Chapter 13 - Academy City (2)
"Get out of the way! Cart coming through!"
It was a cargo cart laden with cabbages.
The cart, which had been speeding past me, suddenly shattered into pieces, turning black.
As if rotting and crumbling.
Every visible building and stall began to collapse as if struck by an earthquake.
KABOOM!
Everything burning.
Whoosh!
Rotting and disintegrating into blackness.
Soon, masked men spewed colorful smoke, covering the entire street in a poison mist, and grotesquely bloated toxic beings surged out from all directions, beginning to massacre the people.
-Aaaargh!
-H-help!
-Cough! Cough! Choke...
People fleeing stumbled forward, coughing and spewing foamy blood.
But I could do nothing.
This was an illusion.
What I was seeing was the future.
I didn't know the exact date, but it felt like the not-too-distant future.
Two years?
Or perhaps one year from now?
This city would be attacked by the enemy and collapse disastrously.
And the attack I just witnessed was only the beginning.
The hallucination continued.
A larger attack followed shortly after, ultimately leading to complete destruction.
It was the death of the city.
A smaller ruin followed by a greater ruin, and then an even more massive ruin, hitting Bryse in succession.
What kind of terrible future is this?
I bit my lip.
Like a knotted string, this city seemed endlessly entangled and connected towards a future of death.
"Ugh..."
My stomach churned from the continuous hallucination.
I thought I had become immune to death, but I was mistaken.
I still couldn't remain composed in its presence.
Tens of thousands.
No, hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Various disasters arriving year after year.
Especially the final wave, which swallowed everything, was overwhelming.
Thousands of soldiers guarding the city, renowned heroes of the Sword King family, were powerless before that colossal wave and swept away.
Could I stop this?
Who on earth could?
The enemy was powerful.
They even seemed to be divided into factions rather than united, yet the Sword King family couldn't even handle one of those factions and collapsed.
The enemies destroyed the city as if competing with each other.
Then, at some point, with the ruined city as a backdrop, they began to fight among themselves.
"Wow..."
What on earth are those guys doing?
A civil war between those bearing the Poison King's banner.
In that hellish illusion, the Sword King family couldn't even be a supporting act.
Then, at some point, a man appeared.
He must have been about twenty years old.
The man, with an indifferent expression, began to destroy everything.
No matter if they were enemies or allies.
And even me.
Solely to gain power, abandoning everything and becoming a hideous figure, I charged at the man.
But I couldn't defeat that man.
-Finally, this day has come.
The process was blurry, but the outcome was clear.
The man smiled as he trampled upon me in defeat.
-I've waited for this day, Ray.
"Ugh!"
I forced my eyes shut, breaking free from the hallucination.
Is this a predetermined future?
No, that can't be.
If the future were predetermined, I would have already lost my life in that poison cave.
So, this too is merely one highly probable possibility.
Extremely, if I were to just leave the city right now and flee far south, that would be the end of it.
Then at least the future I just saw wouldn't occur.
But.
But I cannot leave this city.
The moment I run away from here, the future I desire also vanishes.
To get revenge on the Poison King Cult, successfully graduating from the academy was paramount.
But in a few years, the city where the academy is located will itself be destroyed.
And if I stay here, I will die too.
A paradox.
Conflicting futures are intertwined like destiny within a single city.
And in every future, there exists a priority.
For now, the future where the city is destroyed and I die with it seems far more dominant than the future where I succeed in my revenge.
What should I do to change the future?
I don't know.
What I saw were merely possibilities and outcomes.
If it's going to show me the future, shouldn't it also show me how to change it?
In the first place, how can I see the future?
I don't know this either.
I can only guess that the incident in the poison cave was the cause.
And the word 'heavenly' that vaguely remains in my mind seems related...
"Hey! You there!"
"...Yes?"
"You alright? You were swaying. Need a ride home?"
It was the owner of the cargo cart that had just passed me. It had clearly been engulfed by potent poison and scattered into dust...
No, that was an illusion.
This is reality now.
The cart owner had stopped his cart when he saw me stopped on the street.
"I'm fine. Thank you for the offer."
"Really? Not suddenly ill or anything?"
"No. I'm sometimes like this."
"A chronic illness? Then you should be more careful. Watch your step. And try to walk on the side."
"On the side?" "Walk on the side of the road. Unless you want to get hit by a cart. Be careful then!"
The cart owner waved his hand and drove off. I immediately moved to the side of the road and sighed.
Don't walk in the middle of the road.
That was the first lesson I learned in Bryse.
By the way, who was the man who killed me in the illusion?
A warrior of the Poison King family?
Or a new Poison King?
Perhaps he was a traitor from the Sword King family.
It was blurry, but he seemed to be using an ability similar to Aura.
***
"This makes no sense... Poison and Aura are antithetical. When they meet, they neutralize each other. But you, why..."
"Why don't they disappear?"
The boy generated a larger flow of Aura.
Simultaneously, he began to wrap the Life-Death Poison around the Aura like a decoration.
"No..."
"Do you know about magnets? Magnets attract opposites and repel like. This is the same principle."
"...What?"
"If you align the poles of poison and Aura, they repel without touching. If they don't touch, there's nothing to neutralize. That's how they coexist."
"Are you saying that makes sense? If that were possible..."
Suddenly, Galbray's body was sent flying backward.
"Choke!"
He couldn't even react.
The boy in front of him flew in like a bird and struck him in the chest.
With a headbutt.
The spiraling airflow wrapping around his entire body rotated rapidly.
Did that rotation create this incredible speed?
"Damn."
The boy, having landed, touched his head and frowned.
"I didn't intend to headbutt... It's trickier than I thought. It'll take some time to perfect."
He himself hadn't realized he would be this fast.
The boy smiled towards the Poison King, who was crumpled far away.
"You're right. Evolution seems necessary after all."
"Kgh... Cough..."
"Galbray. Ninth Poison King. Your skill was plausible. But you don't seem to be a suitable figure for the Poison King. Step down from that position."
"Shut up..."
"The duel is over. My victory. If you don't accept, there is only death."
"Death? Go ahead and try. Ptooey!"
Galbray spit blood and gnashed his teeth.
Then, two forces swirling around the boy's body formed a new spiral and surged towards the enemy.
"As you wish."
It was at that very moment.
With a resounding crash, the ceiling shattered.
Simultaneously, two large masses that had been on the ceiling fell below.
They were puppets.
Exquisitely assembled puppets holding shields, directly blocking the spiraling force that flew towards them.
With an explosion, shockwaves spread in all directions.
But that was all.
The shields and puppets, as well as Galbray who was crumpled behind them, were perfectly fine without a single scratch.
"This is..."
The boy fixed his gaze on the puppets.
"Marionettes... Such intricate puppets. It seems the Larianth family finally succeeded."
"Larianth?"
"Yes. They were zealous about producing puppet soldiers."
"What era are you even talking about? Do you think only they made puppets in the Poison King family?"
Galbray forced himself up, poking his head out from between the puppets.
"Every family already makes and uses puppet soldiers. These ones are special creations even among them."
"Horrifying. Weren't toxic beings and poison demons enough? I wished puppet creation would fail..."
The boy frowned.
What moves the puppets are the humans inside them.
And at the same time, they were beings that could no longer be called human.
They operated as mere parts, regardless of their own will.
"Poison King. It seems you must retreat now."
It was the Vice-Cult Leader.
The boy could feel the footsteps gathering beyond the shattered door.
"Yes. That would be good."
The boy smiled at the Poison King hidden between the puppets.
"Your life is long, Galbray. I shall return for today."
"Hah! Planning to run away? You, the First Poison King... Wait, did you perhaps get scared by the puppets?"
"That's right."
The boy nodded obediently.
"I find those puppets unpleasant."
"What?"
"Soulless dead should not meddle in human affairs. A dead body should return to the earth."
"Hah! Look at him whining because he doesn't like it."
Galbray patted the puppet's shoulder and shouted,
"Coward! These are just puppets! Don't be so hypocritical, Kainens. Aren't you yourself using a young whippersnapper's body like a puppet?"
"This is not a puppet."
The boy stopped backing away and pointed to his own body.
"This is me. And when I leave, it will return to its original state."
"What?"
"The owner of the body still slumbers within. I am merely borrowing it. I intend to return it someday. When I obtain the true body I desire..."
"Poison King."
The old man urged the boy, retreating.
The boy also followed the old man, leaping out through the broken window of the hallway beyond the door.
"Haa..."
Only then did Galbray sigh and slump down.
The guards who belatedly rushed to the throne shouted something, but no sound reached his ears.
"Poison King! Are you unharmed!"
"..."
"Enemy attack! Oh, here too already..."
"Useless fools. Get out of here."
Galbray waved his hand, still slumped.
The guards were appalled at the sight of the shattered throne.
"The throne has fallen... W-we'll assemble the special forces immediately!"
"Enough. Don't do anything useless."
"But..."
"If you cause a commotion and the higher-ups get involved, it'll be a headache. No, they might already know... This has become annoying. Very annoying."