"Lucian, we need to kill Sarah."
The words came from a silver-haired young man wearing a fox-like mask. His voice was desperate, almost pleading.
"She's the one the Ark is after! If it weren't for her, we would have formed an alliance with them by now!" The masked man's voice rose with anger and frustration. He needed his comrade to understand. He needed him to see reason.
Lucian, a handsome young man with jet-black hair, stared back at him. His expression was grim, troubled. "William, I understand why you're upset. I do. But we can't hand Sarah over to them. I won't."
"Do you even hear yourself right now?" William asked, his voice filled with disbelief. He couldn't believe what his friend was saying.
"Yes, I do," Lucian replied calmly. He looked at William with a helpless expression. "And I expect you, as my friend, to support my decisions. Even the unreasonable ones."
William's hands clenched into fists at his sides. His whole body tensed with frustration. "You know I've always supported you, Lucian. Always. But this..." He gestured wildly with his hands. "This is an apocalypse we're talking about! She carries the bloodline of Kratos! She's going to *cause* the end of the world!"
Lucian could only offer a weary smile. He shook his head slowly. "So that's it? You're just afraid of her, aren't you? You care more about saving yourself than anything else."
"What?!" William's voice cracked with emotion. "You know better than anyone that I do what I do for the people! Everything I've done has been for them!"
"That's exactly the problem, Liam." Lucian's smile turned sad, almost pitying. "You care about the lives of strangers more than you should. That was supposed to be my role, wasn't it? I was the hero. I was the one who had to save everyone."
He paused, his eyes growing distant.
"But now... now I have something I care about more than a bunch of ungrateful people. And right now, you're standing in the way of that."
Lucian's right hand moved slowly to rest on the hilt of the sword at his hip.
William's eyes widened behind his mask. A chill ran down his spine. "Wait, Lucian. What are you—"
He didn't get to finish.
Before William could activate his talent, before he could even think to defend himself, Lucian had already moved. In less than a heartbeat, the protagonist stood behind him.
"I'm sorry, William," Lucian whispered, his voice soft with regret. "This is for the best."
William felt a cold sensation across his neck. Then his vision tilted. The world spun. He saw his own body, still standing, as his head separated from his shoulders. His head hit the ground and rolled. The last thing he saw was the cobblestone beneath him before darkness swallowed everything.
Then... nothing.
---
"Huh?"
William's eyes snapped open. Bright sunlight pierced through his eyelids, making him wince. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the light.
His hand immediately went to his neck. It was intact. Whole. Attached to his body.
"I'm... alive?" he whispered, his voice filled with confusion and disbelief.
The sound of voices surrounded him. Murmuring. Chattering. Laughter. He sat up quickly, his head spinning as he took in his surroundings.
Students. Hundreds of them. They walked past him in their pristine uniforms, chatting excitedly with one another. Beyond them stood massive iron gates decorated with intricate magical runes. And beyond those gates rose enormous towers that pierced the sky.
William's breath caught in his throat.
"Wait... this is... this is the entrance to Sky Academy!"
His mind raced. Just moments ago—or what felt like moments ago—Lucian had killed him. Cut off his head like he was nothing. Like their friendship meant nothing. And now he was here. At the beginning. At the very start of the novel's story.
He looked down at his hands. They were younger. Smoother. These weren't the hands of someone who had fought through years of an apocalypse. These were the hands of a student.
Slowly, William's confused expression shifted. His lips curved upward into a grin. Then that grin widened into something darker. Something that held years of betrayal and anger.
He remembered everything. Every battle they'd fought together. Every time he'd saved Lucian's life. Every sacrifice he'd made. And he remembered how it all ended—with his head rolling across the ground.
"Screw the protagonist," William muttered under his breath, his grin turning savage. "This time, I'm going to kill him first."