WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ Academy's Pure Love Dark Knight ◈

Chapter 95

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Episode 95. Seek Life, Find Love.

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Dennis had already taken several of Head's bullets. Blood streamed steadily down from his stomach.

"...Still, you're not what you used to be either."

"There's no way my calculations are wrong! Dennis!!"

To take down a Demon King, the other Ten Greats needed to gather together. But aside from Dennis, they were easy prey for Head's Erasure of knowledge,

and neither Emperor Rook, famous for his raw power, nor the Northern Grand Duke was here. The landscape was different from wartime, and besides, he had something to protect now.

"Look at yourself now. No comrades beside you, and nothing but things to protect!"

Behind the blue-haired professor, a three-dimensional magic circle spun in place, shielding the students. A barrier that turned like a gyroscope, guarding their lives.

"Professor, you're badly hurt! Kai. What do we do..!"

"I did think about going out there to help. Turns out that's not possible."

The moment Kainel touched the three-dimensional magic circle, it repelled him as though he'd pressed his hand against a raging waterfall. A Hero of Light who hadn't yet fully grown into the role.

He couldn't dispel one of the Ten Greats' magic circle and rush outside, and even if he somehow tried to help the professor, he might only end up a burden instead.

"...Besides, this is different from Magic Hat."

Watching the scene outside, he felt something was off. Last time, the Demon King had seemed to be toying with them for entertainment,

"Dennis, I still can't let you die. You're meant to survive the prophecy yet to come, and save as many lives as you can!"

but this time there was no playing around. Not a decoy or a clone, like Licht had once said, this Demon King was fighting entirely according to his own plan.

"You talk as if you know the future. So why did you fall, then?"

Dennis smirked and provoked him, trying to shake him. Head, surprisingly, wore his emotions plainly.

"A fool who doesn't even know his own path ahead..!! How dare you..!"

A vein twitched at Head's temple. The trigger was pulled at once, gunshots ringing out several times over. Staggering, Professor Dennis summoned a magic circle with both hands,

"Not very level-headed of you, Head."

overlapping gold and blue circles in front of himself to block the bullets. The three-dimensional magic circle was already being used to protect the students from Head's schemes,

"But it's only a matter of time before I win. And that so-called hero, Licht, won't be getting back up, either!!"

and teleporting recklessly risked having his spatial coordinates reverse-calculated by Head's omniscience, which could backfire badly on him. The holy sword that had just dispersed his own corridor of retreat.

Looking at the red revolver, he thought hard, wondering, 'If it's the Dragon Slayer's Dragon Slaying, maybe there's a chance.'

"...Waiting for Drake, are we!"

"As expected of the Demon King of Omniscience. Caught."

Just then, as if reading his very thoughts, the Demon King spoke to the man whose white eyes flashed with light.

"The Dragon Slayer won't be coming to this battle. Dennis!!"

His suit torn, his skin scraped, Head straightened his clothes and smiled crookedly. He'd deliberately withheld his Erasure of knowledge to keep them focused on saving lives.

"Do you think everything's in the palm of your hand? Head."

One of the Ten Greats who'd mastered his ultimate skill would succeed in keeping any Academy student from dying at the Heroic Cult's hands,

"Yes, I've already tried this many times! I never make the wrong choice!"

but as the price for that, he couldn't come help Dennis. A warrior who cut down the cultists around him with his sword had too many things missing to reach this place by magic.

"...Just as I thought, this world unfolds exactly as I prophesied. Fate can't be changed!!"

He spread both arms wide and let out a cheer. Even if things differed slightly from what he knew, at least no misfortune had brought Emperor Rook or Asha Aureus here.

"Head. What exactly is this prophecy you keep talking about?"

"You think I'd tell you? Try to understand it with that dim head of yours and it'll burst, guaranteed!"

His monocle caught the light and glinted. The Demon King of Omniscience smiled faintly. He kept his gun trained on the blue-haired man, forcing him to hold the line and protect the students behind him.

"...Don't you think this is a bit unfair, Demon King."

Dennis kept blocking the incoming bullets while preparing another move. Water pressure could cut through even diamond.

Pushed to its extreme, soft water could slice through even the hardest mineral.

"「Screw Driver.」 Try taking one of these yourself."

As he chanted, several magic circles formed behind Head. Water surged out in great spirals, like drills, launched all at once at the Demon King's heart.

A spell the size of a house, nearly impossible to dodge. Any other enemy would have failed to even perceive it and taken serious damage.

But his opponent was the Demon King of Omniscience, not truth itself.

"You think I wouldn't know something like this?"

Head spun around at once, and neutralized the fast-approaching technique with several shots. The moment the bullets struck, the Screw Driver vanished like melting snow.

Through omniscience he could know all information, which meant he could predict what technique would come next, always holding the advantage in the battle of information.

"There's no gap in my power!! Dennis!"

On top of that, he also held the authority of Erasure of knowledge, making him a formidable enemy. No matter how good a matchup Dennis had against Head,

"So this doesn't work either."

he was alone. Unlike during the war, none of the other Ten Greats had gathered here to fight alongside him. Decades had passed since the war ended.

Nearly twenty years now. Some had died, some had been forgotten, and some had taken on responsibilities of their own.

Watching every magic circle he pulled out get neutralized by the revolver, he felt a hollow sense of futility. Was overwriting a concept simply superior to twisting one?

"Kheugh...!"

"Finally landed a hit. Yes. It's time."

Dennis took another bullet. His arm bent and twisted. This time Head had crippled his right arm so he couldn't use it to form magic circles.

"You won't die, Dennis. Your lifespan, as written in the Ledger of Life and Death, is still long."

Watching the man clutch one arm and cry out in pain, Head finally allowed himself an air of ease.

He pulled a book from inside his coat and checked what was written there.

"...As I thought, this is indeed the first time I'm seeing this man called 'Licht.' No, his real name seems to be Lee Suhyun, so perhaps I should call him that instead."

He muttered to himself, looking at the student lying behind the professor, wearing the Black Knight's helmet.

"The one who made Dennis master the three-dimensional magic circle, and Nex use the Phoenix Cradle right away, must be that boy. And what's more..."

Right beside him, Rook's daughter, Phine Gransia, was gripping Licht's hand and praying desperately.

"A hero who saw through both my Erasure of knowledge and Omniscience, and neutralized them."

As far as Head knew, no such future existed. To begin with, the princess was meant to be the linchpin the Demon Kings were after in the prophecy.

He had checked it over and over, deliberated over it time and again. But that she would suddenly act in such an unforeseen way, he had never even dreamed of it.

"...I've changed my mind. I'll have to kill him for certain."

However capable a hero might be, this kind of singularity was a first.

Partial resistance might make sense, but the information he saw through omniscience could not simply be wrong.

Right now, even he himself, blocked by Magic Hat's falsehoods, had no way of knowing what kind of battle she'd fought against the man called Licht.

A complete ability, a near-perfect bundle of variables, in the flesh.

He could even manage to slip free of the trauma the Apostle of Gluttony had placed on him. That was the judgment the Demon King had reached.

"Anyone who defies the prophecy deserves to be eliminated."

Head took a step forward. Dennis used his remaining arm to activate a magic circle and block his path.

"Keep... your hands off... my students... Head..!"

His ultimate skill, the three-dimensional magic circle, was already in use to protect the students.

His teleportation magic was gone, his corridor destroyed, and now Professor Dennis had no moves left.

"Still resisting? Then I suppose I'll blow off a leg for you, Dennis."

Even so, his will still burned. He'd been summoned by Akasa, the God of Wisdom, to fill the void left by a fallen hero,

but right now, more than anyone, he-

"「Screw Driver.」"

"The same trick again? How many times do I have to say it doesn't work-"

"This one's different, Head."

He was sacrificing himself like a true hero would. This time, not aimed behind Head, but behind himself.

"Dennis, don't tell me you're trying to drag me down with you as a traveling companion?"

"That's right, I said, 'I won't die.' If I do this..!"

The final decision he made to protect his students.

"...It's futile. I'll admit, it caught me off guard."

Even that, the Demon King seemed to have anticipated, and without so much as flinching, he fired at Dennis's leg. At once, the magic circle turned to droplets of water and vanished.

"Ugh..!"

"Now it'll be a little quieter around here..."

Splat. Losing his balance, the blue-haired man collapsed onto the ground. Head watched him with something like pity and clicked his tongue.

"The authority of Erasure of knowledge grows stronger with each bullet fired, you know. I just erased the very record of that incantation."

Shuf, shuf. The sound of footsteps on sand drew closer to the students watching the battle from within the three-dimensional magic circle.

"My lord Demon King!! I knew my lord would win-"

The moment Dennis fell, the toad-faced man's restraints loosened. The Apostle of Gluttony wept with joy, moved that his superior had come to save him,

"Quiet, Metus."

but what came back was a single gunshot. A hole punched clean through his head, the apostle collapsed and bled, much like Dennis had.

"Kuheugh...?"

Even his final death cry was cut short. Whether his own subordinate lived or died meant nothing to Head.

Every cultist of the Heroic Cult who had arrived here was already a life meant to be spent to fulfill the prophecy.

"That takes care of the hero called Licht, then."

Head knew well enough that while someone was trapped in a trauma, if the caster died, the victim died along with them. Of course he knew. He was, after all, the Demon King of Omniscience.

"...Last, let's see about neutralizing Phine Gransia."

A gunshot rang out from the Demon King's hand.

"If she loses her memory and rampages with all that power, it'll be dangerous. This is my only chance."

At the Glass Knight kneeling as if in prayer, one bullet was fired from the revolver, aimed straight for her heart.

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