The Villain in the Novel Lives as the Second Best at the Academy

Right now, I was facing a black book.

[Now, it's time to choose.]

Those words were not a simple offer. They carried a deep and heavy resonance. It was as if a gaze that pierced through existence itself was looking at me from within the darkness. And I knew.

This was not a simple transaction.

"...Choose."

My voice flowed out dryly. I was asking myself. What I should choose, what I could choose.

But, was there a need to think?

I had already lost everything.

To avoid being owned, to avoid disappearing. Just to survive.

I reached out my hand.

In that moment, space distorted. Something cold, heavy, and deeply submerged in darkness flowed into my fingertips. It was a wave from the abyss, and soon became part of me.

[Good.]

The black book bent grotesquely. Was it imitating a smile?

[From now on, we are one.]

And at that moment.

The world flipped over.

"...!"

My consciousness was cut off.

More precisely, I thought it was cut off.

But.

I still existed.

I was in darkness.

Something was enveloping my body. My conscious self seemed to have separated from my physical body, transformed into a mere form of existence. And there, I saw.

Knowledge was floating around.

Countless words, symbols, concepts, floated in the air as if they had form.

Some flickered like flames, others shone coldly like ice. They scattered and recombined, constantly changing shape.

This was not simple information.

These were fragments of magic.

And among them, small characters entered my mind, and information about this space was revealed to me.

This place was Noctasm, the Book of Night.

What I had just seen was not a simple object. It was a living collection of knowledge.

The result of countless magicians, or magic itself, building up. It gloriously contained all the magical principles that exist only on the hidden side of the world.

I struggled within it.

It was too much.

Too deep.

Too vast.

But I didn't let go.

I had to understand it.

And it finally accepted me.

○

What is magic?

I came to know it.

The world is flowing. Air flows, water flows, time flows too. And within that flow, invisible lines are intertwined. That is magical power.

Magical power is not a simple force. It is the essence of existence. All things contain magical power, and all movements follow the flow of magical power.

Fire blazes because heat reacts with the magical power in the air. Water flows because the magical power of gravity and moisture are intertwined.

Thus, magic is manipulating that flow.

Then, what is a magician?

A magician is one who recognizes the flow of the world.

One who sees invisible lines and handles untouchable forces.

And Noctasm is a book that records all those flows.

However, what this book deals with is not simple magical theory. This book deals with illusions.

Illusions belong to the most peculiar realm within magic. They have no substance yet appear to be substantial, they are false yet create truth. Without changing the flow of the world, they make it appear as if the flow has been manipulated.

Noctasm penetrated such principles. It contained magic that went beyond simple illusions, manipulating the boundary between existence and non-existence.

I understood within it.

Magic is not a simple spell.

It is a principle.

To move the wind, you must manipulate the density of the air, and to light a fire, you must balance heat and oxygen.

To freeze water, you must slow down molecular movement, and to slow time, you must alter the speed of perception.

Then what is illusion magic?

It is deceiving perception.

It's changing how the human eye perceives light, or changing the law of how hearing interprets vibrations. In the end, illusions don't actually exist, but to the person who sees them, they might as well exist.

Then, what about me?

What can I do?

I can create illusions.

But these illusions are not simple fantasies.

Now I can distort the flow of the world.

I can manipulate light to create illusions, change the flow of air to cover voices, and manipulate people's perceptions to become an invisible entity.

Illusions are not fake.

They were another truth covering the truth.

When I realized that fact, something inside me felt like it was expanding.

I opened my eyes again.

I was still in darkness.

Yet I could see.

Black things.

Flowing things.

Moving things.

I could hold them in my hand.

And I could understand them.

At that moment, a low whisper was heard in my ear.

[Congratulations.]

The black entity was smiling.

[Now, you are with me.]

I didn't say anything.

But I already knew.

Now I was no longer the slave I used to be.

I was now one who knew magic.

And.

[You are now one who can create illusions.]

○

A carriage rolled along the tree-lined street. The wheels turned smoothly, making a gentle friction sound, and the hoofbeats created a steady rhythm.

In the late afternoon, the streets where the midday heat had not yet subsided were warmly tinted with sunlight, but inside the carriages of nobles passing through, as always, were filled with consistently dark discussions.

"I hear the Duke Dukas family finally lost in court."

"An expected outcome. But there are rumors that their gold bullion warehouse is still safe. Interesting."

It was a meaningless conversation. For nobles, the flow of the world was defined only by where money flowed, who won and who lost.

However, before even such trivial talk could conclude, the inside of the carriage swayed with a sudden jolt.

Thud.

The wheel jumped up slightly. The driver turned his head to check something, and a servant anxiously looked out the window.

"The road is strange. Should we stop the carriage?"

"It's probably nothing. Just a stone on the road..."

At that moment, the air changed.

A cold sensation seeped in. A chill that didn't match the summer midday gradually crept up the skin. Breathing became strangely heavy.

Darkness that seeped through the window floated in the air like thin threads. At first, it was so faint as to be almost invisible, but it gradually intensified and took shape.

Black entities were standing on the road.

They wavered faintly. They seemed as if they might scatter like smoke, yet they had human form. But they were clearly not human. No eyes, no nose, no mouth. Black forms, like shadows.

They were looking at the carriage.

Someone tried to say something, but their tongue froze. Hearts tightened. Bodies froze cold. It felt as if just being looked at by these things was slowly extinguishing life.

"...!"

A servant gripped the door handle. The instinctive judgment to escape made his body move beyond all fear. However, before his hand could pull the handle—

Crunch.

His wrist twisted unnaturally.

"—Aack!"

The bone bent as if it would protrude. Other servants who were holding him also screamed in panic.

"We, we need to escape!"

"What, what is that!"

"It's an evil spirit...! When those who have lost their magical power are cursed, they appear as black forms—!"

One of the nobles muttered, gasping. They were beings that only appeared in legends. Those whose bodies, once flowing with magical power, have completely disappeared, and who have lost all traces of being alive, wander and reappear as curses.

They approached.

And, a black hand stretched out, cutting through the void.

It penetrated the chest of a screaming servant.

There was no resistance. No sound of flesh tearing, no sight of blood splashing. But he just stood still. His pupils rolled back. White foam flowed from his mouth, his fingertips trembled, then he slowly collapsed to the floor.

The magical power had disappeared.

The moment it touched him, without even a moment's resistance, the essence of life had vanished.

The nobles could no longer even scream. They were busy trembling and pushing each other away.

No one tried to step forward. No one asked to be saved. Only survival instinct consumed reason.

The black entities took one step closer.

And at that moment.

They stopped.

One of the motionless forms slowly raised its head.

The wind blew.

A long silence passed.

And it opened its mouth with a low, dull sound.

[Give us your money.]

...What?

The nobles froze.

What did it say?

Did they hear wrong?

"..."

But it repeated the same words once more.

[Give us your money.]

At that moment, a stupid cough came from somewhere.

"...What?"

Someone repeated with an absurd expression.

"Money...?"

An evil spirit?

The nobles' expressions distorted strangely.

They thought they were facing judgment before death.

They thought the black curse would take away their magical power and swallow everything alive in pain.

But.

It wasn't like that.

It was a robbery.

"...Ha, ha."

One noble laughed as if in disbelief. But that was a mistake.

The black entity turned its head.

The noble's laughter faded. He hurriedly waved his hands.

"No, no! I wasn't trying to laugh...!"

The black entity approached.

At that moment—

"...Give it!"

One of the nobles shouted.

"What?"

"Give it right now! Everything you have!"

At those words, everyone frantically searched their pockets. Gold coins, rings, necklaces, jewels, even hidden money, all thrown away.

One noblewoman was trembling so much she couldn't undo her bracelet, and finally, with tears streaming down, she forcibly tore off the bracelet and threw it on the floor.

The black entities quietly collected them.

And… They disappeared as if nothing had happened.

The nobles couldn't gather their wits for a while.

"...Is it over?"

"Just robbed of money and it's over...?"

"But... that was clearly an evil spirit..."

However, it wasn't an evil spirit.

If it were a real evil spirit, the fear they felt wouldn't have been a simple 'illusion.'

What they saw was an illusion.

Something that numbed their senses until now, and instilled fear as if they were facing a judgment between life and death.

It wasn't 'truth,' but magic.

Far away, on a tree.

Arta casually flipped a gold coin with her fingertips.

Clink—

A light metallic sound rang out.

"Indeed, making money is easy."

Arta murmured contentedly, gazing at the carriage.

A few years after meeting Noctasm, Arta had mastered most of the illusion magic recorded in Noctasm.

Without a proper identity, she lived in the slums with money earned from passing people like this.

"Today I can eat something delicious."

Her footsteps toward the slums were light.