The Axe-Wielding Stranger
The person standing before me now was the principal, idly stroking his axe as if debating whether to fight or talk. He had started pondering the moment he saw the Blood Ghoul on my hand. It seemed to surprise him that I already possessed the sealed Blood Demon he had planned to trap inside the glove later.
"This wasn't in the plan… Did I miss something in my checks?"
It was strange to see him acting this way right in front of an enemy, but he must have been confident. He wouldn't be doing this without reason. After mulling it over, he spoke to me with bold directness.
"Did you come from the future or something?"
What a lunatic. That was the best answer he could come up with? There was only one regressor in this game, and that was Faye. I shook my head, and he clutched his own, deep in thought. Then he pointed the axe at me.
"Where did you get that glove?"
I hesitated, wondering how to answer, when a good idea struck me. In the game, we would have jumped straight into combat with Axe Man, so I never had the chance. But now I actually had time to talk to him.
"Before that, you are the principal of Starlight Academy, right?"
Since this guy had some connection to the Demon King, maybe I could coax some information out of him if I played my cards right. But the moment he heard me, he raised his axe in alarm, clearly startled that his identity had been exposed. He had no idea how much more I knew.
"Haven't you ever felt like the same things keep repeating over and over?"
The principal was the key to maintaining this loop. If he died, the loop would end. So this was a gamble, but I decided to tell him that he was merely a component of the loop. If things went wrong, I could just pop Itz and reset. Since the axe-wielding stranger was part of the illusion, even if Itz died and the loop reset, his memories wouldn't carry over. It would be like creating him anew. That meant there was almost no risk in revealing this to him.
"What are you talking about? The same things repeating?"
How would the principal react if he learned he was trapped in a loop and couldn't even perceive it?
"In a way, you're right that I came from the future. This glove—you were the one who made it, weren't you?"
The principal nodded, still looking doubtful. A story about loops was hard to believe, but evidence changed things. From his behavior, it seemed he hadn't sealed the Blood Demon into the glove yet. That meant the glove shouldn't even exist at this point in time, which made it solid proof.
"…Well, I planned to make it like this. But why is it already here?"
I waved my gloved hand and continued.
"This place is a loop created by someone, and I came here to save you."
"…Save me?"
He looked extremely confused. Perfect. Time to improvise a bit.
"I was curious who created the Blood Ghoul. When I found out it was the academy's principal, I came here."
It was similar to what I'd said before about admiring the Blood Ghoul, but it would have to do. Otherwise, there was no reason for me to be snooping around here.
"Principal, you were defeated by Ankillé and trapped in something that keeps repeating. I contacted your consciousness and entered this place."
It was almost the same situation Itz was in. Using the fact that he traveled with Ankillé, I implied that Ankillé had betrayed him and was using him…
"…Lies."
His voice was ice-cold. The principal seemed to think for a moment, then raised his axe and glared at me. Guess I was too clumsy with my approach.
"Ankillé traps people in loops where only the memories of how they were trapped and how many times it repeated remain. Normally, Itz should be the one trapped in a loop like this."
He was arriving at the answer on his own. Wait. Was this guy always this smart? He hadn't even met Ankillé yet, so how did he know about the ability?
"But my memories don't persist through the loop. And since no one but Ankillé can use a loop like this…"
I tapped the glove containing the Blood Ghoul, ready to burst the blood pack I'd attached to Itz if necessary. It looked like he was about to realize the truth on his own, so I needed to be prepared.
"I'm part of the illusion he created. If the operation succeeds, I'd be the core maintaining the illusion."
He figured all that out. Was this guy possessed too? How was he talking like he knew the future?
"Then… when Itz dies, everything resets to the beginning, doesn't it?"
Thwack!
An axe flew at my hands in the blink of an eye. He was trying to cut both off so I couldn't use the Blood Ghoul, but I'd already anticipated it and pulled my hands away.
"If I attacked you, you'd probably have some trick to keep the loop going, right?"
Since his first attack targeting both hands had failed, he began considering that I could control the loop and started talking. His judgment was correct—I had been thinking about bursting the blood pack.
"Well, you're not wrong. But isn't it a bit hasty to say all that just because I have the Blood Ghoul on my hand?"
The principal snorted, brushed back his blue hair, and continued.
"You know not only about the Blood Ghoul, but also Ankillé's ability and its activation conditions. And you even know who I am."
He tossed the axe far away onto the ground and added,
"You're probably here to capture Ankillé and save Itz, aren't you? By the way, how do you know all this?"
"…What do you mean?"
I denied it, but the principal didn't give up.
"The gaps in my memory are because Ankillé constructed the illusion based on the information he knows. Since he's the one creating the illusion, he can't put anything in it that he doesn't know. That's why my memories are missing too—he only included what he knew."
From the way he spoke, he seemed fairly certain that he was inside a loop. How is he this rational…? Normally, if someone told you that you were part of an illusion and could disappear at any moment, you'd be panicking, right? How could he stay so calm and look for solutions? And no matter how I think about it, even if I made a few slip-ups… To figure out this was an illusion after just a few exchanges—he really was an intelligence-type character! More importantly, if someone like this was the Demon King, did that mean I had to fight him? And weren't intelligence-types supposed to be physically weak? What was I supposed to do if he was strong too?!
With those thoughts, I turned to look at the principal.
"Even so, I'm curious about you. This much I'm certain of. How did you come to wake Itz while already possessing the Blood Ghoul? That kind of case was approaching zero probability."
Before I knew it, his hostility had vanished, and he was staring at me with bright, scholarly eyes full of curiosity. I couldn't exactly tell him I was possessed, so when he saw my troubled expression, he plopped down on the floor—perhaps trying to lower my guard—and added,
"It's strange enough that I never noticed the loop all this time. I don't even remember where I got this information from."
It seemed the principal had never fully revealed his abilities to Ankillé either. If he had, Ankillé would have made sure the principal's abilities were known within the illusion he created.
"You're probably not the Demon King… Did you shake down the real me in reality? Or do you see the future?"
The principal listed off the possibilities he could think of one by one. He must not have wanted to die meaninglessly when the loop reset either, since he'd already thrown his axe far away. I'd gotten pulled into his pace during the conversation, but at this rate, we could just keep satisfying each other's curiosity and extract information. Well, as long as it worked out.
"So, Principal, what was your reason for coming to this academy—huh…?"
A sudden wave of dizziness washed over me. Had I pushed myself too hard? Yeah, taking down Itz a hundred times would do that.
"My reason for coming to the academy is simple. To wake Ankillé and use him."
Hmm, as expected. It seemed Ankillé taking over the body had been the principal's intention all along. But why go to such lengths?
"Ugh…"
Ow, but why was I getting so dizzy? It felt like the precursor to astral projection before using the hourglass… Wait, what? Already? Now? Thinking about it, it had only been two days, so it wasn't "already," but I'd used up a lot of time… Why now of all times?! I was just about to get information from the principal! Not to mention, Itz was about to regain his senses!
"I have to go back like this? Empty-handed?"
This had been my chance to learn everything about the Demon King! My chance to turn hard mode into easy mode! If I'd known this would happen, I should've just asked without testing the waters! No, I didn't even have time to regret it. Fighting to stay conscious as it faded, I asked the principal,
"You! What's your name?!"
I had to at least learn his name so I could find the principal later. He knew far too much. Whether he turned out to be an enemy or an ally, finding him would definitely help. Realizing I was about to leave, the principal answered urgently, as if grasping at his last hope.
"Hayate! Hayate Starla…"
With those final words, my consciousness cut off, and I was flung out of the illusion, missing the rest of his name.