'Kill him.'

'...Destroy him.'

'Torture him.'

The moment Julien felt Kaelion's grip on his arm loosen, something within him snapped. Anger started to boil within his body, and he extended his hand forward to where a thin thread had extended.

It crept up from behind Kaelion, before entangling over his feet and severing them in half.

'How dare he...!?'

Grasping the coarse earth beneath him, Julien pushed himself up and launched himself towards where Kaelion was.

"M-my legs...!"

On the other hand, Kaelion was still panicked about his missing legs.

So much so that he didn't notice Julien who had arrived before him and grasped his neck.

"Ukeh..!"

Kealion's face grew pale immediately as his eyes widened.

Saliva flew out from his mouth as he grasped Julien's arms and dug his nails into them. But it was useless.

This little pain...

It was nothing to Julien.

Let alone a Julien who was not in the right state of mind.

'Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.'

Thump! Thump!

Kaelion continued to thrash his body around in an attempt to free himself. He even tried to cast a few spells, but whenever he did, Julien would headbutt him directly in the head.

Bang!

"Ukh...! N-no!"

Kaelion begged.

He begged and resisted.

He had to get out.

....He needed to get out.

But,

But,

"Ah..."

There was no way out.

Gradually, his breathing grew faint.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze was locked on Julien. There was clear hatred and anger in his gaze as he looked at Julien, but it was useless.

'Kill him.'

'....Make sure he pays for what he did.'

'How dare he!!!? After what you've done to help him!'

'Snake!'

'Bastard...!'

Julien had long lost his sense of reasoning.

The only thing in his mind was Kaelion in front of him.

He wanted him to suffer.

....To be in pain and to die.

How could this bastard betray him after he had helped him?

How!!

"Ukh...!"

The struggle had long stopped.

Kaelion's face was purple, and his eyes were widened to the extreme. At that moment, Julien could see from his expression that he had long given up.

He... was slowly waiting for his death to come.

A death that Julien was going to give him.

....Yes, he was going to kill him.

For what he did to him.

He was going to

Bang!

"Ukh!"

His thoughts were abruptly cut off by a large force as Julien found himself crashing against a nearby tree.

"Akh...!"

Saliva flew out from his mouth as his shoulder crashed against the tree.

"Cough!"

Holding onto his shoulder, Julien looked up to see several figures standing where Kaelion was.

"....Uh?"

He could recognize them at a glance.

In particular, two gray eyes stood out to him.

'Leon...?'

But such reasoning.

....It only lasted for a few seconds before his mind grew blank.

***

A few moments earlier.

The situation was abrupt. In one moment, Leon and the members of the Haven group were heading to Bremmer, when all of a sudden, a fog appeared out of nowhere and entrapped them all.

"Everyone! Please hold someone!"

"Hold onto each other!"

The instructor was nowhere in sight, and the only ones they could rely on to figure out the situation were each other.

Thankfully, everything proceeded smoothly.

"What is going on?"

Evelyn asked while she looked around.

"....Where is the instructor? And since when do fogs appear here?"

"They don't."

Aoife answered with a frown.

She was someone who had gone down this route thousands of times in the past.

It was the first time that she had witnessed something like this in her life. Something... wasn't right with the situation.

Nonetheless, she knew where to head.

"Let's go this way. I see an Elderglow Sentinel in this direction."

There was a specific breed of trees that grew the closer one got to Bremmer. They were known as 'Elderglow Sentinel' and were a type of breed that glowed upon touch.

Pressing her hand against the hard bark of the tree, a blue imprint was left on the tree.

"Yes, let's go this way."

They were a type of breed that only grew towards the edge of Bremmer, growing more and more abundant the closer they were to the city, meaning that they weren't very far from where they needed to be.

"We should be there in an hour."

Everyone sighed in relief upon hearing her words.

The sudden situation, and the fact that the Professor was missing made them all panic a little, but with Aoife, who was familiar with the terrain, they no longer needed to worry.

At least...

That was until they heard a sudden noise coming from the distance.

Bang!

It was the muffled sound of an explosion, and Aoife stopped dead in her tracks. Frowning, she looked at Leon and the others who were also looking towards the distance with frowns.

Sadly, the fog was too thick for them to see anything concrete let alone their own expressions.

Eventually, Evelyn spoke.

"Should we check it out?"

Pursing her lips, Aoife shook her head.

"No, it's dangerous."

Going there was not a great idea.

Especially since they didn't know what sort of situation they were in.

And this was coming from someone who could hardly keep her curiosity. There were times when Aoife understood that she couldn't satiate her curiosity.

"....I am of the same opinion."

"Me too."

The others also appeared to share the same thoughts as her. As of right now, their first priority was to get to Bremmer.

Everything else was a possible danger.

"Let's go."

Aoife nodded and led the ground forward.

Holding hands with the other group members, she led them forward. The noise grew more and more distant, and just when she thought she was far enough to not hear it anymore, she heard a sudden noise coming from up ahead.

Bang!

It was a similar noise to the one she had heard back then, but this time it was a lot closer and louder.

"...."

Her steps stopped, and the same was true for the others.

"What's going on?"

Frowning, Leon looked up ahead.

"....Is there something else going on?"

The noise was similar, but Leon didn't think it was the same noise from before.

They had clearly gone in the opposite direction.

There was no way it was the same noise.

....Or at least, that was until he heard Aoife's gasp.

"This...!"

Everyone's head flicked in her direction.

With widened eyes, Aoife looked at the tree before her.

Her expression continuously changed as she looked at the tree in front of her. Just as someone was about to ask what was going on, she muttered,

"....It's different."

She turned her head to look at the others.

"Just before... the tree... It was supposed to be an Elderglow Sentinel, but... it's not."

Aoife blinked her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing wrong. However, staring at the tree before her, she felt her heart drop.

Indeed, what was once an Elderglow Sentinel had completely changed into a different breed. Or rather...

'An illusion.'

The Elderglow Sentinel's that she had been following. They... had been illusions.

Aoife's stomach churned at the realization.

The same was true for the others. Looking around, they realized that there were no other Elderglow Sentinels and that they had completely lost their way.

Chills ran down Aoife's body as she looked around.

Bang!

Startling her out of her thoughts was the sound of another explosion.

It was closer than before.

"....What should we do?"

Kiera looked in the direction of where the noise came from with a frown. She was creeped out by the situation, and the fact that she could hardly see was making it worse for her.

All she could see was the faint outlines of the trees around her, sticking out like a sore thumb in the dense fog that enshrouded them.

"Should we check out the noise?"

"....I still don't think it's a good idea."

Evelyn said from the side.

"I agree with her."

Josephine added from the side.

But there was only one problem.

"If we don't want to head there, which direction should we go?"

Leon said as he looked around.

"I don't know what's going on, but the last time we moved away from the source of the noise, we ended up getting closer to it. Are we going to head in the opposite direction again?"

"...."

A tense silence took over the group.

Indeed, it was as Leon said. Although they weren't sure if the source of the noise was the same, they could tell that they were similar.

And given that the last time they headed in the opposite direction, and yet ended up near it, would heading for the source of the noise be the correct decision?

"Ukh...!"

Kiera ruffled her hair.

"Why does this shit have to be so complicated?"

"...."

Aoife stood silently on the side.

She didn't say anything and just looked ahead with squinted eyes. In the end, taking a deep breath, she bit her lips.

"....I have a feeling that regardless of which path we choose, we'll end up in the same direction of where the noise comes from."

Once again, the surroundings went quiet.

A sense of dread started to loom over the group as they looked towards the noise came from.

Clenching his fists, Leon pressed his forearm against the hilt of his sword.

"We should get ready to fight."

There didn't seem to be any other choice.

He too felt the same way as Aoife. The situation... was creepy, and regardless of where they headed, he had a feeling that they'd end up in the same spot.

"I agree."

Aoife calmed her rising nerves as she looked around.

"Rest up for a bit and get ready to fight. At the same time, make sure to keep your guard up. We might get ambushed at any minute now."

None of the cadets present had been slacking during the academic year.

Having been trained for quite a while, they were all able to keep their composure and follow her instructions.

It took them now more than a few minutes to get fully ready and calm.

Although Aoife couldn't see their expressions, she could feel it from their general vibe that they were ready.

'Good.'

She sighed in relief.

'....Looks like the training with them over the past half a year wasn't for nothing.'

Following what had happened back in the Mirror Dimension, she had thought it was important to get the cadets ready for situations such as those.

They may not have remembered, but she did.

....And using the Academy's resources, she was able to train them for unfamiliar and creepy scenarios such as these.

Bang!

A muffled explosion echoed in the distance once more.

Everyone grew alert.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

Following their confirmation, Aoife stepped forward and moved in the direction of where the sound came from.

Rustle~

As she moved, she hoped that they'd distance themselves as they moved closer to the noise.

However,

Bang!

It only grew closer with each step.

Taking another step, Aoife pushed a couple of branches away from her face, giving her a view of the sight that lay ahead.

"....!"

Her expression changed the moment she looked ahead.

Unlike behind them, the fog wasn't so thick.

She could see clearly what was ahead, and what she saw left her breathless.

"This...!"

"Ah."

The same was true for the others.

All eyes were locked on a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. With a deranged, almost maniac look, he mounted a person they were all familiar with.

Kaelion.

The strongest person from the Aurora Empire delegates.

Looking around, the two of them were the only people present, and...

"Ukh..!"

With both hands pressed against his neck, Kaelion struggled to breathe.

His entire face was purple, and his body started to convulse.

He was... dying.

Everyone felt their breath leave their body at the sight.

Their heartbeats quickened, and their muscles grew stiff.

That... who was he?

...And why was he doing this?

There were only a couple of people who managed to recognize the cadet. They were none other than Leon, Aoife, and Kiera.

Swoosh!

Without hesitation, Leon rushed forward, extending his leg and kicking the cadet away from Kealion's body.

Bang!

His actions were fast, and the cadet hardly had any time to react.

Snapping out of it, the others rushed towards Kaelion and their expression twisted further upon seeing his missing legs.

"It's not good."

Leon muttered while checking his pulse.

"He's on the verge of death. His pulse is extremely weak. If we

"

Leon was never able to finish his sentence.

All of a sudden, the gravity surrounding them increased greatly, forcing their bodies down.

"This is...!?"

Before the shock could even die down, a figure appeared right before Leon. He was fast, but not fast to the point where Leon couldn't react.

It was just that...

'The gravity.'

As if his entire body was being constrained, he could hardly move it.

Leon could only helplessly watch as the figure blurred right before him and...

Bang!

"Uheeekkk...!"

A powerful blow dug its way into his stomach, lifting his body slightly in the air.

"Akh..! Cough..."

The blow was devastating, and a pain unlike ever before dug into Leon's mind, forcing his eyes open as something crawled up from his stomach.

"Blergh...!"

"Leon!"

Because the others weren't as proficient as him in the [Body] category, they weren't able to react on time. By the time it all happened, Leon was already on the ground puking due to the impact of the blow.

"Uegh...!"

Holding onto his stomach, Leon was barely able to look up.

That was when his gaze locked onto two cold and unmoved blue eyes.

Within those eyes, he could see madness.

An unquenchable madness.

....And as of right now.

That madness...

It was directed right at him.

No, them.