Academy’s Barbarian

======[ Peirus ]======

In the dark underground temple.

Peirus, leaning against the throne beside the altar, began to emit a blue mana light as he gazed at the crystal sphere and placed his left hand on it.

“Is everyone listening?”

To share the facts he had learned with the other Apostles.

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

“…I can’t talk for long, though.”

“Keep it short.”

“Hmm.”

The Apostles, who were also holding their crystal spheres, responded in unison.

The Second, Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth. The Fifth and…

“It’s been a while since we’ve all gathered like this. The Third Apostle has gone silent, and the Eighth has been completely replaced, but still.”

And the Sixth Apostle as well.

Though only their voices were present, it was as if all the Apostles, except for the Third, had gathered.

“So, what’s the matter?”

The Fourth Apostle, who was in charge of the Beastmen nation of Baraykruz in the northern snowfields beyond the Sky Mountain Range, asked why Peirus had summoned them.

Perhaps even with magical power, the cold of the northern snowfields was hard to endure, as his voice trembled slightly.

“The incompletely resurrected Insect-Dragon, Nidhogg, has been subjugated. The Dragon Kingdom and Alvheim suffered massive damage because of it.”

Peirus explained the details in a low tone.

The dragon’s remains buried beneath the Imperial Capital, Isabella’s use of insects to resurrect it, the partial destruction of Exra-shapel, and its escape to the Sky Mountain Range.

And finally, the story of how Nidhogg was ultimately defeated after a fierce battle involving the elite forces of three races.

“Alvheim lost six Guardians, and the Dragon Kingdom—no, the Evil Faction of the Dragon Kingdom—also suffered significant losses. For us, it’s an ideal outcome.”

“…But the Heavenly Demon of the Dragon Kingdom is raging in anger.”

The Fifth Apostle, who served as a strategist under the Heavenly Demon, muttered in a disgruntled tone.

One of the Oma Dragonkin, Changma Beherikes, had fallen in battle, and Joma Macaoros had surrendered. Of the Dragonkin they led, fewer than five returned to the Dragon Kingdom.

For the Heavenly Demon, who had invested considerable power to seize the dragon’s remains, this outcome was undoubtedly infuriating.

“Even if they’re angry, what can they do? Having lost so much power in an instant, maintaining their forces alone will be a struggle for the time being.”

“Six Guardians… I heard many died in the war with the Dwarves. At this rate, wouldn’t it be fine to destroy the fourth Holy Grail? Or is that why you called us?”

The Fourth Apostle asked again.

After the third Holy Grail was destroyed, the Empire and Ka`har engaged in full-scale war, resulting in the massacre of tens of thousands of Dane people, and countless other deaths… Surely, enough souls had been collected to strip away one layer of the Heavenly Barrier.

Previously, they had delayed destroying the Holy Grail out of concern that the fairies would become too powerful. But now that Alvheim had lost its core force of Guardians, there was no reason to delay the barrier’s destruction any longer. That was the implication of the question.

“It’s true that I called you about the Holy Grail. But… the reason is slightly different. I didn’t summon you to announce the destruction of the Heavenly Barrier, but to inform you that its destruction has been further delayed.”

“Delayed? Why?”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Hmm… I don’t distrust you, but won’t this slow down our progress too much?”

The Apostles all expressed their doubts. It was clear they found it hard to accept.

Peirus, who had confidently declared that true freedom was near when the first Holy Grail was destroyed, had recently been delaying the plan’s progress more and more.

“…It’s not what I intended.”

Peirus sighed lightly and explained the unavoidable reason.

“We failed. Despite collecting enough souls to destroy the Heavenly Barrier according to our calculations, the barrier remains intact. Do you understand what that means? The Heavenly Barrier’s strength has increased. We can’t destroy it without collecting even more souls.”

Peirus hadn’t delayed the destruction of the fourth barrier because he wanted to.

In the past, perhaps, but now that over ten Guardians had fallen, there was no need to fear Alvheim’s rise.

The problem was that the rune formula to destroy the Heavenly Barrier no longer worked.

The message was clear: if you want to break it, pour in more souls. The altar of the Holy Grail was saying just that.

“…Did the false gods intervene?”

“You could say that, or not.”

After failing to destroy the Heavenly Barrier, Peirus rechecked his calculations dozens of times, ultimately confirming that there was no error in the calculations themselves.

If the calculations were correct, then why had the destruction of the fourth barrier failed?

Peirus spent several sleepless nights pondering and deducing the cause, finally arriving at an answer.

The Heavenly Barrier itself had strengthened beyond the calculated point, and the fundamental reason for its strengthening.

He had gathered the Apostles to explain this reason. It was information they needed to know as well.

“…Stop beating around the bush and get to the point. The Seventh and I aren’t in a situation to chat idly.”

The Eighth Apostle, once known as Werner Valenstein, snapped in a sharp tone.

She harbored near-hatred toward Peirus. He was the one who had tricked her with a fraudulent contract and trapped her in a young girl’s body.

Though she had been given a second chance after being cut down by Hasalleur on the verge of reaching the Realm of Heroes, living as a teenage girl when she had been a man nearing seventy was more humiliating than death.

“Alright, alright.”

Peirus, however, remained unfazed, calmly accepting her anger. Bound by the Soul Contract, Valenstein couldn’t harm him no matter what she tried.

If Peirus willed it, he could stop her heart or extract her soul from her body with a mere thought.

Valenstein knew this, which was why, despite her anger, she couldn’t even raise a sword against him.

In fact, she had tried once, when she first awoke in the girl’s body… but that memory remained a humiliating nightmare for her.

Her breathing, blood flow, even her senses and movements were all under Peirus’s control. She had no choice but to flail about, tears, snot, saliva, and even urine streaming down her face.

“The Heavenly Barrier’s strengthening coincided almost exactly with the death of the previous Eighth Apostle. After that, it strengthened again at the end of the war with Ka`har. Coincidentally, both events involved ‘variables.'”

“So this is also the influence of a variable?”

“No, it’s slightly different. The Heavenly Barrier strengthened not because she, as a variable, twisted fate… but because she herself became too powerful.”

The strengthening of the Heavenly Barrier wasn’t caused by her being a variable.

Even if it weren’t her, any human who reached the limit of power allowed by the Heavenly Barrier would have caused the same result.

“Because she became stronger?”

“Exactly.”

Peirus nodded and continued his explanation.

—-

Long before the Empire’s first emperor, Carolus, was born.

There was a being who pitied the humans suffering as playthings of other races and admired their unyielding will to resist.

Ausrine of the Stars and Dawn.

The Goddess of Sacrifice.

She sacrificed herself to give humans the power to fight.

Her divine body, her accumulated divinity—she shattered it all and distributed it among every human on earth.

Tiny fragments of divinity embedded themselves in all of humanity.

The power to guide those who walked unceasingly through the darkness, leading them toward a new dawn.

With Ausrine’s fragments, humanity gained the strength to struggle forward, toward the path of ascension they had once lost.

This was the origin of Feats.

—-

“But as long as the Heavenly Barrier exists, the accumulation of Feats cannot surpass the limit allowed by the barrier. Once that limit is reached, no matter how many Feats one achieves, they all vanish without becoming one’s own power. You know this best, don’t you?”

“…Yes.”

The Eighth Apostle, Valenstein, reluctantly answered.

The limit imposed by the Heavenly Barrier. Wasn’t that why he had betrayed the Empire and allied with the Apostles in the first place?

After reaching the pinnacle of mastery, no matter how many enemies he cut down, he couldn’t advance even a step further.

“But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Have you ever wondered? After you reached your limit, where did all the Feats you couldn’t accumulate and lost go?”

“…You don’t mean?”

Peirus nodded with certainty.

“Yes, exactly. Feats are ultimately fragments of Ausrine’s divinity. They are qualitatively similar to the divine power that forms the Heavenly Barrier. The Feats you couldn’t accumulate and lost were drawn upward to the heavens and used to strengthen the barrier.”

The Feats lost by humans who reached their limit were absorbed by the Heavenly Barrier, strengthening it. This was the conclusion Peirus had arrived at after much deliberation.

“There’s no doubt that the variable reached the barrier’s limit. Timing-wise, it was just before she defeated Ragnar. Since then, she has cut down countless strong foes, including Ragnar, amassing numerous Feats. All those wasted Feats were undoubtedly absorbed by the fourth Heavenly Barrier.”

Though it was only his speculation, there was no other way to explain the barrier’s strengthening.

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