Advent of the Three Calamities

‘It seems like the ring has worked.’

I stood in silence, watching as Leon blinked slowly, his eyes distant and unfocused. But it wasn’t long before they snapped back to clarity. ‘Eh…? What?’ He glanced around, bewilderment written all over his face. With a furrowed brow, he scratched his head, clearly trying to make sense of how he’d ended up here.

I could only smile at his antics before turning my attention away from him and onto the distant walls of the Safe Zone.

The hard part was now done.

Although Leon was probably going to figure something out, or at least get a clue, most of his memories had been erased.

In the first place, I had revealed my identity to him so that he could help me get into the Safe Zone. I knew that the moment he figured something out, he’d help me out.

He was just like that.

But in the end, I still had to erase his memories.

“Alright, I shouldn’t waste any more time.”

I looked around me before moving into one of the tents and activating [Lament of Lies].

Now that the hard part was done, all I needed to do was sneak out of the Safe Zone. Most of the heavy security was at the entrance of the Crack, and with that part cleared, I could freely move out into the depths of the Mirror Dimension.

Swoosh!

The tent ballooned as I moved out, my gaze sorting through my surroundings before heading towards the exit of the Safe Station. As I moved, a couple of guards passed by me, my presence completely undetected.

“How is the situation outside?”

“…It’s calmed down a bit. There are still several monsters trying to make their way in, but it’s calmed down significantly.”

“Nice. I can’t wait to get some rest.”

“Tell me about it.”

Overhearing the conversation, I sighed in relief. If there were monsters outside, then things would become rather problematic for me.

However, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Then I should be able to sneak out without any problem.’

The Safe Zone had been built to keep monsters out, not to stop anyone from leaving. As a result, moving out of the Safe Zone was relatively easy.

All I had to do was navigate through the guards, trying to keep my breath as minimal as possible. Was it perhaps because I had gotten in touch with the source before, or just because I had gotten stronger in general, but my control over [Lament of Lies] had gotten considerably better?

None of the guards were able to detect a single thing, and before I knew it, I had stepped out of the Safe Zone.

I looked at my surroundings and saw a barren land.

The ground was cracked, and all sorts of pits appeared all around, with even chunks of metal and armor sprawled on the ground.

‘Looks like the situation was a lot worse than I originally anticipated.’

Just with a glance and seeing how much blood had dried up on the ground, I could see why the Academy had no choice but to send everyone out.

‘….It’s a good thing I’m leaving when it’s all over.’

Looking behind me and staring at the walls of the Safe Zone, I sighed to myself before turning away and heading deeper into the Mirror Dimension.

There were a lot of complicated thoughts swirling in my mind, and in this very moment, I wanted to do nothing but forget about it.

And as such.

I ran.

I ran, ran, and ran.

I ran until my breath was gone.

That was when I stopped.

And as I looked up, my vision grew red as a faint rustling sound echoed in the air.

Rustle~

A blood red leaf fell before me, and I smiled.

“…It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has. Human.”

It was none other than Owl-Mighty, whom I had not seen since I had returned from the Kasha.

“Oh, you’re here…”

I guess I wasn’t the only one pleased to see Owl-Mighty again as a black figure manifested before me, staring in Owl-Mighty’s direction.

“Tch.”

Eh?

Since when could it do that?

“It’s also been a while, kitten.”

“….What did you call me?”

“Is that not what you are?”

Pebble raised both of its paws as it thought about hitting Owl-Mighty, but then stopped itself when it realized this wasn’t the same Owl-Mighty. It could only kick the ground and click its tongue.

“Just wait until I get a body.”

It looked at me, its gaze sharp. I could tell from its gaze that it was still mad at me. It couldn’t be helped. Pebble had also thought I had died back then.

This was the first time I had seen Pebble since the incident.

‘I’m sure Pebble will get over it soon enough.’

I shifted my attention towards Owl-Mighty. For this journey, it was important that it came with me.

The destination that I needed to go to was quite far, and without Owl-Mighty, it would be impossible for me to reach the place any time soon. It was also going to be extremely dangerous, and without the ability to see visions or the future, I was now more vulnerable than ever.

As such, I called for Owl-Mighty.

“Let’s go. I can’t afford to waste any more time.”

I extended my hand forward, and moments later, thick roots began to emerge from the ground. They slithered upward, twisting and curling around the earth before creeping along my limbs, wrapping around me.

Soon, my vision grew dark.

Owl-Mighty began to move then.

…That was the moment I stopped being Julien.

From this moment forward, I became Lazarus.

A traveling merchant from afar.

***

At the same time, Delilah’s office.

“The papers have been signed. You will receive a posthumous degree.”

“…I’ll take it.”

Aldric reached forward to grab the degree Delilah passed over. With this, Julien had now graduated from Haven.

A year earlier, but he had now graduated.

“I take it that I can leave now, right?”

Aldric stared at the degree for a brief moment before putting it away.

Delilah sat on the opposite end, staring at him with her deep black eyes before slowly nodding her head.

“You may.”

Aldric didn’t waste a single second and stood up. He merely spared Delilah a glance before turning around and heading out.

Clank—!

A tense silence followed after his departure.

Delilah sat in her seat, her gaze lost and unfocused. It was unknown what her thoughts were as she just remained sitting without moving a single muscle.

But that was until her communication device suddenly vibrated.

Trrr

It was only then that she snapped out of it.

“Yes?”

She soon answered it.

—Chancellor… there’s been a situation.

A voice Delilah recognized rather quickly echoed from the communication device, prompting her to frown. A situation?

“…Yes, there’s been a situation. An unknown person, we believe to be from the Evenus Household, has entered the Mirror Crack. He was accompanied by one of the cadets, Leon Ellert, before he suddenly vanished. When we questioned the cadet about the situation, he looked completely stunned. He doesn’t seem to remember a single thing?”

Delilah’s frown deepened as she heard the conversation.

Her first thoughts were on the possibility of Leon being controlled by a ‘spirit’ user. Only such means would explain the situation.

This was the most obvious answer.

However, as her mind focused on the ‘Evenus Household’ part, a little part of her prickled.

Her lips soon parted.

“Bring the cadet to my office.”

—Understood.

Following her words, Leon was quickly brought into her office as he looked around with a lost expression.

“I don’t really…”

Delilah raised her hand.

“It’s fine. I don’t blame you. I wasn’t able to notice a thing either, so the fault partially lies with me.”

Indeed, if the one responsible was from the Evenus Household, then they had somehow managed to slip away from her detection.

But even then, she didn’t notice anyone strong enough to be able to control Leon like that.

The strongest appeared to be at around Tier 6.

Even Viscount Evenus wasn’t very strong. He was just around Tier 4 to Tier 5. It almost made her surprise to see, considering how talented Julien… had been.

Delilah closed her eyes and beckoned Leon forward.

“Come.”

Though confused, Leon complied and took a step forward.

He was just about to open his mouth to speak when Delilah’s hand reached for his head, and he instantly blanked.

“…..”

What Delilah was currently doing was simple.

She was trying to see and detect if there were any traces of ‘spirit’ magic within Leon’s mind. This was so that she could determine how the situation had unfolded.

But just as she tried to sense something…

“….?”

Delilah stopped, and her brow shot up.

Looking at Leon, her eyes turned a deeper black. Something about the situation felt off.

She…

Did not find a single trace of spirit magic.

Leon had not been manipulated at all. Then…?

‘Did he lie?

Looking at Leon, Delilah didn’t feel like his actions were fake. She was quite good at determining someone’s thoughts through her observational skills, and she could tell he wasn’t lying.

Then…?

‘I’ll look deeper.’

Delilah closed her eyes and sank deeper into Leon’s mind.

While others couldn’t afford to do it due to the risks it brought to the one being checked, Delilah was no regular person.

As such, she delved deeper into Leon’s mind, trying to see what had brought his memory loss.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to find the foreign power.

Though it was extremely thin and stealthy, she managed to find it, and her eyes narrowed. That was because she felt this power was strange.

It didn’t seem to be anything like Spirit Magic.

In fact, in some ways, it almost felt familiar to her.

Why…?

Why did it feel familiar?

Delilah reached closer to the power. The closer she went, the more the familiarity grew, and it wasn’t long before her expression changed.

‘That’s…’

Her body shook, and she rapidly opened her eyes, shaking her head.

“That… makes no sense.”

Leon still had his eyes closed while she retreated. He was probably going to remain like this for the next few minutes.

And it was good that way.

Because right now… Delilah didn’t want to be seen.

“No, that’s…”

She leaned against the table, her lips quivering.

She couldn’t make sense of what she had just felt.

That…

The reason why she was familiar with the power was because she herself had been the one to help ‘him’ disguise the relic.

She had felt it before when examining it.

That… that was without a doubt the Ring of Nothingness.

But how could that be?

Only those acknowledged by it could use it.

And in that sense… There was only one person in the world who could use it.

“H-ha.”

Delilah’s body shook, the cracks she had been trying to hide slowly starting to expand.

Could it be…?

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