*
━━━
#Academy Stay Day 84.
*If competitors among classmates become obstacles to survival, it’s necessary to expel as many classmates as possible at once.
*With the final exam period approaching, the ‘Reduce Classmates’ operation begins to replace aggressive territorial expansion.
━━━
With a stern face, Cruel casually drops magic mines along the escape route of the Demon King’s Four Kings.
While currently cooperative, the curiosity about the existence of the ‘Young Lady’s Letter,’ which mentioned her, surfaced.
“Why do you want to reduce your classmates so badly, Cruel?”
While freezing the Demon King’s Four Kings Red Tide’s [Cell Death Gas] with an Ice Breath and sucking in the deadly iron stakes covered in poison with a [High-Power Vacuum Cleaner] as they spread out like an umbrella, a dumbfounded voice came back.
“Shock. Cruel asks if that information is really necessary in this situation. Claiming it’s as scary as a madman talking while looking back during driving.”
“Ahaha! It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m a Veteran Player, so I can’t die! How many times do you think I’ve seen the Four Kings’ patterns? Look at this! I can block it with my eyes closed!”
“…Betrayal followed by disdain? …I’ll kill you, Dark Princess.”
Furious, Red Tide gathered the magical power it had been emitting into a [Dark Cloud] and poured down a rain filled with deadly poison containing [Heavy Rain] and [Red Tide Phenomenon].
Immediately, I countered with a [Double High-Heat Oil Droplet] spell that enveloped Cruel and me.
The raindrops containing the deadly poison pierced through the first layer of oil droplets, and before reaching the second layer, the water boiled, releasing steam furiously beyond the droplets.
Hhhaaaah!!
In the meantime, the unfiltered deadly poison accumulated between the droplets, but there was a limit to the rainfall that Red Tide could maintain due to its exhausted mana from a long escape.
Eventually, when the rain stopped, upon bursting the first layer of droplets, the deadly poison poured out onto the ground.
“How is it? Easy, right?”
“…Fear. Cruel claims she never wanted to experience a partner suicide battle show with closed eyes ever again.”
“Then hurry up and tell me! Why does it seem you’re working so hard to reduce your classmates? Were the Class 980 seniors that threatening to you?”
Although it unintentionally shaped up like a threat, my curiosity pushed me to press on, treating it like a form of intimidation. With one eye closed, should I wink and try for an encore of the eye-closed magic show? The unspoken pressure slowly got Cruel’s heavy lips to open.
“Recollection. Class 980 students were excellent. Although they can’t be compared to Cruel’s genius talent, the imperial noble students who enrolled before the princess and tried to pressure me as ‘seniors’ were particularly outstanding.”
“Gasp! Masugaki’s awful event!”
Of course, every character has their unfair events, and there’s an event targeting the Masugaki Princess too.
If Hestia’s unfair event unfolded between the entrance ceremony and the first semester of the first year, the unfair event targeting Masugaki begins in the second semester as one starts to adapt to campus life.
“Oh, no! You wretched morons, return Masugaki’s assignments!”
“What are you calling wretched all the time? Wretched is you, who can’t submit assignments to the Professor by the deadline. Hehe. The so-called royal guards are useless against second-years, huh?”
Typically, it starts with snatching assignments, ruining campus life, isolating her from others, and mentally breaking down Masugaki leading to a regression into wretchedness.
If the player fails to intervene at the right time to solve events or rescue, eventually, Masugaki falls into a puppet of the noble faction, dragged around by sadistic older female nobles with dead eyes.
Until now, Masugaki thought it would be a safe route as the seniors triggering the events hadn’t appeared, but now I understood why.
━━━
#Academy Stay Day 77.
*To survive in the Academy, it’s essential to foresee a future beyond the first year.
*Strategy formation against the potentially greatest enemy: [Student Council].
*Major planning completed.
*Mobilizing both material and human resources for plan execution.
━━━
Even without this game knowledge, Cruel was wary of the alliance between the noble faction students and the Student Council.
“Danger. At that time, the [Sadi Chocolate], a capable individual comparable to Mandela Castera’s wide-area sonic spell and a first-year upper-class noble, was the biggest threat to my survival at the Gift Academy.”
“How strong was she~?”
“Sadi Chocolate was a mind reader capable of penetrating a person’s inner thoughts and realizing their weaknesses. Her rhetoric couldn’t be surpassed by Mandela’s brainwashing or my mimicry.”
A mind reader?!
“Was that senior the one with half a burned face and wearing a prosthetic eye?”
“Affirmative. Cruel is curious. Where did you acquire the information about the senior who died before Oknodie enrolled?”
“It’s a secret!”
Realizing that despite the different names, she was still a dangerous figure sent a chill to my heart.
I was shocked enough that I almost suffered from the [Magic Umbrella] and [Full Sky Rain] that Red Tide unleashed.
After dodging subsequent attacks mixed with lightning-fast hyper boosts and shadow teleportations, relief finally washed over me.
“Good job!”
“Confusion. Cruel never expected to receive praise.”
“That senior deserved it! The linked unfair events exceed 100 nuclear bombs, you know?”
While staying at the Academy, I planned to manipulate the psychological weaknesses of various characters, causing them to fall into villainy and commit various crimes one by one.
Even if one crime was defeated in front of me, as long as the [Mind Reader] was alive, the unfairness would continue.
I didn’t realize until the middle of the game that fighting against unfairness was also a fight against the mind reader.
Of course, after learning the secret?
I started stalking the mind reader whenever there was a chance.
Although the professors’ and instructors’ attitudes noticeably hardened after uncovering the crime facts, who cares?
If they want, let them kill themselves!
In the end, Mandela’s worries weren’t unfounded.
The mind reader would eventually infiltrate the Student Council too.
In extreme cases, this person could even ascend to the [Student Council President].
Of course, every time a mind reader became president, it ended up as a disaster without exception.
Having cleared away such a risky figure, I genuinely felt grateful!
“Should I deliver the finishing blow?”
“Question. Cruel asks if your original goal of capturing Red Tide was not to gather growth materials for Golden Dancer Riske?”
“Oh snap. Sorry, I can’t give you the finishing blow!”
“Alternative. Cruel only hoped to reunite with Jonnas from the start. Just arranging a proper meeting for me would satisfy Cruel.”
“Alright. Once this is over, I’ll line that up for you right away!”
Dramatically ignored, Red Tide glared at me with bloodshot eyes, gathering mana density.
“Dark Princess. Promises towards the next day or future hold no meaning. You will pay for your betrayal today.”
“[Natural Disaster] tied to a 4th stage domain? Using such great power, not only the Butler of the Foundation but also my mentor, Professor Destroyer, will come at the same time. Can you handle that?”
“I’ll take you all down in one go and leave.”
“Then please wait a moment! I still have more questions!”
“Do you think just because I said to wait, I will?”
<Demon King’s Four Kings Red Tide>
<Domain 4th Stage – Contract Mark Area>
<Red Tide Area>
Mass proliferation of harmful algae destroying the marine ecosystem.
Phenomenon where both sea and freshwater turn red.
Annihilation of the ecosystem.
Though the implications of red tide are diverse, the core is simple.
Mana Pollution.
As soon as Red Tide activated the red tide domain, I released a dark mana in the form of waves to prevent the generation and spread of pollutants.
Kkuung!
[You have entered a competition against the Demon King’s Four Kings Red Tide for control of dark mana.]
[Your total dark mana is lower than Red Tide’s.]
[Your dark mana purity is higher than Red Tide’s.]
[Your mana control skills are vastly superior to Red Tide’s.]
[You have won the control contest.]
[The mana pollutants of the red tide phenomenon now obey your will.]
“?!”
As I was about to leave the clumsy Four Kings under attack from his own red tide phenomenon and ask Cruel my unfinished question, I continued.
“How did you kill that senior?”
“Answer. It’s not much different from what Oknodie just did. Cruel had one of the henchmen following Sadi Chocolate revolt by taking control of them.”
In short, it meant it was a three-way battle of mind control masters among three students.
Senior Mandela Castera broke through brainwashing and suggestions with sonic waves, commanding with charisma.
Senior Sadi Chocolate penetrated psychological weaknesses and dominated with cunning speech.
Cruel intoxicated students with dark mana, directly controlling them, or subtly planted orders through brainwashing and suggestion.
Light’s charisma.
Whispers of darkness.
Domination of the void.
Suddenly feeling proud of the 980 seniors who survived through the tumultuous battles was a nice feeling.
But after hearing that, I had another burning question.
Holding Red Tide’s hair tightly, while marking the pain, I asked.
“The body of senior Sadi Chocolate, you didn’t properly burn it, did you?”
“Negative. Before the evidence could be destroyed, we were attacked by Mandela Castera. As for whether or not I succeeded in a perfect crime, the answer is negative.”
“Ahhh… I didn’t mean it like that, but I suddenly feel like I really don’t want to go back to the Academy now…”
And how could I not feel that way?
“If you didn’t burn the body, it means the physical and soul are still in the [Body Storage]!”
“…?”
“That means Professor Sadako could come and grab it later!”
“…!!”
“They wouldn’t have taken classes on necromancy yet like Darknodi, Jiang, and Titosso, right…?”
Once I returned, I’d eventually have to attend such classes!
Should I play outside until Darknodi enrolls?
I have to ponder where else to carve this marking of domination after already marking Red Tide with the pain mark.
Hey, but his forehead is already filled with pain markings.
Where should I place the domination mark?
A place difficult to damage and can hold for a long time…
“I should just mark his belly!”
While ripping apart Red Tide’s clothes, I marked his lower abdomen with the domination mark in thought.
Since Darknodi is also my clone, they should manage their own affairs!
There’s no way he would cause trouble by putting my friends in danger just because he missed them, right?
If he did, I’d surely punish him!
