We were three students, the oldest one of us merely sixteen, but we still wanted to catch someone who the guard didn’t even knew existed.
And we only had one shot at this. Louis snuck out of the royal castle and Ellie, they took one of the few secret passageways into the academy while I registered at the gate. I quickly smuggled them into my room during the day and then proceeded to walk around campus, taking with as many people as I possibly could. I was working on her best at playing the bait, without endangering me too much of course.
And then, nightfall came. With both of them in my room, I felt even more secure than during the day, even though it was highly probable this person would get active during the night. Ellie hid below my bed, which honestly felt like a laughable hiding stop, but she was insanely hard to find thanks to a bit of Louis magic. He himself was in my wardrobe, a dagger in his hands.
And so, I could only pull my blanket above my chest and hope for the best. Hours Late, still tense from all the anticipation, the door finally opened slowly, creaking a little bit.
With light steps, someone strolled into the room, stopping right beside me. Opening my eyes, I could see a teacher standing by my side, a sword in his hand which was already close to my chest.
“Dispel Illusion.” Light radiated out from my palms above the blanket, going in every direction possible. At once, the sword swooshed downwards, right onto the large barrier Ellie Made to protect me.
In the corner of my eyes, I could see the door of my wardrobe open up abruptly as Louis dashed out of it, his dagger directed at the teachers back.
A certain someone must have grabbed the teacher’s feet as well, but that only helped so much. The teacher her body to the side and rammed her elbow into Louis back.
We hadn’t lost yet though. A multitude of magical circles activated all around the room, all targeting the intruder at once. Before they could even do anything though, I could hear a girl cursing and noticed how the teacher seemed to be a bit more see through, but not enough for me to actually notice who was behind the illusion. Even my spell couldn’t do much against this magic …
Fearing she was close to death from being hit by all these circles, she made a mad dash towards a window and broke through it. Louis directly went past her, but stopped short of following her. We were on the third floor after all.
“She is just standing there…” He muttered and took a step back from the window. Standing up as the barrier above me vanished, I quickly pulled Ellie out from underneath the bed and looked downwards as well.
A hooded figure stood there, mostly unmoving and staring straight ahead.
“Let’s go.” Ellie said, ran towards the wardrobe to pick out her sword and round shield. It didn’t take too long for us three to rush downwards and dash out of the door. That person was still standing there, looking at us with interest.
“I never thought you three would find the guts to do something. A healer, a tank and a mage … what is this? A video game?” She asked and stunned each one of us. Suddenly, the darkness covering her face vanished, revealing someone who I had seen before.
“You … Olivia?” Ellie asked in shock.
“What a surprise!” She said, lifting both of her arms up in joy.
“You are … you are also a reincarnator?” I asked a bit confused that they knew each orher.
“Obviously? I mean, your level six spell should dispel nearly all illusions there are …” But not hers, which should not be possible.
“Who … how were you called before?” Louis asked, probably hoping to establish some kind of connection to her.
“Really? I’m here to kill you and you ask that?” Olivia asked and burst out into laughter. Whatever happened to her, she wasn’t entirely sane anymore.
“Let us talk. This doesn’t have to end in more bloodshed.” Ellie proposed, stopping Olivias laughter abruptly.
“Oh? Alright … my name was Lars.” Olivia said grimly. Lars … he was a rather quiet guy. Always did his own stuff while others banded together.
“Lars? But you are …” Ellie muttered, eying her chest rather openly.
“Yeah. Because my patron god thought it would be funny to change my gender.” Olivia said, clearly enraged by having to live as a girl. “He also thought it funny to send me into a family full of assassins who tormented me each and every day until I ended their lives. You, Sofie, you should know how it is to have a shitty god on your side, don’t you? You survived the north … but your family didn’t. Because they don’t care about us.” She stated and glared at each and everyone of us while presenting the heavens her middle finger.
“… that’s not true.” I muttered, feeling exactly like I did back then. Crushed by reality, sad that I had lost my new parents.
“Oh my … close to tears already?” I was. Even though I hated to admit it.
“Leave her alone.” Ellie said to my side, raising her shield ever so slightly.
“Oh? What do you want to do? Defeat me with teamwork? Half your frontline is missing, so how do you want to do that?” Balling my hands into fists, I shook my head and cleared it of these sad thoughts. This time it was different. This time I had the strength those who I held dear on my own. And even if I feared fighting evil, I wouldn’t make one step back.
“As of we tell you our plan.” I said, smiling brightly to overshadow my fear.
“Whatever … I’ll give you one last chance. Come with me and we can work together to bring down their injustice.” Injustice? I didn’t think so. Maybe a few of them, but definitely not the majority. If I was correct and the Lucy I knew really was the real saint, then there was no mistake. The gods weren’t evil.
“No … your goals might be justice, but your way of doing things isn’t. I am not the biggest fan of my patron goddess either … but I have to admit that I can lead a fulfilling life thanks to the gifts she gave me.” I said, and prepared my next magic very carefully as it was the only thing saving us if the rest didn’t work out.
“Fulfilling?” Olivia asked in a sarcastic tone. “All you do is running around from one hospital to another.” And even if I were? I liked to see the smile on the face of the patients I healed.
“Helping others is very fulfilling.” Louis said and pointed his dagger at her angrily.
“I’m sure that’s what your saintly friend would say as well … if she was still alive that is.” Olivia said, a cruel grin on her face.
“You didn’t.” I exclaimed, obviously shocked by her claim.
“I did.” She said, grinning wryly as if she just did something great while in reality, she had murdered the kindest person on this world.
“Bastard!” Louis said, probably guessing who she meant as well, even though he didn’t actually figure out Louis real identity yet.
Pointing his hand towards her, he made the first move.
“Hellfire!” Tens of fireballs shot out of his hands, curving a little and converging on the spot where she stood. She merely smiled though and that’s where I realised that something was wrong.
In the exact moment she vanished, I could feel a cold blade stabbing into me from behind. It wasn’t very deep, but still enough for me to cry out in pain.
“Just so you know. Im not only able to show you illusions, but also to make myself vanish. Whoops.” She said as the fireballs curved around and targeted her once more. Taking a step back from me, I could see her creating a shield of darkness around her, extinguishing all the flames within an instant.
And then, I fell onto my knees. Holding my hand onto my chest, I winced in pain, but still tried to do something about it.
“Heal” Sharp pain shot through my whole body and I could feel how something spread within me at an incredible pace.
“This sword has a level nine magic woven into … you need to ask the pope to heal that for you.” The pope … he was way too far away.
I could hear Ellie’s sword clashing against Olivia’s right beside me, but it didn’t look too good for her either. Toppling over to my side as most of my strength left my body, I saw how Olivia kicked against Ellie’s shield, sending her nearly flying by it.
“What a bunch of heroes you are.” She said, dashed towards Louis who was just chanting his next spell and hit his jaw with the knob of her sword, shutting him up for the time being. Next, she rammed her knee into his belly, completely incapacitating him.
Holding her sword high above her head, she made it very obvious she was going for the kill. Her sword swooshed downwards right at his neck.
Exhaling loudly, I noticed how her sword rebounded and she turned around, glaring at Ellie angrily.
“And you are the worst one of the bunch.” She said, strode towards Ellie who stood there trembling, but still steady and disappeared halfway through.
“Barrier.” Louis and I where covered by a barrier instantly while she turned around her own axis slowly.
“You should have prioritised your own defence.” Her voice resounded right beside me, making Ellie look towards me. Right at this moment though, Olivia reappeared behind her and kicked her in the back.
Ellie had no chance to defend against the sudden attack, and screamed out loudly as she fell into the grass, her sword sliding away from her a little.
“I hate you guys. You know why?” Angrily, she kicked Ellie into her side who groaned in pain. “Because you are a bunch of self righteous pricks who know nothing about this world. And worst of all, you cannot even back your words up. You dream about saving others…” Once more, she kicked into Ellie’s side and probably broke a few of her ribs in the process. “But you cannot even help yourself.” Finally, she stepped back from Ellie and breathed out loudly. “What a waste of time.” She said, seethed her own sword and picked up Ellie’s sword with her right. Strolling over to me, she let the tip of the sword slide to the grass. Desperately, I tried to stand up, but I failed to do so repeatedly. My legs felt wobbly and my arms didn’t have much strength left either.
“And you are the worst of all. Why … why didn’t you use any offensive spells? Do you think you can save the world with thoughts and prayers?” No. I didn’t. Violence was necessary against people like her … but I couldn’t. I was the apostle of life for a reason. I could never hurt a living being.
“Nothing to say? No last words?” She asked, grabbing me by my collar and lifting me up a little from the ground.
“Te…”
“What?”
“Tel …” Speaking was insanely hard when I had something akin to poison flooding through my veins and even more so whenever I tried to chant. “Teleport.”
All the mana I could endure, which was a more than impressive amount flooded through my body, hurting me immensely thanks so the poison, but still formed after the wishes of the system. Right in front of me, exactly where she stood, a teleportation field appeared, activating nearly instantly.
“Fu…” Olivia said, retracted the hand holding my collar into the ring that symbolised the area which would be teleported. It was the smallest teleportation circle I could make, but more than enough for a human to stand in.
A mere second later, she vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind but and cut grass while I screamed loudly. The poison spread even further through my whole body and my heart beat like crazy, making everything worse.
“Sofie …” Louis muttered, slowly standing up and holding his belly. Stumbling over towards me. “Sofie. Hang in there.”
My vision blurred but at least I was able to see Ellie holding my head shortly afterwards.
“Sofie!” She cried, dropping warm tears onto my cheek. “You need to live!”
There was no way I could if Olivia spoke the truth. This poison would kill me. Just as of already took every bit of my strength, it would also take my life.
Slowly, I started to see less and less until I was engulfed in a world of darkness. Next, my sense of touch went missing. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my back anymore, I couldn’t even feel my body.
“Sofie!” And that was the last thing I heard until the world of the dead engulfed me once and for all.
We were three students, the oldest one of us merely sixteen, but we still wanted to catch someone who the guard didn’t even knew existed.
And we only had one shot at this. Louis snuck out of the royal castle and Ellie, they took one of the few secret passageways into the academy while I registered at the gate. I quickly smuggled them into my room during the day and then proceeded to walk around campus, taking with as many people as I possibly could. I was working on her best at playing the bait, without endangering me too much of course.
And then, nightfall came. With both of them in my room, I felt even more secure than during the day, even though it was highly probable this person would get active during the night. Ellie hid below my bed, which honestly felt like a laughable hiding stop, but she was insanely hard to find thanks to a bit of Louis magic. He himself was in my wardrobe, a dagger in his hands.
And so, I could only pull my blanket above my chest and hope for the best. Hours Late, still tense from all the anticipation, the door finally opened slowly, creaking a little bit.
With light steps, someone strolled into the room, stopping right beside me. Opening my eyes, I could see a teacher standing by my side, a sword in his hand which was already close to my chest.
“Dispel Illusion.” Light radiated out from my palms above the blanket, going in every direction possible. At once, the sword swooshed downwards, right onto the large barrier Ellie Made to protect me.
In the corner of my eyes, I could see the door of my wardrobe open up abruptly as Louis dashed out of it, his dagger directed at the teachers back.
A certain someone must have grabbed the teacher’s feet as well, but that only helped so much. The teacher her body to the side and rammed her elbow into Louis back.
We hadn’t lost yet though. A multitude of magical circles activated all around the room, all targeting the intruder at once. Before they could even do anything though, I could hear a girl cursing and noticed how the teacher seemed to be a bit more see through, but not enough for me to actually notice who was behind the illusion. Even my spell couldn’t do much against this magic …
Fearing she was close to death from being hit by all these circles, she made a mad dash towards a window and broke through it. Louis directly went past her, but stopped short of following her. We were on the third floor after all.
“She is just standing there…” He muttered and took a step back from the window. Standing up as the barrier above me vanished, I quickly pulled Ellie out from underneath the bed and looked downwards as well.
A hooded figure stood there, mostly unmoving and staring straight ahead.
“Let’s go.” Ellie said, ran towards the wardrobe to pick out her sword and round shield. It didn’t take too long for us three to rush downwards and dash out of the door. That person was still standing there, looking at us with interest.
“I never thought you three would find the guts to do something. A healer, a tank and a mage … what is this? A video game?” She asked and stunned each one of us. Suddenly, the darkness covering her face vanished, revealing someone who I had seen before.
“You … Olivia?” Ellie asked in shock.
“What a surprise!” She said, lifting both of her arms up in joy.
“You are … you are also a reincarnator?” I asked a bit confused that they knew each orher.
“Obviously? I mean, your level six spell should dispel nearly all illusions there are …” But not hers, which should not be possible.
“Who … how were you called before?” Louis asked, probably hoping to establish some kind of connection to her.
“Really? I’m here to kill you and you ask that?” Olivia asked and burst out into laughter. Whatever happened to her, she wasn’t entirely sane anymore.
“Let us talk. This doesn’t have to end in more bloodshed.” Ellie proposed, stopping Olivias laughter abruptly.
“Oh? Alright … my name was Lars.” Olivia said grimly. Lars … he was a rather quiet guy. Always did his own stuff while others banded together.
“Lars? But you are …” Ellie muttered, eying her chest rather openly.
“Yeah. Because my patron god thought it would be funny to change my gender.” Olivia said, clearly enraged by having to live as a girl. “He also thought it funny to send me into a family full of assassins who tormented me each and every day until I ended their lives. You, Sofie, you should know how it is to have a shitty god on your side, don’t you? You survived the north … but your family didn’t. Because they don’t care about us.” She stated and glared at each and everyone of us while presenting the heavens her middle finger.
“… that’s not true.” I muttered, feeling exactly like I did back then. Crushed by reality, sad that I had lost my new parents.
“Oh my … close to tears already?” I was. Even though I hated to admit it.
“Leave her alone.” Ellie said to my side, raising her shield ever so slightly.
“Oh? What do you want to do? Defeat me with teamwork? Half your frontline is missing, so how do you want to do that?” Balling my hands into fists, I shook my head and cleared it of these sad thoughts. This time it was different. This time I had the strength those who I held dear on my own. And even if I feared fighting evil, I wouldn’t make one step back.
“As of we tell you our plan.” I said, smiling brightly to overshadow my fear.
“Whatever … I’ll give you one last chance. Come with me and we can work together to bring down their injustice.” Injustice? I didn’t think so. Maybe a few of them, but definitely not the majority. If I was correct and the Lucy I knew really was the real saint, then there was no mistake. The gods weren’t evil.
“No … your goals might be justice, but your way of doing things isn’t. I am not the biggest fan of my patron goddess either … but I have to admit that I can lead a fulfilling life thanks to the gifts she gave me.” I said, and prepared my next magic very carefully as it was the only thing saving us if the rest didn’t work out.
“Fulfilling?” Olivia asked in a sarcastic tone. “All you do is running around from one hospital to another.” And even if I were? I liked to see the smile on the face of the patients I healed.
“Helping others is very fulfilling.” Louis said and pointed his dagger at her angrily.
“I’m sure that’s what your saintly friend would say as well … if she was still alive that is.” Olivia said, a cruel grin on her face.
“You didn’t.” I exclaimed, obviously shocked by her claim.
“I did.” She said, grinning wryly as if she just did something great while in reality, she had murdered the kindest person on this world.
“Bastard!” Louis said, probably guessing who she meant as well, even though he didn’t actually figure out Louis real identity yet.
Pointing his hand towards her, he made the first move.
“Hellfire!” Tens of fireballs shot out of his hands, curving a little and converging on the spot where she stood. She merely smiled though and that’s where I realised that something was wrong.
In the exact moment she vanished, I could feel a cold blade stabbing into me from behind. It wasn’t very deep, but still enough for me to cry out in pain.
“Just so you know. Im not only able to show you illusions, but also to make myself vanish. Whoops.” She said as the fireballs curved around and targeted her once more. Taking a step back from me, I could see her creating a shield of darkness around her, extinguishing all the flames within an instant.
And then, I fell onto my knees. Holding my hand onto my chest, I winced in pain, but still tried to do something about it.
“Heal” Sharp pain shot through my whole body and I could feel how something spread within me at an incredible pace.
“This sword has a level nine magic woven into … you need to ask the pope to heal that for you.” The pope … he was way too far away.
I could hear Ellie’s sword clashing against Olivia’s right beside me, but it didn’t look too good for her either. Toppling over to my side as most of my strength left my body, I saw how Olivia kicked against Ellie’s shield, sending her nearly flying by it.
“What a bunch of heroes you are.” She said, dashed towards Louis who was just chanting his next spell and hit his jaw with the knob of her sword, shutting him up for the time being. Next, she rammed her knee into his belly, completely incapacitating him.
Holding her sword high above her head, she made it very obvious she was going for the kill. Her sword swooshed downwards right at his neck.
Exhaling loudly, I noticed how her sword rebounded and she turned around, glaring at Ellie angrily.
“And you are the worst one of the bunch.” She said, strode towards Ellie who stood there trembling, but still steady and disappeared halfway through.
“Barrier.” Louis and I where covered by a barrier instantly while she turned around her own axis slowly.
“You should have prioritised your own defence.” Her voice resounded right beside me, making Ellie look towards me. Right at this moment though, Olivia reappeared behind her and kicked her in the back.
Ellie had no chance to defend against the sudden attack, and screamed out loudly as she fell into the grass, her sword sliding away from her a little.
“I hate you guys. You know why?” Angrily, she kicked Ellie into her side who groaned in pain. “Because you are a bunch of self righteous pricks who know nothing about this world. And worst of all, you cannot even back your words up. You dream about saving others…” Once more, she kicked into Ellie’s side and probably broke a few of her ribs in the process. “But you cannot even help yourself.” Finally, she stepped back from Ellie and breathed out loudly. “What a waste of time.” She said, seethed her own sword and picked up Ellie’s sword with her right. Strolling over to me, she let the tip of the sword slide to the grass. Desperately, I tried to stand up, but I failed to do so repeatedly. My legs felt wobbly and my arms didn’t have much strength left either.
“And you are the worst of all. Why … why didn’t you use any offensive spells? Do you think you can save the world with thoughts and prayers?” No. I didn’t. Violence was necessary against people like her … but I couldn’t. I was the apostle of life for a reason. I could never hurt a living being.
“Nothing to say? No last words?” She asked, grabbing me by my collar and lifting me up a little from the ground.
“Te…”
“What?”
“Tel …” Speaking was insanely hard when I had something akin to poison flooding through my veins and even more so whenever I tried to chant. “Teleport.”
All the mana I could endure, which was a more than impressive amount flooded through my body, hurting me immensely thanks so the poison, but still formed after the wishes of the system. Right in front of me, exactly where she stood, a teleportation field appeared, activating nearly instantly.
“Fu…” Olivia said, retracted the hand holding my collar into the ring that symbolised the area which would be teleported. It was the smallest teleportation circle I could make, but more than enough for a human to stand in.
A mere second later, she vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind but and cut grass while I screamed loudly. The poison spread even further through my whole body and my heart beat like crazy, making everything worse.
“Sofie …” Louis muttered, slowly standing up and holding his belly. Stumbling over towards me. “Sofie. Hang in there.”
My vision blurred but at least I was able to see Ellie holding my head shortly afterwards.
“Sofie!” She cried, dropping warm tears onto my cheek. “You need to live!”
There was no way I could if Olivia spoke the truth. This poison would kill me. Just as of already took every bit of my strength, it would also take my life.
Slowly, I started to see less and less until I was engulfed in a world of darkness. Next, my sense of touch went missing. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my back anymore, I couldn’t even feel my body.
“Sofie!” And that was the last thing I heard until the world of the dead engulfed me once and for all.
