Academy's Strongest?

Chapter 3 : Cultist

‘What kind of body did the enemy have? The punch, full force of my punch, couldn’t take off its head?’ But Lucas couldn’t continue his train of thought as dozens of presences suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surrounding him and the knights.

A voice was heard within the shadows as glowing red eyes looked at Lucas’s company. “Number one, what are you doing? Rushing out like that.”

The figure stepped forward into the torch’s light. He was wearing a mask with a giant beak like a bird, and a long trench coat. He then took his hat and bowed towards Lucas as dozens of people wearing similar outfits revealed themselves.

“You’re a plague doctor!? How dare you show yourself here!” Lucas intent to kill swallowed the entire hallway.

“Ohhh… As expected of the former knight commander, Lucas. The sinner’s executioner, I heard a lot about you from my seniors. They say you’re the one with the most cultist kills before the true gods descended!” He then got into the same combat stance as Lucas.

“How do you know that stance?” Lucas’s voice contained anger and confusion.

“Well… Here is my service just for you, my dear customer!” He ripped open his clothing, revealing the faces of people stuck on his body.

“…”

“What do you think, executioner! Your master and fellow disciples are stitched into my flesh. Hahahahahaha? Show me the real you!” Lucas dropped his stance, his eyes became unfocused, and he gave out one command.

“I will take care of that sinner! You can have the others!” His voice carried no hint of anger anymore.

“Yes, sir! (That creepy dude is so f****d, sir. Lucas is super pissed).”They all answered and thought at the same time.

“Talk about boring? Show a more explosive reaction, will you-!” Lucas fist was already buried in his face, but due to the body modification on his body, it was similar to rubber. The attack just bounced off him as his head snapped back into place.

“Was that all you got, executioner! You've gotten weak… It’s disappointing, honestly. As a last respect for the warrior that you are, I shall send you to the lord with one blow.” He lunged at Lucas with a flurry of jabs, but they were deflected. Lucas caught his wrist and pulled him down as a knee intercepted his face, making it stretch from the impact.

“Hahahahaha… It’s not gonna work on me.” His limbs suddenly extended at lightning speed, rushing toward Lucas. While Lucas avoided all of the attacks coming his way with minimal movement and unleashed a counter on the plague doctor’s chest, it was stopped as the doctor’s body twisted inhumanly, wrapping Lucas’s hand.

“Really do not learn, do you? Your attack cannot hurt me. Therefore, I suggest you just give up.”

“Haaa… You sure are impatient. Form spear!” The doctor’s chest has been pierced through, leaving a massive hole, as Lucas follows it up with a blast of concentrated aura from his palm. Only the plague doctor’s legs remained standing.

“Get up. I know you can heal that amount of damage, sinner.” At his words, the plague doctor’s legs bulged up, and flesh and bones regrew within an instant. The doctor’s appearance was renewed as the faces stitched on his body vanished and were replaced with smooth skin.

“Damn it! You sharp man!” He flung his limbs around the hallway, making them bounce off the walls. Lucas stepped back, but the doctor’s hand bounced off the floor and chased him as he deflected the attack, but to no avail, as the arms just bounced off the floor with a sudden increase in speed. It lunged at Lucas’s neck, but he avoided the fatal hit by backflipping- but not all of it, as blood slid down his neck.

“I finally got a hit!” The plague doctor retracted his arms and licked his bloodied hands.

“Hmm!? ahhh-.” The doctor’s body was disintegrated by an aura blast of Lucas, and within an instant he regenerated as if nothing happened. He extended his arms again, making them bounce off the walls at extreme speed as the sound of air crackling was heard.

‘When I fired my attack the first time, his mana color was blue, but it changed to black with a mix of bits of red. Is that even possible, as human mana does not change over time? Or is there something within this hallway that supports that change?’ Lucas thought while dodging the attacks, and his eyes scanned the surroundings.

“What are you thinking about, executioner!!” The plague doctor’s attacks intensified as a small wound began to bleed from Lucas body.

“Got you!” From the floor, another hand gripped Lucas ankles and pulled him over. The plague doctor mustered up a punch and unleashed it toward Lucas, but it was blocked by lucas’s arm reinforced with aura. The doctor smiled and fired a concentrated beam of black mana, causing Lucas to encase himself in aura. As a last resort, Lucas sent out balls of pure aura towards that plague doctor, but he simply moved out of the way, avoiding the attacks completely.

Lucas dropped to one knee on the crumbled floor as his arms began to darken due to the black mana slowly entering his body. “Well, be glad, executioner; the true god wants you as his believer! Now take my hand and liberate this forsaken world!”

Lucas hand slowly moved, stopped, and closed with only his middle finger standing up. “f**k your god!”

Luca delivery and palm strike on the plague doctor’s chest and abdomen and putting two hole on his body. Sending the doctor back a couple of steps as his expression was replaced with disappointment at Lucas’s reply.

“Haaa … This is why non-believers should be purged. They never learned. I cannot be harmed because I am under the true god’s protecti–!?” His wound didn't regenerate as Lucas's smile turned wider and wider.

“True god’s protection? You mean that magic circle over there.” Lucas pointed at the destroyed magic circle drawn on the ceiling.

“Now we're on equal footing. Do your worst, sinner.”

“How dare you assume a believer and non-believer such as yourself is equal to my holy self. Die!” Attacks came from all angles as the plague doctor sprouted multiple arms from his body.

“I already experienced that! Do you have any more tricks?” Lucas casually remarked as not a single one managed to hit him, even though he was standing still.

‘Why isn't my attack hitting? No, It’s my hands purposely missing him? Why?’

“You know my patron doesn’t like seeing me hurt, and you wounded me. She is pissed right now.” At Lucas statement, the entire hallway was bathed in white flames that engulfed both allies and enemies alike.

“What is this disgusting flame? Arghhhhhhh!” The plague doctor’s body slowly melted as the white flames couldn’t be extinguished. No flesh, bones, or even ashes were left after he was purified by the flames.

The knights emerged from the white flame as the flames attached to their wounds and healed them. “Sir Lucas, please give us a warning before lighting the entire place on fire.”

“Where is the other one?” He asked, but the knight's silence already gave him the answer he needed.

“Haaaa … I expected this, but to think there is a traitor among knights.”

“Could you pl-!” Lucas raised his arm, stopping the knight from speaking.

“Don’t worry I will published to the public that he died during the cultist’s attack and prepare a compensation for the innocent family but that is if they truly innocent that is? Understand!”

“Yes sir!”

“Let us continue!” They ran straight, following the hallway, and found two giant rooms across from each other and a staircase leading further below.

“Let’s begin with this room on the right.” Lucas kicked the door open and found dozens upon dozens of bookshelves filled with brown books. He walked to one of the bookshelves and took one book, but upon touching.

“This is a human skin book! And the other are probably too.” The knights, hearing Lucas’s words, jolted in disgust. Without wasting a single second, Lucas burned the entire book, and from the burning book, black smog emerged and rose into the air, gathering into one.

Seeing this, Lucas sent out a fireball into the gathering of smog, but to his surprise, it was shrouded by the flame.

A voice appeared within Lucas’s mind. ‘Lucas, lend your body. ’

‘Gladly, my master.’

Lucas eyes emit white flames as his body is engulfed by the flames and transformed into a woman’s body. What emerged from the flame was a woman with flaming white hair wielding a huge golden hammer.

“Knight of men! Retreat; this is a battle you cannot participate in.” At her words, the knight immediately bolted out of the room.

She snapped her fingers, putting a barrier on the room. “This should do? Come out, vermin!”

The smog formed a humanoid appearance and began to speak. “WHY @#%!&!%*!%(!%%@&*%$!&^%%!&^%!%^!?”

“Get out of this world, outsider!”

“@#%!^&!%&!%*!^!*^!*!*(^!*!(&!^(!^1)(!”

“I see. Then, as one of this world’s protectors, I shall banish you!” She pulled the smog into her divine domain. As the smog was placed on the scale, she appeared as a giant holding the scales. The smog tried to leap out of the scale, but due to the characteristics of her domain, it was pinned down. While she put a white flame on the other scale, tipping the balance.

“I banished you!”

The smog disappeared as it let out one final word. “I @(!(!* retuR@!”

She exited her domain and returned to the room as she apologized to her believer. “I am sorry, my child!”

‘It’s fine, Master Athena; there is no other choice at the moment. It was an honor to contribute to the safety of the world.’

“….” Athena was silent, as the one who takes on the consequences of a divine descent is the believer, and this time she used quite a lot of divinity to banish the outer from the world. The white flame dissipated, and Lucas body returned to normal.

“Ughh!” The pain seeped into every part of his body as he coughed up blood and his vision became dark, his right arm became numb, and legs lost its srenght to continue standing.

“Please don’t blame yourself, Master Athena. It was for the good of this world.” The knights entered the room and found Lucas unconscious on the floor.