It felt like time froze for a split second. Out of nowhere, a blur cut through the crowd—one of the students, eyes glazed, sword raised high.
Steel whistled toward me.
"—!"
I barely managed to leap back, the blade slicing the air where my chest had been. My heart slammed against my ribs. That attack… that would've killed me!
Gasps erupted around us. The other students instinctively drew back, forming a rough circle, their faces pale and uncertain as they watched. No one moved to interfere.
High above, Lycos stirred from his nap, one eye cracking open as he lazily looked down at the chaos. His expression was unreadable, but the weight of his gaze sent a shiver down my spine.
Aria's voice cut through the panic, sharp and indignant. "Professor! This is wrong this is reckless! Is this truly necessary for her to resonate with her mantra circuits?!"
Professor Rye didn't so much as flinch. His posture was calm, hands clasped neatly behind his back, his dark eyes fixed on me with unsettling precision.
"Yes," he said, voice cold as stone. "It is necessary. For her, the path forward lies only through the edge of life and death."
Aria stepped forward again, trembling with anger. "This is madness."
"If you attempt to intervene in any way," the professor interrupted, his tone turning razor-sharp, "I will deduct points from you personally. And if you persist, I will not hesitate to report your disobedience to the Headmaster."
The words hung in the air like chains.
Aria froze, her fists clenched tight at her sides. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, then finally stepped back, her voice dying in her throat.
"..."
She could do nothing.
And I was alone.
Yesterday — XX:XX
The Author leaned behind his desk, eyes twinkling like a child about to unwrap a present. Lycos stood at his side, hands clasped behind his back, face so expressionless you'd think he'd been carved out of stone.
"Professor Nikolas," the Author said with a thin smile, "I did some research on that commoner the boy brought in the other day." He leaned forward, fingers steepled. "She is far more extraordinary than I first believed. She is critical to our plan. Do whatever it takes to make her resonate with her mantra circuits."
Lycos said nothing. He merely inclined his head, his face blank as a mask.
I caught sight of something no one else did: the student moving toward me was wrong just a fraction off. For a heartbeat the figure looked wooden, its motions stilted. Can no one else see this? I wondered. My vision blurred for an instant and then snapped back. The "student" resolved into a perfect human replica. No wonder everyone else walked past it without a second thought.
My hand moved on its own. I drew my katana and met the incoming blade in a ringing block.
"—Keuk!"
The parry drove my arms wide and left my posture broken. The replica's mouth curled into a slow, cruel smile too deliberate to be innocent. For the briefest second the thing seemed to wear a personality. "Weird!"
The student's body flickered, flesh peeling away to reveal the truth beneath nothing but a wooden puppet. Its movements slowed, dragging unnaturally through the air. Everything around me seemed caught in sluggish motion, except for my eyes.
That gave me a few precious seconds to think.
I scanned the circle of students. Not one of them moved. Their faces were pale, eyes wide, but fear of the professor kept them rooted to the floor.
"Fine," I muttered under my breath. "I don't need help anyway."
I narrowed my gaze and caught it thin, dark-yellow threads strung across the air. Mantra threads. They traced back in a delicate weave until they vanished behind the professor's back.
So that's it. Professor Rye. He was pulling the strings. Literally.
The puppet lunged. I shifted my weight backward, dropping into a rough walkover to regain balance. Its sword came down, a flash of steel. I met it with my katana, the blades sparking violently as I parried. I twisted my wrist, the edge of my weapon guiding the puppet's sword off-course before wrenching it free.
For an instant, its carved face seemed almost shocked
I steadied myself, bringing my blade vertical to my chest in stance.
"There's no way she would kill another student!" a voice rang out from the crowd.
The puppet pressed forward again. This time I feinted thrusting, then cutting away midway and dashing past it. The sudden shift left it stumbling, confused.
If mantra is anything like mana, then it should share its properties.
I let my energy flow. My katana resonated, humming, its edge glowing with a bright blue outline.
"Sword Art: Mana Slash."
The blade swept upward, cleaving through the golden threads tethering the puppet. Sparks burst and dissipated into the air.
The false human form twisted violently before collapsing, reverting into lifeless wood.
The room fell silent, broken only by sharp breaths of disbelief. The students gawked whether at my cutting through the professor's threads, or at the audacity of turning his own puppet against him, I couldn't tell.
I lowered my sword, eyes narrowing. "…I'm not the only one seeing this, right?"
Professor Rye looked on, his expression unreadable. A flicker of something impressed, perhaps but quickly buried beneath his usual mask of severity, with just a trace of annoyance tugging at his mouth. With a lazy gesture, he lowered his hand, and the puppet sagged slightly as if dismissed.
The threads… they were crafted from mantra, but not powered by it. That was the only reason she'd been able to sever them. A stroke of luck.
A flash glinted from the treeline. My head snapped in its direction Selina clung to a branch, dangling awkwardly where she and Lycos had been perched before, as if something had startled her out of her nap.
That's when it hit me. A shiver faint, but cold as steel crept down my spine. A presence directly behind me.
I spun, too late.
The puppet loomed, its wooden face twisted in a grotesque smile, blade already mid-swing.
"Damnit, I can't block this in time!" I froze, bracing for the strike that would carve me open.
But… nothing.
The clash never came. Instead, a sound—the groan of wood straining under force. My eyes widened.
Lycos stood there, one hand clamped around the puppet's sword arm. His grip crushed the wooden wrist as though it were nothing more than a twig. The puppet strained, but he didn't even flinch.
In his other hand, a glint of cold iron. A modified flintlock shimmered into existence, its barrel pressing against the puppet's temple.
His gaze never changed, flat and calm. "You're in my range."
–zzzzzZZT
Mantra art: " Simeío kenó"
–KABOO
A blinding roar split the air.
From Lycos's flintlock burst a massive beam of pure energy—far stronger than the one he had unleashed against the prince. It engulfed the puppet, and in an instant, its entire upper body was incinerated. What remained—charred and brittle—collapsed to the ground in smoking pieces.
The silence afterward was deafening.
Professor Rye's jaw tightened. He didn't even bother masking his irritation this time, muttering under his breath, "Annoying brat…"
I exhaled slowly, my nerves still buzzing. Akaline sidled up next to me, eyes wide with awe, his grin stretching ear to ear.