, and eventually tried to eliminate even the Holy Grail bestowed directly by God. Why? Because it shouldn't happen. Because they can't allow any damage to their absolute power."

But at this very moment the blueprint they desired had all turned to foam.

"The worshippers have become independent from the deity and are obsessed with absolute power, and the deity, unable to trust the worshippers, tried to create a new Holy Grail."

Rudger closed his eyes gently.

"But now, the so-called god is lending power to the worshippers, and the worshippers are calling out the name of god. There's no greater irony."

Patricio's complexion turned pale.

He tried to make some excuse, but his lips wouldn't part because he felt a gaze.

From inside the black hole, the gaze that had been fixed on Rudger was now directed at him.

It was too dark to see anything, but that enormous presence was unmistakable.

No, Lumensis. I am absolutely not like that.

He was desperately trying to deny Rudger's words inwardly, but the dark desire deep within him couldn't escape Lameness’ gaze.

Anger frosted over in the emotion felt from Lameness’ gaze.

That anger was just a very small fraction of the emotion held by the main body, split and split and split again.

But Patricio, who was a Cardinal, felt his heart being squeezed.

It wasn't just an illusion; his heart was actually being physically wrung.

"Guh, gurk!"

Despite the pain, no scream escaped his lips, which seemed glued shut.

Because God did not permit one who had committed a sin to even scream in agony.

'No! Lord Lumensis! Lord Lumensis!'

He cried out desperately, but it was just the instinctive struggle of a human being faced with the terror of death.

Lumensis completely withdrew the divine power he had bestowed upon Cardinal Patricio.

Not just the divine power he had granted but also Cardinal Patricio's original divine power and all the life force in his body.

Lumensis sucked it all in through the gate.

Patricio's body crackled and turned into lightning.

Though it appeared as lightning, it was a golden radiant entity.

Thus, Cardinal Patricio was completely broken into particles of light, split apart, and absorbed through the black hole.

The process happened in an instant, but Rudger could tell that Patricio experienced that less-than-one-second as if it were nearly a hundred years, feeling the pain of his body being torn apart at the cellular level in real-time.

"Even though he was your worshipper, your method of disposal is quite vicious."

Rudger threw a sneer towards the hole in the void.

Lumensis, who had delivered divine punishment to Cardinal Patricio, turned his gaze back to Rudger.

[You.]

[Are.]

[Mine.]

As if to prove it wasn't just words, pure white sparks began to fly around the black hole.

Lumensis was trying to forcibly widen the open gate.

Compared to other gods who acted according to the size of the small hole, Lameness’s attempt to enlarge the hole showed just how aggressive his actions were.

It also showed how confident he was in his authority and power.

"You're thinking of enlarging the gate at this opportunity to exert direct influence."

Rudger stared at the celestial gate gradually growing with Lameness’s power.

Even in this moment of crisis, his expression didn't change.

"But even you cannot completely twist the laws of this world."

As if to prove those words, the gradually expanding Heaven’s Gate stopped growing.

Rather, it began to contract even faster than it had expanded earlier.

"Creating this cage wasn't just your role alone, was it? You drove out other gods, stole their names, and trampled on their divine positions, but the world they created still remains as it is."

This world that you couldn't possess.

In response to Rudger's provocation, a violent rage like rolling thunder was felt from beyond the hole.

Rudger once again wove the sealing technique.

Starting from the third seal and moving in reverse order, he calmly spread the seal, causing the halo above his head to fade and the size of the heaven’s gate to rapidly narrow.

Just as it was about to shrink to the second seal through the black hole, a golden lightning bolt fell vertically towards Rudger's crown.

It was a strike from Lumensis, who was trying to brand Rudger before the gate closed.

Rudger, concentrating on reconstructing the sealing technique, couldn't respond to the golden lightning in time.

Just as the lightning was about to strike Rudger's crown.

"I can't stand by and watch this."

Surna deflected the golden lightning to the side with a swing of his sword.

The golden lightning, having lost its target, dissolved and disappeared in mid-air.

[You.]

[Dare!]

Lumensis, recognizing Surna, tried to vent his rage once more, but the sealing technique had already been restored to the second seal and was approaching the first seal.

"Don't be so upset. We haven't even started giving you a taste of your own medicine yet."

Surna hurled a final taunt at Lumensis.

"Don't worry, Lumensis."

Rudger, facing the first seal of the final sealing technique, said to Lumensis.

"Now I'll come find you."

-Flash!

The black hole created in the void disappeared.

The suffocating presence and the divine power that had been weighing down the world all vanished along with the black hole.

"Hmm. That hurts a bit."

Surna frowned at the sword that had deflected Lumensis' brand.

It was just a single brand.

Considering Lumensis' status, it was probably not even worth his little fingernail as an attack.

But to deflect it, he had to deliver a sword strike greater than when he beheaded the Elemental Lord of Flame.

Even so, his right hand holding the sword had suffered a slight burn.

This was the result even though he had deflected it at an angle rather than opposing it with force.

But the wound healed quickly.

This level of injury was nothing more than a scratch compared to when he fought the Saint in the past.

"Now."

As all the situations concluded, Rudger captured Surna with his blue eyes that had returned to normal.

"It's our turn to have a conversation."