Magic Academy's Bastard Instructor

An overwhelming torrent of light descended from above, illuminating the battlefield so brightly that night itself ceased to exist.

The brilliance eclipsed the moon, drowned out the stars, and for a fleeting instant transformed the entire world into a realm of pure radiance.

The spell crashed directly into Araxys.

Roooooooar——!

For the first time since its appearance, the Black Dragon reacted.

Its roar shook the heavens, its massive figure shaking upon impact, and its wings convulsing.

People watched in disbelief as the impossible unfolded before their eyes. The Black Dragon, an existence that had seemed invincible mere moments ago, was finally being forced backward by humanity’s combined strength.

"It’s not enough."

"Huh—"

Before anyone could process who had spoken, something moved.

Whoosh——!

A single figure shot into the air.

The speed was so overwhelming that many failed to track it, only managing to catch a fleeting glimpse as the silhouette crossed the battlefield and ascended toward the heavens with a blade in hand.

It was a woman. Snow-white hair flowed behind her. Lavender eyes gleamed under the light of countless spell formations.

And wherever she passed, cherry blossoms seemed to bloom in her wake, scattering throughout the sky as though the battlefield itself had momentarily forgotten it was witnessing the end of the world.

"W-What’s that?!"

"Am I seeing things?!"

Countless voices cried out in confusion as people instinctively looked upward.

At first, they were merely following the path of the woman soaring toward the heavens. Yet before long, their attention was drawn toward something far greater.

Something far more terrifying.

High above the sky, the heavens themselves were beginning to crack.

The veil.

The great boundary separating humanity from the horrors beyond.

For countless generations, it had remained hidden from mortal eyes. Humanity had lived without ever realizing it existed, protected by a barrier they neither understood nor acknowledged.

Now, however, that concealment was beginning to fail.

Crack—crack—crack——!

The fractures spread across the sky like shattered glass.

And through those fractures, humanity finally saw it.

"...."

"...."

"...."

Eyes.

Countless eyes.

Eyes that seemed larger than nations, larger than continents, larger than the very concepts humanity used to measure scale.

They stared, watching, observing, and waiting.

At that moment, humanity realized. Everything that had happened thus far had been insignificant.

Humanity had finally glimpsed what lay beyond its world.

Those were the eyes Vanitas Astrea had wanted humanity to see.

Those were the eyes he had wanted humanity to bear witness to.

The truth that beyond the world they knew existed beings capable of extinguishing their civilization without effort.

The truth that humanity’s struggles, triumphs, and history would all disappear under the gaze of entities far greater than themselves.

Those eyes that threatened humanity’s existence.

Those eyes that represented everything Araxys feared.

Those eyes that represented the future waiting beyond the veil.

And yet, as people stared upward, another realization slowly began taking root.

Fear was not the only thing they felt.

There was anger. There was defiance. There was curiosity.

There was determination.

Because humanity had witnessed them now.

Humanity knew they existed.

And once humanity learned of something, it inevitably sought to understand it.

Then surpass it.

The eyes beyond the veil continued watching.

But humanity was staring back.

* * *

"What do you think, bastard?"

Vanitas’s voice was carried away by the wind.

From his position high above the battlefield, perched atop the Black Dragon’s head, he looked down upon the countless figures struggling below. The scene unfolding before him was one few could have imagined possible.

"Those humans you looked down on all this time. The same humans you justified slaughtering under the guise of preservation. They all rose to stand against you."

——Unbelievable.

The ancient dragon’s disbelief echoed through the connection between them. For an existence that had existed for countless ages, for a creature that regarded humanity as little more than insects it needed to look out for, the sight before it was incomprehensible.

——Unbelievable.

High above the sky, Vanitas stared at the horizon.

The world stretched endlessly before him. Fires burned throughout the battlefield, countless spells illuminated the heavens, and innumerable people continued fighting despite facing an enemy they had no realistic hope of defeating.

It was almost laughable.

Even Vanitas himself had secretly crippled part of Araxys’s strength before this entire scenario had begun. Before all of this even began, he had already ensured that the Black Dragon would not descend upon humanity at the height of its power.

Yet even accounting for that, even after weakening it, even after stacking the odds against it, the sight was still baffling.

Because Araxys was not merely losing, but was being resisted.

Humanity had refused to yield.

The same species Araxys had dismissed as weak and temporary creatures continued throwing themselves into the struggle without fear.

Knights raised their swords despite knowing they could never reach it. Mages exhausted their mana reserves despite knowing their spells could barely affect it. Ordinary people who possessed neither great power nor legendary titles still contributed however they could.

Humanity was weak.

Humanity was flawed.

Humanity was self-destructive.

History itself was proof of that.

Greed, hatred, jealousy, and ambition had repeatedly driven humanity toward ruin throughout countless generations.

Yet despite all of that, when faced with extinction itself, those same flaws somehow transformed into strength.

The greed to survive.

The attachment to loved ones.

The fear of death.

The unwillingness to lose everything they had built.

All of it became fuel.

"This is the will of humanity."

All of it became determination.

"This is the will of civilization."

Far below, another barrier shattered. Another formation was destroyed. Yet immediately afterward, someone else stepped forward to take its place.

"You feared your extinction. You feared the Alephs would eventually bring about your downfall."

The corners of Vanitas’s lips curved upward.

"It’s a reasonable concern."

The smile widened.

"But guess what?"

The battlefield reflected within his eyes.

"It won’t be the Alephs responsible for your fall."

Araxys remained silent.

Whether from disbelief or unwillingness to acknowledge the truth, even Vanitas could not tell.

"It’ll be humanity."

He spoke as if each word were a matter-of-fact. As though he were merely stating an inevitable conclusion.

"Ironic, isn’t it?"

For countless ages, Araxys had viewed humanity as insignificant.

A temporary species. Something that would eventually disappear in the annals of history. Yet now, standing against it were those same insignificant creatures.

Not the Alephs, but humans.

"You should have seen the signs."

The very existence Araxys had never considered worthy of fear.

"No matter how many times humanity falls apart, no matter how many times it destroys itself, and no matter how hopeless the situation becomes..."

His gaze returned to the countless people still fighting below.

"Someone always stands back up."

And another.

And another.

And another.

Until eventually, an entire civilization rises with them.

——You’ll regret this, Zen.

"I won’t."

There was no uncertainty in Vanitas’s voice, nor any trace of doubt. Even as the world distorted around him and humanity struggled against the Black Dragon below, his conviction remained unchanged.

High above the heavens, countless particles slowly drifted through the air.

The veil.

The great boundary that had protected the world for countless years.

The barrier meant to conceal humanity from the Alephs and the countless horrors lurking beyond the realm of mortals.

Now, however, it was changing.

Little by little, cracks were beginning to appear.

For the first time in history, humanity was beginning to peer beyond the confines of its cage and glimpse the realm inhabited by the Gods themselves.

"This might only be the beginning."

Vanitas looked upward. The drifting particles reflected within his eyes.

"But humanity has always begun with small steps."

"A village becomes a kingdom."

"A kingdom becomes an empire."

"A dream becomes a civilization."

Below them, humanity continued resisting. The same pattern repeated throughout history.

"No longer will humanity need to face extinction merely for the sake of preservation."

The winds around him howled. The veil continued fluttering overhead.

"No longer will it be forced to remain ignorant out of fear."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"No longer will it be forced to bow its head before powers beyond its comprehension."

The words were neither a declaration nor a challenge.

They were beliefs.

Futures he genuinely envisioned.

"Humanity will continue."

"Humanity will survive."

"Humanity will advance."

Humanity was never perfect, but it was always destined to succeed and rise above its predators.

"And eventually... humanity will rise among the Gods."

The Black Dragon remained silent.

Perhaps it could not understand.

Perhaps it refused to understand.

Or perhaps, for the first time in its existence, it was beginning to realize the implications of what stood before it.

"Those Gods you fear, Araxys. The Alephs. The beings lurking beyond the veil."

His eyes reflected both the heavens above and the civilization below.

"You see them as inevitabilities."

The battlefield continued raging beneath them.

"But I see them as obstacles."

Yet Vanitas’s gaze never wavered.

"Because that’s what humanity has always done."

"When faced with a wall, it climbs."

"When faced with darkness, it creates light."

"And when faced with Gods..."

The smile on his face deepened ever so slightly.

"It eventually learns how to kill them."

Whoosh——!

The world seemed to stop.

After humanity’s greatest spell had struck, after countless people had poured their all into a single attack, a lone figure pierced through the heavens.

It was just a single cut.

Yet that cut severed everything.

The sky.

The dragon.

Reality itself.

Rooooooar——!

Araxys’s roar echoed throughout the world. Its colossal body split apart. The impossible had finally happened.

Humanity had reached the heavens.

Humanity had reached a God.

And humanity had cut it down.

"Vanitas!"

"Margaret."

Margaret had appeared before him, cherry blossoms fluttering around her as tears streamed down her face.

And for a moment, amidst the collapse of a dragon large enough to blot out the world, amidst the cheers and screams of humanity below, and amidst the countless fragments of light drifting from the shattered veil above, only the two of them existed.

Vanitas smiled.

Margaret remained suspended in the air.

Vanitas’s knees gave out.

Margaret’s shoulders shook.

And despite the tears continuously falling from her eyes, she refused to look away from him.

"...."

No words came out. No matter how many times she opened her mouth, nothing emerged.

Because she already understood ever since he told her to go to the cabin.

Ever since he told her to bring her blade. From the very beginning, Vanitas had entrusted the final strike to her.

Slowly, Margaret’s gaze fell.

"...."

Toward their hands.

"...."

Toward the matching rings coiled around their fingers, gleaming under the fading light.

What remained was merely a man and a woman suspended in the sky filled with a sky cherry blossoms.

Margaret bit her lip.

The tears would not stop.

"Why..." Her voice cracked. "Why did it have to be me...?"

Vanitas laughed softly. Of course she would hate this role more than anyone else.

"Because you’re my blade."

An answer far crueler than any lie.

"...."

The rings caught the light once more.

"Shall I fulfill my promise now?"

"...."

With tears streaming endlessly from her eyes, Margaret Illenia delivered the final cut.

The blade that had cut down Araxys.

The blade that had cut through fate.

The blade that belonged solely to Vanitas Astrea.

As cherry blossoms scattered across the sky like flower petals carried by the wind, the distance between their rings finally disappeared.

For the first time since exchanging them, there was no battlefield separating them, no duties to fulfill, and no enemies left to cut down.

Only the two of them remained.

"I love you, Margaret."

"Vanitas...!"

Margaret’s fingers trembled around the hilt of her sword. The tears refused to stop, no matter how tightly she clenched her eyes shut, and no matter how desperately she wished this moment would never arrive.

"And thank you for everything."

Vanitas smiled.

The kind of smile Margaret had always wished to see more often.

"For never giving up on me."

His hand slowly rose.

"For never questioning me."

The trembling fingers brushed against her cheek.

"For remaining by my side until the very end."

"Just why...?"

"For respecting my decisions."

"Why did it have to be like this...?"

For all her strength, for all the countless enemies she had cut down throughout her life, there was nothing she could do here.

Only farewell remained.

"Because this was the path I chose."

"...."

Margaret lowered her head.

The matching rings reflected in her eyes. What had been a promise of a future together had instead become proof that such a future had existed, even if only for a moment.

Slowly, Vanitas leaned forward.

Then their lips met.

Around them, the heavens continued to shatter. Fragments of light fluttered through the air like particles. Cherry blossoms danced between them.

Yet neither paid attention to anything else.

The vow between them had finally been fulfilled.

And as Margaret’s blade remained lodged within him, as man and woman stood under the heavens, both of them finally understood that this was where their paths diverged.

The blade that had followed him to the ends of the world would remain behind to witness the future he had gambled everything to create.

"...I love you, Vanitas."