Ludwig summoned his weapon to his side, the scythe gleaming in the dim light of the classroom. He pointed it at Hoyo, his grip tight and his stance ready for combat. “You’re insane, a monster,” Ludwig said, his voice cold and filled with disgust.
Hoyo shrugged, his expression unbothered. “Eh, maybe,” he said, his tone almost casual. “But trust me, Ludwig, there are too many monsters in the world that I look downright docile compared to them. That guy, Mot—you must have met him earlier, right?”
Ludwig’s mind flashed back to the small child he had seen both in the vision from the Mask of the Blind Witness and just moments ago outside the tower. The boy had been unnerving, his presence radiating an aura of danger that Ludwig couldn’t quite place. The fact that Mot had been the only one to notice Ludwig’s escape, even among the chaos of the Holy Order’s assault, was enough to make Ludwig wary of him.
“Do you know what they did to me when I was captured at the Sacrosanctum?” Hoyo asked, his voice taking on a darker edge. He didn’t wait for Ludwig to respond. “You wouldn’t know, but even though Mot said I was of no consequence, the Holy Order decided I needed to be purged of all that is dark. My family had already planted organs in my body for the sake of grafting mastery, they were… efficient, but painful, but the Holy Order… they were far more brutal. They ripped apart my limbs and infused my body with healing magic, forcing me to endure days of torture until my body was, by their standards, ‘clean.’ Then they dumped me into a prison, where I rotted for a long, long time…”
“Boo fucking hoo,” Ludwig snapped, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “That doesn’t mean you get to go on a mass-murdering spree. Not to mention, you did worse to your victims than what was done onto you,—twisting their limbs, stealing their organs, Killing them… you’re still alive why don’t you just die?”
“I can’t do that…” Hoyo smiled, an unnerving smile.
“For fuck sake man, they were mostly kids. If you wanted revenge, you should have taken it out on those who harmed you, not on the people who trusted you as a friend and colleague.” Ludwig’s words were laced with rage.
“It was needed!” Hoyo shouted, his voice rising with anger. “They needed to give up their power for my revenge! The Holy Order is corrupt, and if a few lives were lost in the conquest of destroying it, then it’s a well-placed sacrifice! They died for the greater good!”
“That’s the line every third-rate villain uses to justify their own twisted sense of grandeur,” Ludwig shot back, his grip tightening on his scythe. “You’re nothing but a back stabbing murderer, one who kills people who trusted you. Though I’m surprised the Holy Order even let you leave.”
“They didn’t,” Hoyo said, his voice low and dangerous. “I escaped by my own means. I told you that before. And thanks to that, I got my hands on a lot of powerful magic. Like this one!”
Hoyo raised his hand, pointing it at Ludwig. Ludwig didn’t hesitate—he dodged to the side, not knowing what kind of magic Hoyo was about to unleash. But the spell had already been cast.
[You are afflicted with Blood Rupture!]
[As an Undead, you are immune to internal-affecting blood magic.]
Ludwig stopped for a moment, his body unaffected by the spell. He looked at Hoyo, whose expression shifted from confidence to confusion.
“Why aren’t you bleeding from every orifice?” Hoyo asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.
“Too bad you won’t know that!” Ludwig replied, his voice sharp as he threw his chain at Hoyo’s face. The chain whipped through the air, an explosive mine attached to its end.
Hoyo dodged with desperation, but the mine detonated just as it passed him, the explosion sending him sprawling to the ground.
-1400 HP!
“Son of a bitch! Frail Flesh!” Hoyo cursed, his voice filled with pain and frustration.
[As an Undead, you are immune to flesh-harming spells.]
Ludwig didn’t waste any time. He charged at Hoyo, his scythe raised high, ready to deliver a finishing blow. But just as he brought the weapon down, Hoyo’s body dissolved into shadows, dispersing into the air and reforming behind Ludwig.
“I don’t know what you’re doing to cancel my spells,” Hoyo said, his voice calm but laced with menace. “But even I have mastery of weapons.”
A long sword made of pitch-black shadows materialized in Hoyo’s hand, its blade shimmering with dark energy. Ludwig turned to face him, his scythe at the ready, but before the two could engage in combat, the classroom wall exploded inward.
“Oh, you were here after all!” Evan’s voice rang out, dripping with venom as he stepped through the rubble. His staff glowed with residual magic, his eyes locked on Ludwig.
‘Fuck… I can’t even beat one, now it’s two,’ Ludwig thought, his mind racing. He turned and struck the door with his scythe, the wood splintering under the force of his blow. He charged through the doorway, sprinting down the hallway as fast as he could.
“Freshman! CATCH HIM!” Evan roared, his voice echoing through the halls.
Hoyo frowned at the order, his expression darkening. “You’re not one to order me around,” he said, his voice low but filled with authority.
Evan felt a chill run down his spine. The words held power, and for a moment, he hesitated. This boy wasn’t normal—there was something deeply dangerous about him. Despite being a graduate and now working for the Black Tower, Evan couldn’t shake the feeling that Hoyo was far more than he appeared.
Hoyo, however, didn’t retaliate against Evan. Instead, he simply walked forward, his shadowy sword still in hand, and began to chase after Ludwig.
Ludwig sprinted through the academy’s halls, his mind racing. He couldn’t fight both Hoyo and Evan at the same time—he needed to find a way to escape. And the teleportation hub was a bit away from where he was, but he still legged it. For now he needed to follow his master’s order. After that, he’ll find a way to deal with this mass murdering maniac.