I heard a piercing scream right outside my door when the whole sky was suddenly covered in darkness.
'...What is happening?'
I got up from my chair to see what was happening outside. Then suddenly, the lights flickered and turned off. It was pitch black, with an eerie silence enveloping the room.
'[Spark]'
A small flame spell, useful for situations where a person's surroundings have no light. A small flame circled around me, casting dancing shadows on the walls and illuminating the immediate area. The faint flickering light provided some comfort, but it also heightened the sense of unease.
'...Something is definitely amiss.'
I hurried to the door and opened it, only to face a swift attack. A dagger sliced through the air, narrowly hitting my chest. The sharp sound of metal slicing through the air made my heart skip a beat.
In a second, mana erupted from my body to form a defensive shield.
'[Mana Shield]'
Cling-
The dagger bounced off my mana shield, which cracked where the dagger struck.
"Ugh."
'..Strong.. at least a 4th tier.'
My heart pounded against my ribs, my breaths coming in ragged gasps as I fought to steady myself
Who are they? No ordinary enemies could launch an attack like this.
The mysterious man launched another swift attack with his feet and threw a dagger toward me with alarming precision.
Clack-
Suddenly, I found myself in a difficult situation.
'...Huh? My mana shield broke?'
Vroom-
Another dagger shot past, barely grazing my shoulder, making blood spill out of the wound.
The sudden pain sent a shock through my body, and I could feel the warm blood trickling down my arm. Then, out of nowhere, another presence manifested itself behind me.
'...fuck'
Mana power of a 5th tier, he's strong.
I looked towards the both of them as I quickly backed away from both of them, until my back was pressed against the wall.
"Who are you guys?"
"Someone who is here to kill you."
The man, radiating a powerful 5th-tier aura, sneered. "So you're Alice Rosenfall. The one who thwarted our plans at the encampment."
'The attack on encampment day..? We were certainly ambushed by low-tier demons, and I did manage to stop them...'
Then a sudden realization came upon me. Suddenly, it all clicked. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place, revealing the truth I hadn't seen before
"Looks like you noticed."
"You guys-!"
'I need to summon-'
I tried to gather my mana, but something was wrong.
'Why can't I channel enough…?'
Then suddenly his figure vanished, and I found myself meeting him face to face as he knocked the air out of my sending crashing pain.
"Huek.."
Another punch landed squarely on my shoulders, blasting me away.
"Ha..haa."
'I need to concentrate.'
The man continued walking towards me at an abnormally slow pace.
"I can't let you summon a high-tier spirit. It is quite troublesome if you do that."
"...how did you know?"
My voice came out to be small, but I was left bewildered.
I tried to use my hand to help me get up but in a moment, another attack struck me right before I could channel my mana once again, this time hitting my side and causing me to stagger and crash into the wall.
"Ugh."
I wobbled and leaned against the wall, trying to regain my balance.
'...Where are the other students?'
I glanced around, only to be met with another kick toward my head. The force of the blow sent my head snapping back, and I again fell to the ground
My vision dimmed, and I barely mustered enough energy to say something.
"...What did you do to the other students?"
I could feel my blood boiling once I remembered Lucia. The thought of her being in danger filled me with rage.
'...'
"What do you think? They're probably all dead by now," he sneered, his voice dripping with malice.
I gritted my teeth as I tried to open my subspace.
'...If only I had a medium to summon a spirit right now.'
But to my disappointment, I couldn't access any of my subspaces and equipment. The situation was really dire, I couldn't use any of my weapons as I was left weapon-less against two monsters.
'They must have set up interference in this hallway.'
When I was trying to figure out the way out of the situation I found myself in, suddenly, only then did I remember a note that was handed to me by Alyssa.
Upon realizing the contents of that note, the situation was not as dire as before.
"It's time to end your life."
A dagger came crashing down upon me, but I let it strike my right palm. The pain was excruciating, but I had to endure it.
With the intense pain in my palm, I still kept my consciousness.
Despite my dire situation, I grinned, catching the man off-guard. I then channeled my mana into my blood and shouted,
"By the sacrifice of my blood, I summon thee, Astralis!"
Then in a blinding light, a child-like figure appeared mid-air, golden hair paired with its golden eyes as she descended.
In a flash, she quickly grabbed my hand that was impaled by a dagger.
"Alice! What happened to your hand? It's bleeding!"
Blood continued to spew out and formed a small puddle of blood right below the injured hand. Then I shifted my attention back towards the two men who flew back once I summoned Astralis. My one and only contracted high-tier spirit.
"Astralis, could you defeat these two over there?"
I pointed at the two men, who were still trembling in shock.
"Yes, I will do whatever it takes to defeat those two bad guys!"
The two men, fully dressed in black and wearing intricately designed black masks, shot out intense bloodlust as they glared at Astralis.
"You!"
The taller man pointed at me, the 5th tier person was questioning me.
"How did you manage to summon your spirit here? There should be no medium, and your mana is being suppressed! I-it should've been impossible!"
He trembled as he Astralis glared at him, even if a high-tier spirit was weakened, because of my pitiful mana capacity, but nevertheless, it was still a league above the two of them.
I quickly scanned my mana pool, and came to a conclusion.
'It seems there is a restriction on my mana pool.'
Mana was not properly gathering, as it scattered as I tried to gather them at one point.
In a second, Astralis summoned a bolt of light, a powerful one that could decimate this whole hallway, but there was a barrier, separating this part of the hallway into another space.
Therefore, the damage should only transfer to the barrier, instead of the outside world, and this hallway.
'So she wants to do this in one go, I see.'
Then she unleashed the bolt.
Boom-
The whole bodies of the two men were burnt to charcoal, while the barrier holding up this space slowly cracked. The force of the explosion sent vibrations through the air.
'The sheer power that I hold in my hand is a little nerve-wracking. Haha.'
"Nice job, Astralis!"
I patted Astralis on her tiny head, feeling a sense of relief.
"Hehe!"
Then the barrier collapsed into pieces and dissolved mid-air.
It revealed where the students were, multiple students being ganged up on by numerous unknown attackers. One of them was Lucia, who was at the forefront, brawling with her magic. She was quite injured, with multiple slashes around her body. The sight of her wounds filled me with rage.
"..."
"Obliterate all of those bad guys there."
Without a second thought, I commanded Astralis to kill them.
'To think they dare to harm Lucia.'
'[Blaze]'
A massive fire burst from my left hand into five separate bursts, each one heading toward the attackers. The heat was intense, and the flames roared with fury.
Boom-
In an instant, five men were blasted away while Astralis was busy fighting the rest of the enemies. The chaos of the battle was overwhelming.
I quickly ran towards Lucia and hugged her tightly, feeling a surge of relief that she was still alive.
"Ouch. Alice, that hurts! Hehe."
"Oh, I am sorry, Lucia. How are your wounds?"
I looked at her body, riddled with wounds but it seems none was life-threatening.
"Not too bad, these should heal quickly."
"Great."
I looked around, and it seemed like everyone was alive, and no one had died. The sight of my classmates alive and relatively unharmed made me sigh in relief.
'That could've been disastrous.'
Then I called out to Astralis.
"Astralis! Quickly leave one alive!"
Then a child's voice replied.
"Okay!"
'It seems it's concluding.'
Multiple people dressed in black were burnt to a crisp by Astralis, with only one survivor left conscious. She dragged the man over, his arms and legs were broken in half. I walked towards him and crouched down.
I took off his mask and began interrogating him.
"Who are you guys?"
The man remained silent, his eyes filled with defiance.
"I see, staying silent? Someone lend me their sword."
A glint of steel caught my eye as a blade was handed to me. I held it up, letting it slowly drop down sharply.
"You have one last chance to speak," I warned, the blade hovering near his throat. The man's eyes widened with fear, but he stubbornly kept his lips sealed.
"Very well," I said, pressing the sword lightly against his skin.
"Let's see how much pain you can endure before you break."
I cut off his left arm completely, as blood gushed out of his severed arm. The sight was gruesome, and the metallic scent of blood filled the air.
Thump
The arm dropped onto the ground.
"Ugh!"
The man still remained silent. I sighed.
"Astralis, do you think you can make him talk?"
The high-ranking spirit shimmered with a fierce light, its presence alone enough to instill dread. It moved closer, its aura of searing heat intensifying. The man's eyes darted to Astralis, panic beginning to overtake his stoic facade.
"Astralis can be quite persuasive," I said, leaning in.
"Would you prefer to speak to me or face its wrath?"
But then he suddenly swallowed something. His eyes rolled back, and he began convulsing.
'Poison..!'
I grabbed his head as I tried to make him throw up. But it was too late.
He was already foaming at the mouth, his skin turning purple, and he stopped breathing.
'...He committed suicide so we can't extract any information.'
I glanced around at the students, multiple with fear etched on their faces, all of them having witnessed someone dying, and even one being tortured. It was understandable that they were scared as first years but I couldn't be helped to be disappointed,
'These students are among the best at the world's top academy. It's disheartening to see them so unsettled.'
I released the man's head and walked over to the group, my steps heavy with frustration.
"All of you, follow me and Lucia. We will meet up with the others in this building to figure out what is happening."
But then suddenly, a defying surge of mana was emerging from outside.The eerie feeling I had was much clearer than before.
I quickly ran toward the closest room to the left, where the mana was most abundant. Through the window, I saw someone below—a man dressed in a jester suit, standing eerily still, his presence unnerving.
"What is that..!?"
Ba...Thump Ba…Thump!
The sound grew louder, matching the rising panic as I stared at the horrifying scene before me.
My eyes widened in horror as I spotted a girl with black hair fading into red, her blue eyes gleaming with madness. Her body was badly wounded and mutilated, barely recognizable as human. The scene was a terrifying blend of violence and insanity as she grinned maniacally.
"...That can't be Alyssa, right..?"