Chapter 144
“Simon, um…”
“What is it?”
She twisted her legs, then spoke in a very shy voice.
“Your glasses earlier… looked really good on you.”
“Really? Haha, thanks.”
The two of them headed together to the cafeteria.
It was crowded, probably because it was lunchtime.
They went to the end of the line and waited, leisurely enjoyed lunch for about an hour, and topped it off with dessert at a cafe, just for fun.
“The chocolate frappe was so delicious~”
Kamibarez said with a constantly smiling face.
Simon thought she seemed particularly excited today.
Normally, she was conscious of those around her and didn’t talk much, perhaps to avoid making mistakes. But Kamibarez, chatting away at the cafe today, felt like a different person.
‘Ah, maybe not entirely different?’
Now that he thought about it, there was one other time he’d seen her this excited.
That night they first met in the group class, when they went together into the Forbidden Forest, she had been just like this.
“There’s about 30 minutes left until the next class.”
Simon said, checking his wristwatch. She smiled brightly.
“Then, shall we head into the classroom early?”
“Sounds good.”
The two of them strolled slowly through campus.
“Simon, I have something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, it’s about the Sadam Club I joined. There’s a group of first-years I hang out with.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re really, really close. Everyone seems really happy to be a part of the group. But… if two people in the club, um… start to like each other…”
She looked up at Simon with a flushed face.
“Would the group still be able to stay the same as before?”
“…Hmm?”
“Ah, it’s just! My friend keeps glancing at me for no reason, and I’m worried…!”
Simon scratched the side of his head.
“This is embarrassing. I’ve never dated anyone, so I don’t know well either, but… I think it’s probably inevitable that things will change.”
“Y-you think so?”
“When people start dating, they tend to prioritize each other over their other friends, even unintentionally. The rest of the group will start to notice that, and it probably won’t feel like everyone’s equal anymore.”
“……”
She clasped her hands together with a slightly stiff expression.
“But feelings aren’t something you can control.”
Simon stretched his arms as he spoke.
“I think it’s only natural.”
“Ah, yes! You’re right!”
As they chatted, they were making their way to the Magical Combat Shooting Range, where they had Haematology class.
Then Kamibarez suddenly gasped and rummaged through her skirt pocket.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ahhh, I left my notebook at the cafe!”
“I’ll go ge—”
“No, no! It’s mine, so I’ll go get it real quick! Please go ahead to the classroom!”
She shouted as she sprinted off toward the campus cafe.
Simon went to sit on a nearby bench to wait for her.
‘Sigh…’
A gentle breeze blew, fluttering his hair.
It was incredibly peaceful.
‘This kind of scene reminds me of the past.’
Back in Leshill, he’d often lie in the grass for hours, just spacing out. Just like back then, Simon tilted his head back and looked up at the sky.
‘……?’
The sky had a slightly reddish hue.
When he looked closer, he saw a sort of reddish membrane spreading across it. The sky looked blood-colored because of that membrane.
‘A barrier? I’ve heard Keyzen has a defense barrier.’
But this was the first time it was visible to the naked eye like this. Simon furrowed his brows as he looked at the sky.
‘But why is the barrier suddenly visible?’
Unease.
Or perhaps, premonition.
A strange anxiety crept up on him, sending his body hair standing on end.
There was no reason, no evidence. But something deep inside screamed that something terrible was about to happen.
Just as Simon began to stand—
KOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rang out.
It was a massive blast unlike anything he’d heard before. The blast wave spun Simon’s vision until the dirt rushed up to meet him.
Wiiiiing—
His ears rang. He felt dizzy. Tremors from the ground made it hard to stay upright.
Simon barely managed to lift his head.
A pitch-black explosion cloud. The building of the Magical Combat Shooting Range, where he would’ve been if Kamibarez hadn’t forgotten her notebook, was being blown apart into pieces.
‘……What the hell?’
Maybe it was because the scene in front of him was too surreal.
Simon could feel his cognitive ability struggling to catch up.
Wiiing— Wiiing—
The ringing in his ears didn’t stop.
After the shooting range, another explosion occurred on the opposite side, behind the Toxicology Hall where they had just been.
This time, the Magical Engineering Building exploded.
‘……Maelyn!’
Simon shot to his feet.
But there was no time to think. The explosions kept coming. Now the dormitory had been hit, and then the First-Year Hall.
The world around Simon was swallowed in black smoke, turning to thick darkness.
The once-clear sky was buried in ash.
Shrieks echoed from every direction. Flames engulfed buildings through the smoke, and students were collapsing, bleeding.
“Ah……”
Simon’s pupils trembled.
What is this?
What the hell is happening?
Where’s Maelyn? What about Dick? And—
‘Kami!’
The moment she crossed his mind, a chill swept through his entire body.
Simon ran like mad.
Smoke made him cough and his head spin, but the only thing in his mind was running.
There was someone nearby. Someone he might be able to save.
Then Simon’s eyes went wide as he stumbled through the smoke.
“Kami!”
Kamibarez was lying on the ground, bleeding from her forehead.
Her skin had turned ashen, as if discolored, and she was coughing violently.
“Are you okay? Stay with me!”
“Si…mon?”
Thankfully, she opened her eyes.
“W-what’s going on? There was this sudden explosion…”
“I don’t know either!! But we can’t stay here! Can you walk?”
She nodded and stood up. Simon had only one thought: he had to get her out of Keyzen.
He grabbed her wrist and pushed through the smoke.
What the hell happened? Is this really real? What the hell is—
Squelch.
The sound of tearing flesh.
A searing pain that broke through even adrenaline-soaked senses.
A mouthful of blood burst out from Simon’s lips.
“Simon!!!”
Simon looked down. Something pitch-black, like it was made from darkness, was protruding from his chest.
It was a cross.
A cross had pierced through his chest.
All strength drained from his body as he collapsed. Kamibarez fell to her knees beside him, sobbing.
“Simon! Simon!! Are you okay? Please! Please! Don’t do this! Simon!!!”
Tap, tap.
Someone was approaching from the world of smoke and ash.
Simon desperately turned his head toward the source of the footsteps.
‘……!!!’
Hair red like blood, a black scarf fluttering in the flames.
It was a woman in a black suit.
[Curiosity killed the cat.]
Her face twisted into a devilish grin. Simon’s eyes widened in horror.
[You should’ve left Keyzen back then.]
That’s right.
Damn it.
That’s right.
‘Professor… Francesca…!’
Francesca was a priest.
She was the spy.
She killed all these students!
He had to stop her.
He had to warn someone.
Kajan, Loraine, the professors, Lady Neftis.
He had to tell them…!
But he could feel his strength draining away.
His consciousness dulled. His blood-covered vision blurred.
Above Kamibarez, who was crying and shouting, black crosses began to rain from the sky.
‘Run.’
No voice came out.
‘Run, Kami.’
The crosses fell.
With a dull sound, Simon’s vision faded to black.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The sound of clock hands echoed in his ears.
He was still conscious. When Simon looked down, the artifact of Neftis hanging around his neck was glowing brightly.
‘……!’
The pain vanished. So did all emotions.
Francesca, Kamibarez, and the burning Keyzen all disappeared. Simon had fallen into a world of only black and white.
There stood a tall woman with flowing silver hair. Countless clocks ticked around her, suspended in midair as she opened her arms.
Her face was shadowed. Simon thought she was a stranger, but somehow, she felt familiar.
Some of her features resembled…
‘……Lady Neftis?’
With that final thought, Simon’s consciousness faded completely.
“Simon, Simon.”
“……”
“Simon, wake up! You’ll get in trouble.”
Hup!
Simon gasped as he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Kamibarez beside him, eyes wide in surprise.
Simon’s lips trembled.
‘What is this?’
He looked around.
He was in a classroom. Dick and Maelyn were there, taking notes.
All the other Class A students were fine, scribbling away with their quills. A cool breeze drifted through the window.
The exact opposite of what he’d just seen.
It was peaceful.
‘Everyone… is alive?’
A wave of relief swept up his spine, spreading through his whole body like a buzz.
Was it a nightmare?
No, it wasn’t a dream.
That was real.
He looked down at the desk, Toxicology textbook.
He raised his arm and checked his wristwatch.
‘Ah……’
That’s right.
He had gone back several hours before that terrible incident.
He lowered his head. The artifact of Neftis around his neck was completely shattered.
—When you truly experience death, you’ll know. Just leave it at that for now.
Kajan’s words about the artifact echoed in his mind.
So this is what it meant to “experience death”?
He couldn’t calm down.
“Simon, are you okay?”
Kamibarez looked at him with a worried face.
“You look pale.”
“……”
The moment he met her eyes, filled with worry, Simon nearly broke.
He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, grab her shoulders and shake her, cry and shout.
‘Run! You have to run, right now! Please! Please!’
But he bit his lip and shoved those words back down into his throat.
‘Not now.’
It’s dangerous.
There’s something more dangerous than the explosion sitting right in front of him.
‘……’
Simon gathered his courage, and looked forward.
Now, he had the courage to face it.
“The venom of Kakeus falls under the category of vascular poisons. It destroys blood vessels and blood cells, preventing bleeding from stopping and gradually draining the prey’s strength…”
Up at the podium.
Francesca was standing there.
Thump— thump— thump— thump—
The source of all this horror was right in front of him.
His heart pounded like crazy. His face burned red.
Was this what it felt like to be a detective staring at the criminal? He wanted to leap up right now and shout that this woman was a priest.
But how would he prove it?
How could he prove that she was a priest, and that she would blow up Keyzen in three hours?
‘…Calm down, calm down. Please.’
His hips twitched. His legs trembled uncontrollably.
He imagined countless times standing up, flipping the desk, and taking her down.
…It was stupid.
If he started a fight now, the students who admired her would side with Francesca.
And her strength—Simon had seen it in the Forbidden Forest. Without access to his Legion Commander powers, he couldn’t defeat her.
No, even if every student in this class attacked her together, would they stand a chance?
Madness.
She was the merciless priest who planned to blow up Keyzen.
Any student who tried to oppose her would be killed instantly.
‘…Stay calm. If I die here, it’s all over.’
The artifact made from Neftis’ power was destroyed. Turning back time a second time was likely impossible.
This must be the final chance he’d been given.
He couldn’t ruin it with a reckless move.
He had to think about how to stop the coming catastrophe.
Tremble tremble.
His legs wouldn’t stop shaking. His mouth was bone dry.
‘…I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.’
At last.
Simon exhaled deeply, managing to regain control of his mind. First, he gave a firm press to the clone of Feer with his fingertip.
‘Feer. Bring the entire Legion and come to Keyzen right now. Bring Erzebet too. Right now! As fast as you can!’
[Boy? Your mental state is extremely unstable. What’s going on?]
‘I found the priest. I’ll explain the details later, just hurry!’
[Hmm, understood! I’m coming at once!]
The connection with Feer ended.
Whew.
The Toxicology class still wasn’t over.
Agitating her now was dangerous.
He had to endure at least until the Legion arrived.
Simon, with trembling hands, reached inside his clothes.
Then, with a shaky grip, he pulled out Kajan’s glasses and put them on.
‘……’
Francesca’s face still showed no change.
No scar on her cheek.
Her face looked exactly the same as always……
Exactly the same……?
‘Ah.’
For a split second.
Simon saw a nightmarish, horrifying sight.
Francesca, instructing the students, suddenly had an extra face appear on her own.
Where her cheek should be, there were eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
No, that wasn’t it.
It wasn’t that an extra face had appeared. She was wearing a biotechnical-mask that looked exactly like her real face, and she had simply turned her head.
That was why the glasses hadn’t shown anything before, because the outer mask matched her real face perfectly.
But now, the face was beginning to crack.
The true face of Francesca, hidden beneath the biotechnical-mask, was smiling.
Staring straight at him.
‘…!’
Her eyes widened, and her lips stretched in a wicked, ghostly smile.
It was the same smile she wore just before she killed him in that future.
There was a faint scar on her cheek, likely from Simon.
Goosebumps erupted all over his body, but Simon forced himself to maintain his expression.
He held it in.
No matter what kind of gaze she sent his way, he acted like he was just listening to the lecture.
And deep inside, he summoned his resolve.
He made a vow.
That no matter what, he would stop her.
‘Whew.’
The hardest moment during class was when her gaze turned toward Kamibarez.
Surely, Kamibarez was also on her priority kill list.
Simon eventually took off the glasses.
In case he couldn’t take it anymore. In case he actually jumped up from his seat.
‘……’
And like that.
The long, long hour of endurance finally ended.
“Attention. Bow to the professor!”
“Thank you!”
“Well done. I’ll see you again next week.”
The students began to file out of the classroom. A few approached her to offer kind words, and Francesca received them with gentle smiles.
The sickening kindness made Simon want to vomit.
‘I’ll tail her for now.’
During class, Simon had gone through countless possible scenarios in his head.
One thing was clear: confronting Francesca right now would be suicide.
All the professors strong enough to face her were currently at the Necropolis. With no evidence that she is a priest, persuading assistants or others to cooperate would take too long.
And more importantly, in just about two hours, massive explosions would erupt across Keyzen’s buildings. Considering the time left, she had likely already planted the bombs.
Even if he somehow ran to the Necropolis and convinced the professors to return, if Francesca saw them and felt threatened, she might detonate everything remotely.
‘Stay calm.’
He was the only one who knew what was coming.
That meant the best course of action was to learn what kind of bombs she had placed, how she intended to trigger them, and neutralize them without her noticing.
For now, he had to gather more information.
“…Simon?”
Kamibarez approached with a worried look.
“Simon, you’re acting strange. This isn’t like you.”
Simon lowered his voice as much as possible.
“Kami. The priest has appeared.”
Her face turned pale.
“She’s going to blow up Keyzen in a few hours. Gather Dick, Maelyn, and anyone else who’ll listen and get out of Keyzen.”
At that moment, Francesca stepped out of the classroom. Leaving the frozen Kamibarez behind, Simon quietly followed her.
Click. Click.
She walked slowly down the hallway. Simon also lowered his footsteps and blended into the crowd exiting the classroom.
‘If she notices I’m tailing her, it’s over.’
She crossed the hallway and descended to the first floor. Simon thought she might leave the Toxicology Building, but she kept walking, heading down into the basement.
‘…I remember. The basement of the Toxicology Building.’
Everyone at Keyzen knew that dangerous chemicals were stored in the basement of the Toxicology Building.
And managing those materials was the duty of the continent’s top Toxicology expert, the Keyzen Toxicology Professor.
The puzzle was finally coming together.
The priest didn’t kill Lang just to separate the professors from the students using Erebos’s Night.
‘Once she became the Toxicology professor, she gained access to everything in that basement. She used those explosives. I’m sure of it.’
Her footsteps were clear. The sound of her heels echoed down the basement stairs.
Feer hadn’t arrived yet, but there was no time to wait.
Simon moved to follow her down the stairs.
Grab!
Suddenly, two arms reached out from behind and clamped over Simon’s mouth, pulling him back with tremendous force. And then—
Click! Click! Click! Click!
Thududududu!
A wild flurry of footsteps suddenly came storming up from the basement stairs, sending chills down Simon’s spine.
He could barely breathe from the terror.
Francesca, her eyes bloodshot, stormed back up to the first floor and looked around frantically like a madwoman.
‘…Th-that was close.’
Simon was pressed tight against the opposite wall, his mouth covered by some unknown person.
If he hadn’t been dragged away, she would’ve seen him for sure.
Just a single wall separated him from Francesca.
Simon held his breath and waited. Just as she began to walk forward again, a group of students came down the stairs.
“Classes are back to normal starting tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah. Though I bet they’ll skip this week’s duel evaluation.”
“It’s not like it’s our first day at Keyzen.”
As the crowd of students spilled in, Francesca stopped walking.
She glanced around again, then thankfully turned her back and headed back down the basement stairs.
‘I-I’m alive.’
Simon finally felt his nerves start to ease.
But who the hell was this person? The grip on his body was so strong he couldn’t move at all.
“Quiet.”
A familiar voice whispered behind him.
“She hasn’t let her guard down yet.”
“…!”
Simon immediately shut his mouth. After about a minute of breathless waiting, the clicking of heels echoed again as she descended the stairs.
Finally, the one who had grabbed Simon let go, and Simon turned around.
“…Kajan!!”
Simon’s eyes welled up.
In this suffocating situation, with no one to rely on, one of the few people he had desperately hoped for had appeared.
Simon clung to him and spoke hurriedly.
“Kajan! Kajan! It’ll sound crazy, but you have to believe me! The truth is…!”
“I believe you.”
Kajan raised a finger to signal him to lower his voice, then tilted his hand toward Simon’s shattered Neftis artifact.
“You’ve seen the future, haven’t you?”
“…!”
“There was a follow-up mission from Lady Neftis.”
Kajan pulled a pendant from his pocket that looked just like the one Simon wore.
It was also completely shattered.
“Your escort mission.”
Kajan continued in a calm tone.
“When your artifact broke, this twin artifact broke too, and it revealed your location. The moment I saw the damage, I rushed here.”
“…Ah!”
“Stay calm. From now on, I’ll believe whatever you say.”
Kajan crouched and placed a serious hand on Simon’s shoulder.
“I promise you this. No matter what terrible future awaits ahead, if we work together, we can stop it.”
His composed expression, confident voice, and sincere smile—
Simon felt it instinctively.
“Tell me what future you saw.”
This man could be trusted.
Superb.