The Blind SSS-Class Final Boss Is Obsessed With Me

Chapter 12: The Principal

The walk to the Administrative Building was really bad. I saw the bodies of instructors Cian had once feared, now nothing more than piles of meat for the lesser monsters. I saw the grand fountains of the academy overflowing with blood instead of water.

We were about twenty minutes into the first rift event. In the original novel, this was when the Principal, Valerius, attempted to use the Academy’s Core to create a mass teleportation circle to save the students.

He failed, of course. The core was unstable, and the attempt only served to draw the attention of a High Demon, which led to the total destruction of the main hall.

But if I could get there first... if I could have Seraphina stabilize the core with her energy...

I could turn the entire academy into a permanent sanctuary. A domain where the rifts couldn’t open.

Soon, we reached the doors of the Administrative Building. They were shut tight and were glowing with defensive runes that were currently flickering and sparking as they struggled against the ambient mana of the rifts.

"Can you open it?" Though, I knew she could, I still asked anyway.

Without saying anything, Seraphina stepped forward and placed a hand against the wood.

Under her touch, the runes didn’t just break; they turned black instantly. The wood groaned, then shattered into a thousand splinters that hissed as they hit the floor.

We stepped into the lobby. The whole building was a mess of papers and overturned furniture. A few staff members were huddled behind the reception desk, while clutching decorative spears and kitchen knives.

"Who’s there?" a voice shouted from the balcony above.

It was Valerius. The Principal. A man of immense magical power and even greater arrogance. In the novel, he was a mentor figure for Kaelen, always pushing the ’Hero’ toward his destiny.

He looked down at us with his eyes widening as he recognized me.

"Cian von Heist? What are you doing here? And... good gods, what is that beside you?"

He raised his staff, which was a massive piece of ancient oak topped with a glowing sunstone. The light it emitted was blinding, golden energy that made Seraphina groan in annoyance.

"Put the stick down, Valerius," I said as soon as I noticed that she didn’t like the thing the principal was holding.

"You’ve brought a demon into the heart of the academy!" Valerius roared. "I don’t know how you’ve survived, boy, but you will step away from that creature this instant!"

He began to chant some unrecognizable words and the air around him begin shimmering with the heat of a solar spell.

Valerius didn’t wait. The golden light from his staff flared, filling the entire lobby with a sudden, suffocating heat that made the overturned wooden desks smell like they were about to catch fire.

"Step back, Cian!" he warned, his voice booming through the hall like thunder. "I will cleanse this filth!"

I didn’t move. I didn’t even flinch.

Instead, I looked at the old man and let out a tired, slow sigh. I took a single step forward, keeping my posture completely relaxed.

"Valerius, look at the runes on your own staff," I said, pointing a finger toward the glowing sunstone at the tip of his weapon. "They are vibrating, aren’t they? The ambient mana from the rifts is already bleeding into your spell. If you cast that solar magic right now, the backlash will blow your own arms off before the spell even leaves the balcony."

Valerius paused for a fraction of a second as his eyes flicked down to his staff.

He was a master mage, the head of the greatest academy in the kingdom, so he knew I wasn’t entirely lying. The mana in the air was chaotic. It was heavy, corrupted, and violently swirling around the building. But his pride and his decades of absolute authority quickly took over again.

"Silence, boy!" he hissed, his face contorting in anger. "I am the Principal of this academy! I have mastered the solar arts before your father was even a student here! I know exactly what I am doing!"

"No, you don’t," I interrupted, my voice perfectly calm and loud enough to echo through the empty lobby. "You are planning to connect your mana to the Academy’s Core, right? You want to activate the mass teleportation circle to save the remaining students."

Hearing me, the old man completely froze.

"How... how do you know about that?" he demanded. His knuckles turned white as he gripped his staff tighter. That plan was a highly classified secret, known only to him and a few high-ranking elders who were already dead or missing.

"Because I know it is going to fail," I said, taking another slow step forward. "The core is already unstable. The moment you pour your solar energy into it, the core will act like a beacon in the dark. It won’t save anyone. It will just invite a High Demon straight into this hall. And you know what the worst part is? You will be the one who opened the door for it."

Valerius’s face went pale. He looked at me, then looked at Seraphina, who was standing quietly by my side, her blindfolded face tilted toward him like a predator watching its prey.

"You... you are a traitor," Valerius whispered, though his voice lacked its previous confidence. "You’ve partnered with a monster to take the core for yourself! You are using the chaos to stage a coup!"

"I am trying to save this place, you stubborn old fool," I said, letting a bit of frustration show in my voice. "If you activate that circle, everyone in this building dies. But if you let me pass, my... companion here can use her energy to stabilize the core. We can turn the entire academy into a safe zone. A domain where rifts can’t open. I am offering you a solution, and you are standing there clinging to a broken stick like a fucking old man."