The Broken Possessors of the Infinite Regression Academy - Chapter 174



Chapter 174 – Masin – 5

The monster that burst out of the goddess’ chest was a copy of the goddess’s form right in front of her. So, if the same thing had burst out of the machine’s chest, it would have to have been a copy of the machine’s form.

“Excuse me, what is that?”

I thought so, but it wasn’t. The human who entered the temple was not a demon, but had an appearance that looked like a mixture of half Aria and half me.

Her height and clothing resembled mine, but her figure was feminine, and her face and hair were like Aria’s. Although she held eternity in her right hand, a golden light emanated from her other hand, just like Aria’s.

There was no trace of the spirit in that appearance.

“Well, maybe he was following me around and stalking me.”

It was highly likely that it had been following us and observing us, and even changed its appearance. If it could fool detection magic, it wouldn’t be hard to fool the senses.

The reason why it was done that way is unknown.

“It tastes bad. It makes me feel bad.”

“I agree.”

Aria, who rarely let out harsh words, began to gather her mana.

“It’s best not to use high-level magic if possible. That guy—”

“Can I follow along?”

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As soon as those words came out, the monster standing far away followed Aria’s movements a step behind. A blue light also formed around its body.

“How did you know?”

“It’s just a simple guess. They look like us, the weapons they’re holding are similar to Mira’s, and even though they’re not human, they emit a golden light similar to divine power. Mira told us not to use high-level magic if possible. So I thought they could copy not only their appearances, but also their skills and magic. I guess I was right.”

Did you come to that conclusion in such a short time? It seemed like the head that had never missed the top spot in the original work had not gone anywhere.

“That’s right. That’s the correct answer. You have to make it as short as possible, because he might copy you. I’ll give you a signal, so you can use it then. Got it?”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Aria muttered something earnestly, as if trying to choose the strongest magic that would not cause much damage even if copied by the monster. She stood behind Aria and took a step forward to confront the monster.

The guy followed me and took a step forward. He was dressed like me, but his appearance was like Aria’s, so the awkwardness was no joke. He took a deep breath for a moment, then kicked the ground first and rushed forward.

‘I think seeing with your eyes is the priority.’

When I met a similar guy in Heaven, he pulled out a thin tentacle from his body and touched the corpse of the goddess before changing his appearance. When he copied my swordsmanship and magic, he saw it first and then reacted.

It was an experiment well worth trying.

I approached without using any physical enhancement or acceleration, and created a huge earthen wall to block the way. A small mountain of dirt rose up to the ceiling of the temple, but no sound of magic was heard.

Instead, the earthen wall was cut in half, scattering fragments of insignificant size and thickness.

‘Is this the case where people don’t blindly follow magic?’

It was a good thing, after all. It wasn’t magic designed to attack in the first place. It was enough to just block the vision for a very brief moment.

I hid behind the collapsing earthen wall, using my body augmentation and acceleration to get across the debris that had slowed me down to the limit, and crossed backwards to avoid being seen by the thing.

I could still see the monster moving slowly. It seemed as if it had not yet realized that I had arrived behind it. My prediction was correct.

He immediately filled his mana and swung his eternity.

The blade, swung at a speed too fast for the eye to see, dug into the right shoulder and emerged just above the left iliac bone. The cut surface, which had been twisted by polarity, was torn off as if it had been ground in a grinder.

“… … !”

The upper part of his tattered collarbone rose into the air, and his head turned 180 degrees back to face me. He immediately released his body reinforcement.

In that short time, the cut surface that had been no different from a rag was completely restored. The cut parts moved around as if they were trying to stick together.

“aria!”

He immediately sang Aria and kicked her lower body. He couldn’t give her time.

The b*stard’s gaze was still focused on me. If I were to use magic here, there’s a risk that he’d follow suit with one arm, but if I were to cast it from a direction he wasn’t looking at, it would be a different story.

“… … Burn.”

The magic circle glowed blue. Beyond the red, a mixture of orange and yellow flames struck the lower body that had been thrown against the wall. Less than half of the body was engulfed in flames.

However, the lower half of the guy’s body was growing steadily even while it was burning.

“Huh, huh?! Why?!”

Aria let out a bewildered voice. It was clear that the magic had hit the mark, but her body was regenerating much faster than her flesh was burning away.

The upper body was the same. It bounced off the Eternal clone that was swinging at an angle that would have been impossible for a human without breaking his shoulder joint.

And in the next moment, the upper body, which had been regenerated up to the chest, as well as the right shoulder and right arm, fell to the floor. By the time the body on the floor rolled half a turn, regeneration up to the waist was complete.

“Mr. Mira! Are these guys really like this?!”

“… … Well. I didn’t know it would be like this.”

I burst out laughing when I saw the lower half of the body that had flown away and the upper half that had landed right next to me regenerate separately. I had suddenly split the monster in two.

‘It’s not like there’s no harvest.’

Neither the upper body that was watching me nor the lower body that was directly hit by the magic could copy the fire magic that Aria used. Judging from the fact that she didn’t use polarity distortion either, it was as I had guessed.

The monster that had been my lower body just a moment ago approached me with Eternity in hand. The monster that had been my upper body just a moment ago was also aiming Eternity at me.

First of all, I don’t aim for Aria. That was enough. I put in Eternity. At the same time, two is enough to deal with the number. I refused to increase it further.

“There is a limit to their regenerative power, Aria. If you keep attacking them, they will eventually die. So attack them quickly and briefly when they are not looking.”

“Yes, yes! But what about Mira?”

“You have to use something other than a knife.”

I put the eternity back in and clenched my fist. Last time, I simply did it to avoid a headache, but now that it has been confirmed that each split entity grows separately, it turns out that I did it wisely without intending to.

I didn’t know I would have to do it twice though.

Just like last time, they were beaten to their limit of regeneration and melted back into mushy slime. Aria panted, catching her breath.

“Those guys, they were really bad… … .”

“Still, it’s over pretty quickly.”

It was definitely over faster than if I had just fought alone, perhaps because I had someone to help me. Finally, Aria took a deep breath and carefully opened her mouth.

“… … I mean, I’m just saying. It seems like he’s already dead. So, should we go back now?”

“That’s right. Even the demon is dead, so there’s no reason for him to stay here.”

I met Aria’s eyes. I saw blue eyes that had lost none of their light.

“Except for one thing.”

“yes?”

“Before I go back, I have something to tell you, Aria.”

“… …To me?”

Blink, blink. Blue eyes blinked with question. Aria tilted her head.

“If you have something to say, what do you want to say?”

“Who told you that I was going to see Masin?”

The decisive reason why he ultimately tilted the scales toward taking her after weighing the options of taking her and not taking her, and the reason why he did not more actively try to stop Aria from following him.

That was precisely the question I was asking.

Aria, who had her eyes blank for a moment after being asked the question, smiled timidly and scratched her cheek.

“Can’t I tell you this later? I feel uneasy and want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“No. I need you to listen before I go. It might feel a little forced, but please think of it as important. If you want an apology, I’ll be happy to give it to you later.”

“… …Why do you want to hear that?”

Aria, who had been silent for a moment, asked again. As soon as she heard those words, she felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

Her face was still smiling brightly like a warm spring day, but the atmosphere was different. It felt clearly different from the usual Aria and the Aria in the novel. She was smiling, but it seemed like she wasn’t smiling.

Not because they were upset with my attitude, but for a completely different reason.

“I want to know who let it leak out even though I clearly said it was a secret. Even if I were to tell it to someone, there aren’t many people.”

“Oh, I didn’t hear that from Mira. So you kept it a secret from me too? That’s too much.”

Aria laughed. I didn’t laugh. The corners of my lips that had been raised slightly lowered.

“Is it really that important? To the point where you have to give me that look?”

“It doesn’t matter. We all swore to keep it a secret.”

And, because I was suspicious of the way you blatantly avoided the question of how you knew I was leaving when we ran into each other in the hallway.

“… … You are very trustworthy. If Mira is the kind of person who would say something like that, then it must be the four people I thought of.”

The corners of her lips, which had been down, rose again. Aria smiled brightly.

“I’m a little jealous. There are four people I can trust so deeply. I suddenly wondered. Do you have a special reason for trusting them? What is it?”

“I asked the question first, Aria.”

“I’m curious, too. Just as Mira-ssi is looking at me strangely right now. Haven’t you been with me and Leona for longer than with them? So why do you trust them more than me?”

“You and Priscilla met at the same entrance ceremony. Isn’t it a bit ambiguous to say that it’s been a long time?”

“But if the attitudes are so dramatically different, shouldn’t we think about it a bit? If you think about it, it’s always been like that. Senior Priscilla, the saintess, and even Ciel, who joined after receiving the special privilege of being admitted to His Highness the Crown Prince. They all seemed strangely close.”

Aria was still smiling brightly, but the atmosphere felt increasingly colder.

“I think it’s possible with Senior Priscilla or the Saintess. They’ve been by my side since the beginning of the semester. They’ve been through similar times as me and Leona. But what about His Highness the Crown Prince? At some point, his attitude suddenly changed. Was there some kind of dramatic trigger? And what about Ciel? What kind of relationship do you have with him that Mira-san even guaranteed his status and let him enroll in Bellium Academy?”

He was quite good at talking. He changed the question of who told him that he was going to meet Masin into an inquiry into their relationship. If he keeps going like this, he won’t even get his initial investment back.

I need to be more specific about the topic. I was about to mention that I had blatantly avoided the question in the hallway.

“Mira-san was friends with me and Leona, too. But I feel like we’ve crossed the line of being close with those four people. It feels like there’s something more than just being close. What’s the reason? Is it because you feel a sense of kinship?”

“A sense of kinship?”

Aria blurted out her smile as bright as a flower in full bloom on a spring day.

“That’s right. Because we’re all the same people.”