On the verge of his decisive battle with Simon, Jull quietly recalled his conversation with Elisa.
"—If you push Simon into using his Royal Guard, the mission is a success. Just run away after that."
Jull had shaken his head.
"—I refuse. A duel with Simon is what I desire. I will fight him honorably and return victorious."
"—Ugh! Your problem is that you’re not enough of a necromancer."
In the end, she had told him how to defeat Simon.
"—The tactics against a grand summoner are the same everywhere, aren’t they? Avoid the summons and aim for the caster. But Simon is also skilled in martial arts, so that strategy won’t work well."
"—Then what should I do?"
"—Aim for the skeletons that have become his Royal Guard."
A strange light had glinted in Elisa’s eyes.
"—They say Simon and his Royal Guard are connected. Something about them being based on a Blood Golem, but I don’t know the exact principle. Anyway! If you pressure Simon while destroying the Royal Guard, he’ll take damage, too."
The Royal Guard was Simon’s greatest strength, and also his greatest weakness. That’s what Elisa had said.
"Go," Simon commanded.
At his word, the twenty-three members of the Royal Guard rushed at Jull in a coordinated assault.
"Hm."
Jull calmly gripped the hilt of his Demonic Sword, activating its ability. A red arc of energy spread out in a circle around him, blocking the Royal Guard’s charge. Three of the skeletons failed to dodge in time, and the attack split their bodies apart.
Far away, Simon grunted in pain and clutched his chest. A closer look revealed that he had taken damage in the exact same spots as his fallen guards.
’Elisa’s analysis was correct,’ Jull thought.
But Simon didn’t just take the hit. A Royal Guard with a fluttering cape appeared and thrust its sword from the front. Jull twisted his head to dodge, but an emerald sword strike slammed into his side, cracking against his barrier.
’Fast!’
It was a speed unthinkable for a mere skeleton. Jull quickly broke out of the encirclement and ran, twenty members of the Royal Guard in hot pursuit. He had to take them down one by one. While fleeing, Jull leaped, planted his feet on a nearby brick house, and launched himself forward.
His target was the Royal Guard directly in front of him.
’First, one.’
He swung his scabbard, and the Royal Guard raised its sword in a defensive stance.
’CLAAAAANG!’
But as their weapons met, the single sword suddenly became three. Other guards had moved in from the left and right to reinforce the block.
’Swish! Swish!’
Simultaneously, two more guards that had circled behind him struck. His barrier gauge took a massive hit.
’Their coordination is superb.’
Simon was controlling all twenty skeletons, leaving no blind spots. The twenty swords moved as one, tightening the net around Jull. Emerald sword light flooded the air, painting a spectacular, deadly display.
’The moment I’m surrounded is the moment I lose!’
Jull abandoned his head-on approach and switched to a hit-and-run strategy. Every time he grabbed the hilt of his Demonic Sword, another Royal Guard would fall, and Simon would flinch from the feedback.
’Your Royal Guard is undoubtedly powerful,’ Jull acknowledged internally. ’Once activated, most of Kizen’s top students would be defeated before they could even react. However!’
He gripped the hilt of his Demonic Sword and slammed it into the ground.
’For me, it just means there are more targets to cut!’
’Golden Wheel’
Seven slashes erupted from the point where the scabbard was planted, spreading across the ground. Several more guards fell, and this time, Simon dropped to one knee with a heavy thud.
’To wield this Demonic Sword, I have abandoned many things.’
Though hidden by his uniform, Jull’s body was covered with six permanent magic circles. In exchange for wielding the Demonic Sword, he had been forced to make sacrifices. He had lost an eye, his sense of taste, and the solace of a peaceful night’s sleep. Every day was a trial of pain, every night a descent into torment.
As a necromancer, he had effectively sealed away his potential in other fields like Curses, Summoning, and Hemomancy. All he had left was this single blade. While other students learned from their professors, Jull unlearned. He abandoned parts of himself. And the more he gave up, the stronger the Demonic Sword became.
Abandonment. That was Jull’s path to growth.
’I must find out!’
Another Royal Guard shattered before the Demonic Sword’s strike. The color drained from Simon’s face.
’Just how far can I reach with this power, which I obtained by casting away everything that made me who I am!’
As Jull began to adapt to the Royal Guard’s assault, Simon made a radical change.
The turquoise light drained from several of the skeletons, and they collapsed into heaps of bone fragments. In an instant, the formidable unit had been reduced to just five. Simon had deliberately extinguished their power, reducing his own numbers.
’A clear miscalculation!’
To willingly surrender a summoner’s greatest advantage—numbers! There was no reason to hesitate. Jull charged straight for Simon, the summoner.
But Simon wore a faint smile even as he panted for breath.
"It’s a simple matter of common sense, of course."
As he spoke, one of the Royal Guards intercepted the charging Jule.
"When the numbers go down..."
From above, another guard came tumbling through the air, swinging his sword down. The sharp ’clang’ of steel echoed as Jule blocked the attack, but the force of the blow drove his feet deep into the ground.
"...the quality of control goes up."
Jule dashed sideways and thrust his scabbard, but the guard simply tilted his head to dodge before launching a counterattack. He streaked past, plunging his sword into Jule’s side.
"Hmph!"
Jule immediately gripped the hilt of his magic sword. ’Fwoosh!’ The blade carved a clean line through the air, but the Royal Guards simply ducked beneath it.
’Impossible!’
The sword strike met only empty air before slamming into a pile of rocks, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. A moment later, five emerald sword strikes erupted from the cloud and descended upon Jule.
"Kugh!"
Five swords clashed fiercely against one, sending dazzling flashes of light bursting in every direction. One guard spun, his sword a whirlwind of steel; another leaped through the air in a diving attack; a third met Jule’s blows head-on; and a fourth relentlessly thrust at his back.
Cuts bloomed across Jule’s body, and his barrier gauge bled into a critical red.
’If it’s come to this, there’s only one way!’
Ignoring the Royal Guards, Jule charged straight for Simon. He raised the scabbard with both hands, positioning it before his face. ’Click.’
Simon’s eyes widened. Though the blade was not fully drawn, Jule had opened the scabbard for the first time. The crimson steel within caught the light with a menacing gleam. His body faced forward, but his gaze was fixed on the guards pursuing him from behind.
’Don’t tell me!’
Simon issued an Absolute Command to his entire Royal Guard.
’Saryun’
Four spectral slashes tore through the torsos of the pursuing guards. Their upper bodies detached and fell in unison. Simon’s vision blurred, and he collapsed to his knees.
"You were a formidable enemy," Jule remarked. One moment, he stood with his magic sword only slightly drawn; the next, it was fully unsheathed, the motion as fluid and simple as turning the page of a book.
’Thud.’
Dropping the scabbard, he raised the magic sword and lunged at Simon, the tip of the blade aimed for his neck.
Just then, the light snapped back into Simon’s eyes. He twisted his body, dodging the attack by a hair’s breadth. Slipping inside Jule’s guard, he pressed his palm against his abdomen.
’Simon Original – Shockwave’
A wave of pure force erupted from his palm, launching Jule backward.
’How is he... unhurt?!’
Jule’s eyes darted behind him. Four of the five Royal Guards he had just sliced through were charging at him again, their bodies perfectly intact.
"Of course," Simon breathed.
Intense flashes of emerald light crisscrossed Jule’s body. The guards froze in slashing poses as Jule hung suspended in the air. ’Shwick! Shwick! Shwick! Shwick!’ Four distinct flashes of light flared as the strikes connected. The barrier surrounding Jule pulsed a final, critical red.
"Because you never cut them," Simon explained, panting as he raised a single finger.
’Thud.’
Jule collapsed to the ground. He groaned, looking up at Simon in disbelief.
"How on earth...!"
"You weren’t aiming for the Royal Guards."
When Jule had prepared his final technique, Simon had noticed his backward glance and realized he was targeting the skeletons. He had predicted the path of the sword and used Absolute Command to have their torsos detach, allowing the slashes to pass harmlessly through the empty space.
Hearing the explanation, Jule was aghast.
"Y-You predicted my sword’s path and detached their parts?"
"Yeah," Simon confirmed. "You can’t fully control that magic sword yet, can you?"
The moment the sword was drawn, it seemed to escape Jule’s command. He could only set its general direction, and Simon had already confirmed through several tests that even Jule didn’t fully comprehend the process of its reality-altering power.
Jule let out a hollow laugh, a look of dawning comprehension on his face.
"It is my complete defeat."
At Simon’s command, the airborne Royal Guards disassembled into a shower of bone fragments, which then reformed into a swarm of Bone Needles. Jule closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
"Next time, I will challenge you in perfect condition."
’I’d really rather not,’ Simon thought. Jule was a truly difficult opponent, the strongest student he had faced in recent memory.
"Good work."
With a final downward slash of his arm, Simon sent the countless Bone Needles crashing into Jule’s failing barrier.
[Jule Vincare eliminated.]
[Defense Team (12/15)]
[Siege Team (11/15)]
His body vanished from the battlefield.
At that same moment, before the North Gate.
"Attack! Attack! Keep pushing!"
Elisa, the commander-in-chief of the Siege Team, was personally directing the assault on the northern wall when a message materialized before her.
[Jule Vincare eliminated.]
"Hmm."
Despite losing one of her key assets, she didn’t seem particularly fazed.
"Good work, Jule," she murmured. "I won’t let your sacrifice be in vain."
She raised the nameplate in her hand. "Rak, you’re in safely, right? Smash it."
While Simon and Jule fought their desperate battle, the siege had reached a tense stalemate. All of the Aron Kingdom’s forces had retreated from the outer castle to the inner one, and the Khan Kingdom had begun its assault on the new defensive line.
In the midst of the fierce fighting, a piece of good news rippled through the defenders’ ranks: Special Admission No. 5, Jule, had been eliminated.
"Wow! They got Jule!"
"That’s great!"
"Don’t let your guard down!"
While the others celebrated, Meirin’s expression remained one of intense focus. She was coating the castle walls in slick ice, sending any soldier who tried to climb tumbling back down.
"We have to hold this position perfectly until time runs out!"
"We know, we know."
"Still, it’s much safer here."
At the outer castle, they had to worry about every arrow that flew from the enemy lines. But the inner castle’s walls were so high that they provided a considerable sense of security. Whether the enemy tried to scale the walls or break down the gate, it would be no easy task. With fewer key points to defend, the students could also conserve their jet-black.
"Alright, alright!" Dick clapped his hands, rallying his comrades. "Everyone! If we just hold on like this—!"
[The Guardian Stone has been destroyed.]
[Dewey Norman eliminated.]
The message appeared without warning. The transparent magical barrier that had enveloped the entire inner castle began to dissolve.
"Huh?"
"What? We were defending from inside! How did they—!"
Suddenly, every gaze shot toward the sky. A black dragon, its enormous wings spread wide, was soaring into the air.

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