I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 690: Lukewarm Water and Cold Ice (1)

"Ugh. This is no joke from the start."

Casey didn't come alone.

Her faithful assistant Betty had also followed Casey all the way to Bretus.

This was the result of her stubbornness even though Casey had tried to dissuade her from coming.

"That's why I told you. This place is a battlefield. It's not a place for you to come."

"Not a place for me to come? I am clearly Casey's assistant. You went back to the home country and abandoned me, and now you're trying to go here alone too. Did you think I would just sit back and watch?"

"Ugh, the nagging. Are you my mother?"

"I can play the role of a nanny watching over you so Casey doesn't do anything strange again. Because I'm mature."

"Yeah, yeah. You're so great."

The words of Casey and Betty, who had been chatting as usual, were cut off simultaneously.

Casey looked at the ruined coastline with complicated eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"Haah. I'm supposed to be a detective who solves mysterious cases and catches criminals, but why did I have to come all the way here..."

"Why? Because you got completely head-over-heels for a man."

"Head-over-heels? Who's head-over-heels! It's not like that!"

"Wasn't it? You were always grinding your teeth saying you'd chase after that man, so I thought that was it."

"That's..."

It wasn't exactly wrong.

However, her desire to chase Rudger wasn't simply because of duty.

It was an extremely personal matter.

She just wanted to confirm.

The anxiety that the criminal she had been chasing might actually not be a truly bad person.

The possibility that she might have been wrong.

Her heart already knew, but her mind didn't want to accept it, so she became even more obsessed with it.

Now she had realized the truth and had matured more as a human being.

But there was still a complicated knot hardened in Casey's heart.

That was why she had come all the way here.

She wasn't participating in the holy war for the sake of justice.

She was, after all, a detective.

Someone who finds the unknown and chaos in the world and defines it as order.

Therefore, even in this strange holy war, she had to find the chaos and suppress it.

And

She had to untangle all these complicated knots.

"Is everything okay with your family?"

"...Yeah. That was another reason too."

At Betty's voice reminding her of another reason, Casey slowly closed her eyes and opened them.

"It would be a lie to say it's okay. That's why someone like me had no choice but to come here. To confirm all the truth with my own eyes."

"Won't it be dangerous? More than any criminal you've fought so far?"

Of course it would be, since the Demon King resides on this island.

The king of all heretics who might drive this continent to destruction.

"If I don't do it because it's dangerous, who will?"

"Then it can't be helped. Casey is clumsy and lacking in many ways, so I'll protect you from the side."

"Thanks for the words at least."

"Now! Let's go then!"

The detective seeking truth and the lost doll girl headed toward the battlefield.

"Advance! Advance!"

"Storm the fortress! We must defeat the Demon King!"

With the cardinals' intrusion, the momentum shifted toward the Holy Crusade.

The druids tried hard to block using plants, but being already outnumbered and now with divine power added, they were helplessly pushed back.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"Fall back!"

The elves didn't stubbornly resist.

Even without Ambella's command, they had already received instructions in preparation for this situation.

The situation had now moved so far beyond their control.

All that remained for them was the miracle that the shining fortress would bring.

'This can't be.'

Even while fighting, Violetta felt the unfavorable battle situation with her skin.

The wind blowing was whispering to her about what was happening on the battlefield.

In the feeling of her head about to burst while simultaneously floating, Violetta gradually felt that she was hearing the sound of the wind more clearly.

'This can't continue like this. I can't be held back here.'

Violetta concentrated while listening to the sound of the wind.

It's insufficient. To complete something decisive, she felt like she was missing the last piece of the puzzle.

However, since she couldn't tell what was missing, her frustration doubled.

The sound of the wind whispering.

The priestess holy law brushing against her skin.

The divine power and storm dizzied her eyes.

Vierano shouted something urgently, but it didn't reach her ears.

She couldn't be tied down here.

'I finally became able to be helpful, and you're telling me to give up like this?'

No. That wouldn't do.

What was missing? What exactly was the last puzzle piece?

Violetta soon gave up thinking.

She felt that at times like this, it was better to follow instinct rather than judge with reason.

She didn't know why.

She just felt as if a command to do so was embedded deep in her mind.

'Like the wind.'

Free and unbound by anything.

The sound that had been confusing her mind suddenly stopped.

It seemed as if peace and tranquility had come to the world.

It wasn't actually quiet.

However, Violetta felt as if she had reached some place without any sound or noise.

The persistent headache disappeared and her mind became clearer than ever before.

Her vision opened up, and she became able to perceive surrounding objects more clearly than before.

'That's right.'

Violetta realized the reason.

Driven to an extreme environment, her mind had momentarily been dyed pure white.

The moment when she forgot everything she had kept in her head, even if just for an instant.

That split second that didn't even last 0.1 seconds.

The last puzzle piece was unintentionally completed.

"So this was it."

The wind moved.

The giant spear thrust by the golden giant suddenly twisted direction before even touching Violetta's body and struck the ground.

"What?"

The priestess who used the holy law, Anisha, muttered unconsciously.

Violetta's aura had changed. Even a little while ago, while she was still dangerous, she was at least manageable.

But now it was different.

In that short time, Violetta seemed to have changed the essence of her existence.

"Ahahahahaha!"

Violetta laughed out loud.

She was enjoying an unprecedented freedom.

Yes.

Finally, she had become a true Colour mage.

Not suppressing her talent and deceiving the world with imitation.

She had completed a tower by stacking the bricks of effort, determination, and madness.

"Miss Violetta?"

Vierano Dentis keenly caught Violetta's change.

The wind spirit helping him told him that Violetta had become one with the wind.

What had been merely a model chrysalis had truly broken out of its shell and flown up as a butterfly.

It was amazing, but in an unfavorable situation, there could be no better good news.

-Whoooosh!

Violetta's wind circled around and dominated the space.

Wind is the flow of the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is the air that always exists in this world.

The oxygen is most important for human survival.

For that to become a weapon meant.

The enemies were now no different from being inside a tiger's mouth.

The dark clouds filling the sky momentarily thinned.

Beyond the dark clouds, the Wind Elemental Lord floating high in the sky and observing this war also noticed Violetta's change.

An Azure mage is a mage capable of communicating with the atmosphere.

She was an existence closer and more familiar to the Wind Elemental Lord than most spirit users or elves.

Though the Wind Elemental Lord reacted due to this unintended situation, it didn't break the agreement and intervene in the battlefield.

Rather, it was because a massive cold that would freeze to the bone swallowed Violetta first.

-Crackle.

Violetta froze in the posture of trying to manipulate the wind.

The sight of massive ice filling the surroundings and swallowing Violetta as if freezing time itself was somehow even eerie.

"Wh-what is this...?"

Vierano was shocked that Violetta had been defeated.

She had become an Azure mage who manipulates wind, yet was defeated so futilely.

To make that possible, it would require at least a mage with an equal title.

"No way!"

Vierano changed his suspicion to certainty because a tremendous cold was rushing toward him like a wave.

He tried to push away the cold as much as possible with wind spirits, but was helpless.

Vierano retreated as far back as possible, but white frost formed on his skin from the aftereffects of the cold.

"I never expected to face a colour mage here."

Every time he spoke, steam flowed from his mouth.

Vierano stared at the newly appeared woman.

Marias Selmore, the head of the magical noble family Selmore and a blue mage who manipulates ice and cold.

Not only had she intruded into the battlefield, but what was even more surprising was the pure white halo floating above Marias's head.

That's right.

Marias had fallen victim to the Order brainwashing and become a puppet moving according to their will.

Marias opened her mouth with transparent pupils shining.

"I never expected to witness the moment a colour mage was born here. If I had been just a little later in subduing her, it would have been irreversible."

Violetta could manipulate wind, but she was in a state of having just awakened not long ago.

Marias had properly stabbed that gap.

If Violetta had been accustomed to handling her power and more skilled, she probably wouldn't have been defeated so easily.

"You don't need to worry. She's not dead. In the instant I was about to freeze her, she surrounded herself with an atmospheric barrier to protect her body."

So the best Marias could do was just trap Violetta in ice like this.

Of course, that alone was enough.

If a colour mage, especially an azure mage who manipulates wind, went on a rampage, the situation would have become even more chaotic.

"Don't worry. After a nap, everything will be over."

Vierano realized.

The cold had already infiltrated around him, surrounding him so he couldn't escape anywhere.

"Oh no."

-Crackle.

Vierano froze with his panicked expression intact.

The sight of Violetta and Vierano, whom even the priests couldn't subdue carelessly, trapped in large ice was somehow even surreal.

"Now then."

The brainwashed Marias glanced at the priests.

Anisha and Remia unconsciously flinched at Marias' gaze.

Though they were people who weren't surprised by most things, the power Marias had shown was on a different level.

"Shall we go now? To defeat the Demon King."

Marias smiled brightly.

It was a strangely chilling smile.

The monsters Helia created rushed toward Catherine like a raging torrent.

Front, back, left, right. Even from underground and from the sky above.

Catherine had no space to escape but she had no intention of escaping in the first place.

The divine power emanating from Catherine's body emitted powerful light and energy waves around her.

The massive ancient beasts and monsters hesitated when touched by the waves.

The giant snake with two heads.

The ferocious wolf with horns on its head.

The disgusting bug that mixed all sorts of crustaceans.

The venomous spider with scorpion-like pincer arms.

Even though it was just the preliminary stage before activating holy law, the density of power was so strong that the monsters retreated.

Catherine took a step forward.

As she stomped her foot once, golden waves spread in concentric circles.

The monsters touched by the waves let out painful screams.

The monsters commanded by Helia converted their pain into anger and rushed at Catherine.

A black wave tried to swallow the golden candle.

But surprisingly, it was the golden candle that won.

The monsters turned to ash and collapsed as soon as they touched the flames.

-Thud!

Catherine clenched her fist and struck down.

The sacred power contained in her striking fist bore a large tunnel through the monster horde.

Helia was at the end of that tunnel, but Helia didn't just take it lying down either.

-Clang!

A giant gate of hell was created in front of Helia and blocked Catherine's attack.

Meanwhile, the ground under Catherine's feet suddenly rose up, and a giant tunnel worm with dense teeth swallowed Catherine.

The tunnel worm that had swallowed Catherine writhed for a moment, then exploded from within with flames.

Catherine appeared unharmed without a single wound and shot forward while stomping her foot.

She closed the distance with Helia in one go and smashed the gate of hell with her fist.

Without stopping, the moment she approached within striking distance of Helia, Helia stuck out her tongue.

"Peekaboo."

Helia's form crumbled and disappeared, and a box appeared in her place.

The rotating lever attached to the side of the box spun round and round, then the box's lid opened and a ridiculous clown face popped out from inside.

-Kekekekekekeke!

Dark energy gathered at the mouth of the jack-in-the-box clown, then shot a large pillar of magical power toward Catherine.

Catherine's body, caught in the magical power, flew far away.