The medium-sized magic stone bomb that Miros had prepared for Luca.

It was installed on the roof of the club exhibition hall.

And there, Latik was tied up.

“Mi, Miros. Why on earth…?”

Latik’s whole body was covered in blood.

Of course, he felt something was wrong when Miros called him back.

He tried to run, but a mere professor could never defeat Donovan, the ultimate product of the Hyperhemia experiment.

“Latik. Why are you asking that? You know why I’m doing this, don’t you?”

“I… I just did as I was told…”

“As you were told? Really?”

Miros squatted down to face him, then gave a sly grin.

“I told you to create chaos. If that’s all you had to do, why did you go beyond that?”

“…….”

“A student was hurt. Do you think you can just let that go?”

Latik’s pupils trembled violently.

“If it were just property damage, maybe we could let it slide. My family could cover the cost, after all. But if a student gets hurt, even our family can’t do anything about that. Right?”

“B-but that’s…”

“It was probably a mistake. I don’t think, as a professor, you meant to hurt a student. Still…”

Miros whispered.

“Mistake or not, you hurt a student, right? Then you need to be punished—for what you did as a person, and as a professor.”

At Miros’s words, Latik’s eyes lost all their strength.

“…….”

Watching him, Miros whispered with a cruelly bright smile.

“But don’t worry too much. If Luca Traverse finds you properly, you might still live.”

“…….”

Latik’s face looked even more haggard than before.

Unable to answer, he just stood there, while Miros gave a cheerful smile.

Before anyone realized, Miros was already holding a magic stone camera in hand.

“Well then, shall we make a brilliant video?”

Rustle!

“!”

At that moment, a small noise came from somewhere.

Miros seemed not to notice, but Donovan frowned as if he had heard it.

“Young master. I believe I just heard something.”

“What are you talking about? We’re inside the devil’s barrier here.”

“That may be, but I think something’s here.”

At Donovan’s words, Miros looked displeased as he glanced at where Donovan was staring.

Then he looked at Donovan again.

“Are you sure? I don’t see anything.”

“…….”

Without a word, Donovan slowly headed behind the magic stone bomb, toward where the sound had come from.

Miros swallowed hard and followed after him.

“Who’s there!”

When Donovan got close enough, he suddenly charged at astonishing speed to check behind the magic stone bomb.

“……?”

There was nothing there.

Donovan and Miros looked at each other.

Suddenly, Miros raised his foot.

Thud!

“Aagh!”

Donovan screamed and rolled on the ground.

As Miros stomped on him, he spoke.

“Donovan. Are you crazy?”

“N-no. I definitely heard something…”

Thud!

“Aagh!”

“You scared me! Do you have a death wish or something?”

“S-sorry, young master!”

As he was being stomped by Miros, Donovan thought to himself:

‘I definitely heard something…’

But there really was nothing there.

It was as if that space had been cut out.

* * *

“What… What on earth is going on here!”

The hastily formed temporary Terror Response Committee.

That place was in an uproar the moment the broadcast aired.

“Can you track the location of the video?”

“T-that was just a recording being played back, so it can’t be tracked!”

“Who turned on the broadcast?”

“It was set to auto-play, so we can’t tell who it was. The broadcast was authorized with Professor Latik’s faculty badge, so we can’t identify them!”

“This is insane. What the hell is happening!”

It wasn’t just the Terror Response Committee in chaos.

“Professor! What was that video just now? What happened to Professor Latik?”

“T-that’s… “

“Professor Latik… Was he kidnapped?”

“Everyone please calm down! That was just a prank by someone!”

“Then where is Professor Latik right now?”

“…….”

There was uproar all over the academy.

Possibly thanks to Latik’s kind treatment of those around him, many students knew him.

Calming them down was no easy task.

“D-do you think it’s okay to keep the festival running like this?”

“It’s not too late! We have to stop the festival right now and search for Professor Latik!”

“…….”

People started shouting to stop the festival immediately.

Listening to this, vice-master Ethylen Basta had a half-defeated look in his eyes.

“…… Vice-master.”

“?”

Someone called him at that moment.

Ethylen Basta turned his head, eyes widening when he saw who it was.

“Y-you…!”

* * *

The chaotic cafeteria right after the broadcast.

Maybe caught up in the atmosphere, Ottbo called out to Luca in a trembling voice.

“Luca. What should we do?”

“What do you mean?”

Watching his flustered friend, Luca looked more puzzled than anything.

At that, Ottbo’s face went blank.

“Huh… huh?”

Seeing him like that, Luca let out a small laugh.

“You must be really tired. Already forgotten what you did last night?”

“… Ah!”

At Luca’s words, realization dawned on Ottbo and his expression brightened.

“That’s right, I remember now!”

“I didn’t expect them to self-destruct so spectacularly. Thanks to that, I won’t have to put up with tiresome acting or detective work.”

Luca pursed his lips as he spoke.

“But why didn’t she give us advance notice about this? She must’ve been watching.”

“Ahaha, you know she likes surprises.”

“I’ll never understand what you see in someone like that.”

At Luca’s blunt tone, Ottbo hesitated for a moment before grinning sheepishly.

“Uh… She’s pretty.”

“… Tsk.”

Luca looked at him expressionlessly and clicked his tongue, then got up from his seat.

He took out his student badge and called someone.

“Well, I suppose it’s about time we strike back.”

It’s time for a reversal.

* * *

“Hmm~ hmm~.”

Miros was leisurely reading a book, basking in the sunlight on the rooftop.

The academy below was in chaos, but the mastermind behind it all acted as if on vacation.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Next to him, a strange device with an antenna was quietly spinning and beeping.

Miros was contentedly reading his book when Donovan came up to the rooftop.

“Young master! Here’s the snack you asked for!”

“Well done. I’m glad the festival didn’t stop because of yesterday. Still, this is the Founding Festival, only happens once a year, so we have to try it.”

Miros smiled and took a bite of the biscuit Donovan had brought.

“Mmm~ Smells great but the taste is so-so. Perfect for a once-a-year kind of thing.”

“What should I bring for drinks?”

“This’ll do.”

Miros said so and drank from a beverage he had set on the table beside him.

At that moment, the spinning antenna stopped and let out a loud noise.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Y-young master!”

Seeing the antenna signal, Donovan jumped in surprise.

Miros wiped biscuit crumbs from his lips and grinned slyly.

“Knew it. Luca Traverse, you’re no exception either.”

That antenna was a special device for detecting devil energy.

The fact that it had activated meant that he had finally used the power of the demonic eye.

Miros picked up the antenna and looked at Donovan.

“Donovan. You’re allowed to go to stage 1 transformation.”

“Yes, sir!”

Crrack! Crrack!

Immediately, Donovan began to swell up.

That black monster who almost killed Bella before.

Donovan was the perfect organism who miraculously became complete in the

Hyperhemia experiment, granting him monstrous vitality.

“Guuuh…”

Donovan let out a bizarre wailing sound as he carefully picked Miros up.

Miros thrust the antenna forward and shouted.

“Let’s go! Donovan!”

“Guuuuh!”

Boom!

Donovan let out a low cry and shot into the sky like a cannonball.

The ground where he took off was deeply cratered from the force of his leap.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Amazingly, Donovan kept dashing through the sky as if stepping on invisible footholds.

In less than a minute, the two arrived near the Pia Forest.

“Hm? Why did we come to Pia Forest?”

“Guuuuh…”

“Hmm… true, I suppose you can’t just use that anywhere.”

Miros answered Donovan’s growl as if he understood it—then he spotted something.

“Luca Traverse!”

Luca was standing there with Ottbo.

The moment he spotted them, Miros pulled something from his breast pocket and threw it up into the sky.

Fwoosh!

A bizarre magical circle shaped like a twisted octagram, embedded with an eye pattern, formed in the air.

At the same time, the devil’s barrier sealed off the area.

Thump!

As the barrier completed, Donovan landed on the ground.

He gently set Miros down.

Once his feet were on the ground, Miros beamed at Luca.

“Good to see you! Luca Traverse! First time meeting face-to-face, right?”

At his cheerful greeting, Luca’s expression turned ambiguous.

“Are you… the darkness of the Academy?”

“The darkness of the Academy? Haha! I suppose that’s one way to put it!”

Miros burst out laughing at Luca’s words.

Then he slightly tilted his head.

“You’re right. I’m the darkness pulling the strings behind the Academy. Are you surprised, since it’s not what you expected?”

“… This is my first time seeing you.”

“Well, that’s to be expected. I don’t usually meet prey in person like this.”

Although Luca meant something entirely different by ‘first time seeing you’, Miros couldn’t have known.

Miros let out a quiet snicker, then glanced at the box in front of Luca—

From there, devil’s energy was leaking out.

“That must be Mr. Martin’s eye, right?”

“Yeah. I figured you’d show up for this.”

“Haha. You figured I’d show up? Sounds like you’re saying you lured me into a trap.”

Luca nodded.

“That’s right. Just sitting back and taking it isn’t my style. I wanted to lure you out so I could beat you myself, without interruptions.”

“Ah~ Hahaha! Is it because of that maid?”

“…”

At the mention of the maid, a twitch appeared near Luca’s eye.

Miros burst out laughing again.

Then he looked at Donovan beside him.

“You hear that, Donovan? Want to take your shot at revenge?”

“Guuuuh!”

Thud! Thud!

Donovan pounded his chest with a roar and stepped forward.

Whoosh!

Donovan vanished on the spot.

Miros, who had been laughing, suddenly paused.

He looked around.

“… Donovan?”

* * *

“Guuuuh…?”

Donovan looked around, confused.

The lushly beautiful green of Pia Forest was suddenly replaced by a formless, pitch-black void.

“Guuuuh!”

As he cried out, hunting for Miros, someone covered his ears.

“Ah~ So noisy.”

“Guuuuh?”

Donovan turned at the sound of the voice, looking puzzled.

He saw two people staring at him and widened his eyes.

“I’ll shut him up immediately, milady!”

The knight with silver hair like moonlight, Isella, and the girl with golden hair like spring, Milia.

The two of them were waiting in the darkness, watching him.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Hmm, Donovan and Miros got sent into different places…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep