“This is...”

Agonizing pain tore at Milne’s nerves, twisting his face into something grotesque. There was no trace left of the Seventeenth Prince’s former elegance and calm.

Everyone froze, staring blankly at the center of the arena. The fierce battle they had expected never happened. In a single exchange, the Seventeenth Prince had already been grievously injured and lost the ability to fight.

So the legendary Seventeenth Prince was actually just a complete idiot?

The gap between rumor and reality was so huge that the audience even forgot to cheer for the winner.

“No...”

But compared to the spectators—who could only see the Seventeenth Prince entered, the Seventeenth Prince got instantly deleted—Muen, standing within arm’s reach, could feel far more clearly that something was wrong.

That slash of his hadn’t held back, but it was nowhere near his peak, either.

Not everyone opened by doing what Ariel did—throwing out a big move the moment they stepped onstage, and using big moves like normal attacks.

With that one strike, even Senior Fanny—one of Milne’s defeated opponents—could probably have taken it... so Milne had no reason not to be able to take it.

Which meant...

Something was off!

Muen’s expression changed slightly. He reached out and seized Milne’s arm.

In his pupils, black flame churned.

That pitch-black flame flowed in without sound or trace, injecting itself into Milne’s body. Along with the expansion of Muen’s mental power, in the blink of an eye, Muen could feel with startling clarity the thing inside Milne that was continuously gnawing away at his life.

“Poison?”

Muen’s gaze sharpened. The black flame flickered deep in his eyes, trying to burn that poison away in one sweep.

But the poison was even more terrifying than Muen had imagined. It had already sunk deep into Milne’s organs... Or rather, it had been lurking in Milne’s body for a long time, and only now suddenly erupted.

So if Muen wanted to use black flame to devour it, he would have to devour Milne’s organs along with it.

Unless Milne were some monster blessed by an unknown Evil God, there was absolutely no way he could survive that.

And clearly, he wasn’t.

“Cough, cough...”

Milne hacked up mouthful after mouthful of blood. The blood was vivid, bright red—and Muen suddenly realized another horrifying feature of the poison.

There was no outward sign of it on Milne at all.

So Milne’s current wretched state looked... like it was simply because of Muen’s slash.

“Damn it.”

Muen immediately understood what that meant. He raised a hand and called out beyond the Myriad Simulation.

“Referee!”

The prairie-space rippled. The referee hurried over. Sensing Milne’s life force draining rapidly, he frowned.

“So fast? You went a little too hard... Strange. Why didn’t the Myriad Simulation’s protection trigger?”

To protect both combatants, and also to let them fight without restraints, the Myriad Simulation did more than create a battlefield environment. It also had an automatic protective function—once it detected that the fight was about to endanger a life, it would activate immediately and separate the fighters.

The conditions were strict. Even yesterday’s Muen-versus-Ariel battle hadn’t triggered it. But in a case like this—where life force was visibly, rapidly draining—it should have activated long ago...

“Something’s wrong!”

The referee’s face changed as well. He had been supervising this match the entire time, and yet he hadn’t noticed such a subtle abnormality.

Only now did he understand how serious it was.

If it were purely physical injury—even severe enough to drain life force—you could still pull someone back. But... what if it was for some other reason?

The referee grabbed Milne’s other hand. A much more vast, surging aura than Muen’s flooded into Milne’s body.

But before he could do anything—

“Pff.”

A fountain of bright-red blood sprayed out of Milne’s mouth like it was free.

He staggered a few steps. He couldn’t even stand anymore. His gradually unfocusing gaze swept around, searching for the figure he wanted to find. When he didn’t find them, his eyes fell on Muen.

“M-Muen... Muen Campbell...”

“What? What are you trying to say? Who did this to you?”

“I...”

Milne’s face grew even paler, paler than paper. From the beginning, he had been bleeding continuously. Even for an ordinary person, that wound wouldn’t have produced this much blood—let alone for him.

The referee’s expression became even uglier. Even if he used healing magic, even if he poured in as much life force as he could—how could he possibly fill the gap left by blood spilling out like this?

Too fast. Far too fast.

It was like there was an alchemical pump inside Milne, pumping every last drop of blood out of him, not leaving anyone a chance to save him.

“I... heh. How ridiculous.”

Milne’s final words were like delirious murmurs carried in on the wind, sketching an unbearably tragic tone for his life—a life hidden away for over a decade, never even given time to bloom, already hurriedly withered.

He fell to the ground and died—ordinary and absurd—by a method he had never once imagined.

The clown on the stage, finally arriving at his end.

And Muen stood there, blankly watching Milne die. Then he lowered his head and stared at his own hands, covered in blood.

For now, he didn’t know who was behind this “accident,” or what their goal was, but...

With the scene as it was, in everyone else’s eyes—in the eyes of the entire audience in the arena—it looked as if he had killed Milne.

Killed the Seventeenth Prince of a neighboring kingdom, someone of noble status, and would inevitably spark conflict between the two nations...

At least, that’s what it looked like.

“Muen Campbell!!”

An aged yet powerful roar shattered the eerie silence that followed.

At just the right moment, Hertz jumped out with a grief-stricken face. He pointed at Muen with a trembling hand.

“You... you actually dared to kill His Highness! You’re this arrogant! Do you know what consequences this will bring?!”

“It wasn’t me!”

Muen took a slow breath and rebutted coldly.

“Milne died of poisoning. This kind of thing—you only need to examine him a little to know.”

“Poisoning? Hehehe—who would believe that? Fine... so you were prepared all along. This is your home field. Can’t you just say whatever you want? His Highness died by your hand—everyone saw it. I never thought you’d be despicable to this extent...”

Hertz suddenly struck toward Muen with his palm, his expression vicious.

“Then as His Highness’s teacher, I’ll avenge him first!”

The situation threatened to spiral out of control again. No one had expected Hertz to dare attack Muen inside the academy, in full view of everyone.

It was as if he truly had been driven mad by his student’s death, completely losing reason—wanting only to personally butcher the “murderer” who had killed his student.

“How dare you!”

Suddenly, a terrifying pressure dropped from the sky. The air over the arena seemed to condense completely into something solid. Everyone was trapped inside that ice-like air, unable to move.

A silver-white figure descended from above, casting a cold glance at Hertz.

“Do you think this is someplace where you can do as you please?”

“I’m only avenging my student!”

Hertz kept roaring.

“Is Your Majesty going to shelter this murderer? Do you know the consequences of doing that? Or is it... that this was the Empire’s intention all along? You feared His Highness’s talent, and wanted to strangle him before he—”

“Shut your mouth!”

Biting cold spread. Snow-white frost instantly congealed across the arena. Celicia’s hair whipped in the air. She wasn’t wearing imperial regalia, yet it was still enough to make everyone kneel on the spot.

“I will investigate the truth, and the Empire will give you an explanation. But before that, you have no right to act recklessly!”

“I...”

Hertz’s old face stiffened. Under Celicia’s might, his body instantly hunched, and he continued muttering under his breath, looking like a grief-stricken old man whose heart had been shattered by his student’s death.

That appearance made many people unconsciously feel that he was the one truly oppressed—powerless, helpless, pitiful.

Celicia didn’t care how pitiful Hertz looked. She turned to Muen, her expression softening slightly.

“What exactly happened?”

“I don’t know the specifics either. In the first exchange, Milne lost all combat capability and crashed into my blade, so he was injured. But that level of injury—there’s no way it should be fatal for a genius who cultivates both magic and martial power.”

Muen paused.

“Based on what I observed, he was poisoned before he fought me.”

“Poison?”

“Yes. Poison.”

Black flame surged again in Muen’s eyes. In the mental perspective granted by that pitch-black flame, he could still see those black specks roaming through Milne’s body.

“The poison erupted extremely fast. By the time I noticed, it was already beyond saving. The referee can testify to that. On the other hand, Lord Hertz jumped out so quickly... it’s like he knew something.”

Muen lifted his head and looked toward Hertz.

“Hm?”

Then he froze.

Because in the black flame’s perspective, the Hertz standing before him right now...

Wasn’t Hertz.

“No... Celicia!” Muen shouted instantly.

And Celicia reacted just as fast—almost perfectly in sync. The instant Muen cried out, sacred flowing radiance, carrying a brilliant crown, descended from the sky.

The emperor’s authority condensed here once more. Celicia raised her jade hand and aimed at Milne, then suddenly clenched.

Crack.

Crack.

There was no sensation of crushing flesh.

Instead, at the instant Celicia tightened her grip, fine fissures appeared all over “Hertz’s” body—like porcelain cracking.

This was—

“An alchemical puppet!”

Headmaster Hathaway, who had rushed over together with Celicia, pushed up her glasses and spoke in a low voice.

“Hertz hasn’t broken through his realm in twenty years. I thought he’d completely given up and turned to chasing power instead. I never expected... he’s been secretly researching puppets all this time—and he’s already reached this level!”

To be able to pass as real in full view of everyone—this degree of craft was already terrifying.

What was even more terrifying was that he had never revealed it before.

“Even this level can’t fool a true Crowned One. In the end, he still exploited a loophole!”

Celicia crushed the puppet completely, her face dark.

“With just this puppet, he couldn’t possibly kill Muen Campbell. Which means he was only putting on a show—using this to lure us here... So the question is, if what’s here is the puppet, then where is the real Hertz?”

...

...

“Gentlemen, the time to test us has arrived.”

Belrand, on an unremarkable street.

Hertz addressed the members of the delegation who had followed him, speaking loudly.

“The Empire acts with such despicableness! Just to stop the Kingdom from growing stronger, they strangled our most outstanding genius! What a thing to enrage us!”

“T-Teacher...”

Sevier stared at Hertz with a deathly pale face, asking in a trembling voice.

“Cousin... is he... is he really dead?”

“I know you’re heartbroken, Sevier... but this is the truth. I believe the news has already spread. I’m sorry. I vaguely sensed the Empire’s improper intentions, yet I still failed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to protect Milne.”

Hertz looked grief-stricken.

“I...”

Sevier staggered, no longer knowing what to say—no longer even knowing what she should believe.

But Hertz had no time to care about his other student. He faced the already inflamed crowd and shouted.

“Everyone—this whole time, the Kingdom has suffered under the Empire’s oppression! We swallowed our anger, but all we got in return was the Empire’s increasingly vile behavior... What they did now is them completely refusing to take us seriously—completely refusing to take the Kingdom seriously!”

All along, the Empire and the Kingdom had been locked in continuous conflict over certain border regions.

And especially because the Kingdom had always been at a disadvantage, many people in the Kingdom had a lump of resentment pressed in their chests.

So with Hertz’s speech, that anger was quickly ignited completely.

“Look!”

When Hertz saw the fire burn hot enough, he suddenly pointed at an utterly ordinary building behind him.

“According to reports from our inside contacts in the Empire, the Empire’s highest intelligence agency is hidden underneath here! Everyone, it’s time to repay the Kingdom! As long as we can break in here, we can completely seize the Empire’s weakness!”

“For the Kingdom!” the crowd shouted excitedly.

“Yes!”

Hertz’s gaunt face flushed red. Like a fighting rooster, he raised his fist high toward everyone and cried out.

“Everything for the Kingdom!”