The Academy’s Professor is Overpowered!

The ones who lacked mana but had great control and variety in their magic, and the ones who could only cause destruction and corruption but were blessed with immense amounts of Mana.

Demiurges possessed the best of both worlds. 

Natural fighters. By all means, if they were ranked only by their potential.

Demiurges would be at the top of the food chain.

Mundus… was not going to be an easy opponent.

“I am sorry it has come to this,” said Mundus. “You are just a soldier, right? I consider myself quite strong… it will be impossible for you to survive.”

A scoff left me.

Before I could answer, the world around me changed.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of magic circles etched themselves into the skies. Mana coalesced around each of them as a white glow traced their patterns, giving birth to magical phenomena.

The battle had already begun.

I stomped my foot forward and charged ahead. 

The many magic spells all took form at the same moment. Balls of fire and spears of condensed lightning shot at me from all directions.

I swung my blade and intercepted the attacks. No matter what came my way, it was all sliced in half with the swings of the sword.

My pace picked up. With minimal movements, I dodged what I could and cut down the rest.

Mundus had only started. Another spell was already completed under his feet.

He placed his hand on the spinning green magic circle and the movement of mana changed once more.

The ground.

The roots of all the trees around us started to move. They all gathered under the ground and merged into one.

Simple elemental magic in the hands of someone who could fire them off without any worries became troublesome.

Like a soaring serpent, the whip of roots tore through the ground. It made waves, gouging everything in its path out.

The ground under my feet was uprooted as the enormous whip swerved upward and launched me off.

I flew up high in the sky, above the trees.

Dozens and dozens of more magic circles were waiting for me at the top. I immediately twisted my body and swung the sword in an arc.

The sword cut through the very air, sending a crescent of wind outward as it sliced all the magic circles.

I turned mid-air again, looking down at the ground once more. The whip of roots was chasing after me, but I paid it no heed. My eyes narrowed, scanning through the trees.

I found Mundus preparing a dozen more spells. It was truly insane how much mana he had.

The sword flipped in my hand. The grip changed as I arched my back and hand. 

“Hah!”

I threw the sword ahead with all my might and it cut through the air like an arrow. 

The whip of roots came up to me. I used it as a foothold and lunged off the air, straight toward Mundus.

The sword shot straight toward Mundus. It pierced through every single magic circle he had made to protect himself.

Mundus snapped to the side as the cold blade grazed his right cheek. Before the sword could stab into the ground, I grabbed it.

Shocked, Mundus turned to his left, where I already stood.

“When—”

I drove the hilt of the sword straight into his jaw. 

The man tumbled back from the pain, and I followed. I didn’t let the gap between us increase as I stepped ahead. My hand stretched out toward his collar when I noticed a red glimmer in the corner of my eye.

A last, tiny magic circle had survived. A black spark shot out of the circle and touched my gloves.

Demonic Magic. It was a corrosive spell called hellfire that didn’t stop burning until it reduced what it had caught to dust. That alone must have taken immense amounts of his mana.

I didn’t stop driving my hand ahead. Almost simultaneously, as the spark touched me, I grabbed my glove with my sword hand and yanked it out.

Mundus’ eyes widened as the glove flew off my hand and touched his clothes. It was already too late to stop it for him.

I grabbed his collar and pulled him closer. I twisted my entire body and—

BOOOM!

—Threw Mundus away.

The trees in his path snapped in half, and the sheer force of air left lines through the ground. Curved up like a ball, Mundus flew from the middle of the forest to where we had left the carriage.

A complete clearing had formed in front of me as I left the carriage and everything else in smithereens.

It had caught on fire too. The hellfire had spread from his clothes to the carriage.

Smoke wafted through the air as Mundus spat blood and pushed himself up. His body was slowly burning.

“Soldier… my ass…”

I narrowed my eyes and lowered my blade as he spoke. Even though he could only groan, I could hear every word.

“You… you didn’t even use a shred of your mana... What kind of monster are you?”

He was acting strange. Even though he was burning alive, he hadn’t given up.

Mundus raised his hands up high. He stuck his thumbs out.

Tears streamed down his eyes.

“I don’t want to die…” like a madman, he groaned.

This guy… 

Magic, everything followed the laws of nature. To gain something, you had to give something. Mana usually replaced the role of this sacrifice.

But a greater power could be attained by giving up a greater sacrifice.

Mundus wailed, he cried. 

And then he drove his thumb straight toward his eyes. The eyes that had been the greatest of his fortunes. He was ready to give it up.

“AAAH!”

He screamed out loud, but he couldn’t gouge out his eyes. I rushed straight in front of him and cut both his arms off.

A mouthful of blood spilled down his lips. With a soft thud, both his arms fell to the ground. 

“You…” 

He had lost. He couldn’t do anything anymore.

Mundus’ feet lost strength as he fell on his back, right on the burning remains of the carriage.

“You monster…” he said. “That power… just what did the world take from you?”

I did not answer.

I couldn’t.

I only raised the sword to his neck.

“I kept my promise, Mundus.”

Mundus showed me a pained smile and nodded. He tried to speak, but all that left him were gasps. He couldn’t accept death.

Who would?

“I am sorry…”

Before the fire could spread above his neck, I lifted the sword up high.

***

Immense waves of mana had alerted the ones in the city. It was a disturbance on the level they hadn’t imagined could break out in Glorenstein.

Even the smallest of threats were of utmost importance, and this was way beyond something small.

The sheer amount of mana flying around made even Gladwin nervous.

He thought of informing Ethan but realized soon how conceited a thought it was. Gladwin immediately got to work. He had to see what was going on.

He forbade every professor who could sense what was going on from stepping out of the academy and forced them all to guard the students, especially the kids of Black Rose.

Along with the other civil servants, he rushed to the source of the disturbance. 

A lot of guards had reached the place as well. Well outside the city gates, the forest path that led to the town of Parna now had a fire rising through its center.

Gladwin and the rest were about to charge in when they noticed.

A single man stepping out from the woods. In one hand, he held a case, and in the other, gloved hand, he held… the head of a person.

The man emitted an immense pressure, an aura that made all of them freeze in their spots.

Slowly, the man raised his head and noticed them. His cold, soulless eyes mellowed down in an instant.

The tense air around him disappeared like a dream as the man wore a pained, wry smile.

“Professor Ethan…” Gladwin called his name, his eyes on the decapitated head the professor carried. “This…”

Ethan raised his hand and held the head toward Gladwin.

“A demiurge,” he said. “I handled it.”

Gladwin, surprised, took the head from the professor.

“Professor… the blood?”

“It isn’t mine.”

The professor started stepping ahead once more. All the city guards in his path stepped away out of fear and awe.

“Where are you going?” Gladwin asked a moment too late, but there was no answer.

The situation had been resolved before he could even reach the site…

His subordinates all stared at the head in Gladwin’s hands. 

“This is… Mundus?”

“The alcohol seller? He was an insect?”

“The professor must have gone easy on this bug.”

The last remark snapped Gladwin back to his senses.

“What do you mean?” Gladwin asked.

“Look, he’s smiling.”

Gladwin took another glance at the head in his hands. Even in death, he wore a smile.

Gladwin couldn’t understand. He didn’t feel any mana that might have been brought about by the professor. Fighting something that could shake up Glorenstein, was going easy?

He stared at the fire in the distance. His eyes traced the cloud of smoke rising to the skies. 

And he froze.

Far off in the skies.

An enormous cloud… was cleaved in two halves.

“You might be right…”

***

The door to my room shut behind me.

Quiet, everything was far too quiet.

My heart trembled as I stumbled through the room. Blood stuck to my hands, my clothes, my neck.

I rushed straight to the bathroom. Vomit surged from my neck and gushed out of my mouth.

Again.

I had done it again.

They had started again. Slowly at first, all around me, I could hear them.

Crawling up my feet. Slithering up my back. The voices whispering in my ears, screaming at my heart.

I could hear them all.

[How did we end up here?][Don’t-don’t kill me!][Ethan, you must run][You used us!][You left us behind!][You have to live. You have to survive.][Burn these demons to the ground!][Kill them all! Massacre them!][I found you half dead.][Human? We don’t care.][Just a kid, you need to eat more][Hey, do you want to live with me when you grow older?][Kill them! These traitors!][They’re hiding a human!][Traitors! Traitors! Death to traitors!][No! Leave my child! Leave my daughter!][Mom! Help!][Ethan… save me…][Why did you bring the war to our doorstep?][You were supposed to have our backs, not turn on us.][I followed your orders, and it cost us everything.][Save us! I know you can! You can stop them! Please!][Please, no more. Make it stop.][I trusted you, and you betrayed us all.][You have to push through! Don’t let their deaths be in vain.][The two sides of this world… can never be together.]

And now…

Another had joined in…

[Funny young lad…] [You’re a charming man.] [Why do you do this?] [Promise it.]

[Ethan… I don’t want to die.]

I closed my eyes shut.

No. I couldn’t stop.

Not yet. 

I had done all I could. It was good. It was a step closer to my goal. It was all the more reason I couldn’t stop.

Until this world became one where everyone could live like a person.

Until the two sides of the same world became one…

Until I fulfilled my promise.

I couldn’t stop.

The voices never stopped. I forced them out of my mind and looked ahead. Into my eyes.

The war may be over.

But my work wasn’t.