The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 134

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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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The Academy’s Weapon Duplicator, Chapter 134
Part 41: The School Trip (6)
Thomson fell silent for a moment.
A traitor within Indus.
He’d been aware of it, but hadn’t taken it seriously.
Indus had always accepted anyone who called themselves Indus.
That made it difficult to gauge the organization’s true size, and impossible to know who stood at the top or who the leader really was.
A little dirty water flowing in from below? No matter. They filtered it out and refilled. Simple enough.
But if that filthy water had risen all the way to the top.
In other words, if someone in Indus’s leadership was the traitor.
“Well, that means there’s a chance you’re the traitor, doesn’t there?”
Thomson threw out the words with deliberate bravado.
[That’s right.]
Kian replied matter-of-factly, showing no real reaction to the provocation.
Thomson clicked his tongue even as Kian continued speaking.
[From now on, operate with that in mind. We don’t know who leaked. If it turns out to be you, me, Kraken, or Skyler, we eliminate them immediately.]
“Come on, don’t jump to conclusions. We don’t even know who muddied the waters yet. Could be someone way down the chain.”
[……Fair. If there’s someone thinking the worst, there should be someone seeing the bright side too.]
“Are you being sarcastic?”
[I’m serious.]
That was when it happened.
Thomson abruptly stopped talking, his expression darkening. He retrieved the spyglass and tucked it back into his prosthetic arm.
Kian kept talking throughout.
[By the way, when is Kraken coming? Still mulling over what to do with that remaining heart?]
“No idea. You find out.”
[What, irresponsible. Kraken needs to finish that job quickly so we can move forward. You need to stay on top of it too.]
“That’s not it.”
Thomson turned his body and adjusted his stance, testing each finger of the prosthetic arm’s mechanisms. As the machinery clicked and whirred, he felt something approaching from a distance.
“We have a visitor.”
[……Constellation Academy?]
“Probably.”
[All right, catch you later.]
The call ended.
He pocketed his phone, and the presence he’d been sensing took shape before him.
Her gait was sharp and clipped, her expression remarkably stern.
“……What brings you here?”
“Good afternoon.”
Thomson asked with a deliberately casual air, and the woman answered in kind. Yet neither dropped their guard.
This was the summit of Stone Mountain, used to watch over the Aerial Railway—a treacherous height with a cliff face just beyond.
No woman would climb here for no reason.
The woman spoke.
“I’m Isamaya, a teacher at Constellation Academy. I’m here to take you into custody. Will you cooperate?”
“Take me into custody for what?”
“Well, for being you, of course.”
Ha.
Thomson laughed. His prosthetic arm whirred to life with a deep hum as he channeled Mana into it, activating it.
“Hard to arrest a corpse, wouldn’t you say?”
“……My.”
Isamaya drew a pair of glasses from her coat. As she settled them on her nose, her already stern expression hardened further.
“I see. I’ll be careful not to kill you by accident, then.”
“……You crazy bitch!”
Thomson was the first to charge.

* * *
Kora was hiding below the cliff edge.
After a moment, someone approached him.
“You haven’t been waiting long, have you, Kora?”
It was Pascal who spoke, his smile warm and familiar.
So far, the plan was proceeding as designed.
“Where did Frontdier go?”
“……went to carry out the operation.”
“Mm, I see.”
Pascal nodded.
Pascal didn’t know much about Frontdier’s private operation. Only Osprite knew. Everyone simply trusted it because Osprite had said so.
Still, a few things were predictable.
The fact that Osprite was hovering so conspicuously up there in the sky was meant to lure out members of Indus.
Indeed, some spider girl had appeared earlier. Though she was just a dummy.
But what Osprite was really aiming for was probably another Zodiac within Indus—Heldre.
If Indus truly wanted a “revolution,” Osprite would be the most troublesome obstacle to it.
If Indus was planning something on the Aerial Railway, then Osprite had come to meet them head-on herself. To draw out Heldre.
‘Still, isn’t this too dangerous?’
Pascal didn’t know how powerful Osprite and Heldre were. But if they were both Zodiacs, wouldn’t the one who struck first have the advantage?
‘Could Frontdier actually be…?’
Was this an operation where Frontdier would do something to Heldre after luring her out? Wouldn’t that be the most reckless thing among everyone participating in this plan?
“……Pascal.”
Just then, Kora spoke in a tense voice.
Pascal stopped thinking. It seemed there was something he needed to do first.
“There’s something. Ahead.”
“Yeah.”
Pascal and Kora were standing beneath the Cliff. In front of them was an open expanse.
There was nothing obstructing the view, and no one could hide from sight.
And yet.
Just as Kora said, something was definitely approaching them.
Crack—crash—
The moment something invisible drew near, the cliff face suddenly shattered. Massive stone fragments flew as though possessed by will, gathering before Kora and Pascal.
The stones clung to one another, assembling themselves into the shape of legs, arms, a helmet, and armor.
The stone armor that took form this way had darkness within its helmet, though naturally it was hollow.
From within it.
“Greetings.”
Remarkably, a voice emerged.
Kora wrinkled her nose as she looked at it.
“……That thing has no scent at all.”
“Seems that way.”
Pascal narrowed his eyes.
‘A kind of specter.’
Most specters, even when they linger in the physical world, have a hazy existence. They’ve died once, after all. Most are without any memory and drift aimlessly.
Even when sensed through Mana, such specters have an indistinct form. Left alone, they would fade on their own.
But those that remain with clear resentment, bitterness, or murderous intent—what are commonly called malevolent spirits—have a more defined form.
However, like ordinary specters, they too are often incomplete in memory, being dead.
They harbored resentment for some reason in life, but they forget the reason itself, retaining only the resentment, moving without purpose. In most cases, they harm people unrelated to them for no reason at all. They are the most dangerous to ordinary folk.
“I am called Skyler.”
Skyler introduced himself plainly. In that voice, there was no trace of resentment or lingering attachment.
……What if a specter remained not from resentment, but from ‘conviction’?
What if that conviction was so powerful it kept the soul in existence even after death?
Then a monster like this one before them came into being.
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Pascal. A newcomer at Constellation Academy.”
Skyler looked at Pascal for a moment, then raised a finger. It was pointing at Kora.
“The little one there.”
Then he flicked the finger.
“Hand her over to me. She’s suitable material for Indus.”
“Huh?”
Pascal looked at Kora. She was making a face like thunder, shaking her head firmly.
Skyler paid it no mind and continued.
“The White Tiger’s beastkin. Pure yet destructive power, ferocity combined with human reason. Perfect. Ideal. Only one like this could become a true soldier.”
Skyler spoke his genuine praise of Kora. The armored hand opened gently, as though ready to receive her.
Pascal looked at Kora.
“What do you think?”
“Uh, what?”
“Want to go to Indus?”
Kora looked at Pascal with a stricken face. The expression of someone hearing absolute nonsense. Pascal let out a soft laugh.
“It’s a joke.”
Even so, Kora’s expression didn’t soften. Her face said: How could you possibly make such a joke at a time like this?
“Disappointing. So it was a joke. I thought we could understand each other.”
“That’s a lie. You knew I was joking.”
“True enough. You’re a teacher at the Constellation Academy, after all. I hear all the instructors there are driven by conviction and a lofty sense of calling. You wouldn’t abandon a student so carelessly.”
Skyler offered the compliment without a trace of mockery this time.
“However, here’s the thing.”
Skyler reached into the armor’s interior with his own hand. When he drew it back out, a small pouch hung from his fingers.
Pascal watched it with keen interest.
‘There should be nothing inside that armor. How is something coming out of it?’
Skyler spoke.
“If a student turns into a monster, shouldn’t they be put down? As a Constellation teacher, I mean.”
Whoosh—
Skyler threw the pouch as he spoke.
It was Powder that stripped away reason. Even if Pascal cut it down, the dust would settle on Kora, and if he tried to catch it, the pouch would simply burst open.
‘So, what will you do, Constellation teacher?’
Skyler watched Pascal as if testing him.
In the brief moment the pouch flew through the air, Kora went rigid while Pascal remained smiling.
When the pouch drew close.
‘Wait?’
Pascal did nothing. Outwardly, at least.
Pop.
The pouch burst open in midair.
Yet the powder reached neither Pascal nor Kora. Each grain curved gently away as it approached them, scattering harmlessly.
“……Aura!”
Skyler realized what it was and gasped.
At first, he’d thought it was a magical Barrier. But there were no preparations for that. He sensed no incantations, no spell formulas, no invocation words—none of the stages he’d expected.
“He’s pumping out Aura with bare hands and using it as a shield!”
With a heavy thud, Skyler drew a sword from behind his back and drove it into the ground. At that, Pascal’s eyes brightened with curiosity again.
Again, from the “empty” space behind him, a “steel” blade emerged. To call it the same as when he’d conjured his armor upon arrival seemed inadequate—there was no “steel” anywhere nearby.
“Magnificent! I’d very much like to cross blades with you!”
“Ha, receiving praise from an enemy is rather humbling.”
Pascal drew his own sword. Kora wisely stepped back.
Pascal drew the blade back. Whoosh—Aura enveloped his sword.
“Be warned. My blade can cut the soul itself.”
“Just what I hoped for!”
Though their distance was still too great for their blades to touch,
both swung, and their Auras collided in midair.

* * *
Meanwhile, I surveyed the situation from the opposite Cliff.
Below the Cliff, I could see Pascal locked in combat with someone.
‘Skyler.’
A member of Indus—Skyler.
His true nature is a Specter. And a high-ranking one at that.
Sleb, whom I encountered in the dungeon, falls into a similar category of Monster. The difference is that Sleb retained clear memories of who he was and what he had to resent. That’s why he was strong.
‘Now Skyler’s shown himself too.’
For the Constellation Academy in its position of responding to Indus’s assault, the most crucial thing is determining where Indus’s members are located.
That’s why Osprite is hovering visibly in the air, and why Isamaya has found Thomson and engaged him.
Thomson’s and Skyler’s positions are now revealed, and Kraken likely isn’t here. From what I know, Kraken is currently executing a plan somewhere entirely different.
‘The real problem is Kian.’
In the game, Indus members are typically fought by the teachers. For players controlling Aster, it’s an event that showcases the strength of the Constellation faculty, and especially allows them to recognize Osprite’s power.
Moreover, this is much earlier in the timeline than the game version. The standard strategy later involves Aster and allies growing stronger individually and then defeating Indus members in coordination with the teachers.
That’s why players don’t easily encounter all Indus members. While fighting one, another is already engaged elsewhere. You might recognize a face but not understand their abilities, or you might only know the name and never see the face.
‘But Kian is impossible not to know.’
Kian is the most troublesome member of Indus.
For one, he can create a Dummy that looks identical to himself, which is already extremely annoying.
And worse, since it’s not a doll but a congregation of spiders that subtly mimics human behavior, those without sharp Sense of Energy cannot distinguish it from a real human.
But he’s definitely nearby. To manipulate his Dummies and countless spiders, he’d have to be close.
‘Good.’
From this moment on, this is no longer Constellation Academy’s operation.
This is my operation.

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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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