News travels fast at Elando Academy.
Rata Tosk, a second-year Class C student and member of the newspaper club, was currently running all over the academy, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Extra! Extra! They say the eldest son of the Keruspal archducal house and the special transfer student are fighting in the dueling arena right now! Everyone, hurry up and go watch!”
Rata even used the Abl Wind Speed from the Act Running as she spread the news throughout the academy.
“Is that true, Rata?”
“Yes, it is! The special transfer student actually did a Glove Throwing!”
“Wow... That transfer student’s got some serious guts. How can he declare war on Yujin like that?”
“From what I found out, Yujin was the one who insulted the transfer student badly first.”
“Well, if it was an insult from that damn scoundrel Yujin, it couldn’t have been anything ordinary. No wonder he got pissed.”
And so, like rumors biting one after another at a squirrel’s tail, the dueling arena was crowded before long with people who had come to watch Ijun and Yujin’s duel.
Yujin let out a mocking snort and spoke to Ijun.
“Hey, trash. If you surrender now and beg me properly, I’ll forgive you.”
“You’re the one who should be begging. If you beg now, I’ll specially only break one of your arms.”
A provocation was answered with a provocation.
And that worked quite well on Yujin.
“You insolent piece of commoner trash...!”
Yujin drew his sword.
‘Yujin’s Act is Swinging, and the Abl that stems from it is Time-Lag Slash.’
Yujin’s Act was Swinging, the act of swinging a sword.
And the ability manifested through that act was Time-Lag Slash.
It was an ability that did not merely cut after a time delay, but could leave slashes at a desired point in time and then release them all at once.
‘It’s a strong ability, fitting for the protagonist. But this Time-Lag Slash has one major weakness.’
Ijun knew the weakness of Yujin’s ability well.
Naturally, since he himself had set that weakness.
To be precise, it applied to every Act user in this world.
‘The slashes of Time-Lag Slash can still be left behind even if the action of swinging is restricted. But in order to release the stored slashes, the result of swinging is absolutely necessary.’
Yujin could leave the slashes themselves at a desired time through will alone.
But releasing them was only possible by performing the Act, Swinging.
‘Then I just have to get rid of the sword. It’ll only be temporary, and it’ll probably reappear, though.’
The subject of Swinging was the sword.
It seemed Ijun intended to cause an alteration through a lie that would erase Yujin’s sword.
Of course, since it was not a common-sense alteration but a situational alteration, it would only be temporary, but Ijin had already thought of his next move.
“You’re not actually holding a sword, so what are you acting so smug about?”
“What?”
[Abl: Alteration is activating.]
[As this is a situational alteration, the restriction: temporary alteration will be applied.]
[Alteration details: Yujin Keruspal is not actually holding a sword.]
[Alteration in progress.]
[Alteration complete. Yujin Kepalus’s sword will disappear for 5 minutes.]
Yujin could not help but look flustered when the sword that should clearly have been in his hand was gone.
“What the hell did you do?!”
“What do you mean, did? I only told you the truth. Why are you getting mad?”
Ijun jeered as he looked at Yujin, and seeing that, Yujin’s face had no choice but to turn red and blotchy with rage.
‘Five minutes is enough.’
Yujin without a sword was like bungeoppang without red bean paste, or takoyaki without octopus.
Ijun prepared his next lie.
“There’s a sword in my hand, and I can actually use Time-Lag Slash.”
The alteration activated, and a sword appeared in Ijin’s hand.
Then Ijun stored up slashes all at the time he wanted and swung the sword straight toward Yujin.
Infinite Slash.
It was originally Yujin’s signature technique, but when it activated from Ijun’s hand through alteration, Yujin’s face began to stiffen in real time.
“H-How can you use my Abl...!”
“This is the real difference between you and me. You son of a bitch!”
The slashes passed through Yujin, cutting him down, and though he did not die thanks to the academy dueling arena’s system, he ended up seriously injured.
Because Yujin’s pride was so high, the fact that someone else had used his ability, and had even used it to defeat him, must have been too great a shock. He lost consciousness on the spot.
‘Urgh...’
Ijun frowned at the headache that suddenly washed over him.
‘Does an alteration that uses someone else’s Act or Abl put a strain on the body? Thanks to Yujin, I learned something new.’
Thanks to Yujin, Ijin had learned something new.
* * * *
Thanks to Rata, the rumor spread quickly.
The rumor that the special transfer student had defeated the eldest son of none other than the Keruspal family.
And when the rumor spread that he had even defeated him in a one-sided, overwhelming fashion, the academy began to stir.
“Is that true? I heard that in the measurements, all his stats came out as G. G is a value I’ve never seen before, but just from the sound of it, it’s lower than F. So how did he win?”
“I saw it myself, and it seemed like he copied Yujin’s Abl.”
“Copied? Is an Abl like that possible?”
Copying.
In this world, Acts and Abls were unique abilities possessed by individuals.
Acts might overlap, but an Abl had to be regarded as the very uniqueness of an individual themselves.
Not simple imitation like copying swordsmanship movements or basic magic, but copying an Abl was close to impossible.
And yet Ijin had done it, so people came to think Ijin’s Abl was copying.
Misunderstandings beget misunderstandings.
In the end, an absurd rumor spread that Ijin’s Act was Imitation, and his Abl was Perfect Copy.
The source of this rumor was also Rata.
* * * *
The headmaster’s office.
‘Gulp!’
I was currently in a state of having been summoned to the headmaster’s office.
The cause was probably the rumor spread by that damned squirrel hack reporter.
“This is the first time we’ve met face-to-face, isn’t it, Ijun?”
Liv Ross Astaroth, the headmaster of Elando Academy.
A great demon who had lived for thousands of years to this day, and the strongest mage in existence.
And the only demon who was favorable and friendly toward humans.
‘The atmosphere is fucking insane...’
I hadn’t realized it when I saw her on the screen, but facing her in person, the pressure she gave off was no joke.
Just from her appearance, she was beautiful enough that no one could deny it, but Liv was not human. She was a demon.
Demons used Abls derived not from the Acts humans used, but from an ability called Villainy, or Vil for short.
Liv’s Vil was Spiking with Sleeping Pills, and her Abl was Nightmare—an ability befitting the name Astaroth.
“U-Um, Headmaster? Why did you call me here?”
The reason was probably that she had heard there was an interesting student and had called me just to see my face, but I thought it might be polite to ask for now, so I did.
“I heard you defeated Yujin, the eldest son of Keruspal, yesterday.”
“I was lucky.”
“Luck... What an amusing thing to say.”
That soft chuckle sent chills down my spine.
I knew for certain she was a being friendly to humans, but perhaps there was something like a low-frequency curse in a demon’s laughter, because the hair all over my body stood on end.
“But Ijun, there’s something I’m curious about. Could you answer me?”
“If it’s something I can answer.”
“It’s not exactly a difficult question to answer. How did you come to enroll as a special transfer student, Ijin? I’ve never seen documents like that, nor have I ever approved them, yet my seal was stamped on them and they had even been passed.”
‘Huh?’
Something was strange.
Since I had made a common-sense alteration, Liv should have had her memories changed so that she would believe she had to approve the documents.
But she was aware that she had never done that?
‘No way... Is it because Liv is a dream demon?’
Dream demons, whether succubi or incubi, were not affected by things like brainwashing.
If common-sense alteration was treated as brainwashing, then it would not be strange even if it didn’t work on her, but...
‘Damn it! I never even thought of a variable like this...’
I never thought Liv would become an obstacle in this way.
I had been of the mindset that it wouldn’t matter much even if I got caught, but things were different now.
Because there was something I had to do at this school.
For that sake, I absolutely had to get over this wall called a great demon.
“Headmaster, that’s...”
I tried to open my mouth to at least make an excuse, but Liv came over to me and placed her index finger against my lips as she spoke.
“Shh. There’s no need to make excuses. I didn’t call you here to question you about that.”
“Then what is it?”
Not to question me?
Then for what reason did she call me?
“I was looking for it.”
“Looking for what?”
Why was she speaking so vaguely?
Please, just get straight to the point!
“Pure vital essence. This is the first time I’ve seen essence so refined.”
Rustle—
Liv suddenly began to slip off her clothes.
I could see her undergarments, blatantly revealed.
“H-Headmaster. W-What are you trying to...?”
At my question, Liv licked her upper lip with her tongue and answered in a coquettish voice.
“Call it the instinct of a dream demon♥”
It was the second crisis of chastity destruction to befall me.