At the sa ti, House of Myron.
As everyone headed back to their rooms after completing their tasks for the day, Aoife looked around.
"....Has anyone seen Julien?"
"Julien?"
Evelyn tilted her head, similarly looking around before settling her gaze over to Kiera who scratched the back of her head.
"Err... dunno. It's been a bit since he left."
"Where do you think he went?"
"Maybe he went to investigate the situation? Well, who the fuck cares? He leaves like this all the ti. You should be used to this by now."
"Yeah, you're right."
At Kiera's words, Aoife stopped and nodded. Right, right... Nothing was surprising about Julien disappearing. It was a common thing.
"I'm more surprised by the fact that those two... err... Kyle and Calion have disappeared." "It's Caius and Kaelion."
Aoife corrected Kiera who scratched the back of her head while saying, 'Ah, shit. Yeah, that...'
She wasn't very good with nas.
"Wait, they disappeared?"
It was Aoife's turn to look surprised.
Leon looked at her weirdly.
"Aren't you the group leader? How do you not know?"
"Ah, no, that..."
Aoife's face fell while she started throwing one excuse after another.
"There's a lot of students and I like can't keep an eye on everyone. Especially Kiera, since she might do sothing that might get us all in trouble. If I have to babysit her then I can't pay attention to everyone can I?"
"Oy."
Kiera frowned but didn't rebuke Aoife.
Thinking about it, Aoife's words weren't without rits.
Kiera puffed up her chest.
'I do cause trouble, but at least I know I do.'
Leon looked at Kiera and shook his head before looking at Aoife.
"If you're so worried about soone making trouble then you should've kept an eye on Julien."
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"He's stronger than . If he really wants to leave my sight, I can't do anything about it."
11
Leon tried to argue back, but when he opened his mouth, he realized that he had no words to argue against her.
And he hated that fact.
"See? Even you know that I can't do anything about him."
||
Leon covered his mouth, his eyes darting around the room. Just as he considered reaching out to the Professor, a movent caught his attention. His head snapped toward the nearest window, where a faint shadow flickered, and he soon spotted an owl.
"Owl?"
Taking a closer look, Leon realized he was familiar with the owl.
Wasn't this Julien's pet?
"That's..."
Coming to an abrupt halt, everyone turned toward Owl-Mighty, who stood outside the window. Without a mont's hesitation, Leon stepped forward and pushed the window open, allowing the dry, cold air to rush in, sweeping through the hallway.
"What are you doing here? Is Julien nearby?"
"No."
Owl-Mighty shook its head, glancing around the group.
With its cold eyes, it started to speak.
"He's with two other people."
"Where?"
At Aoife's question, Owl-Mighty turned silently, its eyes glinting in the darkness, and extending its wing, Owl-Mighty pointed toward the towering white structure in the far
distance.
"There."
"Ah."
The expression of everyone present fell at the sa ti.
Closing her eyes, Aoife rubbed her face while mumbling, 'Jinx. I tried to deny it but they
weren't wrong. He's a jinx.'
Staring into the distance, Leon's eyes narrowed.
"Let guess."
He turned to look at Owl-Mighty.
"He's in trouble, isn't he?"
"....Yes."
***
My mind was a jumbled ss.
Recalling the faint vision that had just occurred, my mouth suddenly grew dry.
Thu Thump-!
In the background, the drums continued to echo as I forced myself to keep steady.
'So in the end... Sithrus was soone that I knew?'
I tried to recall the voice, but my mind was blank. I couldn't recall such a person in the past. From the tone in which he spoke, he seed to be rather familiar with .
But how co I didn't know...?
'I'm almost certain my mories haven't been manipulated. No, it is more like a large chunk of my
mories have been erased.'
Could it be that I was the one who had done this?
....Or was there a different reason for this?
However, if there was one thing that I was certain about, it was the fact that I saw myself staring at . He... No, I... saw myself. He didn't react, but I knew that he saw .
That made think.
'What if in the past I saw myself like this?'
I licked my lips.
The thought was wild, but it made perfect sense.
Oracleus, Emt, ...
I had seen the future in advance and prepared for it. Of this much I was sure. Now, I finally
understood another thing.
The future that Emt saw, was the future that I made.
"This is so confusing.'
Everything felt like a jumbled ss in my mind, but I was starting to understand. Everything
that I did was interconnected with the past present and future. This very much felt like
sothing an 'Oracle' would pull off.
But even so, there were still a lot of things that I didn't understand.
And in this particular case, my relationship with Sithrus.
'How close were we in the past?'
This made ious, but I knew that I didn't have the ti to dwell on this matter. There
were more pressing matters that I needed to take care of.
"Hoo."
Taking a deep breath, I fixed my gaze on the skill tab in front of . In particular, towards a
certain skill-[Eyes of the Seer].
It was no longer gray.
I could now use the skill.
My chest trembled at the sight but I didn't hastily press on the skill. I still wasn't sure about the duration of the skill. Was it going to last until I died, or was there a fixed ti limit?
I was still unsure about this so I needed to plan in advance. If there was a ti limit, then I couldn't afford to waste ti.
'I have two options. Find an exit, or go to the old man.'
My heart told to look for an exit, but recalling the past few experiences, I knew that it was
almost impossible for to find an exit. Whoever created this entire scenario didn't want us
to escape.
The old man looked like the more promising option of the two.
At least, for now.
'I still have two more vials. Even if I do end up wasting the first skill, I have two other tries. I'd rather
not use them, but it's not like I have much of a choice.'
I couldn't wait for reinforcents to arrive.
By then, who could say I wouldn't beco a puppet like the others here? Ti was slipping
through my fingers, and I had no room for hesitation.
Turning my head faintly, I looked at my pocket watch and checked the ti.
Tik, tik-
It was 12:12 A.M.
Taking note of the ti, I activated the skill.
'It's active.'
Watching the skill turn gray, I looked directly at Pebble and opened my mouth.
"Tell Caius and Kelion to move in the opposite direction of before. Tell them that I need them
to attract the attention of all the puppets."
This was a simulation of sorts.
I didn't need to think about Caius and Kaelion's safety. For that reason, I planned on using
them as bait so that I could get into the sa room as before.
"...Are you sure, human? Won't they think you're ditching them?"
"Tell them that I have a plan."
"Okay."
Pebble didn't question any further and dashed in Caius and Kaelion's direction. Upon hearing
my words, they both looked at with frowns.
I t their gazes and nodded my head slightly.
'Trust .'
Their frowns depended, but they eventually relented and moved forward.
Flick, flick, flick-!
As expected, all the puppet heads snapped toward them in eerie unison. The sight sent a chill racing down my spine, but this ti, I wasn't the one under their unsettling gazes.
The drums ca to a stop and a suffocating silence shrouded the space. Holding my breath, I watched as the people around started to move, their arms and legs
moving in a disjointed manner as the strings attached to them pulled them from the sky above. Like mindless puppets, they rushed in Kaelion and Caius's direction.
The two were still tired from before and so was I, but enough ti had passed for us to fight and so, the mont Kaelion and Caius dashed in the opposite direction, two orbs appeared in my mind and the strings above snapped as I dashed towards the sa direction as before.
Swoosh-
My legs hurt as I moved, but I ignored the pain and smashed the door of the building open, directing my attention towards the stairs as I closed my eyes and envisioned a dark space. When I opened my eyes again, the entire space had turned dark, with the faint outline of the stairs and floor above appearing in sight. Purple hands appeared from beneath the ground, reaching for the many people present, and rooting them in place.
"Huu."
Holding onto my chest, I rushed to the stairs and directly ignored the puppets.
As my mana rapidly drained, I felt my body beco weak but I still managed to keep myself
steady while following the familiar path from before.
Tik, Tik-
It was 12:15 A.M.
'There.'
Eventually, as my mana reached its limits, I forced my way to the trapdoor, flung it open, and
rushed down without hesitation.
Clank!
It was dark and I could hardly see, but I kept rushing down.
Tik, Tik-
It was 12:17 A.M.
That was the ti when I finally arrived at the familiar room. Entering the place, my steps
slowed and my breath stopped.
Dang, da-
"Hm?"
A certain note played in the air.
It felt vaguely familiar, coming straight from a piano and it seed to co from all around
the room.
Looking around, the room was almost entirely empty except for a large wooden box by the
end of the room. Outside of that, I didn't notice any instrunt.
So, how...?
'No, where's the old man?' Searching for the old man, my expression fell when I noticed that he wasn't there.
"What the-Uh?!"
But I soon stopped and smashed my foot down, forcing myself back as I noticed the presence
of soone behind .
"You'we made it quicker than I... expected."
Standing right behind was the sa old man from before. Wearing tattered clothes that
highlighted his enormous fra, the old man looked at for a brief second before looking
back.
"What about your two friends? Did you ditch them?"
"Ah, that..."
I thought for a mont before lying.
"...I didn't."
"Mhm."
The old man nodded, his gaze piercing right through .
"Are you lying to ?"
"No."
I wasn't actually since this wasn't real.
"If you say so."
The old man shrugged after sparing a glance.
Staring at the old man, I felt an overwhelming pressure emanating from him. It was
suffocating, making it hard to breathe, as though his re presence was squeezing the air
from my lungs.
For to feel such pressure...
Just who was this man?
Thump, thump—
The sudden sound of muffled footsteps filled the air from above. Turning my head, I knew
that the puppets were coming.
That was when I directly turned to look at the old man.
"You asked to co back after reset. Do you... know of a way to stop this?"
"Stop? You an the puppets?"
"Yes."
I hastily nodded my head, looking in the direction of the stairs as sweat dripped down from
the side of my face.
They were coming.
Tik, Tik-
It was 12:18 A.M.
"I do."
The old man pointed at the tune playing in the air.
"...The music keeps the puppets away."
"Wha-"
"I wld've allowed you to stay, but you lied to ."
"Eh?"
I hastily looked up at the man.
Before I could understand what was happening, I felt a powerful force blast onto the side
of the wall as my vision blackened and I found myself back where I ca from.
"Huaa."
Taking a deep breath, my chest trembled.
Tik, Tik-
It was 12:12 A.M.
I had died.
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