The class president lay on the ground, completely motionless.
I recalled the barrier that had protected her body when we had sparred.
Her abilities should have been sufficient to block an attack from a low-level monster.
If she had been alone, she wouldn’t have lost to a low-level monster.
But she was dead.
She had died because she had sprinted to save at a much faster speed than usual.
Maybe she had deactivated her barrier to move quicker, or perhaps she had just been unable to deploy it in the frantic situation.
Regardless, the conclusion was the sa.
She died because of .
I stood there in a daze, looking down at her lifeless body.
The things leaking from her body stained the ground a vivid red.
A feeling, the sa color as the puddle on the ground, spread through my chest.
It was a dark and sticky emotion.
The girl who had been standing in the center rushed over, holding onto the fallen class president, crying out in anguish.
She was blaming herself, sobbing and wailing.
Reacting to her cries, the monsters charged at her, ignoring the boys’ attacks.
If this continued, she would die too.
That thought pushed to move in front of the girl and unleash flas from my hands.
The flas burned a deep crimson, reminiscent of the emotions filling my chest.
The flas were hot.
So hot that they hurt my hands, but I ignored the pain and grabbed the heads of the charging monsters in mid-air.
The monsters caught in my fiery grip scread in agony, but I didn’t loosen my hold.
Eventually, the monsters engulfed in flas turned completely black and crumbled to ash.
Releasing my grip, I extinguished the flas from my hands, but the red flas that clung to my arms refused to die out, even when I blocked the source.
The flas spread from my hands to my arms, then to my torso.
Hot, hot, hot—until it hurt.
A searing pain wrapped around my body, and I scread.
My screams echoed eerily like those of the monsters earlier.
At that mont, a voice echoed in my mind.
[Let’s burn everything!]
The voice reverberated through my head.
I didn’t know. It hurt, it was hot,
[Don’t you hate the things that make you hurt? Isn’t it infuriating? So, let’s make everything hurt the sa way. Burn it all. Everything you despise. The world you detest.]
The ominous voice whispered.
Burn, burn it all.
Because it hurt, because I was angry, because I couldn’t think clearly.
[If you burn the world with your rage, and keep burning, then the things that make you suffer will disappear.]
Would it not hurt anymore if I burned everything?
[Yes, burn everything. Leave nothing behind.]
Burn it all.
Start with what’s closest.
[Burn.]
I turned around.
[Everything.]
The cries, the girl, the body of the president.
[Burn.]
Burn…?
[Burn it all!]
…No.
.
..
…
When I ca to, I felt Eve’s and the students’ eyes on .
I couldn’t gather my thoughts, so I took a deep breath and recalled that we were in training.
Next to were the sobbing girl and two boys, gritting their teeth.
Where was the president?
Looking around, I saw soone lying on a mattress on the gym floor.
I bolted towards the person sprawled out.
The president lay there, eyes closed, gasping for breath and looking haggard.
Her neck looked fine.
It seed that what had happened inside hadn’t affected her physical body.
As I grasped her hand with trembling fingers, she slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing , the president managed a weak smile despite her struggles.
“You’re safe… Thank goodness…”
Hearing her trembling voice made want to scream.
What do you an “thank goodness”?
It’s because of that you ended up like this.
Just when I was about to shout at her, the girl who had been crying all this ti ran to her and began to wail loudly.
“I’m so sorry… I couldn’t hold you properly… I’m so sorry.”
Seeing the girl sob uncontrollably, the president, flustered, tried to calm her down, saying, “It’s okay, Jessie… It’s not your fault… It’s alright…” but the girl’s cries only grew louder.
The three mbers of my group gathered around the president, watching as the other groups finished their training.
At Eve’s call, five mbers from each group advanced.
With a snap of her fingers, they disappeared, and sotis they would reappear alone before the ten minutes were up, screaming.
These students who appeared early were as pale as ghosts, clutching so part of their bodies in pain, only to realize their bodies were fine and let out a sigh of relief.
Eve had them lie down on the mattress to rest, and we realized they were students who had just “died” during training due to illusion magic.
One from Group 4.
Two from Group 5.
One from Group 6.
Every ti a student popped out early and struggled, the girl from our group burst into tears again, the sound of her sobs never ceasing until all the other groups finished.
Those who had witnessed the death of their comrades gathered around the resting students, looking somber.
Eventually, those who had sufficiently rested began to comfort the gloomy mbers of their groups, assuring them they were fine and telling them to cheer up.
These kids had co here to beco heroes, and they were the ones who could be deeply saddened by the loss of another’s life more than their own.
They were undoubtedly kind-hearted individuals.
I surveyed the gymnasium.
It was as vast as a soccer field.
I recalled the description from the novel.
[The gymnasium was filled with blood.]
If this gym were to fill with blood, how many people would have to have died?
Surely more than half of the students here were included in that number.
Thinking of this made feel nauseous.
At that mont, I felt the president grip my hand.
Her worried gaze asked silently if I was alright.
I wasn’t okay.
If these kids died, I would be incredibly saddened.
I could no longer allow them to die.
Perhaps I wasn’t managing my emotions properly, so I forced my face into an expressionless mask.
“If everyone’s calm now, let’s begin. I will point out the areas each group needs to improve on.”
With a snap of Eve’s fingers, a holographic screen appeared in the air.
On the screen, Yoon Si-woo was seen slicing through a horde of monsters with astonishing agility.
“Honestly, there’s not much to say about Group 1. Si-woo surpassed my expectations, so the other students never even had the chance to step in. If I had to give you one piece of advice, Si-woo, it would be: don’t try to do everything on your own. You were much stronger than the enemies today, which is why you could handle it this way, but that won’t always be the case.”
Yoon Si-woo sheepishly smiled at Eve’s comnt.
The other students looked at Yoon Si-woo with jaws dropped in shock.
It was precisely what they had expected: the spectacular show of Yoon Si-woo.
The screen switched.
It showed Group 2, which included Sylvia.
Under Sylvia’s command, Group 2 faced the monsters quite steadily.
Even when other group mbers made mistakes, Sylvia’s spells quickly filled in the gaps.
Seeing as there were no major faults, Eve primarily praised Group 2, only ntioning minor improvents.
Then, when Group 3’s scene appeared on screen, Eve’s expression sharpened.
In the first battle, I appeared to fail to react to the unexpected movent of the monsters.
Luckily, the girl standing in the center managed to grab the monster with her telekinesis and neutralized it safely, but it seed Eve wasn’t pleased.
“The movent you should have been able to respond to was sothing I had seen from Evande before. Your reaction was much slower. If Jessie hadn’t handled it, there could have been an accident. Since no significant damage was done, I’ll just briefly address this.”
The entire group fell into somber silence at her words.
Everyone knew what would happen next.
Hesitating to kill the monster, I faltered at the mont it broke free from my telekinesis and charged at , resulting in the monster’s fangs sinking into the president’s neck.
Eve paused the video and said in a dry voice.
“Jessie, you failed to control your power. If you couldn’t restrain it perfectly, you should have at least inford your teammates in advance and attempted to restrain it with your weapon. If you freeze up when the enemy attacks a teammate, sothing like this will happen again.”
The pointed-out girl nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
“i, your judgnt was immature. No matter how much a comrade is in danger, you should have acted within your capabilities. What do you think would happen if you turn your back on an enemy? You should have established so defensive asures with your powers. Your poor judgnt caused you and your group mbers to have a bad experience. Reflect on that.”
“Understood…”
Eve’s admonishnts were relentless, even towards students who had indirectly experienced death.
For her, this was just training.
She would push students to the brink during training to ensure they wouldn’t die in real battles.
The president bowed her head in response to Eve’s reasonable critique.
Eve then looked at with a blend of emotions in her eyes.
After a brief mont of contemplation, she asked ,
“Evande, are you afraid of fighting monsters?”
I gulped at her question.
Until recently, I would have desperately denied it.
I had thrown myself into fights and training without holding back, trying to appear fearless, but now, with the gym door in place and my mindset altered, I no longer needed to act.
I nodded.
This would probably lead to stay at school the following Monday, but… I felt it no longer mattered.
Seeing nod, Eve added a little more.
“You’ll need to get used to it. Otherwise, you might face sothing far scarier. Understand?”
I grasped what she was implying.
I glanced at the president before nodding again.
The video that had briefly stopped resud playing.
The girl was holding the downed president, wailing as monsters charged toward them.
I blocked their path and set the monsters ablaze.
The video concluded with extinguishing the flas and turning back to look at the fallen president.
It was a direct replay of what had happened earlier.
So, it was supposed to be an account of sothing I already knew.
Yet, I felt a sense of unease while watching the video.
What was this feeling?
I was incredibly unsettled, but no matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
[■■■.]
At that mont, I felt a slight pain in the hand I had been resting on the floor.
Startled, I lifted my hand to check, but it seed fine.
There was nothing unusual where my hand had been, except for a black mark that looked like it had always been there.
…Is it just my imagination?
Only the sound of Eve’s voice could be heard, scolding the boys in our group for letting a monster slip by, echoing throughout the gymnasium.
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