I Became the Savior of the Academy’s Villains

Chapter 126

A flash of lightning blazed with a thunderclap.

Crash! Crack!

The massive castle collapsed, the sound of debris pouring down echoing from all directions.

"Argh?!"

Ottbo was so startled that he almost collapsed on the spot.

At that moment, Bella grabbed the scruff of his neck and leapt.

Whisk!

"Master!"

"Waaah!"

Using the falling debris as footholds, Bella climbed higher and higher.

But Luca and White Noise were now too high up, and there were no more footholds to use.

Gritting her teeth, Bella shouted at Ottbo.

"Ottbo! Can't you use flight magic?"

"Uh, uhh?"

"Or at least magic that creates some sort of platform!"

Bella's words flustered Ottbo, making him panic.

'M-magic? Now?'

Apart from drive magic, Ottbo couldn't even properly cast first-tier spells, so asking for a third-tier spell like flight was impossible.

As Ottbo hesitated, Bella saw Luca falling and screamed.

"Master!"

"!"

At this, Ottbo squeezed his eyes shut.

"Screw it. Fly!"

He was so flustered he didn't even have time to form a magic circle.

Yet, Bella's body floated into the air.

"!"

Startled, Ottbo managed to send Bella toward Luca with desperate concentration.

Thud!

"Master! Are you alright?!"

Bella, catching Luca as he fell, immediately checked his complexion.

Twitch! Twitch!

"?"

Luca was unconscious but seemed to be twitching as if something was stimulating him.

Snap!

"?!"

Sparks occasionally flew from him.

He'd gone into overload from the excessive power of lightning.

"Ugh! I'll bring us down right away!"

Strained by the heavy load, Ottbo's face looked troubled as he lowered them to the ground.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"Count Lubak's castle just collapsed!"

"What? Who did this?"

Just then, people began rushing over.

Whoever they were, there was no way ordinary folk would show up after such a scene.

So Ottbo immediately summoned the auto-carriage.

"Bella! Get everyone into the carriage, quick!"

"...... Yes."

As Bella loaded Luca and Ravinia, Ottbo started up the auto-carriage.

Vroooom!

The vehicle tore away from Lubak Castle at tremendous speed.

While Ottbo drove, Bella checked on Luca's condition again.

Snap!

"Ugh...!"

Each time a little spark jumped from his body, Luca twitched in pain.

Bella bit her lip and placed a hand on his forehead.

Crackle!

"?!"

Suddenly, the power of lightning flowed back into her.

It was her first time feeling such pain, so she flinched and pulled her hand away.

'What should I do?'

She had to find a solution, but she'd never seen symptoms like this and had no clue what to try.

Peep!

Just then, Whistle emerged from where she'd been hiding in Luca's clothes.

With energetic gestures, Whistle tried to communicate something.

"......?"

But Bella didn't understand her gestures.

Frustrated, Whistle flitted in a circle, then slowly pointed to Luca with her wing, then to Bella in a flowing move, then to herself.

"......?"

Bella still looked baffled.

Whistle, exasperated, shouted.

"If you transfer lightning power directly from master to me, it could backflow! Move his power into you, then to me! Since you've rebuilt your body with the power of the clouds, you should be able to handle the sky's power somewhat—so act as a channel and control the energy!"

Peeeeep!

"???"

Of course, to Bella, it seemed like just a bluebird going wild.

Seeing this, Ottbo glanced at them in the rearview mirror and spoke.

"Luca's power comes from that bird, so shouldn't we try returning the rampaging energy to the bird? I think that's what it wants too."

"Servant of the master! You've got decent instincts!"

Peep!

Whistle let out a pleased peep at Ottbo's guess, and Bella nodded as if she finally understood.

"But... how do I actually do that?"

Peep!

Whistle immediately perched on Bella's right hand, pointed at her left hand with her beak, then at Luca.

"So I just have to grab him?"

Peep!

Whistle nodded right away.

Bella took a deep breath and held onto Luca.

Crackle!

"Urgh!"

As the lightning flooded into her, Bella couldn't help but groan.

It was a kind of pain she'd never felt before.

It hurt, but she gritted her teeth and endured.

'If this will help him rest easier, a little pain is nothing...!'

Resisting the pain, Bella instinctively transferred the lightning power from her body into Whistle.

Watching her, Whistle was impressed.

'Even if I told her how, this isn't easy. Most would fail once or twice before succeeding. It's not easy to endure the power of lightning.'

Whistle had expected a couple of failed tries before success.

Enduring the power of lightning was not something just anyone could do.

Yet Bella succeeded in transferring it immediately.

'Is it thanks to her having been rebuilt by the power of the clouds, or is it because of her feelings for master?'

With those thoughts, Whistle shook her beak and did her best to absorb as much lightning as possible to make things easier for Bella and Luca.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Sweat dripped down Bella's cheeks.

That's how painful and exhausting it was.

Fortunately, soon enough, Luca's overload subsided.

"It's about at a level master can endure! He can take care of the rest himself."

Peep!

As Whistle slipped free from Bella's hands, Bella let out a sigh of relief.

"Haa... Haa... So it's basically over...?"

Peep!

Whistle bobbed her beak up and down, peeping as if to confirm, then perched on Luca's chest.

Before long, he began to breathe evenly.

The lightning inside his body was now calm, unlike just moments before.

'How strange. He's only just begun to wield this power, yet he's already stabilizing it so well. Is it because what he's been through has strengthened his bond with the sky's power?'

Whistle was amazed.

In her increasingly vivid memories, there'd never been anyone who adapted to the power of the sky as quickly or well as Luca—except for the very first master, whose memory was nearly lost, Luca was the most talented.

'At this rate, he might soon absorb the demonic eye and seek the next sky power with no trouble.'

Martin's demonic eye, currently in Whistle's Space.

She'd meant to break it down with Space's power and let Luca absorb it gradually, but seeing his growth, perhaps she could accelerate the process.

"Whew. We should be alright now. How's Luca?"

At that, Ottbo stopped the carriage and turned his head.

Bella, looking exhausted, answered.

"The young master is..."

"I'm fine."

"......!"

At that moment, Luca opened his eyes.

* * *

'Dizzy.'

Luca shivered as his mind reeled, his brain feeling as if it was twisting.

He must have overexerted himself while in synchronization.

'The first time I synchronized, I only used the power for movement, so it wasn't an issue. But this time, I wielded the power recklessly.'

With Milia, his first time synchronizing, he'd only needed power for movement, so it hadn't been a problem.

He'd also immediately broken synchronization and released all the lightning within.

So his body hadn't been in danger from the lightning.

But this time was different.

He'd unleashed lightning with the power of the clouds mixed in and used it indiscriminately.

'Still, it helped me figure out how to handle lightning and cloud power simultaneously.'

Usually, Luca found it hard to use the power of lightning and the clouds at the same time.

At best, he could gather clouds in the sky, infuse them with electricity, and strike with a strong lightning bolt.

Using cloud power defensively and lightning offensively—in terms of active skills, he still found them challenging.

'Plus, even though I feel like I just woke up, my condition is actually pretty good. Maybe I can synchronize more often.'

While thinking this, Bella's voice snapped Luca from his thoughts.

"Master! Are you really alright?!"

Luca glanced at Bella.

Streaked with sweat, her face looked terribly exhausted.

'... No wonder the pain was bearable.'

He could faintly sense the remnants of lightning power from Bella.

"Bella. Did you draw some of the lightning from my body?"

"Huh? Oh~ not just me—this cute bluebird helped..."

Bella gave Whistle a tired smile and gestured at her.

Whistle, perched on Luca and checking his condition, let out a sigh of relief, sensing the lightning had stabilized.

"Master! Thank goodness! The lightning in your body is completely stabilized!"

"... What happened?"

"I transferred the lightning power in your body through that woman and into myself! Transferring it straight from you to me might have caused it to backflow! Thankfully, she has the power of the clouds so—"

Thud!

Just then, Luca grabbed Whistle tightly.

"Peep?!"

Whistle groaned, and Luca's expression turned grim.

"Don't ever do that again."

"B-but if I hadn't, your body would have—"

"No matter what. Don't ever do it again."

Grit!

Luca's teeth ground together.

Whistle frantically nodded her beak.

"Alright! I won't ever do it again!"

Peeep!

Whistle squealed in pain, making Bella chuckle.

"My, young master. Are you blaming Whistle for easing your pain by using me as a channel?"

"... Tsk."

Luca clicked his tongue and let go of Whistle.

Bella flashed a refreshing smile.

"Just as you worry about my body, I worry about yours too, young master. If something like this happened again, I'd do the same—for your sake. So please don't be so angry."

"... It's needless meddling. Don't do that again."

"Fufu. I'll think about it."

This time, Bella didn't say 'yes'.

Luca pouted and looked over at Ottbo, who was watching for their reaction.

"Ottbo. Where are we?"

"Where? No idea. I just drove somewhere no one else was around."

Ottbo looked around, and Luca nodded in satisfaction.

"That's fine. We need to finish our conversation before heading anywhere else anyway."

"Finish our conversation?"

At Ottbo's question, Luca looked at Ravinia, who was huddled in the corner.

"You're awake, aren't you, Ravinia Way?"

"......"

Ravinia opened her eyes cautiously.

She'd actually woken up a bit earlier but had kept quiet due to the urgent situation.

"You're alive?!"

"My, young master. Should we really leave that one be?"

Ottbo jumped in shock while Bella radiated a quiet, murderous intent.

Luca, in contrast, was indifferent.

"It's fine. Most of the White Noise is gone anyway. Now, even you without an armored soldier could put up a good fight against her."

"M-me?!"

Luca turned to Ravinia and spoke.

"Ravinia Way. Most of the White Noise remaining in your body is gone, and I destroyed White Noise's main body. What will you do now?"

"... It remains."

"?"

At her words, Luca frowned in confusion.

But Ravinia spoke up again, clearly.

"The main body of White Noise still remains."