I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 710: Light of Despair (3)

Salesin van Bretus was not composed solely of his own existence.

In fact, it was even questionable whether he should be called Salesin at all.

Certainly, the name of the flesh was Salesin, but what dwelt within was not.

The reason he felt more disgusting than Hans, who had transformed into the Beast of Gevaudan, was for this very reason.

If the Beast of Gevaudan was like seeing the greatest darkness in the world, Salesin felt like looking at filth that had been stagnant and rotting for a very long time.

Unlike the other side that simply gave a feeling of being massive and vast, he was so terrible and disgusting that one wouldn't even want to imagine it.

The twisted desires of humans that had accumulated over a long time and had now rotted, wrapped in pristine white packaging paper.

That was exactly what Salesin van Bretus was now.

"I tried my best to hide it, but it seems I can't escape the eyes of the Judgment Eye after all. It can't be helped. Since you're the owner of an authority equal to mine."

Rene's Judgment Eye had no choice but to see what she didn't want to see.

The agonized screams of the twisted dead that flickered behind Salesin's back.

"How exactly are you still alive?"

Rene asked with a trembling voice.

In her view, Salesin was not alive.

It seemed like madness accumulated for over a thousand years flowed through his body instead of blood.

Of course, Salesin only laughed at those words without answering.

Whatever the case, he seemed satisfied just to meet the owner of the Judgment Eye again.

Seeing the emotion dwelling in Salesin's eyes, Rene shuddered and stepped back.

It was an instinctive action. Of course, Salesin had no intention of letting that slide.

"Come here."

A gentle voice. Looking at his appearance alone, he was like a savior extending his hand toward a lost lamb.

But Rene shook her head and instead stepped further back.

Salesin spoke with an even deeper smile.

"Do you think I made a request?"

If he had uttered those words, it was something that absolutely had to be obeyed.

A command? No. Rather, it could be considered something of a dimension higher than that.

Salesin's words were not a bluff.

A subtle radiance flowing from Salesin's body tried to bind Rene's body like a rope.

For a moment, Rene forgot even the will to resist under that overwhelming presence.

It was Rudger who stepped forward in her moment of crisis.

"What are you doing to my student?"

Rudger, who had easily torn apart Salesin's restraints with just a wave of his hand, stood in front of Rene protectively.

"There's nothing more terrible than a decrepit human old enough to know better reaching out to a young person."

"Ah, I had forgotten. Right, you were there."

He spoke as if he had forgotten, but it was half sincere.

Rudger was important too, but what drew Salesin's interest more was Rene, who possessed the Judgment Eye.

"Little brother. You're already finished. You must know what it means that I came here?"

"I don't know what you're trying to say, but I do know very well what this situation means."

Rudger wrapped his entire body in shadows and charged toward Salesin.

-Crash!

Shadow and light collided, making an intense sound.

"That you die here today."

"I was going to show mercy, but you kick away even that last gesture with your own feet."

"Is that how you showed mercy to make the other brothers and sisters end up like that?"

"Those children also knew what it meant to live as descendants of the Holy Emperor."

-Grrrrrumble!

Just from their struggle, the atmosphere vibrated and thunder roared.

As the Wind Elemental Lord was reverse-summoned, the sky was once again covered with dark clouds.

What could be seen under those dark clouds was pitch-black shadows darker than the clouds themselves and brilliantly burning light.

"Are you planning to fight me to the end?"

"Why? Are you afraid?"

"Afraid, hardly."

Salesin lightly shook his head.

"I'm just annoyed about getting insect blood on my hands."

Salesin's naked inner thoughts revealed through the gaps in his mask.

Rudger had barely begun to frown at those unpleasant words.

The light flowing from Salesin's body intensified.

-Boom!

Rudger was knocked back and had to create distance from Salesin.

Salesin swept his hand.

Following that gesture, light moved and aimed for Rudger's throat.

However, Salesin soon had to narrow his eyes and turn his gaze to the side.

A blade that had approached within striking distance was piercing toward his brow.

-Crash!

The sharp sword blade stopped right in front of Salesin's brow.

"You're faster than I thought. Knight."

Salesin gazed at Alex, who was putting strength into his sword, without blinking an eye.

The timing was good, but Alex's attack couldn't touch a single hair on Salesin's head.

Even though it was a sword imbued with the aura of a knight who had surpassed Master level.

In a way, it was a natural result.

Even that Wind Elemental Lord couldn't inflict a single wound on Salesin with wings swung at Mach 20 speed.

Even a Master's aura couldn't penetrate high-density divine power.

"If only it couldn't penetrate, that is."

Alex grinned.

Salesin didn't understand the meaning of that smile. Not until he saw the scene that unfolded behind it.

-Crrrreeeak.

"Divine power?"

The thin but extremely powerful sacred barrier surrounding his skin began to make twisting sounds.

Salesin realized that his divine power, which was like his limbs, was being drawn by another force beyond his will.

"That's an annoying power. No, is it an extremely developed technique?"

He had thought it was just the struggles of an insect, but this was not good.

Salesin reached his hand toward Alex.

Alex outwardly maintained composure, but inwardly made a crying face.

'Damn it. With my full power, creating a very slight gap by twisting that divine power is all I can do.'

Even now, he was using all his strength to twist the divine power like a whirlpool, so he couldn't react to Salesin's movements.

The moment Salesin's hand pointed toward Alex's brow, countless vines grew from the castle and grabbed Salesin's arm.

The vines tried to squeeze Salesin's arm like a compressor, but they couldn't move at all, blocked by the divine power.

Salesin's gaze turned toward Sedina.

"Annoying things."

The divine power flowing from Salesin's body intensified.

-Thwoom!

Alex's body was knocked away, and the vines Sedina had summoned were torn to shreds.

Just as he was about to eliminate the two who had shown their weakness, a railgun flew toward Salesin.

"Where do you think you're going!"

It was Seridan who had fired, thinking it was an opportunity.

Salesin flicked his finger toward the approaching railgun bullet.

The blue line carved in the air bent at a right angle and shot up high into the sky.

"What?"

Seridan's eyes widened at that impossible sight.

No matter how strong he was, deflecting a railgun with a finger?

Salesin, who had extended his hand, let out a sigh.

"Haah. How can everyone be so stupid?"

-Crash!

A huge sword swung at the back of Salesin's head.

It was Terina's Gladius Arts, Giant Killer.

It was an attack with enough power to split diamond by force, but Salesin's head was unharmed.

Rather, Terina, who had swung the sword, had to grit her teeth at the recoil traveling up the handle.

To help Terina, Johann and Leonhart also launched a combined attack toward Salesin.

Having come this far, they weren't foolish enough to think Salesin was good.

More than that, their instincts as Master knights were crying out that they had to defeat Salesin here.

Even seeing the aura applied by the two Master knights, Salesin's face was full of boredom.

"Stand back."

The moment Salesin spoke those words, his voice became power and swept over the surrounding area.

With a whoosh sound, Reinhardt, Johann, and Terina were blown backward and rolled on the ground.

Just from saying one word, it possessed physical force and pushed the knights back.

It wasn't the kind of power that could be endured.

"Wh-what is this?"

Johann Oceans couldn't understand what had hit him.

Salesin had merely spoken, but the moment he heard those words, his body betrayed his will and was blown backward.

Strength drained from his body, and he felt controlled by something.

He somehow managed to grit his teeth and succeeded in controlling his body, but he couldn't avoid rolling on the ground.

Johann, Leonhart, and Terina recalled their unit members who had been brainwashed.

‘Mental interference.’

The three immediately realized what Salesin had done.

"Hmm?"

On the other hand, Salesin was puzzled seeing those who still hadn't lost their fighting spirit.

"Strange. Normally, you should have lost your reason here, but to endure this."

"Your brainwashing must be just that worthless."

It was what Rudger said as he suddenly appeared right in front of Salesin after regrouping.

Before Salesin could retort, Rudger, who had changed the shadow wrapping his right arm into something demonic, struck his body hard.

Considering the divine power surrounding Salesin's body, his arm should have been shattered instead, but surprisingly, Salesin was pushed back and ended up falling beneath the spire.

"Oho."

Salesin let out an exclamation filled with interest.

He had tried to block it with divine power, but for a moment he felt as if space itself was pushing him away.

"Is it forbidden spatial magic?"

He had imbued the shadow itself with the power to push away space and blown him away.

Normally, he would chase after to launch an additional attack, but Rudger didn't do that.

Whatever he was trying to do at the spire, he probably intended to achieve his original purpose while taking advantage of his absence.

"Your intentions are too obvious. Or perhaps you're that desperate."

Just before falling to the tremendous height below, Salesin's body came to a firm stop in place.

His body floated defying gravity and headed back up to the spire.

At that moment, a shadow large enough to cover the sky appeared.

It was a crow with its wings spread wide.

The crow's fierce eyes were looking down at Salesin.

Rudger's magical beast, Aether Nocturnus full of magical power thrust its sharp claws toward Salesin.

Having left Salesin to Aether Nocturnus, Rudger immediately approached the center of the spire and placed his hand on the floor.

He didn't think he could kill Salesin with Aether Nocturnus.

'But it should be enough to buy time.'

Rudger flowed magical power through his palm to the top of the spire.

Blue magical power spread out like a pattern from Rudger as the center across the spire.

The central part of the spire opened with a rumbling sound, and a device popped out from inside.

The sharp and pointed thing looked like a flower bud made of marble.

Before anyone could ask what that was, Rudger took out a disc-shaped relic from his chest and brought it to the device.

And a pure white flash that pierced through the floor and shot up vertically was faster at destroying the device.

The device swept up by the light disappeared without leaving a trace.

Through the hole that was blown open, Salesin appeared slowly, defying gravity with his hands clasped behind his back.

"What interesting thing were you trying to do?"

Salesin smiled as if he knew everything Rudger was trying to do.

Rudger silently stared at Salesin.

'Aether Nocturnus is...'

His magical beast, which he thought would buy even a little time against Salesin, was torn to pieces by his light without lasting even a second.

"What were you trying to do with the relic? Huh? Operating such a device in this spire, what scheme were you trying to pull?"

"......"

Salesin mocked Rudger, who had lost his objective right before his eyes.

Even then, Rudger just quietly stared at the place where the device had been just moments before.

"Hmm. Was the shock still too weak? I suppose I'll have to destroy that disc for you to properly despair."

At the words threatening to target the relic, Rudger finally showed a reaction.

His eyes, which had been filled with blue, turned red.

The atmosphere trembled, and a faint but black hole was trying to open above Rudger's head.

While everyone was overwhelmed by that sight and held their breath.

Salesin casually threw out a remark.

"Can you handle it?"

At that tone suggesting he knew something, Rudger's eyes returned to their original color.

"You know too. That if you use that power again, Lumensis, who has been waiting for this opportunity, will intervene in the lower world again."

"......"

It wasn't wrong.

The moment Rudger opened the heavenly gate, Lumensis, who had been waiting for that moment, would reveal his power without reservation, thinking it was the time.

When he used it before, Lumensis hadn't recognized his existence, so that was one thing.

But after that incident, Lumensis had completely recognized Rudger and was waiting for when he would open the heavenly gate again.

Salesin could act confidently knowing this fact.

Whether Rudger could truly handle that power.

"It's not impossible."

The moment Rudger's eyes turned red again and a gate was about to open above his head.

"I thought so."

Salesin showed a card he hadn't revealed until now for the first time.

A pure white ring appeared inside Salesin's pupils, and a pure white disc also rose above his head.

The disc flew toward the black hole Rudger was trying to create and blocked the hole by twisting it shut.

The heavenly gate was forcibly closed.

"That's not something only you can do, you know."