The Blind SSS-Class Final Boss Is Obsessed With Me

Chapter 11: Resources

She is asking ’How was I’?

In my old life, I would have given the standard, hollow response: ’I’m fine, just busy.’ But here, in the shadow of the apocalypse, that lie wasn’t something I could rely on.

And considering I was supposed to be dead ten minutes ago, I’d say I am doing better than anyone else in this academy.

"I’m alive, Seraphina," I finally said. My voice was raspy and thick with the taste of my own blood. I didn’t step back. In fact, I took a half-step closer to her, ignoring the way the unnatural cold of her skin seemed to seep into my own. "At least."

Seraphina’s fingers twitched at her sides. She didn’t reach out to touch me, but I could feel that she wanted to but restrained herself.

"Alive..." she repeated. "Yes... But you... are... different."

She leaned in closer to me again until her face was just inches from mine and sniffed me out once more.

Sniff.

"You... smell... like... the void," she murmured, and her nose brushed against my bruised cheek. "Cold... dark... and... beautiful. Not like... the one I remember."

I felt a shiver run through my body. She was sensing the difference. The ’void’ she was smelling was the absence of a soul that belonged to this world, perhaps.

"Then isn’t that a good thing?" I said and looked straight at the black fabric of her blindfold. "Others want to put you back in a box, Seraphina. They want to be the light that drives away your dark. But I? I want to be the shadow that makes your dark absolute."

Hearing me, a low hum of satisfaction escaped her throat. The ground beneath us shook as if it was responding to her mood, and the willow trees in the garden suddenly shed their leaves in a synchronized wave.

"Shadow..." she spoke, and as her lips parted, the sharp, lethal points of her teeth were revealed. "My... shadow."

She reached up with her hand, and her long, black-tipped fingers traced the line of my jaw.

"It... hurts... here..." she noted the wound on my jaw. "Who... did... this?"

"Someone tried," I said as a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. "But he’s currently being eaten by an orc. I’d say we’re even."

"Not... even," Seraphina countered. "He... touched... what is... mine. I will... find him. I will... break him..."

I felt a surge of triumph. In the original novel, Seraphina was a mindless force of nature, a final boss that the Hero had to overcome. But now, she was becoming something else. Her obsession was the ultimate plot armor, a shield that no amount of heroic destiny could pierce. And that is what I wanted from the start.

"We will find him eventually," I said.

"Hehe... Hehe..."

Right after my words a soft chukle left her mouth as she covered it with her hand.

"Just like... The old... Times when you... Saved... Me from... Bullies..."

Hmmm... Bullies? Now that is new. Who was crazy enough to bully this kind of girl? They must be out of his mind.

"Yeah, just like how I protected you."

With that said, I opened my arms and hugged her closer to my chest because it felt like she needed one. She must have been through too much for her to be acting like this.

Also, by that bully sentence alone I was able to get a bit of gist of the relationship between Cian and her.

They must be childhood friends, childhood sweethearts, or maybe siblings? Now I just need to be sure of what really it is from those three.

"Cian,"

Gradually, Seraphina’s arms which were at her sides moved and clasped around my waist as she also embraced me into a hug.

I didn’t mind her doing so.

I just lifted my head slightly and looked toward the entrance of the garden, where the violet sky was visible through the archway. The screams were getting louder and more desperate. The first wave of the invasion was reaching its peak.

"We are leaving," I announced.

Seraphina didn’t argue. She didn’t ask where we were going. She simply stepped into my shadow and followed right behind me.

We walked out of the Sunken Garden and the moment we crossed the threshold, the scene in front of us became staggering.

"Help! Please, someone help!"

A group of younger students, maybe second-years, were sprinting across the courtyard toward the library. They were being chased by a pack of Shadow Hounds. They were low-level rift monsters that looked like skinless dogs made of smoke and teeth.

The running students saw us, and for a split second, hope flared in their eyes.

"Cian! Help us! There’s monsters—"

The lead student stopped mid-sentence as his eyes drifted from me to the girl behind me. He saw the horns. He saw the blindfold. He saw the way the very air around her was filled with dark aura.

The hope that had appeared in his heart died instantly and was replaced by a terror so profound that he couldn’t even scream.

"Back away," I said.

I didn’t look at the students. I looked at the Shadow Hounds. And hearing me, they stopped too. Their smoke-like hackles flared as they sensed the presence of something infinitely higher on the food chain.

"Seraphina," I whispered.

She didn’t even move her hands. She simply tilted her head toward the monsters and a wave of black aura erupted from the ground.

The Shadow Hounds didn’t even have time to turn and run. The moment the aura touched them, they were instantly encased in pillars of obsidian-colored ice.

The students stood frozen in shock as they stared at the statues of their pursuers.

"W-what just happened?" One of them let out in a surprised tone.

"What kind of magic is this?" Another student added.

I had heard them loud and clear but I just ignored them and began speaking. "Go to the Sunken Garden," I told them. "If you can make it there, you might live."

They didn’t wait for me to say that a second time. They scrambled away as fast as they could, their feet carrying them away from us.

"Waste... of... time..." Seraphina murmured and stepped closer so her shoulder brushed mine. "Why... let... them... live?"

"You will understand soon enough, Seraphina," I replied as I led her toward the Administrative Building. "Everyone has worth. Not because I care about them, but because in a collapsing world, even the weakest person can become a resource."

And I am going to use every bit of resources I can get my hands on.