The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 265: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (7)

Chapter 265: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (7)

0% [Notice : Upgrading the hardcover.]

[◆ Intermediate → Advanced]

[The blessing of entity ‘Alice’ is applied. Due to the protection of the subject of the contract, you may see and hear the true words of Elementals regardless of species.]

A yellow light spilled from above my head, and through it appeared a lady with white hair like magnolia.

A lady with the hardcover in one hand, and a golden hook in the other.

[...Well, why don’t you keep going.]

That lady fired back at the priests and mages.

“.......”

[Are you not going to?]

The woman stopped the telepathy and opened her mouth slightly. A deep breath of huuu spilled from her cherry red lips.

“I am the temporary agent of the Elementals ruling the Elec Realm–”

Flutter.

“–and this child’s guardian.”

With sharp eyes, the woman came down to right above my head.

“I’m following the Goddess’ orders, and you tell me to kill this child without even asking what the situation is.”

Seriously, unbelievable. The woman twisted her lips.

This form of speech, I’ve heard it somewhere before.

I raised my head and got a good look at the woman’s face.

And I couldn’t help my shock.

“S-sis...?”

Because the woman’s face looked exactly like my unnie who had lived with me on Earth.

No, was it noona?

I don’t know. The situation was urgent right now so I should just think of her as unnie.

Sis looked at me and gave me a grin.

“Master, can you hear me?”

“I-I can....”

Master? Me?

“That’s good, Master. And do you know who I am?”

The lady waved the hardcover in her hand and kept grinning slyly.

It couldn’t be.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t defend you at the time, Master... no. Should I call you sister, now?”

She must be talking about what had happened at Tilette.

“I’m still weak. I don’t have the power to show myself unless I’m near the World Tree.”

I see, I got it now.

The hardcover that had introduced itself as the book made by the Goddess–that was this woman here.

That was why I had been able to cast magic using the hardcover. Without smoking mana grass.

Everything clicked into place. It felt like my head was cleared up.

But, there was still a ton of work to get done. My gaze turned to Lotte.

She was literally frozen stiff. The bleeding had stopped, but so had her time.

Sis locked eyes with the Water Elemental King. When she glanced over, Secuel spoke.

“Aquiere, Quiloton. Please take the red-haired girl and get to the Elemental Realm. She will not last long if she’s here.”

Two Water Elementals slowly came near me, both of their faces looking scared of me.

I gently put Lotte down on the ground and stepped back. It was then that the Elementals took Lotte and disappeared.

“Gnome, Ifrit. Please go outside and prepare for further enemy attacks. I will take care of here.”

At that, the two Elemental Kings left without any complaint. Now the only ones left here were the Water King and my sister.

“You.”

Secuel pointed at me.

“Please answer what I am about to ask you.”

I wiped away all my tears with my sleeve. I wanted to cry out of worry for Lotte, but I had to hold back.

“What you say could make the difference between life and death for that child who was just taken away.”

At that, I snapped out of it and straightened up from my sloppy posture.

“I will ask.”

Secuel asked with narrowed eyes.

“Are you human, or are you Beast?”

It was a sudden question, but I answered without hesitating.

“I’m a Beast.”

Black oil was oozing from my left arm, proof that I was a Beast. It was too late to lie about being human.

“Alright. A Beast, hm....”

Secuel’s eyes turned wistful, seeming disappointed. But this wasn’t the end of my answer.

“But.”

I continued.

“I want to become human.”

Secuel’s dark look cleared at those words. Returning to an expressionless face, she looked over every inch of my body like she was scanning it.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just as I said–I may have an iron body, but I want my heart and mind to be that of a human’s.”

Secuel looked like she didn’t understand. Did she really not get it, or was she feigning ignorance.

I’d think she was probably testing me.

“O King.”

I ignored the priests glaring at me from behind and lifted up a plea.

“If you can save Lotte, you can take my life.”

It was a life where I had already poured out everything.

To die, or destroy the world–I had said I was going to choose one or the other. If it would revive the friend who believed me for who I was, then I’d gladly vanish from the damn continent.

“O Water King, what that monster is saying is a fallacy. You must not be tricked by it!”

“Bring divine punishment upon it as it wishes!”

The priests chittered at the back of her head. Strangely enough, I didn’t want to kill them.

Just Lotte, if I could save Lotte, that was enough.

If it was for her who gave her life for me, it didn’t matter how many such insults were hurled at me.

“O King!”

“O merciful one!”

“O Water Lord!”

Unable to take it anymore, Sequel’s eyes turned cold.

“You need to be quiet.”

The Secuel scolded the priests and spread a chill throughout the area. Frost arose from the damp ground.

“...It looks like you’re able to hear my and Alice’s voices.”

“Alice...?”

“The Elementals protecting you.”

“.......”

My sister’s name was Alice, huh. I didn’t know that.

“If you’re really a Beast, you cannot understand the words of an Elemental. But since you and I can communicate, you would be a Beast yet not one.”

With that said, Secuel locked eyes with my sister... that is, with Alice. The exchanged glances must mean something had been said before.

“Fine. Why did you come here?”

Secuel began interrogating me.

“I didn’t come here because I wanted to.”

“Were you not here to go after the Lodestone of Wind?”

“I had plans to do so, but now wasn’t the time.”

“Who let you in here?”

“I was asked to lead the field trip by the President of Iliad Magic Academy.”

Then the priests who had been keeping their mouths shut collectively burst into an outrage.

That thing is lying. Now it’s trying to frame President Renay. See, a monster is a monster after all.

Seeing them run theri mouths, Secuel’s face hardened coldly.

Just then.

Craaash!

Thunder and lighting struck from the closed up sky.

“Ahhhgh!”

Sparks jumped off the ground. The priests and mages freaked out and slipped backwards.

“Should’ve stayed quiet.”

Gold eyes flashing, Alice blew on her finger. A faint smoke was rising from the tip of it.

“...I was interrupted. I will continue.”

After that, Secuel and I exchanged a bunch of questions and answers. I told her everything as is without lying even a bit.

At first, I didn’t know she was asking these things, but it was understandable if I thought of this as an interrogation of a prisoner.

“So you’re saying that it wasn’t you who summoned that monster and the Sea Dragon. Did you bring any other Beasts with you?”

“......I did.”

I called Akasha who was holding her breath in the corner over there.

“.......”

“.......”

Akasha’s face turned awkward, probably not having expected that her sister would give her away.

Unlike me, she still thought of herself as part of the Demon Army so she was feeling troubled.

But Akasha was someone who had been with me for a long time. If she was told to choose between me and the Demon Army, she would choose me since the reason why we had joined the forces in the first place was to protect each other.

Akasha reluctantly bowed her head before the Elemental King.

“...I followed my sister and was undercover as a student.”

And so a confession party took place by us sisters.

“If you spare my sister, I will give my life.”

I to save Lotte, Akasha to save me.

It seemed everyone was quite shocked at the sight of two Cataclysms prostrating themselves.

Especially the students to whom I was homeroom teacher. The students including Leninya and Yufiel must have opened up to me a little because they either sank to the ground or stiffened on the spot.

“O Water Lord. These children now have nowhere to go and nothing to lose.”

Alice added, looking worried.

“They may have been following the Demon King, but that was due to the Golden-Eyed being discriminated against at the time. We of the Elec Realm were weak back then, and couldn’t afford to take care of the children. It was all our fault. If you must punish, then I ask that you punish me, but please have mercy on them.”

Secuel took a moment to think.

And eventually, she spoke.

“Winter Heaven. You are an army elite who is one of the pillars of the Four Heavens, so why is it that you were abandoned by your colleagues?”

“It was because they feared my invention.”

“An invention, you say. Is it perhaps the magic called Dark Day?”

“That hasn’t been finished yet.”

Then Secuel looked surprised for the first time.

“...Alright. That’s it for now.”

They could’ve continued, but Secuel stopped.

Her blue eyes scanned the area. She must have sensed some kind of presence.

“I thought it was dead, but it’s quite stubborn.”

As soon as she said that, something happened.

[Squelch, squelch.]

The lanterns that had been destroyed by the Fire King put themselves back together, forming an even bigger form than earlier.

Blink, blink.

The lanterns flickered in unison, creating a sharp beam of light.

The students shook in fear out of reflex. Even Leninya, Yufiel, and Freyr. They all got frightened and stepped back.

[Cataclysm ─ Ectoplasm (Division phase)]A spaghetti made of dozens of lungs and eyeballs crawled out, squelching.

Pasmo’s backstabbing wasn’t over yet.

“This is unexpected, but it isn’t bad.”

Secuel gestured with her head.

Meaning if I wanted to save Lotte, and if Akasha and I wanted to live–

I had to first squash that bastard and prove our innocence.

I picked up my staff and stood up.

Determined not to make a mistake this time, I casted my magic.

[Eightfold Way Seventh Form ─ Nuclear Fission]