Zane Cromwell

The interior of the auditorium was filled with colorful sunlight streaming in through the stained-glass windows.

"The grace of the Lord is truly deep♩ There is no way for a lowly human being♪ to repay♬"

Children around the age of 15 and 16 sang hymns in bright voices. The sound of the afternoon hymn resonated throughout the Holy Academy campus.

Hymn class was one of the required subjects that first-year students had to take.

When the pure voices of boys and girls were amplified by magic and resonated throughout the schoolyard, even those who did not know God found themselves praising Him.

"Ugh—"

Zane.

It was a completely different story for this warlock who once stood at the pinnacle of evil. White magic was the complete opposite of black magic. The song, filled with such energy, could not possibly sound beautiful to the warlock's ears.

Naturally, Zane skipped hymn class. Instead, he rushed back to his secluded room in the dormitory.

Bang!

As soon as he opened the door to the dormitory, Zane ran straight to the bathroom. He immediately grabbed the toilet and started vomiting.

"Whoa!"

Weird...

Zane thought so. Even if one had been exposed to the disgusting aura of divinity, this was an excessive rejection reaction.

"How can I be so offended by such a small amount of divine power?"

At that moment, Zane suddenly noticed something strange. The color of the effluent was oddly dark, and it even gave off a foul odor.

"… Poison? No, this is a sleeping pill."

Zane frowned.

"I think I finally understand now."

Zane Cromwell, the original owner of this body, had swallowed a lethal dose of sleeping pills. He didn't know why these things were stuffed into the stomach of a first-year academy cadet.

"There's nothing I can do. If I don't want to die again, I have no choice but to throw it all up."

Zane vomited out all the poison remaining in his stomach. At the same time, memories of Zane Cromwell, who had been the owner of the body, began to return.

"So you were trying to take your own life?"

Only then did Zane grasp the circumstances fully.

School violence. It was a story that was obvious and cliché but not so to those involved. Zane Cromwell, who had been bullied since the beginning of his schooling, swallowed a large amount of sleeping pills in a fit of anger, apparently intending to take his own life in front of his bullies.

And just as his life was ending, Zane's soul was transferred.

"... Hmm, I guess he died right before getting hit in the back of the head. His memory was cut off there."

Zane slowly traced back the memories of his original body.

Zane Cromwell.

The perennial underachiever in the Academy's priest class, the "F-Class Cadet."

An illegitimate child of the prestigious noble family, the Cromwell family.

A gloomy and timid boy, completely different from his father, who stood at the top of the knighthood, or his brothers, who each became great knights and wizards.

A loser who was kicked out of his family due to his lack of talent in swordsmanship and will to use magic.

"If I can't be of any help to my family, I'd rather become a priest and stay in a monastery. Well, it seems like a reasonable choice."

If one lives their whole life ascetically in a monastery, at least they won't do anything that brings shame to their family name. But studying abroad as a refuge does not always end well.

After all, Zane Cromwell had to go through many trials and tribulations even after entering the academy.

Because he was not good at magic or even his specialty, white magic (light magic), he kept getting terrible grades every time he took an exam.

Furthermore, due to his shyness, he also struggled with interpersonal relationships.

There was virtually no support from the family. At first, those who pretended to be friendly with Zane Cromwell, saying that he was from a prestigious family, began to ignore and harass him after learning of his situation.

Dump.

Zane sat down on the bed. Closing his eyes and checking the mana in his body, he discovered "white mana" the size of a chestnut deep in his danjeon. It could only be said that it was a miracle to be born with this much divine power.

"But it's so small…"

Meanwhile, the "black mana" that existed next to the white mana was also clearly visible. The black mana that had been in Zane's soul was slowly seeping into his new body.

Of course, compared to the great power of the past, it was just a drop in the bucket. When would he ever reach that level again?

Looking at the new body, which was so flimsy, it didn't seem like something that could be accomplished in a short period of time.

"I guess I should start collecting them little by little."

Finally, Zane closed his eyes and took a deep breath into his abdomen. The breath of a warlock that swallows death and spits out darkness. The secret to this method was known only to one person in the world: Zane.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk…

The negative dimension mana that had been floating around the world slowly began to flow into Zane's body and collect deep within the mana hole.

Right then.

"… !"

Zane felt something changing inside him.

Patch!

A fierce spark flew inside the manahole. The faint divine power embedded in the new body shook here and there.

Patch! Patchik!

Black mana and white mana clashed. The inside of the manahole began to boil and expand.

Zane observed in detail the process in which black and white collided.

"Is this where thesis and antithesis meet?"

Two forces with opposing personalities clashed fiercely. The two had almost the same level of strength, so they maintained a tight balance without either side being pushed back.

And the results were unexpected.

… Crackle!