Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 156: Episode

The assault of the white monsters grew increasingly fierce. The Kizen students were holding them back by pouring out every last drop of Jet-Black they had, but they were reaching their breaking point. Their morale was in tatters; no matter how many they killed, more of the white abominations simply fell from the sky, an endless, dispiriting tide. "Hold the line! Hold it even if your heads get smashed!" someone screamed. The dormitory defense line was on the verge of collapse. With the building at their backs, there was nowhere to retreat. "Four super-sized ones incoming!"

"This is it. We’re done for."

Just as despair began to set in, black cubes descended from the sky, riding the wind. One of them landed just behind the defense line. The cube disassembled into a magic circle, and a figure emerged from within. The students, who had all but resigned themselves to their fate, stared wide-eyed. Some blinked, unable to believe what they were seeing. "Professor Jane!"

Dressed in a sharp black suit, Jane strode forward, the heels of her shoes clicking with authority. "All of you, fall back," she commanded. Her order was absolute. The students simultaneously abandoned the line they had defended with their lives and retreated. ’A terrorist attack using the Prima Materia. How malicious,’ she thought, fury simmering beneath her calm exterior. But rescuing the students was the priority. Her bloodshot eyes scanned the battlefield as she spread a black magic circle on the ground. From within it, tens of thousands of black butterflies erupted like fireworks. These artificial life forms, crafted from black magic, scattered across the battlefield at a blinding speed. As Jane slowly opened her hand, butterflies swarmed into it, coalescing into the shape of a large scythe. The tens of thousands of butterflies swarmed every visible monster, including the super-sized ones, clinging to their bodies. Grasping the scythe, Jane held it in a reverse grip. A straw curse doll had appeared before her. In that instant, the thousands of white monsters surrounding the students were decapitated, their bodies tumbling to the ground. The students’ jaws dropped. ’Woooow...!’

’What in the world is that magic?’

Jane cast another magic circle. Red chains shot up from it like a waterfall. The butterflies grabbed the ends of the chains and took flight. As if erecting a barrier, the butterflies dragged the chains around the entire dormitory defense line. When the white monsters tried to pass through, the parts of their bodies that touched the chains turned black and necrotized, causing them to crumble. This time, it was a curse. Jane turned to the students. "Do not go outside these chains under any circumstances."

"Y-Yes, ma’am!"

Riding a swarm of butterflies, she led the countless chains toward the next battlefront, the students watching her departure, mesmerized.

---

"...Damn it," Aaron cursed. "Why are you following me?"

Beside him, a smiling Bahil kept pace with a leisurely stride. "Distance is irrelevant for a first-rate curse user," Bahil said cheerfully. "I can curse a target no matter where they are."

"I’m asking why you’re following me."

"Haha, don’t be so stiff. It’s been a while since we’ve teamed up, hasn’t it? Brings back old memories."

"Some memories are better left buried," Aaron muttered. Bahil chuckled. "We need to split into offense and defense. Which will you take?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Offense."

"I want offense too, so let’s settle this properly." Bahil produced a coin from his pocket. "Heads or tails. Your call."

"Tails."

"Then I’ll take heads."

Even as countless white monsters swarmed them, the two men were completely absorbed in the coin toss. Checking the coin in his palm, Bahil grinned. "Heads it is! You certainly know how to look out for your junior, sir!"

"...Still playing your cheap tricks."

"Then, if you don’t mind, I’ll go first." Bahil raised both arms to the sky. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But a few students fighting nearby looked up. "The... the moon...!"

Two moons now hung in the sky. The newer one, a massive full moon, loomed over the entire Kizen campus. Its surface rippled, and a crimson eye burst from its center. The entire moon was Bahil’s magic circle. "Allow me to demonstrate the true power of a curse," he said with a sly grin, activating the spell. The eye on the moon shot open, blood vessels bulging across its surface. A red light washed over the world, staining everything in its bloody hue.

’Bahil Original - Medusa’s Eye’

The crimson light stimulated the nerves of any creature lacking intelligence. The monsters looked up, searching for the source of the phenomenon. The moment their eyes met the moon’s, their bodies hardened like stone and crumbled into dust. The same was happening everywhere. The white monsters were helplessly disintegrating, their dust scattering on the wind. It was an ultra-wide-range curse. Just as he’d claimed, Bahil was attacking all the monsters across the campus at once. "What’s going on?" Meirin asked, puzzled by the sudden turn of events. She had just finished her broadcast and was back to fighting monsters. She looked up. "Wait, Meirin! Don’t look at the sky!" Dick yelled, cutting down a white monster with his enchanted sword. "That’s Professor Bahil’s curse! The famous Medusa’s Eye!"

She brushed her hair back. "I already looked. I even made eye contact with it. Nothing’s happening."

"...Huh? Really?"

At her words, Dick also looked up. It was true. Nothing happened to them. Meanwhile, the monsters around them continued to crumble into dust. ’Wow, he’s covering this entire area and distinguishing between students and monsters with control alone? Haha! Professor Bahil is amazing...!’

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Startled, Dick whipped his head around. Meirin was shooting into the sky, encased in a suit of red Bone Armor. "What the—where are you going?"

"You think I want to go?! You idiot!" she yelled back. Suddenly, the same red Bone Armor materialized around Dick’s body. "Whoa!"

As he was pulled into the air, Dick’s eyes widened. All around him, hundreds of students clad in red Bone Armor were flying alongside him, their faces a mixture of confusion and awe. ’Wait, these red skeletons! Professor Aaron is here too!’ Dick thought, amazed by the swarm of red skeletons that blotted out the sky like locusts. ’Just how many undead is he controlling at once?’

The red skeletons deposited Dick, Meirin, and the other students on a safe rooftop before flying off to rescue more. Meirin grimaced, fighting off motion sickness, while Dick laughed and threw his arms in the air. "Hahaha! We’re saved! The professors are here!"

The other students, finally grasping the situation, erupted in cheers. ’It’s been a while since I’ve had to control this many,’ thought Aaron, the caster, as he ruffled his bangs. Above his head, a massive undead warship made of bone floated silently.

Then, red skeletons poured from the warship, swarming the Kizen campus. Whether they were fleeing into the forest, hiding in basements, or cowering in classroom cabinets, Aaron located every student with unerring accuracy and transported them to safety. "Oh, still alive, are we, Aaron?" Bahil remarked with a smirk, his Medusa’s Eyes still active. "Had you majored in Cursology instead of Summoning, you would undoubtedly hold a higher rank by now."

"Shut up and undo the petrification on my shoulder," Aaron snarled. "Or you’ll die."

"Ah, so you noticed."

---

Hongfeng, the last professor to arrive, materialized on the roof of a building. Closing her eyes, she began a solemn, ritualistic dance. Her sleeves billowed as she took light, airy steps, but the tempo steadily increased. Her movements grew fiercer, incorporating intricate footwork and sharp, violent snaps of her head. At last, she clapped her palms together, ending the dance before slowly settling into a cross-legged position, her hands resting on her knees. And then—

’BOOM!’

A deafening roar tore through the air. The space beside her seemed to warp as a violent gust of wind erupted. Hundreds of meters away, a white monster collapsed, a gaping hole blown clean through its head. ’BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!’

A series of cannon-like blasts erupted from her seated form, one after another. Across the campus, the heads and torsos of the swarming monsters began to explode. Though she remained perfectly still, her arms were a blur of afterimages, their movement alone generating devastating shockwaves. She was, for all intents and purposes, a human cannon. As the monsters’ heads were obliterated by an unseen force, evacuating students were encased in Aaron’s Bone Armor and whisked away to safe zones previously secured by Jane. Any monsters that survived Hongfeng’s onslaught were turned to stone by Bahil’s curses and crumbled to dust. Though many were injured, not a single life was lost. Thanks to the overwhelming power of the Kizen professors, the campus was finally secure.

---

"Long time, no see, Saintess of Purification," Nephthys said. Encased within the metal golem forged from White Flame, Flema’s expression was hidden, but her body was frozen, as if paused. She was utterly dumbfounded. [How did she break through the barrier so easily? I am certain I set a ten-year time resistance on it...!] Nephthys offered a faint smile. "Yes, it was certainly tricky to undo. I paid the ten years and came."

[Huh...?!]

Flema’s colossal body flinched. [Have you gone senile? Are a few hundred students truly worth ten years of your life?] Nephthys extended a small hand. "They are."

She flicked her fingers as if flicking a marble. Flema hastily scrambled aside to dodge, but a massive hole was bored through the space where she had just been. [Ugh!]

Flema charged forward, swinging her sword of White Flame. Nephthys simply held up her palm. ’Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!’

A golden, clock-shaped magic circle materialized before her. The moment the White Flame sword touched the barrier, its power dissolved, reverting to raw Divinity. "Nothing in this world is free from time," Nephthys stated. "Mana, Divinity, Jet-Black—the very sources of this world—all fade eventually. There is no such thing as eternity."

With a light touch of her fingertip, she pushed the golden magic circle forward. It shot out at an incredible speed, passing through the sword of White Flame and piercing Flema’s massive body. [Aah!!]

The metal golem peeled away to reveal Flema’s form, her arm still outstretched. Her severed right arm had been restored, and the wound from the Greatsword of Ruin was gone. Time itself had been reversed. "Hmm."

Nephthys grinned slyly and wiggled her fingers. The magic circle, having flown past Flema, halted mid-air, then shot back along its original path, passing through her body once more. Her right arm vanished again, and the gash from the Greatsword of Ruin reappeared in its place. [Aaaaaaaargh!]

Flema shrieked at the renewed loss of her arm. Simultaneously, a gigantic black hand, like that of a demon, erupted from a magic circle on the floor and seized her. "Squeeze."

Nephthys clenched her tiny, delicate hand into a tight fist. "Woah...!" Simon, who had been watching in a stupor, instinctively wrenched his head away. He heard the demon’s arm tighten, followed by a wet sound as if something burst under the pressure.