13
Chapter 13
Aria rushes over to me as I lie collapsed, frantically trying to perform first aid.
"What do I do? What do I do? I don't have... I don't have anything on me."
"It's okay. I'm still alive."
"Your left arm is shredded from your hand to your shoulder, and your right arm isn't just burned—it's partially melted! How can you say it's okay?!"
"True. But you're louder than I expected."
"That's not the point right now!!"
I'll admit, I'm a bit terrified of how much this is going to hurt.
"I need to go support Quixote now."
Just as I tried to stand up, a voice called out from behind me.
"There's no need. I believe I'm late."
His armor wasn't just dented; it was practically crumpled.
"They'd set magic traps along the way."
He dropped the head of a Magic Beast he was holding in one hand.
Then, he sank to the ground, collapsing.
"With armor like that, I bet it hurts like hell."
"It's so badly damaged that I can't even take it off if I wanted to."
As he said, the armor was so mangled that the only way to get him out would be to cut through the metal.
Both my arms were shot, and while I couldn't tell the extent of Quixote's injuries, the state of his armor suggested he'd been through just as much.
An unknown casualty, myself, Quixote, and Aria, who had approached the blood-soaked survivors to treat them.
A thick scent of blood filled the air.
The ground began to vibrate.
Countless Magic Beasts, smelling the blood, began to close in.
"What... is this...?"
"No time to stay seated."
"This is insane."
Magic Beasts poured out.
They swarmed in all at once, as if the concept of order had been thrown out the window.
Dozens of Knight-class beasts appeared as if they were common pests, and even a few Rook-class beasts were visible here and there.
Both Quixote and I tried to get up, but our injuries were too severe to move.
Aria's voice trembled, on the verge of bursting into tears from anxiety.
Hundreds of Magic Beasts charged toward us.
"They really let out a hell of a lot of them."
But I wasn't afraid.
I was momentarily taken aback at first, but there was only one possible meaning to this.
Estella succeeded.
Since the professors had been freed, they were too busy protecting themselves to keep the Magic Beasts held back.
An uncountable number of beasts rushed us from all directions, yet I felt a strange sense of relief.
The sky turned black.
No, the sky was closing.
Something massive swallowed the entire space.
The world went dark, and when light finally returned to my vision, the scene before me had changed.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Professor, nice timing."
I said that to my professor, who was the only one standing perfectly fine. I wanted to give him two thumbs up, but I couldn't since my arms wouldn't move.
"My apologies for not arriving sooner."
"No, I'm sure it couldn't be helped."
How could he have broken through when one of the world's strongest was blocking the way with everything they had?
I looked around my surroundings once more.
Numerous Pawn-class and Knight-class Magic Beasts, and the occasional Rook-class.
All were devoured by her spirits.
Before I knew it, the wounded were scattered around.
They were likely the people isolated in this space along with us.
None of them looked to be in good shape, but there were no apparent fatalities.
"This is Dark Shadow. Successful rescue of 172 students in this sector. Many are severely injured, but no fatalities found."
I spoke to the professor who was currently on the radio.
"Professor, do you happen to have any painkillers?"
"I do, but why?"
She pulled some painkillers from a box that seemed packed with supplies.
"I think I'm going to need them."
To be honest, I wasn't sure if painkillers would even be effective.
I tried to reach for the medication she held out, but as I remembered my arms were completely shredded, the tension snapped and I blacked out.
***
"Sigh..."
I'd lost consciousness, and since the professor was there, I probably wasn't killed or kidnapped.
Which meant that this place was naturally not reality.
"Is it that person again? If they're going to summon me this much, they should just give me a Stigma too."
Yet, I could instinctively feel that this was different.
The Eternal Dreamer can observe others through the medium of dreams.
But where I was now felt like something more fundamental than a mere dream connection.
[Correct. I've connected with you directly through your Stigma.]
A voice echoed.
An enchanting, captivating voice.
It didn't feel like it traveled through my eardrums to my brain, but rather like it was being slammed directly into my consciousness.
There was no sense of distance or distortion in the sound.
"Then, are you the owner of this Stigma?"
I raised my left hand to show the back of it.
[Yes, that's right.]
"Why did you give me a Stigma? As far as I know, it's based on a Constellation's choice, and I don't see any reason for me to be chosen."
[That's because I'm the one who brought you here. It's the bare minimum of responsibility.]
"Why did you bring me here?"
[What would change if you knew?]
The voice asked as if wondering why such a thing even mattered.
"Things would change. I have no idea what you want from me or why you're doing this. Isn't that the rule? Constellations choose someone who can deliver what they want and grant them a Stigma. In exchange, the person gets power and you get your wish, right?"
[How amusing. Please don't lump me in with the others.]
The voice burst into laughter at my words, then immediately returned to a serious tone.
"Then does that mean you don't want anything from me?"
[Specifically, there's nothing you can do for me. Not materially. Not socially. Well, maybe emotionally is possible.]
"Then if there's nothing I can do for you, it sounds like there's nothing you'd give me in return?"
[Hmm, I've already given you quite a lot, haven't I?]
"Like what, for example?"
[I gave you a second life. I plucked you from a life where no one cared, where no thirst was quenched, where you could neither love nor be loved.]
"That's a bit harsh. I at least had one guy I could call a friend."
I countered with a frown.
[Sure, sure~ you're right. This pointless conversation has gone on long enough.]
The voice lightly brushed off my protest.
"Fine, let's get to the point. I know that interfering through a Stigma consumes relatively little power, but the act of interference itself is taxing. You said you wanted nothing from me, yet you contacted me. There must be a reason."
[Yes, there is a reason.]
"What is that reason?"
[Just because I wanted to show you. The future that would have unfolded if you hadn't intervened.]
"What? You're showi..."
Before I could finish my sentence, the space distorted and shifted.
Estella was there.
No, not just her—even the professors were present.
A single man stood blocking their way.
There wasn't a single scratch on his body.
Lumiere the Immortal.
Nothing in this world could leave a mark upon his skin.
In terms of raw power, he was the weakest among the five Great Heroes, but that wasn't why he had attained that title.
Driven by pure rage, he had entered the Demonic Realm of the Third Continent alone and crushed the heart at its center. Not even the kings of the Demonic Realm could wound him.
Thus, attempting to break through his interference and unravel the incredibly complex Barrier was nearly impossible.
She swung her weapon, hoping to be of some help, but it was futile.
"Why! Why are you doing this! You're a Hero! Why is the man called the Savior of the Third Continent doing this!"
"Those are all mere shells. Neither the praise nor the applause can give me what I want. They cannot recover what I lost, nor can they tell me how to walk back to it."
In that moment, she felt utterly powerless.
Though they hailed her as a genius, she could do nothing.
No matter how she struggled, she couldn't stem the tide of that overwhelming force.
Time passed, indifferent to their desperate efforts.
As time ticked away, her sense of helplessness only grew.
After enough time had passed...
Lumiere spoke to the battered group.
"I believe my role is finished now."
Gradually, the Barrier began to vanish.
"Now, let's move on to the climax."
Then, a cheerful man's voice rang out.
Reika no longer held a microphone. In fact, he didn't need one, for there were no longer any noises left to drown out his voice.
Once the Barrier completely disappeared, the fragmented space shifted back into the venue where the entrance ceremony had been held.
The place was littered with corpses and lives that would crumble at the slightest touch.
Many students had managed to withstand the Magic Beasts.
However, they were hunted down by the Hunters who had crossed sectors to prey on them.
A man with blue embroidery stepped on a dying spark of life.
Their movements were exaggerated and ridiculous, as if they were performing some crude play.
One of the professors lunged forward to attack.
Despite the fury behind the strikes, he was slowly pushed back.
This should have been impossible. Normally, the man's level was such that one couldn't even be sure he could beat Estella in a one-on-one fight.
But.
What Reika and his members desired.
What they desperately craved.
A star.
The star that opens war.
The Malevolent Star, a sight that provoked instinctive disgust, had risen in the sky, allowing the Order of Star Carving to radiate power under its light.
Under the professor's rage-fueled attack, the head of the man with blue embroidery finally fell.
Seeing this, Reika slowly walked down from the podium.
There lay the beheaded man.
He spoke.
"Poor thing."
He continued with a long, rambling eulogy for the dead. But his words of mourning were irrelevant. They were merely lines from a script.
He suddenly produces a spear and drives it into the corpse.
Then, the beheaded man springs back to life as if he had never died.
It was a cheap piece of theater.
His subordinates were all clones that could be produced infinitely.
Yet he used them to stage this low-budget play, pretending to be a miracle worker capable of restoring a pitiful life.
It was merely preparation for carving the next star—a disgusting act that treated lives like roadside trash for their own desires.
Then, he leveled his spear forward.
Understanding the signal, three members stepped forward with their own weapons, led by Reika. He charged forward, spear in hand, brimming with confidence.
The Malevolent Star in the sky cast its light upon them.
They clashed.
The battle seemed evenly matched at first, but as it wore on, the Academy was pushed back; eventually, they managed to repel the Order of Star Carving.
But the Order suffered no meaningful losses and achieved every one of their objectives.
The Academy had lost.
Their war began with a recorded defeat in the very first battle.
The event was broadcast for the entire world to see, and the Order manipulated the information to make the defeat look even more wretched and miserable.
Just as it seemed to end, the space twisted once more.
The sight that appeared was familiar.
It was the place where I had been just a moment ago.
There, a patient lay collapsed on the ground, with an armored knight and a girl with light purple hair nearby.
Then a Magic Beast leaped out and began fighting the knight; the girl tried to seize the moment to rescue the patient, but a spell flying from nowhere hit her head, sending her rolling across the floor.
The knight swung his spear in a rage, but the strike was far too slow, his stamina almost entirely spent. The beast's violent assault continued, and under the barrage of magic from behind, the knight's armor slowly shattered.
I closed my eyes and spoke.
It was deeply unpleasant to watch the faces I had just seen fall into despair or slide toward death.
"Yes, seeing it in person is different from reading about it. Why are you showing me this?"
[I simply want you to feel a sense of pride while doing what you wish. Not every action you take will lead to the best possible outcome.]
[There will be times when you wonder if you are leading them in the wrong direction.]
[There will be times when you fear that your intervention actually made things worse.]
[But do not forget that because you acted, a better result can be achieved.]
[Remember that without you, things might have been far more horrific and desperate.]
[You must persist in your chosen path until the very end.]
[You can check for yourself exactly how much has changed.]
The voice hummed, sounding quite pleased.
A sudden question crossed my mind.
"Come to think of it... you..."
But I couldn't finish my sentence. A pressure like a tightening noose choked the words in my throat.
[However, you treat your body far too carelessly. This is the pain from the past month that you postponed.]
I collapsed to the floor, letting out a scream of agony.
I felt the muscles in my left arm tear and countless teeth pierce through the flesh.
It didn't stop there. From the puncture wounds, the sensation of searing flesh and boiling blood surged up.
While the pain in my left arm intensified in stages, the right arm was hit by everything all at once.
Flesh melted from an instantaneous blast of high heat, and chunks of skin were ripped away by explosive energy; I nearly lost consciousness again, though I felt that would have been a mercy.
This was the pain you deferred, and since you benefited from that delay, it was pain you were naturally required to feel.
It felt as if red-hot iron was piercing my entire body, joints were snapping backward, and muscles were being shredded.
A tidal wave of agony crashed over me in a single instant.
Click.
[This is my warning. Do not treat your body so carelessly. I won't be this lenient next time.]
The agony vanished as suddenly as it had come, leaving me gasping for air.
For some reason, I felt that the voice was slightly angry.
Then, I opened my eyes.