[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss":3,"chapter-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-82":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I Became the Academy’s Final Boss",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1319835,1753,"Chapter 82","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-82",82,"\u003Cp>Chapter 82\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I read the message, I felt as if all the blood in my body had drained away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lia, who saw the color fade from my face, approached me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who is it? Master? You have a master, Groom?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that, Joo Sarang jumped in surprise and hurried over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When she checked the caller ID displayed on my phone’s home screen, she grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you out of your mind! Don’t tell me—it’s that person?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the person you’re thinking of is the Heavenly Demon……”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You idiot! If you know it’s her, why haven’t you answered yet?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whether I answer or not, I’ll die anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to live even a second longer?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smack!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joo Sarang’s fist slammed into my shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then at least die alone! Hey, hide!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lia tilted her head, completely lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who’s your master, anyway? What are you talking about, Dahee? Why are you suddenly telling me to hide?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joo Sarang dragged the confused Lia to the corner of the small room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shut up and get over here. And don’t even breathe loud enough to hear.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After confirming that they were no longer visible on the phone screen, I took a deep breath and accepted the video call.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, on the other side of the screen, appeared a woman of fatal beauty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Notwithstanding her dreadful reputation, her appearance was more exquisite than any female character in Become a Hero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Demon, with her bored expression and emotionless eyes, stared at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even through the screen, I could feel the crushing pressure she exuded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her lips—red as blood—parted slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You’ve made me wait again, haven’t you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her voice was calm, languid, and filled with apathy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, I could tell—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Demon was in a very foul mood right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I immediately dropped to my knees and began to explain myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I was… pondering how best to present myself to my Master in a good light… Please, just kill me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[This One is not such a merciless teacher who would kill her disciple over something so trivial.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she said that, her gaze shifted elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[But… I think I hear someone else.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her transcendent senses made everyone in the room freeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one else was visible on the screen—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet with nothing but faint sounds leaking through the crude machinery of a smartphone, she had already detected the presence of others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How is she even human…?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I tried to lie now, she’d kill me on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I quietly motioned toward Joo Sarang. She grimaced, barely noticeable, then forced an awkward smile and stepped into view.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s just that… I was chatting with an old friend for a bit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, hello. I’m Lilith, under Baiden’s command.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Demon’s eyebrow twitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Baiden, you say. Disciple, were you consorting with a necromancer’s courtesan?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her cold eyes turned toward me in displeasure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew this would make things worse, but since it had come to this, I couldn’t back down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, she is not a courtesan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Hoh? Are you daring to argue with your Master?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her voice deepened—and the oppressive pressure through the call intensified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was transmitting her intent through speech itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected of the strongest being in Pandemonium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She is like family to me, someone I was separated from as a child. Please, I ask you to retract your words.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You’ve been under My tutelage since you were seven. The only one you could call family should be Me, no?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She is someone I met before I was taken in by you, Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At those words, the Heavenly Demon seemed to ponder for a moment, then spoke as if remembering something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Are you referring to the Nest?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, the suffocating pressure filling the room dissipated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside me, Joo Sarang gasped for breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even in that short time, the weight of her presence had been unbearable; fear toward the Heavenly Demon clouded Joo Sarang’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You’ve changed, Disciple.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Pardon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I’ve sensed it before, but now I’m certain. It’s as if you’ve become someone else entirely—like another soul wearing your skin.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her words made my heart sink.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could she have noticed something?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No way… and yet, given that she was the strongest being in existence, perhaps she could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, she was the one who had known Yoo Seongwoo—known me—better than anyone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her lips curved faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Still, this change of yours doesn’t seem entirely bad.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, her gaze shifted to Joo Sarang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joo Sarang flinched as the Heavenly Demon’s eyes landed on her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Child.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Y-yes…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[My apologies. I misjudged you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“N-no, not at all!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pale as a ghost, Joo Sarang shook her head frantically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a world ruled by the law of the strong, where weakness itself was a sin, an apology from someone of such overwhelming power sounded less like contrition—and more like a death sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was probably the first time she had ever experienced something like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Do not be troubled. This One is magnanimous enough to admit her own mistakes. I was simply curious to see who could so captivate My disciple that he dared ignore My call.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s somehow scarier than a threat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though I feared her deeply, the Heavenly Demon was still one of the few in Pandemonium who could be called rational.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could never call her good, but in Yoo Seongwoo’s memories, she was proud yet dignified, wicked yet merciful, arrogant yet willing to admit fault—a paradox in every sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unpredictable and contradictory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was precisely why I feared her… and also why I respected her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[What is it, Disciple?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“May I ask what prompted this call?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I still hadn’t heard her reason for contacting me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[It’s nothing much. A new mission has been issued.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why are you personally delivering it, Master? You could have sent one of your subordinates.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I first possessed this body, the mission to retrieve the Heart of the Demon had also been delivered directly by her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, I’d been too out of it to question anything, but thinking back on it now, it was strange—someone like the Heavenly Demon personally giving me a mission was highly unusual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was one of the highest-ranking executives of Pandemonium, the strongest among them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For someone like that to hand down a mission directly—what was this, some kind of cheesy ’90s tokusatsu drama logic?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if I was her disciple, the hierarchy made no sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignoring my comment entirely, she continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[It’s not a difficult mission. You simply need to deal with one person.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seriously, she always did things her own way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“An assassination target?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[That’s what I’ve been told.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to infiltrating the Seoul Artifact Museum and retrieving the Heart of the Demon, this was far easier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the difficulty depended on who the target was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, taking down a person who moved around was easier than stealing an item buried under layers of security.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But what’s this mission about?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You remember the incident at your Academy not long ago, don’t you?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Beast Rampage incident?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Yes. Because of that, the other executives were absolutely furious.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That made sense. After the Beast Rampage, Pandemonium’s prestige had plummeted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had plotted so carefully, convinced of success, only to fail spectacularly—and with minimal casualties to show for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>News reports and comment sections exploded afterward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comments like ‘Pandemonium’s a bunch of pushovers’ were mild compared to memes flooding the internet—like ‘I’m from Pandemonium, is it okay if I hurt you today?’ mashed up with hamster GIFs. They became the laughingstock of the web.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, I’d saved a few of those memes on my phone too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[To restore Pandemonium’s fallen honor, a grand act must be staged. Someone within the Academy insisted on it.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Berid, huh. For him to say something like that, he must be desperate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He should clean up his own mess. Why do I have to risk my neck to restore Pandemonium’s reputation?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Are you not My disciple? You’ve already completed several missions successfully. Isn’t it only right to entrust the task to one who’s succeeded rather than one who’s failed?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had no argument against that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What an ironic situation. I’d given Berid a laxative to make him suffer a bit—and now I was the one cleaning up the mess he made.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[The target you must eliminate was once a collaborator of Pandemonium. But that traitor sold us out and used that credit to secure a high position within the Hero Association.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, I just need to eliminate him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Correct. However, since this operation is meant to display our greatness to the world, the stage is important. In a few days, the Daeho Guild will hold a banquet to celebrate the conquest of an S-rank dungeon.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fell silent for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So… to raise Pandemonium’s prestige, I had to infiltrate one of the top ten guilds in the country and kill someone at their celebration?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…So basically, you’re telling me to crash the headquarters of a top-tier guild and cause a scene.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Precisely.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At a banquet like that, the attending Heroes will be powerful, won’t they?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[That’s exactly why it must be done—to truly restore what was lost.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fell into deep thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be honest, this mission was practically a death sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt like Berid was plotting my demise out of spite for his own failure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it was a guild like Daeho, the attendees would all be at least mid- to high-ranked Heroes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Honestly, I think this is unreasonable. It’s not just any place—it’s the banquet hall of a major guild. This is no different from suicide.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I am aware. I’ve heard you recently reached a new level of power—at least comparable to a High-ranking Demon. But if multiple high-tier Heroes engage you at once, you’ll still be in trouble. That’s why I negotiated on your behalf.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Negotiated?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She nodded leisurely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Pandemonium will grant you a Power of Authority.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that changed everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the word Power, even Joo Sarang—standing beside me—glanced at me in shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Demons, a Power of Authority was both a fraudulent ability and an object of irresistible temptation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“……Truly, Master?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Of course. Do you doubt Me, Disciple?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shook my head violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With such an offer, how could I refuse?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though I had no Demonic Energy whatsoever, I had still earned a name as a formidable Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All thanks to the SS-rank skill, 【Lamb】.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As its rank suggested, the skill allowed me to borrow a demon’s Power of Authority without becoming bound to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of that, unlike ordinary Demons who could possess only one Power through a soul contract, I could hold multiple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, borrowing such power required a corresponding price.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A price steep enough to justify borrowing without submission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each demon offered different terms, but their demands were similar—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One hundred liters of pure maiden’s blood, ten innocent souls, and other atrocities far removed from morality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four Powers I currently possessed had all been obtained through payments provided by Pandemonium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly, I was torn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what Power I gained, my combat ability would increase drastically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if I obtained an additional one, it would open the door for even more Power Combinations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But one thing bothered me—no Power came for free.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Pandemonium said it would “grant” me one, that just meant they’d pay the price in my stead—fulfilling whatever the demon demanded through their own hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How was that any different from a contract killing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was a Power truly worth the sacrifice of innocent lives?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could I clear the ending with the abilities I already had?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or… would I need a new Power to finish the story?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As my thoughts deepened, the Heavenly Demon spoke again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[What are you hesitating for, Disciple? You have no choice.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I met her black eyes, my mind went cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right. The Heavenly Demon was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite all I had accomplished—thwarting Pandemonium’s schemes and succeeding in multiple missions—within Pandemonium, I was still nothing more than a spy embedded in the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was still weak. I still couldn’t defy their orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had always known that—yet for some reason, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>",2037,"2026-06-05T19:04:26.866Z",1,"novelbin.me","142cad683432a6d4974fe7d8564c5b7ddc62af598e0c15e8024268e7da675157","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-83","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-134",137,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-cover.jpg"]