When I used Trinity to teleport toward the two of them, I didn't realize my aura was leaking. By the time I got there, both of them were completely paralyzed in fear. I didn't notice it at first, so to them I must have looked like a monster.
I thought their faces might have been disgust, which was confusing since I was wearing a mask.
Then the white-haired man screamed.
"Run!"
He took off, and the blonde-haired man followed without hesitation.
That was when I realized my aura was still leaking.
I immediately began to suppress it. Perfect Control let me regulate every type of energy inside me, so I figured I should be able to convert aura into mana.
I tested it.
The oppressive aura around my body stopped spreading outward and began flowing back into me, straight toward my mana core. Heat rose in my chest as the core swelled.
A moment later the aura was gone.
Success.
They kept running anyway.
"Why are they still running?"
All I wanted was to introduce myself as Noir Drake and apply for the academy. The white-haired man was the headmaster. Claudia had told me he had rare purple eyes that glittered like stars. Even from behind, I could tell it was him.
I couldn't really blame them for running. The aura had been my fault, so it was my job to calm them down.
I used Trinity again and appeared a meter in front of them.
"I'm sorry for the mis—"
The white-haired man was already lifting his staff. A massive fireball formed and shot toward me.
Guess they're still wary.
We could bind them in a barrier, Khaos suggested.
That would only make them more suspicious.
I raised one hand and condensed the smallest amount of mana I could manage, then released it.
The fireball vanished like a candle being blown out.
If they kept attacking, I only needed to neutralize whatever they threw at me. That should be enough to prove I wasn't an enemy. The timing was terrible, but the chance was here.
In a way, this was starting to feel like an entrance exam.
---
Julius and Reinhardt were still running when the figure suddenly appeared a meter in front of them.
So that was how it moved.
The dark aura was gone, but that only made Julius more suspicious.
He poured the last of his mana into a fireball several times larger than normal and launched it while pulling ambient mana from the air for a short-range teleport. It wouldn't get them to another continent, but it might get them out of the capital.
The figure simply raised one hand.
A hole opened in the center of the fireball and spread outward until the entire spell disappeared.
Julius's eyes widened.
The attack was just gone.
"Will you hold on for a moment?"
The voice was clear and strangely calm. Not at all what Julius had imagined.
The teleportation spell was ready, but without the decoy, using it now risked the figure following them immediately. Julius hesitated.
The figure had asked them to wait. And if it had wanted them dead, they would already be dead.
So he took the risk.
"Who are you?"
The masked figure tilted its head.
"My name is Noir Drake. I came to apply for admission to Selene Academy."
For a moment neither Julius nor Reinhardt spoke.
Then Reinhardt let out a short, disbelieving breath.
"…You're joking."
"I'm not. I was told the headmaster has purple eyes that glitter like stars. That should be you, correct?"
Julius's grip on his staff tightened.
Applying for the academy. Now. In the middle of a crater that used to be the capital. The academy itself was in ruins. The whole request was absurd.
"I'm sorry, but you don't seem to have the qualifications necessary to enroll."
It was a lie. This person had more than enough power. That was exactly the problem. He was too dangerous—a complete unknown. Julius wanted his students safe. Someone like this would only bring more trouble.
"Really? Then what exactly do I need to meet your qualifications?"
He was still serious.
Fine.
"If you want to join, then rebuild the entire capital and bring all the dead back to life."
It was an impossible demand. Rebuilding a capital was already ridiculous. Resurrecting the dead was something no one in history had ever done.
"If that's all, then I shall gladly execute it."
What?
---
I'm glad they're finally talking to me. But resurrecting an entire capital?
I only agreed on impulse. How am I supposed to bring the dead back? Turning them into mana soldiers isn't the same thing, and I don't have the heart for that anyway.
Any ideas?
Fate Collapse.
What about it?
It can alter anything absolute. This event already happened, so it falls under fate. Collapse it and rewrite it from the start.
Then theoretically I should be able to use it on the people from MorningStar territory too.
Too late. That incident is too far in the past. This one is still fresh. We can still erase and rewrite it.
…So I can't save them. Fine. If I can do something for these people, I'll do it.
I raised my hand and activated Fate Collapse.
The world slowed. Everything around me turned black. The Commander and Headmaster looked like someone had poured ink over them and then outlined their shapes in white.
They had no shadow or color, but I could still make out details. The same was for the ground. I could see the outline, but that's it.
"Arghh!"
A sharp pain erupted in my head. It was as if someone was poking my head with thousands of needles. My vision began to blur as my body stammered.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
Are you really going to let pain stop you? If that's the case, you might as well give up now.
Shut up. It hurts. It hurts but I'll still endure. I'm not so weak as to let pain stop me. I acknowledge the fact that it hurts, but I'll ensure that I get this done.
...
What's wrong? You suddenly went real silent.
Look up.
Through my blurry vision, I lifted my head up. In front of me was a giant humanoid figure and a young man standing on a platform in the air.
I've already seen this. That's the commander.
I turned. Julius and Reinhardt were gone. Rubble and destroyed buildings stretched in every direction.
The commander's attack destroyed everything. How is it all back?
You're inside Fate Collapse, Khaos said. You can see past events up to a certain point. Focus. Go to the moment you need.
The moment I need.
The moment I needed would be before the capital was ever destroyed. Not just from the second advance, but from the very first time they ever attacked. I needed to make sure any life taken by Azar's soldiers would be brought back.
I couldn't save all those people back in MorningStar, but now I had the chance. I could save every single person in the capital. The option to fail no longer existed.
No, the option was never there. I never had a choice of failing. So I'm not going to fail now.
As if responding to my will, the black world around me pulsed.
The Commander shot out a grappling hook at an platform, then jumped off. I could also see the ice platforms disappearing immediately after.
Focus. The flow of time is being reversed. You must keep calm. The only thought in your mind should be when you want to go.
I clenched my teeth and forced the pain to the back of my mind.
Before the first attack. Before the crimson soldiers ever set foot in the capital. Before anyone died.
The black world pulsed again.
The giant humanoid figure in front of me began to shrink, its white outline breaking apart and scattering like ash. The commander's platform vanished. The rubble started putting itself back together—walls rising, streets reforming, broken towers knitting themselves whole.
It was all moving backward.
I saw the Halo Rail Cannon's beam retract into the sky. I saw the Aether Ark return to its position above the capital. I saw the second wave of crimson soldiers pull away from the streets and disappear.
I saw everything.
Then, suddenly, everything froze.
The capital stood whole again. No craters. No burning buildings. No corpses. The streets were intact. People were there—outlined in white, frozen mid-step, mid-conversation, mid-life.
This was it. The moment it would all begin. The point before everything went wrong.
Now what?
You collapse the fate that led to their deaths, Khaos answered. Sever the chain of events. Once it's cut, the future where the capital was destroyed will no longer exist.
And the people? They will remain. The deaths will be erased from causality. To the world, it will be as if the attack never succeeded, right?
Precisely.
I focused every ounce of energy within me, still stammering from the sheer pain.
I put my fingers together, then snapped.
"Fate Collapse!"
Cracks began forming around the black world like pieces of a broken mirror. The cracks spread outward. Then—
Crack!
A wave of color flooded back into the world. I could hear the sound of chatter in the distance. The smell of blood was gone, replaced with the scent of various fruits and herbs.
This, might be the second time I've ever run out of mana.
But despite that, it was worth it.
I turned to find Julius and Reinhardt standing at the side of me. Their faces were completely in shock.
The two of them looked around, then looked at me.
"Who are you?" Reinhardt asked.
"I'm Noir Drake. I'm applying to join the Selene Academy of Mages and Knights."