An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 80: The Angel Who Creates a Style (11)

Tantalus.

Even in that era of destruction, where the world's strongest individuals roamed freely, it was considered a powerful entity.

No one knew its origin, and no one could understand its actions.

'A monster among monsters. The strongest in the dark realm...'

Even though its summoner, Soya, wasn’t strong enough to fully unleash its abilities…

'Even the professors had a hard time dealing with Tantalus. How did such a monster come from Soya?'

Leffrey was surprised once again.

'Soya and Tantalus, Soya and Tantalus... What on earth is their relationship?'

In the future, when Tantalus appeared, it was after Soya was killed by the schemes of the magical families. So Leffrey thought there was no relationship between Tantalus and Soya, but...

Tantalus was a monster born from Soya's darkness and loneliness.

Soya, a hero of humanity, to prevent the release of such a powerful and hateful beast upon the world… Sacrificed herself, sealing her heart and suppressing her own darkness and loneliness.

But she was already dead, and the world was reversed to the past through the prayer of an angel.

In the flow of time reversing back...

The Black Magic Princess's loneliness and sorrow didn’t disappear but remained.

Tantalus cried out, searching for its master.

Soya, who had endured everything, was weakened by meeting an angel, awakened to loneliness by meeting an angel, and learned about jealousy by meeting an angel.

The scent of sorrow and loneliness drew Tantalus to its master's shadow.

And so, at this moment, Soya was becoming stronger, far faster than Leffrey imagined… no, she was becoming so strong that even Leffrey couldn't control her.

‘Just what is Soya's limit?’

The young angel gulped.

At that moment, a voice came,

"Th-The winner is..."

The student council referee seemed flustered.

The referee hastily raised Soya's hand.

"Han Soya, a first-year from the Magical Studies Department!"

"...Wow!"

A major letdown, the next head of a magic family defeated so overwhelmingly without even putting up much of a fight.

Leffrey quickly glanced at the magical studies students. The faces of the students who had bullied Soya… were pale.

Soya smiled, looking at them.

Too many things had changed.

The Black Magic Princess who sacrificed herself for humanity was gone. Now, beyond just a princess...

"I won't lose anymore..."

It was the era of the ruling queen.

* * *

But the letdown of the second part of the final exam ended there. From the next match onwards, those who were expected to win began to win.

For example, let's say Hongwol, the next chieftain of the Mooncat Tribe, was facing a third-year student from a superhuman family. Hongwol would win overwhelmingly.

Because Hongwol was on a different level.

And similarly, let's say Jack White was facing a martial arts student with no backing. The martial arts student, realizing he couldn't win, would surrender by throwing a white towel.

Because Jack White was overwhelmingly stronger.

So the only interesting matches were between opponents whose true strength had yet to be revealed.

“In the blue corner, we have Lou White, the eldest daughter of the White family!”

The student council referee then introduced the opponent in the red corner.

"And in the red corner, we have the rising rookie, Leffrey!"

Lou White and Leffrey were those kinds of opponents.

Lou White was from the same White family as Jack, known as a student who disliked combat and focused on magical research.

But because she was from the White family and had successfully cleared dungeons and participated in gate closing operations, people speculated that she had strong combat abilities.

The same went for Leffrey in the red corner.

Although he was from a humble background, an orphan with no backing.

The professors were keeping a close eye on Leffrey. He had won against Hongwol in a secret spar and had also stood up against the student council, so people speculated that he was quite strong.

But it was all speculation for now.

Most of the students, before the match began, ordered cola and popcorn.

Leffrey looked at Lou White and thought,

'Of all people, it had to be Lou White. She's one of the strongest rookies in this second part of the exams.'

Leffrey, the Honeybee Angel, who always wanted to take the easy way out and suck on honey…

Silently sighed.

'Lou White. The eldest daughter of the White family...'

Lou White was also famous in the future.

So Leffrey could roughly guess what kind of techniques and fighting style she had.

'But Lou White doesn't know how I fight.'

He had shown his ability to fly during the first part of the exam, so she would know he used aerial maneuvers.

But she wouldn't know the details.

'I need to win against Lou White… without revealing too much of my techniques. Otherwise...'

Of course, it was easier said than done.

Lou White was a powerful necromancer, on par with Jack.

Would he really have the luxury of winning against a necromancer without using his techniques?

He would have to find out.

"We will now begin the final exam duel. Please go to your positions."

The referee's announcement was tense.

As they both stood in the arena, Lou White spoke to Leffrey,

"My brother, Jack, told me about you."

"...About what?"

"That you're a strong kid. That I shouldn't underestimate you."

Leffrey closed his eyes.

'Jack... Weren't we friends?'

"I’m not really that strong..."

And so, the match began.

Leffrey immediately took to the skies, and Lou, as if she had expected this, covered the entire arena...

"Bone Prison."

...with a white bone prison.

It looked like a massive net made of skeleton arms and legs.

It was still incomplete, so it seemed a bit flimsy.

'According to what I learned from Professor Park Jin-ho and Professor Lusa, the best strategy against barriers like this is to escape before they're fully formed. But...'

Leffrey recalled Lou White's technique. Bone Prison.

Create a flimsy prison out of bones to lure the opponent to escape. If the opponent tried to escape, then activate the true form of the Bone Prison, 'Bone Fortress'.

And once activated, even Leffrey couldn't easily break through Bone Fortress.

Therefore, if he fell for that trick, he would be forced to forfeit due to being outside the arena.

So Leffrey, instead of escaping, rushed towards Lou White.

"You noticed. As expected!"

Lou White, seeing Leffrey not escaping, smiled brightly.

Our Jack has a good eye for people.

As expected, Jack's judgment was correct.

She said those words, reaching out her hand towards Leffrey.

"White-style Necromancy. Ghost Swamp."

An eerie mist spread around Lou White, and a ghastly wail echoed from somewhere.

"Hehehe."

Lou White looked at Leffrey, who was looking around.

"Now, what kind of technique will you use against these scary ghosts?"

Ghost Swamp. It was a technique to summon multiple ghosts and create a magical swamp that absorbed the opponent's magic power and summoned even more ghosts.

If he used a skill to eliminate the ghosts, even more would be summoned, and if he used a greater skill to eliminate more ghosts, even more would be summoned...

It was truly a skill that would drag you into a swamp.

'The counter for this skill is...'

To eliminate the ghosts initially summoned without using any magic power.

What are ghosts in the first place?

They're just spirits, aren't they?

Then what are humans?

Body + Spirit.

Ghosts were just inferior versions of humans.

Leffrey used Flabellum to cut down the first batch of ghosts, without using any magic power.

'Lou White has already used two large-scale skills. Bone Prison and Ghost Swamp. She has one, maybe two skills left that she can use...'

Leffrey, cutting down the ghosts, slowly approached Lou White.

"Th-This is a bit unexpected."

Lou White, stepping back slightly, quickly formed hand seals.

"White-style Necromancy. Purple Lord."

Rumble-

A roar erupted from the center of the arena, and thud- thud- the arena stones began to rise.

Leffrey, unfazed, slowly moved away from Lou White.

'Purple Lord? The White family’s ultimate weapon. A monster that roams underground, becoming one with corpses, and summoning that monster from underground whenever needed.'

"Kuoooooo-"

And a massive, muscular monster with purple skin and muscles emerged. As the monstrous, at least 8 meters tall, monster roared with its grotesque mouth.

The students cheered.

“Purple Lord! Purple Lord!”

“Did anyone order fried chicken?”

“This is getting interesting.”

This was why magic families were so powerful.

Not only were the magic passed down through their families strong, but also the fact that they provided their children with ridiculous magic artifacts…

‘This world really isn't fair…’

Kuoooooo- Leffrey, hearing the roar of the Purple Lord, slowly backed away to the edge of the arena.

Thud- Thud-

The Purple Lord strode towards Leffrey, and the boy, unfazed, watched it.

“The Purple Lord… I’ve seen it so many times in Yumari’s highlight reels… to think I would see it in person.”

Leffrey remembered how Yumari defeated the Purple Lord in the future.

It wasn't just remembering.

He could be said to have fully grasped it.

"Leffrey, why don't you surrender? I don't want to hurt Jack's friend."

Lou White, uncharacteristically kind for a magic noble, made a proposal to Leffrey.

Leffrey smiled and said,

"I'll return those words right back to you."

Lou White, hearing those words, apologetically lowered her head and…

“Then it can’t be helped.”

…gave the order to the Purple Lord.

“Purple Lord, please… knock that boy unconscious, but don’t kill him.”

“Kuoooooooo!”

Thud- Thud- Thud-

The massive monster, over 8 meters tall, leaped towards Leffrey.

Rumble-

The impact shook not only the arena, but even the stands where the students sat.

“What? I can feel the tremors. How heavy does it have to be to penetrate through the barrier?”

“The Purple Lord isn’t just some muscular chimera. It's a monster that roams underground, devouring corpses buried in the earth. It's a true lord formed by the fusion of countless corpses over hundreds of years.”

“Speak in korean, asshole.”

“No, think about it. If one human corpse weighs roughly 50kg, then how many kilograms would that Purple Lord, with all those accumulated corpses, weigh?” (TL Note: 50 kg is around 110 lbs)

The student listening to the explanation muttered,

“...Wait, then just how dense is that monster?”

“Probably beyond the laws of physics. An unimaginable density. The weight and strength it emanates from that density. Diamonds? Or other world materials like Midinium? They’ll all crumble before that body.”

The arena's ventilation system activated, quickly clearing away the smoke.

"Wait a minute."

"What? What’s that?"

When the smoke cleared, the students saw… Leffrey standing alone, and the Purple Lord sinking into the ground.

The end of the arena, where Leffrey stood, had transformed into a massive lake.

Just like how the muscular race with chicken heads drowned, the Purple Lord thrashed in the water, experiencing the terror of drowning.

Its incredible density also meant that it couldn’t float.

Thus, the Purple Lord sank.

Leffrey, seeing that, bowed to the woman beside him.

"Thank you, Naiad."

"You’re most welcome."

Leffrey smiled and said,

"Surely, you’re not going to call this cowardly, even though you summoned the Purple Lord?"