I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor

Team members of the Murder Company had no names.

That was a fairly well-known fact even to outsiders, and some people referred to them as John Doe when they were men and Jane Doe when they were women.

After all, those names literally meant they had no names.

The only time they were granted names was after surviving for many years and reaching the rank of team leader.

Volk, the Wolf.

Viper, the Venomous Snake.

The reason the two team leaders of the Murder Company recognized each other was simple.

One exchange.

Viper slashed at his neck, and Volk blocked it.

A sword style passed down exclusively among the Murder Company's team leaders.

That alone was enough for them to realize that each had been raised solely to become a team leader.

'Why the hell are you pretending to be an old man here?'

'Because it's my mission, you damn bastard.'

For a fleeting instant, the two exchanged warm greetings through nothing more than their eyes.

To Jin Crow, it probably looked like they were doing something bizarre.

But from their perspective, they had every reason to be flustered.

To prevent the exposure of their strength or possible betrayal, the Murder Company kept even its utterly loyal team leaders completely ignorant of one another's assignments.

Naturally.

Their fearsome reputation rested not only on operating entirely from the shadows, but also on their secrecy.

“……This is driving me insane.”

The old man—or rather, Viper—looked toward the man who had entered behind them, wearing a hollow smile that went beyond mere disbelief after his identity had been so absurdly exposed.

The blood splattered across his pale cheek—whether naturally pale or simply drained of color—left quite an impression.

He was unfamiliar.

Yet not unfamiliar.

Although this was the first time he had seen his face, he recognized at a glance that this was the man who had tested the drug cocktail he had painstakingly created.

Several minutes of awkward silence passed.

Eventually, perhaps deciding he had to salvage the situation somehow, Volk scratched his cheek awkwardly before speaking.

“Ahaha, so, you see, this is….”

“I understand. Thinking about it, there's no way a drug bartender skilled enough to make something like this would open a pharmacy under such a ridiculously corny name. This explanation actually makes much more sense.”

“……Ridiculously corny?”

At those words, Viper looked at him with sunken eyes beneath his mask.

Jin Crow paid no attention and simply nodded.

To him, it was only natural.

There was no way the person who had created drug cocktails comparable to Pentacle—though with limitations—and who had thoroughly minimized their side effects, despite never even being mentioned in the original work, could possibly have such terrible naming sense.

“Pfft.”

“……You're laughing?”

Perhaps because Jin Crow had spoken with complete seriousness.

Volk burst into laughter at the completely unexpected remark.

Meanwhile, Viper's real face, hidden beneath the mask, reddened as he ground his teeth.

'What's wrong with Hansarang?!'

It had a pleasant ring to it.

Wasn't a classic name like that a hundred times better than dressing it up with some pretentious title?

Besides, wasn't it said that the sister-in-law who tried to stop you was always the more irritating one?

Rather than glare at Jin Crow, who failed to appreciate his carefully considered naming sense, Viper instead shot an even fiercer glare at the grinning Volk before speaking in an irritated voice.

Or rather—

He was about to.

“Huh?”

At that very moment—

Ruuuuumbleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The ground beneath their feet twisted violently.

At the same time, a tremor powerful enough to be called an earthquake swept through the area, forcing all three of them to instinctively lower themselves before they could even react.

“W-what was that?”

“……This doesn't feel good.”

Volk stopped laughing, his eyes widening at the sudden shock.

Jin Crow frowned, biting down on his lip as an inexplicable sense of dread crept over him.

Perhaps because of that.

Viper also seemed to realize this was no time to waste on trivial matters and silently observed the situation.

Then—

Bzzz.

As if by prior arrangement, all of their watches began vibrating at once.

After receiving their messages, Volk and Viper simply stiffened.

Jin Crow, however, was different.

Looking at the two messages displayed on his watch, he gently pressed against his brow before quietly muttering,

“……This is driving me insane.”

A level of frustration unlike anything before filled his mind.

He bit down on his lip before reading the contents once more.

「Our vessel was sunk by Black Mer's bombardment, and the Void Rift has stripped us of air superiority, leaving us with no means of evacuating the cadets outside the planet. ……I've moved everyone back to the Safety House for now while searching for another option. It would be best if you returned as quickly as possible. Regrettably so.

Sender: Tita Genorua」

The first message had come from Tita Genorua.

「[Breaking News] A Red Alert has been declared for Mercato, the capital star of the Free Planet Alliance……. The Human Composite State Embassy has requested emergency evacuation measures for its citizens. The nearby 4th Fleet has been dispatched……. No movements have yet been reported from the Empire……. (Read More)

Instructor, confirm the situation and submit your report afterward.

Sender: Ideale Kukenhauzen」

The second was an article forwarded by Ideale, along with her objective assessment of the current situation.

'Red Alert.'

There were six alert levels in total.

Among them, Red was a high-level alert, indicating that the targeted planet was expected to suffer at least fifty percent damage.

At that stage, serious consideration began regarding formal planetary abandonment procedures.

The problem was that not even an hour had passed since the invasion had begun.

If things continued like this, the ending was already decided.

'Black Alert. Planetary abandonment.'

Objectively speaking, losing Mercato itself did not matter.

The real issue was that initiating planetary abandonment meant abandoning the planet entirely.

In other words, severing every last possibility of survival.

Yes.

Even if those left behind were instructors or cadets.

Of course, nothing had been decided yet.

They could still contact the embassy and perhaps escape through the dispatched 4th Fleet.

But his instincts told him otherwise.

Even if the fleet arrived, as long as the Queen controlled the skies, they would never set foot on the surface.

“……So in the end, it really can't be avoided.”

Some might call that pessimistic.

But in reality, he was making an extremely rational judgment.

Humanity had already endured several Creature invasions.

What had their forces consisted of?

The strongest named individuals to appear had been nothing more than Pawns and Knights.

And yet humanity had still abandoned entire planets.

'And now it's the Queen. Hoping for anything here isn't optimism—it's delusion.'

Suddenly, Lucky Anubis's fear before taking his own life flashed through his mind.

At the very least, there had been one thing he had not been wrong about.

He had instinctively sensed the terror of the Creatures.

In the end, he had been crushed beneath that terror and submitted to Stero Mer.

The problem was that the one he had chosen to submit to had not been sane either.

“……Old man. Or should I say, Viper?”

“Hm?”

“I don't care who you're affiliated with. Instead, I'd like to make you an offer.”

His gaze shifted toward the plague doctor mask, making it impossible to discern what expression lay beneath it.

He placed another cigarette between his lips.

The blood on his cheek quivered faintly.

His black eyes, heavy with fatigue and exhaustion, seemed to pierce straight through the mask's lenses as they stared directly at Viper.

Perhaps overwhelmed by that peculiar pressure.

Without even noticing that the voice modulator attached to his mask had turned off, Viper replied in the youthful voice of a young boy.

“What kind?”

However, the words that followed were quite different from what he had expected.

“I'll buy every drug you have. So bring me all of it.”

“A-all of it?”

For a moment, he seemed deflated.

Then, at the words all of it, his eyes widened as he asked again.

Naturally, Jin Crow had not misspoken.

He simply nodded silently.

'Though I'll be billing your Godmother for it.'

Naturally, he kept those words to himself.

If one were asked to name the tallest building in Mercato, everyone would point to Mer Corporation Headquarters without the slightest hesitation.

Which was why, for those who had managed to catch their breath after escaping the Creatures—or those hiding while praying the disaster would somehow come to an end—the sight before them was nothing short of shocking.

“It's... it's collapsing?”

The prosperity and development of the Free Planet Alliance.

Its worship of wealth and exploitation.

Its ruthless survival of the fittest.

The very symbol of the planet they had both taken pride in and resented was collapsing.

It had been the aspiration of everyone dissatisfied with reality.

Yet at the same time, it was a catastrophe that should never have become reality.

Of course, one building collapsing was not, by itself, such a great issue.

Considering its symbolism, it was certainly shocking.

But in the end, it was only a building.

If that had been all while neighbors and friends were being reduced to chunks of meat all around them, the shock would not have lasted long.

〔BM 4th Regiment. Respond. What happened?〕

〔Battleship Totten has gone down.〕

〔Cough! T-this is Alton of the 4th Regiment. W-we've been annihila...! Gah!〕

Reports of Black Mer's destruction echoed over the communications.

Then, the black figure floating proudly in the heavens slowly opened its eyes.

“Ah—.”

The single, softly spoken word was so quiet that it reached no one's ears.

Yet in that instant, every Creature raised its head.

“W-what?”

“They've stopped!”

Kiiiiik—

The monster that had been forcing its massive body through narrow underground passages, breaking its own bones in order to hunt the humans hiding below.

Kyaaaaaaaaaah—

The Pawn that had been devouring a corpse already so crushed and mangled that not even traces of its original form remained.

Grrrrrr—

The Knight that had only just risen from a Corrosive spike, preparing to become a living fortress itself.

“Ah—.”

At that single word from the Queen, every Creature fell silent as they stared toward the sky.

No.

Could it even be called silence?

Fear filled the eyes that had once burned only with slaughter.

The mouths that had been chewing humans apart while shrieking instantly snapped shut.

“They're….”

“They're afraid?”

The battle-hardened mercenaries immediately recognized the emotion displayed by the Creatures and stared at them in stunned silence.

That was primal fear.

Reverence toward an overwhelmingly superior existence.

A sacred awe directed toward one capable of taking their lives with nothing more than a casual flick of a fingertip.

-Kurrruk. Kurung.

Even the Void Turtles, each of which served as a gigantic warship in its own right, ceased releasing any further Corrosive spikes.

The distortion of the Void Rift came to a halt.

Silence and hesitation settled over every living breath throughout Mercato.

And finally, the moment Jin Crow emerged from underground and looked up at the sky once more, the Queen of the beasts, her entire body clad in black exoskeletal armor like living plate armor, whispered softly.

-Future. Victory. However. Changes.

She spoke with a mixture of impatience and disgust, as though witnessing something she simply could not comprehend.

Then, after silently gazing at the half-collapsed Mer Corporation building, the Queen added,

-False. Prophet. Deceived. Loathsome.

Her body slowly descended toward that place.

The instant she finally disappeared—

-KUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

With the roar of a Void Turtle, a hellscape beyond comparison to anything before once again engulfed the earth.

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