Each Their Own Preparations
The door handle rattled violently. “Ugh! Seriously…” It was broken again. Why did this keep happening? After twisting the stubborn knob back and forth for a while, I gave up and moved to the window. My reflection in the glass was wrapped in the familiar black robe. Yeah. Tonight was the night. The time had finally come to put on this gloomy outfit and move. There was no need to reveal myself openly like last time. All I had to do was a bit of cleanup.
A piercing scream tore through the night.
“Kyaaaaaah!!!”
“S-someone help me!!!”
The water had already been spilled. The accident had unfolded exactly as planned, and the headmaster who was supposed to protect the Academy was nowhere to be seen. Monsters that had suddenly appeared were roaming the streets, hunting for prey, and terrified screams echoed from every direction. Amid the chaos of hell on earth, I spotted several places where powerful light was surging upward. The church’s people or the hero must have started lending their strength. To keep my presence hidden, I needed to move quietly in places their hands couldn’t reach.
Boom!
I ignored the distant explosion and leaped from the window.
Slash!
A pure white streak of light sliced cleanly through the air, severing the monster’s head in one stroke. A beat later, thunderous cheers erupted.
“““Woooooooo!!! ”””
The students trembled with awe at the sight of the colossal monster collapsing from a single blow. The one who had actually cut off its head—Hero Hestia—shook the Holy Sword with an indifferent expression.
“Everyone, please evacuate to a safe location.”
After swiftly clearing the surrounding monsters, she left the students’ grateful thanks behind and departed without another word. Even in this urgent situation where the Academy was under attack, Hestia maintained a calm, expressionless face. Yet for some reason, her steps carried more urgency than usual.
‘He doesn’t seem to be here either…’
Hestia bit her lip lightly and moved to another area. While she mercilessly cut down the monsters that had suddenly appeared all over the Academy, her golden eyes were clearly searching for someone in a hurry.
“Hestia!”
“······?!”
Just as she finished clearing the area and was about to head elsewhere, someone called her name and came running. Hestia knew that only two people in the entire Academy would call her by name so casually. Her heart lifted slightly as she turned around.
“······Ah, Elisha. What brings you here?”
“…What’s with that reaction? It almost sounds like you were waiting for someone else and you’re disappointed it’s me.”
“T-that’s a misunderstanding.”
Flustered by the sharp question, Hestia waved her hands in denial. Elisha made a clearly dissatisfied face, but she didn’t press the matter and changed the subject instead.
“Anyway, you’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
“Yes. I don’t know where these monsters suddenly came from, but…”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
“…You do?”
“So come with me. I need your strength.”
The conversation moved at lightning speed before her head could even catch up. Hestia looked dazed for a moment, but once she belatedly examined Elisha’s condition, she immediately understood. The hem of her clothes was torn in several places, and monster blood was splattered across her outfit. Clear traces of battle remained on Elisha.
‘She seems to have taken down far more monsters than I have.’
In that instant, Hestia became certain that Elisha knew far more about this incident than she did. To resolve this matter quickly, following Elisha seemed like the right choice. However, she couldn’t answer right away.
“That is…”
“Why? Do you have something urgent to do?”
“…I was thinking of checking the surroundings a little more, for the safety of the other students.”
“Come on, it’s already late enough that most of them should be asleep. And if there are any other students outside, don’t worry. The professors will be coming to support them soon.”
“Are you certain?”
“Probably…? Anyway, you’re coming with me, right?”
Because Elisha couldn’t give a definite answer, Hestia hesitated for a moment. Then she recalled something.
‘Well… he did say before that he falls asleep quickly…’
Remembering the conversation they had shared over dinner once, her thoughts tilted toward the idea that she didn’t need to worry. She opened her mouth at once.
“We’re leaving right now?”
“Yeah. No need to waste time.”
“I’ll go with you.”
The hero and the regressor began moving toward the heart of the incident to resolve it.
At that same moment, in a building near the Academy’s barrier on the outskirts. It was a property the Myers family had recently acquired, claiming it was needed for business. Since they didn’t know when an owner might arrive, the building was always kept spotlessly clean on strict orders. And now, a visitor had finally come.
“Ugh…”
Strictly speaking, the man was closer to the position of homeowner than visitor—Karl Myers. He clutched his bleeding shoulder and let out a painful groan. Just moments ago, after his battle with the headmaster, he had barely managed to seal her away temporarily. But his own condition was far from good. Sabina’s final attack had pierced his shoulder cleanly, and the sensation still lingered.
“Headmaster… Just what the hell did you do to me?”
Although he had not yet reached transcendence, it was undeniable that he had surpassed ordinary mortals to some degree. A normal wound would have healed long ago. However, the injury left by the headmaster refused to mend even with his recovery ability that exceeded mortal limits. She had clearly done something to it. If he wanted to focus on healing, he had no choice but to rest.
“Damn it…”
Karl spat out a curse and began stabilizing his body. He was worried about becoming completely defenseless for a while, but there was no other option. He steadied his mind and recalled the earlier events.
Headmaster Sabina. Their fight had ended surprisingly quickly, yet for Karl Myers it had become another chance to feel the gap between them once more. Sabina’s specialty was barriers. Since it was an ability that required prior preparation, he had thought that even a transcendent like her would be manageable if caught unprepared. But even in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous state—burdened with all kinds of curses and restraints, her body far from whole—she had pushed him back with pure power alone. That was the strength of a transcendent, indeed. If he hadn’t prepared extra curses and sealing formations just in case, it would have been him, not the headmaster, who was subdued.
‘I somehow avoided the worst outcome. I was lucky…’
Or rather, since only greater sins awaited him from now on, maybe his luck was actually terrible…? The thought crossed his mind, but Karl Myers shook his head. He had already come too far to stop now. There was nowhere left for him to retreat.
‘Just wait a little longer…’
Once this matter was safely over, many things could change. If he absorbed the Academy’s special power and reached transcendence, he would find a clue to free his family from the curse that had plagued the Myers household for so long. Perhaps he could even restore the declining Myers family to its former glory. The headmaster’s fury and the cleanup afterward would be difficult to handle, but once he became a transcendent, even she wouldn’t dare touch him carelessly.
‘Therefore… no matter what it takes, I must reach transcendence.’
That was the future of his family. That was the only path to survival. Karl Myers closed his eyes to focus on recovery.
In pitch-black darkness, Sabina was struggling desperately.
“H-huk…!”
A fierce wind battered her ears. Her arms and legs refused to move as she wanted, and no part of her body touched the ground. Sabina was falling. With several of her senses—including vision—sealed, she was endlessly plummeting into some deep abyss.
‘I can’t… feel anything…’
The senses she had gained upon reaching transcendence were restricted. She had experienced this once before. When that existence had invaded the Academy… Sabina recalled the time when everything had been neutralized and she could do nothing. The terror and helplessness she had felt then were once again gripping her by the throat.
“U-ugh…!”
Thrashing in the darkness where nothing was visible, Sabina felt her heart being crushed by pain. It was as if she had been trapped alone in outer space where even the light of the stars had vanished. She gasped violently, flailing with all her might to shake off the fear. Yet the fall continued without end. Just as she was about to slip into full panic—
“Huh? Headmaster? What are you doing here?”
“······?!”
Along with an unfamiliar voice, someone carefully caught her. Sabina flinched in shock, but he lifted her into his arms without any hesitation.
“Huk, haa… haa…”
The speed of her fall gradually slowed, and the sound of wind rushing past her ears began to fade. She still couldn’t see anything in front of her, and her senses remained restricted, but she could tell she had safely landed on solid ground. Sabina barely calmed her wildly beating heart and slowly parted her trembling lips.
“W-who… are you…?”
“I’m a student you teach, Headmaster.”
The man carefully set her down on the ground. The atmosphere made it feel like he would vanish the moment he let go, so she reflexively clutched his collar even tighter.
“W-wait…”
“Please rest here for a while.”
He guided her to a place where she could sit and helped her down. Too tense to do anything else, she simply moved her body blankly according to his touch. His actions were so natural, as if he had done this many times before. Sabina groped for the arm right beside her. Along with the overwhelming sense of relief, her heartbeat began to quicken for some reason.
She felt gratitude toward the one who had saved her from terror. She felt thankfulness toward the one who had pulled her from the swamp of helplessness. She felt something special toward the one who had supported her—a transcendent—so she could have someone to lean on, even if only for a moment. Emotions she had almost never felt since becoming a transcendent stirred violently inside her.
Sabina lowered her head deeply and hesitated before speaking.
“Tha… nk you…”
“There’s no need for thanks, Headmaster. Well then, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
“W-wait…!”
She hurriedly grabbed the arm of the man who seemed ready to disappear at any moment and asked him carefully.
“Your name… what is it…? I’ll remember it for sure…”
“······.”
It was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that countless people would dream of—Sabina, a transcendent, personally offering to remember his name. But he said nothing. While Sabina grew anxious in the brief silence—
The man gave her an answer she had never expected.
“You can call me whatever you like.”
“…? W-what do you mean by that…”
“My name isn’t all that important.”
Sabina, who had a mountain of things she wanted to say, tried to grab him again, but the sensation against her hand had already vanished. The being who had appeared like a mirage was gone, leaving her alone in the darkness once more. She no longer felt any fear or terror, yet for some reason her heart was racing even faster than when she had been falling from the sky.