I Became The Academy Necromancer
Chapter 332: Ending

The weight and pressure of the man who had carried the weight of a tragedy for 200 years was beyond imagination.

While Luaneth remained expressionless, if he reached out, the massive demonic monster behind him would roar and strike down with a punch.

With the aid of the spirits, Erica managed to flee to the sky, but when the punch landed, a fierce shockwave erupted.

Kuuuuuung!

The wind pushed everything around, almost as if an explosion occurred. The people below couldn’t hold their balance and staggered, some even flying backward.

“Support!”

Looking up at Erica, who was facing Deus all by herself, Tyren shouted with urgency, but no one was able to respond to him.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried.

The mages hurriedly gathered their mana and martial artists from the Han Empire attempted to climb using the light spear Erica had created.

Various efforts quickly converged, with the focus of the attack directed at Deus Verdi. However…

“These bastards!”

The woman, who was briefly forgotten due to the necromancer’s overwhelming presence, roared again with fierce power.

With a threatening swing, Snow White unleashed a wave of ice shards, blocking the path and halting everyone’s advance.

“How dare you! I’m still here, wide awake!”

Darius, who had gone against Findenai, was already lying on the ground, defeated.

Blood flowed from his chest, but Darius had inflicted that wound on himself when no one was watching.

This should do it.

Now, his role was over.

As the head of the household, he had fought on the frontlines and had gotten injured; that should be enough.

Before coming, he considered cutting off an arm or a leg, but Deia had strongly advised against it, saying it would be too much.

Still, she’s truly… impressive.

With his eyes barely open, Darius watched Findenai’s back.

Even in their very first encounter, Darius had experienced an overwhelming defeat at the hands of Findenai.

However, now, the gap between them was so vast that the fight itself couldn’t even take place.

Darius didn’t consider it a simple difference in talent.

Knowing the difference between Findenai’s starting point when she entered the Griffin Kingdom and where she was now, it would be mocking her efforts to simply call it talent.

Is it because of Deus?

She had trained and fought with the desire to protect the man she loved.

And in the end, with her weapon in hand, she remained standing tall, refusing to crumble to her knees even while being on the side of the world’s greatest enemy.

I must improve as well.

While Darius was having an epiphany and going through another change in his life, the battle continued.

Thanks to Findenai’s relentless efforts, no one was able to recklessly ascend to help Erica.

Moreover, the souls filling the academy flocked together between Erica and the main forces, preventing anyone from approaching.

If they tried to ascend using the light spear, they would be blocked by Findenai, and even if the mages tried to fly or cast spells, the solus that gathered like clouds became a massive wall.

“What is her name?”

Dark Mage Coltman grimaced as if he had tasted something bitter and asked, and Royal Knight Commander Gloria, who was forced to retreat after being injured by Findenai, answered.

“Erica.”

She said slowly, as if brooding over it.

“She is Erica Bright.”

As the name of the woman who was now the only possibility of bringing an end to this battle was spoken, Coltman, unlike any other dark mage, gripped his staff tightly with both hands.

“Please.”

This was the first time he had felt so powerless as a mage.

Especially in comparison to Deus Verdi, another dark mage, he could feel the vast difference in power and couldn’t help but acknowledge it.

Thus, he could only mutter what almost sounded like a prayer.

“May Erica Bright be blessed with mana.”

As Coltman muttered under his breath, voices erupted from the surrounding crowd.

“Ms. Erica! Hang in there!”

“Please! Please defeat that dark mage!”

“O God, please watch over her!”

It wasn’t just Coltman who felt helpless. Everyone prayed with the same desire, hoping that this situation would come to an end.

In the end, there was only one thing they could do.

“Erica Bright!”

“The light mage of the Bright Household!”

“You are our hope!”

“Don’t give up!”

They shouted at the top of their lungs, cheering as they pressed forward.

The wall formed by millions of souls was impenetrably thick, and only a select few could even make an attempt to stand against the woman known as Findenai.

In the end, this was all they could do.

It was indeed little, but it was all they had.

And ironically, the cheers and support that pierced through the wall of souls became Erica’s greatest torment.

“Indeed.”

Still standing atop the academy’s rooftop, Luaneth heard their voices and nodded with satisfaction.

“He set up the scenario well. If you kill me here, you will become the great mage who follows in his footsteps.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

She knew the question itself contained no malice, but Erica gritted her teeth and shot him a glare full of anger.

“Don’t even try to mimic his tone. It doesn’t suit you at all.”

“Ah…”

Luaneth scratched the back of his head awkwardly after the unexpected jab.

“I did try to imitate Deus Verdi, but was it really that bad?”

The atmosphere lightened a bit.

Luaneth hadn’t been able to replicate the gravity that Deus carried properly.

It was in these moments that Erica was reminded that he wasn’t the real Deus.

“I don’t know how that bastard managed to sound more like an old man than me, even though I am the one who has lived for 200 years.”

“Don’t curse him.”

“…Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You really just want to do things your own way, don’t you?”

Saying that he couldn’t keep up, Luaneth began moving the huge demonic monster made of his own soul again.

“The reason why my soul has taken this form is not simply because I’ve lived for 200 years.”

As had been stated many times before, the form of a soul could change according to one’s will. Hence, the fact that Luaneth’s soul had taken on the shape of such a grotesque, demonic monster indicated that he perceived himself as such a creature.

“I am a monster who has spilled too much human blood. And when I think about it, the idea of annihilating souls to save the continent doesn’t suit me at all.”

It was a kind of confession.

Luaneth never imagined he would be saying this to someone he had just met.

Was it perhaps because he was inside Deus’ body?

Strangely enough, it wasn’t difficult for him to pour out his true feelings toward Erica.

Or maybe it was because there was no one else who would listen to his last words, if not Erica.

Whatever the reason.

“I’ve finally found my role.”

Luaneth smiled brightly.

With a bright smile that Deus would never have made, he spread both arms wide.

“As the evil that threatened the continent, as Heralhazard who was unable to find a place to die… I can now finally die.”

“…”

“Please, Deus’ fiancée. Kill me and become a hero.”

It was a plea filled with desperation.

A heavy wind, filled with 200 years of history.

Erica clenched her fist and responded.

“No…”

Her voice didn’t come out properly.

Her body started trembling, and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

She had come here with blind trust.

She had reached this place by putting her faith in Deus Verdi.

The people who were already cheering her on, almost worshipping her?

A mass murderer from 200 years ago, suddenly seeking to pay off his karma?

None of these mattered to her.

Whatever the role, Erica Bright believed she would be able to bear it.

And if it was what he desired, she was even ready to lay down her life.

However, there was just one thing.

“Wasn’t there another way?”

She couldn’t bear to kill Deus Verdi.

“Isn’t that why you asked me to come first?”

She did come here before anyone else to kill Deus. However, on the contrary, Erica believed that this was the way to save Deus, which was why she worked so hard.

She believed that Deus must have left a solution in a way she didn’t know.

“If I kill you here… what about that person?”

That wasn’t it. Deus had only brought her to this place for one reason.

It was for after his death.

“Kim Shinwoo. He doesn’t have a body, does he?”

“…”

Luaneth looked at Erica calmly. Tears were flowing down the woman’s face as she asked for an answer to her question, proof that she already knew the answer.

“That’s…”

That was why he couldn’t lie to her. To someone as desperate as himself, Luaneth calmly, but sadly, revealed the harsh truth.

“His choice.”

Even if Deus’ body perished, the souls inside could still remain.

His body would just become a shell to contain those souls and would be buried in the ground.

And Kim Shinwoo, who remained, would have to live out his life on the continent without a body for a lifetime, unable to find rest.

For a lifetime?

No, he would live for eternity.

As an inevitable being, he had to hold onto the souls he had accepted.

The continent was safe from the saturation of souls only because of the existence of Kim Shinwoo.

Like the story of the boy who used his hands to block the water leaking from a hole in a dam.

“I don’t want to…”

She knew she was whining. But who could willingly welcome such a future for someone they loved?

“Even if you say that, it’s already—”

“I said NO WAY!”

Erica had already lost her will to fight.

Her chest hurt so much that the tears would not stop flowing.

It was a pain that squeezed her heart.

“Am I… am I supposed to pull the trigger for the tragedy that person will have to go through? Do I really have to do such… a cruel thing?”

She felt resentment.

She resented Deus Verdi.

She resented Kim Shinwoo so much.

Why did she love that man and have to experience such a tragedy?

Why did he leave her with such pain and depart?

Despair began to color Erica’s face, but Luaneth, emotionless, spoke the answer far too easily.

“If not you, no one else can do it.”

“…”

“No one else can take your role right now.”

“Ah.”

“And he wouldn’t have easily given you such a role without any worry.”

Luaneth roused his mana once again. The huge demonic monster-shaped soul roared violently toward the sky, urging on the end of the day.

“So Erica Bright, the light mage who will pierce through the darkness of today and become the brilliant sunrise.”

The demonic monster’s body grew even larger.

It raised its hands high and interlocked its fingers.

With enough momentum to crush and kill all the humans on the battlefield, it began to strike downward.

The deafening sound made it seem like a meteor was falling.

“Kill me.”

Even as the demonic monster’s strike hovered right above her head, Erica still did not raise her gaze.

She held a thin spear of light in her hand, and she hid her tearful eyes behind her bangs, trying to conceal the fact that she was crying.

“Heuk.”

At the same time as the sobbing, the spear shot out quickly, piercing through the darkness.

It lodged itself precisely into the heart of the man who had put the continent in danger.

The man fell backward slowly, a smile filled with relief on his face.

The massive demonic monster-shaped soul scattered like mist.

And starting from that moment, the souls that had been blocking the sky began to rapidly return into Deus’ body.

As everyone’s gaze followed the fleeing souls to the rooftop of the academy, cradling her lifeless fiancé in her arms, a blonde woman beyond the shrouding mist was weeping sorrowfully.

***

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