The Academy’s Weakest Became A Demon-Limited Hunter

Emperor Carlos exclaimed.

Before those words could even leave his mouth, Merlin appeared before Mephisto and swung her sword.

Swoosh!

The sharp sword strike aimed at Mephisto, but…

Thud.

Mephisto caught the swiftly moving blade with just his fingers.

It was unbelievable. Merlin’s eyes widened.

But Merlin’s judgment was swift. She gave up her sword, swiftly pivoted, and delivered a powerful kick.

But even that was effortlessly caught and blocked by Mephisto’s hand.

Boom!!

“Ugh!!”

Heavy dark mana enveloped Merlin before exploding in her abdomen.

Merlin’s body was flung across the floor, rolling until it hit the wall. Her body convulsed, and blood poured from her mouth and abdomen. No matter how much she tried to move, she couldn’t find her balance to stand.

Mephisto smirked as he looked at Emperor Carlos.

[Without the Ice Sovereign around~ Who’s killing who? If you keep ignoring me like this, it’ll really hurt my feelings, you know?]

“You bitch… Were you waiting for the Ice Sovereign to be trapped in that sanctuary?”

[Correct! Even if it’s petty, what can I do? Even I am afraid of the Ice Sovereign! It’s better for my mental health if I don’t face such a monster. Now then, Princess Snow White?]

Mephisto looked at White and gave a sinister smile.

[Despite the clock becoming useless, I’m still bound with the duty to drag you into hell.]

“What are you talking about now…?”

[Well, I made a contract with your mother you see!]

White’s trembling stopped.

Her mother’s contractor. She had already heard about him after the Alice incident.

“So, it was you…”

Her low voice carried fury.

Crash!

The charging knights and wizards were struck by Mephisto’s dark magic, coughing up blood as their bodies were sent flying.

Even the elite of the Empire couldn’t lay a hand on him.

The strength of Mephisto, an agent of the Evil God, was beyond the reach of ordinary humans.

“Is there no one out there?!!”

[Everyone’s sleeping soundly, so let’s not wake them, shall we?]

“You insolent bitch…!”

[Your profanity is quite inappropriate, isn’t it? I’m in a hurry, so I’m generously overlooking it, but instead of showing gratitude, you hurl insults at me. How disappointing.]

All the Imperial troops in the hallway had been defeated by Mephisto and lost consciousness.

Mephisto slowly approached White.

White stared blankly at her approaching death.

She recalled why her mother had tried to assassinate her. It was so absurd that she had believed it was a lie for a while.

It was the jealousy her mother felt, thinking her daughter was more beautiful than herself.

And that ridiculous feeling of jealousy had persistently haunted White even after her mother’s death.

Because of that, White felt a stronger sense of emptiness than fear.

[I was powerless when the Ice Sovereign was around. But not anymore.]

“…”

Mephisto knelt on one knee, lifted White’s chin, and met her gaze up close.

The demon’s eyes were grotesquely deformed, yet they held a unique aesthetic appeal.

“White!”

When Emperor Carlos tried to move toward his daughter, Mephisto extended his arm, brimming with dark mana, toward him.

Emperor Carlos gritted his teeth, having no choice but to stop.

[Snow White… You truly are the most beautiful human in this world. Your death will be a painful loss to humanity. Ah, how tragic….]

“That’s strange.”

[…I beg your pardon?]

Suddenly, a question popped into White’s mind.

Up until now, Mephisto couldn’t approach White recklessly because of Isaac. But with Isaac now captured by the Iron Fairy, Mephisto could move more freely.

This could be inferred from both the past Alice incident and what Mephisto had just said.

Then how did Mephisto know things would turn out this way?

How did someone who had been on the run from Isaac’s forces manage to arrive here, where Isaac was, at just the right moment? It was as if he knew in advance…

“How did you know things would turn out like this…? You have a partner, don’t you?”

A partner.

At those words, Mephisto smirked.

[How admirable. To be this noble even in the face of death. Your beauty shines serenely.]

“Princess White…!”

The sound of raging, blood-choked coughing. Merlin, with blood in her mouth, screamed White’s name, clawing at the floor as she tried to crawl toward her.

Her fingernails were completely torn. Her entire body was wracked with intense pain. But despite ignoring it and trying to move forward somehow, Merlin’s body, eroded by dark mana, refused to obey.

Mephisto swiftly grabbed White’s head with his long fingers. Dark mana rose from his hand like smoke.

White gently closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the only thing that flashed through her mind was her chaotic past.

Because of her mother’s assassination scheme, White, in her childhood, bit into a poisoned apple.

As young White slowly died, she quietly gazed at the sky shining through the trees. Her fading consciousness. Her lifeless eyes witnessed death descending from the sky.

It was so brilliant and beautiful that White reached her fragile arm toward the sky.

“What are you doing?”

In her memory of lying in the grass, dying as a child, Isaac appeared.

Isaac looked down at White and asked.

Princess White?

Merlin appeared beside Isaac, looking at White with a worried expression.

It would have been nice to have one last pleasant conversation.

Even some insignificant small talk that she wouldn’t remember later might have made things less regretful.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help, Senior Isaac.”

At that moment, all White felt was regret and sorrow.

“Stop!!”

Emperor Carlos shouted at the top of his lungs.

It was then.

Boom!!

The outer wall by the window was broken through, and someone flew in at incredible speed.

In an instant, an axe blade enveloped in chill targeted Mephisto.

[…!!]

Slash!!

The ax cut through the air. Mephisto let go of white, narrowly dodging the ax’s blade.

Everyone in the hall stared at the hooded figure holding a large two-handed axe.

When the figure threw off the cloak, a tall woman with light blue hair appeared. A long, noticeable scar ran across her face.

Mephisto frowned.

The light blue-haired woman radiated cold air from her entire body and flashed a feral grin at Mephisto.

“As expected, our lord predicted everything!”

[And you are?]

“Isabel Silverwolf!”

Three more hooded figures entered through the broken wall.

They all removed their hoods.

Dorhan, a large, white tiger Demibeast.

A bald-headed brawler, Karius Alsav.

And a female wizard, Erich Leverins, who was giggling with a flushed face from the alcohol.

Each one of them was a  Legion commander of Düpfendorf.

“I serve Lord Isaac, the ruler of Düpfendorf.”

Isabel swung her two-handed axe and assumed a battle stance.

Judging by their hooded cloaks, it was easy for anyone to realize that they had infiltrated Aldreque.

White, Emperor Carlos, and Merlin looked at the Legion commanders of Düpfendorf. Their minds were filled with confusion, unsure of what was happening.

“Hehehe, ha.”

Erich meekly waved her hand in the air.

Boom!!

An ice magic circle appeared behind Mephisto, and at the same time, an ice pillar shot up, blasting Mephisto away.

A sudden gust of wind blew through the area. While Mephisto wasn’t heavily injured, his body was flung out of the building like a ball.

Crash!!

As Mephisto was sent flying through the air, Dorhan, the white tiger Demibeast, charged at him and swung his massive fist, encased in an ice gauntlet.

Along with the sound of something shattering, Mephisto’s body sliced through the air with a violent tearing sound, heading toward the Iron Sea.

The other Legion commanders of Düpfendorf also stepped outside through the broken wall, intending to attack Mephisto all at once.

“Wait a moment!”

Isabel was about to leap through the broken wall as well.

At White’s shout, Isabel stopped in her tracks.

“You all… you’re on Senior Isaac’s side, right…? What’s going on?”

“Princess Snow White, our lord has commanded us to protect you.”

“What…?”

Isabel looked at White and smiled, revealing her fanged white teeth.

─ This is a message from our lord. The demon Mephisto has allied with the Heavenly beings, and there is a high possibility that he will target Princess Snow White in the future. Therefore, all Legion commanders must follow my instructions.

Infiltrate Aldreque and protect Snow White.

“Well, this is more or less how you should see it. Our lord values you greatly.”

Leaving those words behind, Isabel threw herself through the broken wall.

The wind rushed into the room.

Somehow, Merlin, covered in blood, had crawled to reach White.

Emperor Carlos hugged White, asking if she was okay, but White couldn’t hear a single sound.

White looked at Merlin’s face, filled with relief, grateful that things had turned out well.

She glanced around the hall once more and then raised her hands.

“Ah, ah…”

Her hands were trembling.

Memories of the time when she was close to accepting death resurfaced. If her mother had despised her that much, surely she must have been a bad child, she thought.

When she had given up on life, her eyes had only gazed at the brilliant light coming down from the sky.

But then, she heard the sound of birds chirping, and when she turned her head, she saw vibrant, beautiful flowers in her sight.

At that moment, she couldn’t help but feel how beautiful the world had been.

White grasped the grass with her now pale-blue hands, desperately clinging to life, as if even the light descending from the sky lost its brilliance in the face of her struggle.

As if in response to her desperation, the dwarves, who appeared like young girls, found White and came to her aid.

White had to fall into a deep sleep until the poison was neutralized.

The price of trusting people had been heavy.

Yet, White had still tried to show affection to people.

Perhaps, in her own way, that was her revenge against the mother who had tried to drag her into hell.

But now, her hands were empty.

There would have been nothing left.

So she thought, but when she looked back, she saw the people who had been standing behind her, protecting her.

Among them, the young man with the silver-blue hair looked at White and asked if she was alright.

His face resembled the same expression he had when he had comforted her after she was carried away from her duel with the Priestess.

White covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling.

She barely managed to stifle her sobs, yet for a long time, White couldn’t bring herself to lift her head.