Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 87

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 87
Black Mages respect hierarchy.
If the Demon your opponent has contracted ranks higher than the one you’ve contracted, you back down to some degree.
However, that doesn’t mean—
“Master!!”
They don’t simply drop to their knees and call you master.
“Oh my!”
Watching Evangeline make such a fuss, exhaustion crept in.
I pressed my temples and worked through the situation.
Occasionally, Black Mages did display excessive loyalty to one another.
It happened when the Demon they’d contracted served under the Demon their opponent had contracted.
‘So the Demon Dracopf contracted is subordinate to the one inside me.’
I didn’t know the exact identity of the thing inside me either. That damned witch had implanted it without any explanation.
All I knew was that it was roughly Arch Demon-class and somehow related to chains.
This was a good opportunity to learn its true nature.
“Let’s head to the office for now.”
“Yes!!! Master!!!”
“Oh! I know this too! At the office!”
I ignored Evangeline’s chattering from behind and made my way to Dracopf’s office.
Dracopf’s office was dark and gloomy, as befitted a Black Mage.
“Ahem!!! Please, take a seat!!!”
Dracopf gestured toward his chair.
I didn’t refuse and sat down. Dracopf knelt obediently on the floor, looking up at me.
This sewer-rat-looking creature groveling like that made me deeply uncomfortable, and I felt distinctly unwell.
“Sit.”
“How could I possibly dare—!!!”
“That’s an order.”
“Ahem!!! Yes!!!”
Dracopf promptly took the seat across from me.
‘The Demon Dracopf contracted is subordinate to the one inside me.’
I gathered my thoughts while observing him.
Demons divide into legions centered around Arch Demons.
The Empire’s military organization centers on generals the same way because they adopted the Demons’ command structure.
The Demon Dracopf contracted likely belonged to the legion of the one inside me.
“Which Demon did you contract?”
Asking a Black Mage the name of their contracted Demon is normally taboo.
Once the identity of a contracted Demon is revealed, its countermeasure becomes known as well.
But Dracopf answered readily.
“The Demon of Collapse and Withering!!!”
Demons receive different names based on the powers they possess.
The longer the name, the lower the rank—a sign of cruder powers.
‘A Demon of Collapse and Withering’—
Just below Arch Demon rank.
‘He contracted with a High-Ranking Demon.’
For a Black Mage contracted to a High-Ranking Demon to be so utterly prostrate—
‘Surely not an ordinary Arch Demon.’
As Black Magic grows in depth, it draws closer to Arch Demons.
High-ranking Black Magic connects to powers held by Arch Demons.
This is why High-ranking Black Magic shares names with an Arch Demon’s powers.
A Demon of Collapse and Withering likely served an Arch Demon of Collapse.
‘A Demon of Collapse, you say?’
That was strange.
I’d used the high-ranking Curse of Collapse on the battlefield before. But back then, Collapse didn’t feel particularly natural to my hand.
Yet the thing inside me is a Demon of Collapse—
It didn’t add up.
‘Could it possibly be higher-ranked than an Arch Demon?’
There was only one rank above Arch Demon.
Those called not Demons but Sins—the Seven Deadly Sins.
If the thing inside me was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Dracopf’s groveling made sense.
However—
‘That can’t be.’
No matter how much of a calamity that witch was, obtaining a fragment of one of the Seven Deadly Sins didn’t seem possible.
Moreover, my body couldn’t possibly withstand the heart of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, no matter how resilient.
‘I can’t make sense of it.’
Hearing Dracopf’s answer only made my head spin more.
There was still one more method.
“Dracopf. I want to speak directly with your Demon.”
“That would be somewhat—!!!”
Dracopf’s face went pale.
From the moment a Black Mage contracts with a Demon, they must struggle against that Demon for their entire life, as it hungers for their soul.
Slip even slightly, and the Demon devours your soul.
Manifesting a Demon is the same as forfeiting that struggle.
It was natural for Dracopf to refuse.
But I wasn’t speaking to Dracopf.
“Come forth.”
“…What? Aaaaaaaah!!!”
Dracopf’s mouth tore open in a horrible stretch.
Crack. The black pupils of both eyes rolled backward. A terrible sound erupted, then the pupils rolled back up from below.
The blacks of his eyes were now deeper, darker, and thicker than before—thick enough to fill his entire eye sockets.
From those eyes oozed a palpable, horrifying malice.
The Demon had forcibly Manifested within Dracopf’s body.
As the Demon’s mouth opened, a sound like the screams of hundreds of sheep mixed with the laughter of dozens of children emerged.
Strangely, I understood its meaning.
「You have summoned me?」
Was this truly one of the Seven Deadly Sins?
At that very moment—
Thump.
My right chest began to beat violently—where his fragment was embedded.
A fierce impulse shook my mind. Against my will, a gate was forced open.
Screeeech.
The sharp shriek of metal wailed out like a scream.
At the same time, Black Chains erupted outward. The chains were far denser and thicker than usual.
I tried desperately to stop them, but it had no effect.
The chains moved of their own accord and pierced Dracopf.
The chains embedded in Dracopf thrashed incessantly, tearing through the Demon without mercy.
「────────!!」
A bizarre cacophony erupted—thousands of sheep and hundreds of children intermingling their cries and laughter in agony.
「You… you are! Surely—!」
The Demon Manifested in Dracopf thrashed about desperately.
Black energy sprayed from the Demon’s hands, engulfing the space around it.
Then the space itself began to collapse.
It was Collapse itself.
This wasn’t a Curse. This was the true power itself.
In other words, the Demon had fully Manifested.
As the black energy collapsed and tore through the space, the chains didn’t falter even slightly.
Rather, they devoured even the collapsing space.
They consumed the Collapse with ravenous hunger.
All the Demon could do was scream.
‘It subdues a Manifested High-Ranking Demon so easily—?’
「Po……」
With a final death cry, the Demon scattered.
An indescribable sense of satiation washed over me.
Then I realized the thing inside me had been starving.
‘It satisfied its hunger by consuming another Demon.’
Of course, Demons do fight each other. Indeed, they often devour one another.
But that was to absorb the other Demon’s powers.
I had never heard of a Demon feeding itself on another Demon simply to fill its belly.
“Ugh……”
Just then, Dracopf let out a low groan.
Until a moment ago, Dracopf had been dark and repulsive—obviously a Black Mage contracted to a Demon.
Now Dracopf appeared newborn, pure and utterly clean.
‘His contract with the Demon has been severed.’
Dracopf is a Black Mage.
A severed contract with a High-Ranking Demon meant losing all the power he possessed.
“Why does my body feel so light? Life force is surging through me—. No, no! I can’t stand this!!”
Understanding the situation, Dracopf clutched his head and wailed. His already sparse hair became sparser still.
“Dracopf, think about this positively.”
“Positively? What kind of mad bastard—. You! It’s you! Give my Demon back! Return it!!”
Dracopf’s eyes rolled back as he lunged at me.
Dracopf’s situation was pitiful. He’d lost everything in an instant.
But that wasn’t my problem.
My foot drove precisely into his abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Dracopf clutched his stomach and hacked violently, tears and mucus streaming down his face, spittle dripping from his lips. It was revolting.
I spoke calmly while observing him.
“Compose yourself.”
“Compose? Do I look composed right now—”
I lifted my foot slightly again, and the raging Dracopf fell silent.
“Now, think about this positively.”
“Positively? How? My contract with the Demon is broken!”
“You know the saying—when one door closes, another opens. Your broken contract means you can sign a new one with a Demon.”
“A, a new contract? With this?”
Dracopf stared at me with wide, shocked eyes.
I nodded lightly.
“Think about it. When you contract with a Demon now, the terms will be far better than before. Your Black Magic skill level is high, after all.”
“It, it’s true you’re right. But that only matters if I can actually contract with a Demon! Do you have any idea how much I groveled to contract with a High-Ranking Demon? How am I supposed to find one again!”
Dracopf shouted with desperation, veins standing out on his neck.
He had a point.
You couldn’t contract with a Demon just because you wanted to.
Especially High-Ranking Demons—their pride was immense.
To contract with a High-Ranking Demon required sacrificing not just life force but many other things as well.
But that wasn’t an issue now.
“You won’t need to look.”
“What?”
“It’s right here.”
I gestured with my thumb at my right chest.
Dracopf’s eyes wavered. The way he looked at me shifted from seeing a Demon to seeing a madman.
“What are you saying—! Contracts must be made directly with the Demon itself. Even if you’d contracted with an Arch Demon, you couldn’t connect me to one!”
Dracopf was right.
Contracts with Demons had to be made directly with the Demon’s true form.
“I didn’t contract with a Demon.”
“…You didn’t contract with a Demon? Yet you just opened a gate? That makes no sense—”
“I embedded a Fragment of Demon Heart into my body.”
“What kind of horrifying joke is this—”
I simply stared at Dracopf.
His eyes widened gradually, then filled with shock.
“I’ve heard rumors of madmen who embed Demon Hearts in their bodies—but there’s actually someone insane enough to embed an Arch Demon fragment?”
It wasn’t that I’d embedded it myself; the witch had forced it into me. But I saw no need to explain away the obvious.
Unlike other Black Mages who contract with Demons, I’d embedded a Demon’s fragment directly into my body.
Where other Black Mages are Franchises, I’m a Direct Operation.
And because of that, I could broker contracts with Demons as well.
“Will you contract?”
Only then did Dracopf’s expression turn serious.
I was certain he would contract.
The Demon inside me was at least Arch Demon-class.
For my part, it was beneficial as well.
By brokering a contract for Dracopf, I could gain more insight into the Demon’s true nature.
Once Dracopf contracted, he would essentially become my servant.
“Y, yes! I will!”
As expected, Dracopf nodded. His eyes gleamed with desperation and hope.
I leaned back slightly and spoke.
“For nothing?”
“…Excuse me?”
“There are so many Black Mages nowadays that Demon prices have shot up. High-Ranking Demons fetch millions, so how much should I charge for an Arch Demon-class Demon—? I can’t quite gauge it.”
Dracopf opened and closed his mouth soundlessly.
It seemed to say something like, ‘You ate my Demon, you bastard.’
I acquiesced readily.
“Well, I am somewhat at fault. I’ll just take a reasonable price.”
“If, if it’s reasonable—”
“You’ll take responsibility for teaching a new student and help them pass Elementary Black Magic Studies without failing.”
“Ah, yes. I understand. Just leave it to me.”
Dracopf nodded readily.
He seemed to think it wasn’t particularly difficult work.
‘It’ll be the hardest thing he’s ever done.’
I smiled contentedly and extended my hand.
“Then let’s begin immediately.”
“Yes.”
Dracopf took my hand politely, and his eyes soon turned black.
When contracting with a Demon, one faces the Demon’s true form.
Dracopf would learn its identity.
‘I’m looking forward to this.’
I drummed my fingers lightly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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