“This world has been sick beyond saving for a long time! People whose crimes are beyond counting sit in grand, sanctimonious temples, basking in the worship and reverence of the ignorant, enjoying fine wine, lavish food, supreme status, and absolute authority! Meanwhile, the genuinely good die forgotten in corners no one cares about, slandered and defamed, spat upon and driven away!”

“I’ve had enough of this filthy world.”

“But are they the worst of all? No—you are! You people who stayed silent! You people who stood by and let them commit atrocity after atrocity, who let them hurt the innocent and good! You hypocritical perpetrators are just as guilty as they are! Every last one of you has to die!” Vinny raised [Blood-Debt] and roared, bringing it down on the deputy dean again and again in a frenzy.

“If this world is to be saved, then it must first be utterly destroyed! Everything built upon this world’s foundations is a sin!”

“I’m a fake Vinny? No. I’m the real Vinny!” Vinny snarled through clenched teeth. “I’m the true Vinny—the truest Vinny there could ever be! I’m nothing like that bastard you tamed and assimilated. I’m the real Facilis!”

“If the gods will not save humanity, then I will save the world!”

[Nature’s Shackles]

The Dean struck the head of his staff against the ground, summoning countless thick, sturdy vines that bound Vinny’s hands and restricted his movement.

“Stop attacking for now. Something is very wrong with his condition.” Frowning, the Dean called off the deputy dean.

“What is it??” The deputy dean had been about to attack and stared at him in confusion.

“You’ve been absorbing pain and injuries, then converting them into combat power, haven’t you??” the Dean demanded, staring fixedly at Vinny.

“Otherwise, there’s no explanation for why you kept refusing to fight back and simply let yourself be beaten.”

“Heh. So you figured it out??” Vinny stretched his lips into a smile that never reached his eyes. “But even if you have, you’re too late.”

“Neither of you is a match for me anymore.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Vinny unleashed the full force of his mana. Ferocious magical fluctuations roared outward, grinding the surrounding rubble into dust.

“What is this??” The deputy dean’s eyes widened.

Judging by the magical fluctuations Vinny was releasing, his realm had surged to at least High-Tier Master. With mana this dense, it was difficult to imagine how terrifyingly powerful his spells would be.

“It’s [Blood-Debt].” The Dean stared grimly at the crimson demonic sword in Vinny’s hand.

The flesh and blood vessels covering the blade were growing wildly. Several supple vessels extended outward, weaving together like yarn to create one lanky shadow after another. Blood-colored tubes covered their bodies. Their arms were far longer than their legs, their fingers resembled squid tentacles, and they had no faces.

“How many people have you killed??” The Dean’s expression darkened further.

Having graduated from the academic-research specialization, the Dean knew a great deal about [Blood-Debt]’s functions. One of them was on display before him now: puppet shadows that fought for their master, feared no death, and could not die.

They were known as Shadow-Soul Puppets.

To create one, a person’s soul had to be extracted and smelted within [Blood-Debt]. The sword itself served as both furnace and womb, while those souls were used as pig iron. Only through that process could these living corpses be forged.

They had long since died, yet they were denied peace. Their flesh had been drained and consumed, while their souls were condemned to permanent slavery—unable to live, unable to die.

According to the records, not every host of [Blood-Debt] had done this. That naturally was not because they had been kind-hearted. It was because almost none of them had been capable of it.

This was only one of [Blood-Debt]’s functions. Useful as it sounded, extracting and refining a human soul was no easy task. A soul emerged only at the moment of death, then rapidly separated from the body. Even a top-tier Demon Pillar cultist enchanter would find the process extremely difficult. And even if the extraction succeeded, the soul would most likely be missing an arm or a leg.

Yet somehow, the Vinny before him had refined these souls with perfect completeness.

If that was true, then he might be capable of bringing out one hundred percent of [Blood-Debt]’s power. Throughout history, not a single host had ever managed to use even half of its functions.

“Do you remember how many slices of bread you’ve eaten in your life?” Vinny mocked as he commanded the lanky puppets. “Go. Welcome your new companions.”

The Dean moved in front of the deputy dean protectively and struck the ground with his staff.

[Forest-Spirit Guardians]

A gigantic, verdant magic array formed beneath the Dean’s feet. Countless giant vines with gaping maws at their tips burst from the earth, shattering the floor as they emerged. Each swallowed one of the lanky puppets whole.

Well, well. Looks like the upper administration isn’t so easy to deal with after all. They’ve got a few signature moves up their sleeves, [Blood-Debt] teased.

“Hmph. A nature mage? That’s certainly rare,” Vinny said with a cold snort.

The Shadow-Soul Puppets I forged are essentially immortal, so long as their souls aren’t attacked directly. But if they’re simply swallowed whole by magical constructs like these...

That’s a losing trade.

“They’re nothing but a heap of broken flowers and rotten weeds.”

Vinny gripped [Blood-Debt] and leaped into the air. Once he had risen high enough, he swung the sword horizontally.

[Bloody Reaping]

A pitch-black arc extended from the sword’s tip. On closer inspection, it was composed of countless black skulls, piled together like a mountain.

The power of this attack was directly proportional to how many people [Blood-Debt] had killed and how much flesh it had absorbed. Every person slain added another skull to the sword arc. A hundred deaths meant a hundred skulls. A thousand deaths meant a thousand.

The more there were, the more horrifying the technique’s power and effects became.

“Terrifying power,” the Dean murmured as he gazed at the countless black skulls filling the air.

“This is the power born of slaughter,” Vinny barked.

His objective was obvious. He intended to sever the necks of every giant carnivorous flower with a single horizontal slash.

Slice—slice—slice!!

Just as he intended, [Blood-Debt]’s edge proved unstoppable. The giant carnivorous flowers chewing on the puppet shadows were instantly severed at the neck. Their enormous flower heads flew through the air.

“Let’s see what tricks you’ve got left for this young master now!”

Vinny raised [Blood-Debt] and brought it crashing down toward the Dean. Black-violet ice wreathed in dark mist had condensed around the blade.

[Demonic-Ice Shatter]

The spell should originally have been called [Congealed-Ice Slash], but when it was cast through [Blood-Debt], the sword twisted and empowered it.

At the critical moment, however, Vinny felt something bind his arm again, obstructing his movement and leaving him unable to swing.

“My magical constructs aren’t that fragile.”

Having finished his incantation, the Dean raised his head.

Above them, the carnivorous flowers Vinny had severed only moments ago had already regrown their heads. Not only that, but they had become even more luxuriant, sprouting countless tangled branches.

[Overgrowth]

“Old man, you’ve got some skill,” Vinny said coldly. “But plants are still plants.”

[Demonic-Flame Sweep]

Purple demonic flames erupted across the crimson demonic sword in Vinny’s hand, weaving themselves into a vast net of fire that descended from the sky. His intention was naturally to burn those irritating plants to ash.

The Dean had no intention of waiting passively for death. He tapped his staff, and a towering flood surged upward, forming one water dragon after another. They slammed head-on into the fiery net filling the sky.

In an instant, several water dragons coiled around the net of flames, pinning it in place.

That’s an ultra-high-tier spell, [Water Dragon Vortex], [Blood-Debt] said, recognizing the magic. That old bastard has an extremely high affinity with nature magic. His affinity with water-element magic is extremely high too.

“Isn’t that even better? Once we devour him, he’ll give us an enormous boost.”

Hehehe. True. I can hardly wait.

Vinny swept the blood sword outward. Countless black chains shot from it, growing larger as they flew. They curved around the battlefield where the water and fire magic were clashing and bound the carnivorous flowers.

[Darkfrost Shackles]

The moment the flowers were bound, black ice spread rapidly across them, coating their surfaces in deep-black frost.

“Heh-heh. Do you know what happens next?” Vinny asked playfully as he snapped the fingers of his free hand.

Snap.

The black rime covering the carnivorous flowers exploded like a series of bombs, scattering countless black shards of ice. The plants broke apart section by section and crashed to the ground.

The blast naturally engulfed the area where the Dean and deputy dean stood as well.

When the fragments finally cleared, a gigantic hemispherical curtain of water stood around them, having blocked the explosion.

“He’s harder to deal with than I expected.” The Dean frowned at Vinny, who remained suspended in the air.

Vinny gazed down at them coldly. Then, for reasons neither of them understood, he suddenly began to laugh.

“How disappointing. I thought you might be able to hold out a little longer. Tsk, tsk. In my previous life, when I attacked the Order Spire, the instructors who came as reinforcements were pathetic too—but they were still far stronger than you.”

“What are you talking about?” The deputy dean leaned on his sword, panting heavily.

He did not have [Blood-Debt] to repair his injuries endlessly. He had also arrived in such haste that he had brought no alchemical potions capable of restoring him.

“Your previous life?”

“You’re still asking? Haven’t you realized it yet? You’ve already lost.” Vinny pointed at the two men. “I thought I might have to use my trump card here. Turns out I don’t need it at all.”

“You probably haven’t fought many evil Spirit Soul wielders like me, have you?”

“Don’t you know that dragging a fight out against one of us is the worst mistake you can make?”

“Mind games won’t work on us, kid,” the deputy dean said with a frown.

“Mind games? You’ve spent the entire time watching the battle in front of you. You never paid any attention to the ‘battle’ happening elsewhere, did you?”

“Look at your shadows!”

“?!”

Both men instinctively looked down at their feet. But the light in the chamber was dim, and their shadows were almost impossible to see.

“Could it be?!” The Dean remembered how Vinny had shattered the mana-crystal displays at the very beginning of the fight.

The mana-crystal displays had been the chamber’s only source of light.

“You’re so stupid it’s almost unbelievable. Did you really think I smashed those lousy screens just to vent my anger?”

“Something has already traveled through the darkness you can’t see and reached your shadows.”

The Dean and deputy dean abruptly discovered that they could no longer move. Naturally, the water curtain protecting them vanished with them immobilized.

“When the carnivorous flowers had their heads cut off, the puppets they swallowed naturally escaped again. But why didn’t you see them?” Vinny taunted. “You didn’t seriously think your flowers’ magical digestive fluids could dissolve them that easily, did you??”

“I’ve already pinned your shadows.”

Vinny walked toward them one step at a time.

“Shadows have always been considered a part of the human soul. The truth is very close to that. A shadow is an ‘opening’ in the human soul.”

“By attacking a shadow through that opening, I can tear the entire soul out, devour it, and increase my own strength.”

“That is my Spirit Soul—[Shadow Devourer].”

“Though I doubt either of you has ever heard of it.”

“In your next life, remember to pay more attention.”

Carrying the crimson demonic sword, Vinny resembled an evil spirit emerging from the night as he advanced, step by step, toward the two men whose shadows had been pinned.

*****

The situation within the Academy seemed to be worsening by the day.

The Chosen One Granted by God Tournament was fast approaching, but the black cloud had already spread across the sky above Carillian Academy. Everyone had been thrown into a panic.

Who knew what would happen once that cloud covered them??

Carillian Academy intended to send all its students home and suspend classes for a period of time while the crisis was handled.

Under normal circumstances, authorization to dismiss the students and send them home for safety should have come down quickly. Yet for some reason, several days had passed without any response.

Even the lower-ranking instructors found it strange.

Why had the decision-makers in the Order Spire left them on read for so long??

For a time, the Academy seemed completely leaderless. No one could step forward and take charge, and no one commanded enough prestige that everyone would simply obey. Instead, everyone offered a different opinion, and the more they argued, the more chaotic things became.

Some claimed the Academy upper administration must have devised a better solution and therefore had not approved the proposal. But that did nothing to stop people from growing suspicious.

Honestly, several days had already passed, yet the upper administration inside the Order Spire had not sent out a single message. No one understood what they could possibly be discussing for so long.

There was nothing the lower-ranking instructors could do. They were not authorized to enter the Order Spire, and every attempt to contact the upper administration through magical communication talismans failed completely.

Surely something had not happened to the upper administration??

That was impossible... wasn’t it?

If the upper administration could be taken out that easily, the Order Spire would have been invaded hundreds or thousands of times already, and nothing stored inside it could possibly have remained secure.

After all, what lay inside had attracted even Demon Pillars. Even Demon Pillars had been forced to launch frontal invasions to reach it. Could some random person truly appear out of nowhere and simply infiltrate the place whenever they pleased?

Besides, if someone had infiltrated the Carillian Isles, how had no one heard even the slightest whisper about it?

Had every single layer of checkpoints failed to detect a problem??

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