Chapter 88

this is a fictional story by realTensai

From now on it’s an all-out war…

Alvis just stood there as these words echoed in his ears, eating away at his last hopes. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t envision a peaceful future anymore. This declaration of war just sealed off any possible good outcome.

And everyone present realized that too.

After about one week, the Devil Cult and the Priest of Knowledge had achieved their goal. This was the scenario the Devil had envisioned. They had turned this situation into a War of Races.

Alvis bit his trembling lips as he didn’t know if the feeling tormenting him from within was guilt, frustration, or fear of the unknown.

“What’s going on here?” A batch of teachers stormed into the building asking this question. However, Alvis could hardly imagine that they just happened to appear, not knowing what had happened.

“Let us free!” the demons shouted, their hatred vibrating in the air.

“We won’t do anything,” Mika said, his voice oddly calm, which contrasted so much with the given situation that an icy shiver ran down Alvis’ spine.

The teachers and Lia felt the same as their faces twisted into a grimace.

“My demon brothers and sisters, listen to me,” Mika said, his voice still cold. “Our time for retaliation will surely come, but for now, let’s step back.”

“But—”

“Now isn’t the time.”

As he said that, his gaze wandered from one teacher to the other and even landed on Lia and, in the end, on Alvis. Their eyes locked and time seemed as if stood still as his blazing crimson eyes declared war on Alvis.

The other demons understood his message. In a situation where they were tied up and several powerful teachers were on the watch, they couldn’t act. However, Mika promised them that their time would come. They would surely strike back.

“How strange? I thought you demons would care more about your folks’ men, but I guess it’s not true. After all, one of your kind just died before your eyes and you do nothing.”

“CHARLES!”

“Uro, what did I just say?” Mika glared at his comrade, the intensity in his eyes making him shut his mouth.

Seeing that, Charles could only laugh.

“Haha, good dog.”

“This is enough, Charles,” the teacher who cast the gravity spell said. His tone was harsh and, just to prove his point, he increased the gravity around Charles, making his face passionately kiss the ground.

“I understand, I understand,” Charles mumbled with his head to the ground, giving in to the pressure. “We humans also will do nothing. We already got our revenge. So let us be free now.”

The teachers exchanged doubtful glances, as each of them weighed off the pros and cons in their heads. However, the likelihood of the situation escalating again now was very low, as the teachers were already alert and both sides confirmed their cooperation. Also, they couldn’t keep them tied to the ground forever, which led to their decision to let them go.

With one confirmative nod to Lia, she understood their decision and redid her spell. The mighty plants unshackled the students before retreating to Lia and then vanishing completely. The teacher let go of his gravity spell, too, making everyone stand straight again.

“Everyone will go their separate ways and you won’t interact with each other. It’s best if you wait in your rooms until we have sorted out everything.”

“Shut up,” a demon student said, not caring about the fact that he was talking to a superior. “We won’t listen to you anymore. Right now, even you teachers are our enemies.”

His words had the teachers at a loss for words, their faces displaying genuine horror. It was the fact that they couldn’t even respond that just made their apparent lack of control even more clear. However, this didn’t stop them from at least trying. Several teachers went to detain the human boy who just killed the demon, while other teachers dealt with caring for the corpse.

“Let him go!” some humans shouted.

“Try to object to our decision,” a teacher responded, his killing intent raising so much it made them shiver. Even though it wasn’t the best pedagogical way to go about it, it was the best way to deal with them in this current situation. No matter how much control they lost, they couldn’t just let a murderer go before their eyes.

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“Let’s go,” Charles urged the few rebelling humans. “They won’t kill him nor harm him. The worst they can do is lock him up, but maybe this would be a blessing in a situation like this.”

After hearing Charles’ convincing arguments, the humans retreated. However, this wasn’t the case for the demons as most of them still stood near the victim, mourning over his death.

“Why? Why? How could you just die on me like that, Astan?”

Yet the one who cried the loudest wasn’t a demon, but an elven girl. She came forth from the crowd of spectators, as she only now had the chance to advance. Her eyes were already red and even her clothes became wet with tears. With trembling legs, she approached the corpse, yet before she arrived, someone stopped her.

“Don’t go any step further,” the demon girl, who had been the first one to react to the death, said.

“B-But, me and Astan were friends. We were friends!”

“You’re all the same!” she shouted, shocking everyone who was still in the hall. Yet her shaking voice wasn’t even filled with hatred, but with something way more complex. “Humans, elves, dwarves, or giants, you’re all the same. You all secretly hate us demons and wish we would cease to exist.”

The pain in her voice made Alvis’ heart drop as her teary eyes reflected the years of trauma, hatred, and racism she had to endure since coming to this country.

“N-No, no, this isn’t true. I don’t…”

“Let us go, Serla.”

The elven girl’s friends dragged her away from this scene, unable to watch this any longer.

“No, no, I still have to talk to Astan. I... still have to say goodbye.”

However, her friends ignored her pleas forcefully, taking her away.

And all Alvis could do was watch as all of this was happening, his heart sinking.

His mind couldn’t even process how fast things had escalated, but it was after seeing what happened just now that he realized that this wasn’t even the case.

It wasn’t this survival game that created the hatred between the races. The anger, the fear, the distrust—it had been there all along, festering beneath the surface. Since the start of the Union, no maybe even since the beginning of time, people feared the unknown. They feared what wasn’t them. Thus, two different races, with different cultures and morals, feared each other as for the both of them the others were unknown. They were potential threats to their well-being.

All this survival game did was bring forth what everyone hid in their darkest thoughts. It acted as a catalyst, breaking the pent-up flood of racism, and exposing the raw, ugly truth of their world. And now with the declaration of war and people, students and classmates, willing to kill each other, there was no way back. Even if Alvis somehow completed this level, it would already be too late. People would’ve died, classmates would’ve betrayed each other, friends would’ve turned into enemies. How could normal school life continue after that?

It was with this chain of thought that Alvis couldn’t help but wonder, is this run even worth saving?

Every cell of his rebelled and his heart twisted in agony and shame for him being so weak, so worthless, that this was even an option.

I’ve learned nothing. I’m still a human. Even with my ability to respawn, I’m still a human that will die one day. So I can’t just throw away my life and start again because things got complicated. I only have three respawns, so I better give it my all. You promised that to yourself that you would live a life of no regrets!

As these thoughts manifested in Alvis’ head, Lia almost collapsed. His attention was snatched into the present as he saw that happening.

“Lia!”

Alvis immediately sprinted to her side. Maya, who was already next to her, picked her up, supporting her by putting her arm over her shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Maya asked, panicked.

However, Lia didn’t respond. Her breathing grew shallow, and her hands shot up to clutch her head, her fingers digging into her scalp as if trying to block something out. Her emerald eyes darted around the room, unfocused, unable to settle on anything as if haunted by invisible specters only she could see. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, her skin growing paler with every passing second. She gripped her temples harder, her nails leaving faint red marks on her skin as she squeezed her eyes shut, her whole body trembling as though she were battling an unseen force.

“T-This is insane. They want to kill each other. No, they will kill each other. They will kill their own classmates, their comrades, and friends. All their dark thoughts, all their emotions, I can feel it. It’s terrorizing my head. Their fear, hatred, anxiety, rage, despair, grief, shock, hopelessness, paranoia, guilt, shame, disgust, suspicion, vengeance, jealousy, frustration, panic, confusion, dread, resentment, bitterness, regret, overwhelm, disbelief; everything! I can feel everything…. But I can do nothing. I’m useless. Someone was killed before my eyes and all I did was watch it happen. And now that Mr. Woltzer is gone, there is no one who can hold this situation together. Even though I’m the student council president, I have no control over the students. All I do is shiver in fear while being helpless and not knowing what to do. I haven’t changed at all. I’m still pathetic.”

It was the first time Alvis saw Lia having such an emotional breakdown.

No, this isn’t true.

He had seen her in a state like this before. Back then, when she told him about her past and everything she had to go through. Yet even back then, she tried to hide everything behind a smile.

She is always putting up a strong front, only worrying about others.

But in the end, even Lia was just a normal girl.

Alvis embraced her without saying anything. Just like she always supported him in his lowest moments, he wanted to be there for her when she felt like she had no one.

Everything will be alright. Together, we will overcome everything.

He didn’t say these words out loud and only repeated them in his head. Yet, this was the best way to calm her down. Because of her empathetic abilities, she felt everyone’s emotions, which led to all these dark thoughts tormenting her. However, Alvis would work against that by only thinking positively, thus filling her head with optimism. He alone would cast away everything that burdened her.

It took some time, but Lia’s trembling began to ease, and for the first time in what felt like hours, she took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Al,” she whispered, but her voice wasn’t shaking anymore. It took her a few more moments before being able to stand up on her own. She wiped away her tears and her emerald eyes started glowing with resolve. “Let’s hold an emergency student council meeting. I figured out the only way to save this situation.”