Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 315: The Path in the Darkness (2)

Mandelina’s words still didn’t register in Aidan’s head.

Go through that?

What the hell even was that black storm...?

“Ah!”

Only belatedly did Aidan remember why he’d passed out in the first place. He looked around frantically.

Where was Leo? What about Taishy and Iona?

Scanning his surroundings, Aidan quickly found his friends, all collapsed and unconscious.

Just as he was about to jump to his feet and check on them, Mandelina gently pressed down on his shoulder.

“Stop. You don’t need to check. They’re just unconscious. Their lives aren’t in danger.”

“Huh?”

“What surprises me more is you. I hit you pretty hard, and you still woke up instantly. You must’ve been practicing that magic I taught you, huh?”

Only then did a grim realization begin to settle over Aidan’s face.

“Master... what is going on?”

“It’d take too long to explain. All you need to know is—we have to head straight into that storm.”

Despite her words, Mandelina’s tone was less than enthusiastic.

But she had no choice.

That man had come and warned her himself.

When she first noticed the explosion of power from far away, her first instinct had been to run.

Something dangerous had gone off—best to hide somewhere safe and come back when the chaos passed.

That had been her plan, at least. But she didn’t make it even three seconds before a man wrapped in shadows burst from the ground.

Ludger Cherish.

The moment she saw him, Mandelina froze without thinking.

—Mandelina. Good timing.

—Y-Yes, sir!

—The situation is bad. I don’t have time to explain, so I’ll be direct. I need your anti-magic.

—My magic?

—I’ll buy time. All you need to do is open the path.

—The path... for who?

—You’ll know when you see it.

Do it or don’t.

When Ludger asked, Mandelina broke into a cold sweat.

She’d run away in fear, and now he was telling her to go back in?

He had to be insane.

But the moment she met Ludger’s eyes, Mandelina had no choice but to nod with a face ready to cry.

—I-I’ll do it.

—Good.

That was all he said before vanishing into the shadows once more.

Even seeing it again, she still couldn’t believe it.

To use shadows as a medium for free spatial movement?

There was no escape from that—no point in even trying to run.

—Argh! So annoying!

Mandelina roughly tousled her hair, then jerked her head upward.

—Damn it.

And with that, she began to walk.

She didn’t know what Ludger had done in the meantime, but the storm that had been raging far away had shifted.

Now, an even bigger black vortex had emerged in its place.

As if it were ready to swallow the entire capital.

This wasn’t something she could handle alone.

She’d need the help of someone else who could use anti-magic.

And there just so happened to be one such person in the capital.

“Aidan. You in?”

Mandelina looked at Aidan with a serious expression.

To be honest, she didn’t need his help—this was just contingency planning.

If Aidan said no, she would’ve left him behind and gone alone. That was her plan as a teacher.

But this ridiculously earnest student clearly had no such intention.

“Of course. If I don’t, it’ll be dangerous, right?”

“For your friends?”

“No. For you, Master.”

“......”

Mandelina was speechless for a moment.

Seeing Aidan looking at her with that goofy grin, she snorted and reached out to ruffle his hair roughly.

“Ow!”

“Don’t make that face.”

“What face?”

“If you don’t know, forget it. Anyway.”

She then grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet.

“How’s your body?”

“Hmm. I think I’m okay.”

“Even if you’re not, too bad. You said yes, so I’m working you hard.”

“You really haven’t changed at all.”

“And neither have you.”

Mandelina reached for the staff at her waist.

Just like Aidan’s, it was sword-shaped.

But unlike his imitation, hers was made of honed, sharpened metal.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a real blade.

All set.

Inside that storm, he would be there.

She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but Ludger had to be locked in a fierce fight.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Together, Mandelina and Aidan charged into the storm.

* * *

Ludger advanced through the pitch-black storm, pressing forward despite not being able to see a thing.

It was like the end of the world.

Every step felt like he was dragging a thousand-pound weight.

Even breathing was a chore, and he could hardly see ahead.

The violent winds pounded his entire body as if beating him with clubs.

But the worst part wasn’t the pain.

It was the emotional turbulence.

Even Ludger’s ironclad will began to crack under the constant psychological assault.

—Why are you still alive?

—You ruined everything!

—Why didn’t you save me?

Whispers of the past—

But even so, Ludger didn’t stop. He pressed on toward Basara.

“Impressive.”

Basara let her honest thoughts slip.

Any ordinary human, no matter how skilled, would’ve lost their sense of self in this storm.

Let your guard down even a little, and your body would be torn to shreds.

This was an assault on body and soul.

And yet, Ludger endured.

No, he did more than endure—he kept drawing closer.

This storm had no eye.

Getting to the center didn’t mean safety.

The closer you got, the more intense the pressure became—both physical and mental.

It should’ve only made things worse.

And yet Ludger didn’t stop.

“Why are you still coming?”

Basara asked.

It was a genuine question.

“Trying to play the hero? Standing against me out of pure conviction for the sake of the world?”

But the way Ludger carried himself... Basara could tell that wasn’t it.

So why was he doing this?

Now that she could feel emotions more richly, she found herself genuinely curious.

“Or is it because of the body I’m possessing?”

“......”

Ludger reacted for the first time.

A flicker in his eyes.

It was subtle—barely perceptible—but Basara, who now controlled this space, caught it.

A long smile curved across her lips.

“Hahaha. How ridiculous. A man of your caliber acting this recklessly for such a trivial reason.”

She placed her hand on her chest.

“What, trying to play teacher now? You didn’t even care what happened to this girl before.”

“......”

“You wouldn’t know, but I can feel it. This girl hates the entire world. And it makes sense—despite her talent, no one ever truly recognized her.”

Basara—

“No.”

Flora smiled.

There was a hint of sorrow in that smile.

“I was born into a good family, but because I was illegitimate, I was always discriminated against. I was scorned and persecuted by the one person I most wanted recognition from. No one around me ever tried to help.”

Ludger glared into the darkness where Basara hid.

He could barely make out anything in this storm, but he could still sense she was there.

Basara continued speaking.

“And you were no different, were you, Professor? You knew this child had talent, and yet not once did you truly praise her. Did you ever, even once, acknowledge her?”

The shadows encasing Ludger began to wear away.

No matter how strong Ater Nocturnus was against physical shock, even it couldn’t withstand prolonged exposure to the accumulating damage of the storm.

Soon the wind tore through his clothes and began carving shallow wounds into his skin.

“Then with what face do you come here now, claiming you’ll save her? When it’s clear the one you truly care about is someone else. You should’ve just left Flora alone from the beginning.”

Basara could feel Flora’s emotions.

They were seeping into her, even now.

And the more deeply they sank in, the greater her latent power surged.

The storm widened, expanding past the plaza and beginning to engulf nearby buildings.

Crash—!

Roofs were ripped apart, bricks shredded like paper.

The brass piping on the outer walls, the steel-framed cars—nothing was spared.

“Give up already. That girl has long since given up. If anything, I’d say she’s happy now. She finally has someone who understands her. Not a person, maybe, but still...”

Basara clutched her sides, laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“Who cares if it’s a demon or a human? The important thing is that someone understands her. Isn’t that right? If neither gods nor people will reach out a hand, then even the hand of a demon will do.”

The House of Lumos was a devout follower of Lumenis, the religion of divine light.

They preached that the teachings of God ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ were absolute truth and that their actions were always just.

And with that belief—

They justified their evil.

Flora Lumos had been raised in such a household.

Everyone abandoned her.

Her father, her siblings, her entire family.

Even the very god who was supposed to save humanity.

“Out of respect for your ability, I’ll give you one last chance. Leave. Get out of here and never appear before me again. If you do, I’ll let you live.”

Basara’s voice was giddy with excitement.

“This is my little form of gratitude on behalf of this body’s owner. I want to kill you, but it seems this girl doesn’t. Call it my last bit of mercy. The mercy of a demon—surely that’s rarer than a mermaid’s tear, isn’t it?”

By then, Ludger had reached right up to Basara.

Close enough to touch her with a single outstretched hand.

He staggered, his steps halting at last.

At this distance, the black storm’s pressure had reached its peak.

Even moving forward was impossible now; standing his ground was already a miracle.

Basara, unsurprised, made her offer again.

“Come on. Just say the words—‘I give up.’”

“......”

“Go on. Say it, and everyone can finally rest. This girl can abandon her hopes and begin anew.”

“......”

“It’s not hard. Just a few words. Say you give up. That’s all it takes and I’ll spare you.”

The crow-shaped mask on Ludger’s face had long since crumbled away.

Blood ran down one cheek as he slowly moved his lips.

Basara leaned in, ears pricked.

To her, Ludger already looked finished.

His body and mind were worn down to the limit—just remaining upright was a miracle.

The fact that he could still stand on two feet was itself absurd.

But it was over now.

Yes.

Just say it. Say you give up.

Say that, and this will all—

“...You talk too much.”

“...What?”

“If you were trying to make it obvious, congratulations. There’s no way I could not know now.”

“What are you—”

Still refusing to say it, even now?

Basara's expression twisted in disbelief.

But at that very moment, Ludger shouted with all his strength—

“Mandelina!!”

───!!!

The black storm poised to consume the capital split in two.

“...What?”

Basara couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

This wasn’t just demonic power—it was a tempest infused with magic, bursting from a body of supreme talent.

Even a Swordmaster couldn’t have stopped it.

And yet, here it was.

Broken.

Basara’s eyes followed the rift in the storm to its edge.

There, gasping for breath, stood a man and a woman.

The man—someone from Flora’s memories.

The woman—an unfamiliar figure with black hair.

And from the tips of their staffs radiated a strange, unfamiliar force.

Basara muttered aloud.

“...Anti-magic?”

A spell that nullified magic itself.

Regardless of how powerful the source, anti-magic always held an absolute advantage in compatibility.

And there weren’t just one, but two people using it here.

Absurd.

Completely absurd.

Yet even this miracle—this [anomaly]—had only silenced the storm for a brief moment.

Soon, it would roar back to life, and the destruction would resume.

But that single fleeting pause had been enough to tip the entire battle.

From the beginning, that had been Ludger’s aim.

“There you are.”

Thanks to the lull in the storm, Ludger could finally see clearly.

Basara’s eyes were wide in disbelief, staring directly at him.

Before she could react, Ludger reached out and grabbed her by the head.

Then he activated the spell he’d prepared in advance.

“divina virtute in infernum detrude.”

[Exorcism (exorkismos)].