“I really didn’t expect this. How the hell did you slip past the family background inspection?” Vinny stared at the male student and jerked his chin upward. “They actually let someone like you in—someone who's been loyal to Elrunas since childhood.”
“Wh-what are you talking about, classmate?!” The male student’s face was still full of fright and confusion. “Whatever it is you’re trying to do, even if you say all that, acting under the eyes of the Goddess and the Saintess before the Radiant Sanctum will never be justified!”
“Wow, keep this up and I’ll have to hand you a little golden statue. There's no one else here—who the hell are you performing for? Don’t tell me it’s for the Goddess and the Saintess? What, hoping to win a little sympathy?” Vinny impatiently picked at his ear. Then with a flick of his hand, he shot out a Condensed Ice Lock straight at the student.
The male student quickly dodged, the ice lock slamming into the column beside him, barely missing.
“Heh.” Vinny let out a cold snort. Missing didn’t mean the student had escaped.
He retracted the chain, letting it yank him toward the student in a sudden burst.
By now, Vinny’s control over ice magic had become significantly more refined. He’d already developed a number of new uses for his elemental skills.
Condensed Ice Lock had turned out to be far more versatile than expected. It wasn’t just a way to restrain enemies—it was an excellent tool for self-movement, letting him dodge incoming magic or rapidly close in on an opponent.
Using the pillar to fling himself forward caught his opponent completely off guard.
Vinny had no intention of dragging this out. If he let this guy stall for thirty minutes, he’d fully transform from Burial Cultist to Fanatic—and at that point, he’d probably have to tear the bastard apart with his bare hands.
“Disgusting filth. Just looking at you makes my skin crawl. Die.”
Frostmoon Crescent Slash.
Vinny spun midair with graceful precision. The blade of his spear shimmered with dazzling ice light, a brilliant blue comet trailing behind as it came crashing down on the student.
The male student froze at the sight of Vinny suddenly charging him. With no room to dodge, he clenched his teeth and drew the rapier at his waist to meet the blow.
Flames ignited from his rapier, clashing violently with Vinny’s ice spear.
Against Vinny’s relentless ice magic, the student wisely chose to counter with fire—a classic elemental matchup. Unfortunately for him, even though fire was indeed the best option against ice, their magical grades weren’t on the same level. The moment fire collided with frost, it managed to melt some of the ice—but the overwhelming cold snuffed it out instantly.
Frost crept up his rapier inch by inch. His hands were next.
“Oh? Magic Swordsman, huh? That means you’ve got three stars in magical aptitude?” Vinny raised a brow. “With talent like that, you could’ve done anything—and you chose to become a repulsive pest.”
“Classmate, n-no matter how you slander me, it won’t make your actions righteous!” the male student growled, teeth clenched against the creeping cold.
“Oh, spare me. With acting skills like that—tsk—you almost had me fooled. If I couldn’t smell that stench on you, the one that reeks like a rotting corpse soaked in maggot water, I might’ve actually bought it.” Vinny’s voice was cold. “You might fool everyone else. Not me.”
He pressed forward step by step, forcing the male student back. Frost bloomed under his feet, forming crystalline cocoons of ice.
“One breath about me being a cultist, and I say you’re the real one! Oh, I get it now. You’re the one hiding among the students. You’re the Burial Cultist—and now you're using this whole ‘purging the cultists’ excuse to get rid of other students... You’re the wolf in the flock!” the student suddenly snapped, eyes wild.
“You sure like to talk. I’ll make sure you meet your master personally.” Vinny’s voice was glacial.
The frost crawling along Frostfang had nearly reached the student’s hands. Panic flickered in his eyes.
There was a clear gap between them—the student’s cultivation realm was slightly higher. But that difference was being pulled back by Frostfang, allowing Vinny to keep the pressure on and dominate the fight.
“Die. And after that, I’ll hunt down every one of your friends still hiding in this academy.” Since he could settle this with Frostmoon Crescent Slash, there was no need to burn himself out with Frosthowl Roar. The academy wasn’t safe tonight. This wouldn’t be the only battle.
“Aaargh!!...” The ice cocoon engulfed the male student’s hands completely. Under the extreme cold radiating from Frostfang, they were now entirely frostbitten—useless.
Vinny’s spear felt as if it had latched onto the student’s arms, freezing them in place. Escape was no longer an option.
“Bastard! You bastard!!...” the student howled. As he screamed, he spat toward Vinny—except this time, the spittle turned midair into a cluster of barely visible needle-like spikes, flying straight at Vinny’s face.
In that instant, Vinny’s entire body was encased in metal armor—Armor Fortress. The needles struck the armor and dropped to the ground without even a spark.
“Well, well. Carrying hidden weapons? Trying to sneak in a surprise attack? No wonder they call you sewer rats. These dirty tricks are all you’ve got, huh?”
Seeing the ambush fail, the student looked completely drained. Both his arms were seconds from freezing entirely, and the transformation still hadn’t completed. Just a little longer to go—but clearly, he wouldn’t make it.
“Hah... So tired... Where... am I...?” A third voice suddenly cut in. A dazed-looking male student stumbled into view in front of the Radiant Sanctum. He looked around, confused. Judging from that blank, clear-eyed stupidity, he was obviously a first-year.
When he spotted the two fighting students, both in Carillian Academy uniforms, he blinked and asked blankly, “What are you guys doing? Why’re you fighting at a time like this?”
Vinny didn’t reply. He had no interest in explaining.
He just wanted to finish off this headache of a cultist, strip away his disguise, reveal the red runes beneath his uniform, and let the truth speak for itself.
“Did you have some grudge from before? Stop it already! This isn’t the time for fighting. Everything outside’s gone to hell. People are saying the Demon God Pillar cult attacked the academy, and you two are in here brawling? That’s just—”
“I didn’t want to fight either,” said the male student Vinny was confronting, now sounding pitifully innocent. “But he attacked me out of nowhere and accused me of being a cultist. I don’t even know why...”
“Sounds to me like someone’s guilty conscience is yelling the loudest.”
“Whatever it is, just stop fighting!” the new student cried, stepping forward to break it up.
“You idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get the hell away from here!” Vinny barked coldly.
But before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, the cultist spat again—but this time, the spittle wasn’t aimed at Vinny. It was aimed at the naïve freshman trying to intervene.
Vinny’s stomach sank.
Those needles were subtle, piercing, and possibly poisoned. The clueless first-year wouldn’t even see them coming. There was no question—he was about to get hit.
That moron!
Vinny now had two choices.
One: ignore everything and kill the cultist right now. As for the other student—whether he lived or died would be up to fate.
Two: abandon the kill, and try to save the clueless idiot... with no guarantee he could even make «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» it in time.
Vinny didn’t hesitate for even a second.
He made his choice.
“Get lost!” Vinny withdrew his mana, releasing the cultist, and drove him back with a single blow of his spear. Then he hurled a Condensed Ice Lock toward the dazed, clueless male student who still didn’t grasp what was happening.
Fortunately, he’d acted fast enough—and the flying chain was faster than the hidden spike projectiles. Vinny managed to leap in front of the student just in time. The spikes struck his thick armor and bounced harmlessly to the ground with crisp clinks.
“Wh-what...?” Only now did the student begin to register that the other student had just attacked him—and that this metal-clad one had saved his life.
“What... what is even going on right now?” The student’s mind felt like it had locked up completely.
“Didn’t I tell you not to come over here?” Vinny shot him a glare, then turned to look at the cultist—still standing silently in place, head lowered.
“I-I don’t...?” The student still didn’t understand everything, but he could at least tell he’d messed something up.
“Tch. When shit luck hits you, even drinking water gets your teeth stuck.” Vinny shook his head and didn’t bother lecturing the idiot any further. What was done was done.
“Heh... hahaha... HAAHAHAHAHA!!...” The cultist suddenly burst into crazed laughter. His voice warped and swelled, thickening into a guttural, slurred cadence as if he’d become some inhuman thing.
He tore away his clothes, revealing his skin now crawling with thick, dark crimson runes that bulged like swollen veins, as if they were about to rupture.
Vinny watched in grim silence. The transformation was already too far gone.
He let out a quiet sigh. Honestly, even he didn’t fully understand why he’d made that choice a moment ago.
He was supposed to be the selfish type—someone who’d never sacrifice his own advantage to save another.
Tch. Whatever. He’d already saved him. Might as well make sure the dumbass got out safely, otherwise what was the point?
He just... didn’t want to see someone die in front of him. That was all.
“You. Get out of here.” Vinny didn’t even turn around. “You can’t help with what’s about to happen. If you want to live to see your parents again, then run. Now. And go alert the combat instructors.”
“R-Right!” The student blinked and finally started to catch on, glancing at the grotesque, inflamed creature before him and realizing the situation was far worse than he'd thought.
“W-What about you?” he asked before turning to leave.
“If I weren’t here blocking him, don’t you think he would’ve already ripped you apart?” Vinny jabbed a thumb toward the monster.
“R-Right...!”
“No—” the monster growled, “—I could tear both of you to shreds right now.”
The cultist’s voice deepened to an inhuman rasp as a pair of twisted horns erupted from his head. His back split open, revealing massive tendrils writhing like the limbs of some abyssal creature.
Now standing three meters tall, the transformed cultist grinned with grotesque amusement.
“At last... I’ve waited so long for this day.” The Fanatic flexed his newly regenerated hands—massive fists that looked capable of crushing a human skull like an eggshell.
“To cast off the weak, pathetic flesh of humanity... to abandon the disguise of a sheep and embrace the truth—how liberating it feels!”
“You’ve really lost it. Could’ve lived like a normal human being, but you had to go and turn yourself into the Demon God Pillar’s chew toy.” Vinny hefted his spear. “So this is what a Fanatic looks like? Tch. Hideous. What the hell are you even smiling about?”
The Fanatic suddenly looked up. The tendrils on his back lashed the ground, embedding deep, and then launched him like a slingshot—a blood-colored projectile screaming toward Vinny.
The student ran off screaming into the night.
There was no dodging an attack that fast. Vinny knew it. He braced and activated Ice Skin on the spot.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!
Like a red missile, the Fanatic crashed down. Smoke billowed. Vinny was blasted back, slammed into the wall, only managing to stay on his feet by jamming Frostfang into the floor for support.
“Oh? Not bad.” The Fanatic’s rough voice carried a note of amused surprise. “You actually survived. Anyone else would’ve had their organs liquefied by that hit.”
Vinny realized something—had the Fanatic used magic just now?
No. It had been a purely physical attack.
Yet even with both Ice Skin and Armor Fortress active, the physical blow had still shattered his defenses and smashed him into a wall. Blood surged to his throat and trickled from the corner of his lips.
So this was the kind of thing even Master-level warriors couldn’t face—a servant of the Demon God.
Even his strongest physical defenses hadn’t held. The gap between them was... monumental.
“I remember now. You almost ruined my hands just a moment ago, didn’t you?” the Fanatic snarled, clenching his fists.
“My turn. And don’t think I’ll let you die quickly. I’ll tear your fingers off—one by one.”
He re-anchored his tendrils to the ground, once again drawing himself taut like a slingshot.
He launched forward at a speed the eye could barely track, hand outstretched, claws reaching for Vinny’s head.
There was no time to activate Frosthowl Roar.
Vinny clenched his teeth. It was too late. He’d have to take the hit.
And then—he noticed something.
Amid the chaos of battle, he hadn’t realized it before.
His Virtue had increased.
Virtue +100
Current Virtue: 304
Huh? What the hell?
The Fanatic’s massive claw was now less than five steps from Vinny’s face—when a blinding gold light descended from the sky.
SHING—
A golden flame barrier slammed down between them, flinging the Fanatic backward.
What... was that?
The brilliance of the light was so intense, Vinny had to squint just to see. As his vision cleared, he saw it clearly—
A radiant, gemlike golden Holy Sword stood embedded in the ground between him and the Fanatic, unmoving like an unbreakable shield.
Vinny’s eyes widened in disbelief.
There was no need to guess who it belonged to.
Perched atop the sword’s guard, a silver-haired girl with a black ribbon stood with perfect poise. Arms folded, the wind catching her moonlight-like hair, she faced away from Vinny—serene and untouchable.