Magic Academy's Bastard Instructor-Chapter 272: Voyaging Star’s Farewell [3]

A simple task.

Commit murder, then do everything she could to return to the present.

By then, her world would have changed. Karina did not care about the consequences. If Romulus was dead, then Vanitas’s involvement with the Empress’s murder would never come to light.

And more than that, she would save herself.

On the very night of nine-year-old Karina’s birthday, Romulus was found dead in the bedroom.

"...."

The aftermath was overwhelming.

Karina stared at her trembling hands. Goosebumps crawled all over her skin as the realization of what she had done washed over her like a tidal wave.

"Wh-Who are you...?"

She turned.

Her mother stood frozen in the doorway, eyes wide with terror as she took in the blood-soaked room.

Despite the blood smeared on her face, Karina smiled reassuringly.

"It’s okay now, Mom," she said. "I’ve saved you."

She stepped forward.

"I saved myself."

"K-Karina...?"

"That’s right, Mom," Karina said. "It’s me. From the future."

Beatrice took a step back without realizing it. Her gaze turned from the blood on Karina’s face to the body behind her, then back again.

"I came to save you," Karina continued. "To save us. Everything that happens after this... all the suffering... it doesn’t have to exist anymore."

Beatrice’s lips trembled. "Karina... what are you saying?"

"I’m saying it’s over," Karina replied. "You don’t have to be afraid anymore."

She stepped closer.

The distance between them felt impossibly small.

"From now on," Karina said, smiling eerily, "things will be different."

And just like that, she returned to the present.

"...."

Or at least, what she thought was the present.

"What is—Cough!"

The sight before her was unfamiliar. A world reduced to ashes. Demonic miasma seeping into every corner. Karina staggered forward, coughing as her lungs burned.

Roooooooar——

She looked up.

Towering above the ruined world was a colossal dragon cloaked in darkness. A presence so overwhelming it crushed the air itself.

Araxys.

"Cough... Cough...!"

Coughing, she tried to push herself up, but it was already too late. Araxys had noticed her. Its gaze met hers, filled with intent to erase her along with the continent.

"...."

No, the world.

"No, no, no, no..." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

———!

Flames descended. Black fire, so dense it devoured light itself, burst downward like a vortex, rushing to consume her entirely.

"Go back! Go back! Go back!"

In that split second, Karina forced herself away, falling back into the past and saving herself at the last possible moment.

"Haa... haah...!"

Karina gasped for breath as the final moments replayed in her mind.

"Why..."

None of it made sense.

How could killing Romulus possibly lead to the end of the world?

There was no logic to it. Romulus was already dead in the present. His death should never have affected the timeline to that extent.

Or what if that was the fate awaiting the world regardless?

"...."

A conclusion that would arrive no matter how much the past was altered, no matter how desperately she would struggle against it.

Karina clenched her fists.

If fate could not be changed, then what was the point of all this power? Of being the Origin of Time?

"...."

No, if the end was inevitable, then perhaps this was the duty of the Origin of Time.

And if the world was truly doomed no matter what she did, then she would not allow herself to remain ignorant until the flames arrived.

Karina was glad, at the very least, that she had tried.

She was no longer certain whether she had actually jumped into the present or into some distant future. But even so, the experience had been eye-opening.

There were things far more important than her own regrets.

Her tragedy was not unique.

It was merely one among countless others.

Karina took one last look through the window.

At Vanitas.

At her mother.

At her younger self.

And at her stepfather, Romulus.

"...."

Without touching anything, before anything else could be ruined, Karina returned to the present.

"...."

But once again, it was only what she thought was the present.

No. What she had actually returned to was the starting point. The moment from which she had first gone back was roughly a decade.

"...."

Karina felt lost.

She no longer knew what she was meant to do, nor how she was supposed to control these powers she had awakened.

The rules were unclear. And before she could fully come to terms that she was at a deadlock, a sharp sensation pierced her chest.

"Haakh...!"

Her heart palpitated faster than she had ever felt before. It was as if something within her was tearing her from the inside.

"...."

Her frequencies were diminishing.

"Hooh..."

It was quite simple to guess why. Such pain felt like this only occurred whenever she jumped a timeline.

That meant she could not jump through timelines at will.

If she forced it, her frequencies that were still unstable and adjusting would likely scatter. And if they broke apart, she would cease to exist along with them, according to Vanitas.

Just like before.

Perhaps her frequencies first needed to synchronize with a fixed point in time. Only then could she move again.

Which meant that once she jumped, she had to remain where she landed. But for how long, she did not know.

One thing, however, Karina was absolutely certain of.

Vanitas Astrea must never meet her mother.

If he did, it would ignite an entire chain of events. An irreversible sequence that would only lead to Vanitas’s suffering.

Perhaps her stepfather would be spared in the process. After all, it was Vanitas who had ultimately rendered him comatose.

But that was fine.

Karina was willing to test the hypothesis that her father’s survival would somehow lead to Araxys descending upon the world and reducing it to ash.

No matter how absurd it sounded, it was a possibility she could not ignore. Perhaps there were sequences in events that should have happened in order to prevent it.

Regardless of everything, Karina chose to gamble on her luck. To observe carefully which parts of the past she could tamper with, and which parts she absolutely should not.

Of course, there was an absolute rule when it came to time. One should never interfere with the natural course of events.

But that rule existed for those who had no way to undo the damage.

Karina did.

She had the means to return to a point before everything broke apart, even if doing so came at the cost of her own frequencies.

For what reason?

To fix all the damage that had occurred in the present.

"...."

...Even if it came at the cost of her own life.

* * *

"Huh?"

It had to be said. This was not regression. With each passing day, Karina continued to grow older. If she were to die here, then that would be the end of her story.

There would be no rewinding, nor a second chance.

She had to be careful.

There were rules she had established for herself.

The first, and most important, was to never meet her younger self.

She was already tampering with time. The last thing she needed was to create a paradox.

In this timeframe, there were two Karinas. Not a replacement, or an overwrite, but two completely separate existences.

The second rule was to never kill her stepfather, Romulus, with her own hands.

If he was fated to die in a way that did not destroy the present, then nature would be allowed to take its course.

The third rule was restraint.

If possible, she would only return after making a mistake if her life was in immediate danger or if her frequencies had fully stabilized.

Otherwise, she would endure the consequences, no matter how heavy, until they became barely manageable.

For two whole months, she did nothing but monitor her mother’s hospital room. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Vanitas Astrea never showed himself. Not even once.

"...Is this right?"

Was this how it was supposed to go?

She was certain she was within the same timeframe in which he had begun visiting her mother. And yet, for reasons she could not understand, he never appeared.

As a result, Romulus was never rendered comatose by her hand. And after a year had passed, the sequence of events continued to unfold.

Her mother died in her hospital bed.

So did the Empress.

"Wait..."

...Something was wrong.

This was not how it was supposed to happen.

The Empress should have been unilaterally murdered by her biological father, Zelliel, with the unknowing assistance of Vanitas Astrea.

"...Did I already make a mistake?"

Or was it a blessing in disguise?

If that were the case, then Vanitas Astrea was effectively absolved of his crimes regarding the Empress. And if that was true, then perhaps he no longer needed to obsess over erasing the traces of his past.

Perhaps he could focus instead on curing himself.

"Why..."

But something felt off.

So off that Karina found herself at a complete loss once more.

And so, three years passed with Karina doing nothing but observing the flow of events.

The most significant difference was that her present self no longer worked at the Silver University Tower. But instead, she taught part-time at a third-rate university.

And secondly, her stepfather was still alive.

But that was something she could ignore for the time being.

"What should I..."

Even without directly interfering, the sequence was wrong. So wrong that Karina began to doubt herself.

Had she already tampered with something without realizing it? Something small? Insignificant at the time. Like moving a single pebble, only to discover that three generations had been erased because of it.

The thought made her head spin.

Was the damage already done the moment she arrived?

"...."

Then, a year later, the news that destroyed what little composure she had left reached her.

Vanitas Astrea was dead.

"That can’t be..."

At just twenty-six years old.