Chapter 161: Taboo Maxed Out, Teacher's Breakdown
[Surrender a portion of your soul in exchange for a corresponding gain in power.]
The golden contract held only this single, brief sentence. The simpler a rule was, the easier it was for the one who drafted it to alter it later on.
"Miss Wakaba... what is this..."
Faced with this sketchy contract that lacked any credentials, Ms. Oka was clearly not going to sign it so easily.
"No time to explain, get in the car, Teacher!"
Shirazawa sensed a soul fluctuation rapidly approaching along Ms. Oka's soul corridor. He knew that Potimas must have detected an anomaly and was preparing to directly seize control of Ms. Oka's body through the Ruler skill
If he couldn't have her, he would destroy her.
Skills work at the soul level could not be nullified by anti-magic barriers. The most correct course of action was to make Teacher sign the unequal contract as quickly as possible to wipe out the shred of Potimas's split soul attached to the exterior of her spiritual body.
He reached out to grab Teacher's delicate hand, slit her main artery, and let the fresh blood splatter onto the golden contract.
This sequence of actions directly dumbfounded the onlookers.
As the person directly affected, Teacher stared at her right hand, which was frantically spraying blood from the artery, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull.
"Ah!!! It's over, it's over, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! What do I do? What do I do?"
Shirazawa's movements had been far too fast for her to process at all.
"Teacher, this is a fantasy world, don't make such a big fuss out of nothing," Shirazawa sighed, subsequently casting a healing spell to mend Teacher's right hand.
At the exact same time, the contract document flew directly between Ms. Oka's brows, merging into one with her.
"The contract is established. Whoever violates the contract shall suffer the agony of a ruptured soul."
As the Goddess of Contracts, Shiraori reached out to brush her hand over the top of Ms. Oka's head, yanking sharply toward the empty air.
A spiritual body that did not belong to Teacher was dragged out by Shiraori. This was part of the contract; Potimas's split soul could do nothing but let loose a silent torrent of furious curses.
"Why the hell are you sacrificing my soul?! Ms. Oka signed the contract, go look for her, you bastard!"
Facing the old elf's insolence, Shiraori flashed an elegant smile. "Didn't you see the clause on the back of the contract document stating: The Goddess of Contracts reserves all rights of final interpretation?"
Under everyone's completely bewildered gazes, this shred of Potimas's split soul was sacrificed, turning instead into pure energy that flooded back into Teacher's body. Although Shiraori might have been acting as a savior here, she certainly wasn't about to shoulder the price required by the contract herself. The black-hearted Goddess of Contracts knew exactly how to balance her ledger.
Using Potimas's split soul as the price, it became the nutrients for Teacher's growth. The only one who got hurt was the old elf.
The golden light of leveling up ignited from Teacher's body, shooting up by more than a dozen levels in a rapid succession. Her strength instantly exploded by three to four times, making the upgrade incredibly comfortable!!!
"Wh-What is going on here?!"
Ms. Oka was completely astounded. She could feel her own strength reinforcing itself frantically.
"White Nine, clear the area."
"Understood!"
White Nine's acknowledgment echoed from the empty air.
Immediately following that, all the unrelated students were forcefully dragged away by the mysterious crowd of white-robed figures. There was no need for regular Muggles to know about certain matters; otherwise, it would only invite unnecessary variables.
"Y-You, what do you think you're doing?"
Schlain instinctively felt that these two classmates did not look like good people. He took a couple of steps back, shielding his best friend behind him.
"Let go of me! I want to stay with my brother!"
Right at this moment, a childish, delicate shout rang through the classroom as a girl as flawless as sculpted jade came running inside while struggling against her captors.
The blue-haired loli was the youngest princess of the kingdom, as well as Schlain's full-blooded younger sister.
"Sue!"
"Brother Schlain, these peasants actually dare to be insolent to the royal family, they're far too audacious!" The young princess Suelecia puffed out her cheeks, hiding behind Schlain while glaring huffily at White Nine and his men.
The corner of White Nine's mouth twitched.
*Damn it, I was already being extremely polite, alright? We all used the word 'please' and didn't even lay a hand on anyone.*
If they were to truly get serious, your entire royal family would end up pinned flat against the ground.
"Guards! Imperial Guard! There are criminals invading this place!" Schlain shouted at the top of his lungs, and a large number of soldiers immediately swarmed into the entire classroom.
A middle-aged man clad in silver armor walked inside. Upon seeing that it was his direct superior, White Nine, standing there, this captain of the Imperial Guard—who had been covertly replaced by the Tenth Army—silently backed right out again, even considerately locking the door from the outside.
"Sorry to bother you, I didn't see a single thing."
"..."
This time, absolutely everyone was left completely dumbstruck. Good grief, they had originally thought an enemy was invading, but after all that fuss, it turned out they were the ones sitting inside the enemy's camp without even realizing it.
Seeing this, no one else resisted, quietly letting themselves be escorted out until only the group of reincarnations remained.
The young princess was allowed to stay, as Shirazawa didn't particularly mind this brother-complex loli.
Putting everything else aside, Schlain's harem truly had a bit of everything: a princess sister, a gender-swapped best friend, a monster Light Dragon, as well as the half-elf Anna from the future Hero's party, and the Saint Yuri who had been intercepted early on by Shirazawa. This was the standard layout for an alternate-world male protagonist.
However, these supporting characters were currently still just seven- or eight-year-old children, and whatever height they developed to in the future didn't have much to do with Shirazawa and the others anyway. A spider's journey lay in the sea of stars; how could they possibly linger in this shallow puddle?
"Alright everyone, don't harbor such massive hostility. We are actually very, very good people," Shirazawa said as he clapped his hands. "Take this opportunity to ask whatever questions you have quickly, so we don't waste each other's time."
Hearing these words, everyone remained completely silent. The main issue was that they had far too many doubts, leaving them unsure of where to even begin.
"Miss Wakaba, what exactly was that just now?" Teacher was the first to speak up and ask.
The one who responded to her was Shirazawa. Whenever there were outsiders present, speaking was still quite an ordeal for Shiraori, and since explaining things was rather tedious, Shirazawa simply handled the task on her behalf.
"Teacher, that right there was Potimas's true face. You've been completely played for a fool by that guy."
[Authority intrusion successful. Skill acquired:
Shiraori very considerately modified the System, directly maxing out everyone's Taboo levels. Letting them see the truth with their own eyes would make it easier to explain the rest.
"Ugh... My head hurts so bad, damn it!"
"Ngh~~"
"Ah..."
Everyone's minds were instantly flooded with all sorts of imagery, causing them to clutch their heads and shriek in agony. The most terrifying aspect was the intense resentment coming directly from the world itself.
[Atones! Atone! Humanity must atone!]
The massive influx of data required everyone to take a long time just to settle down. The thoroughly shaken reincarnations were, after all, still only in their childhood stages, meaning their psychological capacity wasn't the greatest. Shirazawa didn't rush them either, merely waiting in silence.
"How... How could it be like this..."
Teacher, who had suddenly realized something, had tears burst from her eyes. She clutched her own hair, her face turning as pale as a sheet of paper.
The "father" she trusted so completely was actually the culprit behind the world's destruction. And she had actually naively delivered her own students into his hands, one by one, with her own two hands.
"Teacher, this isn't your fault." Shiraori held up Teacher, gently patting the little loli's back.
Teacher shook her head, covering her face as she wept bitterly.
"It is all my fault."
"I am the one who caused their deaths, it is my fault!!" Teacher kept sobbing quietly, looking as though she had suffered a massive psychological shock.
"Teacher!"
"Teacher, please calm down!"
"I have already sent people to rescue the classmates in the Elf Village. They are all perfectly fine, don't worry."
Shiraori understood very clearly the position the students held in Teacher's heart. To prevent Teacher from dying of a broken heart due to excessive grief, those reincarnations in the Elf Village still needed to be thrown a lifeline.
Now that Potimas's split soul had been destroyed, the other party was bound to have noticed. The meticulous Shiraori had already calculated up to this step long ago, having dispatched White One early on to infiltrate the Elf Village and extract the people. Even if they couldn't rescue those reincarnations, with White One protecting them, there was no need to worry about their safety.
Because little Leest had also tagged along out of sheer boredom.
With a Myth-tier monster who had trained for two and a half years tagging along, even if they ran into Potimas's main body, they would still easily hold their ground.
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