Reborn as a Hated Noble Family, We Start an Industrial Revolution

Chapter 303: 303| I Am A Coward. But If I Run Away Now, Why Did I Even Come This Far With Everyone?

​The courtyard before the Magniora Tower was choked by a suffocating, deathly silence.

​Selene stood perfectly erect atop the highest stone step. Her deep-sea blue robes, representing the Water Arcanum faction, fluttered gently in the bone-chilling twilight wind. Her long, silver hair framed a face that was entirely devoid of emotion.

​In her right palm, a high-pressure water vortex spun constantly with a sharp hiss—shhh... shhh...—ready to strike and sever anyone who dared step forward.

​Below her, Roland halted his dirt-caked boots.

​Behind him, Rianor was still held up tightly by Eva. Adul stood at the very rear, clutching the comms box to his chest with violently trembling hands.

​"The four of you... are not permitted to pass through these doors," Selene spoke softly, her voice entirely flat.

​Roland took a deep breath. His left shoulder, still bearing the grotesque, smoking burn from the lightning strike, throbbed with excruciating pain. Yet, he forced his diplomatic posture to remain upright.

​Roland took a single step, his mind racing to find a crack in her resolve. "You already know... about Lobrecht."

​Selene didn’t react at all. Not a trace of doubt or surprise flickered in her icy blue eyes. Anneliese had already shared that during the emergency council at the Cathedral.

​"The man is leading the Heretics tonight at the Southern Gate," Roland pressed calmly. "He isn’t your true enemy, Selene. He is only—"

​"I do not need empty explanations from an outsider about who Lobrecht is," Selene cut him off sharply. Her tone remained calm, but her voice was as sharp as a dagger of ice. "I have known him far longer than anyone. And I know exactly what he is doing."

​"Then you should also know why he was driven to do it."

​Selene fell silent. Yet, the water vortex in her palm trembled ever so slightly—a fraction of a second, a fluctuation practically invisible to the naked eye. But Roland’s sharp eyes caught the micro-movement.

​"The Church forcibly erased the Shadow faction from their holy scriptures. They wiped his existence until nothing remained," Roland hissed, applying psychological pressure. "But you can never erase historical truth. Lobrecht found that truth. And now... we are delivering that truth right to your doorstep."

​"Truth?" Selene tilted her head slightly, her gaze freezing. "What kind of truth is powerful enough to make a Grand Arcanum Master betray his own oath?"

​"The truth that intellect is the greatest gift humanity possesses..." Roland took another step forward. "The Church—with its rotten dogma—crushes anyone who dares to use it."

​A heavy, suffocating silence hung between them once more. The barren twilight wind blew, kicking up fine dust across the black stone courtyard of Magniora.

​Selene slowly let out a long sigh. "You... you speak exactly like him."

​"I know," Roland replied firmly. "Because he is on the right side of history."

​Selene closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them, the ripples of hesitation had been swept away, replaced by freezing resolve. "Enough of this nonsense. I will not let you pass."

​Roland threw a swift glance toward Eva, giving a microscopic nod hidden beneath the shadow of his hood.

​Eva caught the signal instantly. She released her support of Rianor, leaning the scientist’s frail body against the rough stone wall flanking the stairs. Rianor’s body slid limply down, his breathing ragged and heavy. Yet, his gray eyes remained wide open—staring intently, analyzing.

​"Adul," Eva whispered sharply, glancing at the boy in the rear. "Don’t just stand there like a statue!"

​"W-What... what am I supposed to do?!" Adul’s voice trembled with terror, his throat running completely dry. Gulp.

​"Anything! Just don’t stand there like an idiot!"

​SWOOSH!

​Without waiting for a second order, Eva exploded forward. Her dark crimson Scarlet Aura erupted wildly, churning violently along both her arms. She maneuvered rapidly to the right, attempting to flank Selene from her blind spot.

​Selene casually raised her left hand. Ssshhhk! A high-pressure, dense wall of water materialized instantly—perfectly halting the sweeping strike of Eva’s Scarlet Aura blade. The water vibrated violently under the physical impact, yet refused to break.

​"Praiseworthy courage," Selene murmured coldly. "But ultimately futile."

​Selene thrust her palm forward. Instantly, her defensive water barrier detonated into a mini-tidal wave, striking Eva’s body with crushing force.

​BAM! Eva was sent flying backward, her back slamming hard against a black stone pillar. Yet, her combat instincts were remarkably resilient. Refusing to stay down, she landed with both knees bent to absorb the impact, her Aura flaring back to life.

​"Not yet!" Eva hissed, wiping blood from the corner of her lips.

​She launched forward again, this time with a far more terrifying acceleration. Her Scarlet Aura-coated fists rained a relentless barrage against Selene’s water wall. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Each strike sent violent ripples through Selene’s defense, but the piercing power was still not enough to shatter the high-pressure flow.

​On the other side of the stairs, Adul ran in a blind panic toward the left. His knees shook violently. His heart hammered so fiercely it felt ready to burst from his chest. Yet, he forced his legs to drag him forward.

​"E-Eva! I’ll help!" Adul shrieked hysterically.

​He ducked, scooping up a fist-sized piece of shattered marble from the ground. Closing his eyes in sheer terror, he threw it with all his might at Selene.

​Swoosh.

​The throw was pathetic. The stone sailed wildly through the air, failing to even come within a meter of Selene. Yet, Selene’s instincts reflexively forced her to glance toward the source of the throw for a fraction of a second.

​Just a single blink. But for Rianor, that opening was more than enough.

​Slumped against the wall, Rianor immediately captured the shift in her focus. His healthy right hand shot out like lightning, plucking the Ancient Mana Compass from the pocket of Roland, who stood close by. The compass needle trembled violently, pointing straight toward the side installation entrance of Magniora.

​"Roland," Rianor whispered in a suppressed, hoarse voice. "The side installation door. Left. Now. We only have one second."

​Roland didn’t waste a precious second questioning it. He moved like a shadow in the night.

​Simultaneously, Eva launched another reckless attack. Throwing all thoughts of self-preservation to the wind, she lunged straight for Selene’s chest. Her Scarlet Aura flared into a blinding, blood-red light.

​Selene was forced to raise both hands. Her right hand blocked Eva’s raging blade, while her left formed a thin water shield to deflect the rain of stones Adul continued to hurl, screaming hysterically from below the steps.

​"DON’T TOUCH EVA! DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER, YOU WICKED WITCH! I... I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT, BUT DON’T TOUCH HER!!"

​The third stone, the fourth stone... all sailed comically wide. Yet, Adul refused to stop throwing whatever his hands could touch. Tears streamed down his grimy cheeks. His voice was completely shot, but he kept screaming hysterically to disrupt Selene’s focus.

​Roland reached the side installation door—a small iron door in the darkest corner of Magniora that perfectly camouflaged with the black stone wall. Hooking his arm around Rianor’s shoulder, he dragged his brother through the door in one fluid motion.

​Click. Slam. The door shut tight.

​Selene only realized her primary targets had vanished seconds after the metallic clang of the iron door echoed. She snapped her head around. Indeed, Roland and Rianor were gone.

​Selene’s hands froze in mid-air. The high-pressure vortex in her palm slowly dimmed.

​"They... actually slipped inside."

​Her tone of voice didn’t change. Still flat. Still calm. Yet, there was a strange, sharp tremor beneath it—like a hairline crack over a frozen lake, ready to fracture at any moment.

​She slowly turned her body. She cast a cold gaze at Eva, who lay gasping in pain near the stone pillar, then shifted to Adul, who stood trembling violently, holding a single stone in his sweat-slicked hand. Selene’s blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

​"The two of you..." The water vortex in her palm began spinning madly once more—this time far more wild and erratic, stripping away her icy precision. "I was given only one simple task by the Church today. Guard this gate. Just one task."

​She marched down toward Eva’s position. The heavy thud of her steel boots matched the rhythm of their terrified heartbeats. Tap... Tap... Tap...

​"And you... made me fail."

​Selene stopped right in front of Eva’s limp form. Eva slowly looked up, meeting the Arcanum Master’s gaze with a mocking smirk plastered on her bloodied lips.

​"You... are actually pissed off, aren’t you?" Eva rasped.

​Selene didn’t acknowledge the mockery. Instead, the water vortex in her hand instantly froze—transforming into dozens of floating, razor-sharp ice shards hovering in the air, primed to shred their throats.

​"I am not angry," Selene said coldly. "I am simply going to ensure you two never have the opportunity to disrupt me again."

​Seeing Eva’s life hanging by a frozen thread, something inside Adul’s chest suddenly detonated. It wasn’t the foolish courage of a fairytale hero. It was pure, subconscious terror. A deep, primal fear of losing the people he loved.

​"N-NOOOOO!!" Adul shrieked hysterically.

​He sprinted wildly toward Selene. His movements were completely uncoordinated—stumbling over the gravel steps, scraping his knees until they bled. Both his hands desperately gripped the radio comms box, which suddenly and accidentally began discharging a wild surge of raw energy.

​Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

​Stray sparks of golden-yellow energy, resembling static electricity, began dancing wildly across Adul’s fingertips.

​Selene snapped her head around. Her delicate brows furrowed in pure astonishment at the anomaly unfolding before her. "What is that...?"

​Adul could no longer hear any external noise. His mind was entirely consumed by panic. Tears continued to flood his dusty cheeks.

​"I... I am a coward! I don’t know how to fight! I’m terrorized by nightmares every single night! But... but if I run away now... if I leave Eva to die alone... why did I even come this far with everyone?!"

​The boy hurled the last fragment of stone in his hand. The throw was still terribly off-target. Yet this time, the residual static of the yellow energy surged from his hand, enveloping the stone’s surface.

​BOOM!

​The static-clad stone struck the ground right at Selene’s boots, triggering a localized electromagnetic detonation.

​Though not a lethal blast, the static pop successfully forced Selene to draw her foot back, taking half a step backward to avoid the magnetic shock.

​Selene stared at Adul—genuinely focusing her entire attention on the boy for the first time. "You... an Aura user?!"

​"I-I don’t know! I don’t understand what this is! But... but I’m not running away anymore!" Adul screamed hoarsely, his body shaking violently at the edge of hysteria.

​The golden-yellow static sparks continued to crawl, wrapping along both of Adul’s arms. It was incredibly dim, unstable, and flickering weakly like a dying power grid. Adul himself was completely oblivious to his own physical anomaly, far too busy weeping and trembling in fear.

​Prostrate on the floor, Eva looked up in shock, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Adul... you... you can use Aura..."

​Selene slowly exhaled a cold breath. "Enough."

​With a single, sharp flick of her hand, Selene unleashed a dense torrent of water that struck Adul squarely in the chest.

​BAM! The boy’s small body was launched into the air before crashing heavily onto the stone steps, rolling to a stop right beside Eva’s limp form. The golden sparks on his arms vanished instantly. Yet, Adul’s fingers still twitched weakly, forcing himself to crawl and reach back for his fallen comms box.

​"I’m... I’m sorry, Eva... This was... this was all I could do to help you..." Adul rasped amidst his winces.

​Eva offered a faint smile, her eyes softening with profound warmth. "It’s enough, Adul. What you just did... was more than enough."

​Selene towered over the two defenseless teenagers. The water vortex in her hand condensed and expanded once more, ready to launch her executing ice shards. Her blue eyes were incredibly cold, yet a trace of lingering annoyance was written across her face.

​"The two of you... are truly a tiresome bunch of pests," Selene hissed cruelly.

​The tips of her ice shards spun rapidly, ready to tear through their throats.