“Haa…” Kahn gave a sigh.

He had been waiting, lurking in the darkness for his prey.

Just as he agreed with his human collaborator, he didn’t make any move himself. Instead, he remained in his location and prepared for any sign of human activity heading his way.

“None, uh? Still…” He grumbled.

Kahn didn’t understand the shady man’s reasoning one bit.

While he was aware that his current position had a lot of relevance to the whole invasion, he knew there were better ways to prevent any risks.

The Shadow Demon, previously a Demon Lord in his own right, was stationed close to the entrance of the Hall where all the Lecturers were currently having their meeting.

It was to prevent any interference with their invasion, since letting the powerful individuals within the building loose would spell doom for Kahn’s entire operation.

However, the Shadow Demon could figure out other ways to prevent that from happening.

Firstly, he could directly participate in the Invasion itself and swiftly get rid of the nuisances himself.

With him directly participating, no one would even get the chance to reach the hall—not that they even knew where it was located, in the first place.

The fact that no one might even come close to the place he was guarding made Kahn grit his pitch-black teeth in annoyance.

“What a bother…”

He hated being useless and idle, yet he knew better than to deviate from the plan. After all… his partner himself had guaranteed that someone would show.

According to the man, the most troublesome student of all was going to attempt to call upon the aid of all the Lecturers.

Fortunately, this was the same person Kahn was to personally kill. While Kahn would have preferred to seek out his prey himself—rather than have it come to him—he decided not to push it and leave the plan as it was.

Since Shadow Demons weren’t known for their intelligence, the creature assumed that there was probably some other hidden intention that he couldn’t decipher.

Still, it was annoying…

Not only because he was idle, but also thanks to something he hadn’t expected.

“They’re putting up quite the resistance, aren’t they?”

He had anticipated some form of retaliation on the part of the students, especially the more talented ones, but Kahn could have never imagined that it would be to this scale.

Since the Shadow Demon was connected to his clones, he knew—to an extent—of their location and status.

The fact that so many had been defeated was a surprise. In fact, all the ones he sent to the dormitories were killed—and the casualties on the human side were very low compared to the number of his clones that died.

Sure, he knew they were inferior copies, but still…

‘They just keep surprising me…’

So much so that it worried the black being. If they were resisting to this degree, and showed no sign of stopping, it wasn’t beyond imagination that they would target the locations where he was currently breaching for information and resources.

With the current quality of his clones, Kahn wasn’t sure of his victory.

He had been assured of victory by his collaborator, but the Demon didn’t trust any human.

There was a chance that he would lose at the current pace.

There were nine locations where his clones were raiding, and he couldn’t possibly leave his position to personally account for them. A portion of his emotions told him to leave things be.

Mere students couldn’t trump the clones he made, never mind their quality.

Still… Kahn remembered the last time he underestimated a human opponent.

It didn’t end well.

“Fine… how about this, then?”

SHUUUUU!!!

The Shadow Demon’s body emitted a very thick cluster of dark energy, and the most peculiar scene manifested.

Kahn’s body split into two. One of the copies was Khan’s original, though it looked of less quality than he was initially.

The second Kahn looked even more intimidating.

Next, the duplicate version split itself once again—dividing into numerous parts, until there were nine of it.

“Perfect.” The Demon’s voice rang ominously.

He was pleased to see portions of himself facing one another.

This technique he used was fundamentally different from the Shadow summoning he did the previous time.

Unlike last time when he simply made clones, these were actually portions of himself—his true self.

In short, the figures in front of him were all Kahn.

“I only have about thirty percent of myself… the rest have been split into parts.” He mumbled to himself.

“But, this way, no one will be able to get in my way.”

“True. I should eliminate all the enemies.”

More Kahns spoke, all addressing the same issue.

It was a bizarre sight—creatures of darkness speaking to one another.

Three of these Kahns had ten percent each, while the remaining six shared forty percent.

Still, compared to any student of the Academy, they were incomparably superior.

At least, that was what Kahn determined.

‘While this is overkill, I refuse to underestimate those humans.’ Kahn thought to himself.

While he possessed the highest percentage—making him the original—he had bled out more than even half of his power.

Still, he wasn’t threatened in the slightest. Thirty percent was already more powerful than a Demon General.

While his partner had spoken highly of his target—Jared Leonard—he was still a child of twelve years.

It didn’t matter how monstrous he was, there was no way a kid could defeat a Demon General.

Plus, Jared Leonard was bound to have exhausted a large portion of his strength to contain the invasion already. There was no way he would be in top form.

With him having the advantage, and also superior abilities, victory was assured.

************

I sped past so many buildings in a flash that it seemed like they blurred.

There was no time to leisurely engage at a moderate pace. Using Spellcraft to augment my physical abilities, I ensured my movements were faster than ever.

While this wasn’t how I planned things to go out, it was the only way out.

The big bad was waiting for me at the designated point, and once I spotted him… it would be game over!

I made sure to save a great deal of my strength for this, so I had no intention of losing.

‘Everyone, please do your best out there. I’ll do mine as well!’