The Students Collapse

The children walking down the hallway suddenly collapsed where they stood, one after another. They fainted as if dead, without the slightest convulsion or seizure. Amid the abrupt chaos, professors appeared among the panicked students and began examining the fallen.

It was the first step in distinguishing between those who had collapsed and those who had not. The second was to search for any children who might have fallen in deserted areas where no one would notice.

"Move the identified students to the grand auditorium immediately!"

For now, they gathered the victims in one place. It made management easier, but the primary reason was to ensure the doctors from Aven Hospital—already on their way—could perform examinations without delay. They believed the students had simply lost consciousness, but a medical check was still essential just to be safe.

The students moved with perfect order under the professors' command. Recognizing the emergency, they all worked with one heart and mind, taking initiative. Their actions were both deeply moving and immensely reassuring.

Thanks to that unity, gathering every fallen student in the grand auditorium took less than an hour.

"What is the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠students' condition?"

Professor Scape scanned the faces of the fallen while reviewing the student roster to ensure no one had been missed. Amy Pewter, the third-year student council member trailing behind her, answered at once.

"As far as we've confirmed, none of the students have any issues beyond minor bruises. The doctors have arrived and are examining them now, but aside from the loss of consciousness, no other problems have been found."

That was a relief. Professor Scape let out a silent sigh at Amy Pewter's report.

"However, there is one unusual detail. Their internal mana appears to be gradually draining away. The amount is still negligible, but if it increases, it will definitely become a serious issue..."

"That part is fine."

She had already heard the full outline of the incident. A dark mage had unfolded an Inner World inside the digital domain. Through it, a single network had been created that shared the students' mana. In other words, the reason their mana was disappearing was because the administrator was collecting the mana that had accumulated in the shared network. Defeating that dark mage would resolve everything.

'Professor Karlsen...'

The new professor who had joined this year. To be honest, Professor Scape didn't know much about him. She only saw him occasionally during faculty meetings and had never spoken with him privately. She wasn't familiar with his abilities, but she believed without a doubt that he could solve this incident.

Benedict Academy's headmaster, Hounds Mendelstone, was the direct disciple personally raised by Magic Sovereign Ern Benedict, the academy chairman. If an eight-star transcendent like him had faith in Karlsen, there had to be a reason.

"What about the headmaster?"

"I heard he canceled his schedule and is heading here immediately."

Hadn't he said he was stopping by the grand duke's estate? Even at the earliest, it would still take a few more hours.

'We must resolve this before the headmaster arrives.'

Thinking that, Professor Scape halted her hurried steps. Her gaze had landed on Professor Karlsen, who lay collapsed among the students.

'If the resolution is delayed, we will enter at once.'

Professor Karlsen certainly possessed the ability to solve this. Even so, they could not allow the situation to drag on. The students' safety was the top priority, but there was another problem—journalists who had somehow caught wind of the incident were already camping outside the school gates like a pack of hyenas.

The longer the resolution took, the more the academy's honor would suffer.

'That cannot be allowed.'

Benedict Academy had been founded by the Magic Sovereign himself. It had to remain flawless at all times, even if perfection was impossible. This did not mean mistakes could never occur. It meant that even if a mistake did happen, it had to be corrected as quickly and perfectly as possible. That was the responsibility and duty of the Elemental Kingdom's foremost educational institution. Only then could those who studied and graduated here carry genuine pride in themselves.

Therefore, even though Professor Karlsen had the ability to resolve the incident, they could not simply leave it entirely in his hands.

'I absolutely will not let this stand.'

Professor Scape clenched her fist tightly, burning with rage. To think someone would dare defile the sacred hall of learning created by the Magic Sovereign in such a way. She would make them regret it without fail.

In a different location from Professor Scape, Marily was thinking the exact same thing, grinding her teeth. That damn health professor. She never should have trusted such a suspicious person. Look at what had happened. Her anger toward Professor Clara—who had allowed the situation to escalate—only grew as she stared at the unconscious students.

Among the fallen were upperclassmen she had never seen before, along with familiar classmates scattered throughout. Some of them had been discussing Mana Up with her only yesterday. Looking at them, Marily felt an unwarranted wave of guilt. Had her actions caused this? Had spreading word about Mana Up and sparking their curiosity led to this outcome? If she had never said anything, would they never have used the app...?

"......"

Beside the guilt-ridden Marily, Arina was lost in thought. Normally she would have been overwhelmed with worry for the collapsed children around her, yet her face remained eerily calm. More precisely, she seemed so absorbed in her thoughts that she had no attention to spare for anything else.

'Uncle definitely knew something.'

She was thinking about what had happened with Kain the previous night. He had clearly warned her. If the app appeared, she must never consider pressing it. She must never touch anyone else's smartphone if the same thing showed up. That warning could only mean he had foreseen this exact situation.

'Should I call Uncle and ask?'

Arina toyed with the smartphone in her pocket as she debated.

"......!"

But the attempt was doomed before it began. A commotion erupted from the area where the fainted students lay. Doctors rushed over at a nurse's urgent call. Even Arina, who knew nothing about medicine, could see the brain waves spiking violently. The graphs jerked and shuddered like an earthquake, spreading from one student to all the others in a chain reaction.

The students' bodies began to jolt as if suffering seizures. At the same time, every smartphone collected from those who had installed the Mana Up app powered on simultaneously. From within them, negative-dimensional mana began to seep out like smoke. The unpleasant black energy spread like fog, creating the illusion that it was dyeing the entire world pitch black.

"Form an encirclement immediately and activate the spell formation!"

The students were thrown into panic, but the professors understood exactly what the phenomenon meant. At Professor Scape's shout, every professor on site stopped what they were doing and surrounded the pile of smartphones.

'Professor Karlsen succeeded.'

The collapse of the Inner World. The space created within the digital domain was breaking apart, and the negative-dimensional mana that had accumulated inside was returning to reality. It meant that Professor Karlsen, who had entered that Inner World, had successfully finished the job.

"Everyone except the professors, please move back!"

The student council members, who had already received instructions, ran around shouting. Thanks to their swift response, a perfect encirclement formed in moments.

Crack.

A moment later, the smartphone screens shattered. The negative-dimensional mana that had been trickling out burst forth like a waterfall. It was like a tiny hole punched through a massive dam—the enormous explosion of negative-dimensional mana that had been trapped inside the digital world.

'Where am I?'

Just as mana possessed unique traits for every individual, the Inner World manifested by a dark mage through that mana also carried distinct characteristics for each person. If the most distinctive feature of the Death King Dark Heaven's Inner World was a jet-black sky painted even darker than the night itself, then the most striking aspect of this place was the countless zeros and ones densely engraved ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠across a reddish sky that otherwise looked no different from any other Inner World.

A world of data where binary code ran rampant and electrons flowed in ceaseless waves. Jeon stood atop a fluorescent polygon landmass floating within that data, slowly turning to survey his surroundings.

"......"

When he regained his senses, he found himself in a realm completely detached from reality. For a brief moment he wondered if this was a lucid dream, but the horrific mana that flooded his lungs through his nose made his brow twist violently.

Negative-dimensional mana permeated the entire Inner World. The instant he sensed it, Jeon realized this was the dark mage's domain. Then he noticed something strange.

'Why is it so weak?'

The negative-dimensional mana he felt was far weaker than expected. It was only after regaining consciousness that he could even detect it. If he had to compare, there seemed to be even less of it than in the Inner World Professor Karlsen had displayed a few days ago.

That was clearly abnormal. The Inner World Professor Karlsen had shown them back then had been deliberately weakened to help the students adapt. There was no way a dark mage's properly deployed Inner World could possibly be weaker.

Thinking this, Jeon walked to the edge of the ground—the boundary ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the polygon drifting through the data.

"......!"

When he looked down, he finally understood why the concentration of negative-dimensional mana was so low. It was because the mana stolen from countless students in the form of shared power had settled heavily at the very bottom.

Sssssssss.

Just looking at it sent chills across his entire body. An endlessly distorted black abyss. The materialized black mana churned like liquid, rotating in a spherical shape. Polygon masses orbited it like satellites. A vast distance stretched between the polygon Jeon stood upon and the bottom of that black mana. Between them, similar polygon masses revolved around the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠black energy at the center.

This was the true nature of the dark mage's Inner World. If a human body could be expressed as a universe, then an Inner World was the manifestation of that universe. By overlaying his own Inner World onto the infinite imaginary space of the digital domain, he had created an abnormally vast realm.

"The culprit is at the center."

Even now, he could see it clearly with his own eyes. Mana was flowing down from the countless polygon masses into the black depths below. It was the inevitable waste mana produced during the process of sharing people's power. The moment they had consented to the Mana Up app, there was no stopping the leakage.

It was the same for Jeon. Watching the mana flow down from the polygon beneath his feet, displeasure burned in his eyes.

Tap!

Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped down from the polygon. His movements were just as decisive as when he had first pressed the Mana Up app. Projecting the rage rising from the depths of his heart, Jeon raced toward the mass of black mana where the dark mage was surely waiting.