I regressed and became the Sword Ice King-Chapter 425- Festival 156- The Sun Comet 5

A distraction. A trap.

It didn’t matter much what Phestus had done to lead their confrontation to this ending.

What mattered was that she fell for it.

Hook. Line. Sinker.

Now on her knees, Katherin had a moment of relapse. A brief realisation that her world was about to come to an end.

Years of planning brought it to its knees by a boy who wasn’t even born then.

Ruffled and torn by its edges until it became nothing more than rubbish before the eyes of those who stood against her.

The situation was unregistered.

One that was not planned for, yet with the momentum of conflict brewing throughout the Academy, it had begun to shift more and more out of her grasp.

As if trying to slam reality back into her skull.

The thought caused a muffled chuckle.

One that escaped her lips with a bubble of crimson saliva that dripped down from its edges.

The attack had struck hard.

To the extent that she felt it claw at her brain.

Terribly so.

A constant pang of pain assaulted her. Discombobulated her vision and hearing.

A sharp ringing sound echoed in the world around her.

Above her was Phestus.

He stood next to her, his expression anything but satisfied.

The lingering affection of his once important Professor flickered in him as he watched her.

A careless empathy swirling in his eyes.

He sighed.

Glanced away to where the Headmaster sat.

A brief silence hung in the air before he broke it.

"Well. We’ve stopped them." He said, matter-of-factly.

The Headmaster slowly raised his head in his direction.

His gaze lingered between him and Katherin.

Then Cadwin, who stood a few feet behind, and Crown.

He nodded, licking his lips clean.

"Hm. It seems so."

With a sigh, he stroked his beard. Adjusting his monocle afterwards as he slowly stood to his feet.

The chair chuffed back.

A slow creak that echoed in the air, reaching Mila’s ears despite the loud whistling as her gaze landed on him.

Her expression stood neutral for a second, but in the next second. It twisted bitterly.

"You Fucker!"

She cried out in fury, nearly lifting her body back to its feet.

Phestus immediately acted. He had experienced and seen enough conflict for one night.

Grabbing both her arms and pulling them to her back, he pinned them against her and shoved her to the ground.

Easily locking her against the floor with a dull thud from the fall.

He sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"It will be best for you to remain calm, Miss. Katherin." He said as he looked up at the Headmaster.

The woman struggled still. Attempting to rip her way out of his grasp, though it proved futile in every attempt.

Ignoring her, Phestus asked.

"What are your instructions now?"

"Well..." the Headmaster tilted his head slightly with his gaze locked onto Katherin.

"With the Mana reflux, the Academy stands a chance at complete annihilation."

Phestus frowned at the statement.

"...Is there not a way to offset it? We can run the Team over. They were the ones who started the rain."

The Headmaster seemingly took a pause.

Lifted his head to the ceiling and folded his hands before he shook his head in response.

"If we were to put a scale of ten in order of manipulation of a Territorial zone, then causing rain would be a one...the basics..."

Phestus raised a brow. "And offsetting a Mana Reflux?"

"...A twenty."

Phestus sighed while he shook his head.

"That difficult?"

"It’s a miracle as it is that it’s still standing." The Headmaster said. "Usually, an explosion of that calibre would have caused a Territorial Collapse, and we would have been swept into a Reflux Hole."

Phestus remained silent after the Headmaster’s statement. Replaying the last line over and over.

A Reflux Hole was a much costlier phenomenon than the Magic Reflux.

They were cracks in space. Portals opened. Forged and formed out of the overexertion of mana particles in a Territorial Space.

’Territorial Spaces are already delicate enough as they are...’

After all, they were fabrics interwoven by magic and psychic power.

Like a nest standing between two realities.

With the right amount of force and pressure, that nest can be broken and when it does...

’We’ll literally be hanging in time and space between different dimensions.’

Or at least, the theory went.

No one was actually dumb enough to risk their lives for the cause of experiments, and those who were had never returned from a Reflux Hole.

It was far different from the gates known as Mana Portals. These were known for pulling Demons and Devils into the Mortal Realm, and their difference simply lay in the fact that no human had ever escaped from the former.

The Reflux Hole was unknown territory.

’Hah...’ Phestus got goosebumps at the very thought of it.

A slight shiver down his spine as he shook his head.

"A Reflux hole would be terrible, but I don’t believe it’s feasible. Only an incomprehensible portion of mana can cause it."

"Yes, I agree." The Headmaster nodded.

Though they seemed to have reached an understanding, Phestus had just begun to realise that a main question was missing.

His eyes narrowed as the question played in his head first, before he turned to the Headmaster once more.

"Who caused it?"

Headmaster Rhabanz widened his eyes slightly, then let his question hang in the air as silence followed.

A moment passed, then another, before he finally replied.

"It was Mila, the executive."

The name rang like a bell.

A sounding dawn struck Phestus as his eyes bulged open.

Katherin who was held underneath him seemed to have hummed with interest.

As her voice broke the silence that followed with an air-cracking laughter.

"Ha...HA!HAHAHA!HAHAHAHA!!HAHAH!!!"

What started as a muffled chuckle quickly broke into a heart-wrenching laughter.

The air filled with the electric hum of her wonderfully amused laughter.

The others glanced at her with levelled gazes.

The Headmaster folded his arms in silence.

Phestus holding his forehead in resignation.

There was no second-guessing it.

Mila had faced three girls in the clips he observed. Monica Lorientt, Felicia Dreau and most importantly, Thalia Jun.

If the Mana reflux was a result of their fight, then he could only conclude that the three girls lost their lives to the Female Executive.

After all, a collision or an attack on that level was impossible for them.

But for Mila, it was more than plausible.

"HA! SUITS YOU RIGHT!"

Katherin’s voice broke apart in cackling amusement.

Her body quaking under the pressure of her own joy.

The weight of her failure seemed to have slipped away by that single statement.

Why? Because she still had them! The Red Peacemakers.

They were in this very Academy, Mila Jack and Nicho Mayuri!

Despite their conflict, they were still working for the same thing and that was the downfall of the Academy.

"JUST WAIT UNTIL SHE GETS HERE!"

She cried out.

"JUST WAIT! THAT BITCH IS GOING TO MOP THE FLOOR WITH YOUR FACE ON IT!"

She continued, yet again. As vigorous as ever.

To the point that Phestus nearly lost it. A moment more and he would have struck her dead on the head, but the Headmaster’s sudden claim seemed to have stopped him– and the laughter.

"She’s dead." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Silence.

Phestus whipped his gaze at him.

"What?"

The Headmaster adjusted his monocle with a lazy motion.

"Mila is dead. She was killed by the four girls whom she fought against."

Phestus’ mouth snapped open.

’What?’

"What...are...you saying?" Katherin’s voice broke and cracked.

Her eyes widened in disbelief while her chest began to pound against itself.

"Wha– What are you saying?"

She repeated.

The disbelief was made evident as a line of tears streamed down her face.

Her gaze remained locked onto the Headmaster’s.

Both stared dead at each other as if they communicated through their eyes.

But perhaps, they were.

Katherin tried to search for something. Anything.

Anything to make what he just said sound like fluff. A bluff. Rubbish!

It couldn’t be real.

Not Mila.

Not an executive from the Red Peacemakers.

"Wh–o...Who’s dead?" Her question came in a whisper.

As if too scared to be any bolder.

The Headmaster frowned deeply.

A click of his tongue as he repeated.

"Mila is dead."

Then he leaned forward.

"Your people too. Most have been killed...many more will be killed."

A chuckle escaped his lips.

"Your delusions have led you so far, Katherin. Good lecturers, men and women who could have meant something to this establishment have now been killed through you."

His voice was curt, sharp, and held the venom of a dignified noble.

"You’ve brought shame to not just yourself, but to the people who follow you by trusting the hands of an outsider...and even now...you continue to disgrace yourself."

At this point, Phestus had gotten up to his feet. Leaving Katherin on the ground.

He felt no need to hold her down anymore. No– because the Headmaster seemed to be having a good time doing so.

"And you know what..."

The Headmaster’s voice shook the air. A heaviness that was never there taking root as it did so.

The others seemed to simply watch in silence.

After all, this was a matter that concerned the Headmaster and one of his Professors, who had betrayed him and the Academy.

"Your failure would be a good foundation."

He leaned back at the table with a satisfied expression.

"Another System Whatnot would have to think twice before they act...Least they wallow in the filth you are, now."

Katherin’s expression seemed to have been put in freeze.

Eyes bulged open, with a mouth that hung as if it were begging for air.

Her world collapsed.

And she saw it. Felt it.

The entirety of her being thrown into a wasteland of uselessness. A pointless effort– Perhaps.

Her thoughts reeled in as she lay frozen.

The silence ticked like a time bomb.

’What was the point?’

She scoffed.

’What made me think that we could change the world? We could make this world a better place for System Users all around.’

’The world is cruel to us....’

’Unfair.’

’We have no one but ourselves to depend on...to protect.’

’I was supposed to start that school.’

’Build a world through the future generation.’

’Is it over? Is it all...over?’

A pause. A flick, then a sudden realisation.

’No. No, it can’t be over.’

Her arms trembled but they moved.

Reaching away from the ground. Anchoring itself against it.

Then her legs followed.

One by one. She picked them up.

’Not everyone is dead.’

Her gaze trailed away from the Headmaster and towards Cadwin, then to Crown.

He had been put out of commission, but he lay alive. Breathing.

Though, incapable of turning his head to view her resolve. To see for himself, the effort she makes for their dream to be a reality.

It didn’t matter.

’Because like Crown, many others are unconscious...waiting.’

Her body staggered, but she rose.

And the Headmaster? He simply watched.

Not just him, Phestus and Cadwin as well.

Curiosity was getting the better of them, wondering what else she might pull.

How much she might pull– If she could.

Finally, on her feet, she met the Headmaster’s gaze.

Her lips quivering as they opened up slowly.

"We...We may have lost peo–ple...we may have died...we may have suffered.

But we have never regretted."

Their paths were always going to be a thorny one. This was no exception.

"Still. We will stand. We will figh–

POP!

A whisper of a sound projected in the air as a portal opened in the middle of the room, just on the spot where Katherin had stood a moment ago.

It appeared within her, easily and suddenly, erupting her body into pieces of flesh and blood that quickly spread against the room like spray paint.

Just before the Portal anchored itself, firmly.

Then, she stepped out.

The Witch of the West.