I Became a Murderer in the Academy. Chapter 121

The battle between Clana and Sera stretched on endlessly.

Brilliant flas and dazzling golden light clashed repeatedly, yet neither of them bore a single scratch.

Casting spells was starting to wear her out. Sera wiped the cold sweat from her brow, taking a deep breath.

“Whew…”

Clana’s defensive power was among the best in the Empire. Standing in the arena was enough to make her sturdy, but when she expanded her holy power into a barrier, she beca almost indestructible.

The holy barrier that spread around Clana was like an impregnable shield. Watching this, Sera briefly thought of Alia from the third year, but quickly dismissed the image. Clana was on an entirely different level—one capable of making a top student like Alia seem trivial.

“...”

Of course, her offensive abilities were equally lackluster.

Instead of hurting Sera, Clana’s holy power actually healed her. Sera’s energy, which had been draining away, was restored again. This was part of why the duel was dragging on, and why the crowd had fallen silent.

It had been a long ti since anyone had seen Sera struggle like this, and never had a duel with her lasted this long.

But as the battle continued with no injuries on either side, it beca a flashy yet boring spectacle. The spectators started to drift away one by one.

Sera, now fully revitalized, looked at the Saintess standing before her. Despite having launched countless flas, Clana stood there without a scratch, unwavering.

So, was this a battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object?

Clana held the ultimate shield, and Sera was equally confident in her firepower.

She had proven herself in the fight against the Demon Lord’s seed alongside Ariel. But right now, she couldn’t unleash the sa power as she had back then.

She hadn’t bled nearly as much. Without spilling blood, she couldn’t summon that explosive force. To end this drawn-out fight, she’d have to use it.

Sera pressed a button on the ring she wore, drawing out a small spike.

It was the sa tool she had shown to Iria before. She aid the spike at her arm.

—Shhhhkk!

Sera didn’t hesitate. She slashed her arm with the spike.

Scarlet blood flowed, and Sera’s eyes flashed as she prepared to convert the blood into mana.

“...Huh?”

But the amount of mana she gathered was less than expected. She looked at her injured arm in confusion.

Her arm was wrapped in a golden holy light.

The pain vanished, and the wound closed almost instantly, leaving no blood.

Without blood, she couldn’t produce firepower. Sera gritted her teeth in frustration.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

“Hm?”

“Why are you healing ?! This is a duel, not a joke! Why haven’t you been attacking?”

“I don’t know how.”

“Ugh, you really…”

Sera rubbed her forehead and sighed.

Clana might be the perfect counter to Sera. With no attacks coming her way, it was hard to stay motivated. It felt like casting spells at an unyielding wall.

And as soon as Sera injured herself, Clana healed her, nullifying her last resort.

“I’m done.”

Sera declared her surrender.

That effectively ended the duel, with Clana erging victorious.

To purify the wicked and heal the wounded.

Those were the teachings Clana had received from the church since childhood. Her holy power truly embodied this.

Purifying evil and granting salvation.

That was surely her purpose in this world. Clana had lived by the words and actions imparted by others, assuming them as her own.

Since everyone around her spoke in such terms, she believed that was her role.

‘I am a being that purifies evil. And I save the wounded.’

When she first t Iria, who had tornted her, Clana assud Iria was the evil the church had warned about.

The blessed eyes of a Saintess could sense how Iria was subtly different from other humans.

Iria was the first villain she encountered outside the church. She thought purification was needed.

Sera was close to Iria, looking quite friendly. Surely, she was another evil the church spoke of.

That was why she accepted the duel. Purifying evil was Clana’s purpose. She simply saw it as carrying out her role.

But—

‘She wasn’t purified.’

Clana’s holy power didn’t affect Sera.

Holy power couldn’t harm humans. Since Sera was human, it didn’t affect her. In fact, it left a blessing on her instead.

This realization clouded Clana’s thoughts.

Perhaps Sera wasn’t evil after all.

Maybe the teachings of the church were wrong.

These thoughts crossed Clana’s mind during the duel, and she found she no longer wanted to fight Sera.

Though Sera had forfeited first, had the duel continued, Clana would likely have given up as well.

Outside the church, she had seen and learned so much.

There was still much Clana didn’t know, and she might still be a fool, but this experience had taught her one undeniable truth:

The world outside the church was vast and diverse.

She had also learned that discerning good and evil at a glance was impossible.

People were complex.

Good and evil were relative, and perspectives could shift depending on how one viewed things.

Even her own actions, unthinkingly committed, might be seen as evil by soone else.

So, was Saintess Clana herself evil?

“...”

She didn’t know.

It was sothing only she could determine.

So, she had to think for herself.

Though she hadn’t reached a conclusion, the re act of thinking for herself held aning.

Slowly but surely, Clana was beginning to understand this world.

In the end, despite all the turmoil, Sera and Clana made ands.

To be fair, they hadn’t really held any grudges. The duel was formal, after all.

After so ti had passed, when I checked on them again, they seed to have grown close.

Clana’s madness seed to have cald sowhat too.

“So, why did you heal my wounds during our duel?”

“I was taught to never ignore a patient, regardless of the situation!”

“At the church?”

“Yes!”

“Hah… Even so, that’s a bit much. Who heals their opponent in a duel?”

“But Sera, you’re not my enemy!”

“Uh, well, I guess... I suppose not.”

From a distance, I watched the scene unfold.

Sera had erged from her slump, and Clana, who knew nothing, was gradually learning about the world.

Ariel, ever stoic, was probably still training sowhere.

It seed like things were turning out alright.

I had pieced together the future I had changed. Maybe this was their fate all along, regardless of my involvent.

Ariel, the protagonist of this world, stood with Sera and Clana on either side.

Watching them from the sidelines, I couldn’t help but see them shine.

It was the gaze of a monster who couldn’t join the main cast on stage.

The spot outside the stage, untouched by any spotlight, was steeped in darkness.

A place where all I could do was watch them, a place both dark and cruel.

‘…But that’s how it should be.’

Everyone else had happy, smiling faces. Everyone except got their good ending.

As the villain in this story, all I could do was step back.

An overwhelming void.

Emotions that still eluded .

The shadowy jealousy that arose from within as I watched the brightness around .

“...”

I looked at myself in the mirror.

The reflection in the mirror was quite different from the day I’d first fallen into this world.

Though I had hidden in the academy, pretending to be an ordinary student, I was nothing more than a ruthless murderer with blood on my hands.

I had killed knights, professors, even the most important figure in the Empire, Principal Serthia, only recently.

[Why haven’t you killed them yet?]

In the mirror, I saw not only myself but sothing else, sothing that was not .

It resembled , yet it was another being entirely.

Maybe I had finally gone mad. Now, even hallucinations had started to appear.

This must be another illusion conjured by the Demon Lord’s fragnt.

I turned away, refusing to et its gaze. I decided to ignore it as much as possible.

[You want to kill them too, don’t you?]

[You know, the last ti you killed that woman, you were smiling.]

[You should think about what you truly want.]

[How long do you think you can hold out without killing?]

I was crumbling once again.