-"Students!! Evacuate quickly with the officers!!"

The hurried voices of the students could be heard.

-"Professor...!!!"

-"Get out of the way! I need to get something from the lab!! Let's go first...!"

The voices of the students fleeing from the disaster sounded more joyful to his ears than any other sound.

The academy professors were staring at him in terror. Courageous students were burning with the will to protect those who were cowardly running away, but the sight of those with the title of professor trying to flee first was quite amusing.

"You are worthy of calling me a mantis."

"That's right. Because I was there when you were reborn."

"...I said you were worthy because I'm going to sew that mouth of yours shut. Not because I think you're great."

"It's not easy to look like that, you know."

Hanna, with the tip of her sword raised, stared into Pascal's eyes and put strength into her toes.

'In one blow...'

The longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for her.

'I have to kill him.'

She couldn't yet guess what purpose he had for coming here. There was no information given, and there must be a credible reason for attacking the academy with just two people.

She had to kill them before they were ready.

Before their reinforcements arrived.

"Well then... here I come."

As Hanna's cold voice spread through the chaotic auditorium, Pascal's eyes widened and he smiled with excitement.

"Come at me...! You insolent wench."

Just as Hanna's sword, imbued with aura, was about to move.

-What are you doing, Hystania Hanna.

The academy professor who grabbed Hanna's shoulder stopped her with a cold expression.

"Professor?"

The professor in charge of the 1st-year 'Physiology and Anatomy of Monsters' course raised his determined eyes and said to Hanna.

"What are you doing, Hystania Hanna."

"...Uh."

"The reason professors get paid is to use their strength at times like this."

"But Professor, your subject is non-combat..."

"Who says so. That my subject is non-combat."

"Well..."

"Watch and learn..."

The determined professor put Hanna behind him and looked at Pascal.

"The Adventurer Hunter, Pascal."

"Hmm...?"

"It's been a long time."

The professor, drawing his sword, slowly approached Pascal.

"A long time?"

The calm professor's eyes were filled with a powerful hatred.

Pascal shrugged as if he had never seen the person in front of him before. He was angry at the appearance of someone interrupting his chance to create the most beautiful work of art.

"Who are you to interfere at this glorious moment?"

"..."

"It's funny enough that you're trying to protect the students just because you're a professor... but why is it so pathetic that you're even lying about us having met before?"

"...That's right. You wouldn't know me."

Pascal raised his eyes and looked at the professors evacuating among the students.

"Shouldn't you be running away too? You should be saving your own life instead of burning with some pointless sense of duty."

Of course, not all the professors were running away. They also remained here with a sense of duty.

The remaining professors were moving to evacuate the students, and some professors were looking at the two archbishops and preparing magic.

Of course.

"You should save your own life too, shouldn't you?"

The professors with a lot to lose mostly chose to run away.

-Get out of the way!! I'll go first and call the imperial army.

-Teacher...!!

Pascal, who laughed at their cockroach-like efforts, held his dagger in a reverse grip and said to the professor standing in front of him.

"Move."

"..."

"I have no business with you."

-Gugugugugu...

The professor created an aura and burned with hostility towards Pascal.

"Do you remember a woman named 'Sia' whom you killed?"

"...Hmm?"

"During her honeymoon. The unsolved case of her killing her husband with her own hands and then taking her own life..."

"...Ah~"

"I asked if you remember."

Pascal, picking his ear, shrugged with a cruel smile.

"Suicide is not a beautiful work of art..."

"She was my younger sister."

"..."

"My younger sister who I wouldn't have minded losing an eye for. This sword, which I swung hundreds, tens of times to kill you..."

"..."

"Now, to fulfill my long-cherished wish...!"

The professor, burning with fighting spirit, ran towards Pascal. Erasing the emotion of 'calmness' that he had so often told his students about.

"Die!!!!"

He ran, showing an opening.

"...Ah."

In a fleeting moment, Pascal disappeared from the professor's sight. Seeing his sword, which had been burning with revenge, cut through the empty air, the professor's eyes widened and he looked back, but.

"I said I was busy."

"..."

"Annoying."

His hand had already lost its own will.

"You son of a bitch..!!!"

He bit his lip.

He bit his lip until blood flowed down his chin and let out a cry. He had honed and polished his sword so much, he had swung and reviewed it hundreds of times for this one moment.

'Why.'

-Kigigigigik.

"Kill yourself."

'Why...'

Just as tears were about to flow from the professor's eyes, filled with frustration.

"Really."

The professor's body lost its strength and collapsed to the floor.

"You're the worst."

He sees brown hair fluttering. The back of the girl, who was not loved despite being born into a good family, was shining so brightly that there was nothing left to teach her.

"Don't die. I'll get revenge for you."

"...Run away."

"Professor, please remember the faces of the professors who ran away."

"..."

"And I like your class, professor. You have to teach me for a long, long time."

"Hystania..."

"Swordsmanship is not the only thing you learn at the academy."

Hanna, with her eyes wide open, looked at Pascal and took a step forward.

"The youngest of the Hystaia family. Hystania Hanna."

"Hmm..."

"I draw my sword to kill the criminals of the empire."

"Ha... you've grown up quite deliciously, haven't you?"

Pascal let out a smirk and drew his dagger.

"It will be rewarding to make you into a work of art."

"I'm not into making insect specimens..."

-Grip.

"Let me tell you in advance."

"...Tell me what?"

"Our target."

Pascal lowered his stance and said to Hanna in a sneering voice.

"Our objective is the holy sword."

"..."

"The higher-ups have judged that the sword that little kid has is dangerous."

Pascal, licking his lips, smiled slightly and looked at Mikhail.

"If you hand over the holy sword that guy has, no one but you will die."

Hearing Pascal's words, Hanna let out a scoff and a negative reply.

"Just...?"

It was amusing that they tried to seize the holy sword with just two archbishops.

"With just two... you attacked the academy?"

"Just two?"

As soon as Pascal finished speaking, figures in black robes began to enter the auditorium in unison with the sound of huge footsteps.

"Hundreds."

"Hundreds?"

Hanna shook her head as if it were nothing. As long as it wasn't an apostle, she had no difficulty in dealing with them.

"Quality is more important than quantity."

"Ahem?"

Pascal said.

"From now on, for every minute that passes, I will kill one of them."

"...You're going to kill your own side?"

"Hey... no way."

Pascal let out a sneer and said.

"Among them are heretics and innocent imperial citizens mixed together."

"...You scum of the earth."

"One by one, for every minute that passes... kekeke, you'll be killing innocent people."

"...You'll be the one killing them."

"Ha?"

Pascal, without flinching at Hanna's words, said.

"It is art. Beautiful art."

"..."

"It's not killing, it's art. A life that will burn anyway. What's the complaint about letting it remain forever in art?"

"You... you're an insect down to your brain."

"I have no intention of dragging this out. I plan to kill them before the others call for people."

"..."

"If the Master of the Magic Tower or the commander of the imperial knights comes, I will kill them all at once. The same goes for the imperial army."

"..."

"I guarantee it. I will kill every single one of them without exception."

"..."

"You of all people should know my abilities well."

"..."

"I don't lie. If you want, I can show you right now."

"..."

Pascal let out a cold sigh and said.

"It's a large number to call 'just'."

"...."

"Unlike you noble people, I am a person who can sacrifice hundreds for the sake of art."

"You crazy bastard..."

"For now, let's just the two of us have a go at it for the first time in a while."

Pascal began to approach, emitting black magic.

"The choice will be made by that guy anyway."

The rushing blade approached quickly to choke the life out of Hanna.

"Kuhaha!!!"

At a speed that could not be captured by the eye.

After being beaten by Ricardo, Pascal's dagger, which he had honed and polished hundreds, thousands of times for speed, moved to leave a scar on Hanna's body.

"Die!!!"

He had honed and polished it to death, engulfed in madness. So that he wouldn't be caught by that guy.

-Saaaaaa..!!

"It reach..."

-Clang!

"Hmm?"

Hanna, who had lightly blocked Pascal's sword, looked straight into his bewildered eyes and twisted her sword.

"Be quiet."

"..."

"Your squawking... is noisy."

Pascal, looking at Hanna's sword, muttered in a trembling voice.

"How... did you block it."

"Who would let a mantis hit them with its front legs?"

"Don't call me by that name."

Pascal's attacks move even faster.

"Die!!"

-Clang clang clang!!!

"I said die!!!"

-Clang clank clank clank!!!

Pascal, who thought she had blocked it by luck, moved to stab her vitals, but grew impatient as his attacks were easily blocked.

"Why."

"..."

"Why..!!!"

"..."

"Why is a mere academy student like you!!!"

Hanna let out a low breath and said.

"Because you are weak."

-Swish.

The flashing blade left a cut on Pascal's neck and disappeared.

"It's not that I can't reach."

"This is impossible..."

"..."

"What did I do... I..! I!!! How much effort I put in for this day..!!"

He couldn't comprehend it.

That last blow was more perfect than any sword strike he had ever delivered. His sword strike, which he had honed and polished hundreds, thousands of times, was just...! just..!

"Mikhail-sunbae."

"...Yeah."

"Don't be swayed by that guy's words. Even if you're kidnapped, he has no intention of releasing the people."

"..."

"Let's find a way. If we just think about stopping him when he tries to commit suicide...!"

-Clang!!!

"We can definitely stop him."

Mikhail and Yuria, who nodded at Hanna's words, began to run towards the figures in black robes.

"Where are you going?"

Another archbishop with pale eyes stood in their way.

The atmosphere he gave off was different.

Mikhail, sensing a different atmosphere from the archbishops he had met so far, clenched his fists and said to Yuria.

"Yuria. You go and save the people."

"Okay."

"I'll take care of this place."

The man who blocked Mikhail took out the spear on his back.

A flashing, pure white spear.

Mikhail, thinking of the holy sword, squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip.

'Not yet.'

He thought his unfinished sword was not yet enough to handle the holy sword.

The man who took out the spear let out a calm breath and said.

"My name is the Archbishop of the Void."

"..."

"Bring out the holy sword, hero."

*

The red lion is coming.

-Thump.

The lion they were so afraid of.

"Haa..."

He could feel it approaching with a chilly aura.

"I guess I have to work."

Pascal's sword cuts through the wind, heading for Hanna.

'This can't be happening...'

The more his dagger, thrust with all his might, cuts through the empty air, the greater the anxiety in his heart grows.

-Whoosh...

"Don't just dodge, block it..."

-Hwoong...

"I said, block my sword..."

"It's not worth blocking, so I'm not blocking it."

"...Grit"

Pascal's confidence was long gone. After hearing Hanna's words, he knew he could no longer afford to be complacent.

Right, she's a woman who has received sufficient training, so he could understand her being able to fight him as an equal.

-Whoosh...!

It was only natural for her, born of a good bloodline, to meet a good teacher and hone her skills.

Still.

"I said don't dodge..."

Still...

"I...!!!"

It was a swordsmanship that had easily cut down even the Imperial army.

"Don't dodge...!"

"Who did you learn that flailing swordsmanship from?"

"...!"

"Did you get your inspiration from a praying mantis?"

-Hwoong...!

At the girl's words, which belittled his technique to the mere flapping of an insect's wings, he felt a sensation as if his blood was flowing backward.

"Did he teach you that...?"

"What?"

"All your techniques. The way you're fighting me. Even all your weaknesses...!!"

"Haa..."

"I asked if he taught you..."

Pascal felt a sense of humiliation at the girl's pitying gaze as she looked at him with sorrowful eyes.

"You... you're a real idiot."

He felt it as an insult more unbearable than any humiliation he had ever received.

The girl said.

"I've already experienced your ability once, did you really think I'd fall for it again?"

"Shut up..."

"Drunk on past glory, burning with nothing but a desire for revenge, you're really... a moron beyond salvation, so..."

"I said shut up...!!"

"It's pathetic."

-Grind...!!!

Pascal, breathless from the continuous exchange, gritted his teeth and spoke quietly to Hanna.

"I'll make you regret this."

"...Regret?"

"You're the one who provoked me..."

'I was originally planning to use this on him...'

With a dark expression, Pascal looked Hanna straight in the eye and raised his sword.

"Beg me to let you die."

"Ha?"

"Because I'm going to show you hell."

With a 'slice' sound, Pascal cut his own palm and smiled.

Blood drips.

Drip. Drip. Red blood begins to fall from Pascal's hand, running down his wrist to the floor.

At the sudden change in Pascal's atmosphere, Hanna corrected her grip on her sword and began to imbue it with aura.

"From now on, I will make you kill all your acquaintances, your family, your relatives, with your own hands."

"..."

"On your knees, you will beg me to let you die instead. You'll beg me to just let you die rather than live like this."

"..."

"Khuhuhu... You won't even be able to die by your own hand, you'll live as a machine that repeats the slaughter."

"How can such words come from the mouth of a living person? Your own mother must surely regret giving birth to you."

"Don't provoke me. Your future is already set, anyway."

Pascal, suppressing his anger, stomped on the floor and vanished from Hanna's sight in an instant.

"...!!!"

He was gone.

Even though she hadn't blinked, Pascal had disappeared from Hanna's sight, hiding his form.

-Shweeeek...!

The dagger flying from her blind spot was heavily imbued with dark magic and approached quickly.

"Cowardly..."

The moment Hanna, having noticed it, tried to lightly bat the dagger away.

"Crazy..."

Pascal's body caught the flying dagger, twisted its path, and carved a huge horizontal arc through the air towards Hanna's torso.

"What... did you do?"

Hanna, who had narrowly avoided Pascal's sword, frowned as she looked at him with his unsettling smile. She couldn't get a grip on his rapidly grown abilities.

"Hehe..."

Pascal, as if disappointed, ran a finger along the blade of the dagger, smiled, and opened his mouth.

"I enhanced it."

"..."

"I used my ability to control others on myself."

Pascal, with a crazed laugh, took a long breath and prepared for the next exchange. He had no intention of giving her time to rest.

"My ability is the power to control another's body."

"..."

"I thought about it. What would happen if I used the power to control another's body on my own body?"

"..."

"Perfect speed. The movements imagined in my head. Vision that transcends limits. Keuhat...! Through black magic, I forcibly injected thoughts into my own body. There's nothing more perfect than being able to move exactly as you think."

-Saaaaah!!

It would put a strain on his body, but to kill the woman before him, Pascal pressed forward, his will burning.

He can see it.

-Whooooosh...

The insolent woman's sword, cutting through the wind as it approaches, seems to move in slow motion.

"Kuhaha..."

Slow.

So slow.

The sword he was once so conceited about feels like a snail, it's boring him to death.

If only I had used this method from the start, I would have won easily. I wouldn't have had to hear that bitch call me a mantis...!

-Saaaaah...

Pascal lightly turned his head to dodge Hanna's sword and closed the distance.

If he could just scratch her.

"!"

He could control that woman's body.

'I touched her..!"

Pascal's rapidly moving dagger disappeared, leaving a faint drop of blood on Hanna's cheek.

"Heuhat..."

"..."

"Kuhahahaha!!!"

Two exceptions were enough.

That bastard and the guy I saw just before.

This woman would surely not be able to overcome his black magic.

Before that.

"First, one."

I mustn't forget to punish the insolent brat who is slow to make a choice.

Pascal gestured with his eyes to the person in the robe, ordering them to commit suicide.

"Yuria!!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

The Archbishop of the Void, who was confronting Mikhail, blocked him as he tried to charge forward and thrust his spear.

"Kuhaha!!!"

Pascal was the same.

He was smiling as he looked at the motionless Hanna.

"How does it feel...!!"

"..."

"To be trampled by the mantis you so despised."

"..."

The situation was unfolding rapidly.

On one side, the helplessness of Hanna, who had been struck by Pascal. On the other, the urgency of Mikhail, confronting the Archbishop, echoed through the auditorium.

The citizen who received Pascal's command raised a dagger high into the air and began to move with a trembling hand to pierce their own heart.

The moment Mikhail's anxious gaze was fixed on the tip of the dagger.

"It's okay."

A calm voice spoke as pink hair fluttered.

"Trust me."

[Sanctuary Open.]

[Guide's Gaze.]

[Gravity.]

It reached.

"It's useless! My magic is a healing magic that...!!"

Yuria let out a quiet sigh and said.

"[Blackout]"

The moment Yuria's hand touched the head of the person who was about to commit suicide, the one holding the sword high fell powerlessly to the floor.

Pascal couldn't understand.

How... how...

How could not one, but two people resist his magic?

"..."

He couldn't understand.

It doesn't matter anyway.

The greatest work of art has already been created.

The moment Pascal's dagger was about to deliver a fatal blow to the now-sluggish Hanna.

"Histania First Form."

With a chilling word, Pascal twisted his body.

"How...!!!!"

She was preparing.

Until he came within range.

-Slice!!!

She was preparing a single strike.

Pascal clutched his deeply cut arm, his eyes trembling as he looked at Hanna.

"Why are you!!!!!"

"...Hoo. It's nothing special."

Frightened by the cruel smile of Hanna, who had overcome his black magic, Pascal took a step back, his dagger imbued with thick, dark magic.

"I was wondering how best to overcome it, but thank you for the good experience."

"How dare you experiment with my ability..."

"It's less of an experiment... and more of a certainty. The certainty that I can overcome your black magic."

I'm going to die.

-Saaaaaaaah.

"If you can't dodge...!!"

In a fleeting moment, Pascal turned his back and dodged Hanna's sword. Scheming for a later time was his only chance to stay alive.

Pascal, hiding among the crowd, looked at Hanna and began to spew his hatred.

"How can every single one of them figure out how to break my magic? My magic is...!"

Hanna quickly moved into the crowd of cultists and said to Pascal.

"You just have to not get hit too much."

"..."

"Your black magic is a kind of stacking effect. If you're not hit more than a certain number of times, the intensity of the black magic weakens."

"...!!!"

"Try again. If you can hit me."

"...!!"

"That great black magic of yours. I have no intention of taking it anymore."

"...You mean you faked it all? Pretending to be weak, even letting me hit you on purpose."

Hanna nodded her head and replied.

"You're too slow."

Looking at Hanna's sword approaching in an instant, Pascal hid behind those he controlled and looked to the future.

'Damn it...! Damn it...!'

His ability, which he thought was the best, was being treated like an insect's.

Why.

Why...

I thought it was the strongest...

It was then.

The moment he felt relief at having escaped, he felt a hand grab him roughly by the scruff of his neck.

"Where are you going."

"...!!"

It was a powerful force.

A force that lifted his body into the air, like a mother cat grabbing her kitten by the scruff of its neck.

"Keoheok!!"

Pascal, dangling from the man's hand, bulged his eyes and let out a dry laugh.

"You are..."

"It's been a while, insect."

Malik was looking at Pascal with a handsome smile.

"Don't we also have some unfinished business to take care of?"

Malik looked at Hanna and said.

"Can you leave him to me?"

"...I almost had him."

"I will repay the favor later."

Hanna let out a small smile and lowered her sword.

"He's a very sinful insect."

Pascal gritted his teeth and said.

"Fine.."

"..."

"Then just all of you die."

At Pascal's single word, the robed figures all raised their daggers and began to move to take their own lives.

The Archbishop of the Void's eyes widened as he shouted.

"That crazy bastard..!"

It couldn't be stopped.

It was impossible for even Yuria or Hanna to knock out over a hundred people at once.

Even so, it would only be a few dozen.

At best, in a situation where they could save around 50 people, Malik clenched his fist and threw it at Pascal's face.

"You damn bastard...!!"

The moment everyone was desperately moving to stop the scene of slaughter.

-Snap.

With the sound of a finger snap, Pascal's black magic vanished without a trace.

-Thud.

-Clatter.

-Clatter-clatter-clatter.

Everyone's daggers fall.

The sound of daggers dropping to the floor can be heard, as if those who had held them by another's will had suddenly gained their freedom.

-Step.

Along with Malik's sigh of relief, Pascal's head begins to turn in fear.

-Step...

Like a herbivore that has encountered a predator.

"We meet again."

Pascal's body was trembling like an aspen leaf.

"Mr. Mantis."