Magic Academy's Bastard Instructor - Chapter 303: Coronal Radiance [3]

“….”

The moment Ezra stepped out of the confessional booth, an uncomfortable silence suddenly settled throughout the church.

It was not loud nor obvious enough for ordinary people to notice immediately, yet Ezra felt it the second his feet touched the chapel floor again.

People were staring at him.

The praying civilians seated throughout the cathedral had turned their heads toward him one by one.

An old woman clutching a rosary.

A young man kneeling before a statue.

Even a child sitting beside his mother near the back rows.

All of them stared.

“…?”

The cathedral remained deathly quiet.

One of the worshippers suddenly stood up.

Then another.

And another.

One by one, the people inside the church slowly rose to their feet while continuing to stare directly toward Ezra without saying a single word.

“….”

At that moment, as though something straight out of a divine revelation, a single woman slowly stepped into view from the entrance of the cathedral.

She wore a pure white dress untouched by stain or dust, the fabric flowing as if an imaginary breeze passed by with every step she took.

Golden light bled around her figure while an overwhelming divine presence radiated throughout the entire church so intensely that nobody present could possibly mistake what they were witnessing.

Ezra turned on instinct.

“Huh…?”

And immediately, his eyes widened.

Standing at the entrance of the cathedral was the Saintess herself.

Selena.

The very same Saintess who had long since been declared missing by the Church.

For a moment, Ezra simply stared at her blankly while trying to process the absurdity of the situation.

Then, as he alternated his gaze between the silent worshippers and the Saintess, he finally realized something.

Those people had never been staring at him.

They had been staring at her.

The moment Selena stepped further into the cathedral, the atmosphere throughout the church shifted even more dramatically.

The worshippers who had risen from their seats slowly lowered their heads one by one, almost resembling devoted believers standing before a divine figure descending from the heavens themselves.

Even the priest inside the confessional booth had fallen completely silent.

Meanwhile, Selena herself quietly stood there without speaking.

Her pitch-black hair fluttered under candlelight while her emerald-green eyes calmly swept across the cathedral.

“My God…”

“The Saintess…!”

“Has the Lord finally answered our prayers?!”

Whispers immediately spread throughout the cathedral.

Some people trembled while clutching their rosaries tightly against their chests, while several worshippers even collapsed onto their knees the moment they laid eyes upon her, their shoulders shaking as though they had just witnessed a genuine miracle before them.

Because to the religious folks of Aetherion, the Saintess was not merely a religious figure, but hope itself.

Especially now, amidst war, famine, corruption, and civil unrest, the sudden reappearance of the missing Saintess felt almost like divine intervention sent to reassure a crumbling Empire that God had not abandoned them entirely.

Even the priests throughout the cathedral appeared visibly shaken.

One elderly clergyman near the altar slowly removed his glasses with trembling hands before staring toward Selena in complete disbelief.

“She’s truly alive…”

Another priest instinctively began reciting prayers while staring at her with tears in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Selena herself simply continued walking quietly through the center aisle of the cathedral, untouched by the overwhelming reverence surrounding her.

The worshippers parted as she passed by them.

Yet Selena never acknowledged any of them, simply continuing to walk forward calmly.

Then, she stopped directly before Ezra.

“….”

Ezra instinctively swallowed. A cold chill slowly crawled down his spine while staring at the woman standing before him.

There was no doubt about it. This was undeniably the Saintess herself. The same divine presence. The same overwhelming holiness radiating from her existence.

And yet, something felt off.

Ezra could not properly explain it.

Nothing about Selena’s appearance seemed unnatural at first glance.

But his instincts, honed through the years, were screaming at him that something about her was fundamentally wrong.

Selena slowly tilted her head while looking directly into his eyes.

“…Ezra Kaelus, I presume?”

Her voice sounded soft and elegant, the kind of refinement one would naturally expect from the Saintess herself.

If there was anything he could compare it to, perhaps it resembled the way Arwen, Silas’s sister, spoke.

But that was where the similarity ended.

Because unlike Arwen, Selena’s voice lacked genuine warmth despite its gentleness. Almost as though she had learned how humans were supposed to sound compassionate without ever truly understanding the emotion itself.

“…Yes? S-Saintess?”

Selena observed him for a few moments before speaking again.

“You’ve always struck me as… unusual.”

“…?”

Her emerald-green eyes remained fixed upon him.

“Tell me,” she continued, “have you ever practiced dark magic before?”

The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere inside the cathedral immediately shifted.

Then, before he could even properly respond, Selena tilted her head slightly as though realizing something herself.

“Ah,” she murmured. “No… it’s your stigmata.”

Ezra instinctively looked around.

And immediately, he realized the problem.

The worshippers throughout the cathedral were no longer looking at Selena with reverence alone.

Now, they were staring at him suspiciously.

As though the moment the words dark magic had been uttered, Ezra himself had suddenly transformed into something demonic standing within sacred grounds.

Whispers immediately began spreading throughout the church.

“Dark magic…?”

“A sinner?”

“No… impossible…”

Several worshippers stepped farther away from him while clutching their rosaries tightly, staring at Ezra as though seeing him for the very first time.

Meanwhile, Selena herself remained completely calm amidst the growing tension surrounding them.

“Saintess… You should be careful with your words.”

Selena blinked slowly. “Was I incorrect?”

“That’s—”

“Ah,” Selena interrupted, “you’re worried about these prying eyes?”

Her emerald-green eyes briefly turned toward the surrounding worshippers.

“That feels rather inconsistent coming from someone who just confessed to murdering several members of the nobility.

“….”

“But alright.”

Snap——!

The sound that followed snapped him out of reality.

In the next instant, blood exploded throughout the cathedral as heads burst apart one by one.

The worshippers surrounding them collapsed lifelessly onto the church floor as blood splattered across pews, pillars, stained glass, and holy statues alike.

Some bodies twitched for a brief second before going completely still, while others crumpled lifelessly onto the ground without even understanding what had happened.

The entire massacre occurred within mere seconds.

And throughout all of it, the Saintess, Selena, never once changed her expression.

Only after the cathedral had fallen completely silent beneath the pile of headless corpses did she finally speak again.

“So, will you speak more openly with me now?”

“…!”

Ezra’s entire body instinctively tensed.

This was dangerous.

No, this situation had already far surpassed dangerous.

Every instinct within Ezra screamed at him not to fight, but to escape immediately.

Because the thing standing before him might have looked like the Saintess, yet nothing about what he had just witnessed resembled humanity anymore.

At that moment, dark mana began gathering around Ezra’s body as his survival instincts forcefully pushed his stigmata into activation.

Cracks began forming beneath the church floor as the sheer pressure radiating from Ezra’s mana erupted outward in response to the overwhelming danger standing before him.

Meanwhile, Selena merely scrutinized him.

Then, for the very first time, a smile touched her face.

Ba… Thump!

Ezra’s heartbeat suddenly spiked to an absurd degree.

Crackle——!

The cathedral descended into chaos.

The stained glass windows shattered simultaneously as the pressure exploded throughout the church.

Candles were blown out instantly while nearby pews broke apart from the collision between Ezra’s dark mana and the overwhelming divine presence radiating from Selena.

No, there was nothing divine about it all.

It was… just like his… dark magic.

Ezra immediately retreated backward.

Boom——!

The spot where he had been standing exploded apart less than a second later as an invisible force tore straight through the cathedral floor. Rubble and blood were scattered across the church while Ezra barely managed to avoid the attack.

“…!”

His eyes widened.

He had not even seen Selena move.

Meanwhile, the Saintess remained standing exactly where she was, her white dress remaining untouched despite the destruction around her.

“…What the hell are you?” Ezra managed to ask.

“Ah, so Vanitas truly hasn’t filled you in?”

For the first time, something resembling genuine surprise surfaced across her expression.

“That’s unexpected,” Selena continued. “I was rather certain he planned on betraying me eventually.”

“….”

“I am the beginning.”

The pressure throughout the church intensified instantly.

“And I am the end.”

The shadows surrounding the cathedral shook unnaturally.

For several moments, Selena remained silent before finally lowering her gaze back toward Ezra.

“Because this world ends with Araxys.”

“…!”

* * *

Irene, along with her men, ascended into the Imperial Palace.

Through pulling countless strings behind the scenes, manipulating divided loyalties within the capital, and taking advantage of the chaos surrounding the Emperor’s public appearance, she had ultimately managed to sneak inside.

Under normal circumstances, infiltrating the Imperial Palace would have been impossible.

The palace was the very heart of Aetherion itself, protected by countless knights, hidden surveillance, magic formations, and generations of security built precisely to prevent situations like this from ever occurring.

But first and foremost…

Before becoming a rebel, a traitor, or the figure opposing the throne…

She had once been this Empire’s First Princess.

She knew these halls better than most of the knights guarding them.

And with Franz Barielle Aetherion and Vanitas Astrea finally revealing themselves publicly at the same time, even the Imperial Palace itself had inevitably become vulnerable.

No matter how much security they deployed, attention could only be spread so thin. Fear, uncertainty, and distrust had already seeped into the very foundation of the Empire.

Which meant this was her one and only opportunity.

Her one and only chance to prove to the world that the Emperor and the monster standing beside him were not invincible.

That despite their overwhelming power, despite the fear surrounding their names, they were still human beings capable of bleeding, falling, and dying like everyone else.

And most importantly, what Irene sought was proof.

Proof that the Empire could still change.

Proof that ordinary people still had the ability to resist those who stood above them.

Proof that the future of Aetherion did not solely belong to monsters powerful enough to force the world into submission.

Because for too long, the Empire had convinced its people that strength alone dictated legitimacy.

That whoever possessed greater power naturally deserved authority over everyone beneath them.

It was the very reason people feared Vanitas Astrea. The reason Franz continued sitting upon the throne was the bloodshed surrounding his reign.

Power had become justification.

And Irene hated that.

Perhaps more than anyone else.

Because she herself had once been abandoned by that same system.

And yet despite all of that, she was still here.

She was still fighting.

She was still walking forward despite the Empire deciding long ago that her life held no value.

Which was why there was something almost romantic about this moment to Irene.

In the end, the person the Empire had abandoned first would become the very person trying to save it last.

“Franz! Vanitas!”

And so, after the group accompanying her subdued every guard unfortunate enough to stand in their path, Irene finally stepped into the chamber overlooking the Imperial balcony.

The moment she entered, she paused at the sight before her.

Franz continued delivering his speech to the Empire as though nothing had happened at all.

Meanwhile, standing quietly behind the scenes, Vanitas Astrea simply watched.

Despite Irene’s dramatic arrival, Franz did not even spare her a glance. He continued speaking calmly to the public beyond the balcony, as though the intrusion itself was too insignificant to interrupt the role he currently played as Emperor.

Only Vanitas acknowledged her presence.

“…Vanitas.”

Irene slowly narrowed her eyes while staring directly toward him.

Behind her stood the people she had gathered throughout the past months. Powerful mages and elite knights originating from the Celestine Hegemony, the Sanctis Theocracy, and the Zyphran Dominion itself.

Individually, many of them were already figures capable of influencing entire battlefields on their own.

This was an alliance formed specifically to challenge monsters.

And yet despite all of that, Irene’s greatest confidence did not come from the armies or the foreign support standing behind her.

It came from a single boy quietly standing amongst them.

Kafka Rossweisse.

A strange anomaly whose existence itself bordered on absurdity.

A boy capable of severing magic itself as though it had never existed in the first place.

“Enough of this farce, you fucking bastards!”