Chapter 1: Third-Rate Death |
This battle was a lost cause, but Cal knew there would be no escape—not when nearly all the higher-ups had already been killed and the few that remained were too busy trying to save their own lives.
He wiped the blood around his eyes to prevent it from blocking his vision. That was the last thing he needed at this time, a preventable handicap when he was fighting for his life.
Cal stood in what used to be the best residence hall in the guild, where he had lived since joining over two years ago. Now, it was just rubble.
“I never thought a guild like this could have someone like you. It's a miracle that an Initiate of this third-rate guild could kill our Trainees.”
Cal glared at the immaculately dressed girl who had been observing the fights like she was royalty among peasants, too high and mighty to get involved in their ‘silly’ brawl till the very end.
“There’s no need to lie,” Cal spat between heaving breaths. “Your guild already won. What’s the point of claiming these are Trainees?”
“Lie?” The girl laughed without restraint. “Why would I bother? This is mainly a test for our Trainees to become full members of my guild.”
He didn’t want to believe that was true. He wouldn’t believe that was true. It meant his worldview would crumble. An unnecessarily cruel thing to experience before the end, and he wasn’t going to fool himself—this would be his end.
“I don’t believe you.” Cal clenched his fingers, trying to summon the mana left in his reserves.
He clenched his teeth to avoid asking her why she was waiting to act. That might make his end come sooner. He saw the girl look around as if she was expecting someone to show up, and at the same time, he felt his mana respond to his summoning.
Cal’s fingers twitched when the power of lightning filled his arm. This was the only element that he could control. While powerful, it also required a stupidly long time to prepare.
Thankfully, the girl’s monologue, plus not taking him seriously, helped immensely. He just needed a little more time.
“Why choose my guild? What did we do to deserve this?” Cal asked something he actually wanted to know. As far as he knew, this attack was unprovoked and without warning.
The girl glanced at him for a moment before returning to searching the surroundings. “Your guild is too weak, so why not? Our Trainees need a way to prove themselves. It's not like we can attack another territory for this.”
The rage her response sparked was unmatched. This girl had just told him that his guild was targeted for convenience and nothing else.
His mind was in no state to consider that it was unlikely she was right with her explanation. She was likely an Initiate, the same as him. It didn’t matter if her guild was far stronger. There was little chance she would know the reasoning behind this attack.
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“The Herald is about to finish off your guild master,” the girl frowned. “It looks like the other Trainees have either died or passed the test.”
Cal could feel mana reinforcing his arm. A surge of lightning was building up to a critical level. [Lightning Strike] wasn’t anything special, but he had worked hard on learning that spell over the past year. He knew his limits, and he was currently blowing past all the safety points that he was well aware of.
“There is no longer a need to keep you alive,” the girl pointed a finger at him.
Cal felt his instincts screaming at him that what she would do next would kill him. This was the time to act. He wished there was more time to gather power, but this would have to be enough.
He jerked his arm up, palm facing the girl just as her finger started to glow a bright pink. He let go of the tight control of his mana to release [Lightning Strike].
Cal's scream of pain was suppressed by the deafening crackle of lightning. His arm was shredded under the power of his spell. The flash of blinding light made it impossible to see if he had even hit his target—the girl—but he was confident that she couldn’t have escaped unharmed.
He slouched, chest heaving from his exhaustion as his right arm hung limply on his side. He blinked to regain some semblance of vision, hoping he had somehow taken down the girl with his surprise attack.
Cal’s vision returned slowly, the air before him still hazy from being superheated from [Lightning Strike]. This was the strongest attack he had ever managed to use, with the consequence of doing likely permanent damage to his arm.
It would all have been worth it if he had managed to heavily damage the girl.
“… You hurt me.”
His heart sank when his vision cleared enough to see the girl standing mostly unharmed. The only visible change was that she had moved a few feet to the left. It seemed that she had avoided his last-ditch attack.
A red drop fell from her still-pointing finger.
That’s why she said I hurt her. A scratch.
Cal collapsed on the ground. The failure to cause even moderate damage killed his will to resist exhaustion.
He could hear footsteps getting closer but couldn’t find it in himself to care. He turned to face away from the shining sun and flinched at seeing a dead body not even ten feet away. Whoever it was seemed familiar, likely an acquaintance from his guild.
Cal hissed in pain when his head forcibly turned to face up. The girl glared at him with unhinged fury as if he had done something unforgivable.
She can’t be this stupid, can she?
“You locked away my mana with your pointless spell!” She complained like a child. “I can’t believe I have to resort to this.”
Cal needed a few seconds to prepare. That’s all. “Before you kill me, tell me. Are you an Initiate, too? Or someone higher ranked?”
“Hah! You want some comfort before your death of being bested by someone higher ranked?”
He didn’t reply and simply stared into her dark eyes. He already knew the answer.
“I’m just an Initiate,” she said with a cruel smile, “but still far beyond someone like you from a third-rate guild.”
“I see,” Cal closed his eyes as if he had given up. He blocked out all his senses to focus on compressing his mana at his core. He succeeded in less than a second, after which he opened his eyes. “I already knew only an Initiate could be as foolish as you.”
“Wha—”
Cal’s body exploded with enough power to level anything within several feet of his body.
***
“—decide. Time will start to flow soon.”
Cal regained consciousness to a horrific scene. He saw pieces of his body frozen amid an explosion, ready to scatter even further once normalcy resumed. It didn’t go unnoticed that his head was nowhere to be seen.
He quickly concluded his head was somehow still able to support his life and allowed him to see—at least while time was stopped by these two… beings.
“How is it that her soul is already destroyed, but the boy’s still lingers?”
It knows that I’m listening.
“Irrelevant. This timeline will be forgotten. Her death doomed the world. Select a reset point now before it’s too late.”
“… To use the only exception on something like this. Very well, I will put her on a path to avoid this battle.”
Cal felt like his entire being was squeezed into a tiny tube before he knew no more.
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