Breathless, I asked with a deep sigh.
"Did they give up on us?"
Julian, no different from , looked back out of the corner of his eye.
Our pursuers had given up when the distance between us and the canteen had diminished. They were afraid of that place.
"I think they did."
We stopped running, our steps slowly slowed down.
We looked at each other and it was quiet for a mont. Then Julian's face broke into a grin and I could only smile slightly.
"I didn't know you could run that fast."
"I didn't know you liked swearing so much."
We were a little relieved that the danger seed to have been averted, but the relief was inevitably marred by the sudden sound of the watch on my wrist.
~beep!
My first thought when I heard the sudden notification was that the academy had made a new announcent, but then I realized sothing else: it hadn't co to Julian.
I frowned, turned on the watch, and then looked at the incoming ssage.
I frowned even more when it was from Aiden, and as I read what he had written, I stiffened with each word.
"Adrian? What old-"
"Julian! I'm going to send you a location, go to the canteen and bring as many strong people as you can to the location I'm going to send you! Aiden is in danger!"
Without waiting for him to say anything, I started running toward the location. I heard him calling from behind, but I didn't care.
The location Aiden had sent to was at the other end of the academy, which covered a huge area, but that only ant I had to be very fast.
I... I didn't want to lose soone close to again.
I wasn't going to run away again.
I wasn't going to go through that pain again.
*******
The sensation of blood soaking my clothes seeped into my mind more and more with each passing second.
The aches, the burning sensations, the pains, for which a dagger was solely responsible... they had reached such proportions that I don't know if I would have been able to stay conscious without the Absolute Mind.
Every ti the dagger touched my skin, it opened a wound that was not extrely deep but hurt as much as it could hurt. The amount of blood I lost from all these wounds was so great that my head began to spin slightly.
The little mana I had left in my body and the little regeneration with the stamina of being a wiera slowed the bleeding, but it wasn't enough. There was a limit to my body and it was not far away.
I was still calr, though. With the Absolute Mind, my suffering didn't matter much. Sooner or later this too would end.
I could have resisted.
"That's enough so you can't move, isn't it?"
The man sheathed the dagger covered in my blood and smiled brightly.
When I realized he wasn't going to do anything more to , I stared at him like an idiot, unable to comprehend what his purpose was.
I saw a montary change in his expression when he saw the look on my face, the glint in his eyes seed to intensify, but that was it. He turned around, walked among the unconscious students, and paused when he ca to one of them.
It was a black-haired boy, a skinny one.
The man grabbed him by the arm without a care in the world, dragged him in front of , and bent down. He pointed excitedly at his unconscious face, then looked at .
"Hey! Hey! Look, how sweet he sleeps?"
Looking closely, I noticed the bump on the boy's head. He must have been punched hard before he fainted, supporting the fact that he hadn't woken up even when he was dragged.
"S- So...?"
I had to buy ti, I couldn't be sure if I had sent the ssage to soone or not, but there was nothing else I could do.
"Look, the ga we're going to play is simple. I ask you a question and you answer. And for every question you answer wrong and choose to keep quiet, we will do sothing very fun with these friends. How's that? How's that? Isn't that fun? Hahaha!"
Is this guy... an adult or a child? I know that wieras are hungry for chaos and things like that, but... even they don't have such sudden changes.
"Aahh... You look so great, your fearless eyes are amazing! I want to take one out and keep it after the ga... We were told not to hurt you, but I guess you'll be fine if you're missing an eye, right?"
I felt a rising revulsion inside .
It disgusted to think that I was even half the sa kind of person as this man, to be aware that such a person was in front of .
"Ahem... Anyway! Let's start quickly, say my first na with my last na."
This guy...
"Answer ! You have five seconds for each question! Five! Four…"
He counted down from five, one by one, and then there was silence.
"Haha! You didn't know, that's why the punishnt is coming!"
He lifted the arm of the boy in front of him, and without even waiting a mont, he turned it backward with a simple gesture.
"Aaaah!"
The boy woke up screaming, his eyes still dazed from his unconsciousness, and he quickly turned to his arm. When he saw that his arm was upside down, he stood still for a mont, and then tears welled up in his eyes. He began to cry as if he had just realized the pain he was in.
There was nothing I could do but watch and wait.
I apologize...
I didn't express it outwardly, I thought what I thought inwardly because I knew he would enjoy it.
"What is the na of the academy?"
I didn't know what to do with the question for a mont, I thought it was just a ga he was playing, I was sure he wouldn't ask questions I knew the answer to, but...
This guy... he's planning sothing again but...
"Five, four..."
At least I'll try.
I wanted to buy as much ti as possible, so I waited until the last second and then answered the question.
"Ce- Cevilian Developnt Academy."
"Oh, really? That's a nice na, but I call it the academy for the weak, so it's wrong!"
The sound of bone breaking echoed through the space. Even though I knew it would be like this, that he would do sothing stupid again, I wanted to take a chance, but... it was futile.
"You didn't answer again!"
My eyes involuntarily narrowed and my head bowed weakly when I realized that the man had asked another question in the space between my thoughts.
I... apologize...
"Hey, hey! I know you're awake! Keep your head up, look at us, and don't miss the show! Or there will be worse."
I gritted my teeth and forced my head up.
The boy in front of had changed, the one before had fainted from the pain.
"Watch and see! The sound of bones crunching... isn't that good?"
Another scream echoed in the field, this ti the truth penetrated my mind even more.
It was because of .
This was happening because of the choices I made.
These young people were being tortured because I ca here.
Wasn't I the one who caused this attack in the first place? If I had been infallible, if I hadn't miscalculated, if I had thought of everything, this wouldn't have happened... would it?
Another scream echoed, and with it, I realized I could no longer hear properly.
The amount of blood I was losing was forcing my consciousness to shut down. My sense organs were slowly ceasing to function. Screams, the madman's words, students' pleas for help, crackling sounds, blood, tears...
As everything started to fall apart, I did only one thing, I apologized again and again.
I was weak, maybe I only had a few seconds not to faint... My world continued to darken and the voices beca aningless, but then I heard a clear voice that seed to cut through all this darkness.
"Hey! Who told you that you can sleep?"
A warmth spread throughout my body, and soon after I felt that it hurt less. The voices that I had been unable to make sense of just a mont before were becoming understandable again. The blurred world beca clearer and there was a hand pointing at , glowing with a pale greenish color.
My eyes widened when I saw the hand.
I didn't want to see anymore, I didn't want to hear anymore, I just wanted to rest, I wanted to faint but... he was healing .
"Anyway... Ah! Oh, right, of course!"
The man took his hand off and quickly turned around, walking away from again.
I understood that he had gone to get soone new, and I was a little relieved when I realized that I could at least rest for a few seconds.
But when he was in front of again, ti literally froze. I just stared at him, not moving a muscle, not shaking even if I wanted to.
This ti it wasn't a random person he brought, it was Celine.
"I forgot! You were with that girl when I caught her, was she your girlfriend?"
Is this my... punishnt?
Is this the result of my overconfidence?
Why am I not the one who suffers? Why... Just why does the result of my mistakes affect others and not ?
Why do others suffer and not ?
With the Absolute Mind, I wouldn't care how much it tortured . Maybe I would suffer, maybe I would even go crazy, but I had no doubt that I would eventually be okay again.
Despite all this... the man in front of was focused on other things as if he had known this all along.
Thoughts started to run together in my mind again. I felt my body heat up, followed by a feeling that slowly enveloped my body.
I gritted my teeth. I knew I was an idiot, and the more I admitted it, the stronger the feeling grew.
Reviews
All reviews (0)