"Bro, what are you even talking about?"
Lanny couldn't understand why Caesar suddenly wanted to place a bet-especially on intruders who hadn't even shown themselves yet.
Did this guy realize he was broke and was trying to buy loyalty?
...That actually made sense.
Lanny nodded.
"Bet's on."
Caesar raised his Desert Eagle. Lanny lifted an identical one. Then Caesar spoke, and the figures hidden in the mist froze.
"Twelve of them."
"We each have seven rounds."
"That's plenty."
The chapel.
Unlike Valhalla, only Johann remained.
After Manstein had the Vice Principal lift the Discipline field, Schneider ordered the Lionheart Society to redeploy. With Spirits fully enabled, anyone else here would only get in the way.
With the high-risk Spirit Blazing Command, Johann alone was enough.
He sat inside a confessional booth, eyes closed.
He was thinking about getting a late-night snack with Suzie once this was over.
When Schneider had ordered everyone else to withdraw, he specifically assigned Johann to hold this position. Suzie was the only person besides Schneider and Morin who knew about Johann's condition, and she was worried. To convince her to leave, Johann had promised her a snack afterward.
For a normal person, this would be a textbook death flag.
But Johann was a protagonist.
Even if the cafeteria exploded, he'd still be fine.
He looked down at his hand.
He could still feel the warmth of Suzie's wrist.
He'd grabbed her hand earlier to force her to leave.
Then she'd grabbed him back before finally letting go.
So the price was holding hands and a snack.
What came next?
Johann thought about it.
At first, she'd been satisfied with just eating together.
Now the water was heating up.
Both the one adding firewood and the frog in the pot knew it.
They just hadn't reached boiling yet.
If I kill Odin and survive... maybe I can be with Suzie.
The thought crossed his mind.
He had zero confidence in that outcome.
A knock sounded.
Footsteps followed.
The visitor didn't hide.
They stopped in the center of the chapel.
Johann stepped out of the booth.
They sized each other up.
Johann wore his uniform.
The intruder wore black tactical gear.
Her figure was petite but curvy. Clearly female.
Ring-ring.
Johann blinked.
His phone.
Who would be calling now?
The girl stepped back and gestured for him to answer. She showed no urgency to attack.
"...Hello?" Johann stepped back as well and picked up.
"What is going on?" Manstein groaned in the control room. "The enemy is right there, and our student is taking a call?"
"Johann has combat experience," Schneider said, frowning. "He wouldn't be careless."
"What concerns me is the intruder. Why isn't she rushing?"
"Senior, how's it going over there?" Morin's voice came through. "I'm on my way back. About forty or fifty minutes."
"I'm at the chapel," Johann reported. "One intruder in front of me."
"Caesar, Lanny, and the Student Union are at Valhalla. Everyone else is deployed."
He added helpfully, "You could stay on your date. Freshmen don't have combat duty."
"You're getting dangerously good at humble-bragging," Morin said, flooring the accelerator. "As for the date, I got stood up."
"Have you seen an intruder with long legs and a really hot body?"
"...The one in front of me doesn't match that description," Johann replied flatly.
She wasn't flat by any means.
But she wasn't that either.
"Then do me a favor," Morin said. "Ask her for me."
"Tell her that if she sees that woman, pass along a message."
"Next time we meet, I'm going to beat her so hard she won't be able to get out of bed for three days."
"Thanks."
Johann fell silent.
What were juniors into these days?
How were old virgins like him supposed to feel?
He hung up and looked at the intruder.
"Is there a woman in your group with long legs and a hot body?" he asked seriously.
"My junior says that if there is, tell her that next time they meet, he'll beat her so hard she won't be able to get out of bed for three days."
The girl in black: "...?"
"These are our elite students?" Manstein asked again.
"Johann is simply relaying a message," Schneider said calmly. "He's a good kid."
"But the caller was Morin!" Manstein protested. "Your student!"
"Technically, Morin only enrolled yesterday," Schneider replied. "And no man likes being stood up."
"Especially not a student as outstanding as mine."
"My student is the truly good one!" Guderian said proudly.
"Your 'good student' hooked up with a classmate on day two!" Manstein snapped.
"Your English is failing you," Guderian said disdainfully. "That wasn't 'hooking up.'"
"It was a meeting of minds between two outstanding individuals."
Then he leaned closer to Schneider and whispered, "He's jealous."
Manstein nearly lost control.
"Hahaha! Mai, you're screwed!"
Thousands of miles away, a chip-eating girl burst into laughter through the earpiece and jumped onto Mai's channel.
"What do you mean I'm screwed?"
In Valhalla, Mai realized she'd been exposed.
She dropped Dark Reflection.
The intruders around her were kicked straight into the open. They scrambled for cover, guns trained on the Student Union. The students reacted instantly.
Tension peaked.
But the leaders didn't move.
Mai calmly retied her ponytail.
Caesar and Lanny sat on the sofa.
Caesar signaled his men to hold fire.
Only then did the Student Union understand.
The earlier nonsense about scholarships wasn't nonsense at all.
Caesar and Lanny had already detected the intruders.
Their gazes toward the two changed immediately.
Lanny was still confused.
Blind luck again?
"It's Super Stud Number One," Su laughed. "He just called Super Bunny Number Two and told the Robot Girl to pass you a message."
"Next time he sees you, he's beating you so hard you won't be able to get out of bed for three days."
"On what grounds?!"
Mai felt a dark future looming.
She didn't think she could beat that monster.
"You stood him up."
"That was your plan!"
"But you're the one who didn't show."
"Are you selling me out?" Mai snapped. "I'll defect right now!"
"The 'Stud' is on the enemy side," Su said, barely holding in laughter. "You want to throw yourself into his arms?"
"I'll beat you so hard you won't get out of bed for three days!" Mai threatened.
"You could use him to make escaping easier," Su said seriously. "He's important at that school."
"If you claim to be his 'old lady,' the juniors might not dare touch you."
"And if I get caught, won't that be worse?"
"You already stood him up. He already threatened you."
"What's ten more days in bed?"
Su crunched on a chip.
When she said beat, the tone completely changed the meaning.
Mai fell silent.
She looked across the room.
"...Do you guys know Morin?"
"...Super Stud?" Caesar's expression turned strange.
He'd overheard the earpiece through Scylla.
The nickname...
It fit disturbingly well.
"You heard that?!" Mai exclaimed. "Su, your gear leaks sound!"
"It doesn't leak!" Su snapped. "It cost thirty grand!"
"Use your brain. How do you think they found you?"
"Does your boss have a girlfriend like this?" Caesar asked Lanny.
Lanny: "???"
Since when did I have a sister-in-law?
In Lanny's impression, Morin was always trying to steal someone's girl.
Was this... an affair?
Then another thought surfaced.
Do I shoot her... or not?
There was ten thousand dollars on the line.
Ice Cellar. Skuld Sector.
"For thousands of years, humanity has fought the Dragon Race with alchemy, cold steel, and even forbidden sorcery," the Principal said calmly.
"At tremendous cost."
"Due to human limitations, we could only force the Dragon Kings into dormancy."
"They cocoon themselves."
"Their spirits waiting for rebirth."
Researchers in hazmat suits surrounded Principal Angre. Their gazes were filled with reverence-both for him and for the bronze vessel before them.
Like scientists at Area 51.
Among them, Norton stared at the jar.
Awakened by Morin's telepathic contact, he could now control his Spirit.
The King of Bronze and Fire could have melted everything here.
But he didn't.
It wasn't mercy.
Human consciousness still lingered inside him.
A shackle.
A bridge.
Morin's presence was a warning.
No killing.
Dragons were proud-but only toward equals or those beneath them.
Norton wasn't foolish.
He knew he was powerless against Morin.
Survival was instinct.
He was a neurotic dragon.
Not a stupid one.
"Don't hurt them," Morin's voice echoed in his mind. "Threaten them if you want."
"Otherwise it'll be too difficult, right?"
"Go in. I'll handle the rest."
Norton relaxed.
While Angre continued his speech, Norton simply walked into the containment room.
The researchers froze.
It looked like a janitor walking onto a stage to mop the floor during a CEO's keynote.
Someone even gave him a thumbs-up.
They were probably tired of the speech.
Then Norton removed his mask.
His eyes ignited like fire.
"Damn it!" the lead researcher shouted. "He's not one of us!"
The Principal froze.
He wanted to activate Time Zero-
But the sheer density of lethal threats around him stopped him cold.
The champagne prepared for celebration shattered.
It became countless needles of water.
They evaporated-
Then reformed.
Lethal.
Even Angre hadn't anticipated it.
The other researchers were pinned down by invisible spikes.
The remaining champagne flowed together.
It formed a humanoid shape.
A champagne man.
He bowed politely and smiled.
"First time meeting."
"Hope we get along."
"Hello, Principal Angre."