The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City-Chapter 103: Violet Met the Archmage.

Lucian and his team ran down the corridor with all their might.

Beyond the dark passage they had passed earlier, a small gate shimmered.

“Tell me I’m not seeing things. That, it was the Student Council President’s doing, right?”

Granite, whose usual stoic demeanor had disappeared in fear, asked Lucian.

“Are you seriously asking? Of course, it was Crosell, that crazy bastard!”

“Ugh, ugh… Oh my god. The Student Council President killed a student!”

Levi whimpered in terror.

-Tatatang! Tatang!

Gunfire erupted from behind like a torrential downpour.

Lucian hastily launched a few spells backward, but the pursuit continued relentlessly.

“Hey! If you’ve got time to cry, run faster!”

“Got it! Ugh, ughhh!”

His back and arms ached from wounds caused by sword slashes.

Even after they emerged from the gate, the chase remained persistent.

A security guard wielding a sword attempted to strike down Levi, who was falling behind.

“Ahhhhhh!”

-Bang!

The security guard’s head vanished, struck by a combat rifle.

Then, a voice amplified through a megaphone echoed in the forest.

“Everyone, get down!”

Lucian’s group instinctively dropped to the ground at the sound.

Artillery fire flew overhead.

The pursuing guards collapsed, struck by gunfire and bolts coming from the forest.

Once the pursuers were eliminated, soldiers concealed by camouflage appeared.

“Who are you guys?”

“It’s me, Violet!”

Amidst Violet’s unit, Irene emerged, her gaze directed at the guards’ corpses and the distant gate.

She gritted her teeth.

“So they’ve stooped to blatant attacks now. Those scumbags!”

Relieved of tension, Lucian collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain.

“Ahhh! Damn… It hurts like hell.”

“Stay still! Before your wounds worsen!”

While Daphne examined Lucian’s injuries, Irene quickly exchanged opinions with the Violets.

“So, Nathan’s team was inside too?”

“Yeah. By the time I found them, they’d been dead for quite a while.”

Hearing my words, Irene couldn’t hide her grim expression.

“Let’s get out of here first. I’m holding them off inside for now, but they could chase us at any moment!”

“But we still don’t know where the newly spawned gate is, do we?”

When Irene showed skepticism, Violet No. 387 shook her head and pointed to a direction.

“That’s not true. One of our scouts found the new gate just a while ago.”

“Already?”

“Well, we’ve been searching all day! It hasn’t opened yet, but it’s closer than we thought. We’ve already sent those in the clearing over there, so we just need to go!” ℞Ἀ₦Ɵ₿ÈS

She kept glancing nervously at the direction of the small gate but soon turned her head as if deciding.

“…Alright. Escaping comes first for now. Let’s move.”

Once Lucian’s treatment was complete, Violet’s group moved without hesitation toward the new gate’s location.

***

Violet had experienced 21 deaths so far.

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“Kyahhh!”

To deceive and confuse them, I made full use of the Clone Technique, which allows creation beyond walls.

If Clone No. 32 was about to get caught while running, I immediately generated a new Violet nearby and self-destructed it.

From the outside, it appeared as though someone had teleported after an explosion.

In other words, it gave the illusion of possessing teleportation abilities!

Furthermore, due to some incident, the lighting in the facility was poor, leaving the surroundings dark, creating room for confusion.

-Boom!

“371! Run faster!”

“I’m trying!”

Currently, dozens of Magna Nabis security guards, Student Council President Crosell, and Treasurer Caym were chasing me.

My only mistake was throwing Molotov cocktails around the facility, shooting researchers, and playing a few harmless pranks while escaping!

“Long live the Obsidian Legion! Filthy clan scum, I’ll purify you all with fire!”

“You crazy terrorist bastard!”

Shouting in a distorted voice, people around me screamed back in response.

The popular star, Violet!

Though there was the slight issue of autograph requests being made with guns and swords.

Of course, my goal wasn’t just to buy time.

Lucian’s group was safe.

My real objective was to destroy this facility.

Just by looking at it, you could tell it was an evil and suspicious place that needed to be eliminated.

While one Violet drew attention, a secretly generated squad of Violets was busy planting bombs throughout the shady facility.

“This facility has to go!”

“Burn it all!”

If I had time, I’d grab some documents, but there wasn’t any.

And for the ones who died earlier, this was all I could do.

I didn’t know why they killed the students, but it was too much.

Amidst my rage and tension, Clone No. 371 fired pistols with both hands.

Crosell’s telekinetically controlled swords rampaged like feral piranhas around me.

His precision in manipulating them was unexpectedly high.

Their destructive power was no joke.

“They even have sword auras! How did they do it?”

In hindsight, it was fortunate they didn’t opt for overwhelming us with sheer numbers.

I wasn’t sure how many swords he could control, but the fact that he could unleash a flurry of attacks was a bad match for us.

If we got too close, we’d be bound by telekinesis and have our limbs twisted.

If we kept our distance, we’d be struck by flying sword techniques, making it tricky to counter.

“Keep as much distance as possible! Their range isn’t that long!”

Fortunately, the sword control range didn’t feel particularly extensive.

Once we moved out of a certain distance, they couldn’t follow.

“Kyaugh!”

“Oops, got careless there? Haha!”

Distracted by the swords, a bolt fired by Caym struck my side.

That damned guy was insanely quick, shooting bullets or bolts from a firing line the moment my focus slipped.

“Something’s off! That one, I swear I saw its head blown off!”

“406! Stop babbling nonsense and stay still!”

It seemed that Clone No. 371’s activity was nearing its end.

A makeshift smoke grenade appeared in my hand, billowing out dense smoke.

While the pursuers hesitated to approach, Clone No. 371 self-destructed within the smoke.

Above the ceiling, No. 120 was already racing away and wreaking havoc.

“Freedom! Revolution! Violence!”

“The intruder teleported to the upper floor!”

“Are the explosives set yet?”

“Almost! Just one more to go!”

While running across the facility’s rooftop, swords came flying toward Clone No. 120.

In a split second, the footing was cut away, and Clone No. 120 fell to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Raising her head after the fall, Crosell, flying through telekinesis, landed gracefully in front of me and began walking leisurely.

When I tried to get up, a sword impaled each of my legs.

“Argh!”

“You little rat, try running away again. What’s wrong, out of mana?”

The creature growled in anger.

I could see the veins bulging on its face even from here.

Just as I was about to end it all with self-detonation, a large metal tank behind Crosell caught my eye.

The tank was labeled “Highly Flammable.”

I found something perfect to blow up.

「Would it explode if I shoot it with a gun or an arrow?」

「It’ll block it with its sword or telekinesis!」

While quick discussions went back and forth, Violet No. 1 made a bold decision at the temporary command center.

「Let’s use the Hand of Destiny! That magic beam will be unstoppable!」

「It’s a five-star artifact. What if we lose it?」

「We might be able to kill it here and now. It’s worth the gamble!」

Violet No. 1’s argument convinced the others.

No. 120 equipped the Hand of Destiny.

“What’s that gauntlet? Hah, futile resistance. Why don’t you just give up already?”

I ignored whatever the student council president was muttering.

I focused all my magic to prepare for a powerful strike.

The Hand of Destiny began draining every last drop of magic I had.

A tremendous force condensed in my palm.

The rapid depletion of magic made me feel dizzy.

Although clones like us only needed food to sustain ourselves, the lack of magic felt unsettling.

But if I could land this one hit properly!

「Beware of our power!」

「The light of Violet!」

A blinding yellow magic beam burst from the gauntlet’s palm.

The beam flew in a straight line, but just before it struck, Crosell twisted his body impossibly to dodge it.

He had propelled himself with telekinesis.

「Damn telekinetic movement!」

As soon as I fired the beam, I immediately stored the gauntlet back into the inventory.

“Urk—!”

Agonizing pain shot through me.

Seven swords hurled by him had pierced my body.

Was I defeated?

Perhaps.

If my target had been the student council president, that is.

It didn’t matter if I hit him or not—I had nothing to lose.

「You’ve been tricked!」

From the start, my real target was the fuel tank behind him!

The moment the beam struck the fuel tank, a violent explosion erupted.

“Damn it!”

He was swept away by the explosion.

No. 120 smiled as she vanished.

「We got him!」

「He might still be alive.」

Witnessing the fuel tank’s massive explosion, the Violet squad activated the bombs they had planted throughout the facility.

「Haha! It’s blowing up!」

In the blink of an eye, the entire area was engulfed in flames.

The Violet squad laughed gleefully as they deconstructed themselves.

Violet’s sabotage operation was a success.

The makeshift bombs planted throughout the facility rendered it irreparable.

The unfortunate test subjects suffering inside also found some peace.

However, had Violet possessed sufficient knowledge and advice, she might have attempted to destroy the subspace itself.

The subspace that housed Research Lab A13 still remained intact.

It was a cancer accelerating the imbalance of time and space.

Phenomena like the gate disturbance and the rapid dungeon expansion were all linked to this subspace.

The already unstable Chloris Great Forest soon experienced three major events.

The first was the destabilization of the dungeon space, which led to earthquakes.

“An earthquake!”

“Don’t stop, keep running!”

Violet’s group, rushing toward the gate, fell and got up repeatedly due to the sudden quakes.

The second phenomenon was somewhat positive.

The newly formed gate stabilized quickly, reconnecting to its original entrance.

Thanks to this, the students Violet had previously called over managed to escape swiftly.

“Is it true? The gate is stabilized.”

“Run faster!”

The group hurriedly threw themselves through the gate.

When they looked up, the familiar landscape from three days ago greeted them.

“We made it out…”

Instructor Frederick, checking the students, ran over to Violet’s group with a relieved expression.

“Thank goodness! You all made it back. But…”

Frederick’s face darkened as he counted heads, realizing something was missing.

“Why are the other eight still not here?”

Hearing this, Violet and Irene’s faces contorted.

While they hesitated on how to respond, the gate began expanding rapidly.

“Damn it! Evacuate immediately! What on earth is going on?”

People around them began fleeing in panic.

The final phenomenon in the dungeon was collapse.

The unstable space tore apart temporarily, causing everything inside the dungeon to spill out.

As the chaos subsided, hundreds of beasts began pouring out from the expanded gate.

“Eh…?”

Violet, watching the situation unfold from the road near the gate, gaped in disbelief.

“We have to evacuate!”

“No, what the hell is going on?”

Violet’s chest sank with dread.

Could the bombs I planted have wrecked the dungeon?

“Violet, what are you doing? Let’s get out of here!”

She was pulled away by her friends and fled quickly.

Meanwhile, the beasts continued to spill out from the gate.

It was then that people noticed a massive airship approaching.

In the sky, a man observed everything.

He gazed at the gate and traced a simple straight line with his finger.

For everyone below, the results were overwhelming.

“Huh?”

Giant magic circles appeared in the air above the gate.

Concentrated light gathered in one spot within the circles.

Finally, a colossal beam of light struck the ground.

The countless beasts flooding out of the expanded gate evaporated in an instant.

The beam melted the ground, releasing immense heat, and the ensuing shockwave swept through the area within seconds.

“Ahhh!”

Startled, Violet fell to the ground.

She was helped up but couldn’t stop trembling.

Had Violet glimpsed into the events of Part 2, her fear might have been lessened.

After all, fear stems from the unknown.

But the shock itself would have been unavoidable.

It was the work of an existence capable of performing a feat that marked the climax of the second narrative thread surrounding Academy City.

“The sky…!”

Even Lucian, always arrogant despite his injuries, was frozen in place.

His gaze was fixed on the sky.

A young boy, realizing his place, pointed at the sky with trembling hands.

Following his gesture, Daphne turned to look and gasped, covering her mouth.

She stood petrified like a statue.

“What’s wrong?”

“Idiot! Can’t you see that?”

Just as Violet was about to rebuke her for mimicking Levi’s tone, she saw the enormous formula filling the sky above the dungeon gate and froze.

A novice mage, just awakening to magic, could now see the intricate structure of the spell.

Its complexity rivaled the integration of semiconductors, while its sheer size evoked images of an industrial complex.

The lines and dots of the formula emanated a force that split the heavens and pressed upon the earth.

“How can anyone cast such a spell?”

Moments later, the airship reached the gate, and its ramp opened.

The being responsible for this cataclysmic event began descending slowly through the air.

“It’s the Director.”

Someone murmured.

All eyes turned to the man leading the group onto the ground.

The man with long ash-gray hair tied back was dressed in a vintage suit.

He wore a shining monocle, and each step he took exuded overwhelming confidence and gravitas.

Behind him were robed figures in sealed helmets, faces hidden.

Noctis Caldwell Valefor, the world’s oldest and greatest mage, had descended with his retinue.

Struggling to calm her pounding heart, Violet spoke.

“What’s with the fishbowl heads?”

Irene, still dazed, managed to reply.

“They’re the Magna Nabis Vanguard.”

“What’s that?”

“They’re the elite forces of Magna Nabis. But why are they here? The Director isn’t even the clan leader anymore. This is strange. Why?”

Irene’s words were nearly incoherent.

The scene of ruthless destruction created by a single mage had been enough to shake the normally composed girl into a state of semi-panic.

As the Director stepped back, the Vanguard’s forces began a mop-up operation against the remaining beasts.

Gigantic lightning bolts swept across the ground, and storms of fire erupted.

Violet shuddered.

Even compared to the student council president, the power on display was overwhelming.

Everyone was crushed under the weight of an inescapable force.

Just then, Violet No. 123 suddenly arrived in a vehicle.

“Get in, everyone! Quick!”

“What’s the rush? Wait, hold on. Are you a clone or the original?”

“Does it matter? Just get in!”

Lucian and the others scrambled into the back seat of the truck, while others climbed into the passenger seat.

No. 123 immediately stepped on the accelerator, speeding away.

In the rearview mirror, the dungeon’s former location was ablaze.

Violet drove wildly down the road.

She needed to get as far away from that place as possible to think clearly.

「Ugh, I just want to rest.」

「I’m so sleepy…」