NOVEL NEXT Chapter 55.2
Stage 2-24. Praise And Schemes
A shroud of darkness fitting for words of pitch black fell over the night.
Despite it being well past curfew at the Misosona Magic Academy’s lodging facility, a lone student roamed the grounds.
“Damn her… Reina Milfonty…!”
Sherba, now sporting glasses of a different shade from before the match, spat the name of the rival school’s student council president with pure hatred.
“This can’t be… Me, losing…? And to a team with a couple of first-years, no less?”
Looking at the facts, there was no reason for him to lose.
Yet, the only reality left was his defeat.
Sherba couldn’t accept it, and he’d been restless ever since waking up.
If he had put up a good fight, maybe he would have felt somewhat better. But he had been utterly crushed.
He had left no mark, no redeeming moment for a third-year. Nothing at all.
“If only that dropout hadn’t been there…!”
His anger turned toward his conqueror, Ouga Vellet, son of the Duke Vellet.
He’d been dreaming of a rematch with Reina Milfonty, convinced that if he could defeat her, he would be acknowledged as a worthy disciple of the esteemed Frone Milfonty.
But when he opened his eyes, he saw that Reina Milfonty hadn’t even noticed him, and to add insult to injury, he’d lost to a boy who couldn’t even use magic.
With that loss, the reputation of Sherba Ansem, the mage, fell to the ground. Most viewed last year’s victory as mere luck, and his post-graduation prospects began to vanish one by one.
“I’ll kill him… I’ll kill that bastard…”
For a mage, this level of disgrace gnawed at his soul.
––Misfortune, it seems, loves company.
Had this not been the Kingdom of Lambdave, perhaps he wouldn’t have been cast so deeply into despair.
But mercilessly, the die was cast, and the devil himself smiled.
“Do you crave power?”
“Huh…?”
Standing before Sherba was a figure cloaked in black, wearing a bizarre mask that concealed any sign of gender.
For some reason, Sherba found himself rooted to the spot under the figure’s masked gaze.
“Do you want the power to kill Ouga Vellet?”
“…Heh…Hahaha…! Is such a thing possible…?”
“If that is your wish.”
“I want it! I want the power to kill him! If I can prove that I’m stronger than him, then…then I…!”
Sherba could no longer even distinguish whether those words were truly his own.
In his mind, the thirst for power had mingled with an overwhelming desire to kill Ouga Vellet.
“Very well. Then go ahead, and unleash yourself.”
“Gah!”
A syringe filled with green liquid plunged into Sherba’s neck.
The black-robed figure began injecting the liquid into his body.
The transformation began almost immediately after he took in the entire dose.
“What is this… Ugh…!”
Bulging and twisting, his muscles began rising and shrinking, crumpling and shifting like paper.
Sherba felt his own body becoming something foreign to him.
“Agh…Graaah…Aaaaaaaaah!”
The night echoed with the roar of a newly born monster.
The figure in the black robe watched him coldly, without a shred of mercy.