The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy-Chapter 224: Aestrea Against The World (I)

The sunlight dimmed behind thick clouds, casting the entire palace garden in a dull gray.

The sparring between the two of them had long ended.

Aestrea stood on the training platform, casually adjusting his sleeves, while Violet smiled lightly at something he said.

They looked peaceful... too peaceful.

And... far above them...a figure stood, half-shrouded by a curtain of ivy. Her hands clenched the cold stone railing tightly.

That person... was none other than Ella.

The girl who had been missing for a month or so, but strangely, for a girl who easily smiled when she saw Aestrea...

Her smile was completely gone.

And in its place... a twisted, almost childlike grin, broken and unstable, pulled at the corners of her lips.

Her eyes, those gentle blue eyes, trembled violently, glimmering with moisture... and madness.

"Hagh..."

Her breath hitched as she stared at them from above.

She hadn’t blinked in a while, and strangely, the shadow’s contours behind her danced unnaturally... as if they were actually alive.

"...He laughed."

Her voice came out in a soft yet shaky whisper.

"He laughed... with her..."

Her lips twitched unnaturally, and her breath started growing louder.

"Her."

A low snarl escaped her throat.

Violet.

Violet Von Luxuria.

"The Student Council President?"

"That frigid bitch with her crystals and fake calm voice?"

"She gets to stand beside him?"

She pressed her palm to her chest..

Thump! Thump!

Her heart thumped so violently it hurt, but she still didn’t blink, and continued staring at both of them with the same sick gaze.

"No. No no no no no no no—"

"That’s my place. He’s mine."

"Mine mine mine mine mine—"

FWOOOM!

Suddenly, her mana spiked violently, an invisible tremor vibrating through the balcony floor.

A blackish-purple aura began to emanate from her body, like smoke, in a sickly, slow, and seething manner with malice.

The nearby flowers withered instantly.

Her nails dug into her palm so deeply that blood started to run down her wrist.

Drip...

Drip...

Her voice grew higher, like a lullaby sung off-key.

"If I take her eyes... would he stop looking at her?"

"...If I take her tongue... would she stop talking to him?"

"...If I cut off her hands..."

She giggled.

"...she won’t touch what’s not hers."

The dark energy writhed around her like a living beast.

It curled around her ankles, up her legs, as if it were excited to feed on her hate.

And then...

Clap, clap!

A soft and slow clapping echoed from behind her.

Ella froze as her pupils shrank as she realized someone may have heard what she was saying, and if that somehow reached Aestrea’s ears...

Grip!

She turned around, sheathing her sword as quickly as lightning, preparing herself to deliver a direct strike that could kill.

But the moment she turned around, she found a... familiar figure.

A man.

He stood just beyond the shadows.

Leaning slightly against the balcony rail, relaxed like a noble.

His long black coat hung tight around his frame, stitched in strange patterns.

His face was completely covered by a white porcelain mask. No eyes, only two narrow vertical slits. And painted on the mask was an impossibly wide grin, stretching from cheek to cheek in a horrid arc.

Slicked-back dark hair trailed behind his shoulders, tied with a thin crimson ribbon.

"...Pardon the intrusion, dear princess," he said in a singsong voice.

His voice was quite warm which gave her shivers, like a snake coiling around your throat with a velvet ribbon.

He bowed deeply, one hand across his chest.

"My name is..."

He gave a sudden, theatrical spin, throwing invisible confetti in the air.

"...Kagetaro Kurohare." His voice rang like a bell.

Ella stared at him silently, blood still dripping from her hand.

Kagetaro tilted his head slowly.

"I saw your eyes," he whispered. "So full of love~ So full of hate."

He chuckled, the sound like a rattling bell.

"That man. The silver-haired boy. Aestrea... yes?"

Ella’s eye twitched.

"...Don’t say his name."

Kagetaro didn’t flinch.

Instead, he clapped his hands lightly. "Wonderful. Beautiful. Passion... obsession... you remind me of my younger self~"

"So raw... so hungry... so beautifully broken~"

He leaned in just slightly, close enough for her to see his painted smile glimmer.

"She doesn’t deserve him," he whispered.

"Does she?"

Ella’s eye twitched at his words; after all, his words were directly expressing her thoughts.

Her breathing became jagged.

"...No."

Kagetaro’s masked face tilted again, like a curious puppet.

"You want him back?"

"Yes."

"You want her dead?"

"Yes."

"You want every woman who’s ever looked at him to beg at your feet and scream for mercy?"

"...Yes."

Kagetaro clapped once.

"Ah! A perfect answer!"

He suddenly raised his hand.

SWISH—

Black petals began swirling around them. Not flowers, but fragments of something. Broken memories, a huge amount of regret, and anger.

All torn from the echoes of despair...

They floated around Ella, brushing against her skin, whispering to her.

"Take him back..."

"Kill them all..."

"Keep him forever..."

Kagetaro outstretched his hand, slow and elegant.

"I can offer you power," he whispered maliciously.

"The kind of power that can tear gods from their thrones... and bind the man you love to your side for all eternity."

She stared at the petals.

They seemed to be pulsing with her heartbeat.

"You can make them all pay. You can give him a world where only you exist."

He took a step closer.

"Do you want it?"

Ella didn’t even hesitate.

She looked up with a twisted smile, blood still on her chin.

"...Give it to me."

As soon as she said those words, Kagetaro’s masked face seemed to grin wider.

"Then let us begin," he said softly.

And then...

The petals surrounded Ella’s body, and the shadows swallowed her whole, leaving Kagetaro alone for a moment.

His masked face tilted downward slightly, his gaze locked not on Ella anymore, but far, far below.

There, on the field...

Aestrea.

Still casually chatting with Violet.

The two of them were walking, perhaps talking about the spar, maybe something mundane.

Aestrea’s posture was relaxed. His hands were folded behind his back. His silver hair caught the breeze as his low chuckle echoed faintly.

The sight made Kagetaro’s body tremble with excitement.

"Ahhh~ he’s still smiling..."

A small giggle escaped him...

"Pffft—AHAHAHAHA!"

He laughed wildly, spinning once in a small circle like a child on a carnival ride.

"The first step is complete... yes yes yes yes yes~~ Ella has become corrupted, and she doesn’t even know the depth of it yet~!"

He clapped softly, like he was watching a stage performance.

"The perfect start to our beautiful tragedy..."

Then, his voice lowered, more thoughtful. He walked in slow, elegant steps, circling, as if pacing a mental chessboard.

"Now... who should I ruin next...?"

He looked toward Violet.

She was glancing up toward Aestrea with that soft, unreadable expression of hers.

Kagetaro squinted.

"Hmmm... Her?"

"...Nah."

He clicked his tongue.

"He doesn’t look at her like that. There’s affection, sure. But not that kind. Not the kind that’ll break him."

He tilted his head... slowly... then smiled wider.

"...But who says I have to choose just one?"

He raised both hands to the sky, like a preacher addressing a congregation of gods.

"I’ll just kill everyone he holds dear."

"I’ll tear them from his life one by one, make them turn against him, betray him, abandon him, bleed for him, cry for him... beg for help that never comes... all while he watches."

His voice grew more guttural as he spoke.

"Then..." he whispered, eyes glimmering behind the mask, "just then... he’ll finally awaken."

He pressed his fingertips together, shivering slightly with anticipation.

"That beautiful power inside him... still dormant. Still sealed."

"But pain... despair... desperation... that’s what breaks the shell."

He grinned under his mask.

"I want to see it. I want to see it shatter."

"And when it does..." he licked the inside of his cheek, as if tasting the idea itself.

"I’ll be the first to greet the real Aestrea... oops~ or should I say..." ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"Luntheris?"

"Eheehe...ahahaha~, I can’t wait for that moment~"

But suddenly, as he was laughing...

Fwoom!

The shadows behind him stirred again, as the black petals began to swirl once more.

And from the center of them... a form emerged.

Her steps were light, but each one seemed to bend the shadows underfoot.

Long white hair, glowing faintly...

Soft blue eyes... now tinged with a sick, twisted glimmer of hunger.

Her aura was no longer human, twisted like a blade of glass dipped in poison.

Ella.

Or rather...

What was left of her.

She stepped through the petal mist, her gaze shifting slightly toward Kagetaro. He immediately dropped to one knee, placing a fist over his chest.

That smile never left his lips.

"Welcome back..."

His voice was soft... and reverent.

"...Vessel of Destruction."

Ella raised her chin. Her bare feet hovered just slightly off the ground, her dark aura rising like a mist.

She stared at him with no emotions, but there was a hint of... hunger.

So much hunger behind those cold blue eyes.

"...Mhm," she murmured, her voice now beautifully cruel, each word sounding like a velvet dagger.

"At least you have some respect... mortal."

Kagetaro let out a soft chuckle, not moving an inch.

Then, Ella stretched out a single hand.

A mirror appeared in the air before her. Its frame is ornate with coiling serpents wrapping around a violet gem at the top.

She stared at her reflection.

Long white hair.

Cold, delicate features.

Blue eyes like moonlight over ice.

She tilted her head slightly.

"...This look is far too pure," she muttered softly.

"For someone like me."

Her reflection smiled back.

A cruel, poisonous smile.

"...But he seems to like it~" she whispered, glancing toward the distance, where Aestrea stood with Violet.

"So I’ll keep it... for now~"

Her voice rose in a sing-song tone, followed by a soft, deranged giggle. Kagetaro still knelt, his eyes watching her every movement with adoration.

But then he spoke, gently...

"...Pardon my disrespect, my Lady..."

She raised a brow, looking down at him lazily.

"Hm~?"

"...What are your plans now?" he asked curiously, his head tilting slowly again. "Will you destroy her first? Violet? Or perhaps... seduce him before she can~?"

There was a small pause.

"...Mine?" Ella’s tone changed completely, turning low and almost threatening. "A mere mortal like you doesn’t have the right to know my plans."

FWSHH—

Her form blurred, and in a blink, she was gone.

The black petals scattered like dying leaves.

But Kagetaro... didn’t panic, he didn’t even blink as if he expected that something like that was going to happen.

He simply stood back up slowly, placing a hand on the mask covering his face.

And then...

CRACK—!

He dug his fingers into it, snapping it in half, ripping it from his own face. Blood trailed down from beneath the porcelain, dripping across his lips.

He licked it.

Eyes wide with joy.

"...Ah~ I cannot wait for the day I see Aestrea..."

"...completely broken."

"...Screaming. Alone. Drenched in blood and regret."

He laughed quietly.

Like a lullaby sung to a coffin.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by fre(e)webnov(l).com