I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor - Chapter 76



Chapter 76

“Life is a journey of seeking light through suffering, Millio.”

These words came from a storybook my mother read to me on sleepless nights when I was young.

Perhaps it was something said to a hero who had been disheartened by the Demon King, by a companion and lover.

Though I did not grasp the difficult concepts of suffering and light, my mother’s words were deeply etched in my mind even at that tender age, becoming a milestone to endure the hard times.

—You, of lowly birth, dare to call yourself the firstborn…

—S-survive, Millio.

—Mother!

Born as the firstborn and the illegitimate son of a baron, even when I was abandoned by my father and barely escaped my home planet through my mother’s sacrifice.

– What? You’re a noble? Ha! If you’re a noble, then I’m an elf! Hand over your money!

– Mom, over there…

– Child, don’t look at such things.

When I was robbed of the little money I had saved for travel, and spent nights homeless, drenched in the cold dew of the streets.

– Y-you, Milio!

– What? I asked for a rookie, not some scrawny wretch… Tch. Forget it. Hey, go and bury your head until morning.

– I-I must have misheard?

– You heard me just fine, you b*stard!

In the end, unable to withstand hunger and scorn, I enlisted voluntarily, enduring a military life that bordered on abuse.

– Gahhh!

– M-medic! Where’s the medic?

– Shot first! Damn it!

As a conscript, I experienced murder for the first time, lost an arm, crossed countless battle lines, became an officer, and replaced half my body with implants.

– …M-Milio. Please, we’re brothers.

– Y-yeah, what we did back then… So, um. P-please, just let me live!

After the long, nightmarish period of mandatory service, I returned to my beloved yet loathsome homeland, leading my comrades, and stained my hands with the blood of my kin.

“Mother.”

Milio von Alzasren.

He endured his pain, chewing over those words his mother left him throughout his life.

And finally, alongside his comrades, he reclaimed the lost title of baron.

Moreover, having married his dear friend and lover, Isabel, who had crossed the battle lines with him, and with the birth of their daughter Tanya, he thought all suffering had ended, that he had found the light he had longed for.

“Cough…!”

Yes, he truly thought so.

If he had known that such a flimsy and pitiful hope would shatter like broken glass, he would have never dared to expect such light.

“Ahhh!”

“O God…! Have you forsaken us?”

The screams of the people, echoing from the ruined mansion and beyond the castle, tangled chaotically in his ears.

They were the subjects who, escaping the tyranny of a greedy half-brother, found happiness even with a grain of hope in their starving bellies.

Neither human nor elf was spared.

Though their lifespans may differ, they are all beings who feel joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—those who belong to him.

Yet, the tranquility of this land, which he had sworn to cherish and claimed as his rightful possession, shattered in an instant.

Kugugugugung—.

As the sun dipped low, the afternoon flowed like clouds welcoming twilight. The sky split in two, and the earth was scattered with erosion spikes.

It was the beginning of hell, without any forewarning.

If the Apocalypse were to manifest in reality, would it not resemble this scene?

“……The sky.”

“V-vacuum rift!?”

“Alert the Baron at once! C-creatures!”

The knights and soldiers of the baron’s house, grasping the gravity of the situation, hastily sent word to Milio von Alzasren, the newly appointed baron.

He immediately launched his flagship and dispatched his troops, but with only a single planet under his domain, the baron’s forces were utterly swept away by the creatures.

[The flagship Versailles has run aground!]

[Graaah!]

The admiral of the baron’s forces, who had willingly taken to the aging flagship to defend the skies of his territory, fell with nothing but a dying scream.

“There’s no end to this! At this rate, the shelter will…!”

“Stop them! We must hold them back, no matter what!”

The knights and soldiers, rushing in to save the civilians being slaughtered in their homes, found themselves isolated.

“We must request aid from the nearby noble houses, even now!”

“Where do you propose we ask for help? Can we even hold out? Baron! You must escape now! Even if it means losing the baron’s territory…!”

“Is that even something you should say?!”

“Damn it! What do you suggest we do then? Get a grip! We’re just a barony of a mere hundred million!”

The vassals, having heard the news of the creatures already gnawing at the outskirts of the Empire, trembled in fear, raising their voices in panic.

In the end, Milio von Alzasren had to make a choice.

He gestured to his knights, his comrades, and spoke, breaking this meeting devoid of substance and honor.

“Even if we request support, there will be no one to answer. We will protect our homeland.”

There were no further words to be said.

Leaving behind the murmurs of his faltering vassals, he stepped outside.

Then, leading his silent guard, he gazed upon the creatures that had already approached the very doorstep of his stronghold, and the void rift that split the black sky like a malignant tumor, murmuring softly.

“……Not for the Emperor, but for us.”

It was a dangerous sentiment for a noble of the Empire to utter, yet none cared, for he and his comrades had served in the Imperial army and had seen the shadow of the Empire.

There was a reason he had given up on requests for aid, whether from the nearby fief or the central imperial forces.

Since he had been conscripted into the imperial army against his will, the empire he faced until his retirement as an officer was a hell brimming with thorough contradictions and irrationality.

The central forces, named the imperial army, were employed solely to protect the central planetary system known as the Imperial Capital and the pro-emperor faction.

Moreover, the empire was feudal.

If he were to incur a debt to the emperor or any other noble now, the only future awaiting him in the baronial house would be one of endless exploitation and forced loyalty.

‘It’s questionable whether help will even arrive in time.’

He closed his eyes, staring into the void cracks pouring down like an unending rain, and soon drew forth the mana, known as psionic energy in the United Human Synthesis, to unsheathe his sword.

“Knights. Draw swords.”

The knights clad in carbinium alloy armor followed his command, drawing their swords in unison, and without hesitation, they hurled themselves at the creatures crawling up the battlements.

—Kyaaa!

—Kigigigigik!

Thus, the knights fought until night fell.

They tore apart creatures, slashed them down.

They summoned mana to scatter flashes of light, and when thirsty, drank the creatures’ blood; when hungry, they ripped flesh and shoved it into their mouths.

Yet, their numbers did not dwindle.

From noble mtl dot com

Kugugugugung!

The sounds of battle from the habitation zone faded, the outer fortress crumbled, and just as the inner walls were about to give way.

“Haak, huff….”

Milio, with his severed arm trailing behind him, moved into the inner fortress, leaving the rear to the knights.

“Izabel. Tanya.”

His half-dazed mind sought out the two.

The walls had not yet fallen, but several eroded protrusions had lodged into the inner fortress.

His lifelong companion, Izabel. And Tanya, his own doppelgänger.

No matter what happened to him, he had to ensure their survival.

“Life is… seeking light amidst suffering. Cough!”

Having rolled through the battlefield his entire life, he knew all too well.

The fate of this planet had already been sealed.

How many of the ten million would survive?

And how many days of life remained for them?

Moreover, he had seen.

On the day he resolved to retire from the battlefield, the moment ‘it’ revealed itself from the skies, thousands of kilometers away, he understood that all resistance was futile.

‘Just the two, just the two.’

If he could save them both by sacrificing the lives of all the realm’s people, he would do so willingly.

Isn’t it a selfish and repugnant thought?

If it is too much, he would gladly accept his punishment.

Only, let those small breaths remain.

With a staggering body, he walked through the corridor of the stronghold, already soaked in blood, until he finally reached the bedroom where his wife and daughter lay.

And the moment he opened the door, he could do nothing but collapse, letting out a scream filled with despair.

“Ah, aaah…! Uwaaah!”

His bloodshot eyes trembled.

Was it his body that was crumbling, or the last shred of hope that had sustained him?

Like a puppet with its strings cut, he fell, clawing at his eyes as if to dig them out, yet the scene before him did not change.

“Isabel, Tanya. Ah, aaah! Uwaaah!”

What lay scattered in the bedroom was flesh and bone, barely the size of a small puppy when gathered, and, ironically, the faces of the two women twisted in agony.

Perhaps because they had already finished their meal, there were no creatures in the room.

Only beyond the gaping wall could he see the realm filled with human corpses and the endless tide of creatures surging forth.

“Ah, aaah.”

A voice like a beast escaped from his cracked lips, but soon, with tear-filled eyes, he gazed at the sky, where ‘it’ loomed—the very thing he had feared and ultimately could not help but break his heart over.

Standing upon the void of despair, it appeared to wear a dress as dark as the abyss, yet in truth, it was merely a grotesque creature clad in an exoskeleton resembling a human form.

“Queen…”

A nightmare from the past that had obliterated the borders of the empire with its mere presence.

「Prototype Superior Species: Legion-Class Adversarial Entity」

「Code Name: Queen」

Instead of succumbing to despair before the grotesque creature, he gritted his teeth and rose, lifting his head with disheveled hair.

The queen’s haughty, arrogant, indifferent, and contemptuous violet gaze looked down upon him.

‘I will kill.’

Even if this life were to end, even if he had to forsake everything he had longed for, he would covet her life.

He grasped his sword and poured all his remaining mana into a swing aimed at the void.

No, he tried to swing.

—Children. They call. For me.

As if whispering right beside him, the queen’s voice resonated with an oppressive weight that stifled even breath, a moment that would have been grasped had he not dropped his sword.

“Ah, ah…”

– Here, there is none. What we seek.

The queen uttered words heavy with meaning, extending her hand toward all the creatures that wrought slaughter upon the land.

In response, the void turtles that had landed on the shore began to split their grotesque shells and bellies, voraciously devouring the creatures, while those unable to board or who had lost control began to burst apart.

〔My lord, Baron! They are strange!〕

At the same time, communication was restored, and the surviving soldiers frantically reached out, but he could hear none of their voices.

All the vengeance he had harbored just moments ago faded, replaced by an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

His vision darkened, and his body trembled like a prey before a predator.

Yes, just like that moment on the battlefield.

How much time had passed?

Finally, he managed to regain his senses, and as he opened his eyes, he could not help but burst into a mad laugh at the scene unfolding before him.

“Ha, hahahahahahaha!”

The beings that had ravaged the planet just moments ago vanished into the blackened sky of the void rift.

The queen was nowhere to be seen.

Only the bright dawn of the rising sun filled the emptiness left behind.

〔Baron! It’s a miracle! They are retreating!〕

〔Waaah!〕

Through the communicator, voices of jubilation echoed.

“Ha, heh, hahahahahahaha!”

Yet, after laughing for what felt like an eternity, Milio, having dropped his sword without even swinging it, leaned it against the ground at an angle, laughing as if in a daze, slowly releasing the tension from his body.

Thud-.

The sword slid into his flesh, piercing his heart.

He relinquished control over his body, which was desperately regenerating its depleted mana, and with trembling fingertips, he embraced the heads of his wife and daughter, closing his eyes.

Tatata!

“My lord, Baron!”

At last, the knights who sensed the anomaly discovered only the already cold, stiffened corpse of Baron Milio.

*

And at that moment.

“……”

As Jin Crow stepped out of the mansion, he caught sight of something in a dress slowly revealing itself alongside the gaping void in the sky, and he took a drag from his cigarette.

“…Shit. This wasn’t part of the plan.”

It was a curse spat out in a voice laced with fear, a rarity for him.