Surviving as a Villain at the Academy

187 – Turning the Tower Upside Down. (6)

Magicians always hold themselves in high esteem. In other words, they have a very strong sense of self.

That means they tend to look down on others. The Tower Master was no exception. He was wary of Praha’s strength, but he didn’t rate his mental fortitude highly.

After all, wasn’t he just an eighteen-year-old kid? How strong could his mental fortitude be? This barrier is one that draws out the deepest inner thorn of a human being. An eighteen-year-old boy couldn’t possibly withstand facing that thorn without his mind collapsing.

Therefore, he didn’t believe that Praha could escape his barrier. The same went for the other characters. The only person worth being cautious of was the Imperial Knights’ Commander Ethan… but even he was sure to flounder in the illusion.

His mental fortitude may be strong, but he has faced too many hardships. When his cognition becomes blurred and he faces the past, even that strong mental fortitude will be worn down.

The Tower Master felt that the situation was progressing quite smoothly. A variable named Praha had appeared, but variables can always arise.

A supreme magician does not get shaken by petty variables. How could a great sorcerer show such disgrace as to not control a sudden variable?

“Pathetic. To think such people tried to stand in my way.”

He muttered disdainfully. The magicians of the tower also had similar smirks on their faces. They just wanted to quickly settle this commotion and immerse themselves back into the world of magic.

They looked at the enemies standing dumbfounded before them and laughed. How could they be so pitiful?

The ignorant who have not encountered magic, their floundering is nothing but repulsive. The sight of them, twisted in cognition by mere hallucinations and illusions, captured in a daze, resembled patients afflicted with somnambulism.

Of course, there was something strange. Normally, those who face terrible hallucinations within themselves unwittingly wield weapons, harming their own allies, but these people just stood still. Like puppets with their strings cut.

Yet, it wasn’t particularly strange. After all, the ideal spectacle of them brandishing weapons at each other did not unfold, but they were still rendered incapable of any resistance.

“Master of the Tower, please end this swiftly.”

Then, a voice urging the Tower Master rang out. It was Delrazio Talantis, a figure not even the Tower Master could treat lightly.

“Is it alright, Delrazio?”

To the Tower Master’s inquiry, Delrazio nodded indifferently.

“It’s fine. After all, what’s precious to me is only magic. Status is not of such great value to me. And sending them to the Tower in the first place meant that His Majesty had plans to dispose of me. It’s rather my path to survival to leave the Empire as soon as possible.”

Delrazio was well aware of his situation. He was no fool and had noticed that Aim, knowingly or not, had been sloppy in handling matters.

Aim had been late, engrossed in the magic and its research results… But still, he had been able to make the minimum preparations.

It wasn’t difficult to predict that Aim would strike them from behind and flee. He was never one to trust others easily in the first place.

Even more so, he knew that to demons, humans are merely playthings. Despite the bizarre contract, he never thought the demon would naively carry out a pact with humans.

“If we delay, troublesome matters will increase. Please handle it quickly. They are not even in a state to resist.”

“Indeed.”

The other magicians were still sending their magical power to maintain the barrier to the Tower Master, so they couldn’t cast any significant spells, but that wasn’t a big problem for them.

After all, the Tower Master alone could annihilate them.

The Tower Master gathered magic in his hand. Implementing several spells at once was not a difficult task for him. Even with the barrier active, simple spells could be implemented together.

And since they were caught in an illusion, unable to resist, simple spells were sufficient to take their lives.

He might not be able to use the blue sun as before, but merely condensing and shooting out magical power was well within his capabilities.

The Tower Master wore a bitter smile on his lips.

It’s over. After dealing with them, he planned to immediately lead the magicians and hide. If the situation had been worse, he might have abandoned them, but now that it was quite favorable, he intended to take them with him.

Magicians were valuable assets, and employing them meant securing funds necessary for research. Even if they moved to another region, a group of magicians could easily rise to important positions in any decent nation.

Moreover, the magicians of the Tower had shared research results with him. If they could go together, the benefits outweighed the losses. Since the situation was quite favorable, taking them along was a viable option.

The Empire might waver, but that was of little importance to him.

His goal was to see the end of magic. Becoming the Tower Master of the Empire was all for that purpose, and as long as the Emperor intended to obstruct that goal, the Empire was no longer of importance to him.

He was confident he could evade the Empire’s pursuit, and the Holy Kingdom was no different. Rather, if the Saintess lived here, it would only add to his troubles.

The concentrated magical power enveloped the interior of the barrier.

The inspection team, standing still, lost in hallucinations, would die without even realizing their own demise.

Their accumulated lives, so easily extinguished. The Tower Master, newly appreciating the greatness of magic, released a wave of magical power.

A tidal wave of magic swept over the inspection team all at once.

* * *

-Tsk. I knew it would come to this.

Asti clicked her tongue.

The reason why the gratitude group is standing dumbfounded and still. It was because Asti was controlling their movements. Unbeknownst to them, they tried to resist the illusion they faced by swinging their weapons, but Asti had stopped all their movements.

She knew that if they got hurt, Praha would be sad.

‘I definitely need to be rewarded for this.’

Thinking this way, Asti observed Praha. Praha’s expression was also gradually hardening. Indeed, the hallucinatory barrier of a grand sorcerer seemed quite effective even on Praha, the master of Salus. What exactly was he seeing?

She had her doubts, but she shook them off. He would tell her in due time. That’s the kind of person Praha was to her.

Honestly, she wanted to blow away this barrier right now and smash those detestably giggling sorcerers… But she faintly felt something.

That soon, something tremendous would happen.

That this was just a prelude.

That Aym and other demons were targeting the saint.

That the holy kingdom was creating a group called the seekers to closely monitor the activities of the demons.

All of this pointed to one event.

The great war between heaven and hell.

If that happened, the human realm would once again become a battlefield of chaos. It wasn’t a vague promise of ‘someday.’ The last war between heaven and hell was like that. It happened suddenly and progressed just as quickly.

Even though Praha has become very strong now, he was still not a match for the monsters that would appear then. Therefore, he must become even stronger, endlessly so.

Asti couldn’t be sure if she could protect him. After all, Michael was in heaven, and Baal and Lucifer were in hell.

So now, she had to trust Praha. It wouldn’t do to block his path to growth with needless worries.

She kept a close watch on Praha. If he couldn’t overcome this, she was ready to step in at any moment.

* * *

Indeed, the magic of a grand sorcerer was impressive. Having gone through the trial of Salus, I thought my mental strength was second to none, but I still had to face the hallucination.

All the allies I saw nearby were gone, and a faded space greeted me.

Looking around, I saw a space littered with broken debris. This was… strangely familiar. Similar to the space I saw during the trial of Salus.

And then, appearing out of nowhere, was the figure of Asti with a cold expression.

…Seeing her like this was quite chilling. Even colder than when we first met, and with a look that seemed to despise me, Asti’s appearance was unfamiliar and yet, also sad.

But the sadness didn’t last long.

Perhaps because of my strong mental strength, my cognition wasn’t twisted, nor was my common sense reversed. I was clearly aware that this scene was a hallucination.

If I hadn’t known this was a hallucination, I might have despaired. Because I truly loved Asti. Not just in a simple sense of like or dislike, but as a companion I wanted to be with forever.

If such a person looked at me with disgust, it would be enough to break my heart.

* * *

A surge of will to confront the Tower Master wells up within me. How dare they show me such a thing. There’s no villainy like this.

I grasp my sword, focusing my mind. If it’s a space that can be dispelled with mental strength, then there’s nothing I can’t do. I’ve passed Salus’s test. I was confident in my mental strength.

Such trivial illusions. I’ll slash them in one stroke.

Recalling the sensation I felt earlier, I swung my sword and sliced through the Asti before me.

Swoosh!

Like splitting the waves, a crisp sound resonated, and the fake Asti before me turned to ash and scattered.

Then, the space split open, revealing the barrier I had seen at the beginning.

No, that wasn’t all.

The figures of the Tower Master and his lackeys, previously unseen, now appeared as well.

I looked at them and sneered bitterly.

Finally, you show yourselves. Despicable creatures.