The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy

CLAAANGG—!

An invisible blade struck Belial's side, splitting through the thick flesh and cracked armor, sending another chunk of his blackened wings spiraling into the air.

"GRAAGGHH!"

A trail of icy mist followed the arc of the invisible slash, and the pain made Belial scream.

He lashed out blindly, casting another spell through his cracked voice.

『 Blood Series: Crimson Shackles! (✯ 7th-level Spell ✯) 』

Streams of boiling red energy burst from the floor, attempting to wrap around Aestrea's arms and legs just like sentient serpents.

FWSHHH!

To this, Aestrea twirled his scythe in a reverse grip and cleaved the bindings in a single sweeping motion.

CRACK!

The blood shackles evaporated into nothing, frozen solid mid-lunge and shattered like glass. The backlash made Belial recoil in horror, watching his own spell turn against him.

He immediately conjured another spell in desperation.

『 Darkness Series: Devouring Abyssal Heart! (✯ Forbidden Spell ✯) 』

From his chest, a black vortex opened—tiny at first, but quickly growing, spiraling outward with malevolent suction.

It was a forbidden spell meant to erase everything within its radius, turning matter and magic into nothingness.

Even the frost in the air trembled, bending toward it.

But Aestrea merely raised a single hand.

His fingers glowed with white light, forming a sigil in the air.

"Dóno tou cheimóna," he whispered.

"Gift of Winter."

SSHHHHHH—!!!

A wave of frost erupted from his palm.

The black vortex froze mid-spin, caught in the heartbeat of winter's grace.

SNAP!

It groaned, hissed, and then shattered into shards of ice.

"No…" Belial muttered, sinking to his knees, clawing at the floor, disbelief flooding through his glowing red eyes.

"This isn't possible…"

Step, step.

Aestrea walked forward, closing the distance.

He stood before the fallen Archdemon and stared down at him. Just like an immortal would look at humans.

"You should have stayed dead."

Aestrea finally spoke.

And to his otherworldly calm voice, Belial gritted his teeth in pure rage. It didn't fucking matter that he was the Archdemon of Pride.

Right now...

He just wanted to fucking kill Aestrea.

CRACKLE!

A dark lightning started crackling around his body, as he spent the last remnants of his mana to conjure an ultimate spell that would kill Aestrea even if he died in the process.

"FUCKING DIEEEEEEEEEE!"

『 Blood Series: Blood Nova! (✯ Peak 8th-level Spell ✯) 』

His entire body ignited in a self-destructive surge of blood magic, turning him into a living bomb of demonic force.

And yet...

Aestrea didn't move at all.

Instead, he lowered his head, whispering again.

『 ✯ Winter Series ✯: Snowglass Burial! (✯ 8th-level Spell ✯) 』

The chamber fell utterly still.

And then—

SHUUUUUUMMMM!!!

The ground beneath Belial exploded with crystallized ice, forming into sharp, jagged, glacier-like spears that launched upward, impaling the Archdemon in place.

Frost spread across every surface, sealing his limbs, wings, and throat in thick, glass-like ice.

He couldn't talk, not even move his little finger.

And most importantly, he couldn't explode himself.

He was sealed.

Frozen.

Buried alive in perfect silence.

His pride had been extinguished not in a grand explosion…

…but in complete silence.

Aestrea stood there, the white color on his eyes slowly dissipating away as the same old glowing crimson color filled them.

"........."

He looked at the frozen sculpture in front of him and then raised his leg.

Crack.

He kicked the sculpture, splintering it into countless pieces.

"Next time..." His voice came in a low, emotionless tone.

"...stay in Hell."

Aestrea turned slowly, taking a single step away from the place, but his body gave out a tremble.

Pain surged through every nerve, his mana had run dry, his core was empty, and his limbs felt like they were being torn apart from the inside.

Still, he forced himself upright.

Clunch, clunch!

That was, until he heard footsteps.

He immediately turned his head, his guard instinctively rising, his muscles tensing through the pain.

It was Selene.

She was rushing toward him, her long cyan hair whipping behind her, her long ears fluttering, and her light blue eyes wide with worry.

There was no weapon in her hands, only complete concern on her face.

But Aestrea's expression did not soften at all.

His voice sliced through the tension like a sword dipped in frost.

"Stop right fucking there."

Selene froze mid-step, her boots skidding slightly against the icy stone floor, her breath catching in her throat.

Her arms stayed half-raised as if she was still trying to reach him, but the cold in his voice made her stop completely.

"…What?" she whispered, her eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"Aestrea, what are you—"

His head slowly turned to face her fully, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion, but their fury burned with a focused, crimson heat.

"Why didn't you fucking tell me about the Archdemon?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it didn't need to be. It hit her like a strike to the gut, and it was full of something beyond anger.

Selene blinked once.

Twice.

Her lips parted, but nothing came out at first.

"I-I didn't—What are you talking about?" she finally said, her voice shaking. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know he was down here. I only detected—"

"Tsk."

Aestrea scoffed and looked away, jaw clenched tight.

"You expect me to believe that? That you, of all people, just happened to miss him? The one demon in the entire world who could've erased me on the spot?"

Selene's eyes widened.

"Aestrea, I'm telling the truth. I didn't detect him because—"

"Because what? Because your precious 'sensors' glitched? Because your intelligence network just happened to fail the moment I stepped into the mouth of hell?"

Selene flinched.

Her hand trembled slightly at her side, clenching into a fist.

"I didn't want this to happen. I didn't mean for this to happen," she murmured, her voice coming out soft.

"If I had known—"

"—Stop."

『 Judgement Eye (✦ S+ Level Skill ✦) 』

"Your fucking hypocrisy disgusts me."

Aestrea spoke coldly, the scythe once again appearing in his hands, as a violet aura enveloped his body.

Just because he had spent his mana, it didn't mean that he couldn't use his aura.

"Tell me... did you fucking do this to test my powers? Or to simply try and kill me? Well... did you even expect me to survive?" he let out a cold laugh, pointing his scythe at Selene.

And at that moment...

Grin.

As if her thoughts had been discovered, Selene's lips curled into a slasher grin.

That same smile made Aestrea grip his scythe tightly.

'...A dorodere. I should have doubted her words... just a little, but I was too fucking blind by the sight of revenge that I ignored my exctincts that made me survive until now.'

And then...

"Keke..."

A soft sound broke the tension first.

A low chuckle.

Selene's shoulders trembled, her head dropping ever so slightly as her hand came to cover her mouth.

But the amusement couldn't be contained.

The chuckle turned into a laugh, quiet at first, then louder, rising with a twisted joy that filled the room like poison.

It wasn't the laugh of relief.

It was the laugh of someone who had just confirmed exactly what they wanted.

"…You're laughing?" Aestrea asked coldly, his eyes narrowing, the violet aura around him sparking dangerously.

Selene wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, then lifted her gaze to meet his eyes no longer warm or worried, but sharp, calculating, cold.

"Oh, Aestrea… you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."

She took a slow step forward, her boots crunching the bits of frozen debris that once were Belial.

"I always knew you were hiding something. That power inside you, it didn't make sense. The mana readings, the aura, the sheer pressure you gave off when you got serious. It was inhuman. So, naturally…"

Her smirk widened.

"…I had to know what you really were."

Aestrea's grip on his scythe tightened until his knuckles turned pale.

"So you summoned Belial. Just to draw me out."

Selene shrugged slightly, as if it were the most casual thing in the world.

"I figured if you weren't the monster I suspected, you'd die. Simple enough. Clean, efficient. But if you were…" She gestured at the shattered remains of the Archdemon.

"…Then I'd finally get my answer."

Aestrea didn't speak.

His silence was heavier than a shout.

"I didn't expect you to win, though," she admitted, her grin stretching. "That… was unexpected. And very fucking impressive."

She raised her hand slowly, and green mana began to spiral around her fingers as the faint scene of flowers spread out.

"But now that I know what you are… Now that you've proven you're everything I feared and more…"

The air grew cold again, not from ice, but from intent.

Murderous, focused intent.

"…I've come to a new conclusion."

She pointed her hand at him like a blade.

"You're too dangerous to leave alive."

Aestrea stared at her, his eyes completely blank.

Emotionless.

He took a deep breath, lifting his scythe slightly, though his body still trembled from exhaustion.

"…So it was always going to be like this," he muttered.

Selene smiled sweetly.

"Always."