The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

Right after the evacuation began in the arena,

Lucia and River quickly slipped out of the arena building and reached the main building.

The first floor of the main building was packed with people who had fled from the arena.

Lucia was still moving alongside River, but they weren’t particularly close, and aside from business-like exchanges, there wasn’t any real conversation happening.

When she saw the Swordsmanship Research Club members arrive, she looked around thinking Atlas would be there too, but she couldn’t spot him.

At that moment, out of the corner of her eye, Lucia caught a glimpse of River discreetly moving outside.

‘Where… is he going?’

For reasons she didn’t understand, Lucia found herself following River.

After exiting the main building, River stepped into the garden, appearing as if he were mesmerized, wandering among the maze-like trees, but he was definitely heading somewhere with clear intent.

Lucia nearly lost him multiple times, but thanks to her honed skills from sneaking around Atlas, she successfully trailed behind River without being noticed.

‘What on earth is he doing here…’

River came to a halt.

Holding her breath, as she peeked at where he had stopped, Lucia was on the verge of screaming when she witnessed the unbelievable scene.

‘A Sword Master?? Why is he here??’

The Master of the Clover Kingdom, the Sword Master, was warmly welcoming River.

‘Is… is Seymour betraying us…?’

The worst images flashed through Lucia’s mind.

That River Seymour was a spy for the Clover Kingdom, secretly relaying the most crucial information about the terror attack to the Sword Master, and the two of them would escape to the Clover Kingdom… It sounded like something straight out of a novel she frequently read.

But Lucia quickly dismissed that thought.

She didn’t know Seymour well, but she trusted Atlas, who believed in him.

As she silently observed the two, the atmosphere felt incredibly off.

“This time, you didn’t run away. People really need to learn from their experiences…”

“What… what is going on here? You never said anything about this… Those… all of them are demons, right? The Master is in league with demons??”

“I’m not in a position to explain such things to you personally.”

River was genuinely angry, but the Sword Master merely stroked his beard and smiled.

“Come on, don’t sweat the small stuff. Shall we get going?”

“What do you mean?”

“The plan has changed. Now… there’s no time, let’s go quickly.”

Sword Master Adolf grabbed River’s wrist.

“I… I don’t want to..!!”

“Hmm~ your pointless resistance makes me want to break your legs.”

River struggled, but he couldn’t resist the Sword Master’s strength. He was simply being dragged along.

The Sword Master’s tone completely disregarded River’s will.

He was nothing like the kind Sword Master she had seen before.

Although he still had that same smile on his face, it now looked terrifying.

As River was being pulled along, he shouted at the Sword Master.

“You promised to wait until I graduated!!”

“Situations can change at any time. You’re really going to whine like a little kid now that you’re an adult?”

Suddenly, the Sword Master’s expression shifted, and he yelled.

“And… a promise? Who are you to bring that up??

I waited a whole ten years for you to become an adult, and the moment you turned eighteen, you ran off to the academy.

The promise between me and Seymour was that once you became an adult, we would have a wedding.”

“Ugh…!”

“Did you really think that agreeing to this means you could negotiate with me?”

The Sword Master let go of River’s wrist and grabbed his hair to pull him in.

River’s beautifully shining hair got messed up by the rough handling.

“You were the first to break the rules. Why do I have to wait three more years for you? You’re already mine, and up till now, I’ve shown mercy by letting you go free… Isn’t it too much to ask for all this?”

The Sword Master’s tone grew harsher.

As his tone became more aggressive, his grip on River tightened, and it showed on River’s face as he grimaced in pain.

Lucia couldn’t think straight on what to do.

If he was about to leave, the moment he took off, she’d never find them again.

Even if she jumped in to help River, this was the Sword Master.

The only outcome would be seeing another corpse.

Just then, a face flashed through Lucia’s mind.

If it’s Atlas…

“…Stop it.”

Without realizing it, Lucia dashed out and grabbed the Sword Master’s wrist.

‘Ah… what am I doing…!!!’

She wasn’t an expert, and challenging the Master was crazy.

Even as she thought that she shouldn’t be doing this, her body reacted first.

It felt like if she didn’t intervene, Seymour would end up in an even worse situation.

She couldn’t fathom why she was doing something so reckless.

“… Seymour doesn’t want this.”

“Russell…?”

But despite the whirlwind of confusion, Lucia spoke clearly.

“Ha… this is amusing…”

Looking at Lucia gripping his arm, the Sword Master laughed incredulously.

Their heights were similar, so Lucia was looking directly into the Sword Master’s eyes, but his aura was so overwhelming it made her want to look down immediately.

But her body was stiff, and she couldn’t even lower her head.

“Hey, student… you know who I am, right? Are you really going to act this rudely?”

“… Seymour is a citizen of the Empire.”

Once again, driven by fear, her thoughts slipped out in a reflexive manner without passing through her mind.

“No matter how much of a Master you are, you can’t just forcibly take a citizen of the Empire.”

“Ha…”

The Sword Master let go of Russell’s hair and forcefully shoved Lucia’s arm away.

He merely flicked it once, but Lucia’s hand, gripping his wrist tightly, was sent flying.

Seeing her own hand being pushed away so helplessly shocked Lucia.

‘I was quite confident in my strength…’

She hadn’t even thought she could win against the Master, but even so, it felt utterly powerless.

This was the moment she truly realized just how vast the gap was between them.

“… I can’t believe I’m witnessing such a spectacle.”

The Sword Master grit his teeth, wiped his arm with a handkerchief, and finally unsheathed his sword.

“You just don’t know when to quit… Is this how young people are these days?”

“Don’t!! Russell, run away!!!”

The Sword Master raised his sword high into the sky with one hand.

In a stance that didn’t quite look right for a standard uppercut, she quickly understood why he took that position.

– Kuuuuuuuuuuun!!!

“After you die once, maybe you’ll come to your senses.”

“I’ll go now!! I’ll follow you without saying anything, so please…!! Don’t hurt anyone!!”

River knelt and pleaded with the Sword Master, but his expression remained unwavering.

A massive amount of aura erupted from the sword pointed skyward.

The fierce stream of aura soared high into the sky like a waterfall pouring upward.

The jewels embedded in the sword shone wildly in response to the flow of overwhelming aura.

Lucia had never witnessed such a powerful aura before.

Her father, Russell’s Aura Blade, was solid, but not overwhelming like that.

Ah, that’s why he raised the sword up.

It was the only way to firmly stand on the ground with both feet to withstand such an excessively large Aura Blade.

If he aimed in another direction, she thought the ground might not hold and she would bounce away.

‘Am… I going to die…?’

It was a vast attack.

Faced with such overwhelming strength, Lucia scolded herself for stepping forward.

At this point, running away would mean nothing.

As she infused her sword with aura, blue flames blazed from it.

Her Aura Blade, standing on the edge of becoming expert-level, looked like a mere toothpick compared to the Sword Master’s Aura Blade.

But Lucia wasn’t afraid of that fact.

She simply gripped her sword tightly and fought back.

Russell’s sword was like a rock, unwavering against injustice, standing tall against even the most powerful foes.

Even knowing it would break, she chose to confront it rather than run away.

Lucia’s body was swept into the torrent of aura unleashed by the Sword Master along with her sword.

——————————

“… That’s all I remember…”

Despite the pain, Lucia did her best to relay what had just happened.

“… If I… if I had been stronger…”

“It’s not your fault.”

Although Lucia felt she had no fault in this, she blamed herself.

The Sword Master was the one who was wrong.

No… it wasn’t right to blame Lucia.

In this chaotic situation, she felt a great responsibility too.

“…..”

This was the worst.

The academy was in shambles, Lucia was injured, and River had been kidnapped.

While Lucia would recover immediately at the hospital, she was troubled about River who had been kidnapped by the Sword Master.

‘Where did they move to…?’

She couldn’t read the Sword Master’s true intentions at all.

That self-impressed bastard didn’t genuinely seem to have embraced the Demon Church’s teachings and sided with demons.

It was more likely that they acted together due to mutual beneficial interests of some sort.

But what could it possibly be?

Could the Demon Church offer him anything?

… No, she shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

If he were sane, he wouldn’t have committed such actions in the first place.

“No… what in the world…!!”

The moment she sensed a presence, her helm automatically covered her head.

Morgan arrived, astonished at the ruined garden.

Seeing Morgan sparked an idea in her mind.

‘Right… if he’s vanished… he must have used teleportation magic.’

Teleportation spells, being a form of space movement magic, always leave traces behind.

A skilled magician could pinpoint coordinates based on the clues left at the site.

And Morgan was one of the greatest archmages in the Empire.