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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Irregularity Apostle
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The Demon Palace, Gray Forest. I'd been here recently.
I exhaled, never imagining I'd return to this place.
In front of me was an Apostle.
Behind me, Nia was slumped on the ground.
The timing was truly impeccable.
If I had been even a moment later, Nia would have met his end.
"Why you?"
Nia's bewildered voice came from behind me.
He had succeeded in his youth-reversal magic, and against all odds, he had entered the Demon Palace.
But it seemed it wasn't perfect.
'The Irregularity Removal Squad has appeared.'
Before my eyes, the four-eyed Apostle slowly rotated its pupils.
The true identity of this Apostle was the Demon Palace's Irregularity Removal Squad.
It was the Irregularity Apostle.
It appeared when the rules of the Demon Palace were broken.
To swiftly eliminate such transgressions, it could appear anywhere within the Demon Palace.
Nia's youth-reversal magic was incomplete.
That was why it had summoned the Irregularity Apostle.
Clang!
At that moment, the Irregularity Apostle struck away my hand blade.
From the very beginning, it hadn't paid me any attention.
Its purpose was to eliminate irregularities.
In other words, it only intended to kill Nia.
The Irregularity Apostle moved past me, attempting to swing the sword connected to its hand at Nia.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I was the one who blocked its path.
My raised hand blade instantly clashed with the Apostle's sword.
I had already experienced swordplay to no end through Van, the lazy genius.
I saw through the Apostle's sword path and parried every single one of its attacks.
Seizing an opening, my leg shot out and kicked the Apostle in the stomach.
It must have been a considerably heavy blow, as the Apostle staggered back a step.
But the Apostle had no intention of just taking it.
Its mouth opened, and a beam of light began to gather.
Was it going to fire a beam?
Sorry, but I didn't come here alone.
KABOOM!
A flash of light shot forth even before the Irregularity Apostle's energy gathered.
The flash, moving too fast for the eyes to follow, sent the Irregularity Apostle flying far away.
In the distance, Shalin stood, her staff aimed.
When our eyes met, she gave a languid smile.
Top student of Magicology.
Shalin Sazalys.
She was capricious, but when placed in the rear guard as an ally, she was a force close to the strongest.
In the meantime, I quickly grabbed Nia's arm and pulled him to his feet.
"We can explain later. There's something about that staff, related to an Arcanum, isn't there?"
"How did you know that?"
"I deduced it myself. It looks like..."
My eyes narrowed.
"A unicorn's horn, how malicious."
It was clear that knowing Nia was researching youth-reversal magic, they had deliberately set this up.
Activating magic while under the effects of youth-reversal magic...
It likely meant facing a critical situation.
'That Robliaju bastard, he really doesn't care about means or methods.'
Robliaju would surely have known about the existence of the Irregularity Apostle.
He must have calculated this far to orchestrate the situation.
His ability to set up schemes was extraordinary.
It was practically an assassination of Nia without him ever getting his hands dirty.
But there was one thing.
One thing Robliaju couldn't have accounted for.
'He didn't know a true irregular would be here.'
He couldn't have considered the variable I, who had played the "Blazing Butterfly" arc countless times, would create.
"Just who are you?"
Even as Nia ran on his own, he looked at me with eyes that utterly failed to comprehend.
No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't understand why I had appeared at this particular moment.
Creak!
At that moment, the Irregularity Apostle, which had been hit by Shalin's magic, slowly began to rise.
Its movements were extremely grotesque, twisting its body as if its joints were dislocated.
"I put quite a bit of power into that. But it looks fine, huh?"
Shalin tightened her grip on her staff, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Shalin, that thing's immortal. It doesn't matter what you hit it with."
The Irregularity Apostle couldn't die.
It simply regenerated continuously through the infinite energy supplied by the Demon Palace.
What's more, with each passing moment...
Crack!
...it continued to evolve.
Sure enough, the Irregularity Apostle transformed into its second form.
Wings sprouted from its back, and another arm appeared.
The Irregularity Apostle opened its mouth wide and let out a roar.
Its animosity, aimed at eliminating irregularities, poured forth intensely.
KABOOM!
At that moment, dozens of fireballs flew out, shattering the Irregularity Apostle.
The owner of the flames was Shalin.
"Immortal, you say."
Shalin dusted off her staff, which had turned to powder, and drew out a new one.
Around Shalin, magic of various attributes surged.
Normally, mages were born with an affinity for a single attribute.
But Shalin had no such limitations.
"I wonder. How many times will it revive?"
Shalin's eyes held a dangerous glint.
The pure curiosity of a mage seemed to have stimulated her.
I guess I can just leave her to it.
I turned back to Nia.
"Associate Professor Nia Sinsia, I'm sure you have many questions, but you must know that someone was after your life."
Nia's face hardened.
As I said, this situation clearly had every intention of killing Nia.
Nia wasn't unaware of this.
"And they'll certainly keep trying in the future. In ways you'd never expect, just like today."
"..."
The acquaintance from whom Nia received the staff must have been someone he trusted.
That's why he would have accepted the staff without suspicion.
If such incidents continued to occur, Nia's life would be disrupted.
'Now I understand why Robliaju was so determined to kill Nia.'
The youth-reversal magic was incomplete, but it had yielded results.
He was someone who might truly write a new revolution in magic in the future.
Duke Robliaju had become a subordinate of the Demon Lord.
As the Demon Lord, Nia would have been a very unwelcome presence.
"How about this, then? We fake your death in the Demon Palace, and you focus on finding the culprit."
Nia caught on to my meaning.
Adults couldn't enter the Demon Palace.
So, if Shalin and I, who entered today, kept quiet, we could easily fake Nia's death.
Ultimately, if Nia didn't return alive, the adults wouldn't know.
A faked death was a significant advantage for Nia.
Not only could it save his life immediately, but it would also allow him to trace and find the person who targeted him.
Moreover, if similar incidents occurred later...
...Nia himself could appear as a witness and take control of the situation.
"Under His Imperial Highness, the First Prince, it would be quite possible to conceal your identity, wouldn't it?"
Nia's eyes widened.
It seemed that his allegiance to the First Prince was still a secret.
But that was precisely why my words carried weight.
My story, knowing secrets others didn't, couldn't be ignored.
"If you're curious, you can find out yourself. But for the next two years."
That was the time until I graduated from Jerion Academy.
In that time, I could drag Duke Robliaju into the light.
"Moving from the shadows for about two years wouldn't be a bad idea."
I subtly threw out a timeframe.
How Nia would interpret this was unknown.
But I had played every card I could.
"Oh, and since I saved your life, please grant me one favor later."
"Hmph, speaking so freely."
Nia exhaled as if utterly dumbfounded.
It seemed I was being too carefree with my outrageous suggestions.
Seeing this, I grinned.
"Still, the favor is related to your younger sister."
I had decided to aim for a happy ending beforehand.
To save Nikita.
Just once, I needed Nia's help.
At that, the focus in Nia's face shifted.
As if I'd struck a raw nerve, the most intense murderous intent I'd ever seen poured from him.
"You can't have my sister."
What kind of misunderstanding was this person having in this situation?
"Brother, let's not do this."
"You, too, approached me with the intention of targeting my sister! My sister grew up looking up to me since she was little, and she likes tall men. A short guy like you wouldn't even be considered a man!"
Wow, a sis-con.
He looked like a nobleman, but he was a bit tiresome.
"It's not like that, so please don't misunderstand. If anything happens to Senior Nikita because of Associate Professor Nia Sinsia's faked death, I'll stop it."
When I conveyed that something might happen to Nikita, Nia slowly reined in his outburst of anger.
"...Nikita likes me a lot, so that could happen, I suppose."
As long as he was convinced, any method was fine.
I approached Nia and extended my hand.
"Let me see the hand holding the staff."
"This is a unicorn's horn. It will drain your magic too."
"It's fine. I'm also enveloped in an Arcanum."
Nia squinted his eyes.
"Just what in the world are you?"
First information, and now even an Arcanum.
To Nia, I was a person he couldn't grasp in the slightest.
I opened Nia's fingers, one by one.
My hand, enhanced with Steel Skin, was unaffected by a mere unicorn's horn.
"You can find out for yourself later."
The more he looked, the more bewildering it would become, but...
For now, simply brushing it off like this was enough.
Having extracted the unicorn's horn from Nia, I lightly twirled it in my hand.
"We can submit this as proof of his faked death, right?"
For a mage to lose their staff in the Demon Palace meant death.
Furthermore, the unicorn's horn contained within the staff would also come to light.
Of course, by then, the cover-up related to the unicorn's horn would already be complete.
Everyone would deny knowing anything, and only the craftsman who made the staff would end up dead.
'Originally, even the First Prince wouldn't strongly object to Nia's death.'
Nia was a major card, but...
There was too much uncertainty surrounding Nia's death.
All circumstantial evidence pointed to the Third Princess's faction.
But due to the use of Arcana, there was no concrete evidence, so they couldn't corner the Third Princess's faction.
The First Prince's faction and the Third Princess's faction were evenly matched in power.
It was a situation where a backlash could easily occur.
So, Nia's death would ultimately be brushed under the rug.
However, there was one person.
Only Nikita relentlessly pursued Nia's death, chasing it until she was certain it was the Third Princess's faction's doing.
'But this time, it's different.'
Nia is alive.
This is the strongest piece of evidence.
The First Prince's faction would also put all their effort into uncovering the truth to expose the Third Princess's faction.
'Duke Robliaju, he acts like the world belongs to him.'
I've prepared a big 'screw you' for him.
Savor it.
"Take this too."
Just then, Nia unclasped a necklace from his pocket and handed it over.
It was a necklace engraved with the Sinsia family crest.
"This necklace is given to the Sinsia heir. If this is found, my death will be even more certain."
Nia said that, letting out a breath.
He didn't seem pleased about being played according to my intentions.
But at least he seemed to have clearly recognized that I held no ill will towards him.
"If you try anything funny with Nikita while I'm gone, I'll kill you."
And he left a chilling warning.
In Nia's eyes, I seemed to be nothing more than a man trying to get at Nikita.
"How's a dead man going to kill me?"
And I was someone who always responded to a provocation.
"Uhm..."
While Nia and I glared at each other and conversed.
Shalin's voice cut through.
With a troubled expression, she pointed to a spot.
There stood the Irregularity Apostle, now in such a grotesque state it was hard to even describe.
Just how much magic had she hammered into it? It had already evolved ten times.
In that time, Shalin had inflicted enough damage to kill the Irregularity Apostle ten times over.
I'd been wondering why things kept exploding next to me.
She had done everything she wanted.
Shalin showed her empty waist.
It seemed she had used up all the staffs she carried.
"Now it won't die from magic."
If the Irregularity Apostle died from a tenth attack...
...it would enter a state of either magic or physical immunity, depending on whether the cause of death was a magic attack or a physical attack.
I flinched.
Just how many times had she killed it?
"Grrrr..."
Enraged by the absurd magical bombardment, the Irregularity Apostle let out an unsettling growl.
Seeing that, I came to a clear conclusion.
"Let's bolt."
Run for your lives.