As soon as Karez saw us, he shouted directly, "That man, Alvis, has the slicing ability!"
Alvis tried to attack us with slicing, but we dodged it at the last moment. Alvis used offensive Shingen to reach me and kick my head, then used it again to land a critical blow on Garin, but even so, Garin tried to cut Alvis's hand but only managed to cut his right fist.
The kick was strong, but my grip on Lin tightened. I raised my sword and launched a dark slash toward Alvis, but his slicing attack was stronger, causing the dark slash to vanish.
Alvis spoke at that moment, "You, Leo, need to be more prepared. But that doesn't matter now. You shouldn't be here. This fight is between me and the Lavalik family. Between me and Karez Lavalik, and Garin Lavalek."
Garin what…? Did he just say Garin Lavalik?! Garin is from the royal Lavalik family?? That explains everything! Garin was the only one whose family name was never mentioned at the academy. It makes sense that he was abandoned too because he doesn't possess the volcanic lava ability. But he's frozen in place from the shock. Is it because he didn't know his origins or what?
No, no, that doesn't matter now. The top priority now is defeating Alvis. That must be what both Garin and Karez are thinking right now.
Karez stands up with difficulty. Luckily, the place is destroyed and full of metal.
Garin launched with offensive Shingen and Alvis turned to block, but I launched my dark claw at him, and he retreated before it could hit him. He thought he avoided my trick, but Karez struck him with a hand surrounded by heavy metals, causing him to lose focus for a single second.
Garin took advantage of that second to bind Alvis with fog and attempt to cut off his limbs, but Alvis responded with a slicing attack that knocked away Garin's sword. He then sliced through the fog and attacked Garin, placing his hand on his chest.
Half a second.
Karez tried to attack, but his body was bleeding heavily. If I use Shingen, I won't make it in time…!
I have to create something! I must invent something new!
Before Alvis could unleash the slicing strikes on Garin's chest, Garin released fog from his chest and tried to crush Alvis's hand, but Alvis's attack sliced the fog.
Half a second passed.
Alvis did hit Garin's chest.
But Alvis fell into the trap—Garin pulled his sword with the fog and cut off Alvis's left hand, and that's when I used my new technique: the Black Hole.
A black orb formed in my hand and pulled Alvis directly toward me. But before I could stab him with my sword, Alvis unleashed slicing attacks from all over his body that pushed me away from him and knocked Garin down.
Alvis didn't stop—he advanced directly to attack me, but due to his distraction, he tripped over a small piece of metal and lost his balance!
What luck!!
I launched a dark rope toward Alvis to pull myself to him, and with one swing of my sword, I cut off Alvis's head!... Or so I thought. My sword, Lin, couldn't cut Alvis's neck. No, that's not true—I couldn't cut Alvis's neck. Lin is a perfect sword, but I'm not strong enough to wield it. I can't take a human life with it.
But if my body stopped out of fear, my darkness won't stop.
With the Black Hole, I grabbed Alvis's head and smashed it into the ground with all the strength I had until I felt his skull break.
Elizabeth and Corner arrived, but the battle had already ended.
I… took a human life.
But that's what I had to do, right? Would my parents hate me? No, I defended the kingdom this way… I helped my friend and fulfilled my first duty.
Professor Elizabeth approached me and said, "It's okay, you did your best." She must be blaming herself for being late.
In the end, this Alvis was killing humans without mercy. And he would've killed me without mercy. He's not much different from the beasts in the wild.
After this attack, Karez's mother was rescued. A DNA test was done on Karez and Garin, and it was discovered that they are indeed relatives.
When we returned to the academy and saw it destroyed, we had no choice but to embrace the shock in silence. Alvis's life was saved in the end for interrogation, but he won't live long.
Until Limitless Academy is rebuild, we went to the secondary Limitless Academy.
It turned out that the eye I glimpsed was real—it had snuck into the clothes of one of the students while he was outside the academy, and when he returned, it emerged and split into large numbers and spread through the academy. No one noticed it due to the concealment magic on it.
The director saw one of the eyes, and that's why he didn't let Langst go to Alvis's tower.
A week after this incident, the news of Director Satile's murder was announced. Some felt sadness, some didn't care, and others were afraid that this was only the beginning.
Somewhere, Myuso was talking to himself. "They've finally begun."
And elsewhere, Yarasou was reading the news, crushing the cup in his hand.
Karez Lavalik
Garin and I were lying in our hospital beds in silence until Garin spoke.
"Karez, can you tell me about your past with the Lavalik family? I'm curious how you were exiled from the family."
I slowly turned my head to him because my neck hurt. "As you wish."
When my mother Fatila gave birth to me, my father had already passed away. She named me after him, Kariz, which means "love" in one of the ancient languages.
After giving birth to me, her health became extremely deteriorated. The doctor told her she wouldn't survive the next four years, but with time, and after she saw that I could control magnetic power, she resisted the illness for three more years in every possible way. She was always trying to hide the truth about my ability.
My mother used to be scolded and sometimes beaten by her father to make sure she wasn't hiding my ability. She always said that I don't have proper control over Shinta.
But of course, I used it, and my mother was hiding it as I said. She didn't want me to be exiled. The only person who knew about my ability was Fatila's sister, Katelin.
With each year, Fatila's health worsened more and more until she became bedridden, unable to move, and I was by her side in the room all the time. That delayed the family's discovery of my ability even more.
On my seventh birthday, my aunt Katelin told her father that I could control magnetism and that my mother had been hiding my ability hoping I would at least be a teenager before I was exiled from the family.
It turned out that my grandfather had asked Katelin about me since she was the person who spent the most time with me after my mother. Katelin replied, "Maybe if I get a quarter of the profits from the resources we harvest, I'll consider it."
Crazy request, right? My grandfather agreed.
And indeed, Katelin revealed everything.
My mother was punished harshly in front of my eyes. Then I was left in an orphanage as one last desperate request from my mother.
Naturally, like any other child, after I saw my mother being beaten and bleeding and being separated, I couldn't stop crying. I kept crying for four days. I would sleep, wake up, and cry again.
But on the fifth day, I woke up, and I was silent. I never screamed again.
I believe that on that day—on that very day—I learned the meaning of hatred.
---
After the attack on Limitless Academy and the kidnapping of the Lavalik clan, the citizens of the Kingdom of Anastasia were worried. They didn't know what would happen next or if the kingdom would really be able to protect them—especially after the assassination of one of the five great academies director, Satile.
But the majority still had confidence in the kingdom, because in every disaster, the kingdom had always prevailed.
Five days later, a new director for Limitless Academy was appointed: Director Yuron.
Everyone thought things had calmed down, but five days after Yuron's appointment, the director of Ultra Academy was assassinated.
The assassination of another director among the five great academies only increased the fear among the people of the Kingdom of Anastasia.
Even the King of the Kingdom of Ogrulia began increasing the protection around their great academy and other schools.
But it seems the danger is now closer than ever before.