"Holy shit, it's that lunatic."
"Step aside, that crazy bastard's here."
"Strange, he usually doesn't come out at this time."
"Stop talking, he'll hear you!"
"Nah, that guy's completely deaf, say whatever you want, he won't react."
Whispers spread among the students. Wait, were we even students? No idea. I'll just call them that.
I had no idea who they were talking about, but whoever it was seemed weird.
Still, I was happy to see that everyone was being super polite today, everyone stepped aside to let me through. Must've been because of my exceptional beauty! No doubt about it!
I headed toward the cafeteria. It was 1:00 p.m., she was probably there.
But first things first, I had to eat if I wanted to be at my best. I had no illusions, engraving a mark on my own body was bound to hurt. Especially one that complex.
I grabbed a tray and looked carefully at the groups gathered around the tables.
Strange—they were all staring at me.
I think I did something bad.
I couldn't remember it at all, but judging by their reactions, I was almost sure.
I spotted a table with a dozen boys and girls gathered around the blond guy with two affinities. He had a lot of friends. Must be a nice guy.
At another table, my four teammates were giving me weird looks—almost like they didn't know me. That was strange. Did I really mess up that badly?
A group of guys was glaring at me with hatred, like they wanted to chop me into pieces, probably out of jealousy. I was much better-looking than them, after all. I barely resisted the urge to wink at them.
Another group, this time all girls, were looking at me with disgust. Even women were so envious of my appearance that it made them sick? I was honestly impressed with myself!
And then I saw my target—alone, like she'd been ostracized.
The woman I was looking for.
Perfect. From now on, she'd be my personal mirror.
Wearing a slight smile, I walked toward her table. The stares around me changed, but I didn't pay them any attention. I was focused solely on… I didn't even know her name, but I knew her face—gray eyes and platinum blond, almost white hair. She was the girl with the ice affinity.
"Hey there~"
I decided to play the friendly card. Since she didn't seem to have any friends, it should work, right?
She ignored me completely, treating me like air while she kept eating.
Ah, so she was that kind of person.
"I need a favor. I'll make it up to you."
Only after those words did she look up, fixing her gray eyes on me.
"You should've led with that. What do you want?"
Her voice was flat, almost hoarse, devoid of emotion. Ice definitely suited her.
"A mirror."
That should be within her abilities. I didn't know how much time had passed since, but the number of glyph patterns on the floor of the glyph room told me enough.
She froze. Despite her blank expression, I thought I saw her lips tremble for some unknown reason.
"Just that?"
I thought for a moment—should I ask her to come with me? Yeah, that was probably the best idea. If the mirror melted, I'd be screwed.
"No, you're coming with me. It shouldn't take very long—two hours, tops."
Despite the glyph's complexity, it was relatively small, and given how many times I'd done it, it should be doable.
"Alright, but…"
What? Was she going to extort me?
"Take a shower first."
"..."
*
Amelia was fuming. Watching that guy act like nothing happened made her want to break each of his skinny little limbs.
All five of them.
"I can't believe this little fucker is acting like nothing happened. I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind…"
She began to rise when Julia stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Amelia. Maybe he really doesn't know. Haven't you noticed how weird he's been lately?"
The redhead slammed her fist on the table in frustration. She knew her friend was right, but it didn't lessen the anger burning in her heart. Wait since when did she consider this brat as her friend ?
Ethan interrupted them.
"We'll talk to him later. Let's leave things as they are for now."
"That's your damn problem, Ethan. You think too much. Sometimes you just gotta go for it and throw down!"
Amelia crossed her arms and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.
Klaus stayed silent, lost in thought.
Julia kept her eyes fixed on the skinny figure now sitting with the girl with gray eyes.
Ethan just ate. None of this really mattered to him—his only concern was keeping Amelia relatively calm. Otherwise...
*
I had asked the woman to wait for me in front of the meditation room. She seemed surprised but didn't ask any questions. A quality I greatly admired—maybe I should have her teach it to Julia?
But now wasn't the time. I wouldn't dare show up in front of them while they probably all had powers already and I didn't.
Wait… since when did I care about that?
I didn't know.
And why did I want to see them again so badly? Was it because I thought of them as friends? Or something else?
It was strange. Lately, I'd had the weird feeling that something—or someone—was planting thoughts in my mind, especially when it came to my four friends.
Maybe that's what people call the subconscious?
"I hope you're not afraid of getting wet."
She looked at me suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
I changed my usual smile to a sly smirk.
"You'll see."
I pushed the door open. The crimson landscape revealed itself once more—endless mountains, leafless trees, and the reason I came here, the blood lake.
Last time, I accidentally swallowed some of the blood from this place. It was... different. From the sweet taste to the strange feeling that followed.
So why not use this blood for my glyph? Maybe it was a bad idea, but I wouldn't know until I tried. Besides, I didn't think much was left. I still had no idea how I'd even gotten that much in the first place.
"You're lucky it's not raining."
The girl frowned.
"This is the blood element's realm. Logically it shouldn't rain here."
"Yeah yeah, if you say so."
She'd probably regret those words.
I approached the lake, with—
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Anna."
I nodded and kept walking.
She looked at me, like she was expecting something.
"What?"
"Your name."
"You should've said so earlier! It's an honor to share the name of my noble self with you, my mirro—uh, I mean Anna. I'm Cain."
She nodded silently. Probably shy. Or simply too impressed to speak.
I sat down by the lake, just inches away from the massive crimson puddle.
Carefully, I took off my black top—I didn't want to stain it. It was brand new !
I was even skinnier than before. Didn't think that was even possible. My bones were practically visible, and the three long scars made me look even more pathetic. Damn, I wish I was as ripped as Klaus.
Anna seemed like she wanted to say something but held back. I knew exactly what was going through her head—anyone would've reacted the same. But she didn't say anything, I appreciated that.
I pulled the needle from my pocket and dipped it in the lake.
It turned completely red.
As if it had never been white in the first place.
Strange.
But I wouldn't let it shake me!
Or so I thought—until I heard a small cracking noise.
And the needle vanished.
Just like that.
Turned to dust.
I looked at the woman beside me, awkward.
"Uh… by any chance, can you make a needle too?"
She sighed in resignation and waved her hand. Almost instantly, a long blue shard appeared, floating before her.
Incredible. So this was magic! Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined I'd witness it. And soon I'd be doing it too!
I grabbed the makeshift needle—it was really cold.
"Can you lower the temperature?"
She didn't even look at me.
I mean, it was made of ice. What did I expect ?
I dipped it into the lake. It turned completely red again, but this time there was no cracking.
"Perfect. Now, the mirror."
"..."
"..Please ?"
A disk the size of my head appeared before my chest, reflecting it perfectly. Anna must've been really skilled to pull that off. Or at least I thought so—I had no real point of reference.
I quickly got to work. I didn't know how long she could maintain the disk. The faster I finished, the better for both of us.
I made the first dot just beside my solar plexus.
I felt nothing—not even the cold of the ice needle.
So I kept going, non-stop, for several minutes.
Line after line, dot after dot.
Then I felt it.
All the pain hit me at once, flooding through my entire body.
It was indescribable.
One second, my blood burned.
The next, my heart felt encased in ice.
My body refused to obey.
My brain was freezing, struggling to function.
But after a few seconds, I resumed my actions.
My teeth were clenched.
My whole body trembled from both the cold and the pain.
But not my arm holding the icicle.
It was steady as a mountain.
The pain, though…
It was unbearable.
I could pass out any moment—I could feel it.
I was sweating more than I ever had before.
But I kept going, my focus locked entirely on my reflection in front of me, the red heart slowly taking shape. I'd done more than half the work.
I could've taken a break and finished later, but for some reason, that felt like a terrible idea.
An idea that would kill me without a doubt.
So I didn't stop.
After an hour and a half, my breathing had stabilized. I hadn't felt the pain for several minutes.
Not because I'd grown used to it—far from it.
It was because I'd pushed past the limit.
The biological limit of my body. It wasn't capable of handling so much pain without consequences. But it helped me suppress it long enough to finish my goal.
As my arm worked like a machine, I wondered how that was even possible.
But I didn't need to search far, it was the book, the meditation.
The blood—it was helping me.
I had no idea how, or whether if that was normal.
But thanks to it, I could fully focus on my task, even if it would likely make me pay for it later.
I couldn't take my eyes off the disk, but judging from its state, Anna was starting to weaken.
I dipped the ice needle into the lake one last time.
And I drove it straight into my chest.