I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman - Chapter 91

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 91: Grave King Necledin (7)

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The girl's mother prayed.

That the child would be born with red hair.

Only then would she be able to stand in the spotlight.

Her prayer was answered.

Alicia Cyrus was born with beautiful red hair.

People prayed.

That the girl would be wise enough to bear the Empire's sun.

But the girl was not wise enough.

What she truly wanted was not the Emperor's throne, but the role of an actress on the stage.

She could never forget the expression her mother wore the first day she told her that.

That day, the girl realized something.

She could never become an actress.

So she put on a mask.

The mask of a wise Imperial Princess.

After putting it on, the girl learned the etiquette of the Imperial Palace and learned faster than anyone how to hide her emotions and conceal her true thoughts.

One by one, more masks appeared on her face.

She did things she didn't want to do.

She let the things she wanted slip through her fingers one after another.

By the time she was around ten, the people of the Empire revered and feared her.

But that wasn't what the girl wanted. She only wanted someone who would see her for who she truly was.

Yet the more she wore the Imperial Princess's mask, the more people looked only at that mask.

The Emperor saw an heir in her, the attendants saw a flawless master, and her political enemies saw the ruthless Red Scales.

No one tried to see the girl behind the mask.

She realized it then.

On the stage known as the Imperial Palace, she could never be an actress.

Even so, she couldn't leave the stage.

Then.

If she couldn't leave the stage, she would rule it.

She became a director rather than an actress.

Others became the actors in her play.

She switched between dozens of masks as she wrote scripts, directed performances, and designed stage sets.

Her existence couldn't come to light.

It would ruin the audience's immersion in the work.

One day, she cast aside all her masks and faced a mirror.

There was a girl in the mirror.

She felt relieved. She had worn so many masks that she'd worried they might have stuck to her skin and refused to come off.

The girl in the mirror was still dreaming.

She dreamed of revealing her true self in the most dazzling light, on a stage illuminated by thousands of spotlights.

She repeated that dream in her heart.

"Cue the lights."

The cue would sound.

The curtain would rise.

And singing would begin.

Then, not as the Imperial Princess but as Alicia.

She would entrust everything to the most brilliant light.

When the curtain fell, people would say,

"What a terribly cliché happy ending."

A decision she had made all by herself, one nobody else knew.

"What would you do if someone said that to you?"

"Then..."

That could never happen.

Only she knew who she truly was.

But if such a moment did come.

'Cue the lights' was something a director would say.

If someone said something like that to her.

He would surely be the one to place her on the greatest stage.

"If that moment comes."

The two girls spoke at once.

"I'll devote everything to that person."

⁎⁎⁎

[Why...]

The moment Alicia entered the boss room, she used Crimson Curtain.

Crimson Curtain robbed Necreddin of his freedom of movement.

The battle should have begun with Halibal's opening attack and Necreddin's summons.

Instead, Alicia had stolen the first turn.

"Senior?!"

"Kuhuhuhu! Didn't I tell you to call me Alicia?!"

Halibal had said something only she could understand.

And he had said it right before the boss battle began.

Alicia reached a conclusion.

'It was me speaking to myself. Telling me to devote everything to Halibal and break through this situation.'

She didn't know how that could be possible.

But it was.

And it was an absolute principle she had established in order to exist as Alicia.

What kind of lunatic would say "Cue the lights" to an Imperial Princess?

There were many possibilities.

Perhaps he knew of a world she didn't.

Perhaps he could see the future.

Perhaps he had lived through this once before.

Perhaps it was simply the result of layers upon layers of luck.

Or perhaps it was all of those things.

It didn't matter.

Alicia only had to do everything she could to make this stage's ending a happy one.

For some reason, when she threw open the boss room doors and stepped inside, she could see it.

Information about her opponent.

[Party Member Bonus: Script Direction]

[When forming a party with Alicia Cyrus, Alicia can view partial information on the opponent's attack patterns.]

On top of that, she could see what problem would arise soon and how she needed to solve it.

Everything took shape in her mind.

"Flowers Fade in Ten Days!"

Red spotlights descended.

The curtain rose.

⁎⁎⁎

This time, I hadn't told any of them my secret.

No, Alicia had opened the door and gone inside before I even had the chance.

I was taken aback, wondering where that confidence had come from.

'She can check information about the opponent?'

Alicia's Party Member Bonus was extraordinary, especially when facing a boss with patterns that differed from the original game like this.

With her power, we wouldn't have to struggle just to figure out the patterns.

Was her unique analytical ability manifested as a power?

But why was it given to Alicia instead of me?

It didn't really matter since she was our buffer, but...

Her reason for suddenly launching the opening attack made sense too.

She must have read the information and decided it was safe.

Necreddin summoned wraiths.

The moment Rosia took the attack, Alicia shouted.

"Your Mana is still full, so swing as freely as you wish!"

"...Understood!"

'Did she intend this too?'

To activate Crimson Flame Array, Alicia and I each needed to spend one turn.

But since Alicia had already spent her turn, it could be activated with only my turn.

In other words, the turn cost had been cut in half. It was the kind of maximized cost efficiency you sometimes saw in turn-based games.

It was such an unbelievably rational decision that I wondered if she could even see turn-based combat.

Alicia understood the dungeon's absolute rule better than anyone.

Buff first, battle later.

Buffs were now in place before every action.

"Holy Calling!"

Kwoooom!!

That saved us one turn.

Then, on the fifth turn, Necreddin's outer shell peeled away as he entered his second phase.

"Halibal."

"Yes."

"When the opportunity comes, don't let it slip away."

'Does she really know?'

It felt like she even knew I was going to use Fruition.

One problem remained unresolved, though.

The Take-You-With-Me Pattern.

I had no idea how we could stop it.

'Does she have some kind of method?'

No matter what, we still had to defeat the boss.

I gritted my teeth and swung my sword.

Then, at last.

[Attack!]

The moment had come.

The Stagger timing.

This was definitely our chance.

But...

'What if using the joint attack gets all of us killed together?'

The joint attack was probably a technique where all four of us acted at once.

It was possible.

'Even if that doesn't happen, one person will die anyway. Whether it's me, Mine, Aren Bright, or Alicia.'

There was no chance to rewind now.

As hesitation froze my hand, Alicia spoke.

"Halibal. Trust me and act."

I heard Alicia's voice.

She must have been able to see even Necreddin's Take-You-With-Me Pattern. Then perhaps she knew a way to clear it that I didn't.

'Right. I only have one choice anyway.'

I gripped Renee.

Then I focused my will on the [Attack!] message floating over his head.

[Special Ability: Fruition has been activated.]

At that moment, a blue line flowed out from Renee and bound the four of us together.

"What is this?! Is it an enemy attack?!"

"What's happening...?!"

"Don't panic."

Alicia smiled.

"The time has simply come for the curtain to fall."

Soon, a massive colorless gem appeared between the four gems floating above our heads.

It carried a faint presence.

It belonged to Renee.

At that moment, Necreddin looked up at the sky as if he could see the gem.

The moment he tried to wave his hand, the boss room was dyed blue, and a blue gem appeared over Alicia's head.

Mana flowing from her fan took the shape of Crimson Curtain and bound Necreddin.

At that moment, the gem above Alicia's head shattered and flew toward the massive gem.

The gem absorbed the fragments and turned faint blue.

Mine was next.

As if possessed, she raised her hand, and the dungeon ceiling split open as a pillar of light descended from above.

Kwoooom!!

Holy radiance crashed down on the lich bound by the curtain, as if it would burn his very soul.

Mine's gem was absorbed as well, filling in more of its color.

[Kieeeek!]

Aren Bright was third.

Before the light had even faded, she threw herself into its glow.

Swoooosh!

Slashes too fast for the eye to follow.

Countless golden sword trails carved themselves into the white bones.

Aren Bright's gem was absorbed as well.

Last.

At the center of the cracks Aren Bright had carved into the body Alicia had bound and Mine had burned, I thrust in my sword wreathed in ashen energy.

Crack!

With a shattering sound like breaking glass, Necreddin's body began to splinter apart along the sword trails.

The gem, now restored to its full color, scattered blue light in every direction like a beast's roar.

Renee's voice echoed through my mind.

The name of the joint attack was 『Climax』.

[Fruition: When the user forms a party with three or more people they have bonded with and staggers an opponent, all party members' turns are consumed to use the powerful 『Climax』.]

The wildly trembling gem gathered its blue light, then fell toward Necreddin's head like a meteor.

Kwoooom!!

The entire dungeon flashed blue, and every sound stopped.

"Haa... haa...!"

Only ragged breathing could be heard.

I looked at the dust-filled room and clung to hope.

'Could killing him in one blow cancel the pattern?'

Maybe that was the kind of information Alicia had read.

But the hope was brief. Once the dust settled, Necreddin was still there, barely alive.

'Damn it...!'

Either we hadn't killed him in one blow.

Or it was a pattern that activated no matter what.

"Everyone, stay where you are..."

Necreddin smiled eerily again, preparing to use Take-You-With-Me. Just then,

Smack!

"...Huh?"

Alicia mercilessly smashed his skull with her fan.

"This should do it."

I blankly turned to Alicia.

In the previous attempt, it had been Mine's turn right before Necreddin used Take-You-With-Me.

So Mine had landed the finishing blow and been caught by it.

But now?

The moment Alicia entered the dungeon, she had used buffs along with the opening attack.

Because of that action, the turn order had become tangled compared to the previous attempt.

So now that 『Climax』 had ended, the turn returned to Alicia rather than Mine.

"For some reason, the thought came to me that this creature possessed a terribly troublesome technique."

Alicia spoke calmly as she looked at Necreddin.

"No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't see a way to counter that technique. But..."

"...Senior?"

She looked at me and gave a faint smile.

"Changing the cast was easy enough."

At that moment, black chains burst from Necreddin's body and bound Alicia.

"...As expected. So this is how it happens."

"What are you doing? Didn't you know?"

"I did."

"Then why?!"

"Then what were you going to do?"

Alicia turned to me.

"Were you going to do it? Or Mine? Or Aren Bright?"

"That's...!"

"Unlike me, you are the protagonists. My role, on the other hand, can be played by anyone."

"No. You're a protagonist to me too. Far more than I am... I mean!"

"Perhaps I was never suited to become a great actress after all."

The chains began winding around her neck.

Her voice trembled faintly.

"But I... have already... enjoyed myself enough."

Her gaze turned toward me.

"I rather liked the last script... I shared with you."

"Alicia..."

She whispered a code only I could understand.

"...Cut the lights."

Her eyes slowly closed.

"Kuhuhut. What a... terribly cliché... happy ending, don't you think...?"

The gem went dark.

Clatter.

With her last breath, the chains binding her lost their strength and fell to the floor.

Alicia's body collapsed before me like a puppet with its strings cut.

I gathered her fallen body into my arms.

She was so light.

The heat and dignity that had commanded the battlefield just moments ago were nowhere to be found. Only her body remained, growing cold.

"S-Senior...?"

"Your Highness...?"

Aren Bright and Mine finally grasped what had happened and rushed over.

Just before this, in the previous attempt, I had looked down at Mine's cold body in this exact spot.

[Unique Ability - Rewind Action 3 / 3]

I had already used my final chance.

There was no going back.

'Is this... reality?'

"No...! How can this be...?!"

Aren Bright sank to the floor where Alicia had stood only moments ago.

I looked down at Alicia's closed eyes.

'What a terribly cliché happy ending, don't you think...?'

Her final words wouldn't leave my mind.

She knew.

She knew how this stage would end.

And she had chosen the role of the final sacrifice for herself.

To complete this cliché happy ending, she, the director, had willingly stepped onto the stage and drunk from the poisoned cup.

'The lights... have gone out, Senior.'

As I carefully lifted her body, Mine spoke.

"No."

Her voice was clear.

"I don't... want to part with Your Highness yet..."

"Mine."

"Until now... I've only ever been a burden."

Mine's voice echoed through the empty temple.

"I couldn't protect Alicia when she was hurt, I couldn't fight on the front lines like Aren Bright, and I couldn't think things through like Halibal... I was only scared, and I only wanted to run away..."

Tears streamed down her face.

"Even so... all of you brought me this far. None of you gave up on me!"

"..."

"But...! Then why does only Your Highness have to...?!"

I stared at her as if bewitched.

"I saw it in a play. I absolutely refuse to accept an ending like this. So..."

Her eyes were filled with resolve.

"As the Empire's Saintess, I will return with everyone."

At that moment.

'...Why?'

The blue gem above her head.

It hadn't disappeared.