The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy-Chapter 404: The Beginning Of The End [LXVI]
Capítulo 404: The Beginning Of The End [LXVI]
“Mhm…”
Aestrea thoughtfully looked at the sword in his hands, slowly rotating it as the faint hum of divinity pulsed along its edge.
The sword seemed almost eager, swallowing the ambient mana around it without restraint.
“Should I test it out?” he muttered, just loud enough.
Then, very deliberately, he turned his head toward the two of them.
Everything went silent.
Pure, suffocating silence.
Kael was the first to react.
“NOPE,” he said immediately, scrambling backward on the stone floor. “Absolutely not. I refuse. I am not part of this test. I am a civilian.”
Tyrian opened his mouth to say something reasonable.
But instead…
“WAIT WAIT WAIT—!” he yelped, immediately copying Kael and jumping back as well.
“Let’s talk this through! Calm discussion! No sudden movements! That sword deletes gods, Aestrea!”
Aestrea tilted his head slightly.
“…You’re both retreating.”
“That’s called survival instinct!” Kael snapped.
“You should try it sometime!”
Aestrea raised the sword just a little.
Both of them froze.
Tyrian’s face went pale.
“H-hold on. There are rules to testing divine artifacts! You need a controlled environment! Sacrificial mountains! Preferably empty continents!”
The hum of the sword deepened.
Tyrian’s eyes widened.
“…Oh no.”
He immediately dropped to his knees next to Kael.
“I TAKE IT BACK,” Tyrian shouted.
“I DON’T WANT TO KNOW HOW IT WORKS ANYMORE!”
“I WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE OLD AND RICH!” Kael slapped the ground dramatically.
“I WAS SUPPOSED TO WRITE A BOOK!” Tyrian added, panic fully setting in.
“A VERY BORING BUT IMPORTANT BOOK!”
Aestrea adjusted his grip slighly.
The air creaked.
“IT’S GETTING HEAVIER! IT’S JUDGING US!” Tyrian screamed.
“I CAN FEEL MY ANCESTORS STARING!” Kael howled.
“THEY’RE DISAPPOINTED!”
Aestrea raised the sword higher.
Swish…!
Dust lifted from the ground as the divine pressure thickened, pressing down on their shoulders like an invisible sky collapsing.
Kael pressed his forehead into the stone.
“MOM! DAD! I’M SORRY I NEVER BECAME A HERO!”
“MASTER! I SHOULD’VE LISTENED MORE! I SHOULD’VE STAYED IN THE LIBRARY!” Tyrian followed immediately, slamming his head down as well.
Aestrea took one step forward.
They screamed in perfect unison.
“DON’T SWING IT!!!”
“…Pfft.”
The pressure suddenly vanished as Aestrea lowered the sword.
“Hahaha!”
He genuinely laughed, his shoulders shaking as he bent slightly forward.
“…You’re laughing?” Kael lifted his head slowly.
“…This was a joke?” Tyrian did the same, his eyes practically had red veins trying to crawl out of them.
Aestrea wiped a tear from his eye.
“I haven’t laughed like that in a while.”
Thud!
“I saw my entire life flash before my eyes,” Kael collapsed flat on his back, staring at the ceiling where the giant hole Aestrea had carved.
“…I died three times in my head,” Tyrian lay next to him.
Aestrea smiled faintly at those words.
“So?”
He glanced down at them.
“How convincing was it?”
“You’re evil.”
“Absolutely irredeemable.”
Aestrea looked back at the Heaven Swallowing Sword and muttered lightly,
“Good. It’s behaving properly.”
His gaze lingered on the blade as he turned it once in his hand and gave it a casual swing that didn’t contain any power whatsoever.
‘…Mhm. It feels quite nice in my hand… but not as much as Midnight. Ehh… in the end, I still prefer Midnight over this Heaven Swallowing Sword.’
‘Well, I’ll keep it on my dimensional storage.’
Fwooom!
As if responding to his thoughts, the blade suddenly shimmered. A faint red glow ran across its surface, giving off a strangely… offended presence.
Aestrea blinked.
“…Did it just get annoyed?”
He tilted his head slightly, then turned toward Tyrian.
“Do these kinds of godly artifacts have a consciousness?”
“Oh!” Tyrian instantly sat up, his casual posture disappearing as his eyes locked onto the sword in Aestrea’s hand.
“Yes. They do. All godly-grade artifacts do, at least the true ones.”
He swallowed before continuing.
“The most famous example is Excalibur. That thing has an actual sword spirit. It judges, chooses, and sometimes refuses to move altogether.”
Aestrea hummed thoughtfully, then glanced back at the blade.
“…Did it try to talk to you?” Tyrian asked carefully.
“I wouldn’t say talking… but I somehow felt what it was… feeling?”
“Really?!” Tyrian’s eyes widened.
His tone shifted instantly, excitement creeping in.
“What was it?”
Aestrea paused for a moment.
“…Annoyance.”
Tyrian froze.
“…Annoyance?” he repeated slowly. “Why? Did you do something to offend it? Reject it? Threaten it?”
“Not really,” Aestrea said honestly, shaking his head.
“I just thought that I prefer my old sword more than this one.”
He frowned slightly.
“…I guess it can read my thoughts.”
Silence followed.
Then Tyrian’s face went completely pale.
“W-wait,” he stammered, his voice trembling.
“Did you just say it read your thoughts?”
“Yeah. Why?” Aestrea turned toward him fully, and seeing Tyrian’s expression, he frowned slightly.
“Is that… not normal?”
Tyrian stared at him like he was looking at a walking disaster.
“Aestrea…” he uttered slowly before swallowing hard.
“That sword might have… forced a contract with you.”
Aestrea’s eyes widened.
“…It what?”
“IT WHAT?!”
Tyrian took a deep breath, then another, as if trying to calm himself before explaining something that even he didn’t fully like talking about.
“There’s… a phenomenon called Sword Sacrifice.”
Kael, who had been lying flat on his back moments ago, instantly sat up.
“That already sounds bad,” he muttered.
Tyrian ignored him and kept his eyes on the Heaven Swallowing Sword.
“It only happens with swords that possess a true consciousness,” he continued. “Not fake spirits or simply fragments. An actual will, like a living being has.”
Aestrea remained quiet, listening to his words.
“A Sword Sacrifice is when a blade chooses, or forces itself onto a single wielder,” Tyrian explained.
“It offers everything it has. Its authority, its power, its existence. From that moment on, the sword and the wielder are no longer separate.”
He swallowed.
“If the wielder dies… the sword dies with them.”
“Okay, that part was already insane, but it keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?” Kael’s face stiffened.
“Yes,” Tyrian said flatly.
“Because it goes both ways.”
He looked straight at Aestrea.
“If the sword breaks… the wielder dies too.”
Silence dropped heavily around them.
Aestrea glanced down at the blade in his hand. The Heaven Swallowing Sword rested quietly now, its earlier annoyance completely gone, almost… satisfied.
“…So it’s basically suicide romance,” Kael muttered weakly.
“That’s one way to put it,” Tyrian replied. “A forced contract that binds both sides completely. No undoing it. No separation.”
Aestrea didn’t react much. He simply turned the sword slightly, watching how light slid perfectly along its edge.
“…Interesting,” he said.
Tyrian’s eye twitched.
“Interesting?” he echoed.
“Aestrea, this thing might have tied its existence to yours without asking.”
“It didn’t feel hostile,” Aestrea replied calmly.
“More like… stubborn.”
“Of course, it picked you. Even swords are possessive now.” Kael groaned.
Aestrea’s smile twitched at Kael’s words.
‘…If all godly-grade artifacts have a consciousness… Midnight wouldn’t be jealous if I used the Heaven Swallowing Sword instead of it… right?’
Tyrian ran a hand through his hair, clearly stressed.
“The Heaven Swallowing Sword was said to reject entire armies,” he continued.
“It crushed gods just for daring to touch it. The Demon God of Destruction was the only one it acknowledged… and now…”
He stopped himself and stared at Aestrea again.
“…Now it’s reading your thoughts and getting annoyed when you compare it to another sword.”
Aestrea hummed softly.
“It’s crazy to think that it forced a contract with me, but if it was sealed for a long time, it explains why it chose me.”
“This explains nothing!” Kael shouted. “You casually picked up a legendary suicide sword like it was a stick from the ground!”
Aestrea finally smiled faintly.
“Well, if it did force a contract, then it already knows the risk.”
“What do you mean by that?” Tyrian stiffened.
Aestrea’s crimson eyes flickered briefly.
“…It wouldn’t bind itself to someone it thought could die easily.”
The Heaven Swallowing Sword gave off a faint, pleased hum.
Tyrian slowly exhaled.
“…I hate that it agrees with you.”
Kael stared at the sword, then at Aestrea, then back at the sword.
“Next time, please warn us before ancient divine artifacts decide to emotionally commit to you.”
“Am I supposed to know that this shit was going to happen?” Aestrea was bewildered by his words.
“Just fucking do!” Kael snapped, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
“The weirdest shit always happens with you! You literally made the Goddess of Lust… what was it… transform into a Goddess of Loyalty or something!”
“You seduced one of the most beautiful goddesses in the entire academy, our very respectable Student Council President!”
“You’re… you’re overpowered as fuck!” Kael shouted, pacing back and forth.
“Even in the lower realms, a Goddess of… god knows who, was always looking over you! And now…”
He stopped, took a deep breath, and pointed a finger at Aestrea.
“The sword that’s probably the strongest sword in existence just forced a contract with you! Are you the chosen one or something?!”
Kael complained.
“…I just happen to be at the right place, at the right time.”
“YOU DAMN FUCKEEERRRR!” Kael roared, charging forward as if to strangle him.
“…And I thought I’d seen everything…” Tyrian pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath.
Kael suddenly froze mid-lunge, a hand on his chin.
“…Wait a second… maybe, I am the chosen one. I was the one that did find this place after all…”
Both Aestrea and Tyrian rolled their eyes at his words.
But well… no one would be able to cure his stupidity.
Chapter 404: The Beginning Of The End [LXVI]
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