novelraw Chapter 160: Angry Dad
Chapter 160: Angry Dad
Ignotus stood with Gaia, Nora, Lykos, Ulv, Mer, and Aur at the end of a corridor.
"Judas’s father is the Demon."
His first words all but dropped a bomb on them.
"That student you killed?"
Gaia’s surprise was obvious.
"Yes, the very ’devil we knew.’"
Ignotus nodded.
"His dad is their key to the Academy now. I saw him plain as day during my speech; there’s no doubt he’s the one. We’ll kill him... or it and whatever comes near that river by the dorms."
Ulv frowned.
"But what if it’s too much for us to handle?"
Ignotus flicked his hand.
"Isn’t that what we’re all here for?"
His grin made them all stiffen up.
"Anyways, it’s alone. I find it hard to believe that the Demons could find another one capable of infiltrating the Academy. I’m betting that it’s a weak Lesser Demon, newly Corrupted, so we won’t have any problems dispatching it before hunting the others."
They all took in a deep breath, feeling like things were starting to get real.
"Prepare for one tough fight~!"
Eris giggled in his head.
’Good luck.’
He’d certainly need that.
—
Ignotus left them there and walked the Academy alone.
If one only knew the front gate and the Colosseum, one would think Saint Academy were quaint. They’d be wrong. The place was massive, housing hundreds of buildings and miles of road.
It had the arrogance of an institution that expected history to be its résumé.
The layout was surprisingly simple, however. Most definitely by design, as near the main entrance were the lecture halls, and then from there were the combat halls, offices for the Shepherds and Bannerets, and the higher-ranked professors’ quarters.
After all of that, higher than the rest, was this Academy’s headmaster, the Patriarch’s chambers.
Beyond that, past many a courtyard that held statues, the dorms spread out, a patchwork of living quarters where Nameless students and those of Lower Houses bunked together.
Somewhere in that maze, Ignotus had a room with his name on it.
He’d never even visited, even though he was required to.
Again, rules were suggestions, and he preferred being inconvenient.
Still, that didn’t mean that he didn’t know his way around. He casually drifted near the Academy’s back exit, where massive gates waited, incredible cliffs of wrought iron.
Behind it was the Cocyplus river, running past beneath a stone arch. Guards populated that area, Shepherds, Class Eight Runebearers that could kill the Lesser Demon in mere seconds.
For all the Academy’s defenses, in his past life, the attack had brought chaos to its doors.
Sure, only the guards had gotten injured, and that was because they had gotten caught unawares, but still, that was excuse enough for the other Great Houses to intervene.
This time, he’d ensure the guards remained in place and that the Demon who infiltrated their doors wouldn’t succeed in whatever they were planning on doing.
And what better way to do that than to use himself as bait and walk somewhere quiet?
Ignotus was sure that the Demon was following, and he needed to give the opportunity to—
"IGGNNNNNNNOOOOTTTTTUSSS!"
Impeccable timing... and a funny sense of déjà vu.
"I’ve been waiting."
The thing charging at him quickly twisted far from its once human silhouette.
Its hair became all black, horns punched through its scalp, and its muscles swelled, tearing through its clothes until it became nearly naked, now easily towering above Ignotus.
"Oh, please."
It swung a punch that destroyed the ground beneath.
Though Ignotus seemed not to care for its insane strength as he stepped to the side, gripped the creature’s massive wrist, and used its momentum to yank it off balance.
For a moment, it flew. While at the same time, Ignotus’s cohort burst forward out of nearby buildings. Acting first, Lykos’s hand conjured ice from above, and Gaia raised a pillar of earth from the ground.
The Demon was squashed between Elements before crashing down straight into Ulv’s blooming ice, which froze what remained of its lower body.
Mer followed through with bursts of fire while Aur sliced it up with her wind blades, giving Nora the chance to get close and steal its limbs, stopping it from reattaching itself.
The cohort worked as a well-oiled contraption for chaos control, ending the Demon in a few seconds, battering at its remains until nothing of it remained... or so they thought.
Just when only its mush remained, something flashed, momentarily blinding them.
In those fleeting moments, its dark floated up and merged in the air, somehow forming a much larger body that appeared to wield even more strength.
’So this was the ’noise...’ an extra life.’
The cohort’s flow was unperturbed.
Without pause, Lykos flung it further up with his ice, while Mer and Aur blasted it far, shooting it through the air like a comet.
They glanced at each other and nodded, all rushing forth towards the exit.
If it wasn’t obvious by the way they acted, this was talked about beforehand. If they couldn’t kill it quickly, then they’d send it far.
They couldn’t fight the Demon in the Academy; they had already attracted too much attention. Their battle had to be as far from the Academy as possible, away from the Shepherds, the dorms, and anyone who would get dragged into politics.
Academy guards were ACADEMY guards; they wouldn’t interfere in something outside their jurisdiction. If it had nothing to do with the Academy, it had nothing to do with them.
And yes, that showed just how little they cared for the safety of their students, at least when outside the Academy. They only cared for their image, the staring guards in front of the running cohort being clear evidence of that.
Thankfully, Ignotus’s plan worked as they had blasted, pulled, and shoved the Demon away from the gates until its path was a deliberate arc through the forest, blasting through it.
Ignotus and Nora stuck close to it while the others constantly barraged it with spells.
When the opportunity presented itself, Lykos sent the Demon flying to open ground, while Ignotus called on his inventory, equipping Hands of Lethe and a better sword from Vulcan.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick—
DING!
—
{Blood!}
—
[Fortune’s Wheel] had chosen.
His grin widened as he jumped, and Nora flashed beneath him.
Her palms struck his feet with lightning and blasted him towards the creature.
Ignotus rotated in the air, sword and glove catching the morning sun, and shouted with the kind of delight only a lunatic or a very honest man could manage:
"Let’s have some fun, you angry dad!"