Chapter 30: The Backstory
{Ordos' POV}
I would have slept longer if it weren't for the teacher's stupid voice blasting in my head.
'Attention, please!'
Ugh…
"I'm… I'm awake!"
It's like listening to the principal making the morning announcements from my last world. It's not even nostalgic, it's just plain annoying.
'It is currently 12:00. Day 3 of the exam has now ended. Currently, out of the 51 of you, only 9 of you remain. And out of the monsters, 313 D-ranks, 144 C-ranks, 9 B-ranks, and 2 A-rank have been wiped out.'
Yeah, yeah, daily repor- 9!? Did I hear that correctly!? Only 9 of us remain!? How the hell did the number decrease from 51 to 9?!
But now that I recall, Seiya did go on a rampage. It looks like he took out twice the people Marth took out in the first two days.
"You're finally awake."
I turned around and Mia was sitting beside Aurelia who had ice wrapped around her ankle.
"When did you guys wake up?"
"Two hours before you did."
"Oh, so you've…"
"Yes… you snore pretty loud."
Oh… well that's not an impression I'd want to make on girls. I have a habit of snoring during my sleep. I sometimes get some complaints from my sister but she eventually forgives me. Aah… what a great sister I have. She's like an angel. I was lucky to be reborn in this world.
Anyway, to the matter at hand.
I was given a story about what happened.
It seems that Aurelia's ankle was sprained pretty badly and would've gotten much worse but was saved by Seiya. I bet Seiya only did it because he liked her? I mean, to me, it was pretty obvious that he had a crush on Aurelia. I have an eye for spotting details like this. Like that time at the cliff, he saved her even though she could fly. I'm also not gonna forget that he was giving her glances from time to time.
But that doesn't explain how he ended up all… edgy and gloomy all of a sudden. If I were to guess, it would be some kind of final form of his.
"Katharsis…"
That was what Seiya said before he went all edgy mode. Ok, I should give his new form a name, edgy mode isn't gonna cut it.
Maybe… Seiya… white?
Well, he has white hair… and…
Crap, that's not gonna work…
Hmm… What about Seiya Blanco?
Blanco means white, just in Spanish though.
"Katharsis."
Mia repeated. Yeah, I wonder why Seiya said that. What does Katharsis even mean?
"Katharsis, the purging of emotions."
Purging of emotions?
"Did Seiya purge his emotions? What for though?"
Like, what emotions did he even need to purge?
"I think I know the answer."
Aurelia said as she laid her head on Mia's arm.
"The truth is… Seiya…"
What's with all the pauses? Just spit it out.
"He confessed to me."
She blushed when she said that.
"So let me get this straight. He… confessed to you?"
"Mhm."
"And what did you respond? Did you reciprocate or reject him?"
I bet twenty gold coins she rejected him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be this way right now.
"Neither, I didn't say anything yet, but he just assumed I rejected him."
Oh, that idiot. He ran away before she even said anything. I'm gonna have to teach him how to actually confess when he gets back to his senses.
"But wait, he ran before you said anything. What were you going to respond?"
Aurelia stayed silent but her face kept on getting redder and redder. Ohhh…. Ohhhhhhhh….. I know what she's gonna say.
"My heart fluttered when he said that. I wanted to respond the same but he left before I even had the chance to reply."
Tears slowly formed at the edges of her eyes. Oh great, she's breaking down.
"Here's a question. How… did you fall for him?"
"F-fall for him?"
"Yeah."
Aurelia began shuffling around. Probably insecure about the question I just asked. Well, it would be a bit embarrassing explaining the reason how you fell in love with someone.
"He…"
"He… what?"
"He… he's really nice."
...
"Are you kidding me? That's the reason?"
Yeah, nice my ass. Does nice include trying to kill me multiple times?
"That's not the only reason."
Oh, that's good. I swear if that was the only reason, I might as well just go back to camp by now.
"Whenever I'm around him, I feel this warmth."
Oh no… not this.
"But at the same time, I feel something frigid under that mask of warmth."
"Say what?"
"You idiot."
Mia said as she patted Aurelia's head. I'm an idiot? What do you mean? I don't get what she means by something frigid under that mask of warmth. What the hell does that mean?
"She's saying that there is something possessing Seiya."
"Say what now?"
"There is another presence inside Seiya. I also felt it myself, but barely. It's like that coldness inside him just fades now and then. Like you said before, Seiya is currently not himself."
That's it? Well, it would make sense a little.
"So how should we get him to become normal again?"
"Well, there is one way."
"And that is?"
"To confront him and explain it directly."
Oh. No.
"That is not happening. I mean, at his current state, who the hell would want to mess with him?"
"Marth… maybe Katelin."
"But Marth isn't going to fight him until the last day, and Katelin's not after him; she's after Aurelia."
Mia sighed and continued to comfort Aurelia. When suddenly, the two looked at me.
"Huh? What's the matter?"
"Maybe, you could confront him."
"You seem to be the closest as of now."
"Huh? HUH!?"
These two… are they serious? They want me to confront Seiya… by myself?
"No way, I am definitely not doing that."
"Please. If you don't, he won't return to normal."
"And how can you be so sure?"
"Do you want Seiya to be like that for the rest of his life? If you don't stop him now, he'll probably continue his rampage."
Mmmmmmmmmm.....
"God damn it, fine, I'll go and confront him."
After all, I can't have my friend be like that the whole time.
"Thank you."
"Well then, I guess I should get going."
I'd stand up but then bump head and collapsed on the ground.
"Ow, what the hell?"
I look up and realized I bumped my head on my earth dome. I kind of forgot about that.
"Guess I should remove this or else I ain't getting out."
I'd get ready to blast a giant hole in one of the sides of the dome, but then Mia stopped me.
"Wait, don't destroy it, you'll collapse the whole cave."
Oh yeah, she's right. But then how will I get out?
"Let me do it."
"Oh… alright."
Aurelia took her head off of Mia and Mia stood up. Then she placed her hands on the ground and her hands began glowing.
Then suddenly, a narrow hole formed on one side of the dome, leading towards the outside. From what I saw from here, it looks all… foggy and dim.
"So what will you two do?"
"I will stay here with Aurelia until her ankle is healed. When that is done, we will meet up with you, that is if you survive against him."
"What? What was that last part?"
"N-nothing, now, off you go."
Hmm… that makes me a bit suspicious. But anyway, I guess I should get going.
"Well then, see you later."
***
When I stepped outside, there were storm clouds in the sky and thin fog. There wasn't any rain though, but eventually, there was going to be.
The explosion Seiya had caused was pretty serious. It was a large crater, probably reaching about ten meters into the ground.
"Jeez man, this crater is probably bigger than the craters that Seiya makes when he smashes the ground."
As I walked through the debris in my line of sight, I noticed something in the pile of rocks.
I picked it up and dusted off the particles on it and lit a fire as it was a bit dark for me see what it was.
It was Seiya's daggers and his Katana. So he has three weapons in a strap? That's actually pretty smart. But it looks like his other Katana is a separate set.
Well, gotta say, it's even a miracle that these things survived the destruction that Seiya caused.
Wait a minute, if he only used one weapon, then why the hell does he have three others? I mean, if you are a master weapon switcher then I understand, but this ain't a video game.
But now that I remember, he was pretty good at wielding his weapons. Not to forget he could do "Piercing Vortex" with his smaller Katana and his longer Katana.
I have to say that his dual-wielding skills are impressive. I've been in this world longer than him and he's already gotten the hand of magic. It wasn't easy for me, though.
Suddenly, weird flakes began falling from the sky. Is this snow? No, it couldn't be, it's not even winter yet.
But then I realized this wasn't snowflakes at all.
It was ash.
Ash was falling from the sky.
.
.
.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone