In one of the empty hallways in the auxiliary building…

Running at his top speed, Straf glances over his shoulder. The wraith emerges from the smoke, sliding towards him and quickly catching up.

「Shit! If only I had something that could damage this fucking thing!-」

Straf's eyes open wide, and he reaches into his [Portable Storage]. He pulls out the mundane-looking iron sword, and focuses his eyes on it. A text-filled tooltip appears.

『Hoperender』

[Blessed] [Durable] [Blessing: Self-repair] [Blessing: Extended durability] [Blessing: Undeadbane] [Blessing: Demonbane] [Blessing: Homing strike] [Blessing: Mana strike] [Blessing: Return] [Blessing: Soulburn] [Blessing: Virtuous restraint]

An iron sword. The weapon has been blessed by Mercia and bestowed with boons.

Self-repair enables 『Hoperender』 to repair damage by consuming user's mana. The process accelerates when more severely damaged.

Extended durability boosts natural durability of the weapon.

Undeadbane causes aggravated damage to『Undead』type creatures, such as『Vampire』or『Ghoul』sub-type.

Demonbane causes aggravated damage to『Demon』type creatures, such as『Fiend』or『Succubus』sub-type.

Homing strike guides the sword towards vital points. The wielder must be fully focused on harming the opponent.

Mana strike allows the wielder to charge『Hoperender』with mana to be unleashed as a devastating strike. Current charge: 11745 mana points.

Return causes『Hoperender』to attempt to return to wielder's grip if thrown or lost, whenever physically possible.

Soulburn allows the wielder to use all current and future life's potential to deal a devastating blow. The result is dependent on wielder's age and general health.

Virtuous restraint causes『Hoperender』to slip out of wielder's grasp if attempting to strike down naturally peaceful beings, or the innocent.

「Gah! This guy has perfectly cornered the fucking niche of being a pain in the ass to kill!… He's a fucking memory, not undead!」

Straf exclaims, glancing at the wraith once again, as he throws the sword back into the vortex following him by his side.

「…That glimmermetal sword-! Fuck! Lia left it at home! Shit!」

Straf curses out, clenching his teeth in frustration and dismay.

《Liiiaaaaa! Why'd you take all that worthless garbage, only to leave the thing I could actually use right now!?》

Bleh [https://files.catbox.moe/jegft1.png]

He winces in nigh-physical pain from the irritation as he pictures Cycelia pat her chestnut head with her hands, innocently stick her tongue out, and shrug her shoulders.

Straf then feels [Contextual Time Perception] activate again. He looks over his shoulder, and finds the wraith's arms have elongated into the shadows between the lamps above. Just as he turns his eyes forward, he notices dozens of shadowy spikes stretching towards him from the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

《Shit!-》

With his arms outstretched, he leaps forward, narrowly dodging them all in a stunning feat of acrobatics. The wraith's dark tendrils dig into the stone all over the hall, chipping it and sending trickles of dust downward. Straf then realizes that time has still not returned to normal, and more spikes ahead are speeding towards him in an effort to skewer him.

《Fuck!-》

Using his hands, Straf bounces himself off the floor. The spikes come close enough to tear through his blazer, ripping some of the buttons off, but just barely far enough to not injure him.

《He's still fucking at it!?》

Straf can only spare a momentary glance at the wraith. It stands still with its arms extended into the shadows, focused entirely on its current attack. Straf's feet land on the well-lit segment of the wall, and the forces involved give him enough inertia to briefly run along the wall. The spikes continue coming unabated, light or not, and Straf is forced to jump across to the other wall. He pulls his head back and out of the way when one of the sharp points stretches directly towards his face. It lightly nicks his pronounced cheek, but the wound closes instantly.

His feet land on the wall across, and he continues his horizontal run towards the junction ahead. An ordinary human would have trouble tracking the motions, and Straf would surely appear like some sort of a skittish bug jumping from one point to another seemingly at random. The hallway quickly fills with black spikes lodged into every surface available behind him, and more are coming ahead. Just as he begins losing his inertia he jumps off the wall, flipping to dodge the oncoming spikes and landing on the floor all at the same time.

《Just to be safe!…》

Straf throws more mana dust into the hallway behind him, and slides to a halt in the well-lit junction. Time finally returns to normal, and he takes off towards the main entrance.

《Lia should be outside by now!… This fucking thing is a pest! Does this loser feel like he's already won!?》

He thinks, and glances over his shoulder at the corner he just left in literal dust. The wraith emerges from beyond it after a surprisingly short moment.

《What!? He's through-!? No, wait, the son of a bitch must have skipped it!》

Straf clicks his tongue in frustration, and continues running in the direction of the foyer with the wraith in hot pursuit…

…

Five minutes later, in the headmaster's office…

「Corvus! Corvus! Big trouble! Corvus!?」

Aria bursts in through the room along with two other professors, clutching onto her hat's brim and pulling it downward to her shoulders. She looks around, and finds the office empty. Aria then rushes to the bedroom door, swings it open, and forces her way in.

「Corvus! Straf has found it!」

She exclaims, shouting at the headmaster in his bed. The professors trail in behind her as she runs up to the bed.

「Corvus! Wake up! Didn't you hear the explosions!?」

Aria asks, shaking the old mage awake by his burning hot shoulder. He partially opens his eyes and looks at her face.

「Meira… Mff… Can't party… The Federation…」

Corvus attempts to explain something, barely audible and mumbling. His gaze is entirely unfocused, and he quickly closes his eyes again.

「Corvus…」

She utters out, clutching onto his robed shoulder. Heavily troubled, Aria stares at the old man's wrinkled face while he breathes heavily, wheezing.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

「…Take him to the infirmary. Quickly. And be careful while you're at it.」

She says to the professors standing near, grabs onto her giant hat's brims, and squeezes past them out of the door…

…

Another five minutes later, in the hallway nearby the dormitories…

Damian and Tisha run out from beyond a corner, panting and gasping for air.

「Professor!…」「Aria!…」

They shout, frantically waving their arms at the big-hatted professor while she approaches in a hasty step. Seeing that she's coming, they stop to catch their breaths.

「Professor!… Straf found the wraith!」

「I know! I've got ears!」

Aria replies in a loud voice, side-glancing at the two as she nonchalantly speeds past them. Tisha and Damian look at each other, and rush to follow her.

「We need to help him! He can't do it alone!」

Tisha shouts, explaining from Aria's other shoulder.

「I know!」

The professor glance at her with her mouth scrunched to the side, powerwalking back to the auxiliary building. A few seconds of uneasy silence pass.

「…Where is he right now?」

Aria asks, much calmer.

「We don't know. We last saw him running towards the back, but that was a while ago. He could be anywhere at this point.」

Damian replies, shrugging his shoulders.

「Tsk… Damian, come with me. As luck would have it, all the other duelist professors are busy with the lamps somewhere.」

The professor clicks her tongue, then glances at him.

「Ahh… Do I have to?…」

Damian winces, looking aside.

「No, of course not. In fact, you should run somewhere safe… But you're my best student, so I thought you'd be handy to have if I have to deal with it myself.」

With a grim scoff, Aria shrugs her hands and her bare shoulders. Damian lets out a troubled sigh, groaning, and clicks his tongue as well, scrunching his mouth to the side in a nervous grimace.

「…What about me?」

Tisha asks, and is met with Aria's disinterested gaze.

「What about you?」

The professor asks back, turning her eyes forward.

「What should I do?」

「You should find a place to hide so you can try again when you fail another term.」

Aria nonchalantly replies with pitying smirk, briefly glancing at her. Tisha's shocked expression quickly twists into an angry scowl.

「Northerners aren't cowards like you! Next term I'll rub this quote in your face!」

She shouts, clenching her pale fists.

「Ah, feel free…」

Professor Aria scoffs, and a brief silence begins once more.

「Ah.」「Ah…」「Eh?」

With their brows furrowed, the three utter out in confusion when they see Straf zoom past the distant junction on a skateboard. A dark shape slides across just a few seconds later.

「…After him! He's heading for the foyer!」

Aria shouts, and starts running down the hallway. Tisha and Damian follow closely…

…

Mere moments later…

Krrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkk…

With a loud noise of the skateboard wheels, Straf rolls into a crossing of hallways. A group of students carrying lamps is in the way to the path leading to the Cursefire Brazier.

「Shit. Nothing's just fucking easy, huh!?」

He kicks off the floor and zooms forward, the wraith speeds past the crossing after him. The students almost drop their lamps in panic, but they refuse to fall.

He reaches a T-junction at the end, and rolls across the balcony-like pathway above the entrance.

Krrk… Ka-clukkrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Just as the wraith's arm morphs into a blade, Straf does an ollie onto the wooden railing, and jumps with the board past it onto the wall at the end. With a smug grin on his face, he rolls down the wall into the foyer.

Krrrrrrkkkkkk…

「I can't believe you fell for this shit again! Idiot!」

With his feet firmly on the board, Straf shouts, sneering at the wraith on the balcony as he rapidly descends along the wall in a controlled manner.

Clack!

The board's wheels impact the ground. Straf hops off, and throws the skateboard back into his inventory. He looks up, and the wraith is missing.

「…That's probably not good-」

He remarks, and feels its presence at the top of the stairs. Instead of checking, he decides to run for the door.

Thud!

Straf pulls the large door open, slamming it into the already damaged wooden paneling, and runs out.

Cycelia is already there, waiting, clutching onto her medallion hanging off her neck. She lets out a relieved sigh when she sees Straf run out.

「Straf! Are you okay!?」

She asks, noting the damage on his green blazer. Somewhere along the way, he has lost the sewn-in metal emblem featuring the battle fortress on the blazer's breast.

「Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Problem is, I don't know how to fucking kill this thing…」

Straf nods, walking a few steps backwards as he looks at the entrance. The wraith is standing in the doorway just in front of the sunlight. Though it has no eyes, Straf can sense it's glaring at him.

「Tsk… Can't kill what's already dead, huh?…」

《…I wonder if this is how frustrated people get when they try to off me.》

He thinks, and lets out a fatigued sigh.

「Remember that sword I gave you, Lia?」

「…The one you bought in Kreisfeld?」

She asks, tilting her head.

「Yeah, the one I got fucking mad about… It'd be really handy right now.」

Straf nods, and turns his tight-lipped grimace to her confused face.

「Huh? Why?…」

Cycelia blinks, furrowing her brows.

「'Cause it's effective against wraiths, specifically. If I had-」

「You didn't tell me that!」

Cycelia exclaims, covering her mouth with her dainty hands. Straf extends his index finger to protest the claim, but his eyes drift up and away as he thinks.

「…I might have forgotten to bring that up. No matter, I can't blame you. It's not like I expected to run into a fucking wraith here anyway.」

He shrugs, and sighs with his fists on his hips. The wraith remains where it is, still ominously glaring at him.

「What!? You were real chatty a few days ago! What happened!?」

Straf asks, grinning at the wraith and spreading his arms.

「Straf, I don't think that's a good idea…」

Cycelia says, tugging at his torn sleeve.

「What's he gonna do? Curse me?」

Straf scoffs, pointing his hand at the wraith as he smirks at Cycelia.

「…You will pay for this…」

An angry, male voice growls from a distance.

「Yeah? Do you take credit?-」

Straf turns his grinning face to the voice, but when he looks at the doorway, the wraith is gone.

「Aaaaaand he left. To be perfectly frank, since he tried to kill both you and me, this means I won.」

Straf shrugs his shoulder, tilting his head with a little grimace.

「Straf, about that… I don't think it-」

Cycelia glances at Straf's face, but then something draws her attention to the doorway.

「Huh?」

She utters out, blinking as a purple light like the Cursefire approaches the open door.

「What? Don't think it what?-」

Straf asks, and sees Cycelia point her finger at the building.

「Oh shit.」

He utters out wide-eyed as he sees the wraith standing in the doorway again, covered in a purple flame.

「You're nothing like me! Everyone deserves death! When you all pay, I'll become revenge incarnate!」

The wraith screams at Straf and Cycelia in a remarkably clear, human voice.

「Oh shit! Burning zombie!」

Straf wraps his arms around Cycelia, and his eyes snap to a spot behind them.

BOOM!

With the noise of thunder, he moves to the limit of his [Translocation] range with Cycelia in his grasp. He lets go of her, and gives her a light push as he runs in the opposite direction.

「Burning zombie! Burning zombie situation! Run, Lia!」

He shouts over his shoulder, and looks at the wraith. It turns as he runs, beelining for Straf and ignoring her. He notices Aria, Tisha and Damian run out to the front of the building.

「Hey! Big tit bitch! Get to the dueling grounds! I have a plan!」

Straf shouts Aria's way, waving his arm as he's being chased by the burning, smoking wraith. With that, he disappears beyond the corner of the Academy building.

「What? The dueling grounds?… Why?-」

Aria blinks in confusion while Cycelia is running to them.

「Forget it! Go and get all the professors you can find! Tell them to head to the dueling grounds!」

She orders Tisha and Damian, then looks at Cycelia as she closes in.

「You! Go help them! Get every single professor to the back of the building!」

The professor adds, and points into the foyer. Breathing heavily, Cycelia nods, and runs in. She runs up the stairs to the Cursefire hallway, and the first thing she notices is that it is dark.

「Eh?…」

She stops in the entrance to the dark hall, and blinks at the black, empty iron brazier floating in the air…

…

Five minutes later, near the rear of the Academy building, in proximity of the dueling grounds…

Straf continues running at top speed, every few moments glancing over his shoulder at the wraith chasing after him. It is entirely engulfed in raging purple flames, which only seem to grow stronger and stronger as it burns. A thick tower of black smoke billows into the air behind it, almost as if it were a speeding truck burning the dirtiest fuel there is, and on fire.

「How did I get into a burning zombie situation without zombies!?…」

Straf asks, wincing with his teeth clenched. He reaches the rear corner of the building, and the dueling grounds come into view.

「…At least he's slower outside!」

Straf remarks as he takes a peek over his shoulder, and runs towards the arena. The moment he enters the general area of the dueling grounds, he senses [Contextual Time Perception] activate again.

《What the fuck!? How did he catch up!?-》

Straf thinks, looking at the wraith as it's in the middle of swinging its burning, blade-like arm at him. Straf's eyes snap to the ground.

《Aggh! Of all the fucking things!?》

He cringes when he sees the building's shadow on the dirt. The sun can't reach most of the dueling grounds at this hour, to prevent unfair advantage to either of the duelists.

Straf leaps out of the way, and the wild arm-blade cuts a vicious arc just above his back. No longer smoking, the wraith momentarily slows down after a missed swing, only to continue its chase mere moments later.

Rolling along the ground with his shoulder, Straf expertly jumps back up to his feet. Despite the close contact with the relatively damp dirt, his torn blazer remains perfectly clean.

《Hm?-》

As he runs into the arena, he feels time slow again. Another deadly swing comes cleaving for his neck. Straf ducks, just barely dodging in time.

CLACK!

The wraith's blade-like arm slams into the obelisk, leaving a shallow cut. Its entire shadowy form bounces back and slides a few paces away, as if stumbling.

《Huh?…》

Straf briefly furrows his brows at the sight, and turns to run alongside the obelisk perimeter of the arena. He feels the wraith's eyeless stare upon him once again. He jumps up, turning around in mid-air to face it.

The dark, burning shape speeds towards him with its pointy arms on fire outstretched for his torso. Straf grins, sharply focused on the wraith.

「Torrrro!」

CRRAKR!

Straf exclaims as he sidesteps just in time, and the wraith rams its flaming arms into the obelisk behind him. Both shallowly carve the stone, and the wraith bounces back again, appearing stunned.

「Knew it!…」

Straf scoffs, grinning smugly at the wraith as he hops backwards towards another obelisk.

「…They're full of mana, so you can't do shit, can you!? I told you I know all your weaknesses!」

He shouts, spreading his arms with a massive, smug grin on his face…