The God Of Destruction's Academy Life

Chapter Warning

This Chapter contains graphic scenes of violence, including a monster brutally attacking and killing multiple people. Readers can expect depictions of blood, gore, severe injuries, and death.

Reader discretion is advised.

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Every student present stared at the abomination before them, watching its entire body reshape itself right before their eyes.

Its head had rotated the lion portion now faced forward, while the goat skull with its long curving horns had shifted to the left. The turtle head that had been at the back had moved to the right, and the mantis-like portion had swung around to the rear. The mantis-like lower half of its body, below the waist, had transformed as well reshaping itself into a massive goat’s leg, its entire form covered in coarse, matted black fur, its hooves replaced with long, curving claws like a lion’s. The two four-foot blade-like protrusions that had extended from its waist had risen up, now positioned along its upper arms, while two more four-foot blades extended from its actual hands.

Ferocity radiated from every inch of its lion-like face as it fixed its gaze on them. And then, without warning, it broke into a sprint, its four blade-like arms spreading wide as it closed in. The moment they saw it charging toward them, many of the students’ first instinct was to flee. But fleeing was no longer an option.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to run. In that instant, they simply couldn’t. Xath’rael tore across the ground with its four-foot blades spread wide, and its speed was so overwhelming that the distance between them vanished in the blink of an eye. It was suddenly standing right in front of them, its savage eyes locked on the students below, who stared back in pure terror. They tried to twist away, to put distance between themselves and it but nothing they did could outpace it.

Xath’rael swept all four blades in a single horizontal arc. Two blades on each side surged toward the students in front of it, and within an instant, all four had struck home, tearing through fifteen students at once. The instant the blades met flesh, their bodies were sliced into four clean pieces as effortlessly as a knife cutting through a loaf of bread.

The students standing there were torn apart in an instant cut through at the waist, through the hips, through the knees. Their remains crashed to the ground like stones thrown into a pile, entrails spilling free, blood spraying out in every direction.

The students still standing nearby were drenched in the spray of blood from those cut down. Elizabeth, standing among them, felt a heavy splash of it hit her face. The instant it struck her skin, her whole body shuddered. She slowly raised her left hand and touched her cheek, and when she lowered it and looked down, she saw blood coating her fingers the blood of the very students who had followed her into this fight. They had taken up arms against this creature because of her words. And because of her words, they now lay torn into pieces on the ground. Seeing this, Elizabeth’s mind went completely blank. She couldn’t think. She had no idea what to do, what she was even supposed to do anymore. She could only stare at the blood on her hand.

They’re all dying because of me. I’m responsible for their deaths. Me. Me. Me. I’m the reason they’re dead. What do I do now? I don’t know anything. Which way do I go? I can’t see a path forward. Is everyone going to die like this, one after another? Because of me? What do I do, what do I do

Elizabeth lost herself entirely in that spiral of thought, no longer aware of anything happening around her.

Dominic, standing beside her, was in much the same state. His entire body was covered in blood his classmates’ blood. He looked down at himself, soaked in it, and the realization struck him: none of it was his own. It belonged to his friends. Seeing this, Dominic clenched his jaw hard. Rage flooded through his body. His friends had been destroyed right in front of him, and he’d done nothing. He’d simply stood there, useless, unable to help the people who needed him most. Was that who he wanted to be? No. He refused to keep standing here helpless. He would fight. He would avenge his classmates. A strange fire ignited inside him.

But suddenly, another image rose up in his mind. A small girl with blond hair, just like his, her face resembling his own. She was smiling sweetly at him, running toward him, wrapping her arms around his legs. Hugging him tight, she spoke to him in a sweet, gentle voice.

"I love you so much, big brother. Will you promise me you’ll never leave me? That you’ll always stay by my side, and that you’ll always come back to me?"

Dominic looked down at her. He bent down on one knee in front of her, smiling warmly. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, then scooped her up into his arms.

"Yes, I know how much you love your big brother. And where do you think I’m going? I’m just heading off to the academy for a while. I’ll be there for a little bit, and then I’ll come right back. Do you really think your big brother could stay away from his cute little sister for very long? I’ll just go, and then I’ll come right back."

Dominic set her back down on the ground. Looking at her again, he saw tears beginning to gather in her eyes. His voice cracked slightly as he spoke.

"Pinky promise?"

The little girl held out her tiny finger. Dominic smiled and hooked his own pinky around hers.

"Pinky promise."

Then he turned and began walking away. Behind him, the little girl stood there, tears streaming down her face. Dominic couldn’t bring himself to look back if he did, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep walking. So he kept his eyes forward and pressed on.

Then, all at once, his senses snapped back to the present. He looked around and realized he wasn’t standing outside his house anymore. His sister wasn’t behind him. He was standing in the middle of a living hell. There was no beautiful scenery around him no blue sky, only a merciless red one, sealing them in completely. Beneath it stretched an otherworldly barrier, trapping them entirely. And spread out before him lay bodies corpse after corpse, each one torn apart, organs spilling from their broken forms, blood soaking the ground in every direction. His own body was drenched in it. And standing above it all was the massive, savage abomination, staring down at them all like they were nothing more than insects.

Seeing all of this, he had no idea what to do. He couldn’t make a decision, because there was so much riding on it. If he left this place, he’d be abandoning his friends, his classmates, his comrades to face death alone. But if he stayed here, he wouldn’t be able to keep the promise he’d made to his sister. He’d become a liar to her for the rest of his life. He didn’t know which path to choose. Then he looked forward, and saw the abomination surging into motion once more leaping straight past the students in front of it and landing squarely before the magic department students, cutting them off from the rest of the group.

The instant the magic department students saw it standing before them, ice ran through their entire bodies. But before any of them could react or attempt to save themselves, one of its blade-arms was already swinging toward them. In an instant, twenty magic department students were cut down entirely torn apart before they’d even had the chance to properly brace themselves. Watching this, the rest of the students were gripped by a horror beyond anything they’d felt yet. One by one, students were falling without ever managing to put up any real resistance, with no chance left to fight back at all.

The divine studies department students standing at the rear watched their classmates dying with tears in their eyes, utterly unable to help them. There was no healing option available for wounds like these every student being struck down was beyond saving. Sarliya and Joseph, watching this unfold before them, felt themselves break down completely. They had devoted their lives to helping others, and now they stood here utterly helpless, unable to do anything for anyone. Sarliya, hands still clasped in prayer, poured every ounce of her faith into her plea.

Lord Necrotize, please come quickly. These pitiful souls need your help. O Goddess of Tranquility, Mother of Ruins, Luna. Please help them.

But no one answered her prayer. She could only watch the students before her. And then she saw Xath’rael turn its gaze, fixing its full attention on a single student. As its eyes settled on her, the savagery within it surged even higher. That student was Lyra Leonheart.