Magic Academy Bans Harem

Chapter 358 The Death of the Witch's Disciple
In the fragmented memories, the goddess of bathing and Millie saw a vast expanse of darkness enveloping them, as if it were the sky and the earth.

The robe was extremely bloated and expanded, with only the center differing from the surrounding area.

It was the face of a witch that I hadn't seen in a long time; her expression was still as eerie and ferocious as ever.

It seemed to have transformed into a giant teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll shaped like a sunny day), with only a huge head and a connected long robe, constantly emitting a sinister "chirp chirp chirp" laugh.

In an instant, the two, who had been immersed in Corteline's memories for some time, seemed to wake up and recall all the things that happened before they touched the memory fragments.

Since it is a witch here, and she has shattered Cortrinie's memories.

Does this mean that the winner of the infighting between the two regional leaders is...?
Just as these thoughts crossed their minds, a sharp light swiftly tore through the darkness.

In the fairytale world, it was already daytime. The dazzling sunlight streamed down from the torn black robes, bathing the goddess of the bath and Millie in abundance.

Immediately afterwards, several more sharp flashes of light mercilessly streaked past.

The two of them were unable to react to this at all, or even if they had reacted, it wouldn't have changed the situation.

Then, the witch's robe began to tear into neat, separate pieces.

At the same time, the witch's terrifying face also cracked open.

"grumble--"

The witch, who was still laughing until the very end, was finally reduced to countless fragments. And unlike before, she didn't reassemble herself under the sunlight; she simply lay scattered haphazardly across the ground.

Clearly, the reason why witches only appear at night is not simply due to "mechanism".

Without a doubt, after the fierce battle between the two regional leaders, the ultimate victor was the Tin Man, who could move freely even during the day.

"Corteline!"

As her robe shattered completely, the goddess of the bath called out Cortrienne's name as she looked at the "tin man" slowly approaching from afar.

Because the collapse of their memory space was so sudden, the goddess of the bath and Millie didn't have time to exchange their innermost thoughts. In fact, the moment they fully understood Cortelne's story, the thought that simultaneously arose in both of their minds was, "What should we do?"

Unlike Charlotte's emotional problems, Cortelene's situation is quite unique.

She seemed to have been born with a demon rooted within her. Only through the warmth she received from others and her own strong will did she manage to suppress the desire and impulse to kill within her.

Cortrienne, who had once suppressed her nature and instincts, found her heart wavering again because of her duel with Fernandez.

And so, during this worst of times, the mechanisms of the fairy tale world, in an exceptionally cruel way, unleashed the darkness within Cortrienne's heart.

The present-day Cortrinet is not only controlled by the fairy tale world and the power of the wanderers, but also corrupted and devoured by the demons deep within her own heart, plunging her into the abyss.

"We know, Kurt! We know the pain you've endured, the determination with which you've fought against yourself! So... don't give up now! Everything that happens in fairy tales is just an illusion! You can treat it all as a nightmare! And you certainly can now."

Suddenly, the goddess's eyes lost their color.

The tin man, easily slicing through space and closing in on the goddess of the bath, effortlessly pierced her chest with the broken sword of the sword saint in his right hand.

"No, it's okay. I understand. I believe in your kindness. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, and no one will blame you for what happened in your nightmare, so..."

The tin man, with his longsword raised high, and the bathing goddess, her entire body suspended in mid-air, spoke in a barely audible voice.

Even as she breathed her last, the goddess of the bath remained steadfast in her belief that the memories she had witnessed of Cortriena were meaningful. Even if she could only utter a few words now, she would eventually have the chance to touch Cortriena's deeply buried true heart.

But the tin man, unmoved by the words of the Bathing Goddess, merely observed the direction in which the golden particles flowed at the moment of her death.

"So that's where it was."

The tin man, who had only ever been able to roar, was now uttering words that, though somewhat broken, clearly contained his own will.

On the other side, Millie's eyes were wide open in anger, silently "burning".

Upon seeing the goddess of the bath, impaled by the broken sword, her heart was filled with rage.

She completely surrendered herself to wildness and instinct, abandoning all thought.

However, the accumulation over the years will not completely disappear.

And so, in Millie's completely chaotic mind, the knowledge she possessed, the ways she learned it, and advice such as "facing oneself," as well as questions like "why am I the only one special in the fairy tale world," began to merge in an exceptionally strange way.

Millie herself had no idea what was happening to her. She simply let out a furious roar, and her entire body transformed into a streak of lightning.

In mid-air, lightning crackled with faint blue flames, tearing through the surrounding space as it hurtled straight toward the tin man.

Put her down!
This is Millie's most direct roar of anger.

But in the end, her heartfelt words failed to be expressed in reality.

Millie, who was blocked in mid-air by that unparalleled sword light, was like a fleeting shooting star. She emitted only a moment of light before completely dissipating.

"It's gotten a little sharper."

Compared to before, the tin man, whose voice seemed to be more continuous, muttered to himself, swinging the sword in his hand as he slowly walked in the direction the golden apple particles were pointing.

The plains of the fairy tale world.

On the boundless grassland, two golden butterflies seemed unable to find the right direction, endlessly circling within a certain area.

Until a certain moment, the area they kept circling around seemed to have shed a layer of water curtain, revealing a tranquil lake and a wooden house beside it.

The golden butterflies, which had stopped fluttering, landed one after the other and transformed into the figures of a young woman and a black-haired youth.

"Although we don't know what happened on the other side, it seems to have saved us a lot of trouble."

The young lady was, of course, Sofia Elson.

The disciple of a deceased witch entered this fairytale world through a "record." Furthermore, thanks to the unique nature of the fairytale world, this world captured the "memory of the world" and, with the power provided by another witch's disciple, "reproduced" it in a rather special way.

Beside her stood Ritas, his brow furrowed in the face of the scene before him.

"Hiding her territory was probably 'Vayne's' way of protecting herself. She was forced to unleash her primal power, and her control over the world was limited, but she wasn't entirely willing to be completely used by others. Therefore, she also became part of the world's operating rules, ensuring that this part of her 'authority' wouldn't be taken away. And since even this almost last resort has begun to fail, it means..."

"Perhaps the regional leader of her area was overthrown, or perhaps her area has begun to fall?"

Sofia also analyzed it,

“I think the former is less likely. After all, Wayne is the source of this world. So, even if her situation is terrible, a regional leader created to protect herself would be far stronger than other regional leaders. Even if my daughter can exert the power of a regional leader to a certain extent in this world, she would still be far from being able to fight against her.”

"After all, it's Xia Luoluo."

"Hmm? My dear junior. Do you perhaps have some negative opinion about my lovely daughter?"

Sophia asked with a very kind smile.

“No.” Ritas, not wanting to waste time on meaningless things, said with a straight face.

As they spoke, both of them gazed at the lakeside cottage that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

At that very moment, a large number of golden particles streaked across the sky and concentrated on the golden apple tree in the center of the area, causing the entire golden apple tree to emit a strong golden light.

The two immediately understood that this was a sign that the entire world was about to begin a cycle of reincarnation.

They exchanged glances, hesitating whether they should enter "Vayne's" area before the central area's cycle began, to prevent themselves from being drawn in.

Suddenly, a straight, slanted crack appeared on the massive tree in the distance, which was radiating golden light.

The cycle of the region stopped instantly.

The huge canopy, still laden with dozens of golden apples, crashed to the ground with a loud thud, raising a cloud of dust.

"." "."

Faced with this scene, even Ritas and Sofia were speechless for a long time.

"Hehe~ It seems that even with both of our brains combined, something is happening in this 'world' that we can't predict~"

The one who broke the silence was Sofia.

"Well, generally speaking, even in a world that operates with relatively tight and strict logic, many utterly illogical situations still frequently occur. Not to mention in such a world..."

Although somewhat surprised, Ritas did not panic.

"Are you alright? Putting aside my angelic daughter for now, your body has also been borrowed over there, hasn't it? If something goes wrong, it will be very troublesome later."

“Angel. Cough, no problem. I have considered the worst-case scenario and done some preparatory work.”

While trying to convince himself, Sophia only knew Charlotte when she was a few years old, Ritas replied.

"Preparatory work? Oh. I see. You preserved some of the 'trees' that your future teacher had transformed into, intending for her to replace the World Tree at the regional center in an emergency. Couldn't you have been a little more considerate and preserved a part of your teacher out of some kind of affection?"

Since she started communicating with Ritas, this was perhaps the first time Sofia had ever felt utterly speechless about him.

Seeing Ritas merely avert his emotionless gaze, Sophia sighed, then pulled out her notebook and jotted down a sentence: "He lacks, no, he has absolutely no respect for his teacher!"

“Once they recover, that area that should have been blank will no longer be able to hide. So, we don’t have much time left. No matter what has happened in the central area, our most important task is to gain control of this last area. Otherwise, we might even see the entire Western Region destroyed.”

Ritas spoke solemnly to Sophia, who was different from him and clearly had deep feelings for the "Tree Witch," and seemed prone to getting caught up in matters related to her "teacher."

His rather alarmist words made Sophia nod seriously.

How did Sofia Elson die?

"Speaking of the 'phenomenon' in itself, I have contracted a strange disease in which all parts of my body are melting from the inside out. Even if you are curious, I advise you not to let me describe the specifics in detail. Otherwise, you will probably not be able to eat for a long time."

This was Sofia's answer at the time.

Of course, Ritas didn't want to know such superficial things.

The real question is why Sophia contracted this strange illness, an illness that even she and her teacher together couldn't cure.

Sofia's answer to this was quite simple.

do not know.

And this is to be expected. Because if Sophia or Livis knew the reason, then the Tree Witch, who hasn't "shown off" to the world for a long time, would definitely go and solve this "reason" directly.

Furthermore, neither Sophia nor Livis had any specific suspects.

Therefore, to state only the conclusion...

Putting aside the "suspiciousness" and "motives," Sofia could only suspect that it was "possible to do."

"That is, the other three 'wise men'."

"Although I knew teachers were probably disliked and hated, I really didn't expect this."

Ritas sighed.

Although he felt somewhat like "things have come to this," he realized that he had really gotten himself on a terrible pirate ship.

"Don't make it sound like the teacher attracted hatred everywhere, causing me to be killed, okay? Even if in the end it really was some 'wise person' who plotted against me, it definitely has nothing to do with the teacher."

In the library a short while earlier, Sophia, stroking the "Livis flower," was quite dissatisfied with her teacher, who was no different from her mother.

"It's one thing to suspect other wise men. But why should we suspect 'Pioneer' Susora?"

Ritas asked, puzzled.

If Livis has anyone she can call a "friend," then Susora is definitely one of them.

"Of course we need to be skeptical. Perhaps you don't know, but that 'pioneer' has long since gone completely insane."

"Trust me, I know."

After closing his eyes slightly, Ritas spoke seriously.

It's not that he has a particularly keen eye for talent; it's just that anyone who knows Susola would think he's not crazy.

"Tsk, how should I put it? The kind of 'madness' you're familiar with is not the same concept as the kind of 'madness' the 'pioneers' are experiencing."

Sofia paused, considering whether she should casually reveal things that concerned other people's privacy.

However, after looking down at her current state, she felt that there was nothing she couldn't say.

"As you should have noticed, the Pioneer intends to transform itself into an eternal magical artifact. The kind that can operate forever as long as it has magic crystals as its energy source."

Ritas nodded.

"For this purpose, the pioneers prepared twelve bodies. Or more, but my teacher and I only know of twelve. In short, it was to accommodate all kinds of environments, one for each gender, from infancy to childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age, and old age."

"."

Ritas always felt that the bodies of babies and the elderly were somewhat superfluous. He didn't know what kind of environment they were adapting to.
"After acquiring a body, the remaining process was transferring one's own consciousness. Overall, this process went smoothly. Initially, the Pioneer intended to use the body of a middle-aged man to suit the current era. Moreover, he only planned to use this one body for the time being. This was because he only had one set of magical organs to house memories, consciousness, senses, and so on. However…"

At this point, Sofia took a deep breath, her expression extremely complicated.
"After all the transplants were completed, and all the steps were accomplished as expected and anticipated, and the experiment was theoretically a perfect success, something inexplicable happened."

"Seven of the twelve bodies prepared by the pioneers moved along with the middle-aged man's body."

"In other words, at that moment, eight 'Susolas' appeared simultaneously."

(End of this chapter)