Homogeneity

With a bizarre sensation, I regained my sight in the pitch-black darkness.

An unpleasant, gnawing pain, as if my brain had been rummaged through, was vividly felt.

My chest felt suffocated, as if the blood vessels in my heart were blocked by a wall of despair.

I felt like my existence was being negated by extreme self-loathing and inferiority.

Conversely, a heavy despair pressed down on my entire body.

‘I’ raised my body from the depths of extreme despair.

My vision swayed uncontrollably.

Only then did I realize that the world I knew had been turned upside down.

I moved forward without hesitation, toward the place where a faint goal remained in my mind.

My lower body, having received the brain’s command, faithfully carried it out.

Despair, like poison, was corroding my wildly beating heart.

It felt unpleasant, as if my entire body’s blood vessels were filled with insects.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of incongruity. What was it that I truly wanted?

It felt as if a part of my brain responsible for memory had been scraped away with a sword.

However, only one name remained clearly, as if it were engraved in my chaotic mind.

“Roel….”

With that one word blurted out, emotions exploded within my chest.

Intense animosity, hatred, and admiration and longing.

Such things mixed together, stimulating my brain.

My shadow swayed in the moonlight.

Although my soul, consumed by darkness, had lost its human form, my body had not yet lost its original shape.

“Roel….”

The heartbeat of a passing person reached my ears.

The man, who usually sent me sneers, disgust, and wary glances, collapsed to the ground with an expression that showed he didn’t understand what had happened to him.

As if trying to hold onto the flowing life, he desperately clutched at his torn neck, but it was a futile effort.

It was a fatal wound, close to instant death.

“Keueuk, keueuk….”

Looking down at the man who was staring at me with frightened eyes, I slowly lowered my foot.

I trampled on the hand that was desperately clutching his neck.

“Keeuk, kek….”

Like crushing a bug on the street, the man’s breath was cut off with a *wudeudeuk* sound.

I wanted to receive an apology for his wrongdoings, but he died without even repenting.

What a piece of trash.

“Kyaaaaak…!!!”

A scream echoed through the hallway. A woman, breathing roughly as she ran away, was severed at the torso with just a light gesture.

This time, it was instant death.

As I strolled past, I heard a *chap-chap* sound under my feet.

I had stepped on the woman’s spilled entrails. Beautiful, bright pink entrails.

Whispers to defile the corpse were heard, but my target was not the woman whose lower body was rolling on the floor separately.

She was more beautiful, more addictive, and a woman who would lead me to ruin than any other woman.

I saw knights in armor approaching, having heard the woman’s scream.

My mouth felt itchy. It felt like each of my teeth was shaking.

An impulse to chew and break something hard tickled my chest.

“You bastard―!”

I tore off and chewed the head of the man who suddenly raised his sword and shouted like that.

I was devastated by the reality that the itchiness remained the same.

Just in case, I repeatedly tore off and chewed the heads of the people around me, but it was not satisfying at all.

Unpleasant emotions surged. I was annoyed by the fact that I didn’t get what I wanted.

Using my fingernails and teeth to tear apart the flesh, I murdered all those who had rushed out of the door after hearing the commotion.

I burst their heads, tore out their chests, and kicked the arms and legs rolling on the floor.

“Roel, Roel, Roel―――!!!”

I howled that name that I wanted to deny.

I barked like a beast so that the plunderer who had stolen everything from me could understand.

And as if answering my howl, a man with a greatsword appeared at the end of the hallway filled with flesh and brain fragments.

His cool blue eyes erased the disgusting hypocrisy of the past and glared at me with anger.

“Ross.”

The moment I heard my name being called, magic power exploded and spread out, shattering the walls and floor.

The magical storm created by the Magi gathered the debris, making my vision dizzy.

“You, you, you―――!!!”

It was taken away. Even the only thing I thought I had left.

Then I just need to take it back. I will kill you and take back what I lost.

“―――!!!”

Based on intense animosity, I unleashed all my magic power in my right hand.

A black sphere, concentrating magic power, Magi, and even viscous emotions into one, tore apart everything in front of me and shot towards Roel.

The dormitory building shook as if there was an earthquake. The black sphere swallowed Roel.

Before I could even finish thinking that I had killed him, the black sphere, which boasted a powerful force, faded away in the light.

I saw Roel standing alone and nobly, without any shaking in the torrent of Magi. It was a figure I once admired and imagined.

That’s why my hatred soared even more. A beast-like rough breath flowed out of my mouth due to the limitless hatred.

I emitted Magi from my whole body and charged forward to tear off his head.

“You stupid bastard!”

With an angry voice, the greatsword flashed.

It was a strike with enough power to split my body in half, but I avoided the attack with explosive speed.

With a clean movement, I immediately gathered magic power and swung my fist.

Roel, who avoided the attack with a speed that didn’t seem like he was holding a greatsword, moved his center of gravity and struck me with the flat of the greatsword.

I raised both arms to block the attack, but the impact sent me flying out the window.

I was able to stop only after being thrown out of the building and rolling on the ground several times. Before my swaying vision could recover, I quickly pulled my body back at the presence I felt above my head.

Kung――!

The greatsword was slammed into the spot where my head had been just now. My brain heated up at the fact that he was seriously trying to kill me. Magi spewed out and surrounded me.

On the other hand, at the sight of Roel, who was shining so beautifully, I unconsciously blurted out with a viscous, desire-filled voice.

“I envy you.”

That talent that makes all my efforts useless.

That luck that allows you to obtain things that I cannot obtain so easily.

That arrogance that takes the love I don’t receive for granted.

I screamed as if spitting out resentment.

My whole body creaked, ignoring the limits of my flesh.

With a fierce momentum, I just attacked to kill.

I lost the reason to catch my breath or distribute my strength a long time ago.

I poured out attacks close to self-destruction, using only madness as my driving force.

Each fist wrapped in Magi contained enough power to burst the opponent’s flesh.

But Roel did not allow any of those attacks. With overwhelming ability, he easily blocked any attacks, no matter how much I poured them out.

I gave up my soul to gain this power, but in the end, I cannot reach Roel.

My murderous intent was extremely strengthened by that despairing reality.

“Die, die, die―――!!!!!”

No matter how much I howled like that and beat him, Roel did not waver. He only focused on defense, and his blue eyes never left me until the end.

“Why the hell….”

The hatred that had been boiling exploded at the sight of Roel muttering as if he didn’t understand me. I lost my reason and threw my body like a beast.

Roel’s greatsword moved. My legs were lost in the air with the strike that followed along with both arms that I had reached out to strangle his neck.

“Kkeuaaaaaak―――!!!”

I rolled on the floor with only my torso left.

I desperately crawled and bit Roel’s shoe, but he just looked down at me with pitiful eyes.

It hurts…. Not my body, but that gaze that looks down on me with pity always hurts me.

I howled like a beast with a voice full of resentment.

“Give it back, give it back, give it back…!!!”

“Ross….”

A teardrop fell on my head. The tears mixed with the blood flowing from my torn forehead entered my eyes, turning into bloody tears.

“I, I wanted to save you.”

I was even more enraged by the voice filled with pure sincerity without a single lie. Are you deceiving me until the end? To me, who heard the truth from the Demon King――!!!

My heart beat madly as if it would burst. My blood vessels twisted, and the Magi that started from my heart was concentrated and gathered in my mouth.

“Stop it… Please.”

I endured the terrible pain caused by the burning sensation as if my brain was burning with Magi, with only the animosity to kill him.

But as always, Roel was always faster than me.

“…I’m sorry.”

The moment that voice reached my ears, I was freed from the ugly emotions that had been pressing down on my whole body.

My vision swayed.

The world turned.

When the world finally stopped, I saw Roel, supported by the greatsword that had dropped my head, sobbing and shaking.

“…I’m sorry. I’m really, sorry….”

Roel constantly repeated and apologized towards my crumbling and disappearing body.

The world was turning into pitch black.

The sound faded away, and the senses disappeared.

Yes, it was wrong from the beginning.

Even though I knew very well that someone like me could never become a hero.

Even though I had a history of being betrayed by my efforts every time.

It was wrong to enter the academy without letting go of hope.

In the predetermined fate, I was always a loser. A loser destined to never win with anything.

As punishment for forgetting that, I will now suffer in eternal despair.

The Demon King, who had retrieved my soul, burst into arrogant laughter.

A voice mixed with laughter asked me.

―You too, right?

At that moment, I woke up from my dream.