The Academy's Deceased Ate It All

"Hmm."

Even though his arm was cut off, Dmitry was just calm.

He stepped back, pressing the upper part of his severed arm, while Jin Ye-Seul also stepped back after grabbing Jin Ye-Jeong.

"… thank God, it's not a fatal wound."

Horie Yuzaki muttered like that, checking the condition of Jin Ye-Jeong, who was quickly handed over.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk took out a potion and handed it to her, and Horie Yuzaki, who received the potion, skillfully poured half of it into Jin Ye-Jeong's mouth.

"That's great strength. Did you use Mana to strengthen it? Or is it magic? Skill?"

Dmitry, who slowly backed away and picked up his arm that had fallen to the ground, muttered so.

Jin Ye-Seul was staring at him without taking a particular posture.

"Hmm…!"

Dmitry measured the position of his arm and put it directly on the severed part.

Then, to their surprise, smoke erupted from the wound with a boiling sound.

Not long after, he muttered quietly as he tried to move the arm that was attached cleanly a few times.

"It's better than I thought. Except for the fact that it's more painful to heal than it was when I got the wound."

"… n, o."

At that moment, Jin Ye-Jeong, who had recovered to some extent, quietly opened her mouth.

Horie Yuzuki was applying the potion to her affected area, and Yoo Ji-Hyuk made a look of realizing something and pulled the branches of the World Tree from his arm.

"His, ability… chan, ged...."

As soon as Jin Ye-Jeong said that, gasping for breath, Dmitry let out a low laugh.

"It's late, and as long as you've come in here, you must be in my gap."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sound of iron and chain clashing violently.

When they came to, all of them were in an octagonal ring, a space called the Octagon.

"… what?"

Yoo Ji-Hyuk muttered as if he were speechless.

As far as he knew, the Octagon's activation condition was that Dmitry's fist touched the opponent's body, and there was only one target that it could be activated on.

Not a single person had been touched by his fist just now.

No, more than anything else, there were as many as four people in the space that was his ability, excluding him.

Is something distorted?

While he was thinking so, Jin Ye-Jeong, who had already intuited that it was already late, muttered in a tearful voice

"Sorry, I'm sorry…."

"Calm down. The ribs were broken. Don't talk until the bones are attached again with the potion."

Horie Yuzuki said, soothing her as if saying, it's okay.

However, Jin Ye-Jeong muttered, shedding tears.

"Ability, his ability… for some reason, it's different from my memory... no way, I didn't expect this...."

"……."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk moved the branches of the World Tree that he pulled out without saying a word.

It was possible.

When he moved it just to be sure, he could also move Henir's shadow.

As it was known, these two were recognized as parts of Yoo Ji-Hyuk's body, so they seemed to be still able to move.

Of course, he couldn't use his power as usual, but at least it was enough to deal with Dmitry.

That's why he silently moved the branches of the World Tree and made them dig into various parts of Jin Ye-Jeong's body.

"Ugh…."

"It'll hurt a little, but bear it."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk lowered his head a little and spoke so that only she could hear him.

"… since you're a homunculus, something like this will be rather more helpful than a potion."

Of course, perhaps because she was a homunculus, the World Tree in his body did not try to hide the sign of feeling bad.

However, it was completely submissive to Yoo Ji-Hyuk, so it just silently followed his orders and handed over its own energy to her.

"Ye-Seul."

"Yes."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk opened his mouth, examining Jin Ye-Jeong's complexion.

Jin Ye-Seul nodded quietly.

"Need help?"

"No."

"Okay. Remember everything I told you?"

"Yes."

As if that was enough, Yoo Ji-Hyuk closed his mouth.

And Jin Ye-Seul took a step forward.

Seeing that, Jin Ye-Jeong freaked out and grabbed Yoo Ji-Hyuk's arm.

"Ah…! Yoo, Yoo Ji-Hyuk-ssi. Please, Ye-Seul... !"

Dmitry, who saw Jin Ye-Jeong's urgent appearance, moved his eyebrows as if it was surprising and said while looking at Jin Ye-Seul.

"You sisters seem to have quite a special relationship."

"……."

Jin Ye-Seul didn't say anything.

She just tapped the ground with her feet on the spot.

"She was a woman who didn't spit out a single word of regret even after being beaten until her ribs were broken, her organs damaged, and her skull and face caved in, but… she could make a face like that?"

Dmitry muttered as if it were interesting and nodded his head.

"Good. You're the first."

As he spoke, the space in which they were confined began to change once more.

Except for Jin Ye-Seul and Dmitry, chains and wire meshes that seemed to isolate everyone else appeared.

"This is my ability. In here you can't escape until one of the two dies."

Dmitry unbuttoned his clothes and began to explain like that.

His upper body, which was soon revealed, was full of horrific scars and surgical scars.

"You have to fight only with your own physical ability here. Mana, skills, weapons... such things can't be used and hurt the other person."

His exposed body twitched menacingly as he moved.

"I was born in a slum. And even before meeting him and acquiring the ability, I lived by beating people to death with my bare hands. That number alone exceeds two digits."

Dmitry looked at Jin Ye-Seul, slowly taking a stance.

Seeing that, Jin Ye-Jeong shook her head and shouted bitterly.

"Ah, no…! Rather, rather me... !"

"Don't worry. Only the order is different, I'll kill all four of you amicably anyway."

Dmitry, who laughed, said while looking at Jin Ye-Seul, who still hadn't even taken a proper posture.

"How does it feel to be deprived of everything? Why don't you come at me with confidence like before?"

Who's stronger now, you or me?

Dmitry's body moved as soon as he uttered the words.

It was such a quick movement that ordinary people could not even follow with their eyes.

Suddenly, with a horrifying sound, someone fell down as if they had been slammed down roughly.

It was Dmitry.

"Me."

Jin Ye-Seul, who punched Dmitry, who was rushing at her, with her fists with ease, spoke as she unclenched her fist.

"How great did you say you were again?"

And she gave a small snort.

"What? Born in a slum, living by beating people to death?"

Walking stridingly, Jin Ye-Seul looked at Dmitry, who quickly stood up and adjusted his posture, and said without thinking.

"When I was ten years old, I killed a former Hunter by bursting his head with my hands."

With those words, Jin Ye-Seul threw her fist again.

Dmitry, who hurriedly blocked it, had to taste the sensation of his arm bones being crushed with a crushing sound.

With a thud, he fell again and rolled on the floor.

Jin Ye-Seul quietly took a breath and muttered.

"I couldn't count the number I've had my emotions swept up so much by someone like this."

Due to Dmitry, Jin Ye-Seul had to feel a lot of emotions.

And she was just glad at the fact she could root out the cause with her own hands in this way.

"You were chattering away well a while ago, but why aren't you talking now?"

Jin Ye-Seul muttered, looking at Dmitry, who was getting up from the ground, staggering.

"Bark more, come on."

Every time she moved her finger with a popping sound, a threatening sound rang.

She growled at him, showing her teeth like a beast.

"Come here."

You son of a b*tch.

* * *

"Ye-Seul."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk tapped Jin Ye-Seul's shoulder, who was sitting on top of Dmitry.

Then Jin Ye-Seul, whose face was splattered with blood, gently turned her head and looked at him.

"Yes, Ji-Hyuk. What's wrong?"

Seeing her grinning smile, Yoo Ji-Hyuk shook his head slightly.

"That guy. He died a long time ago."

At his words, Jin Ye-Seul gently turned her head and looked down.

When she came to, he really seemed to have died long ago.

Because there is no living person anywhere even after the head disappears.

The space where they had been confined had long since disappeared.

"Ah, the head…!"

"It's over there."

Jin Ye-Seul, who said oops in her mind while looking at Dmitry's body with only his lower jaw left, turned her head and looked sideways.

There was Dmitri's head, which had become similarly mushy.

"Well, then shall I do it right here?"

"Okay… then I'll go and treat Jin Ye-Jeong-ssi."

"Yes."

Jin Ye-Seul picked up Dmitry's head, and soon looked around and headed toward the corner.

She didn't know if it was Yuzuki Horie, but at least she didn't want to show this to Yoo Ji-Hyuk and Jin Ye-Jeong.

"……."

Jin Ye-Seul, who roughly sat down, took out several thin iron needles from her pocket.

Then she skillfully picked up Dmitry's head and began the task of extracting memories.

"Hmm."

Soon after, Jin Ye-Seul was able to extract some pretty important information from Dmitry's brain.

The exact location of the last vein.

The fact that Isaac McDowell's ability needs to meet the conditions through a special process, but he can have several abilities by cloning other people's abilities.

Their purpose.

Locations of other Big Watch bases and members….

"Hmm?"

And the reason why his ability changed.

Jin Ye-Seul took a small breath as she drew out the scene where he came into contact with the people who called themselves children of Milited, followed by the scene where he underwent human experimentation and mumbled that his ability had been strengthened.

‘… Ji-Hyuk will like this.'

Jin Ye-Seul, who smiled automatically, thinking how happy Yoo Ji-Hyuk would be, urged her hands.

The iron needles dug here and there, and at the same time, she was able to catch a glimpse of a new memory.

"……."

However, after seeing the extracted memories that followed, Jin Ye-Seul's expression gradually began to harden.

The memory of the fact that Jin Ye-Jeong was alive and that the people who told him where she was hiding were the children of Militad.

The fact that Yoo Ji-Hyuk became a target of the Big Watch and a kill order was issued.

The fact that a woman named Emilia laughed confidently and declared that she would kill him after seducing him.

Finally, around the time when she saw the image of Jin Ye-Jeong being attacked by Dmitry, the memory that she had been peeking into suddenly stopped.

"… ah."

When she looked down, the iron needles and Dmitry's head were crushed to the point where no trace could be found.

… well, I've extracted all the important information.

Muttering like that, Jin Ye-Seul got up from her seat, wiping off the things on her hands.

"Ugh..."

"I'm sorry, does it hurt a lot?"

"No, I feel a little… ughh."

Jin Ye-Jeong's arms and shoulders and other parts of her body were pierced by the branches of the World Tree like needles.

Knowing well what they were doing, Jin Ye-Seul stared at the two without much thought and looked around.

"That person?"

"Horie-ssi left her seat saying she would bring reinforcements. Because she can move the fastest among us."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk, who retrieved the branches of the World Tree, said such and began to look around.

Noticing that he was looking for things to use in place of a splint and things for first aid, such as bandages, Jin Ye-Seul strode toward Jin Ye-Jeong and sat down in front of her.

Jin Ye-Jeong curled up, flitching, as if she was still in pain.

Jin Ye-Seul could notice the fact that she had become smaller than herself.

"You were alive."

"…… sorry."

Jin Ye-Seul smiled a little at Jin Ye-Jeong's apology.

"'I was just saying hello, I didn't ask you to apologize, though?"

"……."

Jin Ye-Jeong didn't say anything.

Jin Ye-Seul, who was still smiling, stood up after seeing Yoo Ji-Hyuk, who returned with the things he was looking for in his arms.

"I'll do it, Ji-Hyuk."

After agonizing for a moment, Yoo Ji-Hyuk nodded and handed her a first aid kit and a stick to use as a splint.

Jin Ye-Seul took it, sat down again, and pulled Jin Ye-Jeong's arm roughly.

"Ah…!"

"Here? Does it hurt here?"

Jin Ye-Seul, who muttered like that, unwrapped the bandage and began to wrap it around Jin Ye-Jeong's wrist.

"Ye, Ye-Seul…."

Jin Ye-Jeong clamped her lip and muttered.

"I'm really sorry, but… please understand. I had to keep it a secret from everyone. The only people who knew were me and Jelly, ah. I mean, Evangeline and Lee Myung-Joon…."

"So."

Jin Ye-Seul grinned and then suddenly pulled Jin Ye-Jeong's other arm.

Then she wrapped it around once with a bandage, tied it, and said with a smile.

Even though her hands were tied in an instant, Jin Ye-Jeong was just bowing her head.

"What am I supposed to do? Sister is a dead person now, right?"

"……."

"She deceived her sister and her family, too… Sister, after Sister died, I was disowned by the family. Do you know that?"

"… what?"

When Jin Ye-Jeong raised her head, Jin Ye-Seul smiled as if asking, why are you making that kind of expression?

"Oh, pretending not to know anything again. You would have expected everything."

"Ye-Seul… I!"

That moment.

In an instant, Jin Ye-Seul attacked such Jin Ye-Jeong and thrust her teeth into the nape of her neck.

Surprised, Yoo Ji-Hyuk was about to rush in, and it was none other than Svengali who stopped him.

[Watch quietly.]

It is a problem for the two of them to solve.

At his words, Yoo Ji-Hyuk stopped and stared at the two.

Indeed, Jin Ye-Seul was just pushing her mouth against Jin Ye-Jeong's neck, as if she were pretending to bite.

Jin Ye-Jeong was lying under such Jin Ye-Seul and quietly staring at her younger sister.

"… when I checked Sister's news."

Jin Ye-Seul fell from the nape of Jin Ye-Jeong's neck and looked down at her.

"What do you think I was thinking?"

"……."

"I was happy. I was so happy that I couldn't stand it."

Jin Ye-Seul muttered like that.

"There's nothing more unpleasant than my feelings being moved by others."

"… that man who is known to have killed Sister. When I noticed that man's identity and where he was, I was really happy and wanted to dance."

"Because I could kill the person who caused me such discomfort with my own hands."

Um, Sister.

"There are only two people who make me like this. Sister, and Ji-Hyuk. Did you know that?"

"Ye-Seul, I…."

"But Sister has always been like that."

Jin Ye-Seul made a shh sound as if saying, be quiet.

"Always so absorbed in her own thoughts and beliefs that she doesn't take care of others. I knew Sister had a secret agreement with Father long ago. In exchange for sparing no support for Sister's actions, Sister said she would do anything for the family."

"……."

"That's how Sister abandoned me. Following Father's orders. I remember everything now, Sister."

Jin Ye-Seul tapped her own head with her finger.

"Sister played tricks on my head. I'm sure I asked Sister to tell me what's wrong with me, but I never said she could stir it however she wanted."

"Ah… th, that."

Jin Ye-Jeong looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"I'm, I'm sorry… I, I just wanted to be your help...."

She said in a tearful voice.

"I was so stupid. So, you…."

"Yes, right. Sister. It was thanks to Sister's vanity that I became like this, you know."

Jin Ye-Seul giggled.

She moved and began to posture herself perfectly so that Jin Ye-Jeong could not move.

"But it doesn't really matter now. It's already in the past... In some ways, thanks to that, I got to meet Ji-Hyuk."

On top of that...

"Look at Sister's appearance now."

Jin Ye-Seul said so and looked at Jin Ye-Jeong as if she was genuinely sorry.

"Now she can never go back to the way she used to be. She will probably live like this for the rest of her life."

Jin Ye-Seul genuinely felt sorry at the sight of her, wounded, her mighty mana almost gone, and now unable to even move because she had been suppressed even by her.

"… but it's okay."

Jin Ye-Seul said so and undid the bandages that tied Jin Ye-Jeong's arms.

And this time she said, slowly and carefully, tying the bandage on her arm.

"Now I will protect Sister."

Just like Sister did to me in the past.

Tying the knot of the bandage, Jin Ye-Seul whispered so.

"Sister, and Ji-Hyuk."

No one can touch them.

She whispered quietly.