The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 149

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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 Weapon Duplicator of the Academy – Episode 149
Chapter 47: Rematch (2)
Renzo raised his shield against the descending blade of light that bore down upon him.
‘Is that the sword energy that shattered Heldrae’s arms?!’
It was far too massive to evade, and terribly fast besides. Could he escape it if he summoned all his strength? No—even if he dodged, he’d be caught in the explosion that followed.
Yet perhaps it would be wiser to abandon evasion and instead endure the blast’s damage rather than attempt to block the sword energy itself.
But.
Renzo raised his shield.
Renzo’s Aura and Divine Power flared up like flames, converging into a single point upon his shield.
The Divine Power of Ares—it grew stronger the more perilous the moment.
In this instant, the Divine Power dwelling within Renzo had become more formidable than ever before.
“If I run from here, I’m no longer Renzo.”
Renzo’s eyes blazed. Impossibly, a smile spread across his face.
Before, he had blocked Mjolnir. His greatsword had shattered, yes, but he’d suffered almost no injury.
This sword energy was incomparable to that moment—it was clear proof of Frontdier’s growth.
So he would meet it.
To seize absolute victory—no, that wasn’t it.
Because it was exhilarating.
“Isn’t it, Frontdier?!”
Renzo roared, and hearing his voice, Frontdier laughed.
“That’s you, Renzo.”
Crash!!
A tremendous wave of light cascaded over Renzo’s shield. It bore down with violent force and weight as though to bury him along with his shield, and the wind unleashed by the sword energy swept the dust around Renzo away with ferocious intensity.
“Hng—ahhhhhhh!!!”
All of Renzo’s power converged upon the shield, colliding with the sword energy and crying out. Sparks and vibrations roared deafeningly.
Clang!
And then Renzo succeeded in blocking the sword energy. He had read the waning momentum of the blade and deflected it to the side.
Yet Renzo was seized by an odd sensation.
‘I’m certain.’
Frontdier had intentionally held back. This sword energy was weaker than the one Renzo had heard before. At this level, even Heldrae could have withstood it. He might have taken damage, but his arms wouldn’t have been shattered.
Renzo looked up at Frontdier. That gaze, still fixed upon Renzo—that face continuing to calculate.
‘From the start, he was certain I’d block it.’
If Frontdier had gone all-out here and Renzo had still managed to block it, Frontdier would have had no remaining options.
From what Renzo could tell, Frontdier had always created weapons from his bare hands. Whatever technique that was, whether it consumed Mana or Aura, it clearly had some cost.
So Frontdier had conserved his strength. To learn the true nature of the shield Linotoros.
Once fully exhausted, Frontdier would be no more than an ordinary warrior. Renzo had perceived this truth.
‘And yet he moves under the assumption that I’ll block him.’
Frontdier had predicted that Renzo would even block the Cross Barrage itself. That prediction set Renzo’s heart ablaze.
Meanwhile, Frontdier was carefully analyzing Renzo’s state.
His reasoning for holding back was sound—to discern the nature of Linotoros. Renzo’s conclusion had been correct.
‘So that shield doesn’t protect in all directions.’
Frontdier observed. The shield, raised overhead to block the Cross Barrage, left Renzo’s shins marked with thin cuts.
Likely the dust, sand, and residual fragments of the dispersed sword energy had grazed below his knees.
‘It’s an ability that blocks the “frontal” direction relative to where the shield faces. That’s why Renzo grew tense when blocking the fireworks. Projectiles coming from the side or rear are beyond its scope.’
Since fireworks curved their trajectory to follow their target, there had been a real possibility that Renzo’s sides or back could be struck. He’d certainly been fortunate there.
“Listen, Frontdier!”
Then Renzo shouted. With each word he spoke, his Aura rose higher still.
“I’m feeling better than ever right now!”
A wild exhilaration surged up from deep within Renzo’s body. That fervor accelerated his Divine Power directly. Renzo’s smile deepened, and Frontdier saw that face.
‘That is—!’
Frontdier’s eyes wavered. The violet Mirage blooming from behind Renzo.
Once it had been called the Shimmer of Corruption, but now its true nature was known. Divine Manifestation.
‘He’s not revealing his form.’
Yet the Mirage merely bloomed; the god did not appear in visible form.
Previously, Heldrae’s god, Hestia, had learned that Frontdier would uncover her god’s past and duplicate her weapons.
It was Hephaestus who’d made that known. Surely Renzo’s god, Ares, had received the same warning. That’s why he deliberately concealed his appearance.
“Frontdierrrrr!!!”
Renzo kicked off the ground and launched himself skyward. His spear had been taken; now he came with bare hands.
Frontdier shifted his body in midair. In close combat, he could not win. No matter how unarmed Renzo was—in fact, an unarmed Renzo was all the more dangerous. And now Ares was manifesting besides.
Evade Renzo’s attack by moving through the air, then snipe at him again as he fell back to earth. That was the most prudent course.
Yet.
“I told you! Frontdier! I’m feeling absolutely incredible right now!”
Renzo let out a sound that defied description,
and with a sharp leap—
he pushed off the void itself, launching toward Frontdier.
“I feel like I could do anything!”
“You absolute mad—”
Grab!
Renzo seized Frontdier by the collar. A grin split across his face, his mouth stretched wide and feral.
“Haaa!”
Renzo hurled Frontdier away, the motion casual as flinging wet laundry into the wind.
“Nngh!!”
Frontdier rocketed through the air, nearly horizontal to the ground. Instinct made him glance back.
‘The aerial railroad.’
The tracks of the aerial railroad materialized behind him as he flew.
Void Weaving, Simultaneous Duplication
Nil Jack’s Short Sword, Same-type Duplication — 2 copies
Frontdier sliced clean through the rails on both sides of his trajectory.
Clang!
“Hck!”
He struck the severed track hard; the middle section of the railroad broke free under the impact, the line splitting apart. The aerial railroad severed.
Without support, the tracks convulsed wildly before sagging between the two cliffs, suspended from either side like a broken bridge.
Caw—
A crow cried out from the forest and took wing into the emptiness.
Surely, that severed aerial railroad would find its way to Aten’s ears through that bird.
“Oi, Frontdier! Slicing up a critical section of the aerial railroad—and you still call yourself a student of Constellation Academy?”
“Bullshit.”
Frontdier managed to arrest his momentum and turned to face Renzo.
Renzo remained suspended in the air. Not hovering—bouncing off invisible trampolines, springing upward with each step as if the void itself offered solid ground.
This wasn’t flight. It wasn’t levitation either.
It was pure Renzo improvisation, a method devised solely to land another blow on Frontdier. Frontdier guessed he was creating Aura-reinforced footholds at intervals, launching himself upward by repeatedly leaping from them.
The technique was absurdly wasteful—and something Frontdier would never attempt, if only for the Aura expenditure alone.
“……Renzo, you could do that?”
“No. I just tried it for the first time.”
A sigh.
The breath escaped Frontdier’s lips before he could stop it.
“……This is a disaster.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Frontdier checked his remaining Mana.
Despite holding back, he’d launched no half-hearted probes against Renzo’s shield; the Mana expenditure had been considerable. His Necktie was already halved.
Void Weaving, Simultaneous Duplication
Imperial Palace Armory
Spears, Same-type Duplication — 12 units
Frontdier conjured a volley of spears arrayed in the air, all aimed at Renzo. If Renzo had gained freedom of movement in mid-air, Frontdier needed a new strategy.
“Ho. Each one is formidable.”
Renzo laughed without hesitation. Formidable they were—hand-picked from the Imperial Palace’s arsenal, only the finest specimens capable of pursuing Renzo through the sky.
“But if it doesn’t hit, it means nothing!”
In a heartbeat, Renzo charged at Frontdier again.
His approach was different now. Rather than rushing straight ahead, he bounded off the invisible platforms with wild arcs—up, down, left, right—weaving a chaotic path that drew ever closer.
Frontdier launched the spears, but their speed couldn’t match Renzo’s evasion.
‘I suspected as much from the moment he first took to the air that way.’
Still, this is too fast.
He’d devised the technique only moments ago, and already he wielded it with such precision.
‘No choice.’
Just as Renzo had drawn forth the shield hidden behind his back,
Frontdier too would have to reveal what he’d kept concealed.
“Frontdier! You can’t stop me at that speed!”
Renzo traced an erratic path through the air, hurtling toward Frontdier with terrifying velocity.
“I know.”
Frontdier raised Mjolnir, gripping the handle tightly and pouring Mana into it.
“I’ve brought something faster.”
Mjolnir’s ability activated.
Thunder God’s Blessing.
Lightning spiraled gently around Mjolnir,
Crack!
The tremendous bolt that had descended before struck Mjolnir once more.
“……Lightning.”
Renzo’s eyes widened. That speed hurtling through the air platforms would be difficult even for Frontdier to track,
yet it still fell short of lightning itself.
“Hnn!”
Frontdier swung the lightning-wrapped Mjolnir against a spear Woven in mid-air. The lightning raced along nearby spears and spread outward, reaching even the few spears he’d hurled toward Renzo.
Frontdier had never intended to hit Renzo with the spears in the first place.
They were merely lightning rods.
When Renzo came to his senses, spears that Frontdier had thrown surrounded him on all sides.
“Give it a try, Renzo.”
Just before the lightning cradled in the spears could cry out, Frontdier spoke,
and Renzo answered calmly.
“Yeah. I can’t dodge this one.”
Crackle-crackle-crackle—!!
“Gaaaaahhh!”
Lightning streamed from the spears on all sides. Renzo took the full force and plummeted from the air. The bolt that pierced him from crown to heel seared his nerves.
“Ngh—uugh!”
Yet even so, Renzo did not fall. He landed properly on solid ground, his trembling body still standing.
‘Damage like this is nothing. I can still fight!’
Renzo’s extraordinary vitality, Aura, and Ares’s Divine Power—all of it greatly reduced the damage he sustained.
Thud.
Frontdier too touched down on the earth. Renzo glared at him and raised his shield with a trembling body.
His body, still coursing with electricity, would not obey his will. Paralysis. But if he could endure one more attack, Renzo’s turn would come.
“You truly are remarkable, Renzo.”
“You’re revolting, Frontdier. How many filthy tricks do you hide behind that lazy face?”
Renzo looked at Frontdier with an expression of disgust.
Frontdier smiled.
“But you see, Renzo,”
That smile which had always unnerved his enemies.
“I have one more filthy trick.”
“……What?”
Frontdier raised both Mjolnir and Excalibur. Excalibur shone brightly once more.
‘Is it that technique from before? I’ll block it this time too.’
Frontdier’s original Blade Aura—it was certainly formidable. But he would block it by sheer will. Despite his body’s sluggish movement, Renzo somehow managed to angle his shield toward Frontdier.
Renzo’s judgment was not wrong.
It was not wrong, and yet—
Void Weaving, Simultaneous Duplication
Rank – Legendary, Leading Divine Position
Excalibur, Mjolnir
Same-type Duplication 3 pairs
Behind Renzo and to his left and right, the weapons gripped in Frontdier’s hands materialized identically.
Only then did Renzo understand.
Ah, this bastard really is filthy.
“This is the strongest technique I currently possess.”
With that, Frontdier raised Mjolnir. The duplicated Mjolnirs on all sides moved in perfect unison. As Excalibur’s blade tip aimed toward Renzo, the duplicated Excaliburs all aimed at him equally.
With only the front guarded by Linotoros, there simply was not enough area.
Aura Release, Blade Aura
Frontdier’s Original Application
Cross Barrage
Just as Frontdier raised the hammer that amounted to a death sentence,
“My apologies.”
A familiar voice came from behind Frontdier’s back.
Frontdier, catching the sound, attempted to move his body in an instant, but froze.
His arms and legs, his torso—bound in threads in a single moment.
“Frontdier will have to serve as the sacrifice after all.”
It was Kian.
She had drawn close without warning, seized Frontdier, and opened a portal behind him.
“Wait, hold on—!”
Renzo cried out in alarm, but Kian dragged Frontdier through the portal and vanished beyond it.
In an instant, Renzo stood alone.
For the first time in years, he felt blood surge backward through his veins.
“This spider bitch, how dare she—!”
Renzo’s eyes were sharp, ordinarily keen.
But rage had blinded him; he had missed the moment they disappeared into the portal.
He had not seen Frontdier grinning wickedly all the while.

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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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