Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

The Academy Assault Incident.

This incident sealed the fate of the Bellium Academy, which was already on shaky ground due to various events in the first volume.

The principal goes missing, a large number of professors die, and there are numerous casualties among the students, raising questions about the fundamental role of the Academy. As a result, the Academy effectively shuts down, and the setting of the novel shifts to the entire empire in the second volume.

In fact, even if public opinion had been favorable, normal lectures would have been impossible with the loss of the entire faculty. This was a post-hoc analysis, of course.

‘It’s happening much faster than expected.’

The original incident was supposed to take place in the middle of next year, but it was unfolding just three months after enrollment. It seemed that the mastermind was in a hurry.

I looked up at the defense barrier, enveloped in a black veil and rippling wildly.

‘People will be mistaken.’

Most people still believed that the barrier protecting the Academy was defending against something black. If that barrier were to break, the entire Academy would be swept away, so they would try to reinforce it at all costs.

They were unaware of the true intentions of the assailants.

“I can’t seem to get in touch with the Chairman.”

The crown prince fiddled with the communication device for a while before eventually giving up and placing it on the table. Just as I had expected. In the original story, it was mentioned that communication, both internal and external, became impossible.

“But we just need to hold out a little longer. Surely, someone will notice the huge veil covering the entire Academy.”

This was another scenario where the original story mentioned otherwise. I bluntly denied that hope.

“That’s unlikely. From the outside, the Academy looks normal, and the space is distorted so that only the inside appears covered in a black veil.”

Unless someone tried to enter and failed, it was impossible to notice the distortion with the naked eye. This was made possible by the fact that the black veil had no lethal power whatsoever.

“Ho, how interesting. May I ask why you think so?”

Of course, it was because Priscilla had told me. All the knowledge I had came from her. But I had no intention of revealing that, so I blatantly lied.

“The Academy is not far from the Imperial Palace. If it looked the same from the outside, the Sword Master would have come by now. The fact that we haven’t heard from her suggests otherwise.”

While it wasn’t exactly a short distance, both the Imperial Palace and the Academy were located in the capital of the empire. There was no way the Sword Master wouldn’t have noticed something so close.

“……I see.”

The crown prince, who was well aware of the Sword Master’s abilities, readily agreed. Then, he suddenly smiled at me.

“What should I do? I’m starting to like you more and more. I’m getting so greedy that I don’t want to share you with anyone else.”

“Then, Your Highness, you should be very careful with your words and actions from now on. I will also continuously evaluate you.”

“Did you just say you will evaluate me?”

It wouldn’t have been strange for the crown prince to fly into a rage at these words, but instead, he looked intrigued.

The reason I could get away with muttering about his past actions was not only because of my parents in this world but also because the crown prince was, ironically, neither an ally nor an enemy.

He was just a fellow comrade, and as long as his actions didn’t cross a certain line, I could accept and forget them. The crown prince had been in that position until now.

But now, things were different. He had the authority to give me orders, so he had to constantly prove that he was worthy of my loyalty.

“Yes. If not, I cannot serve Your Highness. Even if I pledged my loyalty just now.”

I had already sacrificed myself once because of a rotten superior, and I wasn’t going to do it again.

As I stared at him with a slightly cold gaze, the crown prince paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Hahahaha! I really like you! You’re the first person to show me that side of you!”

I had considered the possibility that he would get angry and take offense, which would have ended our relationship.

“In other words, the deeper I use you, the deeper your loyalty to me will become?”

The smile on his face disappeared the next moment, and he looked at me with dull crimson eyes.

“I have things to do, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Instead of answering his question, I chose to leave. There was no need to tell him that my expectations were already very low.

Unless he did something truly atrocious, he couldn’t be worse than the aristocrat in my past life  with their sense of superiority. And the crown prince had the authority to do truly atrocious things, as he had hinted. I was confident that he could be incredibly cruel when necessary, given his personality and past anecdotes.

“By all means.”

The crown prince, with a face full of interest and desire, let me go without hesitation. However, he didn’t hide his gaze from me until the very end.

I left the building and saw students running somewhere in the distance, thanks to the desperate leadership of the professors. I could also hear the sounds of combat.

I couldn’t join them yet. I hid and moved to a secluded spot. Before meeting Priscilla and Rosalia, I had something to do.

I stopped at a suitable location and reached for the necklace Elysier had given me, but I put it back when I sensed someone approaching me quickly.

“Huff! Huff!”

The voice that reached me first sounded breathless, perhaps intentionally so. Soon, the owner of the voice turned the corner of the building.

It was Roxanna Astriere.

She was wearing a more revealing uniform than usual. Her outerwear was nowhere to be seen, and her vest was half-torn. She only had a stocking on her left leg, and half of her shirt buttons were ripped off.

Her hair was also disheveled, giving her the appearance of someone who had barely escaped a monster. Roxanna looked around anxiously and ran towards me with a bright smile when she saw me.

“Junior! Here! Here!”

I silently pointed Eternity at Roxanna, who was running towards me as if she were jumping around. Roxana stopped in her tracks when she saw the faint blue light on the blade. Her body shrank back, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“Why, why are you doing this? Junior… I’m scared… If this is a joke, stop it… We’re not in a situation for jokes, right?”

“Stop your useless tricks, half-succubus.”

Roxanna’s face twitched momentarily at my blunt reply, breaking the senior-junior act. But it was only for a moment, as a look of anxiety quickly replaced it.

“Half-succubus? What are you talking about…? Could it be because I’m too pretty?”

“Do I need to tell you that the entire Astriere family is a base for succubi activities? It’s better if we both acknowledge it.”

Roxana glared at me coldly, apparently deciding that further acting was useless.

“How much do you know?”

“That you’ve bewitched not only the Pope but the entire Starlight Sect, and that you’ve extended your influence to the nobles of the Empire, gathering them as supporters of the deposed crown prince to split the Empire in two.”

“Huh? You know everything? That’s strange. Where did you find out? I thought we hid it carefully.”

They had indeed hidden it carefully. Even the Sword Master couldn’t find the succubi infiltrating the Empire, and Priscilla and I could only stand by and watch, unable to find decisive evidence.

“So that’s why Her Majesty was so angry with you. She said that you ruined her plans, and I thought she was exaggerating, but I guess not. To be honest, I agreed with her while secretly thinking it was impossible. The Pope, that old man, even got jealous, saying that Her Majesty only mentions you. How pathetic.”

“Jealous?”

It made sense now why she glared at me when she saw me earlier. It was indeed jealousy. I was astonished anew.

‘What are you doing?’

“Anyway, thanks for being so bold and waiting here alone. Thanks to you, I can take care of you quickly. If I had to deal with you and the crown prince together, it would have been a bit of a hassle. Thanks for saving me the trouble. I’ll return the favor after you die.”

She licked her lips, sticking her tongue between her thumb and forefinger. Saliva dripped onto her half-exposed chest, and I chuckled.

“Why? Are you in a hurry to blow up the barrier? Wait, is the output not at maximum yet? The higher the output, the stronger the explosion, right? Am I right?”

The face that had been lewdly licking suddenly froze. The composure she had shown until now disappeared, replaced by shock and anger.

“What do you know? Who told you?”

In the original story, it took them several months to work on it, and I wondered if they would stick to that plan. Fortunately, it seemed they were. I wondered how they had accelerated the timeline, though.

“Yes. You have a traitor on your side. Someone you would never suspect.”

Who would suspect the Demon King as a traitor? If they mentioned it, they might lose their head or worse.

“……Tsk!”

Roxana frowned, trying to guess the traitor’s identity, but then she looked startled.

“You can’t contact the others, can you? I guess so.”

“What did you do?”

“Why should I tell you? If you’re curious, figure it out yourself.”

I raised Eternity higher, and Roxana bared her teeth.

“I made a mistake recently. I tried to take a peek, thinking no one would notice, but I got hit by the 3rd phase pattern.”

“To be honest, I’m reflecting on my mistake. Not only was I unable to gauge its true power because I saw that black aura for the first time, but my mistake was the biggest factor.”

“I won’t make that mistake again.”

It was better to quickly deal with the situation and then figure out how to hide the traces, rather than trying to hide it from the start. This was a lesson I learned from the first blood I shed in this world.

What I was about to do would definitely leave traces, but it was also a surefire method.

“No, I’ll make you do it!”

Roxana’s voice became even more seductive, and the school uniform she was wearing disappeared as if burned away, revealing a very revealing outfit.

“Regardless of everything else, this is a butterfly effect caused by me, so I should be the one to fix it. If I don’t, the Academy will be destroyed.”

“You’re very confident. Do you really think you can take me on alone?”

“Of course. Why else would I be here?”

I exhaled once.

The air around us began to change. The atmosphere was filled with blue mana, and a mana fog enveloped us. Everything that entered the mana gradually disappeared.

The sounds faded, the wind ceased, and the darkness that enveloped us disappeared. Nothing else existed in the space filled only with mana.

I exhaled twice.

My body, which no longer needed oxygen, began to transform. Blue light coursed through my veins, and my skin turned pale.

As the space around us became more and more blue, and as I continued to change, Roxana hesitated, sensing that something was amiss.

I exhaled three times.

What I inhaled was not oxygen, and what I exhaled was not carbon dioxide. This was the process of inhaling pure mana and exhaling refined mana.

Then, what does ‘refined’ mana mean?

“What the hell are you…! What the hell is this! Are you really a student?!”

In the space filled with blue light, Roxana, who had lost all her confidence and fighting spirit, screamed the same question she had asked several times.

It would have been better if she had been completely stupid and hadn’t noticed the nature of the blue mana around her.

If she had been a little smarter, it still would have been fine. Even if she knew that blue mana was dangerous, she wouldn’t have understood how dangerous it truly was.

But Roxanna was a half-succubus, a masterpiece created by the Succubus Queen. She was too smart for her own good, and she understood the nature of the blue light surrounding her.

“What kind of magic is this that allows you to create it?!”

Refined mana is, in essence, magic.

Each breath of pure mana inhaled and exhaled became blue light, and each mana particle surrounding us was a magic in itself.

“Mana Breathing.”

“Mana… Breathing?”

Magic was the exclusive privilege of the nobility, and all nobles competed to research magic to showcase their knowledge and status. The lengthening of magic names was one of the consequences of this competition.

As a result, the world, now extinct, had achieved incredible advancements in magic, despite its extremely closed nature. It was a collection of the theoretical essence of that world, and by simply breathing, one could manifest tens of thousands of magic.

That power was ‘refined’ mana, and it had taken hold of Eternity’s blade.

“Do you know why I’m telling you this?”

“How should I know?!”

I looked at Roxanna through eyes that were probably mostly blue.

“Because I have no intention of letting you go.”