The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 61: Begin Your Duel...

While the Shepherd went crazy, Ignotus’s fellow Disciples looked at him all weird.

Caring not for that, he left the lecture hall and waited in another. Though it was less a lecture hall and more a massive sparring arena.

He knew what was coming next, having heard about it many times before. And this ’next’ included not only the upcoming hours but also years.

Though he thought of this as the true beginning of it all, it didn’t mean that shit was going to hit the fan soon. No, they were at least two months off from that happening... if his memories were to be trusted.

Once all goes to Hell, or rather, Hell comes to all, this epoch, the Age of Drought, would finally come to an end.

It would welcome a new epoch, the fourth one, the Age of Corruption. That was the ’true beginning,’ and what a beginning it was.

Thankfully, he had a decent amount of time before Fate had its say.

Otherwise, as he currently was, even surviving a single day of what the new epoch had in store would’ve been a desperate struggle.

Most, or rather, nearly all of those on the Third Stratum would have their lives ended.

He had to get much, much stronger before then if he wanted to be one of the few who had their House survive.

He had to be even stronger than that to survive and destroy Great House Death.

A seemingly impossible but fun challenge, he was more than willing to take on.

Minutes later, with him smiling away by himself like the deranged man he was, the same Disciples joined him. Behind them was another Shepherd, who, with him in the lead, all looked at Ignotus weirdly once more.

Again, the man didn’t care and casually joined them.

Just as he did, however, many a desperate Disciple crowded him, asking questions:

"H-How did you read that Arcane?!"

"D-Did you cheat somehow?"

"W-W-Were you in cahoots with Shepherd Lothar?"

Shutting off his ears, Ignotus gestured at Lykos and Ulv, telling them to come.

That they did, looking as surprised as before, their presence forcing the other Disciples away.

"LORD Ignotus... I don’t appreciate my Lord being used like this."

Ignotus shrugged off Ulv’s words, especially the first one, and turned around.

"One day I might just stomp your head through marble... but until then, get used to this."

Lykos looked between the two, wanting to ask a question that neither seemed bothered to bring up, despite knowing the fluffier of the two definitely wanted to ask it as much as he did.

"Hm, well..."

Chuckling at him, Ignotus pointed at his brain and answered it:

"I’m smarter than I look."

Lykos scoffed while Ulv barely suppressed a laugh, neither believing that to be the reason.

Still, even the wolf-boy realized that Ignotus wasn’t willing to talk about it, so he dropped the subject and turned to focus on the Shepherd. One who had been silently staring at them for the past while, perhaps waiting for them to finally shut up.

"Took you long enough..."

Sighing out loud, the Shepherd, much younger than the last one, combed back his short black hair, pushed up his glasses, and tugged on the sleeves of his combat uniform.

This ’uniform’ looked much like the bird-folk’s, only instead of white and gold, it was a dark gray.

"I’m John Tzetzes, an Inquisitor."

That one word sparked a flame in the Disciples.

"An Inquisitor?!"

"Why the Hell is an Inquisitor teaching us?!"

"Just how much did the Academy spend on him?"

And that surprise was for good reason.

After all, only Inquisitors Dove into Hell’s depths.

They stood far above normal Runebearers, Sealbearers, the ones who were in charge of finding or watching over Debters of Oath, and even Hierophants, the guards of the Parish.

Without them and the institutions backing them, Hell would’ve long since devoured the Three Strata, and, of course, it was them that reclaimed most lands devoured by Corruption.

Yes, Disciples in Saint Academy helped reclaim one or two Corrupted lands every now and then, but those were mostly the easy ones, and mainly for the entertainment of the realm.

One couldn’t be an Inquisitor before reaching the Seventh Class, Banneret.

A class four classes above theirs.

John could wipe them out with a wave of his hand; he was that strong.

Yet, unlike the rest, which included Lykos, Ulv, and Gaia, Ignotus looked unfazed.

Rather, he appeared to be conversing with a certain someone.

’So you’re telling me I can’t fight even now?’

Eris nodded Her beautiful head.

’Not unless you wish to fracture your Soul even further.’

He closed his eyes.

’Hm... Am I forced to be pathetic here? Be seen as a nobody so that everyone would look down on me until finally I can take my revenge? Am I really that weak?’

Ignotus shook his head.

’No.’

It was risky, but he came up with another plan.

Acting the part of a useless bastard didn’t interest him.

He’d leave that for others.

"I like to get straight to the point, so hear me well."

John pointed with his thumb at the arena behind him.

"I’m responsible for finding your combat style, and I’ll do it by beating it into you."

Disappearing in moments, he appeared exactly where he was pointing.

"But don’t worry, today I’ll have you all beat into each other; we need our rankings, don’t we?"

And with that, they joined him at the arena and began to draw lots.

The first was the bird-folk, which kept coming up, intriguing Ignotus.

’...Aurelia.’

Again, the girl was white and gold all over, and that didn’t only include her combat uniform but also her wings and her hair. That made her appearance quite striking and unusual, especially when compared to the rest.

The second was Ulv, two lucky picks that made Ignotus doubt:

’Is my Rune really inactive now? I feel like this is too good a coincidence.’

Eris’s soft giggle echoed in his mind.

’It’s inactive, I’m sure, but perhaps this is by design.’

Ignotus nodded at that.

Indeed, it was likely someone controlling the lots.

They, too, weren’t interested in the rest.

’Good, I don’t want to bother watching those I don’t care about fight.’

She agreed with a hum as Ignotus joined Lykos in the audience. They watched Aurelia and Ulv walk down to the arena and face each other, their weapons in hand: a bladed whip and a massive greatsword, respectively.

"Aurelia of House Trade, daughter of Magnus."

The bird-folk took a stance, her wings cutting back, gleaming in the morning light.

"Ulv of House Death, guard of Lykos."

The wolf-folk took a stance, his great sword held before him, his breath fogging slightly in the air even though it wasn’t cold.

"Begin your duel..."

John Tzetzes raised his hand.