How To Live As An Academy Extra Villain

✦ Chapter 96 ✦

「Translator – Creator」

When I first identified the enemy’s true identity as a necromancer, I desperately searched my memory for a way to deal with it.

Just as it was impossible to harm a demon with normal magic, it was also stated that normal magic did not work on baptized necromancers except for holy power. 

However, unlike demons from another dimension who return to hell, necromancers would be annihilated if they sustained damage beyond their limits. 

And being physical beings, they were even more vulnerable to holy power than demons, so if the proper conditions were met, it shouldn’t have been too difficult to defeat a necromancer.

However, we had already entered the nest, and in this situation, there was nothing we could do even if we were accompanied by a powerful priestess; even if that priestess was a Saintess.

The Reversion would have been even more horrific, as it would have inflicted damage proportional to her holy power, causing her to groan in even more terrible pain.

So the standard way to deal with necromancers was either to shatter their ritual from afar with wide-area magic before entering, or discover their nest early before they can complete it. Alternatively, one could borrow the power of a holy sword. Being made of divine metal, such blades were imbued with holy power themselves and couldn’t be subjected to Reversion.

It may have seemed hopeless at first glance, as I didn’t have either of those conditions, but fortunately I still had the last resort — the Flame of Purification. I had been saving it for the extreme situation to prevent the leakage of information, but now was the time, if not now, when would it be?

The Reversion was dark magic performed through the necromancer itself, so if I could deal a serious blow to the necromancer itself with the Flames of Purification, I could also break the Reversion.

Then, Cecila and the priests’ powers would return, and the chances of matching the weakened necromancer would also increase.

My taunting the necromancer, revealing my identity — it was a gambit.

If I could shift the necromancer’s focus from the enraging Cecila to me, and strike the distracted necromancer with the Flames of Purification, I might just turn this situation around.

That’s because it seemed that the necromancer, who clearly didn’t know that I had a means to subdue it, was treating me with an attitude of complacency and contempt.

My plan seemed sound until the necromancer’s words shook my composure.

“…You know my father…?”

“And not just your father. I know your mother even better. How could I forget the taste of that sweet soul… hmm?”

The necromancer’s words were a series of shocks. Why bring up my mother, of all things? My mother passed away when I was young, so my memories of her were faint but always filled with warmth and comfort.

But my father clearly said that my mother died of illness. And even if I pressed him further, he would always just brush it off and never give me a proper explanation.

At the time, I thought he just didn’t want to relive the painful memory.

Seeing my blank expression, the necromancer gave an eerie smile, curling its lips, “From your reaction, you seem to have been completely unaware of the truth. Heh, how interesting…”

“Did you…do something to my mother?”

“What’s the point of hiding it now? Yes, it was I who claimed your mother’s soul. Such an exquisite soul. Before or since, I’ve never tasted its equal.”

“But why…what grudge did you have against our family…”

“A grudge?”

The necromancer let out a sharp laugh at my words. Seeing its scornful behavior, an uncontrollable rage began to burn hotly within me.

“It wasn’t a grudge, but just a part of the great cause,” it said. “I am the herald of prophecy, entrusted with the important task of preparing the ground and laying the foundations before the army arrives. If it hadn’t been for your father Albert and that stubborn inquisitor, I would have accomplished this long ago…”

“…Great cause…?” Cecila muttered softly upon hearing the necromancer’s words.

“Yes, soon the Army of Punishment shall arrive in the Promised Land. Heralded by the winds of our God, marching proudly with blaring trumpets. They will punish you thieves and pillagers, and restore the proper order.”

The necromancer spoke fervently, as if it were a demagogue inciting a crowd in the square.

“And yet after your father, you too have failed in this task.”

But in an instant, the necromancer’s joyful expression turned deathly cold. It stepped towards me, drew magic from its palm to grip my neck, and hoisted me into the air, the strangulation crushing my windpipe oppressively.

“The Beast of Greed I summoned has been felled again, and the Kingdom disturbed by the dogs of the oppressors. How can I receive our Master with such failure?”

“Kuh…khuk…!”

“This sin cannot be washed away even by death, so know its weight. But out of respect for your valor, I shall take special care in savoring your soul exquisitely.”

“Edwin…!” Cecila’s cry came from afar as the necromancer brought its other arm towards my brow.

“Being of your mother’s blood, your essence too shall be supremely delectable. Ah, just looking fills me with anticipatory sweetness…hmm?”

—Tuk

As I brought my hand to my cheek, the necromancer’s eyes shifted slightly before it let out a faint laugh, “Fool, what can you possibly do? After my baptism, over 40,000 cycles of sun and moon have passed. Your paltry mana could never so much as scratch me…”

“Kkhuluk…Ignis…Parum…Kkhuluk!”

Death’s grip was upon me. My shattered mind swam in spilled blood, my circulating mana and vessels long since ravaged. But this was also the opportunity I had desperately sought. If not when the necromancer drew near to claim my soul, when else would I get this chance?

Seeing me struggle to cast, the necromancer tutted derisively.

“Tsk tsk. Stubborn fool. One who can’t even cast properly, what do you think you can do…?”

A thought occurred to me then — was this really not too much?

Had the demon’s assault succeeded, they likely would have been too preoccupied handling that to look elsewhere. This search never would have happened, and nobody would have known about the incident in this backwoods village.

After that, the demon would have safely possessed Mona’s body after an adjustment period, and unspeakable calamity would have followed.

If all had gone according to the necromancer’s designs, perhaps my family would already have been wiped out before the demon army’s arrival, like the Malones who persecuted Sarah years ago. What other meaning could there be to “preparing the ground, laying the foundations”?

And the ‘Army of Punishment; the necromancer spoke of must refer to the demon invasion. If I die here having accomplished nothing, who else could possibly intervene?

If I fail this time, there will be no more chances. I don’t know anything about the world, but I’m very afraid of what will happen to the territory after this. Father, Adele. The place where the people I love live.

With all my might, I squeezed out my last bit of strength and started chanting the spell again.

“Kkhuluk…Ignis…Parum…Nergo…!”

“…Now you’re starting to try my patience. Very well, as you wish…hm?”

From between my outstretched fingers burst forth a dark, weighty flame. The necromancer seemed to sense something amiss, but it was already too late.

The flame soon took corporeal form, beginning to scorch the right side of the necromancer’s face.

“ARRGGHH! GHA-AAAHH!”

“Kkhuluk!”

The necromancer flung me to the ground, releasing me from its grip; it clawed at its burning face, but the dark flame would never extinguish itself until its duty was complete.

But this was not enough. To dispel the necromancer’s Reversion, I had to inflict far graver damage.

I rushed towards the necromancer, crawling on my hands and knees. The necromancer, who had no time to spare for anything else but the fire eating him, fell to the floor and thrashed around.

I struggled to climb on top of him. I could already feel that my mana was almost empty. If I cast a spell this time, the rebound would come right back to my body, which had already used up all my mana. So there really was no more chance.

I placed my palm over the necromancer’s mouth and began the incantation once more.

“GGHAAK! Nngh…!!”

“Ignis…kkhuluk!…Parum…Nergo!!”

As the spell finished, the gathered dark flames at my fingertips surged forward. They poured relentlessly down the necromancer’s throat, burning everything within to cinders. Flames erupted from every orifice — eyes, nose, ears.

The charred throat could no longer make a sound, the necromancer’s body utterly still. My depleted mana soon caused the flames to dwindle.

Having expended every last drop, the recoil hit my body hard; dizziness and nausea overcame me, my limbs tingling with numb pain. The agonizing toll was worsened by my previously mana-blasted state.

Yet the Flame of Purification’s power far exceeded my expectations. A simple low-level spell using my last mana had nearly killed the necromancer.

If I could develop this further…

—Flinch—

As I had that thought, I sensed the necromancer’s body flinch again. What did I miss…? Wait.

—BOOOOM—

Suddenly an immense shockwave burst from the necromancer, blasting my defenseless body away to tumble across the floor.

—BANG! —

“Cough!!”

As the powerful shockwave hit me directly, the walls of the warehouse, which had been accumulating cracks, could no longer hold. And as the walls on all sides burst open, the scenery around me that I had not been able to see due to the blocked vision began to come into view.

Before I knew it, the villagers had silently gathered all around us, dozens of them unmoving yet staring ahead — an eerie sight made more unsettling by their frozen smiles.

And soon after, another disturbing transformation began. The charred necromancer’s body levitated, the black obsidian necklace around its neck shattering with a dull thunk, its tremendous mana being absorbed into the necromancer’s form which turned a shadowy, ethereal black.

The change did not only happen there. The villagers’ smiling faces twisted grotesquely, and they peeled off their skin as if molting, revealing the lace inside them in their true form.

That’s right…there was something about this. A second phase…?

As I tried to hold on to my fading consciousness, I heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards me from somewhere.

A moment later, warm, soft hands stroked my cheek and closed my eyelids.

Cecila’s gentle, honeyed voice whispered in my ear, “You did well, Edwin. Leave the rest to me now.”

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the young girl passing by me to confront the necromancer’s wraith form.

But…I could have sworn Cecila had gray hair. Why did it look so white…?

With that final thought, I blacked out completely.

— End of Chapter —

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