Just last night, the three runic archways on the fifteenth sublevel of the Order Spire had opened one after another.

The instructors on surveillance duty had assumed the next shift was arriving, only to discover that the person who entered was a black-robed figure whose face could not be seen clearly.

They found it strange, but they did not become particularly wary. The Order Spire could not possibly admit an outsider without proper authorization. The man’s clothing might have been unusual, but he was most likely one of their own.

Yet before the instructor approaching him could ask any questions, countless living blood vessels spread from beneath the black-robed figure’s feet, binding the instructors and piercing their skin.

“Aaaagh!”

Once they realized they were under attack, the remaining instructors froze for an instant before immediately surrounding the black-robed figure and launching an assault.

The surveillance instructors might not have been the strongest instructors in the entire Academy, but anyone qualified to enter the Order Spire was bound to possess considerable strength.

In their youth, they had all been prodigies who graduated from Carillian Academy. After completing their studies, they chose to remain and work at their alma mater, diligently fulfilling their duties for decades. Any one of them would have held at least an elder-level position at another academy.

Yet against the mysterious black-robed figure, they suffered an absolute defeat.

He did not even regard them as worthy opponents. Before they could learn his identity, he crushed them as effortlessly as chopping vegetables, harvesting wheat, or cutting down chives.

Those prodigies who had once shone so brilliantly at Carillian Academy were strung up alive and tortured throughout the night.

The pride and dignity they had accumulated over decades were shattered beyond recognition. In the end, they were denied even the dignity of dying in battle, their bodies annihilated in a humiliating, inhuman state.

Yes.

The black-robed figure who had infiltrated the Order Spire was Vinny.

How had he gotten inside?

It was simple. He had already used this method to enter openly in the previous world, so he could naturally use it again in this one.

In the previous world, he had used ambushes, isolation, poison, and every other underhanded method at his disposal to secretly kill a high-ranking Academy instructor.

Through [Blood-Debt] and his evil Spirit Soul, he had absorbed the instructor’s bloodline and realm. Along the way, he had also stolen the man’s memories, obtaining his identification badge, enchanted key, the procedures for entering the Order Spire, and both its static and rotating passwords.

With those things, he had successfully infiltrated the tower.

In this world, he still possessed the key and identification badge.

He did not even need to kill several more high-ranking instructors, because the procedures and passwords for entering the Order Spire were exactly the same as they had been in the previous world. He could slip inside without making a sound.

Carillian Academy’s rotating password changed once every hour.

And Vinny remembered this particular day.

This was the “time” he had spoken of.

He knew yesterday’s date intimately because, to him, it was a day well worth commemorating.

It was on that exact date, at that exact hour, that his previous-world self had successfully infiltrated Carillian Academy.

This time, on the same day and at the same hour, he entered the same rotating magical password and opened the Order Spire’s doors.

Of course, even if the rotating password had been different, it would not have mattered.

He had plenty of methods.

Some were efficient and discreet. Others required more effort and were considerably less discreet.

At worst, he would simply have to employ some less-than-elegant measures and eat a few more meat buns.

It was all the same to him.

“Surprised?”

The black-robed figure slowly approached the two men, carrying the crimson demonic sword covered in living blood vessels.

“An evil Spirit Soul? [Blood-Debt]?” the Dean murmured thoughtfully. “So that’s how it is.”

“You’re cruel, violent, despicable, and shameless,” the deputy dean said furiously. “You don’t regard yourself as human at all. Aren’t you afraid of retribution?”

“Retribution?” The corners of the black-robed figure’s lips curved upward. “Isn’t the retribution you’re suffering perfectly justified?”

“What are you talking about??”

“Back when the Tyrelis Ancient Empire still existed, Carillian Academy was its foremost academy. You helped the empire extract plenty of Divine Authorities, didn’t you?” the black-robed figure asked in return. “Do you really not know where those Divine Authorities were stolen from? Do you need me to remind you?”

“If you ask me, Carillian Academy and the old Tyrelis Ancient Empire were the ones who had no fear of retribution. Otherwise, you never would have done something like that.”

“To keep your country standing forever, you actually tried to rip out the very foundations and supporting pillars upon which the continent was built.”

“Tsk, tsk. No wonder the entire structure collapsed on top of you.”

“What you did was retribution in the making. You were the ones who truly wanted the Tyrelis Continent to die.”

The Dean fell silent.

All of that had happened several centuries ago. Even the current generation’s principal of Carillian Academy had not yet been born at the time.

After the catastrophe that befell the Tyrelis Ancient Empire, Carillian Academy realized it had created an unbearably dangerous problem for itself—one that could detonate at any moment.

Once a Divine Authority had been extracted, it could not simply be put back.

Their only option had been to construct a tower and permanently seal the [Order] Divine Authority inside it.

It was a historical problem inherited from the past.

Their predecessors had dug the pit, and later generations had been left to fill it.

Yet the black-robed figure before them did not appear very old.

How could he possibly know about events that had been buried beneath centuries of dust??

The Dean refused to believe that he had uncovered the truth by himself.

Someone must have told him.

“Don’t celebrate too soon,” the Dean said coldly, staring at the black-robed figure. “You might be nothing more than a knife in someone else’s hand. You simply haven’t realized it yet.”

“Me? A knife?” The black-robed figure’s shoulders shook as he revealed a chilling smile.

As he spoke, he raised the crimson demonic sword covered in living blood vessels.

“The knife is right here in my hand.”

“I kill whoever I want. I’m the one holding the blade.”

“Well, the final piece of the puzzle is in place now.” A spine-chilling laugh emerged from the black-robed figure. “Take a guess. What do you think will happen to Carillian Academy next? Will it be reduced to ruins, or swallowed by a sea of flames? Hahahahaha!”

“Unfortunately, since you two are merely pieces of the puzzle, you won’t get to witness the delightful game of cat and mouse that follows.”

“To think you’ll miss such a spectacular show. Ah, what a shame. I truly feel sorry for you.”

“You lunatic. Don’t tell me you intend to—” The deputy dean stared intently at the black-robed figure. “Who the hell are you? What could have made you this insane and twisted??”

“Twisted? No.”

“This world was born from sin and filth. When evil becomes the norm, anything pure naturally becomes an aberration in your eyes.”

“Do you know what kind of people are the most hateful?”

“The ones who remain silent.”

“They’re accomplices to those bastards.”

“Everything I’m doing now is completely right.”

With that, the black-robed figure swung his sword.

A streak of blood cleaved the mana-crystal display behind him in half.

“Save that speech for the Demon Pillar you worship after you go to hell, lunatic.” The deputy dean stood with his sword at the ready.

“You were responsible for the disappearance of those two instructors and two students as well, weren’t you?”

“You’ve committed an unforgivable crime against the instructors of Carillian Academy.”

“Are you prepared to pay for it??”

Mottled lightning flickered across the deputy dean’s enchanted greatsword. The blade tore through the air, unleashing a sudden roar of thunder.

Lightning surged skyward from the sword.

Moving as swiftly as a thunderbolt, the deputy dean appeared before the black-robed figure in an instant as electricity roared around him.

[Roaring Thunderlight Slash]

The black-robed figure raised his sword to block.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

The lightning-wreathed greatsword collided with [Blood-Debt], and concentric cracks spread across the floor beneath their feet.

“I expected more from you. Your realm is nothing special,” the deputy dean sneered when he saw that his opponent had dared to meet his attack head-on and cross blades with him.

In an instant, the immense lightning surging through the enchanted greatsword traveled along [Blood-Debt] and into the black-robed figure’s body.

The terrifying voltage of an attack from the Master realm burned his entire body black. His clothes tore apart, and his skin split and festered.

The battle was already decided.

This time, the black-robed figure would not even leave behind an intact corpse.

As Carillian Academy’s deputy dean, he was not primarily a combatant. Even so, he had reached the Intermediate Master realm.

He had originally intended to capture the intruder alive and interrogate him, but the man’s crimes were unforgivable, and his methods were treacherous and vicious.

There was nothing wrong with eliminating him immediately.

Yet to the astonishment of both the Dean and deputy dean, the black-robed figure—whose body should have been carbonized and torn apart—burst into wild laughter amid the flashing lightning and burning flesh, even as his own black blood covered his face.

“Heh... heheheh... hahahahahaha!”

“??”

The deputy dean had fought many Demon Pillar cultists and extremist heretics before, but this was the first time he had seen one laugh wildly while being electrocuted.

Worse, the man’s injuries were rapidly healing.

[Blood-Debt] continuously supplied the black-robed figure with the flesh and vitality stored within it, keeping him alive beneath the horrifying lightning.

He was even growing stronger.

“Go on. Keep shocking me!” the black-robed figure shouted with a crazed expression. “If you don’t increase the power soon, all my wounds are going to heal!”

Pain seemed only to make him more excited.

More insane.

Did this bastard not possess any pain receptors??

“Pain? What’s pain supposed to matter?”

The black-robed figure seemed to discern what the deputy dean was thinking.

“I’ve lost limbs, bled out, and been blown to pieces by magic all the way here. I got used to pain a long time ago.”

He even reached out and seized the deputy dean’s enchanted greatsword with one hand.

The instant his five fingers touched the waves of lightning, they shattered, blasted apart until only his palm remained.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

The black-robed figure laughed through his tears, his voice filled with unbearable pain, collapse, exhilaration, and hysteria.

“That’s it?”

“You think this little bit of power is enough to bring me down?”

“Then what was all the pain I endured to get here supposed to amount to?!”

“You—!”

The deputy dean was dumbfounded.

This man was an absolute lunatic.

“Kill me?”

“This world isn’t qualified.”

Only then did the deputy dean realize that several red, living tubes had somehow already coiled around him, winding up from his waist and around his arms.

“I caught you.”

The black-robed figure’s clothes were now in tatters. His robe had been burned until little more than blackened scraps remained, finally revealing his appearance.

His moon-blue eyes were like a frozen lake.

They stared directly into the deputy dean’s eyes, sending a chill into the depths of his heart.

The deputy dean immediately reacted.

His Spirit Soul was [Magic Swordsman], and he instantly activated [Frenzied-Frequency Burst]. Lightning and electrical currents spread across his entire body as he attempted to shatter the living blood vessels binding him.

The living vessels did not break.

Instead, they transferred the electrical current into the black-robed figure.

The black-robed figure was electrocuted once again, his body convulsing and spasming. Yet little by little, he recovered, standing amid the lightning as though nothing had happened.

“Come on! Come on, keep going!” the black-robed figure taunted. “What’s wrong? Too scared??”

“This bastard!”

Something was wrong.

The Dean, who had already drawn his staff, sensed the problem and did not recklessly intervene.

Moreover, now that the black robe had been burned away, the Demon Pillar cultist looked increasingly familiar.

The Dean was certain he had seen that face somewhere before.

“Vinny?!” the Dean exclaimed in utter shock as he recognized the black-robed figure.

“You’re... Vinny??”

“Vinny?” The deputy dean was equally astonished. “He’s the missing student??”

Although the deputy dean had never met Vinny, he had heard of him.

Vinny was nominally the Facilis Family’s sole remaining descendant. Setting aside all the muddled rumors—and the question of what exactly his relationship with Margaret was—Vinny was universally acknowledged as one of the Academy’s prodigies.

His magical aptitude was only one star, yet with nothing but his mastery of [Armor Fortress], he had fought his way into the top four of his year without receiving any preferential resources.

That required far more than mere effort and sweat.

Anyone who had reached the Master realm knew that he must also have encountered extraordinary opportunities along the way.

Whatever the case, Vinny was one of Carillian Academy’s finest students.

And now he was supposedly the mastermind behind everything??

“No. That isn’t right.” The Dean frowned. “You’re impersonating him.”

“I’ve met the real Vinny. There is a fundamental difference between you and him.”

“Oh? I’m the fake one?”

Vinny tilted his head and let out several dry, inscrutable chuckles.

“Sometimes, I truly wonder what kind of person he must be.”

“What kind of person could make all of you find the idea that ‘he had always been a Demon Pillar cultist infiltrating Carillian Academy’ so impossible to believe?”

“Why do you trust Vinny so much?”

“Why??”

Vinny’s emotions were deeply unstable. One moment, he was drawing out the question in a low murmur. The next, he was screaming it at them hysterically.

“Why??”

Vinny repeated that single word over and over.

The rest remained unspoken, buried inside his heart.

Why?

Why wasn’t there a single person willing to believe me in the previous world?!

Why?!

In the very end, the only one willing to accept him had been an evil Divine Armament.

Vinny’s eyes filled with blood vessels born of madness and resentment.

“Heh. It looks like the ‘me’ of this world is one of their accomplices too,” Vinny muttered.

“No wonder. No wonder all of you are like this.”

“I understand now.”

“These people assimilated him.”

“So that’s why you see me as the aberration??”

“?”

The two men before him clearly could not understand what Vinny was saying.

“This is all your fault.”

“You forced me to become this way.”

“You sinners...”

Vinny let out a low, savage roar.

“You’re the ones who should go to hell!”

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