Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

"What sort of people would do this!"

Malvern, the professor of water currents, waved his hands frantically in a burst of anger.

Waves rose above him according to his will, casting a large shadow on the ground, and crashed into the white barrier that defined the boundaries of their confined space.

The late Rank 6 sorcerer’s earnest attack surged.

Crash!

But it was to no avail.

The wall shone a bright light in response to the contact, then blocked the effect of his magic, not budging even a centimeter.

"Oh, my God!"

Thus, the magic equivalent to the force of hundreds of soldiers' scattered, bursting into white bubbles of no consequence.

"They’re using relics on us here?”

As he vented his anger at the barrier that had blocked his numerous attacks, Klaich, the professor of the illusory system of magic beside him, opened his mouth and said politely, "Enough of this, Malvern. You’re simply wasting your energy."

"Professor Klaich, are you not angry?"

Malvern turned his head, expression furious, while Klaich opened his eyes and asked back, "What would you have me do? There's nothing we can do, is there? Letting out your anger in such a counterproductive way is resolving what exactly?”

He had tried several times to analyze the composition of the boundaries, but could not ascertain a thing. The relic was simply utilizing its own power rather than any form of manipulatable magic.

"That's true, but…”

"Now is the time to calm ourselves and find a logical way out."

His calm tone relaxed Malvern's activating spell, which was about to burst forth again. He sighed and apologized, "Ha… I'm sorry I got carried away."

"It’s alright, I understand."

They were presently trapped in a corner of the ruins, having been isolated in space without even noticing before the tremors had broken out. As a result, they had no choice but to remain where they were, unaware of what chaos had taken place outside.

"No matter how I try to think about it, this really is a grave situation."

"I know. But even if this is uncommon, once every two or three years…”

"No, I mean, I don't think that it's quite like that.” Klaich shook his head. "I’m not entirely sure… but I think that, perhaps, the relic was used to separate out us professors specifically.”

After the Great Fall, the Temple quickly lost its power. Priests and knights of the castle lost their divine power, their connection to God severed.

During the era of the Temple’s decline, however, the existence of the Holy Relics was a particularly special marker of the times. They were more powerful than other ancient artifacts, lending users unique abilities to heal, defend, attack, and more.

Although the Temple had fallen—and was assumed to only be useful for ceremonies of times past—its previous prestige and capabilities attracted the attention of many forces.

"If not, then why aren’t we with all the other professors?"

At that, Malvern immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

“This must be a plan to deal with Master Jaqnelle…”

"Perhaps it has already been carried out.” 

“What could this all mean?"

"Ha…"

Malvern sighed. It was already too late—whatever scheme this was had already run its course. There was no need to hesitate any longer.

With a resolute expression, he pulled out a large bronze goblet from his subspace.

"Then I won't put it off any longer.”

"…Archmagic." 

The professors at the Academy, no matter how they might come off in the classroom, were never stupid. What they taught was their knowledge of the world. No person mired in incompetence could fulfill such a role.

Thus, he did not lose his composure—even faced with a dire situation such as this—and began to look for the next course of action.

"…This will most likely incapacitate me for a few weeks, but I'd rather just brute force the solution now."

"Are you sure you won’t regret it, Malvern? When preparing archmagic, all professors must participate. We won’t be able to help the students still on the ground…”

"It's better than wasting even more time."

He smiled wryly.

It was better to make a move than to worry about the students fighting without them.

In response to Malvern's decision, Klaich took out the same goblet.

"Then, I'll send a signal to the other professors first."

Klaich cut a shallow gash into his palm, causing drops of blood streamed into the bottom of the bronze goblet. At the same time, the mana he’d infused into the drops turned the surface of the cup blue.

Hoooowl.

A translucent wolf arose atop the glass and gave a loud cry.

Malvern gazed over the white wall that blocked them into the space with a wry smile. "…Let’s hope the damage is minimal.”

He hoped that his opponent would arrive as soon as possible.

The bronze glasses began to resonate as Klaich prepared his in the same manner.

Professors, held captive throughout the ruins just the same as them, began to prepare the archmagic as well, their bronze goblets all synchronizing in resonance.

* * *

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The ruins trembled as if they were about to collapse, as explosions sounded off in the distance.

As decades-old dust fell from the ceiling, it became increasingly difficult to maintain their balance on the shaking floor.

Allen and Julius ran down the aisle with their rescue team that had appeared in the nick of time.

Allen questioned how the rescue team got down to the seventh floor at such a rapid pace. However, the answer was simple.

"Is that… a magic circle?"

As they ran, a magic circle shone brightly in the corner where the passageway was blocked.

"It's a space-shift spell,” Rachael answered while sticking to Allen’s side. "A senior in the student council knew about it."

He watched as a man on the rescue team, who appeared to be the aforementioned member of the student council, prepared to invoke the magic circle.

"So they even had that prepared…”

The Academy had installed space-shift magic circles on each floor just in case, so that groups could move to each floor relatively quickly, even when starting on the ground floor. According to the rescue team, they were able to quickly descend through the ruins due to that addition.

"Well, how did you know I was here?"

"I ran into the members of your group outside."

Allen was relieved by her answer.

'So, they must have escaped.’

They seemed to have exited with a rescue team that had found them first, or perhaps they just managed to escape safely on their own. 

“Also, where did all the professors go? Why are there only students here?”

"It's just… things aren't going so well right now."

Though they had a secondary goal of rescuing Allen and Julius, the rescue team searched with a primary objective of locating the missing professors. 

"We found a place where we think the professors are… but we couldn't go in because it was surrounded by a white wall of some sort—like a membrane. We had no choice but to come straight here since the ruins appear to be collapsing.”

"…Then where is Jaqnelle?"

"We’re really short on time…”

Allen's expression sank darkly.

It was clear that the monster sealed within the ruins would soon appear. However, the professors and resident Top Eight member, occupied with their own issues, wouldn’t be able to help them.

It was clear to him that if someone were to stop the monster, they would immediately stand out.

It was like a stage prepared for the sole purpose of delivering fame to one lucky individual.

"…Alright! I'll activate the magic circle…”

Rumble, rumble.

The ruins began to violently quake.

A crack split the ground, and from it, something was struggling to emerge.

"Hurry, over here!"

The students gathered quickly around the magic circle.

Just as the intense light of the magic circle began to shine, the crack on the floor began to widen. Allen’s vision blurred and his head began to ring as the students seemed to ripple through space.

Pop!

What the students who had already escaped outside witnessed was the dramatic collapse of the spires.

There were no screams nor shouts heard as the faint smell of blood wafted along the dry wind’s caress. The sight of the four giant spires tumbling down like the building blocks of a child’s toy was too unrealistic.

"Oh, oh! It's collapsing!"

"I-is it over, then…?”

With the collapse of the ruins, no more guardians could come out. In other words, all they would have to do now was work together to clear those that remained on the battlefield. The students watched this scene unfold with hope. And yet, the shaking of the ruins did not stop.

"W-wait a minute, the ground…!”

Rather, the ground continued to shake harder and harder, to the point where it was difficult to stand upright. A hopeful smile crossed Julius's face. Figures clad in white and black passed through the gaps between the students.

The vibration of the ground grew more and more unstable until the critical point had finally been reached.

‘He's coming.’

Allen lowered his stance.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

A huge shadow rose from beneath the ground. From sprawling wings, a sandy wind blew violently forth. Allen raised his head to see the monster’s figure under the pouring stars.

A hawk of pitch-black, cut straight from the shadows, gazed down at the ground, and around the bird’s body whipped a whirlwind of white. A great silence fell upon the earth.

“────────────”

After thousands of years, the ancient monster had been released once more.

* * *

* * *

Allen had been waiting for this moment.

He kicked off the ground, as Julius readied his sword and an accompanying thunderbolt.

Yet still, there were others ready before them. 

"Wake up!" exclaimed the chief of the Minima tribe.

Allen spun around to find the Minima and Arachni tribes in front of the crowd of students.

Clad in white and black, they began to move with flags raised, drawing constellations in the eyes of the monster gazing upon them from above.

The men in white became Scorpio.

The women in black became Arachne.

The constellation on the flags they were holding shone brightly, causing pale blue chains to appear and soar into the sky. Hundreds flew up and wrapped around the monster's body as it looked down on the ground.

"Pull!"

At the tribal chief’s cry, the ruler of the sky began to plummet to the ground. Vedrfolnir screamed and struggled violently.

“────────────”

The white whirlwind whipped itself violently around the beast, shaking the hundreds of chains.

As the tension rose, the tribal chief shouted, "Now!"

The chief’s shout was directed at the students. Allen's head turned to the source of his voice. For a split second, it seemed as if their eyes met.

It almost seemed in that moment that the shouting was not directed to other students, but rather, to himself and Julius.

I'm not worried. This is simply fate at work.

Their past encounter flashed across his mind, causing the corners of his mouth to twist. 

‘Fate, huh…’

What nonsense.

Allen didn’t believe in fate. For the past, the present, nor the future.

But there was no time to waste.

"Julius!”

"Let’s go!"

Julius sent a thunderbolt hurtling through the air at Allen's signal. A small, dark cloud formed in the sky as streams of dark-blue thunderbolts interweaved in the air. The lightning gathered amplified the thunderbolt atop his sword.

Crash!

The thunderbolt-ridden blade ran along the monster’s black wings. Before it could make contact, a gust of wind burst forth, halving the blade’s power. However, its impact was not entirely offset.

Vedrfolnir cried.

“────────────”

The high note pierced their ears. Dozens of students collapsed, their spells dispersing. But that, too, was only a brief setback.

Rumble, rumble.

"What's that sound?"

One of the students who was still fighting off the remaining guardians of the ruins turned his head, his expression hardening at the sight ahead.

Beyond the horizon of descending darkness, sand fluttered about and stirred.

Gurgle, gurgle!

"Grrrrrrr!”

Screeeeeech!

All the monsters around the ruins began to gather.

"Hey! Half of you continue fighting off the guardians, and the other half, follow me!"

The third-year charged with directing the students bit his lips and ran toward the oncoming wave of enemies.

“────────────”

Now slowly coming to its senses, Vedrfolnir's counteroffensive had intensified. The hawk large enough to obscure the sky was certainly daunting enough to be considered one of the fearful ancient monsters of legend.

Lightning crashed down atop the monster's head.

Bang!

⟬Allen, what are you doing? Why aren’t you doing anything?⟭ Vestla scolded in question as the situation rapidly changed. 

Allen shook his head, saying it was nothing. "I was thinking about what would be more efficient against that monster—magic or a sword."

⟬The sword! The sword! I learned something new this time! Should I use that? It’ll be over in one shot!⟭

Allen smirked and took up his stance, just as she wished.

The Jotunsberg is composed of a total of nine rainbows. Allen lacked the talent for swords, so he only learned two.

The Jotunnsverd series was composed of nine forms. Allen, lacking in talent for the sword, had only mastered two.

Managarmr and Ylfaskadus.

The swords skills she taught him deviated from the typical, modern framework of swordsmanship. Hence, why they weren’t particularly easy to learn. He could only understand her teachings by drawing upon his prior experience as a sorcerer. Had he merely been a normal person, there was no way he would have been able to digest her teachings.

However, before departing for the ruins, he succeeded in learning one more, just in time.

The sound of the foghorn rang from Allen's dragon core. Without even having to draw out his threads, a huge sum of magic was sucked into the sword.

For a moment, his core was empty.

Noticing the shockingly large flow of magic, the monster began to struggle. However, it could not escape so easily.

Managarmr channeled the user’s fury as fuel to charge a single devastating blow.

Ylfaskadus allowed the user to see beyond any shadows and perform numerous attacks at once.

And the third?

Allen exhaled.

His sword moved.

Streaking from down upward, it didn’t matter if the sword wouldn’t reach the target and make contact. After all, there was no place where the light could not reach.

Jotunnsverd Ljossol.*

(*PR note: Ljossol is likely a portmanteau of the Old Norse ‘ljoss’ meaning “bright/shining” and ‘Sol’, the sun personified who is chased by the wolf, Skoll, and later devoured during Ragnarok.)

The ball of light stretched into the sky in the direction of the sword’s tip.  For just a moment, his dragon's core could not keep up with the speed of mana generation.

It was a skill impossible to use without being a real giant. 

"Still…"

It wasn’t enough.

Allen raised his head.

Beneath the blanket of that starry sky, the light of the sun rose from the ground.

* * *

Routine dominated Galshdin Academy, as always. 

Atop the roof of the great library, a location where no one in the Academy could climb, someone laid there, looking at the moon.

Glug, glug.

Gaillon, the beast king, was drinking again today, staring at the brightly shining moon.

The smell of alcohol wafted above the strewn bottles, indicating that they might have laid there for a day or two already. 

Nevertheless, Gaillon was undeterred.

"It's time to stop doing this. If it weren't for that information…”

He mused, weighing in his mind the amount of wine he had drunk. 

Just as he was thought about pouring himself another—

Hooowwwl!

His eyes turned toward the resounding sound that only he could hear.

"Huh… Is there something going on?"

Gaillon rose from his place. Even if he drank all the leftover alcohol, he wouldn’t really get drunk.

Maybe a little tipsy at best.

"Bothering the elderly… tsk."

But duty was duty.

He stamped his foot, recalling the chairman’s face.

Crash!

His body accelerated instantly as the roof of the great library partially crumbled under him. A scream of surprise rang out from below.

"Well, they interrupted my ‘me time’.”

It would be fine.

When the chairman finally heard the commotion, his new car had already off and disappeared.

—————

—————