After the song ended, I, who had been protecting my hearing with Aura, felt something was off.
“Hey, hey- stop blocking your ears and get up.”
“Why!? If you hear that even once, it controls everyone, Master or not! My character got annihilated because of it too!”
“The song’s over. Get up now.”
Hearing my words, Sera tilted her head, not believing it, and slowly stood up. After I withdrew my Aura and shrugged at her to listen, Sera, removing her hands from her ears, realized there really was no singing sound.
“…What? Why isn’t she singing anymore?”
“Looks like someone didn’t take down Aria…”
Inside the Academy, seeing the audience still wandering around like zombies and fighting people, it seemed nobody had taken down Aria to resolve the situation.
Sera, resting her chin in thought for a moment, soon started handling the situation.
“Kail, you. Did you hear her song?”
“Yeah, right in front of me.”
“You were at the concert hall, right? But you’re still fine…”
Hmmm- letting out a groan, she snorted as if realizing the issue and stood up. With a mischievous grin, she began clapping her hands together.
“I get it.”
“What?”
“She hasn’t grown enough yet.”
“Grown?”
“Yes, grown!”
In the original story, Aria goes berserk in her third year. And right now, Aria is in her first year. For a teenager, a two-year gap is unimaginably huge.
Two years later, Aria will be an ultra-powerful psychic capable of controlling even Masters, but the current Aria is not. She can barely control Experts.
Of course, this alone is an astonishing ability, but if resistance is possible from the Expert level onwards─ it means there are quite a few gaps.
“Without those two years of growth, it means Aria is weaker than expected right now!”
Then, we can definitely take her down. Shouting this, Sera looked at me and yelled.
“Go, Kailmon! Go beat up Aria and come back!”
“Isn’t there some kind of strategy?”
“What strategy? Just go wreck everything like in the game!”
“This doesn’t seem easy.”
“What!? You’re a Master! There are only two Masters in this school, and Aria can’t even control Masters right now! Just punch her lights out and knock her unconscious!”
“Well, somehow I doubt it’ll be that easy.”
I gave a bitter smile as I gazed at the concert hall where Aria was. And then I remembered Yuri, who had blocked me.
Not just Yuri, by now, countless cadets and distinguished guests must have gathered around Aria. All to protect her.
For an Aura Master, breaking through that crowd was both easy and difficult.
As Sir Gawein, another Aura Master, would say:
“The world is as fragile as tofu, so one cannot use force recklessly.”
* * *
It didn’t take long to figure out where Aria was.
Since her voice came from the magical speakers, it meant she was currently in the broadcasting room.
Impressed by his own logical deduction, Kail headed towards the broadcasting room as Sera suggested.
On the way to the broadcasting room, people controlled by Aria’s song charged at Kail.
“Dieeee—!”
“Goodness.”
He casually struck down the enraged audience members charging at him. The person hit in the jaw immediately lost control of their body and collapsed.
Some cadets even drew swords or started casting spells. Dodging all these attacks effortlessly, Kail paused when he saw three cadets blocking his path.
“Die… die, die…”
“I can’t… go any further…”
“Kail……”
Hundred, Ruby, and Yuri were blocking his way. Two Expert-level knights and one Expert-level sorceress.
This was an insufficient force to face a Master. On a battlefield, they would have been obliterated upon meeting, but this wasn’t a battlefield.
Kail had to subdue them without causing any injuries or fatalities.
“Dieeeeeee—!”
Striking Hundred in the jaw, Kail glared at the remaining two, intending to subdue them without injury.
Taking Hundred’s defeat as a signal, the other two immediately attempted to attack.
Ruby drew her sword and charged, while Yuri began chanting large spells one after another, seemingly unconcerned about what happened to the others.
“After this point… you can’t proceed…”
“I heard that before, that line.”
Picking up the sword Hundred had been holding, Kail unleashed an Aura Blade. The superhuman blade, cutting through everything it touched, cleanly sliced Ruby’s sword blade and dropped it to the floor.
Disarming Ruby, Kail struck her solar plexus, knocking her unconscious, and quickly snatched the sword hilt from her hand and threw it.
The sword hilt met an ice spear mid-air, exploding with a whistling sound. Amidst the fog created by the ice obstructing the view, Kail slowly walked towards Yuri.
“Hitting you feels wrong… it’ll hurt a bit, but bear with it.”
“—Guh, guh!?”
In an instant, Kail moved behind Yuri and choked her carotid artery, rendering her unconscious. It takes only 7 seconds for someone whose carotid artery is blocked to pass out.
Carefully laying the unconscious Yuri on the ground, Kail looked at the broadcasting building. Returning to the entrance would mean more of these guys waiting.
‘Why do I have to deal with this?’
He wasn’t stupid, just a bit slow on the uptake.
If there’s no path, you make one.
Kail immediately kicked off the ground and flew towards the window.
* * *
Aria, singing fervently in the broadcasting room, soon realized the microphone was broken. No matter how much she sang, no one was coming under her control.
Realizing the principal was interfering with her in some unknown way, Aria glared at him in irritation.
“I said if you interfere, the hostage dies!”
“…I haven’t done anything.”
“Do I look like a fool to you? Then shall I kill someone?”
Hearing Aria’s words, the principal bit his lip tightly. He thought he hadn’t been caught, but apparently, his interference with her abilities had been discovered.
As the principal, he couldn’t tell someone to kill. He couldn’t gamble with the lives of cadets and distinguished guests.
At this moment, the principal knew exactly what he needed to do.
“Sorry, I did…….”
“Aha, Principal. Apologizing in honorifics is really funny.”
Giggling, Aria paused for a moment and realized the signals from the people she controlled were gradually being cut off.
Frowning slightly, Aria looked at the principal and spoke as if things were going well.
“Alright. I’ll give you a chance to make up for it. Stop them.”
“…Stop what?”
Before he could ask what to stop, Gawein burst through the door behind the principal with a bang!
One of the two officially registered Masters at the Academy, Sir Gawein had rushed over the moment he realized Aria was singing here.
“Principal, you’re here too.”
“Sir Gawein…”
“If you’re already here, why not just knock her out quickly… why are you dragging this out?”
Gawein spoke and immediately charged towards Aria. Realizing what he intended to do, the principal swiftly cast a spell to block Gawein’s path.
Seeing the magic blocking him, Gawein gave a bitter smile and looked at the principal.
“…Were you part of this too, Principal?”
“Sir Gawein, it’s not like that. There are circumstances here…”
“Circumstances? What circumstances? Do you not know what’s happening outside?”
Sleung—the sword was drawn. The principal looked at Aria, urging her to explain quickly, but she simply shrugged, indicating no need to speak.
Ultimately, the principal raised both hands and tried to explain as quickly as possible why he was protecting Aria.
“If you touch her now, the people outside will die too!”
“…What? What do you mean—”
“It means she has that kind of ability, Sir Gawein. Right now, there are dozens, hundreds of cadets outside, commoners from the Academy territory who came to see the performance, and distinguished guests from other territories. If they all die, do you think we’ll be safe?”
“Do you really think such a ridiculous ability exists? Just knock her out, and whether she’s a psychic or not…”
“Why don’t you try it?”
Both heads turned simultaneously. Aria, listening to the conversation, grinned and looked at Gawein.
“If you doubt whether I have such abilities, wouldn’t it be better to just knock me out?”
“—You.”
“Why? Maybe the professor is right? Maybe I’m bluffing.”
As an Aura Master, Gawein possessed senses far surpassing humans and had the ability to discern the truthfulness of someone’s words.
People who lie tend to emit specific biological signals, and an Aura Master’s body doesn’t miss those signals.
And to Gawein, Aria didn’t appear to be lying. If this was an act, it would mean she could perfectly deceive even her biological signals—a feat even special forces trained by the Imperial Palace couldn’t achieve, let alone a mere cadet. Even Gawein himself found it absurd.
“…Damn it.”
Cursing, Gawein tried to sheathe his sword again. But before he could, his Aura Master senses detected something flying in from outside the window.
Crash—! The window shattered, and Kail leapt in from the other side. Upon entering, Kail glanced around and immediately threw a punch at Aria.
“No—!”
The two Masters, horrified, immediately stopped Kail. An Aura Blade and a five-star spell flew towards Kail, who quickly dodged by pulling back, looking bewildered at the two.
‘…Masters can’t be controlled, right?’
To Kail, it seemed the two were already under Aria’s control.
After a brief silence, Kail immediately charged at the two.
