Ch.250250 – The Child Who Calls the Heart Demon

# Chapter 250 – The Child Who Summons Heart Demons

While I feel sorry for the two people fighting hard, I have my own circumstances.

How sad must a student feel when others are running hard in a game, but they alone can’t run properly because their shoe came off?

That’s me without a ball.

Irene is having fun playing with various spells on an ice ball, which isn’t even a real ball, but the safety of dark mana requires the existence of a medium.

‘If I want to pack it full, I need something as sturdy as a dodgeball.’

The problem is that all three balls I threw earlier are trapped in an infinite acceleration loop within a disconnected space!

To retrieve the balls, I’d need to twist the path vertically beyond the disconnected space.

“I’ll just borrow this for a moment!”

That’s why I stole the dodgeball from Northern Duchess Irene, who was busy fighting against the White Paladin Roo.

“Ah”

No, it’s troublesome if I hear her voice.

In that brief moment when I couldn’t even speak, I threw the ball filled with intense cold into the infinite loop.

When I reinforced it with dark mana, it became a ball carrying an enormous amount of mana with both white and black energies swirling around it.

Phew.

That should do it.

If I can extract the ball from the infinite acceleration loop, I could instantly increase the number of balls from 0 to 4.

In short, it’s the “Take and Return” strategy!

She might feel upset about losing one, but if I give her one more ball while maintaining the power inside, Irene would surely be happy, right?

Yes, if she’s already fighting so excitedly with just one ball, she’ll be twice as happy with two balls.

I’m definitely a good person for considering Irene’s happiness.

Ting!

Huh?

But according to my calculations, when balls collide and I pull them out vertically, it should make a “boom” sound, not a “ting”…

This sound seems like a miss…?

Swoosh swoosh swoosh

‘Oh no!’

I forgot to calculate gravity.

I was confused because the balls were receiving gravity horizontally, but it’s not the entire space’s gravity that moves horizontally—only the balls with gravity spells inscribed on them.

I forgot this fact and threw assuming gravity would act horizontally, so of course it missed.

Moreover, the ball I needed to return didn’t bounce out—instead, it responded to the dark mana and began repeating the loop along with the other three balls in the infinite repetition zone.

In other words, the number of lost balls increased from three to four.

It’s like throwing your other slipper to retrieve one stuck in a tree, only to get that one stuck too!

“Oops.”

Sorry, Irene.

I don’t think I can return your ball!

As I turned around to apologize, I saw Irene being escorted off the court by healers.

It seems a senior took advantage of her weakness in that brief moment when I stole her ball.

“How cowardly! I can’t forgive you, senior. Targeting Irene when she was vulnerable!”

“…Are you really one to talk? After stealing her ball and even losing it.”

“Anyway, you’re the bad one here!”

* * *

What kind of nonsense is this?

Does this kid even understand how infuriating this is, turning things around and getting all worked up?

Feeling indignant, I pointed my sword at her instead, and the gods responded.

<Justice Execution>

[Three divine aspects of the God of Good evaluate your request.]

[This battle is not a confrontation with a minion of evil.]

[This battle is a step toward a good future.]

[The God of Good Praxis acknowledges your effort.]

[This battle is a transcendental battle where the maxim of will does not violate the principle of universality.]

[The God of Good Immanuel grants you power.]

When facing Northern Duchess Irene, only the God of Good Immanuel lent his power, but against Oknodie, the God of Good Praxis also acknowledged Roo’s goodness.

Two of the three gods he served supported him, filling him with even more abundant power.

However, Roo’s face darkened.

“Despite handling such an ominous power, you’re not recognized as a minion of evil. How cunning a jurisprudence do you practice at such a young age?”

“The cunning one isn’t me, but you, senior, who eliminated Irene while I had no ball!”

“I didn’t expect reasoning to work with you. No need for dialogue. If the gods failed to confront your wickedness, then my light will reveal your true nature!”

Roo’s sword vibrated with a resonating sound as energy concentrated, oscillating at an increasingly rapid frequency.

As the resonance reached its peak, a large arc of light slashed through the air.

Oknodie’s counterattack wasn’t nearly as flashy.

“Ah, a wand!”

She simply picked up a wand someone had left behind while being transported off the court.

‘Wand magic? There’s a limit to underestimating people.’

Unlike staffs, wands are auxiliary equipment used by apprentice magicians with limited magical proficiency or novice magicians inexperienced in practical combat to quickly assemble elemental mana puzzles.

Compared to a primary staff, a wand offers minimal auxiliary and additional effects.

Moreover, using a wand with an attribute different from your own produces effects worse than not using one at all.

‘That arrogance will be your downfall.’

Roo thought.

The match was over at this moment.

Oknodie’s defeat was confirmed the moment she picked up that wand.

“Ice Cutter!”

At least until he witnessed an ice slash erupting from that small wand—so swift and massive it was hard to believe.

Roo’s eyes widened as the light slash and ice slash collided and canceled each other out.

This was a slash empowered by two divine aspects.

And it was blocked by a mere wand.

Was she lucky enough that it matched her usual attribute, allowing her to use her primary magic?

Impossible.

Oknodie’s primary attribute was darkness.

The rumors about Oknodie, the Dark Princess and scholarship student of the Foundation, were famous enough that even he, a sophomore, knew about them.

She shouldn’t have had any talent for ice magic…

Yet she had done it.

Such power was impossible without genuine talent.

Even if one could explain the power, what about that speed?

Unless it was magic she frequently used and practiced, she couldn’t execute it so swiftly with someone else’s wand.

But was this speed truly possible through effort alone?

“How about this!”

Once might be coincidence.

Then what about three consecutive times?

Despite his relentless slashes, they were all countered by her attacks, which came with mere shouts of “Hya! Hya!” without even proper incantations.

The technique showed perfect reading of the opponent’s magic output and timing, neutralizing it without any waste.

It suggested attribute training beyond mere effort.

The almost tearful expression on Northern Duchess Irene’s face outside the court confirmed it.

This meant Oknodie possessed an attribute adaptability that even the hardy northerners couldn’t achieve just by surviving.

“Hmph! Since it’s come to this, I’ll punish you on Irene’s behalf too.”

Despite wanting to argue that she was the worst offender, a truly terrifying cold enveloped the entire court.

The ground froze completely.

The air settled coldly.

A fearsome energy concentrated like a ball.

This was different.

If Irene’s <Ice Flower> was an explosion of energy from ice spear blades concentrated at a single point, this was a disaster mass compressing the breath of extreme cold and cutting winds.

It wasn’t a power that living creatures should wield, nor one they could comprehend.

It was a disaster magic that only a life form wandering aimlessly through the depths of a great snow field—where no human could enter and survive—would dare to imitate from nature.

“I will not back down. Come at me whenever you wish.”

“Oh, really?”

I will not kneel before a minion of evil.

In response to his declaration of courage, Oknodie brightened and floated two more ice balls.

“…”

White Paladin Roo faced a challenge three times harder for speaking carelessly.

Oknodie advanced three <Extreme Cold Orbs> simultaneously toward him, thickening the ice layer from the ground.

The enlightenment he had channeled into his sword to cut through Northern Duchess Irene’s <Ice Flower> flowed through his sword once more.

But it was different this time.

He could cut it.

He had no such confidence at all.

The moment his sword collided with one orb, his ominous premonition took another form.

The orb was cut.

But the extreme cold wave inside was not.

His hands froze.

Frost formed on his skin.

Beyond the razor-sharp gale that made it difficult to even open his eyes, the extreme cold that sliced through his lungs with each breath put him to the test.

‘I have to cut through two more of these?’

His heart broke before his sword did.

As he stubbornly tried to add more divine power, refusing to accept this fact, the next moment, he found himself outside the court.

“Did I step out of bounds…?”

“Under the instructor’s judgment, due to the serious skill gap, it was determined that not even your corpse could be recovered, with minimal possibility of resurrection, so emergency transfer procedures were implemented.”

“You mean… I lost by disqualification?”

The instructor nodded.

Though he should have been indignant, a sigh of relief escaped involuntarily.

His expression, momentarily lightened as if a great burden had been lifted, sank even deeper upon realizing this fact.

‘I faced a trial.’

White Paladin Roo.

He realized.

When he faced Oknodie’s extreme cold orb and knew he couldn’t cut it and survive.

The moment he experienced the humiliation of being forcibly transported off the court, he confronted what is commonly called heart demons, entering a state of confusion, a regression in his spiritual journey.

“Irene, I got revenge for you!”

Oknodie waved cheerfully to Irene outside the court.

That child no longer looked like a child to him.

“Oknodie.”

“Yes?”

Oknodie responded with a surprised expression, as if wondering how a loser could speak up.

Roo asked her with difficulty.

“What level was that just now? Was it level 4 after all?”

Oknodie smirked.

“That wasn’t my original technique, you know? I just modified Irene’s technique a bit. But if I had to assign a level… hmm… about level 2.8?”

Roo realized.

Deadcat, who had faced Oknodie before him, truly must have multiple lives to have barely survived.