The goddess's words echoed in my mind, sharp and cold: "Even the lowest rank has its uses." My throat tightened as I stood in the glowing magic circle, soldiers flanking me, their eyes hard. What did she plan for me, Mimori Touka, the sole E-Rank?
A soldier prodded my back with his sword's sheath. "Move, or die," he growled. Resistance was futile—thirty armed guards ensured that. My bad feeling grew, a gnawing dread that this "ritual" was no honor, but a trap.
"Goddess-sama," I called, voice trembling. "What's happening? Why me first?" Vysis's golden eyes met mine, her smile serene yet chilling. "Touka Mimori, you're 2-C's lowest-ranked hero, E-Rank. Historically, E-Ranks drag down the strong."
Her next words hit like a blade. "They're disposed of." Disposal? My heart sank. "Killing you here would shock the others," she continued, arms spreading wide. "So, we offer a chance to return!" Her mercy felt like a cruel jest.
"A chance?" I stammered. "The magic circle will send you to certain ruins," she said. "Survive the Disposal Ruins, and Alion grants you freedom." The name alone screamed death trap—a place for sinners and monsters like that three-eyed wolf, where no one returned alive.
"Disposal Ruins?" I choked, fists clenched. Vysis's smile didn't waver. "Most high-risk criminals were sent there. Who knows what awaits?" Her flippant tone confirmed it: this was execution by another name, a place where corpses needed no cleanup.
My classmates watched, some shocked, others indifferent. Kirihara's cool gaze, Sogou's furrowed brow, Oyamada's smirk, the Takao sisters' calm observation, Yasu's odd grin—all burned into me. Zakurogi, D-Rank and irrelevant, stood silent, his authority long gone.
Desperation surged. "Goddess-sama!" I shouted. "My skills are usable! —paralysis, poison, sleep!" I clung to the faint hope that my Level 1 skills, rare for an E-Rank, might sway her.
Vysis scratched her forehead, her face twisting with disdain. "So what?" she said, voice dripping with scorn. "Abnormal state skills are worthless here. Low success rates, weak effects, short duration, against even against low-tier monsters. Your skills are in the failure frame."
The world froze. Failure frame? My one spark of hope, my skills deemed useless. The chamber's lanterns dimmed in my vision, the soldiers' grips tightening. My E-Rank status, my barren skill tree, my very existence, all branded as nothing.
Sogou stepped forward, her voice steady. "Goddess-sama, isn't this too harsh?" Vysis's smile sharpened. "S-Rank heroes need not concern themselves with the weak." Oyamada laughed, "Air mob's done for!" Kirihara said nothing, while Hijiri whispered to Itsuki, analyzing.
Yasu's grin widened, almost mocking, as if he knew something I didn't. The soldiers pushed me closer to the circle's center, its glow intensifying. I was a pawn, expendable, sent to die in a ruin designed to erase me. My skills, my rank, my name—all meaningless to Vysis.
But a flicker of defiance stirred. If I was air, I'd be air that clung to life. , , —they were mine, failure or not. I'd make them count, somehow, in that cursed place.
The magic circle pulsed brighter, Vysis's voice ringing out, "Prepare for transfer!" My fate was sealed, but I wouldn't go quietly. Not yet.