The Academy’s Weapon Replicator
chapter-282-1

The Signal (11)

Frondier remained silent in the face of Belphegor's question.

Belphegor soon let out a sigh.

"Well, your answer doesn't matter now."

Snap!

He lightly snapped his fingers.

Rumble...

His chilling Mana spread throughout the surroundings in an instant, and soon the wind around them began to change.

"You challenged me, so you already knew, didn't you?"

Along with Belphegor's voice, something approached them from all directions.

They were souls. Countless lives that had perished in the past.

They weren't just humans. The souls of all kinds of monsters also approached Belphegor.

The land of Manggot was fraught with countless deaths.

And death became the blood and nourishment of Belphegor.

Belphegor's Mana swelled, swallowing souls and growing once more.

"No matter how much you strategize and block all of Manggot's attacks,"

Belphegor's eyes opened, cold and gloomy.

"If you can't stop me, it's all for naught."

The ground cracked and something crawled up.

Corpses. They crawled up from the ground, just as they had died, and their numbers grew.

It wasn't just humans who rose. The corpses of all kinds of monsters also stirred as if they had regained life, crawling out from the ground. Instead of roars, they let out eerie screams.

Their numbers were already surpassing the scope of an army.

The power wielded by Belphegor alone created a legion that shook the very earth.

"Frondier, unlike you who have already exhausted your Mana, in the context of 'war,' the gap between you and me is this vast."

The army of corpses did not head towards Frondier. They all moved in one direction.

There was no formation, they just moved at the maximum speed they could muster. There was no limit to their stamina, a horde driven by the power of Mana.

Where they were heading was the Empire. The footsteps of the corpses made no proper sound.

The countless hordes seemed to be dragged along like half-melted scrap metal.

"Look at them. Bodies without souls are like puppets dangling on strings."

Despite having created them himself, Belphegor looked at the army of corpses with displeasure.

"The citizens of the Empire are the same. Puppets who are manipulated without knowing the truth."

"...Nonsense."

Frondier muttered quietly.

Belphegor's lips twisted as he looked at Frondier.

"It's pointless to talk back to me. If the lives of those Empire bastards are so precious, go and stop that army now. Can you do it? You, who have not even a single grain of Mana left."

"...Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, this?"

"With the ability to command an army of that size, why are you still keeping me alive? You could have killed me long ago."

At Frondier's words, Belphegor blinked for a moment, then smiled.

"You need to see it."

"..."

"How insignificant your struggles were, what it meant for a mere human to challenge a Devil of the Seven Deadly Sins."

The army of corpses advanced, leaving the two behind. Frondier, with his exhausted body, could not stop them.

Belphegor, looking into Frondier's eyes, brought his hands forward.

"Frondier, I'm just waiting for it to get boring."

Belphegor's gaze was filled with sadistic pleasure, as if waiting for it to cool down on its own was truly delightful.

* * *

To the north, to the north of the barrier.

For Aster, who was at the Tyburn, the north of the barrier meant practically running west. The Tyburn was located in the northeast of the Empire.

Aster borrowed a horse and galloped. No one tried to stop him. The soldiers seemed disappointed that they couldn't give him a better horse.

"Faster, a little faster...!"

The flow of the sky had been strange for a while now. Aster smelled the scent of death coming from somewhere far away.

The north of the barrier, though a short distance from the Tyburn, was only so from the perspective of the entire Empire. For Aster, it was agonizing to reach there.

Frondier was in danger, fighting a devil. Time was of the essence. Moreover, Aster still didn't know what was at the northern barrier. He was just heading there, trusting Merlin.

"Ugh, the horse I rode when I was chasing monsters in Constel was better!"

Aster reminisced about the time he rode the famous horse, Cassian, and slashed at monsters. There was no point in longing for Cassian, who Selena was riding now.

However.

"...?"

In the distance, someone was galloping towards him on a horse. It seemed like they weren't coming towards Aster, but just running in the opposite direction.

Looking closer, there were two people on one horse.

Looking even closer, the person on the horse was a woman.

Reaching close enough to see.

"Oh!"

"Oh??"

The person on the horse was a face Aster knew.

"Selena!"

"Mr. Aster!"

Selena, a classmate, and the one who had disappeared a few days ago before the war. Seeing her, Aster was both happy and curious.

"How are you here? And who's the child behind you?"

Mei, who was riding behind Selena, peeked her head out.

"I live with Frondier."

"Ah, yes...?"

Aster tilted his head. Now that he heard it, she did resemble Frondier.

And who else did she resemble...?

"Living together, at the Roach mansion?"

"No, the dormitory."

"Huh?"

"Scheduled."

It was a string of excessively short words, but Aster roughly understood. He looked back at Selena.

"Selena, where have you been? How are you here?"

"Well, there was something Mr. Frondier asked me to do a while back, so I had to hurry..."

Selena tried to make an excuse somehow.

There was one rule she had learned while being by Frondier's side.

When you need a quick lie, using Frondier's name somehow makes it believable. In a good way or a bad way.

"...That guy, as always."

Aster smiled as if he couldn't help it.

As expected. Selena hid her expression and clenched her fists. This rule had been undefeated so far.

"So where are you going now?"

"Well, I don't know."

"Huh?"

"Cassian seems to be heading somewhere, so I've been leaving it to him."

Only then did Aster look at the horse Selena was riding.

It was definitely Cassian. The very same famous horse Aster had once ridden to cut down monsters.

Cassian continued to run after taking Selena and Mei. As if he had a destination.

And after meeting Aster, Cassian naturally stopped. At first, it seemed like it was because Selena and Aster had reacted to each other, but.

"Did you come to meet me?"

When Aster asked, Cassian looked at Aster once, then at Selena.

Seeing that, Selena said,

"...I think he wanted to bring us together."