I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 702: Punishment, Determination, and Salvation (4)

Arkenis looked at Surna with a blank expression.

At least the last image of Surna she remembered was not like this.

"You, what on earth happened? Why are you so injured, and more than that, this place is..."

Having been sealed for so long, she felt even greater confusion at the difference between the distant past and now.

Arkenis tried to recall the last scene she had witnessed.

The sky splitting open, and through that crack, a withered tree-like finger falling down.

Seeing that finger about to strike down Surna, she had thrown herself to save Surna.

"That's right. I was... sealed."

"Yes. And I freed you from that seal."

"Just how much time has passed?"

"I haven't counted properly. Just...about a thousand years."

The corners of Arkenis' eyes trembled.

A thousand years of time.

And Surna standing before her, smiling while covered in wounds.

Arkenis instinctively realized that far too many things had happened while she was sealed.

Arkenis couldn't figure out what to say.

Should she greet her saying it's been a while? Or should she worry about her body first?

How has this era turned out? Is the Order still ruling the world?

As if dispelling Arkenis' worries, Surna spoke first.

"Do you remember the bet we made?"

"Bet..."

Arkenis muttered like that, but she knew what Surna was talking about.

She definitely remembered the bet because it was Arkenis who had brought up that topic first.

"You told me that the given future cannot be changed. I told you. Then I would try to change it once."

"Surna..."

"I didn't know then, but now I think I understand why you made that bitter expression when you said that and why you spoke as if there would be no next chance. You knew, didn't you? That you would take on Lumensis' wrath in my place and be sealed for a long time."

"Surna, I..."

"Listen to my story until the end."

The crack carved on Surna's cheek grew a little longer than before.

Arkenis closed her mouth.

"You must have thought this way. The future would continue, but it wouldn't be an ideal future. Eventually, humanity would be dominated by Lumensis, and with no development or progress, they would just live like birds in a cage, or like fish in a fishbowl. Meanwhile, you would remain in eternal seal with no one to remember you."

Surna's words were true.

From all those moments of fighting with Surna, Arkenis had known she would face this kind of ending because she had seen such a future.

That future was unavoidable.

And the sealed Saint would have to sleep forever with no one to wake her up...

That's how it should have been.

"Look. I won. Arkenis."

"..."

"I won the bet with you. I, who had only lost to you until now, finally beat you."

Surna smiled.

It was an innocent smile like a child receiving a birthday present for the first time.

Surna had wanted to say this one thing to Arkenis when they met.

That I, who had only lost to you, have come this far.

That I have finally won.

So.

"Now live comfortably."

"..."

"Saint or whatever, just live as ordinary Arkenis. You said so long ago. That you wanted to live in a wonderful world. Honestly, I'm not sure if the current world is that wonderful. I've seen all those changes. Maybe it's even worse than our era."

Still, Surna continued.

"Surely from now on, this world will change to become more wonderful and better. I think so."

After finishing her words, Surna passed by Arkenis with stumbling steps.

"Surna? Where are you going!"

"I still have things I need to do."

"Why, why? It's all over. You're already covered in wounds! You'll die if you don't rest."

Surna stopped walking.

Yes. Arkenis was right.

While fighting against Lumensis' curse, Surna's body had been ruined.

In a situation where it was questionable whether she could recover even if she devoted herself to healing right now, jumping back into the battlefield was suicidal.

Still.

"I still have to go."

"Why...?"

"I committed too many sins to get this far. I don't regret all the choices I've made, but I don't think those choices were entirely right either. I have to pay the price. As a demon, as Zero Order who drove the world into chaos."

Surna chuckled. Arkenis couldn't give any response to those words.

Though she didn't know what path Surna had walked, she could tell it hadn't been clean and smooth.

No matter how pitiful the circumstances, the sins he had committed wouldn't disappear.

"I don't seek forgiveness. I don't seek salvation either. I'm just satisfied that I saw your face before leaving."

Yes. That was enough.

For a demon like himself, that was sufficient.

Arkenis couldn't hold back Surna's retreating figure.

In her state of greatly reduced power from being sealed, even having this conversation was overwhelming.

Then someone approached Arkenis.

"Lady Arkenis!"

Setadel knelt with a voice and face mixed with joy and sorrow.

"I finally get to see you. It has truly been a long time."

"It's Setadel."

Arkenis smiled sadly looking at Setadel.

For the human Setadel to face her across a thousand years meant he had used the power of a necromancer.

The work of transferring souls into bodies.

If done wrong, the soul might wear away and disappear. A corrupted soul would become different from before, and the person themselves could change.

There was nothing more terrifying than the fear of not being oneself anymore, yet Setadel had willingly thrown himself into that danger.

For just one reason - to meet again the master he had sworn loyalty to, Arkenis.

"You too, and Surna too. So many things have happened."

"I'm sorry. But I..."

"Yes. I understand."

-Rumble.

The castle shook and dust fell from the sky.

"It seems the current situation isn't very good."

"A holy war has broken out. The Pope has led the continent's armies using the power of brainwashing. Let's evacuate first. I'll guide you to a safe place."

"Yes. We should, but... let's go somewhere else first."

"Somewhere else?"

"Yes. There's someone I absolutely must meet."

Rudger walked slowly through the castle.

Around him, the sounds of battle were loud due to the aftermath of fighting.

Fortunately, if it could be called fortunate, no one had blocked Rudger's path so far.

But Rudger could feel it.

Not encountering people was simply because he had chosen to move along quiet paths.

There was nothing he could do about those who came looking for him directly.

'Just like right now.'

-Crash!

One side of the wall in front collapsed, scattering debris and stone dust.

Seeing the cloudy dust that rose up, Rudger tucked the glowing relic into his chest.

"You finally came."

As the dust settled, the person inside revealed themselves.

Brilliant blonde hair that didn't lose its shine even in the dust gently dazzled the eyes.

Rudger quietly looked at the woman who gazed at him with unwavering eyes.

"Saint Catherine."

"Demon Lord Heathcliff."

Catherine called Rudger's name with a voice full of complex emotions.

The man who had once been a friend, and at the same time a betrayer who had left her behind, who was of the Pope's bloodline, and who had finally risen to the position of Demon Lord.

Rudger said to Catherine.

"You've grown a lot. Almost unrecognizable."

"It's been 20 years."

"Yes. The time we've been apart without knowing each other's news has been much longer than the time we knew each other."

"Right. Actually, it wouldn't be strange if we had forgotten each other after such a time."

But none of those who said such things had ever forgotten each other.

In this hellish place, the only friend they could open their hearts to could never be forgotten from memory, no matter how much time passed.

"Let's end the reunion between old friends here. Did you come to stop me?"

"I am a Saint. If I appeared before the Demon Lord, there would be only one reason, wouldn't there?"

The friend they had been close with in the past no longer existed.

What stood here was only the Demon Lord driving the world into chaos, and the Saint trying to stop it.

Both of them knew this very well.

This twisted relationship absolutely could not be ignored just by ignoring it.

The day when they would clash was bound to come someday.

That day was now.

"I'll make one last proposal. If you pretend not to see me and let me go, the thing you're worried about won't happen."

"You know better than anyone that I can't do that."

"I suppose so."

"Yes."

Rudger muttered calmly.

"I'll let you have the first move."

It was an arrogant statement, but Catherine didn't bother to refuse.

Catherine, wrapped in golden divine power all over her body, rushed toward Rudger with her blonde hair flowing.

An intense straight punch delivered with movement too fast to see even an afterimage.

Rudger dodged it by lightly shaking his head left and right, then lifted his foot and lightly stomped the ground.

-Thud!

A wave of magical power spread out and the shadows on the ground writhed.

Tentacles rose from the shadows and bound Catherine's entire body but Catherine tore them apart with pure strength.

Catherine's right hand swung.

It was a distance that couldn't be reached with a fist but at that moment, divine power condensed in Catherine's hand and transformed into a sword.

Rudger drew his trademark sword stick engraved with a crow from the shadows.

Blue magical power overlaid the sharp and graceful blade, blocking Catherine's golden sword.

-Flash!

Gold and blue intertwined, scattering beautiful light.

The light was a manifestation of destruction. The castle's internal structures touched by the light didn't just collapse but crumbled into powder.

An overwhelming, high-density scene of destruction created by the collision of power against power.

Only Rudger and Catherine remained intact.

"You're strong. You're not called the Demon Lord for nothing."

"To be precise, it's closer to me asking to be called that."

"Haha. What, was that how it was? I wondered why Salesin gave you such an unusually stylish title."

Catherine smiled bitterly.

"That makes it even more regrettable. That day, if you hadn't left me behind. Or at least if you had taken me with you, I would have fought on your side."

At the words containing slight resentment, Rudger's eyes trembled slightly.

How could he not know?

What Rudger felt when he had to leave his homeland wasn't a sense of liberation or relief at being alive.

Only worry about what would happen to Catherine who was left behind.

But Rudger at that time was weak, and he couldn't ask his teacher Grandel to take Catherine along too.

He was in such a physically and mentally cornered state that it was difficult to say such things.

"I didn't even know you had disappeared and kept going to that place. Waiting for you to come, believing many times over that you would return someday."

"..."

"But only after I heard later that you had left the homeland did I realize how foolish I had been. That sense of betrayal, that despair I felt then. Do you even know about it?"

Catherine glared at Rudger with venomous eyes.

"So I endured. No matter how hard and painful it was, I gritted my teeth and bore it. When the Saint's power dug into my body, my whole body felt like it was being torn apart, but I endured it. Even when tears came, I forced myself to swallow them. I thought it was fine. As long as you were alive somewhere in this world, that was enough."

Rudger felt the emotion Catherine harbored toward him.

It was anger.

"Why on earth!"

The cause of that anger wasn't betrayal for leaving her behind.

"Why on earth did you come back!"

Rather, it was anger at Rudger's choice to become the Demon Lord, to become an enemy of this world.

"You should have just left! You should have just forgotten everything and lived a new life!"

-Crash!

Catherine's sword dyed the world golden.

Rudger painted the world blue in response.

"You shouldn't have come back to this terrible place!"

-Crash! Crash!

Pushed back by Catherine's momentum, Rudger gradually retreated.

"What on earth did I, what did I do all this for!"

"Saint Catherine."

Rudger coldly rebuked Catherine, who was almost about to sob.

"Did you block my path just to reminisce about such brief memories?"

"..."

"What's past is already past. And my current choice is mine alone. Even if the same opportunity came again, I have no intention of reversing this choice. So step aside."

"You..."

"If you won't step aside, I'll just defeat you and pass through."

At Rudger's cold words, Catherine's face twisted hideously with anger and sorrow.