The City of Screams
Eve’s voice echoed through the Aegis Academy campus via the public address system. It was an emergency broadcast: all combat-capable personnel were to report to the gymnasium immediately. The first-year students who had been terrorized by the Mana, those recovering from stab wounds, those who had been cleared of monsters but remained unconscious, and the few staff members tending to them were the only ones excused. Everyone else converged on the gymnasium.
“An emergency, all of a sudden...?”
“Does anyone know what’s going on?”
Having undergone training for crisis situations, the students naturally lined up by grade, yet they murmured in confusion at the sudden summons. The teachers were equally bewildered, having been called in without warning. However, a few who were aware of the situation remained silent, their expressions grim. They knew that speaking out recklessly would only incite panic.
Once the headcount was confirmed, Eve walked out before the assembled students and teachers. The moment all eyes were fixed on her, she opened her mouth.
“I’ll skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. I’ve called you all here because, as the acting principal of the Academy, I have determined the current situation to be a Disaster Level 1.”
At the mention of Disaster Level 1, silence fell over the bustling gymnasium. According to the Aegis Academy regulations, students are considered temporary heroes; therefore, rescue operations for citizens are fundamentally the responsibility of professional heroes. However, there is an exception where students are required to participate in rescue efforts: when the principal or an equivalent authority deems the situation a Disaster Level 1.
In the heavy silence, only a small girl with pink twin-tails voiced a question in a small voice.
“...Um, Marin? What does Disaster Level 1 mean?”
At the question from Flone, who seemed to be the only one unaware of the gravity of the situation, Marin, the class representative of 1-B standing in front of her, answered with a stiff face.
“...It means we’re in deep trouble.”
It was a Disaster Level 1 declaration—the first in several hundred years, not since the era when witches roamed freely. It meant the city was on the verge of collapse. People were being controlled because monsters had taken root in their minds. The full extent of the day’s events flowed from Eve’s lips. As she explained the current situation—gathered through emergency communication networks using magic instead of the now-useless phone lines—the expressions of those present grew unimaginably grave.
People were rampaging all over the city, and while heroes had been deployed, they were severely short-handed. Eve spoke to those who would be heading out to support the heroes as if pleading with them.
“The goal is, above all else, the rescue of citizens. Do you understand? Keep in mind that the people you must save include those who are being controlled.”
Heroes are trained with the assumption that they will face enemies like monsters or criminals. Naturally, subduing someone is far more difficult and requires more care than simply defeating them. But in this case, the ones they had to face were not enemies, but innocent people who were merely being controlled. They were someone’s acquaintances, friends, and family. Therefore, we had no choice but to subdue them.
The students and teachers, assigned to their respective sectors by grade and class, headed out into the pouring rain. And what greeted them was a landscape straight out of hell.
*
“Ugh, honey! Snap out of it! Why are you doing this?!” a husband screamed, desperately clinging to his wife even as he was slashed by the kitchen knife she was wielding.
“Please... help me... My child, my child is acting strange...” a mother sobbed, clutching a five-year-old child who was biting into her.
“I... I didn’t mean to...! They came at me like a madman, so I just tried to stop them...!” a boy wailed, clutching a blood-stained baseball bat and staring blankly at the corpse of someone who had fallen before him.
The city was filled with sound. The sounds of the living, and the sounds of the dying. Overwhelmed by the noise that pierced my ears, mixed with the heavy downpour, I stared blankly at the city and thought: Why on earth did this happen?
I had prevented the tragedy in the gymnasium, so I hadn’t thought things would take a turn for the worse than the original story. But look at reality. An event that shouldn’t have happened was occurring, and the whole city was filled with blood, screams, and wails.
Suddenly, my hands and feet began to tremble. An event that shouldn’t have happened. I couldn’t help but think that perhaps this was all my fault. It felt as if all this carnage was happening because I had recklessly tried to change the future. Even though I knew it was a useless thought, my body wouldn’t move, paralyzed by despair and fear.
It was when I was about to collapse that I saw it through the rain-blurred vision: a child sitting on the ground, crying in front of a man who was about to swing a steel pipe with vacant eyes.
My body, which I thought had frozen, moved on its own. I lunged forward, pinning the man to the ground and subduing him.
“Sylvia! Over here!”
At my shout, a sphere of light flew from afar, seeping into the head of the man struggling on the ground, and he went limp as if he had fainted. I let out a sigh of relief, patting the head of the child who was still crying as if the world were ending, and said,
“...Stop crying. You’re safe now.”
The child looked up at me with teary eyes, sniffled, and grabbed the arm of the unconscious man, asking,
“H-hic, i-is... is Daddy gonna be okay?”
“...Yes, he’ll be fine now. It’s cold out here in the rain, so I’ll take you both somewhere warm.”
I hoisted the child, who was clinging tightly to the unconscious man, along with the man himself. Since it was raining, leaving the unconscious people on the street could lead to hypothermia, so I moved them to a temporary shelter set up to evacuate people. As I dried the child with a small flame to keep them from catching a cold and turned to head back out, the child, who had been stuck to the man’s side, scurried over and grabbed my left hand with their tiny hand.
The child flinched, seemingly surprised by the metallic prosthetic, but after glancing at the unconscious man, they turned back to me, bowed their head, and said,
“...Thank you for saving us.”
With that, the child scurried back and tucked themselves into the man’s arms. I watched them for a moment before looking down at the left hand they had held. I clenched my fist, feeling something despite the lack of sensation in the metal arm.
“That’s right... I came here to save them.”
Muttering that, I dashed back outside. Now was not the time for other thoughts; it was time to save people. Even one more person.
*
Thanks to Sylvia, who could remove the monsters without even touching the people, and Yoon Siwoo, who was subduing people at a terrifying speed, the shelter was bursting at the seams with unconscious people and their families. But Yoon Siwoo, whom I encountered along the way, said with a grim face,
“We’ve brought in so many, but there’s no sign of them decreasing...”
Subduing people, transporting them to the shelter, and performing first aid when an injured person was found. We had been repeating this until students started to run out of stamina. The best we could do right now was for each of us to cover a wider area, even if it was exhausting, to fill the gaps. But despite doing our best, anxiety began to sprout on the students’ faces. Because we were the ones seeing the reality of the city with our own eyes as we rescued people, we knew better than anyone.
Someone muttered with a sigh,
“...At this rate...”
The most important thing in a city is its people. I didn’t know how many were dying every moment, but if this state continued, the result at the end was already determined.
I was gritting my teeth, running through the streets to find controlled people while trying to deny that thought, when—
“Hello, Eva. Or should I say, Eva-bista.”
As if she were completely detached from the world, she stood there, perfectly calm, not even wet in the pouring rain. A girl with dark purple hair. If my memory served, she was likely a witch. And being a witch meant there was a high probability she was involved in this incident.
[Burn it.]
A voice muttered in my head. It was always an unpleasant voice, but for once, I felt like following its lead. I suppressed the flames that were threatening to erupt from my body and asked her,
“Is this... your doing?”
“Which part?”
“...This damn mess, controlling people and turning the city into this.”
Flames began to leak from my body little by little. But the girl didn’t even blink at the erupting fire and answered nonchalantly.
“Weell, it’s true I helped, but it’s not my work, so maybe half-and-half? I’m not interested in such troublesome things.”
The moment I heard she had helped, I lunged to grab her by the collar. Or rather, I tried to. But my hand couldn’t grab her clothes; it was blocked by something that seemed to be protecting her body.
“What is this...”
As I panicked, the girl curled the corners of her mouth slightly and said,
“Heh, don’t be angry. You’re still as hot-headed as ever. Well, that’s what makes you good. Say, do you want me to tell you how to stop what’s happening right now?”
“...Can you stop it?”
I thought it might be a trap, but I asked, thinking I had to do whatever it took if I could learn how to stop it. The girl curled her lips even further as she looked at me.
“If you want to know, follow me closely. If you follow, I’ll tell you.”
It was an unpleasant smile, like melted cheese.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek, like before.”
With those words, the girl’s figure vanished completely. Even when I frantically looked around, she hadn’t left a single trace. Just as I was feeling a surge of anger, wondering if I’d been mocked—
[Burn it.]
A memory I didn’t understand flashed through my mind.
[I’ll burn it.]
While my whole body was burning,
[I’ll burn you.]
With flames flowing from my eyes instead of the tears and blood that no longer fell,
[You, who made me hurt, who made me sad, who made me suffer, who made me angry, who made me burn.]
The memory of the day I chased someone.
[I’ll chase you to the end and burn you to death.]
The girl with dark purple hair was watching that version of me, laughing and clapping slowly.
...... [Burn it.]
......For some reason, I knew.
[Burn and kill them.]
“...It’s this way.”
As I took a step, the sound of giggling laughter and clapping echoed from somewhere.