The attack was over.
No matter how much they were after the overflowing mana of the Golden Sun, no one would dare to raid the Old School Building with the Academy guards already deployed.
“Deploy the barrier! Secure the situation! Leave a proper record with the recording magic!”
“Guards, secure all the students! Students, cooperate with the investigation as ‘witnesses’!”
Especially when active instructors like the [White Sword Saint] were moving as if this were a real emergency, treating them almost like half-involved parties in the incident.
‘It makes sense.’
This was an unprecedented situation.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely without precedent.
“Damn it, why is an Angel here…!”
The descent of an [Angel].
I overheard one of the Academy guards muttering to himself. Although he immediately shut his mouth, embarrassed by his own outburst, his words confirmed one piece of information for me.
‘So, some people know that Angels can descend.’
Ten years ago, Angels descended in the northern Demonic Land of the Habsderk.
Those unaware of the situation at the time believed the Angels had simply repelled the S-rank demon, but the truth was quite different.
“Are you sure it’s an Angel of the Church? Not a demon in the form of an Angel?”
“It would be worse if it were a demon. A demon possessed one of the Academy students.”
The guards exchanged opinions as they examined the traces of the battle.
Since there were no clear answers, they had no choice but to throw out random thoughts, as if brainstorming ideas that popped into their heads.
“Damn. If it really is an Angel, why did it try to kill us, calling us mortals?”
The Angel that descended on Angelica attempted to kill humans.
Its danger level was roughly A-rank in terms of adventurer ranking.
It wasn’t just a problem that Ludmila’s spear was caught by its hand, but also the fact that Angelica’s original combat strength was not A-rank.
However, the real issue was something else entirely.
“Yunia. And Phoenix.”
Here.
“How did you defeat that Angel?”
Instructor Esta and Instructor Kadisha had us surrounded, questioning us as if we were under interrogation, which was the real problem.
“W-Well…”
“You’d better answer seriously. Especially you, Phoenix. Now’s not the time to evade with a vague answer.”
Instructor Esta warned in a stern voice.
At the same time, she was sending glances as if she wanted to convey something.
I understood what it was.
‘It’s like how a school violence investigation feels different depending on whether it’s done by your homeroom teacher or the student council president.’
Esta and Kadisha were being strict to protect us. If another instructor were interrogating us, they would have tried to lock us up somewhere as if we were actual criminals. In fact, before Esta stepped in, the guards were already approaching us with that intent.
“How did you defeat the… [Angel]?”
“Well, um. It just felt like a weak point?”
“‘It felt like it?’ Intuition is not an acceptable answer.”
Yunia scratched her cheek and answered, but Instructor Esta firmly shook her head.
“You must tell the truth as you know it. Honestly. …The Academy is on the students’ side.”
“Well, that’s…”
“It’s okay, Miss Yunia.”
I stood behind Yunia, firmly gripping her shoulder and pressing down.
“No matter what, sincerity always prevails. Neither Miss Yunia nor I have anything to hide, right?”
“…Right.”
Yunia, who had been slightly tense, took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“I thought it was a weak point. It looked like divine power was gathering, and it just suddenly appeared.”
“That’s a reasonable explanation.”
Esta glanced behind her.
“The Academy staff also thought the wings behind Angelica were a weak point, which is why they attacked them. Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to strike the ring on its head.”
Esta linked Yunia’s attack to the staff’s attacks.
Looking at it this way, it seemed like we might slip through unscathed.
“But.”
But.
“Why didn’t our attacks work, while Yunia’s attack did?”
“…”
This was the reason why Yunia and I were being interrogated.
“What exactly did you do?”
Ludmila’s spear was blocked by the Angel’s hand.
Evangeline’s teddy bear was severely damaged beyond words. The magical bombardment launched by the Academy staff was so powerful that it couldn’t be withstood by ordinary defensive spells.
“Was it simply effective because you destroyed the ring on its head? I don’t think it’s that simple.”
More importantly, Instructor Esta couldn’t attack easily while taking care of Evangeline.
She instinctively knew that while her attacks could deflect the enemy’s blows, they wouldn’t deal damage to the enemy.
Even Instructor Kadisha’s magical bombardment from the roof of the Old School Building had no effect.
It was only logical to assume that there was some special power at play.
“Yunia. Or Phoenix. Which one of you? Or does it only work when both of you are working together?”
“Instructor Esta, I’m not sure what you’re implying, but…”
Before Yunia, who was hesitating, could respond, I raised my voice to answer in her place.
“May I speak frankly, as I felt it?”
“Go ahead.”
“If the being that possessed Senior Angelica’s body was truly an Angel descended from the heavens…”
Several people looked like they wanted to challenge where I got that information.
But no one could openly question me about it.
“How can the divine power of that Angel—its ‘holy power’—be something we [mortals] of the earth can resist?”
It was a question that shook the very foundation of magic theory that had been established in Esdinas Academy for 500 years, or perhaps even longer.
“Has there ever been a case where an Angel descended before?”
“Yes, at least five times that I know of, in the past hundred years.”
“That’s more than I expected. Whether this time is included or not, has there ever been a case where humans fought against an Angel?”
“…”
Esta couldn’t answer.
Not because she didn’t know, but because, as everyone in the room knew, ‘there was no such case’.
“The Church claims that Angels descend to punish evil. They are said to be powerful forces sent by the Goddess to vanquish those tainted with evil, like demons, right?”
Indeed, that is one aspect of it.
As soon as the power of Hell’s Archangel Changyeom is used, even the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Archangels would all descend.
“Instructor. Or rather, everyone. Have you ever thought about this?”
I slowly captured everyone’s attention.
“That someday, the Goddess might become disillusioned with humanity, and when that day comes, the world would face her wrath?”
“What nonsense are you talking about!”
It wasn’t Esta who shouted.
“You look like a delinquent, and now you’re talking like a heretic!”
One of the guards in a suit pointed at me, yelling.
“How dare you try to slander Her!”
“Isn’t it written in the doctrines?”
“What, what…?!”
“The doctrine says that when humanity abandons its faith and no longer feels shame for the sins they commit, the hammer of God will descend. Isn’t that so?”
“Th-that’s…!”
If he didn’t know the doctrine, he would hardly qualify as a believer.
“Th-that can’t be…!”
But if he does know the doctrine, then he has no choice but to deny my assumption even more fiercely.
“That means…! Isn’t that saying that the Goddess has abandoned us…!”
“Enough.”
Esta reached out, standing between me and the confused staff member.
“Now is not the time to talk about the doctrine of the church and ‘eschatology’.”
“Now is not the time to discuss the Church’s doctrine or ‘judgement’ theories.”
“But isn’t that the case, Instructor Esta? What if today is that day?”
“…”
“What if today is the day mentioned in the prophecies, ‘when the skies open and the world is painted red with blood’? What if the Apocalypse has already begun in ways we cannot perceive?”
“If that’s the case… then it’s even more of a problem.”
Esta pointed alternately at Yunia and me.
“You two defeated a divine messenger sent to wipe out humanity. Whoever’s power it was, until the next [Apostle] descends, we have no way of knowing if anyone else can defeat an Angel like you did.”
“…”
“Who do you think has the power to defeat an Angel?”
Esta asked.
“Who has the power to take down an Angel?”
“That’s—”
“It’s me.”
Just before I could step forward, Yunia took the lead.
“I’m the one who broke the Angel’s divine power.”
Murmurs erupted.
The reaction around us was far more intense than when I had spoken.
When I had said something suspicious, people sent me looks as if everything out of my mouth was nonsense. But when Yunia stepped forward, everyone perked up and paid close attention to her words.
Was it the difference in how we usually behaved?
Or perhaps an assumption about her background?
Who knows.
‘The one who ultimately subdued the Angel was Yunia’s Mana Arrow.’
It wasn’t Ludmila’s spear, Esta’s sword, or the magic bombardment from the instructors that defeated the Angel—it was Yunia’s arrow.
I had only supported her arm.
“This might sound like something worthy of a heresy trial…”
Yunia briefly glanced at the staff member who had shouted “heretic” at me, then turned to me and nodded firmly.
“Divine power may be the Goddess’s strength, but in the end, it’s just another ‘power.’”
“W-What are you saying?!”
Another staff member shouted in disbelief at Yunia’s shocking statement.
“What kind of blasphemous nonsense is this! Divine power is…!”
“It’s simply another power that humans can wield. That’s all. It’s just holy magic.”
Yunia responded with absolute certainty.
“I merely opposed that [higher mana]. It’s hard to explain, but I used a different type of mana, one that could resist holy power.”
“…What?”
“A power that belongs to no particular attribute, making it the purest form of energy.”
Yunia.
“I fought back using pure mana, untouched by any attribute.”
She was wielding the 8th element, unknown to the academic world—
‘Non-attribute magic.’
Correction.
‘The ultimate, all-encompassing attribute that deals 1x damage to any other attribute.’
Yunia possesses the ability to manipulate the zeroth element—[Mana] itself.
“How… is that possible?”
“The method is simple.”
Yunia extended her hand, demonstrating her mana manipulation.
“You just add yourself to the seven types of mana. It’s about balancing everything.”
“…”
“Uh, um…”
Yunia scratched her cheek in embarrassment.
“…Isn’t it easy?”
For reference, at Esdinas Academy, a magic stone where all mana elements are perfectly balanced is called the [Philosopher’s Stone].
“All you have to do is equalize the output of all mana…”
Angels are a superior race whose race and attributes are classified as [Celestial], giving them a natural advantage over the seven types of mana that originate from the Demon World.
“You noticed it too, didn’t you? …No matter how much we attacked with mana that had an attribute, it didn’t affect the Angel.”
If they didn’t understand, it was natural.
‘When you fight a boss that only takes 1 HP of damage despite all your efforts, you have to follow the gimmick to defeat it.’
This world operates like a game at its core.
“So, wouldn’t it work if we simply attacked with something that has no attribute at all…?”
