As Ever, the Train to the Academy (1)
Any train heading to the academy in this world—well, to give one major spoiler about the worldview of Esdinas of the Blue Heavens—nobody really knows why the Middle Realm is called the "Middle" Realm. Not even the angels descending from the heavens, nor the demons living in the Demon Realm. Only about twenty entities know the full details. It's not recorded in any history or documents; it lingers solely in the memories of immortals.
But as a modern person and a sort of outsider from another world, I had a conceptual grasp of it. The Middle Realm is the surface. The Heavenly Realm is a satellite orbiting the planet. And the Demon Realm is the planet's outer core, deeper than the mantle beneath the surface.
"The Goddess shoved the demons inside the planet."
She banished the Demon King, Chang Yeom, and all the rest deep underground—to what people commonly call the "abyss." Then she labeled them "demons" to make surface-dwellers wary. She erected all sorts of barriers with her power, sustaining them by spreading her faith among the surface folk and using their belief as fuel. That fuel was the faith itself: "Demons emerging from the Demon Realm are dangerous. Live by faith in the Goddess in the heavens."
Humanity has no idea the Demon Realm is deep beneath the land they live on. They see demons arrive through dimensional gates—spatial transfers—and think, "They're coming from a completely different world!"
It's actually all within the same planet.
Sometimes demons appear rising from the depths of hell or purgatory, and that imagery was a deliberate hint. A breadcrumb about the Demon Realm existing inside the planet.
Dangerous, right? Won't the demons rampaging in the inner core destroy the planet?
It's not the Goddess's planet anyway.
She lives on the satellite. Look up at the night sky from Esdinas Academy, and you'll see two moons: the blue one and the red one. The Goddess resides on the red moon.
If the blue moon is the true satellite that brings nightfall, the red moon is another world masquerading as a moon: the Heavenly Realm.
Like a massive space carrier disguised as a satellite.
You might think, "Suddenly sci-fi?!" But that's exactly how it is, making it the most apt metaphor. There's a reason angels call humans "lowly surface creatures." They truly live above, looking down on the ground.
In other words, even if demons wreaked havoc below the mantle, it would only destroy their home—the Goddess wouldn't be affected at all.
In that situation, rising purely from the outer core to the surface was tough. The moment they breached the core's barrier, it would activate, and they'd have to punch through countless Goddess barriers while ascending through the mantle to reach the surface.
The Demon King gave me one gift for that: a teleport device. More precisely, teleport magic—the only spatial transfer tool he grabbed when he was chased from the surface to the inner core. Never used once since the primordial demons were first banished to the Demon Realm.
I didn't know about it even after playing the original game. No way the Goddess would.
Normally, the Demon King descends by combining the power of his seven dukes to brute-force through the mantle and shatter all barriers.
But he had a gentler, simpler, more magical, and reliable way: a "one-use portal" to the surface.
The blue moon. Not the Heavenly Realm, but the true moon. He secretly hid a dimensional gate there, and through it, I crossed to the surface—to the cosmos.
Breathing: impossible. No oxygen, so I held my breath. The destination was the moon, so I had to traverse space to the planet.
Anyway, that's how I made it. In simple terms, I warped from the planet's inner core to the moon via gate, and now I had to plunge through the atmosphere, crashing down to the surface.
And in that process...
"Tch."
The moment I entered the atmosphere, angels latched on. They appeared like ghosts via spatial transfer and attacked immediately. I became a meteor plummeting to the planet, fending them off.
I won't recount the details. At the last moment, what seemed to be the angel captain body-slammed me, twisting my trajectory, but...
BOOM──!!
In the end...
"Phew."
I successfully crash-landed on the surface.
"They told me to practice falling from above to below, but I didn't expect it'd be like this."
Was that why Chang Yeom made me practice descent maneuvers?
"........."
The surroundings were devastated. A crater at least a kilometer wide, with me at its center.
It was an unplanned emergency landing, a bit off trajectory, but no major issues. Fortunately, this was an uninhabited wasteland.
Mana status: good.
I placed a hand on my chest to check the mana flow. I'd used a ton fighting the angels, leaving it feeling empty, but I could build it up slowly from here.
"Hoo, ha."
Deep breaths, lightly. With each inhale, I pushed ambient mana into my heart's core.
Just like the first time Regiph built mana.
When I first possessed him, I could accumulate Middle Realm mana.
Like filtering it.
Not the murky mana laced with demonic energy from deep underground—what Middle Realmers call "demonic qi"—but pure surface mana thick with human scent.
Step, step.
As I absorbed mana and activated my body, I could move again soon. I reconstructed my flesh to suit the Middle Realm with mana, then leaped up the crater's slope.
Sand rustle.
A light jump. I escaped the crater, and right then, I came face-to-face with someone.
"H-Hiiik...!"
A farmer in a straw hat. In his hand, not farmer-like—or rather, exactly what a farmer should have for defense—a weapon.
Magic rifle.
A beast-repelling magic rifle.
Fwoosh.
I infused mana into my eyes. In my blue-tinted vision, I gauged his total mana.
In original-game status screen terms—
[Level: Around 5]
"Uwaaaah!"
The farmer aimed his magic rifle at me and fired.
Bang.
The mana bullet pierced my chest clean through.
Too bad. My body isn't fully reconstructed yet...
"M-Monster!!"
The farmer screamed, firing repeatedly, as I charged forward and slammed my fist into his gut.
Thud.
He collapsed, eyes rolling back, face-planting into the dirt.
[.......]
Nothing else around. Just the farmer, his horse, and sacks on the horse filled with...
Mana stones.
Lucky break.
A farmer who doubled as a monster hunter? Finding mana stones right after landing was incredibly fortunate.
Squeeze.
I gripped a mana stone; it melted like flame, flowing into my body.
"Ah, aah."
I formed vocal cords, testing my voice. Angels might follow soon—I had to move fast, conserving mana.
I don't know directions, but nearby—
In the wasteland's center, something familiar appeared.
"Talk about luck."
A towering barrier crossing the wasteland. It looked like someone built a wall toward Mexico, but really, it was a high fence to keep monsters and beasts from ravaging beyond.
The Continental Transverse Line. The magic train's track.
A mark of human civilization, radiating outward from spots across the continent. At its heart: Esdinas Academy, smack in the continental center.
First, to a station.
Where people are. To reach Esdinas Academy, I needed to "farm" first.
"Alright then..."
Fwoosh.
"Transformation."
* * *
We apologize for the inconvenience. Due to an unidentified incident, Continental Transverse Train KTS 088 has halted operations temporarily for passenger safety. We repeat...
"Argh, this is insane. What the hell happened?!"
Passengers inside the train shouted.
"P-Please calm down. We're looking into it..."
"It's not war, right?! Did a grand mage go berserk?!"
"Waaah!"
Chaos. Like the apocalypse had hit, though it hadn't.
"........."
The blonde with rainbow mana eyes pulled a pocket watch from her bosom.
Tick.
2:33 p.m. Not late yet, but further delays meant missing her connection. If she missed the next train, she'd be late for the academy entrance exam—
"Did a meteor fall?! What the fuck is going on!!"
"...Sigh."
The girl—Unia—thought: Yeah. Is the academy entrance more important right now?
A blue comet had fallen from the sky, crashing near the tracks ahead.
"Could this be the 'End of Fire' from the prophecy...?"
End of Fire.
She recalled her grandmother's prophecy from her hometown.
Humanity will face many ends.
Her grandmother, astrologer and prophet, had warned her.
Go to the continent's center. There, you'll meet a noble savior.
Only they can overcome the many ends humanity will face.
Noble savior...
Do all ends inevitably come?
In some form, the final end will come.
Whether it arrives with others or alone depends on you.
So at minimum, one will come.
"Unia," her grandmother had said.
Help that noble savior.
They might even be your fated partner.
Will you avert your eyes from the ends and leave it to fate?
Or strive to surpass them?
Thus—
"Ah, excuse me."
Unia startled at the man sitting beside her. A guy in academy-style suit-like clothes. Tanned skin peeking from his dress shirt, golden blonde hair, black sunglasses on his face. Briefcase in hand, but he looked like—
"........."
"Something on my face?"
"......No."
Unia pointed at the train magazine in front of her.
"Are you, by chance, this person?"
"........."
In the magazine: a short golden-haired, tanned man flipping the bird straight at the camera.
The appearance matched the man perfectly.
"Hm."
The man smiled faintly, adjusting his sunglasses.
"Do I look like the rude type who steals other men's women?"
He lowered his sunglasses, grinning at Unia. His eyes were...
"...Huh?"
Just like the blue comet that fell from the sky moments ago. Was that Unia's imagination?
Or...
Granddaughter.
Your fated man has golden hair and blue eyes.
Especially those eyes—like they hold the blue heavens, the color of the vast sky.
That should make him easy to find, right?
...Unia hadn't heard about the tan skin.