Chapter 92: The Realization
"ARGH!" Pain exploded through his gut as her lightning-encased hand found its mark. Instead of just taking it, he channeled every ounce of strength he had left and drove his forehead straight into her face. The impact sent her staggering backward, dazed and blinking rapidly.
He didn’t waste the opening. Surging forward on unsteady legs, he drove his knee deep into her stomach, doubling her over with a harsh gasp. Then, spinning with desperate momentum, he delivered a brutal roundhouse kick that sent her crashing through the dining table in a shower of splintered wood.
Blood kept streaming from his wound, and the room started spinning. Each heartbeat sent more crimson pooling at his feet.
"I have to get out of here." The words came out as a ragged whisper.
Calculations be damned. From the moment he’d stepped into this cursed place, something had been screwing with his ability to think clearly. He kept making stupid mistakes, missing obvious signs. Maybe it was because he was right in the middle of the story’s main events, or worse—maybe the goddess of this world was watching him directly. Any attempt to mess with her favorite characters would definitely catch her attention. That could explain why everything kept going to hell.
If that was true, then staying in this academy was suicide.
He had to get out, now.
"Shit! She locked the door." He remembered, but stumbled toward it anyway. Pouring what little ether he had left into his right arm, he threw everything he had into one desperate punch.
Crack.
"Fuck!" Only a spider web of fractures spread across the wood where his fist had connected.
"NO! You can’t leave!" Her scream came from behind him, raw and desperate, followed by the sound of her body slamming into his back. He crashed against the door hard enough to rattle his teeth.
A hand grabbed him from behind. He whipped his elbow back, feeling it connect with her face. She screamed, but he didn’t stop there. He spun around as fast as his broken body would allow and tried to drive his knee into her again. Physical combat was all he had left—no abilities, barely any ether for spells. Thank god his body had been enhanced during that reformation process back then.