The Blind SSS-Class Final Boss Is Obsessed With Me

Chapter 15: For us...

"Get up, Valerius," I said, breaking the silence.

My voice echoed sharply in the quiet room. I turned my head to the corner, where the once-great Principal of Aetheria Grand Academy was still huddled on the floor. He looked like he had aged twenty years in the span of five minutes.

Valerius looked up, his eyes hollow and bloodshot.

"You... you’ve tethered the academy to a monster, Cian," he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. "The mana... it’s not pure anymore. It’s dark. It’s tainted."

"Tainted?" I let out a dry laugh. "It’s stabilized. While you were busy trying to save a sinking ship with a bucket, I gave it a new engine. Look out the window, Valerius. The monsters outside can’t touch us now. The rifts can’t open within these walls. I’d call that a massive success."

"But at what cost?" he muttered, his terrified gaze drifting to the blindfolded girl clinging to my side.

"The cost of your pride," I snapped. "Now, stand up. We have work to do."

I didn’t wait for him to respond. I turned my attention back to the black, pulsing Core.

My mind was already racing, calculating the next steps of my plan. In the original novel, this first rift event was supposed to last for three days. During those three days, Aetheria was a literal slaughterhouse. The students were forced to fight for every single inch of ground, hiding in classrooms and watching their friends get eaten until outside help finally arrived.

But I had just completely shattered that timeline.

With this black barrier active, we had a secure fortress. But a fortress without soldiers is just a fancy tomb. I couldn’t run this entire place by myself, and I certainly couldn’t rely on Seraphina to do every little chore. I needed to gather the survivors, categorize them, and put them to work.

"Seraphina," I said, looking down at her. "Can you feel the others? The ones still alive inside the barrier?"

She tilted her head slightly as she scanned the entire campus through her connection to the Core.

"Small... weak..." she murmured, her voice quiet and detached. "Many of... them... They are... crying."

"I need you to guide them," I said. "Not all of them. Just the ones who aren’t broken. The ones who still have the strength to stand and fight."

Suddenly, Seraphina’s head snapped up. Her hand tightened around mine so hard that the bones in my fingers popped as a sharp, icy wave of jealousy rolled off her.

"Why?" she asked, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous hiss. "Why care... for them? They are... useless. I can kill... them all... if they bother... you."

A cold shiver ran straight down my spine, and my breath hitched for a second.

She wasn’t trying to threaten me. Her voice was completely flat, almost sweet, like she was offering to sweep some annoying dust off the floor. She was genuinely proposing to butcher hundreds screaming students just to keep my view clear.

I looked at her blank, blindfolded face. There was no malice in her posture—only an empty, endless void of obsession directed entirely at me.

It was terrifying.

I was holding the leash of a world-ending beast, but the leash was made of thin glass. If I made one wrong move, if I showed even a hint of fear or tried to push her away, what would she do? Would she destroy the whole world just to make sure I had nowhere else to run? Would she lock me in a cage to keep me ’safe’ from the bugs?

I swallowed hard and forced my face to remain completely calm. I couldn’t let her see my panic. I had to play the part of the fearless guy, even if my knees wanted to shake.

"No," I said, my voice softer now, trying to soothe her. I slowly reached up and gently touched her cheek, right below the edge of her blindfold.

My hand was trembling slightly, but I made sure she felt it as a gentle caress

"Because they can build a wall, Seraphina," I said softly, keeping my voice calm and reassuring. "If we want to build a place where no one can ever threaten us, we need hands to rebuild it. I don’t care about them. I care about what they can do for us."

Seraphina stood completely still under my touch. She leaned into my hand, her grip on my fingers loosening just a bit.

"For... us?" she whispered.

"Yes. For us."

Phew~

I let out a sigh after she loosened her grip.

She seemed to accept this. Slowly, she reached up and traced the line of my jaw with one of her sharp, black-tipped nails. It was a gentle touch, but the threat was crystal clear. If any of those ’bugs’ got too close to me, she would shred them into pieces.

"Okay... For... Us..." she murmured.

I patted her hand, then turned back to Valerius, who was watching this interaction with a look of sheer confusion.

"You," I said, pointing at him. "You are going to use the internal communication system. It’s still powered by the Core, isn’t it?"

Valerius nodded slowly, pushing himself up from the floor by leaning heavily against the wall. "Yes... but the magic network has changed. The dark mana might block the transmission—"

"It won’t," I interrupted. "Seraphina will allow it. You just need to speak. Tell them the academy is secure. Tell them the rifts inside the campus are closed. And tell them to gather in the Great Hall immediately."

Valerius swallowed hard. "And what will you tell them when they see... her?"

"I’ll tell them the truth," I said, looking out the window at the dark, silent campus. "That their old magic failed them. And that she is the only one keeping them alive."

Valerius looked like he wanted to argue, but one look at Seraphina’s tilted head made him shut his mouth. He limped over to the communication console at the back of the room and began preparing the broadcast.

I watched him go, then looked back out the window.

In the distance, past our black crystal barrier, the city was still burning. The sky was torn open by violent violet rifts, and I could hear the faint, echoing screams of people being slaughtered. The Great Calamity had only just begun, and the rest of the world was about to plunge into absolute hell.

But inside these walls, we were safe, at least for now.

A strange, thrilling rush of adrenaline shot through my chest. I didn’t have a magical system. I didn’t have any legendary cheat skills. I was just a regular guy with a broken body and a bad reputation. But against all odds, I had survived the first day of the apocalypse. That in itself is a really big deal.

Tap. Tap.

As soon as I hear new footsteps, I turned around, expecting a new character, but my eyes widened slightly when I saw who it was.

It was Lyra.

She was in terrible shape. Her pristine silver-blue hair was matted with dried blood and dirt. Her expensive uniform was shredded, showing deep, nasty cuts on her shoulders and arms. She was leaning heavily against the doorframe, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.

Her eyes, which had always been so sharp, arrogant, and full of noble pride, were now wide and completely hollow. She looked like she had just walked through the deepest depths of hell.

She stared at me, then at Seraphina, and finally at the black, pulsing heart of the stabilized Core.

"You..." Lyra whispered, her voice trembling violently. "You actually did it... The rifts... they’re gone. The monsters outside the door... they just turned to dust..."