I regressed and became the Sword Ice King-Chapter 374- Festival 105- Raid on a Rainy Night 44

Within the room, Javier and his cohort were locked in a stale look-off– a staring contest.

Tension brewing in the mix while they stood at the edges of the class, wary of the other.

What had played out so far was far from their expectations. In fact, it was anything but, and they were beginning to brew in the consequences.

Or at least what seemed like it.

Javier, ever composed– though startled for a while back, there was at the forefront, four other Lecturers standing beside him.

Well, what should have been the Lecturers?

These were merely robed figures, masked by the aura of their Cult, enveloped by the open arms of their will, and soaked in the blood of their convictions.

The real Lecturers had been stealthily killed at the time they entered the room.

Their bodies were discarded at the front corner of the Classroom, piled against each other with blood forming a puddle around it.

The attention of the robed figures was certain, unrelenting as they fixated on the glowing emerald shard, large, a chunk of earth that lay in the middle of the Class. On top of the structured table.

It emitted a glow, one that shimmered with malevolence, a call for destruction– rebellion or something deeper.

It merely cascaded a Kelly green hue atop the walls of the Class, brimming with life. Pulsating with energy trapped within.

An energy that was not meant to be withheld. At its surface, waves, destructive, radioactive, pulsed with life.

Generating volatility that threatened to spill, just an inch close to its true nature. It's purpose.

Javier smirked, the edge of his lips curving in a satisfied line.

"This is good. Is this it? The explosive gemstone?"

The masked figures scoffed. One at a time.

"This is more than that. This is a personification of destruction, limited only by us who control it."

Javier glanced up at them, a sudden tremor spreading through the Class.

The walls shook with a forceful quake, arched spiderwebs of cracks spreading through the concrete.

They glanced at it for a second, their expressions growing dim.

"Javier. Tell your friends to get their shit together. We must set it off and depart."

The Lecturers walked up to the glass walls, its reinforced structure vibrating with a low hum as they retreated through it. One by one, jumping off until a single man remained, arms crossed, expression stern.

His gaze drifted at the sight before him.

Children who reeled at the consequences of their actions or inactions.

Perhaps, they had not partook it indirectly, but they had definitely joined in on the action. Collectively planning ahead, the destruction of the Academy they so much despised.

It sounded like a film show, an act that should have run smoothly, without a hint of a problem, where everyone goes home happy.

He clicked his tongue, brewing a thick curd at the back of his throat and spitting out at the corner of the Class.

'Pathetic. These children will come to know the reality that befalls them.'

There is no conviction without sacrifice.

No grand goal without pain.

Something must be left behind. Something must be abandoned for the greater good.

'This consciousness that plagues them with guilt is merely a childish delusion. A way for them to think they were not evil people, seeking validation in their own right.'

He scoffed, yet again. His eyes landed on Javier, watching. Observing.

He clicked his tongue, loudly.

"Javier!" He called, his tone loud and clear. A shudder crackling the tension in the air with a hum.

The three friends– or so, glanced at him in unison, shocked by his sudden outburst.

"Get your shits together. You wanted a way, didn't you? A way to rise against the Non-system users who have abused their powers for so long?! Wasn't this school merely a stepping stone for you?"

His voice grew cold, controlled. A former lecturer now turned terrorist.

Their goals and convictions they so much upheld were more than enough reason to send them to the guillotine.

And yet, they held firm.

Katherin had shouldered them for far too long, honouring their requests. Their subtle remarks of displeasure and fear. And perhaps they would have remained the same– a joke that the Red Peacemakers could use and reuse whenever they wanted.

'But no….our will is true and our conviction stronger than any. We are meant to rule….and we shall make it so.'

His gaze swept through the three students, an ease growing within the tension in his eyes.

He sighed.

"You will lose many along the way, after all, the road to success is one riddled with thorns and venom."

He chuckled wryly at his own statement.

"This is your last advice from me as your Lecturer, though you were not meant to learn from me until your third year."

Aurora's gaze eased, her tension melting with the sudden comfort that began to permeate the air.

She had stood at the end of the class, staring, watching. Folding her arms under her bosom, shaken from the scene she had witnessed before.

There was only so much she could process. Only so much pain, and guilt she could withhold the rest, only spiralled her emotions into an infinite loop.

One that caused her to doubt her every action, past, present and future.

Yon Duke was in no different situation. Feeling the weight of the world upon him, rage, fear and guilt mixed in a muddy puddle of emotions.

Fleeting, ensnaring, distracting.

This was not how things were supposed to go. Not the plan, not the goal and certainly not the action.

Everything had played out in a mix of unexpected and yet predictable fashion.

You betray, you get caught, some escape, some get trapped and lose themselves in the process.

'Isn't that the usual flow?'

A sigh escaped his lips, his ears twitching as the words of the lecturer reached him, releasing the tension that hung from his shoulders down.

Pulling it, pulling him into a muddy path, one that was sinking in eternal guilt.

"You can not take back the decisions you have made. Permanent or temporary. That is a path chosen by the weak-willed. Those who are uncertain and go with the flow.

Life is not that bendable; it is rigid, and you, too, must be rigid.

Do not bend your paths, your choice. Instead, take the burden that comes with it.

The sacrifice of those behind and ahead of you. Memories washed in the blood of our choices, tasks that require our bodies to shred."

They lingered at his words, grasping onto them like a moth to a flame.

A new path had been written for them in blood, burying the guilt that had encased them in a repetitive flow of discourse.

They didn't linger on it, didn't rust in it, instead, they let it sharpen their resolve.

With a sigh, a single breath, it had felt like their chest– something heavy had been lifted off it, and it exuded in their light expressions.

Javier watched it all with a silent smug, his thoughts reeling in.

'that worked? Okay.' He chuckled wryly as he glanced away.

"Now, get your shit together and come with me."

He ended his speech. The tension dying with its last breath in the air as they slowly walked away from their spots, coming down the steps unhurriedly, until–

BOOM!

Another tremor spread through the walls, the building giving out a low, piercing groan as shards of ceramics fell from the ceiling.

They whipped their gazes towards the door in unison, a shudder spreading through their bodies as the door shook again, a powerful force sending waves of impulses that cracked the wall.

Causing it to cave in.

They gasped.

Turning their gazes towards the robed figure, they rushed forward. Hurried steps now, filled with purpose, albeit a small one.

They reached the hole formed in the reinforced, glass walls and jumped down.

"how is it even holding for that long?"

Aurora asked, her tone laced with curiosity.

"Oh please, it's reinforced Cement. Everything in this school is extremely difficult to break even with Master skills."

The robed figures replied as he watched them jump down, one after the other, through the hole in the reinforced glass wall, Javier lingering last.

He glanced at the man with a smirk, a mischievous one that hid the curiosity in his eyes.

He wanted to know why he said what he did, and perhaps have a talk on their differing views on it.

After all, to him, life lost is life weak.

Anyone who loses their life through any unnatural process is simply one born of weakness, unable to stir their life in a path that matters.

There was no bullshit about upholding anything. His burden was his alone, and that of his comrades was theirs alone.

His lips parted open for a second, just as another boom struck the walls again. This time, final.

Their heads snapped in the direction, their ears twitching to the sound of Cement cracking, a zig-zag shudder that spread slowly and cancerously from the walls to the ceiling.

Breaking, carving, and shuffling its way to destruction.

Their eyes traced it, slowly, watching as it spread in a comical motion.

Silence hung deep for a second as it came to a halt, but it was soon pierced by the definitive caving in of the wall.

It crumbled. Fell. Pieces crumbled about the classroom as a hole formed between them.

Javier looked up, his eyes bulging slightly open in shock as it met a pair of golden eyes, a pool filled with an ethereal reverence.

A shiver ran down his spine, an unsuppressable feeling emerging from within.

He whipped his gaze away.

'Nope.' And jumped down, the robed figure doing the same.

Jane grunted as he slammed through, students rushing in after him in subtle annoyance.

"Shit! They're gone!"

"After them!"

Jane stood in silence. Watching, inspecting. His gaze traced the room when a hum flicked his ears into life.

His head whipped to the side in realization. A stark reminder of what he had witnessed before.

A green emerald shivering, crackling, pulsating and surging in its own energy. It creaked. Moaned. Vibrating like a convulsed donkey, a shiver of fear ran down the spines of the students as they witnessed it.

Jane screamed, his body convulsing a sudden intense golden light as he screamed.

"Everyone! Duc—

CRAAAAAAA— BOOOOMMMMM!!!!

____A/N____

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