Park Jiyoung

I dodged an arrow which Haris had released from his bow, whilst twisting my torso and twirling my body mid-air.

My sword clashed against Ryuya’s, as I steadied my body, and channelled my mana towards my arms.

I placed my hand over the floor and vertically kicked with my ankle downwards at Ryuya.

Ryuya brought his left hand forward and guarded his head, stopping my kick.

But with mana still circulating through my arms, I propelled my sword towards Ryuya. He took a sharp step backward and twisted his body sideways in order to dodge.

This gave me enough time to steady my body, and create some distance between us.

I firmed my grip over my sword, as I straightened and locked my eyes in Ryuya’s direction.

But from the corner of my eyes, I saw Haris about to release an arrow towards me.

I pushed backward and dodged by a hair’s length. But the arrow-head grazed me near my bicep.

I lightly moaned as I shot toward Haris, to decapitate him. Right now fighting Ryuya was a handful task, but to defend while doing so was harder than I had thought.

So I needed to take Haris out of the picture.

I didn’t have the key with me, and no one except me, Jiwoo and Han knew about this.

I don’t know why Jiwoo had asked me to do this, but, it must have been something he had planed all along.

There were only a few more steps left between me and Haris, I slashed horizontally and hacked at his protection suit, to immobilise him on the spot.

But Ryuya had shot towards me and stopped me from approaching Haris. He slid beside me, propelled his leg forward whilst changing the trajectory of his body, by using the invisible tile—his skill—which had formed beneath his foot.

I grabbed the sheath which hung above my hip, and defended against Ryuya’s incoming sword slash.

The sheath collided with his sword, and his sword got stuck momentarily between the oak wood of the sheath.

I didn’t let go of this chance and pulled the sheath back, which made Ryuya’s grip to loosen over the hilt.

Twisting my hand, and changed the position of my hand over my sword’s hilt, and shot the pommel towards Ryuya’s left eye.

He kicked sideways, and rolled on the ground a few times. I dodged several arrows released by Hairs, but one of them grazed me on my side, and another near my cheek.

I ducked down and slid over my floor. Haris tired to jump backwards.

He was startled by my sudden assault, and lost his footing, as he stumbled on the floor.

After a second I was over him. By now I was only left with a quarter of my mana. So I pumped my chest, inhaled and exhaled, and circulated the last quarter of my mana to activate my second skill ; which I had been rewarded, by the black market.

But the moment I was about to activate my skill, I felt the atmosphere around us get heavier, as the pulse of mana in the air started to fluctuate and crack.

I stopped mid-swing, and snapped my head to my left—to the south direction—where the sudden combustion of mana was the strongest.

The ripples of mana which I felt coming from that direction were bone-chilling.

I kicked back and snapped my head in Ryuya’s direction, who had a dumbfounded look over his face as he gazed in the same direction I was looking in.

Ryuya opened his mouth to say something, but the moment he tried to speak, the watch over my wrist vibrated. I tapped over it once and soon Jiwoo's voice echoed in the quiet, dark hallway.

“Everyone if you can sense the disturbance of the mana in the air, then run away towards the facility. Felix and Stephen were demons’ contractees, and they have installed many bombs around the lock, one such is about to detonate right now,” his voice had traces of panic, but he perfectly hid it.

I brought the watch close to my mouth and asked.

“What do you mean, Jiwoo?”

In this situation, I couldn’t perfectly swallow the information that Jiwoo had given us.

But I knew what he had just told us was the truth. Why would Jiwoo lie about something like that? And the irrefutable fact, which backed his claim was the disturbance in the air. Rather the mana!

“Just do as I said, go and inform the Instructors about what I have just told you,” he calmly replied.

I looked at Ryuya and Haris, both of them looked puzzled by the bomb which Jiwoo had dropped on us.

“What about you,” I hurriedly asked.

“I will also make my way towards the facility, all of you hurry up as well,” his voice echoed from my watch. But I had this ominous feeling after hearing Jiwoo.

Like he was lying. I hadn’t known Jiwoo for too long, but I could now somewhat tell from the way he spoke, if he was lying or not. But vaguely.

And he was hiding something.

But nonetheless, I replied, then tapped over my watch and looked at Ryuya. He had already caught now with the conversation, despite having a vague idea of the situation like me.

“What should we do now?” Ryuya asked.

I pointed at Karan’s immobilised body laying cross the hallway. “You grab him and let’s do as my teammate has told us.”

Haris and Ryuya both nodded in unison, as Ryuya grabbed Karan’s body and placed it over his shoulder like a sack.

Soon all of us left the building. But the ominous feeling I was getting was not going away.

My mind raced back to my conversation with Jiwoo.

I stopped, then turned around.

Ryuya snapped his head backward as he spoke, “where are you going Jiyoung?”

“I’ll be right back, go on without me,” I quickly replied.

Ryuya’s brows furrowed as he looked like he wanted to curse, but nodded his head instead, as the air around us started to become more and more heavier. “Alright, but be careful, and hurry back.”

I nodded in response, and soon dashed towards the south direction. I felt like he was there. And judging by the way he was speaking he wasn’t making his way towards the facility, his voice was calm, when he had told us about the bomb.

And I could tell from his voice, that he was thinking of doing something.

If he was making his way towards the facility, then his voice should have been a little deprived of breath. But it wasn’t.

Just what is that idiot thinking of doing now?

***

Laurena Lianard

My gaze didn’t move an inch away from the hologram, which displayed the fight between Park Jiyoung and Aogiri Ryuya.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

After Ryuya had openly approached Jiyoung, she was able to somewhat overpower him.

The fight was really interesting to watch. The duel between the two strongest students in lock.

But can I really call them the strongest, when there is a monster like Seo Jiwoo amongst them?

‘A person who regressed back in time?’ My mind would always subconsciously go back to the moment I had accidentally bumped into the boy.

Was it actually an accident, or just a coincidence? Calling it a coincidence won’t be the right thing.

I had a mountain full of questions, but I knew, no one could answer them. Not even myself, who had the ability to forsee the future, past and present of people, and the world.

But even I couldn't perfectly make out of those visions I saw. They were just blurry images sometimes, or just a future which I looked into, covered by a thick fog.

But there were several futures, which could come to pass. My ability only allowed me to take a quick peek at those several futures. But whenever I tried to take a peek, I felt like I was seeing them from the bottom of a glass bottle. Unclear!

I grabbed the tea cup from the small plate placed over my lap,—adorned with multiple flowery patterns—by its handle and brought it close to the mouth. I inhaled the rich aroma of the tea, and then took a sip.

The crowd was as boisterous as ever. The third day of the tournament was the most famous, for its team event—Fort Holding.

The match was really exciting. But after a moment, I saw two students ambushing Jiyoung, who was pre-accompanied in a brawl with Ryuya.

A spear-wielder and an archer.

But despite the turn of events, Jiyoung was able to keep her ground and counter their sudden assault.

She then hurriedly made her way towards a rundown apartment building.

The three followed her from behind.

Soon Jiyoung entered the building which was a few metres away, with Ryuya and Karan on her tail. And Haris sprinting to reach them too.

‘The young’uns sure are full of energy,’ I thought as my lips curled upwards.

I again brought the cup close to my mouth to take a sip, but just as my lips touched the edge of the cup, a shiver ran throughout my body.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself, but the shivers simply increased.

As the shaking pulse of mana shrouded my mind, I saw a bright nimbus which was shining magically, form within my mind.

I searched through that bright nimbus of light which floated inside my mind, while many fog like lines spiralled and drifted alongside it, connecting to many other lights which shined in the distance. Without even realising it, I reached out to it and connected with that afloat light, which shined the brightest.

As soon as I reached out, my mind blanked, my breathing hardened, my body started to shake uncomfortably. My brows knit as the light disappeared a moment later.

My eyes shot open as I placed my hand over my head. My head started to ache with a sharp headache.

The cup loosened from my fingers and it dropped down on the white carpet, tainting the carpet with a weak brown.

“Laurena,” I heard Seth shout and as he shot up from his seat and approached me.

I waved my hand towards him and got up from my seat. What I had seen in that vision, it was terrible.

I frowned as I gazed at Mikhail and Seth. I steadied my breathing and after a second or two, the shivers calmed as the splitting headache stopped. But my brows didn’t stop from furrowing.

“Laurena what’s wrong?” Seth asked from beside me. He looked confused and worried by my sudden actions.

“Seth, Mikhail, I need you both to do something,” I asked. My voice came out weaker than I thought.

Mikhail looked at me with worried eyes and asked, “What?”

“What I am about to tell you both, you have to do that without asking me another question, please,” I exclaimed.

Both of them looked puzzle, but nonetheless nodded their head in response.

“I saw a vision just now, in it, I saw the destruction of Lock,” I explained.

“What?!!!”

Seth looked at me incredulously, as his eyes went wide. But he re-composed himself quickly and asked. “What do you mean Laurena... the Lock’s destruction?”

I placed my hand over my chest, as I tried to remember that vision. “There are six bombs installed around the academy, and they will detonate in ten minutes!”

I heavily inhaled and exhaled, as Seth's face went solemn.

“Your visions have never been wrong, so it must be true that there are bombs,” he snapped his head towards me and spoke. “So where are these bombs, Laurena?”

I explained to them the location of the bombs, which I vaguely remembered.

Afterwards, both of them nodded their head, and walked towards the door.

“And remember both of you, the bombs will detonate by a certain mana resonation frequency, so take those bombs as far away from the academy as possible,” I hurriedly exclaimed.

Both of them nodded and soon left the lounge.

I turned around and looked at the wide-glass-window behind me.

“Be careful child,” I said in a whisper as I also exited the lounge, and stepped into a wide hallway.

I didn’t tell Mikhail and Seth about the seventh bomb which was installed in the fort area.

I could see many things in my vision, but they were simply riddles, or blurry images. And I couldn’t always convey the entire truth of my visions, because it might change the course of the pre-eminent future.

And I had seen Jiwoo trying to prevent the bomb from exploding. And in those images, I saw two parallel patterns, one in which I saw Jiwoo: when he was not interrupted, and the Lock was saved.

And the other parallel future: in which he was interrupted and Lock was swallowed by the sea of flames.

Right now I was making my way towards the place my vision had shown me, where I needed to be, for the survival of the world.

I felt a wet sensation under my nose. I wiped my nose and saw my blood staining my fingers.

“Please be safe everyone.”

***

Seo Jiwoo

“Here goes nothing.”

I clasped the cube hard between my hands and allowed the rampaging mana to be absorbed into my body.

My body twitched uncontrollable, as the mana from the cube poured through my mana veins and channels.

My eyes shot wide, as I blanked in and out of consciousness. My body went numb momentarily, as I lost touch of my senses.

The mana entered through my channels, and rampaged within me.

I grounded my teeth, as I increased my grip over the cube, and allowed more of that foreign mana, to enter my body.

My innards shook with a tight curl, as an unimaginable fury of pain burnt through my chest, then my arms, following my legs and soon making its way throughout my body.

My body stifled up, as the impulse of releasing the cube from my grasp crossed my mind almost hundreds of times inside my head.

But just as I thought, my body twitched again, and after which a ripping sound caused my brain to almost blank out.

From my thumb to my forearm, the black suit which I wore had been ripped. And I felt the bone of my arm going numb. Cuts appeared all around my forearm as blood started to ooze out from them.

I loosened my grip over the cube, but knowing what the drawback of my actions would cause me and the others, I didn’t.

But the moment those cuts started to ache, they began to heal, with a rusty glow to them.

The potion was kicking in.

I pulled the cube close, and once again allowed the destructive mana to intermingle with my own.

I guided that mana and absorbed it through my channels, and allowed it to dissipate into the atmosphere by making it flow in an eddy motion.

A foggy steam started to blow out of my body, as the mana burst out. The air shook and rippled, with a windy gust.

My mind calmed for a moment as the circulation and dissipation was going smoothly.

But to my bad luck, the burst of mana from the cube increased, and entered through my channels more forcefully.

I spat a mouthful of blood as I felt a warm sensation enshroud my eyes, nose and ears.

Blood had started to trickle from my eyes, as my nose bled like a continuous stream. My eardrums gave out and I stopped hearing the frenzied sound of the wind.

The moment the mana destroyed an inch of my body, the potion regenerated that place which was destroyed.

The unimaginable, excruciating pain which I felt, I couldn’t describe it in words. As if I was trying to allow the rampaging waters of a dam to flow through a tiny tube well.

“Uek...”

I groaned, as I allowed the mana to steadily flow outside of my body.

At this point, I couldn't even tell how much time had passed. But it still haven’t been ten minutes. The potion was still in work. Regenerating my body the moment it was injured.

But even with the regenerative power of the potion, my body was reaching its limit.

Even with my knowledge, and control over mana, the physical limitations of this body was a big disadvantage.

Even if my mind was able to handle the pain, I was physically weak, I still needed more time to build this body. With another burst, the ambient mana charged into my channels and out of my body, and into the atmosphere. My mind blanked from the pain and I lost focus for a moment, which allowed the mana to rampage out of my channels, toward every limb, every organ of my body.

“Uekkkkk....!!!!”

I screamed in agony as I gnashed my teeth, and my body fidgeted uncontrollable.

First the mana reached my brain, and I felt like I was being struck by continuous thunderbolts. Soon it made its way toward my heart, then lungs, then liver, then my arms and legs. Filling every inch of my body.

I felt like billions and billions of needles were being pierced into each of my cells.

My body was brimming with energy, but an energy which was devouring me from within.

This was nothing less than torture.

My suit ripped apart, from the back and front. The thin greenish-translucent barrier came to life, but got swallowed—destroyed—by the rampaging mana inside my body.

The convergence rate was excessive, but the divergence from my side was decreasing each passing second.

I weakly tried to force the destructive mana back towards my channels, but my attempt was all for naught. But as if the mana had heeded my call, it bended, and a moment later a small portion circulated back toward my channels.

The burning sensation near my sternum lessened. And I finally took a deep breath.

I activated Mind’s Eye, and inspected the core which was inside the cube.

My eyes blurred by my own blood, so I couldn’t perfectly see. My blurred eyes momentarily focused on some small particles of different colours, floating in the air, which were shining with purpose, with energy, with some meaning, all around me. But my brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing, so I pulled my gaze away from those motes, toward the cube.

A weak smile flashed across my bloodied face, as I saw that the core was half way empty.

‘Just a little more,’ I cried inwardly, as I saw a ray of hope.

The joints of my arms uncontrollably shook, as every inch of my body bled, and a small pool of blood formed beneath me.

But a ripping sound echoed in my ears, as I directed my gaze to my left arm. The skin and muscles of my arm were ripped open, and I could perfectly see the structure of my bone. But the numbness of my body lessened the pain, which I was grateful for.

“Uekkkkk...”

Another agonising scream escaped my mouth.

But a second later, my muscles regenerated.

“Ji...woo!”

I heard a weak voice calling out to me from my left, which made the panic in my head to increase

I weakly turned my head towards my left and saw, Jiyoung standing a few metres away from me.

Her face had a horrified expression, as her eyes went wide open.

“Why the h-hell y-you h-he—!” I mumbled. The words didn’t perfectly form in my mouth. “Didn't I te you r-ran awa—!”

I choked on my own saliva and blood.

Jiyoung rushed to my side, but I stopped her.

“Don’t come here!”