The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 120

“E-Eeeek…!”

Ophelis Hall’s condition also wasn’t normal.

Ed and Clarice jumped off from Merilda’s back as they quickly checked the condition of the rose garden. Clarice had lost all strength in her legs.

Across the garden were scattered corpses. Half of them were maids, and the other half were students.

“Euu…Eughk…”

Clarice, who had already reached her limit, was now barely holding back her tears. She grabbed onto Ed’s elbow as she covered her mouth…Trembling, she forced herself to continue walking.

Ophelis Hall was much closer to the dragon than Trix Hall was. The moment the disaster struck, they were in a situation where they were still unable to properly activate the defensive magic.

The outer wall was full of holes, remnants of the scales that had come pouring down.

The inside was also horrendous. The lobby and hallways were full of blood. Not just Clarice, but even Ed—who was usually always calm—couldn’t help but swallow a gasp.

“The advanced defensive magic circles… are activated…”

Ed said that as he looked up at the ceiling in the central lobby indoors.

In a wide-range attack, the strength of it should have been limited. So even though the scale’s attack might have been powerful, it still shouldn’t have been able to break through the advanced defensive magic.

That… It seemed that only after the first attack, which was much too late, was the defensive magic circle activated. That also meant that there were still survivors inside.

The Saint’s room was on the highest floor, and the room that managed the defensive magic circles was also on the way up.

Ed then went up the stairs of Ophelis Hall, holding the Saint’s arm as she busily wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

He then quickly looked around the floor halfway up the building. He ran down the hallway to the section the maids were living in. There were corpses scattered all over. It was a terrifying scene to witness, but he continued to clench his teeth as he moved forward, ignoring it.

Then, when he reached the deepest part of the management office… He saw a maid sitting on top of the defensive magic activation ceremony, panting for a breath. A survivor.

When he got closer, he noticed her extravagant outfit… It was none other than the head maid.

“Miss Bell…!”

“Hueughk…”

Ed shouted out as the Maid, who was covered in blood, raised her head slightly. Clenching her teeth and trying to stand up, she collapsed again, falling over.

Four or five massive scales were stuck in her shoulder blades and abdomen. She was already in critical condition.

The dragon’s scales magic rained down on them without any time to respond. As soon as Bell Maya had noticed something strange, she ran to the management office and tried to activate the defensive magic. Unfortunately, the dragon’s attack was a little faster.

The dragon’s attack, which had broken through the outer wall, slaughtered the people that worked there. It must have been a horrific sight to witness.

During all of that, Bell had suffered to the extent she nearly died as she entered the deepest part of the management office… She then activated the advanced defensive magic in case there were any survivors left.

“This is… unbelievable…”

Bell Maya struggled to raise her head as her blood dripped to the floor. Clarice gave a loud gasp as she covered her mouth with both hands.

Upon seeing the two of them, Bell Maya forcibly moved her body… She then took out a bunch of keys from around her waist. Maybe it was because she didn’t have the strength to pick the right key and hand it to them, she ended up dropping the keys on the floor as she fell into Ed’s arms.

She didn’t have any strength left in her body. Ed clenched his teeth as he closed Bell Maya’s eyes, gently laying her down on the floor. He then picked up the bundle of keys as he led Clarice out by her arm.

“Eughk….Heuukkk…”

Clarice had already reached her mental limit.However, thanks to Ed—who was somehow able to maintain his composure—she was still able to move.

They ran across the hallway as they made their way back up the stairs, reaching the Saint’s room.

Ed began to put the keys into the lock, turning them in the door one by one in his rush to find the right one. Only after struggling for a bit did the door finally open up with a click.

As the door squeaked open, he was able to look at the grandest private room in Ophelis Hall. It was the room of the Saint.

Ed entered the room with Clarice as he shut the door, turning the lock. He then put the Saint on top of the bed.

Ed put his hands on the Saint’s shoulders as he spoke, looking straight at her.

“You must stay strong, Saint.”

“Eugh… Sniff… Eugh… Y-Yes…”

“Since the advanced defensive magic has been activated, as long as you stay in your room you won’t get caught up in the aftermath of any magic or attack. Though, if it’s a direct attack or a ridiculous level of magic, you will also be swept away… So, let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Within the school, there isn’t anywhere safer than here.”

Ed said that as he stood up.

“I still have many things I need to do. There are many other places I need to check out. Please wait here. You must never leave Ophelis Hall.”

As soon as he finished speaking and was about to take his hand off of Clarice’s shoulder, she grabbed his hand and held it tight.

“N-N… No… O-Outside… is d-dangerous…”

Her tears didn’t stop. Still, Clarice caught her breath as she continued to speak. She spoke about how going outside was dangerous, so it would be better to stay there together.

Clarice was much too frightened. It was too cruel an ordeal for Clarice to face, as she had lived her whole life in the somber world of the Holy Father Building. If he left her there, it seemed she wouldn’t be able to stop the fear from engulfing her completely.

“Saint. In order to solve this issue, I need to figure out this situation…”

Booooooooooooooooooom!

Another explosion went off outside the window. Along with it came earthquakes. Then, as if a light had been turned on, light came pouring in from outside the window.

Clarice threw herself into Ed’s arms as she looked up at his face. Tears were flowing down her face in clumps.

Ed patted her on the back a few times for a bit… but soon after, he grabbed her slender shoulders again, removing Clarice from his arms.

“Saint. Look out the window. Just because we are sitting still and waiting here like this doesn’t mean…”

…Anything would ever get resolved.

As he was about to say as much, a strange sight outside the window caught Ed’s attention. A magic circle was begging to soar high up into the sky.

It wasn’t cast by the Holy Blue Dragon Velbrok, nor was it by Lucy or Obel, who were defending against the dragon. In the first place, the direction it came from was deep within the education district, not on the battlefield.

Tadadak!

Deureureuk!

Ed ran over to the window, opening it up and sticking his head outside. He could see the entirety of the magic circle from just a glance. It was one that was formed from an entirely different field, beyond simple magic spells.

“…Ed…?”

Clarice called out to Ed with a wet voice, but he didn’t respond. He was clearly captivated by the magic circle’s formation, as he then ran back into the corner of the room.

In the first place, Ed already knew the structure of the room quite well. That was because there was an opportunity to enter the top floor of Ophelis Hall during Act 4 of .

He pulled out a sliding bookshelf in the corner. It was full of all kinds of holy scriptures, magic textbooks, and reference books. Most of them were about the studies of God.

Ed then lowered his head as he continued to pull out books on Sacred Magic. He put them all on a table in the center of the room as he began to flip through the books.

“Ed…?”

She tried calling out to him a second time, but her voice didn’t reach Ed’s ear. His brain was already preoccupied, working at its limit.

For a few minutes, he continued to flip through the books, desperately looking for something. Then, after a while, his hand stopped at a specific page.

He lay open the page of the book on the table as he took out another book from his pocket. A magical book of astronomical value. The Archmage Glockt’s ‘Introduction to Celestial Magic.’

He flipped through the book, looking for something before stopping on a specific page. He then read it, comparing and contrasting with the book on Sacred Magic he had laid open.

After a long while… Ed then flopped down on an old-fashioned wooden chair next to the table.

“This… okay… I think I get it…”

He was murmuring quietly. The slight tremble that was in his voice had subsided somewhat.

“In the first place… it wasn’t twisted…?”

“Ed, is something…?”

“In the first place this was just… part of the ‘original timeline’…?”

Boom!

After all his thoughts were put together, Ed hit the table and stood up. The Saint looked at him before asking a question.

“Ed, did you figure something out…?”

“Listen well, Saint. Whatever happens… if you think things aren’t looking good, you must ask me for help…”

“Pardon…?”

“So…”

Booooooooooooooooooooooom!

From that moment, it all happened in an instant.

Just as Ed was about to explain something, the Holy Blue Dragon’s breath struck the defensive magic around Ophelis Hall. It was the aftermath of the fight taking place outside.

Even Obel couldn’t block such a massive amount of magic power. In the end, the only choice he had was to forcibly change its direction and send it off elsewhere.

And one of the strands that had bounced off… Had directly hit Ophelis Hall.

Boom! BoooooooooooBoooooooooom!

Ed reflexes helped him quickly react.

As the building had already reached its limit, in case it was about to collapse… he took the safest stance he could.

Ed held the Saint in his arms as he gathered magic power, jumping straight onto the bed as if he was diving. As they felt themselves bounce on top of the soft bed, the ceiling began to collapse.

Craaaaaaaaaash!

The rubble of the building poured down.

***

Drip, Drip.

She woke up from the sensation of some type of liquid dripping down onto her cheek from the tip of her nose.

Clarice screamed as she tried to raise her upper body, but she was barely able to move.

“…Heub…!”

She then grabbed her mouth with both her hands… She was trembling all over.

She was in the rubble of the collapsed building. She saw Ed, who had forcibly used his magic power to support the wreckage.

And in his chest… There was an iron pole that was used as a support beam for the building. It was thicker than any short spear.

The liquid that was dripping onto her cheek… It was the blood flowing from Ed’s chest.

“N-No… No…”

Ed was kneeling, down on his knees. It looked like he was going to fall over like that, but he was supporting the weight of the wreckage. He then tried to say something to the saint.

“Nine… Numbers… you… Have to…”

“No… Ed… You… Can’t… You can’t…”

Tears began to flow from her eyes.

Clarice tried to press on Ed’s wound with her slender hand, but Ed’s blood continued to gush out, showing no sign of stopping. Blood continued to flow through the crevices of her fingers, only dying her white hands red.

“No… Why… something like this… why, just why… me… instead of me… would you die… you can’t… No…”

Ed continued to say something. It seemed like he was saying some numbers.

“One… six… zero…”

The hand that pressed against his wound was useless. Without even having the time to wipe away her tears, Clarice somehow gathered strength in her hands.

Clarice had done nothing to Ed. She was only caught in this situation, unable to adapt to the sudden disaster—led by his hand, only for him to eventually die instead of her.

That fact ate away at Clarice’s heart. Looking at his face, which was losing its vitality, continuously pushed her brain.

Too many people died sacrificing themselves for Clarice. None of them had time to even worry about themselves.

She didn’t want any of them to end up dying, especially Ed. He is still barely breathing.

However… that light of his life was starting to run out.

Ed used all of his remaining strength to send away the collapsing building’s rubble that poured down from the roof. Without the magic power drawn from Glast’s ring, it would have been impossible to do in his current condition.

And then… the remaining strength of his body was depleted. His body sank down into the Saint’s lap with a thud.

“Eugh… Eughk… Sniff… Eugh…”

In a room where the ceiling had collapsed, and the inside was completely exposed… The saint wrapped her arms around Ed’s head while shedding tears. Ed’s eyes started to grow pale as the blood started to leave his face.

“No… You can’t… Please… No…”

And like that… Ed no longer breathed.

The Holy Blue Dragon let out a roar that filled the sky. Lucy and Obel were struggling.

The strange magic circle that rose from a corner in the education district began to cover the entire sky.

Suddenly, it felt as if the entire world was covered in light. Was that how they were going to die?

Clarice hugged Ed’s head tightly as she wept.

“I’m sorry.”

Constantly repeating that…

That was how she faced the end of her life.

***

It felt like the black curtain had finally been lifted.

She had no choice but to squint as a bright light suddenly stung her eyes.

Clarice swallowed harshly.

“I-It’s the Saint. What is she doing here…?”

“Today is the Joint Combat Practice. Didn’t she come to check on the list of matches…?”

“Idiot…! The Saint is meeting with the distinguished guests from the Holy City today…! So, she isn’t going to the joint practice…!”

“Ah, that’s right… Then why is she here…? Don’t tell me, did she come here to meet that man, Ed…?”

“Those two know each other…?”

“I’m not sure… I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Saint talk with that guy before, though.”

“In the first place, the Saint never comes in close contact with others.”

“That’s true…”

She could hear whispers from all around her.

She was near the main entrance of Glockt Hall. A wooden table for the students to rest.

Sitting across from her was a person that caught her attention… Ed Rothstaylor. Sitting next to him was Yennekar Palerover.

“……”

Clarice couldn’t breathe. In the first place, the situation was impossible to comprehend.

Just before… the image of Ed slowly turning cold as he laid in Clarice’s arms, it still hadn’t left her mind.

However, right now Ed Rothstaylor was right in front of her… He closed the book he was reading, putting it down on the table as he looked at the Saint with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Saint. You said you had something to talk about… What is it about…?”

As he responded to her, Ed Rothstaylor looked straight at Clarice.

“……”

At that moment, the image of that blonde haired boy standing in the rubble of the building suddenly flashed through her mind. The iron rod that pierced his chest as the blood continued to gush out… Seeing him hold up the rubble to protect Clarice, despite dying. That memory of him overlapped with who she was seeing now.

Barely holding back her feelings and the tears about to flow down her face, Clarice quickly stood up from her seat. In an instant, she approached Ed.

Suddenly, she started to unbutton Ed’s shirt as she tried to take a look.

“……??”

“Wait, right now, what… Are you doing…?”

Unable to touch the Saint’s body recklessly, Ed asked her what she was doing while keeping both his arms raised in their air, completely perplexed.

Yennekar, who was sitting next to him, started firing off question marks as her ears turned bright red. All the students that were watching also came to complete standstill.

The Saint undid a couple buttons on Ed’s shirt as she looked inside, but there was no puncture wound or blood.

Yennekar quickly jumped up from her seat with a flushed face.

“S-Saint…! Even though you are the Saint… In broad daylight, in a place like this… Doing something like this is a bit…!!”

The moment she said those things to try and stop Clarice, she let Ed go.

Taking a step back… She slumped down into her seat.

Was it a dream? Maybe a hallucination? Have I just been so tired these days that I’m starting to see ridiculous things?

Clarice shook her head after thinking such thoughts… Suddenly, she started to feel a pain in her lower arm.

At that feeling, Clarice raised her right arm to check her wrist.

She gasped.

On her slender wrist… She didn’t know why, but it was still there.

The handprint that was left behind when Ed had grabbed her as they ran towards Ophelis Hall.

The memory of his face growing colder as he died protecting Clarice. It all started to bloom in her head, becoming a vivid memory.

Wiping Ed’s face, who was standing right in front of her, over and over again… Tears started to flow down.

Of course, all the students that were watching… couldn’t help but freeze, still as stone.