In the end, Wolfgang fled the banquet hall.
‘Dante Hiakapo... is even an Obel Prize nominee now...?
It’s humiliating, but in some ways inevitable. The Pink Drug... the Soltia Conference... those alone were enough to shake the entire field of Illusion.
Of course, whether research that demolishes the very foundations of academia has value in itself—that is still hotly debated in the scholarly world. But a paradigm always blooms by shattering the past that had been boxed in and treated as the unquestionable answer.
Just like the current Glass Butterfly... Illusionists will one day reach another conclusion.’
‘Tsk....’
Even knowing this truth, Wolfgang’s gut burned.
‘To see that bastard as the spark for it all—I can’t, I absolutely can’t bear it!’
If Hiaka, which had never produced a single Obel laureate, were to give birth to its first through him, royal funding would pour into the kingdom.
For Kreutz, that was intolerable.
“Aheuheu... hhhueeeh... too drunk...☆”
At that moment, Gray, dead drunk, staggered with a cigarette in her mouth. “That brat, still wet behind the ears....” Wolfgang clicked his tongue. To smoke like a chimney while wasted in front of a senior? Disgusting.
But that was Gray’s business. Wolfgang himself, with the party over, thought it time to head home. He turned—
“Eh...”
Gray stumbled and began wiping her ears. Wetness.
“...Huh? What’s this....”
Whining, she kept rubbing. Even in the dark, something black was flowing out. Blood.
“......”
Wolfgang froze, hesitating. What did it matter if she spilled blood or even brains? Not his concern.
And yet... even if it infuriated him. Even if she was from the enemy nation. Even if she was an insolent young professor. In the end, she was still an educator—and so was he.
Besides, Wolfgang’s prized cadet, Amulet, once mentioned she had received help from Dante Hiakapo.
“Hey. Assistant Professor.”
Ugh.
“Yees... Bolttgangh Professhor... I’ll... dooo my homeworkkk....”
“It’s Wolfgang, damn it! Do you even realize what’s happening with blood pouring from your ear?”
“Dunno...”
“Of course not. The Hiaka assassins never teach this. But you can’t ignore that bleeding. You are slowly dying right now.”
“......”
Gray blinked.
“Are you... gonna kill me, Professor? ’Cause you’re Kreutz...?”
“No! That’s not what I mean! Do you know the difference between a corpse and a living person?”
“...The difference between a corpse and a person?”
“For example, most corpses just after death still have conditions under which they shouldn’t have died. And yet they’re corpses, so they’re dead.
Take blood: someone may die from losing just 5%, another might survive even after 8%. Put a human in a freezer—one dies in 60 minutes, another lasts 72 hours. Same conditions, but life and death split. Do you know why? That’s the question!”
Gray shook her head.
“The difference is whether the will to live exists or not! That is what separates life from death.”
“...The will to live....”
“And what is the force that manifests that will?”
“...Mana, right?”
“Correct. Mana is surplus life-force. But if you stay under constant overexertion, your body will start burning life-force just to refill that mana void.”
Simply put—
“You’ve been running on overdrive for research and classes lately. Keep draining yourself like that, and you might just die.”
Gray’s uneven eyes widened, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ and she nodded.
She could feel it herself. She was pushing too hard.
Every morning her headaches were brutal. Dante had scolded her several times about it. Still, her zeal kept driving her.
“I’ll resht... resht a bit, then....”
Even an enemy professor nagging her drove the point home. She had to rest.
But one question arose. A scholarly one, fitting for an assistant professor and researcher.
“Uuhm... but Professor...”
“What!”
“Then, conversely... if you’re a high enough mage... could a dying person prolong their life with mana?”
Yussef was about to snap, Ask your damned magic professors that!—but he used the last of his patience to answer.
“Yes, of course.”
“Woah, amazing....”
“Rare, but if a mage has vast enough mana, at least [Grandmaster] rank, they can keep cutting their maximum mana to trade it for lifespan.”
And perhaps Hiaka Academy had one such figure. Someone who had denied death’s order itself to pursue research.
‘...That insane old man... is he still alive?’
He couldn’t have much left.
───
Scene #1 – Again, Finding the Assassin
Scene #2 – Dante Hiakapo, Ranking Registration
Scene #3 – At the Shrine of Life♥
Scene #4 – Wolfgang Yussef’s Melancholy
Scene #5 – Curse of Pettiness ◀
Scene #6 – Accidental Fanaticism
───
│ㅅㅇ)
The spirit of Surveillance gazed at an old man.
Galois Grandray. Chief Professor of Hiaka Academy, one of the continent’s foremost authorities on [Magical Theory].
‘This damned academy—I swore I’d never come back! Uheheh!’
After boasting loudly of his retirement for over a decade, he returned disgracefully to academia. Now in his third year of throwing himself back into research.
“You brat. Aren’t you pleased, hmm?”
He was on the phone, relaying congratulations to Dante Hiakapo.
“But seriously, what’s the point of you suddenly being nominated? They don’t even call me a nominee anymore! What? Why plagiarize? I told you, I didn’t! How long are you going to keep dredging this up? Fine, carve it on my tombstone! —‘Senile old man dies plagiarizing thesis’—got it!?”
The reply made him burst into wheezing laughter.
“You won’t win the Obel!”
“I’ll sabotage you! If I can’t win it, you can’t either!”
“Can’t hear you! What? Can’t hear! Whatever—go practice Illusion instead of whining. Click!”
He slammed the receiver down, cackling. Nothing in the world was as fun as poking that brat.
With his personal fame now outshining deans and chairs, who else but him could do it?
“Hehihihik!”
Another day, another chance to irritate that brilliant youth. A fulfilling life...
But then his throat scratched, and coughing spilled out.
“Cough, cough cough...”
The old man pulled his hand away from his mouth. Red stained it. His eyes narrowed.
“Well, well.”
He gave a wan smile.
He glanced at his research log. A peculiar project titled [Curse of Pettiness]. Its results were almost upon him.
“Not yet. I need a little more time.”
Almost... almost there...
───
Scene #1 – Again, Finding the Assassin
Scene #2 – Dante Hiakapo, Ranking Registration
Scene #3 – At the Shrine of Life♥
Scene #4 – Wolfgang Yussef’s Melancholy
Scene #5 – Curse of Pettiness
Scene #6 – Accidental Fanaticism ◀
───
Beneath the Way of Heaven, the world flowed on.
The entire world seemed moved by some manipulation.
Like a master clockmaker, it aligned every current to its axis.
For example: that prodigies like Kaiser and his peers all gathered in one year, at one academy, in one department—that too had been Heaven’s plan.
That the bizarre prodigies later named the Hero Party clustered near Professor Dante Hiakapo—that too was Heaven’s plan.
That now, around Hiaka’s two Constellations (⚉, ○), the factions of the Constellations began to split—that too was Heaven’s plan.
No other interpretation fit.
‘Strange indeed.’
Lately Kaiser had begun to hear bizarre rumors through his intelligence network.
That those arrogant, lofty Constellations were splitting into two factions and entering conflict.
One supported the Shadowless Star○. The other, the Black Star⚉. To Kaiser, it was odd.
‘The Shadowless Star○ has been missing for over ten years... why would anyone rally around an absent Constellation?’
From atop a mountain peak, Kaiser brooded, staring down at the continent.
This contradiction needed resolving.
And he had a keyword.
At first, when the Dormant Dragon Cadets were artificially gathered, Kaiser didn’t know what Heaven’s Way was moving toward.
Why they were assembled, what they were meant to do—he knew nothing.
But now he did.
‘Whose world is this?’
At the center of Heaven’s design—who stood there?
Dante Hiakapo.
But this didn’t mean Dante was the world’s blessed protagonist. No—it was something far more dreadful.
‘We tried to kill Professor Dante.’
The truth, reached only later through many methods, was that in the beginning Professor Dante had multiple chances to be killed by the Dormant Dragon Cadets.
But he survived them himself.
And so with everything since. In the Demon War. In the Invasions. In countless entanglements with the Hero Party. At any time, he could have died.
But each time, he survived himself.
The point was clear.
‘This world turns only as an artificial trial for Professor Dante Hiakapo.’
And yet—surviving the Cadets. Surviving Invasion. Raising the Illusion Tree. Creating the Pink Drug. Now becoming an Obel nominee. None of that was Heaven’s contrivance.
‘Professor Dante has been raging against Heaven’s Way itself, fighting to survive....’
Then the factional split of the Black Star⚉ and the Shadowless Star○ could also be traced back to this.
‘This too is a trial for Professor Dante.’
Heaven’s intent was laid bare.
As Constellations split deeper, even the impregnable Empire would suffer gaps in its defenses.
Into those cracks, new forces could wedge. Kaiser saw the opening.
But there was a problem. The Imperial Family had sensed something, and tightened surveillance against the Dominion❆.
‘Not yet time. Must watch....’
As Kaiser calculated the timing, disturbing news arrived.
“What? The Obel Prize has already been assigned to an Imperial professor?”
“Yes. Classified information from the Imperial Research Institute. The Empire is greatly displeased at Professor Dante’s rising influence. They seem to be preparing attacks on multiple fronts.”
“But why? True, Professor Dante’s reach has grown—but is that enough for the throne to act so aggressively...?”
The informant lowered his head.
“This is not confirmed... but I heard Professor Dante has a shocking secret.”
At this, Kaiser’s eyes went wide.
‘Impossible... Professor Dante declined to register his #1 ranking...?’
It was speculation—maybe true, maybe not.
But the moment Kaiser heard it, lightning struck his mind.
‘It’s true.’
It had to be. It could only be.
Because that existence was Dante Hiakapo!
“Dominion❆—assemble.”
Black hoods. Black elephant masks. Foreheads marked with snowflake sigils. Warriors rose, wrapped in light.
Thirty-three in all.
Twenty were [Grandmasters], masters from across nations devoted to Dante Hiakapo.
Twelve were [Challengers].
And one was a [Constellation].
Never before had they all gathered in one place. But now was the time.
“The war between the Shadowless Star○ and the Black Star⚉ will begin.”
Kaiser declared their ground task.
“We strike the Imperial Family.”