All across Zone 0, Elise’s spirit hounds were scattered.
Dogs like Mung, Mini-Mung, and Mini-Mini-Mung.
Normally, they roamed freely. They spent their days running through the vast expanses of Zone 0.
That evening—
One Mini-Mini-Mung brought back some interesting intel.
“Huh? Really?”
“Mung!”
Something this interesting?
Elise immediately rushed off and banged on Gray’s door.
“What the hell? All of a sudden?”
“Professor Dante’s illusion. Want to go see it now?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Let’s go watch. I think we can catch it now. Just how good the professor really is at illusions.”
“Why would I—”
Before she could even finish, Elise had already grabbed Gray’s wrist and taken off running. Her strength was monstrous.
“—W-Wait a second!”
Dragged helplessly out of the Dormitory of Slumbering Dragons, Gray began smacking Elise on the head. But her head was made of stone.
Before long, they had climbed onto the mane of Elise’s massive spirit hound, Mung.
“Mung. Run.”
Elise tilted her head slightly and sniffed the air. Using a sense of smell even sharper than the hound’s, she pinpointed Dante’s direction.
The now-invisible hound dashed through the night sky—
Toward the edge of Zone 0, into some abandoned forest.
***
There’s a concept known as the “Uncanny Valley.”
It’s the claim that the more something artificial resembles a human, the more unpleasant it becomes.
According to one theory in evolutionary biology, humans evolved to detect incredibly subtle differences in faces, voices, and behavior—
And the reason for that selective pressure was to distinguish between their own kind and “something else entirely” that only looked similar—a threat that persisted for hundreds of thousands of years.
I don’t know if that idea applies in this game-world.
But right now, in front of me—
Something entirely different was wearing the skin of a human and pretending to be one.
Maybe it was because of that. Or maybe it was fate, tied to this “possessed player” identity of mine.
But from the very first moment I laid eyes on that thing, I didn’t just feel discomfort.
It was revulsion.
So strong it felt like bloodlust.
That’s when the bastard opened his mouth.
“......Well now, Professor Dante. Isn’t that a rather aggressive greeting for our first meeting? I merely came to help the troubled children. You coming at me this way all of a sudden is quite—”
But I couldn’t hear him. Not really. Honestly, I didn’t care.
Some instinct just surged up from within, demanding that I kill him.
“Professor Toxin.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no need to dress it up. I honestly don’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“...That’s quite the regrettable attitude. When there’s misunderstanding, people ought to talk and resolve—”
“Sorry. That sentence just now, too. I don’t get what you’re saying. Even if it’s all made-up bullshit, I want to hear it. But my brain just refuses to comprehend any of it.”
“......”
“So, let me make you an offer right here.”
“What kind of offer?”
I asked the demon, whose eyes were just slightly misaligned.
“Why don’t you kill yourself?”
It’s a reasonable suggestion. Rational, even.
Filth should be erased—but if it can erase itself, there’s no reason for me to dirty my hands.
“If you do, I promise I won’t make your death painful.”
Then, his eyes slipped further out of alignment.
His lips twisted—not in any natural way. In a way that shouldn’t have been possible—and ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) he answered:
“......You’re different from other humans. I’d better use all my strength and kill you here and now.”
It was the very next moment.
From behind him, a pair of grotesque wings—like strips of raw hide—burst out, tearing through his back.
FWUMP—!!
At the same time, pitch-black magic erupted forth, crushing the forest and the world itself under immense pressure.
BOOOOM ——
Even a lesser demon—one with no horns, no form—could never be compared to a human.
Each one of them is a monster with power greater than a full military unit.
And this bastard was flaunting it, pouring out power without holding back.
“I see.”
I reached into my [Inventory] and pulled out 「Liberator⁺₊⋆」.
Because at last, I understood one thing.
“...So you’ve declined.”
***
“Khhhk—!”
It was the killing intent. That monstrous professor had suddenly unleashed such a suffocating presence that she couldn’t even run away.
The cadets, their legs trembling as they watched from afar, collapsed on the spot as soon as the demon spread its wings.
Terror.
A primal terror descended upon the forest.
The demon reduced the proud “masters of all life,” humans, to mere prey animals.
Even the reassurance they’d felt moments ago when Professor Dante approached now felt meaningless—Derik was overwhelmed by sheer dread.
‘What the hell... What kind of monster is that...’
‘I—I have to run, but my legs won’t move...’
And then, the demon raised its blade and surged forward on its wings.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!!
“Uagh!”
A blitz attack swept the entire clearing in a single strike. Half a dozen trees were instantly shredded and toppled.
But Dante, who should’ve been caught in the blast, had vanished without a trace.
He reappeared elsewhere—and the cadets followed the demon’s gaze to find him again.
“You rat bastard——!”
The demon flew at Dante again like a slingshot being let loose—so fast it was hard to follow in the night sky.
Yet somehow, Dante was moving calmly, slipping through space and disrupting the demon’s charge like it was nothing.
As if waiting for something. Composed, even. But the cadets couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking.
“We—we have to help!”
“Y-Yeah!”
The cadets believed they had a role to play in this stand-off.
It could have led to tragedy—but fortunately, it was stopped before it even began.
“......Don’t move.”
Right in front of them, a Dante illusion appeared. And so, the cadets halted, their adrenaline briefly quelled.
At this moment, Dante had deployed a 『Magic Distortion Field』. Blue spheres appeared all around the forest, distorting space—but the demon evaded them with leaps of more than ten meters at a time.
When the number of distortion fields increased, the demon shot up into the sky. Nearly 50 meters.
Then it spread its wings wide and began to glide.
“You dare pull this cheap stunt!!”
Only then did the demon realize something—that an assassin, not even a mage, deploying a distortion field this vast was impossible.
It was all [illusion].
『Magic Overflow』
Now that it had figured Dante out, the demon switched tactics, using the principles of the [Throwing] branch to flood the area with magic. Its goal: to crush all [illusions] in one blow.
CRAAACKKKKKKKKKK—!!
It was the correct call. The entire spread of distortion fields shattered like glass and vanished.
And what was left—was Dante, exposed behind them.
“You think you can keep dodging me——!”
The demon finally played its hand. From its mouth exploded a dark, violet light.
Masses of shadow twisted into being. Bat-like summons—hundreds of them.
‘...[Summoning], huh.’
The demon didn’t realize it.
But this had been Dante’s goal all along.
All those scattered illusions and feints? Just a ploy to observe the demon’s true abilities.
Because demons mimicked human forms, they also imitated the Twelve Branch Abilities. Now Dante saw through it:
Despite applying for a faculty post in the [Throwing] category, the demon’s real ability was [Summon-Taming].
And that was the problem—it was his main specialization.
There were too many summons. Over a hundred bats, each the size of a human torso, showing off fanged mouths like daggers.
They began to descend all at once—intending to tear out the throats of Dante and every cadet.
CHITTERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!
“Guh!”
“Argh! Damn it!”
THUD—! Fangs pierced Dominic’s back, drawing blood. Derik’s head was grazed by a flying blade—blood spurted out.
“Get off! Get off!!”
Hwaru hurriedly slashed the bat off Dominic’s back with his sword, but it was only the beginning. Under the starlight, the dark swarm poured down. Someone had to stop them.
And that someone—was Dante.
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING──
As something rippled through the space itself, the bats veered mid-air and took off upward, away from the cadets.
“What are you doing!? Why are you avoiding them!? Kill the humans!!”
Professor Toxin—the hornless demon—roared.
But this was Dante’s intention.
It was a sound no human ear could detect. A power no normal [illusion] could ever create.
But Dante had made it through a forbidden technique:
『World Forgery: Phenomenon Forgery [Ultrasound]』
It also exploited a known weakness of the [Summon-Taming] branch: summoned creatures became autonomous the moment they hit the field, losing direct contact with the summoner. And if used cleverly, they could even hinder the summoner instead.
──── !
The ultrasound disoriented the bats—perceiving the world as if running into a wall—and they swarmed around Toxin instead. “Tch! You damned imbeciles!!” They didn’t attack him, recognizing him as their summoner, but it bought the cadets time.
“Hey! What are you doing!? It’s dangerous!”
“Don’t just stand there—run!”
More ultrasonic blasts rang out.
The cadets, stunned until now, finally broke into a sprint. Some managed to escape the battlefield, but by then, Toxin had recovered and started to counterattack.
“KILL THEM AAAAAAALL—!!”
『Fear』. A sonic scream mixed with the roar of a beast shredded Dante’s ultrasound.
At that moment, Dante began to move.
Until now, he’d been faced with a difficult dilemma. An impossible one.
His weapon—the rifle of the Radiant Star, 「Liberator⁺₊⋆」—could fire only two shots.
Its bullets burst like shrapnel. Wide range. But even so, not enough to cover the sky.
No matter what angle—he couldn’t take down both Toxin, gliding high, and the swarm of bats at once.
Not with two bullets. Not even with three.
The problem remained unsolved.
“Ghhh! He—he’s coming!”
“Damn it—!!”
Meanwhile, the cadets were in danger again. Their legs barely carrying them, they fled as more red-eyed bats descended.
“Agh!”
And then—one timid girl stumbled. Crushed under the demon’s pressure, she tripped on a root and fell.
“Hey! Hwaru—!!”
“Run! Get up and run!!”
Slowly, her head lifted. Despair filled her face. The swarm was nearly upon her.
At that moment—Dante activated the forged space he’d prepared ever since identifying the demon.
He had bought just enough time with the ultrasound to finish it.
『World Forgery: Spatial Forgery [Kaleidoscope]』
Magic exploded from the ground, covering the forest and surging into the sky.
KZZZZZZZKKKKKKKKK!!
A structure—40 meters wide, 120 meters tall. As tall as a skyscraper—an entire space forged anew.
From just above the ground to the sky, a boundary formed.
A tower of tens of thousands of mirrors—angled perfectly to refract and reflect one another.
Because Toxin was gliding, he couldn’t escape the area in time.
This was the solution Professor Dante had found to his impossible problem.
And now—it was his turn.
He fired the first bullet, engraved with the sacred light of the Radiant Star, from 「Liberator⁺₊⋆」.
————— .
The light-bullet, pure radiance itself, branched into dozens of rays, striking mirrors and bending—then reflecting into other mirrors.
From five meters above the ground, it blanketed the land and soared skyward, forming a giant pillar of light.
The beam tore through more than a hundred bats—and still didn’t stop.
It struck the demon suspended in air, crushing him.
—————— .
The cadets, belatedly lifting their heads, saw the surreal sight unfolding above them.
A pillar of light punching through the sky—
A burning, broken monster plummeting back to earth—
...It was like witnessing a miracle.
***
The illusion that had blanketed the night sky—overwhelming in scale, and utterly unreal.
If a god had once said “Let there be light” upon creating the world from darkness—
This must be how it had felt.
“......”
Gray stared at the afterimage—like a meteor shower, but in reverse, stretching toward the stars. She didn’t want to admit it.
But her chest was swelling with something she couldn’t suppress.
“......”
Gray bit her lower lip.