Chapter 85: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 85
Eve's voice resonated throughout the Aegis Academy campus via the public address system.
The announcement was an emergency call for all combat-capable personnel within the academy to gather immediately in the gymnasium.
First-year students who had been terrorized by the Magi.
Students who were recovering from being stabbed and those who had not yet regained their senses despite the removal of the demonic beasts.
All except a small number left to care for these individuals converged on the gymnasium.
"An emergency situation all of a sudden......"
"Does anyone know what's going on?"
Those gathered in the gymnasium had received training for emergencies, so they naturally lined up by grade level, though there was still a buzz of confusion due to the sudden summons.
The teachers were equally bewildered, having been called in unexpectedly.
However, a few who were aware of the current situation maintained solemn expressions and kept silent.
They knew that speaking indiscriminately would only cause confusion.
Once attendance was complete, Eve stepped forward before the assembled students and teachers.
As all eyes focused on her, Eve began to speak.
"To get straight to the point, I’ve called everyone here because, as the acting head of the academy, I have assessed the current situation as a Level 1 disaster."
At the mention of a Level 1 disaster, a hush fell over the buzzing gymnasium.
According to the rules of Aegis Academy, its students are provisional heroes, and the general principle is to leave the rescue activities of citizens to the heroes.
However, there is a circumstance under which students also participate in the rescue of citizens: when the academy's head or someone of equivalent authority judges the situation to be a Level 1 disaster.
Amidst the silence, only a pink twin-tailed girl voiced a small query.
"......Um, Marin. What does a Level 1 disaster mean?"
Marin, the class president of first-year Class B, who was standing in front of Floene, answered with a grim expression.
“......It means we’re in big trouble.”
A Level 1 disaster had not been declared for several hundred years, not since the era when witches roamed freely.
It meant the city was on the brink of collapse.
People’s minds were being overtaken by the demonic beasts, causing them to be controlled.
Eve explained the events that had occurred at the school today.
The situation became even more dire as people learned through magical emergency communication networks, since regular communication was unavailable, that the entire city was in chaos and the heroes were critically understaffed.
Eve spoke earnestly to those who were going to support the heroes.
"The primary objective is the rescue of citizens. Understood? Remember, those controlled also count as people we need to save."
Heroes are generally trained to deal with enemies like demonic beasts or criminals.
Naturally, subduing rather than defeating is much more difficult and demanding.
However, in this situation, the enemies were not adversaries but innocent people being controlled.
They were someone’s acquaintances, friends, and family.
Therefore, subduing them was the only option available to us.
The students and teachers, assigned to their respective areas by grade and class, headed into the rain-soaked city.
What greeted them was a scene straight out of hell.
---
“Argh, honey! Snap out of it! What’s wrong with you?!”
Despite being slashed by the kitchen knife his wife wielded, a husband desperately clung to her, shouting.
“Help...please......my child, my child is acting strange......”
A mother clung to her child, who appeared to be about five years old, as the child bit her, sobbing.
“This...this isn’t what I intended......! They suddenly went mad and attacked, so I tried to stop them......!”
A boy holding a bloodstained baseball bat wailed as he stared blankly at the body of someone lying at his feet.
The city was filled with sounds.
The cries of the living,
And the cries of the dying.
Those sounds, mixed with the pounding rain, overwhelmed my ears as I stared blankly at the city.
I wondered why such a thing was happening.
I didn’t think it would get worse than the original story since I had prevented the tragedy at the gym.
But what about reality?
An event that should never have occurred had happened, filling the city with blood, screams, and despair.
Suddenly, my hands and feet began to tremble.
An event that should never have occurred.
I started to think that maybe this was happening because of me.
It felt like all this calamity was because I had foolishly tried to change the future.
Even though I knew it was a pointless thought, my body trembled and wouldn’t move.
It was at that moment, as I was about to collapse in despair and fear.
Through the rain-blurred vision, I saw a man about to strike with a metal pipe, and in front of him, a child was crying.
My body, which I thought was frozen,
Suddenly dashed forward, pinning the man to the ground and subduing him.
“Sylvia! Over here!!”
At my shout, a glowing sphere flew from afar, embedding itself in the man’s head, causing him to collapse as if unconscious.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I patted the head of the still-crying child and spoke.
“......Stop crying, it’s okay now.”
The child looked at me with teary eyes, sniffled, and clung to the arm of the unconscious man.
“Sniff, sob, is...is daddy going to be okay?”
“......Yes, he’ll be fine. It’s cold in the rain, so let’s get you both somewhere warm.”
I hoisted the unconscious man onto my back, with the child clinging tightly to him.
It was raining, and leaving unconscious people on the streets could lead to hypothermia, so I moved the child and the man to a temporary shelter set up for evacuation.
As I was about to head back out, having dried the child with flames to ensure they weren't cold, the child who had been clinging to the man ran over to me and grabbed my left hand with their tiny hand.
Startled by the sight of my metal prosthetic, the child hesitated for a moment, then looked back at the unconscious man before turning back to me and bowing their head.
“......Thank you for saving us.”
After saying that, the child quickly ran back and nestled into the man's arms.
I watched them for a moment before looking down at my left hand, clenched my fist tightly, even though there was no sensation in the metal arm.
“Right...... I came here to save people.”
Muttering this to myself, I dashed back outside.
Now was the time to focus on saving as many people as possible.
Even one more person.
---
Thanks to Sylvia, who could remove the demonic beasts without touching people, and Yoon Si-woo, who subdued people with terrifying speed, the shelter was overflowing with unconscious people and their families.
However, midway through, Yoon Si-woo, with a grim expression, said:
“Despite bringing so many people here, there's no sign of it decreasing......”
Subduing people, transporting them to the shelter, and providing first aid to the injured.
Repeating this process, the students were starting to show signs of exhaustion.
To cover their absence, we had to work even harder, checking wider areas for people.
Despite doing our best, anxiety began to show on the students' faces.
Seeing the reality of the city while rescuing people made it clear to us.
Someone murmured in despair.
“......At this rate......”
The most important thing in a city is its people.
Although we couldn't know exactly how many were dying every moment, if this continued.
The outcome was inevitable.
Grinding my teeth, refusing to accept this, I ran through the streets searching for controlled people.
“Hello, Eva. Or rather, Evangeline.”
Amidst the downpour, a girl with dark purple hair appeared, looking completely dry and unusually calm.
She was likely a witch, based on our previous encounter.
And being a witch, she was probably involved in this situation.
[Burn.]
The voice in my head murmured.
It was always a disturbing voice, but this time I felt inclined to obey it.
Suppressing the urge to unleash flames, I asked her.
“Did you do this......?”
“What do you mean?”
“......This cursed act of controlling people and turning the city into this mess.”
Flames started to emerge from my body.
But the girl remained unfazed, responding nonchalantly.
“Well, I did help, but it wasn’t my doing entirely, so let’s say half and half. I'm not interested in such troublesome tasks.”
Hearing her admit to helping, I rushed forward to grab her by the collar.
Or tried to.
But my hand was blocked by something protecting her.
“What the......”
Seeing my confusion, the girl smirked.
“Hehe, don’t be angry. You’re still as fiery as ever. But that’s a good thing. Hey, do you want to know how to stop what's happening?”
“......Can it be stopped?”
Thinking it might be a trap, but feeling desperate to know how to stop it, I asked.
The girl’s smirk widened.
“If you want to know, just follow me. I’ll tell you if you do.”
It was a creepy, drawn-out smile.
“Like before, let's play hide and seek.”
With that, the girl disappeared completely.
No matter how urgently I looked around, there was no trace of her.
Just as anger began to rise from being mocked,
[Burn.]
An incomprehensible memory flashed through my mind.
[I'll burn it.]
Even as my body was ablaze,
[I'll burn it all.]
With flames instead of tears and blood flowing from my eyes,
[The one who hurt me, made me sad, made me suffer, made me angry, made me burn.]
Memories of chasing after someone.
[I’ll chase them to the end and burn them to death.]
The dark purple-haired girl was smiling and clapping slowly.
......
[Burn.]
......Somehow, I just knew.
[Burn and kill.]
“......This way.”
As I took a step, I heard giggling and clapping from somewhere.
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