Did You Take Drugs?
Is this the main story…?
In the distance, the Academy and the cities clustered around it came into view.
Realizing they had reached their destination, the man gathered his companions close.
"Remember this. The time we have been given is only ten minutes. After that, we become the glorious wildfire of the Alliance—burning fiercely, then vanishing. Until then, we burn everything the Empire has to ash."
Simply getting this far had already demanded countless sacrifices.
Some had lost their fortunes, others their pride, and still others their lives.
Thanks to the collaborators they had planted in advance, they had somehow managed to arrive. But beyond this point, even those collaborators could do nothing more.
The Empire was no fool. They would never wave through the places that absolutely had to be protected just because someone flashed a transit pass.
"Our target is the Academy at the heart of that place. The loathsome Imperial nobles inside it. Getting there, however, will mean facing countless obstacles. It is, after all, the Empire's foremost educational institution—of course it will be. Even if we force our way through at full strength, ten minutes will be tight."
"Does it matter? Whether we make it inside the Academy or not, simply getting in is enough. We raise as much hell as we can, then snuff out our flames in glorious fashion. That'll do."
The suicide squad the Western Kingdom Alliance had been preparing for years all nodded.
The Alliance had already shrunk as far as it could shrink. It could no longer endure the Empire's pressure.
What remained was either to bury their faces in the dirt and surrender, or to fight to the last and disappear.
At that crossroads, the Alliance had conceived the most horrific measure available to the cornered.
Even if they lost, even if they died—they would leave the Empire with one more wound each!
"I will say it once more. This is our first and last chance. There will never be another opportunity like this. In this single chance, we will sear the terror of our Alliance, its wretchedness, deep into the Empire's bones. We're going to die either way. If fortune smiles, the Empire's treatment of our Alliance might even split them apart."
Having spoken, the man pulled something from his pocket.
He glanced at whatever he held for only a moment, then swallowed it without hesitation.
Behind him, every member of the suicide squad did the same—drawing out their own and gulping them down.
Before long, mana surged like mad.
No—surged was not enough. This was a kettle boiling over, on the very verge of spilling.
It was only right to call it a catastrophic runaway state, ready to explode at any second.
"Move! Let us show those Imperial bastards the glory of our Alliance!"
The man, his body twisted so grotesquely that every vein stood out, bellowed with all his strength.
A dozen or so figures charged after him toward the city gates.
The time granted them was only ten minutes. There would be nothing after that.
Within that span, they would carry out every plan they had made, every revenge they had imagined.
And before long, thunderous roars and screams began to crash down together over the Academy.
Fssss…
The dust had not even settled when Kyle scooped Tisha into his arms.
"Cough, cough!"
"Injuries."
"Y-yes?"
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I… I don't think so. Probably…"
At Tisha's answer, Kyle muttered a soft "that's a relief" and shifted her to the side.
Even without injuries, a sudden crisis like this left every muscle in the body slack. When you needed to get clear fast, carrying someone was quicker than holding hands and running.
"W-wait! The others…"
"They're on the other side. Still, our Ian did his job."
Even frozen solid, a protagonist was still a protagonist, it seemed.
The instant the carriage came flying, Ian had yanked Elga and Leto backward. Not gently, of course. He had snatched them by the scruffs of their necks, so both Elga and Leto had let out choked "Ghk!" screams.
If he was going to save them, I wish he'd done it a little more stylishly. What am I even hoping for.
Thinking that, Kyle quickly took stock of the situation.
All he could see was the shattered carriage, but the aura pressing against him carried far more information.
Intruders.
What kind of lunatics would dare pull something like this in an Academy under direct Imperial jurisdiction?
Not the Empire's own nobles, for starters. They had neither motive nor guts. Nearly all their children attended this Academy—who would be crazy enough to attack it?
That left only one answer. A surprise strike by an outside force.
Ding-ding!— Ding-ding!—
Alarm bells announcing an emergency rang out from every direction.
Security forces that were normally hard to spot now sprinted like madmen. From farther off, the faint sounds of explosions and screams drifted closer.
This is supposed to be a romance fantasy. Wasn't it all just cozy slice-of-life? The thought crossed his mind, only for Kyle to realize that love had always needed an element of crisis. He bit his lip.
Perhaps, just moments ago, there had been a scene where Ian saved Tisha and Leto saved Elga.
In other words, this entire situation had been foreshadowed all along.
"Kyle! Tisha!"
Elga rushed over from the opposite side and demanded to know if they were all right. When Tisha waved to show she was fine, Elga shouted for them to get up at once.
"Those are emergency bells! Everyone needs to evacuate now!"
BOOM!!—
Another roar shook heaven and earth. This time the sound came from much closer.
Terrified that something might happen to the Grand Duke's daughter, Leto urged Elga to get herself to safety. But instead of pulling away first, Elga seized Tisha's hand.
"Kyle! Tisha! Hurry!"
"Y-yes! Kyle, you too—quickly!"
KRA-KOOM!!—
Just as Kyle was about to follow after Tisha, he sensed something wrong and turned his head.
The first carriage had come flying from the direction of the city gate on the Academy's outskirts.
The next explosion had sounded somewhere not far from here.
And the one just now had been even farther ahead—almost right up against the Academy itself.
The sounds are heading toward the Academy?
The outer city lived off students as its main customers. There were perimeter troops, knights, and an administrator appointed by imperial decree. But beyond that, inside the Academy itself, there were only students, professors, and teaching assistants.
The moment that thought landed, Kyle kicked off without a second glance.
"Kyle?! Kyle!!!"
These bastards—are they seriously targeting the Academy?
Fuck. I finally get to enjoy a happy Academy life, and this happens?
Granted, there had been the group project obstacle in the middle, but he had managed to navigate that somehow. Right when he was about to nail the presentation and score well—this shit?
That alone was enough to piss him off, yet something else made his blood boil even hotter.
These bastards. This is wrong!!
The aura he was sensing was definitely that of a powerhouse. Yet something alien leaked through that strength.
Something no ordinary person, no matter how hard they trained, should ever be able to feel.
A true powerhouse was the crystallization of endless accumulation and stacking. The strength he felt now was the opposite—it was devouring and incinerating everything that person had.
This was not a normal method. It was strong, and at the same time it could not be called strong at all!
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!—
Something boiled up inside him. This was rage. Unbearable rage!
Interrupting his Academy life—this joyful Academy life—was infuriating enough!
But what enraged him even more was them flaunting strength through an abnormal method!!
"Kraaaah!!"
Up ahead, a man slammed a knight into the ground. Considering how outstanding the knights stationed at the Academy were, anyone who could swing one of them around with a single blow was clearly a monster of martial power.
Except that power had been obtained through a grotesque method—that much was obvious at a glance.
Veins bulged until his entire body glowed a lurid red. The force rolling off him was completely unrefined. Far too unstable.
He looked exactly like a bomb that might detonate at any second.
"Aaaagh!"
"Ghk!"
The encirclement the knights had formed collapsed in an instant.
Seizing the opening, the man prepared to charge the Academy once more—
Crack!—
"Ghk?!"
—until Kyle snatched him up by the collar.
"Hey."
"Ghhk?!"
"Looking at the state of your body, you don't even look like you could hit a 500 total on the big three… yet you're pretty incredible."
The man thrashed, trying to pry Kyle's hand off his collar. No matter how hard he strained, it would not budge.
What is with this kid? What kind of strength is this?!
Right now, thanks to the mana-burst drug, he could momentarily produce several times his normal power. He was sending regular Imperial knights flying with a single punch, after all.
True, the price was that in ten minutes his body would completely collapse into a horrific end—but what did that matter? Even that end would become a savage flame aimed at the Empire!
Squeeze!—
The man clamped down on Kyle's wrist with all his might. Under normal circumstances, the wrist bones should have snapped clean through with a crisp crack.
"Grr, uuugh?!"
Yet in the end, the man could not free himself from Kyle's grip.
"What did you do? To your own body—what the hell did you do?"
"Khheh heh!"
The man laughed. Having already resolved himself to die, there was nothing left to fear.
"…"
Watching him, Kyle nodded.
Had he ever seen such a heinous bastard? How dare anyone try to grow strong through something other than effort!
Ah, how tragic. And how infuriating.
This was a tragedy that no John Nassen could ever overlook or ignore.
"Listen."
A line he had heard somewhere settled naturally on his tongue.
"From now on, I'm going to speak casually to you."
Crack!—
Switching from collar to throat, Kyle asked in a deadly serious tone:
"You. Did you take drugs?"