After Seir’s death, the barriers covering the Academy disappeared. The despairing students, who felt trapped, started to rush out one by one.
But it wasn’t exactly safe outside either!
The exterior was filled with the Demon King’s Seeds, and Monsters were lurking too.
However, it felt a bit safer than the interior of the building. An open area was definitely better than a confined space.
Of course, there were no hiding spots, but at least there was a chance to be protected by the professors.
“Over here, the injured!”
Outside the Academy, several professors gathered to protect the fleeing students.
Among those protected students was Rena. She was found by a passing professor after falling from the third floor and breaking both legs.
She didn’t blame Iria for throwing herself to safety. It was the best choice. After all, in a situation where both could have died, quick judgment was necessary.
Her broken legs hurt a lot, though.
“Ah, I still have a friend trapped inside…”
Even while receiving treatment from the holy sorcerers, Rena was thinking about Iria.
Iria hadn’t made it out yet. Many students escaped after the barrier was lifted, but Iria was nowhere to be found.
Rena knew what kind of being Iria was up against. It was stronger than the Demon King’s Seed. That’s why she was anxious.
Thinking about whether she might have made a mistake in trying to protect herself, something tightened within her.
“I’m sorry, but given the situation, we can’t go rescue her. All we can do is hope your friend gets out safely and comes here.”
“That’s… okay…”
Rena looked toward the building with a worried expression.
I will win.
Iria’s confident declaration flashed through her mind.
After all, there was nothing Rena could do now. She decided to trust Iria.
Just like always, she believed Iria would return with something spectacular.
Because that’s who Iria was.
*
Iria walked through the corridors of the Academy for a while. The horrific sight continued.
Why was it horrific, you ask? Because there were overwhelmingly more Monster corpses than human ones.
Iria felt uneasy seeing Monsters’ corpses rather than humans. Each time she looked, she had to suppress her stomach.
“…,”
She felt a little dazed.
Like Seir, she had to pay the price for using the Demon King’s power.
Actually, the price wasn’t that significant. The personality of the former Demon King had just smeared onto Iria a bit.
Even split into pieces, the Demon King’s influence was immense. Just using a little power was trying to seize control of Iria’s body.
At this level, it couldn’t take her body, but since it couldn’t do it physically, it started to tempt her psychologically.
Hearing a voice in her head was not an enjoyable experience at all.
Let’s burn this world together. You and I can do it. If we cooperate, I’ll make everything in this world bow down to us.
That was more or less the gist of it.
She didn’t particularly pay it much attention.
Her breathing was rapid, and it felt like her whole body was floating. It felt like she was dreaming.
Even while just walking straight ahead, she felt a sense of alienation.
It came from the feeling that she had become a different being in this world.
Nothing in this world resembled Iria. Maybe it was because she fell from a different world.
Only she knew this world was fake. It didn’t truly exist; it was just a world within a novel.
If this world was just fake, maybe burning it all down as the Demon King said wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
The end of this world might just be the key to returning to her original world.
“Dammit.”
Iria frowned.
This was exactly why she didn’t want to use it.
Just a moment of letting down her guard sent her thoughts spiraling into the extreme.
She had no intention of being lured into the temptation.
That was the Demon King’s desire, not hers.
Even knowing it was a novel, she didn’t want to dismiss everything she had built up in this world as fake.
She just wanted to quietly return to where she originally belonged or, if she could, closing her eyes and being satisfied with that.
This world is just a novel, a stage that’s been set.
Iria was playing the role of the villain, opposite that of the protagonist. It wasn’t a role she desired. She had just acted to survive, and yet, somehow, it turned out like this.
Now, there was no turning back.
Iria hoped someone would stop her before she fell into something worse.
And that would be the role of the protagonist.
In the not-so-distant future, Ariel would point his sword at Iria at the world’s end.
His goal was to eliminate all seeds and completely end the war.
At this point, the largest seed, Iria herself, was also a target for disposal.
She was the biggest wall that the protagonist had to overcome.
If Ariel faced Iria now, the outcome was obvious.
So she decided to wait a little for him.
As the villain in this novel.
*
Inside the Academy’s building, the professors were still hunting the Demon King’s Seeds.
They were lining up, slowly carving away at the bones and flesh of the giant Monsters. They were struggling due to the extraordinary defense and regeneration speed.
That giant Monster couldn’t regenerate forever, but at this rate, the professors would exhaust their stamina before it did.
Arenis, the swordsmanship professor at the front line, wiped the cold sweat from his brow while calculating.
He wondered if he could take down the Monster’s heart using all the remaining mana he had.
Cool-headedly considering, he realized he didn’t have enough. Even with all his might behind a single strike, it would still fall short.
His skills were only enough to hold the Seed in place. He felt his own powerlessness at that point.
But then…
“Ugh?!”
“What the?!”
Suddenly, the surrounding air felt like it had flipped. Something was pressing down on them.
It didn’t come from the Seed. No, there was a presence so massive walking up behind them that it was incomparable.
It took an incredibly relaxed step forward, and the ground around them shifted.
Red magical energy flickered, binding the feet of all living beings around. Even the Demon King’s Seed was no exception. That massive presence was stuck, unable to move, tangled in the red splotches.
“Hah…”
Even the professors experienced in battle had never seen anything like this. Just watching made their breath catch in their throats.
Breathing became hard. Professors gradually dropped their weapons as their fighting spirit drained away within seconds. The red magical energy enveloped everything, pushing away all the surrounding mana.
“Get out of the way.”
The woman with red hair flicked her gaze at the professors blocking her path and spoke.
She was in the Academy uniform; was she a student? But Arenis had never seen her before. It didn’t make sense for a student to possess such strength.
Countless thoughts flooded Arenis’ mind. Meanwhile, the red girl kept striding forward.
She simply stopped in front of Arenis, looking up at him.
Why was she staring?
To kill an ordinary human like him? No, that didn’t seem right. With a mere thought, she could take the lives of everyone here.
Before Arenis could finish his thought, the red girl opened her mouth.
“I said move.”
“…Ah.”
So that was it.
Now that he thought about it, Arenis stood in the middle of the corridor blocking her way.
He stepped aside a bit to allow her to pass, and she walked straight ahead.
The red girl seemed uninterested in the humans around her.
And ahead of her, the Demon King’s Seed was blocking her way. The humans did not attack since they could communicate, but what about the giant Monster?
Arenis held his breath, watching.
The red magical energy flickered, manifesting into the shape of a sword. It didn’t take long for her to wield a sword in her hand.
When she swung her sword once, the giant Monster that was the Demon King’s Seed was torn apart in an instant.
She sliced through what had given the five Academy professors so much trouble in a single strike. As the Monster disintegrated, golden shards fell from its body.
Iria collected those shards and continued on her way.
Even though the blade was aimed at the Monster, she hesitated not a bit as her mind wasn’t entirely clear.
Black stains marked her clothes and face. It was the blood and flesh of what she once thought of as kin.
However, she walked on, undeterred.
She had a destination to reach.
What is Ariel doing right now?
Iria had intervened more than necessary in this incident. Originally, there should have been a much larger catastrophe, but she had prevented it.
Perhaps that action had altered the course of the story. She was curious about what the protagonist might be doing at that point.
So, Iria decided to go meet him.
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