“All right, everyone. Keep to the plan and man your stations. In the meantime, I’m going to take down as many Chaos as I can.”
Alicia and Melia made a beeline for the main school building while Sain and Marni headed out to the school grounds, after which they split up and Marni made her way toward the room with the titan’s staff. Sain, now alone, drew his sword and stepped outside the main gate of the school.
After Sain and his friends left, Cain took charge of the evacuation.
“We’re under assault by dangerous monsters! Start heading to the shelter immediately!”
This was where the sheer scope of the academy came into play. Jenifa was an enormous institution that owned large tracts of land in remote locations, an example of which was the forest used for the field exercises. One of these locations was home to an evacuation shelter, which was exactly what they needed at the moment.
“If you’re a student, help with evacuating the outside guests and guide them toward the shelter!”
He checked for the presence of Chaos nearby and found that they were not surrounding the school. Instead, the attack was concentrated in a single direction. If they had wanted to take hostages, encircling the academy would have been more effective, but that probably would have forced them to spread out their forces too much, making it impossible to breach the barrier. While Sain was keeping them busy, he had to evacuate as many people as possible.
“Ugh...”
A sudden bout of dizziness forced him to stop and catch his breath. His whole body was steeped in fatigue. His limbs felt like lead, and every step was an effort.
“The power of the holy knight, huh... It sure would be convenient to have that right now,” he muttered, recalling the way Sain had instantly revitalized himself and ran off to fight. He figured it involved taking the goddess’s power into himself and using it to temporarily restore his stamina.
Ever since his sister had been killed by Chaos, he’d studied light magic tirelessly. Furthermore, he’d done considerable research into the holy knight, granting him an accurate understanding of their abilities and strengths. If he had had that power... could he have saved his sister?
“I...”
He’d never felt the urge to pine — to wish he had something he didn’t. Strength alone was his guide, and he’d thought that having more of it would always be the solution to all his problems. Now, however, that power was within reach. It was a power he would never have been able to acquire, and right now, it could be his. All he had to do was ask.
He didn’t want to reject everything about his past self. He’d been overconfident, yes, but he had gained genuine strength as a result. The path he’d taken wasn’t a mistake, and he hadn’t walked it lightly. A new power was now at his fingertips. He had no doubt that Sain would readily give it to him. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t turn his mind away from the memory of his sister dying at the hands of Chaos. If he’d had the power of the holy knight then, would his sister have been saved? No, she wouldn’t have. The holy knight had been present, and his sister had still died.
What did that mean? It meant not all forms of strength were equal, and he had to make sure he was pursuing the right one. The thought was troubling, sending tendrils of doubt into the deepest parts of his mind. Just then, he heard the sound of glass cracking overhead.
“What’s— The barrier! It broke!”
Normally transparent and invisible to the human eye, the barrier became briefly observable as it crumbled. Soon after, a unique presence wafted in, so vile that it elicited visceral disgust; it was the undeniable sensation of Chaos.
“Kyaaaa!”
Somewhere, a girl screamed, signaling the entry of Chaos into the school grounds. He looked around and discovered that Alicia and Melia were already in the thick of battle.
“Ray Javelin! ”
He launched his massive spear of light at a Beast of Chaos, killing it with one blow. The girl who’d screamed stood a few feet away, frozen in terror. Her legs gave way, and she landed on her backside, her wide, tearful eyes shifting from the Beast to him.
“P-President—”
“Go! Get a move on already!”
The sight of the normally unflappable student council president shouting at her with a sense of desperate urgency was enough to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation. She quickly picked herself up and ran off in the direction of the shelter. Cain watched her go for a few seconds before he was hit by a severe bout of vertigo that sent him reeling.
“Ugh... Looks like... I’m at my limit...”
Battling Chaos the previous day had drained him. A night’s rest had been moderately restorative, but whatever stamina he’d recovered had been depleted again during his match against Sain. With his legs weak and his head spinning, he pressed his hand to his forehead, trying to steady himself. Then, he saw them — two Beasts approaching him with fangs bared.
Is this it?
The morbid thought flashed across his mind like a large shadow, only for him to quickly realize that it wasn’t just a thought; someone had actually jumped in front of him.
“Emilia?!”
She stood with her back to him, purple hair still fluttering from the motion, and spread out her hands as if shielding him from the Beasts.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get out of here!”
“No!” Emilia exclaimed, her voice firm but her shoulders trembling. “I’m... I’m going to protect you!”
And that was when it hit him like a bolt of lightning in his mind. Suddenly, he understood what Sain had been worried about. The future he’d been cautioned against was now very clear, and very real.
“Picture yourself in a situation where you do lose. Isn’t there someone who might jump in? Someone who might place themselves in harm’s way to protect you?”
He mouthed his answer to Sain’s question.
Emilia.
It was so obvious. He should have known. But it was too late; fear had become truth. The memory of his sister, arms spread out exactly as Emilia’s were now, consumed everything else in his mind. Emotions rolled through him, revived from the grave of remembrance. Regret. Fury. Sorrow. And hatred. His life was replaying itself, and his heart shuddered with wordless agony at the implication.