"This is getting annoying," Isaac thought to himself as he sat in class, watching the other students glaring at him with unhidden suspicion. Their whispers felt like needles pricking at his nerves.
"Should I just rip their eyes out?" he muttered internally, irritation crawling up his spine.
Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the academy, the sound of shattering stone echoing across the walls. The floor shook violently beneath them.
Students screamed. Some dropped to the floor; others leapt into battle stances.
Isaac's eyes widened.
> "No. No. No. It's too soon. This isn't how it happened in my last life..."
Before he could act, the speaker system crackled to life.
> "Emergency! Emergency! Intruder alert! All students, take cov—aghhhhhh—"
The voice ended in a gruesome scream. Static buzzed in the room for a second… then a new voice followed, casual and mad.
> "Hello, faculty members and students. I advise you to hide… not for your safety, of course. But for my pure enjoyment."
The students froze.
"He must be one of the intruders," someone whispered.
"We should run! Let's try to get out of the academy!"
"It's impossible," Ren said, walking into the classroom. "The academy's defense mechanism has been activated. There's a barrier surrounding the school. No way out."
Some students cried. Others panicked. But only one looked… annoyed.
Isaac.
Thoughts slammed through his mind.
> "Those cult bastards… I thought I had more time. Why now? Why attack the academy so soon?"
Then it hit him.
> "Maya. I need to find Maya."
He stood up.
Ren stepped in front of him. "Where are you going? We need to stick together—"
Isaac's bloodshot eyes locked on hers.
> "Don't stop me. Don't get in my way. And don't annoy me."
Each word slammed into her chest like a cold hammer. Even the students nearby flinched.
Then Isaac turned and ran, summoning red mist around him. The mist twisted and shifted until it formed dozens of tiny spiders.
> "Find her."
The spiders skittered in every direction, disappearing down the halls.
---
[SYSTEM ALERT]
> Insanity Index: 63% Warning: If Insanity reaches 100%, Skill [??????????] will awaken.
---
Isaac ignored the warning.
He sprinted down the hallway, blood pooling beneath his feet. The walls were painted with gore. Bodies—students and teachers alike—littered the corridor.
> "Not my problem," he said flatly as he stepped over them.
As he turned a corner, a hammer came crashing down.
He jumped back just in time, the impact cracking the tiles where he stood a second ago.
"Ohhh, what a nimble kitten we have here," came a rough, mocking voice.
The man holding the hammer was tall, broad, and covered in strange tattoos that glowed faintly. He tilted his head.
"Hmmm. You look familiar. Oh, that's right—you were in the files. Shame. You've got potential, but luck's not on your side."
He raised the hammer.
"Time for you to go to sleep!"
He roared and charged.
Isaac didn't even flinch.
> "Shut it."
He jumped sideways, red mist swirling into two jagged daggers in his hands.
The intruder slammed his hammer down. Isaac hurled one dagger—it collided mid-air with the hammer and instantly melted into a crimson puddle, snaking over the weapon and solidifying like steel, trapping it against the ground.
The man's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You… you're not supposed to be awakened. The file said that you—"
His head hit the floor before the sentence ended, rolling away from his twitching body. Isaac stood over him, dagger still dripping with blood.
> "I told you to shut it," he muttered, wiping a smear of blood from his cheek.