"Damn, this is good!" Severin said as he ate the exquisite food made by a Tier 1 foodsmith.
In front of him, Seraphina sat with a smile on her face, looking at him.
After finishing all the food by himself, he looked ahead and asked,
"Sera, how did you get AP?" In game, students should only be able to get AP next week, from what he remembered.
"Oh, I just bought it from seniors." Her tone was playful as she said it.
Severin was stunned. ’F@ck rich people.’
"Still, aren’t you hungry?
"I didn’t see you eat. You won’t have spent all the money on this meal, right?" His question wasn’t without basis, after all. In his memory, or even when playing the game,
Seraphina Valemont’s love for Severin D’Auremont was boundless and tragic.
In-game, she was a villainess, though not that world-ending or high-level. She always created obstacles for the protagonist group in the academy arc.
Even though those things never reached a life-threatening level, you have to know that in that group, most of them were, in fact, her close friends.
But this wasn’t the thing that made her character in the game memorable. It was when she displayed absolute madness in the Soul Arc, where she forcefully opened the Realm of Death to find Severin D’Auremont’s soul for reincarnation.
But it failed. And she was banished to the Realm of Death.
In-game, it was then never shown what happened to her after that.
This is also the reason he was currently feeling a bit awkward. The other party was madly in love with him, but he didn’t feel the same.
And ignoring her wasn’t a solution since she was probably his only friend.
"Ren, you have changed." Seraphina didn’t answer him but replied with another question.
"What do you mean?" he asked. ’I definitely changed, but is this the power of women—cough—girls in love?’
Seraphina looked at his calm and neutral face, then tapped her chin with her hands and said,
"You are more cheerful, and you are showing more emotions than a year ago." A smile couldn’t help but form on her face.
’If she wasn’t a kid, I definitely would have fallen.’ Severin thought.
But it was only a thought because Alex had never felt emotions like love. And it wasn’t that he had never met a girl who wanted to understand him or take his burdens.
He simply never felt or had those.
It was also similar to Severin, but he knew that his problem was his own cursed race that continuously absorbed negative energy, slowly erasing his own positive emotions like love, care, and kindness.
’Maybe I was just built different.’
East of Aethryndian Academy lay a small town.
It was a quiet place, usually filled with the simple sounds of everyday life. During the day, people filled the streets on their way to work, children ran between the houses, and shopkeepers called out to passing customers. At night, warm lights shone through windows, and the occasional footsteps of someone returning home could still be heard.
But tonight, there was nothing.
The streets were silent.
A cold wind drifted through the narrow roads, carrying with it an unnatural chill. Shop signs creaked softly above empty storefronts, swaying with every passing gust.
The lights were out.
Every single one of them.
There was no one behind the windows. No one walking through the streets. No voices, no footsteps, no distant laughter.
Nothing.
Bodies lay scattered across the roads.
Men.
Women.
Children.
They remained completely still, their lifeless forms abandoned where they had fallen.
Even the animals had not escaped whatever had happened.
Dogs lay beside the roads. Cats remained motionless near the houses. Small creatures that would normally hide beneath stones or crawl through the dirt were nowhere to be seen.
Even the insects were silent.
It was as though life itself had been removed from the town.
Yet there was something strangely peaceful about it.
Not the peacefulness that came with a quiet night, but something far colder.
Something wrong.
At the center of the town stood a large open area, once used for festivals and gatherings.
Tonight, it had become something else entirely.
Dark red lines covered the ground, forming a massive circular formation. Strange runes were carved into the earth, each one connected to the next by thin lines of blood.
Some of the symbols looked ancient.
Others seemed almost alive.
Whenever the cold wind passed over them, their shapes appeared to shift ever so slightly, as though the markings themselves were breathing.
At the very center of the formation stood a lone figure.
It was completely covered in black cloth.
No face could be seen.
No features could be made out.
Only a pair of pale hands emerged from beneath the dark robes.
The figure crouched and dragged one finger across the ground.
Blood followed its movement.
Another rune was completed.
The moment the final stroke was made, the entire formation trembled.
A faint red glow spread through the symbols.
The figure slowly stood.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then it raised both hands toward the sky.
The wind stopped.
Completely.
Even the clouds above seemed to freeze in place.
The figure remained still for a moment before finally speaking.
"At last."
The voice was quiet.
Almost a whisper.
Yet it carried through the entire town.
A strange pressure descended upon the area.
Then something appeared before the figure.
A book.
It was old.
Far older than anything that should have existed in this forgotten place.
Its cover was black, almost absorbing the faint light coming from the runes. At its center was a strange symbol.
A closed eye.
The book floated silently in the air.
The figure lowered its hands.
It didn’t need to touch it.
The book remained suspended before them.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then—
The eye on its cover slowly opened.
A flash of crimson light swept across the area.
The book opened by itself.
Its pages began turning.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
And faster.
Page after page passed without a single hand touching them.
Until suddenly—
They stopped.
The figure stared at the open page.
There was only one thing written upon it.
A name.
Severin D’Auremont
Beneath it was a date.
April 7
And below the date...
Kragdeep.
The figure remained silent.
For a long moment, it simply stared at the words.
Then, beneath the shadow of the black cloth, something resembling a smile slowly appeared.