Chapter 211: Silverleaf Academy (LIX)

As soon as he said those words, there was complete silence. Everyone held their breath as they turned to the Pope in shock.

Even Ruby, mid-fight with the Saintess, faltered briefly, her eyes wide as she looked toward them from across the blazing ruins.

Helene stared, stunned, her shield flickering uncertainly in front of her. Vivian, however, blinked once… then scoffed.

“Daughter of the what now?”

The Pope stepped forward, slowly, as if approaching something dangerous.

“You heard me.” His voice wasn’t mocking anymore.

It was reverent, almost shaken. “The Demon God. The flame of the abyss. The exiled primordial. You’re his bloodline. You carry that forbidden fire in your veins.”

“…You’re insane.” Vivian’s brow twitched.

But even as she said that, her own flames recoiled. They spun violently around her, erratic, as if something else had awakened behind her magic.

Helene’s hand gripped her staff tightly.

“Vivian… your aura…”

“I know, dammit!” she growled.

The Pope’s voice grew louder, filled with certainty and disgust.

“Your mana, your aura, that cursed resonance… I felt it once, a long time ago. Buried deep beneath the northern spires… when we found that sealed gate… the one that no divine magic could open. The one that burned the Angels just by being near it.”

He stepped forward.

“I felt that same flame, that same malice!”

“I don’t know what bullshit you’re spouting,” she muttered, voice low, teeth clenched, “but if you’re trying to distract me—”

“I’m not,” Regulus interrupted.

“I’m recognizing you.”

He raised his staff, which began to glow even brighter.

“Born from human flesh. Tainted with ancient flame. You were hidden. But the blood never lies.”

His eyes glowed.

“You are the vessel. The heir. The half-blood abomination that should never have existed.”

He lifted his hand, his fingers trembling slightly, not from weakness, but from recognition.

“You were sealed, hidden even… Someone or something kept your blood dormant. But it’s waking up now… isn’t it?”

Regulus grinned maliciously.

Vivian didn’t answer as she couldn’t.

Because the truth was…

She didn’t know.

She never met her own parents, and now, just as the Pope said those words, something inside her was stirring.

A low rumble behind her heart… it wasn’t pain, but… some kind of heat.

Maybe… a presence.

“I’m not…” Vivian muttered, her throat dry. “I’m not a goddamn demon.”

“No,” the Pope whispered.

“You’re even worse! You are the closest form to the ultimate evil! A half-devil!”

Vivian’s flames surged up in a pillar behind her.

“Say that again.”

Helene moved forward cautiously.

“Vivian, don’t—”

“SAY IT AGAIN!” she roared.

FWOOOOOOOOOM!

And the battlefield detonated in heat.

Flames not just red, but black—void-flames—spilled from her arms. They didn’t burn like a normal fire. They cracked the earth, leaving scorched sigils in their wake.

Even the Saintess paused mid-step, her head tilting curiously toward the explosion.

The Pope raised his staff in defense, voice now loud and commanding:

“You bear the seed of the End Flame! That cursed god—his spark sleeps inside you, and it must be extinguished before it fully awakens!”

Vivian’s body shuddered.

Her own flames wrapped around her legs, up her torso, until her entire form was wreathed in dancing black-red inferno. Her eyes flickered, pupils glowing amber.

“Extinguish me, then,” she hissed.

“Let’s see if your ‘God’ can handle what I really am.”

『 Void Flame: Hellheart Bloom!!! (✯ 8th-Level Spell ✯) 』

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The ground exploded in molten fire as hellish lotus petals erupted outward, tearing apart the marble tiles in a blooming infernal ring.

Even the Pope’s golden barrier cracked under the pressure.

Helene shielded her eyes, stepping back as the pressure from Vivian’s spell crushed the atmosphere.

But the Pope wasn’t retreating.

Instead, he held his staff high.

“I name thee Vivian—Child of the Devil, Daughter of Sin, Heir to the Abyss.”

His voice rose like a sermon.

“Let heaven see you! Let the stars judge you!”

『 Divine Commandment: Anathema Seal! (✯ 9th-Level Holy Spell ✯) 』

A golden ring of runes encircled the battlefield, glowing brighter than the sun, aiming to seal Vivian in place.

Vivian’s eyes widened, just slightly.

“Tch…!”

“Vivian, move!” Helene shouted.

But Vivian didn’t dodge.

She stepped forward into the seal, shooting towards Regulus like a lightning strike.

After all, as soon as she awakened that void flame… countless new spells appeared on her mind, and she somehow felt as if she could easily control them.

BOOOOOOM!!!

They collided in the center of the burning courtyard.

Vivian’s right arm swung wide, her flames forming into a massive claw of molten embers, but the Pope countered with a blinding shield of divine radiance.

KRRRRRRSHHH!!

The moment they touched, another space crack opened above them, a jagged, dark wound in the sky itself, screaming silently as reality bent and peeled outward like paper.

“Your flames will consume everything!” Regulus roared, pressing forward, his staff crackling with golden runes.

Vivian gritted her teeth, eyes blazing.

“Then burn with me!”

『 Inferno Art: Infernal Lotus Burst! (✯ 8th-Level Spell ✯) 』

A surge of flame erupted from her back in the shape of a blooming, spiraling lotus, its petals made of pure infernal mana, each one spinning fast enough to carve through stone and steel.

They expanded outward, crashing into the Pope’s barrier—

BWOOOOOOM!!

The ground exploded, creating a crater that swallowed nearby trees and structures.

Another space crack tore open in the sky behind him, stretching wide like a screaming mouth, flickering with chaotic static.

But the Pope was still standing.

He raised his hand, and with an almost mechanical calmness, whispered:

『 Divine Mandate: Radiant Execution Field! (✯ 8th-Level Holy Spell ✯) 』

The air collapsed inward around him. Light twisted, bending unnaturally as if gravity itself had changed its mind. Then, blades of holy energy emerged from every direction.

Thousands, no—millions, were suspended midair, waiting.

And in a single motion, they all struck.

SWOOOOSH—

SHNK! SHNK—!!

They moved too fast for the eye, holy spears of light descending on Vivian’s position like judgment from every corner of heaven.

Vivian’s lips curled into a snarl.

『 Void Flame: Hell Serpent Form!!! (✯ 8th-Level Spell ✯) 』

Her body morphed, flames coiling around her like armor, serpentine and furious. The moment the spears struck—

CRASH!

CRASH!

CRAAACK!!

Her cloak devoured the hits one by one, erupting with miniature shockwaves of fire and divine force that exploded outward.

The energy was too much.

The air behind her split again, this time near her shoulder, a small, sharp vertical crack in space, shimmering and twitching unnaturally.

“Too slow, old man!” she yelled.

And vanished.

She appeared just behind him, her leg already raised.

Her heel slammed into the Pope’s ribs—

THWACK!!

But the Pope twisted midair, raising his staff like a barrier just in time to absorb the blow.

He was thrown back, skidding across the temple’s fractured floor, destroying everything in his path.

He rose slowly.

Blood trailed from his mouth now.

And he smiled.

“…You really need to die, if not, the world is going to be in danger.”

Vivian landed in front of him, crouching low, her cloak of flame shrinking slightly, pulsing.

“Maybe you’re right…” she said softly, flames curling from her fingertips.

“But I don’t care.”

The world trembled again.

And then—

『 Void Flame: Core Detonation – Heaven’s Mourning!!! (✯ 9th-Level Spell ✯) 』

It was the first ninth-level spell she had used, but she felt confident she could cast it more than a hundred times effortlessly.

From her chest, flames burst outward, forming a massive sigil in midair, twisting in design, black and red, like a flower made of knives and circles.

Its center bled with molten color.

“Vivian! That’s unstable!” Helene screamed from the sidelines.

But it was already too late.

KRAAAAAAKKOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

The spell activated.

The sigil exploded forward in a line of destruction—fire that didn’t just burn, but unmade. The ground disappeared beneath it.

Trees turned to dust before they caught fire. A vertical scar tore across the battlefield, and the world ripped open behind it.

Another space crack tore from sky to earth.

This one didn’t close.

The Pope raised both arms, light erupting in a vertical dome as he screamed:

『 Divine Aegis: Eternal Light Wall! (✯ 9th-Level Holy Spell ✯) 』

The wall held.

But barely.

It cracked.

Light shattered off in chunks like glass under pressure. The Pope’s feet dug into the ground, and his barrier faltered with a hideous groan.

Behind him, the sky itself was turning dark, as if the world were reacting to the spell.

Vivian’s body was shaking.

Her flames weren’t just unstable, they were alive and hungry.

“Ugh… Cough, cough!”

Vivian staggered a little, one knee almost buckling, her hand clutching her ribs. Black sparks crackled from her fingertips and vanished just as fast. Her skin was hot, far too hot, even for her.

Still—she grinned.

“Still standing…?” she asked, her voice rough, her chest heaving. Half a laugh escaped her lips. “Holy types really are stubborn…”

Across the battlefield, the Pope slowly lowered his staff. His robes were torn now—burnt along the sleeves, smeared with soot and blood. Even the ornate trim on his collar had melted in spots.

But it was his hands that gave him away.

They trembled slightly, but visibly.

His lips parted with a heavy breath.

“You’re not even fully awakened… and yet you cast that?” he muttered, more to himself than to her.

“That wasn’t human at all… it must be inherited memory. Ancient magic… engraved into your soul.”

He looked up, his eyes narrowing.

“You’ll become like him.”

His staff slowly rose again, and this time, there was hesitation behind the movement—not from doubt in his faith, but fear of what he saw before him.

“You’re too dangerous to be left alive.”

Vivian wiped blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, her laugh dry.

“Wow. Just gonna jump straight to divine execution, huh?”

His jaw tightened.

“You are the reason Silverleaf needed to be cleansed. You’re not just corrupted, you might be the one the prophecy spoke of…”

Helene flinched at that, watching from a shattered pillar nearby, still healing behind her barrier.

“What prophecy…?””

“…What prophecy?” Vivian froze slightly.

The Pope didn’t answer at first.

He simply raised his staff toward the sky, and a ring of golden light formed above them, an enormous halo, spinning slowly, its inner edge inscribed with a language no human tongue could speak anymore.

He began chanting in that same language, each word echoing unnaturally, shaking the heavens themselves.

『 Divine Revelation: Seven-Sign Seal of Heaven’s Law! (✯ 10th-Level Holy Spell ✯) 』

From the halo, seven beams of golden light descended toward Vivian—each one a divine chain of scripture meant not to harm… but to bind her soul.

Vivian’s eyes widened.

Her flames flared, but she staggered again, coughing more smoke.

“W-wha… w-what the hell kind of spell is that?!”

The Pope’s voice thundered.

“An execution for monsters wearing human skin, the peak level of this world! The legendary tenth-level!”

Chains of light wrapped around her ankles first.

She struggled, but her flames buckled, fought themselves, flaring against her own will.

Her arms tensed as the second and third beams wrapped around her waist and chest, locking her movement like invisible weights pressing down on her spine.

“Stop!!!”

The fourth beam struck her forehead, aiming to bind her mind.

But it didn’t settle.

Instead, it sparked.

And something beneath her skin growled.

The Pope took a single step back.

The fifth seal descended—

Vivian screamed.

“RRRAAAAGH—!!”

CRACK!

The ground split open beneath her feet. Not from the seal, but from her aura suddenly detonating.

A red-black pulse of flame burst outward, smashing through the air like a tidal wave of hellfire.

The Pope’s chant faltered.

The sixth seal shattered midair.

Vivian’s head snapped upward, her body rigid, and her eyes burned, one glowing a brilliant, furious gold, the other pitch black, as if it swallowed light itself.

And then—

BOOM!!!

The seventh seal never reached her.

A surge of fire erupted from her chest, from the center of her ribs, flames that weren’t hers. They curled in unnatural spirals, etched with glyphs not found in any magical codex, pulsing with heat that made hell jealous.

The ground trembled.

Even Regulus flinched, raising a hand to shield his eyes.

“W-what… is that…?”

CRACCK!

From the center of her forehead, just above the bridge of her nose, something split.

A line carved itself through skin and bone, and from it, two jagged horns curled backward—black as obsidian, faintly glowing with embers that flickered with every heartbeat.

Her body trembled again.

SNAP!!

From her back, two massive wings burst free, twisted things of flame and ash, their edges feathered with writhing darkness.

They unfurled slowly, casting enormous shadows across the scorched battlefield, beautiful and wrong in equal measure.

But it didn’t stop there.

With a quiet, almost delicate sound, something else slithered into existence behind her.

A long, elegant tail.

Smooth and sleek at the base, but edged with faint scales and glowing veins of light. It curled once in the air and then stilled.

The transformation wasn’t violent.

It was inevitable.

Like a mask falling away.

Vivian’s mouth opened slowly, her voice no longer quite her own.

“…Why do you tremble, little priest?”

Regulus stared, his lips parted, fingers trembling, eyes wide.

Not with anger.

But with something much deeper.

“…You…”

He barely choked out the word.

Vivian smiled, and now, her teeth were just slightly too sharp.

“I think it’s time I stop going easy on you.”