Red mana came out from Leon's body. It came like a storm, a pressure so high it changed the gravity around Sura, crushing him into the dirt. He froze, his lungs gasping for air that seemed to have vanished around him.
"I, I know that stance!"
Sura thought.
His vision went to a memory from when he played the game. In the game, this was the hero's strongest strike: the Boundless Slash. It was the move that turned every battle to Leon's side. Even though his powers right now aren't strong, it's still able to split him into two without any hope of survival.
Sura braced himself for the end, "Well, this is where I'll die."
WHOOSH.
A blur of black steel intercepted Leon's sword. A shockwave erupted, blowing dust and gravel around the training ground, yet Sura remained untouched.
When the dust settled, a man stood between them. He was clad in dark, plated armor that covered his chest, transitioning into reinforced leather around his midsection.
At his hip hung a heavy, longsword. The man didn't look at Sura; his cold gaze was fixed firmly on Leon.
A jagged, ugly scar ran across the man's neck, a permanent reminder of a slash that had nearly claimed his own life years ago.
It was Instructor Zion, a training instructor for their class.
"Enough," the instructor said, his voice like grinding glass.
Leon's face was covered in a mask of pure rage. "Move, Instructor! That bastard doesn't deserve to breathe!"
"This is a training ground, not a slaughterhouse, Leon," Zion replied, his gaze with a look of authority, his hand resting casually on his sword hilt.
"You've already shattered the practice arena. This is your final warning."
"You don't understand!" Leon yelled, his voice filled with rage. He pointed his sword directly at Sura. "He dragged Laura to his room! He forced himself on her, the filth... he deserves nothing but death!"
Sura felt the blood drain from his face. Rape?
Wait, I know the villain of the original story was arrogant, sure, but a rapist? That wasn't written in the story preview.
"He, I mean I didn't!" Sura said, his voice barely a whisper. "I swear, I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"Silence!" Zion's command was absolute. He looked from the trembling Sura to the angry Leon.
"Whatever transpired, it will be handled by the Academy law. You both are under arrest. Move to the detention area. Now!"
The detention area was a cold, windowless room carved deep into the foundation of the academy. The air was stale, smelling of old iron and wet stone.
Sura sat on a wooden bench, his hands still trembling. Across the room, Leon stood, pacing and glaring at Sura. The hero couldn't stop staring at him, his eyes filled with such intense hatred that it felt like it changed the temperature around Sura's skin.
Instructor Zion entered, the sound of his heavy boots echoing against the walls. He sat at the heavy oak desk between them, his scarred neck pulsing as he exhaled a long, tired breath.
He looked at the two of them, the hero who had tried to commit murder in broad daylight, and the supposed villain who was currently accused of raping a fellow student, both in the Academy.
"This,"
Zion said, tapping a gloved finger on the desk,
"is the most pathetic display of discipline I have seen in ten years of teaching. A duel meant to end in a simple training accident has turned into an attempted execution."
Leon didn't look away from Sura. "He is a monster, Instructor. You know the rumours about this rat, and the whole academy knows what he did!"
Sura looked up, his golden eyes meeting the instructor's stern gaze.
"I'm not a monster, yes, but I'm definitely not a rapist. There has to be a misunderstanding, maybe I was just drunk!"
Zion leaned back, the shadows of the room dancing over the wall.
"Understandings are for the weak. In this academy, there is only truth and consequence.
And right now," he glared at both of them,
"you are both going to learn the cost of your arrogance, breaking the school rules."
Zion's eyes narrowed, his gaze shifting between the two boys like a novel editor scanning your work. The silence in the detention room grew heavy.
"The academy does not tolerate attempted murder, nor does it tolerate the defiling of its students," Zion said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low tone. "However, the Council has decided that simple expulsion is too lenient for the display you two put on today."
He stood up, the metal of his armor clinking softly. He reached under the desk and pulled out a heavy, pulsating iron restraint, a shackle designed to bind them together and physical movement alike.
"You are going to the Dark Forest," Zion said.
Sura felt the blood leave his face. The Dark Forest? In the game, that place was a death trap for mid to high level characters. And it wasn't known this early in the game? He was a level zero extra in a villain's body. He was already dead.
"You will retrieve the Aether Rose from the peak of the Crying Mountain," Zion continued. "And you will do it bound together."
Before Sura could protest, the instructor snapped the iron rod onto their waists. It was short, barely five centimeters of cold, unyielding metal separating them.
Sura was effectively welded to his killer.
"If either of you returns without the other," Zion's voice grew cold, "your families will be stripped of their titles and sold into slavery before the sun sets."
So If the hero kills the villain, he is expelled and his legacy ruined. If the hero dies, the villain follows him to the grave, Sura thought.
"You have three days," Zion said.
The entrance to the Dark Forest loomed like the gaping maw of a beast. The trees here were twisted, their bark black, and the air hummed with a thick, suffocating pressure of raw mana.
Sura felt the weight of the forest immediately. It wasn't just physical, it was an assault on his senses. The mana here was so dense it felt like being underwater, crushing his chest and making him gasp for air. Beside him, Leon stood tall, his presence acting as a stabilizer. The hero's mana was powerful, almost arrogant in its intensity, pushing back against the forest's oppressive aura.
Sura, however, was a wreck.
As they moved through the forest,
"Keep up, you pathetic worm," Leon spat, his voice filled with venom. He didn't even look at Sura, but the sheer force of his movement jerked the iron rod, nearly dragging Sura off his feet.
"I'm trying!" Sura hissed, his heart hammering against his ribs. Every step in this place felt like walking through mud.
"You should have died on that training ground," Leon said. "Dragging me into this... I should kill you and deal with the consequences later."
"And then you'd lose your precious title," Sura countered, though his voice wavered. "We're stuck together, Leon. If you want to survive, you're going to have to stop looking at me like I'm the one who killed your family! Holy shit!"
Leon turned his head, his crimson eyes glowing with a dangerous light. "How? Do you know about my family, Fredrick? Don't pretend and answer me!"
Holy shit I think I'm dead! Sura thought.
Sura gripped the hilt of his cursed blade, his palms sweating. He knew he will die if he doesn't respond.
He looked at the short, iron rod binding them together. He was attached to a hero who wanted him dead, wandering into a forest that wanted to eat them both, with only three days to find a flower that, according to the instructor and now the look of a hero ready to kill him...
How the hell am I going to survive this?
The forest grew silent, the air thick with the smell of rotting leaves and stagnant water. As they stood silently looking at each other...
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Out of nowhere a sound came. It sounded like a falling boulder. Sura, his heart hammering against his ribs, not for the hero but for what he knew was coming, suddenly froze. He recognized the rhythm. He scrambled behind the trunk of a massive, blackened oak and tackled Leon, slamming both his hands over the hero's eyes.
"Close your eyes!" Sura screamed, his voice cracking with genuine terror. "Don't look at it! Don't you dare look!"
"Get off me, you crazy," Leon snarled, struggling to pry Sura's hands away.
"If you look at those eyes, you're dead! It's a Basilisk Toad! Seven eyes, seven curses, and one hell of a petrification spell!" Sura whispered, his face pressed against the rough bark, his own eyes squeezed shut.
"You're insane," Leon growled, shoving Sura aside. "I don't know what kind of trick you're pulling, but I won't listen to the lowest one in our class and I don't hide from a fight!"
Before Sura could grab him again, Leon lunged out from behind the tree, his sword drawn, his eyes wide and defiant.
Croak!!
The sound was like a wet stone scraping against another. Sura risked a tiny peek, just a sliver of sight, and saw it: a monstrous, blubbery creature the size of a carriage, its skin a mottled, sickly green. Seven pulsating, bulbous eyes arranged in a circle on its forehead shifted simultaneously, focusing on the hero.
"You..." Leon's voice faltered.
In a heartbeat, the light in the hero's eyes faded. His skin turned gray, then white, then hardened into cold, lifeless granite. Leon stood frozen, his sword still raised, his expression locked in a permanent, smug grimace of combat now carved in heavy stone.
Sura stared at the statue of his enemy, his brain screeching in panic. "Oh, you absolute idiot! I told you! I told you, you arrogant prick!"
The giant toad began to hop forward, its seven eyes swiveling toward Sura.
"Right, okay. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look," Sura muttered, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
He didn't dare open his eyes to look at the beast. Instead, he gripped the iron rod that bound them together. With a grunt of exertion, he started running away, dragging the heavy, stone statue of the hero through the dirt.
Clunk-drag. Clunk-drag. Every time the statue's head hit a root, Sura winced.
"Sorry! Sorry, my bad, Leon! I'm saving your life right now!"
The toad let out another hungry croak, closing the distance. Sura could hear the wet slap of its tongue hitting the ground near his feet.
"I came here without warning, now I look like a stone delivery boy for a giant frog!" Sura yelled at the top of his lungs, his eyes shut tight as he began to scramble into a full sprint, dragging the heavy, granite-Leon behind him like a morbid sack of potatoes.
He hit a rock, stumbled, and went face-first into the mud, pulling the statue on top of him. He groaned, the weight of the stone hero crushing his chest, while behind him, the seven-eyed monstrosity let out a screech that shook the trees.
"I'm actually going to die, aren't I?" Sura wheezed, scrambling to his feet to drag the statue into the dark, tangled brush. "This is how we die. I mean I might die but it will eventually workout for the hero because of his plot armor. Fuck this plot! Fuck this game! And especially, fuck you, Leon!"