The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 34

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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 Chapter 34
Part 9: Menossorpo (8)
Earth and blood mingled into a complete mess.
I forced my eyelids open, trembling faintly.
“Haah… phew…”
Each breath sent a sharp ache through my ribs.
The bleeding hadn’t stopped.
“Saibell, Saibell! Stay focused!”
“I know! I know, but…!”
Elodi’s voice pressing, urgent.
Saibell’s voice breaking, ready to crack.
My unconsciousness had lasted only moments.
I rolled my eyes to take stock of my position.
Looking slightly upward, I could see both Saibell and Elodi.
Elodi was pinning Rockbel down.
I wasn’t certain of the mechanism, but it seemed she was using Wind Magic to suppress his movements.
Likely, at this point, even trauma wouldn’t knock Rockbel unconscious—he was already in a state close to it. In that condition, he moved only as if possessed by something.
Which meant she had to keep him pinned continuously.
And because he was a child with a fragile body, she couldn’t apply too much force.
Elodi could output at maximum intensity, but controlling that output itself was sloppy—probably something she’d almost never practiced.
At Constel, in the Divine Power measurement chamber, first-years only measured increases in strength; they paid no attention to control.
There was concern that focusing on fine control from first year would prevent them from reaching their maximum Divine Power potential.
“Kill Frondier, Saibell! It’s Frondier!”
“Ugh… ngh…!”
Saibell, by contrast, couldn’t move her body as she wished—she seemed to be resisting Serpe’s commands.
So this was Serpe’s ability. I didn’t fully grasp the mechanism, but it seemed to force others to obey his orders.
Given that it didn’t work on Elodi and me, there must be some condition attached.
Perhaps physical contact was required, or he had to hand over some item imbued with his magic to the target.
“…Sai… bell…”
I called to Saibell in a voice barely louder than a breath.
“Fr… Frondier?! You’re awake, ngh…!”
Somehow Saibell heard my voice and responded, but she was still struggling hard against following the command.
Rockbel had lost consciousness the moment Serpe issued his order.
Impressive, Saibell.
“Hngh!”
I planted my palms on the ground and pushed. Sharp pain lanced through my ribs.
Damn it—it hurt so much tears came.
My arms trembled with each centimeter I lifted.
It hurt.
I didn’t want to get up.
I wanted to rest.
At this rate I’d die.
While those pathetic thoughts kept cycling through my head,
…I rose.
“Fron… dier…”
Elodi and Saibell’s eyes widened further than I’d ever seen them.
As though they couldn’t believe I was standing.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
You’ll make it look like I’m actually badly hurt.
Even though I can barely move a single step now.
Even though I can’t raise my arms.
Haah… phew.
How many times had I done this damned breathing technique?
But without it, the pain makes breathing impossible.
“Fr… Frondier! Lie down! Don’t think foolish thoughts! I’ll handle it!”
Elodi shouted at me.
Now I understood. The way Elodi spoke.
Elodi was fully committed to suppressing Rockbel, and Saibell was struggling just to keep herself together.
And yet she was telling me to lie down.
“Don’t worry, Elodi.”
“Who’s worried?”
“Elodi.”
I looked into Elodi’s eyes.
Blue eyes. The moment I first saw Elodi, those irises brought a lake to mind.
Frondier must have thought the same.
All this time, he must have kept thinking that.
Watching Elodi forge ahead, her receding figure in the distance.
Watching her turn back to him now and then with that smile on her face.
Frondier had fallen into a terrible inferiority.
At the end of that suffering, the conclusion he reached was to strip away Elodi’s Divine Power.
The reason was simple.
Because he wanted to walk beside her.
Because he wanted to stand at her side as an equal.
Now I understand. The words Frondier had wanted to say to Elodi all this time.
Even if looking at Elodi filled him with inferiority, even if helplessness before his own inadequacy laid him flat.
Still, he would have wanted to say it.
Whether pure or tainted.
That one phrase.
I speak it in his place.
“Let me help you now.”
“…Huh?”
Leaving Elodi to answer dumbly behind me,
I drew out the Menossorpo from the workshop.
I spread it across the ground.
Just as Weaving requires no actual materials,
my magic circle needs no physical drawing.
‘Mana—if I pour everything into this, it’s going to be tight.’
I feel mana draining away along with the blood flowing from my side.
Whether that’s just my imagination or whether mana naturally works that way, I can’t say.
Fatigue floods in with the mana I pour into the Menossorpo.
Shhh…
Once more.
Haaah—
After the exhaled breath,
I infused the mana and spoke the Invocation.
“Menossorpo.”
With my words, the form of the magic circle blazed with light.
The magic circle was immense.
Words hardly did it justice.
Spreading far beyond what enveloped me and Elodi, Saibell, and Rockbel, it reached into the forest where the Indus dogs hid.
“This is from back then…”
Elodi murmured.
A memory had surfaced.
This magic circle I had tested experimentally in the courtyard of the Loach Residence.
Nothing had happened then.
Even though I had used mana.
“What—what is this…!”
I heard Serpe’s voice, astonished.
But the magic circle merely blazed with light; nothing in particular occurred.
Apart from its form becoming visible to the eye, the Menossorpo was no different from before.
“Ha! All bluster, Frondier! Shut your mouth and die! Saibell can’t hold out forever!”
Serpe barked.
For someone hiding in the forest, he certainly spoke with confidence.
And where had his formality gone.
“F-Frondier…”
Saibell called to me in a trembling voice.
She was turned toward me.
And she had moved slightly closer than before.
“Run away…”
When I saw Saibell’s face.
She was crying.
Her beautiful face was streaked with tears and tangled hair.
Yet Saibell pleaded with me.
“I’m going to kill you. Frondier…….”
She’d truly reached her limit.
Saibell’s arms trembled violently.
But I couldn’t lift a single finger now. Standing was all I could manage.
“It’s alright.”
Still, I reassured her.
I had a way out of this.
A gambit based on conjecture, and I wasn’t certain my body could endure it.
But this was definitely the move that would work.
Serpe hadn’t noticed yet.
Checkmate was within reach.
Serpe had been issuing nothing but simple commands all this time. All I’d heard was orders to kill me.
Which meant he couldn’t give Saibell any detailed instructions.
At best, commands like kill this person, stab that one. That was the extent of his range.
“Serpe.”
I called out his name into the empty air.
“Do you really want to kill me? My House of Loach won’t stand for it.”
“Ha. It matters not. I am neither nobleman nor commoner. I belong to no place. The nobility cannot capture me. Until the Revolution comes, I merely hide in shadow.”
“……I see.”
‘Very well, Serpe.’
I’ll give you exactly what you want.
Menossorpo.
Weaving of the Void.
Grade — Divine Rank.
Crisellacatos. Iokeira.
Without moving a finger, I unfurled the Weaving.
Crisellacatos and Iokeira — Artemis’s bow and arrow, each one.
Those two didn’t manifest in my hands.
“Huh?”
Instead, they materialized directly in front of Saibell. Right before her face, still a considerable distance from where I stood.
Even without Black Heaven, Saibell could see them clearly.
This was Menossorpo’s power.
It allowed magic cast by the user to be manifested anywhere within the magic circle’s range.
Even if I didn’t raise my hand.
Even if I couldn’t take a single step.
The weapons I created through Weaving would be born far from me, far from where I stood.
“W-what is this?”
Saibell stared in shock at the bow and arrow that had suddenly appeared before her.
“Take hold of it.”
I spoke.
Frustration colored Saibell’s voice.
“B-but I told you, I can’t move!”
“Take it and shoot me.”
At my words, Saibell’s expression froze. She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
Perhaps I had. It certainly sounded insane to anyone else’s ears.
“Hahahaha! Frondier, you’ve gone mad! Saibell, do as Frondier wishes!”
Serpe’s voice rang out.
Serpe’s command was “kill me.”
Which meant Saibell could take up that arrow and shoot it at me.
“F-Frondier?”
“Trust me.”
“T-trust you? I don’t want to kill you!”
Saibell shook her head vehemently.
I laughed.
It’s fine. It really is fine.
“Saibell.”
“What!”
“What is fate to you?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Saibell, who was blessed by Fate’s Blessing.
She must have known it too.
A reality shaped according to her desires. Everything arranged so she would not be hurt.
“You’re already beloved by Fate’s Blessing.”
“……Even if that’s true! My fate only protects me. It doesn’t care about anyone else! I can’t trust that. It means you’ll get hurt!”
To be honest, it’s strange to see Saibell like this. I’d only ever thought of her as an annoying villain.
But she still doesn’t understand.
What she truly is.
“Saibell, whether you like it or not, fate is on your side.”
“So, so, what about other people?”
“I already told you. It’s on your side.”
“……Frondier.”
I spoke to Saibell, who still struggled to believe me.
“Saibell. Don’t be swept along by fate. It’s already beneath your feet.”
“B, beneath my feet?”
Saibell was not a character swept away by her fortunate luck.
If she were that simple a villain, the players of Ethius wouldn’t have cursed her name so extensively.
Fate does not stand above her.
Though it might seem as if Fate loves Saibell and hands her things suited to her taste, gazing down from on high—
As I said.
Fate is always in attendance for her sake.
Not Saibell following good fortune.
But fate revering Saibell.
“Saibell, what situation do you want?”
“……For all of us to leave this place safely together.”
“Yes. That’s what will happen.”
Saibell bit down on her lip.
She gripped the bow and arrow laid out before her, drew the string taut, and aimed at me.
“Are you really sure about this?”
“I am.”
“If you’re lying, if you’re really lying to me, I’ll actually kill you!”
Unfortunately, I can’t promise that won’t happen.
If I were lying, I’d be shot dead right here.
“……Ngh─!”
Unable to bear watching, Saibell squeezed her eyes shut and released the bowstring.
The arrow flew straight toward me.
──Well, then.
Whether Saibell was blessed by Fate or not.
I do not believe in fate.
[Crisellacatos]
•Rank: Divine Rank
•Description: A bow forged by Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths, and given to Artemis
Detailed Abilities >
– Women Only: Because of Artemis’s request, only women can draw the bowstring.
– Guaranteed Hit: The user will definitely strike their intended target.
Because of such a bow.
The arrow that flew straight toward me bent along an impossible trajectory, passing beside me,
Thunk!
and flew into the forest with a brief sound.
Eerily quiet, it settled the forest air.
And along with that.
I slowly tilted back.
“Frondier!”
Saibell rushed over and caught me as I fell.
My body had regained its freedom of movement.
It was Serpe who had been struck by the arrow.
The second time today.
Being held by Saibell.
‘If things go this way, then I’m the one who owes the debt…….’
Consciousness did not last long.

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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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