Chapter 3

“A curse, huh…”

I muttered as I looked straight ahead.

Countless vicious curses slithered toward me like thousands of snakes.

It was an intimidating sight.

Unfortunately for them…

They couldn’t even touch the hem of my clothes.

The moment the curses came into contact with the pure white divine power surrounding me, they scattered like dust.

Just as knights were weak against curses…

Curses were poison to holy power.

“Who are you?”

People generally thought dark mages were insane.

In reality…

They were frighteningly calculating.

Dark magic consumed life force instead of mana.

For a dark mage to attack a military train meant only one thing.

He had a powerful backer who could protect him even after pulling off something this reckless.

I flexed my hand and walked toward the source of the curses.

Opening the door to the next carriage…

I found them.

There were seven enemies in total.

Their faces looked familiar.

The soldier who had checked tickets.

The soldier who had saluted Leon at the station.

Even the men who had been waiting for the train alongside us.

“The entire train was a trap.”

They were bigger fish than I’d expected.

“Hm? A priest.”

The dark mage clicked his tongue after seeing me.

It was an oddly calm reaction for someone facing a priest.

I soon found out why.

“Deal with him.”

As soon as the dark mage gave the short order, one of the men behind him raised a long staff.

A mage.

“O ice, bind the enemy’s breath.”

A freezing wave spread from the staff.

Cold wrapped itself around my legs.

Divine power easily burned away curses…

But it offered no resistance against magic.

The remaining men drew their swords.

Aura flared simultaneously from each blade.

“They’ve fought priests before.”

Knights and a mage.

That combination would leave most priests helpless.

Unfortunately…

I wasn’t most priests.

I lightly tapped my sword hilt.

Aura surged from the sheath and pushed back the freezing cold.

“Aura?!”

The knights stared in shock.

The dark mage, however, merely sneered.

“So you’re only a half-baked battle priest.”

“Don’t panic.”

“That Aura and holy power are just cheap imitations.”

“You seem familiar with battle priests.”

“Oh, very.”

“The Holy Kingdom’s greatest failure.”

The dark mage laughed openly.

The Holy Kingdom had tried to overcome elemental disadvantages by creating battle priests who wielded both Aura and Divine Power.

If someone possessed both…

They could dominate every matchup.

There had only been one problem.

Aura required absolute faith in oneself.

Divine Power required absolute faith in God.

The two were fundamentally incompatible.

As a result…

Battle priests became neither true knights nor true priests.

Half-finished failures.

“That’s what the Holy Kingdom claimed.”

The real reason they abandoned the project was something else.

But I had no intention of explaining that to him.

“He’s half-baked.”

“Kill him.”

The dark mage gave another short command.

The knights rushed forward.

The one in front swung his sword straight at me.

Just as the dark mage had instructed…

He intended to crush my Aura with his own.

I accepted the clash willingly.

The instant our Auras collided…

A cruel smile spread across his face.

“Idiot—”

CLANG!

A sharp metallic crack rang through the carriage.

Aura shattered.

Not mine.

“One.”

I watched a severed head spin through the air.

Another knight shouted urgently.

“Condensed Aura!”

“He’s at least a senior knight!”

“Don’t fight him alone!”

A senior knight?

Ridiculous.

I silently scoffed as I swung toward the next opponent.

“Ghk!”

He twisted his sword at the last second.

A good reaction.

I twisted my waist and pulled my shoulder backward.

The unnatural movement tore my muscles apart.

Divine power immediately healed them.

My sword abruptly stopped mid-swing…

And transformed into a thrust.

“What the—”

Shock filled his eyes.

Then the light faded.

“Two.”

I slammed my shoulder into his corpse.

The next knight instinctively flinched as his comrade’s body flew toward him.

It lasted only a split second.

But on a battlefield…

That was more than enough.

“Three.”

I looked directly at the dark mage.

For the first time…

Fear appeared in his eyes.

A beautiful sight.

Then his expression suddenly hardened.

“Fall back!”

The dark mage shouted sharply and flung out his hand.

Blood sprayed from his palm like a fountain.

Instead of falling…

The blood remained suspended in midair.

“Don’t tell me…”

My eyes narrowed.

The dark mage pointed at me.

“Open.”

The floating blood finally dropped.

Instead of splashing…

It flowed upward from the floor as though rain were falling in reverse.

The blood-soaked floor began to melt.

Then…

Something black and sinister emerged.

A grotesque arm covered in coarse bristles.

The arm of a demon.

“‘Open Gate?'”

“You recognize it?”

The dark mage grinned.

“So you do have good eyes.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

He sounded immensely proud.

Which wasn’t surprising.

Open Gate—manifesting a demon directly into the world—was an advanced dark spell.

The problem was…

His own ability wasn’t high enough to perform it.

“Tsk.”

“You forced the Gate open.”

“Idiot.”

I clicked my tongue and shook my hand.

My Aura and Divine Power dispersed.

“Hahaha!”

“So you’ve given up!”

“Good!”

“Bow your head, you half-breed!”

The dark mage laughed hysterically.

I raised three fingers.

“If you close that Gate before I count to three…”

“I’ll give you a painless death.”

“One.”

I folded one finger.

“…What?”

“You arrogant bastard!”

“You’ve completely lost your mind!”

He laughed so hard he sprayed spit everywhere.

I quietly folded another finger.

“Three.”

CLANG—!

The shrill scream of metal echoed throughout the train.

A black chain burst from the right side of my chest.

More chains erupted.

In an instant…

They filled the entire carriage.

Fast.

Slow.

Neither concept applied.

It was as though the result had already been decided.

The moment they extended…

They had already pierced their targets.

The remaining two knights.

The mage.

Even the demon’s arm.

None of them managed to resist.

The demon arm writhed desperately, trying to escape.

The black chains simply burrowed deeper.

This wasn’t a battle.

It was feeding.

“Open Gate?!”

“How can someone who uses Divine Power perform Open Gate?!”

The dark mage stammered in horror.

“Y-You’re insane!”

“You transplanted a demon’s heart into yourself!”

“Who would do something so mad?!”

He trembled as if he’d seen a ghost.

I hadn’t transplanted it.

It had been forced into me.

Not that he needed to know.

As I approached…

The dark mage shook uncontrollably.

“Y-You skipped two!”

“I didn’t.”

“Two is silent.”

“…Silent?”

“Details don’t matter.”

I crouched before him.

“How did you use Open Gate?”

“Someone with your pathetic ability shouldn’t be capable of it.”

“Pathetic?!”

“You think I’ll answer?”

“I serve the Inverted Star!”

“Pain is my joy!”

“Curses are my blessing!”

“Idiot!”

He shouted confidently.

Dark mages were infamous for their terrifying endurance.

The accepted belief was that torture simply didn’t work on them.

“They all say that at first.”

I raised one finger.

Pure white divine power ignited around it.

For the first time…

Real fear appeared in the dark mage’s eyes.

“Using holy power to threaten someone?!”

“That’s blasphemy!”

“The Holy Kingdom’s laws forbid that!”

It was admittedly amusing hearing a dark mage quote the Holy Kingdom’s laws.

Still…

He wasn’t wrong.

The Holy Kingdom strictly prohibited using Divine Power as a tool of torture.

“It’s fine.”

I leaned close and whispered into his ear.

“I’ve been excommunicated.”

The dark mage’s face twisted in horror.

* * *

“The Round Table of Truth…”

I brushed the dust from my hands.

The Round Table of Truth was one of the Empire’s Ten Great Enemies—

an organization composed entirely of dark mages.

In reality…

They were merely a cult serving an Outer God.

Ordinary dark mages sacrificed one point of life force to gain three points of power.

The Round Table’s members sacrificed three points of their own life…

And ten points stolen from someone else…

To gain five points of power.

That was how the dark mage had managed to cast Open Gate.

At the same time…

A question occurred to me.

“Why was the Round Table targeting Leon?”

“Were they trying to replace a professor?”

In the original story…

Leon lost an arm but still became a professor.

How had he survived an attack involving a dark mage capable of casting Open Gate?

“Where’s the enemy?!”

Leon suddenly burst into the carriage, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Blood trickled from his lips.

He must have bitten his tongue.

That alone shouldn’t have been enough to break such a powerful curse.

“Ah…”

“He has talent for dark magic.”

That explained it.

His natural affinity had weakened the curse’s effects.

He escaped the trap early.

The dark mage must have panicked at the unexpected variable and fled.

Thinking it through…

It made sense why Leon had survived—albeit losing an arm—and eventually become a professor.

“Where’s the enemy?!”

“I, Leon, have arrived!”

“You’re noisy.”

My brief reply made Leon blink blankly.

“…Why are you speaking informally to me?”

“Captain Leon.”

“Then why are you—”

I took an insignia from inside my uniform.

Golden light burst from it, flooding the train.

Bathed in its radiance…

Leon blinked again.

“…A star?”

His face turned deathly pale.

* * *

444th Unit.

Leon swallowed hard as he stared at the number engraved on the insignia.

There was a saying among soldiers.

The mediocre were sent to the front lines.

The talented were assigned to headquarters.

The greatest were stationed at the very front.

But beyond even the front lines…

There were those who fought in hell itself.

The units whose numbers repeated themselves—

created to resist the curses of Archdemons.

111th Unit.

222nd Unit.

333rd Unit.

And…

444th Unit.

That was the number on the man’s insignia.

“Honor to the Empire!!”

Leon desperately performed the salute reserved for generals.

I’m screwed.

I’m completely screwed.

He wanted to bite off his own tongue.

Every bit of disrespect he’d shown this man moments ago flashed through his mind.

The man calmly returned the salute.

“Captain Leon.”

“YES, SIR!”

“I’m carrying out a classified mission under the Commander’s orders.”

“You’ll report this incident as your own accomplishment.”

Stopping an attack by a dark mage…

Was an enormous achievement.

And this legendary soldier was handing all the credit to him?

“He’s unbelievably generous!”

Then again…

This was the famed 444th Unit.

A true hero wouldn’t hold a rookie’s small mistakes against him.

“YES, SIR!”

Leon finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the man called his name again.

“Captain Leon.”

“Captain! Leon!”

“Oh.”

“You’re still standing?”

The man sounded genuinely surprised.

Still standing?

It took Leon a second to understand.

He’s telling me to get on my knees!

Leon immediately slammed his forehead into the floor.

THUD!

The impact echoed through the carriage.

He’d hit it so hard that it should have hurt.

Right now…

He couldn’t even feel the pain.

“Now we’re finally at eye level.”

The man’s calm voice made Leon squeeze his eyes shut.

So he really did hold a grudge…

He’d spoken casually to a commander from the legendary 444th Unit.

That wasn’t the kind of mistake that merely ruined a military career.

“I’ll stay at the academy.”

“And never come back to the battlefield.”

Leon made a solemn vow.

“So.”

“You’re heading to the academy?”

“Y-YES, SIR!!!”

“I have one favor to ask.”

It didn’t sound like a request in the slightest.

Still pressing his forehead against the floor…

Leon nodded frantically.

“Please command me!”

“I’ll do anything!!”

He shouted so loudly his throat nearly bled.

“Anything?”

The man’s voice sounded…

Like the whisper of a demon.

Leon wanted more than anything not to nod.

But…

He had no choice.

“YES, SIR!”

“ANYTHING!!”

The corners of the man’s lips slowly curled upward into a chilling smile.