The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

[You. I'm not sure whether it's right to bring this up at a moment like this, but let me say it now.]

As I made my way toward the meeting with the Minerva of three hundred years past, Minerva spoke to me from inside the shadow.

[For some time, this one isn't going to be much help to you. Probably the most I can manage is to stay tucked away in here and slip you the occasional piece of advice, like this… please understand.]

She didn't need to spell out why she was saying this — I already understood.

If she came face to face with her past self, one of the two would have to vanish. That was the reason.

I answered as if I'd already known, and Sbeungali spoke up next.

[The same goes for me. So bear with it.]

[Hm? Sbeungali, weren't you already sealed away by this point? I'm quite certain that's how I remember it.]

At Minerva's words, Sbeungali — clearly stung in his pride — bristled and fired back at once, which was rare for him.

[…Oh-ho, Sbeungali. After spending all this time together, it seems you've decided this one is something to be laughed at.]

To my surprise, Sbeungali let out a small scoff of his own and muttered, [Have you forgotten whose fault all this is, in the end? If a certain someone hadn't come knocking on my door, none of this would have happened.]

[Y-you, you little —!]

Just as Minerva was about to shout something —

That earth-shaking voice rang out again.

[How long do you mean to keep this body waiting, you insignificant thing?!]

"……"

[…You see?]

[Mmrgh….]

At Sbeungali's quiet point, Minerva made an embarrassed sort of noise and lapsed into silence.

He cleared his throat with a small "ahem" as if pleased with the timing, then clacked his beak.

[Right. Just in case, let me leave you with something too. Commit it to memory.]

"What is it? That I should be careful when I meet your past self?"

[Hm, well… that's worth keeping in mind too. But before that — this is about this world itself.]

Sbeungali went on in a matter-of-fact tone.

[Is this simply the world three hundred years before your own — or is it a parallel world? At present, there's no way to tell.]

"How does it matter? Is that important?"

[It's important.]

Sbeungali said it without hesitation.

[In the first case, everything that happens here was decided from the start. In the second, this is no more than a sudden — yes, you might even call it an accident.]

He clacked his beak with that same little snap.

[I just hope you grasp how big that difference is.]

[…You. As it happens, this one had something to say on this matter too.]

Then Minerva, evidently regaining some composure, spoke in a hesitant tone that didn't suit her at all.

[I cannot quite shake the thought that this was all set in motion from the beginning.]

She abruptly murmured the words as if lost in memory.

[No, yes… right. That's it. It must be….]

She trailed off quietly to herself for a moment, then addressed me with full conviction.

[As I told you in the past, my memories had blurred. But this one fact — that you and this one met three hundred years ago, before this one sealed itself away — I never let myself forget. I turned it over in my mind alone, again and again. That is why I'm certain.]

She emphasized it as though it were something I must never forget.

[Three hundred years ago — at this very point in time — this one met you. And from you I learned defeat, I learned humility, I learned many things. It was a brief, fleeting span of time, like a single night's dream, and for that very reason it stayed vivid in my memories.]

"…Hold on, Minerva. You're saying I beat you? At your prime, with everything you've got?"

[Yes.]

I asked because I couldn't quite believe it, and she answered with absolute certainty.

To be honest, I'd been thinking that if I combined King of Thorns with Dragon Blood, I might just manage to fight her to a stalemate.

But if I used Dragon Blood and the Minerva of three hundred years ago caught the discrepancy?

If I activated King of Thorns and the Sbeungali in this world somehow noticed?

That was exactly why I had no idea how to fight her in the first place.

And those worries weren't mine alone — Minerva and Sbeungali were perfectly aware of them too.

[…Mm, yes. I remember it clearly. I poured everything I had into that fight, and still I lost to you. It wasn't through trickery or some cunning ploy — it was a straight contest of strength, and I came out on the bottom.]

[I'm only now realizing this one has become more monstrous than any monster.]

Sbeungali muttered, sounding faintly repulsed.

[I could swear it was just yesterday he was struggling against me… and now I'd call him a Seven Calamity sooner than a human and not feel a bit out of line… ahem!]

He cut himself off mid-mutter with a hurried cough.

Then, abruptly, he turned to Minerva.

[…All right then, Minerva. So how exactly did you lose to him? We need that to plan, to prepare. Tell us everything you remember.]

[…thing.]

[What?]

[I said I don't remember a single thing!]

Minerva snapped at Sbeungali, taking out her irritation on him.

Sbeungali wasn't buying it, either.

[You expect me to believe that? What's there to be embarrassed about now? Hm? Like you said, it was three hundred years ago.]

[I — I'm telling you, it's true. You have no idea how blurred my memories are, Sbeungali!]

She fired back in a wronged-sounding rush.

[Do you think this one wants it this way? I don't even understand why my past self is acting like this… I can only recall scattered fragments of the memories I shared with him, and that's what hurts and saddens this one more than anything! It takes everything I have just to remember the lullaby he sang me, or when he taught me my times tables, or when he showed me the constellations — and you expect me to recall how I lost to him?!]

Sbeungali let out a sigh as if she were a hopeless case and answered with a sneer.

[Right, right. Memories that are unflattering tend to be the first to go.]

[…Be quiet.]

[Though I never imagined that you, Minerva, would forget something as searing as your very first defeat.]

[Didn't I just tell you to be quiet?]

[Or — no? Right, your pride was so towering you'd want to forget it as fast as possible —]

[Sbeungaliii…! You're really begging this one to kill you, aren't you?!]

It was at that moment —

A thunderous rumble shook earth and sky, a sound like a bolt of lightning cracking across the world.

And the three of us knew exactly who was making it.

Because I knew, my brisk walk had turned into something close to a sprint.

[T-this one… this one isn't going to be of any help this time either….]

Minerva muttered the words in a voice that was almost choked with tears.

"That's not true. How is this your fault? Don't beat yourself up like that, Minerva."

I called back as I ran, almost at full speed.

"If you don't count as a help, who in the world does?"

It probably looked ridiculous, saying something like that mid-sprint, but luckily Minerva didn't seem to mind. If anything, my words seemed to settle her a little.

[I-I see….]

She murmured in relief, then let out a small thoughtful hum.

And then she asked me, carefully, [You — that being so, would it be all right if this Minerva, who is at least of some use to you, asked a single favor of you…?]

"What is it?"

[T-the Minerva from three hundred years ago — you'll be meeting her soon….]

She mumbled the words, hesitating.

[She — well, she was very young, and full of confidence in herself….]

"Mm-hm."

[D-don't… don't let it disenchant you with this one too much….]

She practically muttered it in a tiny, sheepish voice, as if making excuses for herself.

[I — I was in my reckless, hot-blooded years….]

Laughing now would be a fatal mistake.

I forced it down and could only tell her I understood.

And now the situation returns to a moment earlier.

The past Minerva, perched atop the roof of the great mansion that was practically a castle and looking down at me, was bigger and more menacing than I remembered.

She fixed me with those signature crimson eyes and growled low in her throat.

[…Is it that one?]

There was a sharp, grinding crunch, and Milited — pinned beneath her forepaw — let out a scream.

"Ugh, aaaagh! Y-yes! That's him! He's the man I told you about!"

[Well — I was wondering how she even knew to come, and it turns out there was a snitch.]

Sbeungali muttered with grudging admiration.

[Did I ever tell you not to trust that bastard? Or maybe it was too obvious to bother saying.]

I agreed Milited couldn't be trusted, but I really didn't think someone who'd tried to rewrite the inside of other people's heads to steer them around like puppets was in any position to say so.

"Forget that — how is what she's doing even possible? Milited's body is liquid. Physical attacks shouldn't work on it, and even if you pinned it down like that, it should just slip away."

It was Minerva who answered.

[It seems my venom got mixed in with its body. Tangled together with it, so its substance is locked in place. It used to be a method this one favored against Milited.]

[So — Minerva. When you went to meet that thing, you spat on it? What an exquisite custom.]

[…At any rate. Even this one has never seen it neutralized so completely. It must have taken a heavy blow or been caught entirely off guard.]

Minerva pointedly ignored Sbeungali's needling and wrapped up. I nodded as if I understood and took a few steps closer to her.

That apparently displeased the past Minerva, who let out a tremendous roar.

[How dare you look upon this body with your eyes wide open!]

Her roar tore through the air as if it had physical weight. The shockwave slammed into me, and I felt my insides ring like a struck bell.

[You take the threat of a mighty being head-on!]

[All stats temporarily reduced!]

[The Dragon Blood effect lets you successfully resist a mighty being's threat!]

[All temporarily reduced stats have been restored.]

[Ho-oh…?]

When I came through with no more than a slight wince, her eyes glittered with interest.

[A normal human would have spat blood and ruptured organs on the spot….]

"……"

Hearing her murmur, I felt grateful again that I'd told Han Su-yeong to clear out, just in case. She'd insisted she wouldn't run on her own, of course, but when I told her to remember how things had gone the last time we faced Minerva, she'd only clenched her jaw.

I'd been telling her, in so many words, that if it came to a fight, I wouldn't be able to keep her in mind — and that I might not survive either. She'd understood me perfectly.

She wasn't a kid who'd let her feelings drive her into something stupid, so there was no need to worry. I'd left Rauné in her care, too, which meant nothing at the moment held me back.

…The only question was how to get through this.

That was all.

[Indeed — just as you said, Milited. How fascinating. I've never met a human like this in all my life.]

"R-right. So, would you please let me —"

[Ah, that's right.]

At Milited's pleading, Minerva nodded as if she'd just remembered something, then swung the forepaw that had been pinning it and batted it aside. She didn't even glance at its body as it slammed into the ground and shattered, still speaking in the same disinterested tone.

[I have no further use for you. Run, die, or scrape by clinging to that pathetic life — it's all the same to me.]

"Gh… ugh… haagh… gh…!"

Driven so far into the ground its original form was unrecognizable, Milited frantically tried to regenerate, fragments writhing and crawling toward each other. Watching this, Minerva — quite deliberately — smashed the building itself and buried the pieces under the falling debris.

Milited vanished into the rubble with a tremendous crash.

I was raising a hand to shield my face from the rising dust when a contempt-laden scoff came down from above.

[But even leaving you alive is too unsightly to bear.]

She bit the words out in a voice of cold, unreachable arrogance.

[Ah, aaah….]

…And somewhere, a voice with the exact same timbre fretted and stammered in mortification.

The shadow at my feet rippled and surged, as if expressing her stricken state.

[Speak your name.]

The past Minerva said, looking down at me.

[I, Minerva, grant you the honor of giving your name. Carry it as the pride of your life.]

[A-absolutely insane! She's clearly lost her mind!]

Minerva howled at her past self.

Then she shouted at me, [You! Isn't now the moment to do exactly what you taught this one?!]

"What?"

[Strike first! Strike first, that's what!]

The last thing I'd ever expected was for that languid, elegant Minerva to spit out "Strike first!" like that.

[You always said hitting first was best! Now is the time — now!]

"That's, uh —"

When I said we should at least try to talk this out first, Minerva burst out, sounding genuinely exasperated.

[This one knows this one! Now that she's come this far, the only thing on her mind is a fight, never mind conversation! Talking is just an appetizer — strike her now, while she's letting her guard down, and hit her with everything you've got!]

She added that I should knock the smug right out of her while I was at it, and that made me reconsider.

Right. If a fight was inevitable, maybe she was right. The Minerva I'd come with had personally vouched for the call, and frankly, I didn't believe that Minerva and I were going to be talking our way out of this either.

"Sbeungali. One question."

[Hm?]

"At this point in time, you're already sealed, right?"

[…Yeah, I am.]

"Then it doesn't matter if I use it."

The instant I said it, my field of view went black.

Minerva had pulled me into the shadow without missing a beat. I didn't waste a second on shock — I activated King of Thorns.

[King of Thorns has been activated.]

[Soon the thorns will be you.]

[What. Where did that one slip off to?]

The past Minerva's startled voice came right after. The conviction in her tone — that I'd run — pulled a small smile out of me.

[What —?!]

Minerva spat me out right in front of her face.

When I appeared in front of her in the space of a heartbeat, her crimson eyes flared in surprise.

[Hi there.]

I greeted her, and I drove my fist with everything I had straight into her face.

A sound like a bomb going off.

A furious roar — and then a heavy thud as something massive toppled to the ground.

It had been a surprise strike, but the punch had landed, and Minerva had been knocked flat.

[Yes!]

And from inside the shadow, the Minerva with me let out a cry of joy almost choked with emotion.

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