To Reach
by Afuhfuihgs
Only after opening my eyes did I realize I had fallen asleep. As I sat up, an unfamiliar voice reached my ears.
“Ah! Ross, you’re awake?”
The moment I heard that voice, I felt my heart plummet. Slowly turning my head, I met Aria’s gaze, who was smiling brightly as always. A wave of nausea washed over me in an instant. A tearing pain emanated from the valves of my heart.
“Who just disappears without a word and then suddenly occupies my personal bed!”
Seeing Aria looking no different than usual, I wondered if I was still dreaming… then I realized that my corpse just hadn’t been found yet. As Aria tried to push me away and claim her side of the bed, I reflexively tried to avoid her touch and fell off the bed.
Kung-!
“Are, are you okay? Your butt must hurt!”
Avoiding Aria’s worried gaze as she looked down at me from the bed, I got up. There were no other club members in the clubroom. I bit my lip and asked.
“…Where are the others?”
Seemingly happy that I was finally speaking, Aria chuckled softly and replied.
“The headmaster suddenly changed, so everyone’s busy preparing for the inauguration ceremony. Thanks to Master-nim, I was able to sneak away for a bit, and I was just about to take a nap when Ross was occupying my bed! I was so surprised!”
It seemed Nelson, who chose death, had designated someone to take over his affairs in advance. I ran a hand over my face.
“…Is that so? Then I’ll be going now.”
“You’re leaving already? If you wait a little longer, the others will be back!”
Aria tried to hold me back with her regretful words, but I couldn’t stay here any longer. It was incredibly difficult to face Aria, who still treated me like a friend, without her knowing anything.
“…We can meet next time.”
Making a promise I couldn’t keep, I tried to leave the clubroom. But my hand was grabbed. Turning my head reflexively, I could see Aria looking up at me with a determined expression.
“Wait a minute!”
Aria got off the bed and rummaged through Kane’s alchemy table drawers before taking something out and handing it to me. It was a beautifully wrapped, high-end chocolate. As I stared blankly, wondering what this meant, Aria’s voice reached my ears.
“Ross, I’m sorry for comforting you so late. You must have had a hard time, right? This is a very, very precious and hard-to-get chocolate that I cherish. But since you’re my most precious friend, I can give you this chocolate with a happy heart.”
Aria smiled brightly as she placed the chocolate in my hand. Unaware of my heart collapsing, being swept away, and drifting towards the bottom.
“Cheer up, Ross. You’ll be able to find your smile again soon. Luna liked seeing you smile!”
The chocolate in my hand felt so heavy. So much so that I wanted to drop it from my hand right away.
Thinking I had to say something, I met Aria’s eyes, but unable to hold back the rising nausea, I couldn’t say anything and turned around, fleeing from the clubroom. Ignoring Aria’s greeting from behind, I ran through the underground hallway to the bathroom and immediately grabbed the toilet, throwing up.
Even after emptying the bile-filled contents of my churning stomach into the toilet, I couldn’t find any relief. After clinging to the toilet for a while, I headed to the sink and washed my face, which was a mess of tears and vomit. After rinsing my face with cold water for a while, I belatedly remembered the chocolate I had dropped next to the toilet and headed back to the toilet.
I sat on the toilet. I was exhausted with everything. Both physically and mentally. I had lost the two people I trusted most in this world. My promise to protect what was precious only made me realize how much of a liar I was.
The Saintess, who had promised salvation, had also left to fulfill her role for the sake of the story’s progression. Aria, who still thought of me as a precious friend, would soon lose everything because of me.
“Ah…”
I belatedly realized that blood was flowing from my lip, which I had been biting without realizing, when I saw blood droplets falling on the chocolate wrapper. When I wiped away the blood droplets with my thumb, the red color spread across the wrapper.
“Aah…”
I definitely tried. I didn’t fear losing myself in order to not lose what was precious. I didn’t give up even when I was hurt, broken, passed out, and wanted to die. But the result speaks for itself. That I am a damn fucked up person.
How many times is this that I’ve lost someone precious? How much more will I lose in the future? Even the rescue squad members by my side right now might all be lost due to my reckless actions.
“Keueu, keueueuk…”
Intense emotions surged, bubbling and boiling, stirring up my mind. Through the quantum jump, what remained in my mind, blocked by a wall I couldn’t overcome, began to melt away with those intense emotions.
In an instant, with a feeling as if the crown of my head was pierced, I was able to completely obtain the knowledge of Ross, who had become a Transcender through the window. It wasn’t about overcoming the wall, but about melting it down as a price for losing something precious.
I had reached the realm of the Transcender that I had so desperately desired. But I never wanted to become a Transcender in this way. Because I had to suppress the urge to kill myself, who was feeling a pathetic sense of relief that the possibility of saving Luna had increased.
I tore open the chocolate wrapper. It was a gift from a precious friend. I couldn’t just throw it away. I stuffed my mouth full of chocolate. The chocolate was sickeningly sweet, making me nauseous, but I pushed the chocolate into my mouth until the end.
***
One hour before re-entering the labyrinth, everyone gathered at Modest’s hideout as promised before parting ways. Eunice and Lamine, who hadn’t entered the labyrinth, also arrived after being contacted. But Ross, who was supposed to appear last, didn’t show up even after time passed.
“Could something have happened?”
Eunice asked, looking at Raelan with a worried voice. Raelan shrugged with a blank expression.
“He’ll be here soon. Ross’s goal is to obtain the Holy Grail. He won’t just sit back and watch Roel get ahead of him. And I have a rough idea of what he’s doing.”
“…Huh?”
Eunice, not understanding what he meant by having an idea, looked around, giving a look as if asking if everyone else knew, but everyone had a puzzled expression like Eunice.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps descending the stairs could be heard. Eunice and Ellie, who turned their heads towards the stairs, soon gasped. Ross, wearing the Lily Mask, appeared covered in blood.
“Ross, are you okay?”
Worried that he might have been hurt, Ellie rushed to Ross, but there were no injuries. This blood wasn’t Ross’s. Watching Ross pass by the flustered Ellie, Raelan smiled.
“Did you vent your anger?”
“I did what I had to do.”
“Well, I guess so.”
Raelan, twisting one corner of his mouth at Ross’s answer, looked at Ellie and winked.
“Um, I have something to say to everyone.”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Ellie’s words. After clearing her throat for a moment, Ellie moved to the end of the table so that everyone could see her comfortably.
“I found out the Church’s plan and the reason why the Demon King is trying to destroy the human realm.”
“Re, really…?!”
Eunice was startled and flinched greatly. Except for Ross, who was wearing a mask and whose expression couldn’t be seen, and Raelan, who had an interesting look on his face, Lamine and Conrad also had greatly surprised expressions like Eunice.
Conrad asked.
“How did you find out?”
“I found out while solving Nelson… Master-nim’s homework.”
“I see, that guy… he had already seen through it.”
Conrad, letting out a deep sigh, gestured to Ellie to continue the explanation. Ellie brought a mobile chalkboard and picked up a chalk.
“Currently, the Church and the Demon King are in alliance. The Demon King is trying to destroy the human realm, and the Church’s goal is to destroy the world. We know that they joined hands for a common purpose.”
Ellie, who drew a circle on the chalkboard for easy understanding, continued.
“But the order is wrong. The reason why the Demon King is trying to destroy the human realm was the Church’s intention. The alliance between the two forces was all the Church’s plan. The Demon King was used for the Church’s purpose.”
Eunice opened her mouth urgently at Ellie’s words.
“B, but how can that be? The opponent is the Demon King. Even if it’s the Church, controlling the Demon King doesn’t make sense, does it?”
Everyone here knew that the Church was just a mid-boss in the novel. That the mid-boss controlling the final boss was something that didn’t make sense.
But Ellie shook her head with a bitter smile.
“They didn’t control him, but created a reason for the Demon King to destroy the human realm. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense, but rather they used the plausibility.”
“Wh, what’s that method…?”
Ellie tapped the chalkboard with the tip of the chalk.
“Chaosification.”
Ellie slowly looked around the basement and said.
“That’s an artificial phenomenon created by magic that’s also applied to this basement.”
Everyone looked around the basement, and their expressions gradually changed. Ellie said quietly to everyone who was making a ‘no way’ expression.
“Yes, space expansion magic is a poison that the Church has been preparing for a very long time.”
Ellie moved her arm greatly, wrote on the chalkboard, and put down the chalk.
“Space expansion magic is taking away the space of the Demon Realm and filling the emptied space with the chaosification phenomenon.”
Ellie muttered.
“…The Demon King is trying to destroy the human realm for survival.”
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