Chapter 36: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat,
Chapter 36
The class president lay on the floor, completely motionless.
I remembered the barrier that protected her body when we sparred.
Her abilities should have been enough to block an attack from a low-grade monster.
If she were alone, she wouldn't have lost to a low-grade monster.
But she was dead.
She had died because she had rushed to save me faster than usual.
Perhaps she had disabled her shield for quicker movement, or she hadn't had time to deploy it in the urgent situation.
The conclusion was the same.
She died because of me.
I stood there, staring blankly at her lifeless body.
The things flowing from her body stained the floor red.
A feeling, the same color as the pool on the floor, spread through my chest.
It was a dark, sticky emotion.
The girl who had been standing in the center rushed over, clutching the fallen class president and crying.
She blamed herself, sobbing and wailing.
The monsters, reacting to her cries, rushed towards her, ignoring the attacks from the male students.
If this continued, she would die too.
Thinking that, I moved to stand in front of her and unleashed flames from my hands.
The flames that burned crimson this time seemed to reflect the emotions filling my chest.
The flames were hot.
So hot that they hurt my hands, but I ignored the pain and grabbed the heads of the charging monsters.
The monsters caught in my burning grip screamed in agony, but I didn't loosen my hold.
Eventually, the monsters, engulfed in flames, turned black and burned to ashes.
Releasing my grip, I extinguished the flames from my hands, but the crimson flames clinging to my arms refused to go out, even when I blocked the source.
The flames spread from my hands to my arms, then to my body.
Hot, hot, it was burning hot and painful.
The searing pain wrapped around my body, and I screamed in agony.
My screams echoed the cries of the monsters from earlier.
In that moment, a voice spoke.
[Burn it all down.]
The voice echoed in my head.
I don't know. It hurts, it's hot,
[Don't you hate the things that make you suffer? Aren't you angry? Then make everything suffer the same. Burn it all down. The things you hate. The world you hate.]
The ominous voice whispered.
Burn it, burn it all down.
It hurts, I'm angry, I can't think clearly.
[Burn the world with your anger. Burn and burn, and eventually, the things that hurt you will disappear.]
Will it stop hurting if I burn it all down?
[Yes, burn it all down. Leave nothing behind.]
Burn it all down.
Start with the closest ones.
[Burn.]
I turned around.
[Everything.]
Crying, the girl, the class president's body.
[Burn.]
Burn...?
[Burn it all.]
...No.
.
..
...
When I came to, I felt the stares of Eve and the other students.
I couldn't think straight, so I took a deep breath, and remembered that we were in the middle of training.
Next to me were the crying girl and the two male students, gritting their teeth.
Where was the class president?
Looking around, I saw someone lying on a mattress on the gym floor.
I ran over to the person lying there.
The class president was breathing heavily with her eyes closed, looking exhausted.
Her neck appeared unharmed.
What happened inside didn’t seem to affect the physical body.
With trembling hands, I grasped her hand, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing me, she smiled weakly despite her struggle.
“You’re safe... Thank goodness...”
Hearing her shaky voice, I wanted to shout.
What do you mean, thank goodness?
You ended up like this because of me.
Just as I was about to scream at her, the girl who had been crying all this time rushed over and started sobbing loudly.
“I’m so sorry... I couldn’t hold it properly... I’m so sorry.”
Seeing the girl crying uncontrollably while clinging to her, the class president, flustered, tried to console her, saying, “It’s okay, Jessie... It’s not your fault... It’s okay...” but the girl's sobs only grew louder.
The three remaining members of our team sat around the class president, watching the rest of the teams finish their training.
With each team called by Eve, the five members would step forward, disappear with a snap of Eve’s fingers, and sometimes reappear alone before the ten minutes were up, screaming.
These students, who appeared before the allotted time, were pale-faced, clutching themselves in pain, only to realize their bodies were fine and sigh in relief.
Eve would have those students lie on the mattress to rest, and we realized they had "died" during the training under the illusion magic.
One from Team 4.
Two from Team 5.
One from Team 6.
Each time a student emerged early, struggling, the girl from our team would burst into tears again, making the sound of crying continuous until all teams finished their training.
The students who witnessed their teammates’ deaths gathered around the resting students with grim faces.
Eventually, those who had rested long enough to regain their strength began comforting their distressed teammates, assuring them they were fine.
These were kids who had come to this place to become heroes, kids who would be more devastated by the loss of someone else's life than their own.
They were undeniably good-hearted people.
I looked around the gym.
It was as vast as a soccer field.
I recalled the description from the novel.
[The gymnasium was filled with blood.]
If this gym were filled with blood, how many people must have died?
It was certain that more than half of the students here would be included.
Thinking about it made me feel sick.
Just then, I felt the class president grab my hand.
Her worried gaze, though silent, asked if I was okay.
I wasn't.
If these kids died, it would hurt a lot.
I couldn’t let them die anymore.
I probably wasn't hiding my feelings well, so I forced myself to return to a neutral expression.
“If you’re all calm now, let’s get started. I’ll point out what each team needs to improve.”
With a snap of Eve’s fingers, a holographic screen appeared in the air.
On the screen, Yoon Si-woo was seen slaughtering a horde of monsters with incredible agility.
“There’s not much to say about Team 1. Si-woo exceeded my expectations, so other students didn’t even have a chance to step in. Si-woo, if I were to give you advice, it would be not to try to do everything alone. Today, you were much stronger than the enemies, but that won't always be the case.”
Yoon Si-woo laughed awkwardly at Eve’s comment.
The other students looked at Yoon Si-woo with astonished eyes.
It was as expected: an extraordinary Yoon Si-woo performance.
The screen changed to show Team 2, which included Sylvia.
Under Sylvia’s command, the team faced the monsters with stability.
Even when other members made mistakes, Sylvia’s spells quickly covered the gaps.
Since there were no major flaws, Eve mostly praised Team 2 and mentioned minor improvements.
Then it was Team 3's turn, and Eve’s eyes sharpened.
The first battle showed me failing to react to the unexpected movement of the monster.
Although the girl in the center used her telekinesis to hold the monster, allowing me to deal with it safely, it was clear Eve wasn't pleased.
“Evande, you should’ve been able to react to that movement. Your response was much slower than when we sparred. If Jessie hadn’t handled it, there could have been an accident. Since there was no major harm, I’ll leave it at that.”
The entire team fell silent at her words.
Everyone knew what happened next.
Hesitating to kill the monster, I delayed until it broke free of the telekinesis and lunged at me, leading to the class president getting bitten on the neck.
Eve paused the video and spoke in a dry voice.
“Jessie, you need to improve your control. If you can't hold it perfectly, at least alert your team and use your weapon to restrain it. If you freeze when an enemy attacks your teammate, this will happen again.”
The girl nodded tearfully.
“Mei, your judgment was poor. Even if a teammate is in danger, you need to act within your abilities. Turning your back on an enemy is dangerous. You should have created a defensive measure with your power. Your poor judgment caused this experience for you and your team. Reflect on that.”
“Yes...”
Eve’s criticism was relentless, even towards those who had indirectly experienced death.
For her, this was training.
She would push students to the brink during training if it meant they wouldn’t die in real battles.
The class president bowed her head at Eve’s reasonable criticism.
Eve then looked at me with mixed emotions.
After contemplating for a moment, she spoke.
“Evande, are you afraid of fighting monsters?”
I swallowed at the question.
Until recently, I would have desperately denied it.
I had thrown myself into sparring and other training to seem unafraid, but now, with the gym door in place and my change of heart, there was no need to pretend.
I nodded.
This would probably keep me at school next Monday, but I didn’t care anymore.
Eve nodded at my response and added a few more words.
“You need to get used to it. Otherwise, you’ll face much scarier things. Understand?”
I knew what she meant.
I glanced at the class president and nodded again.
The paused video resumed.
The girl clung to the fallen class president, crying, as monsters charged at her.
I blocked the way and burned the monsters.
The video ended with me extinguishing the flames and looking back at the fallen class president.
It was an exact replay of what had happened earlier.
So, it should have been a video of something I already knew.
But I felt a sense of unease from the video.
What was this feeling?
I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, even though it felt very unsettling.
[■■■.]
I felt a faint pain from the hand I had placed on the floor.
Startled, I lifted my hand to check, but it was fine.
There was nothing unusual where my hand had been, except for a black mark that seemed to have always been there.
...Maybe it was just my imagination.
Eve’s voice, criticizing the male students in our team for letting a monster get past them, echoed in the gym.
Huh...maybe i was right on what i commented on the last chapter then.
ReplyDeleteThere IS some potential for MC to go berserk.
I can guess it has to do with the experiment the man mentioned to himself.
This also explains why the lack of emorion was so blatant in the original owner of the body.
Either that or there's a risk for berserk status, seems.
The fact MC got that mark now though...it certainly smels like a big issue incoming.
After all, MC isn't mentally stable, it's closer to balancing on a tight rope...
Mental boom incoming
ReplyDeleteLuckily mc has Sylvia to calm her down a bit, i wonder what she will do in the big incident ?
Thanks for the chapter !
Someone experimented and tried to create a superhuman with witch factor.
ReplyDeletescarlet is the witch may be
ReplyDelete