SRS 159

“Then, I will explain how to counter demonic nature.”

“Yohan, on a golden weekend – and on this joyful day when access to the West Tower’s group commercial district is finally allowed – explain to me why we’re the only ones stuck listening to the angel professor’s lecture.”

In the quiet classroom on a warm weekend afternoon, where only four people were present, Suhyeok glared at Yohan and demanded an answer. Yohan laughed awkwardly and avoided his friend’s gaze. It wasn’t as if he enjoyed being stuck in a lecture until the weekend either. But he couldn’t exactly run away while the professor was in the middle of teaching.

No matter how talented Yohan was, he was still just a first-year at Fantasiademia. He wasn’t at a level where he could best a professor, brainwash them, or erase their memories.

“Is it hard to concentrate?”

“Ahaha, of course not.”

As the angel professor, who had been explaining demonic nature, pointed out Suhyeok’s attitude, the latter immediately donned the mask of a model student and straightened his posture as if he hadn’t just been pestering his friend.

“Since there seems to be a lamb struggling to focus, I shall explain it again. If the omnipotence used by gods on the path of the good deity is called divinity, then the omnipotence used by gods on the path of the evil deity is called demonic nature. In ancient times, both were called divinity, but to distinguish them, the expression ‘demonic nature’ has been used over the last thousand years…”

Suhyeok looked bored to death as the theoretical explanation grew longer. Yohan glanced to his left; Mikael was already fast asleep.

Kylus, who occupied the seat next to Suhyeok, had his arms crossed and was lost in thought… No, he was sleeping too. To fall asleep while pretending to be in contemplation, that was a fairly high-level deception.

In the end, Yohan was the only one in the room properly listening to the angel professor’s class.

With a bittersweet feeling, Yohan briefly recalled how things had ended up this way.

Actually, there wasn’t much of a complex backstory to it.

It all started like this: While everyone was waiting for the guide to take them to the commercial district, Serdik Agor suddenly appeared out of thin air. The students were startled by the sudden appearance of the demon vice-headmaster and panicked. They thought that the vice-headmaster had brought another terrifying hydra to plunge them into homework hell.

Serdik Agor paid no mind to those first-years and simply said what he had to say.

‘Is there any student who has experience facing or encountering divinity that has strayed from the dual order?’

‘Divinity that has strayed from the order?’

The students tilted their heads with confused looks upon hearing the vice-headmaster’s words. Yohan kindly whispered an explanation for his friends who didn’t understand. He explained that it referred to the existence of divinity born from wrong beliefs and emotions, rather than the divinity that must exist according to the laws of the world. Only then did the first-year friends, who had half-listened to their mandatory general classes at the start of the semester, exclaim in realization and shake their heads.

‘Is there no one?’

Serdik Agor asked again. When the crowd remained silent, the vice-headmaster changed the question.

‘Then, if you have ever faced or encountered an evil god or its subordinates in your original dimension, please raise your hand.’

The subject of the question changed from non-providential divinity to evil gods and demons. At that, a few students tentatively raised their hands. Yohan was among them.

Since what had possessed Cheplen was definitely a demon, Yohan was a priest who had encountered a demon.

Perhaps because the divinity-related classes had deep ties to such things, unauthorized copymost of the priests and clerics raised their hands.

And Suhyeok, Mikael, and Kylus raised theirs as well.

‘…You too?’

Mikael made sense since he was an angel, but the other two were unexpected. In particular, Suhyeok’s dimension was far removed from demons, so while Yohan was wondering how he had faced one, Suhyeok explained that he had met a demonic species in a gate. Yohan only understood about half of that story.

‘Very well. Then those students, please come forward.’

‘…What? Are we being dragged away?’

‘What about the commercial district?’

‘I-I’m scared…!’

The sudden instruction was enough to terrify the students. As everyone who had raised their hand stepped forward with tense bodies, Serdik Agor took a breath and looked at the approaching students.

Shiver!

In that moment, every student present felt a fear that made the hair on their skin stand on end. The students who had claimed to have encountered a demon saw a hallucination: the space above Serdik Agor’s head distorted, and a single, vertically torn eye glared down at them.

‘U-Uaaaah!’

‘Hic!’

Sixteen out of the twenty students who stepped forward collapsed on the spot. Yohan’s group were the only ones who could keep their wits and remain standing.

‘About four, then.’

The demon vice-headmaster, calm even after incapacitating sixteen students, relayed some words to a white-haired old man who had followed him. The old man nodded. Soon after, Serdik Agor left, and the old man called Yohan, Suhyeok, Kylus, and Mikael aside.

‘The four of you have a high resistance to demonic nature. How would you like to receive some training regarding this?’

‘Training?’

‘Yes. I cannot give you the details yet, but listening will surely be of help.’

The old man was polite and gentle. Since the mention of demonic nature had already made Yohan worry about Cheplen, he found himself captivated by the non-compulsory proposal and nodded. He thought that if he took the training the old man mentioned, he might find a way to return Cheplen to his original state.

The old man then smiled softly and struck the floor once with his cane.

Flash!

Lightning struck from the sky, and Yohan and his friends were instantly transported from the vacant lot where the West Tower students were gathered to this classroom. The angel professor had entered afterward, leading to the current situation.

Since it was something that happened because of Yohan’s answer, it was only natural for Suhyeok to question him. Of course, Yohan hadn’t dreamed that his answer would lead to this, so he felt a bit wronged, but the deed was done. His conscience pricked him, so he had no choice but to sit quietly and listen to his friend’s complaints.

Who would have thought the training would start this very day?

Yohan fell into thought while habitually recording the angel professor’s exhaustive explanation of demonic nature in his notes.

Why are they suddenly conducting this training?

Actually, it wasn’t as if he had no clue.

Since the vice-headmaster had initially spoken about divinity that had strayed from the order, it must be related to them.

Could it be that incidents like the one in Kylus’s dimension were happening across multiple worlds, to the point where they needed the help of students?

As he speculated, the angel professor tapped the chalkboard twice to have everyone’s attention.

“I believe the theoretical explanation is sufficient. Now, for the practical.”

“…Pardon?”

“The vice-headmaster will assist with the practice. Do not be lazy.”

Knock, knock. When the professor tapped the chalkboard with the tip of his chalk, the space on the board distorted, and Serdik Agor emerged from within with a tired face. Snap. The vice-headmaster snapped his fingers. Mikael, who had been sleeping face-down, was forced upright with a surprised expression.

“From now on, I will attempt mental interference on you students. Please try to break it as you have learned.”

As if he had no time for long explanations, the vice-headmaster got straight to the point. He made eye contact with each student and used his ability. The first target was Kylus, who was sitting on the far right.

Like Mikael, Kylus had been woken from his nap; his eyes widened, and a few seconds later, he fainted, foaming at the mouth.

“Dear me. Did I fail to control my strength…? Regardless, it doesn’t seem like he listened to the lecture very diligently. Reflect on that.”

The vice-headmaster left a cold evaluation while looking at the fallen Kylus, and called for the next turn. Suhyeok, who had seen Kylus faint from the closest distance, nervously looked at the vice-headmaster. In the meantime, the angel professor lifted the fallen Kylus into the air and shook him up and down. The angel professor’s divine power permeated Kylus’s body, and black energy (seemingly the vice-headmaster’s demonic energy) fell away bit by bit every time Kylus was shaken. Yohan and Mikael looked at each other at the sight of a training scene that was far removed from human rights.

The two stared at each other, then patted each other’s backs almost simultaneously.

“Eek!”

Suhyeok, who had at least listened to the lesson despite his grumbling, lasted thirty seconds longer than Kylus before fainting. He didn’t foam at the mouth this time, but his eyes rolled back. The angel professor lifted Suhyeok as well and placed him next to Kylus before shaking them together.

The vice-headmaster’s demonic energy was shaken out of the students.

“Next, Yohan Herse.”

Yohan’s name was finally called. Yohan took a deep breath and looked at the vice-headmaster. Mikael squeezed Yohan’s hand under the desk to cheer him on.

“I will begin.”

The vice-headmaster unleashed an immense pressure while maintaining eye contact with Yohan. His demonic energy seeped through Yohan’s skin, finding the shortest path to infiltrate his mind.

–It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

–Yohan, help me. Yohan, help me. Yohan, help me.

–Can’t you hear my voice? It’s me, it’s me.

Whisper, whisper. It felt as if dozens of demons were whispering in his ear. Yohan frowned at the unpleasant, itchy sensation in his head.

–It is I, Herse.

“……”

The chair Yohan was sitting on rattled as soon as the sound of Cheplen’s voice was heard.