“According to the accounts Luna and the others gave after the incident at Kamov Mountain, [Blood-Debt] was torn apart by the energy released when the anomaly space shattered. Its flesh was mangled, its body scattered in pieces across the ground, and no one could even tell whether it was alive or dead. Then the anomaly space collapsed, and no one knew where it went,” the Dean said hesitantly.

“Based on their description, even if that demonic sword survived, it should have suffered catastrophic damage. It shouldn’t be capable of causing trouble again without at least a century of recovery.”

“Better safe than sorry. Neither the vice principal nor the principal is currently at the Academy. I believe we should prepare for the worst,” the deputy dean said.

“You’re right. But if [Blood-Debt] truly is behind this, we have a serious problem.” The Dean’s expression hardened. “Once [Blood-Debt] acquires a host, its disguise becomes extraordinarily difficult to penetrate. Finding the traitor hiding among us will not be easy.”

“Deploy more personnel. Every corner of the campus must remain under constant surveillance until the vice principal returns.”

“In addition, increase the power supplied to the Nine-Eyed Curse Array and activate its ‘Omnidirectional Detection’ mode. The Academy is entering a state of emergency effective immediately.”

“But activating ‘Omnidirectional Detection’ will consume an enormous quantity of our mana-crystal reserves. The Academy’s stockpile is still recovering. If consumption exceeds our mining rate—”

“That no longer matters. We have no other choice.” The Dean’s tone left no room for argument. “Assign personnel to watch the mana-crystal display twenty-four hours a day. I refuse to believe that even [Blood-Debt] can avoid revealing itself forever.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And whoever dared lay a hand on students of this Academy—once I find out who it was, I’ll personally tear their head off.”

*****

By nightfall, Carillian Academy security personnel were patrolling every street. Clad in dark-black flexible combat armor, they moved throughout the Academy in pairs, each watching the other’s back.

It was already well past midnight.

Two combat instructors were completing their final patrol through the northern corner of the commercial street while waiting for the next shift to arrive.

Thud.

As they rounded a corner, a figure collapsed at the mouth of an alley.

“Hmm?”

Both instructors noticed immediately. They exchanged a glance before approaching side by side.

Once they saw that the fallen figure was wearing a Carillian Academy uniform, they hurried forward.

“Are you all right?”

One instructor stood guard with a staff and confirmed that no one was hiding beyond the corner. Only then did the other kneel and help the student up.

“Cough, cough...”

The student’s face was deathly pale, and he could not stop coughing.

“What happened to you? Were you attacked?”

The instructor frowned. A cursory examination revealed no obvious wound, but the student’s face was so pale that not a trace of blood remained in it. He reached for a healing potion, intending to stabilize him first.

“Wait. Isn’t this student...?”

Once the other instructor had confirmed that no one else was nearby, he turned toward Vinny with a startled expression.

“Isn’t this Vinny Facilis? The student who disappeared several days ago?”

“I think it really is.”

By the dim light of the crystal streetlamp, the other instructor finally made out the student’s face as well.

“Vinny? Vinny, can you hear me? Are you all right? We finally found you. You’ve been missing for days. What happened to you?”

“Is now really the time for questions? We need to take him to the church immediately.”

The other instructor glared at his partner.

Just as they were about to lift Vinny, the blue-haired young man, who appeared to be barely clinging to life, spoke in a trembling voice.

His low, parched words emerged one syllable at a time.

“Watch out... behind you.”

“?!”

The two instructors instinctively turned toward the dim alley behind them.

A tall, emaciated figure stood there.

Only its indistinct black outline was visible. Veins and masses of raw flesh covered its entire body, making it resemble a human being who had been skinned alive.

The moment the instructors saw it, they drew their weapons.

Even a blind man could tell that shadow was no human.

“Something’s wrong.”

Both instructors noticed the same problem.

The badges pinned to their chests—enchanted tools capable of detecting evil Spirit Souls and Demon Pillar cultists—were completely intact.

Yet they showed no reaction whatsoever.

How was that possible?

The creature before them practically had the words I am an evil abomination written across its face, so why weren’t the badges responding?

They had no time to ponder the question.

The inhumanly tall and thin shadow plunged both hands into the ground. Its arms were longer than its legs, and its five fingers wriggled like squid tentacles.

“Careful!”

The staff-wielding combat instructor reacted first and struck the ground with his staff.

[High-Tier Water Curtain]

A wall of water materialized above them, blocking ten crimson spikes that erupted from the shadows overhead.

But there were shadows beneath their feet as well.

Ten more blood-red spikes burst upward from below.

The other instructor was no pushover. He reacted instantly, driving his sword into the ground.

[Flame Shield]

The fiery shield blocked the second attack, holding the crimson spikes at bay for the moment.

“What the hell is this thing?!”

They had assumed that, no matter how bizarre the creature might be, the two of them working together could defeat it—or at least retreat safely with Vinny.

They had not expected its attacks to be both so treacherous and so devastatingly powerful. Their magical defenses had nearly shattered under the first assault.

“One-Eye, I’ll hold it back! Call for reinforcements!”

The staff-wielding instructor struggled to maintain the barriers.

His companion possessed the [Magic Swordsman] Spirit Soul, and the flame shield he had produced was not built to endure sustained punishment. The spikes soon pierced through it, forcing the staff wielder to summon a second wall of water and defend against the attacks from above and below by himself.

Sweat streamed down his face. He was clearly reaching his limit.

The instructor nicknamed One-Eye did not hesitate. He immediately reached for a signal magic scroll to alert the other instructors nearby.

Slash!

The moment he took out the scroll, however, he discovered that he could no longer activate it.

The reason was simple.

The hand holding the scroll was gone.

Blood poured from the severed stump.

“Aaaaaagh!”

“One-Eye, what happened?!”

The staff-wielding instructor was still desperately resisting the shadow monster’s attacks when his companion screamed.

He turned around and saw One-Eye sprawled on the ground, shrieking as blood gushed from his severed wrist.

What in the world—

The staff wielder’s eyes widened.

Behind him stood the blue-haired young man who had been lying on the ground moments ago, seemingly at death’s door.

Vinny now held a crimson demonic sword as long as he was tall. His eyes were cold, and a stiff smile had been forced across his face.

His appearance and Carillian Academy uniform had prevented either instructor from questioning his identity.

“Y-You...?”

The staff wielder stared at Vinny’s expression and the demonic sword in his hand, stunned beyond words. Confusion and fury quickly flooded his eyes.

“Vinny, you formed a contract with [Blood-Debt]?!”

“What an overreaction.”

Vinny rolled his neck, producing several crisp cracks.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?! That is an evil Divine Armament responsible for countless atrocities! How could you join forces with it?!”

“Countless atrocities? Oh. And?” Vinny replied flatly. “This young master thought you were about to tell me something serious.”

“Vinny... You’ve been secretly colluding with an evil Divine Armament?”

“All right, all right. Stop repeating yourself. No matter how many times you say it, this young master isn’t going to give you a prize.”

Vinny rested the crimson demonic sword on his shoulder.

“Honestly, the fact that you only noticed now proves just how stupid you are.”

“But stupidity has its advantages. I, for one, greatly enjoy tormenting fools and watching the despair on their faces before they die.”

Vinny smiled brightly.

“You!”

The staff-wielding instructor gritted his teeth, frantically searching for a way out.

Vinny had not merely contracted with [Blood-Debt]. Their [Contract] ran extraordinarily deep.

This was clearly no recent arrangement. Their powers would have needed a long time to blend together before producing such a result.

A contractor so deeply bound to [Blood-Debt] was far beyond what two ordinary combat instructors could handle.

Unless they summoned reinforcements, both of them would die here.

In truth, they were each carrying a signal scroll. One-Eye was not the only person capable of sending an alert.

That gave him an opportunity.

This bastard probably believed only one of them had brought a magic scroll.

The staff wielder replaced the [High-Tier Water Curtain], which offered superior protection from a single direction, with [Current’s Aegis].

The spell would create a spherical shield of water around his entire body, freeing him to use the signal scroll and notify the instructors nearby.

The staff wielder had once been one of Carillian Academy’s finest graduates. As a specialist in water-element magic, he excelled at transitioning between spells.

His movements were smooth and seamless.

In an instant, he broke the completed [High-Tier Water Curtain] back down into loose mana, then immediately restructured it into [Current’s Aegis].

The tiny details he had perfected through years of training had now become the key to his survival.

Yet the only reward for his flawless transition was the shattering of his water shield—

and his body being carved into countless pieces.

“Oh dear.”

Vinny shook his head.

The combat instructor had been impaled by spikes from above and below. He hung suspended in the air like a marionette, blood spraying in every direction.

His eyes were filled with terror. He did not even seem to understand what had happened.

“Why did you have to get clever?”

“Just because I wasn’t going to kill you doesn’t mean I couldn’t. I wanted to play with you a little longer, but once you tried getting clever, you left me no choice.”

“Let’s think about this. Why would you replace a one-sided shield with one that protects you from every direction?”

Vinny tilted his head.

“Such a difficult mystery.”

He lightly tapped the sword against the ground.

The shadow monster dissolved into black smoke.

Released from the spikes that had pierced him from head to toe, the instructor plunged to the ground. His mutilated body struck the pavement and burst apart.

“You’re next. One-Eye, was it?”

Vinny turned toward the combat instructor cowering in the corner, staring at him in abject terror.

“Oh, forget it. You’re no fun like this.”

Vinny spread his hands.

“Boring.”

He turned away and drove [Blood-Debt] into the ground.

Several flexible, vein-like spikes erupted from below and pierced One-Eye’s body. They also skewered the already dead staff wielder, suspending both men in the air like chunks of meat on a spit.

“Ghk!”

One-Eye died instantly.

Their bodies rapidly shriveled, as though every trace of blood and flesh had been sucked out of them.

Behind Vinny, his shadow expanded into a gigantic monster. It seized the two men’s fleeing shadows, dragged them back, and stuffed them into its mouth, devouring them ravenously.

Before long, even the stench of blood had vanished.

Nothing remained at the scene except the black-robed figure.

His cleanup had been practiced, efficient, and immaculate.

Honestly, I don’t understand what goes through your head. Why not just kill those two high-quality meat buns? Why bother putting on an entire performance? [Blood-Debt] complained.

The same twisted tastes as always.

“What a terribly uncultured evil Divine Armament. Is eating nothing more than cramming food into your mouth and swallowing as fast as possible to you?”

Vinny glanced at [Blood-Debt].

“A meal requires atmosphere. Seasoning it with another person’s terror and the despair of betrayal makes it taste so much better, wouldn’t you agree?”

Yes, yes. As expected of the boss man. So particular about everything.

[Blood-Debt] immediately began showering him with shameless flattery.

Now then, boss man. Since we’ve decided to start slaughtering people and we’ve completed your precious little ceremony, shouldn’t we finally begin?

Greed saturated [Blood-Debt]’s voice.

I can hardly wait. Those two meat buns were delicious. The more I eat, the hungrier I get.

“There’s no hurry. You’ll have plenty to eat soon.”

Vinny’s lips curved into an eerie smile as he looked in a certain direction.

“I promise you’ll be stuffed so full you won’t want another bite. I happen to care a great deal about efficiency.”

Oh? Efficiency? Wouldn’t the most efficient method be slaughtering our way from here to the Order Spire and drowning all of Carillian Academy in despair?

“That would be boring.”

“Besides, after two students disappeared, I’m certain they’ll activate the Nine-Eyed Curse Array’s ‘Omnidirectional Detection’ mode. Once they do, it’s only a matter of time before I appear in their field of view.”

“And it still isn’t ‘that time’ yet.”

‘That time’? You mean the same thing you did in the last world?

[Blood-Debt] immediately understood what Vinny intended.

“Exactly. The same as in the last world. Why abandon a simple, effective method when it already works so well?”

Vinny’s voice carried a deeper meaning.

“When the time comes, not a single person in this Academy will escape. They’ll all become our food.”

“And once we’ve finished eating, we’ll go settle the score with those old fossils in the Church of the Dawn.”

His body then collapsed into a pool of black liquid and gradually disappeared.

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