Chapter 5: The Chaotic Entrance Ceremony (2)

‘Cheongmyeong’, ‘Edelweiss’, ‘Le Rose’, the three private academies.
And the ‘Central First High’, directly operated by the Academia.

Among the numerous schools in the Academy City, these four were proudly called the ‘prestigious ones’.
This was because the guardians who graduated from the Academia and protected humanity in various countries, the most active among them were mostly alumni of these four schools.

The students of the four prestigious schools held great pride in their institution, and the schools subtly encouraged these feelings.
The grand entrance ceremonies, unseen at other schools, were a part of that.
It was an important event to make the new students realize they had become a member of a prestigious institution.
However, now that an unprecedented incident had occurred at the Academia, they were no exception to the panic.

Immediately after the shocking death of the Chairman, Irregulars began to appear everywhere.
Even though they were students of prestigious schools, their bodies were similarly frozen by a fear they had never experienced before.

But even among them, there were those who mustered their courage and took action.

“Vice President, are you alright?”
“Yes, I have no problems. More importantly, are all the students safe?”
“Yes, thanks to you, Vice President.”
“Thank goodness.”

She swept her chest in relief at the response she received.

Neat Hime-cut hair, and straight black hair that fell to her waist.
A beautiful woman with a gentle impression and sparkling red eyes.
This was Kasuga Suisei, a third-year student at Edelweiss Academy High School and the student council’s vice president.

Suisei’s face maintained the same gentle smile as always.
With an elegant expression, she had single-handedly slaughtered about half of the Irregulars that had ambushed Edelweiss.
The sight of Suisei, without a single drop of sweat or blood on her, reassured everyone around.
However, her next words were completely different from what everyone was thinking.

“Then I will leave the defense of this place to all of you.”
“B-but without you, Vice President.”
“If you are members of Edelweiss, it is more than possible. Besides, they are not very strong opponents.”

Suisei said so and swung her black sword.
A frigid chill that could freeze the very air extended along the trajectory of the black sword.
At the end of that trajectory was an Irregular that had been moving silently.

A sound incomprehensible to human ears.
That was the Irregular’s final death cry.
Not a single drop of blood flowed from the Irregular’s cleanly bisected body.
The cut surface had been instantly frozen by Suisei’s cold energy.

“Is there anyone who would like to go with me?”
“…”

At Suisei’s words, everyone avoided her gaze.
She was proposing that the students of Edelweiss go outside the academy.
However, at a point where they had just become safe, it seemed there was no one willing to fight consecutively.

‘I can’t… force them, I suppose.’

Arguing with the terrified students would only be a waste of time.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that the Irregulars outside the academy would be this weak.
Suisei was not ruthless enough to push those who were not prepared onto a battlefield where their lives were at stake.
Therefore, she spoke once more.

“I understand. Everyone, please take care of yourselves.”

Suisei slightly lifted her skirt to bow and then immediately left Edelweiss.
The streets were surprisingly quiet.
Since all the incidents had occurred while the entrance ceremonies were in full swing, everyone was likely hiding inside their schools.

Suisei thought that the students holding out inside the schools would be safe, and her judgment was correct.
Most of the Irregulars that appeared in the Academia were not strong.
The fact that the B-rank Suisei had achieved a kill count close to a massacre was evidence of this.
Even an ordinary civilian should be able to resist them with their bare hands.

‘If only they weren’t afraid, that is.’

Fear stiffens a person’s body.
Fear narrows a person’s vision.
Fear paralyzes a person’s thoughts.
As a child of a martial arts family, Suisei had been trained to overcome fear.
If not for the mindset ingrained in her heart from a young age, she too would have been trembling in place like the others.

Saving the weak is the duty of the strong who possess power.
Thanks to the family teaching she had heard so often it felt like her ears would fall off, she was able to overcome her fear and move.

‘Two, no, three.’

Whenever she saw an Irregular on her way, her black sword flashed.
She didn’t have a specific destination.
She was simply cutting down as many Irregulars as she could to prevent any possible tragedies.

How much time had passed like that?
Suisei stopped walking.
Not because she was tired, but because of a question that had surfaced in her mind.

‘This is strange.’

More than an hour had passed since the tragedy of the entrance ceremony.
It was more than enough time for the military stationed outside the Academia to be dispatched.
However, there was no sign of them at all.

‘Could it be that the situation inside Academia isn’t being communicated to the outside?’

There was no other explanation.
But why?

Suisei wracked her brain, but the answer did not come easily.
The only person who knew the exact reason why this situation had occurred throughout the Academia was a single high school student holding a baseball bat.

“…Get a grip, Suisei.”

Suisei’s worries did not last long.
Support would surely come eventually.
This situation would not last long.
She had no choice but to believe that and fight.
Just as she was about to move, suppressing the fear that was beginning to awaken deep in her heart.

-A metallic clang rang out.
It was a sound that clearly indicated someone was nearby.

Did they have some reason they couldn’t go to school?
No, seeing them outside at this time, they might not even be a student.
Various possibilities came to mind, but for now, Suisei kicked off the ground and ran.

Following the periodically ringing sound, Suisei arrived at a nearby park.
The entrance to the park was heavily fortified with Irregulars.
It was a density incomparable to other places.

Even for Suisei, it was not a number she could break through in a single dash.

‘In that case.’

A path of ice formed beneath Suisei’s feet.
The path led to a tree on the park’s perimeter.
After climbing the tree via the path, Suisei moved towards the center by transferring to other trees in the same manner.

Suisei now realized the identity of the continuous metallic sound.
A metal bat.
Someone was fighting Irregulars with a bat.
And mixed in with that metallic sound was one strange noise.

“Is that… music?”

Before long, she arrived at the source of the sound.
The public restroom in the center of the park.
There was a male student, his back against the outer wall of the restroom, surrounded by Irregulars.
Looking closely, his entire body was covered in the blue blood of the Irregulars.

“You there! Hold on just a little longer!”

Suisei descended from the tree and immediately ran towards the male student.
Strangely, the number of Irregulars here was smaller than near the park entrance, so she was able to break through the encirclement easily.

“Now’s your chance, escape!”
“…’Bout time one showed up.”
“Hurry, move now!”

Suisei reached out her hand, but the male student ignored it and swung his bat at a nearby Irregular.

“Good timing. I was starting to run out of steam, so give me a hand.”
“What in the world are you talking about!”

At the unexpected response, Suisei yelled without realizing it.
The male student shrugged and gestured with his chin towards the nearby ground.
There was a cell phone, playing some strange music.
Cell phone. Music. A suspiciously large crowd of Irregulars. The male student.
In an instant, Suisei’s mind understood how this situation had occurred.

“Don’t tell me you’re the one who drew the Irregulars here?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Why?”

To that question, the male student muttered nonchalantly.

“There are quite a few elementary schools around here.”

Hearing those words, Suisei immediately understood everything.
Repelling Irregulars by having students hold out was only possible from middle school onwards.
In an elementary school with only young children, the only ones capable of fighting would be the few adults there.
This man had realized that fact in the midst of this chaos and had used himself as bait in this park.

“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I’m scared. But it’s a job someone’s gotta do.”

The man muttered as he swung his bat.
At the end of its trajectory, an Irregular’s head shattered with a cheerful sound, splattering blue blood in all directions.

A single drop of that blood grazed Suisei’s cheek.
Was the strange pounding in Suisei’s chest because of that drop of blood, or perhaps—

“Do you have, like, a big skill or something?”
“Pardon? Ah, I do.”
“Then I’m counting on you. We need to clear this area quickly so we can move to the next location.”

The man gave orders as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
But strangely, Suisei felt not annoyance, but an inexplicable sense of relief.

“But it’s not a skill strong enough to forge a path.”
“It’s fine. Hurry up.”

The man lightly dismissed Suisei’s opinion and urged her on again.

At his words, Suisei seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sheathed her black sword into the scabbard at her waist.
She composed her breath and put strength into the hand gripping the hilt.
Just as she had done thousands, tens of thousands of times since she first held a sword.

One island, Shirayuki.
With the draw of the blade, a slash extended from Suisei, freezing space itself as it advanced.
Five, ten, twenty.
The Irregulars’ bodies were frozen solid before they could even twitch.
But that should have been the end of it.
The limit of Shirayuki, a limit she knew better than anyone.

But this time, something was different.
Instead of stopping, the Ice Princess’s slash spread out in all directions with ferocious momentum.
Twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred, two hundred…

The extended slash barely stopped after turning the entire park into a frozen wasteland.
Suisei could only stare blankly at the scene.

“What… in the world was that.”

Into the bewildered Suisei’s ears, the man’s somewhat flippant voice drifted.

“Whoa, you’re super strong. Were you just being modest before?”
“No! This is!”
“Alright, I get it. Enough with the humility. Let’s get moving.”

The man, Lee Sihyuk, continued to speak as he stepped over the frozen Irregulars.

“There’s a place we need to go together.”