Chapter 228: Cultists
Chapter 228: Cultists
Finally, the final exams of the first year rolled around. Thankfully, the format was exactly the same as Prota’s last life. Both she and Anta had failed to account for the possibility of this changing, but there was no point in dwelling on a potential that wouldn’t be realized.
Then, there was only one problem left.
“Just invite them! Seriously, you’re here to have some fun, aren’t you? What’s the problem?”
“But… if something goes wrong…”
“So what if something goes wrong? Isn’t it better to have those two nearby if you’re that worried?”
“But Destiny-”
“That stupid hero needs to get stronger! You know what you don’t need?”
“But-”
“Seriously, just shut up! If you’re that indecisive, just do what you want and invite the two, ok?”
“But they won’t get stronger-”
“No one is getting stronger! They’re all getting sent back by those cultists anyway! Look, there is no world in which you’re doing wrong by inviting those two to take the exam with you. If you invite them, it should be because you want to, and if you go alone, it should also be because you want to. But stop with this altruistic nonsense!”
“Alt… altru-”
“You don’t know- it means being selfless or something like that. Look. Prota, we’re doing enough already. People don’t normally suffer as much as you do, you know? Well, that’s not- ok, most normal people don’t suffer as much as you do. So it’s not selfish to do things for yourself. In fact, it’s fine even if you are selfish. So just go nuts, alright?”
Prota nodded hesitantly. She still felt a little uncomfortable, but Anta was right.
As long as it didn’t interfere with her goal of confronting John one more time, it technically wasn’t within her promise to make the world a better place. It wasn’t like she hated the world with a passion or anything, but like she’d seen in the Cave of Trials, there was a part of her that resented everything. She wasn’t very conscious of it, but it was present nonetheless.
Her goal wasn’t to make the world a better place. If he wished for it, that would be Destiny’s job.
Prota’s only goal was to fulfill her promise. And if she felt like doing something on the path to that goal, then so be it.
“Ok,” she sighed. “Fine.”
~~~
It was in this manner that Prota found herself surrounded by her old friends on the ship to the island once again. Well, all things considered, it was pretty nice. In this life, Prota could open up far earlier, considering how much her social skills had improved.
If only the impending sense of doom wasn’t constantly lingering over her head.
“Students!” Leora Dawn yelled, standing at the stern of the boat. “You will have to survive on your own for a week. I hope you have all prepared well enough! The supplies on the island will be more than enough to provide somewhat comfortable living conditions. All you need is to secure them.”
The explanation was identical, so Prota tuned it out, instead opting to lean on the railing of the boat, staring out over the glittering sea. The fresh, salty water brought back memories.
“On a lot of Earths. These kinds of activities are common in a lot of worlds, actually.”
As the memory played in her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder.
Those other worlds. Would she ever get to see them? She was starting to understand why John had always been so reluctant to speak of these other worlds.
He hadn’t known whether he could bring her along with him.
Of course, he hadn’t known that his departure would end the world. But the whole time he’d adventured with her, he must’ve had a feeling that he’d have to leave her behind as well. Just like how he’d left his old world behind.
“Do you know what people usually take pictures for? It’s to keep memories.”
Could she bear it? Losing all her memories, forgetting who she was, what she was, just to save a world she would never see again?
She pulled out the photo of her and John from her ring. Somehow, it still existed. Carried over the timelines. This was supposed to be impossible, but… well, the ring had been remade with [Deus Ex Machina]. That probably superseded whatever rules [Reset] involved.
“A long time ago, you said you’d be my protector. That was… kind of a joke back then. But this time, I’m serious. It’s not about my life anymore. Prota. I want to spend time with you. I really want to be able to keep you by my side. But I don’t know if that’s possible for me to do. So it has to be you. Do you understand?”
A promise.
Come to think of it, she’d never actually verbally agreed to such a promise. She’d never said, out loud, that she would come and get John.
But at this point, that wasn’t even a question.
“Prota,” Lilith said, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Feeling nervous about the exam? Well, even for someone as strong as you, I guess surviving on an island will be something new.”
“You talk like you’re not nervous yourself,” Ryan sighed.
Prota whirled around. It looked like the explanation was over.
“Of course I am,” Lilith pouted. “But isn’t this kinda cool? Surviving on an island! Ryan, we didn’t even see the ocean before coming to Scholaris. Isn’t it interesting?”
“Leave it to you to find something like this fun… well, I guess we’ll be all right.”
Prota remained silent. Normally, she would have offered a small smile, but not this time.
“Hello, students. Looking forward to the exam?”
Lilith and Ryan whipped around as Leora and Lupin approached the small group.
“Ah- um- hello! Yes, we- um-”
“No worries,” Leora laughed. “It is a new experience for most of your peers as well.”
“We simply came to you to deliver a message. To your group specifically,” Lupin said quietly. “Now, this is nothing against you. We don’t believe you chose to partner with Prota because of her skill. But, just to be clear, we hope you will not rely on her to pass. Your individual grades will still be assessed.”
Ryan looked like he was going to speak up, but it was Prota who stepped forward first.
“Both of them… working hard. Don’t worry.”
“...if it’s you who’s saying that, then I suppose it was never an issue to begin with,” Lupin said with a small smile. “Very well. I hope to see great things from the three of you.”
With that, the Mystics left.
The twins breathed a sigh of relief, but Prota hadn’t just been covering for them. They really were trying hard.
In fact, they were progressing far better than they had in her previous life.
Since the start, the two could be described as “geniuses.” Using fifth-circle magic at that age, even sloppily, was no small feat. Then, as long as they were given the right guidance and tutoring, their potential would blossom.
This had shown well when they’d started receiving tutoring from Leora in her past life. The fact that they were able to cast their family’s spell while at Scholaris was indicative of their skill. But if Prota could give them a goal to reach for, and guide them down the right path just a little earlier…
Well, it would work out.
“Here we go,” Anta said as the island came into view.
~~~
The exam passed much the same as it had in Prota’s previous life. Well, there was one minor difference.
Gaming the exam for top marks was no longer a priority.
Thus, this time around, Prota merely followed the twins around and made sure nothing went wrong. Even knowing how strong she was, though, the twins still seemed to treat her like a little sister, making sure she was ok and explaining things they knew.
To their credit, there were some interesting facts about the flora and fauna that Prota had never heard of. But more than that, it was good to just be treated as another person. As an equal. As a friend.
Nothing more, nothing less.
They did run into the same group they’d run into before, but with Prota nearby, they simply ran away without putting up a fight. That was fine. Ryan and Lilith had shown decent skill in confronting the various wild animals, and that alone was probably enough to get them good grades.
Well, grades wouldn’t matter soon.
“Are you ok, Prota?” Lilith asked at one point. “You seem… unusually nervous. Can we help with anything?”
“Nn,” Prota mumbled, shaking her head. “It’s ok.”
“It’s not ok. Come on, we’re here to help,” Ryan sighed. “If there’s an issue-”
“Can you fight?”
The twins stopped talking.
“Um… well, we’ve been fighting-”
“Can you kill someone?”
Dead silence.
“Prota, what are you-”
“Bad people on this island. You should leave.”
She hadn’t discussed this with Anta, but there were times when she should make her own decisions. As the soul had said, if it was what she wanted, then there was no reason to go against it. Ultimately, Anta would help her no matter what her goals were.
And this was something she was sure about.
If the twins wanted to stay, she wouldn’t stop them from doing so. She’d learned, now. Her job wasn’t to try and control everyone. These weren’t [Characters] who should be controlled like pieces on a chessboard.
To Prota, these were people. With their own minds, with their own wills. If they wanted to stay and help, she wouldn’t stop them from doing so.
It might be harder.
But she’d already made sacrifices to change fate.
It wasn’t a matter of saving others. If she wanted to save everyone, she would have sent the twins away from the start. No, it was about showing the [Author] what was up.
She didn’t care if her actions were predestined. If the thoughts she held weren’t her own.
To her, she was in control of herself. That was all she cared about.
“Uh… you make it sound like you’re staying,” Lilith said, a tinge of nervousness in her voice. “And how do you know about this?”
“Doesn’t matter. You should go.”
“What about you?”
“Staying.”
Ryan stepped forward. “Lilith, I don’t think she’s lying. We should-”
His voice was interrupted as a bone-chilling howl rang out from the woods. Prota immediately grabbed her staff, mana beginning to flow through her veins.
“That,” she said quietly. “Can you fight that?”
“Lilith, we should-”
“You’e going to fight it. Aren’t you?” Lilith said, her usual cheerful tone nowhere to be found.
Prota nodded.
“Then I’ll stay.”
“No point-”
“I’m going to stay! Prota, you… I know you’re strong. But you don’t have to fight alone, either.”
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It was an incredibly cheesy line. But it was nice. Knowing that there were people who, despite not knowing the situation, would fight by her side anyway.
More than that, Lilith was shaking. She was scared. Incredibly so. But despite that fear, she was choosing to stay. If she had been feeling any better, her words would’ve likely been a lot more solid.
But she was just saying whatever came to mind, trying to make a decision even through the terror.
That had to count for something.
In some ways… perhaps this was a braver action than Prota had ever taken.
“Ok. Safety devices should work,” she said quietly. “So you won’t die. Probably.”
“Wha- probably?” Ryan exclaimed. “Hold on, you can’t just say something like that and expect us to be calm!”
“Then leave. Use the device,” Prota shrugged. “Strong opponents. Won’t be mad if you go.”
“You can’t say that and… seriously, I’m getting involved in something crazy,” the boy sighed, but he didn’t leave, either.
“...thank you,” Prota said quietly, her eyes beginning to glow.
~~~
“Sir!”
An assistant teacher burst into Lupin’s room, panting.
“Communications have been cut off!”
“Cut… off?”
“Yes, sir! The safety devices are still working since they rely on the user’s mana to activate, but all other devices are no longer functional. That includes devices from here to the main island!”
“What, is someone cutting us off?”
“No, it’s more like… someone’s hijacked the system,” the assistant frowned. “We tried to fly over to the island, but the barrier that once stopped others from getting in is now preventing us from entering.”
“What?!”
Despite the panic in Lupin’s voice, he was also strangely calm.
“You. Contact the headmaster. Tell her to be on standby, in case of emergency. Actually, no. Bring her here. Understood?”
“Sir, that would take-”
“It’s fine. I believe the situation is still under control. Go, now.”
The assistant nodded, looking a little worried, but otherwise relieved to see that the professor was still calm.
“Lupin. The girl…”
“Yes. It’s likely she’s a target. But if she’s truly as strong as you said, then there should be no need for concern.”
“...do you think she saw this coming?”
Lupin sighed, lifting his cup of tea. “Who knows? It’s clear we can’t treat her like a normal mortal anymore. At this point, we may as well treat her like another Mystic.”
“But she’s so young, Lupin.”
“Does age matter anymore? She knows what our organization spent millenia searching for, Leora. Since when did things like maturity or seniority come into play? Those are only factors because of correlation. At the end of the day, when a factor like that comes into the picture, there’s nothing we can do.”
“I suppose…”
Leora looked out the window, where a group of professors were rushing to the platform students would return on. A group of frazzled students had reappeared, looking quite scared.
“But, Lupin,” Leora continued. “If that girl comes to us for help. What would you do?”
“Hmph.”
“Oh, don’t be stubborn now.”
“You know what I’d do. Don’t make me say it out loud.”
“She’s still just a child, Lupin. I know she’s not in your class, but aside from that monstrous strength and burden she bears, she’s still young.”
“Oh, fine,” Lupin grumbled. “Very well.”
“Then, we can only hope that this trouble is resolved without our aid.”
~~~
The beast had emerged. It was the same as Prota remembered it, although it’d shown up a day sooner than she’d expected.
“P-Prota,” Lilith stammered. “Is that…”
“Nn. Still want to stay?”
“Yes. I won’t leave you-”
“It’s ok to be scared. Means you want to live,” Prota said calmly. “Wanting to live is good.”
“You say that like you know what it’s like to-” Ryan started, then caught himself.
Prota had never shared her past. The twins didn’t know anything about her life. Of course, that wasn’t their fault. Digging into Prota’s history was tricky, what with reality altering powers and a timeline reset.
But the fact remained that, outside of the quiet, shy girl Prota normally seemed to be, there was something greater.
“So be careful.”
Prota immediately ran in. With a snarl, the beast leapt at her, but was immediately bashed to the side with a giant block of ice. Still, it recovered quickly, leaping onto a tree and bouncing off, claws beared right at Prota’s heart.
“Prota!” Ryan cried out, sending a barrage of fireballs.
This time, they managed to fly straight and true, forcing the creature to dodge. Prota was surprised. The thing was tough. At least, she remembered it being tough. So why was it dodging?
“C-c-can’t get h-h-hurt,” the creature said in its disturbing voice. “T-t-the girl… n-n-need the girl…”
No. She didn’t need to care about that at the moment. This thing was easily defeatable. Destiny had killed it in their past life, and she was stronger than he’d been at the time.
Immediately, three Blossoms formed before her, forming a formation around a singular Frozen Flame. All four spells flew forward, and the Blossoms detonated as soon as they got within a few meters of the monster. This, in turn, managed to create a field of razor sharp ice petals that limited the creature’s movements, allowing the Frozen Flame to fly even closer.
“You got it!” Lilith cheered.
Prota’s head whipped around. No. It was too early to celebrate. They couldn’t celebrate now.
“...h-h-h-ostages,” the creature gasped.
It braced itself, diving through the Blossoms, taking numerous cuts in an attempt to leap to Lilith.
“No!” Prota cried out, dashing forward.
She wouldn’t reach in time. She had to use a new spell.
Time slowed down as she tried to form an Absolute Zero, limiting it so it would hit the creature and not Lilith. Reshaping the spell was harder than she thought. Freezing an arbitrary space was simple, but limiting it to a specific shape took much more concentration than she would’ve imagined. More than that, it took time to form. She wasn’t sure if she could hit the spell with how fast that beast was moving. If she had set up a domain, it might have been simpler, but now…
“Hard,” she gasped, but she pulled it off.
The thing sensed the danger and managed to stop itself in time, leaping back and hissing at the children. It stayed there for a good while, keeping its distance. Prota, too, held back, unsure of what the best move from here on out was.
Prota had always thought protecting John was hard, but defending those who had no idea of how to fight was a different story entirely. She couldn’t rely on the Rose twins to dodge attacks that were dodgeable; she had to assume that every attack aimed at them could do substantial damage.
“What, did you think the power of friendship and love would make things easier?” Anta laughed. “No. You chose this when you decided to keep them around.”
“But-”
“That’s the cost of keeping people around you. You can lose them. They can get hurt. But you knew that, didn’t you? Friendship is the harder choice. It’s the narrow path. But you walked it. You determined that these people matter. You know what the coward’s way out is? It’s choosing to do everything for them. It’s leaving all the hard work to yourself, because you think you can manage it, instead of trusting others to help you.”
“...harder?”
“Living isn’t about doing what’s sacrificial or better for people. It’s about choosing to do the right thing, even if it’s going to be harder to follow through with. Characters this, characters that, who cares? You know what we are? Freaks! We’re not characters! We’re not real! We’re this messed up in between! Yet neither of us complain!”
“Anta. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that the choices we make aren’t right or wrong. It’s about choosing what’s harder. When you sacrificed [DEM] for the people in the Town, was it about saving people? Or screwing the [Author] over?”
“The second one.”
“And when you fight John, is it about screwing the [Author] over, or is it about saving John?”
“...saving John.”
“My point is that there’s no consistency. If you were a [Character], maybe it would matter. But we care about ourselves. And so if you want to grow, then it’s not about just saving people. It’s about choosing what you think is right. Ah! You know what? Victory. What is victory here to you?”
“...giving my friends a choice.”
“Right! That’s harder, isn’t it? And yet you’re doing it anyway. Because you believe it’s the right thing to do. So go and do it!”
“You too.”
“Wha-”
“It’s ok if they see. No more holding back. No point. Just do it.”
“Seriously… later. I’ll do it later. Even if they disappear, we’ll show them eventually. So for now, hold back.”
“Why?”
“Because they don’t know we can still go further. So for the time being, it’s still best to have a trump card up our sleeve.”
Prota nodded.
Before anyone could react, though, Destiny came flying in, cleaving the creature in two. It died without a sound.
“Prota!” he exclaimed. “Are you ok?”
“Nn.”
“I think we have a problem,” he panted, looking around. “I can’t find anyone.”
Prota’s eyes widened. He couldn’t find anyone? He hadn’t fought any cultists yet?
She couldn’t say anything, though. Not until she understood the situation.
“Whoah! Destiny?” Lilith said with shining eyes. “I didn’t think I’d actually run into you!”
“Wait, whoah, what?”
“You’re famous! For beating up those nobles that were messing with the commoners?”
“Haha, well…”
“Is it true you’re getting special tutoring from mister Wolfhound?”
“Yes, but-”
“That’s so cool!”
It seemed he’d stepped things up already. Prota was a little frustrated that she wasn’t keeping up with Destiny’s actions, but at the same time, it wasn’t like she asked him in the first place. In her past life, it’d been John who initiated those conversations, so it wasn’t entirely surprising that she didn’t know about all this.
“Destiny, you…” she started.
“Oh. Yeah. Were you… not expecting that?”
“No. But its good. Just early. Doing well.”
“Ah, that’s good to hear.”
“Wait, you two know each other?” Ryan said, surprised. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Prota didn’t tell you two?” Destiny laughed. “She’s told me about you guys a couple of times.”
“She did? Did she say anything bad?” Lilith said, worried.
“No, no! Just that you guys are strong,” Destiny laughed.
The casual conversation continued, almost as if nothing dangerous had happened. Well, in a sense, nothing had. There had been a brief exchange of attacks, but other than that, no one had gotten hurt. There was no grand exchange, no desperate struggle, just a single clash and death.
She had been expecting a change.
She hadn’t been expecting that change to be an easier fight with no follow up.
“Prota?”
Destiny’s voice snapped Prota out of her thoughts.
“Hey, you don’t look too good. Is something-”
“Move!”
Prota shoved Destiny out of the way with a block of ice, just in time to avoid a fire arrow the pierced through the ground and obliterated the area he’d just been standing in.
“Ugh. I told you, these ones are different.”
“Well, to defeat our hunting dog…”
Three figures stepped out from the trees, all wearing cloaks with hoods that covered their faces.
Right.
There were others.
“I told you, we should’ve cleared her companions out first! We need her alive!”
Prota’s eyes widened.
Who were they referring to?
“We’re talking about you, idiot. Seriously, lab rats can’t even get a hint…”
“Prota,” Destiny said quietly, unsheathing his sword. “This…”
Thankfully, it wasn’t anything more than what she’d experienced in her past life. But then again, she hadn’t exactly won this fight, either.
“Nn.”
Mana gathered at her fingertips.
“Oh, so the young ones can fight, can they?”
“We were told to be careful.”
“Psh. I saw the girl fight. I could do the same thing to a group of kiddos. Fighting for real is different.”
Things had flipped around. The safety devices were probably working.
But that wouldn’t matter.
They weren’t looking to kill her, anyway.
“Well!” one of the hooded figures exclaimed cheerfully. “Here we go!”