Staring at her classmates through the hole made by Kevin and Liam in a wall, Ruby closed her eyes in preparation for the upcoming grueso sight.
She had done her best, hadn't she?
It was their choice to stay behind and hold off the villain despite knowing that he was much more powerful than them. Their series of stupid decisions had led them to their death.
...But then why did she feel sad and nervous? Why was her head spinning in circles? Why were her legs trembling? What was she feeling right now?
It was their choice... they could have escaped imdiately upon hearing of her teleportation ability... yet they decided to stay.
Was this what a hero was?
Soone who prioritizes the welfare of others over their own, even towards those they do not know personally.
It was such a simple definition, yet Ruby had never t soone who had not only acted based on it but didn't expect anything in return.
Sure, there were heroes from the governnt, but they only did it for the money.
If the governnt stopped paying the heroes... then they would all disappear and do their own thing without any care for the world.
Ruby was mistaken.
When she had begun teleporting people out of the mana barrier and when she held off djinns at the museum, she believed that she was a hero.
No... that wasn't it.
In both scenarios, her death was never a possibility, so she was content helping out, but with death now in the picture, all she could do was watch from a distance.
She had never prioritized the safety of others over herself.
For Ruby, it wasn't the realization that she wasn't a hero that hurt... it was the fact that she had deluded herself into genuinely believing that she was a hero.
She had beco the very thing she hated the most.
A fake, a fraud, and a phony.
Those students: Alya, Astrid, Lily, Liam, Kevin, and even Zach were true heroes.
Forcing herself to open her eyes, despite her entire body resisting, Ruby opened her eyes wide, prepared to face the aftermath.
However, there was no blood. There were no severed limbs. There were no dead bodies.
Instead, there was a cloaked figure with one pitch-black and blood-red wing attached to his right shoulder, which swayed back and forth in the cold night breeze.
...
...
...
Looking at the distance between the trapped main cast and the charging dark energy balls, I finally erged from my spot.
They had done well; in fact, better than I expected.
Whatever they had done... they had managed to break the djinn's ntality.
Like the minotaur back during practical training, he no longer held any sense of reason; he was overco by his desire to get the blood-red sword back.
In fact, his sense of reason was so far gone that he didn't even realize that his tracking device on the sword had re-enabled, as my corruption was no longer blocking it.
Using my eyes to calculate the perfect route where I could pick up all of the main cast while getting through the hole at the sa ti, I repositioned myself before flapping my wing twice.
Feeling my surroundings distort, I once again used my eyes to grab each main cast mber as I sped past them for less than a second.
With all of them now in my hands, I flapped my wing once again, instantly speeding right through the hole and into the outside world.
Dropping the five of them, who had not yet adjusted to their current situation as they had their eyes closed, on the ground, I glanced around, imdiately spotting Ruby.
The tens of dark energy balls were still heading for us; I had just given us so more ti.
"GET THEM!"
As the dark energy balls broke through the walls like they were made of paper, Ruby, despite not knowing my identity, imdiately teleported beside .
Ignoring my presence, Ruby, one by one, teleported all of them outside the mana cage within less than 10 seconds.
That ability really was sothing else...
Awestruckingly, staring at the disappearing and repeating figure of Ruby for a second, I snapped out of my thoughts as the dark energy balls neared .
Flapping my wing 3 tis in quick succession, I disappeared out of the range of the swarm of energy balls and appeared on the other side of the dormitory.
As the swarm of dark energy balls directly collided with the mana barrier, a shockwave was sent throughout the entire dormitory. I felt the ground around shake, and even more pillars of the dormitory collapsed.
As the smoke surrounding the area disappeared, I saw that even though the mana barrier had no hole, bunches of mana were leaking out of it, making it significantly weaker.
"...Just what I needed."
Not waiting for the teacher's next move, I instantly manifested my two corrupted daggers before once again touching their tip to the mana cage.
Unlike the last ti, my corruption persisted, usurping the authority of the original mana before spreading like a plague upwards.
Before the teacher even erged from the dormitory, the entire mana cage had turned pitch black, so nothing could be seen from the outside or from the inside.
Well... that was unless you had my eyes!
My perfect environnt, my boosted cloak attributes, my new wing power-up, and finally, my countless mana ring artifacts.
Was it enough to beat a B-rank?
Well, I wasn't sure... but it was a good thing that the teacher couldn't even be considered a B-rank.
With his loss of rationality and current low mana, the teacher was in no way classified as a B-rank anymore, more like a mid-C-rank.
Flapping my wing again, I reappeared in front of the broken wall, which the swarm of dark energy balls had brought down.
Peering inside, I imdiately spotted the teacher, who was frantically searching around instead of doing the logical thing and casting a light spell.
Flapping my wing, I appeared right in front of him, thrusting my right dagger forward; however, he was able to react in ti as he threw his cane up, blocking my dagger.
Despite its normal appearance, the cane was actually rock-hard as it managed to repel my dagger without even receiving a scratch.
Well, I guess I just wasn't simply fast enough...
Stepping back, I flapped my wing, then thrusted my dagger forward, then flapped my wing, reappearing in another position beside the teacher, then pushed my other dagger forward, then flapped my wing again and reappeared in another position beside the teacher, and then used my other dagger.
And again and again and again and again.
Moving so fast that countless speed mirages were created, the teacher was unable to discern my location as he relied solely on instinct to block my dagger strikes.
However, his instinct simply wasn't good enough.
As I disappeared before he could counterattack and reappeared in another position beside him with my daggers already ready, countless stab wounds began to form on the teacher's body.
Flapping my wing one last final ti, I appeared on the roof above the djinn, using it to boost downwards with my dagger's tip aid right at the djinn's head.
Using his cane to attempt to hit one of my countless speed mirages surrounding him, the teacher was oblivious as my dagger pierced right through his head.
Watching his lifeless body slump to the floor, I grabbed my dagger, which remained pitch-black despite the blood all around the teacher's wound and prepared to walk back...
Then, I collapsed...
When I fell to the floor, I was surprised to find that my back directly hit the floor instead of my wing--my wing had disappeared.
Using so of my remaining energy, I moved my hands to my shoulder, where my wing had been attached, and surely enough, there was nothing.
Moving back my hand, I noticed that it was completely drenched in blood... and the wooden floor below my back was also drenched in blood.
I had overexerted myself...
The countless mana rings on my fingers had cracked and disappeared, my entire body was trembling with pain and exhaustion, and half of my back was covered in blood.
Using the dragon's wing without knowing the consequences of it or what it required, mana, corruption, or sothing, had cost terribly.
Lying lifelessly on the floor, I slowly gave in to my body as my eyelids began to close, causing my whole world to go black.
Resisting the urge one last ti, I managed to open my eyes.
Right above , looking directly into my eyes, was a female with long, glossy black hair and blood-red eyes.
Opening my mouth, I attempted to say sothing, but my mind abruptly went blank, and my world turned black as I finally gave in...
"hey, Ru-"
[A/N: Creating a stockpile so only 1-2 chaps a day. Chap = Gift / every 100 PW or 20 Golden Tickets]
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