A man sat in a gothic room at his desk, his hands folded as he gazed upon a screen before him.
This man opened his mouth ever so slightly, only to close it.
Placing one hand to cover his mouth, he looked at the screen with shock.
"Elisa. You are waiting outside, are you not? Come in if you don't mind."
"Ah.... so you noticed me? Forgive me for saying nothing.... I was unsure if you were busy or not."
A woman walked into the open doorway, closing it behind her as she entered the room and stood before the man.
This woman was a pink haired elf, and she was dressed in the elegant uniform of an instructor.
"You appear quite shocked, Principal. Is something wrong?", she asked.
"Elisa..... the orbs.... they have been properly calibrated, correct?"
"They have. I made sure to check multiple times before the departure of at least my own students. And the other instructors have reported similarly."
The man furrowed his brows at hearing this.
"What is the probability of a major malfunction on a single orb?"
The woman placed her hand to her mouth, looking up and to the side in thought for a moment before looking the man back in the eyes.
"If I had to guess, I would say that it would be less than a 2% chance for each orb. Of course, there might be a few orbs which have turned off as a result of some malfunction, however not many."
On hearing this, the man let out a distressed sigh.
"I see..... it would seem that the students this year were unable to overcome the challenges with which they were faced. How pathetic. And to think that even that one girl who boasted such great power was unable to live through this mission. After all, they must have been children. Children who were unable to think for themselves, and unable to adapt to a changing scenario."
Looking up with a deadly expression, the man spoke with clear disappointment in his voice.
"And I have no use for children in the armies of this nation."
"How many died, if I may ask?"
"All but one. Ah, she was even one of your own students. However, she was unable to fulfill her mission. None of the missions were fulfilled, with only a single survivor. She was clearly at least capable enough to run, yet we have no room for cowards who are only able to save themselves. Without the ability to complete missions for themselves, they are nothing more than a liability to society. Have her eliminated, and we will give up on the batch this year. Perhaps next year will be better."
"Understood."
The woman responded immediately, without hesitation saluting to her superior.
"Ah, one more thing. I will be attending a conference with the division leaders next week. When I am gone, you will take over my role as the principal. After you've eliminated your last student, you will have an open schedule, no?"
"That is correct. I'll ensure that everything goes without fault."
The man nodded, leaning forward as he thought.
"You are free to leave now."
"Understood. Then, I'll contact you in case anything else comes up."
With this, the woman walked off, the sounds of her footsteps being the only sounds that remained.
'It truly is a shame, but it cannot be helped. Even if one is talented, if they are unable to properly use that talent, then they will fall short. I have bigger things to prepare for. The older students have even greater challenges to face, therefore I will have to ensure that the curriculum isn't lightened.'
----
"Clear seas..... and not a cloud in sight. Perfect weather."
An elven man stood at the helm of a small ship, making his way through the oceans.
A week had passed.
It had been a week since this man had dropped off the students into the monster realm, leaving them to complete their missions which they had been assigned to perform by the higher ups.
"Well..... I suppose the weather is the only thing good about today."
The man looked forward, his eyes filled with worry.
One ship.
Only a single captain- this man- had been informed of the need to return to the monster realm to retrieve the surviving students.
'So the students in all the other classes but this one..... were wiped out.'
The man couldn't take his eyes off the sea before him, looking ahead with worry.
'I wonder just how many are left from this class? I hope they all survived, but.... given the situation....'
Taking in a deep breath, the smell of salt entered the man's nose.
"Ah..... there really is nothing like the smell of the sea!"
Stretching his arms out with a smile, the man ignored his own worries, instead deciding to focus on the scenery around him.
Time passed, and eventually this man caught sight of the shore.
"Ah.... here we are."
Looking onto the shore, he tried to scout out for any students in the vicinity, yet he saw none.
'I guess they're all deeper in? I wonder how long it'll take them to get here? I told em to be here at this time..... ah! There's one!'
In the distance, the man saw a girl come out of the forest.
She was a dark elven girl, dressed in camouflage gear and with a large bag on her back.
Her hair was striped black and white, and she seemed to be walking slowly up to the shore.
The man steered the boat over, parking it and standing forward.
"Hey, miss!! Over here!!! I'm here to take ya home!! Can you tell the others that I'm waiting on em?"
The girl looked up to the man with sharp eyes, causing him to flinch back at her glare.
"There are no others."
Tossing the large bag up onto the ship, the girl bent her knees as she jumped up multiple meters into the air, landing on the ship with a thud.
'So powerful..... no wonder she survived..... but..... wait a minute....'
"Sorry, I musta misheard ya. What did you just say?"
"I said that I'm the only one. Now lets get going."
The girl grabbed her sack, headed into the inner cabin without another word.
'Eh? She..... is the only one?'
The man looked back, about to call out, but on realizing the situation, he stopped himself.
'I see..... that's.....'
Biting his lip, the man took in a deep breath, closing his eyes.
'how horrible.....'
Preparing to take off, this man once more returned to the sea, the sounds of gulls and the crashing of light waves being the only things to enter his ears.
'Only one..... this is..... the worst possible scenario then.... isn't it? The fact that I was even sent here in the first place meant there had to be at least one, but....'
As the man steered the ship, he bit his own cheek with solemn expression.
'I was hoping there would be more than that.'
----
Hailey traveled in the lower cabin for a while before she heard a shout.
"Hey miss! We're back on the mainland! I'm sure you've missed this place and can't wait to get back, so why don't you hurry up and get on out there?"
Getting up from her position lying against a wall, the girl moved out.
One of her eyes was now colored white, and the other black.
However, these eyes had a dull look in them, as if everything that mattered to her had been stolen.
'I wanted to get revenge so much at that time..... but now.....'
The girl stood up slowly, looking at her own hand.
She had survived in those woods for a week.
No monsters had come after her, wild or humanoid.
She hunted for her own food, and survival wasn't an issue even on her own.
However after living on her own for a week, she came to a realization.
She realized how important her own classmates were to her.
She realized how boring life was without them.
Hailey had discovered that she was now extremely powerful, so much so that the previous powers of her classmates were nothing compared to her current power.
Furthermore- she was a mage.
She was now a user of magic, just like she had always wanted to be.
She could control mana and use spells of all elements, however she wanted.
Her physical abilities were also far greater than before, though they didn't even compare to her magical abilities.
She had everything she once lacked.
She was given everything which she was so jealous of those around her for.
"And yet..... I would rather that they were all still here...."
How frustrating it was to have been given everything she ever wanted, to have become everything she ever wanted to be, and have nobody there to witness it.
Walking out of the cabin, Hailey looked onto the port to see a woman waiting for her with a smile.
"Hailey. It looks like you survived. But you look a bit different? Why do you look like that?"
The pink haired elf was her instructor, Mrs. Elisa.
Jumping down from the ship, Hailey turned once to the shipowner, waving to him.
"Thanks for the ride.", she stated before turning around as she walked off, not looking back.
"Be safe, miss!"
The man called out to her, but Hailey continued to walk forward, a deadly glare in her eye as she approached the woman waiting for her.
"I'm so glad you survived.... I was so worried that you would all be wiped out, you know."
"You're glad? Ah, I see. So it's a relief that even ONE survived?"
"Ah, I guess I should've chosen my words more carefully. Come with me, Hailey."
The woman put her arm on the shoulder of the girl, pressing her forward.
"Those words were my mistake, but it looks like you were already suspicious in the first place. I assume you've caught on?"
At this statement, Hailey froze.
"So you really did plan this?"
"Not all of it. We expected the top 10% to live. I had high hopes that you all would be in that top percent, but it looks like nobody else was skilled enough to survive. Come with me, will you? You're the number 1 student, after all."
Hailey continued walking, not phased at the words of the woman.
"I see. So you really did know about those monsters."
"Hm? Well, isn't that obvious? We even told you that we were sending you to exterminate monsters. I taught you all about the insectoids and-"
"You didn't teach us shit about those things."
It was true that the class had been informed of many characteristics and abilities of the insectoids.
What they had not been informed of was the fact that they would be so strong that any and all attacks would be useless.
Fire was supposed to be useful against the webs of a spider.
That was a lie. It was only useful if the spider was far, far away. So far that they couldn't repair their own webbing.
The group was not informed of the intelligence of the insectoids.
They were told that they were nothing more than monsters.
Yet the speech, the home, and the fact that the spider even had servants and a social hierarchy, all proved that these monsters were not mere monsters.
They were intelligent.
"There was so much that you didn't tell us. And because of that..... because of that gap in information..... everyone is dead. You knew everything the entire time, didn't you? Did you expect us to know everything from the start?"
Hailey looked at her instructor with accusing eyes, to which the woman looked back at her.
"Don't tell me that you're going to complain. I truly did all I could to give you all the resources you needed to win. And you all failed. In what way is that my fault, as a teacher? After all, if a student doesn't study, how can they blame the teacher when they fail the test?"
Biting her lip, Hailey held in her overwhelming desire to slap this woman here and now.
"Come on. Let's go this way. It will get us back to the school faster."
Mrs. Elisa pointed into an alleyway, dragging Hailey along.
"You..... so the principal intended for 10% to survive? What, was that all just a big miscalculation?"
"Well.... yes. I suppose so."
The woman shrugged her shoulders, stopping in her path.
Turning back to Hailey, the woman smiled bitterly.
"But either way, you survived. As the number 1 student, you should be proud of that."
"Proud?"
Closing her eyes in anger, Hailey spoke with fury in her voice.
"I should be proud?"
Clenching her teeth, she looked behind her.
Nobody was around.
"How can I be proud!? Proud to live!? Proud that I was the only one to survive!? You sent us off on a mission expecting 90% of us to die so that you could weed out the strongest students!! Don't you see something horribly wrong with that!? And even then, the principal had the audacity to miscalculate, so not even that many lived!?!?!? Don't give me that!!"
"Now now..... don't shout so loudly. You'll draw attention. You have a bright future ahead of you. As the only survivor, you don't have to worry about those who didn't survive. After all.... losing comrades.... is something that happens all the time in the military."
The woman closed in on Hailey, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be fine. You just need to take a deep breath..... and...."
At that moment, the pink haired woman slipped a knife out of her sleeve, grabbing it and thrusting it into the back of Hailey's neck.
Clang!
"Did you think I didn't notice that you were trying to kill me?"
Hailey stood there, not moving a muscle, glancing with her eyes back at the woman who had failed to kill her.
"Wha..... how..... you...."
The woman jumped back with a crooked smile, holding her hands together.
"Ah..... now you've really caught onto me..... I suppose there's nothing left to do than to draw some attention."
The woman started to gather a fireball in her hands, the energy slowly accumulating as she spoke.
Hailey turned to look at the woman, anger covering her face.
"You really are underhanded. You don't value lives at all. You..."
The image of that spiderling suddenly appeared in the mind of Hailey.
The crooked smile and her wicked laughter as she killed all the people around Hailey.
The scene of death and the terror which overcame Hailey at that time.
All of these things, Hailey was reminded of.
The wicked grin of that monster as she toyed with the students overlapped with the woman before her.
"You're no different from that monster."
Holding out a hand, Hailey closed her eyes.
"You think you can block my fire magic? How cute, my student. I'm not sure what overcame you, but you seem to have gained some physical abilities somehow. I wonder if that is why your skin has changed in color? Is that some sort of iron hardening? Whatever. Goodbye, Hailey."
The fireball in the hands of Elisa shot forward, hitting the hand of Hailey, causing an explosion before dispersing into midair.
And then, as the dust cleared, it was revealed that the girl stood without even a scratch.
"6th tier magic, eh? I guess you were a success then? Of this school? Is that why you obey the principal and follow his tenants so firmly? Because you were a success?"
"Wha..... how did you block my fireball?"
In that moment, Hailey disappeared from the sight of Elisa.
"How can you say that the others didn't deserve to live? There were even a few who had probably broken through the 6th tier, and yet you say that they weren't good enough because they didn't survive?"
It was then that Elisa felt a hand around her neck.
"Your spells are weak. You're so obsessed with strength? You're so obsessed with the top 10%? Everyone less than that is worthless? Hahaha... you know, that woman might be playing me, but I'm glad that she gave me this power. Even if I don't hold a candle to her..... I can at least put someone like you in your place."
"L-cough..... cough..... let.... go of me!!"
While being choked, Elisa forced out these words, to which Hailey tightened her grip.
"Let me show you a real fireball."
And then, fire begun to gather around the hand of the girl.
The flamed covered her hand, and then gathered into a mass of energy which engulfed the face of the woman, first setting fire to her hair, then to her face, and then completely overtaking her.
"Ngh!!!! Umph!!!! Mmmmm!!!!! Nph!!!"
The woman tried to shout, however the choking grip which Hailey held her with only tightened as the flames increased, completely overtaking the head of the woman.
Eventually the screams die out, and the body dropped to the ground.
From the neck up, the woman's head had been completely incinerated.
Below her neck she was charred black, and the body did not bleed, for all the liquid had evaporated.
Flicking her hand to put out the fire, Hailey walked out of the alleyway, back into the streets of the Alliance.
"Tch..... they think they're so great..... I'll show them. I'll show that principal and everyone he's collaborating with..... ah, now that I think about it..... that's happening today, isn't it?"
As Hailey walked through the streets, a smile came across her face.
"Yeah, that's right. That is today, isn't it?"
Looking around her, Hailey noticed that there were many dwarves and elves throughout this city.
She was on the Eastern side of the Alliance, just South of the dwarven mountains.
To the North of her, the dwarven capital was located.
"Every year, there is a conference between six people..... the four division leaders, and the two Academy principals. The location of the meetings switch each year between the dwarven and elven Capitals, and this year.... the meeting will be held in the dwarven Capital."
Turning North, the girl looked down at her arms.
"Let's see.... I think it was something like this?"
Using wind magic, the girl covered her entire body with flowing air, and in this manner she took flight above the city.
"The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the direction of the Alliance, and the current state of it's military. So basically..... all those people who agree with the principal and his methods in order to strengthen our nation will be there."
Flying through the skies, the girl darted off at a speed approaching sound.
"Then..... as the top student, I guess I should make an appearance, right? After all, the former top student is the one who became the current commander of the first division. I should at least give them a good first impression."
Author's note:
Gentlemen.
It is with extreme pleasure that I announce to you all.
A webtoon for Undetermined is currently in production.
Please look forward to it as much as I am.