Chapter 44
“Huuuaaaah!”
I gasped for air as if I had just resurfaced after being underwater for a long time.
Holding onto my dazed consciousness, I looked around.
The scene surrounding me was utterly devastating.
The pure white space that the Guardian had unfolded was now violently burning away.
For some reason, the Guardian had vanished, and Park Siwoo was lying face down on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
I recalled what had happened just moments ago.
To survive, I had tried merging two powers into one through the Asura Divine Art…
And I definitely succeeded.
But I had been fatally injured, waiting only for death.
I slowly examined my body.
There wasn’t a single wound in sight.
Far from being injured, I was overflowing with strength.
Even the mana that had been completely drained was now fully restored—no, it had increased far beyond what it used to be.
I scratched my head, unable to understand the situation.
So, to sum it up: I had almost died, but somehow survived; the Guardian had vanished, and I had become stronger?
I really couldn’t make sense of it.
Was there ever an event like this in the game? No, I’d never experienced such a lottery-winning kind of event before.
Something shining caught my eye where the Guardian had been.
A fading golden light.
It was the halo that had appeared when the Guardian awakened.
“I think it was called the Halo.”
He’d said he risked his very existence to summon this.
Now that I thought about it, the Guardian had spoken a lot of incomprehensible things.
That I was the being from the prophecy, and so on.
I needed to look into that.
To do that, I had to learn more about Baek Hyun-joong, the founder of the Academy and once hailed as the strongest hero who had even surpassed the Sword Emperor.
This Halo was likely an important clue.
I picked up the dimmed Halo and tucked it into my chest pocket.
Then, I walked over to Park Siwoo, who was still unconscious.
He had faint scratches all over his body, but upon closer inspection, the wounds were all minor.
In fact, even those minor injuries were from when I had beaten him up earlier.
When I lightly tapped his cheek, his body twitched, and he blinked open his eyes groggily.
“Ugh… huh!”
He suddenly sprang up, wide-eyed.
Crack!
Our heads collided as he shot up without warning.
“Gaaah!”
“Urgh… you blockhead!”
“Ugh, Seongwoo? Seongwoo, is that you?”
Recognizing me, he grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Wait—what about the Devil Knight?”
“Calm down and talk slowly. I just came to my senses too, so I’m still a bit out of it.”
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he began explaining what he had seen just before passing out.
Of course, I already knew everything since I had gone through it all with him.
Still, I nodded along appropriately.
“I didn’t think something like that could happen… guess we’re really lucky to be alive.”
“Come to think of it, what about the Devil Knight and the statue?”
“I don’t know. When I woke up, it was just the two of us in this space.”
Park Siwoo looked around in disbelief.
But all he could see were the traces of a brutal battle and a collapsing space.
Naturally so—
The Guardian had perished, and the Devil Knight had been me.
I watched Park Siwoo’s confused expression as he continued to scan the surroundings.
Originally, I had planned to use the Guardian, a Hidden Piece, to help Park Siwoo grow stronger.
But somehow, I was the only one who had grown instead.
Just then, Park Siwoo called out to me.
“Seongwoo, come here!”
Turning my head, I saw him urgently waving me over.
When I approached, he was staring blankly at a spear—the one the Guardian had used.
“This is the spear that statue was using. I can feel some kind of mysterious power from it.”
“Let me see that.”
I took the spear from Park Siwoo.
The moment it touched my hand, I could feel a powerful energy emanating from it.
Good. I was worried I wouldn’t get any item since the Guardian had vanished.
The spear was radiating the same unsettling light energy that the Guardian had exuded.
If I were still in my Devil Knight form, I would’ve taken slight damage from just holding it.
This was one of the Hidden Pieces I had risked my life to obtain from the Guardian the [Guardian’s Spear].
It was an item that boasted incredible power against Demons and Devils, but because the Guardian only appeared late in the game, players rarely got to use it.
Still, being a late-game item meant it was extremely overpowered for the current situation.
With this, Park Siwoo would probably be safe for a while—no chance of dying suddenly anytime soon.
Considering I’d nearly died just now, this kind of reward was more than fair.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected the Guardian to be that strong.
In the game, the Guardian didn’t play a major role.
He was just another side character who appeared briefly before disappearing again—and quite late in the story, at that.
Regardless of which Playable Character you chose, the Academy always faced an all-out assault from the Demons in the later stages.
That’s when the Academy’s Guardian would awaken and swiftly wipe out some of the Demons.
But eventually, unable to withstand their overwhelming numbers, he would disappear.
That was his role.
So I had thought I could handle him easily at my current level.
And to be fair, the battle had been manageable until he took out the Halo.
Because of that “vessel” nonsense, an unexpected second phase began that wasn’t part of the original scenario…
Well, that was my fault.
Even though I had experienced this world indirectly through the game,
I’d learned long ago that didn’t make me all-knowing.
And after this incident, that truth hit even harder.
Park Siwoo was still staring at the Guardian’s Spear as if entranced.
“You’re about to start drooling.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“You’re so mesmerized by the spear you’ve lost your mind.”
“Haha… so, what do we do now?”
At Park Siwoo’s question, I turned my gaze toward the collapsing space.
The space was already on the verge of complete collapse.
If we just waited a little longer, it would naturally return to its original state.
I could guess with high certainty that the Student Council executives would be gathered there.
“They’re probably waiting for us back at the Academy.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. It was another Demon invasion, after all.”
“Right. So if you don’t want that spear taken from you, better hide it well.”
“What?”
Park Siwoo stared at me in shock.
As if wondering how he could possibly keep such a thing for himself, he flustered dramatically.
With a smooth tongue, I coaxed him gently.
“The statue that owned that spear is already destroyed. It’s a masterless item now. Besides, you went through hell fighting the Devil Knight and that statue. Wouldn’t it be a waste to just hand it over?”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Then what’s there to hesitate about? If you leave it behind, the Association or the Academy will snatch it up anyway. Didn’t you need a decent weapon?”
Park Siwoo nodded, almost entranced by my words.
He was already captivated by the spear.
Just a little nudge on the back, and he gave in easily.
“Then this spear…”
“Yeah, good choice. You can’t keep using those cheap Academy-issued weapons forever.”
“True. But what about you, Seongwoo?”
“I…”
Then, a sword embedded in the ground caught my eye.
The sword that had created this white space.
Though the space continued to crumble, the sword still stood firm.
If the spear still contained the power of light, then so would the sword.
I grasped the sword that was lodged in the ground.
“Then I’ll take this one.”
“That sword? But you’re a martial artist who doesn’t use weapons.”
“Would you really call this a weapon?”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Why do you think this sword is stuck in the ground? If the Devil Knight and the statue fought, the sword should’ve been lying around just like the spear.”
Park Siwoo clapped his hands together as if finally realizing something.
“Ah! So that sword is the core maintaining this barrier.”
“Exactly.”
“For a martial artist like me, this sword will be even more useful. If I use it to form a barrier, it’ll be like creating a ring.”
Saying that, I pulled the sword free.
The moment it was drawn, the collapsing space instantly reverted to normal, and the chill of the night air rushed in.
“The barrier’s broken! Everyone, prepare for battle! Get ready for incoming Demons!”
“Attack!”
The Academy Instructors who had been waiting outside appeared the moment the barrier fell.
As their mana surged, I felt a heavy pressure weighing down on my body.
Without hesitation, they charged toward me and Park Siwoo.
“They’re not Demons! They’re Cadets!”
But just then—
A sharp voice rang out, and a flash of blue lightning struck between us and the Instructors.
KWAANG!
The charging Instructors froze in place.
“What the—? What’s going on…?”
“They survived a battle against a Demon?”
“I don’t sense any demonic energy nearby.”
“Don’t tell me those two…”
The Instructors’ gazes all turned toward us.
Amid their confusion, one person stepped forward through their ranks.
Tap, tap, tap.
Yoo Iseo walked up to me and gripped my shoulder tightly.
“Where is the Demon? Where is the Devil Knight?!”
Her eyes, bloodshot and trembling with fury, gleamed with murderous intent.
She hadn’t shown up in the Student Council room for days, but the moment she heard news of the Devil Knight’s appearance, she must have rushed over in a panic.
“Cadet Yoo Iseo, please calm down.”
A familiar large figure pulled her away from me.
It was Instructor Kang Jae-seok, the Yaksha.
“Good. You both seem unharmed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I think a detailed debriefing should come first. You must be exhausted, but please come with us.”
With that, Instructor Kang Jae-seok led us toward the interrogation room.
I couldn’t help but wonder why the Academy even had something like an interrogation room, but either way, Park Siwoo and I were separated and questioned individually.
Park Siwoo went in first.
The interrogation was led by Instructor Kang Jae-seok, and all the other Instructors had dispersed.
As I sat on a chair waiting, Yoo Iseo approached me.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I lost my composure.”
“It’s fine. I understand how you feel, President.”
If I couldn’t understand her feelings, then who could?
Looking at her face, the dark circles under her eyes and her sunken cheeks showed how much she had been suffering.
“As the Student Council President, I shouldn’t look so disgraceful. You’re the one who’s suffering the most. You witnessed Dahee’s final moments yourself… and then you were attacked again like this…”
She still hadn’t escaped from the shadow of Seo Da-hee’s death.
For a long time—perhaps for the rest of her life—Seo Da-hee’s death would remain a scar that clung to Yoo Iseo.
I shook my head slightly and tried to convey my feelings to her.
“Senior Da-hee’s death was my fault. She was fatally wounded trying to protect me. So… her death is entirely on me.”
Though I couldn’t tell her the whole truth, my words were sincere.
If I didn’t at least say this much, the guilt I felt toward her would never fade.
At that, Yoo Iseo stared at me silently for a long time before gently placing her cold hand on my shoulder.
Without saying a word, she patted my shoulder lightly— then quietly turned and left.