Chapter 61: The Dull and the Genius

A scene that felt utterly surreal.

I glared at Clarice, standing amidst the pungent smell of blood.

I had seen this before.

Crimson eyes, a black substance covering her entire body.

And horns sprouting from her head.

The man with the Red Wolf tattoo who attacked the princess.

She looked eerily similar to how he transformed.

“W-What is all this…?”

Elena, belatedly realizing the situation, looked around with a panicked voice.

Students lying unconscious, bleeding.

Some seemed to be in critical condition, losing a lot of blood.

Judging from the circumstances, it was clear that Clarice, standing before me, was the culprit.

Why did she transform into this state?

No, before that, why did she do this?

And most importantly.

‘What are the other professors doing?’

Where were the professors who were responsible for the students’ safety?

Even Lumine, the dragon, was currently at the academy.

Why hadn’t they taken any action while this was happening?

“There’s a barrier around here.”

Lisa’s words answered my question.

A large barrier seemed to be surrounding the area where we were standing.

“…Louis Vermore.”

Clarice, who had been silently watching us, muttered my name.

I stepped forward, tightening my grip on my sword hilt.

“Did you do all of this?”

I asked her, wondering if I was misunderstanding something.

“…….”

Clarice briefly looked around at my words.

After glancing at the suffering students bleeding on the ground, she turned to me with an expressionless face.

“Yes. I did it all.”

“Why did you do this?”

Why did she do such a thing?

I stared at Clarice with questioning eyes.

I knew nothing about her.

We weren’t acquainted, and I didn’t have any positive feelings towards her.

But I knew one thing.

Even if it was a misunderstanding, Clarice was someone with her own sense of justice.

Even if that justice was a distorted, self-righteous form fueled by prejudice, leading her to wield her sword against others.

At least she wasn’t evil.

Then why was this happening?

Despite my question demanding an answer, Clarice remained silent.

With her lips tightly pressed together and her eyes bloodshot, she seemed to be suppressing some deep emotion.

A brief silence.

Just as I was about to speak, anxious that the students’ conditions might worsen.

“…I envied them.”

“What…?”

“I coveted their brilliant talent.”

What nonsense was this?

I kept my mouth shut and listened to Clarice.

“At first, I thought I could overcome everything with effort. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even imitate them.”

Clarice’s following words were laced with strong emotions.

And it was.

A type of emotion I was familiar with.

“I swung my sword until my palms bled. Hoping that someday, I could also become a knight.”

The image of Clarice training alone in the training room surfaced in my mind.

“I thought if I worked hard, I could become like them.”

The heroes she admired.

She thought she could also become an excellent knight like them.

“But reality was different. No matter how hard I tried, a fool like me could never achieve my dream.”

But reality was cruel.

Clarice, who possessed average, or rather, below-average talent.

The wall she had to overcome to achieve her dream was too thick and high.

And that gave rise to certain emotions within Clarice.

Inferiority, jealousy, despair.

I clutched my chest, which pounded in resonance with her voice.

Because Louis’ remaining negative emotions within me were trying to surface.

“So I decided to achieve my dream, no matter the cost. Even if it meant selling my soul to the devil.”

…’Devil’?

I frowned at the unfamiliar word.

There were no such things as devils in this world.

Then what was the devil she spoke of?

Was it just a metaphor?

Or could it be….

‘Are there really devils?’

If that was true.

Then the situation was serious.

There weren’t any grand existences like heroes or saints in this world.

If a devil really appeared, we would be in serious trouble.

Just as I was about to ask Clarice about what she just said.

“Die…!!!”

One of the students lying on the ground suddenly jumped up and lunged at Clarice.

But.

“Gah…!”

The attack was too easily subdued.

The male student, his neck caught in Clarice’s grip, gasped for air.

A moment later, a black energy emanated from Clarice’s body and flowed into the student’s.

And.

“Ugh…! Urgh!!”

Something was forcibly extracted from the male student’s body by the black energy.

A transparent, pure energy.

It was the mana within his body.

“Oh no…!”

The student was in danger.

If his mana was forcibly extracted like this, his life would be at risk.

I quickly raised my sword and charged at Clarice.

“Stop!”

“Don’t interfere.”

Seeing me rush towards her, Clarice stopped what she was doing and raised her sword.

And then our swords clashed.

Clang!

I couldn’t cut through Clarice’s sword, even with Aura.

With furrowed brows, I saw a black energy similar to Aura clinging to her sword.

But this wasn’t Aura.

There was no way Clarice could manifest Aura, and.

It was different from the Aura I possessed.

This was mana. And it was emitting an unsettlingly eerie energy.

I quickly twisted my sword and spun my body.

My sword, drawing a large arc, aimed for Clarice’s head.

But Clarice simply lowered her head and dodged my sword.

I snatched the male student from her grasp and quickly retreated.

“Cough…! Cough! Th-Thank you.”

Clarice, looking at the student who thanked me with an expressionless face, asked.

“Why are you interfering?”

Was she seriously asking that?

“I can’t just stand by and watch someone die.”

I didn’t have any noble sense of justice.

Nor was I altruistic enough to sacrifice myself to save others.

I was simply acting within the realm of common sense.

And Clarice should know that.

I wondered why she was doing this without any emotion.

She should know this was wrong.

She truly seemed to not understand why I tried to save the male student.

And seeing that, I realized one thing.

‘Her emotions are dying.’

When we first spoke, she was clearly filled with intense emotions.

But now, she was just staring at me with a cold expression, devoid of any emotion.

Just now, when I interfered, she wasn’t angry or annoyed.

It was literally a tone and expression of incomprehension.

“…Was this what she meant by selling her soul to the devil?”

It seemed the devil she spoke of was related to her changing state.

Losing emotions.

It was the same as becoming less than human.

Clarice, who had been watching me with a wary gaze, asked.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“…Suddenly?”

I frowned at her abrupt words.

Was this the time for a leisurely conversation?

But regardless of my feelings, Clarice spoke.

“You must also be someone with little talent. How did you manifest Aura?”

So that was it.

Clarice seemed to think I was someone like her, lacking talent.

Lacking talent, my ass.

Louis clearly had a remarkable talent for swordsmanship.

The reason Louis lived recklessly before I possessed him.

Was simply because he was frustrated by his lack of mana.

Now that the mana problem was somewhat resolved, his talent bloomed.

He was now considered close to becoming a Sword Expert.

“Because I’m a genius, of course.”

“…I see. So you were one of them after all.”

Clarice looked at her hands with a bitter smile.

Her hands were covered in calluses.

“Then there’s no need to hold back.”

“What? W-Wait…!”

“It’s useless.”

I tried to dodge, feeling a tingling sensation all over my body.

But the giant shadow extending from Clarice’s body engulfed me faster.

I was quickly consumed by the shadow.

And my vision turned black in an instant.