"Wait… What just happened?" Mason asked, staring at his palms in disbelief.
He couldn’t believe it.
How?
How had this happened?
He had been so close—so incredibly close.
He knew that showing his face wasn’t guaranteed to win her over instantly, but it would have planted a seed. It would have given him a reason to talk to her, just as he’d imagined in that dream.
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Aside from the minor obstacles that had cropped up to hinder him, he had saved her. Sure, she wouldn’t have truly died if that monster had killed her, but at that desperate moment—when the fear of death had overwhelmed her—she had forgotten the reality that dying in this conjured world didn’t mean permanent death. If he had saved her in that crucial moment, she would have seen him as a hero.
But no.
Just as he was about to reach her—just one step away—someone else had shown up.
"NO! DAMN IT!" Mason shouted in anger, gripping his sword tightly. His frustration boiled over, and he slammed his fist into a nearby tree, feeling the bark splinter under his knuckles. His breath came in ragged gasps, the scene replaying over and over in his mind.
—Rustle.
The sound of leaves reached his ears. He turned quickly, only to be met with a sight that momentarily made him forget his frustrations. "Li… Liliana," he muttered, his eyes wide as he took in the beautiful girl before him. She was bloodied from head to toe but stood resolutely, gripping her sword.
She looked at him.
And a thought crossed his mind.
’She’s Amael’s lover, isn’t she? Let’s see how he handles it when I repay him in kind,’ Mason thought, grinning internally. The idea simmered in his mind, the edges of his lips curling upward as he crafted his plan.
…
…
"Aargh!" Auston coughed, writhing in pain. His hands were severed, his legs detached, yet his assailant still didn’t see fit to end his torment.
He couldn’t die. She kept forcing some strange potion down his throat—a potion that seemed to heal his wounds, but only enough to amplify his pain. And because he couldn’t die, he couldn’t respawn. The cycle of his suffering seemed endless.
"JUST KILL ME ALREADY, YOU BITCH!" he screamed in agony, desperate for an end to his miserable existence. But the girl merely grinned, watching him cry, her face twisted in satisfaction as she kicked him down and brought her sword to his armpit.
"Are you sure you want to die?" Camila asked, her voice dripping with mockery. "You know I could always find you and do this all over again." She laughed darkly, the sound echoing eerily through the forest.
At first, she had only wanted to torment him briefly for trying to kill her during the Arten raid, when she had stumbled upon him fighting another candidate. But as her torment session went on, she felt something she couldn’t quite place at first—a thrill that grew with every anguished cry he let out.
It was intoxicating.
She had never imagined herself capable of such sadism. Before that day, she had been kindhearted for as long as she could remember. But something about the near-death experience had awakened this side of her—a side she couldn’t hate. She relished the feeling.
The wide, crazed grin on her face was something even she would have found unrecognizable not long ago. If Melina saw her now, Camila thought, she wouldn’t believe her eyes. Her hands trembled, not with fear, but with the exhilaration coursing through her veins.
"Ever wonder how it would feel to be pierced with a sword from your armpit straight through your heart?" she asked. The terror in Auston’s eyes only fanned her flames of exhilaration.
Squelch.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Auston roared in agony so severe that he wished he could cease to exist. Exhaustion crept over him, his eyelids growing heavy. Even the strange potion could no longer keep him conscious.
"Oh, I accidentally killed him again," Camila muttered, biting her lip. Then, her face split into a grin so twisted that even the most hideous mana beasts would hesitate to approach her.
Yes, this wasn’t the first time she had killed Auston.
Nor the second.
It was the sixth.
Each time, she had found him, tormented him, and killed him in this conjured world. It was only a matter of time before his mind broke. But she didn’t care. She wanted to savor this pleasure a little longer. As far as she was concerned, she was only tormenting someone who had tried to kill her. So it was justified… right?
"Diana?" a voice called out, cutting through the silence. She turned her head, though she didn’t need to—she already knew who it was from the voice alone.
"Ethan…," she muttered indifferently. "Fancy meeting you here." She turned back to the mana beast she had just slain. Her golden blonde hair fluttered in the wind as her pink eyes—once blue—stared blankly at the corpse. She pulled her spear from the creature’s stomach without a second glance.
"Pink eyes? Weren’t they blue before?" Ethan asked as he sauntered toward her with an air of arrogance, his bloodied hands shoved casually into his pockets.
"I don’t have time for this," Diana said, a cold smile playing on her lips. "I’ll ask only once—how do you want to die?" She began walking toward him, her spear dragging a line in the dirt.
"Oh, feisty, are we? Well, let’s not waste each other’s time. I saw a bastard here I’d like to question," he said with a grin. In a flash, they blurred toward each other, her spear aimed at his heart, his sword poised to parry. The clash of their weapons sent a shockwave through the clearing, uprooting nearby shrubs.
…
…
"Ugh…." Amael groaned as he sat up, clutching his head.
"What…?" he muttered, feeling a dull ache reverberate through his skull. He looked around, quickly recognizing his surroundings.
"The cave," he said softly, closing his eyes to steady his breathing. After a moment, he glanced at his meta-watch, and the number displayed made him exhale in relief.
[Points Acquired: 67,300]
"Stem," he called, and the voice in his head responded promptly.
[Yes?]
"Is it done?" he asked, recalling that he had invested his EXP in purchasing alchemy knowledge. He couldn’t remember what happened afterward—just a wave of pain and then darkness.
[It is.]
"But I don’t feel any different," he said, flexing his arm.
[The knowledge has been stored in your subconscious. The moment you try to use it, it will surface automatically.]
Amael nodded. "How much time is left until the exams are over?"
[About three hours.]
"That long?" he muttered, frowning as he moved to sit down again. But just before he could, he froze.
"Hey, Stem, what was that?" he asked, staring into the deeper, darker recesses of the cave.
[Corrupted mana,] Stem replied.
"But why is it this dense? And why is it coming from the cave?"
[Something is in there—a mana beast, guarding something.]
Amael wanted to ask what the beast was guarding, but he knew Stem would just give him some vague excuse about privilege, so he held his tongue.
"!" He sensed an immense mana presence approaching fast.
"WHAT IS THAT?!"
[Someone at Genesis Level 9 is coming,] Stem said.
"Who?"
[…]
"Damn you, useless system!" Amael cursed, glancing between the cave’s exit and the dark passage ahead.
"FUCK IT!" he shouted, rushing into the dark passages. He wasn’t ready for a direct confrontation. His Ether wasn’t fully recharged, and he was only Genesis Level 2. Facing someone at Level 9 was suicide.
…
…
"Huh? ’He’ said he would be here. So where is he?" a girl with blue hair and eyes muttered as she inspected the cave’s entrance. Her expression darkened as she scanned her surroundings, the faint echo of her footsteps the only sound.
"Could he have gone in?" she mused, her gaze shifting to the dark passage. The oppressive aura of corrupted mana made her frown, as she could already tell what lurked within those depths.
"Where are you, Amael?" she called out, stepping cautiously into the darkness, her grip on her sword tightening.
She had waited so long to see him, so so long that at this point she could barely contain herself.
"You won’t ever be alone again... I promise," she muttered, her resolve unwavering as she ventured into the darkness beyond.
....
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