The last monster dropped with Vell's sword jammed through its neck, and for a second, with blood running down his wrist while his lungs burned hard enough to make every breath feel stolen, he really thought that was it.
The weak students behind him were still alive, stumbling toward the tunnel in a crying, coughing mess, and ugly as the sight was, it still beat turning around and finding bodies.
That stupid little relief lasted right up until the white fire rolled across the chamber again, low and fast enough that he only managed to shove the nearest boy down before the heat smashed into his side and threw him across the floor.
His head hit first, then the rest of him followed, and by the time he stopped sliding, his sword was gone, one arm had gone half numb, and the taste in his mouth told him something inside him had probably torn.
'D-Dammit, I feel like someone poured acid inside me,' he thought, trying to push himself up, coughing up blood, 'why the hell am I even doing this?'
His hand slipped on the floor before he got halfway up, the shock running through his arm and making his vision blur. He sucked in a broken breath, regretting almost instantly as his ribs answered by trying to fold inward.
Some of the kids he had dragged back were still moving toward the tunnel, one of them actually looking over her shoulder at him with sadness on her face. He wanted to tell her to keep moving and stop staring, but all that came out was another cough, more blood hitting the floor while she flinched and hurried off anyway.
'Yeah, it's okay, just keep going,' he thought, watching her disappear into the smoke. 'If you stop now and end up dying, then my sacrifice would be pointless.'
The white glow overhead shook with another blast, and this time he stopped trying to get up since his body was already too damaged. The only thing keeping his eyes open was the altar still visible through the smoke and the girl standing in the middle of it.
His mouth twisted, a laugh almost slipping out before the pain killed it. Out of everything he had expected to see on the day Saintfall sent him off with a fancy title and a handshake, this had not even crossed his mind.
Mariel had been here the whole time.
'A calamity,' he thought, staring at her through blurry eyes. 'One of the damned calamities was right here the whole time.'
Mariel was not some monster from a rift or anything like that, she was a student, just like him. She attended the same school as him but disappeared a year after joining. Most people assumed she went to another academy, but who knew she was being kept here all along.
'Then what about the others?' he wondered. 'Were they all like this too?' His fingers tightened in fists and anger started boiling inside him, 'so you are telling me humans were the cause of all this?'
The thought sat in his chest and refused to move, getting heavier the longer he looked at Mariel standing there wrapped in white fire.
For years people had talked about calamities like they were things born evil from the start, things that had nothing to do with ordinary people, but if one of them had once been a girl from Saintfall, then that lie fell apart way too easily.
Vell's breathing turned rougher, each pull of air scraping his throat on the way in while the cold under his skin kept spreading. He turned his head toward the tunnel again, unable to see the weak students anymore, making him feel better, even if just a little.
'At least they got out,' he thought, closing his eyes for a second before forcing them open again. 'I wonder, what was the point of my life until now?'
He had joined Saintfall thinking that if he made it into one of the best academies on the continent, then his life would finally start going somewhere. Instead he spent four years getting dragged around by people better born, better funded, and apparently born with actual futures.
He never even broke into the top hundred.
The laugh that came out of him sounded awful, turning into a cough almost instantly and splashing more blood down his chin. 'Seriously, what the hell was I even doing here?' he thought, blinking through the blur in his eyes. 'Best academy, my ass.'
Footsteps scraped through the chamber, slow and light under all that white fire. when he looked up again, he saw Mariel walking toward him, with her flames scorching the floor.
Up close, she still looked like the girl he used to see being called one of the best upcoming continental stars, which was the part that messed with him the most.
Her face was very pale and it wouldn't take a genius to tell that she was not her self anymore, just from the look in her eyes.
He stared at her for a few more seconds, then let out another weak laugh, "just what did they do to you?"
He did not say it like an accusation, if anything, the words came out too soft, rough from blood loss and pain but still sounding more tired than angry.
Mariel stopped right in front of him, then a spear of white fire formed in her hand.
He frowned, his muddled brain taking a second too long to catch up, and just before she moved, Mariel's lips parted.
"Help me."
In that moment, the world seemed to slow as he just stared at her in confusion.
'What?'
The spear came down before he could think any further, punching through him in a burst of heat so violent his body jerked once and then stopped. His vision shattered, the chamber vanished into white, and the last thing he felt was how little any of it made sense.
[Hidden conditions met]
[Activating Throne System]
The white around him kept stretching until it stopped looking like light and started feeling like some empty place his mind was not supposed to be, while that same voice continued sounding inside his head without sounding human at all.
[Death confirmed]
[Soul imprint secured]
[Regression path available]
[Unique trait detected: Infinite Evolution]
[Primary authority acknowledged]
[Throne System booting...]
He wanted to ask what the hell any of that meant, but he could not even tell what he was supposed to be right now, while the words kept appearing one after another and making even less sense the longer he looked at them.
[Core functions available]
[Mark]
[Recruit]
[Share]
[Ascend]
[Dominion set to 0]
[Seat capacity: 1]
[Beginning return]
Then everything split apart at once, and air slammed back into his lungs hard enough to make him choke as he shot upright with a gasp.
His whole body moved on pure panic while his hands grabbed at his chest and side, already sure he was about to find blood or feel that spear still stuck inside him.
There was nothing there, and the realization made his eyes snap wide while his breathing turned wild.
"What the-"