Caius’ POV
I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was Professor Lucas with a horrified expression on his face... for a moment, I almost panicked as well.
My essence was completely depleted, and I wasn’t ready to fight right now.
However, Professor Lucas quickly dispelled my fear with his next words."Did you wake up as well? We’re under attack right now. Get ready."His tone was tense.
He glanced at Commander Arthur’s corpse and continued,"They killed all the guards, but for some reason, they left us alive."
I heard the sound of explosions coming from one of the front carriages.
Elliot had probably already started fighting.
"I’ve sent a distress signal to the Axis, so reinforcements should arrive soon."He spoke as if trying to reassure us, like a professor doing his duty.
Yeah... but I was certain he was lying to buy time.
I lifted my head and looked at the clock inside the train carriage.
"Twenty minutes have passed since we entered the dream," I thought as I calculated.
That meant the automatic message should have been sent five minutes ago already...
As for this despicable professor, it seemed he had decided to go along with it and pretend to be on our side.
Ivan groaned as he held his head."What happened? The last thing I remember is seeing a purple light, then I had a beautiful dream where I was—"
I raised my hand to stop him."No need to tell us about your dream."
I spoke while standing up from my seat, as the sounds of fighting grew louder.
I pulled my swords from my ring and looked at Lucas."Professor, you’re the strongest among us. Go ahead, and Ivan and I will support you from behind."
It seemed they were so confident we wouldn’t wake up that they left our belongings with us.
Lucas nodded."Good, but I’m not very good at fighting compared to other Rank 3s."
I nodded back.
After all, Lucas focused on studying Relics and Artifacts.
He turned around, his sword stained with blood in his hand... who knows, if I had woken up a little later, that blood might have been mine.
And it seemed Ivan hadn’t noticed anything strange about the professor. Well, he had just woken up from a dream to find us under attack.
We followed behind the professor for a few steps, heading toward the battlefield.
The moment I saw how casually he exposed his back to us, the last remaining essence in my body stirred.
I couldn’t coat my entire sword with essence, so I wrapped only the blade’s tip.
The world around me slowed down.
Fast and without hesitation, I thrust toward Professor Lucas’s heart.
As expected of a Rank 3, he sensed it and tried to evade my strike... but that was all it was, an attempt.
My sword pierced Lucas’s back, passed through his lungs, and emerged from the front. I missed his heart at the last moment, so he didn’t die immediately.
He raised one hand and grabbed the sword lodged in his chest to keep it from moving, while the other hand holding his sword shifted as a layer of essence began forming over his body.
But I had accounted for that as well.
My other sword was already at his neck, a thin layer of essence coating its edge.
I felt slight resistance before the blade sliced through flesh, then bone—
Ending this wretch’s life.
All his ambitions, erased in a single moment, without him ever knowing why I killed him... or even speaking a single word.
No matter how I thought about it, this really was a disappointing end for someone like him.
The clash lasted only an instant before everything was over.
By the time Ivan realized what was happening, Professor Lucas’s head was already on the ground, a fountain of blood bursting from his neck before his body hit the floor with a dull thud.
I saw Ivan’s eyes widen as he stumbled back a few steps, his focus locked tightly onto me.
His voice trembled slightly."Y-you... what did you do? You killed the professor!"
I looked at him calmly."Haven’t you figured it out yet? Your professor is the reason for all of this."
Ivan opened his mouth to respond, forming a sphere of plasma in his hand, ready to fight me.
I continued,"Think, Ivan. Lucas was in carriage number 2 before we fell asleep... yet now he appears directly in front of us in carriage 6 when we wake up. Even if he woke up before us—and I’m sure he didn’t—do you really think the attackers would let him pass through all the carriages without noticing him?"
"And why would he come to carriage 6 in the first place while we’re under attack?"
Ivan began to show signs of understanding.
I pointed at the sword on the ground."His sword is stained with blood. I doubt he fought the attackers—otherwise, they’d be right behind him by now."
He hesitated, the plasma sphere in his hand still ready to launch at any moment.
I raised an eyebrow and asked,"Isn’t that enough?"
Ivan looked at me for a few moments before answering,"Yeah... when you put it that way, it does sound suspicious. But killing him outright is still too much."
He was right. Even with that, it still wasn’t enough to justify executing him immediately.
I smiled at him."So what? We wait until he turns on us, and your head is the one lying on the ground?"
If he had intended to kill us, we’d already be dead. But all I wanted was to send this kid away from here as quickly as possible.
Ivan hesitated, then the plasma sphere dissipated from his hand."You’re really crazy..."
He looked at the corpse."But if you’re wrong, you’ll be the only one bearing the responsibility."
I nodded."I promise. Now, if you’re done, go support the others."
He narrowed his eyes at me."What about you?"
I took out an essence stone from my ring."I’m completely drained of essence."
Ivan frowned deeper."Why?"
I looked at him like he was an idiot."How do you think I woke up before they finished what they were doing—or before we died?"
He stared at me with his green eyes."Then... are you responsible for this...?"
Was he going to keep asking forever?"Of course. And it wasn’t easy. Now go, before they come here."
The explosions ahead grew louder as Ivan looked at me for a few moments before making up his mind.
He nodded and passed by me, heading toward the battlefield. Clearly, he wasn’t fully convinced, but he had no proof against me.
Meanwhile, I began absorbing essence from the stone in my hand and looked down at Lucas’s corpse.
The Relic separation was supposed to begin a few minutes after death, and I had successfully driven Ivan away before it started.
After some time, I absorbed enough essence to activate my ability.
When my senses spread in all directions, I felt the violent fluctuations of the ongoing battles—and more importantly, they weren’t very close to me.
Slowly, light began to emerge from Lucas’s body, like droplets of water floating in the air and gathering together.
An involuntary smile formed on my face."Finally... I won’t have to go through something like that again."
The light slowly condensed into a small sphere, then dimmed, revealing a small ball of white glass.
The piece began to fall, but I caught it before it hit the ground.
I felt the smooth surface of the sphere in my hand and its light weight.
I examined it, turning it over several times.
This small sphere was the [Mind Anchor].
A Rank 5 Relic that grants complete mental immunity against all attacks below this rank, and partial immunity against those above Rank 5... which was what kept Lucas conscious even after the Dream Demon’s attack.
This tiny thing could easily sell for over a billion points.
Though the thought was slightly tempting, I quickly dismissed it.
I hid the Mind Anchor in my ring. This wasn’t the right time to fuse it with myself.
Even after getting what I wanted, I had no intention of supporting the others. I was already exhausted, and somehow, the damage I took in the black space had been reflected onto my body.
Besides, they were supposed to hold out until reinforcements arrived... that’s how things went in the game.
Still, speaking of the game and my memories, I was no longer sure how reliable they were after what I experienced in my dream.
As I stayed there, absorbing essence from the stone and preparing myself for any fight that might reach me, I felt something new enter the range of my senses.
And it wasn’t far away... it was directly behind me.
An enormous amount of essence—so much that my head felt like it was splitting just from sensing it.
I turned around instantly, only to see something floating in the air a few feet away from me.
Something that felt familiar, for some reason.
A card the size of a palm, made of black metal.