The Student

“What the hell? You don’t have to go that far.”

The moment the stunningly beautiful figure in the magnificent white dress stepped out of the holy scripture, Ewan felt a scalp-numbing chill.

Because he had also seen the dazzlingly ornate crown on her head.

A Crowned One!

This was a Crowned One!

Did that God of Love really send a Crowned One to hunt him down?

You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m just a little bug in Your eyes. Even if I pissed You off, you don’t have to send a bulldozer to run me over.

Wait.

That’s not right.

Ewan quickly came to his senses.

The God of Love’s goal, or rather, its real goal, was not him at all.

Because from the moment she had appeared, the Crowned One had not looked at him once.

Her gaze had been fixed on the ground below the academy, as if she were staring at something through the thick layers of rock.

And in her holy, immaculate, yet utterly vacant eyes, there was a flicker of a greed that was not her own.

She was after something. Something extremely important.

But that didn’t stop her from casually swatting away the annoying bug that was Ewan.

And so, with her hands hanging naturally at her sides, she twitched her little finger.

The next moment, Ewan felt as if an invisible truck had slammed into his chest. An immense force struck him, and with a grunt of pain, he vomited a large mouthful of blood.

With just a flick of her finger, he was severely injured.

But just as the Saintess of Purification was about to twitch her little finger again and finish him off, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

Professor Glen.

He grabbed Ewan’s shoulder and casually tossed out a handkerchief.

The handkerchief suddenly grew, enveloping the two of them.

And then, like a magic trick, the handkerchief, which had just been bulging with the outlines of two human figures, suddenly went limp and fluttered to the ground.

The two of them had vanished.

The Saintess of Purification looked away, no longer paying any attention to the fleeing Glen and Ewan. She would have plenty of opportunities to crush that hateful bug later. Right now, there were more important things to do.

The Saintess suddenly raised her hands, those long, slender, pale, and flawless hands.

She aimed them at the entire academy in the night.

Her ten fingers closed in a grasping motion.

As if she had just grasped the very lynchpin that held this part of the world together.

And then, she pulled.

The world shook.

The entire academy began to tremble. A barely perceptible crack suddenly appeared on the outer edge of the academy, rapidly extending, and finally, after circling the entire campus, it joined together.

The entire foundation of the academy within the crack began to rise, as if some great, world-shaking power was uprooting the entire institution.

“Sigh.”

A sigh.

Professor Planck, holding a cane in one hand and a pink star wand in the other, stood before the Saintess of Purification.

“It’s been a long time, Berena.”

Professor Planck looked at the Saintess, his expression sorrowful, his old eyes full of a sadness that not even time could erase. “My most prideful student.”

Although the Saintess of Purification still had the appearance of a young maiden, as one of the few powerhouses in the entire human world, she was, in fact, no longer young. Even the Pink Bear, or the headmistress of this academy, Hathaway, were her juniors.

When she had entered the academy, Professor Planck had been just a young teacher, just starting his career. So to be able to cultivate such an outstanding Saintess was a matter of great pride for him at the time.

Even now, among all the students Professor Planck had taught, very few could match the achievements of this famous Saintess.

But it wasn’t because of her great achievements, or her high status, that he cared so much for her.

It was because, in the few years he had spent with her when she was still a girl, he had been truly touched by her innocence, her liveliness, her kindness, by her noble, gem-like character.

He was her teacher, but in fact, in those years, he had learned more from her.

So he had always loved this child, like a father, watching her grow from a fledgling into a soaring swan, his heart filled with nothing but pride.

“I just never thought that our reunion, after several decades, would be like this.”

Professor Planck gripped his cane, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

“The word ‘fate’ is truly difficult to comprehend.”

“Waaaah—”

The Saintess’s vacant eyes showed no emotion, only a cold emptiness.

But her expression grew more and more sorrowful.

“I see. To completely control you, the Evil God has almost completely erased your consciousness.”

Looking at Berena like this, Professor Planck suddenly understood.

And then, a smile appeared on his old, sad face.

“That’s right. This is you.”

“This is the Saintess of Purification who is worshipped and respected by countless people, whose statues still stand in many places to this day!”

“If you had your own consciousness, you would surely have fought against the Evil God until the very last moment.”

“So even if the Evil God has corrupted you, it can only control you after completely erasing your consciousness!”

But even after being controlled, this Saintess was still instinctively crying.

With a sorrowful wail, she was fighting back against the all-pervasive holy song that seemed to be able to corrupt one’s very mind.

“Good! Good! This is my student!”

Professor Planck laughed heartily, but his eyes, which had been dry for decades, were suddenly wet with tears.

“Since my student is so outstanding, I, as her teacher, can’t be too shabby.”

Professor Planck slammed the cane in his hand down.

Although he was standing on air, the cane made a majestic sound, like metal striking metal.

“Your teacher is here to save you, Berena!”

The moment he finished speaking.

In an instant.

From the depths of the earth beneath Saint Marika Academy, huge gears began to turn, meshing together. Massive mechanisms moved and collided. An infinite amount of magical power was drawn from the earth’s leylines and then, through a network of vein-like pipes, it was transported to the huge network that spread throughout the underground of Saint Marika.

And then.

On the outer edge of Saint Marika Academy, twelve towers, glinting with a metallic sheen, erupted from the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that blotted out the sky.

Towers.

They were twelve black towers. And when these twelve towers stood tall, the ground of Saint Marika suddenly shook, and the foundation that had been lifted high was once again forcefully nailed back down.

This time, it was incredibly stable, without the slightest tremor.

And after that, on the black towers, intricate patterns lit up. The vast magical power drawn from the leylines, under the control of the Great Sealing Instrument, coalesced into layers of magical structures, overlapping, and finally forming a semi-circular barrier that enveloped the entire Saint Marika.

In the sky above, the increasingly large blue moon seemed to have finally stopped its approach.

But Professor Planck knew that it was only temporary.

With only the second layer of the Great Sealing Instrument, even at full power, it could not stop an Evil God that was hell-bent on descending.

But it was only to stall for time.

After all, how could a brief reunion with a beloved student be disturbed by others?

Author’s Note:

This part of the plot is mainly to expand the worldview and introduce an important character. After this, we will completely enter the personal conquest route of a certain heroine, so don’t be in a hurry if you want to see the emotional line.

PPS: I’m not very good at writing fight scenes, so the fight scenes will generally be sped up and resolved in a chapter or two. For those who don’t like fight scenes, you can save them up for a bit.