After leaving the ruined, abandoned village behind, Tsutsumi made his way directly toward Haven Academy, leaving behind the weakened and defeated makeshift group that Ruby had managed to gather.
He had no reason to stay there any longer.
Whatever remained of that group was no longer his concern, and there was still one more Relic he needed to obtain. With Haven Academy being the location of the last Relic, there was little reason for him to waste time on anything else.
As for the Fall Maiden, he could always track her down later.
There was no rush.
After everything that had happened, Tsutsumi saw little reason to hurry. He had already come this far, and finding the remaining Relic was simply another step toward accomplishing his objective. The Fall Maiden could wait until he had finished what he came here to do.
Eventually, Tsutsumi arrived at Haven Academy.
He stopped right in front of the institution, his attention settling on the academy that had been entrusted with protecting one of the world's most important secrets.
Haven Academy, a name that represented refuge, shelter, and a safe haven from the dark forces lurking throughout the world.
It was rather fitting for an institution meant to train Huntsmen and Huntresses, people who would eventually stand against the Grimm and protect humanity from the dangers beyond the walls of civilization. Yet, like the other three main Huntsman Academies, Haven's name carried a meaning that went beyond simply being the name of a school.
Each academy followed a deliberate metaphorical theme connected to survival and protection against the harsh, Grimm-infested world of Remnant.
Beacon Academy was named after a lighthouse beacon, a guiding light that represented hope, inspiration, and safety amid the darkness. It was meant to be a symbol that people could look toward, a reminder that even in a dangerous world, there was still something worth protecting.
Shade Academy, on the other hand, took its name from physical shade, something that offered shelter from the blistering heat of the desert. In an environment where escaping the sun could mean the difference between comfort and survival, shade represented a place of refuge from the harshness of the world.
Atlas Academy was named after the Greek Titan Atlas, who carried the weight of the heavens upon his shoulders. The name mirrored the floating city itself, which literally held its place above the rest of the world. It was a fitting symbol for a kingdom that had placed so much of its identity in its technology, military strength, and ability to maintain its position above the dangers below.
And then there was Haven Academy.
A place whose very name represented safety.
A refuge from danger.
A sanctuary for those who needed protection.
Tsutsumi couldn't help but find the irony amusing.
After all, the Headmaster of Haven Academy was Leonardo Lionheart, a cowardly lion Faunus who had secretly betrayed his fellow Huntsmen to Salem out of fear for his own survival.
The man entrusted with leading an academy meant to protect humanity had chosen to betray the very people who were supposed to stand together against the darkness.
After learning that Salem was immortal, Lionheart had allowed his fear to dictate his actions. Rather than continuing to fulfill his responsibilities as a Huntsman and a Headmaster, he had abandoned his loyalty to his fellow Huntsmen in an attempt to save his own skin.
He had chosen his own survival over the people who trusted him. And that was what made the whole situation so ridiculous.
The Headmaster of an academy that represented a safe haven had secretly been a traitor all along.
A man whose position should have made him a symbol of protection had instead become another person willing to sacrifice others out of fear.
The irony was almost too convenient.
Haven Academy was supposed to represent a refuge from the dangers of the world, yet even its own leader had failed to live up to the meaning behind its name.
"This world truly is rotten..." Tsutsumi murmured, staring directly at the front door of Haven Academy.
The words came out quietly, almost as though he were talking to himself. After everything he had seen and learned, he could no longer look at the world of Remnant without feeling disgusted by it. The people entrusted with protecting humanity had betrayed their responsibilities, while those who were supposed to guide the next generation had dragged them into a conflict that had continued for centuries.
Even an academy that represented a safe haven had a traitor sitting at the top of its hierarchy.
"Aren't your actions a bit hypocritical?" Morgan's voice suddenly came from behind him.
She had appeared without warning, casually leaning against his back as though the two of them were simply taking a leisurely stroll rather than standing before an academy he was about to invade. Her moderately sized chest pressed against his back while she rested her chin on top of his head, looking entirely comfortable with herself.
"Heh?"
Tsutsumi didn't bother turning around to look at her.
"That girl who came running toward you with nothing but killing intent. Not only did you spare her life, but you even went out of your way to heal her. Why is that?"
Morgan asked out of genuine curiosity, although the amusement in her voice made it clear that she wasn't asking entirely out of concern.
She, along with Priestess and Azu, had watched the entire battle from within Tsutsumi's unrealized Reality Marble. They had seen Ruby charge at him, watched her desperate attempt to break through his defenses, and witnessed the moment he deliberately lowered them so that she could reach him.
They had also seen what happened afterward.
Rather than leaving Ruby to die from her injuries, Tsutsumi had healed her before disappearing through the Aurora Curtain.
It was a strange decision for someone who had already decided to destroy the world.
Priestess, who possessed the memories and experiences of an alternative future Tsutsumi, understood the reason behind his actions better than most. To her, it was simply another remnant of his humanity, a small part of the person he had yet to completely abandon.
Azu, on the other hand, didn't question her Master. She already knew enough about Tsutsumi to understand that there were things he wasn't willing to explain, and she had no reason to force him to talk about them.
Morgan was different. She was still relatively new to Tsutsumi, and her connection to him was practically nonexistent beyond the fact that he had obtained her Relic and brought her along.
She didn't know him as well as Priestess or Azu did. And that was precisely why his behavior intrigued her.
Why would someone who had decided to destroy the world still bother showing mercy to a girl who wanted him dead?
Was he simply being sentimental?
Or was there something more behind his actions?
"Why is it that someone who is causing so much destruction would decide to show mercy to a girl who tried to kill him?" Morgan continued, her tone becoming increasingly teasing. "Perhaps... you have some feelings for that girl?"
She sounded almost delighted by the possibility, clearly hoping to uncover some interesting gossip.
Tsutsumi remained silent for a moment.
"It doesn't matter. This world will end under my hand."
He opened his palm.
Black Originium crystals began to form above his skin, their dark surfaces catching the light as more of the material gathered together. His dull purple eyes changed as well, a magenta, rhombus-shaped pattern resembling a diamond appearing at the center of his pupils.
He paid little attention to Morgan's teasing, his focus instead shifting toward the crystals floating above his hand.
After using Priestess's power, he had granted himself Full Originium Manipulation, gaining access to the same fundamental control she possessed over the material.
And now, he was beginning to understand what that power truly meant.
Originium was far more than an ordinary mineral.
For the people of Terra, it was an incredibly dense energy source, one capable of powering technology and enabling the use of Arts. Yet it was also a universal cancer, an infectious substance with a one-hundred-percent fatality rate for those who succumbed to its effects.
It was something that could provide civilization with extraordinary possibilities while simultaneously threatening the lives of the very people who depended on it.
But that was only the surface.
Originium wasn't merely a rock that happened to contain an enormous amount of energy. It was a highly advanced terraforming nanotechnology network created by an ancient civilization, capable of absorbing and recording the data, memories, and souls of the things it consumed.
And now, with Full Originium Manipulation, Tsutsumi could begin to explore those properties for himself.
The crystals weren't simply another resource he could summon or shape into a weapon. They were part of a much larger system, one that contained information about the world and the living beings connected to it.
With Originium now part of his own abilities, Tsutsumi began examining the material more closely, allowing himself to synchronize with the Originium stored inside his Reality Marble.
The more he understood it, the more he realized just how much potential it held.
For the people of Terra, using Originium Arts required a trait known as Arts Assimilation. Through this process, they harmonized their minds and bodies with Originium, using it as a catalyst to convert their thoughts, emotions, or racial traits into different forms of energy.
Depending on the individual and the Arts they practiced, that energy could manifest as chemical, electrical, or physical phenomena.
Priestess had once described Originium as a language she had created, and the Arts used by the people of Terra were essentially expressions written through that language.
The Terrans were like users running programs on a computer, relying on the functions available to them and learning how to operate the system through practice.
Priestess was the programmer. She possessed administrator-level root access to the entire operating system, allowing her to interact with the system on a level that ordinary users could never hope to reach.
And Tsutsumi was someone who had been granted that same level of access by Priestess.
Because Originium could record data from its environment and the living beings it assimilated, the consciousness of Terrans is recorded within the Originium network known as the Amannam.
If one viewed Originium as a set of codes, Priestess and Tsutsumi have admin access and can freely alter those codes at will.
So in theory...
If he wanted to reproduce someone else's Arts, he could theoretically overwrite the code of the surrounding Originium and force it to produce the same result.
He wouldn't need to follow the same limitations as the original user.
He could bypass the conventional process entirely, using his control over Originium to achieve the desired effect on a far larger scale, with greater safety and a degree of precision that ordinary Arts users couldn't hope to match.
At least, that was the theory.
And Tsutsumi had every intention of putting it to the test.
The black crystal floating above his palm suddenly flared with crimson electricity.
Its shape began to change, the rough crystalline surface shifting and stretching as the material gathered into the form of a sword. The dark mass gradually became a long, elegant blade, its appearance resembling a weapon he knew very well.
Chi Xiao, Ch'en's weapon, whose name could be translated as Crimson Firmament or Red Sheath, was a legendary dragon-slaying katana.
Tsutsumi had already stored a projected copy of Chi Xiao inside his Reality Marble, but this time, he wasn't using Projection to bring it out. He wasn't even transforming into Ch'en.
Instead, he was using Originium itself to recreate the weapon and the memory along with it.
The moment Chi Xiao settled into his hand, Tsutsumi felt the difference. He no longer needed to rely on a projected weapon stored within his Reality Marble to reproduce Ch'en's combat capabilities. Through his control over Originium, he could now mimic her attacks and Arts without needing to take on her form or physically summon the original projection.
The blade extended into a long, royal-looking weapon as burning flames erupted along its surface. Tsutsumi looked at it for a moment, studying the result of his experiment.
His theory had been correct.
And if he could reproduce Ch'en's weapon and Arts through Originium alone, there was little reason to believe that this was the limit of what he could accomplish.
"Hey, hey, don't act all mysterious on me." Morgan's voice interrupted his thoughts.
She poked the side of his head with her finger, apparently growing impatient with being ignored.
"I'm not that lazy whore who knows everything. I'm a proper, elegant maiden, you know?"
Tsutsumi finally turned his head slightly to look at her. He stared at her for a moment, apparently deciding whether explaining anything to her was worth the effort.
Then, rather than giving her the lengthy explanation she probably wanted, he raised the black crystal in his hand.
"Originium. Basically, a living cancer rock with a one-hundred-percent fatality rate."
Morgan stared at him.
"..."
"That doesn't explain anything."
Tsutsumi let out a tired sigh.
He had just given her the simplest possible explanation, and she was still dissatisfied. Not that he could entirely blame her. Calling Originium a living cancer rock wasn't exactly a comprehensive description of its properties.
Still, he wasn't particularly interested in explaining the entire system from the beginning.
As he looked at Morgan's dissatisfied expression, however, a small part of him couldn't help but notice something familiar about her behavior.
The way she kept asking questions, even when he clearly had no intention of giving her a proper answer.
The way she wanted to understand what he was doing instead of simply accepting whatever explanation he gave her.
For some reason, it reminded him a little of Pyrrha.
Back when they weren't a couple, she had sometimes shown that same desire to understand him. She had been willing to ask questions and listen to his answers, even when he refused to explain himself properly.
The memory was brief, but it was enough to make something in his chest feel strangely uncomfortable.
Tsutsumi looked away.
"I healed Ruby because I'm just trying to imitate what a hero should do." His voice was quiet, but there was no attempt to hide the truth behind his words. "In reality, I'm nothing more than a fake. A monster pretending to be a hero."
Morgan's teasing expression changed slightly as she listened.
Tsutsumi didn't elaborate immediately. He simply looked down at the weapon in his hand; the flames burning along the blade disappeared, turning back into black Originium crystals that floated around him.
There was no reason to hide his thoughts from Morgan.
After all, she was merely a spirit residing within a Relic, living rent-free inside his body. If he truly wanted to get rid of her, he could simply throw her Relic into some unknown world and leave it there.
It wasn't as though she could easily stop him.
But he had no intention of doing that.
Sometimes, having someone to talk to who didn't already know everything about him was an interesting experience.
Priestess knew too much. Azu understood him in ways that he didn't always know how to explain. Both of them had enough knowledge of his circumstances to understand the reasons behind his decisions, even when they disagreed with them.
Morgan didn't have that advantage. She didn't know his entire history, nor did she have any particular reason to accept his actions without question.
She could look at him and see the contradictions for herself.
Perhaps that was why he didn't mind answering her honestly.
Morgan suddenly began chuckling, one hand covering her mouth as she looked at him with amusement.
Tsutsumi didn't bother asking what she found so funny. Instead, he turned away and began walking toward Haven Academy.
The black Originium crystals floating around him followed as he moved forward, gathering together before surging toward the academy's protective wall.
The impact shattered the barrier.
The sudden commotion immediately drew the attention of the students, Huntsmen, and Huntresses inside the academy. Before they could fully understand what was happening, Tsutsumi continued walking forward, paying little attention to the people reacting to his arrival.
The black crystals surrounding him began to move.
One by one, they gathered together, fusing into a massive shape that grew larger with every passing moment. The crystalline mass stretched and shifted, forming the body of a draconic beast.
A familiar silhouette emerged from the darkness.
"Monst3r."
The beast let out a monstrous roar.
Tsutsumi watched as it charged forward, its enormous body lunging toward the people rushing to confront it.
By putting his theory into practice, he had managed to create a copy of Monst3r without using its card or transforming into Kal'tsit.
He had simply used Originium to reproduce the creature. It was an impressive result, and one that demonstrated just how much potential his ability possessed.
Yet, despite that success, Tsutsumi couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. The Monst3r standing before him wasn't the one he usually summoned.
It looked the same, possessed the same general form, and could perform the same function, but it wasn't the original. It was merely a copy created through his manipulation of Originium, a substitute for something that already existed within his collection of powers.
A cheap imitation.
He knew that was a strange thing to feel disappointed about. After all, he had successfully reproduced a creature without relying on the ability he normally used to summon it. From a practical standpoint, the experiment had been a success.
But that was precisely the problem.
He could reproduce the form and function, create something that looked and behaved like the original.
Yet that didn't make it the same thing.
Perhaps he was becoming sentimental. Or perhaps he simply hadn't detached himself from his humanity as much as he sometimes believed.
Tsutsumi still had feelings.
He still grew attached to people, places, and objects that had remained beside him for a long time. Even as his power continued to grow, even as he gained more abilities and became something increasingly difficult to describe as human, those attachments had not simply disappeared.
He could pretend they didn't matter. They were still there.
Somewhere deep inside him, beneath all the power he had accumulated and all the resentment he carried, Tsutsumi still wanted something painfully ordinary.
He wanted a normal life.
A life where he could be surrounded by the people he loved and cared about, where he could spend his days with them without having to worry about another conflict tearing everything apart. He wanted to grow old alongside them, to watch the years pass, and to eventually die peacefully with his loved ones gathered around him.
But he knew better than to believe that such a future was waiting for him.
That dream was nothing more than wishful thinking, an endless fantasy that remained forever beyond his reach.
No matter how much power he obtained, he couldn't simply return to the days before everything had fallen apart. He couldn't undo the mistakes that had brought him here, nor could he force the world to return to the way he remembered it.
The life he wanted was no longer something he could reach by simply wishing for it.
"Honestly, I can't tell whether you're stupid or overly sentimental," Morgan remarked, her voice carrying the same amused tone as before. "To reach out a helping hand to a former friend who has turned into an enemy. What an interesting contradiction."
Tsutsumi continued walking, watching Monst3r charge ahead.
"Probably both..."
He didn't deny it.
There was little point in pretending otherwise when he already knew that, in this particular matter, he was being a fool.
As he continued moving forward, Tsutsumi finally reached the location where the last Relic was being kept.
His gaze settled on Lionheart, who was desperately trying to stand his ground before him. The old man attempted to maintain a brave front, but the fear in his eyes and the unsteadiness of his stance betrayed him completely. His body was tense, his expression stiff, and every part of him seemed to understand just how hopeless his situation was.
Unfortunately for Lionheart, none of that meant anything to Tsutsumi.
He simply stared at the old man, his expression remaining as indifferent as ever. There was no anger in his eyes, nor was there any satisfaction in seeing his opponent tremble before him. If anything, Tsutsumi felt a little bored.
The strong simply didn't find any joy in beating up the weak. There was no challenge in it, no excitement, and certainly nothing worth getting worked up over. Facing someone who could barely hide his fear was hardly an interesting way to spend his time.
However, that didn't mean Lionheart would be spared.
The old man had betrayed his own ally and chosen to become part of Salem's inner circle. Whatever excuses he might have had for his actions no longer mattered to Tsutsumi. He had made his choice, and now he would have to face the consequences.
Lionheart was one of the people on Tsutsumi's chopping list.
And Tsutsumi had no intention of letting him off it.
To Morgan's surprise, Tsutsumi suddenly summoned the Relic of Destruction into his hand. The ancient weapon appeared before him, and his fingers wrapped firmly around its handle as he started walking toward Lionheart.
Morgan watched him for a moment before realizing what he intended to do.
"Hey, hey. You do know that sword can't cut anything without my permission, right?" she reminded him.
Her words, however, did little to discourage Tsutsumi.
He simply closed in on Lionheart, the Relic of Destruction held casually in his hand. The old man barely had time to react before Tsutsumi closed the distance and swung the weapon at him.
The blade struck Lionheart, sending his body crashing into the nearby wall with enough force to break through it. Dust and pieces of the damaged wall scattered around him as he collapsed, his body struggling to recover from the impact.
As Morgan had pointed out, the sword hadn't cut him.
But that hardly made the attack harmless.
Tsutsumi continued walking forward, paying no attention to the damage he had caused. His gaze remained fixed on Lionheart, who was desperately trying to push himself up from the wreckage. The old man opened his mouth, seemingly eager to say something, but Tsutsumi had already raised the Relic again.
"I know," Tsutsumi replied flatly. "But if I hit him hard enough, he'll still die anyway."
Morgan stared at him.
For a moment, she wasn't entirely sure what to say to that.
Tsutsumi, meanwhile, didn't seem particularly interested in waiting for a response. He brought the Relic of Destruction down again, striking Lionheart before the old man could properly recover. The impact forced him back down, cutting off whatever words he had been trying to say.
Whether Lionheart was attempting to beg for his life, make excuses, or appeal to Tsutsumi's sense of mercy, it made no difference.
Each strike landed with brutal force, the Relic of Destruction serving as little more than a blunt instrument in his hands. The sword couldn't cut Lionheart, but its inability to do so hardly mattered when Tsutsumi could simply use the weapon to beat him down.
There was no hesitation in his movements, nor did he show any particular emotion as he continued his assault. He didn't bother arguing with Lionheart or giving him a chance to explain himself. As far as Tsutsumi was concerned, the old man's actions had already spoken for him.
Whatever Lionheart had to say now was meaningless.
The sound of each impact filled the room, accompanied by the crumbling of the already damaged wall and Lionheart's increasingly desperate attempts to resist. Yet Tsutsumi remained as indifferent as ever, continuing to bring the Relic down without showing the slightest sign of fatigue or frustration.
Eventually, the struggle came to an end.
The floor was stained red with Lionheart's blood, and the old man lay motionless beneath the weapon that, by Morgan's own rules, couldn't cut anything.
Tsutsumi finally stopped swinging.
He looked down at Lionheart for a brief moment, his expression unchanged. There was no satisfaction in his eyes, no sense of accomplishment, and certainly no remorse. To him, this was simply the inevitable conclusion of dealing with someone who had chosen to stand on the wrong side.
After all, a sword didn't need to cut someone to kill them.