It had happened too fast.

Complete and utter confusion had immediately turned into a bloodbath. Those who hesitated for far too long became targets and those who acted first were immediately focused on. Even those who didn’t want to participate in such senseless violence were eventually swept into the chaos.

Sammuel quickly analyzed the situation. The best way to do that was to assess the supposed students’ strengths.

[Combat Power: 957]

[Combat Power: 23]

[Combat Power: 591]

It was a mixed bag. There were only a handful of people who reached more than 1,000 Combat Power. The handlers that joined in wouldn’t have any trouble at all. From the looks of the current state of the battlefield, there was barely any danger from the students at all. That is, only from the students.

[Combat Power: ???]

As I thought, Edward Wrester the Great Human of Philosophy, is the genuine article. He should be the main threat in this scenario. But for the time being, he doesn’t look like he’ll do anything.

The people that Sammuel grew apart with had their own share of this sudden carnage. Their reactions were to be expected. Some of the students wanted to escape but they weren’t able to do so as Edward blocked them away. From the looks of it, the only way out of here was to be one of the few survivors.

“It’s a lot simpler than I thought it would be.” One of the handlers confidently expressed. He immediately joined in on the battle. He took out his own weapon, a whip that had been lined by what seemed to be a sharp spindle of compiled metal wires. It seemed to be extremely flexible yet durable.

With a single use of his whip, he easily dispatched eight students. He didn’t have any moral conflicts from this due to already knowing for a fact that the enemies before him were nothing more than an illusion. Adding on how they turn into a mist when they disappear, it wasn’t hard for them to separate themselves.

From those he killed, a fraction of that mist of energy surged through his body. This immediately caused a change to occur in him.

[Status: ??? | Permanently Gain Combat Power: +6 | Feuge: 3,522]

This small change might’ve seemed inconsequential but it spoke volumes to everyone else. The moment everyone realized what kind of opportunity this was, no one waited. They immediately pounced on the nearest student to serve as their prey.

Even Rothell didn’t hold himself back, he hastily grabbed Lilia and coated her in mana. A barrier was then formed that prevented anyone inside or outside from interfering with one another before the barrier broke. With this, Rothell wouldn’t have to worry about Lilia losing her life.

As for the rest of the handlers, they all took their own approach. Some of them chose to do the same thing as Rothell but from the apparent looks of it, the barriers that were cast were leagues weaker than the one that Rothell made. A few handlers even personally took their assigned captives and brought them with them.

It was a mix of reactions but there was one comforting fact that came with this, at the very least, they weren’t intent on letting the captives die too easily.

Valerie took a unique approach amidst everything. As she didn’t need to worry about Gregor, she immediately sought out a person, Martine. She hastily looked around yet it was difficult to see through the constant battles that were occurring all around her.

With a seemingly naive expression of confusion, one of the students thought that this was an opportunity to get rid of another competitor. As he used a concealed dagger, he ruthlessly tried to stab Valerie’s back.

As he was sure that it would be a swift death, his eyes were already looking at another target when the unexpected happened. His dagger stopped mere millimeters away from Valerie’s skin. She looked behind her and counterattacked.

[Lightning Surge]

Valerie didn’t seem as clueless as she let on. The student immediately became a charred corpse. The black crisped flesh became mist that entered her body. It seemed to have benefited her greatly.

“Where is he?” Valerie kept on going through the battlefield with one singular goal.

The entire scenery was constantly changing. From the safety of this room, Sammuel and Gregor were given the opportunity to take it all in. Of the two within this room, one had a relaxed posture while the other was grimly looking on as everything unfolded.

“This is great, isn’t it? We’re pretty much safe from anything that’ll happen.”

In response, Sammuel said nothing. Sammuel took this situation terribly as the implications were quite clear. At the corner of his vision, he saw Martine acting strangely. Martine ran up and decisively chose to do the most questionable actions possible.

The very first thing that Martine did was go seek out the other remaining safe rooms that he remembered. He would immediately activate those safe rooms and ensure that no one else managed to get to them. Granted, he was unable to get to every single one due to how fast everything had happened back then. It was already a miracle he could remember this much.

Due to his efforts, he managed to destroy seven of the eleven saferooms. The only saferooms that were activated were the ones that he had forgotten and the single one that he had intentionally given to Sammuel and Gregor.

After achieving his goal, Martine didn’t participate in the senseless bloodshed either. He immediately went up to where Edward was. Martine didn’t cower at Edward’s presence at all.

“You won’t make a move even now.” Martine exchanged a few words with the phantom of his past.

“Peculiar.” Within Edward’s hollow eyes, a slight spark of intrigue appeared.

Martine didn’t take heed to Edward after that. He immediately came to the desk where he rashly opened the drawer to reveal an odd item. It had a black luster in the shape of a stamp or at the very least a part of it. It was a fragment that was supposed to be used for much later.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

No response. Martine took this fragmented stamp and branded himself. A large surge of power began to imbue himself. There was no need to reply to someone like him.

[Status: Student Mark Of The Great Philosopher (1/5) | Gain Combat Power: +1,000 | Martine: 6,232]

Right after that, Martine didn’t waste another moment and ran off in another direction. He had… left the room. Edward had initially blocked off anyone that wanted to run away but he didn’t at all do anything when Martine left.

He left without even looking back. Valerie caught a brief glimpse of Martine and immediately ran off after him. She seemed intent on trying to reach him. And oddly… Edward did nothing as well. Some of the students saw this and tried to escape as well but Edward finally made a move.

As it turned out, there was something special about both Martine and Valerie. Sammuel saw this oddity amidst the chaos and kept this in mind. His guess had immediately been the brand since that was the only unique thing that Martine had gained.

Martine might have gotten away because of the Mark he had gained but that doesn’t explain why Valerie was able to do so as well.

Meanwhile, stuck within one of the saferooms, Sammuel and Gregor were waiting for time to pass by. There was another topic that Sammuel focused on.

This is something that Martine had gone through, that much is obvious. But why is it replaying itself? There must be something I can figure out while I’m here. Some kind of clue that’ll help in the future.

While Gregor was lazily hanging back while the outside world raged on in chaos, Sammuel immediately pushed him off.

“H-Hey! Watch it! I may not look like it but I’m pretty strong-”

“I’m trying to see if we got betrayed.”

“Eek! Really?” Gregor’s tune immediately shifted, immediately following Sammuel’s words.

Martine didn’t betray us, in fact, I’d even go as far as to say that he saved us. The system called it a safe room for a reason. I just need to see what I can learn while I’m here.

“Now make room, this room’s not glowing for no reason.”

Gregor looked around and patted one of the glowing runic symbols around him. He narrowed his eyes before muttering something. “Yeah, I have no idea what these mean.”

“You’ve never seen them before?” Sammuel felt a strange inkling that they were familiar but at the same time, completely different. He tried to analyze it.

[???]

Nothing. As expected, it was something that Sammuel had no power to understand for the time being. The implications have soon to show themselves.

The duo searched around to determine one fact, these glowing runes, or rather, this one singular rune that had been copied over and over again were all set in a premeditated way. What’s even more interesting is the fact that there were 33 runes.

“33 runes… You don’t reckon that it’s how many Edward wants left, right?”

“It is.” Sammuel narrowed his eyes. While they were observing everything unfold, one of the runes above them suddenly disappeared. It had stopped glowing. Sammuel and Gregor instinctively backed off. This rune lost its light.

Sammuel glanced at Gregor just as Gregor had done the same. Both had instinctively felt fear upon such a phenomenon, this was not a coincidence. Although Sammuel wasn’t able to determine if Gregor was just acting, he knew that Gregor still had his guard up despite acting like this.

Mere moments later, a voice echoed out. It had the same apathetic and bored tone from before yet it held much more power now. “That’s enough. Starting today, those still alive will be my students. Alas, it seems as if everyone has been quite… eager.”

Those alive within this vast space were only 32 people. 26 of which were the captives and their handlers. There wasn’t a single casualty on their side. This outcome didn’t particularly spark joy in the captives, however.

“What a joke.” One of the captives spoke out. From their perspective, their handlers had just gotten substantially stronger while they were stuck, unable to do anything at all. This was not a favorable outcome. What’s even more concerning was the fact that most of the handlers didn’t seem that concerned.

“All planned, eh?” The very same old man who had been causing trouble since the beginning came out to voice his opinion on again. But this time, most of the captives found his words tolerable. “We’re just bait. In more ways than one, it looks like. I bet there’s not even a spy among us.”

“Henry.” Henry’s handler voiced out. He finally acted this time around. Previously, it was just ramblings that didn’t matter much but this time, he was inciting a riot. This was beyond his handler’s tolerance. “You’re still a prisoner, despite this weird situation. Mind yourself.”

Henry’s handler had actually been the very same person who had the whip from earlier.

“Heh.” Henry scoffed and backed down. He still knew that there was some leeway with getting beaten up for running his mouth. Besides, he had already said what he wanted. “Lapdog.”

“That’s enough!” Rothell roared out, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “We are just as confused as you are. I know you may not believe me but it’s the truth. And there is a spy from Capic here, I say this with full honesty.”

Rothell’s words fell on deaf ears. No one bothered to listen to such an absurd lie.

“Even if you don’t want to trust us, we are still responsible for your lives. We will not let you undergo needless harm.” Rothell had made his stance. It might not be able to quell the growing distasteful feeling that was starting to build up but it was enough to simmer it down. For the time being, they believed what Rothell had said.

“So where did those two go?” Lilia came out of the crowd and questioned her handler. “You know. That duo.”

The moment she said this, everyone immediately understood who she was talking about. Gregor was the most eye-catching captive out of everyone, personality-wise. Since he had been intentionally sticking with Sammuel, people easily assumed that they were a duo even if they weren’t.

“In safe hands.”

“Alright, settle down. I specifically need 33 students for my teaching method. As such, although it is… unconventional, I must bend the rules a bit.” Edward had already long confirmed that this was an illusionary situation, and he himself was nothing more than a copy. Even though he knew this, he felt like doing something he initially wouldn’t do. Such as being a flexible person.

From the four remaining safe rooms, one of the safe rooms suddenly opened up, revealing a fearful student. Anxiety was written down on his face as if he had worn it his entire life. He didn’t want to step outside this room but Edward forced him to come forward using a higher power.

“You will be the 33rd student. Say, what is your name, child?”

“... Tello.” It seemed as if he had mustered up every single power in his body to utter his own name.

Edward mused himself with the odd feeling of this sensation. No one but him could understand what was happening.

~~~

Martine had run off from one area to another. The academy that had once been filled with people and bystanders was now nothing more than an empty and desolate shell. He didn’t even bother taking the proper routes as he intentionally broke apart anything in his path with a determined expression on his face. Nothing was going to stop him from doing what he had envisioned he would’ve done if he could relive this event.

Valerie managed to catch up to him. “Sir Martine! What’s happening?”

The academy suddenly began to shake. This caused Valerie to lose her balance, making her fall to her feet. Her clothes were slightly shifted to reveal a mark on her shoulder that was quite similar yet different from the one that Martine had. This was a stamp fragment.

Valerie had managed to somehow acquire one as well. It was a mystery when she had managed to get one.

Taking a glance at the fragment that Valerie had, he thought back on everything before shaking his head. “That is not a part of this world. That came from the outside. I need to gather the remaining Marks.”

“I can help!”

“Lady Valerie, please follow protocol.”

“No! This time, I can definitely-”

Martine forced her back using mana. A large hole suddenly broke apart the academy’s foundation. There was an inkling of that same energy from the mists from before.

“Lady Valerie, head back with the others. This isn’t a situation where I need your help.” A tingling feeling came from the back of his head as he immediately sensed another Mark. “If the occasion arises where I require your aid, I will not hesitate to ask. But this is not the time. The best way for you to help me is to not get in my way.”

“That’s… Fine. I hope you won’t burden yourself this time.” Valerie turned back. The mark on her shoulder emitted the same kind of glow that Martine’s mark did.

“Edward only lets those excellent do as they wish. Valerie got lucky she had that.”

Martine carried on searching for the remaining Marks.

"Too bad this place is much more sinister than how the original events would unfold. I need to hurry, before 'it' becomes too strong."