Suddenly, Azariah saw a huge shadow overcome his face as well.
Before it could strike him like Yvan though, he quickly reacted, casting [Deep Root].
TING!
The fist connected with his face, but his body remained rooted to the ground like it was made of metal.
"URGH!" Azariah gritted his teeth as the pain still went through his body.
However, he didn't let his chance of counterattacking go wasted.
Before the figure could overcome the shock of Azariah not being affected, the latter suddenly raised his gun.
"Umbric Grasp."
Gigantic black hands emerged in the air as Azariah cast a pre-sequence from his terminal, taking hold of the figure.
Pointing his gun to the hood, Azariah pulled the trigger without any second thoughts.
BOOM!
The next moment, a fountain of blood spilled on his face as the body dropped to the ground.
Azariah's eyes widened as he realized just what happened in the span of a few seconds.
Panting, he looked to the ground where he saw a man's head underneath the hood with a huge hole in his forehead.
Blood leaked from it like a pipe with a leakage, and his body was completely limp.
Azariah had specifically ordered reinforced mana bullets from the market for this event.
There was no way the man was surviving that straight on.
It finally dawned on him what he had done.
'D-Did I j-just kill someone?'
All his previous life, even as a homeless boy, Yuito did not dare to do any unlawful acts while living on the streets.
The words of his mother had always resonated with him. He was an innocent, good boy.
And now, he had the blood of a man on his hands.
A man whom he had just shot to death by his own hands, with his blood smearing his face and clothes.
As Azariah looked at his reflection in the pool of blood underneath him, he suddenly convulsed.
"Blergh!"
He vomited on the ground, unable to contain himself. The guilt in his chest wouldn't stop.
He, Yuito Kawasaki, had killed someone.
The man's faceless eyes stared back at him as Azariah drowned in guilt. He had been unable to think of any of this during the encounter.
'W-who knew if t-the guy had a wife and chi—'
Thud!
Suddenly, a slap hit him straight across the face as he tumbled to the ground.
"Shut your bitch ass up."
Azariah looked up. It was Yvan, who was staring down at him covered in blood.
"Look at me. I'm covered in blood as well. I killed that bastard who threw me over there. Do I regret it? Maybe, yes. After all, I'm a boy as well."
Grabbing Azariah's shirt, he lifted him up to his eyes.
"But was it needed to save myself and those around me? Yes. Would I do it again? Hard, but yes. I'd do it a thousand times."
He turned Azariah's face to the side where the screams of students finally entered his ears as they tried to escape.
"Look at them, those helpless students running without any help. You made this plan, so be a man and stick to it!" He threw him back to the ground.
"They are counting on you. We can't back out now."
He extended his hand to Azariah.
"Now get up."
The reality of the situation finally settled into Azariah as he realized what he was doing.
Hadn't he practiced for this happening before coming outside?
'I n-need to calm d-down.'
Azariah took a deep breath and stood up with Yvan's help.
"Okay, so I'll need your help here, big brain. What happened?" the latter asked.
Azariah asked himself the same question as well. It was clear that their plan didn't work.
So there was an obvious answer for it foiling.
"We have a traitor amidst us." He gave the clear answer to Yvan, who sighed in response.
"I really didn't want it to be that."
Within the Council or the Committee, there was a traitor. Someone who had leaked their plans well within hours after he explained it.
"Regardless, we can improvise on it later. Unfortunately, the forces sent here were only a decoy."
"That means…."
Azariah nodded.
"They are attacking in full force at the hostage buildings."
It didn't take much to think why they were doing that.
"It's because that's where most of our valuable forces are." Azariah and Yvan spoke in unison.
Alyssia, Melissa, Amanda, Darius, etc.
Everyone was there.
'Fuck, we need to hurry.'
Alyssia wouldn't be able to handle any of those forces.
The two looked at the huge amounts of smoke rising up above in the distance.
They were right. It was the building where the hostages were stored.
However, just as the two were about to shoot into the distance, more figures came into sight from behind the building.
"We need to get rid of these first." Yvan said.
Nodding, Azariah took out his gun.
"Go ahead, I'll cover you from the back."
As the words left his mouth, Yvan leaped forward.
[Earlier somewhere else]
Alyssia and others surrounded the building from all sides, communicating through mana devices supplied by the Council.
"Are you in position?" Amanda asked Alyssia over the radio.
"Yes." She affirmed.
They were all ready to storm the building any second.
So far, there were no signs of any unusual activity around the building at all. It was an abandoned facility the academy had let go of years ago.
Nobody had entered or left the building from the moment they started monitoring it.
Any second now, when they'd receive the news that Rosalith attacked the students at the event, it would be their cue to strike the building.
Until then, they couldn't make a move.
They were in no way sure that the enemy had left the building yet.
As Alyssia took her place behind a nearby wall, she suddenly saw someone coming out.
"I see movement." Melissa spoke over the radio.
A boy with bright red hair and crimson eyes walked out, his clothes torn and dirt all over him.
"Urgh…" He gritted in pain as he limped across the building grounds.
"C-can anyone hear me??" He tried shouting for help.
"P-please save me." Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to run.
"Is he one of the hostages?" Melissa asked over the radio.
"Isn't he Victor Ignisius? The young heir of the Ignisius Clan?" Darius spoke back.
Immediately, Alyssia could hear Amanda panicking over the radio.
"If he's a hostage we need to save him, we can't let the enemies get their hands on an heir again!" She shouted.
"Wait, we need to be cautious about it—" Darius tried to stop her, but Amanda was getting ready to go rescue him.
As Alyssia saw him trying to escape the building, her eyes suddenly caught onto something at the very far corner window.
A red beeping light.
Focusing on it, she noticed it was a camera.
A camera focused straight on her.
Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her, and she turned back to Victor, who was limping across the floor.
She remembered him. The guy who tried to sit with her on day 1 but Azariah stepped in between.
With wide eyes, she saw Amanda in the distance running to save him.
"WAIT!" She shouted over the radio.
However, it was too late.
A maniac-like smirk spread on Victor's face as Amanda neared him, making the latter realize that it was a trap.
And then…
BOOOM!
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