The Strange One, Reika's power had unsealed and revealed a monster—a new species I'd seen before.
It wasn't shaped like any animal, and while it had a body and legs, there was no visible boundary between its head and neck—just an eerie life form.
People felt a chill at its strange appearance, lacking even the most basic functions of a living creature meant for survival.
Who made this and for what purpose? Such questions could only be answered one way: as long as it existed as a monster in the hands of the Strange Ones, it was created to exterminate humans.
Everyone was terrified by the massive vibrations, but they steadied themselves, remembering they were heroes standing their ground.
Caught in the monster's sudden appearance, Asrad lost his balance and flew through the air. Like the veteran he was, he didn't drop his weapon, but the impact launched him so high that he could barely focus on landing safely.
"Ugh...!"
He clutched his churning stomach while searching for safe footing. Soon, a hero rushed to catch him.
"Mr. Asrad!"
"...Pales!"
The young man who approached by stepping through the air was an acquaintance of Asrad's. They had a relationship where Pales had asked to learn from him due to their similar abilities, and Asrad had taught him—a connection that made it impossible to look away.
Though Pales had leaped up, he wasn't sure where to grab Asrad, so he ended up clutching the collar of his clothes and landing on a nearby rooftop.
"You grab your teacher like that?"
"But there was nowhere else to grab."
Asrad chuckled at Pales's shameless response, then turned his head. He quickly became serious again, realizing this was no time for idle jokes.
The once-unknown monster now had strategies circulating against it. The problem was that the Strange One seemed aware of this and had adjusted, either increasing the number of paths visible through its skin or making them thicker, causing the heroes to struggle.
"I should go back."
"Shall I take you there?"
"No, I can go alone. You go do your job."
"Yes sir, then I'll go back to helping the people from my agency."
With that, Pales bounded away, stepping through the air.
Asrad looked around, considering how to overcome the situation. Eventually, his eyes settled on one particular hero.
No, though fighting like a hero, this person was wearing a school uniform. You could call them a hero-in-training or a seedling, but they were too young to be formally called a hero.
Nevertheless, Asrad was impressed by how capably they fought like a proper hero.
Yoon Ha-min, who caught Asrad's eye, was swinging his sword with his blue tie fluttering. He was radiating light to such a degree that anyone might mistake it for his ability.
The flashing brilliance wasn't electricity.
The heroes nearby couldn't help but have their attention momentarily stolen by the gleaming sword as it passed in an instant.
Whether aware of this effect or not, Yoon Ha-min was methodically taking down monsters under Sela's guidance.
"Ha-min! There's a Strange One over there, so you, as a student, shouldn't get any closer!"
"What?"
With a flash of light, another monster collapsed and crumbled into dust that scattered into the air.
At Sela's voice, Ha-min's gaze shifted from the fallen monster toward where the Strange One was.
Even from a distance, he could sense the human form with its contradictory, eerie presence. The feeling was familiar to Ha-min—he quickly recognized it as the flow of unrefined mana he had felt when Kanna's mana was depleted.
He gritted his teeth.
The culprit who had severed Kanna's limbs. The thought that this person had caused Kanna suffering by pursuing her flashed through his mind, making him want to kill them as quickly as possible.
"But...!"
"Listen to me! Don't you want to become a hero?"
But what held him back was society itself.
There might be altruistic thinking that if someone had to die fighting, it should be an adult. Or conversely, the thought that they must avoid pushing students to their deaths because they'd have to take responsibility.
Ha-min couldn't tell which reasoning was holding him back, but he clearly felt the restraint.
"...Ugh."
He had entered the Academy to become a hero. He had worked hard to save many people with his power.
Despite his desire to serve the greater good, he knew that acting on his own wasn't what heroes did.
So he hesitated at Sela's warning that acting recklessly could prevent him from becoming a hero regardless of his grades.
Ha-min was unbearably frustrated. He stopped his advance and gritted his teeth.
Sela, as if trying to appease him, pointed to the incoming monsters.
"We just need to deal with the monsters until orders come down. Look at that."
It was the same non-animal-like monster he had seen before. But unlike before, the number and thickness of the paths that needed to be cut varied.
Ha-min hesitated but eventually decided to accept the situation and looked up.
Though the monsters were difficult to handle, information had already been exchanged among the heroes multiple times, so they were already charging in before Ha-min could join. The problem was the Strange One beside them.
"Ignoring me?"
Feeling displeased that they were ignoring her to deal with the nearby monsters first, the Strange One Reika stretched out her hand.
One hero reflexively swung his weapon forward—not to attack, but to defend.
With a cracking sound, the hero's spear shaft shattered.
"Gasp...!"
He had lost his weapon and would have to withdraw from the front lines until he could get a replacement, but he was lucky to have survived.
The other heroes tensed up to fight, and Sela and Ha-min witnessed the scene and had to make a decision.
Sela worried about what would happen if they ignored the Strange One and focused on the monsters only to be attacked like that. She slightly turned her head.
There was no time for leisurely communication via device, so she had to act based on the situation around her. Though they had approached, retreating was still an option she considered.
In the midst of this, Sela noticed another figure in the distance and drew in a breath.
"Another... Strange One?"
Just as she muttered this, she watched a hero fall dead from that Strange One's surprise attack.
It was a moment that shattered people's belief that they could easily handle both the Strange Ones and the invading monsters.
*
I could only watch from a distance, unable to do anything.
The situation was suffocating—everyone kept telling me to do nothing.
It felt like I had done my best, yet it wasn't enough, making it hard to breathe.
Though my prosthetic hands and feet were supposedly free, the heavy metal felt like handcuffs binding my body.
What we thought was one Strange One had multiplied to three.
Now was the moment the world would face the Strange Ones it had tried to ignore.
We had already encountered one Strange One, but we had no interest in what lived beyond the Wall or how to respond to it.
I opened my eyes to the sensation of unrefined mana leaking through the broken Wall.
The hero who had stood guard over me had joined the fight, leaving no one to stop me.
So I could move forward without anyone's restraint.
Crossing through the space where bloody battles raged, I saw more than a dozen heroes fighting against a Strange One at the end.
Perhaps because I was closer to the collapsed Wall, mana began to seep into my body.
Facing the Strange One brought back memories of the cave, making my body tingle—even my missing limbs seemed to ache.
With a crackle, my prosthetics sensed my ability and began amplifying it. I gripped them and ran through the heroes.
Not toward the Strange One who had cut off my limbs multiple times, but toward another Strange One who had suddenly appeared.
"...!"
Red eyes tracked me.
It seemed to have noticed me passing by.
Perhaps my hair color was too conspicuous.
"Aaaagh!"
One of the heroes fighting the Strange One who had cut off my limbs screamed. Purple and white flashes of light crossed each other.
With my back to that, I stretched my hand toward the male Strange One.
"Oh."
A hero who was about to attack the male Strange One froze in place. The Strange One who had been preparing to receive that attack noticed me and turned.
I was inevitably faster than the Strange One who suddenly changed targets, and I clenched my teeth and unleashed my ability.
Crack-sizzle—
The heat extending through my prosthetic instantly burned and crushed the sleeve of my shirt and blazer. And it incinerated the Strange One my hand was pointing at.
"AAAAH—"
The scream cut off unnaturally.