The Anomaly's Path

The morning chill clung to the walls of the residential block, sharp and unyielding, carrying the flat, dry smell of scorched earth that never quite left the campus after the attack.

Three months.

That was how long it had been since the sky cracked open. Since a Gate tore open over the Sealed Valley. The purple mist poured through the broken ridges and the whole structure of our lives was forced to bend and break under the weight of a war we weren't ready for.

Time hadn't waited for us to catch our breath. It didn't slow down to let the dead rest properly either. The academy had repaired its buildings and patched its holes, but underneath the fresh mortar, the place felt hollow.

As I walked back toward the dorms, boots clicking softly against the ground, the silence of the morning felt heavy.

The academy was changing, and not in the way anyone expected. A large number of students had simply packed up and left over the last few months, pulling their papers and retreating behind the safety of their family lands to escape the rising chaos.

Even in my own classes, the desks were emptier. Students had dropped out. Some transferred. Some refused to come back after the Gate attack proved that staying at Aegis Academy was a gamble with a body bag.

Security had tightened into a chokehold.

The academy guards and the Astra Union's extra forces patrolled the outside with sharp, tired eyes, their hands resting near their weapons at every corner. Nobody talked about the attack in public, but every single person walking these paths moved like they expected the sky to break again at any second.

I reached the doors of the dormitory building, pulling them open and stepping into the quiet, dim lobby. The air inside was dead and still. Climbing the stairs to the top floor, I walked down the familiar hallway until I reached my door, sliding my key into the lock with a soft click.

The room was small, quiet, and entirely empty. I tossed my jacket over the sofa and walked over to stand by the wide glass window. The solitude gave my brain just enough breathing room to start chewing on the mess outside these walls.

I stared out at the sprawling campus grounds, running a hand through my hair.

The Astra Union was still scrambling to protect its image, spinning grand press releases about an "unforeseen rift anomaly" while the public grew more furious and distrustful by the day. Nobody out here in the dirt bought their sanitized lies.

They knew who bled. They knew who died while the High Seats sat thousands of miles away playing politics.

The academy itself was fracturing from the inside out, the tension bleeding into every corner of our daily routine. Rumors were already thick in the air that after the midterms, the administration was preparing to mix the classes or restructure the year entirely just to patch the massive gaps left in our numbers.

I let out a low, bitter huff, leaning my forehead against the cool glass.

And our class ranking?

It had dropped all the way to the bottom of the board.

The only class sitting lower than ours was Riven's, and that was only because they were trailing us by a single point, not because they were slacking off, but because their numbers had been destroyed by dropouts and deaths from the Gate incident, leaving them with fewer students and fewer points overall.

While Arthur and Cordelia's classes farmed easy points doing standard patrols, we bled in the dirt.

Because of that drop, our class standing was a total disaster. And with midterms coming up fast, that meant written exams. Theory exams. Things I hadn't looked at in months, and frankly, things I had zero idea how to answer.

The practical didn't worry me. It would be brutal, but it was team-based, and we'd somehow pull it off. The written test was the real problem. I had been so focused on training my body and refining my sword art that I had completely neglected the academic side.

The midterms were only a week away. I hadn't opened a single textbook in months. I let out a low, tired sigh. I probably needed to swallow my pride and ask someone to tutor me before these written tests dragged me straight to hell.

Shaking my head at my own lack of preparation, I turned away from the window and headed toward the bathroom to wash the morning grime off my skin.

I reached the bathroom door and pushed it open, stepping into the quiet, marble-tiled room.

The door clicked shut behind me, blocking out the rest of the suite. I turned the handle of the glass-walled stall, and hot water hissed to life right away. Thick white steam rose fast, fogging up the glass as I stepped under the heavy spray.

I stood there without moving under the hot water, letting it hit my face and run down my shoulders, washing away the sweat, the dried dirt, and the endless buzzing noise that always seemed to follow me.

...And my head needed the quiet.

Every time I closed my eyes under the water, the thoughts started crawling back out of the dark, dragging me down into a swamp of contradictions I couldn't escape. I knew the more I spiraled, the more twisted everything got.

But I couldn't help it. Every single time I tried to just breathe, my brain dragged it all back, as if it was punishing me for trying to find peace. I was just a person. Not a machine or a god. Just some exhausted guy who was sick to death of carrying the weight of a dying world on a pair of bruised shoulders.

I stood there under the hot spray, scrubbing my face with a heavy groan, staring blankly at the white tiles as my mind unspooled.

So much had changed over the last few months, whether it was me or everything around me.

When I first woke up in this brutal, godforsaken world, knowing the Abyss King was coming and that this entire world was destined to burn down to the ash, I figured it was total game over. Back then, I was terrified, scrambling to survive, trying desperately to stay on rails and follow the script of the game I used to waste my life playing.

But lately?

I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Even if the world collapses tomorrow, maybe I wouldn't even care, not as long as the people I actually give a damn about are breathing. It's messed up, I know. I used to think I'd be Arthur's trusty sidekick, helping the chosen one save the day because that's what the script demanded.

But Arthur and his shining destiny can go jump off a cliff for all I care. The only things keeping me anchored are the idiots around me — Roan, Alice, my family, and the rest of the crew who keep dragging me back from the edge whether I want it or not.

However... I am so tired.

I'm tired of the gods playing chess with our lives. I'm tired of the Watchers watching from the shadows like bored strangers. I'm tired of thinking about the Abyss King, the Astra Union, the System, and the endless prophecies.

Looking at it all now, the gods and demons and High Seats all look exactly the same to me, just arrogant, blood-soaked hypocrites wrapped in different packages.

Be it the so-called divine gods, the monstrous Abyss King, the ordinary mortals cowering in the dirt, or the bloodthirsty demons, everyone has a different face, but they're all just tearing each other apart over nothing.

Did I ever ask to be pulled here? Did anyone give a damn about what I wanted?

I didn't ask to be thrown into a game world. I didn't ask to inherit a dead kid's body and a lifetime of inherited trauma. And sometimes, standing here in the silence, a terrifying, hollow thought echoes in the back of my skull:

Am I even the original Leo, or am I just a ghost wearing a corpse's skin? Was my past life on Earth even real, or was it just a cruel joke, another illusion written into my head just like that fuck-ass game I used to play? Were my parents back on Earth real, or just another lie?

My whole life feels like a lie built on top of another lie. And yet, even with all that weight pressing down on me, my choices have changed.

I've changed...

I used to be an observer, a coward hiding behind game knowledge. But I'm not that person anymore. I've tasted what it's like to build something real, to have a family like Isabella and Noah, to have a sister like Mia, to bleed beside friends who actually care whether I live or die.

Even if I'm an anomaly, even if my soul doesn't belong in this timeline, I'm done wishing I was somewhere else. I just want to live. I want to carve out a space where the people I care about don't have to die for someone else's war.

As for Nova... that bastard sitting at the edge of my consciousness hadn't uttered a single word since the night I met the Moon Goddess. I keep my mind locked behind walls, refusing to let my guard down. It's a cold, uneasy silence, but it's mine.

I don't need their System. I don't need their guidance. If anyone wants to tear this world apart, they're going to have to get through the Anomaly first.

I let out a slow breath and shook my head. Damn it, Leo, stop thinking in circles.

_

After drying off, I pulled on a fresh, clean set of dark academy clothes, black trousers, a crisp dark shirt, and a clean black coat, before stepping back out into the hallway, heading down toward the elevator.

I reached the elevator alcove, my boots scraping lightly against the ground, and suddenly stopped when a familiar, unmistakable presence appeared just behind me. A faint smile tugged at the corner of my mouth before I even turned around.

"You know..." I muttered over my shoulder, "I could never get used to you showing up out of nowhere like that."