Ch.63Aftermath

I couldn’t breathe.

My completely exhausted body lost control and staggered.

I observed myself distantly, as if watching from a step behind, as I slowly sank to my knees.

Replaying in my mind what had just happened.

Everything felt connected as one.

The things I had learned. The things I possessed. The things I had gained.

Swordsmanship. Body. Karma.

The strike I delivered cleaved through the enemy with unbelievable power.

This was the realm of a Master. Now I could clearly understand.

How I should fight.

How to properly use this power.

Even the once-vague power of Murder Karma, I now seemed to know how to unleash it.

Though controlling such a ferocious power would be difficult.

But with this, I had finally obtained the strength to forge ahead.

There was no joy.

Too many people had died.

Just a slight sense of relief.

The flames were subsiding.

At last, this hell was coming to an end.

Had I properly done what I needed to do?

Before me lay the answer, split in two.

I exhaled a long breath.

As if extinguishing the karmic fire in my chest, as if expelling life itself.

A deep sigh that wouldn’t end.

This was as far as I could go.

My battle was over. Finally.

It had been such a long night, truly like an eternity.

I could no longer hear any sounds.

I couldn’t smell the burning or taste the blood anymore.

Sensation disappeared from my fingertips and spread throughout my body.

My exhausted consciousness drifted away from my depleted body.

Like oil and water separating after being mixed. Clearly.

The sword fell from my weakened grip and rolled on the ground.

Through my darkening vision, I looked down at the sword.

The golden radiance had already disappeared. As if it had fulfilled its role.

It was time to sleep.

……

…Suddenly, a thread of doubt crossed my mind.

A doubt so obvious I hadn’t questioned it even once until now.

Since when?

Since when had I wanted to save people this desperately?

Clearly, I wasn’t like this at first.

I thought they were pitiful. I thought I would help if I could.

But was I this desperate? To the point of destroying my body to save people I’d never met?

Something had changed.

…Since when?

I couldn’t connect my thoughts. My consciousness was gradually fading.

Ah, that’s right.

With what remained of my mind, I recalled.

When I gripped that sword… From that moment, I…!

My mind, trying to remember something, sank away.

My vision darkened.

—-

– You figured it out?

Someone whispered.

– Perhaps it was a bit too soon? But still. It’s fine for now.

A snow-white hand stroked my forehead. Lovingly.

With a gesture full of warm tenderness.

– Forget it, and rest peacefully for now.

And. Once again.

—-

The morning sun rises.

After the long night, dawn finally comes to the island.

The survivors sat dazed, staring into empty space.

At the gray sky covered with ash and dust.

The Great Island Fire.

A large-scale terrorist act carried out by a werebeast organization called the Militia, who infiltrated the island and contacted half-blood slaves within.

Taking advantage of the elite knights heading north, this diversionary operation claimed countless lives.

In a single night, three-tenths of the city burned to ashes, with an estimated 20,000 civilian deaths.

The injured numbered eight thousand in this unprecedented catastrophe.

Thanks to the Academy’s quick response, the situation was barely contained, but at the cost of more than thirty students killed by werebeasts.

The whole world was shocked.

The claw marks that slashed the Empire and disappeared became a vivid brand.

People trembled with fear, shock, and anger.

Those who were not human watched carefully.

The clear crack in the unwavering myth of the Empire’s order that had continued for hundreds of years.

Quietly, very silently.

But without taking their eyes off it.

The world was changing.

Toward the past.

—-

I woke up in an unfamiliar infirmary.

Four beds were lined up in a row, and a cross emblem hung on the white wall.

The air smelled of blood and disinfectant.

Students with bandages lay on each bed.

I struggled to turn my head. That simple movement took nearly a minute.

My body wouldn’t move well.

A familiar blond boy was sleeping on the bed to my left.

It was Demian.

His complexion was peaceful, suggesting his treatment was somewhat complete.

And between Demian’s bed and mine, a green-haired woman was dozing in a chair.

“…Mil…lia…?”

A cracked voice escaped my lips.

Hearing my voice, Millia gradually woke up.

With half-closed eyes, she rubbed them and met my gaze, blinking blankly. As if she couldn’t believe it.

She blinked once more, then turned sharply toward me.

“Haschal! Are you awake?! Thank goodness! Really…!”

Millia reached out her hand while sobbing, then hesitated and withdrew it.

She seemed unsure if it was safe to touch me.

My condition must be that serious.

I couldn’t tell because I had no sensation.

“Yeah… Millia, are you… alright? Not hurt anywhere?”

“Worry about yourself instead of me! If it weren’t for Senior Lacy, you would have really died!”

“Lacy? The saint candidate…?”

Was she nearby? Ah. Then that white flash that covered the city must have been cast by Lacy.

Luckily, I was also within the blessing’s range, which helped me fight somewhat decently.

“Yes. Demian, who had regained his strength, found you all battered and carried you to Senior Lacy. Without her healing, you would have died…”

Demian came back? I’m glad we became friends.

Thanks to him, my life was saved.

I awakened to Karma and used its power to kill Natalya, but then I lost consciousness and collapsed from exhaustion.

I collapsed immediately…right?

…..Did I?

Something feels a bit strange.

There’s an odd sense of dissonance. I can’t place it.

It feels like I’ve forgotten something.

Ah,

that’s it.

“My sword…?”

Yes, that’s it. Since I fainted, I must have dropped my sword.

Surely it wasn’t lost or anything?

My sword. I needed to find my sword.

With such a fine blade, someone might have stolen it.

“Oh, that’s over here—”

Millia pointed to the corner of the bed.

Imela’s sword was leaning there, wrapped in its scabbard.

I felt a wave of relief.

Thank goodness. Demian must have taken care of this too.

I should thank him properly later.

Only then did I feel somewhat calmer.

“So, how much time has passed? ……What happened to everyone?”

“A week. Haschal, you’ve only just opened your eyes after a week. Even with daily healing spells… I heard you depleted too much of your energy.”

So that’s why my body had no strength at all.

A week, huh. That’s enough time for the situation to have been somewhat resolved.

……Resolved.

“About the people… it might be better to talk about that later. For now, you should rest…”

“I want to hear it.”

I needed to know.

Millia hesitated, then carefully told me what had happened.

The riot was suppressed shortly after I collapsed.

With about a third of the rioters already cut down by my sword, the paladins who marched from the opposite side literally ground the werebeasts to dust.

Around that time, the disturbance at the Imperial Palace was also suppressed, and knights rushed back to the island.

Thus, all werebeasts who participated in the riot were slaughtered without exception.

Except for three who were captured among the masterminds who attacked the Imperial Palace.

One gray bear, one lioness. One vixen.

They were subjected to every torture imaginable.

Afterward, they were displayed in the square with their limbs severed.

Thanks to the werebeasts’ vitality, they remained alive for five days.

Considering what they had done, it wasn’t exactly a story that evoked sympathy.

“So, what about the others…?”

The hesitant answer that followed was devastating.

Twenty thousand, and thirty people.

In the original work, fifty people died. So. Twenty more survived.

At the cost of a thousand civilians per student.

It was a deranged equation.

My mind began to drift again.

No, I need to stay focused.

I can’t break down here.

I can’t stop now. Not after twenty thousand deaths.

So I must endure.

A sense of duty urged my mind.

“……What’s the situation on the island now?”

“The dead were gathered and cremated over four days. They had to, or disease would spread… Since then, they’ve been rebuilding the burned buildings.”

Four days. Was that fast or slow? It was hard for me to tell.

At least, it was far too little time for grief to subside.

“If you’re asking about the mood of the people… it’s not good. Everyone is sad, everyone is angry. There’s even talk of marching into the northern snowfields.”

“…That would be difficult.”

“Yes, it would.”

Sending an army to the northern snowfields would be madness.

They would lose half crossing the Sky Mountains, and the other half to the cold of the snowfields.

It was still a land that humans couldn’t conquer.

A land of extreme cold where only beasts with fur could survive.

So, the anger with nowhere to go was ultimately directed at the remaining werebeasts, she said.

The werebeast slaves who didn’t follow the Militia’s instigation and remained loyal to their masters.

Whether out of loyalty or self-preservation, no one could tell now.

They were all dragged out and slaughtered, she said.

In ways too horrible to mention. Over three days.

Except for their ears and tails, they looked no different from humans, but perhaps because of that, they died even more horribly.

Recalling the scene, Millia shuddered slightly.

So the end for those who betrayed their kind to survive was an even more terrible fate than their kin.

What an ironic outcome.