Manifestation

After finishing my meeting with Luna, I returned to the clubroom and was pondering the location for the fireplace that Aria had asked me to install.

It wasn’t because the clubroom was cold. The academy building had temperature control artifacts everywhere, so it was cool even in the summer (except for the outdoor training grounds).

The clubroom was on the 2nd basement floor, so building a chimney for the smoke to escape would require a huge construction project. But Aria had enthusiastically promoted a smokeless fireplace that emitted warm heat using magic, a new product from the Red Magic Tower. So, I was thinking of creating a winter atmosphere and decorating the clubroom with this opportunity.

Aphrodisiacs, smokeless fireplaces… the Magic Tower sure knows how to make money. Originally, the Green Magic Tower Lord would have squeezed money out of Bella and greatly expanded the Green Magic Tower with the massive funds, but since Magic Tower Lord Tarantula died at my hands, the Red Magic Tower was taking its place.

Not with dirty methods like sucking blood like Tarantula, but with magic developed through legitimate effort.

Smokeless fireplaces were expensive and hard to buy due to the number of reservations, but thanks to the Phoenix artifact I used in front of everyone at the last triathlon, I was able to receive it as a gift when I sent a letter expressing my intention to purchase it.

It’s inevitable for people to feel favorable when their favorability increases. Especially since it was a free gift I received without any expectations.

After a long deliberation, I decided to install the fireplace on the wall between the sofa and the bed. While installing the fireplace, I was also thinking of changing the old wallpaper in the clubroom. There would be plenty of free time after the promotion exam. And there wouldn’t be a club member who wouldn’t want to help decorate the clubroom.

While I was stroking my chin, thinking that I should choose a wallpaper in Luna’s favorite color if possible, a chilling warning magic that sounded like tearing metal suddenly began to ring throughout the academy.

,What, what is it…!!!,

Aria, who was sleeping on the bed, jumped up at the warning magic. Lacar and Kane also got up from the sofa with bewildered faces and looked at me.

It was the same warning magic that rang during the Chimera attack in the first semester. Could it be that the academy was attacked again? Confession, who attacked Luna, came to my mind.

Unlike before, the warning magic ended shortly, and Professor Leora’s voice was heard throughout the academy.

―Attention all students of the academy. All freshmen and sophomores are to evacuate to the auditorium on the first basement floor immediately, and all juniors and seniors are to wear their uniforms and combat gear and head to the main gate. I repeat. Freshmen and sophomores are to….

The club members prepared to leave the clubroom after hearing the voice. Kane took out a large bag containing a camping set from under the desk where the alchemy table was, as if he had already packed it. It was a stark contrast to Aria, who was busy grabbing food first.

,Club president.,

Lacar, who had taken his shield, looked at me with eyes asking for orders.

,Go to the auditorium with the other members first. I’ll stop by the infirmary and go right away.,

If Confession really attacked the academy, Luna could be in danger again. Lacar nodded as if he understood, and left with Aria and Kane, who were trying to grab even one more snack.

I left the clubroom and tried to head straight to the infirmary, but the stairs going up were full of students trying to evacuate to the auditorium, so I had to go around to the opposite corridor and use another staircase.

I ran like crazy and arrived at the infirmary, but I couldn’t go inside. The door was protected by magic, probably because the protective magic was activated due to the warning magic.

Still, relieved that Luna was in a safe place, I turned my steps towards the auditorium on the first basement floor where the club members were.

,Are the students fighting right now?,

Someone’s urgent voice echoed through the walls of the hallway.

,Yes, I heard Roel is fighting someone. Headmaster Nelson and a few teachers have gone to support him. The capital’s guard has also been dispatched.,

At the name Roel, I stopped walking and hid my body at the end of the hallway, slightly peeking out my face. Two middle-aged men who appeared to be professors were talking. The bald man wiped the sweat from his head with a handkerchief and asked.

,Why are you gathering the juniors and seniors? Are you perhaps sending them to fight?,

The tall, thin professor across from the bald professor shook his head at the bald professor’s nervous voice.

,What are you talking about? Of course, we can’t make the students do dangerous things. It’s to help with the aftermath when the commotion is over. Isn’t it natural for Transcendence Academy students to step up for the citizens?,

After talking that far, the two people pretended to run out urgently when they heard someone else’s footsteps. When the footsteps faded away, I looked out the window.

The night sky looked red. Black smoke was rising from somewhere. A sense of foreboding slowly revealed its presence in my heart.

I swept my face once at the fact that Roel was fighting. In the original flow, this second semester should have passed without any incidents.

But the appearance of a new Confession and Roel’s transcendence faster than expected were creating unpredictable variables.

I clenched my fist tightly. Like Roel said, I couldn’t just pass everything off and enjoy a comfortable academy life. The fact that I, who should have retired, was still alive was already changing the flow greatly.

If I stood by, there was a possibility that even the original ending would change for the worst. I had to erase and revise the story I had created for everyone’s sake and fix the variables.

I no longer thought of this world as the world in the novel I created. It was a world that had become reality, not fiction. This was a world where the people I loved, liked, and cherished lived. I couldn’t just stand by and watch.

I headed towards the stairs leading to the basement. However, my destination was not the auditorium on the first basement floor, but the Messiah clubroom one floor below. The only secret passage to get out of the academy was in the clubroom.

***

I escaped the academy through the sewer. In case someone recognized me, I threw on the robe I wore as a disguise when heading to Modiste and headed to the capital’s streets. The streets were full of people. Everyone was looking at the flames burning in the distance with anxious eyes.

Seeing the magicians and knights running towards there, I also followed behind them diligently. The closer I got, the louder the roar and the screams coming from somewhere continued endlessly.

My heart began to flutter with an unknown emotion. A sense of foreboding and fear was slowly staining my consciousness black.

A wall of smoke and flames blocked the way. One of the magicians who was going ahead waved his staff and created a huge wind. The knights and magicians who saw the street where the flames and smoke had disappeared stopped as if they had made a promise.

I, who was secretly following behind, could only stare with dumbfounded eyes at the tragedy that unfolded before me. Everything was burning, and everything was collapsing. There was blood, flesh, and death everywhere on the street.

The blood created by the people who died crushed under the collapsed buildings had pooled into puddles due to the sewers that were not functioning properly.

Whether they came to their senses late, the magicians and knights ran off somewhere. But I couldn’t follow behind them. I stood there as if nailed to the spot, capturing the tragedy before my eyes on my retina.

I was scared. I didn’t know exactly what I was afraid of, but I trembled in the place filled with the heat of the flames.

Kwaaaang―――!

The building in front of me collapsed, and someone fell to the ground. The man with one arm cut off staggered and got up. Something fell from the sky in front of the man.

It was Roel, whose shining appearance couldn’t be hidden even though he was covered in blood and dirt. Roel also had many wounds on his body, probably from fighting a bloody battle.

,Haa… I can’t believe the skills of a guy who just became a Transcendental. And even illusions don’t work… This is ridiculous….,

Roel tried to cut the man without answering. But the man and Roel were momentarily distracted by the appearance of a girl who miraculously survived the collapsed building a little while ago and crawled out.

,Hic, sob…! Mom, mommy… Daddy, daddy…!,

Roel and the man’s gazes intertwined in the air at the child’s desperate voice calling for her parents who were buried in the building.

Roel swung his greatsword first, but the man barely dodged it and hugged the crying child, using her as his shield.

At that sight, I ran out without realizing it. With my space magic, I could attack the man from behind and save the child.

,Hyung…!,

Roel, who heard my voice, looked at me over his shoulder. Roel, who made eye contact with me, distorted his face and gritted his teeth.

,Why are you here…!!!,

I knew Roel was worried about me, but the child’s safety was the priority for now.

,I’ll help! I can help too…!,

I shouted while taking out the Spear of Destruction, but Roel said in a firm voice.

,There’s no battlefield for you to help.,

After saying that, Roel turned his head and looked at the man. His back view was so ominous that I screamed at the top of my lungs to deny the worst imagination that came to my mind.

,Stop itttttt!!!,

Roel’s greatsword moved. The voice of the child who was crying and looking for her parents stopped abruptly. The man, pierced together with the child, desperately ran away while releasing magic power around him.

Roel didn’t turn around to look at me. He didn’t even glance at the child he had cut down, who was submerged in a pool of blood. His gaze was only chasing the back of the enemy. Roel didn’t leave any words and chased after the man who ran away.

I walked. The thought of walking didn’t even exist in my head, but I staggered and weakly approached the child who had fallen onto the pool of blood. I didn’t know when I had dropped the spear, and I hugged the child with my empty hands.

The warmth felt from my fingertips told me that the child was alive. I tried to block the flowing intestines, but I knew it was already too late.

The child died.

My protagonist who would save the world and become everyone’s hero.

In Roel’s hands.

I felt a tearing pain in my heart at the child’s face distorted in pain. Emotions violently surged back as if vomiting blood.

,Why… why… whyyyyyyy!!!,

This can’t be. This shouldn’t have happened.

Roel was my ideal and the existence of my wish.

Because I wasn’t loved by others, I wanted to be loved by everyone.

Because I hated everyone, I wanted to love everyone.

Because I was born a lie, I wanted to be truthful.

Because I was lacking, I wanted to be perfect.

My protagonist created by my wish, far from my miserable reality. That was Roel.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the tragedy created by my hope, admiration, and object of wish. I couldn’t do anything in the face of the despair before my eyes. Because this was my karma.

I hugged the child who was growing cold in my arms. A groan that I couldn’t suppress flowed from my teeth. A despair so intense that I couldn’t breathe pressed down on my whole body.

I struggled to look up at the sky. Black smoke covered the moonlight. There was only darkness where I couldn’t find a single star.

With a labored breath, I let out a scream as if my lungs were bursting.