The Unending Crisis
"I suppose that settles things for now." Angelica dismissed her knight golem. She let out a sigh that sounded closer to a groan as she watched the golem crumble and scatter into sand.
The high-ranking monster's head had been severed, and the rest of the beasts had been completely wiped out. They had overcome the immediate crisis, but not everything was resolved. There was no telling when the masked girl who called herself Astaroth might return, and there could still be injured students.
Moreover, Angelica herself was in terrible shape. Minor scratches aside, the blow that had torn open her chest was exceptionally critical. Her broken leg was also a major issue; her tibia was completely shattered. Just standing on her own two feet was pure agony.
She had sealed the wound with stone and was using earth to support her leg, but these were all temporary measures. She had put on a brave face in front of the kids, but looking at her condition objectively, walking was out of the question. She needed to minimize her movements to keep the wounds from worsening.
But she couldn't bring herself to be carried on a student's back again. Angelica snapped her fingers, fashioning a golem to ride on.
"Lucia. We're moving fast. You should—"
Angelica cut herself off. She had intended to tell her to ride a golem too, but when she turned her head, no one was there. Only a cold breeze blew where Lucia had been standing just a moment ago. Angelica scanned her surroundings. There wasn't even a shadow of the girl.
"Lucia?"
Where did she go?
"W-we did it..."
Yujin collapsed to the ground. The Sun Sword slipped from his sweat-slicked palms. As the extreme tension finally snapped, his body felt too heavy to support itself. The heat drained from the glowing red blade. Using the sword, now returned to its original color, as a makeshift cane, he propped himself up. His eyelids felt like lead. Having overused his supernatural ability far past its limits, his mental strength was completely depleted.
"We actually... defeated a high-ranking monster."
Although it wasn't by his strength alone, and it would have been utterly impossible without Vice-Homeroom Teacher Siul and Angelica, they had still done it. They had won. Against a high-ranking monster. A calamity that only the most veteran of active heroes could face, and they had stood their ground and brought it down.
Yujin caught his ragged breath, a faint smile gracing his lips. He still had a long way to go. It was just a single step on a grueling journey, but he was moving toward his goal, bit by bit. With this life saved by Yui, he would absolutely become a proud hero. He was slowly drawing closer to that distant ideal, to the vow he had made with a childish heart.
"Ugh... cough!"
But his joy was short-lived. Yujin clutched his throat as a wave of nausea surged up his esophagus. He retched, vomiting onto the ground as a foul stench assaulted his nose.
Did I... overdo it too much?
From the very moment he first faced Astaroth on the bus until now, he hadn't been able to let his guard down for even a second. He had improvised an ultimate technique he had only conceived in theory, executed it twice, and fought a life-or-death battle against a high-ranking monster that was clearly leagues above him. It was only possible because he had wrung out every drop of his physical and mental strength.
He had barely kept himself upright through sheer adrenaline and fighting spirit, but now that the battle was over, the deferred toll hit him all at once. Yujin leaned heavily on his sword, which was planted in the dirt, and gasped for air. The fight was finished, but his heart refused to slow down. His vision swam, blurring at the edges. A supernatural ability was powered by the mind. The more one used it, the more it ravaged not just the body, but the soul. Now that he was aware of his condition, an unbelievable wave of fatigue and agonizing pain—which he hadn't even noticed moments ago—swept over him.
"Ugh... I'm going to die..."
Siul was in no better shape. In fact, she was far worse off than Yujin. Normally, her pride as a teacher and responsibility as an adult kept her from showing any weakness in front of the students, but now, she threw all decorum out the window and collapsed flat on the ground. She was just that exhausted. It wasn't a joke; she was genuinely terrified that if she closed her eyes now, she might never wake up again.
She was overly self-critical, but Siul was actually an exceptionally talented hero. There weren't many heroes who could hold their own in a one-on-one fight against a high-ranking monster. She had distorted space on a massive scale, blocking the monster's attempts to tear through her barriers while fighting it head-on. Their victory today was only possible because Siul had risked her life to sever half of the beast's leg.
Red stained the tears in her green sweater. The attacks she hadn't managed to fully deflect with her space distortion had shredded her body. Several of her ribs were broken, and she couldn't even lift her left arm. Both of her legs felt completely shattered. Siul let out a soft groan of intense agony. Now that the battle was over, her adrenaline had clearly run dry. Her light green clothes were rapidly dyeing red. Blood began to pool and spread beneath where she lay.
"Siul! Are you okay?!"
Yujin cried out in panic, finally noticing her condition. He stumbled to his feet and rushed over to her. Siul offered a bitter smile.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired. I've had injuries like this plenty of times before."
It wasn't an empty boast. In truth, she suffered wounds like this more often than she cared to admit. That was the life of a hero—a profession where one constantly walked on the edge of a blade.
Siul used the last of her strength to distort the space around her wounds. Losing any more blood would be life-threatening, so she applied a temporary spatial tourniquet.
"The school nurse is going to kill me..." she muttered in a pained voice. "And I'm supposed to be a teacher now."
Fortunately, she didn't seem to be in immediate danger of dying. Yujin let out a sigh of relief. With the tension gone, his strength drained away once more. He sank to his knees, his head hanging low. He knew he shouldn't fall asleep, but his eyelids kept drooping. Now that everything was settled, maybe he could just pass out. Yujin let out a weak chuckle, blinking his heavy eyes.
"...Huh?"
A faint sound tickled his ears. What was that? A voice?
Straining to lift his head, he saw Arin and Leo running toward him. Yujin forced his leaden back straight. They must have been worried about their classmate and vice-homeroom teacher who had just fought a high-ranking monster. He waved his hand to show them he was fine.
However, instead of slowing down, the two only ran faster. Leo even activated his Acceleration, but his stamina was so depleted from the previous battle that the ability deactivated almost immediately.
"...?"
He stared at them in confusion. What were they shouting? His ears felt stuffed, and a sharp ringing drowned out their voices.
"...ger... still...!"
"Get... idiot...!"
What? What was wrong? Why were they acting like that? The high-ranking monster was dead, and the rest of the beasts had been cleared out. There was no reason to be in such a panic... right?
Yujin furrowed his brow, straining to catch their words. With such frantic expressions, what on earth were they trying to—
"The crisis isn't over yet!"
"You idiot! Get up, now!"
Instantly, a chilling shiver ran down his spine. Yujin tried to spring up on reflex. But his body had been pushed too far; his legs buckled, and he collapsed right back down. A metallic, fishy stench began to permeate the air.
Rip!
A sound like tearing leather echoed. Yujin whipped his head around. The headless corpse of the high-ranking monster was cracking open like an egg.
"What...?!"
Its scales faded to a sickly white. The cracks multiplied. A sickening pulse throbbed from the corpse. It was hatching. Like a new life breaking free from an egg... no, like a reptile shedding its skin.
Creeeak. Screeech.
The sound of hard surfaces grinding against each other grated on his ears. Then, with a wet pop, the corpse exploded.
Out of the high-ranking monster's remains, a blood-red figure shot forward like a bullet.
"Ah...?"
A mass of raw flesh hurtled in a straight line toward Yujin. He gripped his sword, but his arms refused to obey. He tried to kick off the ground to create distance, but his reflexes were too sluggish. In an instant, razor-sharp claws lunged right before his eyes.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The monster's form registered clearly in Yujin's vision. It looked almost identical to the one they had just slain. Though slightly smaller in size, the aura it radiated and the pressure it exerted were exactly the same.
Yujin stared blankly at the claws swinging toward him in a brutal arc. Time had slowed down, but he was just as slow. Raise the sword. Too late. Spring away. No, too late. The vibration of the displaced air brushed against his skin. Yujin's pupils dilated in sheer terror. He couldn't dodge. He couldn't block. He was going to—
"Watch out!"
Squelch!
Something shoved Yujin's chest. It wasn't the monster's hideous claws. A small, soft hand pushed him out of the way.
Something hot splashed across Yujin's face. For someone who controlled fire, heat was a sensation he rarely felt. The liquid currently staining his face and school uniform crimson was barely warm compared to his flames—just the temperature of a human body. Yet, it felt hot. Hotter than anything he had ever known. A heat far more intense than the moment his hands had been burned scorched Yujin's very soul.
"Ah... a-ah..."
A pained groan escaped. It wasn't even a proper scream, just a breathless, wheezing gasp. The monster's claws had impaled her from behind, bursting straight through her chest. Strands of honey-blonde hair were severed, scattering like feathers in the wind.
"Ah... ugh... cough..."
Having shoved Yujin aside, Lucia was skewered on the claws in his stead. Her body was slowly lifted into the air. Enraged by the sudden interference, the monster hoisted her high before throwing her to the ground like a piece of trash.
Crack!
Lucia's head slammed into the dirt, her neck snapping at an unnatural angle. She bounced and tumbled across the ground like a spinning top, leaving a thick trail of blood in her wake. Yujin's eyes followed her helplessly.
After rolling and bouncing several times, Lucia's blood-soaked body came to a halt. Her unfocused, vacant pink eyes met his.
"Lu..."
His mouth went completely dry. His mind froze. Thump. A sound that should never have come from his chest echoed in his ears.
"LUCIA—!!!"
A scream tore from Yujin's throat. It was a raw, cracked shriek—a voice he didn't even recognize as his own.