Chapter 28
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Episode 6 - The past [1]
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Director Bernice was in her office, as usual.
While reviewing reports and organizing the upcoming events that would be held at the Academy.
Suddenly, she sensed a powerful presence.
'It's coming from the Golden Forest, it's Class 6, it has the Power of Chaos, a Demonic Beast.'
She instantly understood what was happening.
She stood up, and her expression darkened.
"Seriously, these villains never stop with their stupidity."
She was truly fed up with villains; they sought to destroy everything they found in their path.
Honestly, she did not understand why they were so irrational.
There was no point in having the world destroyed and ruled by monsters.
What was the point of that?
They were like spoiled children trying to get the attention of adults.
Director Bernice was about to move, but right at that moment, she stopped.
'What? I can't sense anything anymore.'
The Class 6 Demonic Beast suddenly disappeared, or so she believed.
'This is an Zone of Isolation.'
A necessary ability to advance to six stars.
Its only function might be isolation, but it allows someone to trap an opponent who is at least two stars stronger.
For at least thirty minutes.
'For them to isolate me, either they used a legendary-rank magical item, or there's an infiltrated villain who is at least Class 9.'
She could not tell which of the two was the answer, but either way…
She left her office and noticed that all the professors were there.
The staff were there as well, along with the strongest third-year students, such as the student council president and vice president.
"Director, we've been attacked by a high-class villain."
One of the professors approached and spoke.
She nodded.
"I know. They either have at least one legendary-rank magical item, or it's someone from Class 9."
No matter which of the two it was, escaping the isolation as quickly as possible was still a headache.
'There's a Class 6 Demonic Beast outside. At least the villains are focusing here and leaving the work to the Demonic Beasts.'
At least that was the most positive part.
Because while escaping from Demonic Beasts was difficult, it was not impossible.
"Damn it, everyone start deciphering the isolation and find its weak point."
She shouted, and all the professors and cadets immediately began to move.
'There are infiltrators inside the Academy. They even managed to escape my surveillance; that means they're awakening unique traits or creating objects with special effects.'
Director Bernice soon joined the others while her thoughts continued to flow.
***
It didn't take me long to enter the Golden Forest.
And what I found was exactly as I had imagined.
'They've already started moving.'
Seeing that there were no professors in sight meant they had already been isolated.
'The infiltrated villains planned all of this a long time ago.'
The isolation was the result of an Isolation Matrix created by the villains.
Its effect was the same as an Zone of Isolation, but without any weak points.
The problem for them would be the enormous amount of Power of Chaos they had to provide.
The stronger and more numerous the people they isolated, the greater the consumption of Power of Chaos.
'Since it can only remain active for more than thirty minutes, it's better not to expect any rescue anytime soon.'
The closer I got to the central region, the greater the number of Demonic Beasts became.
Of course, there were also at least a dozen dead Demonic Beasts.
All the cadets I had seen so far were injured, but none of them were dead.
'Of course, everyone is busy escaping or fighting, but the ones who die the most are the first-years.'
Still, I can't get over the first part of chapter one.
As I entered the central region, I continued thinking while running.
'The Demonic Beast is supposed to be near the surface region, but it's not even close to the central region.'
The first change was already obvious, so I had to run toward the deep region.
Then I extended my senses to search for the main characters.
Information from almost the entire Golden Forest flooded into my mind.
Soon, I learned where almost all the main characters were.
'There are only three. It seems the others aren't in the Golden Forest.'
I also found Clementine; besides her, Charlotte and her brother Leon were there as well.
So I changed direction and headed straight toward Clementine, my heart racing.
Because standing right in front of her was the Demonic Beast, and to make matters worse…
'It's a Class 6, close to evolving into a Class 7.'
This was the worst thing that could happen.
'I only have one chance to weaken it.'
I looked at the ring on my finger.
If I can weaken her, her power should fall to Class 5.
So I hurried.
***
Clementine's sword slipped from her hands.
The exhaustion was overwhelming; her entire body trembled, and she was wounded all over.
She had faced several Class 3 Demonic Beasts at the same time.
The result: victory, but with severe consequences.
And when she looked up, all she could do was curse inwardly.
A dozen tentacles writhed everywhere, some grabbing cadets and disemboweling them.
Others caught wild and demonic beasts, and the result was the same.
'Those tentacles are incredibly strong…'
Trees were being torn out as if they were nothing more than tiny branches.
In any case, the situation was dangerous.
If she did not get out of there, she could die.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it… why did I come to help? I've never acted like this before.'
Whenever others were in danger, Clementine would smile and ignore them.
She did not care about other people's lives; if they could not protect themselves, it meant they died for being weak.
On the surface, the Ordeal Empire may seem peaceful.
But in reality, only the strong survive.
Those clever enough to survive, and the high society that controls the empire.
Clementine was once the weakest member of House Lunovar.
House Lunovar was a family where someone that weak was not allowed to survive.
She had nearly died far too many times.
She had almost been killed by both her older and younger siblings.
Even her father and mother never looked her in the eyes.
It was as if she did not exist.
Naturally, she adopted that same habit and treated the weak the same way.
At some point, she became irrational and rarely left alone the people who angered her.
'Only the strongest survive, and the weakest die… then why did I help these bastards?'
She asked herself that question, but she did not know the answer.
She gritted her teeth, trying to stand up.
Back in House Lunovar, she was always thrown to the ground after being beaten; even the servants themselves mistreated her.
'Come on… damn it.'
The memories of all those days at home slowly came back to her.
She hated that house more than anything.
She hated her entire "family," and above all…
She hated herself for feeling weak.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not stand up.
In the end, she gave up; it was probably the first time she had ever done so.
'Anyway, I always wished I had never been born.'
She hated her family.
But above all, she hated having been born.
Or at the very least, she wished she had been born into an ordinary family.
She would not complain; sometimes she envied other families.
But she could not change anything now.
'To hell with everything.'
She lowered her head and looked at her hands, covered in calluses from endless training.
Without realizing it, her vision became blurry.
It was not the first time she had cried, but it still hurt every single time.
She pressed her lips tightly together and, at the same time, noticed that the Demonic Beasts had already surrounded her from all sides.
'Dying isn't so bad either, right?'
She could forget everything and be free, rest, and never see the faces of her "parents" again.
She closed her eyes and simply waited for the Demonic Beasts to devour her.
One second passed; more seconds followed, and then a full minute went by.
But the Demonic Beasts never approached her.
'Now what? They got what they wanted, and they still aren't coming.'
While tears streamed down her face, she opened her eyes.
The world before her was still blurry, but when she opened them completely,
there was a familiar face in front of her.
He was crouching down, "looking" into her eyes; of course, he was blind, so he was not truly looking at her.
But that was not the point.
"You're crying… pfft… haha. And you're the one who mocks me like you want to punch me; you also despise me every time we run into each other by pure chance."
Adel's mocking voice reached her ears, and a vein bulged on her forehead.
"You bastard… you're the cause of all this, and now you're taking the chance to make fun of me…"
Adel remained silent.
"You're not going to say anything, are you, you damn coward?"
She kept cursing at him, but Adel said nothing; then he smiled and laughed.
"I think you're mistaken. I'm not on the villains' side, and judging from your words, it seems you were the one who saw me yesterday. My senses were in complete chaos, so I couldn't tell exactly who it was. So it was you who saw me yesterday, right?"
Clementine opened her mouth.
"Yes, it was you. I clearly saw you coming from the Deep region, probably after infecting some wild beast of Class 5 or higher."
At her words, Adel simply replied,
"No, that's not it. Yesterday, I found a cave where a witch used to live. The entrance was filled with curses, and the Power of Chaos was also extremely strong, so I ended up like this."
Clementine, of course, did not believe him, but before she could say anything, Adel spoke.
"You can believe it or not, that's your choice. Now take this."
Out of nowhere, three potions appeared in Adel's hand.
Clementine stared at them in disbelief, but before she could even say anything,
Adel shoved the three potions into her mouth one by one; soon, the effects became evident.
She tried to resist at first, but eventually gave up.
And then she recovered completely within a few seconds.
She wiped her eyes and looked around; all the Class 3 demonic beasts that had surrounded her earlier were dead.
'I was really wrong.'
She could not help thinking that.
And just as she was about to say something, a loud noise suddenly came from the other side of the Golden Forest.
Adel turned toward the sound and spoke.
"A Class 6 Demonic Beast, close to Class 7. If Lumina were here, the two of us could hold it back for a while, but she isn't here."
Adel spoke, then turned and "looked" at Clementine.
"Please, don't put yourself in danger. I'd like to get you out of here, but I really need help, you know?"
Clementine's eyes widened in disbelief.
'W-what does he mean by that…?'
Countless thoughts flooded her mind, then Adel said,
"Come on, we don't have much time. Besides, I have a plan."
Adel took her hand; unable to resist, Clementine simply nodded unconsciously, and the two of them moved.
Toward where the Demonic Beast was.