Just a little while ago, Oliver was patiently waiting outside the academy gate, his hood drawn up.
Even though he thought there would be no major issues with the plan, one could never be too certain.
Every incident came with its own variables.
However, he couldn't afford to monitor the situation from within the academy itself.
If he remained idle while various incidents took place inside the academy, everyone would inevitably grow suspicious of him.
Hiding near the academy's main gate, Oliver watched the events unfold inside.
Suddenly, he spotted a carriage approaching from a distance.
Yet, the state of the carriage was far from satisfactory - it was visibly damaged.
The face of the coachman was drained of color.
"Did they fail?"
He clenched his fist in frustration,
"Can't they even manage to sneak out one single student?"
His mind flitted to Carol - that overconfident butler from the Fred family.
From the start, Oliver had not taken a liking to him.
Oliver took off his hood and continued to watch the scene unfold.
When the carriage reached the main gate, the guards blocked its path.
"Who goes there!"
One of the guards pointed his spear at the coachman,
"The gate cannot be opened without permission, neither for entrance nor exit."
This threw the coachman into confusion.
Carol, who should have been in the carriage, was not there.
The coachman had been driving forward simply out of the desire to survive.
"I, I, umm…"
He stuttered, unable to explain himself.
"Identify yourself! Who are you!"
The guard shouted at him.
Just then, there was a sound of someone knocking on the iron gate from outside.
The guards, startled by the noise, turned towards the source of the sound.
"Isn’t it a bit excessive to threaten like that? You might scare someone into silence."
Came a familiar voice.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"It’s Vice Principal Oliver!"
The guards saw a man dressed impeccably in a suit.
It was Oliver.
The sight of the Vice Principal left them taken aback.
Oliver smiled amiably and lightly knocked on the closed iron gate.
"I've left something in the Vice Principal's office. Could you open the gate for me?"
"Ah, yes! Understood!"
The guards, setting aside the issue with the carriage for the moment, began to open the gate.
As long as the academy staff logged their entry in the records, they could freely enter and exit.
As the gate creaked open, Oliver's smile vanished and he began to channel his mana.
The spear tips of the guards melted away.
"What...?"
The guards were left dumbstruck.
The molten spear tips transformed into bullets and flew straight towards the guards’ heads.
"Gah!"
"Argh!"
The guards were caught off guard, without proper helmets.
They had no choice but to take the direct hit.
Rendered unconscious by the impact, they crumpled to the ground.
The coachman gaped at the scene, shocked.
Oliver turned his icy gaze towards him.
"Where is Carol?"
Oliver trudged his way into the academy.
As he moved deeper inside, voices started to reach his ears.
The noise originated from Rudy Astria and a few others who were chattering away.
Sighing heavily, Oliver cast a stern gaze in their direction.
"Haa……."
He had just finished searching the carriage, but there was nothing left inside.
Neither Luna, nor Levian's spellbook, not even the letter he had written was there.
A letter with his seal, meant for the Fred family.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})If others were to discover this letter, the whole truth behind this incident would be exposed.
Yet, it was already in the hands of those students ahead.
He had no other choice.
He would knock those kids down.
And seize the letter from them.
Even so, the fact that he instigated this matter couldn't be hidden.
Once he had set foot inside, he had braced himself for at least that much.
But, he had another goal in mind.
Oliver intended to flee with Levian's spellbook and Luna.
The Astria family was already aware of that spellbook.
Undoubtedly, they would be searching for him.
Knowing the Astria family, they would understand its value.
"Hmm..."
His gaze fell on Astina.
And he looked over the others by her side.
Rie Von Ristonia, Rudy Astria, Luna Railer and... the silver-haired brat whose name he didn't quite remember.
"I can't kill them."
If even one of them were to die, the Empire would be shaken.
None of them could be touched.
Though he could do something to the silver-haired brat, she was currently carrying Astina.
In attempting to kill her, he might accidentally kill Astina as well.
So he couldn't act recklessly.
However...
"Perhaps I can handle that Rudy Astria."
Ian might be a bit troubled, but if he secured Levian's spellbook, they might think it was worth it.
Oliver started to gather mana in his hand.
The surrounding iron bars and various metal objects melted away.
These metal pieces gathered together, forming a massive sword.
Oliver gestured with his hand.
The massive sword flew towards Rudy.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})With a resounding thud, the gigantic black sword hit the ground.
Ignoring the fallen sword, our eyes were solely focused on Vice Principal Oliver standing far away.
Yeniel broke the silence,
"Running seems like a good idea, don't you think?"
I had to agree with her.
Our opponent was the Vice Principal.
He was not someone we could confront.
"What a shame...It's just one mountain after another."
I sighed.
The problem was that the mountain we were facing now was insurmountably steep compared to the ones we had climbed so far.
We stood absolutely no chance against Vice Principal Oliver.
Even if we were far superior to an average student, it made no difference.
Students were students, professors were professors.
And Oliver was a Vice Principal, leading even among the professors.
We couldn't possibly win.
So, should we choose to flee?
That wasn't a solution either.
Rather, fleeing might be the worse option.
Because after running for a while, we would inevitably get caught.
I looked towards Oliver and asked Astina,
"What should we do?"
"I don't know. Since there's a fire in the dormitory, the professors will come eventually."
"So you're saying we should hold out until then?"
"We have no other choice."
Astina clenched her teeth.
"The problem is, we don't know when the professors will arrive."
I took a quick glance at Astina's face.
Her expression held a hint of subtle despair.
Despair for an unbeatable entity.
But we had to fight even if we knew we would lose.
"Why don't you stop whispering among yourselves and speak with me instead?"
Oliver slowly walked towards us as he spoke.
"Hand over Luna Railer and the spellbook she carries. If you do so, I'll let you go."
I stepped forward and retorted,
"Please don't talk nonsense, Vice Principal."
"What?"
I looked Oliver in the eye as I continued,
"What do you plan to do by taking away a young girl like this? Haven't you already risen high enough? How far will your greed go?"
I could feel my fist clenching.
"Do you truly believe a position earned through such disgraceful means would hold any worth?"
Upon hearing my words, Oliver's face, initially brimming with rage, gradually relaxed into a smirk.
"You understand nothing."
He said, pointing to the sky.
"Those who don't strive to rise are simply bound to fall to the ground."
Then, he pointed to his own eyes.
"I've seen it with my own eyes, their fall and despair, their crumbling forms."
Oliver's eyes bore a certain fire.
They were filled with various emotions, but there was one emotion that stood out to me.
Rage.
Rage ignited by a thirst for revenge.
"Those who don't reach the sky are destined to fall to the ground."
I was taken aback.
There was only one reason they had fallen.
"Isn't that because they are blinded by their ambitions?"
Could they have been truly satisfied once they reached their desired destination?
Would they have stopped there?
"Have you not considered the possibility of another sky above the one you see?"
I said to Oliver.
"Let's stop this now."
I suggested, glancing briefly at Astina and Rie.
"Hahaha. You're telling me to stop here?"
Oliver burst out laughing, like a man unhinged.
"How about suggesting I end my life since it's all over anyway? Or perhaps, assassinate the Emperor? Is that what you're hinting at when you mention a sky beyond the one we see?"
With these words, mana began to gather in Oliver's hand.
Sparks crackled and hissed on the massive sword that Astina had deflected, melting it down.
The molten metal began to gather towards Oliver.
Oliver quietly opened his mouth.
"Seems like we've sidetracked a bit."
As soon as Oliver uttered these words, Rie and Astina stretched out their hands.
"Gravity!!!"
"Fire Sphere!!!"
Both of them cast their magic simultaneously.
We never had the illusion that Oliver would change his mind.
The conversation was merely a distraction, a strategy to induce his carelessness.
Upon seeing their spells, Oliver curtly uttered,
"Barrier."
At his words, a transparent shield appeared around him.
-Zzzzzzt!!!!
"Uh…!"
Their magic collided with the transparent barrier Oliver had created, producing an eerie, spine-chilling noise.
I watched the scene unfold, blocking my ears.
"What…."
The barrier Oliver created.
Rie and Astina's magic was easily deflected by that single barrier.
And when the magic was mostly dissipated, Oliver released his barrier and opened his mouth.
"Well, I appreciate your efforts."
-Zzzzzp!!!!!
"Kyaa!"
"Eek!!!"
From behind me, screams erupted from Rie, Yeniel, and even Astina.
Alarmed by the noise, I turned around to see dozens of blades emerging from the ground.
With a slight movement, we could be sliced by those blades.
Within an instant, we were pinned in place.
"What…."
As I turned to look at Oliver, there was no sign of the liquefied metal.
While he was defending against Rie and Astina's attack, all the molten metal had already seeped into the ground.
As I stood there dumbfounded, Oliver spoke again.
"Rudy Astria."
I looked at Oliver, and in front of me, the molten metal rose, slowly taking the shape of a sword.
Oliver smirked.
"Cut off your arm with this, and I'll spare the others."
"…What?"
"To make up for the annoyance you caused, I think it's fair to take your arm."
I stared at the sword.
An absurd proposition.
Even if I cut off my arm with this sword, our lives still hang by his whims.
A one-sided loss.
However….
I found myself fixated on the sword.
And so, I bent over to reach for the sword on the ground.
-Clang!
"Why are you listening to such nonsense?"
Someone next to me kicked the sword lying on the ground.
There was no sign of him, no sound, but there he was, right beside me.
"Ah, damn it. I was about to head home and have a drink."
I looked to the side.
An unkempt man with a scruffy beard, looking like a thug.
His hair was in a mess.
He wore a suit befitting a professor, but his buttons were undone, and he wore it casually.
But still, when it came to teaching, he did so with sincerity.
"You're taking this fight with the kids too seriously, aren't you?"
It was Robert.
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