The Broken Possessors of the Infinite Regression Academy - Chapter 187



Chapter 187 – Retrieving – 6

“hhh… … hhh… … .”

A sad sobbing sound echoed through the room. The back of the figure, which felt especially small today, shook incessantly.

Everyone was speechless as they watched the scene. The four possessed people had complicated expressions on their faces, and Chairman Nika and his expression showed that they were confused and did not understand the current situation at all.

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Unfortunately, there was no time to just watch. I carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, which was shaking sadly. Her face, soaked with sadness and tears, turned to me.

“Leona. I’m sorry, but… … .”

“Ugh… … Yeah… … Okay… … .”

Leona staggered to her feet. Then, with tears streaming down her face, she tried to pull out the holy sword stuck in Aria’s chest, but when she saw the corpse being dragged up and shaking, her legs gave out and she tried to sit back down.

I quickly supported her body before it rolled across the floor. The tears that seemed to have subsided a little began to flow again.

“Nika.”

“Yes, master.”

Nika quickly came over and helped Leona up. Leona staggered away as Nika led her. After making sure she was sitting properly on the floor, she turned her head to Aria.

Aria was smiling.

It was a pure and bright smile, like the main character of a romance novel, not a smile of madness or ridicule, just like it was at the beginning. It was to the point where it felt like all the crazy actions he had done up until now were lies.

He quietly pulled out the holy sword. The corpse shook with a start, spitting out blood that had not yet hardened. He placed the holy sword upright and knelt down on one knee next to it.

As he wrapped his magic around his right hand, the area just below his elbow became translucent, and Aria behind it was visible. The translucent hand passed through the side of Aria’s head and went inside.

The cold, chilling memory characteristic of a corpse began to seep through my fingers.

-Please… … Someone please answer… … Yes? I don’t want to be alone anymore… … Anyone is fine, please… … .

My body trembled. It was because a sad voice, just as sad as Leona’s just now, was echoing in my head.

It was Aria at a time when she had awakened to her true self alone in a world that had come to a standstill, and was desperately trying to find someone in the same situation as herself.

-Leona… … Here I am… … I’m scared. What should I do… … ? I’m scared. I’m scared. I think I’m going to die… … Please… … Please say something. Even just words, please wake up… … Why… … Why aren’t you waking up… … You promised… … You promised to be with me for the rest of your life… … Liar… … .

Again, memories seeped in. They were also Aria’s memories.

In her memory, Aria was holding onto Leona, who had frozen, and was begging her with tears in her eyes. Her weakly clenched fists were pounding against her chest. Leona was still smiling, not moving an inch.

From then on, Aria’s memories continued without end.

-I want to die… … Just… … Kill me… … .

Aria, locked in a cave somewhere in a corner, leaning against the wall, hugging her knees and burying her face between them.

Aria falling off a cliff. Aria trying to drown. Aria hitting her head on a rock. Aria strangling herself. Aria biting her tongue. Aria trying to commit suicide in every way possible.

Aria, whose heart was broken and half dead when nothing worked.

-Oh, I see… … There’s still a chance… … So, I… … Heh, heh heh heh… … There was a chance… … Heh… … Hwaaang… … .

Finally, Aria absorbs the fragments of the broken world and learns about another world.

“… … .”

As all those memories ended, other memories began to flow in. They were memories of Aria screaming in joy as soon as I reached the prologue, and Aria preparing various things to draw me here.

After less than ten seconds in real time, I finally got the memory I wanted and pulled out my arm. My right hand, which had become translucent, returned to its original state.

I slowly got up, looking down at Aria, who was still smiling. I could hear the ‘sound’ of the earth being stepped on. It was evidence that the world was starting to move again.

If we don’t take action quickly, it will become more than just moving.

I closed my eyes and focused my mind, reaching out to time like Aria had done. I dispersed and stabilized the time that was about to burst out of the blocked dam. The squirming subsided.

“it’s okay.”

It didn’t take long for the work to be finished. I opened my eyes. Everyone looked at me with worried expressions, but when they heard that it was done, we collectively let out a sigh of relief.

Perhaps it was because I felt the trembling of time. I don’t know what it was, but an unpleasant feeling instinctively enveloped my whole body.

“Are you done?”

“Yeah. It’ll be about 5 minutes.”

It doesn’t necessarily take up to 5 minutes. That’s literally the maximum, and probably 1 to 2 minutes would be enough.

As evidence, the wind was blowing again, causing her hair to flutter slightly. Priscilla, feeling the wind on her palms, nodded vigorously.

Of course, the situation wasn’t completely over. For now, the biggest and most urgent complaint had been resolved. There were still things to explain, and Leona, who was sitting there in a daze, had to be comforted.

We also have to think about what to do with Aria’s body.

“You don’t have to keep up the queen appearance anymore, Nika.”

“Yes? Oh, yes, master.”

As soon as she answered, Nika’s hair, which had been pink, turned brown. The outfit that was difficult to find a place to look at changed into a maid outfit with only the chest area pulled tight in an abnormal way.

Rosaria was looking at Nika like that, wondering what that was. In fact, if we were to judge by her attire, the saint’s outfit she wore when we first met was even worse.

How would you react if you found out it was because of Aria?

“Hey, I’m glad the kid is safe, but… … what happened? What happened that student caused us to… … .”

“I’ll explain everything later. There’s no point in talking about it here. Let’s go back to the academy first. Doesn’t the chairman have some things he needs to take care of separately?”

Because of Aria, an entire female dormitory building was blown away, and a nearby park was practically leveled. Time will soon start flowing again, and the principal needs to sort things out.

It would be better if the Crown Prince were there too. The chaos would subside more quickly.

“Chairman, please take everyone back first. Those kids can probably give you a simple explanation, and I’ll explain the rest when I get back. Nika, you go with me too.”

“I will do that.”

“Yes, I will do that. What about you, Master?”

I looked back and forth between Aria’s corpse and Leona, who was still dazed, without saying a word. Nika nodded, understanding what I meant.

While Nika went to create a dimensional gate, the chairman was stopped for a moment.

“Mr. Chairman.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you said before I went to the Demon World. I had good reasons for that. You can think of another favor to ask.”

He asked me to come back alive, saying he would listen to anything. I went there with a lot of weight on my shoulders because I didn’t know what kind of guy Masin was, but the reality was completely different.

The chairman’s face brightened at my words. Then, his bright smile changed into a subtle smile and he approached me.

“Can I take this to mean that the child was secretly expecting me to ask him for something?”

“… … It’s a favor, a favor. The drink was very different from what I had thought.”

“Don’t worry, it was a joke. Anyway, thank you for being considerate of me.”

The chairman, who had come right up to me, hugged me for a moment, and only after the smell of milk had seeped into my nostrils for a long time did he let go of my arm. Nika stopped using her magic and looked at me with envious eyes.

While Chairman Nika and I went to create a dimensional gate, we called the other four people together.

“Did you hear the explanation? You should go with the chairman. I’ll explain to you what happened to the best of my knowledge.”

“If it’s the line we know, then it’s all?”

The word “everything” that just came out would include the fact that we are possessed and all the information derived from that fact.

“It doesn’t matter. You saw it too. Nika, the chairman, and even Leona were able to move just like us. Aria muttered that it was because of her relationship with me, but anyway, I don’t know the exact reason, but is there any reason to come all the way here and hide it any longer?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Okay.”

The four of them nodded as if they somehow understood, and together with the smiling chairman and Nika, who was looking at me with earnest eyes, we returned to the academy first.

When I was left alone with Leona, I sat down next to her without saying a word. Leona leaned against me weakly. Her head rested on my shoulder. We both stayed like that for a long time.

“mummy.”

The first one to speak was Leona.

“I’m listening.”

“… … I never thought of Aria as not being a friend. But I guess Aria wasn’t like that. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that. I heard similar things when things first started going wrong at the Academy. You know, Mira. Was Aria… … lying to me from the beginning?”

It won’t be like that from the beginning.

At least the first two were literally old childhood friends and a sweetheart. For some unknown reason, he awakened to his own self and was left alone for over a thousand years, which caused his thoughts to become twisted.

The beginning I’m talking about here is right after Laura finished the novel. In fact, it’s safe to say that the Aria in the novel and the Aria in this world are different people.

“That won’t necessarily be the case.”

In fact, among Aria’s memories, there was one where she cried all day by Leona’s side because she couldn’t stand the loneliness. On the other hand, there was also a memory where she got angry and asked why she was acting like that when she was a warrior.

That doesn’t mean I have any sympathy for them. No matter what the circumstances, what they did to us will not change. I can only give them a little bit of leniency.

“… … Really? How can you be sure?”

“Because I looked into it myself.”

He briefly explained what he had learned while searching through his memories. Leona’s face grew darker and darker as she listened to what Aria had experienced in the past.

When the story finally ended, Leona looked as if she was barely holding back tears that were about to burst forth again.

“So, something like that… happened.”

Leona, who had been staring at Aria lying flat for a while, opened her mouth again.

“Why did you only do that to Aria?”

“well.”

The words, “Maybe it’s because he’s the main character,” didn’t come out of his mouth. He thought it would burden Laura later on. Even now, he’s suffering, wondering if he’s the cause of all this.

I got up. Leona, who had been staring at me blankly, cautiously reached out her hand. I grabbed her hand and helped her up. I approached Aria, still holding her hand, and pulled out the holy sword that had been stuck in her hand.

He returned the holy sword to Leona and created a spear in his left hand. The tip of the spear was pointed at Aria.

“I don’t know what you think, but Aria’s past and what she’s doing now are separate things. The reason I can be so lost in thought is because we won in the end. It seems like Aria had no intention of letting you live.”

If it was Aria standing here, I would have become a bio-battery, and everyone else would have disappeared along with the world when it was turned upside down. Or they would have been bullied to death somewhere.

“… … Yeah. I know. Of course it should be that way. I also… … think Aria was wrong.”

Leona licked her lips for a moment, then turned her body away.

“Come find me when you’re done. I beg you. I know it’s wrong, but… … I don’t think I can watch. I’m sorry.”

He sent her away, telling her there was no need to be sorry. Leona walked a long way before she finally stopped, squatted down, and covered her ears with both hands.

I checked the appearance and picked up the Holy Spear. There are ways to use the Yongwon or Yong-A sword, but this would be the most reliable.

Light pierced Aria’s chest. Her body was engulfed in a halo of light and scattered in all directions. Only a few bloodstains remained where the body had been.

I turned around after making sure nothing else happened for about 5 minutes.

This is the end.

In the place where everyone had left, a handful of light blinked and disappeared.

It was the exact spot where Aria died.