Chapter 144: Practice Match (1)

A conference room full of first-year instructors.

The schedule for the cadets to form groups and fight a joint battle against the otherworldly creatures has been disrupted.

At the suggestion of Headmaster Juliut, the cadets will be fighting demons instead of otherworldly creatures.

Suddenly, it’s up to Edward, a former warrior, to figure out how to deal with the dangerous demons.

Building illusionary magic based on the memories of the demons he had defeated.

It was a tiresome task, but somehow Edward managed to keep a smile on his face.

Edward was going through his memories and assigning the appropriate demons to each group.

“Could you also prepare a black one for Class C?”

Kaliman held up a slip of paper that listed the members of the group he was in charge of.

On it was Kaen’s name.

Edward glances at the paper.

“…Do you think they can do it?”

C class cadets had average skills and the only outlier was the presence of Kaen, who had dueled with Zetto before.

“Turn it off… Aren’t you overdoing it?”

Reina, who had a hangover from drinking too much the night before and was banging her head on the desk, said with difficulty.

Demons are classified by the color of their horns. A black horned one would be difficult to deal with, even for Class A cadets.

It would be too much for the average Class C cadet to handle. ‘Ordinary’ being the operative word.

Kaliman spoke, his eyes now quite serious, not his usual cloudy ones.

“I know my boys. They can do this. Trust me.”

Somehow, Kaliman had managed to get Kaen onto Edward’s shoulders.

The black-horned demon was a necessary preparation for that.

Would defeating an ordinary demon be enough to jump from Class C to Class A?

It’s only Class B if you do well.

It was unlikely that Kaen would be able to relate to the children of Class B, and this was necessary to ensure that she would be able to pass on to Class A correctly.

It was also a favor to Kaen since he was her instructor, after all.

If she hid her powers, the meaning of the division would be lost and diminished. That would be bad for the academy, for example.

“Take a step back, you barely-blackened bastard. This group is the pride of our C class.”

“Oh…”

Reina opens her mouth at Kaliman’s unanswered request.

“…Alright then, I’ll make the arrangements. I do remember a guy who crawled into the academy a while back, so I think she’ll do it.”

Edward, the man in charge of this joint battle, gives the green light, and Kaliman smirks.

Silently, Kaliman sings a happy tune.

Time passes, and the rest of the group slowly clears out.

Most of them consisted of the demons Edward had ‘killed’.

Well, the weaker demons were easy to analyze, so it wasn’t a big deal, since the illusions would be based on his imagination rather than his memories, but they only had to be up to par.

That leaves the final group.

Edwards skims over the names of the group members.

“Aizel Ludwig, Yuri Clementine, Amon Caligus, Lucia Windless, and Zetto…”

This was probably the strongest group of first-year cadets.

“Who do you think we should put them with?”

“Well, I think we’re going to end up with a bunch of demons…”

“But wouldn’t it be crazy to put black horns on them?”

The instructors began to debate heatedly, but in the end, it was all in Edward’s head.

With a sinister grin on his face, Edward finally spoke up.

“…Fortunately, we already have an opponent for this group. It’s a Black Horned Demon, just like the others in Class A.”

They were a little puzzled by this answer.

It was true that even if the cadets of Class A combined, it would be difficult to capture a Black Horned Demon, but it wouldn’t be too hard for Zetto’s group, which could be considered an asymmetrical power.

Still, the color of their horns is not the only indication of their power.

They wondered if the man with the sinister snake eyes was aiming for that.

The thought crossed the minds of the instructors in the room.

Edward, who had once been known as the Black Horned Hunter, now dredged up memories from more than a decade ago, recalling ‘that demon’ he had encountered on the battlefield.

Zetto’s group would be facing the only demon that Edward had not been able to ‘kill’ in this joint battle.

That should be enough.

After all, he had faced it alone when he was a cadet, so there was no reason they couldn’t handle it if four or five of them jumped in.

‘…Is he alive and well?’

Edward didn’t think he died somewhere.

-Boom!

Edward smiled wryly as he listened to the sound of thunder outside the window.

Lightning in a dry sky, it was the perfect weather.

***

-Krrrr…

It was an odd day for lightning to strike in a clear, cloudless sky.

A screen on the other side of the testing area showed cadets engaged in joint combat.

“How are they doing?”

Hubert asked.

He didn’t look like the old man she’d seen in the woods earlier, but a middle-aged man who smelled like money.

It was Hubert Graham, the Academy’s president.

This was a cover Hubert was forced to create as he’s lived longer.

Anyway, I was invited by him to watch a joint battle.

Since the Innocence Academy was said to have been founded in my will as a hero, he suggested that I should see the cadets in action at least once.

‘I may not be a hero, but I am Zetto’s sister…’

The cadets were divided into two groups, half of them catching demons and half of them struggling to hold on to them.

Demons are not to be taken lightly.

The demons that wield magick are unlike anything they’ve ever faced before.

“I don’t know about the cadets, but that guy over there, Edward…He’s a pretty good illusionist.”

“The Klaus family is famous for their illusionary magic.”

“Klaus?”

A question mark appeared on Rei’s face at the unfamiliar name of the family.

“The current headmaster of the academy is Juliut Klaus, a master of illusionary magic. He has risen to the rank of Archmage. That’s his son, Edward Klaus. He’s a war hero who fought in the war at a young age as a cadet. Now, as you can see, he works as an instructor… Like his father, he has an exceptional talent for illusionary magic.”

“Hmm…”

Rei glanced over at Edward, who was casting an illusion spell in the center of the testing grounds.

Edward Klaus must be Zetto’s instructor.

Illusion is a very tricky spell.

There’s so much to calculate, even for a short illusion, including minor environmental elements.

Edward’s illusion magic seemed to be at a level that could create the illusion of reality.

“A treasure for the academy.”

After all, illusion magic would naturally create a sense of safety in one’s mind, so it was impossible to compare it to real life, but it was still good enough to practice.

Indeed, since Klaus had become headmaster, the quality of the cadets’ training, as well as their survival rate, had increased markedly.

Hubert smirks at Rei’s assessment.

“Do you think I put him in the headmaster’s chair for nothing? I had a hard time getting him here, and now I finally have someone who appreciates my efforts.”

“…”

Rei nodded deeply in response.

While they were having such a conversation the battle in the illusion ends and the result is defeat.

The demon was a formidable opponent.

“It’s a pity. Even if the continent has gathered promising youths, we still won’t be able to deal with the Black Horns if we don’t match up.”

“When I was younger, the Black Horns would come at us in hordes…”

Rei clicked her tongue and lamented.

“…”

Hubert stared at her, momentarily at a loss for words.

Cognitive dissonance set in as old-fashioned words came out of the mouth of a tiny girl who didn’t seem to have lived a full life yet.

“…That’s true. At least the cadet with the shield over there has decent movement.”

Hubert replied, barely able to shake off his thoughts.

Rei and Hubert had lived through the heyday of the demons, so they could not be judged by the youth of the world now that peace reigned.

Edward then called the next group.

It was Zetto’s group.

“Hmm… Maybe we can look forward to this one.”

Rei crossed her arms and said that.

Hubert speaks up.

“Being a little sister, you don’t even cheer for your brother.”

“…”

As always, Hubert’s ability to manipulate people was incredible.

***

-Aaahhh…

When I woke up, it was raining.

Immediately, I felt a strong sensation around me.

It seems that the group members were also summoned to the same point.

“Where are we…?”

“It looks like a battlefield…”

Yuri replied to Lucia’s question.

It didn’t take long for the answer to become clear.

We could smell the foul scent of blood through the damp earthy odor.

“Definitely…There are a lot of dead bodies around.”

Stretching their senses, the corpses strewn here and there were a mixture of human and demonic.

The battle seemed to be over, judging by the lack of shouts and the clashing of blades, and the sound of rain in his ears.

For the time being, the vision was based on Edward’s memories, so I wondered if it was one of the demons he had encountered on the battlefield in his youth.

‘I can look forward to it.’

Ever since I entered the vision, I couldn’t get Edward’s wicked smile out of my head. This is no ordinary demon.

“Speaking of which, we’ve all changed our outfits…!”

True to Lucia’s words, the uniforms we were wearing were gone, and we were dressed in ponchos and other clothing with plate armor everywhere.

“I’m guessing that’s what Instructor Edward was wearing at the time.”

I nodded at Amon’s answer.

It wasn’t full armor, and since he was part of an assassination squad, he was probably armed with something that allowed for more agile movement.

“Zetto, are there any enemies around?”

Yuri’s question cut through the rain.

It wasn’t the kind of question you’d ask a blind man with bandaged eyes, but it’s no secret that my abilities are useful for scouting and detection.

“…At least not around here.”

I scattered my senses as far as I could, but no living creatures were in sight. Still, there was something suspicious.

There was a direction in this vast forest where the corpses of human soldiers seemed to form a path.

“Follow me.”

At my terse command, the others follow me in search of the enemy.

It must seem strange to those outside of the illusion, who will be watching this on their screens.

As I walked, I checked on Aizel, who had been unusually quiet.

She hadn’t spoken a word since entering the illusion and has been quietly looking around.

There was no tension in the air but I was worried that she might lose her composure since we were dealing with demons, but maybe I can put that aside for now.

It’s natural for humans to dislike or loathe demons, but unlike the other members of this group, Aizel has had more direct encounters with them.

For now, she was keeping her composure.

“Ugh…”

Lucia swallowed hard as she walked down the street.

The gruesome corpses of soldiers, seemingly killed by demons, lay on the ground.

It was a hard sight to behold, but based on Edward’s memories, it could be the last of those who fought in the war.

As we walked down the street, I realized I was following the scent of blood.

Suddenly, something touched my senses.

“…This is it.”

“Demons?”

I nodded at Aizel’s short question but the amount of magick I sense from him is out of the ordinary.

‘No matter what, Edward wouldn’t have prepared a Black Horned Demon…’

We immediately took cover in a nearby bush and slowly approached the creature.

“Big… Big… Try… Give…”

It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of a man’s voice leading the struggling breathing.

With a crunching, bone-crunching sound, the soldier’s body fell to the ground and sagged.

“”……””

Though it was only a vision, only in Edward’s memory… The tension in the group was palpable as they watched the demon end a man’s life with ease.

It was only then that we were able to see the creature.

Long, white hair, armor stained with blood and blood-red eyes….His face was eerily familiar.

There was only one thing different about him.

The horn on his forehead was not black.

Edward had met this creature before, during the war but was unable to kill it so he’s probably still alive in the demon lands.

The creature that stood there battered by the rain and slowly scanned the bush we were in.

“…”

At the same time, Aizel’s pupils twitches violently when she spotted him.

She knew he was the leader of the demons chasing her.

He was her worst nightmare.

***

Contrary to Zetto’s assumptions, Aizel was not shocked by this.

It was true that he was her enemy, but the demon in front of her was…

‘…The demon that killed Zetto.’